I have one only one rule of conduct here on the blog, and it's a simple one: Engage in personal attacks toward me or another commenter, and you're gone.

I welcome debate, and I believe one of the hallmarks of intellectual honesty is the active solicitation of opposing viewpoints. I don't edit comments, and the few I have deleted were either spam or those that engaged in personal attacks that were beyond the pale. Just because I invite you into my house doesn't mean it's okay to shit on the carpet.

Recently, I swung the Ban Hammer at someone that really didn't have it coming. I had already banned a couple of immature children on that comment thread, and when his comment posted, I banned him too. The tone of his comment rankled me, and still does.

But in fairness, it wasn't a personal attack, and wasn't any less sarcastic than I have been on too many occasions to count. He didn't deserve to be banned. It shames me that I personally engaged in the very same "reasoned discourse" we so often deride our opponents on the issue for using.

So, Juan Der Meant, welcome back to the whitelist, and I apologize for my unduly harsh reaction to your comment. We're probably never going to agree on the subject of gun rights, but banning you here only makes the debate impossible, and that is not my wish.

You're welcome to comment here any time.

Yahoo News headline:
;

Banned Greek triple jumper ‘bitter and upset’ after racist tweet gets her kicked out of Olympics

So what did she say that was so racist? Voula Papachristou posted on Twitter,

With so many Africans in Greece at least the West Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food."

Okay, I'll grant you that it's tasteless. I know tasteless when I see it. Heck, I lettered in tasteless in high school..

But racist?

I just don't see it. Papachristou is known for her harsh criticism of Greek's immigration policies. I suppose that in today's world, that equates to being racist, just like a couple of Australian swimmers posing with guns in a Las Vegas gun shop is tantamount to advocating serial murder.

The article criticizes Greece's decision to ban her as overly harsh, stating,

"She should be angry. There have been no reports of Greek Twitter guidelines or rules of conduct for athletes. Officials appeared to make an arbitrary decision based on political pressure."

Of course, the media furor isn't easing that pressure any. Here's a hint, Yahoo: If you think that her conduct was in poor taste but not racist, you might not want to use the phrase "racist tweet" in your headline.

Ambulance Driver’s Law of Complaint Volume: The greater the volume of patient complaints – both in sheer number and decibel level of delivery – varies inversely with patient acuity.

Example: Patient groans quietly, “It’s my chest. My arm and jaw hurt a little, but mainly it’s my chest.” = sick.

Patient moaning piteously, accompanied by shouts and prayers to various deities, wailing and gnashing of teeth, “My chest hurts and my arm and my left leg and I have this cough and I get dizzy whenever I move my head like this and I get blurred vision and my fingers are numb and I’ve been constipated since April and I have an itchy rash and I think a brown recluse spider bit me on my taint and I suffer from the heartbreak of psoriasis and ohmyGod please help me!” = likely not sick at all.

But I’ll work you up just as if I thought you were. Think of it as applause for your bravura performance.

Ambulance Driver: "Um, the guy going back to Decubitus Acres?"

Nurse:. "Y'all are here to pick him up? Great! We've been waiting for hours!"

AD: "Y'all said he met stretcher criteria."

Nurse: "He does. Postural instability and quadriparesis. He can't sit in a wheelchair."

AD: "Riiiiight. Well, right now he's walking around the room naked, and he just pissed in the sink."

Nurse (crestfallen): "Oh. Does that mean y'all are not going to take him?"

AD: "Nice try."

Okay guys, if we’re to keep the cosmic scales balanced, y’all are gonna have to save about a dozen stellar human beings with very serious illnesses tonight.

Because my patients last night weren’t sick and weren’t stellar.

I’m not even sure they were human beings.

… I have a bleg.

I need a 20-second video clip from a popular 1990's movie, one that cannot be found anywhere on YouTube or similar sites.

Can any of you video editing wizards with knowledge of the popular bit torrent sites help me out? Email me off-blog, please.

From the JEMS magazine Facebook thread linking to my blog post Occupy EMS:

"The more posts I read by Ambulance Driver, the more I think he is a jerk."

*sniff*

I'm getting misty here. No matter how long I do this, it's always humbling to meet a fan. I can only imagine how much she'd love me when I really am being a jerk.