Keeping in touch with Jim

So, last Wednesday I started feeling a cold coming on. No biggie. I have always handled that pretty well on my own. By Friday night I knew that I was dealing with the flu. Thank goodness Ivone knew of a doctor just a few blocks away who spoke English and was well respected in the community so first thing Saturday morning we walked to his office which was just three blocks from our place and we were seen within 5 minutes. His examination was unhurried and, I felt confident in his manner. He agreed that I was dealing with the flu and wrote a prescription and the cost for the visit was 400 pesos or about $30 at today's exchange rate. No forms to fill out, no need to show that I was "worthy" with an insurance card, just cash, a handshake and a very courteous "Thank you".  (I remember when I was a kid, it was more like that in the U.S.) We walked to the pharmacy which is just around the corner from our place and the 3 prescriptions was a total of 650 pesos or $50. ...

It may be that I am just too simple minded or maybe I am delusional but I see very clearly what others have made so very complicated. Issue - Sept 11th attack on the world trade center -  There is plenty of blame to go around from all directions but yet the one simple truth is that the blame lies with the airlines themselves. Ever since I was a teenager we have put up with airline hijackings and yet the airlines have never, ever secured the cockpit. I ask you WHY?  Here's a newsflash - On July 23, 1968, El Al (Israel) Flight 426 was hijacked. After that incident they secured the cockpits of all their airlines and to this day have not had one additional hijacking (That's 44 years folks). Blame the intelligence community, blame our immigration policy, blame the Islam extremists if you like, but I blame the airline companies.