Michael Jackson's death hit me hard to the extent that, pharmaceutically, his death was a direct result of his fear of insomnia. He took what were described as drug cocktails to achieve sleep. When those failed, he resorted to a heavy drug used to render a patient unconscious for surgery.      Michael Jackson had a ton of money (in addition to money he had made from royalties from his own music, he made a lot after he purchased The Beatles® music catalogue and sold licenses to companies…

   The Mini-Marathon® is on May 5. This is my personal account of why the Mini®—this will be my 14^th in a row—is important to me.  To paraphrase the title of The Ventures’ song, I walk—do not run—the 13.1 miles. Considering that in 1994, by the second of nine days in the hospital, I completely had lost use of my legs, doing those 13.1 miles is pretty good.

   I lay on the ice-covered asphalt of the crosswalk, staring at a car heading my direction. My mind moved a bit more…

   The Mini-Marathon® is on May 5. This is my personal account of why the Mini®—this will be my 14^th in a row—is important to me.  To paraphrase the title of The Ventures’ song, I walk—do not run—the 13.1 miles. Considering that in 1994, by the second of nine days in the hospital, I completely had lost use of my legs, doing those 13.1 miles is pretty good.

   Insomnia hit me pretty hard. That is a common side-effect of MS. I would awaken about 2 am, realize the futility of…

  Once more—the Mini-Marathon® is on the horizon, and tis is my personal account of why the Mini® is important to me.  This year will be my fourteenth consecutive. I walk—do not run—the Mini®. In 1994, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. By the second of nine days in the hospital, I completely had lost use of my legs. So one can see why I might adopt a goal of completion of the Mini®.

   I awoke bright and early on what was supposed to be my last day in the hospital. I was fully…

   By now the prednisone had been weaned down from an equivalent of 850 mg per day by IV. To describe the appetite it caused as "voracious" is an understatement. My stomach was a blast furnace ignited by prednisone and into which food, when fed, instantaneously disappeared.

   I had obtained continuances on all my cases. The staff of every court before which I had cases went to the max to accommodate what had occurred to me. Only a couple of clients seemed not to understand the…

   The therapy with the legs I could understand. After all, I had lost the use of my legs. I had begun to gain some control over them, so the therapy made sense.

   "Vocational therapy" was—as almost everything else in this hospital hell—in the basement. The wheelchair was parked in front of a desk, behind which sat a physical therapist who explained to me that vocational therapy was for my upper body. I asked her why "vocational therapy" was necessary—twice a day, I think the chart…

   Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. Until I moved to West Laughalot (a/k/a West Lafayette), I did not understand there was a component of consumption of alcohol to the holiday. Even at DePauw, where we took advantage of any pretext to throw a party, I do not remember St. Patrick’s Day as a particularly heavy party day.

   In West Laughalot, my perception of the holiday changed. We would hit The Stabilizer ("Stabes") for drink specials on the holiday venerating Ireland’s patron saint.…

   As Woody Harrelson's character in "Doc Hollywood said, "I woulda been a doctor, except for all that science stuff." That might not be verbatim, so maybe the quotation marks are inappropriate. But the sentiment was correct.

   Still one does not need to be in the medical profession to know certain things, especially about one's self.

   I had no use of my legs. My brain would direct them with such complex orders as "Move!" And they wouldn't. Above my (growing thanks to the…

   One would think that, a diagnosis having been reached, there would be no more need for MRIs. But at 1 a.m., I was wheeled out the door and down the hall to the elevator. Next came the injection of Xanax®. More Pink Floyd-esque pounding of the magnets as the machine scanned the body that lay in its tube. Sleep was impossible with all the noise.

   Altogether I had four MRIs. An MRI is expensive. Of course, at 1 a.m. the machine sat in the basement, unused. The place could turn a…

   There were positive aspects to my having been given so many drugs since my admission to the hospital. Given my jolly nature, I was chuckling and having a rousing time. The neuro wore a long, serious face as he sat down. There probably is a course in medical school: "How to deliver REALLY BAD news to patients." Given how many MDs lack traces of personality, the course would about have to be required. If there was such a course, and he had taken it, that was years ago and he had not…

   On May 5, 2012, I shall walk in my fourteenth consecutive 500 Festival MiniMarathon®. We shall have surprise coverage of the event by Civil Discourse Now. This is the part three of a series about MS and vehemence about the Mini.®

   Breakfast of my first full day on the neuro ward was not bad. As soon as the meal was rolled away, an orderly appeared with a wheelchair. Sarah was there, but had to leave for work. She is an accountant and January is when tax season ramps up. She…

   What does my 1994 diagnosis with MS have to do with "civil discourse"?

   There are a lot of pressing issues that we face today. One example is that the United States Attorney General has stated a (false or, to be stylish, faux) legal distinction between "due process" and "due judicial process" to validate the United States government’s killing of its citizens. I am a lawyer. I can/should/will address this issue.

   Another major issue has to do with health care. "Health…

   On May 5, 2012, I shall walk in my fourteenth consecutive 500 Festival MiniMarathon®. We shall have surprise coverage of the event by Civil Discourse Now. This is the second part of a series about MS and my vehemence about the Mini.®

   When Sarah came into the examination room and sat down, the neuro explained we had "a complete neurological emergency." He said I either had a tumor on my brain—"tumor" got my attention—a tumor on my spine, multiple sclerosis, or a couple of other…

   On May 5, 2012, I shall walk in my fourteenth consecutive 500 Festival MiniMarathon®. We have a surprise for Civil Discourse Now with coverage of the Mini. I shall not miss a Mini. Last year I walked the 13.1 miles after having been diagnosed, the previous weekend, with pneumonia. After I completed my first Mini in 1999, I swore to myself I never would miss a Mini—unless I was dead or the MS finally had beaten me.   

   MS? Why the vehemence about the Mini? You need to know the…

   There are many problems in today’s world. People die. Despotism reigns. Chaos flourishes. In the Grand Scheme, athletic competitions seem trivial, at best a mere allegory for life: there is a start, a meaning (goal), and an end (death), unless the game is baseball and the contest, technically, never would end where the two teams could not break a tie in extra innings.

   If we set aside for a moment the question of whether there is importance for sports in the Grand Scheme, next is…

   Yesterday, March 7, was quite warm for this time of year in Indiana. I wore a t-shirt outside part of the afternoon. The wind was brisk, but the sky was clear.

   The weather of one day, taken alone, is not indicative of world climate change. The weather of one year, taken by itself, is not indicative of world climate change.

   "Climate change" is short-hand, today, for the discussion about whether humans have caused, principally through their of fossil fuels, significant…

   Advertisers are in a rush to abandon Rush Limbaugh for Limbaugh’s on-air rant against the Georgetown Law Center student who had sought to testify at hearings on a Congressional hearing concerning contraceptives.

   First, the dispute is not one over freedom of religion. If one wishes to advance a religious cause in this context, we should turn first to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. That precedes the Free Exercise Clause. If one wishes to advance his religious…

   Before the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1969, we were treated with interesting spots on the evening news. In 1969 the Cuyahoga River, in beautiful downtown Cleveland, burned. When one approached Gary on I-65, the sky was orange from the effluents of the steel mills.

    Yesterday, in response to my blog about the environment, Mr. Wheeler claimed "you posit an extreme example from your childhood days as that somehow…

   Rick Santorum spoke a couple of weeks ago about President Obama’s attitude toward environmental matters. In dismissing concerns for the environment, Santorum said his god gave people this planet to use.

   How can a person be so short-sighted and such a poor student of history? When Richard Nixon—yes, that Richard Nixon—signed into law environmental protection laws, there were a lot of problems with our environment.

   On the west side of Kokomo was a steel mill. When I was…

   As a kid I watched Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," and inspiring movie about an honest, everyday guy who by happenchance is appointed to the United States Senate from an unnamed Midwestern state. The movie reaches its peak when Senator Jeff Smith filibusters to block a bill that is backed by the corrupt political bosses who seek to have him removed from the Senate.

   Frank Capra’s film is a classic. Also, it explains how the filibuster is an important part of our…