Nonrhotic

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Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt pictured here as he explains Lex Orwell to the citizens of Sweden at a recent press conference.

Swedes are used to having their civil liberties impinged. But a new law recently passed by the Swedish parlament will augment big brother’s powers to a point that could rouse even a Swede’s apathy. Effective January 1st, it will be legal for the government to read all emails leaving or entering the country as well as to listen in on all phone calls and to monitor its citizen’s surfing habits. On the bright side maybe the Swedes will pipe down about what a butt-hole George Bush is. Not that he isn’t a butt-hole. He is. But I’m sick to death of hearing about it every time I go out for a beer.

For those of you who where here from the start, you may recall that I began this blog as a result of a bad dental day. You can read all about that here. That saga has continued. Here are the latest developments from yesterday.

After the initial trauma of having three titanium screws surgically removed from my upper jaw without the benefit of modern anesthesia, I went for a follow-up visit with Dr. Szell. More bad news. I was told that the damage done by the mis-fitted dental prosthetic was irreversible. There was significant bone damage / loss and now the only way forward was to sacrifice 4 more teeth to create an 8-tooth bridge. Not what you want to here, especially when you are still in your 30’s

The good doctor was quite apologetic and said he would fix the problem and even give me back a “small amount” of the $10,000 he had charged me to permanently disfigure my teeth. What a guy.

But then he told me there was more bad news. He said he had accidentally applied too much pressure to one of my healthy teeth and in doing so he thinks he killed it. I would now need a root canal on that tooth. And since he wasn’t sure the nerve was dead or not, it would have to be done without any anesthesia. So we made an appointment and several days later I was back in his chair. He began the root canal, but after drilling for a while he could not find the canal. He stopped and told me there was a complication and he would need to send me to a root canal specialist. We made an appointment and several days later (yesterday) I was in his friend’s chair.

I get in and the dentist will not speak English. I explained that I don’t speak Swedish. He just glared at me. This is going to be a long appointment I thought.

He put rubber surgical dressing (dam) around my mouth to isolate the tooth. Then began. He drilled until it hurt. Then stopped and prodded until it hurt some more. Then he scraped out the canal repeating the three steps several times with three breaks for x-rays to see where he was.

The most disconcerting part was how he was conducting some sort of business on the side. Something to do with payments. The fist time, mid-canal he stops to take a phone call from someone who I assume owes him money or someone squeezing him for payment. The discussion gets quite heated. He is getting pissed off. Then returns to my root canal.

He is much more aggressive now. I notice he’s looking at his assistant instructing her who else to call over this money matter as he scrapes and probes. He’s got the point where the nerve is very close and it begins to hurt. She gets the next guy on the phone he abruptly stops and takes the phone. He is nice to this guy. They talk money and payments. I figure this is either someone he owes money to or someone is is trying to coax a payment from to pay the other guy. He seems in a better mood when he returns to my tooth.

He’s at the bottom of the canal. I can feel most of what’s happening now. He tells his assistant to get the other guy back on the phone. I cringe to think of him getting re-agitated at this delicate point in my procedure. I’m relieved to hear that his assistant is unable to get the guy on the phone. He seems displeased but composed.

The procedure took one hour and 15 minutes. He spoke English as I left. That was nice. He said the filling should last until September. He also said the tooth will hurt for a day or two.

Compared to the other procedures I’ve been through the root canal was a cake walk. Nothing to it. But what really hurt was the invoice: $1,000. With the addition of this bill my dental costs are up over $11,000 — not including out of pocket expense, the cost of lost work and considerable pain and suffering.

I’m constantly reminded that “People in Sweden don’t sue” and in general I like that. But there are limits. I’m going to have another talk with Dr. Szell.

One of the foundations of Swedish society is that everyone is the same in every way that matters. So, therefore, you should like everyone the same as well. But what if you don’t? This week an 8-year-old Swedish boy is finding out as his teacher provides a valuable lesson in Socialism 101. Thanks to The Local for the story.

Eight-year-old caught up in birthday card outrage.

A second grader in Lund in southern Sweden was forced to take back his birthday party invitations because he hadn’t invited all the students in his class. Two students were left off the invitation list, prompting the boy’s teacher to confiscate all the invitations, reports the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

Tags: socialism, sweden, birthday party,

Thanks to The Local for keeping illiterates like me up to date on all the latest breaking news here in Sweden. Here is a round-up of the Top 10 pressing issues occupying the main headlines in recent weeks as reported in the Local.

10. Swedish teen girls have more sex with one another
More teenage girls than boys have had sex with someone of the same gender, according to a new dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg.

09. Princess admits to kissing a frog
Princess Victoria amused onlookers in Bohuslän in western Sweden on Friday by admitting to having kissed a frog to see if it would turn into a prince.

08. Man charged over bus masturbation
A 21-year-old man has been indicted on charges of sexual molestation after masturbating in front of a group of teenage girls on a Malmö city bus last month.

07. Prominent local politician held in revenge murder plot
A prominent local Social Democratic politician was arrested on suspicions of plotting an attempted murder and interference in a judicial matter.

06. Path clear for world’s biggest elk
Politicians in northern Sweden have finally given the all-clear for the construction on the top of a mountain of the world’s largest elk.

05. Forgotten on the toilet for 10 hours
An elderly woman was left on the toilet for 10 hours on Saturday after her carers forgot about her.

04. Dating Swedish men: bring your own beers
American Isabel March realizes the only way to coax a Swede out of his shell is with the assistance of a beer-cum-security-blanket. But strong-and-silent-except-when-drunk doesn’t really do it for her.

03. Public urination leads to unrelenting stream of fines
More and more Swedes are getting fined for urinating in public.

02. Drunken disorder plagues Midsummer
Midsummer celebrations were typified by drunken revelry, fighting, assault, drink driving, an alleged rape and three shootings. Calmer than usual, police report.

01. Men seek help for female sex abuse
More and more Swedish men are seeking professional help to assist them in coming to terms with the sexual abuse they have experienced at the hands of women.

Bill O’Reilly, the lamous (lame and famous) journalist-poser
windbag sends his errand-boy producer to coax Bill Moyers into a
conflict. Moyers isn’t buying it and sees through the ploy.

Check out this film from NASA. Its our moon passing in front of our sun last year.

This morning my wife got a disturbing call on her cell phone from some sort of sexual pervert. He knows her name and cell number and in Sweden that means he has access to just about anything else he wants to know about her. An unsettling thought.

He called from a protected number so his details were not available to us. I immediately called 118-118 to see if they could tell me who made the call. They said it would be best to call the police at 114-14. I did that.

I told the officer (a woman, if that makes any difference) that my wife had received a threatening phone call of a sexual nature and we were very concerned. I asked if they could find the owner of the number. “Yes we can” she replied. “But it will be very expensive for you.” she continued. She went on to explain that it would also take a long time and involve a lot of paperwork for me. It was obvious she was doing her level best to dissuade me from pursuing this.

A few observations. First I pay my taxes, so does my wife. In fact, like most residents here, we pay lots of taxes. Taxes fund public service like the police department. Then why do I need to pay again for them to investigate a crime that has been committed? Look at this in practice: Swedish residents who are wealthy enough to pay the “very expensive” fee receive protection from sexual predators. If you are not wealthy - tough luck. BTW the Swedish tax code was purpose-built to ensure that Swedes remain in the latter category.

Second, the law defines verbal abuse of a sexual nature as assault. With all Sweden’s posturing with regard to women’s rights etc… how can this be brushed off so lightly? In any developed nation, sexual threats are considered a serious crime. Yet the Swedish policewoman I spoke with did everything she could to talk me out of pursuing it.

Experience has taught me to expect people on a government payroll to lack the motivation and competence to make a positive difference. That’s mostly because they are not molded by the pressures of a competitive enterprise. But I have always expected more from police and firemen. I think we all should.

I have had the misfortune of dealing with the Swedish police on several occasions over the years. Each encounter provides further insight into a bungled, risk-aversive law enforcement system that works very poorly for the victim and quite favorably for the criminal. But paying for their services is a new low — even for the Swedish police. What happened this morning is simply a reminder that if and when you do need the police in this country, your need had better suit their schedule, priorities, dogma and risk tolerance — and then be prepared to pay.

News flash on my aggregator this morning. I feel a little like Beavis or Butthead posting this, but they did say “great tits” ..

Great tits cope well with warming

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website

At least one of Britain’s birds appears to be coping well as climate change alters the availability of a key food.