Missing Anna

 a year ago, a lifetime ago, we were together, laughing and getting ready to go to see "my boys" the band America in Reno.

We traveled together often and always had a pretty good time or some "interesting" adventures.  This trip was no exception and despite a few bumps and a flat tire, we managed to have some fun.

I thought her being tired had to do with her diabetes, not her heart. Two days after we parted company, she was gone.

I miss her every day.  

Still, I am grateful for the time we had.  The pain of losing someone is the price we pay for the joy of their love.

I often think of the lines from the Bob Dylan song " You're gonna make me lonesome when you go"

"But I'll see you in the sky above

in the tall grass

in the ones I love.

You're gonna make me lonesome when you go"

First day of October

 Do you wake up on the first of the month and say "rabbit, rabbit" It is supposed to be lucky and sometimes when I wake up groggy from sleep, IF I remember the date, I murmur the phrase. 

I am thinking about an incident in cooking class in Junior High (What they now call Middle School) the woman who taught it was a newly divorced woman who was thrust back into the work force by the circumstances.  She was ill-prepared for the task and while I STILL use her cranberry muffin recipe every Thanksgiving, I am forever scarred by the Bacon Burning Incident.

WHO I ask you places high fat- cheap- bacon under a broiler?  "Bacon From the Broiler" read the cheery heading at the top of the mimeographed page we were all given.  Do you know what actually has a great chance of happening when said high fat meat meets a very high flame?  That's right, it catches fire.  Upon hearing that our broiler had become a sacrifice, the poor woman ran in circles around the room.  One of my friends, who was more adept in such things found some flour and put it out.  The teacher castigated us for the rest of the class.  I spent the rest of the day hearing about it in other classes from people who made fun of me and my kitchen mates.  It was NOT a fun day.

I went home and spoke with my father, a professional cook who told me point blank that "every cook burns something, it's how you react that is important"   I remarked that the teacher did not react well to the problem, and we laughed.  I remained her least favorite student for the remainder of the semester.

The fact that I enjoy cooking and am fairly good at it lies not in the disaster that was cooking 7A, but the wise words of my father, which can be applied to any life situation, if you think about it.  Anyone can screw something up.  It's how you react that matters.

Tender is the Night

 I am trying to slog my way thru this book but am having limited success.  My loan expires on Saturday, can't renew e-books and my Kindles say I have six hours of reading time left.  

Do I stay up late, trying to make sense of the book or do I give up for the moment, place another hold in a week and see if I feel better about it?  I don't know but so far, my impression is:

Rosemary is hopeless, but it's not her fault.  Her mother is the model for another Momager I could name, marrying well but unsatisfied with wealth and seeking fame via her nubile daughter.  She encourages a liaison between her daughter and Dick Diver. ICK

Dick Diver is a quasi-Pedophile.  He's just gross, for all of Rosemary's fawning and sighing over his perfection, he turns my stomach.

Apparently, Dick is Fitzgerald, and he may have been portraying himself in a somewhat favorable light for the time but looking at it thru today's lens, I just want to throttle him. 

Hedonistic and downright mean, the idle rich are at their most obvious here and I haven't gotten past the first 1/4 of the book.

Does it get better, or am I wasting my time?

Meanwhile, I'm still thinking

 I am up on the Oregon coast for three weeks, giving a hand to my sister who broke her right arm.  She is doing pretty well and on track to be able to fend for herself when I leave her on the 12th.  To say I miss Chris is an understatement. It IS beautiful here, but I miss my fella.

I have been following the news and am worried about the new Republican "platform" in essence it mimics and takes credit for The American Rescue plan.  Apparently, the Republicans had an original thought once, but it died of boredom.  Not so fast, I suppose- they are going after Medicare and Social Security- gonna eliminate those "pork belly" projects and make the lazy people WORK for a living.  They label it "Socialism" a scare word the conservatives have used to terrify the masses from Time Immemorial.  Social programs that benefit the common man are somehow an anathema to the Party Of Fiscal Responsibility of whatever misnomer they are currently calling themselves.

I see they have also vowed to impeach Biden.  On what grounds? you ask?  They don't have them, but I am sure they will make up something. Perhaps he eats his peas with honey.  This is an obscure childhood reference to Dudley Dooright who needed to go on a secret spy mission in one episode and needed to be publicly expelled from the Mounties. He was so perfect this was all they had on him:

"I eat my peas with honey. I've done it all my life. It doesn't make them taste better, but it keeps them on my knife."

I digress.

The Democrats seem to be focused on getting things done.  The Mid-terms are getting nastier, and The Former Guy is in the news cycle like mad.  I DO LOVE that the DOJ has given in to his request only to have them backfire on him.  He and his attorneys are not as slick as they think they are.

The hearings resume on Wednesday.  This ought to be good.  Jaimie Raskin is totally fired up and now that she is on her way out, Liz Cheney has the gloves OFF.  I hope I have enough popcorn.

I will say this again, I have no quarrel with a conservative POV if we can discuss it and have a meeting of the minds.  Those who embrace conspiracy theories and think The Former Guy is the Son of God?  well, I have issues with you.

poem in progress

 this one is probably still kicking around my brain;

You fell in love

with the idea of her

the glimpses of her intellect

the shades of her heart

 that she allowed you to see

but you never sought out

her pilgrim soul

it would have required you

to share with her

your own 

The Monarchy

 Since QE2 died, the news has been breathlessly covering every detail of not only her funeral, but the transition of power. I half wondered if the Former Guy would show up and claim that she had given him a knighthood and as such HE was now in charge. But as usual, I digress.

I'm American.  I have family in England and I look at their posts to get a sense of the mindset of the average person across the pond.  I also wonder what my Irish family is thinking- my great-grandfather was most likely a wanted man in Ireland when he fled to this country, there was some kind of intrigue that surrounded him that was kept hushed up.  Be that as it may, here are my thoughts:

Love her or hate her, that woman sat on the throne and took charge of things for 70 years.  I think as a person, she was a kick-ass, take no prisoners kind of woman that would have been considered to be an anomaly , back when she ascended to the throne.  Women were supposed to simper behind their husbands and do what they were told.  That was the expectation, probably NOT the reality.  Once she realized she was going to be queen, something she was not born with but became her "duty" when she was around 10, her life was no longer her own. Someone DID point out that since Edward had no children and almost no prospect of children, she would have more than likely to have been  queen at some point but...

If Edward had gone along with the "program" would he have married some poor, hapless minor royal and kept his mistress on the side?  Edward is portrayed in history as being weak and under the wiles of Mrs. Simpson, but what IS the truth?  He must have faced immense pressure to go with the flow. He couldn't do what he wanted and remain king so he gave up the job. Since he had been  "in training" for the job since birth , I wonder what his skillset was after he didn't have the job.

I remember reading, that upon the change to the monarchy, Margaret was said to have told her sister "poor you"

Charles was born into being prepped for the job, but I wonder if he is up to the task.  He always reminds me of a contestant in the Monty Python skit "Upper-class twit of the year"  Despite what must have been intense training, Charles often comes off as something of a git, in the past two days, we have been treated to Charles' boorish public behavior. Camilla seems better prepared for the task than Charles.

Thinking about Charles, Camilla and Diana, I am beginning to see them as victims of the monarchy.  Charles wanted to marry Camilla, but she wasn't "royal" enough, among other things.  the wife of the future king had to be a virgin and that had to be verified by a doctor. Enter Lady Diana Spencer. Imagine a twenty-year old woman whose sexual status was not only required to be verified BUT was broadcast all over the planet.  I will talk about the whole "virginity myth" in a later post because I have a LOT to say about it. If Charles had been able to marry Camilla, three lives would not have been ruined by some archaic outdated idea of purity which is complete and utter bullshit.

Charles is not as popular as his mother, who ascended to the crown as a beloved princess.  Charles comes with the baggage of his failed marriage that was doomed by his cheating.  He is also portrayed as not all that bright. He certainly lacks diplomatic skills. He is portrayed as an old man who waited 70 years for his job.  Let's be fair, it was only about 50 years.  He's 73.  He could not have been expected to rise to the kingship at three.  Still he has been the heir apparent since he was born to the princess.  You would think they would have done a better job training him.  Maybe he thought he'd never get the job and has progressed-or not- accordingly.

In recent days, Camilla has been seen as the shining star.

Now I have no love for anyone who interferes in a marriage. Camilla was trying to sabotage that union from the get-go.  Again, this was all due to the idiotic rules in place, which are now moot, thank GOD. However, she seems to be a calming influence on Charles and apparently the Queen was quite fond of her, so there you have it. 

A lot of media focus on the next Gen of royals, in a nutshell:

William and Catherine=Good

Harry and Megan=Bad

Does that sum it up quite nicely?

  I think that Harry is still suffering the trauma of his mother's very public life and death.  People are STILL talking about her.  When he saw the media going after his wife in a familiar and similar manner, he responded by trying to protect her by removing them from the situation.  But people want a villain and Meghan , an American AND an actress (clutch pearls, everyone) filled the bill quite nicely.  Is she a nice person?  Who knows?  Harry seems to be happy and to love her and that is what should matter.  It seems to me that he is making the same choice his great-grand-uncle David ( aka King Edward) made.  Harry is not in line to be King anytime soon.  They should let him do what he wants.  He has done his duty to the nation by serving in the military- as has his brother- and he should just be able to do his thing.  There is a dichotomy, wanting less Royal family on the payroll and being pissed that Harry wants no part of "the Firm" 

I like Catherine and William.(I am sure my approval makes them both all fuzzy and warm inside.)   They seem to be a nice couple, trying to raise their children in a fishbowl.  Catherine was older than Diana and probably had the benefit of what happened to Diana, so they could avoid the problems that arose when she was  married to Charles.  Also, this is a true love match, not an arranged marriage.  Diana was young and thought Charles was in love with her.  It must have hurt terribly to discover the truth.

Still, as an American, I watch the British Royal Family with a mixture of boredom and curiosity. Not like the American political scene these days, which I look at with a mixture of hope and fear.  

More on THAT in the coming days.

Banned books and thoughts on characters

 I am reading "tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I wonder why I never read it, as he is one of my favorites from the Jazz era.  I will probably try to follow it up with Zelda's take on the same theme "save me the Waltz"

Their great-granddaughter wrote the forward and in it, she muses on Scott's racism in the novel ( I do love how she calls him Scott, rather than Fitzgerald)  It got me to thinking about novels and books written in a time when racism was accepted and what it means for a character in a book to express racism.

Since the character in the novel is supposed to be Scott himself, we can assume that the racism that is expressed IS Scott ( ok I haven't read the book yet, so I am guessing based on what the great-granddaughter says)  Can we excuse his literary racism as a plot device?  I think  not.  He did, as the foreword points out, have a chance to do better.

Which brings me to something that bothers me a bit.  Laura Ingalls Wilder being shamed for accurately relaying what her mother said about Native Americans.  Was she wrong to repeat what Ma said in the context of the story?  No.  I also don't think ten-year old Laura was going to call out Ma for her beliefs ( ten year old M might have said something, but I was raised in the era of Civil rights and not "children should be seen and not heard")  Does creating a racist character- or in Laura's case revealing one- require the book to be censored?  Is Ma's racism a talking point.  I am fairly sure MOST ten year olds gloss over what Ma says in the book anyway, she is sort of a weak character as far as I remember her, having read the books in elementary school.  I don't think grammar school kids are suddenly going to embrace a throw away line from Ma as their mindset AND that be shining a light on racism we can expose it and defeat it.

I Love ( not really) how the Republican Party wants to ban every book that might have a difference of opinion or talks about things that ARE happening that they must be wearing night blinders- which I suppose more than a few of them are.

I will post my thought on the actual book when I am done.  My Kindle says it is a nine hour read, but I think it is mixing up my reading speed- it's a little over 300 pages.  I read quickly, despite what my Kindle thinks.

Republican Party

 "The water won't clear up until we get the pigs out of the creek"

I read that this afternoon and immediately thought about the state of the current  Republican Party.

Let's start with the pig at the top, shall we?

Where to begin with the Former Guy?  The information coming out about his responsibility for the insurrection is not surprising.   What I S surprising is the number of people who refuse to believe it .  I suppose it's because they are so invested in the Big Lie, they refuse to believe they have been duped.  The Former Guy is a Con Man- and they were conned  BIG TIME.  Things to consider:

1- He is insisting on immunity from prosecution .  Immunity means you are guilty of something, like asking for a pardon or taking the 5th.  If I were accused of a crime, I would be moving heaven and earth to prove my innocence, not hiding behind lawyers who have been disbarred or are up to their ears in their OWN legal quagmires.

2-he does not seem to understand that all Presidential papers belong to the National Archives, not mildewing in some cardboard box in Mar-a-Lago.  Even IF the documents are sealed by Executive Privilege, they are not "his" as far as I understand.  I think he may have realized that he did some fairly illegal things and put them in writing and what got flushed down the toilet is only part of his dirty deeds.

 3- HE released the information about the FBI serving a legal search warrant and continues to characterize it as a "raid"  The media is following suit.  They need to stop that.  It looks like the FBI gave the warrant to whoever was in charge and was let in.  They DID time it so The Former Guy was out of town, but that may have just been coincidence.  No doors were kicked in, no guns were drawn No employees held at gunpoint while boxes marked "Top Secret" were removed from the closets and basements of the hotel he calls home.

4- He had his attorney lie about the documents.  While no one is shocked that he would lie ( how do you tell when Donald Trump is lying?  His lips are moving) I am sure the attorney, looking at losing their license is less than amused.

5-He seems to think he still has Presidential powers.  Well Citizen Trump, you don't.  You can waive your tiny orange hand and magically declassify documents 18 months AFTER you lost your job.  If I had boxes of sensitive papers kicking around MY apartment, I am sure I would be in a small room wearing orange by now

Herschel Walker.  Seriously  a carpet-bagging brain damaged ex football player who thinks China is stealing our good air?  well it IS Georgia, and yes I have some good friends who live there but they did elect Marge- she ran unopposed and didn't get 100% of the vote so there IS hope.

Dr. Oz  Another carpetbagging Charlatan.  I have been donating to Fetterman since the early days of his campaign.  I have deep roots in PA- look up Rowland Shovel Works- Anetta Rowland is my five times great grandmother.  Initially, I was concerned that an idiot distant Cousin ( think the Cosby case debacle) would run for the Senate seat and I needed to do SOMETHING to uphold the family honor.  He didn't but OZ is even worse.  At least Cousin Bruce has Philly roots.

There is so much more, I do not agree with Liz Cheney's politics but I admire her goal of taking Trump out of the equation or keeping him out of the White House.  They need to remove the crazy or create a new party.  Maybe Trump can go hunting with Liz' Dad.

Abortion

 

Making abortion illegal will NOT make it go away.  It will simply make it illegal.  And Dangerous.  

The Christofacists who are running things these days don't care after the child is born, they simply want to force women to give birth.  Women who have sex are somehow, shameful, and when they become pregnant they must suffer for that shame ( "In pain shall you bring forth children"   and remember that sex is considered the Original Sin)

There is a lot of talk about making abortion legal in the instances of rape or incest, reinforcing that a woman is not entitled to make her own decision, that in order to qualify fo a medical procedure, she must first have been violated.

There is the SECOND part of the movement gaining traction- making BIRTH CONTROL illegal.  The Christofacists believe, somehow, that PREVENTING conception is ALOS an abortion and therefore illegal and a "sin against God".  

Once again for the Back of the House- The PROBIRTH movement is NOT about "saving unborn babies" it's about controlling women's bodies and their lives.

Abortion is a decision made by a woman, her partner (usually) and her doctor.  Period.  No one should make that choice for her.  Not the courts, not a faith leader, not some nut with a sign in front of a healthcare clinic.  They have their toe in the door to prevent any kind of comprehensive care for a woman's reproductive rights.   We must stand in the fire to prevent this.

in which I try to write a poem without stopping to correct anything until it is done.

 

I have

forgotten how to write poetry

I wish I could just

open my mind and write something

with wild abandon

like I did as a young girl

not caring 

if anyone read it

or liked it

or it moved anyone

or stayed in someone's heart.

I think too much about

symbolism 

alliteration 

and lack of punctuation

But sometimes

I can still write.

Politics, again

 I am watching the hearings, like any good American should be, with a mix of awe and disgust.  Holy moly!  The mindset of the Former Guy and his minions is mind-blowing.  The lack of understanding of the Constitution and how elections work is astonishing.  It's a lot to unpack.

Trump knew he lost, but since "loser" is the biggest insult his daddy-kins could throw at him, he could not- WOULD NOT- accept public defeat.  He tried six ways from Sunday to do what has always worked in business for him- suing- and filling the courts with faulty lawsuits to stall the inevitable.  When THAT didn't work, the wanna-be soldier turned to violence.  I bet he got his jollies watching his militia trying to break into the chambers on January 6, since he could not live out his fantasy of standing on the Capitol steps and making a "stirring speech" and perhaps standing on the Senate Floor doing the same thing. 

He knew he lost, he knows he lost and still is making bank from his sucker supporters with his Big Lie.  Everyone around him, even slimeball Steve Bannon and Wack-a-doodle Michael Flynn know it.  I particularly love that Flynn took the 5th on EVERYHTING ( probably including what day of the week it was, but they didn't show that)  Honestly, does he understand that the 5th is almost a confession of the knowledge that he did something.. criminal?  Thy have the good on you, sometimes confession is good for the soul and remorse and a request for rehabilitation goes a long way in the sentencing phase.  

I wonder what that former Trumper who lost everything will be sentenced with. Wanna bet he will have a book deal- written by a ghost writer or an "As-told-to, since I doubt he could string two sentences together.  Trump loves the uneducated, they are his easiest marks. 

There are those in Trump World ( and they actually call it that in his inner circle apparently) who believe Trump will be president again. The trump people are starting to float the idea that he  didn't understand the laws and he was getting bad advice from alternate lawyers.  THERE alone is reason he should never be near nuclear codes again. Trump himself seems to believe that he has some kind of immunity and his history of not being prosecuted for his crimes seems to bear out the reasoning.  I can ONLY hope that the DOJ is working on an ironclad case, waiting to spring the trap until the January 6th Commission has all the facts out in the public eye.  

I remain hopeful and will be sitting glued to the tv next week.

I'm getting days mixed up

 it's Friday, right?   

I am heading out to 29 to spend time with the boys.  My phone isn't working in the house, so we got a "spare" as I am traveling alone and if it's the phone and not the cell towers, as I  suspect it is, then I don't want to be on the road without a phone.

Funny I used to do this run all the time when I was younger and cell phones were not a thing AND there were less people on the road to boot,  Now I would not dream of it.

Retirement is weird. My body is still on my "work clock" so I wake up at 6.  I tell myself I can sleep longer, but that usually is only about 7 am then I am up.  I have been getting up early as long as I can remember. I wonder if I am a "morning person" by biology or by training.  I do enjoy a quiet peaceful morning.  I am looking forward, sort of, to the move to 29 where mornings are quiet.  I am hoping to put a picnic table on the patio to have coffee and maybe read or write in the morning air before it gets too hot to do so.

I am retired.  Someone told me I will be even busier in retirement than I was when I was working.  I would like a rest, even for a bit, but life has been pulling me in a thousand different directions.  The new type of stress is insane.  I am hopeful all the crazy , horrible things that happened in the past three weeks resolve ( it looks promising) and I can just breathe.

So far, I have signed up for an online class in something I was always interested in but never had the time for.  It's via the library and I think I can just take it at my own pace. or not.

I belong to a group that reviews books and I inadvertently signed up for TWO of them at the same time. I also have to finish a library book that is due back in two weeks that I can't read on my Kindle.  There MAY be a way to get it to my tablet, if I can FIND my tablet.  It may be in storage.

Chris and I need to go thru the stuff we have in storage.  We are planning a garage sale in August or September.  Watch this space.   We brought home a lot of things from Anna's that we need to determine what to do with.  UGH.  A lot of emotions go with that.

I have always been a busy person.  I am not sure I know, or want to know, how to slow down.  Time will tell

History Lessons

 In the play "Wicked"  the Wizard says something to the effect of "where I come from, we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it 'history'"  

As a child in the 60's I was taught a sanitized version of historical events.  Mostly American history was taught from the perspective of older white males.  Sure they threw in a woman, occasionally ( see "wives of Presidents")  or a Woman of Color ( see "Sacajawea")  but usually those women were shaded with the benefit of their contributions to the male of the species.  We did learn to realize that slavery was "bad" -just not the details.  They sugarcoated the fact that the Founding Fathers HAD slaves, if we discovered it on our own, we were told it was "legal at the time" so it should not be held against them.

I was reading an article about Thomas Jefferson, who by modern standards ( and probably by standards of his day) was a real piece of work.  I remember  JFK saying something about  him when speaking to a room full of brilliant people ( I can't recall the occasion) but he said something like  "This is the most brilliant assembly in this room, except when Thomas Jefferson dined alone"  Hogwash.   JFK was a student of history, I wonder how much history was destroyed in an effort to whitewash the Founding Fathers for future generations.  Based on what we were taught, probably a lot.

Things I know about Jefferson could fill a thimble.  I know he owned slaves and what he did to Sally Hemmings should be considered a crime.  I LOVE how the current battle cry of the extreme far right is to accuse someone of pedophilia when all else fails.  JEFFERSON, their shining star was a pedo.   Sally was a CHILD when he took possession of her and by the accounts of HER son, Madison Hemmings, impregnated her by the time she was sixteen.  Jefferson ALSO thought that Lewis and Clark should be looking for mastodons, which he believed still existed in the West.  Right.  

To quote Pappy Boyington "Show me a hero, I'll show you a bum"  No one is perfect and the fact that we are taught that they are is our shame.  

Texas wants to call slavery "involuntary relocation"  WHAT THE EVERLASTING FUCK????  Next they will be dragging out the "happy darkies" motif.  The idea that African slaves were somehow stupid and  enjoyed what the white men did is so reprehensible I can't even begin to address it.

I read an article in which the writer pointed out that the Framers were writing laws that would make THEIR lives better. True dat.   I don't see  that women or slaves or people who did not own land made out any better than they had before.  Abigail Adams  pleaded with John to "remember the ladies"  but he ignored her.  He was a real jerk too, as far as I can tell. The fact that he and Jefferson had beef does not improve my opinion of either of them.

In his interview with the January 6 Commission, Rusty Bowers stated that he felt the Constitution was "divinely inspired"  which made him turn down Trump's insistence that he commit a crime.  Something good came of that.

AS I watch the hearings, I am struck by how close we came to installing Trump as a dictator.  We don't need elections, just put the Trump family in charge.  There are people who are decrying that there is no cross examination of witnesses.  This is NOT a trial, not yet anyway that is the DOJ's job.  This just gets the facts out into the light of day.  His base is having trouble with facts, not that this should come as a surprise.  His base has been fed a constant stream of misinformation since he rode the golden escalator to declare his candidacy. I truly believe this was a scam so he could make cash and then withdraw, but either his ego or a deal with Putin to release him from his massive debt ( which if I recall is coming due soon) got into the mix and we got screwed.  The problem is that there are people who still think Trump will save this country, even though it is massively apparent he tried to destroy it on January 6.  It is my hope, that as the net begins to fall on his inner circle, they rat him out  to save themselves ala John Dean during the Watergate hearings.  They are probably as loyal to him as he is to them. 

Tuesday, July 5 and I am just trying to shake it all off

 How did I spend the 4th, you ask.  In Urgent Care and Emergency with my husband.  He had been having chest pains and we thought it might be a good idea to get it checked out before it got bad.  We both figured it would be a few hours.  NOPE.  It turned into a nine hour odyssey at Kaiser. ( Not to self, when going to Urgent care, bring the charger and a backup battery, they really should invest in those charge port things they have at Central Library)

Chris had several blood tests, a cat scan, TWO EKGs and a chest x-ray.  The diagnosis?  Not a heart attack, not blood clots.  They don't know what is IS , but are sure what it isn't.  I suppose it makes me feel somewhat better, but the helpless feeling is not one I want to repeat any time soon.  He needs to talk to his primary doctor.  

The nice leisurely , post-visit lunch we had planned  turned into a drive thru meal, just in time for the neighborhood to become a war zone.  Gunshots and Cherry bombs.  Happy FREAKING 4th.  Because Chris was not feeling well - and frankly neither am I , asthma ( probably induced by a series of stressors that I am slowly releasing) we skipped the parade.  My beloved Adam Schiff DID ride in the parade.  I get all fangirl and yell his name, so maybe that was for the best.  I have met him a few times.  He is the real deal, unlike many of the politicians I have encountered in my job (I am looking at several seriously unctuous former Mayors )

Today I plan to make a bowl of popcorn and watch the hearings I have missed, since I was working.  I watched Watergate, Iran Contra and now this.  The marked difference is that people who follow the Former Guy in cult-like obedience will not hear the truth, since it is counter to their programming. At least in Watergate, once the truth was in the air, people saw Nixon for who he was.  The current Republican Party is not that honorable and seems to think that Trump World is the way of the future. I wonder if Pence's Conversion Therapy camps can be somehow repurposed to deprogram the Trump Cult.  It's a thought.

Speaking of Pence, he's no hero.  He did his job, mostly to stay of of legal trouble.  His former boss tried to have the mob murder him and he still licks his boots.   Shows you who HE is, doesn't it?   Cassidy Hutchinson is more a hero than he is, putting the truth out there.  Hopefully the "vanity Video project" that the Former Guy and his family contracted will show the truth in stark detail.  Wanna BET he tried to sue the videographer, claiming the film is HIS?  Also, wanna bet he has yet to pay the guy a dime? 

Still I woke up this morning at 6 am.  My retirement started today for real.  I wonder how long it will take ME to deprogram a lifetime of "early to bed early to rise"?

Happy "independence" day

 My Ass.

Seriously.  MY ASS.  The "Supreme" Cabal that passes for the highest law of the land has done the bidding of their Evangelical Masters and removed bodily autonomy from more than HALF the population.

And we are supposed to Lie down and take it.  AS IF

My Fourth great-grandfather ( that would be my great-great great-great grandfather) was a Lieutenant In the 1st Company, 2nd Battalion of Philadelphia County in the Revolutionary War . This makes me, for good or ill, a Daughter of the American Revolution. Now that I am retired I may look into it, but as I recall, they have a racist history, so while the historic connection to the past might be neat, I don't think a membership in the association would be worthwhile.  It goes without saying that the blood of warriors is part of my DNA, people who realized it was better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.  

I just can't believe we have to do this all over again.  I try to remain optimistic that Congress will act on the will of MOST of the people, who support a woman's right to choose.  

The Cabal will not stop here, they will go after all the other things that they don't like.  We need to stand in the fire NOW.

I see the Former Guy is thinking of declaring his candidacy.  Oh, decisions, decisions.  "Shall I try to avoid indictment buy declaring my candidacy and claiming that this is political and they are trying to stop me from being president." OR "should I continue to rile up my base and get those pensioners to continue to send me money until the last possible second so I can flee the country?  I'm sure Vlad will let me into Russia if I ask nicely and maybe give him Melania"  He really needs "a good f-ing lawyer" who will explain to him that he no longer is President and even as such NO ONE is above the law.  The DOJ is gathering evidence and the IDIOT had his vanity project, the filmmaker following him all over the place, that is probably akin to the Nixon tapes.  I remain hopeful.

My little town is having a parade, but I think I'll pass this year.  Just not feeling like dragging myself and my folding chairs out on Foothill Bl this year.   I have been having asthma issues and I am wiped out by them.  Better today than yesterday, as the meds have finally kicked in, but ugh.

This 4th, I will stay in and quietly reflect on the health of my beloved country.  It is not "My country, right or wrong"  it is "what the hell is WRONG with our country???"  I may binge watch the hearings ( I missed them because I was working)   I will reflect on that another time, but I WILL say this; If you want to declare that someone is lying, go to the Committee, place YOUR hand on the Bible you claim to revere and swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  Remember there IS a penalty for lying to Congress ( and I HOPE the Justices who did will face that penalty as well)

Honor and remembrance

 It's Memorial Day weekend.  Most people look at this as another "Monday Holiday" a three day weekend that begins Summer.  There are sales and cookouts and gatherings that have nothing to do with the reason behind this "holiday"

It's not a holiday.

It is supposed to be a day when we take a moment in our busy lives to honor those who gave their lives in service to this country.  Today, I am thinking about those who dies on the battlefield AND those who came back with pain so great they ended it. Call it PTSD, Battle fatigue or just haunted, these people who end their own lives are no less heroes than those who died fighting.  Our country has abandoned them.  Mental health care in this country is a joke. It is SO stigmatized, when I get a reminder call from my psychiatrist, they do not acknowledge the department they are calling from in the message. HOW,  tell me HOW is THAT helpful, if you can't admit you are seeing a doctor to help you deal with whatever mental anguish you are suffering, because THEY can't acknowledge it.  The message is on my CELL PHONE and I am the only one who gets the message, it's not like it would be broadcast anywhere.  Yes I am dealing with a few issues and it is helping, so there it is.

I am thinking about the poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae, a poem that is often cited and probably the reason that VFW members wear poppies.  Poppies grew in the field where the dead were buried.  I read somewhere, and I really should check this out, that poppies only grow like that when the ground is disturbed.  The poem calls on us, the living to continue the fight that they died fighting.  I am not sure how I feel about that, but I get it.  May they not have died in vain, but so often wars are fought for old men who can't agree, by young men and women who die for that disagreement.  I notice that most of the time, the children and grandchildren of those old men are not part of the  fighting force.

I looked up a study guide and the guide MISQUOTED the poem.  I really should let them know  it is:

"In Flanders Fields the  poppies BLOW"

NOT  

"In Flanders Field the poppies grow"

I think the image of the delicate poppies blowing in the wind between the crosses that mark the grave is much more impactful, don't you?

Today is not the day to say "thank you for your service" although that sentiment can and should be expressed every day  in my opinion.  Do not wish them "Happy Memorial Day"  This is a day to honor and remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Florida and Disney

 

So, the Governor of Florida has a temper tantrum and "punishes" a corporation  for disagreeing with him.  WHAT happened to the Republican stance of smaller government and support of Big Business?  Oh yeah, as long as they are lining your pockets Big Business is fine.  When you publicly make a stand, well, you are toast.

I love how the ONLY thing that they are harping on is pedophilia,  Now, I think pedophiles are the lowest of the low. I do not dispute that, but it seems to be the ONLY argument against ANYONE who opposes the Republican Party.  This is a page STRAIGHT out of Putin's playbook.  Rachel Maddow did a remarkable piece earlier this week about just how he rose to power.  

But back to Ron DeSantis and his Cancelation of Disney.  He's totally gas lighting people in advance of the Mid terms.  A few details he left out: 

•   The Law does not go into effect until June 1, 2023. So all those people salivating over the immediate demise of Disney are going to have to wait for more than a year. 

•  Also- and I am DIRECTLY quoting from today' BRILLIANT piece fro Heather Cox Richardson ( please read it in full) "Even more, though, state law says that Disney’s status can’t be repealed without the consent of the voting landowners, a reality Republicans in the state legislature appear to have ignored. "  Essentially, the "law" is a nothing burger, if the people in the District don't approve it.  And who in their right mind WOULD?   This is grandstanding, which appears to be all the current Republican Party has in its arsenal.

I realize this was still in my draft box.  This is all I have to say at the moment about Florida, but I am thinking and getting concerned about how the Conservative movement is forcing their will on the rest of us.  We need to take Florida as a warning and fight in our communities to allow people to have free will .  the thing that ( to quote my mom ) frosts my ass is they take away your rights and call it Freedom.

I am a political animal

 I always have been interested in what is going on.  I consider myself a liberal, but I understand the conservative POV.  I think we need both sides to get it right. 

I do NOT understand the current mindset of the Republican Party.  They LITERALLY have NO platform and are dang proud of it.  The only agenda they have is that ANYTHING Joe Biden wants needs to be stopped.  I swear if he declared breathing to be mandatory , the Faithful would hold their breaths until they passed out - I would PAY to see some of them keel over in that instance.

I wonder what time Marjorie Taylor Greene will be on the stand on Friday.  Oh, she's playing the victim here to the hilt.  Haven't you heard the Truth will set you free, Marge?  She was SO sure the Insurrection would work, she made VIDEOS to support her support for it so Trumpty Dumpty could have evidence of her fealty.  Now it's just... evidence.   Get out the popcorn.  May this just be the first of a long list of reckoning for people who tried to overthrow the government.

I see that the Republican Party in Tennessee tossed Trumps hand-picked candidate, a woman with no experience and NO knowledge of her district based on interviews she has given- off the ballot.  They are NOT supporting her candidacy.  Tennessee went so far as to pass a law that you have to live there three years before you can run, but since they passed it after she was on the ballot, this may not apply to her.  Still I am proud of the Republican Party there ( something I rarely say) in their standing up to the Former Guy.  I hope she loses "bigly" and moves back to wherever she came from.  Carpetbagger much?

I am watching the election in France.  Are the French so fed up that they will elect an actual Putin-loving and Putin OWING- Communist?  I hope not.  Look what happened here when we "elected" ( with Putin's interference) a Putin sycophant.    yeah.

Alex Jones is apparently spilling the tea all over the place, possibly in hope of getting help with his legal troubles regarding the BS he spewed for YEARS about the Sandy Hook killings.  He needs to lose everything, as those families did as he continued to smear them as fakes.  He is the worst instance of walking excrement I have ever seen- and that includes Steve Bannon who always looks like he needs a bath.

To Quote Margo Channing "Fasten your seatbelts, It's going to be a bumpy night."

Easter and where have I been

 To my regular readers who think I fell off the edge of the world, I kind of did.  On March 15th I had a total knee replacement.  It is a rough go and I have not had the energy or the brainpower to write ANYTHING.  So here I am.  Lots to unpack.

This is Easter Eve or whatever they call it.  I am sure there is a name for it, but it escapes me right now.  I have said it before and I will say it again; you can talk about "The War on Christmas" all you want and wring your hands and moan that "Christians are being canceled" but if you follow your faith, you will realize that EASTER is the main holiday for Christians.  Seriously, the whole thing is based on his taking our sins by dying and rising again.   I don't particularly buy into that, but it IS what Christians believe and I am not going to attack anyone for their belief as long as it makes them a better person.

I have been thinking about my childhood church and the teachings therein.  So, in no particular order:

Why are we pissed off at Judas?   IF we believe that God sent Jesus to die for us and all of this was part of His plan, then WHY are we angry at JUDAS for doing what God himself ordained?  It had to suck to be Judas.

Why do we throw shade on the Jews for Jesus crucifixion?  The Romans were in charge and they were the ones who passed the judgment.  Ok, so the whole "Give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus" thing.  Someone once told me the theory that Barabbas was a leader in an underground movement and that's why they wanted him back.  Interesting thought, but again, if God himself put this plan in motion, why are we casting blame for people doing God's will?

My faith is not the faith it was when I was a child.  I don't behave myself for hope of Heaven or fear of Hell.  I am not quite sure either exist in the mode that was presented over and over again in countless thundering Sunday sermons.  I do believe in God and have a rather quirky relationship with my creator.  I am still trying to figure it out.  I suppose I will see if I got it right at some point in the future.

I don't think God intercedes much on our behalf.  If he did , Putin and Trump would have been smote down with bolts of lighting ( something the Southern Baptist minister of my childhood constantly referenced to scare the congregation)   So far, nada from God on what going on in Ukraine, although the sinking of the flagship was a good start.

The banning of books is getting out of hand.  Honestly, today Florida banned MATH books for teaching "Critical Race theory" or as we like to call it "history"  Heaven forbid the children of that state not be taught the "Happy Darkie" theory;  that Black people are somehow inferior and appreciate being kept in slavery.  UGH.

Don't start me on Gregg Abbott of Texas.  He creates an artificial crisis and then changes the rules to somehow appear to Save The Day.   I hope people in Texas remember freezing because the power grid was substandard and the Governor did nothing and now they are going to pay higher prices for a fake supply chain problem.  Vote for Beto if you can.

But my thoughts turn back to Easter. I am making a traditional meal, somewhat abbreviated as standing for a long time is still tough.   I am going to color a few eggs and make deviled eggs for tomorrow.  I brought back my Mother-in-law's deviled egg plate, so that will hold pride of place on the table this year.  I miss her terribly.  She was a true blessing in my life and I am  proud to have been her daughter.

Happy Easter.

Thursday morning

 I know I should write every day and as I wind down toward retirement, I am going to try to do that, to keep my chops up, to keep my brain active to do something.

I have worked steadily since I was 18- I was off for brief periods of time due to illness or childbirth, but I have always worked.  It is going to be weird not to have that thing on my schedule.  People say it will take a while before it really sets in that I am not going to a job.   I have a friend who gave himself a year of doing nothing except what he wanted to do before finding what it was he really wanted to do.  I think that sounds like a fine idea. 

I am not the kind of person to do nothing.  Sure, there are days when lying in bed reading is all I want to do, but then I feel like a slug and start some project.  I am doing little artsy things that I enjoy and I am pretty pleased with the outcome.  I post pictures of them on FB when I hang them- they are door decorations, I just finished one for Valentines Day and I need to get it hung.  It's not anything remarkable, but I like it and one of my neighbors said she likes my decorations so that was nice. 

I am thinking of making Gazpacho for dinner- without the cucumbers Chris hates- in honor of that idiot MTG.  THERE , ladies and gentlemen, is the product of a poor education.  This is what you get when you tell people that their children can't handle the truth of history and tell it like a Disney version of Grimm's Fairy Tales ( read the actual Grimm's Brother in German, you will be horrified)  We need to tell them the truth, so we don't repeat the past.

So, I am looking at recipes and  getting ingredients for a cold soup that might be nice this evening.  it has been typical "winter" weather here, high 70's with clear days.  I await the rains in the end of the month and in March. We have not had much rain and we are in a severe drought.  

I'd better get my tail in gear here.  I have to be "at work" in 1/2 hour  Still working hybrid, part here part there.  We do not have enough space to all go in at once and socially distance.  There IS space in the huge building I work in that is not being used but we can't get access.  I suppose cleaning the areas that are unused on a daily basis is a concern.   that is a rant and a musing for another day.

A poem about my garden (inwhich I try to channel Mary Oliver)

 

My neighbor

waters the weeds

in my garden

The ones the gardener  ignores

and the ones I don't have the time

or the energy to pull

so they grow

around the rocks

and the other plants 

that my neighbor 

and his grey metal can

water gently 

every day.

Almost No one reads these anyway

 Well , there are about three people who check in with me.  Thanks guys!  I suppose I write more for myself, to keep my skills up but it IS discouraging to post and have no one even look at it- there's a counter and it tells me.

Sigh.  

We went to the Getty yesterday.  It was a nice day, perfect weather as we sometimes get in mid Winter around here- in the mid 70's and clear as a bell.  Not too windy.  I always laugh at the houses on the hill, near the Getty.  Big Mansions that cost a pretty penny.  I always wonder f those people know their home is built on a garbage dump.  Yep.  A landfill.   As a kid, I remember the garbage trucks going up that road that now leads to those pricy homes.  I'd be willing to bet it was not mention by the realtors in making the sales pitch.

I always go and look at The Irises- the Van Gogh that usually hangs in the gallery.  It is the prize piece of the collection, purchased in the 90's for an obscene amount of money.  It is beautiful and now encased in glass to keep people from touching it.  It has its own guard who keep people back from it.  Before they put the glass on it, I used to tuck my hand behind my back when I would look at it; the urge to touch it was so strong. The textures and the colors are wonderful to look at.  I have been there once or twice when it was not on display and I was disappointed.  

They had a lot of Gauguin's on display and I really looked a them this time.  There was also an alabaster bust of a woman that was so beautifully done, it was almost as if she could speak.  I think of Michelangelo  who said that he felt he was feeing the subject from the stone when he sculpted.  I like that notion, that art is there, waiting to appear.

Still I am trying to write as often as I can, not just when the spirit moves me.  Writing is a craft that must be practiced or you lose the muscle memory.  I had promised to write every day at one point, but that fell by the wayside as life became overwhelming and I just didn't feel like exploring my mind and putting it to "paper"   As I get ready to retire, I am planning my next move and I hope that daily writing will be part of my journey.  even if it is only for a select few who keep up with me, 

Wondering aloud- Republican Party thoughts

 In no particular order, follow my meandering mind into the rabbit warren that the Rethuglican Party is.

• I see Mike Pence has FIANLLY said something in response to Trump.  Did Casper Milquetoast FINALLY grow a spine, or does the Koch Brothers PAC have their hand up his back?  If I recall correctly, one of the Koch Brothers is dead, so it's only a Koch Brother making that sock puppet move his mouth.  It's a case of too little-too late there Mikey Boy   UNLESS of course he is cooperating with the January 6 Committee- what a DELICIOUS thought THAT is.  Pence knows where the bodies are buried.

• Steve Bannon accused Pence of "ratting Trump out"   Well, I have watched enough mob movies to know that "ratting someone out" means telling the TRUTH on someone to the authorities.  Slips of the tongue are aplenty these days as the truth begins to do its thing.  I find that lies will ultimately crumble.  the truth will always be the truth so it can bide its time.

• Trump admitted in writing and in speeches that he was trying to overturn the election.  Think about that for a minute.   Good   Treason is defined as:

            The offense of betraying one's own country by attempting to overthrow the              government through waging war against the state or materially aiding its enemies.

Do you think this meets the guidelines?  

• If I am reading her correctly, Rona Romney McDaniel believes the insurrection and all that went down on January 6 in the Capitol building was "Legitimate Political Discourse."  So, I guess she would have no problem if a group of  "ordinary citizens" chose to break down the doors and smash windows at her headquarters while she was deciding to whether to pay Trump's legal bills or not.  No problem at all with them  bear-spraying her security team and beating them with anything they found handy?  Just fine with them pooping in the hallways and smearing it all over the walls and her desk?  I wonder if her blood ties to Mitt Romney ( who I am not taking issue with today, since he seems to have his own fence straddling to do in regard to all this) got her the gig in the first place.    

• Seeing everyone line up behind Trump, you have to wonder two things.   Are they giving out lobotomy coupons at RNC conventions?  Just  WHAT does Trump have on all these people to make them get down on their knees before him?  Do you really believe that BS or has Trump conned YOU into selling your soul for power he can no longer give without the help of  HIS Master.  

• I LOVE that "W" as I call the second Bush , is giving the maximum allowable donations to all those  with an R after their name who voted for impeachment.  Good for him.  I didn't care for him and I thought Dick Cheney might have been a wee bit too involved in his decisions, but I never thought him evil or intent on destroying our Republic.  

• While I am not a fan of Liz Cheney- I'm a bit too Liberal to go along with the Republican Platform in MOST instances- I admire her and Adam Kinzinger for their willingness to bring truth to the surface.   Why is the Republican Party so afraid of the truth?  I want to know the truth, whatever it is.

• Since he is so "Christian" I wonder if  Trump is familiar with the verse John 8:32 "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free".  Someone needs to tell him it is not "Work makes your free" ("Arbeit" translates to "work" )

You need to know that although I am a FLAMING LIBERAL DEMOCRAT  I do believe that we need to hear the more conservative take on things to make decisions that will be the best for all the people.  HOWEVER  I do NOT believe that banning and burning books- as they are starting to do- is the "solution"   AND when you think the Nazi's deserve a seat at the table, you just lose the argument altogether.

Poem "he waits in the wings"

 Listening to a song

by a singer I had never heard

I kept mishearing her sing

"He wakes on the wind"

in the chorus

I was taken by the imagery

of the spirit she was singing about

who caused her trouble and pain

Waking on the wind

as if the wind would blow the trouble and  grief

swirling around her

and not blow it away

Reading the News

 I gave up reading my local paper during the 2008 recession , when I was given a 10% pay cut and the editor said City employees were overpaid anyway and we should be grateful.  I called them and cancelled my decades long subscription, saying their editor suggested we cut back on our expenditures and , gosh  I realized I didn't need to pay to be insulted every single day.  The then-Mayor suggested things we could do on that extra day off- like "Go to Disneyland" or "volunteer somewhere"   Marie-Antoinette Villaraigosa had no clue.  A lot of people lost their homes- some people for whom both wage-earners were City Employees got a 20 % hit.  Yeah, so no more "Daily News" although I missed the Human Interest column written by  Dennis McCarthy.

I do miss spreading the Sunday paper on the bed and starting with the Comics.  Don't judge me.

Now I get most of my news online and I try to read the Associated Press website, the are the most objective, straight news I can find. 

I subscribe to Dan Rather's blog "steady" and also the brilliant Heather Cox Richardson's "Letters from an American.  She's particularly insightful, given her background as a history professor, she brings it all together in historic context. 

I was thinking about how we got the news when we were kids.    In the evening, we would watch the news on television.  The straight talk from Walter Cronkite.  The final exchange  from Hunter and Brinkley, who would always sign off "Good night Chet" Goodnight David" from their respective studios.  Somewhere in the 70's the news turned to "Happy Anchors" who would cut up and laugh and guffaw while delivering the news.  Don Henley wrote a song about it "Dirty Laundry"   The news became less news and more new-with-opinions.  No filter and frankly the "Happy News anchors" were annoying to me.  I longed for Uncle Walter- as many people called Cronkite- to give us the straight dope.

What passes for news these days is sometimes like talking to a misinformed friend who only wants to present their view of things.  People who, for instance think ANYTHING coming off the Fox Channel -an ENTERTAINMENT CHANNEL- is anything akin to news are sadly mistaken.  I love Rachel Maddow and I often agree with her. Her monologue at the beginning is a mixture of hard news and opinion, but you can TELL the difference, unlike   F-er Carlson and Laura Ingram (the woman is the epitome of the "Bubble headed bleach blonde who comes on at 5") who look straight into the camera and lie; telling you their opinion as if it were fact.

I long for what Sgt Joe Friday used to say  "Just the facts, ma'am"

Ya gotta have faith

 Faith is defined as a noun  "complete trust or confidence in someone or something."     The SECOND meaning is a belief in a god or a religion.

I recently read a meme, posted by someone who I used to know about how Joe Biden  in asking people to have faith in what he was trying to do, was somehow blaspheming.  The post then showed a picture of St Donald of the Grift, talking about worshiping God.  

It got me to thinking about the word and how evangelicals seem to have changed the meaning of the word, that "faith" means only your religion or your belief system.  They seem to think they own the word faith, as if it can only mean the belief in a Christian god.  They get all flibbertigibbet when it is used in its more common meaning- trust in someone or something.

I am sure evangelical heads exploded when George Michael came out with the song "faith"  I wonder if the title made them all squishy in their tingly parts until they actually heard the tune, but as usual, I digress

When someone asks you to have faith in the process, they are not asking you to worship them or the institution that will guide the process; they are asking you to trust the process. (slightly off topic- when someone declares themselves the Chosen one, and says they are the Second coming of God- showing a decided lack of knowledge of who is coming back, in the Christian Doctrine, well, I have a problem with people saying what a great practitioner of the religion said person is)

So, I will hold on to my faith that things will be ok, eventually.  That the balance of the universe will come back to some kind of order.  That criminals will get their just desserts ( what the hell?) and that people who believed in them will be healed.

Ya gotta have faith.

Mondegreens and other lyrical musings

 Chris and I were driving last night and one of the games we play in the car is to come up with songs related to a word or phrase.  It's fun, each of us has a weird bank of songs we tap into .  Last night was "sun" and we came up with:

Here comes the sun

Sunshine Superman

Sunrise sunset

and a few others I can't remember.  The game came to a close when he quoted some lyric from Frank Zappa about roaches in a strange kitchen at night.  We were almost where we needed to be at that point and I just gave up.  My mind wandered, as it usually does these days, and I wound up thinking of a mondegreen- or misheard lyric- that is one of my favorites.  In the song "LA Woman" Jim Morrison growls "City at Night" a book by John Rechy about a seedy "underground" in a City I THINK is New Orleans, but I can't remember.  I tried to read it in High School but it did not "grab" me.  Maybe I should try it again.  Anyway, I always heard "Obsidian Night"  which I think is pretty cool, although the theme of the book is probably closer to what Morrison was getting at.

I have been watching the Beatles movie and watching them create their music.  A lot of musicians just riff lyrics until they come up with something that fits.  Phil Collins song "Sussudio" comes to mind.  I remember reading that it was a nonsense word he just sang and likes it so well he kept it.  The songs in the Beatles film that have been haunting me are "I , me, Mine"  and "Dig a pony" George says his song was influenced by a strange Sci-Fi film that had been on television the night before.  They show clips of what he was talking about and the song makes sense.  "Dig a Pony" however is just one of John's nursery rhymes.  I was looking for the lyrics and found a website where someone is absolutely convinced it's about heroin; "pony"="horse" a slang term for heroin.  I doubt it.  From watching him, I think he was just playing with words.  Sometimes, as it has been observed, a cigar is just a cigar.

The same thing happened with the America song "a Horse with no name" that the writer, Dewey Bunnell  says- and I have no reason to doubt it- was a song about the environment.  People swore it was code for his heroin addiction.  uh, yeah.  My favorite America mondegreen is "Bench on a highway" for "Ventura Highway'

The cutest one I ever heard was the sister of my daughter's BFF, who was in the backseat singing with all her heart "Going to the jack-o-lantern, gonna get married" ( see Chapel of Love by the Dixiecups for the real lyric here.

Sometimes a misheard lyric makes the song more meaningful to you.  I wonder if we mishear what our hearts want and our brains comply.

Weird dreams

 Last night, for the first time in a long time I slept through the night, without waking once.  I have been suffering from nightmare induced insomnia- horrible dreams that would give Sam Pekinpah  a run for his money.  I had this really weird dream, which I will share

I was going back to college and was in Arizona of all places.  For my "English class"  I decided it would be fun to take a class in baseball writing. Dream me (in a lot of my dreams I play another character and this was the case here) decided that "hey I like baseball and I like to write, so win-win"  The teacher was a taskmaster.  We were to buy a newspaper ever day and read the articles on baseball.  Fair enough, but when I went to buy a cup of coffee and the LA Times ( I was looking for the Daily News but I was in Arizona)  the thing cost me 7 dollars.   I reasoned as a poor college student I had better get a subscription but my classmate told me people stole them from your door if you did that.  huh .  Somewhere in my dream the online version never occurred to me.  The teacher also told us that we had to be glued to the tv right after the National Anthem.  Baseball is, as Robin Williams observed, a "slow damn game"  Dream me wondered about meals and bathroom breaks.  I fell asleep and missed the opening pitch.  It was a Yankees game ( see I still have nightmares!)  I began writing my opinion piece like this:

"AS a kid, I grew up listening to the best baseball commentator in the business, Vin Scully.   My two favorite teams have always been the Dodgers and whoever is playing the Yankees.  Being forced to watch and comment on a Yankee game without bias is going to be hard for me, but I will try. "

So, are my dreams telling me to move to Arizona ( FAT CHANCE) or go back to college?  I don't know what to make of it, except maybe the fiction part of my brain relaxed enough to give me a pleasant dream.

 I CAN write about something OTHER than politics.

Politics, Politics Politics

 I often think of the scene in History of the World, where Mel Brooks bombs in a comic act before the Roman Senate.  He changes gears, yelling "Politics Politics politics" and gets in even more trouble.  

Sometimes I feel like it's the only thing I talk about.  One day I want to talk about books or movies or ANYTHING but what is going on in the world, but if we act like it isn't  bad out there, then the bad will take over.

I see the Trump organization id being dragged into civil court for lying about their finances.  Someone on Facebook ( I Know)  observed that he might finally get his due, because the Rich cheer when you screw the little guy, but it's GAME ON when you screw the Rich.  I hope so.  I hope this is just step one in what will happen to him.  His base, however is probably cheering that they 'stuck it to the man" even though Trump and his cronies ARE the man.

I saw that one idiot (sorry there is no other word for someone so crack-brained) is advancing the theory that the person who spoke last weekend at the Arizona Rally was NOT Trump but... wait for it... JFK.  Yeah.  Right.  The BEST response was someone who observed that "Trump DOES speak like 104 year old man with half a brain" (OUCH!)

Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.  I wonder if they know anything about JFK or are simply moony-eyed over the romance of "Camelot" which was not real either.

I am watching Rachel Maddow with a mixture of hope and trepidation.  The January 6th Commission is working methodically toward the truth, but I think for most Trumpers, it IS true that he could shoot someone and rape their daughter in front of them and they would vote to acquit him of all charges.    I pray this will end well, but Trump does not have the conscience of Richard Milhous Nixon and THAT was precious little. There are few Republicans willing to go against him and those that are are reviled by his schoolboy taunts.

I hope the presidential documents will be in the hands of the committee soon and I hope that if they really did subpoena Eric Trump, he sings like a canary. 

Stuff I am thinking

 It's Monday and I am discombobulated so forgive me

We are in Laughlin, for what should have been a relaxing weekend.  Nope.  Water -lakes and rivers and the ocean- are my peaceful place. No luck here as the  river is effectively "closed" for the drought or repairs depending on who you talk to.Our room overlooks the HVAC system . Enchanting.  Staff are more grumpy than before and I suspect two years of simultaneous forced cheerfulness while reminding inebriated Right wingers that they need to wear a mask has something to do with it.

Chris and I need a real vacation, given the past 5 months, but who know when that will be.  I am going to need a good attorney for a small bit of legal advice-UNRELATED TO CHRIS!- so if anyone knows someone who know about contracts, let me know. It has to do with my ex..

Today we remember the work and words of Dr. King.   I was reading Dan Rather's Steady and if you haven't seen it, you should   I subscribe for 5 bucks a month, as I also do to Heather Cox Richardson.  Both are worthy of the sawbuck, but are also shared for free.   Mr Rather recalls the times spent with MLK and said something that resonates with me.  He was a radical and had he lived he would have continued the fight in radical ways.  We have made the man a saint.  He wasn't one. But he stood for a change we need in this country and that makes the Established Order uncomfortable.

They tell us not to cherry pick, but the statement of his that always meant something to me- I was ten when he was assassinated-was his hope that his children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  Many adults in my orbit had trouble with that and as I became an adult I continually fight the programming, I recognize it and fight it off in my head/  They say the first thought in your mind is what you were taught, but the second is who you are.  I'm going with that.

As we remember this man's work today, remember to be kind but also to recognize and fight injustice  and HELP PASS THE JOHN LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ACT!