Mitch McConnell is down on President Biden’s SCOTUS reform proposals.
Who is surprised?
Well, anyone who isn’t paying attention would be surprised.
For McConnell to support Mr. Biden’s proposal would be like Putin announcing the end of his war against Ukraine. Or Hamas’s declaration of an immediate cease fire with a follow up that they were disbanding and beginning a new peace union.
Just not gonna happen.
Mitch McConnell perverted the people’s will by keeping Merrick Garland’s nomination from progressing on the specious grounds that it was an election year. Meanwhile, he rammed Trump’s nomination through, even though it was ten days before the election.
Can you say fucking hypocrite?
I look forward to the day when Mitch McConnell crawls back into the earth like the worm he is and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, here is the Ira Shapiro opinion which triggered my thoughts today.
Much like yesterday and the day before, and in short march of previous days, today woke up cool. We’re ’bout 54 F now. The sky carries blue undiminished by any objects or shades. With Earth rolling toward the sun, the latter brings its heat and light o’er the mountains and trees and begins stoking the air into warmer regions. We expect it to get stoked to 92 F today. Gonna start getting hotter again tomorrow. Heat warning is effect for Thursday.
This is Tuesday, September 3, 2024, BTW.
In personal news, after several months of puttering through the insurance health care maze, I now have an ASAP referral to ortho for my ruptured tendon. They’re supposed to reach out to me. My being’s jaded facet, which has had only one short sip of coffee, asked, “Gosh, I wonder when that’ll take place?” I’m betting in six weeks. That seems the norm for the IHCM, my shorthand for the insurance health care maze.
In the last two days, I went online to get new quotes for car and house insurance. This is the fallout from American Family Insurance and their decisions about our home insurance. We’ve been with them for over twenty years, first in California, then up here in Oregon. They always start their missives by thanking us for being loyal customers.
Well, this time, their missive explained that they’re no longer insuring our home in Oregon. Too much risk, apparently, for their profit margins and executive bonuses. They were moving our insurance to one of their feeder companies. The insurance will cost more but it’ll cover less, just what every loyal customer wants to hear. And BTW, since they’re doing that, I no longer get the home and auto bundle discount. So our car insurance rose, as well.
I sought quotes from new companies. They’re the same old players. Hartford through AARP. They provided a pretty good quote. Allstate through The General. The Zebra sent us to State Farm and Progressive. Great rates for the car from Progressive but they don’t do home insurance in this area. Allstate doesn’t either, but they’ll refer us to another company and get some payments from that company for doing that.
But I’m really posting about it is because the phone calls and text messages have begun. Four phone calls in thirty minutes on our home phone this morning. Only three texts about it this AM, so far I’m braced for a lot more. That’s the cost of doing business, I suppose: getting bludgeoned on phone and text by companies trying to close the deal with you.
My theme for now for my daily theme music remains songs with night in their titles. I asked The Neurons if they had any ideas. “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC began rocking the morning mental music stream (Trademark declassified). If you’re of a certain age or inclination — or both — this song will have you raising the volume, banging your head, and singing along. It’s kind of weird that the title is ‘you shook me…’ as the lyrics talk about a woman in the third person until the chorus of ‘you shook me…”
Be chill and keep dealing. Here’s the music. Cheers
NOTE: Posting this was delayed by a visit to the growers market. You probably don’t care but just in case you were wondering where it’s been, well, here’s the explanation. Cheers
The Neurons played the 1966 Association song in my mental music stream as soon as I saw the name. I wanted to know if she was really named Cherish or was it what she put on her name tag? Did her parents name her Cherish at birth? It could be that she didn’t like her birth name and decided she was Cherish.
None of it is my business. I’m just curious. I believe, though, that she is the first individual named Cherish I’ve ever personally met.
Can you believe it? It’s already Monday in America. September 2, 2024. Labor Day.
Windows are parted to invite the outside in. Right now, a distant chain saw whines and screams. A single car motors past as lawn mower mutters and roars. Voices which seem male carry across the air. A gas leaf blower is powered up and voices its song.
It’s cool air these machines violate, just stealing through the fifties as the sun arcs over trees and mountains, surmounting a flawless blue sky. Today’s high will see a descent from yesterday’s highs. We saw 100 at home, a surprise when forecasts called for 94. The net variously reported the high at 96 and 98 F yesterday. Today’s rise will see us through into the bottom 80s. Same is exected for tomorrow but the rest of the week will see high summer heat.
Meanwhile, trees are dancing in new autumn foliage already. Our tree’s dark green leaves already has lemon yellow clumps of leaves dotting the boughs.
Continuing with a night theme, The Neurons reprised Corey Hart’s 1983 song, “Sunglasss At Night”, and have it circulating in the morning mental music stream (Trademark deep sixed). It’s a new wave techno pop hit with 1980s stylization. Blowing out of FM stereo in a car, inspiration for the young, including me, was almost instantaneous. Especially at night. But it’s true pop, nothing deep.
Stay positive, remain strong, vote blue, and let’s move on to a brighter future. Work needs to be done to make that happen. I got my coffee; here’s the music. Cheers
It’s a new month. September has arrived, on a Sunday, and on a holiday weekend. Seems weird that it’s Labor Day weekend. It’s too soon! Nobody around here seems prepared. I’ve barely seen any ads. Okay, turn the page.
It’s 76 F here in Ashlandia, where Labor Day is privately celebrated. The expected high will be 94 F, so it’s cooled off from the last two days. Saw 100 at my house yesterday. Besides being cooler, it’s cloudier. Will it rain? The Weather 8 Ball says ‘All signs point to no.’ Air quality is good but the pollen count is high, and I’m feeling that.
My wife sat up with a burst of outrage this morning. She read a headline aloud, “The one thing Kamala Harris said that shows she’s unfit to be president.” My wife fumed, “The one thing. The one thing! Show me one thing Donald Trump said that shows him fit to be president.” I received the Vote Vets Harris-Walz for President magnetic bumper sticker she ordered me yesterday and slapped it on my rear end. It immediately fell off because I’m flesh and blood and not very magnetic. I then put it on the car. Yes, some pre-coffee humor. Sorry.
My wife has also ordered a dozen bumper stickers to give out to friends, and two other magnetic bumper stickers for our car. She’s donated to the Harris-Walz campaign several times, but is outraged that they keep just asking her for more. I explain, “Honey, that’s the nature of political campaigns.” That just sets her off more.
Ima starting a new theme week this week. Starting today, I’ll provide a song that features night in the title. The Neurons immediately sprang up with “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” The rocking 1974 John Lennon release is rolling through the morning mental music stream (Trademark dark).
Stay positive, be strong, and have a drink of something to get you through the moment. I’ve chosen coffee. Here’s the music. Don’t forget, Vote Blue. Cheers
I found myself thinking about Chris Woods this morning. He’s a friend who died of cancer a few years ago.
Egregious: that’s why I was thinking of him. I was using the word in my head. That triggered The Neurons to remember a time when I was having a beer with Chris and he used the word. One of many reasons I enjoyed Chris’s company is because he would correctly use words like egregious. As one friend said, “my conversations with Chris were never long enough or ever finished.”
And then, since the door was opened, apparently, I thought of the late, great Quinn, a little sweetheart of a cat who lived with me for over ten years. Like Chris, cancer chased the life out of Quinn. Never more than eight pounds, he packed a huge personality into that little being.
It’s weird and odd and other words about how our mind works on its own. So don’t mind me and my memories of the dead.
An important lesson is conveyed in it which is lost on the GOP. Inclusion and diversity strengthen us. They are not dirty words or immoral ideas. Inclusion and diversity help us understand one another better and further, fertilizes new ideas and insights that would have been lost.
Broadening horizons, expanding work forces, and forging social bonds through diversity and inclusion are not new ideas. We’ve been using them for some time. And if the GOP can pull its collective head out of their collective ass, they would see that it’s one of the fundamental reasons why we attained and maintained global leadership positions in so many areas of modern life.
The GOP should not be allowed to throw away all that progress just for the sake of narrow Biblical viewpoints, fragile male egos, reactionary ideas about women’s rights and gender roles, nor for the benefit of a super-powerful and wealthy one percent. Vote Blue in 2024.
Tuesday is singing through the open windows. A train’s whistle, the bottle recycle truck with its growl and crashes as bottles are thrown into a pile, cars hustling the asplalt. School has begun; the vibe is different. It’s August 27th. Summer’s talking about finishing for 2024.
We drink coffee and surf the net, summoning the energy to launch ourselves to the Growers Market for fresh produce. I have vowed to find a turnover or scone to eat in a late breakfast. I’m ready to go, for I’ve downed some coffee. My wife is moving more slowly.
Purpleair says our air quality is declining and has crossed the line from good to whatever is a littl worse than good. It’s 62 F now but indications are that it’ll chug up to the mid 80s F today.
I continue with time as the theme, as in time must be in the song’s title. A great quantity of rock and pop songs met the standards. Everyone sings about time but nobody does anything about it.
The Neurons have found an oldie. It thrashes the morning mental music stream (Trademark stalled) as I sit here. “Let the Good Times Roll” came out in 1946, ten years before my birth. Louis Jordan was the performer. But in my lifetime, it felt like it B.B. King owned it. I turn to B.B. for today’s primary version, as that’s what I’m hearing in my head.
Stay positive, be strong. Black coffee helps me with those things. Here’s the music. We’re off to the market. Cheers
Today is Saturday, August 24, 2024. It’s a chilly 54 F this morning. I turn on the fireplace and open the blinds. Light rain peppers the greenery with some needed moisture. Sunshine emerges and steam begins rising. Today’s high will be an un-summery 70 F.
We’re back in Ashlandia, where the worries are palpable and the angst is regular. A second well-established restaurant is shutting down after years of business. This is a trend we don’t like.
Ashlandia is dependent on tourism. Drought, pandemic, fires, smoke, and economics have all tested our tourism. Each have contributed to a point where the ‘you are here’ dot is tiny and prickly. We’re home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It’s our major industry, abetting revenue brought in by being an outdoor adventure location for fishing, rafting, and skiing (Mt. Ashland) and what Southern Oregon University contributes. Under the impact of those big five factors of pandemic, etc., we’ve been in a slow downward spiral.
We’d already lost the seasonal business called the Water Street Cafe. It’d been a longtime draw but the owner passed and the survivors couldn’t make it work. It’s now a crepe place, and we have high hopes for that.
Last week, the Black Sheep Restaurant announced they’re shutting down. Now Cucina Biazzi is closing. We’re already lost many book stores like the Book Wagon, and coffee shops like The Beanery and Cafe Boulevard. In their place, we’re gaining used clothing stores, marijuana dispenseries, and tattoo parlors. This are not major draws when every other town is offering more of the same.
Being back home, I miss stepping out of the Waldport vacation house and into the seaside environment. I enjoyed going out there each morning and tasting the breeze, studying the tides’ levels, and gathering in sunshine and clouds. I do the same thing here, but it’s not the same with the ocean missing.
I begin another theme for the coming week today. The theme now is songs with time in their titles. Lots come to mind. The time theme came out of being stuck in traffic yesterday as an accident was cleared away. The first song offering from The Neurons is “Time Won’t Let Me” by The Outsiders from 1965. The fast-paced rocking roller is filling my morning mental music stream (Trademark delayed) like I was back in a neighbor’s Wilkinsburg basement listening to it on a 45 record. Actually, I think my memories have better fidelity than that little record player in use. I would’ve been about ten at that time.
Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue. Coffee has made itself comfortable in me. Time for the music. Cheers
We left our vacation house on the coast this morning at 10:30. It was 58 F. When the sky saw we were leaving, it started crying.
We headed north from Waldport to Lincoln City because we wanted to do something stuff up there. And while we were there, the sky’s crying launched into heavy bawling. And that wet stuff kept coming down. We head east to Oregon’s capitol, Salem. The rain came down. We headed south. The rain went with us.
Well, we told each other, this cool air and heavy rain will help with the fires. Let’s hope California is getting some of this precipitation.
We slammed to a halt just south of Coburg, then inched forward for thirty-five minutes. Finally, we arrived at an accident site. Clean up was in progress. We didn’t know anything about injuries but three cars and a truck were involved. I tried learning more via a search of the net. Ridiculous results ensured. One AI reported a recent accident on I5 southbound by Coburg happened, but that was three years ago. Google’s reporting showed me accidents for up to one day ago, along with accidents from Feb. and April Not fucking useful.
Any way, we the route, weather and traffic delays, we were on the road nine hours and I’m a little road weary. Funny, though: when we arrived here at home, it hadn’t rain. Light spit was falling. We asked Alexa about this, but she can’t answer questions like that. She’s too limited.
Going right into the music, I’m staying with the theme of songs with colors in the title. The Neurons pulled out “Raspberry Beret”, a 1985 song by Prince, and popped that into the morning mental music stream (Trademark wet).
As always, it’s good to be home. My cats greeted us with purrs and rubs before demanding makeup food. It was lovely being in cool coastal weather with a restless Pacific at hand. That reminded us of our Half Moon Bay life. I still miss that. We made the right decision to move away from there.
In fine symmetry, it was 58 F here in Ashlandia at our 7:30 PM arrival. Rain is expected tonight. It’ll be 69 F as tomorrow’s high, a weirdly low temperature for an Ashlandia August.
Well, coffee was consumed, and here I sit. Stay positive. Ride the wave of positive and joyous Harris – Walz energy. Vote blue. Here’s the music. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 