and his scales fell off.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” - MLK

Details from the local paper.

He’s suffered seizures before.

I have to say, I’m not totally comfortable with bringing the snark on the guy during all this. Shooter, sure; Bush, sure. I think Roberts will earn it, but I’m not sure he has earned it. I mean, being a Federalist Society operative installed on the Bush Court to destroy the last vestiges of checks and balances isn’t enough…

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

I did jump a little quickly - about 4 minutes after the story broke, and when everyone was saying that Chief Justice Roberts was fine.

My snark was not called for here.

But what do I know?

when it comes to active members of the partei.
i’m just fresh out.

my rule today: if bush appoints, lauds, or approves of you, you are a crook and likely very evil as well. so no, i feel sorry for the kids, but i won’t cry if he shorts up altogether. and no, spying gov’t agents, that isn’t the same as wishing him dead or planning to make it happen.

if O’Reilly comes after us, I want it to be because we say Fuck, or for lesbian pr0n, or for Lieberman jokes about Depends … I don’t know if I can draw a clear distinction, though.

That said, “Hail Seizure!”

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

for a good comeback. “in the name of the loofa and the falafel of rome?” ach, time for sleep.

Wherein i earn my reputation for “intpmperate discourse.

as my own invention but it was stolen from a gray thread (which was itself intended to allow people to express sympathy for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Hulk Tie Wearing-“Innertubes” describing-ethically challenged AK).

Much confusion on the subject of seizure=epilepsy is being expressed hither and yon. It is a vastly complicated subject as well as being difficult to diagnose—but the one thing I’ve been seeing from several sources is that there is a medical rule of thumb: one episode of “seizure” like activity (lapse of conciousness, simply passing out etc) can come from any number of causes.

TWO such episodes not otherwise explained by vascular disorder, brain tumor, etc.=epilepsy diagnosis. And if he had one in ’93 and then one today I am going to go out on a limb based on my experience with family members who suffer from the disorder and bet heavily that he has had others, in sufficiently private circumstances that it has gone unreported. Possibly even to his doctor: stupid but leaving all snark and politics aside it’s something any sane person would try to hide given the prejudices society holds about the disorder.

You stand a better chance as a cancer survivor, or even an atheist, of getting a shot at the Supreme Court than you would as an epileptic. I hope if indeed he recovers as apparently expected he comes out and uses his position to help educate.

(Of course the claim in the local paper that he fell 5-10 feet and landed on his head is another matter entirely and will have to be analyzed separately if proven true. That, and the “ashen gray and foaming at the mouth” business sounds very odd but sounds like it comes from the ambulance crew or another eyewitness.)

“saying that Chief Justice Roberts was fine” <— and herein is the lying liars’ problem. If we had known the truth about his health — that he had a seizure previously, that his health was not excellent — perhaps we wouldn’t be so quick to snark.

The lying liars club has never asked for pity or sympathy, and I see no reason to offer it to them.

I understand the point about being afraid to reveal the truth of one’s medical condition for fear of prejudice, but when asked under oath, as I understood him to have been about his health — well, if he lied about it, isn’t that perjury?

I’m confused; is this story about Cheney?

true story: i have an older relative who is the world’s greatest progressive. walks the walk in every possible way. one day, biking to work, he hit a bump and fell, landing in part on his head. it changed him forever. every once in a while, he has moments in which he totally freaks out and believes he’s 15 again- acts like his wife is his mother, that sort of thing. in the last year these episodes got so bad and frequent his wife had to have him locked up involuntarily, and got a court order to force him to go on medication. he’s “better” now (stoned on drugs all the time), but it was a scary realization for me that all it takes is one unlucky bump and bam- you’re a new person.

add epilepsy or some other congenital disease, and i’m very, very worried about a Chief Justice who had a couple of falls and now thinks he’s the messiah or something. shit.

AP:

Roberts, 52, had a similar, unexplained attack in 1993.

By definition, someone who has had more than one seizure without any other cause is determined to have epilepsy, said Dr. Marc Schlosberg, a Washington Hospital Center neurologist who is not involved in the Roberts case.

In 2001, Roberts described his health as “excellent,” according to Senate Judiciary Committee records.

So, two incidents that we know of

So, it’s understandable why he’d want to conceal it; but my understanding, also, is that even today under Republican rule, giving false testimony to Congress is looked at askance by the legal profession, and would be of particular concern in a Supreme Court judge.

Er, is Roberts a Straussian?

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

and just playing devil’s advocate, it is possible for an epileptic to say they are in good health, if they have a regular regimen of medication and they take it in a timely fashion. there are plenty of fully functional epileptics in society today.

but then there are also those who don’t really have it under control, even with medication. i fear roberts is in this group.