Thursday’s Theme Music
Mood: repetigird
Thursday, September 19, 2024, kicked off split between sunshine. One end of the sun was bathed in refreshing warm gold light. The other end was dim, caught in shadows. The situation is slowly changing as the sun lifts over the barriers and heaves into the sky. Which, accidently, sounds like the sun might be puking up there.
58 F here and now, we have blue skies in the main, with some haziness coalescing along the horizons, especially to my west, where the valley flattens out. Yesterday presented us with a gorgeous warm but not overbearing afternoon of sunshine and breezes. Today might duplicate the results, with a high of 79 F being batted around.
Speaking of weather, I’ve been reading about the U.S. healthcare system’s ranking compared to like countries. Yes, that’s a non-sequitar, ain’t it? Few should be surprised that our nation was ranked last, with higher costs, lower levels of service, less access to care, and shorter life spans. I find the comments of Dr. Joseph Betancourt, President of the Common Wealth Fund, relevant.
“This report reveals that our health system is continuing to lag far behind other nations when it comes to meeting our citizens’ basic health care needs. The US spends more on health care than any other country, and Americans are sicker, die younger and struggle to afford essential health care. We spend the most and get the least for our investment.”
“As a primary care doctor, I see the human toll of these shortcomings in our system on a daily basis. I have patients who need medications they can’t afford. I spend time going back and forth with insurance companies who have denied care I know my patients need, and I see older patients who arrive sicker than they should because they’ve spent the majority of their lives uninsured.”
Reading newspaper, magazine, and online articles, I’ve encountered the story he tells again and again. Worse, the laws and actions the GOP and the right wing are initiating are compounding health issues for women by inserting the state and religious views into the transactions. Neither have a need to be there, and both are detrimental to good health practices. Trump and his concept of a plan would most likely worsen the situation, as he’s for business, against government, and has little empathy for the middle class and below. This fuels our need to vote blue in 2024.
We ordered six more Harris-Walz yard signs last night. These are earmared for friends who are looking for yard signs. One woman said she’s putting on on her fence, facing her Trump-supporting neighbor. All turned down bumper stickers. This is a blue to purple area, with a lot of red inflammation around the edges. My friends stated that they have real concerns about what those MAGAs would do to them or their car; yes, we’ve seen the videos and heard the threats MAGAs like to issue.
Without great surprise, I read of an EPA IG report that said top EPA officials had retaliated against whistle blowers. This was done under the previous administration.
Ah, moving on through the morning. I have Jackson Browne singng “The Pretender” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark calloused). The Neurons brought it up when I was sipping coffee, watching cats wash after they’d eaten, studying the line of the morning sun moving across the backyard. Then the songs’ lines came up, “And when the morning light comes streaming in, we’ll get up and do it again.” Yep, that’s where I stand. Time to do it again.
Be strong, stay positive, test negative, and vote blue in 2024. Here’s the music. Cheers
Wednesday’s Political Thoughts
Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for President of the United States in 2024.
The GOP candidate, Donald J. Trump, reacted strongly, ‘truthing’, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”
That reaction is symbolical of Trump’s maturity and life approach. Such behavior probably posts Ms. Swift’s case for not supporting Trump.
What prompts me to think about it and write about it is another writer asking via a headline, “Opinion: Why is Trump picking a fight he can’t win with Taylor Swift?”
Matt Lewis is the author. He writes a reasonable column about a reasonable question, if the subject, Donald J. Trump, was a reasonable person with reasonable self-control.
But Trump has shown himself not to be a reasonable person. He’s revealed himself to be petty. He’s demonstrated that he lacks self-control. The governor on his mental processes seems seriously damaged.
And that’s why he should not be POTUS: because he can’t stop himself from instigating and pursuing petty fights. A petty person is not what we need as the leader of our nation.
Vote Blue in 2024.
Wednesday’s Wandering Thoughts
It’s a recurring theme for me. I see old people and wonder what they were like when they were young, and I look at young people and wonder, what will they be like when they’re old.
Like her, in the floppy sun hat, green pants, and multiple pastels scarves, short grey blonde hair and wire-rimmed round gold glasses. When did she become that person?
Or take her for example, the blonde early tweener with blue hair and fringe bangs, dressed all in black, with a long-sleeved shirt and tight shorts, white crew socks, and white canvas shoes. She’s a gregarious presence in her small knot of companions. What will she be like in the future?
Weird thing: thirty-five customers by my count in the coffee shop. Four of us are male. Two of the men are working on computers. It looks like the women are all socializing.
Contemplating the dynamics and speculating about people is an attractive way of engaging my mind as I sip coffee and the muse comes to write.
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Mood: hopindreamin
Sunshine burst in, a sumumnal morning surprise, antidote to the gray chilly dominance of the previous days. 53 F here now, the sun is expected to induce the air into the mid 70s before the world turns.
This is Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
Got our new insurance done yesterday. After doing quotes online, reading and reading and reading, and speaking with others, we ended up with State Farm. One, as some suggested, there’s a local agent. Two, they’ll provide the insurance we need at a reasonable cost. Three, in the aftermath of the huge Almeda fire several years ago, which destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, friends raved about how well State Farm handled the situation.
That done, I called American Family Insurance to cancel. Auto insurance cancellation was an eyeblink — or, thanks for calling, have a pleasant evening. Home insurance, she thoroughly identified me and the property in question. Next, she said that she needs to bring up a script to read me. She told me she was going to record the transaction, and was I okay with it? Then she ran through a script which verified again my identification and the property and the flat fact that I was canceling my insurance with them.
I get this. It’s an age of scammers and cheats and pranks. Anyone could theoretically call in, claim to be me, and cancel my insurance. They could do it just to be assholes. Anyway, the company was protecting itself. But it also protects me.
When I finished, I felt like comfort food was in order. Lot of stress and anxiety in researching insurance and making that change and the multiple decisions involved in prices, coverage, and options. It’s serious adulting. But the comfort food was skipped. Sitting there, reflecting as we went through it, I compared it to how it was when I was younger. When income was less and savings were thinner.
The agent remarked on our history. Almost twenty years with that other company and no claims made on home or auto. Yeah, don’t jinx us, I said. Knock on wood. He found it remarkable. My wife, laughing, said it was because we’re boring. I think it’s a blend of caution and luck.
If you know anything about reading this blog, you won’t be surprised to discover that thinking about luck cause Der Neurons to start firing with songs about luck and being lucky. It abated overnight but this morning found them playing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in the morning mental music stream (Trademark lucky). The 1982 song, “You Got Lucky” is playing in snatches around eating, nursing coffee as it nurses me, and reading, writing, and thinking. The song is about love and relationships but as a general song about being lucky and how good luck can affect your life, it works. I’ll take good luck whenever it comes and will try to dance around the bad luck when it happens.
Stay positive, be strong, and vote blue. Just 48 days until November 5.
Here’s the music. Cheers
Mail Concerns
I echo the concerns Annie brings up as Jessica Craven noted in her blog, Chop Wood Carry Water.
USPS performance has tumbled since DeJoy’s ascension as Postmaster General. Whether it’s incompetence, the tortured desire to run the USPS as a business and turn a profit, or actual maliciousness for reasons only known in his mind and private circles, deliveries are taking longer, more letters are being returned as undeliverable, and rural post offices and stations have been closed, raising the challenges of doing even the most mundane business at a post office.
It’s a concern going into the elections. Democrats use mail-in ballots more than Republicans. D.J. Trump actively rails against absentee and mail-in voting and is already establishing the foundation to challenge and throw out ballots received via mail.
Reach out to your senators and representatives. Add your voice to these concerns. And vote blue.
Tuesday’s Theme Music
Mood: sumummry
It’s another mediocre sumumn day, for which I’m thankful. Clouds blinker the blue sky and sunshine enough that we’re guessing, based on the past and science, that they’re up there. Rained yesterday in the early hours and became a pleasant day. Didn’t touch anywhere near the projected high. More of the same is filling my dance card, with the current temperature stumbling up through the fifties, rain expected this evening, and a high in the mid to upper 60s. All degrees are in Fahrenheit. That’s how we roll in Ashlandia, where we still use inches and feet. The air is okay, though, at 31 as an average.
Much as I’m snarking about our sumumn weather, things have taken a nasty turn in Europe. Heavy rains and flooding have struck several nations as Storm Boris terrorized the continent, while Portugal fights wildfires. Canada’s 2023 wildfires have issued a dramatic impact on the global environment, dumping huge amounts of carbon into the air. SoCal in the U.S. continues fighting and containing wildfires. North Carolina has been struck by a historic flood. Weatherwise, the world is experiencing some ugly trends.
If you need a distraction from the weather disasters, we still have war happening in Europe between Russia and Ukraine, and war between Israel and Hamas. Oh, yeah, and sports all around the world, and elections, and movies and books.
I have an old Mazda commercial going though the morning mental music stream (Trademark aging). I asked The Neurons, “WTF, dudes?” They giggled back. Here’s the song/commercial.
I wonder where that kid is now.
That isn’t today’s theme music, regardless of how much The Neurons lobby. Fortunately, after a little stumbling around, making coffee, feeding cats, staring at the weather, reading the news, and sipping coffee, The Neurons changed it up, bringing in Collective Soul with “The World I Know” from 1996. Now that’s an apt theme song. I have my little corner of being, with its weather, air quality issues, wineries and theater, and music, local politics, and friends. That’s the world I know. The rest flows in through media outlets or dribbles in via memories.
Stay positive, test negative, be strong, and vote blue in 2024. COVID cases are trending up, in case you missed that info. Time for another vaccination shot. Enjoy the music as I enjoy my coffee. Cheers
Monday’s Political Thoughts
There was a second attempt to kill Donald J. Trump, the GOP nominee for President of the United States, last weekend.
As usual, deaf and oblivious to his own words, Trump blamed the Democrats, especially President Biden and Vice President Harris, using the same words that they used on him, “a threat to Democracy”…again.
It seems shortsighted for the entire nation to be surprised that political violence is taking place, that presidential nominees are being targeted.
This is a nation that frequently turns to violence when things go awry. Authorities often respond to violence with violence. Police showed up in military hardware. It’s not rare for them to kill after issuing a brief warning with no time left for anyone to react to their orders. Check out the newspaper articles and cop cam footage that exists. Citizens have armed themselves to ‘defend their homes’ and stand their ground, shooting innocents along the way, ending disagreements by killing someone.
The nation has had over three hundred mass shootings in this year alone. Statistics show that the leading cause of death for children under age 17 is by shooting — for three years in a row. People on the right have been arming up since Trump lost in 2020. More guns than ever are in the hands of private citizens.
“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless ― if the left allows it to be.” That’s the public remark made by Kevin Roberts, president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The folks behind Project 2025. Project 2025 is the plan for how Trump will reshape the United States by undercutting rights, deregulating industries, reducing women’s rights, and eliminating the Department of Education, among many, many other things.
Trump supporters have been calling for violence to solve matters for years. And Trump himself frequently and consistently refers to Democrats and judges as evil or bad people, often because they did their job as they needed to be done. As POTUS, Donald Trump wanted to use the military to shoot protestors.
Then, there is Jan. 6, 2021.
And now people are surprised that guns are being brought into politics?
Some just don’t get it.
Monday’s Wandering Thoughts
We were out delivering food to people who need assistance this morning. It’s a small route, thirteen homes. We’re one of several routes.
My wife returned from delivering a hot meal and drink to a resident and entered the car, shaking her head. “I understand that adults make bad choices and end up at places like this. It’s full of crap. Pot is being grown, a sofa is in the front yard, there’s a broken refrigerator with a missing door that’s ben sitting there for months. But when I see those children’s toys cluttering the living room, my heart just aches.”
Yes, as I drive to each place, I ponder what brought each person to where they’re at, struggling to the door to accept a donated hot meal. Sometimes, it’s a bad choice but diseases and genetics can deal body blows. Other times, it’s a Venn diagram of life — Wrong Place/Wrong Time – you are here.
But sometimes, you’re born into it, beginning at the bottom, trying to work your way up and out.
Michael Seidel, writer 