Chuck Cummins's CHUCKWAGON JOURNAL

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

2011-12-22T16:43:00.000-05:00

We have a love-hate relation with hair. Some body hair we like to grow long and then we pamper and protect it. Other body hair we hate and do everything we can to get rid of it or, at least, make it inconspicuous. What is going on with our ongoing war on hair?

Young teen males develop a peach fuzz mustache long before they can grow a beard, that courser facial hair they will spend the rest of their lives in a daily ritual of removal. Teen males have been known to borrow mom’s mascara to darken their emerging upper lip hair. At the same time, their mom is using whatever over-the-counter product she can find that will lighten (or, hopefully, remove) her emerging upper lip hair. We are just never satisfied with our body hair.

I have hair growing in places I never anticipated, the end of my nose, in my nose and in my ears, to name a few. At the same time, underarm hair and chest hair seem to be dying off of its own accord. I don’t know why. Good riddance. Most western women would be happy to be relieved of their underarm hair once and for all. Some women have resorted to expensive and sometimes painful procedures to remove hair from various parts of their body forever.

What is the purpose of hair? Jennifer Viegas writing for Discover News tells us that our human “hair has the ability to enhance the detection of parasites and can even prevent pests from biting.” Well, there you are. All those areas we have been shaving over the years are invitations to parasites and pests, and not the human kind.

She further tells us that we have two types of hair: vellus and terminal. “The former is the aforementioned peach fuzz, while the latter refers to heard hair as well as to pubic hair that develops in the armpits and around the genitals.” Now I know why women want to shave their underarms. Who -- besides men, apparently -- wants pubic hair growing under their arms? Of course, that begs the question of why women enjoy resting their head on their man’s shoulder as they snuggle in the safety of his armpit. They may assume they are safe there from pests and parasites, other than the human kind.

Like I said, we have this love-hate relation with hair. We like flowing blonde hair on some people, mostly women, but are repulsed by the hairy arms of some men. We absolutely do not like other people’s hair in our food. Hence, food service workers have to wear hair nets and men with beards have to wear a “beard bib.” (I made that up. I have no idea what those beard shields are called.) Some women I know should have to wear one also, but we never see them so dressed when preparing or serving food. (A little gender bias there, if you ask me.)

Why do we have hair on our fingers, particularly the knuckles? Are they there to warn us of the approach of pests and parasites? Perhaps, but three hairs on the end of my nose? What are they for? They didn’t use to be there, so am I to understand that my nose is in more danger from attack by parasites and pest as I grow older? Or, and here’s a thought, maybe that is what the elders meant when they said someone “had a nose for danger.” Nose hairs let you sniff out danger (pests or pestilence) better than those people without them.

Age-related experience is supposed to make me a more valuable member of society, a respected elder so to speak. It may be that I have more value to my friends and family because of my three nose hairs. Maybe I’ll let them grow.

IT’S MOSTLY ABOUT FEAR

2011-12-19T11:39:00.000-05:00

There are a number of things we humans fear but the greatest probably has to do with fearing death. That appears to be innate. We are born with it. We instinctively flee anything we perceive as dangerous, especially anything life-threatening.

Aside from that innate fear, our second greatest fear is a fear of fear. Franklin Roosevelt said to the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” He was right, but we did not learn our lesson. In the words of the song from South Pacific, we have to be taught to hate and fear. And we are carefully taught.

Numerous groups are masters at playing the fear card. We parents teach our children early in their young lives to fear. They don’t always know what is going to happen when we say, “I’m going to count to three,” but they learn quickly to fear finding out. The fear of what may happen is more powerful than the actual consequence, at least in their minds. And we parents build on that fear.

When I was a child I knew if I misbehaved that I was either going to get yelled at or spanked. I usually opted for the spanking. Scolding did not seem to release a parent’s pent-up frustration, so I was faced with living the remainder of the day under the threat of more scolding, more anger, and more little jobs to punish me. A spanking was pretty much it. Frustration was released, the crime was punished and that was that. On the other hand, I dreaded the “Wait until your father gets home” threat. That forced me to live the rest of the day with my fears of what was to come.

Churches are good at playing the fear angle. Angels on high may have quelled the insecurity of shepherds in the fields by saying “Fear not,” but ministers and church leaders ever since have used fear as the primary means of keeping the faithful in line. Listen to any television or radio minister and you will be warned multiple times of the fate that can befall you if you fail to follow the path they prescribe. You can lose your soul to eternal damnation or you can condemn your town to destruction by not voting the way Reverend Pat Robertson says you should. A lot of good things are promised, but you can count on a lot of bad things happening if you do not tow the religious line as seen by these pulpit prophets. Fear, it seems, plays a big role in the pulpit patter.

It did not take long for politicians to notice the power of fear. Listen to almost any political speech, but especially those given in political ads, and you will hear about all the dire things that will happen if you vote for the wrong person. “Elect me and I will bring this country back to the greatness it is destined to enjoy.” That suggests, of course, that the country is going to hell in a hand basket and, further, that the speaker has the political knowledge to put us back on the proper road. Like the ministers they emulate, they purport to know sin when they see it and know how to save us from ourselves. But first, you must accept the fear they are selling.

What if you do not? Well, the nation or your town will be destroyed, your children will live in poverty, your soul will rot in hell, your golf score will increase and your income will decline, or something worse. You will suffer. This is because they (politicians, preachers, or parents) must build the fear factor in your mind so they can control your behavior.

If we analyze the comments of these prophets of doom we will recognize that we have nothing to fear except the fear they created in our minds. We are better off learning to deal with the problem rather than the fear.

COULD CEOS SOLVE DEBT CRISIS?

2011-11-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

I don’t care for the way congress is handling the debt crisis. I don’t know many people who do.

A few people will profess their disgust with congress and the inability of one party or the other to do anything constructive. These are usually highly partisan people who recite the talking points of their political party’s leadership.

(It always strikes me as strange that we talk about party leadership in Washington when there seems to be so little of it. And, invariably, our references to the lack of leadership always concern the “other” party. I guess that’s human nature, however.)

These shallow-minded people aside, more and more people seem to be totally annoyed with the leaders of both political parties. I hear repeatedly, “Why can’t these politicians sit down, agree on the scope of the problem and recognize what has to be done?” The speaker will usually go on to say something along the lines that when ordinary Americans face a debt problem in their lives, they know they have to (1) reduce spending, and (2) come up with some more capital. They have to pay down the existing debt with extra funds found through an extra job, sale of securities, or some other means. At the same time, they must cut up credit cards, stop eating out so much, and quit playing golf or whatever it takes to stop creating more debt.

That’s it. Stop spending and find extra income where possible. Doctrine, myths and beliefs must take a back seat to reality.

A friend suggested turning the problem over to a super committee, not of politicians -- who have demonstrated their inability to deal with the problem they created – but to a committee of business leaders, people who regularly deal with and solve similar large-scale financial problems in their particular industry.

The idea has appeal. First of all, as just indicated, CEOs of major companies deal with this problem on a regular basis. “Deal with,” means they confront the problem and solve it, not kick it down the road to the next CEO. Doing so is a sure fire way to get fired. Second, a committee of CEOs is not beholding to voters who (1) may not understand the scope of the problem or (2) may care more about some ideology than they do solving the problem. CEOs don’t have to worry about appealing to lobbyist or constituents; they worry about getting the job done, something the current crop of politicians in Washington does not do.

This may be too simple a solution to a complex problem, but doesn’t it make a little sense? And wouldn’t the country be a lot better off if we started electing people to congress based on their proven ability to get things done rather than their religion, their ideology, their presence before the camera, their slick. 30-second TV advertisements, their ability to generate millions, even billions, of dollars for an election campaign, and so forth?

THE FRUSTRATING SERVANT

2011-10-17T14:26:00.002-04:00

Computers and computer related instruments drive many of us crazy. When they work like they are supposed to, they are obedient servants that perform tasks we cannot.

Computers compute. They compute at speeds we cannot image. Hence, they can process millions of calculations in less time than it takes for us to give them the task. Computers spend a lot of time waiting – waiting for us to type in an instruction or click on a key telling them what to do next.

Many people find it difficult to co-exist with the computers in their lives. They throw up their hands and exclaim in disgust, “I don’t understand computers; won’t have one in my house.”

The problem with that statement is that computers are now found in so many parts of our lives that we dare not try to fool ourselves that we don’t understand them and won’t have one in the house. We already have them in our houses and in our lives. Modern homes with climate control systems are controlled by one or more computers in the heating system and in the temperature control module on the hall wall. Modern cars will not operate without their numerous internal computers, most of which we don’t know exist … until they cease to function. The ubiquitous cell phones, now in nearly every purse or pocket, are simply portable computers that perform multiple functions, sometimes the least of which is to make and receive phone messages.

And therein lays the problem: we ask modern devices to perform multiple tasks.

We long for the good old days. We want to equate the computer and all the computer devices to the simple telephone. “I did not have to know how the telephone works to make a phone call. I just picked up the received, dialed my number, waited for the person on the other end to pick up, and the talked.”

Actually, if you re-read that last sentence, you will see that you did have to know how the phone worked. You had to perform several tasks for the phone before it could perform for you. But that aside, the phone was mostly a single function implement. Modern computers, especially those cell phones we have all come to rely on, are multi-function devices.

As with all tools and electronic equipment, it is incumbent upon us to understand how the tool works, not the other way around. A simple telephone on the wall in the kitchen will not work for you until you pick it up and go through the correct dialing procedure. Computers in all forms require that we learn how they think, how they do what they do. They have an algorithm for each task they perform. That will not change regardless of how often we swear or throw them across the room. We must learn how the computer, the cell phone, the iPad, or whatever thinks. These pieces of computer equipment will never learn how we think.

Computers are obedient servants, performing task that are beyond human comprehension sometimes and certainly beyond human ability. Nevertheless, they can be frustrating servants. The difference between most of us and the computer geeks we know (our grandchildren) is that they have taken the time to understand what their computer can and cannot do. When we adults recognize that, we will be on the road to understanding (and enjoying) the various computers in our lives.

A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR AMERICA

2011-09-08T13:09:00.000-04:00

The president is scheduled to appear before a joint session of congress tonight, according to advanced reports, to make a speech on his new proposed jobs program. Predictably, many Republican members of congress have already signaled that they will oppose anything he proposes.

Now, isn’t that ridiculous?

Yes, they have advanced information on the gist of his speech. For all I know, they have a copy of the complete text of his speech. Just the same, to announce ahead of time that you are against anything he has to propose seems to explain in a nutshell what is wrong with Washington these days.

Both political parties are dead set against voting for or participating in any sort of compromise discussions that may allow the other party to take credit for anything. Our political leaders (?) have adopted the position: If they are for it, I’m against it. End of discussion. The result is statemate.

To make matters worse, and things in Washington are getting worse by the day, opponents never seem compelled to state what they are for, nor to propose a modification of the program or bill they are against. And then they wonder why the approval ratings of congress are at a historic low. They don’t even try to explain themselves anymore; they leave that for the right- or left-wing radio and television pundits – who, of course, are not elected officials and can say anything they want.

WE CAN PUT A STOP TO THIS NONSENSE!

Here is a homework assignment for YOU this evening. First, every adult should vow to watch the president’s speech tonight, regardless of party or religious affiliations. Second, and this is the hard part, the part that our congress people are unwilling or unable to do, you must find at least one thing in his speech that you can agree with and one thing that you disagree with. Third, you must send an email to your congress person indicating those two points.

We won’t all agree on the same point, nor will we all disagree on the same point. But each of these points, the pro and the con, can be the starting point for your representative in Washington to use as basis for compromise discussions. And you must acknowledge that there won’t just be a couple of each. A voter in Nebraska may find one thing to agree with that a voter in New York didn’t even notice, and vice versa. Collectively we will give our representatives some ideas (from their constituents) to begin discussions for an effective jobs-creation program. They will have no more excuses for sitting around doing nothing other than sniping at the opposing party’s proposal.

Let us, ordinary, man-on-the-street American, take back control of Washington. It is not realistic to talk about voting “all the bums” out of office. It is realistic to talk about several million people putting aside our prejudices long enough to actually listen to the President’s speech tonight and picking out one item on which we agree with him and one on which we disagree. Then we can get on the Internet and send those two items to our representatives in Washington with the clear instruction that we want THEM to act on our views. No excuses, no finger pointing, no spin, no media moments in front of the TV camera. Just get the damn job done and get America back to work – now!

THE OLD AND THE NEW

2011-09-07T12:35:00.000-04:00

I suppose that, like me, you have heard an “older” person say, “I don’t have one of those and don’t intend to. I don’t even know how to turn one on, and don’t intend to learn.” They may have been talking about a computer, a smart phone, and iPod or some other electronic gadget.

Yet, you can be sure they have in their house a television set, a telephone, a phonograph player (33rpm no doubt) and, possibly, a CD player. All of these were new electronic gadgets in their day. I can remember a few older relatives complaining back when I was a youth that they didn’t see any sense in having more than one telephone (the one in the hallway) in the house. Mom later convinced them she could use an extension in the kitchen. These same people were slow, even reluctant, to move from calling central to using a dial phone, and later, a push button phone.

Progress marches on and we’d better keep up or we will surely be left behind. Our children and grandchildren are justified in thinking: You’re too old to understand. Wait until you are younger. For some of us do indeed act as if we are too old; our brains have solidified and we are incapable of learning anything more, which, of course, is absurd. We are just being obstinate or lazy.

Not too many years ago, during our vagabond days in the Chuckwagon, my wife and I, along with others in a campground, lined up at the bank of pay phones waiting our turn to call home and check in with our family. When we embraced the modern technology of cell phones, we avoided all the waiting in line. Some people then said they didn’t understand cell phones and wouldn’t have one if you gave it to them. Today, just about every senior citizen I know has a cell phone, usually two, one for the husband and one for the wife. And increasingly, they are discovering what we learned at least ten years ago: we no longer need a land line in our house. Since we travel a lot every year, it made little sense to have a land line back at the house that we seldom used. Our cell phones went with us everywhere; friends and family and the doctor’s office, could call us anytime, anywhere.

Recently, my daughters, with the encouragement of one techo-savvy granddaughter, purchased for me an iPhone to replace my Blackberry phone. It has many amazing features besides serving as a means by which I can place and receive telephone calls. One of the more interesting is the face-to-face feature, the ability to talk with someone and see them at the same time. A program called Skype allows you to do this on your computer, provided it has a web camera. The iPhone has this built in with a front-facing camera that takes your picture as you talk and sends it to the person with whom you are talking – provided that person has the ability to receive such an image.

So what? Well, for starters, that feature allowed my wife and me to talk face to face with our granddaughter, Leslie, who called from college the other evening to chat. She was away from home for the first time and just needed to talk to and see a familiar face or two. We had a very nice 20 minute conversation from our place in Colorado while she was in her dorm room in New York. That’s special.

Equally special was the phone conversation, in face-to-face mode, with a high school friend who called recently. We had not seen each other in over 10 years, but we had the opportunity to chat face to face while I was in Colorado and he was in Hong Kong, China. He learned that I had a web cam and called to talk about our upcoming 60^th class reunion that he will be unable to attend. I invited him to call again on the day of the reunion as I planned to have my computer and web cam set up so he could talk face to face with classmates at the reunion. He promised to do so. And I know of at least one other classmate who cannot make the reunion because of health reasons who plans to call that day as well.

Technology has always been a challenge for some, but we all get on board with the new gadgets sooner or later. Some people, remember, resisted getting one of those new-fangled horseless carriages and now, we can’t live without our cars.

Some of us would rather embrace our fears. We will not let success keep us from failure, or in the case of developing technology, we will not let the opportunity to enjoy a bold new world keep us from wallowing in our self-imposed internment of ignorance.

SUMMER TRAVEL BLOG

2011-08-04T12:21:00.000-04:00

Travel, they say, is broadening. Well, when you spend 12-plus hours in a car driving across the country, travel certainly broadens your rear end. We racked up over 600 miles our first day out and felt very “broad” by the end of the day.

Surely someone will ask why you were driving when air travel would be so much faster. The short answer is, I don’t fly. I have a vertigo condition that makes air travel very uncomfortable. That aside, we enjoy driving. We see so much more when driving. Driving across the country compared to flying is comparable to walking to work versus driving. When you walk you see many things you never notice when whizzing by in a car. Driving from New York to Colorado allows us to see places and visit people impossible in faster modes of travel. Besides, we are in no hurry.

I spent a great deal of my life hurrying to get to work, to get a report in, to mow the lawn before a storm, or hurrying for something that often turned out to be not all that important. I don’t hurry anymore.

Driving across Ohio we noticed that the state was cutting back on mowing right-of-ways by only mowing the first 10-12 feet and letting the rest grow to natural height. This practice not only saves on mowing expenses but allows natural grasses and flowers to flourish along the roadways, helping reestablish these native floras. It looked as if the state might have mowed higher along the right-of-way once last fall just to keep trees and shrubs in check. Otherwise, only the area immediately adjacent to the roadway was kept regularly mowed. Apparently the highway department in Ohio is capable of thinking outside the box.

Driving through several road-construction areas gave us insight to how well road construction engineers these days are at keeping traffic moving. Yes, we had to slow down and, yes, there were some delays in a few areas, but by and large the construction zone was maintained in a manner that allowed an impressive flow of traffic – except for those who were rushing to work or easily annoyed.

It is easy and tempting at times to notice the angry or inconsiderate driver. Just talk to anyone about driving conditions and they will invariably tell about some jerk they saw weaving through traffic, speeding way beyond the generally allowable 5-7 mph above the posted speed limit. But if you sit in a car all day as we did you cannot help but marvel that there are so many cars speeding along at 60 to 75 miles per hour (depending on the state) with everyone staying in their designated lane. In some areas you are separated from oncoming traffic – traveling just as fast as you – by only a double yellow line painted on the road surface. And most of the time no one gets hurt. Amazing!

We reached Omaha, Nebraska the second day, our intended destination. My niece lives there and we wanted to visit with her and take in the Omaha Zoo, reportedly one of the better zoos in the nation. My niece’s ex-husband works at the zoo and was able to get us free passes. (See, I told her, he is good for something.) There was just one problem. Omaha was caught in part of that bubble of heat that was searing the mid-west. The morning temperature quickly rose to 95 degrees, and that was before we even left to go to the zoo. According to the TV weather person, the heat index started at 105 degrees and topped out at 110 degrees.

Many of the zoo exhibits are housed in air-conditioned buildings. That was great. The problem was that you had to go outside to get from one building to another, and we had my niece’s son, daughter-in-law, and two year old daughter with us. In addition, my niece is in a wheelchair. Hence, we did not move very quickly from building to building. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my niece and her family and knew that they would be going with us. (It was good-ole dad, after all that furnished the tickets.) I am just reporting that it was brutally hot and when we left an air-conditioned building to step outside, the change in temperature took you breath away. All of us wanted to get to the next building as fast as possible.

We enjoyed our visit to the zoo, got to see some fantastic exhibits, and enjoyed going to dinner with everyone that evening when we could sit and visit over a cool margarita.

We continued our adventure the next day by scooting across a large chunk of Nebraska on I-80 to North Plate where we turned south to see if we could find Dancing Leaf. This is billed as a cultural learning center on primitive Native American life.

Dancing Leaf is located near Wellfleet, Nebraska. Wellfleet, I believe, has a population of 100 and is easy to miss. Further, the sign for Dancing Leaf had been knocked down and we nearly drove my without stopping. Fortunately, we saw a postal delivery car and got directions, and it is good that we did. The stop-over was well worth our time. Les Hosick took us through a 90 minute presentation of early American life, including the time before people passed over the land bridge in Alaska to inhabit this land. Nebraska, it turns out, was once under a shallow sea and the area around Wellfleet is famous for the quantity and quality of fossil plant and animal remains.

It turns out that much of what we think we know about the plains Indians, largely gleaned from movies, is incorrect. Before the white man came with horses and metal implements, the plains Indians were more agricultural than we think. The lived in generally fixed homes, much like the Iroquois of the Northeast, and raised crops, notably corn, squash and beans. They hunted, for sure, but following the buffalo herds as often depicted in movies was out of the question before the introduction of horses to their way of life. Meat in their diets came from deer, antelope, hares and other small animals.

It was a learning experience and Joyce and I both enjoyed the two hours or so we spent there.

The next day we made a dash for Denver where Joyce’s two brothers live. When we crossed over the Mississippi from Illinois to Ohio our GPS showed the elevation as 603 feet. By the time we got to Omaha the elevation was over 1200 feet. Now, at Denver, we are over 5,000 feet. We will hang out here for several days, visiting with family, before going on to our ranch west of Colorado Springs where the altitude is nearly 9,000 feet. We have learned from experience that we do better if we let out bodies get acclimated to the altitude gradually.

Oh, by the way, the temperature this morning at Florissant, the nearest town to our place, was 55 degrees. As I write this at 10:00 a.m. the temperature in Denver is 86 and it is 66 at Florissant. I’m ready for some cool, dry weather!

WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE

2011-07-24T14:40:00.000-04:00

Space is supposed to be the last frontier. If we want to go “where no man has gone before” we must venture into outer space. Space exploration, unfortunately, costs a great deal of money and a lot of advanced planning, especially if you want to return alive. So, it is expensive and dangerous. It is not for the poor or timid.

The oceans have been charted and most interior land masses have been explored or, at least, plotted through satellite imagery. This might cause some young people to decide that there is nothing left for them to explore or discover.

They are wrong.

There is one place where no man has gone before that only they can discover. It is their life.

John Grunsfeld, deputy director at the Space Telescope Science Institute, was quoted in an interview about the future of NASA directed space travel as saying, “NASA doesn’t have a story right now.” And, he added, “Exploration is nothing if not the articulation of a great story.”

What can be more exciting than exploring, expressing, or articulating the story of our lives – and only we can give this story the excitement it deserves.

Each day and with each little step we take, we walk where truly no person has walked before. No other person could. We are unique and our lives are unique, uncharted territories waiting for us to discover them.

Adventure? What can be more exciting than discovering your first love? What can be more devastating than to have that person reject you? The disappointment the Apollo 13 astronauts felt when they had to turn away from their expected landing on the moon and complete a race for their lives to return to earth was crushing, I am sure. But their training helped them understand that through science and human perseverance they would prevail. Nothing prepares us for the heartbreak of a breakup. We have to struggle as hard as any explorer to work our way “back home,” back to a world where things make sense and where we can again look forward to tomorrow.

Discovery? Our lives are one long expedition to discover what kind of parents we will make, what job we will have a year from now, how we will do in college, when will we finally feel comfortable driving a car, what is the dress code for the event we are going to, and so on. So many choices, so many decisions. Those choices and decision determine our lives.

We are assured by parents, teachers and friends that we are not alone. Yet, we usually feel very much alone. We are told, “I know how you feel,” but we suspect the speaker cannot possibly know how we feel. We are slashing our way through a jungle of new ideas and new experiences that will eventually articulate the great story called our lives. We are walking where no man has gone before.

PIGPIMPLES

2011-07-22T11:12:00.000-04:00

I went to see the last of the Harry Potter series last night. It was OK, but it wasn’t the best of the series. As is currently the case among Hollywood directors, there was too much emphasis on special effects, leaving my wife, who has not read the book series, wondering at times what was going on. I wondered myself at times.

The closing scene showed all the principal characters grown up, married and each with several children, at least one of which was making his/her first trip to Hogwarts, just as the eleven-year-old Harry did in the first book of the series. This started me thinking, always a dangerous thing as my wife will confirm.

I asked myself, “Why must these potential wizards have to wait until they are eleven to get a feel for their undeveloped, but budding magical powers?” Even in the Muggles world (Muggles are those without magical powers) we know that very young children need to be removed from the influence of the home and their parents and placed in baby care, followed by day care, and that followed by pre-kindergarten so they will be ready to enter the scary world of public education when they turn five. If they cannot read and write, as well as do simple arithmetic upon starting their "formal" schooling, we fear their lives will be one long futile search for success and happiness.

Hence, my big idea. Why not start a preschool for Hogwarts students? I will call it Pigpimples, or PP for short. Children who demonstrate a propensity for making things happen without any plausible explanation must be potential wizards and would be candidates for PP. Children around whom things mysteriously disappear could be sent to PP, the same for children with mystery ailments.

While at Pigpimples, children would learn simple magic: three-card Monty, pulling nickels from someone’s ear, “Gotchur nose,” making the end of their thumb separate from their hand, and other slight-of-hand tricks that they can use to earn a living at any carnival in case they bomb out at Hogwarts.

Since I am talking about children too young to attend a campus school such as Hogwarts, we would need to establish a franchise of Pigpimples schools in every community. Our motto: Every child needs PP. When the franchise goes national we can have kids PP-ing all over the country. Every parent then will know if their child is truly a budding wizard or just a “splash” in the PP pan.

WE ALREADY HAVE SMALL GOVERNMENT -- WHY NOT USE IT?

2011-07-04T14:22:00.000-04:00

I watched several of the Sunday morning talk shows last Sunday such as Face the Nation and Meet the Press, to name two, and I couldn’t help noticing the number of times one person or another mentioned the need for officials in Washington, particularly the Obama administration, to focus more attention on creating jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. We need jobs! We need to put more people to work. And the government, meaning Washington D.C., is not doing nearly enough to get more people working.

I could not help but notice also the number of times someone mentioned the need for smaller government. We need to get big government out of our lives. We need to return to the ideals of limited government our founding fathers envisioned.

Of course, no one wanted the government to stop funding rebuilding the infrastructure of our country by cutting back on roads and bridges projects, or stop stimulating the economy, or stop supporting the dairy farmers, soybean farmers, cotton farmers or some other agricultural field important among the constituents of their state. Limited government is fine as long as it does not limit my income or chances for career or industry growth.

Then, I remembered, we have smaller government. We have small government that is (more or less) responsive to local needs and local pressure. We call it city government, county government, and state government. Why aren’t we demanding that these governments limit their size and expenditures? The answer I fear is that we know that cutting back on local government spending means cutting back on local jobs and contracts to local businesses.

Okay. Patronage jobs are an essential part of local government. The people we help elect are supposed to reward their supporters by sending some jobs and money their way.

But why is it that when it comes to creating jobs, we always turn to Washington?

When was the last time you heard a town supervisor or county chair talk about creating jobs? How many state governors campaign on a platform to create jobs in their state while reducing expenditures, and how many of us realistically expect them to deliver on any such campaign promise? We hear repeatedly that most jobs in this country are created by small businesses. Moreover, small businesses as opposed to large nationwide corporations tend to be local -- state and county local or, maybe, regional. Isn’t this the domain of local (small) governments? Why do we not expect these governments to do more to stimulate job growth in our locality?

If we truly want smaller government, we should stop always looking to Washington to solve every problem. Let us instead ask our already small local governments to start doing their job. Let’s begin by asking small LOCAL government officials (city, town, county, state) to step up and start doing what we elected them for: to exercise the leadership they promised during their campaigns and work together (across party lines) to solve LOCAL problems in a manner that satisfies LOCAL concerns and conditions.

Local government officials are more responsive to local pressures. After all, they live nearby and cannot so easily put distance between them and their constituents. It’s time we stop bitching and moaning about big government and start complaining to local elected officials about not doing more to create jobs, stimulate the economy, balance local budgets, and deal responsibly with local problems and conditions.

RLS BAD FOR AMERICA

2011-07-02T17:01:00.002-04:00

It is sad to watch how our government goes about solving problems and dealing with national concerns. When legislators vote strictly along party lines and with the idea of making sure the other party does not achieve success or recognition, we have the present sad situation. I call it the RLS condition.

Before I explain that last sentence, I need you to play a little game with me. Imagine that you are Mr. or Mrs. Jones and with your spouse, you have to find a solution to an urgent family problem. Let us suppose it is a financial problem. You have maxed out your credit cards, you are behind in your mortgage payments, the car needs new tires, one of the kids need braces, school taxes have gone up again, or some other pressing financial matter. Regular bills keep coming in while income remains the same. The two of you need to sit down at the kitchen table and work out a plan of attack – and do it today.

There are really only three options: find additional income, reduce spending, or do both.

That’s about it. You could get additional money in the short term by borrowing from family, friends, or a lending agency. One or both of you could look for additional employment, a part time job for instance, but that will only produce income down the road. Still, it’s an option to consider. You must address the spending patterns that got you into this mess. Dad may have to give up golf and mom forego her weekly visit to the hair salon. Who knows what you will decide. That is where the kitchen-table negotiations come into play.

Now suppose that neither of you is willing to discuss any solution that requires you to give up anything. Further, you reject any proposal that does not require sacrifice by your spouse. In other words, if your spouse likes it, you are going to be against it. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it.

We have something like that going on in Washington as our elected officials grapple with how to deal with the nation’s mounting debt – and it has been the SOP (standard operating procedure) in Washington for far too long, regardless of which party is in power in congress or the White House.

It is the attitude that says, “I want to help solve this problem so long as the solution does not cost my party any political capital. Further it must make the other party look bad.” In other words, if the other party is for it, I am going to be against it.

I call this the Rush Limbaugh Syndrome, RLS for short. Rush Limbaugh candidly admitted after President Obama’s election that he wanted to see this president fail. Rush Limbaugh is not a legislator. He is a political pundit. As such, his responsibility is to say or do whatever it takes to generate good ratings. Ratings are the coin of the realm for political pundits. He has followers who share his desire to see President Obama fail and he took a position that honestly reflected those viewers’ feeling.

I admire honesty, but Rush Limbaugh is not an elected official. He does not vote on legislation. He does not have the responsibility for solving any of the nation’s problems. His narrow position on political matters is not what most of us want in our representatives or senators. You cannot honestly represent the folks back home if you frame your approach to every piece of legislation with the question: “Will this help make the president fail?” Just as dishonest is the question: “How does the party leadership want me to vote?”

We have too many politicians in Washington whose priorities are: the party, then my reelection, then the nation.

I gave Rush Limbaugh credit for being honest. I wish I could do the same for most of our legislators.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?

2011-06-08T17:31:00.000-04:00

My friend asked, “How come you don’t post something on your blog every day, or at least once a week?”

Too lazy.

Busy doing other things.

Nothing to say.

I tend to write more when I am traveling. Chuckwagon Journal used to be titled Chuckwagon Travels and I wrote about the adventures or misadventures Joyce and I encountered while traveling in our motorhome. Those days are behind us. We sold the Chuckwagon in 2008. We still travel, but in a car and there are fewer adventures to write about.

But write, I must. After writing a weekly newspaper column (Report Card on Education for the Schenectady Daily Gazette) for 30 years, I just can’t get out of the habit of thinking that people might be interested in some of my thoughts or ideas. Hence, I must have a thought or an idea before I am motivated to sit at the computer and put something on paper, or on the computer screen, as is the case these days.

I am no longer busy with yard work, garden work, or other household chores, so I have more time to write. The lazy part is just me being honest. Sometimes I prefer to whittle, read or do something else besides write, so I procrastinate on the writing.

Today’s blog will be short. I really don’t have a major topic, just a major burr under my belt. I am really getting annoyed at receiving chain email and forwarded messages that express the views of some mysterious writer but never invite me to respond – and never include the thoughts of the sender.

There is no discussion, no dialogue, no exchanging of views, no challenge to stated “facts?,” nothing worth my time. It is usually a piece designed to (1) encourage the faithful or (2) piss off the wayward. Please, do not waste my time.

These forwarded pieces are electronic garbage best described as cheerleading and at worst as propaganda. Our president, any president (regardless of party affiliation) would be roasted from one end of the liberal-conservative spectrum to the other – and rightly so – if he published such pap for public consumption.

Political pundits, particularly those on the far right or far left, can use this crap; they can say anything they want. People do not have to listen to or read their daily rants if they choose not to. Remember, political pundits are not accountable for their comments, and they really do not expect a reply. They can and will say whatever will create disagreement, create a stir, get them quoted on the morning news or on some other pundit’s program. They thrive on controversy. Controversy generates ratings and they live for ratings. Ratings determine what they are paid. Do or say whatever it takes to get people stirred up so long as they tune in every day. Newspaper, radio and television pundits do not have to be accurate or even honest. They must be, however, contentious, controversial, and even divisive if it will help with their ratings.

Presidential candidates operate under a different standard, but they still enjoy a measure of freedom in what they say that any incumbent president does not have. Candidates can say pretty much whatever they want about current policies, conditions or the president’s actions. THEY do share the same stage as he, a world stage. They do not have to speak in measured words, as every president must. What they say, the charges they make, probably will not affect the nation’s economy or security. The president, every incumbent president mind you, has to watch what he says, knowing that every phrase will have consequences.

You may not like what the current president is saying or do not like some of his policies. Write me and explain your position. I will be glad to discuss the matter with you. If you just want to jerk my chain by sending (forwarding) some propaganda piece that someone else wrote, please do not bother. As soon as I recognize it for what it is, I delete it.

Unfortunately, our politicians no longer talk to each other. They posture in front of whatever camera they can command and they quote party-line rhetoric. They seldom offer actual solutions and they never acknowledge that any solution offered by the opposing party has merit or is worthy of discussion. Surely, those of us who are neither captive to ratings or polling results nor worried about reelection can engage in courteous, rational discussion of the issues we care about without resorting to fear mongering, demagoguery, or statements that lack basis in fact. We can compare facts and discuss actual possible solutions.

We all have our biases, sometimes cleverly concealed, even from us. Often, they are more obvious, especially to others. Biases, personal preferences, beliefs, and political party affiliations are part of human nature. They are what make us who we are and how we behave. And they will certainly enter into any discussion, political or otherwise, we engage in. But it is impossible to have a rational discussion with anyone who can only spout the ramblings of something they read on the Internet or heard on radio or television. Their side of the discussion will inevitably default to what they have read or heard, nothing of their own. Such discussions are a waste of time.

This nation has some serious problems. What we need to deal with those problems are for politicians to enter into rational discussions about the scope of the problems and entertain possible solutions, regardless of the party affiliation. Stop worrying about who will get credit (or blame for the problem) and start discussing solutions.

Those of us on the outside, outside government politics, that is, should exercise the same control. Let’s have more discussions about what WE believe, what we feel and how a particular solution will affect us personally. The pundits and the self-styled professional propaganda spokespeople may influence us, for sure, but let us vow they will not take over our minds and speak for us. Then share with me YOUR opinion of what I have written in this or any other blog. You can be sure it is MY opinion and not a position adopted from something I read in a Forwarded email.

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES (Forest Gump)

2011-06-07T16:27:00.001-04:00

Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-NY, must step down. He is not fit to be in the House of Representatives.

I say this not because he is immoral. Hell, if we asked all the immoral elected officials in Washington or the various state Capitols around the country to resign, we would have very few elected officials running the show. No, Anthony Weiner must step down because he is stupid.

We have always had and will continue to have corrupt politicians. I understand that, even accept it. Power corrupts and regardless of their lofty campaign rhetoric, politicians are in the game for the power, for the influence and for the money that power and influence command. Notice that our coinage has the motto "In God We Trust," not In Politicians We Trust. We only trust those politicians who are beholden to a cause we hold dear. We do not need to trust their morality, only their loyalty to the cause.

We know about various politicians' peccadilloes. But because we have a vested interest in various special interests ourselves (tobacco subsidies, Medicare, corn subsidies, abortion, the military/industrial complex, Social Security, Welfare, big bank bail outs, the Interstate highway system, or some other government run/sponsored/supervised program) we tend to ignore them. We want OUR politicians -- the ones we support with our money and our votes -- to focus on the issue, while we focus on the crimes and immorality of other politicians. We know that it is only possible to get elected these days if you have some big money backing you. And big money goes to those who deliver on big promises. Promiscuity can be forgiven; straying from the party line is unforgivable.

Let's not be naive. It's not always members of the other party; it's politicians -- and it is us. There is more than enough blame to go around.

Why, then, should I pick on Weiner? Because he is dumb. He did something dumb, got caught, and then lied about it. That's just dumb.

I can tolerate his immorality. As I said, there's plenty of that going on in both political parties, at all levels. But stupid is hard to forgive. I would much rather have a smart politician than a stupid one who hides his/her ignorance behind a mask of morality.

Moral politicians will preach to me but accomplish little. Intelligent politicians, even immoral ones, will try to find a solution to some of the nation's problems. They are guided by answers, not beliefs.

There is an abundance of politicians claiming to be moral, upright, even religious. That's an easy act to carry off, as long they keep their dirty little secrets secret. It is harder to fake intelligence. A moral politician can talk for an hour about his sense of righteousness. A stupid politician will be discovered in five minutes.

Half of us are so disinterested or disgusted that we do not even bother to vote.

Look at the chart below. (This is only part of the chart that may be found at http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html.)

National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2008

This page provides information about voter statistics, including age of voting population, voter registration, turnout, and more.

Year	Voting-age population	Voter registration	Voter turnout	Turnout of voting-age population (percent)
2008*	231,229,580	NA	132,618,580*	56.8%
2006	220,600,000	135,889,600	80,588,000	37.1%
2004	221,256,931	174,800,000	122,294,978	55.3
2002	215,473,000	150,990,598	79,830,119	37.0
2000	205,815,000	156,421,311	105,586,274	51.3

Read more: National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2008 — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html#ixzz1OcWEWHat

Just under 57% of the eligible voters in this county bothered to vote in the last presidential election, an election judged by all as historic.

Political pundits tell us that about one-third of the electorate will always vote Democratic and one-third can be counted on to vote Republican -- regardless of the issues or the qualifications of their party's candidates. Hence, elections are won or lost not by what politicians stand for or can do, but on how well they appeal to "their party's base" and that roughly one-third of the voters who are independent of intelligent enough to be undecided.

We cannot always know what a politician is capable of or what he/she will do once in office. (Remember, power corrupts.) Nor is it smart to talk recklessly about throwing all the bums out. (And replace them with who?) But when a politician reveals his stupidity, ala Rep. Weiner, we should demand his resignation and demand that his party, the Democrats in this case, get behind helping him make the decision to resign.

History is full of moral/religious people who have committed heinous crimes. And certainly, intelligent people can be wrong. But an immoral, stupid politician is more that we should tolerate.

Rep. Weiner has shown he is both. Resign your office as a U.S. Representative, Mr Weiner. It's the decent and the smart thing to do.

WHAT'S A PENNY WORTH?

2011-06-05T16:08:00.000-04:00

One of my grandaughters posted a comment on Facebook recently that stated, "The penny was only a good idea when things cost only a penny." Well, I thought, there is some wisdom in that statement. Then I thought some more and wondered when was the last time that things cost only a penny.

There certainly aren't many things you can buy for a penny today. As far as I know, there is no penny candy, no penny ante (as in a friendly poker game), no penny bubble gum, no penny anything.

Further, you can't even use a penny to by-pass a burnt out fuse when you don't have a replacement. Ignoring the fact that that was never a good idea, it is no longer possible since nearly all fuse boxes today are actually circuit breaker boxes. Just reset the circuit breaker after you've determined the cause of the problem; never mind trying to by-pass it.

Pennies are not even much good for paying sales taxes as most merchants round everything off the nearest five cents. (They always round up; never down.) For those few times you actually need a penny, many merchants have a small dish on the counter where other customers before you have (or may) toss the pennines they receive in change and you are welcome to help yourself if you need a penny or two.

Probably few people reading this blog can remember when sales tax was paid with mills, as it was in some parts of the country. I was raised in Missouri and that state used mills to pay sales tax well into the 1940s. I know this to be true because I have some of the plastic mills that were minted during World War II when metal was in short supply. Not only were mills cast in plastics but the copper penny was recast as a lead penny for a short time during that period.

What the hell is a mill? A mill was one-tenth of a cent. If you had a pocket full of mills -- as annoying as having a pocket full of pennies today -- you could sell 10 of them to any merchant for a penny.

That little history lesson in coinage aside, I wondered when was the last time one could buy something for a penny. In other words, when was the last time a penny was good for anything other than paying sales tax.

I turned for this investigation to the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) Cost-of-living Calculator at http://www.aier.org/research/worksheets-and-tools/cost-of-living-calculator. This handy little calculator allowed me to check the cost of things as they once were compared with now.

I started with 10 cents, since you can still buy a few things for that amount. What I found using the AIER calculator was that 10 cents in 2011 was worth one cent in 1966 dollars. Whatever one might has purchased for one penny in 1966 would cost 10 cents in today's dollars.

This started me thinking about other monetary benchmarks. For example, I began my full-time teaching career in Park Forest, Illinois in the fall of 1961. I was working on my master's degree at the University of Missouri when our third daughter decided to join the family. Her emergence on the scene convinced me that I needed to forsake campus life and student loans in favor or a paying job.

I ended up at Rich Township High School, East after they offered me the princely sum of $5600. This was $200 more than most first-year teachers received since I had completed 19 hours toward my masters in mathematics and math teachers with those credentials were in short supply. We were in the post-Sputnik era and the US was desparate to improve students' knowledge of math and science.

I was surprised to learn, using the AIER calculator that my $5600 annual pay in 1966 was equivalent to $41,241 in 2011 dollars. I do not know what starting teachers' salaries are today, but I suspect some (if not most) would be happy to have that amount to start paying down their college-loan debt.

Take away that extra $200 I got for being half way to a master's degree and my starting salary would have been $39,768 in today's dollars, a difference or $1,473. Education does pay.

As a point of reference, the superintendent of schools at the time was making $25,000, as I remember. He had many years experience on me, plus a doctor's degree, something I would not acquire until 16 years later. I dropped his salary into the calculator and it spit out the amount of $184,113 in 2011 bucks. That's not too shabby, but remember, schools today are considerably more complicated, students less well behaved and state and federal mandates keep school administrators on their toes.

Apparently the penny stopped buying much in the mid-1960s -- other than as a token for paying sales tax. But we might all use the AIER calculator to compare cost of familiar items with then and now. You may be surprised at how much (or how little) some items have increased.

SNOWBIRDS FLYING NORTH

2011-03-27T10:49:00.000-04:00

"So long. See you next year."

"Yeah. You folks have a good trip. Stay safe."

"Back atcha. Take care of that heart. Try to stay out of the hospital this year."

You hear those and other similar comments this time of year as you walk around the campground at Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort. The snowbirds are packing up and moving out. Several RV rigs leave the place every hour. Other folks still at their campsite are coiling the water hose, rolling up the patio awning, and stowing chairs and other equipment that has been sitting out since they arrived in October, November, December or whenever.

It is time to watch the weather more carefully, looking over the shoulder of the TV weatherman to see what's going on "back up home." In some cases returning snowbirds face snow. Some will encounter rain on the way home, something that has been sadly lacking here in central Florida this year, and they will return to flooded streets, yards and farm fields. Whatever the weather, it likely will not be a nice as what they are leaving behind, but the urge to return home is strong and they will leave regardless.

Some will stick around until the middle of April, while a few die-hards will remain in place until the first of May. There are, of course, some full-time residents. (They are secretly looking forward to having the streets, pools, shuffle board courts and golf course to themselves for a while.) This comfortable winter-time small town of around 1,000 will become more like a ghost town in a few weeks.

Joyce and I also feel the magnetic pull of home and will join the exodus in another few days. We are looking forward to meeting again with good friends, seeing familiar places, and returning to common routines. Yard work actually looks inviting about this time of year.

LIFE AT CLERBROOK

2011-01-28T14:01:00.000-05:00

We spend our winters at Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort. I love that name; it makes the place sound so classy. Well, as campgrounds go, it is classy. It is a gated community and the guard shack is manned 24/7. That is so they can keep out the riff-raff. Most of it that is. They let me in. Regardless, it is a nice place with nice people.

The campground has 1257 sites with about one-third of those sites having park model trailers on them. A park model trailer is a somewhat fancier trailer than a travel trailer, and owners rent their site year around, while RVers only pay for their site while parked on it. Park models also typically have a so-called Florida Room attached. This is a screened-in room with sliding glass windows all around that nearly doubles the size of the structures living space. Our particular unit has an attached shed that houses a washer and dryer along with some tools and miscellanea. The little breezeway between the shed and the house becomes a parking place for our golf cart.

For trailer trash, we live in relative comfort, as you can probably tell.

I mentioned earlier that this is a nice place with nice people. I have decided that it must be law that only pleasant people can buy RVs. I have the feeling that if you are a grumpy, disagreeable person most RV dealers will refuse to sell you an RV. Either that or any such person who manages to get one learns quickly that he/she will be unhappy (and unwelcome) in most campgrounds. (I suppose it is possible that naturally disagreeable people will find that in keeping with their view of life.) Regardless, you find very few disagreeable people in campgrounds.

A campground with over 1200 campsites becomes a small village this time of year when most of the campsites are occupied with snowbirds visiting Florida to escape the harsh winter weather of their “up north” home. The “village” idea becomes apparent as you walk or ride around the place. Everyone smiles and waves as you pass as if they had known you all their lives. Walking, biking, in golf cart or car, everyone waves to everyone they meet – and usually offer a greeting: “Good morning.” “How are you doing?” “Hey, nice day.”

Joyce and I run into the same “small town” friendliness when we visit our place in Colorado. Once you leave the main highway and start the seven-mile, dirt road drive to our house, everyone you pass in pickup or car will give you a wave of the hand or some other sign of acknowledgment. And if you stop for any reason, anyone passing by will stop to see if you need assistance. They may know you, recognize your car or truck, or not, it doesn’t matter. Stop first and ask questions later. You are likely not there if you don’t belong there, so you must be a neighbor. And neighbors help neighbors. That’s just the way it is.

There are a lot of walkers and bikers here at Clerbrook. Unfortunately, there are a great many who are not walkers or bikers, but who should be. The nation’s obesity problem is not restricted to the young; there are many senior citizens overweight. It is hard to be critical when you do not know what sort of physical limitations they may have that contributes to or makes it difficult for them to get sufficient exercise. It is clear, however, that they have insufficient strength in their arms to push themselves away from the dinner table. I guess a bit of sympathy might be in order. (I’ll have to try that sometime.)

I have a route that I walk most every morning that covers 3.25 miles. I do it in about one hour, which means I am walking a bit over three miles per hour. I used to try to maintain a four-mile-per-hour pace, but I have had to slow down some since my several visits to the cardiac catheterization lab. Joyce gets upset when I collapse alongside the road. It embarrasses her. That, plus she thinks I should have more sense than to push myself to the point of exhaustion. Silly woman. (I have many fine attributes; good sense has never been one of them.)

I must also admit that I am recovering from a common cold. Hence, I have been unable to do my Jack LaLanne imitation morning exercises, so I have to be content with walking. I would be remiss if I did not comment that I had numerous requests from women in the campground that I wear a tight fitting, belted jump suit with short sleeves and do my morning exercises in front of the TV camera so they could follow along. Modesty compelled me to decline. I would feel uncomfortable flaunting my body for their, probably, sexual fantasies. Besides, their flabby, potbellied husbands would hate me even more than they do.

My taut, bronzed, two-pack hard body causes enough distractions now when I visit the pool. I do not want to be the cause or more dissension among my campground female friends and their male partners.

This is, as I said, a small village and maintaining village harmony is important. I will do my part and stay away from the TV camera when doing my morning exercises.

POLITICAL THEATER AND OTHER WAYS TO CON VOTERS

2011-01-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

I am not a Tea Party member but I support the notion of smaller government, especially less government involvement in personal affairs. There likely are times when the government must temporarily step in and help individuals with various aide programs. Such programs should expire after some reasonable time, but a period not to exceed the life of the average elephant. We have government subsidies going to people and industries that have existed for decades. That is wrong. Is it any wonder that these people or industries come to depend on these subsidies?

Some of us used to complain about so many people on welfare who seemed to treat it as a way of life. Three generations of one family -- grandmothers, mothers and daughters -- received welfare payments with all likelihood that the fourth generation, the current welfare mother’s children, is headed in the same direction. That is no different from farm families, say, that receive billions of dollars each year for not working land, not planting crops or some other non-producing farm-subsidy program. And they expect to receive the same next year, and the next year, ad infinitum.

Newly elected Tea Party backed U.S. Reps. Vicky Hartzler, R – Missouri, received $750,000 (!) in farm subsidies last year. When Diane Sawyer of Good Morning America asked if she would vote to eliminate farm subsidy programs as a step toward lowering government debt – supposedly a Republican-Tea Party agenda item – she refused to say yes or no. "Yes, there's a lot of us farmers that have participated in the program(s)," she said, but indicated when Ms. Sawyer persisted in asking the question again only that such agriculture subsidies should be "on the table" for possible spending cuts.

Let us not be gullible, people. No mid-West, farm belt congressperson will vote even to cut much less remove farm subsidies. The same can be said about voting to cut military spending by a congressperson representing a district with a large military-industrial footprint.

Forget the angry campaign rhetoric about reducing government involvement or reducing the national debt. When such programs (and they all do to some extent) impact people back in your home district every politician of either party or political philosophy begins to waffle. It is fine to talk about making cuts in government spending, it is another matter to deliver on that talk, and the newly elected congress does not seem any more willing to walk the walk than the previous congress.

Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, students of the Rush Limbaugh Policy Group, have already indicated that their primary focus will be to see that Obama is a one-term president. They will say many things for the benefit of “the folks back home” (It’s called preaching to the choir) but they have yet to propose any specific debt reduction programs. Boehner’s most significant leadership act thus far is the not-ready-for-prime-time political theater of having the U.S. Constitution read aloud in the House of Representatives.

That is sure to put every new congressperson in the right frame of mind to generate and support good legislation. (It also demonstrates to those new to congress how to waste time with parliamentary maneuvering.) What they need now is someone like Walt Disney to conduct a seminar on how one actually gets things done.

The Tea Party, I fear, just wanted the Democrats out of office. You may remember their motto: JUST VOTE THEM OUT! Indeed, some deserved to be voted out of office. But, alas, too many voters never considered the legitimate question: Replace them with whom?

The first act of these newbies in congress is to force a vote on repealing the Obama health care plan. They know it is futile. They know it will not pass. It is all political theater, and I fear we are in for two more years of such political posturing while our debt and other problems continue to mount.

2011-01-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

THE ACCIDENT

It had to happen eventually, and it finally did.

Wood carvers usually end up with a few nicks and cuts on their fingers, even those who are careful. I counted myself among those who are careful. I avoided putting my fingers in harm’s way whenever possible. When not possible, I was very alert with my carving tools, especially my knives.

I am currently whittling roosters, following the style of Chris Lubkemann, who wrote the book.

Chris tells us that your carving blades need to be sharp, very sharp. You are working in fine detail and a slip – caused by too much pressure – can ruin a piece. He writes, “Use whatever helps you get a really sharp bade. My own simple, but effective system consists of several strips of wet-or-dry sandpaper or emery cloth glued or held to a thin strip of wood.” He goes on to explain that the three grits he uses are #120, #400 and #600, and he has used some strips “for at least five years” so that they would more likely “now be classified as #5000!”

I tried to follow his advice. My knives are very sharp.

I usually wear gloves. I always wear one on my left hand, as I am left-handed. My left thumb takes a beating as I draw the knife to it in the process of shaving off a sliver of wood. I had on my left glove this time. Since I was working on a small twig and needed to “feel” it in my hand so I could control it, I had removed my right glove. That set the stage for THE ACCIDENT.

Smaller twigs tend to have a pity center and this one was no exception. As I started a delicate trim on the top of what would be the chicken’s head, my knife hit that soft pity center, slipped through it like a hot knife through butter, and continued on its journey until stopped by the nail on my right index finger. That was just after it made a generous slice of the flesh on my finger.

I immediately dropped my knife and grabbed the finger with my dirty, gloved left hand. I knew there would be blood – I take several blood-thinner medications – and I knew I needed to apply pressure to the wound quickly. And head for the bathroom just as quickly.

Conventional wisdom, taught in every Boy Scout manual, says that a dull knife is dangerous since you must apply more pressure to make a cut and this creates the chance for the knife to slip and cut you. That is true. However, a keenly sharp knife can also be dangerous when it meets little or no resistance and takes off on a journey that ends with your finger.

Be forewarned.

Your Friend: Stubby.

ARE WE SMARTER THEN A CAT?

2010-12-09T17:07:00.002-05:00

The local newspaper has a “sound off” section in which people can submit their complaints about anything -- in 50 words or less. Some are very funny. Some make you wonder just how we have managed to survive as a nation as long as we have. The one that caught my eye this morning was the woman who wrote to complain how annoyed she was that her cat would only eat canned tuna.

Dr. Benjamin Spock, the baby doctor who wrote the book on raising kids that became the bible for many parents in the 1950s and 1960s, including my wife and me, wrote that no baby ever starved to death from not eating. Children often turn up their noses at food they have decided they do not like, even before tasting it, but a hungry child will eventually eat what is before him. Cats will do the same I suspect. A cat may prefer tuna but will eventually eat what is in the food dish if it if that is all that is available.

Cats, like kids, try to train the adults who care for them. This woman has been well trained by her cat.

Many of us have been well trained by our political leaders, by the political pundits and by the news media to accept partisanship bickering as the political norm. We accept what they put before us.

We need to start rejecting some of the nonsense we are asked to swallow. Unfortunately, we have become so “conditioned” that like Pavlov’s dogs we start salivating whenever we hear our favorite pundit punishing the president. We applaud any comment by a political leader that trashes an opposition party proposal. The so-called Party of No is popular because some of us are so happy to see our political opponent be slapped down that we do not bother to ask what the alternative is. Moreover, both political parties earn that title as the Party of No; it is whichever party is not in power at the time.

We have become so conditioned to this state of affairs that our political leaders no longer even seem to be trying. They know that a significant number of their constituents will respond favorably so long as they come out against whatever the party in power proposes. We cheer, we salivate, and we ask nothing more than that “our” politician trash the opponent’s idea.

We shun compromise, negotiations, and honest debate. What we want is a decisive victory. Sack the quarterback. That we understand. We don’t have time for complicated negotiations that actually take into account what is good for the country or the economy. We favor sound bites and legislative posturing. We applaud news reports that make the “other guy” look bad and “our guy” look good, totally ignoring whether there was any constructive result.

We actually look to a plethora of print, television and radio pundits for our information about what is happening in Washington or the state capitol rather than the political leaders we sent there. Doesn’t that tell you that something wrong?

We accept political ads – negative and/or misrepresented – in lieu of political debate. Why not insist that our political candidates tour the district, state or country actually debating each other rather than going around making canned speeches that play to the crowd. Why? Because we have been conditioned to accept that nonsense as sufficient food for our voting decisions.

We have failed to train our leaders to feed us facts, truth or measurable accomplishment. Instead, we accept the crap they feed us as if it were tuna. Can’t we learn to be as smart as a cat?

READING THE NEWSPAPER

2010-12-06T19:11:00.000-05:00

Reading the news can be either depressing or funny – depending on your frame of mind. I choose to look for the entertaining rather than the despair. I know that makes me neither a good Republican nor Democrat, since either label requires me to find something discouraging about the actions or accusations by members of the other party. I suppose it also labels me as a poor citizen since I do not get upset over the reports of crime, accidents, unemployment, impending weather disasters, or same-sex marriages.

Don’t get me wrong. All such reports, along with the latest casualty report from Afghanistan, failing crops in some part of the country, homeless families at this time of year, lost wages due to layoffs, and other sorrowful events that affect the lives of people concern me. I recognize, however, that wars and rumors of wars have always been with us, that the poor will always be with us, that powerful politicians are corrupt, and that I cannot do much about any of these.

So I read the newspaper with the keen knowledge that only the bad news is reported and that it is up to me to find the good, if not humorous, news by reading between the lines.

One of the first things I noticed when I picked up the front page of the Orlando Sentinel this morning was a front-page story with the headline “Want to be a cop? Clean up your Web profile.” The article points out that, “as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube become more pervasive in daily life – personal or private – law enforcement recruiters are digging through applicants’ social networking sites for signs of behavior unbecoming an officer.” Think about that. What you write in your social networking site can and will be held against you when you make application to become a law enforcement officer. Now that is a twist on the Miranda rights wouldn’t you agree? I found it funny.

The clue for 18 across in this morning’s crossword puzzle was Political Corruption, a five-letter word. I knew the answer, Graft, but my first thought made me smile as I considered the possibility that the phrase “political corruption” was redundant. (Cynics have much more fun than the straight-laced, dogmatic.)

I got many chuckles out of the article titled “Rats replacing Fido as land mine detectors.” It seems that researchers in Bogota, Columbia have trained rats to detect mines buried up to three feet. “The rats are conditioned to search and burrow for explosives in exchange for the reward of sugar,” the article reported. Further, “Unlike dogs,” the author informs, “rats are light enough to keep from detonating explosives. And researchers have found that the rodents are more adept than dogs at sensing explosives when the materials have been masked with coffee grounds, feces, fish, mercury and other substances.” In other words, they are good at digging through filth, like some Fox News pundits I know.

Luisa Fernanda Mendez, a civilian behavioral veterinarian in charge of the rat project said that like dogs, rats can be trained to obey commands such as “search,” “stop,” and “let’s go.” That’s when I started laughing. Why stop there, I thought. Let’s teach them to “sit,” “roll over,” “play dead,” and “shake” then we will have the ultimate miniature pet. Forget the miniature poodle, or the Chihuahua, let’s all get a house rat for companionship. I bet they can even be trained to set up and beg, “go fetch,” and chase and catch a miniature Frisbee.

Can’t you just imagine little children walking their pet rat, with a little pink, studded collar for the girl rats and a blue spiked one for the boy rats. They can knit little sweaters for them to wear in cold weather. I wonder if a pet rat would find irony in a tiny, squeaky toy cat to play with.

The endangered manatees are having a difficult time in Florida right now because of the cold weather. (Manatees cannot survive in sustained water temperatures below 60 degrees.) A Florida Power and Light plant near Cape Canaveral used to discharge warm water from its power generation plant into a canal that the manatees used for refuge during cold weather. That plant is gone, destroyed, reduced to rubble. It will be replaced with a cleaner generation facility in about four years. In the meantime, the company has installed $4.7 million worth of heating equipment at the canal to keep the water warm for the manatees. That will warm the animals hearts, no doubt, and make others wonder if that money couldn’t have been better spent to warm a few of the homeless people in the area.

The cynic in me thought: I’m not sure we can replace the manatees once they are gone, but I’m pretty sure we will never run out of homeless people. Is that being cruel or just realistic?

The last chortle goes to a quote the paper attributed to Conan O’Brien. “Time Warner Cable is testing a premium service that sets a specific time for the installer to arrive. The two times are winter and spring.”

Keep smiling.

THE PRIVILEGE OF GROWING OLD

2010-12-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

The last leg of our trip to Florida was so uneventful as to be boring. We left our daughter’s house Saturday morning, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and drove to about 85 miles from the Georgia state line. We encountered little traffic and managed to log a little over 500 miles for the day. That left us with less than 400 miles for the next day.

We figured that by Sunday we would start to run into many families returning home from their Thanksgiving Day trip to grandma’s house, so we got up early, 5:30, and were on the road by a little after 6:00. We did not meet those families. Traffic was actually light for most of the trip.

The only slow-down came while we were in Georgia. Everyone was cruising along at 65, 70 (the speed limit) and a few doing 75 or 80. That’s the way it always is: some drivers staying close to five miles per hour under the speed limit, most driver staying close to the speed limit, and a few (like me) setting the cruise control at five mph over the speed limit. Everyone behaves themselves, stays in their lane, and you only need to be alert for the traffic bubbles of cars all going a little faster or slower then you are going. I was in the right-hand lane when that lane almost came to a complete stop.

We were still moving but at only about 45 mph. Well, you know how it works when you are in a slow-moving lane of traffic. The left lane was moving along at the normal speed, so you want to pull out and get in that lane. Unless you are quick, you have to wait for the cars behind you to get around you before you can change lanes. My turn finally arrived and I pulled out, speeded up to stay with the group and looked ahead to see what was causing the slow down.

As the faster left lane allowed me to move up, I saw one car blocking the right hand lane, moving at about 45 mph. There was nothing but open road in front of this car, so I guessed that the driver was having motor problems and had to drive slowly until he/she could limp to the next exit ramp. That was not the case, however.

As I pulled alongside the slow moving vehicle, I laughed. Sitting in the driver’s seat, peering straight ahead with a white-knuckle death grip on the steering wheel was a snowy-haired Grandma Moses. All you could see was white-haired little woman whose head barely cleared the steering wheel, and who was unaware of anything behind or beside her. You had to love her – even while you wished she would speed up or get off the road. And, no, I haven’t forgotten that Joyce and I are a grandma and grandpa, but I don’t yet drive on the Interstate at a cautious 45 mph.

We made it around Jacksonville without encountering any serious traffic and arrived at our place by two o’clock Sunday afternoon. We got the car unloaded and most things put away that evening.

Now we can start enjoying the sunshine, the heated pool, some golf and our winter friends.

We know that growing old is a privilege. Six of our friends in the Schenectady area lost that privilege this past year, so we know how lucky we are. We strive to enjoy each day and each other. We also try to contribute something to someone’s welfare or happiness each day.

I start by just smiling when I met someone, whether I knew them not. We old folks often walk around with a dour look on our puss. You might think we were mad at the world if you went by the look on our faces. So, when I pass anyone down here in “heavens waiting room” I put a big smile on my face and act happy to see them. They may go away wondering who that grinning idiot was, but they almost always smile back.

They may have good reason to look uncomfortable, even angry. Who knows? They may actually hurt or have cause to be unhappy. Most of us old codgers have one or maybe a half-dozen physical problems, so some level of pain is our constant companion. I can choose to laugh or cry. I figure I’d rather be labeled the village idiot than the town grouch, so I smile when I pass someone and try to brighten their day a bit.

LIGHT BULBS DON'T BOUNCE

2010-11-26T17:34:00.002-05:00

Our trip south has thus far been interesting, if not filled with excitement.

Leaving for the winter to travel to Florida involves packing for both cool and possibly cold weather while also considering what we will need for the warmer Florida weather. Since we were already experiencing cold weather in New York, we had to have at least clothes that were appropriate departure day. We were traveling to our daughter’s home in Maryland and hoped it would be warmer there, which it was. Nevertheless, a storm was moving in across the Midwest, so who knew what type of clothing we would need in the next day or so. It’s always an adventure trying to second-guess Mother Nature, and we often end up with too many of one type of clothes and too few of the other.

Traveling in a car as we do these days is far less adventure filled than when we made similar trips in the Chuckwagon, as we called our now sold motor home. Although we can, and do, share the driving, I drove the entire trip this time. We made the 375-mile trip in just about eight hours. The road conditions were good and traffic was light … until.

We were traveling along happy has piglets snuggled against their mother’s warm belly while sucking on their favorite teat when we met with the first adventure of the trip. We were on a curve leaving Route I-83 to get around Harrisburg, PA when traffic came to stop. A complete stop! Ahead we saw nothing but cars, trucks and other vehicles nestled bumper to bumper like dogs greeting each other by sniffing butts. I happened to glance at the GPS on the dash and noticed that it was almost 8 miles to the next turn-off. That is how I knew later that it took us one hour and 18 minutes to travel those 8 miles. The backup, we learned, was caused by compressing three lanes of traffic into one lane, while side traffic entered the mix at several points, and all this for a work area of less than 200 yards long. Once past that roadwork bottleneck, we resumed normal speed and traveled to our Thanksgiving destination without further incident.

I have often wondered why after a long trip such as this that the first thing I want to do to sit down somewhere. Isn’t that strange. Anyway, our daughter was not yet home from her job, but we knew the Open Sesame that would raise the garage door, and we got in all right. Only one dog greeted us, which was a puzzle. We found the second one, Butch, mysteriously behind a closed door in our granddaughter’s room. Mysteriously, because both dogs are always free to roam the house during the day. I guess the adage “Snooze and you lose” applies in this case. Butch must have been snoozing in the bedroom when our granddaughter left for the day and became a captive of his laziness.

Our daughter returned home after work and that is when we learned our rest break was over. She had a list of “things” for us to do in preparation for the crowd that was due for Thanksgiving. Mom was to clean and vacuum and I had the responsibility of installing a new set of lights in the upstairs bathroom. Piece of cake, I figured.

Murphy’s Law says something to the effect that if anything can go wrong, it will. That bit of wisdom certainly applies with respect to home repairs. Each of the two light fixtures had three large, clear light bulbs in them. These had to come out so I could get to the escutcheons that held the light bar cover to the mounting plate. You know how light bulbs come out. You turn one a little and its feels really loose, but not loose enough to be removed. So you turn it some more and try again. I did this several times until I was sure it was loose enough to come out. But no. So I let go of the bulb to reposition my hand for another turn and, you got it, it WAS loose enough to come out. And it did.

Well, I’m leaning over the sink to get to the light bar that is mounted above the mirror and I am not in a good position to act quickly, so I thought I could – now get ready for this – catch it on the first bounce. Ha! In the same nano-second that I realized that light bulbs do not bounce, it did not bounce. It hit the sink below my arms shattered into 11 million tiny pieces. This is not a good thing to have happen where people frequently walk around bare footed.

OK, so Joyce had one more room to vacuum.

I was more cautious with the remaining bulbs and after replacing that first light fixture prepared to tackle the second one.

The cover plate on the second light fixture, I found, much to my consternation, covered not only the mounting plate but also two holes in the wall from an earlier fixture replacement. This was not part of the plan. While I carry numerous tools in my toolbox, spackling compound is not one of those tools. Nor do I carry a variety of paints with which to touch up holes once patched. Fortunately, my daughter had both spackling and touch-up paint and with great relief I announced shortly thereafter that the bathroom was finished.

Working on overhead projects that require me to look up for any length of time triggers my vertigo. This job was one of those projects and I found that I was dizzy and lightheaded the rest of the day. Not the way I wanted to start the Thanksgiving holiday season, but I survived and was ready for the big turkey massacre the next day.

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving with friends and/or family. We did. We had 14 people that included two of my daughters and their families, sans one grandson, and my cousin and his wife. It’s good to have family around.

EXERCISE and the PRIVILEGE OF GROWING OLDER

2010-11-12T15:23:00.000-05:00

I just finished my morning exercises and this seemed a good time to write about those exercises. The significance of finishing my exercises this morning is that this was the third time the week. I normally exercise for an hour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. This was, however, the first time in a long while that I have been able to complete three mornings of exercise in one week. I was so tired after the first day or two that I would have to skip the remaining exercise day in any given week.

I knew I had to keep trying; I had to keep working to build up my endurance or I would otherwise gradually get to the point where I could not even do one morning exercise regimen. That was not an option for me.

I was a skinny, 90-pound weakling growing up as a child. I did not start exercising regularly until the early 1960s when President Kennedy promoted regular exercise through creation of the President’s Council on Fitness. I’ve been exercising more or less regularly ever since.

I led an exercise group several years ago at a campground where Joyce and I were spending the winter. The exercise program I developed was intended for seniors (most winter snowbirds are over 55) and was designed with the goal of maintaining flexibility and strength. Arthritis, bone loss, football or other sports injuries all combine to diminish our ability to do some things. The choice is simple: join the rocking chair group, gain weight, and die earlier than need be because we allow our muscles and joints to deteriorate.

As I said, I was not willing to go down that road. Hence, I stayed with my exercises and today I finished my third day without feeling as if I would die. I don’t believe in pushing myself to the point that I am exhausted – although my wife reminds me that I tend to overdue – but I do believe in the theory that if I can take three steps today, I should strive to take four steps tomorrow.

My strength and resolve to exercise weakened over the years. I had made several trips to the hospital for coronary stents (13 in all) and had a serious lung infection this past summer. I was out of shape and gradually had to rebuild my willingness and ability to complete my exercise program.

And I did it! Of course, I’ll probably need a nap this afternoon.

Exercise is one of the more or less free things we can do to prolong life and enjoy a better quality of life. I subscribe to the statement made by movie actress Laura Linney: “We should embrace the privilege of growing older.” Having lost five cohorts this past year, I appreciate that growing older is a privilege. Just growing older is not such a big deal if you cannot enjoy that life. That’s where the exercises come in. Strength and range-of-motion exercises enable me to continue doing what I like to do.

I prefer to exercise at home. First, I can design my own program, one that does not involve expensive equipment. Second, I do not need to allow travel time to and from a gym, especially in inclement weather. Third, I do not have to pay a gym membership fee. Fourth, I can watch television or listen to music of my choosing. Fifth, if want to or need to cut my program short some morning, I can do so without feeling guilty.

My approach does require a measure of self-discipline. When you pay for a gym membership and/or have scheduled time to be there, you are more likely to go. I have to be my own coach (Stop and get your breath), my own drill sergeant (Give me three more, maggot), my own cheerleader and my own evaluator of results.

I use a variety of exercises I have put together to deal with my unique circumstances. When you go to a gym, someone there will help develop a program suitable for you. I avoided arthroscopic knee surgery a few years ago after the surgeon suggested I first work to build up the muscles that control the knee joint and hold things in place. Without these exercises the surgery, he said, would be of little value because the problem would return. Those exercises led to stronger quadriceps, among other things, and eliminated the need for surgery. Those exercises are part of my thrice-weekly program.

I had a similar experience with my left shoulder. I could raise my left arm over my head only with help. I again faced arthroscopic surgery, at best, and, depending on what the surgeon found when he got in there, possibly more extensive reconstructive surgery. A year’s recovery time was the prediction. My cardiologist would not sign off on the surgery, as it would require taking me off one of my coronary medications. The orthopedic surgeon once again prescribed physical therapy. It worked and I now have complete range of motion in my shoulder. Those physical therapy exercises are also part of my weekly program.

I had some favorite exercises from the program I did years ago, but as my wife regularly reminds me, that was before the coronary stents plus, I was younger. Therefore, I stated looking around for some low-impact exercises that were appropriate for seniors.

I found what I was looking for at the "Real Age: Live Life to the Youngest" web page created by Drs. Oz and Roizen. The program I found that fit my needs best was the YOU2 Workout at the following website: http://www.realage.com/the-you-docs/you-staying-young/working-out-at-home-without-equipment. Highlight this and paste it into your web browser to see the complete 18-move program.

Here is what they say in the first paragraph:

“The best gym in the world? You're living in it. By using your own body weight to complete a strength-and-stretch workout, you'll have the ability to transform your body -- no excuses. This 18-move workout from the YOU Docs and celebrity trainer Joel Harper is one that you can do in fewer than 20 minutes -- and there's no need for equipment. It will strengthen your muscles (to make you stronger, leaner, and more equipped to handle the rigors of aging) and stretch them (to make you more flexible and dynamic, for the same reason).”

I do not do all 18 moves because I have substituted some of my own that deal with specific areas (e.g., shoulders and knees) that I want to work on. Use your head. If something hurts, stop. If you cannot at first do all the reps recommended, do what you can and try for one more the next time. Check with your doctor if you are in doubt about any of these exercises. Finally, combine these exercises with a sensible walking program and you may be surprised how you feel in a month or two.

Three days a week. That’s all it takes. Get up, get going and join me.

THE MAGIC OF MULCH

2010-11-09T18:48:00.000-05:00

I have been scolded by my loyal readers (both of them) for not posting to my blog more often. What can I say? I plead guilty. My only defense is that I’ve been busy with other things.

I will try to do better. However, I try not to bore you with inane comments that insult your intelligence. I may bruise your brain once in awhile, but I try to write only when I have something to say.

So what is this “Magic of Mulch” crap? Just this. We suburbanites are wasting too much money – not to mention valuable nutrients – on bagging our lawn clippings.

I purchased a new lawn mower last spring and more by accident than design the lawn mower I got was a mulching mower. That means it has a heavy-duty engine (7.5 hp) and a more bell shaped blade housing. This design forces the clipped grass blades back downs through the rotating blade to be cut again before falling to the ground. The more powerful engine guarantees that the cutting blade rotates fast enough to whack those clippings one more time before they fall into the grass below.

This mower has a grass catcher attachment that one can use when cutting taller grass that needs to be bagged or discarded on your compost pile. I have not yet had to use it.

How can that be? Well, as I said, I got this new mower last spring when on the first day of mowing the power mower I had started making strange noises. Since it was 20+ years old and had been repaired once before, I turned it off and headed for the mall to find another. I found the mower I wanted and purchased it that day. Hence, I was on top of the spring-summer mowing season from day one with my new mulching mower.

I didn’t know much about mulching mowers and, like many of you, had used a grass catcher in the past to collect grass clippings that I put on my compost pile. This compost pile has for 45 years added much needed moister-holding content to my otherwise very sandy garden soil. I never bagged my grass clippings to be carted off to the town compost pile.

As I read about mulching, however, I learned that mulching your grass clippings is actually preferable to bagging. Those grass clippings contain valuable nutrients that our lawns need. In fact, many of us buy expensive fertilizer to put on our lawn in the spring (and fall) to improve the root system and help thicken the mat of “good” grass that will then prevent weed grasses from getting started. Those nutrients find their way into the blades of grass that we cut off – and then throw away.

Mulching puts those nutrients right back into the soil. The nutrients are recycled, if you will, and many of us are ardent recyclers. Recycling helps the environment, improves the looks of our lawn, and saves money.

But, you might complain, aren’t those brown clumps of dry grass ugly, not to mention bad for the lawn as they breed mold and create thatch that must later be removed with a thatching tool? That can happen if you wait too long between mowing, as is common among those who bag their grass clippings. Mulching requires that you cut only the top one-third of the grass blade AND that one-third should be no more than one inch long.

Consider these points from the Cornell University Cooperative Extension office:

Just Mow It: A Guide to Grass Recycling

Consider The Benefits Of Leaving Clippings On The Lawn When Mowing:

• You can save one-third of your annual lawn care time by mowing frequently and not collecting clippings.

• Clippings left on the lawn recycle nutrients, saving about 25% of your annual fertilizer costs. According to Dr. Norman Hummel, Jr., Turfgrass Specialist at Cornell University, "one ton of fresh clippings contain approximately 15 pounds of nitrogen, 2 pounds of phosphorous and 10 pounds of potassium -- the three major nutrients -- and smaller quantities of the other elements essential for plant life." We must stop thinking of grass clippings as "garbage."

• According to a University of Connecticut research scientist, clippings left on the lawn can increase the organic content of the soil and lead to increased earthworm activity. Earthworms improve soil aeration and water movement through the soil, providing a better environment for plant growth.

• A ton of grass clippings contains more than 1,700 pounds of water. Leaving clippings on the lawn saves tax dollars spent for labor, fuel costs and dumping fees that are incurred to dispose of this moisture-laden material.

How to Recycle Grass: Successful recycling of grass clippings to your lawn requires nothing more than basic lawn care on a regular basis.

• Mow when your grass is dry and 3 to 3-1/2 inches tall. Never cut it shorter than 2 to 2-1/2 inches or remove more than one third of the leaf surface at any one mowing. This will allow your lawn to have a larger and deeper root system -- a stronger defense against weeds, diseases and drought.

• Use a sharp mower blade or a mulching mower if you have one. A sharp blade and frequent mowing will mean finer clippings that will decompose quickly. If you have trouble using your mower without the bagger, call your dealer for assistance. Mulching kits are available to retrofit some mowers.

So why am I talking about mulching this time of year? With a light dusting of snow already on the ground in this part of New York, most of us are thinking about putting our lawnmowers away and making sure the snow blower works. Yes, but for one nasty little thing: all those leaves that are on the ground or still on the trees. They are out there (under the snow, perhaps) and still need to be removed unless we want some ugly brown spots on our lawn next spring.

Now is the time to think about mulching those leaves rather than raking them. Mulching leaves makes as much sense as mulching lawn clippings. Here’s why, as explained by the folks at Superlandscaping: http://www.superlandscaping.com/learn/leaf-mulching.

Benefits of Leaf Mulching

Following are some of the main benefits mulching can offer your lawn:

• Soil enrichment: leaf mulch is excellent for returning nutrients back to the soil and causes your lawn to require less fertilizer and other additives as a result.

• Water conservation: mulching can help to retain moisture in the soil in your lawn. When you cover soil with leaf mulch, the mulch reduces the soil’s exposure to sunlight and wind, which reduces water evaporation.

• Insulation: mulch insulates your plants’ roots from the heat in the summer, the cold during winter, and wind all year long. It also prevents soil compaction and erosion from wind and rain.

• Weed control: leaf mulching can help prevent weeds from growing in your lawn by covering the surface of your lawn. You should add a thick layer of mulch (two to three inches) in gardens to reduce the need for herbicides.

• Saves money: by using natural fertilization methods instead of synthetic ones, you can save money on caring for your lawn.

I have already mulched my first batch of leaves under the crab apple tree and the weeping cherry, but I will be out there again later in the week when this snow dusting evaporates (or melts) and the leaves are dry. It’s quick, easy on my back and good for my lawn.

You might want to give it a try.

SMALLER GOVERNMENT MEANS FEWER SUBSIDIES – ARE WE READY FOR THAT?

2010-10-21T09:58:00.000-04:00

I hear a great deal these days from the tea party followers, and from a few of my friends, about smaller government. We must, they argue, get government out of the business of trying to level the human or business playing field. Robbing from the rich (taxes) to give to the poor (welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and other subsidies for the have-nots) is ruining this country and running up a national debt our children and grandchildren will have to pay.

This is akin, they argue, to the bumper sticker popular with many of our RV friends: SPENDING OUR CHILDREN’S INHERITANCE. We frequently saw this sticker on the motor homes of our traveling friends. These friends, or course, were usually retired and had enough money to own an RV and to travel around the country. Their wealth may have come from actual hard work and smart investments, but as often as not the life style they enjoyed was possible because they had a defined-benefit pension plan and social security – and large mortgage payments on their RV.

The cry to privatize Social Security, to reduce taxes, or to eliminate government subsidies to the poor comes exclusively from those who have money and secure jobs. True, they went to school, worked hard and deserve the position and pay they receive. I never understood, though, how they could so easily dismiss those who, through no fault of their own, need a helping hand. Granted governments – well, politicians actually – frequently get carried away with the welfare thing and too often give away more than the nation can afford. They never seem able to establish programs that that provide temporary assistance and do not promise life-long support.

That said, we have to face the fact that some people will need support for the rest of their lives. Ignoring this fact will return us to the era of poor houses, Oliver Twist-like children begging (or stealing) in the streets, the elderly or injured dying prematurely because of inattention to their health, and other bad socio-economic conditions we have long-since put behind us as a nation.

Are there people who will take advantage of any system you set up? Certainly. Are there bankers who presently take advantage of loopholes in banking regulations to make millions for themselves while allowing their stockholders to lose money? Getting government out of people’s lives makes as much sense as getting government out of regulating banks.

Actually, we all try to “beat the system” when we fill out our tax returns and list all the legal exceptions. How so? Well, the fact that the government allows exceptions invites all of us to look for every deduction we can find – even sometimes if we have to bend the rule just a little to make it fit our circumstance. We do it and companies do it. Companies even go so far as to hire teams of lawyers to find every loophole they can to save money on their taxes. Few, if any, of us ever opens the tax form, fills in the personal information, lists our total income for the year and turns immediately to the tax table to see what we owe. That would be stupid.

Can you then blame the person on SSI, food stamps, unemployment (yes, unemployment benefits are a government subsidy), welfare, Medicaid or any other government program for trying to get from it all they can?

And that brings us to all those other subsidies the government provides: tax breaks to businesses to relocate, subsidies for tobacco farmers, subsidies to cotton growers, subsides to honey bee ranchers, subsidies to corn growers, subsidies to railroads, subsidies to keep the price of milk from dropping too low, subsidies to maintain the interstate highway system, subsidies to the aero-space industry, and so on.

Consider the CRP program for farmers and ranchers. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) provides technical and financial assistance to eligible farmers and ranchers to address soil, water, and related natural resource concerns on their lands in an environmentally beneficial and cost-effective manner. The program provides assistance to farmers and ranchers in complying with Federal, State, and tribal environmental laws, and encourages environmental enhancement. Farmers receive an annual rental payment for the term of the multi-year contract. Cost sharing is provided to establish the vegetative cover practices.”

The annual rental payment varies depending upon a variety of factors, but farmer with 300 acres in the CRP program may receive as much as $100 per acre or $30,000 a year for essentially doing nothing but planting, say, Lespedeza (a member of the pea family) and mowing it once a year. That’s a government subsidy for farmers than the rest of us never get to participate in.

Like all subsidies, it makes sense, or did at one time. Maybe it still makes sense. Not all government subsidies make sense, however.

Froma Harrop in her October 18 column points out that Mayor Bloomberg of New York City is being criticized by some for wanting to stop people from using their food stamps to buy “Coca-Cola and other sugary, fattening drinks.” He is not. Moreover, she adds, he does not want to stand between all New Yorkers and their cans of soda. “But he would end the taxpayers’ role as enabler of poor nutrition choices.” Further, she reminds us, “There’s a difference between a government ban on something and its refusal to subsidize it.”

That makes sense to me. If I lend you money because you can’t pay your mortgage or buy groceries for your kids, I sure as hell will resent it if you take some of that money to buy a case of beer or, worse, spend a weekend at a nearby casino. When you are using other people’s money (the NYC taxpayers, in Bloomberg’s case), you have to expect some oversight and restrictions on how you spend that money.

There is a difference also between what Medicare or Medicaid insurance will pay for (subsidize) and what medical care you may have. You may have any medical procedure you want and can pay for. Insurance is agrees to pay only for specified procedures.

Regardless, smaller government (which I favor) means fewer subsidies. The problem is that not many of us are willing to give up the various government subsidies we receive. How many subsidies are you willing to do without? Before you answer, you may want to take a few minutes to review the subsidies you now receive: unemployment insurance, school tax relief, road maintenance, police and fire services, insurance and banking regulation, meat and produce inspection, etc. All of these are important, but in simpler times, when taxes were lower, some of these services did not exist or existed in a greatly reduced form. Are we ready to return to those days?

WHY ATTEND CHURCH?

2010-10-17T13:49:00.000-04:00

This past summer while driving across the central U.S. we stopped for the night at a motel that offered free copies of the Marysville, KS Advocate. Having a newspaper to read was a special treat for us as we had spent the five weeks we were at our place in Colorado without television or a newspaper. You can understand why we felt somewhat out of touch with what was going on in the country and welcomed the chance to read a newspaper.

True, we had some radio reception at the ranch, but we were 50 miles from Colorado Springs and about the same distance from Canon City. The few stations we received were mostly music stations and they only did a five-minute news wrap up at the top of each hour. After that, it was all music – mostly country music.

We eagerly took the Advocate back to our room and started reading it. We learned, among other things, that the cattle disease anaplasmosis had been reported in the region. That, we surmised, was news to local cattle farmers. We also learned that Boos Pumpkin Patch would be open that coming Saturday.

One article that caught my eye was the one by Jerry Zanker, pastor of the Marysville First Christian Church. The title was “Why go to church?” Being a doubting Thomas, I wondered what answer he would give, so I read the article.

Pastor Zanker started right off by feeding my doubt with the statement that “79 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians but only 20 percent attend worship service regularly.” While I never had definite figures to support my cynicism about religious folks, I already knew that a great many so-called Christians were such in name only. Not only did they not attend church services regularly, the rest of their daily lives belied the notion that they were serious Christians.

Indeed, by the simple, unscientific practice of observing people, I learned that being a Christian for many folks was something akin to being a Democrat or Republican or Rotarian or Chamber of Commerce member. Whatever the label, whatever the organization, it was important to these people to belong to something. They desperately needed to be identified with an organization or cause – not so much that belonging required them to change the way their live but enough for them to enjoy the social aspects of belonging. Even if they attended church services with some regularity, they did so to see and be seen more so than to actually take part in the religious outreach of the church.

Pastor Zanker wrote in his article that he looked at “the Scripture from the Book of Acts to discover what going to church can do for us.” Imagine my surprise when the first thing he mentioned was “that the church gives us a sense of fellowship or belonging.” Well, that was legitimate. We are herd animals and whether it is a political party, the Sons of Norway, the Lions Club, or the local sports booster club, most adults belong to something; actually, we usually belong to several groups or organizations. Whenever we move into a new school, a new community, a new job or any new social setting, we immediately set about trying to find someone with whom we can identify so we can have that essential sense of belonging.

Not being a student of the Bible, I had no idea if the Book of Acts actually addressed the matter as specifically as the pastor suggested, but I was willing accept that it did. (A minister wouldn’t lie, would he?)

The second thing the church gives us that Pastor Zanker identified was the opportunity to worship. “Worship,” he said, “is more than what goes on in a church building, but is a way of life.” We need, he added, “one hour of focused worship with our attention on Jesus Christ.” My disappointment began to grow. One hour? The pastor was justifying his church’s weekly service and his position as the church’s leader rather than answering the question posed by his article’s title.

Ministers, I fear, are guilty of asking questions and answering them the way they want, much like politicians, because they are seldom, if ever required -- from the pulpit at least -- to defend what they say. Parishioners are expected to sit passively and absorb whatever “wisdom” the pastor presents. Notice that even when people in the pews are sitting there with Bible in hand, the minister feels completely comfortable telling the congregation the meaning of a particular passage he just read to them. He expects them to accept his interpretation. And they seem always to accept it. I’ve never seen a parishioner stand up and say, “Wait a minute, reverend. I don’t think that is what this passage says at all.”

Apparently, we take seriously the notion that we in the congregation are the minister’s flock, and we act like sheep, following his every direction or suggestion.

Moving on, Reverend Zanker identifies the third thing the church does for us is “to lead us to spiritual maturity.” That means, I imagine, the spiritual maturity defined by the pastor and, possibly, church doctrine. Independent spiritual maturity is frowned on. The church is a congregation, a melding of many into one. There is strength in numbers but especially if those among the numbers think and act as one. (I will again confess that I am not a biblical scholar and I have not checked the Book of Acts to see if it spells out these four characteristics of church membership in any detail.)

The good pastor tells us that the “fourth thing the church does is that it prepares us for ministry.” Zanker explains what this means with these words: “God has placed each one of us on earth to make a contribution to society. We weren’t just created to consume resources and take up space. God designed each of us to make a difference with our lives. We all have special gifts and abilities that God has given us for ministry.”

I have no quarrel with that, but I do wonder how many of his congregation – remember, this is central Kansas – will acknowledge, "that God designed each of us,” including homosexuals, say, “to make a difference with our lives.” It is something to wonder about, wouldn’t you agree?

The final thing the church does for us is “help us to understand and carry out our life’s mission.” But only, I fear, if your life’s mission, as you have come to understand it during your growth in spiritual maturity, agrees with the tenets of the church and the general position of others in the church with which you have developed a sense of fellowship or belonging.

I learned years ago that the fundamental responsibility of any good pastor is to look after the needs of the church. The church is first. Pastor Zanker confirmed my suspicion when at the end of his article he writes, “My prayer is that maybe I’ve given you enough reasons why you might want to attend worship.”

Not satisfied to let it go with that, he adds, “Because as I told our congregation that when you understand what it means to not just go to church – but be the church, you will have discovered your life’s true purpose.” Although he means to make it sound like the church is nothing without you, he really wants you to believe that you are nothing without the church. I have to balk at that.

The pastor is preaching to the choir. He wrote this article not so much to persuade those Christians who do not attend church regularly but to confirm that for those who do, that according to the bible they are doing the right thing. He probably received many positive comments from his parishioners on his excellent article as they left church this Sunday. And that is what he was going for, I suspect.

I mentioned at the beginning that I was a doubting Thomas, but I feel compelled to say further that I was once a participating member of the church. I sang in the choir, often at two services, served as a deacon and later as an elder of the church, and served as vice president of consistory. I also served on the church’s budget committee, among other things. I know how things get done in the church and why. Modern churches are businesses, and more decisions in the church are made for business reasons than for religious reasons.

IS HATING A NECESSARY HUMAN CONDITION?

2010-09-01T12:21:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed that we humans, at least we Americans, always seem to have someone or some group we hate. Maybe hate is a strong word, but we, nevertheless, seem to require a boogieman in our lives or we are not happy.

For some people it’s those radical liberals who want to give away “everything I’ve worked for” to those “worthless bums unwilling to work for a living.” For others the boogieman is those insensitive conservatives who always want to turn back the clock to some earlier time, ignoring the plight of those around them who have suffered setbacks in their lives.

Lately, however, the target of much of our hate has been directed at the Muslims. They are a handy target since we don’t know many, if any, of them personally, they dress funny, have funny sounding names, and allegedly have a religion that allows, even encourages, them to mistreat their women and kill infidels, meaning us good Christians. What’s not to hate?

I heard an interview the other day of one father of a firefighter killed in the 911 tragedy. The reporter asked why the father opposed the Muslims building a cultural center two and one half blocks from Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center, when within a block of that site were several sleazy strip joints and stores selling pornography. Wouldn’t a cultural center be preferable to such businesses so near Ground Zero? The father’s answer: “They didn’t kill my son, the Muslims did.”

The first part of his answer is factually correct. The second part is factually wrong. “The Muslims” didn’t kill his son. Twelve radical Muslim fanatics killed his son. Whackos never represent the main stream whether they are radical Muslims, radical Christians, radical abortionists, radical pro-lifers, or radical whatever. Crazy is crazy.

Am I nitpicking? I don’t think so.

If we are going to direct our hatred at groups of people based on the actions of a few, in particular the actions of one or more radical members of a group, then we need – using this logic – to condemn Irish Catholics. Say what?

Timothy McVeigh, convicted and executed for his part in the Oklahoma City bombing that took the lives of 168 people, many of them children, and injured 680 more people, was raised as an Irish Catholic. He was raised in Lockport, New York. Should we add all those people to our hate list? Are they guilty by association?

If that doesn’t make sense to you, as it doesn’t to me, why do we insist on making all Muslims guilty by their religious association with the 12 sick-minded radicals that commandeered four planes and flew two of them into the World Trade Center towers? The only answer I have to my question is that some of us just have to hate someone and we are easily led to hate the target-of-the-month, in this case, the Muslims.

If we are not capable as adult, rational people to think through news reports and inflammatory comments to reach non-hysterical conclusions, we run the risk of being no better than the radical Muslims who swallowed the hatred fed them about America by “their” propaganda leaders or biased news media.

Hatred is destructive. Let’s not go there.

MYSTERY CRITTER FOUND

2010-08-29T16:08:00.000-04:00

In my last blog I spoke of a ghost or mystery critter of some sort that had knocked things off the wall, defecated and vomited on the floor, and generally created a mess in the garage here at out mountain retreat. I feared that it was an animal that wandered into the garage last fall as we were closing up and got shut in for the winter.

If so, that poor creature would have searched in vain for a way out. Further, it would have also searched in vain for something to eat or for water, leading to a slow death from starvation and/or dehydration, if it didn't freeze to death first.

Yesterday afternoon, my nose led to search further into a plastic crate in which I found the poor creatures remains. There was little smell left as the fully grown black cat had dried to mostly skin, fur and bones.

We held a cremation for the remains this morning.

Curiosity can indeed kill a cat.

I called Bob and Mary Campbell, our rancher neighbors, to determine if they were missing a black cat from among their barn cats. She said yes, "But," she added, "our barn cats go missing all the time. Some get hurt somewhere and go off to die alone. Others just disappear, possibly taken by a coyote or some other bigger animal." I told her that I found the black one and explained what I believed happened. Her comment was typical of farmers and ranchers who live with animals. She said, "Well." Then added, "That's too bad."

I thought that was a little callus but then realized that on a ranch, horses get hurt and have to be put down, calves are born and then die, and cats wander off and get caught in traps or, in this case, get trapped inside a building they cannot get out of. Shit happens.

Ranching -- dare I say, life? -- is for the living. You regret losing a good horse. You regret losing one or several calves during calving season, for whatever reason; they represent lost income. And you regret the painful death of any animal, but life goes on and the ranch demands the attention of those living and still in charge. That's just the way it is. Take precautions to avoid accidents, but you have to take care of the life before you.

I'll try to remember that.

WHY NOT MORE BLOGS, CHUCK?

2010-08-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

Chuck, why don’t you write on your blog more often?

I have actually never been asked that question, but I am aware that many of you may want to ask it. Well, I am aware of little these days as my grey matter gradually turns to mush, but I am cognizant (just showing off my college education) of the fact that I haven’t written anything recently and, therefore, probably have a number of disappointed blog fans wondering why. Okay, “disappointed” might be a bit strong.

Here are some possible answers to the question. Pick out the one that seems to have the best fit. (Everyone scores a perfect 100 on this test, by the way.)

1. Chuck is a lazy, no-talent bum with little to say and even less talent for putting it in writing.

2. Chuck writes often, he just doesn’t publish.

3. Chuck is too busy answering email from the last blog to have time to write a new one.

4. Chuck has nothing to say worth reading and has the good sense to know it.

5. Answer #4 is completely bogus except for the part about “nothing to say worth reading.”

6. Chuck and Joyce have been on the road to Colorado and he hasn’t had time to prepare a summary of his travel adventures.

7. There were no travel adventures so Chuck (as usual) has nothing to write about.

8. People have asked me to stop writing on my blog.

Pick an answer. Pick two or three if you like.

Joyce and I are our 15 acres of the Colorado Mountains that we lovingly refer to as The Ranch. We arrived five days ago after spending three days in Denver visiting with Joyce’s brother and sister-in-law AND hoping our lungs would adjust a little to the altitude there before we came on up to the ranch. The altitude in Denver, as most people know, is around 5,280 feet, hence the nickname, The Mile-High City. The altitude at the ranch is 8750 feet; we just refer to it as nearly 9,000 feet. A couple of hundred feet doesn’t matter one way or the other when you can’t breathe.

In reality, breathing is not the problem. Breathing is easy. The air is clean, free of most of man’s pollutants and carries the scent of Ponderosa pine, wild flowers and, occasionally, some cow shit. Clean, breathable air is plentiful; it’s the lower oxygen that is the problem.

Here’s a little lesson on air density. The percentage of oxygen in air, at 21%, remains almost unchanged up to 7,000 feet (2,100 m). There is no change in the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen. However, it is the air pressure itself, the number of molecules (of both oxygen and nitrogen) per given volume, which drops as altitude increases. Consequently, the available amount of oxygen to sustain mental and physical alertness decreases above 10,000 feet (3,000 m).

Ha! My ability to sustain mental and physical alertness, already at dangerously low levels, decreases a lot the first few days at the ranch. After walking from the living room to the bathroom, I have to stop and catch my breath. When toweling off after my shower, I have to stop and take five or six big breaths before continuing. (In this weakened and nude state I am, of course, vulnerable to any passing woman: a fact that is not lost on my wife.)

Showering is one of several great pleasures here at the ranch. We have a drilled well, 240 feet deep, that has naturally soft water, I mean soft to the point of feeling slick. If you are old enough, you may remember the Brylcreem hair pomade for men that was popular during the middle of the last century. The catch phrase in their radio and television ads was, “A little dab’l do you.” Well, that’s true with the soft water from our well. You don’t need much soap to work up a tremendous lather. And cold? You need a lot of hot water and only a little cold water when taking a shower.

But that cold water tastes so good when you need a refreshing drink direct from the tap. And you do need to drink lots of water out here. The air is drier, so you need more water to stay hydrated. In addition, drinking extra water helps stave off altitude sickness. More than one guest to the ranch has had a vacation stay spoiled by not heeding our advice to take it easy the first couple of days – and to drink lots of water!!

Headaches are the most common complaint at this altitude, along with the feeling of breathlessness. The dryer air may dry out nasal passages causing more sneezing and nose blowing. Too much exertion and lack of water, however, may lead to nausea and a day or two in bed.

So, it’s only after taking it easy for three or four days that Joyce and I start to do anything. (I spent two days just sitting in my recliner reading.) But today, we are starting to work on various projects. Well, Joyce is. I encourage her to prepare meals, do laundry and other “easy” chores while I sit at my computer typing. When Joyce walks in the room, I roll my eyes, act as if I have a headache, or feign some other form of illness so she won't think I should get up and do something. The lawn needs mowing and the garage needs cleaning, but I don’t want to overdo.

Speaking of the garage, we either have ghosts or there is a sneaky (possibly dead now) critter that has taken up residence there. Ghosts don’t usually leave behind dried poop, so I’m going with the critter line. The “residence” part is still under investigation. What I fear is that some animal wandered into the garage the last time it was open and we inadvertently locked it in. The place was a mess when we got out here this summer. Things were knocked off wall hooks, there was poop and vomit on the floor, and other indications of something running around frantically -- probably searching for a way out. Poor thing. What a horrible way to die.

Equally horrible is the task before me: finding the, hopefully petrified, remains and removing them.

Now you know why I am saving myself from getting all worn out from mundane chores and steeling myself for the job ahead. You also know why I haven’t been blogging lately.

SOME OF THE BEST TOMATOES COME FROM THE COMPOST PILE

2010-07-24T18:58:00.000-04:00

I've been a gardener most of my life, I figure. My dad always had a garden, so I was introduced to gardening at an early age.

I can't honestly say I enjoyed working in my dad's garden as a youth because my major responsibility at that time was to remove weeds and rocks -- we lived in Southwest Missouri on the edge of the Ozark Mountains where rocks are born and grow. Being in the garden, however, allowed me the privilege of getting to be first to eat a tomato fresh off the vine, to savor the young peas in a not-fully-developed pea pod, or to yank a tender young carrot from the ground, wipe off the dirt on my overalls and eat it right there.

I still love fresh vegetables. When I got my own place after college, I immediately cleared an area for my vegetable garden.

In recent years I could not maintain the garden I previously did because I was gone during a big part of the summer. I gradually replaced seasonal crops with annual ones: rhubarb, horseradish, raspberries, and green onions. The rest of the garden was covered with black plastic to keep the weeds at bay.

We are sticking closer to home this season due to an upcoming wedding involving our oldest granddaughter, so I had the opportunity to plant more seasonal vegetables. When I brought in my first red tomato the other day I was reminded of the several summers we enjoyed the delicious, huge Big Boy tomatoes that came from no less a place than my dad's compost pile.

Dad taught me the value of maintaining a compost pile. Grass clippings, pulled weeds, hedge clippings, and even the valuable stuff we now flush down the drain via our garbage disposals. All of these items decompose and all have valuable nutrients that can be returned to the garden soil to enrich it for next season's garden. Dad was doing organic gardening before the term became popular.

Well, early one summer before dad had turned the compost pile over he noticed a tomato plant coming up in one corner. It had clearly come up from a seed that had survived the winter and he decided to let it grow. It produced some of the biggest, meatiest tomatoes we had ever seen, tomatoes of the Big Boy variety that he had grown the previous season. Big Boy tomatoes are a hybrid tomato and hybrids don't usually reproduce well from seed. This one did, however, and dad decided to save some of the seeds that fall. He shared some of those with me and I started my own tomato plants the following spring.

We were pleased to have the seedlings develop into healthy tomato vines, even though they have been transplanted from their "native" Ozark region to the Zone 5 region in upstate New York. The vines grew big and strong and produced for us the same robust tomatoes they had for my dad. We were now working with the fourth generation of seeds from the original plant, so we were not only pleased but a little surprised.

Those tomatoes were delicious! We had more tomatoes than we could eat that summer, which is unusual since everyone in the family likes fresh tomatoes.

I saved some of the seeds from one of the healthiest tomatoes in mid-summer to use the follow spring. Seedlings from those seeds grew as expected and the resulting tomato plants once again grew healthy and strong. But!

We noticed one little problem with our tomatoes that summer. They were big and red and solid throughout, but some of the solidness came from a hard green core that had developed and they were more misshapen than round. After cutting out the core and slicing, we had a big odd shaped slice of tomato with a big hole in the middle. They were still delicious but a pain to prepare.

When I checked with my dad back in Missouri I learned that he was experiencing the same thing. The tomatoes were apparently beginning to revert to some of the original stock from which the Big Boy hybrid had been developed.

We gave up on the strain after that summer, but I always remember those two seasons when we had some of the tastiest tomatoes you could ever want -- and they came from the compost pile.

And get this, the other day after turning my compost pile I noticed a young tomato plant coming up next to the wall. You know, I just had to let it grow. We'll see what develops later in the summer. It may be another tomato surprise.

FINDING OUR LEADER

2010-07-21T17:23:00.000-04:00

Much has been said and written lately about our president. The comments run along the lines of, "Who is this guy in the White House?," or "Will the real Obama please stand up."

He is not delivering on what he promised. He promised to get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and hasn't. He promised to improve the economy, and hasn't. He promised to do something about the jobs situation, and hasn't. He promised to do something about the deficit, and hasn't. The complaints list goes on and on.

We forget what he has done or, in some instances, had to do just to get the nation to a point where something could be done about the list of complaints above. I'll use a football analogy. We forget that sometimes in a football game the coach has to sacrifice a play or two, maybe even an entire quarter, to test the strength of the opponents and determine what his team can do against that strength. Obama may still be in the first quarter of the game while some of us on the sidelines are acting like the game is over.

Aside from that (i.e., it's easier to call the shots when you don't have a stake in the game), we all, Democrats, Republicans and especially, Independents, have to stop chasing the promise.

THE PROMISE is what politicians tell you to get elected. They know that they can accomplish nothing on your behalf (their constituents) unless they get elected. So that is their first priority. And to get elected, they have to tell you what you want to hear. Never tell the truth and never answer a question directly if you can avoid it. The truth will not set you free (except, maybe, to seek another line of work) and direct answers will only get you in trouble with someone or some group. Hence, the campaign promise. Promise what you must, never mind later.

And we keep falling for it. We keep voting for the person who promises a new deal better than the old deal. We believe the candidate who promises to fix the mistakes of the last administration. We fawn over the charismatic poll who may not have a thought of any value but speaks well or looks good. We love heroes: we'll take a man with experience in a war 40 years ago over a younger, possibly more knowledgeable man. We do not ask the hard questions of candidates ourselves and do not tune into or read the comments of those media people who do ask such questions. We just want to hear the promise.

The second priority of every politician, the one upper most in his or her mind 30 seconds after taking the oath of office is: "What must I do now to get reelected?" Forget the campaign promises, reality takes precedence now. Everything that you say or do from this point forward will be used for or against your bid for reelection. The next campaign has started.

Independent voters determine most elections. But so long as independent voters are swayed by the magic of THE PROMISE, they will continue to vote for the wrong person. The wrong person in this case being the person who makes the biggest promises or presents them in the most attractive package. Sometimes that person is capable of leadership, sometimes not.

We voters have the power, but with it comes the responsibility to use our heads rather than our ideological hearts to determine who to vote for. It is shameful enough that there are straight party-line votes in Congress. That not one congressperson has the strength of conviction to vote for something presented by a member of the opposite party because (a) it actually makes sense, or (b) because no one from his/her party has proposed anything better. Just as bad, however, is the sad state of affairs in which roughly one-third of the voting public can be counted on to do the same thing: that is, vote the party line regardless of the issues, the candidate, any proposed solutions or lack thereof.

When candidates can count on the "party faithful" to sweep them into office and need only direct their efforts toward pleasing their "base," we can count on there never being intelligent attention given to national economic matters, national jobs or welfare issues, or national security interests here and abroad. Remember your base, remember your large contributors. Those are the people who put you in office. Ignore them at your political peril.

Isn't it time we start accepting our responsibility before we demand any more from the politicians in Washington or the state house? "Vote them all out of office," is the battle cry of some break-away groups. And replace them with whom? Will replacing all the Democrats with Republicans AND vice versa really change things, you think?

CAN WE PLEASE LEARN TO SAY IT CORRECTLY?

2010-07-14T10:38:00.000-04:00

When are we going to stop saying "two thousand AND ten" for the current year?

Everyone does it, including news casters -- even those on the national news -- who should know better. We put the word "and" after the decimal designation on all figures over two digits these days. Hence, 193 become one hundred and ninety three. The figure 27 is spoken as twenty seven, but I half expect any day to hear someone say, "twenty and seven."

When you add the digit four in the hundreds position, i.e., 427, many of us will say "four hundred and twenty seven." That is wrong!

A three-digit figure such as 427 is correctly read as "four hundred twenty-seven." The figure 8,427 is correctly read as "eight thousand four hundred twenty-seven." No "and."

Any "and" in reading a figure comes when there is a decimal point. If your luncheon bill is $26.78, the cashier should say, "Your bill is twenty-six dollars AND seventy-eight cents." If you bought a car for $23,800.52 (tax and fees included), you would say, "My new car cost me twenty-three thousand eight hundred dollars and fifty-two cents." If you say, "My car cast me twenty-three thousand and eight hundred dollars and fifty-two cents," you are displaying your ignorance.

I do not remember educated adults using "and" in our dates or other large numbers before the year 2,000. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December seventh, nineteen forty-one, not December seventh, nineteen hundred and forty-one. For some reason after the year 2,000 we started adding the word "and" to large numbers. Thus, the year 2001 became two thousand and one -- and we were off on the wrong track, never to return to speaking correctly, I fear.

In 1960 we spoke of that year as nineteen sixty, not nineteen and sixty. Why do we feel obligated to speak of this current year as two thousand and ten?

Isn't it time to try and remember a little of what our math teacher in school taught us and start talking about numbers larger than two digits like we had at least a fourth-grade education?

DO ME A FAVOR, PLEASE

2010-07-12T17:10:00.000-04:00

Please do me a favor and stop sending me stuff that someone else wrote. We're friends, aren't we? I like you and respect you or else we probably would have never become friends. That means I value what you have to say on a particular subject and I trust you to occasionally find some value in my thoughts.

We can discuss religion or politics or the price of tea in China all you want. The key part of that sentence is, "We can discuss." When you send me something written by someone else, something that is often inaccurate or marginally misleading in the hopes -- What? -- that it will cause me to change my views on religion or my political stance on something, I always ignore it and usually delete it before opening it. As soon as I see that it went to several hundred people before you got it and forwarded it, I delete it.

Tell me how YOU feel about the oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. Tell me YOUR thoughts on the Kagan nomination to the Supreme Court. Tell me how YOU feel about the local school bond issue. I will gladly discuss anything with you. I'll share my views and give you my reasons. But to have a discussion, I need to know your thoughts, your feelings and your reasoning. Otherwise, there is nothing to discuss. I have you assume that for whatever reason you are just jerking my chain.

There can be no discussion with some nameless person who wrote something in 24-point type, in blue yet, and sent it around the world to ten thousand others before you received it. Let those people sound off all they want. Let them share their propaganda, their bigotry, their wild accusations. Let them make whatever ridiculous claims they want. You and I do not have to participate in the charade. Their tirade of misstatements, misquotes or political spin will have a life without you and I participating.

And PLEASE do not urge me to SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. I do not participate in any of those chain-letter type programs. If you have something to say (or want to paraphrase someone whose opinion you value) and think it is of sufficient value, send it to me along with your thoughts. I don't need your encouragement to share it if I think it worth sharing. And whether I do or not is no reflection on my patriotism, my support for our armed forces, my politics, my religion or my respect for motherhood.

If you must send me something you received in your inbox, at least have the courtesy to attach a note at the beginning explaining why you are sending it and include some of your own thoughts or disclaimers.

As I said in the beginning, we are friends. I value and respect YOUR opinion. That doesn't mean I always agree you. Friends don't have to agree on everything, they just have to have some things in common, some things on which they do agree. Friends can just enjoy each other's company.

You may hold some beliefs that I find a little short of stupid -- and vice versa. You may do some things I would never do. But I am always interested in learning why you have the beliefs you have, why you behave the way you do, and I can still like you even though you can sometimes be such a jerk. You fascinate me at times, but you always make me happy to call you friend.

So, please stop sending me the propaganda generated by email friends who lack your taste. Some of it is funny, but seldom is it interesting or worthy of comment, much less the time needed to forward it to others in my contact list.

HOWEVER, if you have the insatiable urge to forward material to people in your contact list, highlight and copy this article and send it to them. They may think you are a first-class jerk, but then again, they may just thank you.

ME, PICK ME

2010-06-23T10:09:00.000-04:00

Me, me, me, pick me. Me next. Come on, pick me. I'm ready. Pleeeze.

Aren't they precious? They all want to be picked. I keep telling them, "When you're ready."

They just don't understand. They have to be big and black, otherwise I can't take them. Not yet, anyway.

Don't forget where I am, they seem to be saying. I'll be ready by this afternoon. Come back and pick me.

You got to love them. So eager. So full of the juice of life. So tasty.

The black raspberries in my garden are about to drive me crazy with their pleas. I can only take the ripest ones each day, and some days not all of them. My cup runneth over this morning and I had to stop picking. I'll got back this evening, and I know that some I passed over this morning will spend the day getting darker so they can be picked this evening. I really enjoy making them happy.

And tomorrow morning on my breakfast cereal they will make me happy. Don't you just love it when you can be in harmony with nature?

BELIEVING DOESN'T ALWAYS MAKE IT SO

2010-06-21T10:37:00.000-04:00

You will be surprised at who wrote the following.

The Big Lie - All this was inspired by the principle--which is quite true within itself--that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.

—Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X[1]

It seems strange to quote Adolf Hitler for anything, but his explanation of the big lie seems to fit the circumstances. And certainly, he was a master of the big lie. So what big lie am I talking about?

A Mr. Calvin Nauman of Rotterdam, NY had an angry letter to the editor in the Schenectady Gazette that caught my eye the other day. It was not because I necessarily disagreed; it was because of his use of the big lie to justify his position.

He wrote, speaking of local columnist Carl Strock, “Carl also seems to get a kick out of making fun of the Christians, and though he claims to have several Bibles, doesn’t seem to believe that there really is a God.” Fair enough, although I am not sure that owning several Bibles is a prerequisite for believing in God. Regardless, if that is Nauman’s belief, then he is entitled to it. He offers no justification for the statement other than his feeling (belief) that Strock “doesn’t seem to believe.”

Nauman, however, writes in his next paragraph, apparently to justify another of his beliefs, “There is mention of God in the constitutions of all 50 states and on our money also. There’s a creator behind it all – Darwin’s theory [of evolution] is a bunch of hogwash.” You have to wonder how this supports his statement that “Carl also seems to get a kick out of making fun of the Christians,” but Nauman must feel that it does and this his position is made stronger by invoking the constitution of “all 50 states and on our money also.”

This is a subtle use of the big lie. Not that what he says is false, but as Hitler noted, All this was inspired by the principle--which is quite true within itself--that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility. Nauman no doubt feels his belief in God is made stronger by injecting the certain force of credibility that all 50 states mention God in their constitutions. No bible needed.

There is safety in numbers. When we want to justify what we believe, we instinctively look for support by turning to friends and colleagues who believe as we do. This does not make our belief true, just more believable, at least to us. The six-year-old who believes in Santa Clause will defend that belief by noting, “All my friends believe in Santa Clause.” And in his or her mind there is the comforting thought: See, they can’t all be wrong, so I must be right to believe as I do.

An adage states that birds of a feather flock together. This should remind us that most of our friends believe as we do because … well, because they believe as we do. Hence, when we are comforted or encouraged in our beliefs because “everyone we know feels that way,” we should stop and ask just how many people we know who feel differently. Our circle of true friends is often much smaller than we may admit.

There are people, like Nauman, who believe the evidence for God is all around us; the evidence is there for those who will open their eyes and minds. That God created the heavens and the earth. He is therefore justified in saying (because that is what he believes) that Darwin’s theory of evolution is a bunch of hogwash. Others feel (believe) he ignores the facts when he denounces Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Neither side will win their argument so long as the foundation for it rests on what they believe.

Invoking the name of 50 states or 50 people does not change that fact.

As a school administrator, I and other administrators often had to deal with “the big lie.” That is, there would be an incident involving two or three students, a fight, say. By the time the angry calls started coming in, the incident involving three students had become multiple incidents involving a great many students. And always, concerned parents reported having heard from several other parents about “these fights” going on at school.

What they had heard was about one fight reported 50 times. The big lie took on credence by virtue of so many people hearing about it from so many others.

Believe what you will. (You will anyway, with or without my approval.) But we should all stop once in awhile and remind ourselves that much of what we hold dear regarding religion, politics, our schools, the boss or that off-base newspaper reporter derives from what we have heard or accepted based on our beliefs -- with support from our circle of friends, of course.

We hear what we want to hear, interpret what we want from what we read, and associate with people of a like mind. Unfortunately, this makes us all susceptible to the big lie.

SOME POINTS TO PONDER

2010-06-18T09:46:00.002-04:00

FIRST THOUGHT

I was working in my garden this afternoon pulling weeds. We’ve had quite a bit of rain lately and the weeds have grown strong and tall. Not necessarily so with the garden plants, you understand. I had to be careful not to pull up a pepper or tomato plant while weeding, as they were shorter and struggling to reach the sun under the weed canopy.

That started me thinking – always a dangerous pastime. Regardless, my thoughts led me to wonder why in this age of gene splicing that scientists have not been encouraged to find the gene that allows weeds to grow big and strong in dry times while garden plants struggle. Find the gene that enables weeds to be so recklessly extravagant in their growth and transplant that gene into ordinary garden plants and you will become a very rich person, I thought.

You may have heard of Round Up ready soybeans. If not, let me tell you about them. These genetically modified soybeans remain unharmed by Round Up, the herbicide that destroys grass, weeds and other growing plants. It does not affect plants that have not yet sprouted, but when sprayed on a growing plant it penetrates the leaves, travels to the roots and destroys the plant. Round Up ready soybeans, however, are unaffected by Round Up spray after they have reached a certain height. Hence, farmers can plant their soybeans, let they grow until they reach 8-10 inches and then spray the entire field with Round Up. This spraying destroys all weeds while the soybeans keep on growing. The farmer saves time and money by not having to disc the field several times to remove weeds, thus reducing his costs and increasing his profits.

If this sort of gene splicing, creating a gene that specifically rejects the killing effect of Round UP, can be done, why can’t scientists find some way to splice into garden plants the gene or genes that allow weeds to grow whatever the weather? We gardeners would still have to weed our garden plots but the garden plants would now be on an equal footing with the weeds – growing strong during wet periods and staying strong during dry periods.

Frankly, I would like to see Round Up ready garden plants. Plant your tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers and whatever else, and then give them a week or two to become well rooted in their new home. During that time, the weed seeds in your carefully prepared garden will have discovered the warmth of the sun and decide to start growing. Let them. In fact, give them another week or so and then spray the whole garden with Round Up. Voila, no more weeds, just healthy garden plants.

I would pay extra for such plants, wouldn’t you?

SECOND THOUGHT

Isn’t it time we put a stop to the drunk driving nonsense in this country by doing the only sensible thing someone convicted of driving while intoxicated understands – removal of driving privileges?

For the first offense, we might start with removal of license and driving privileges for one month. Too bad if that causes inconvenience for you or your family. If you have to bum a ride to work with a spouse, neighbor or co-worker during that period, that is just too bad. For trips to the movies, grocery store, shopping mall, golf course, or anywhere else, you will enjoy the privilege of being chauffeur driven for one month. You will have 30 days to think about whether you ever want to go through this again.

Should the experience of that lesson be short lived and you have a second conviction for driving while under the influence, you will lose your license and driving privileges for six months! And should you be dumb enough to have a third conviction, you will lose the right to drive a vehicle for life or until you have undergone extensive (and expensive) rehabilitation as determined by the courts.

I’m not finished weeding my garden, so I will likely have more thoughts to share with you in another day or two. Stay tuned.

GO AHEAD, GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY

2010-05-30T10:23:00.000-04:00

It time to get down and dirty, in the garden that is. Spring and early summer is the time to get outdoors and get in touch with Mother Nature, literally. Hope springs eternal, we are told, and at no time is that more true than in the spring of the year. We hope something good will come from out effort when we plant, prune and fertilize in our garden, flower box or patio planter.

It usually does. Mother Nature is reliable.

Yes, there can be disappointments. The tomatoes develop leaf wilt and die. The radishes have tiny worms in them. The raspberries are small and dry. And nothing bothers the blasted weeds.

Be strong and persistent. The gardener is the Sheppard and the plants are his flock. He must tend them, he must see that they have what they need to grow strong, and he must fight off all would-be attackers vigorously. Miracle Grow will help your “little ones” grow strong. Some Preen Weed Preventer will forestall new weeds from emerging after you put your tomato plants in the ground, a little wax paper around the base at soil level will protect other seedlings from cutworms, and a shot or two of Malathion spray will send other predators to their reward.

Each week, sometimes even each day, you get to watch your efforts grow, blossum and mature.

I like growing things from seed. I am currently nursing a prickly pear cactus grown from seeds I obtained from a red pear-shaped fruit I picked up last summer while in the desert around Phoenix, Arizona. You may never have seen a cactus grown from seed. Neither had I. However, since the fruit has seeds, I wondered why one could not grow a cactus from seed.

True, many cacti spread through pieces of the parent plant that fall off or are dislodged by a passing animal. You may have noticed that many cacti have large stems or segments separated by rather small or thin joints. The Cholla cactus is one example. If you brush against a section of this cactus, it will grab your skin or clothing and not let go, breaking off at the nearest joint to be deposited elsewhere when you relieve yourself of it. That section will take root and a new cactus plant is born.

Nevertheless, cholla cacti make flowers and create seedpods, just as prickly pear cacti do. So, is it unreasonable to think that a cactus can be grown from seed? Not at all. I have now done it.

My current effort is directed at growing a sycamore tree from seed. Why? Just to see if I can do it. It can be done, according to what I read, but I have so far not created the right conditions for it to happen. I will just have to keep trying.

This morning, however, I chose to get my hands dirty by hoeing around my tomato plants, my cucumber and zucchini plants, and my horseradish. My back did not care for that little exercise, but I have a small garden so it didn’t take long. I enjoy the exercise so my back can just get over it – and it will after a little rest.

So, if you haven’t done so already, get out that spade, that trowel, that rake and hoe and go plant something. Plants some flowers if you don’t care for fresh vegetables. Put a tomato seedling purchased at your favorite garden center in a planter on the back porch and nurture it along. You will be rewarded later this summer.

CRITICS CANNOT HELP BUT BE CRITICAL

2010-05-02T14:39:00.000-04:00

Critics sometimes just have to be critical. I remember a local movie critic, now deceased, who took his job (and title) so seriously that he could seldom bring himself to praise a film. He reviewed every film as if it were supposed to be great art rather than just entertainment. Many popular film therefore failed to receive his recommendation.

Some political commentators, dare I say “critics,” operate in a similar manner. In their case, though, the decision to be critical or supportive of something happening in national politics derives from their party affiliation. Hence, they will never be found writing something critical of a person in their chosen political party, nor will they challenge a piece of legislation offered by leaders in “the party.” Similarly, their readers can trust them always to find something critical to say about members of the opposing party; and they will nit-pick to pieces any legislation put forth by that party – even when they have nothing better to offer.

We have come to accept that as the nature of politics and we excuse our favorite commentators for all such sins.

I do not! There can be no bipartisan solutions to our nation’s problems as long as the electorate accepts, even expects, their elected representatives to act in this manner. Blind acceptance to anything coming out of “your” party and single-minded opposition to everything proposed by the other party is not leadership. It is sheep-like, follow-the-leader politics, even if that takes the country over the cliff. It’s stupid and we should not tolerate it.

The tea party movement is an expression of many people’s disgust with the way things are done (or not) in Washington. Many people in the movement want all the scoundrels in Washington replaced. That’s not likely to happen, but that doesn't’t stop critics from searching under every stone for something about which they can complain. I share some of their frustration.

I also share some of Wendy Button’s ideas in her Huffington Post piece about The White House Correspondents Dinner. She, however, got off track right at the beginning. She opened with, “There is no other time than the night of The White House Correspondents Dinner when Washington is more out of touch with the country it guides and informs.”

From there, she went on to rage about how all those correspondents and politicians of both parties are laughing it up and celebrating while our young men are dying in Iran and Afghanistan. She did, however raise some interesting points. She went on to point out that since the wars began, and as of April 29, 2010, Department of Defense reports show, “that in Iraq 31,790 have been wounded and 4,397 have been killed and in Afghanistan, 5,677 have been wounded and 1,043 killed.”

Those are sobering figures, figures worthy of our consideration. Ms. Button alerts readers to the little known fact that the “wounded in action number is incomplete. It excludes [emphasis added] everyone who was medically evacuated because of a serious injury or illness.” She quickly provides “the total number of non-fatal casualties that includes those wounded in action and those medically evacuated for injuries and illness,” as 70,615 in Iraq and 14,936 in Afghanistan.

Doing the arithmetic for her readers, she reveals that “the total number of battlefield casualties is 90,925” while stating “That number is arresting in its size and the American people need to know it.”

I agree with her on that point. We are ill informed about the wars by Washington and too often ignore our wounded service members once they have returned from these two wars, and previous wars.

It’s easy to feel sympathy for the wounded veteran in a wheel chair or one who is missing a limb. It is much harder to stir the public to action for less obvious service-related problems. Among the 2 million or so men and women who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Button notes, “the suicide rate for active duty soldiers has more than doubled since these wars began, nearly 15 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are unemployed, and their families have to fight to get a wheel chair or surgery or help with a creeping traumatic brain injury.”

We should be ashamed. I support her disappointment that these figures are not reported more and that more people are not clamoring for their elected representatives to do more for our service people. There are many chest thumpers and flag wavers across the land who want us to “Support Our Troops,” but I don’t see many demonstrations demanding better treatment for our servicemen and women when they return from harms way.

Button loses my support when she begins her tirade against the “prominent journalists” at The White House Correspondents Dinner who should have used that platform to inform the public and the politicians present of the need for action on this matter.

I do not support the idea that because there are problems with our fighting service people, or that there are other problems in the land – tornadoes, oil slicks, bank failures, droughts, floods or earthquakes – that we must stop having parties with “bad jokes and back slapping.” Nor do I support the idea that having such an affair as The White House Correspondents Dinner shows that Washington “is more out of touch with the country it guides and informs.” That is nonsense.

As I said at the beginning, critics sometimes just have to be critical. This was one of those times for Wendy Button. She could have written a brilliant piece exposing the lack of care and support we give those asked to go fight for us in Iran and Afghanistan. She chose instead to remember her title as critic and attack someone, the prominent journalists and politicians at last night’s White House Correspondents Dinner.

SPRING

2010-04-26T10:18:00.000-04:00

You know it is spring when the rabbits and robins have returned.

I can only wish that this was the type of rabbit that returned but, alas, not so. This rabbit is my granddaughter who dressed this way to serve patrons at Panera Bread where she works. Needless to say, she was a big hit with the male customers, young and old.

No, the rabbits I speak of are the cute little bunny rabbits that will grow up to be big rabbits that dine at the buffet I call my garden. While weeding along a fence line, Joyce uncovered a nest of tiny bunnies. Their mother scampered off, as is the practice, to distract her and hopefully lead her away from the nest. Joyce is single minded when it comes to weeding, so she continued digging and pulling. And then, there they were. Three tiny baby rabbits hunkered down and remaining very still, as their mother (or instinct) told them to do.

We left them alone knowing, however, that they will likely become playthings for one of the several free-range cats that roam the neighborhood.

We have a weeping cherry tree in our backyard that each year attracts a pair of robins. We assume it is the same pair of robins each year, but we don't know that for sure. (They all look alike, you know.)

The first year they settled in to build a nest in the tree they had two eggs but one one hatched. It died. The next year they had better luck and raised two young ones to fledgling size. One of them, unfortunately, jumped or fell from the nest before it was ready to fly and died.

We were happy to see them return this year and start again to build a nest in the fork of the weeping cherry. It appears to be finished although we have not seen either mom or dad take up residence yet. Still, their presence assures us that spring has arrived.

A LOST FRIEND

2010-04-25T10:46:00.000-04:00

I was recently “unfriended” by a friend on Facebook. That means I no longer receive news of this friend’s activities, at least on Facebook. I deeply regret this.

We had a dispute, a dispute over politics. We disagreed on a point of view, on some things that were posted on Facebook.

Words can hurt. Adults know that, kids sometimes take a while to learn that. When we say something publically, as on Facebook, that is hurtful to another person, it is out there for the entire world to see. Hence, it is difficult to take back any such comment. In a private conversation, one might apologize for a careless comment; this is more difficult in the age of Internet discourse. Unfortunately, also, our society’s hardened political ideology has divided us to the point that civil discourse, especially disagreement, can no longer take place.

Words can sooth but they can also inflame. Politicians know this. Dictators know this. Propagandists know this. Hate mongers know this. Anyone who wants to incite people to action or inaction resorts to words, carefully chosen words, words that will have the desired effect and produce the desired result.

We all learn to be careful about what we say or how we say it, especially when what we say may be for public consumption. But sometimes our emotions get the better of our minds and we misspeak or, at least, say things that would better be unsaid. We may be tired, we may be weary of the surroundings in which we find ourselves, or we may be influenced by the voices of a closed set of closed minds. (Don’t we all prefer to seek the company and comments of those with whom we agree?) As we age, though, we learn to speak our minds, especially among friends, without being overtly offensive or disagreeable.

Yes, friends can disagree. In fact, good friends do often disagree. Such friends make our lives interesting, they open us to different perspectives, different experiences, and, if we will allow, new ideas we might not otherwise consider. We are encouraged by our friends and challenged by them. We know them as caring, intelligent people with whom we have much in common, so we find it worthwhile to consider their “different” point of view, as we expect them to consider ours.

Children may pout and vow never to speak to each other again, the “if you don’t like it I will take my ball and go home” attitude. Adults may be hurt, and say so, but they respect each other too much (usually) to let a careless word or phrase ruin a valued friendship.

I very much regret that I apparently have lost a friend, a friend I admire and respect.

One of the nicer things about writing, even on Facebook, is that you can pause and think about what you have said before clicking the Send button. It is easier during that important pause to remove or reword comments that others may view as offensive, derisive, or sarcastic. We should always review critical comments on personal or national events before they are broadcast to the world. Writing, versus the spoken word, allows us to do that.

Beliefs are not facts. Nevertheless, our beliefs are important to us. When the critical or inflammatory remarks of others challenge those beliefs, our nature is to respond. We should expect that and welcome it, for from such responses comes intelligent discussion and growth.

Hence, I invite all of you, including my former “friend” to challenge my thoughts, disagree if you must, but offer me material to “chew on,” to grow in my understanding of what you believe. You have a unique life, a unique set of experiences that may well provide me with a view I cannot otherwise know. I value and welcome that.

THE GARDEN

2010-04-25T07:51:00.000-04:00

THE GARDEN

Spring has sprung and beautiful weather such as we are having today inspires one to do, well, stupid things. I was inspired to start work on my garden today, a really dumb idea. I now hurt in places I forgot I had.

I’ve always enjoyed gardening. My dad was a gardener. We always had a big garden back during the World War II days when gardens were almost a necessity. But even beyond those days, dad always had a garden. And guess who got to do most of the weeding, hoeing and other work in the garden. Yep. Good old Chuck, that's who.

Still, I came to enjoy those moments in the garden when I could become lost in my work. I also knew that there was the promise of some reward for my efforts, not so with some of the other chores I was assigned. Pulling a fresh tomato off the vine, whipping it on my dusty jeans and taking a big bite was a special pleasure. I especially enjoyed popping open a young pea pod and rolling the young peas into my mouth with a flick of my thumb along the bottom of the opened pod. There is nothing like it. I feel sorry for those young people whose parents never had a garden so they could see how produce goes from seed to table.

There was a down side to gardening in my youth, however. I was raised in the southwestern corner of Missouri on the edge of the Ozark Mountains. It can be warm there even in April and the humidity is often as high as the temperature. Sweat was your companion as you worked in the garden and with sweat came gnats and other pests to buzz around your face. Then there were the rocks. I swear we grew rocks in that garden. Every spring after dad hired someone to plow the garden – usually a farmer with a team and horse drawn plow – I would go out and pick up the bigger rocks and throw them into a pile at the edge of the garden. Each year the pile grew larger because each year there were more rocks to remove.

That is not the case where I now live in upstate New York. My garden sets atop about 14 feet of sand. We are, in fact, located on top of an ancient lake that can be tapped even today for water by driving a point into the ground and attaching a pump. The soil is so sandy that for 40 odd years now I have spaded yards of compost into the garden to help provide nutrients and to help the soil hold moisture.

That is where my backbreaking work on the garden began today – the compost pile. Each year I dump all my yard waste (lawn clippings, leaves, carrot tops, etc.) onto the compost pile at the south end of my garden. I learned long ago that every time I mow, all the rich fertilizer I put on the lawn in the spring, and later in the fall, is found in those grass clippings. Why let that fertilizer go to waste? It goes on the compost pile instead of into a bag to be carted off to the landfill. But a compost pile must be turned to allow moisture to get in there and promote decomposition. That’s what I did today.

After turning the compost pile, I got to the bottom layer, which is where the rich earth is. I had some black soil that would make an Illinois farmer envious. I then shoveled the composted soil into my garden cart and dumped it at strategic places around the garden where I could raked it out into a more or less even layer ready for spading.

And that’s the next big job, spading the garden. My garden is too small to warrant investing in a small garden tractor, so I have to turn the soil by hand with a spade. It’s good exercise, but a back breaker unless I take my time and rest often.

My motto is rest often, drink beer and don’t work too hard. We can’t plant in this part of the country for another week or so, so there is no reason to rush. The warm weather and sunny sky beckon, however, and I must be outside doing something. And there is the promise of those vine fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and other vegetables this summer.

PECKING AWAY ON MY COMPUTER

2010-03-28T19:44:00.000-04:00

One reader of my last column suggested that I lived in a cloistered world, cut off from the real world of those who interact regularly with our troops fighting overseas. This reader wrote:

“But one thing I must say with no disrespect meant, you are so naive as to what is going on beyond rounds of golf and long walks. While you are merrily pecking away on your computer, enjoying the life of a retired teacher, driving from this state to that one, all the while recovering from your surgery that your medical insurance "allowed" you have (the 13th stint in your heart, which by the way...when I'm your age I am sure I will not be given the opportunity to have) there are others who are living front and center with our men and women in uniform.”

That hurt. However, it is generally true. I am retired and I enjoy spending my winters in central Florida where, as time and health permit, I play golf and go for long walks. I may even be naïve, but not for the reason the writer gave. (Why the writer will be denied coronary stents in the future escapes me.)

All of us live in a cloistered world when you think about it. My critic lives in a world that involves regular travel with military personnel going to or returning from Afghanistan, Iraq or other overseas assignments. These personnel necessarily have a perspective on world and national events that the rest of us, thankfully, because of their service, do not have.

Consider, however, that teachers in the classroom have a perspective on school matters that most lay people lack. “Inside the beltway” has long been used (often in a derogatory sense) to describe the mindset of those who associate daily with the rhythm and procedures of Washington politics. Coal miners in Kentucky have a different view of labor unions and mine safety than mine owners or management. Religious people who regularly attend church have a different perspective on church matters than those who count themselves as Christians, say, but who attend church irregularly, it at all. Our very nature is to build a fellowship of friends among those with whom we agree. Whether the church, fraternal club, or political party, we tend to associate with those who share our values or interests. Hence, we tend to lead cloistered lives, generally shut off from dissenting views or broader vistas.

The success of alternative radio and television is a testament to the fact that birds of a feather want to flock together. We want to hear – and do hear – what we already believe. Few are the people who seek out and consider the views or opinions of those with whom they disagree. I know of one man who listens only to Fox News and has a headset radio so he can listen three hours each weekday to Rush Limbaugh while he works in the yard or in his garage workshop. I am not suggesting that is wrong. But you surely agree that this man lives in a very cloistered world and must necessarily have a very biased, if not naïve, view of national events and their possible consequences.

I would not say, however, that he is any different from the majority of us who only listen to one radio or TV network for our news, who believe every e-mail or Internet posting forwarded to us, or who regularly read only the blogs of those with whom we agree. It is human nature.

I feel compelled to address the accusation that my retired life leaves me naïve about the real world. It is true that I have little contact with young troops serving our country on foreign soil. Nevertheless, my winter retirement community is heavily loaded with people who Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation.” These men and women (me included) served their county during World War II, or the Korean War, or the Vietnam War, or Desert Storm. They share different faiths and different political views, but one should never question their support for the president, the flag or our troops.

I would not call them naïve. They may not approve of the current congress. They may not have voted for President Obama. They may not like everything coming out of Washington these days. Nevertheless, they have been around long enough to know that the nation will endure and prosper beyond these tough times. They read widely and discuss matters vigorously. But naive? Hardly.

They have seen politicians go on Communist witch-hunts, they have seen presidents lie, and they have seen politicians of both parties cheat. They have seen “big f---ing deals” that were supposed to save the country and other "deals" that people warned would destroy the country. They can disagree and they can argue, but they do not have to say, “No disrespect intended,” for they respect each other. They know what the other person has been through.

They know also that all information is biased; especially that information obtained from commercial news media, the Internet or blog writers, and those who's very career depends on generating ratings. They know from experience that they must look at and consider other points of view – and then consider the source. They will remain loyal to their political affiliation. And, yes, they will remain faithful to their religious views and social values. But naïve? They have too much experience spanning decades to be taken in by the “sky is falling” crowd.

KAMIKAZI POLITICS MAKES IT OKAY TO UNDERMINE OUR TROOPS?

2010-03-24T19:28:00.000-04:00

REPEALICANS

The GOP's risky plan to run against health care reform.

By William Saletan

Posted Monday, March 22, 2010, at 8:26 AM ET

Below is an excerpt from the above titled article. You can read Saletan's entire article at http://www.slate.com/default.aspx?id=2248513.
"In his speech to House Democrats on Saturday, President Obama listed some of the bill's most popular elements: tax credits to small business to provide insurance, a ban on insurance exclusion for pre-existing conditions, a ban on lifetime coverage caps, and letting twentysomethings stay on their parents' policies. Obama argued that these provisions make the bill easier to defend. But his political advisers are hinting at a more aggressive strategy: portraying Republicans who oppose the legislation as opposing all of its benefits.

In the Bush administration, this was standard practice. Any Democrat who resisted any component of a bill was accused of opposing the bill's objective. If you complained about labor provisions of the bill to establish a federal department of homeland security, Republicans said you were against homeland security. If you objected to part of the "Patriot Act," they said you were unpatriotic. If you criticized Bush's execution of the Iraq war, they said you were undermining our troops."

I was taken aback by the comment at the end of the first quoted paragraph to the effect that some of Obama's political advisers want to aggressively portray "Republicans who oppose the [health care reform] legislation as opposing all of its benefits." This is wrong, I thought, and then I read the next paragraph and realized why I was taken aback. We've seen this strategy before -- and I didn't like it then.

Everything in that second paragraph is true and only those with short or selective memories have forgotten.

Yet, just last week a Facebook friend made the statement, "Obama is more of a threat to America than the terrorists." Wow, talk about undermining the troops. Declaring the Commander in Chief of our troops fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan as being more of a threat to American than the terrorists they are fighting would normally be consider treason. It is certainly irresponsible.

Fanaticism apparently knows no bounds and carries no shame.

I do not fear for the country under President Obama or any other president. I fear for the country when political or religious fanatics can make such statements and instead of fearing a knock on their door from the FBI, they receive praise from some quarters. Desperate military leaders in Japan near the close of the war capitalized on the medieval religious fanaticism of the times to send Kamikaze pilots to certain death in the futile attempt to forestall certain defeat. Are we (some of us, at least) feeling so desperate that we must resort to Kamikaze style politics?

Are we approaching the point in our country where divisive politics, heated, overcharged and often unfounded words and hate symbols can be used to provoke the radical fanatics among us to commit Kamikaze style acts in the mistaken belief that they are acting for the good of the country. If so, we face a greater enemy within than from any terrorists abroad.

HEALTH CARE REFORM

2010-03-20T09:50:00.001-04:00

Many people won't see the article below either because they don't bother to check facts, because they find the facts discouraging, or because they find the facts contrary to what they choose to believe. I am including the article from Fact Check here as a public service. Take from it what you will.

Most of us do not like to be confronted with the facts when we have already made up our minds. Just the same, for a piece of legislation as important as the health care reform legislation, shouldn't we all be acting on facts rather than fear?

You can read the article in its original form at: http://www.factcheck.org/2010/03/a-final-weekend-of-whoppers/

FactCheck.orgHome

A Final Weekend of Whoppers?

Health care legislation could be heading toward the final showdown. We look at the biggest falsehoods of the recent debate.

March 19, 2010

Summary
With the House preparing for a final vote on the Senate health care legislation, with revisions, Sunday afternoon, we thought we’d give our readers a wrap-up of the top falsehoods of late. The debate over this bill has stretched on almost as long as a presidential campaign, and we suspect this weekend will be filled with politicians and third-party groups making their final — and faulty — pitches. There’s little doubt they’ll repeat wrong and misleading statements about premium costs, a government takeover, keeping your plan, Medicare cuts and more. Keep reading for details.

Analysis

This may — or may not — be our last roundup of health care whoppers. We posted an earlier collection in August, and bogus health care claims led our list of the top whoppers of 2009.

Americans’ premiums will go up. Americans’ premiums will go down.

The battle over what happens to insurance premium costs under the bill was most pronounced during President Obama’s health care summit Feb. 25. Obama and Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee argued over whether premiums would increase (Alexander’s view) or decrease (Obama’s), compared with what premiums would do in the absence of legislation. The truth is that for most people, premiums wouldn’t change significantly.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that for those in the group market — those who get insurance through their employers — premiums would largely stay the same. The change in the average premium in the large group market would be between 0 percent and a 3 percent decrease, for instance, compared with where they’d be under current law in 2016. The average premiums for those who buy insurance on their own would go up, however, by 10 percent to 13 percent. The reason is that benefits would become a lot better for this market under the bill. Also, most people buying their own coverage would receive subsidies that make their net costs for these plans substantially lower than they otherwise would be.

It’s government-run health care.

Despite the fact that the federal health insurance plan (a.k.a. the “public option”) is now gone from the bill, Republicans and conservative groups have continued to claim that the bill institutes a system like the one in the United Kingdom, or Canada, or otherwise amounts to a government takeover. It doesn’t. A pure government-run system was never among the leading Democratic proposals, much to the chagrin of single-payer advocates. Instead, the bill builds on our current system of private insurance, and in fact, drums up more business for private companies by mandating that individuals buy coverage and giving many subsidies to do so. There would be increased government regulation of the insurance industry, however, to require companies to cover preexisting conditions, for example. These “government-run” claims have also included heavy criticism of health care in the U.K., such as the outrageous assertion by former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop that seniors would be “too old” to qualify for artificial joints and pacemakers in the U.K. The majority of those getting joint replacements and pacemakers in the U.K. are, not surprisingly, seniors.

If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.

Obama has repeatedly made this claim, and it’s true for the most part. But not for everyone. Employers could still drop coverage under the bill — just as they can now — and, in fact, the CBO estimates that some would. Under the Senate bill, the CBO said that 8 million to 9 million people who would be expected to have employer-sponsored insurance under current law wouldn’t be offered such benefits by 2019. These would mainly be low-income workers, CBO said, who would be eligible for subsidies to buy their own plans. Others would gain coverage through their jobs under the bill, resulting in a net decrease of 4 million people on employer-sponsored insurance. That figure holds for the final legislation.

The bill cuts Medicare by $500 billion.

Whether these are "cuts" or much-needed "savings" depends on the political expedience of the moment, it seems. When Republican Sen. John McCain, then a presidential candidate, proposed similar reductions to pay for his health care plan, it was the Obama camp that attacked the Republican for cutting benefits. Whatever you want to call them, it’s a $500 billion reduction in the growth of future spending over 10 years, not a slashing of the current Medicare budget or benefits. It’s true that those who get their coverage through Medicare Advantage’s private plans (about 22 percent of Medicare enrollees) would see fewer add-on benefits; the bill aims to reduce the heftier payments made by the government to Medicare Advantage plans, compared with regular fee-for-service Medicare. The Democrats’ bill also boosts certain benefits: It makes preventive care free and closes the "doughnut hole," a current gap in prescription drug coverage for seniors.

The health care plan would be the largest middle-class tax cut for health care.

Note the “for health care" part of this claim that has been made by President Obama and other Democrats. This may be true, given the qualifier. But we’re not sure who would even maintain a list of the biggest “middle-class” tax cuts, since there is no agreed upon definition of who’s “middle class.” (The vast majority of Americans say they’re "middle-class," making this a popular buzzword for politicians.) This grandiose-sounding assertion, however, is only being made about tax cuts for health care. The bill includes about $460 billion over 10 years in subsidy money. Incidentally, President Bush’s 2001 tax cut totaled about $1.3 trillion over 10 years, with about 42 percent of the benefits going to the middle 60 percent of all income earners, according to a breakdown by the Tax Policy Center. That amounts to $566 billion over 10 years, a bigger cut for the middle earners than the health care tax cut.

Medical malpractice is the biggest driver of health care spending.

Economic studies simply do not support this claim. Many Republicans strongly back limiting liability awards in medical malpractice cases, and it’s true that doing so would save money. The CBO said measures that conservatives have proposed would save $54 billion over 10 years and "reduce total U.S. health care spending by about 0.5 percent (about $11 billion in 2009)."

That’s real money, but it’s a tiny part of the more than $2 trillion spent on health care annually in the U.S. There’s disagreement over what exactly the biggest drivers of spending are, but medical malpractice doesn’t top the list. About 75 percent of spending, for instance, goes to taking care of chronic disease.

Cadillac plans and a sweetheart deal for unions

The controversy over those cushy Cadillac insurance plans just keeps on running. Here are the details: The bill places a tax on high-cost employer-sponsored plans – specifically there’s a 40 percent tax on the value of plans above $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families, starting in 2018. The tax falls on insurers, but would be passed along to policyholders one way or another. First, the thresholds were increased after union leaders lobbied for them, which led Republican leaders to charge that the new tax was a sweetheart deal for labor — and they were increased again for the final bill. But the tax would affect mainly nonunion workers, according to an analysis partly authored by a former Bush adviser. Under even lower thresholds than the bill has now, union workers would have made up only 17 percent of those affected by the tax in 2019, the analysis said.

Of course, liberal groups and union leaders have made misleading claims about this Cadillac tax, saying it would really hit middle-class workers – lots of them. But economists in general back this idea, and the thinking behind it isn’t to raise money by slamming workers with a 40 percent tax. On the contrary, the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office believe the tax will boost paychecks. They say the existence of the tax will prompt employers and employees to choose less expensive health plans. In lieu of the higher cost benefits, employers will raise salaries. And that’s how the government really makes its revenue here: on payroll and income taxes on those higher paychecks.

– by Lori Robertson

Posted by Lori Robertson on Friday, March 19, 2010 at 4:04 pm

RANDOM THOUGHTS

2010-03-05T19:36:00.000-05:00

This is my “sound off” blog, a time when I sound off about some of the things I see or hear that bug me. You have the right to respond and tell me what bugs you. In fact, I welcome your comments.

Grammar and Spelling: When did it become all right to ignore the rules of grammar and to dismiss spelling as too much trouble? E-mail is just one exasperating example. I’ve read so many e-mails that require me to decipher what the writer meant that I just want to scream. If it’s too much trouble for you to say what you mean, why should I take the trouble to translate what you mean?

For god’s sake, use capitalization, where appropriate, and a sprinkle of punctuation marks here and there. It’s not that much trouble, especially if you use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works or some other word processor program. All such programs have grammar and spelling checkers. USE THEM!

If you are so ignorant that you cannot make since of spelling or grammar rules, then you should definitely use these programs. If you want to send a short e-mail or post a note in Face Book and want to hide your lack of skill with the rules of punctuation and spelling, you can still use the word processor program to compose your note, and after checking it for grammar and spelling you can copy and paste it into your e-mail. That’s how I write my blog. I compose it first in MS Word, run the spell and grammar checker and then re-read it to make sure it makes scents.

(Did you catch the glaring misuse of proper words above? If not, you can stop reading here for I have nothing to say that you will understand.)¬

Most e-mail programs come with a built-in spell checker. Find it and use it. If yours does not, download a free spell checker at www.iespell.com. Grammar checkers are available but the ones you find in word processor programs are better.

Now, I appreciate that brevity is the rule when texting or instant messaging. And I’m OK with that. Call it shorthand, if you want. BTW (by the way), we all use it not only in texting and instant messaging but in our daily conversations. When the boss says he wants something ASAP, we know what he means. When Sarah Palin uses the phrase “you betcha,” we know what she means. I am pretty sure you knew what I meant when I wrote MS Word in the previous paragraph. Besides, the tiny keyboards we use to compose text messages on our phones encourage brevity. BTW, those tiny keyboard on phones are exactly the reason no sane person should be texting while driving.

Forwarded E-mail: I enjoy receiving jokes, funny pictures, awesome pictures, interesting comments made by others and other forms of forwarded e-mail. Well, to be precise, I enjoy most of the forwarded e-mail I receive. Some of it though is tedious because the sender has not learned how to highlight and delete all the names and addresses of the several hundred people it went to before he or she received it. These Internet illiterates just hit the Forward button and start typing in addresses. You and I get the mind-numbing task of wading through this garbage to find the supposed jewel the sender meant for us.

To be honest, I frequently just delete the entire message – especially from people I know from past experience are too lazy or too dumb remove the aforementioned garbage. If the joke is any good, I am sure I will receive several other copies. Other forwarded junk from these people is probably not all that interesting anyway. How clever can something be from a person not intelligent enough to learn how to delete names and addresses of previous readers?

The U.S. Post Office: The U.S. Post Office lost something like $3 billion dollars in the last quarter of last year. (I may have the wrong amount but it was a big number.) The last quarter of the year is when the post office traditionally made money because of the holiday mailings. Their proposed solution to the problem of declining revenue is to eliminate Saturday deliveries (which, actually is all right with me) and to raise postal rates.

When people are not using or buying your product the way to get them back is to diminish your services and increase your rates. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Right. Try that in any other business and you will be out of business.

Actually, the post office is between a rock and a hard spot. More and more people, me included, have switched from using the U.S. mail to using the Internet. My banking is done online. My statements are all sent to be via the Internet. These steps were taken after going through several seasons when my forwarded mail either wasn’t forwarded or was lost in the process somewhere. You get smart in a hurry after having to pay a late fee on a credit card a bill that arrived after the due date.

In short, I can no longer rely on the U.S. Postal Service. Forget the stuff about rain, snow and gloom of night. They can’t get more than half my mail forwarded properly. I’ve received none of my magazines this winter, magazines that carry first class postage and were forwarded in the past. Two packages that should have been forwarded, one containing medication, were never received. I don’t know where they are – and neither does the post office.

I don’t have a solution to propose. The U.S. Postal Service is a government agency and I am sure has to operate under a multitude of rules and regulations – much like schools – and so is not free to make changes that might make business sense. Just the same, it is losing ground to UPS, FedEx and the Internet and cannot survive much longer under its present way of operating.

The Sanctity of Marriage: Can we get real about the gay marriage thing? You can be opposed to gay marriage for a variety of reasons: because it disgusts you, because it goes against something you read in the Bible, because Pat Robertson has threatened to have God smite you, or for whatever other reason you may have. But, please, don’t tell me you are against gay marriage because you want to preserve the sanctity of marriage.

What sanctity? Fifty percent of people who enter into marriage end up divorced, often before dad finishes paying for the wedding. Probably more than 50% of married people have lived together, had sex and, in some cases, had children before they were married. Wives and husbands regularly cheat on each other. Spousal abuse is rampant in the country. Abused and abandoned children by married parents are a national disgrace.

Just what part of the marriages we have is it that you want to preserve?

Booting Everyone Out of Congress: Can we get real about the jerks in Congress? We elected them! We elected each of them, except for the few that have been appointed to fill out the term of someone who died or was forced to resign. We can change that – but not overnight. Even if we booted everyone out of Congress, WE would vote most of them back into office. They may be scoundrels but they are smart scoundrels and know how to push our buttons, promise us what we want to hear and spin every event to make themselves look good while tarring their opponent. And we fall for it – every time.

We do not want honest politicians. We want politicians who will bring home to their constituents some of the money in Washington. We want businesses brought to our state. We want laws that are favorable to our concerns, our locale, our security and our welfare. That isn’t going to change by starting over with a new bunch of candidates, so let’s stop circulating those stupid e-mails demanding that everyone in Congress be turned out and we elect a new batch.

If we are no smarter than to think that way, we are not going to be smart enough to elect a better batch of politicians to represent us. We need to start using the Internet and other means at our disposal to influence the people we have elected. Remember, the first concern of every politician is to get re-elected. Our individually voiced concerns will not be ignored if our representative fears for his or her job.

GLOBAL WARMING CAN CONFUSE ORDINARY PEOPLE

2010-02-14T13:02:00.000-05:00

While out for my morning three-mile walk this morning my mind wandered to the ongoing discussion about global warming or, as the title has morphed into, a discussion about climate change. I was thinking about this matter because although I was in central Florida the temperature was 48 degrees when it should have been around 68 for this time of year. I was bundled up with a hooded sweat shirt on under by leather jacket, both of which I wore down here from upstate New York thinking I would not need them again until next fall. It was brisk weather for walking and I was walking briskly in spite of earning my recent 13th coronary stent.

Global warming? What global warming, I chuckled to myself? That chuckle started me thinking. Actually, many people in widely different parts of our country have occasion this year (this winter) to ask the question; the winter weather has been more severe in many areas than is typical. Who can blame the common man from asking the question, from wondering if scientist who talk about global warming know what they are talking about.

I use the phrase “common man” not in a derogatory way but simply as a way to describe the average, non-scientific tendency to judge conditions or events based on how they affect us personally. Animals have inherited instincts to guide them in reacting to their environment. They do not have the ability nor bother to analyze events and reach a judgment on how to react in the future. Humans have the ability to consider separate events and form a hypothesis they can test and then use to predict future occurrences and possible reactions.

Just the same, it is normal for us to consider first those things we can hear, see, taste, touch or smell, in other words, our personal experiences and observations. Man looks up in the sky, sees the sun passing overhead from east to west, and “sensibly” concludes that the sun revolves around the earth. What other possible explanation can there be? People with a slightly more critical eye decided there was more to it than that. They took a larger view and determined after some observations, some testing and some refinement of their hypothesis that the earth revolved around the sun. This heresy, as viewed by the Catholic Church, was subsequently found to be true and accepted even by the common man in spite of what he saw in the sky.

Scientists have determined that our climate is changing, warming by imperceptible but measurable degrees. This warming is not always apparent us when we rely on local weather conditions or just on our five senses. Can you tell if the temperature of the ocean is 1 degree higher than a decade ago? I can’t. That rise in ocean temperature in a section of the Pacific, however, contributes to the El Nino year we are having and that, in turn, explains the unusual weather we are experiencing in various parts of the country.

While we humans look at the weather on our street, in our town, county or state, scientists take a larger view and look at what’s happening all over the world -- and over a longer period than just a few months in the winter of 2009-2010. While Washington, D.C. may be getting more snow than usual this winter, Vancouver, British Columbia is having warmer weather than usual and having a dickens of a time providing enough snow for the Winter Olympics.

Global warming (climate change, if you prefer) is not determined by one up-tick or downtick of the temperature gauge. Consider the stock market graph over any period. It goes up and it goes down, but there is always a trend. If you buy or sell on the short-term market ticks, you will surely lose money. If you follow the trend, you will likely make money. When scientists look at the climate trend, they see global warming.

You can see what you want. Your belief, your bias for interpreting what you see, will not change the facts. When scientists’ hypotheses fail to predict, fail to fit the data, they refine their hypotheses. They then begin anew to gather data and continue to look at the big picture to get a model they can rely on. (Weather is never 100% predictable.) We mortals must be equally willing to adjust our opinions about global warming. Otherwise, we are just like the rest of the animal world that reacts to stimuli. We have intelligence and should use it.

Who do we want to believe, a scientist who likely has little financial or political stake in the outcome of the climate debate or a politician who creates a photo-op for his constituents and big corporate sponsors by building a snow igloo on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol? Most scientists will admit it when their hypotheses prove wrong. Have you ever known a politician to admit he or she was wrong?

LET'S NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS

2010-02-12T12:07:00.000-05:00

I must admit, I am disappointed in some of the Obama administration’s actions, or lack of such. But I must also confess that I am puzzled by those who wanted (and continue) to blame the president for a multitude of conditions in the country that he inherited and has had only a little over 12 months to affect a change. Let us first be reminded that he did not become president until January 20, 2009, just less than 13 months ago.

Next, we must remember that at this same point in his administration, George W. was already being written off as a one-term president, like his father. He and his cabinet officials made a number of blunders, both political and verbal, that had pundits and the population wondering if he was up to the task of commander in chief. Then the World Trade Center tragedy occurred. Object if you want, cry foul and blasphemy me for saying so, but 9-11 saved George W’s presidency -- and gave him an excuse to forsake the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and invade Iraq: Thus ensuring that we would be at war in 2004 when he ran for re-election.

I hope and trust that Obama will not have any such tragic event, terrorist initiated or otherwise, to bail out his presidency. He needs to exert his considerable personal appeal and intelligence to get control of events in Washington that are within his sphere of influence.

He has not done that. For instance, I would think that one with his experience in community organization would know that you organize a community one block at a time. In other words, get you ducks in a row. He allowed his democratic allies(?) in Congress to jump right in to health care reform without first getting their ducks in order. Health care reform is now close to becoming another failed promise -- and Obama will be to blame.

I can overlook some of the dumb-assed comments or actions by his cabinet officials and others who should known better. Have we forgotten already some of the prissy things John Ashcroft did during his first year as Bush’s attorney general? It’s a fact of Washington life for newcomers that they will sooner or later misstep or misstate.

If we were smart, we would require those administering the oath of office to the president or anyone in official Washington to read first this statement:

Before taking your oath of office, be advised that you often will not have the right to remain silent and that anything you say can and will be misquoted, taken out of context and used against you in the press and in the court of public opinion.

News reporters have found more fame (and fortune) in “investigative reporting,” which necessarily leads them to constantly look for a statement, wink or nod that can be interpreted (or misinterpreted) to form the basis for their next sensational headline in the press or teaser on the six o‘clock news. Forget the facts ... find the faux pas. The fourth estate is nearly as corrupt as the political arena on which it reports -- and that is sad. (Why is there a national Tea Party movement? Because a sizable portion of the population has determined it can trust neither the Democrats nor Republicans to lead or work on solutions.)

Political pundits, or course, make their living by culling the gems of politicians’ screw-ups for their daily tirades, each presented to create in itself the most news. The more outrageous a statement, the better. Keep in mind, too, that many of the pundits popular today are former politicians who have found it more profitable to comment on the actions of their political-party opposites than to actually hold office and contribute to solving the nation’s problems. Ideological zealotry plays better and pays better in the media than in Washington.

So with these comments in mind, let us vow that we will not jump to conclusions about the Obama presidency. That is, let us not conclude that Obama is finished, just a blip on the political scene as some would have us believe. He has three more years. Let us also try to filter the noise (called news) on radio, television and in the press about his or any other politician’s comments or actions with independent research and intelligence. We can be smarter than we are given credit for.

YOU HAVE A CHOICE -- WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?

2010-02-09T16:06:00.001-05:00

I have coronary artery disease, CAD for short. That’s appropriate since many of my friends, students and fellow teachers during my teaching career thought I was a cad, and that is the nicer version of what they thought of me. Regardless, I have a genetic predisposition to develop narrowing of some of my coronary arteries with plaque, probably from cholesterol, although my blood work shows my cholesterol numbers to be good.

This condition apparently does not affect my other arteries. I have good pulses in my legs and ankles. An ultrasound of the arteries in my legs and carotid arteries in my neck show they are all open. One recent ultrasound tech said that my carotid arteries looked like what he would expect to see in a 40-year-old man. (I don’t think he was just trying to be nice, but who knows.)

When I ask, “Why me?” my cardiologist explains it with one word: genetics. I am not the poster boy for healthy living but I have been exercising, after a fashion, since President Kennedy started the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness back in the 1960s that encouraged fitness through exercise. I wish more presidents made physical fitness a national priority rather than just complain about the obesity problem. My wife and I also try to eat healthy. I know I eat less red meat and more fruits and vegetables than many of my friends. Just the same, before I went on cholesterol-lowering medication my cholesterol was in the lower 200s. It is now in the lower 100s.

Be that as it may, I was released from the hospital day before yesterday after receiving my 13th coronary stent. While walking with my wife this morning -- walking slowly, yes, but trying to get in my 10,000 steps -- when our 80-year old neighbor out for a walk passed us. I usually walk faster than I was this morning; I was taking it easy on purpose, so I wasn’t surprised when other walkers passed us. I was surprised when our neighbor went breezing by.

We got her to slow down long enough to exchange some pleasantries, during which we learned that she had been diagnosed as having osteoporoses and needed to get more exercise to keep her bones strong. After the pleasantries, she “sped” off ahead of us. My wife then explained that this was the same woman we saw last year walking slowly with a cane. She has rheumatoid arthritis and a year ago could barely get around. She must have kept working on it over the summer because she was now walking at a brisk rate that would shame some younger senior citizens.

We can all learn from her.

Those of us who can walk should walk and should walk daily. We should work to increase the number of steps to 10,000 every day. We can use bad knees, bunions, stability problems, snow on the ground, cold in the air, or lack of sidewalks to avoid walking. Alternatively, we can stop making excuses and start looking for safe ways to get in those doctor-recommended 10,000 steps.

Walk with a friend. Walk with a dog. Walk up and down the aisles at the grocery store. Push a shopping cart if necessary. Park your car at the back of the parking lot and walk to the store entrance. Walk up stairs instead of taking the elevator, unless your office is on the 17th floor. In that case, take the elevator to the 15th floor and walk up from there. Rainy? Get an umbrella. Slippery? Go to the local mall. Look for reasons to walk instead of excuses not to.

Concentrate on those 10,000 steps -- every day. The distance you travel and your speed will develop over time. Use a pedometer. It counts every step taken whether in the house or out. They all count towards your total.

No other exercise or medication can benefit your health or increase your life span like walking. Moreover, it costs nothing except the price of a pair of shoes and the willingness to give up your cherished excuses for not doing it.

C’mon, let’s go for a walk.

ARE ELECTRONIC TOYS TO BLAME FOR POOR GRADES AND OBESITY

2010-01-23T18:40:00.000-05:00

I often don’t pay that much attention to the news until something catches my ear, then I usually only get half the story. So much of the news is not worth watching or listening to anyway, since there isn’t a TV network out there that doesn’t twist, bend or slant the news to fit its editorial bias.
Oh well. That’s not going to change and that’s not what caught my ear the other morning. The gist of the news story, later reported in the print news is summarized by this quote from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

If you think only tweens and teens spend too much time indoors in front of TVs and computers, think again. Children ages six months to six years old are spending as much time with TV, computers and videogames as they do playing outside or reading, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Kids six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media, equivalent to the amount of time they spend playing outside. Yet, those two hours are a lot more than they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes).
The TV reporter indicated that all this time inside sitting in front of a TV, computer or text messaging on a cell phone explained students’ poor grades and obesity. I’m simplifying the report somewhat, but, as I said, that was the gist of the report. And it was that latter insinuation that caught my ear.

I don’t doubt for one minute that some children are spending too much time on their computer, or watching television, or twittering on their cell phone. I also do not doubt that for some of these kids that time could be better spent studying.

It is just too simplistic, though, to blame children’s poor grades on the electronic toys around the house. Some parents of today’s young people may remember that when they themselves were school-aged, the media, ministers and others looking for someone or something to blame poor grades on pointed their accusing fingers at rock and roll music.

Kids who want to fail or don’t care if they do well in school, will find some way to waste their time and avoid studying. Parents who cannot or will not monitor their kids’ school work will find something they can blame for their children’s poor school performance.

I don’t know if kids spend more time indoors than their parents or grandparents did, nor do I know that even if they do the blame can be laid on the electronics around their house.

Consider the number of hours, yes, hours, kids of previous generations spent on such indoor activities as model plane or model car building, coloring in a coloring book or playing with paper dolls. And let’s not forget the board games: Parcheesi, Monopoly, Chinese checkers, and the card games: Canasta, Hearts, Uno, Go Fish, and others. We spent countless hours putting together jig saw puzzles and spent countless more hours at the Saturday afternoon double-feature movie with cartoons and serial Buck Rogers or Superman thriller. All indoors and all while sitting.

The obesity problem? Well, I’ll have to admit that we did get around more by either walking or biking. No cars, not even for most teenagers. (Some kids had cars or access to one, but most of us got from place to place with Shank’s Mare, that is, walking.) So we probably got more exercise than some of today’s youngsters.

But I see kids walking today. I see kids biking, where it’s safe to do so. And there are a hell of a lot more sports in school for both boys and girls -- and I see a lot of non-obese kids taking part in these sports. Exercise is where you find it.

The obesity problem among our young people is more a parent problem than anything else. While I will admit that there are loads of special circumstances, I am compelled to say that there are loads of excuses for the fact that too many kids are fed too many prepared, processed, high-calorie meals that are going to make them fat! Stop eating out and start eating in. Stop giving them prepared foods and start preparing balanced meals.

I am afraid, however, that if you are among those parents who swapped preparing home-cooked meals for prepared foods, you will gladly swap good sense (and responsibility) about your children’s grades or weight for some prepared excuse such as their spending too much time in the house with their electronics.

Kids have always found a way to fritter away their time. Why start now to blame it on electronics.

A JEALOUS, ANGRY, VENGEFUL GOD?

2010-01-17T18:31:00.001-05:00

It has been an eventful week, an emotional week for anyone with compassion in their heart for the people of Haiti. It has been a heart-wrenching week for those who have family or friends in Haiti that have not yet heard from. The unknowing can be very difficult to bear.

I hope all of you will contribute to Haitian disaster relief through whatever agency you trust.

To add to people's misery, we learn from the mouth of televangelist Pat Robertson that the Haitians brought this on themselves through some pact their ancestors made with the devil over 200 years ago. If so, that is a god with some serious revenge in his heart. I know, "revenge is mine, sayeth the Lord," the bible reminds us, but to extract that revenge on innocent men, women and children -- even on non-Haitians working on the island to further His work -- seems extreme to me.

Oh, and please, don't remind me that I am not supposed to question the ways of the Lord. Surely in his infinite wisdom he knows how to make his actions perfectly clear -- even to someone like me.

The Orlando Sentinel has a section titled 30-word rant where people can write in and express their views on any topic so long as they keep their remarks to 30 words or less. After Pat Robertson's became known, one reader wrote the following: "A jealous, angry, vengeful god? Surely he was made in our image."

(By the way, I know that god should be capitalized when referring to the one god, the living god. But I am unsure whether the reader was referring to THAT god or to one of the several gods we humans worship in our various, sometimes contentious and often contradictory religions. I choose to just use the generic "god.")

One can take the reader's statement two ways, it seems to me. Did the writer mean that god was simply acting in the same way we error-prone, sinful humans would, or did he mean, as I have heard expressed before, that in the beginning man created god and so, of course, we created him in our image? (Maybe that explains why we have so many ministers constantly trying to explain god.) Does god behave like humans at times?

Many people reacted to Robertson’s remarks. Some ministers actually rebuked him on the air or in the press. That’s a good sign. It always bothered me that ministers on TV, charlatans and con-men all, as far as I’m concerned, could make the outrageous statement they did and never be challenged by ministers in our hometown church pulpits.

Just the same, I guess if god can let his chosen people, the Israelites, languish under the whip of slavery in Egypt for decades before setting them free, he can extract vengeance on the people of Haiti for a pact with the devil some group made over 200 years ago. I have to say, however, that seems like one angry god.

But no, that can’t be, writes The Most Rev. Thomas G. Wenski, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando in the Orlando Sentinel. He reminds us that “When faced with our misfortunes or those of others, we can be tempted to ask ourselves: What did we do or what did those people do to deserve this?” He explains later in his op-ed piece: “Jesus warns us not so see these events as somehow the wrath of an angry God. Evil came into the world not by God’s willing it; but through the devil and human sin.” (How are these two, the devil and human sin, not the work of God’s creation?)

Bishop Wenski goes on to clarify with the explanation: “Today -- and indeed, from the beginning of our exile from Eden -- we experience this world as a ‘valley of tears.’ We live in a fallen and, thus imperfect, world. And oftentimes the forces of nature -- earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters -- can suggest that our planet itself is ‘in rebellion’ against the original order of a loving Creator God.” Further, he states, “… we cannot rush to blame victims for the evil visited upon them; neither can we blame God, whom Scripture reveals as all loving and all merciful.”

I am not comforted.

We must take from his remarks that his “loving and all merciful” god is powerless to deal with the forces of nature, i.e, “earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters.” Maybe he can, but he won’t. Why? Well, I must assume that it is because nature is part of the “original order” that he created. For him to interfere would suggest that the laws of nature are not perfect, wouldn’t you think?

If some good comes out of the disaster in Haiti, if some good can be wrestled from the destruction and from the deaths of babies, of small children, or mothers and fathers going about their daily lives, of American teenagers in Haiti on a church mission and from the deaths of the hundreds of others who died there is past week when nature “rebelled against the original order,” it will come from the sympathy and good will of humans around the world who are at this moment rushing to bring food, water and order to the people of this island nation.

Pray, if prayer helps you, and then send money to help the people of Haiti. I won’t ask you to not trust in the lord, but the people of Haiti need something more substantial, some help they can use to feed their babies and rebuild their homes. Act on your conscience and do it today!

NOT A COLD DAY IN HELL BUT COLD JUST THE SAME

2010-01-08T13:11:00.000-05:00

It;s cold everywhere, Nebraska, Missouri, Georgia AND Florida. We've had four or five nights below freezing here in central Florida and the farmers are sweating -- sweating whether their produce and orange crops will survive the freeze. This is the season when they are supposed to make money by growing the oranges, the tomatoes, peppers and other produce the rest of the country wants during the winter months. That produce may be a bit more expensive this year.

In the meantime, we snowbirds are holed up in our homes waiting for warmer weather so we can play golf, go fishing or just go for a long walk. I've been getting out daily but it's an effort sometimes because of the cold weather. Walking is easier when it is cool, but it's not much fun when it's downright cold and you have to bundle up with a hooded sweatshirt and leather jacket. I even see some folks wearing gloves when out walking. We old folks are stubborn, if nothing else. But, like they say, where there's a will there's a way.

WALKING, TALKING AND THINKING

2010-01-03T16:25:00.000-05:00

INDEPENDENTS IN CONGRESS: Walking and talking won't usually get you in trouble. Well, talking can get you in trouble if you're not careful what you say, especially if varies from what your listeners expect, but thinking will definitely get you in trouble. No where is this more true than in congress. Once elected, you must not think for yourself, and by all means must refrain from any thoughts that differ from or challenge the party line.

Judging from th e-mail I receive -- e-mail that is never actually written by the person who sent it but presumably represents that person's thoughts -- many of you are so disgusted with the members of congress, both parties, that you want to vote out all incumbents and start over with a fresh new batch. Like term limits, this is a bad idea. It is a bad idea because, like term limits, it forces too many congressmen to rely too much for information and expertise on non-elected lobbyist and staff people.
There is a better way and Joe Lieberman has shown us that way. More politicians in Washington should declare themselves Independents.

Independents are not obligated to vote the party line. Independents are not beholden to the majority leader or the minority leader to get their bills out of committee. On the contrary, Independents can wheel and deal. They can negotiate their vote to the highest bidder, i.e., the bidder willing to give them the most support, the most in leadership positions, the most pork barrel, the better committee assignments or whatever for their vote.

Independents can vote for or against a bill on its merits, not on how their party leaders tell them to vote. Each vote generates a renewed scramble by each party to court their independent vote, because those independent votes often make the difference in whether a bill gets the majority needed for passage or not.

It is much that way in national and state elections now. About one-third of the population votes Republican regardless and about one-third can be counted on to vote Democratic regardless. It is the independent voters who determine the outcome of most elections. Independent voters look at the candidate and the issues and decide their vote based on what they see. They can vote for a Republican judge and a Democratic councilman because they are free to judge each on their qualifications or accomplishments -- not on the party they belong to. Voting for the party, of course, is easier, but that is exactly why we are in the mess we are in.

We need people in congress making independent judgments before casting their vote. We need politicians actually negotiating two or more possible means to an end rather than just being against a bill because the opposition party proposed it. We need politicians voting for or against something for reasons other than the need to stay in line, to stick with the party.
Write your congressperson and encourage him or her to become an independent. Look at the power it has given Joe Lieberman and what it has done for the people of Connecticut that he represents.

WALKING AND TALKING: Walking is a much ignored exercise. It isn't advertised on television because no one can sell you anything. NO special equipment is required, just comfortable shoes. It doesn't promise to remove that spare tire around your waist, shrink your too-big butt, or give you six-pack abs. So, it is often overlooked as a good way to maintain health, promote good posture and help maintain weight.

Walking can help you lose weight but it takes a heap of walking (about one mile) to burn 100 calories. That's the equivalent of one slice of bread. Still, walking is a low-impact exercise that, as already mentioned, requires no special equipment and it is better than no exercise at all.

Biking requires a bike. Swimming requires a swimming pool with favorable weather. Jogging is very hard on one's knees, so unless you have been doing for sometime, I do not recommend starting an exercise program with jogging. Stationary bikes, treadmills, roller blades, cross country skiing and other outdoor activities are all good exercises, but they all require special equipment or conditions. Walking does not.

Walking can be done almost anywhere and anytime. Granted, walking can be difficult, even hazardous, in cold weather climates or during any inclement weather. A trip to the local shopping mall solves that problem for most people. If you do not live near a shopping mall or do not have transportation there, you might have to get creative or forego your walking regimen under such circumstances. Fret not. There will be plenty of other opportunities for you to get in your 10,000 steps.

Yes, 10,000 steps. That's the amount recommend by exercise and health specialists. You can get an inexpensive pedometer at Wal-Marts for under $10. Don't worry about the distance (miles) recorded. Just affix it on your belt or waistband somewhere near your belly button and start walking. It will record the number of steps you take.

You may be surprised to learn that you log several thousand steps each day just in performing your regular activities around the house. That's good. Now get busy on getting the other steps needed to record your 10,000 steps. It's not easy, but it can be done if you put a little thought into it.

When you go shopping, park away from the entrance rather than drive around for 15 minutes looking for that spot nearest the door. When you need a beer from the refrigerator, get it yourself rather than asking your wife or one of the kids to do so. When watching TV, get up once in awhile and walk in place. (I know, it looks silly. But each step counts.) Look for opportunities to walk: walk the dog, walk the neighbor's dog, take the long way around the office at work, walk up stairs instead of using the elevator, and so forth.

Before you know it you will have your 10,000 steps. You will feel better. Your posture will improve. You will look better.

COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS

2010-01-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

COMMENT: My sports minded conservative friends must be beside themselves today. Their beloved television network, Fox, has threatened to pull the plug on its broadcast affiliation with Time Warner cable network and its affiliate Brighthouse unless Time Warner agrees to pay several million dollars more in broadcast-right fees. Time Warner has thus far refused and Fox Network may disconnect from Time Warner before the big Citrus Bowl game later today. Negotiations are ongoing.

Here’s the problem for my conservative friends. They believe that government should stay the hell out of negotiations between private (non-public) companies, but some of them want the government or the courts to intervene and compel Fox to allow Time Warner broadcast rights until after the Citrus Bowl game.

Frankly, I agree with the conservative position. The government (local, state or national) should stay out of the matter. It’s a football game, not a national emergency. No one’s life is threatened. If some businesses will suffer loss due to the disconnect, too bad. That’s the cost of doing business with Fox Network and Time Warner.

Let’s hope that politicians learned something from the Terri Shiavo debacle. Government leaders, in far away Washington, DC yet, had no business butting in to a Florida case that had been decided by a Florida court. They did, however, and it turned into an embarrassing mess. Let’s hope they are smarter this time around.

Politicians smarter? Now that’s funny. Politicians are sheep; they follow their leader. They are concerned with getting reelected and getting legislations passed that will benefit their constituents, i.e, get them reelected. On all other matters, refer to rule one: follow their leadership.

OBSERVATION: The maple trees in central Florida seem to think it is fall. They are turning brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red ... and dropping their leaves to the ground. I guess they have to do it sometime. They are after all deciduous trees and that means they lose their leaves once a year. Just the same, it is strange to this New York boy when out walking this time of year (January 1) to see tree leaves turning color and falling to the ground like it was September or October. Raking leaves is incongruous with this time of year.

OBSERVATION: We typically assign the word miracle to any circumstance we cannot explain. We do not call it a miracle when the sun comes up every morning because we know why and how that happens.
Even though we may not understand all the electronics involved, we watch television without once thinking of it as a miracle. No, we reserve the use of the word "miracle" for those instances in which something happens that we nor anyone can explain.

My observation is this: we call good things that happen a miracle. We never call it a miracle when something bad happens.

A man is driving his car down the road at a reasonable speed when another car, a speeding, out of control car, hits him head on. His car is demolished. He has to be cut out of the car by firemen using the jaws of life. "Miraculously" he lives. He literally walks away after being freed with a few cuts, scratches and bruises. He is amazed. The firemen are amazed. They've never seen anyone survive such a terrible head-on collision. It is a miracle, we say.

It may not be so much of a miracle after all. Seat belts, air bags, collapsible steering columns and other features engineered into his car in anticipation of just such an accident may explain his good fortune. We don't know that for sure, may never know for certain, but it is possible that no divine or other world intervention was involved, just good safety engineering.

We can believe what we want and some of us will believe this man's survival is a miracle. We will even say things like, "God must have other plans for him." or "It surely wasn't his time." The statement suggesting that the god we worship has an plan for each of us (meaning, I guess, that our destiny is out of our hands) or that we have a built-in clock ticking away our hours and minutes until "our time is up," again without regard to anything we do or do not do.

OK, be that as it may. We are free to believe whatever we want and to explain it, rationalize it, and defend it however we choose. But consider the following.

A man is driving down the road at a reasonable speed when an approaching car veers into his lane, clips his left front fender causing him to swerve right, jump the curb and smack into a fireplug. His body lurches forward and his head bumps the steering wheel. His seat belt stops him from smashing into the windshield, but the crash is so slight that the airbags do not even deploy. A "minor" accident from which we all would expect the driver to walk away, a bit shaken perhaps, but alive and well.

Nonetheless, the man dies.

Why isn't that a miracle? Why isn't it a miracle that the man died from such an insignificant bump? We can't explain his death. There is no rational or obvious mechanical reason for him dying. If we are going to ascribe the word miracle to situations we do not understand or cannot explain, why isn't this a miracle?

Can our god only be involved when good things happen? How are we then to explain the plane crash where 100 people die and 40 people live? Was it a miracle that the 40 lived? Or was it a miracle that the 100 died? Did god have special plans for the 40 who lived and no further use for the 100 he let die? Or was there no miracle involved, no divine intervention, no science-fiction or psychic explanation except it was a tragic accident -- a puzzle the FAA will try to solve.

It's just an observation. Think about it and tell me what you think.

WHY DON'T TEACHERS LIKE MERIT PAY?

2009-12-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

Florida wants to throw a huge amount of money into the teacher salary picture -- with one condition. The state wants teachers to figure out a way to create a merit-pay plan. The state wants teachers' pay related to students' performance.

Why isn't that fairly simple to institute?

You need to first understand how teachers are currently paid in most school districts. They are paid according to a salary schedule that specifies the base pay for every teacher in the system based on years of service. Every first year teacher gets a certain amount, a second year teacher gets that plus an increment, a third year teacher an increment, and so on. If you have been in the school system for 20 years, you get the same base pay as every other teacher who has been in the system for 20 years.

I underlined the base pay part of the second sentence in the previous paragraph to draw your attention to the fact that teachers are normally paid extra for additional, i.e., out-of-classroom, activities or services. Coaches get paid extra. Sponsor the yearbook and you get paid extra. Chaperon a fans bus to an away game and you get paid extra. Part-time department chairpersons get paid extra. Teachers hired to write curriculum are paid extra. Extra responsibilities not part of your daily classroom responsibility earn you extra money in your paycheck. Most teacher contracts also call for teachers to receive a bump up in salary for additional college hours and earned degrees. Hence, not all teachers on the same salary step earn exactly the same amount.

For some reason, the present system doesn't bother most teachers. They prefer knowing that they will get a raise next year come what may. The salary increments (percentage increases) are generally negotiated, and teachers like looking at the salary schedule and knowing that next year or three years hence they will be making X dollars.

It does not bother them that an ineffective teacher gets paid the same as an effective teacher. (Well, it does bother some but not enough to want to change the system.) They don't seem to mind that a teacher who shows up at school every morning just as the bell rings gets paid the same as the teacher who comes in early and meets with her students who need extra help. They know who the hard working teachers are and they know who the lazy, ineffective teachers are. They know they don't want their own children in the classes of the ineffective teachers -- but they apparently don't mind that those teachers may be getting the same salary as the better teachers.

That last part bothers parents, school board members and state-level politicians though. It probably bothers administrators but they are generally powerless to change the salary system. Their job is to administer the teacher-school board contract, not change it as they may see fit. I know that their input is sought during contract negotiations, but only as advisers. After all, in many school systems administrators are paid on a separate but similar salary schedule.

One fly in the pay-for-performance ointment is the difficulty of defining performance. Teachers know that it takes a different level of teacher effectiveness to raise student performance in, say, a physics class than it does to raise performance in an art class. And how do you rate the performance of the two?

Teachers also know that even between two teachers of the same subject there can be a big difference in the students they have and, hence, any observable performance difference. Teachers do not get to choose their students; they have to take those assigned to them. Students can ask for a transfer (and usually get it) to a less demanding teacher but teachers cannot ask to have difficult, disruptive or "slower" students transferred from their class. The presence or absence of such students can, however, affect the overall performance of the entire class.

There is still another class of teachers for which student performance in almost impossible to determine. I speak of special education teachers, remedial teachers, guidance counselors, student assistance coordinators, or any other person on the faculty who is paid according to his/her place on the salary schedule but does not have a regular classroom assignment and/or meet with mainstream students on a daily basis. How, for example, do you measure the effectiveness of a remedial math teacher? If she starts the year with a lad who is working one or more years below grade level and she brings him along a full year in achievement (an exceptional accomplishment when it happens), the child is still a year or more behind his peers at the end of the year because they have also advanced a year in achievement.

And what about music teachers, physical education teachers and school librarians? How do you measure student performance for purposes of merit pay for these teachers?

A second concern for teachers is the evaluation process. An administrator or supervision who may or may not be familiar with your subject or appropriate classroom techniques observes you for several periods and then writes you evaluation. How is that supposed to equate with the subject matter content your students learned or other skills you develop that may be important to their personal or educational growth and development?

Finally, there is the matter of a limited pool of money each year from which to award merit pay increases. The size of the money pool available for merit pay increases is always limited, sometimes very limited. That means that only a few teachers each year can get merit pay increases. If you got a merit pay award last year you can bet that you will not be in the running for one this year. In short, teachers know that the pot is small and not every deserving teacher will get a merit pay increase every year, regardless of their students' performance. Kind of defeats the purpose of the merit pay notion, doesn't it?

I don't have a solution. I just thought you should know some of the problems that continue to thwart the good intentions of those who want desperately to see good teachers paid more than poor teachers. A workable system might improve education by encouraging poor teachers to seek employment in another field but few merit plans have servived beyond the first half-dozen years, so we don't know.

What do you think?

EVERY GENERATION HAS MORE THAN IT NEEDS - SO THEIR PARENTS THINK

2009-12-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

I've been off line for a while because of buying a new laptop computer. My old laptop was getting as slow as me and I felt I needed something faster. I have a 14" Toshiba Satellite and as with any new piece of electronics, there is a learning curve. Then, of course, there is the need to personalize the desktop, home pages, and hardware. For instance, I don't like the tap feature on most mouse pads; they are too sensitive and I end up entering folders or programs I did not intend. Hence, I always look for a way to turn off the tap function.

Well, all this takes awhile. It takes awhile to learn where the various switches are and it takes awhile to learn what to turn off and what to leave alone. Added to all this is the fact that I am a slow learner -- or just cautious. Anyway, I think I have this mustang under control, ready to ride, so to speak, so I'm ready to resume writing my blog.

Why did I want a new laptop? Did I need one? Certainly not. I already had one and it worked. I wanted a new laptop because my old one (now five years old and by industry standards, obsolete) not only was slow but also incapable of running some of the newer (meaning, larger) programs. In addition, it did not have some of the bells and whistles of newer computers on the market and I was envious.

Prices on laptops have come down so much from five years ago that is seemed almost insane to not buy a new computer. This new laptop with double the speed, memory, etc. cost about one-third what my older laptop cost. And it has some of the previously mentioned bells and whistles missing from the other machine: webcam, multiple USB ports (one a high speed port), a memory card reader, built-in broadband capability, et al.

But the new laptop started me thinking about all the electronic "things" my children and grandchildren have that I never had at their age. They not only have these things, they have the latest version. They've gone through more cell phones, for example, than I have golf balls -- and I go through a lot of golf balls. (If my golf balls could sing the woods bordering the golf course would be alive with the sound of music, except for the balls under water going glub, glub, glub.)

Further thought on the subject made me realize that every generation thinks it just has to have the gadgets and conveniences available at the time, very quickly reaching the point of wondering how the previous generation got along without them. Who among us, young or old, hasn't wondered: "How did the world function with computers?" They are everywhere and in every part of our lives it seems.

But why stop with computers? How about cell phones, SUVs, color HDTV, electric blankets, microwave ovens, refrigerators with ice cube and cold water dispensers, tires that are guaranteed for 50,000 miles or more (When was the last time you changed a tire?), credit cards, EZ passes for quicker entry to toll roads, CD players, iPods, DVD players, Blue Tooth everything, automatic dishwashers and on and on.

My generation didn't have all those things. True. But we did have our at the time must-have creature comforts that many of our parents must have wondered about. What young couple setting up housekeeping in the 1950s gave any thought to having a car, maybe two. Some of our parents at that point still survived with just one car, and an older one at that. We had to have a television set, even if it was black and white TV. And we had a telephone, maybe two or three, while many of our parents still got along with one phone on the wall in the kitchen -- and it was a rotary dial phone. Our wives worked while our mothers thought a women's place was at home. And we bought things on credit!

Clothes? We had several pairs of dress shoes, several more pairs for sports or casual wear, several suits and jackets for every occasion. Meanwhile, my dad had one suit: a dark navy blue gabardine, dark enough to be suitable for church, weddings and funerals -- and he wore it winter or summer, always with a tie. Casual Friday hadn't been invented yet and church service, weddings and funerals always required a suit, no exceptions.

When my wife and I married we had little but we nevertheless took some of the money we received from relatives to buy a HiFi record player. It wasn't a stereo set, understand, just a state-of-the-art Sylvania HiFi record player. We both had a collection of 33/3rd long-play records of favorite artists and we felt it made sense to buy a good record player. Looking back, I am sure both our parents thought it a stupid waste of money since neither of them had such a fine piece of electronics in their house.

Looking back a bit farther, however, I decided that my parent's generation probably started their adult lives with some things their parents had done without: a car, a telephone, a washing machine (clothes driers wouldn't come along until much later), an electric fan, an electric toaster, and other gadgets that surely made their parents wonder.

I suspect now that every generation looks at the next generation as the "me" generation, the generation that has to have every new convenience and have it now. Well, I'm trying to not fall too far behind the current generation -- a battle I suspect I am losing -- by buying a new laptop with some of the current must-have features. I suppose that some day my grandchildren will look back and wonder how grandma and grandpa managed "in their day."

THE PROBLEM WITH BELIEFS -- THEY CAN TRAP US

2009-12-03T13:35:00.000-05:00

I read in the paper this morning that the New York State senate rejected a bill that would have made that state the sixth to allow gay marriage. The measure needed 32 votes and only received 24, a wider-than-expected margin, but closer than many people might have feared possible.

I don't care about the vote. It's only a matter of time before gay marriage is approved nationwide. Gay marriage resistance will fade away and law makers will act just as they did to remove miscegenation laws, Sunday blue laws, and the 55 mph speed laws. As more and more gays become known (they were there all along, but "in the closet) and society begins to see that they are not devil-possessed sexual perverts (at least not anymore than some heterosexuals), society will adopt the same acceptance it has about casual sex, living together without marriage, drinking, card playing and dancing -- all of which have gone through an outstanding metamorphosis of acceptance that would have been unbelievable 50-60 years ago.

No, the New York vote did not surprise or disappoint me. What caught my eye in the article was the statement by Sen. Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn. He challenged his colleagues "to set aside their religious beliefs and vote for the bill." He might as well have challenged them to be honest.

We humans are generally incapable of abandoning our beliefs.

Beliefs are just that, beliefs. They are not fact. They are not even remotely based on fact. They are exactly what they name says: they are what we believe -- not what we know.

Now I am sure that some readers are objecting that -- regarding their religious beliefs, at least -- that they "know" Christ is king, that God exists, that the world is only 6,000 years old, that Jesus turned water into wine, that prayer works, and so forth. They know this because that's what they have been taught since early childhood and they never stopped, i.e., had no cause, to question these teachings. Or, they will argue, that these elements of their faith are substantiated by no less an authority than the Christian Bible. Or, they will refer for validation to a noted clergyman or televangelist.

It can be said with certainty that what any of us knows came from some authority. We seldom have the ability or the time to independently verify what we are taught as fact. (Would you be surprised to learn that 2+2 = 4 is not always true? It is true only in a base 10 number system.) Just the same, there are some things we must accept on faith, while other things are verifiable by direct observation or science.

We can believe the earth is flat. We know it is not. We can believe "our" political leaders do not lie. We know better. We believe our spouse is faithful. Regrettably, more than one spouse has found that to not be the case.

Religious beliefs are the hardest to deal with. If we see a frosted image on the window of a McDonald's and "believe" it to be the Virgin Mary, who or what will persuade us otherwise. Thousands of like believers will throng to the site to pay homage to and/or pray before the image. Nothing will change their belief.

Political beliefs are the next hardest to influence or change. We believe in the Democratic or Republican or Independent or whatever party philosophy -- often without ever actually knowing what it is we are supposed to believe -- and nothing anyone can say or do will change how we vote. We vote the party and any politician worth his/her salt will spend an entire campaign repeating the party line, since we are only interested in hearing those arguments that support what we already believe.

Hence, we listen to the president and believe, or not, that he is doing the right thing. We listen to Rush Limbaugh and believe, or not, that he indeed offers us excellence in broadcasting, i.e., the truth. We watch the ABC News (or any other network news) and believe the news people there are reporting unbiased accounts of events. We know better in each of these instances, but we still believe.

Our beliefs allow us to give meaning to the things in life we do not fully understand. Our beliefs allow us to enter the world of Harry Potter or Santa Clause when we are young. Our beliefs give us something to hang onto when the world we know seems to offer little of substance. Every so-called miracle (something we cannot explain) bolsters our belief/faith while, like children who first learn the truth about Santa Clause, we reject or ignore evidence that challenges our belief.

Change our beliefs? Don't be ridiculous. Most of us cannot change our beliefs any more than we can change the color of our skin -- Michael Jackson being an exception.

The senator from New York should know better than to ask his colleagues to set aside their religious beliefs. Religious beliefs, like political, social or patriotic beliefs change as the patriotic, social, political or religious climate changes. We just follow. Very few of us are willing to or capable of examining and rejecting long-held beliefs -- and certainly not because some politician asked us to.

COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS

2009-11-30T16:08:00.000-05:00

Con Job - Joyce and I were approached the other day at Walmarts by a woman claiming to be stranded here. She had, according to her story, deposited her payroll check from Denny's at the Walmart customer service desk and had the total, $579.53 she said, giving the exact amount as if to make it seem more plausible, put on a Walmart Visa credit card. Then as she started to leave to do some shopping, they reminded her that she could not draw on the money for three days. She and her husband were effectively broke and stranded. They needed money for gas and for food. As she talked, she waved a Walmart Visa card back and forth for us to make her story more believable.

We listened, asked some questions. She had suspiciously ready answers for each of our questions, e.g., calling social services, contacting parents at home, etc. Then we refused her. It was just too slick ... and too suspicious. At that point she said thank you and quickly disappeared, probably to try and find a more willing or gullible sucker.

Walmart cashes payroll checks for $3. It says so on the giant sign behind the customer service counter. I later talked with a store assistant manager and told him of the incident. He said we did the right thing. There was no company policy about holding money from a check for three days. It was a con job pure and simple. Be forewarned.

Sandhill Cranes - The sandhill cranes are starting to pair up. It's fun to watch their mating dance. They crane their heads back, jump in the air and flap their wings. It must be a turn-on for them. I did a dance something like that awhile back when I hit my thumb with a hammer, but I don't remember Joyce being turned on by it. I also turned the air around me blue -- which is probably not a sexual turn-on for women.

I'm not sure why the cranes are "getting it on" at this time of year. Their chicks are not born until late February or early March. I'm sure it doesn't take that long for their eggs to hatch. But to tell the truth, I know very little about the procreation habits of sandhill cranes. I just know it is interesting to watch them this time of year.

They are all over the resort and golf course. They come into your yard as long as you leave them to their poking for whatever they are seeking under the ground. The golf course grounds keeper just loves them, as you can imagine, as they leave a sizable hole every time they poke and prod for whatever morsel they seek. Fortunately, through the use of pesticides, I suspect, they stay away from the greens.

Christmas Boycott - I notice that once again a great many, actually all that I've seen, merchants are posting signs in their windows and banners outside proclaiming "HAPPY HOLIDAYS." Christians, of course, resent this. They believe the signs and banners should say MERRY CHRISTMAS, this being the season in celebration of the birth of Christ. Christ, they believe, belongs in Christmas. One person I know goes so far as to complain if you refer in writing to Christmas as Xmas.

Merchants, of course, hope to appeal to a broader audience than just Christians, so they try to make their signs and banners a little more generic. Good Christians want no part of that, as you can imagine. Generic is an anathema to them every much bit much as the evil word "secular." Would you like to see a store sign that said HAPPY SECULAR SEASON? Of course not.

Still, the merchant who needs big sales this time of year to show a profit for the year is caught between acknowledging the origin and namesake of the Christmas season and not wanting to turn away non-Christians, of which there are many -- possibly more than their are Christian shoppers.

Nevertheless, a good old-fashioned boycott of those stores refusing to show proper respect for the King of kings might get their attention and compel them to change their signs and banners. So, why not encourage all good Christians to simply refuse to shop at stores showing a non-religious, secular sign this Christmas? If they all stayed away, refused to shop at such stores, merchants would surely notice and make appropriate changes.

Would it work? You know it would not. For, if they are nothing else, Christians are flexible. They have shown over the decades a willingness and ability to stretch and bend any rule of behavior or religious admonition that significantly interfered with their lives. They know full well that most such rules from the church are either man made or simply some man's interpretation of the scriptures and subject to change as society demands or world conditions dictate. Thus opening the way for the popular protestant belief that each individual is answerable only to God and can interpret the bible himself/herself without the benefit of clergy -- and in a manner appropriate for the moment.

Give up shopping at this time of year for presents? Don't be absurd!

Christmas Presents - Speaking of Christmas, Joyce today ordered my Christmas present: a new "Toshiba Black 14" Satellite M505D-S4970 Laptop PC with AMD Turion II M500 Dual-Core Processor & Windows 7 Home Premium." Boy, will I be surprised on Christmas morning.

In return, I got her two pair of sneakers and have ordered for her a brand new, 16.75 inch toilet stool. Wrapping it will likely be a bit difficult, but I know she will be surprised.

REGRIPPING GOLF CLUBS - EVEN A CAVEMAN CAN DO IT

2009-11-24T15:51:00.000-05:00

It's official. I have re-gripped my first golf club. Actually, three of them so far.

The grips on my Florida set of clubs had grown stiff and hard. If at home, I would have turned to a friend who re-grips golf clubs. But he's in Rotterdam, NY and I am in Florida. Well, I could probably find someone down here at Clerbrook Resort who does club re-gripping, but why should I? If one old retired codger can do it, surely I can.

I went online and settled on Golf Works. When I called I asked them if a hillbilly from the Ozarks could learn to re-grip golf clubs. They hesitated a moment and then said yes, sure. Okay, I said, how about a left-handed hillbilly. They hesitated a bit longer but finally said they were sure I could do it. All right, I said, feeling more confident, how about a left-handed hillbilly who moved to upstate New York? I guess they figured that showed a level of intelligence somewhat below what they usually considered as necessary for the job. However, after some deliberation (and, I believe, some snickering in the background) and since they obviously wanted to make a sale they reluctantly agreed I could do it.

I placed my order and waited anxiously for the grips to arrive, which they eventually did. I already had a vise and a utility knife so all I needed was some grips, some double-sided tape and some solvent. Just to be on the safe side (figuring I would screw up at least one, probably the first one) I ordered extra grips.

The Internet is a wonderful place for getting information and I found plenty on how to re-grip golf clubs. Before I grad-yoo-ated from the eighth grade, I learned to do some simple research and I put them smarts to work. I reviewed a half-dozen articles (some with pictures, which I greatly appreciated) on how to re-grip golf clubs. It seemed simple enough -- even for a doofus.

I started with my 3-iron, since that's the club I use the least. If I totally screwed it up, it would be no big loss.

I was a little fearful on the first one but gained confidence when I saw how easily it went. Reading the several articles helped because each gave a little different point of view with a little different advice. I just put all the advice together and went at it. I finished the first club and quickly completed two more before deciding to rest. (Didn't want to over-tax my brain.) It's so simple, I decided, that even a caveman can do it. I'll finish the rest tomorrow.

IS GLENN BECK STARTING A THIRD PARTY?

2009-11-24T11:27:00.000-05:00

The headline in the Orlando Sentinel this morning read: "Glenn Beck sets sights on political organizing." Glenn Beck is best known, perhaps, for his political rants (mostly against the Obama administration) on Fox News television. He is, to say the least, a little over the top sometimes.

He knows how to gather a crowd, which in this case means gather TV ratings. That's what any respectable television personality, liberal, moderate, conservative, news reporter or otherwise, is after. No ratings, no job.

Well now, according to the Sentinel, Beck hopes "to transform his personal celebrity into political action and has begun to assemble a movement to 'change America's course.'" While in Florida recently promoting his new book, "Arguing with Idiots," Beck said "America, we cannot wait for a leader anymore. The people must lead, and the leader will follow."

We know he has already discounted the president as a leader, but this statement suggests that he is admitting that the opposition party, the Republicans, lacks leadership as well. That seems clear to most Americans since he, Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham seem to be the major spokespeople for the Republican Party these days. Indeed, the Sentinel article states, "Beck's announcement is the latest in a series of attempts by well-known, right leaning figures to fill a leadership void in the Republican Party, which has no clear nationally popular standard-bearer and has seen a schism arise between moderates and the conservative flank."

Conscientious voters across the nation should be encouraging Beck's success. Republicans made a big deal of Obama's lack of leadership experience and disparaged his community organization background. But, they had to notice that that very background led to one of the most skillfully crafted and organized campaigns in recent history. Beck seems to have taken notice, at least, and wants to organize Conservatives in a similar manner. Regardless, any attempt by any person to get Americans off their duffs and actively participating in the process of nominating, electing and monitoring our government officials has to be a good thing. We should all hope Beck succeeds.

Democrats will have another reason for hoping he succeeds. If the Glenn Beck Conservatives become united and decide to split from the lackluster leadership of the Republican Party, they will by such action assure the Democrats control of Washington for the next several elections cycles. Third-party movements invariably weaken the voting strength of one party. (Do I need to mention Ralph Nadir or Ross Perot?)

There are rational, reasonable conservatives in both the Democratic and Republican Parties, albeit more of them have, in recent years, gravitated to the Republican Party. The problem for Republican leaders is not the conservatives in their midst. Hell, they are happy to have them as it adds to their voting strength. The conservatives, however, give them a broader base to which they must appeal, and John McCain found it nearly impossible in the last presidential election to appeal to that very broad base and remain true to his own principals.

Why? Because the conservatives represent such a broad range of expectations and ideologies, partly, I suspect, because of far right religious groups who have found a voting voice in the conservative movement. They are not just social conservatives or financial conservatives or political conservatives, they are radical conservatives. There is no middle ground on anything. Their view is the only view.

Americans are by and large moderates. We are a sort of live-and-let-live bunch of people. Not so the religious conservatives. They march to their own drummer and by god you will too -- if they have their way.

Glenn Beck may do the country a favor if he successfully gets more Americans to organize their block, their neighborhood, their town and state and become actively involved in our political process. He should be wary about the tiger he is letting out of the bag, however. He may find it hard to control that cat once it is let loose.

THINGS YOU NEVER FORGET

2009-11-23T17:02:00.000-05:00

They say you never forget how to ride a bike. I think it must be true.

We have two bikes here in Florida that I serviced this afternoon by adding air to the tires. Everything else seemed in order. Soon after, I decided to go to the post office here at the resort to check today's mail. (There was none of any interest.) Even though I have not been on a bicycle since last March, I stepped on the left pedal, threw my leg over the seat like a 20-year-old and started peddling down the street. It was only after I had gone a block or so that I realized: no wobble, no hesitation, no thought to what I was doing. You just don't forget how to ride a bike.

I could think of only one other sport in which this is true. I suspect that once you learn to swim, you never forget. Once you learn to trust the buoyancy of the water to hold you up and learn to kick you legs while pulling yourself through the water with cupped hands, you probably don't forget it. You may lose some of your speed or power if you don't swim regularly, but you don't forget how to swim. You may have to stop and tread water (another skill I doubt you forget) if you try to swim very far, shoulder impingement or some other age-related infirmary may prevent you from swimming well or far, but you will remember how to swim.

In most individual sports, golf comes to mind, you may not entirely forget how to do it, but you surely lose some of your strength, your rhythm and your skill. You can no doubt still hit the ball, but maybe not as far or with the accuracy you once had. Of course, that can be said of biking: you can still ride a bike, but maybe not with the speed or skill you had as a youngster.

Still, I will stick with my original assertion: you never forget how to ride a bike.

TIS THE SEASON: CRECHE OR CURSE

2009-11-21T13:13:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year. Actually, "that time of year" is a week into the season and about two weeks ahead of when most folks expect it. I speak of the Christmas season.

Most retail stores have had their Christmas decorations out for a week or more. They, along with some of the radio stations, started playing Christmas music this past week, at least here in Florida. Some have tried to be politically correct by referring to this as the "Holiday" season, but others have simply given up and just call it the Christmas season.

The City Council of Orlando is apparently among that latter group. They announced earlier this past week that there would be no Christmas tree at City Hall this year. This is the first time in memory for many residents and, in fact, it is, according to the Orlando Sentinel, the first time since 1950 that "Along with the Christmas Star that ... hung above Orange Avenue ...," the City Hall tree will be missing this year. Mayor Buddy Dyer and the City Council decided that both were a luxury the city could not afford in the current economic circumstances, thus saving the city $22,000.

Predictably, some folks were upset. They were concerned with the loss of another Christmas tradition and some viewed this as another attempt to remove Christ from Christmas. I did not specifically read or hear that, but it seems reasonable in light of past expressions of frustration.

Regardless, some good folks came through and did what more of us should do. They donated the money and the tree so the city could have its Christmas tree. Warren Brown and Co., a North Carolina tree farm, donated a 31-foot blue spruce and AirTran Airways and WFTV-Channel 9 in Orlando donated $6,800 for transporting and installing the tree. Further, Jack Ewing, owner of Santa's Christmas Tree Farm in Eustis, FL donated a 20-foot sand pine. So now the city has two Christmas trees.

Although we don't hear as much about it as in the past, this story reminded me of the concern some citizens had when they learned their City Council would no longer allow a creche on the Court House lawn. Call it a creche, manger scene or nativity scene; it was a religious symbol, a purely Christian religious symbol at that, which violated the law regarding separation of church and state.

The manger scene was a long-standing tradition in many communities and one that evoked warm memories for many local citizens. It was unfortunately also against the law. City attorneys advised against such displays.

As with so many other forms of Christian religion expression, it did not matter that it was traditional, had a long history in the community or, for that matter, enjoyed the support of a majority of the community. The creche on the Court House lawn or any other public land was illegal. Secular, non-religious, decorations were all right, which, of course, rankled the devout so much that they stormed City Hall in protest.

We need to recognize two important facts: First of all, it doesn't matter how many Ten Commandment depictions were engraved over Court House entrances in the past the Supreme Court had determined in recent years that such expressions of the Christian faith violate the separation of church and state. The phrase "separation of church and state" is a metaphorical reference first made by Thomas Jefferson to the "establishment clause" of the Constitution that states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Second, citizens are still free to express their religious views in any way they want that does not violate local zoning or display laws.

So I came up with this idea. If every citizen, even half of them, who want to see a creche on the Court House lawn were to put such a creche on their OWN lawn there would be more manger scenes depicting the message of Christmas for the people of town to see than would ever be seen by the lone creche at the city square.

Instead of spending hundreds of dollars for lights, trees, blow-up lawn Santa Claus balloons and such, just install a nativity scene of whatever size you deem appropriate your front yard. Put a couple of spot lights on it and proclaim the Christian message of Christmas for everyone to enjoy.

What is that adage? You can curse the darkness or light a candle. Well, you can curse the law, the secular humanists, the non-believers or the commercialization of Christmas ... or you can put a spot light on an appropriate, lawful, expression of your faith on your front lawn where neighbors and many others will see it. And I assure that if you and your like-minded neighbors do this, the TV crew with cameras rolling will be on your block before you can say Merry Christmas.

HOW SHALL WE DIE: SWINE FLU OR SWINE SHAPE?

2009-11-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

The news announcement got my attention. It should have gotten everyone's attention, particularly the Obama administration people responsible for monitoring the nation's physical health. We are one of the fattest nation's on the earth!

I suppose I shouldn't throw in the Obama administration that way. For all I know they are aware of the statistics and doing all they can. The problem is, I don't know. I'm not hearing much out of Washington except some hand-wringing about the numbers. Where are the Republicans on this matter? Let's hear their proposal for dealing with the nation's blubber butts and pot bellies.

Here are some of the numbers, in case you missed them:

43 percent of Americans will be obese by 2018 (That's awfully close to half, folks.)
10 percent of people who are classified medically as obese believe they have a healthy body size and do not need to lose weight (Don't they ever get naked in front of a mirror?)
32 percent of kids and teens from 6 to 19 years of age are overweight and 17 percent are obese.

You don't have to wait until 2018 to see how fat we have become. Just go to Walmart's on Saturday, come to Florida (it's got to be the fat capital of the world), go to any flea market, visit Sonny's BBQ, Golden Corral, a Chinese buffet or most any restaurant you can name and you will see first hand some really super sizes waddling around. Some fat people I suspect go to Walmart's on Saturday just so they can feel good standing next to the obese people there.

It's not fair to pick on Walmart's. They are not the cause of the problem. We are!

We eat too much. We eat too much of the wrong foods. We have too much soda, ice cream, snack chips and other junk around the house in easy reach.

And we do not exercise enough. We will sign up for exercise class and then drive over someone to park as close as possible to the front door of the exercise room. We will drive around and around the parking lot waiting to find a parking space right up near the entrance to the store we plan to shop. And then we will come out, start the car and drive a half block to the next store in the mall. In every way possible, we avoid getting off our fat butts and moving.

Here are some suggestions:

In the 1960s, President Kennedy created the President's Council on Physical Fitness. The president publicly encouraged physical fitness and the council published a book of age-appropriate exercises for adults and children. We need that again.
Park at the far end of the parking lot from any store entrance and walk that 100 yards or so. Do that every shopping trip and you will add miles to your shoes over the next year. Strive for 10,000 steps a day.
Get the junk food snacks out of your kitchen cabinets, if you and your kids cannot otherwise control your cravings. If it's not there you won't eat it. If you want it bad enough, get up, make it or bake it yourself, or do without.
Let's have enabling legislation that allows insurance companies to hike the rates (health or life insurance) on overweight people. Overweight people already cost companies millions each year in missed days work, excessive health care costs and physical accommodations for their "plus" sizes, and they put a strain (literally) on our medical facilities. Let's start charging overweight individuals and maybe if they have less money (because of higher insurance premiums) they will eat less.
Let's stop making fools of ourselves by making a fuss when our porky-sized child cannot get the swine-flu vaccine. Deal with the health problem you can see, Mom, and stop harassing health officials over the one you worry about.
If you or your kids have emotional issues or self-esteem issues, then get help for the problem. Don't avoid the issue by eating and creating a physical condition that adds to the problem. Eating is not a cure!
And, let's stop making excuses. We are out of shape, physically. We are fat and getting fatter. Just look around. We created the flabby mess we are in and it's up to us to change it.

And by the way, it's not just the kids. I don't mean to pick on them except to remind you that if they start their young lives overweight, they will likely continue to be overweight, even obese, in adulthood. The really fat people I see are the ones that are really obvious because of their size ... the adults in Florida and elsewhere.

THE CARDINAL WAS OUT OF LINE

2009-11-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

I saw this article by Ellen Goodman the other day and could not believe my eyes. Has the religious divisiveness in this country become such that we have lost all sense of propriety? Are the secular humanists the only ones we can count on to be decent and civil toward all men.

Ellen Goodman

BOSTON -- It was one of those small shocks that come unexpectedly in the wake of a death. Just days after the country had buried Ted Kennedy, Cardinal Sean O'Malley took to his blog to defend himself from critics attacking him for presiding over the funeral of a pro-choice senator.

The cardinal called for civility and then went on to explain how he'd used the occasion to lobby one of the mourners: the president of the United States. He told Barack Obama that, yes, the Catholic bishops wanted universal health care but "we will not support a plan that will include a provision for abortion or could open the way to abortions in the future."

Is there an etiquette for lobbying at a funeral? Unseemly is too mild a word. This politicking during a national outpouring of loss for the last of the Kennedy brothers, a time when tens of thousands of Americans of every religion lined up to say their farewells, was a warning sign.

I have only included the first few paragraphs of Goodman's article, but you can get the gist of the article. "The cardinal called for civility and then went on to explain how he'd used the occasion to lobby one of the mourners: the president of the United States." The cardinal called for civility? There is no civility in using a funeral to lobby anyone for any reason. There is no explanation.

I thought we had gotten rid of the mean-spirited religious fanatics of the 1990s who thought they could say and do anything as long as defended it with their narrow religious views. If it was all right with god -- in their opinion -- then it was all right.

Such religious fanatics, folks, are the stuff from which terrorists are made. Those who would blow up themselves along with countless people in a crowded bazaar are cut from the same cloth as those who will blow up an abortion clinic. Yes, it's that simple, and that scary.

Oh, I know what you're thinking, Muslim fanatics are the problem, not Christian fanatics. Nonsense. Religious fanatics of all stripes march to their own drummer. They feel they can do what they want because it is in God's cause. God commands them. They cannot refuse. They cannot be denied.

I must ask the question: Can an all powerful God only promote His agenda by killing innocent people? I have a problem with that, if true.

Zealots, fanatics for any cause should concern us all.

Fanatics would overturn the Constitution. Zealots will have you believe that this country was created as a Christian country. Not so. Check the Declaration of Independence.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,...

No reference to the Christian church or any church there. I've taken the liberty of highlighting some phrases you might focus on.

The Declaration states that we may assume the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's god entitle us. Not the Puritan god, not the Christian god, not the Muslim god, but nature's god, however you choose to interpret that.

God's laws (your god, my god, anyone's god) has equal station with the laws of nature, which, I must point out seldom differ from one country or culture to another. The sun comes up in the east, apples fall, water freezes, hot air rises, and so forth. It's only the "laws of god" that give us trouble because there seems to be a multitude of gods and, in this country at least, a multitude of ways to recognize, worship or secure the blessings of god.

The framers of the Declaration had it right. Let the governments secured among men derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, period.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley has the same right as any ordinary citizen to lobby the president or any member of our government with his views on abortion or any other strongly held view, at the appropriate time and place. But to do so, he needs to remove his cardinal's hat and assume the posture of an ordinary citizen. With his cardinal's hat firmly affixed at the Kennedy funeral, he was not an ordinary citizen, and we acknowledge and honor him accordingly.

As much as it rankles some people to admit it, we are a secular nation founded on the belief that men can govern themselves. We do not need a king, real world or other world. How men arrive at their individual judgments about who to vote for is up to them, but it is their collective judgment that we rely on to determine those who will lead the government.

That government may not use our church services or other religious ceremonies to promote its agenda. Likewise, church leaders like Cardinal O'Malley should refrain from using church ceremonies to promote a religious or private agenda.

FLORIDA - DAY 2

2009-11-07T11:11:00.000-05:00

I have to report on last night before moving on to reveal the adventures Joyce and I experienced Day 2 of our trip.

Last night was a more exciting venture than we expected. Who would have thought that we would encounter traffic backups at 6:30 in the evening. We did. Three lanes of traffic sometimes came to a complete stop. Don't know why. We missed our seven o'clock reservation at the Corner Stable Restaurant by 30 minutes because of the traffic. Why don't people stay home on Friday night?

The Corner Stable Restaurant is, reportedly, Baltimore's best BBQ rib and crab shack. I know that because it said so on the menu. Besides, Mike Sellers, my granddaughter's boyfriend likes it, and he likes to eat, so it must be good. It was good and we left with at least as much food as we consumed. Could not eat all they brought on our plates. (And, yes, I got to play sugar daddy and pick up the bill.)

Mike and Alyssa are shown at the far left, below. Both are students at Towson College. Mike is majoring in marketing and Alyssa is majoring in mass communications. The picture on the right is of Alyssa at her apartment. She is holding an original Chuck's Chips bark carving she requested I make for her.

We had to take Alyssa's camera shy, socially awkward sister, Laura, along because she doesn't get out much. You can see why. Her mother, our daughter, is hiding behind her.

This is what made paying the dinner bill worthwhile. Just being seen in public with these four beautiful ladies -- Joyce (not shown), Cheryl, Alyssa and Laura -- is more honor than I deserve.

Actually, Day 2 consisted of Joyce, Cheryl and I straightening up the back porch, bringing in some lawn furniture, doing some shopping, and watching football. Maybe something more exciting will happen tomorrow. If so, you will learn about it first right here.

FLORIDA - DAY 1

2009-11-06T16:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday seemed like Day 1 because we spent all day packing the car and making sure everything in the house was the way we wanted it upon our return. Hence, we were pretty much exhausted last night when we went to bed.

Nevertheless, we awoke this morning at 6:00, which is normal for us, and started getting all those last minute things done that couldn't be taken care of the night before. There was morning coffee, of course, and our individual routines of getting dressed -- Joyce has to shave and I had to apply my makeup. While Joyce finished up in the bedroom, I started on the basement routine: turn down the water heater, turn off the water to the water softener and ice maker, and make a sweep of the place to make sure everything is turned off and/or unplugged that should be.

Believe it or not, we were on the road by 7:00. Without the motorhome to provide some laughs, or aggravation, as the case may be, our trips now are generally without incident. We ran into a little snow as we approached the higher altitudes (above 1,200 feet) around Cobleskill, but traffic was light and we cruised along with the cruise control set at 70 for most of the trip to Binghamton. We ran into more traffic once we got to Wilkes Barre and beyond, but nothing that slowed us much or gave us any concern.

You sure get to see more of this great country when driving and, in this case, we couldn't help but notice the gradually changing tree color as we wandered south through Pennsylvania. The leaves are now nearly all gone around Schenectady, but in Pennsylvania and here in Maryland there are still leaves on the trees and loads of color. You can tell that the peak color is past, however. Many of the farms we passed had not yet combined their corn or soybeans. I'm not sure what they are waiting on, but then, what do I know? I'm just a passing observer.

Anyway, we made it to our daughter's house in Walkersville, MD around 2:30. Our daughter got home from work around 3:30 and informed us that we are driving to Baltimore this evening to have dinner with our granddaughter and her boyfriend. They both attend Towson College there. Guess who will get the honor of picking up that bill.

THE CAR IS PACKED, IT'S TIME TO GO

2009-11-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

The car is packed. I mean really packed. I thought we were just going to Florida for a few months. Looking in the car, one might think we were moving there permanently.

It's amazing how much stuff you think you need for an extended stay; probably twice as much as you will actually use. Regardless, we have sorted, sifted and discarded all we think we can and we still have the back of the Santa Fe packed. There is the travel bag with clothes we will need on the trip to Florida, the larger bag with clothes we will need while in Florida, a small bag for toiletries and such, another bag for the medications that keep us alive and healthy and then clothes on hangers, my laptop computer, tools and on and on. I can, however, still see out the rear window, so I guess that means there is room for more. Egad! That thought scares me.

We leave tomorrow morning. But first, we must get up, get dressed and have a cup of coffee. Joyce will put the finishing touches on neatening up the house (can't return to an un-neat house, you know) while I make sure the hot water tank is set to vacation, turn off the water softener, turn off the water supply to the ice maker and the water softener, and make sure all appliances are turned off and unplugged. (They continue to draw power, you know, if they are plugged in.) Must remember to make sure all windows are closed and locked and then set the temperature sensor so the neighbors will know if the furnace fails and the inside temperature drops too much.

Finally, we will pour one last cup of coffee and get in the car and leave ... and then spend the next 100 miles wondering what we forgot. Oh well, we're off. Sunshine here we come.

FALL LEAVES

2009-10-31T17:30:00.000-04:00

I just finished my fall leaf routine. No, not raking and bagging. That's for suckers who either are pathetic creatures of habit, desperately in need of exercise or are woefully uninformed.

Raking a bagging strains muscles and strains the local landfill. Those bags of leaves become large clumps of leaves that take forever to decompose. The smart way is to mulch them and leave them on your lawn. This feeds the lawn with valuable nitrogen and other nutrients and provides important weed control next spring.

I recommend this article to you.

By Dean Fosdick - The Associated Press

November 18, 2004

New Market, Va. — Mike Goatley is the kind of guy couch potatoes appreciate most on football-rich fall afternoons. The Virginia Tech extension turf specialist preaches the gospel of "leave them alone" lawn leaf management.
There's nothing wrong with blowing, vacuuming or raking downed leaves -- especially if you're trying to spot errant golf balls or keep your grass from being matted down over winter. Disposal is the problem.
"One of the biggest things we're trying to get away from is putting these things in bags and dumping them in a landfill," Goatley says. "At the same time, you're improving the organic matter in your soil." The technique has been used for years, he says. But "there's quite a bit of data out there now (from Purdue, Michigan State and Cornell universities) indicating this is the way to manage those leaves." In other words, crank up your mulching-capable lawn mower first when the leaves start piling up in autumn.
A Purdue University report details the responses of a perennial ryegrass lawn to the addition of as much as two tons of maple leaves per acre per application. Mowing the leaves into fine pieces and filtering them through the turf doesn't degrade lawn color or quality, introduce diseases or weeds, the report says. Over time, the shredded leaves decompose, enriching the topmost soil layers. Mower mulching also saves time and money that would be unnecessarily spent on bagging and dumping. Composting leaves directly into the turf doesn't mean you should stop fertilizing, however.
"I don't think leaf recycling is a substitute for a sound fertilizing program," Goatley says. "Mother Nature has already removed a lot of nitrogen from those leaves. The microbes needed to further break them down also need some nitrogen.

You can read the entire article at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/nov/18/mulching_leaves_into/?print

Now, aren't you glad you checked in today?

CAN ANY OF US TRUST THE MEDIA?

2009-10-29T14:23:00.000-04:00

I suppose at one time or another we have all complained that the media never presents any good news. We fail to realize (or refuse to acknowledge) that WE are the reason for that. We are the problem. We don’t really care to learn that 147 eighth graders went to school today and behaved themselves. We do, however, really want to hear about the fight at the middle school in which two kids got hurt, with one having to go to the hospital. In other words, we want the newscasters on the six o’clock news to tell us about the bad things that happened today. That's human nature and both the print and broadcast news media know it.

So they oblige us. Bad news sells newspapers. Bad news sells television time. Bad news, the more bloodier, more graphic the better. It shows up well on our HDTV screen and gets our attention. And our attention is what gets advertisers.

It should not surprise us that in his October 12, 2009 interview with Jamie Gangel on NBC's Today Show, Rush Limbaugh confirmed that his show is mainly about making money: "I'm doing my show for ratings. I want the largest audience I can get because that's how I can charge the highest advertising rates, which means what else do I want? Money." You can be sure the same is true for Glenn Beck or any other independent print or TV commentator, regardless of whether he or she has a liberal or conservative leaning. Controversy sells just like bad news sells.

Does it make any sense then to switch from one news outlet to another? Probably not. Although, by switching you do get to choose the type of biased reporting (translated that means: not getting news you don’t want to hear) you receive. I guess in a way that its the same as screening out the bad news and only getting, what for you is, the good news. One-sided news is still biased news, whether liberal or conservative.

Blatantly biased reporting aside, our free press, the fourth estate is crumbling and badly in need of an overhaul. The house is still there but the insides have been gutted. For another view, Samuel Clairborne makes the argument that we no longer have a free press in this country.

He says in his blog piece titled, Don’t Piss In My Pocket And Tell Me It’s Raining, “But the average American looks to the mainstream media for their information, and the mainstream media is no longer free. It is bought and paid for by the same corporations that have bought our congress through lobbying – those that comprise the military/industrial/penal/pharmacological/oil and gas/agribusiness complex.

“Far from being an objective, inquisitive force, our media have become cheerleaders for much that is rotten in America – because their paymasters profit from our inhumane health insurance system, our centralized energy production and distribution monopolies, our leadership as the world’s number one weapons dealer, and our imperial rape of both human and natural wealth the world over.”

I encourage you to check out his entire piece at: http://samuelclaiborne.blogspot.com/.

Whether you agree with him or not, you will find his comments thought provoking. His comments underscore the fact that our numerous news outlets are hard pressed to come up with enough objectively gathered and reported news to fill all the hours they are obligated to fill. Hence, they go for the easy stories and play them over and over again. They eschew what used to be considered good news reporting -- get the facts, check the facts, corroborate the facts, report the facts -- in favor of being first to break a story. The important thing is be first and be sensational. The facts can come later.

Can you really trust your favorite news outlet? Can you trust any news source that advertises that it is the anti-news to the other guys? Our fourth estate is apparently up for sale to the highest bidder. Can we trust any of the media anymore? I don't think so, but I'd like to hear from you.

WHY NOT GIVE THE MONEY TO CHARITY?

2009-10-23T10:36:00.000-04:00

According to what I read, the Obama administration has asked Congress to allocate $250 for some 57 million Social Security recipients who, this year, will not receive a cost-of-living allocation (COLA) in their monthly Social Security check. There is no COLA this year because the cost of living decreased this past year.

I have several problems with that. The first problem being that many of us retirees DO NOT need the $250. Yes, our income is fixed. (During any given year most people's income is fixed.) But since the cost of living decreased, the value of our fixed income actually increased. Not by a lot, I agree, but we should not be experiencing financial hardship.

The second problem I have with the $250 "government bailout" is that while we are all happy to get our COLA when prices increase, we seem less than happy to accept no increase when they decrease. In fact, shouldn't we graciously accept a decrease when prices go down? Are we just greedy or what? Are we like the labor unions that want a piece of the action when the company shows a profit but don't want to talk about give backs when the company hits some lean years?

We seniors are supposed to be the wiser for our years of experience. Shouldn't we then be wise enough to have put a little aside for those possible years when there would be no cost-of-living increase? No decrease, understand, just no increase.

Now before you jump down my throat for being insensitive to those senior citizens out there who are just barely getting by on their Social Security and, maybe, a small pension check from some previous employer, let me say that I am well aware of their existence -- and their difficult financial circumstances. I know some of these people, but I ask that you reread the second paragraph above in which I said that "many of us retirees do not need the $250." Just the same, some people absolutely need the extra money, any extra money.

I feel obligated, however, to add that anyone paying attention has known for over 50 years that one cannot live very well on Social Security alone. If you go into retirement having only your Social Security check to live on, you are going to live in a world of financial hurt. An extra $250 will certainly help you, but it will only postpone for a while the return of your desperate financial condition.

So, if Congress approves this senior citizen bailout (bailouts are popular this year, you know) and we all receive our $250, what should we do? We can spend it. That would help the local economy. We can sock it in the bank. That would help bank profits and, presumably, those struggling bank CEO’s who had to take 50-90 percent pay and/or bonus cut. (Some, I understand may see their pay cut from $38 million a year to $19 million.) Or, we can donate the money to charity.

Why not? You don’t need it and lots of others do.

The Salvation Army food bank is running out of food and the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons are not yet upon us. The regional food bank in eastern New York is running out of food. These places, to name just two, are being hit hard by the number of people out of work and out of money to buy food. Children are going hungry! Are you?

Just think of the reaction across the nation, if not the world, if, say, 40 million of us who don’t really need that $250 donated it to our local food pantry, the Salvation Army, City Mission or some other local program that will directly benefit local families in need. If we did that, we could turn this government program into something worthwhile, something that will directly benefit people in our community who need the help.

Yes, you may have to pay taxes on the $250, unless you have enough in the way of charitable deductions to affect your tax payment next April. But think of the people you are helping who wish they had enough money on which to pay taxes next spring.

Let’s show the world that senior citizens are not a bunch of me-first, greedy old geezers. We already get discounts at most restaurants, some department stores (on selected days) and nearly all theaters. We have earned the right to these discounts. We’ve paid our dues, for sure. But many of us do not need this government handout! Donate your $250 to the local charity of your choice and stand ready to be interviewed on the six o’clock news. You will surely be recognized as a citizen of note.

I'VE LOST CONTROL

2009-10-18T13:45:00.000-04:00

I have lost control ... of my garden that is. I still have a garden in the sense that there is a plot of ground back behind the garage that is tilled and planted with my perennials: rhubarb, horseradish and green onions for next spring. There also are the remains of this year's tomato and pepper plants. Frost the last couple of nights took care of them.

And then there are the raspberries. The raspberry canes took over the garden this summer during my absence.

We had a lot of rain this summer and raspberries apparently love rain. Well, I guess most plants love rain. There are certainly some vigorous weeds growing in the garden alongside, actually in and among, the raspberry canes. Be that as it may, the raspberry canes took off like raspberries on steroids this summer and I now have raspberry canes that reach 10-12 feet across the garden with their tips taking root in the nearby compost pile.

I have raspberry canes sprouting anywhere there is a tiny spot of open ground. I cover areas of the garden with black plastic that is not planted with something. Otherwise the weeds will grow out of control during the summer when I am gone and not here to weed regularly. The steroidal raspberry canes found every little hole in the black plastic, inserted a tip and started another plant.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love raspberries. I love fresh raspberries on my morning cereal, when they are in season, and I love frozen raspberries on my cereal the rest of the year. I love raspberry pie. I love raspberries in just about anything -- except in my face! In-your-face raspberries, the kind that say, "This is my garden, I'm taking over." offend me.

They must go.

Of course, that is easier said than done. And I have the scratches to prove it.

I tackled the offending raspberry plants yesterday with a measly pair of pruning shears. I would have been better advised to go in with a chain saw or, perhaps, a flame thrower. They do not like being cut. They do not like being pruned. They do not like being pulled up by the roots. And they do not like me being in control of the garden, I learned.

But I am in control!

My spring onions are beat all to hell because some of the new raspberry shoots had taken root there. My horseradish plants looks like a horse that was ridden hard and put away wet because they got trampled during the battle. I am scratched from shoulder to fingertip and weak from loss of blood, but, by god I am again in control of the garden.

POLITICS AND RELIGION -- BUT MOSTLY POLITICS

2009-10-16T14:05:00.000-04:00

You might think from the title that this is going to be tirade about the religious right and how they have inserted their religious dogma into political thought and, for reasons unfathomable by me, largely taken control of the Republican Party. Not so.

I am not saying none of that is true; that would be wrong. And like my media hero, Rush Limbaugh, I never lie. (How do you know that? Because, like him, I told you so.) No, what the "not so" statement above refers to is how we arrive at our political and religious beliefs -- and the consequences of that.

First, let's agree that there are very few facts in politics and -- and this will annoy some people -- even fewer facts in religion. The point is, we adopt one political or religious affiliation on what we believe, not what we know or even want to know. Let's talk about politics.

As it turns out, the people who care about something enough to investigate and vote are the ones whose vote makes a difference. Their beliefs may accept faulty information and they likely have not always investigated alternative views thoroughly, but they have a strong belief about which political party, or candidate, will achieve that which they believe is important and they act on that belief.

As we know, about one-third of the voters are registered Democrats and one-third are registered Republicans. These people are the so-called base. Every party, every candidate learns to "play to the base." But every party and every candidate knows that these are not the people who make a difference. These people don't think. They don't analyze opposing arguments. Hell, they often do not even know what the opposing arguments are, except those ridiculed by their favorite (meaning biased) news network commentator or talk-show host. They do not weigh consequences. They just vote the party line. No muss, no fuss. Elections are easy for them: vote as you are told.

They have no rational argument for voting as they do. They have not joined the Democratic or Republican party out of some conviction arrived at after careful thought. They have adopted the party of their parents, friends or co-workers. When you think about it, isn't that about the same way most of us arrive at our religious affiliation?

I remember a political discussion with a young friend of mine. She had all the party's talking points down pat, but could not offer a rationale for any of them. When I finally pressed her on one point she ended the discussion, for all practical purposes, by saying, "I am my daddy's girl." Meaning, as she clearly wanted me to know, that she was a _____ because her daddy was and she supported the party position. This attitude is common and expected among children. It should not be the response of a young adult.

And these people vote. I don't worry about the wacko radical of whatever cause who may vote. It is the people such as this young adult who want to pass off an accident of birth as their reason for voting one way or the other that concern me.

We see the consequence of this belief-posturing-as-thought form of politics in Washington. Opposing political figures no longer consider it their responsibility to offer alternative plans or solutions. They just wait until the "other side" proposes something and then come out against it.

The party faithful in congress and the people of your base back home will applaud you. You need not be concerned with consequences; you can justify your seat in congress by supporting the party.

Many people who voted for Obama in the last election (or did not bother to vote) are now discovering the consequences of their action. Wouldn't this be a better country if all of us took note and acted accordingly. We just might throw out a lot of our previously held, although never examined, political beliefs and, as a result, throw out (of office) a lot of our previously elected political officials.

There is still a need for two, possibly even three, political parties because there are always at least two sides to every issue. There is a vital need for our elected officials to look at national, state and local issues from every angle and consider the consequences of various courses of action before voting. And, yes, I understand that political ideologies will necessarily filter into those considerations. Hopefully they will have examined all facets of the issue before voting their party's ideology.

Regardless, we voters should require the political parties to convince us with rational arguments and clear evidence to support them. In other words, make the parties earn our support. We should never allow ourselves to be suckered into supporting a political party's ideology by the accident of birth.

Surely you will agree that our country is in serious trouble when more people defer to self-appointed TV commentators, political cartoonists and radio talk-show hosts for their understanding of what is going on than they do to their elected representatives. Isn't it sad that some of these talking heads are better known and receive more media coverage than the people we elected to represent us? Isn't it sad that some of our elected officials allow these talking heads to speak for them instead of speaking for themselves?

What do you think?

ANOTHER EMAIL ALERT TEST POSTING

2009-10-14T10:48:00.001-04:00

By Farhad Manjoo
Posted Friday, July 24, 2009, at 7:05 AM ET

It's tempting to blame the victim. In May, a twentysomething French hacker broke into several Twitter employees' e-mail accounts and stole a trove of meeting notes, strategy documents, and other confidential scribbles. The hacker eventually gave the stash to TechCrunch, which has since published notes from meetings in which Twitter execs discussed their very lofty goals. (The company wants to be the first Web service to reach 1 billion users.) How'd the hacker get all this stuff? Like a lot of tech startups, Twitter runs without paper—much of the company's discussions take place in e-mail and over shared Google documents. All of these corporate secrets are kept secure with a very thin wall of protection: the employees' passwords, which the intruder managed to guess because some people at Twitter used the same passwords for many different sites. In other words, Twitter had it coming. The trouble is, so do the rest of us.

Your passwords aren't very secure. Even if you think they are, they probably aren't. Do you use the same or similar passwords for several different important sites? If you don't, pat yourself on the back; if you do, you're not alone—one recent survey found that half of people online use the same password for all the sites they visit. Do you change your passwords often? Probably not; more than 90 percent don't. If one of your accounts falls to a hacker, will he find enough to get into your other accounts? For a scare, try this: Search your e-mail for some of your own passwords. You'll probably find a lot of them, either because you've e-mailed them to yourself or because some Web sites send along your password when you register or when you tell them you've forgotten it. If an attacker manages to get into your e-mail, he'll have an easy time accessing your bank account, your social networking sites, and your fantasy baseball roster. That's exactly what happened at Twitter. (Here's my detailed explanation of how Twitter got compromised.)

Everyone knows it's bad to use the same password for different sites. People do it anyway because remembering different passwords is annoying. Remembering different difficult passwords is even more annoying. Eric Thompson, the founder of AccessData, a technology forensics company that makes password-guessing software, says that most passwords follow a pattern. First, people choose a readable word as a base for the password—not necessarily something in Webster's but something that is pronounceable in English. Then, when pressed to add a numeral or symbol to make the password more secure, most people add a 1 or ! to the end of that word. Thompson's software, which uses a "brute force" technique that tries thousands of passwords until it guesses yours correctly, can easily suss out such common passwords. When it incorporates your computer's Web history in its algorithm—all your ramblings on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere—Thompson's software can come up with a list of passwords that is highly likely to include yours. (He doesn't use it for nefarious ends; AccessData usually guesses passwords under the direction of a court order, for military purposes, or when companies get locked out of their own systems—"systems administrator gets hit by a bus on the way to work," Thompson says by way of example.)

Security expert Bruce Schneier writes about passwords often, and he distills Thompson's findings into a few rules: Choose a password that doesn't contain a readable word. Mix upper and lower case. Use a number or symbol in the middle of the word, not on the end. Don't just use 1 or !, and don't use symbols as replacements for letters, such as @ for a lowercase A—password-guessing software can see through that trick. And of course, create unique passwords for your different sites.

That all sounds difficult and time-consuming. It doesn't have to be. In Schneier's comment section, I found a foolproof technique to create passwords that are near-impossible to crack yet easy to remember. Even better, it'll take just five minutes of your time. Ready?

Start with an original but memorable phrase. For this exercise, let's use these two sentences: I like to eat bagels at the airport and My first Cadillac was a real lemon so I bought a Toyota. The phrase can have something to do with your life or it can be a random collection of words—just make sure it's something you can remember. That's the key: Because a mnemonic is easy to remember, you don't have to write it down anywhere. (If you can't remember it without writing it down, it's not a good mnemonic.) This reduces the chance that someone will guess it if he gets into your computer or your e-mail. What's more, a relatively simple mnemonic can be turned into a fanatically difficult password.

Which brings us to Step 2: Turn your phrase into an acronym. Be sure to use some numbers and symbols and capital letters, too. I like to eat bagels at the airport becomes Ilteb@ta, and My first Cadillac was a real lemon so I bought a Toyota is M1stCwarlsIbaT.

That's it—you're done. These mnemonic passwords are hard to forget, but they contain no guessable English words. You can even create pass phrases for specific sites that are coded with a hint about their purpose. A sentence like It's 20 degrees in February, so I use Gmail lets you set a new Gmail password every month and still never forget it: i90diSsIuG for September, i30diMsIuG for March, etc. (These aren't realistic temperatures; they're the month-number multiplied by 10.)

How many different such passwords do you need? Four or five at most. You don't have to keep unique passwords for every single site you visit—Thompson says it's perfectly OK to repeat passwords on sites that don't need to be kept very secure. For instance, I can use the same password for my accounts at the New York Times, the New Republic, The New Yorker, and other online magazines, because it won't hurt me too much if someone breaks into those. (My mnemonic is, I like to read snooty publications quite often.) You should probably use different passwords for each your social networking accounts—someone can do real damage by breaking into your Facebook or Twitter, so you want to keep them distinct—but you can still come up with a single systematic mnemonic to protect them: Twitter is my second favorite social networking site, MySpace is my third favorite social networking site, etc. Reserve your strongest, most distinct passwords for the few very important services that, if cracked, could do the most damage—your bank account, your computer, and most of all your e-mail, which often contains the keys to everything else in your life.

To be sure, this is more of a hassle than what you're doing now—but what you're doing now is going to come back to bite you. These days, we're all dishing personal information all the time; you may think that your password is totally unguessable, but your Facebook makes clear that you're a huge U2 fan and you graduated from college in 2000. Achtung2000, eh? Just go ahead and make some new passwords right now. Trust me, you'll feel better.

STILL TESTING MY EMAIL ALERT PROGRAM

2009-10-14T09:35:00.000-04:00

This is very funny!

I GOT THIS NEW DEODORANT TODAY.

THE INSTRUCTIONS SAID REMOVE CAP AND PUSH UP BOTTOM.

I CAN BARELY WALK, BUT WHENEVER I FART, THE ROOM SMELLS AWESOME!

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE

2009-10-12T14:59:00.000-04:00

Here is an interesting article that everyone should read, especially some radical conservatives who, I fear, live in an alternative universe. Unfortunately, they are exactly the ones who will not read it, and if they do, they will not understand it. They're not too bright, you know.

Chuckwagon Journal

Tom Teepen: Alternate reality confronts Obama and his yes-we-canners

By Tom Teepen

Posted: September 18, 2009 - 2:00 AM

In CrazyWorld, Barack Obama is a foreigner who has unconstitutionally usurped the presidency of the United States.

In Actual America, Hawaii-born Obama was elected president by his fellow citizens.

And so it goes on both sides of the mystic curtain.

In CrazyWorld, that recent Tea Party rally in Washington drew 2 million people and the failure of the ever-despised mainstream media to admit as much was one more example of their perfidiousness. An aerial photo, eagerly circulated on the political right, indeed did show a monster crowd, surely a million and more.

In Actual America, the photo turned out to be of the 1997 Promise Keepers rally. Old hands at guesstimating crowd sizes figure the Tea Party turnout at about 75,000. Most media skipped the numbers game, put the crowd in the "tens of thousands" and characterized it as "impressive" or words to that effect, hardly a negation.

In CrazyWorld, the federal government is being insidiously infused with "czars" and in the academies of right-wing arcana, the movement's scholars argue over whether there are just 32 or maybe as many as 140-plus, a parody of medieval monks bickering over how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

In Actual America, the president has assigned various appointees to oversee a number of projects or programs — nuclear nonproliferation, the bank bailout, faith-based activities and so on. All modern presidents have done much the same. The appointees have standard-issue bureaucratic titles. "Czar" is the invention of fairway barkers at the right-wing carnival like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

In CrazyWorld, Obama is surrendering to terrorism.

In Actual America, he has sent 21,000 additional troops into Afghanistan, home turf of terrorism and wellspring of 9/11, and seems likely to send more. He has increased the military budget.

In CrazyWorld, Obama is bankrupting taxpayers and the nation.

In Actual America, he proposed and Congress enacted a tax cut good for up to $400 per person for 95 percent of taxpayers and a $2,500 tax credit to offset college tuition costs. The Treasury calculates it will save 5 million families a total of about $9 billion.

The record deficit that he's presiding over is overwhelmingly a projection of previously committed entitlements (Social Security, Medicare and so on), of leftover Bush debt and of revenue losses from the recession, which recovery will largely make up.

In CrazyWorld, Obama — when he's not a fascist — is a communist, recently morphed from Marxist to Stalinist, pursuing an alien agenda.

In Actual America, Obama is a moderate-to-liberal Democrat carrying through on the platform he openly espoused to win election just 10 months ago.

In CrazyWorld, the fact that the House health care reform bill is 1,018 pages long somehow shows its hopelessness.

In Actual America, the format for congressional bills is about a third or more white space — 25 double-spaced lines per page, about six or seven words per line. President Bush's 1997 budget bill was 1,482 pages. So?

You know, we would be able to hear one another a lot better here on Earth if it weren't for all the static coming from outer space.

Tom Teepen is a columnist for Cox Newspapers. E-mail: teepencolumn@earthlink.net.

Chuck Cummins's CHUCKWAGON JOURNAL

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

IT’S MOSTLY ABOUT FEAR

COULD CEOS SOLVE DEBT CRISIS?

THE FRUSTRATING SERVANT

A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR AMERICA

THE OLD AND THE NEW

SUMMER TRAVEL BLOG

WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE

PIGPIMPLES

WE ALREADY HAVE SMALL GOVERNMENT -- WHY NOT USE IT?

RLS BAD FOR AMERICA

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES (Forest Gump)

National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2008

WHAT'S A PENNY WORTH?

SNOWBIRDS FLYING NORTH

LIFE AT CLERBROOK

POLITICAL THEATER AND OTHER WAYS TO CON VOTERS

ARE WE SMARTER THEN A CAT?

READING THE NEWSPAPER

THE PRIVILEGE OF GROWING OLD

LIGHT BULBS DON'T BOUNCE

EXERCISE and the PRIVILEGE OF GROWING OLDER

THE MAGIC OF MULCH

SMALLER GOVERNMENT MEANS FEWER SUBSIDIES – ARE WE READY FOR THAT?

WHY ATTEND CHURCH?

IS HATING A NECESSARY HUMAN CONDITION?

MYSTERY CRITTER FOUND

WHY NOT MORE BLOGS, CHUCK?

SOME OF THE BEST TOMATOES COME FROM THE COMPOST PILE

FINDING OUR LEADER

CAN WE PLEASE LEARN TO SAY IT CORRECTLY?

DO ME A FAVOR, PLEASE

ME, PICK ME

BELIEVING DOESN'T ALWAYS MAKE IT SO

SOME POINTS TO PONDER

GO AHEAD, GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY

CRITICS CANNOT HELP BUT BE CRITICAL

SPRING

A LOST FRIEND

THE GARDEN

PECKING AWAY ON MY COMPUTER

KAMIKAZI POLITICS MAKES IT OKAY TO UNDERMINE OUR TROOPS?

HEALTH CARE REFORM

RANDOM THOUGHTS

GLOBAL WARMING CAN CONFUSE ORDINARY PEOPLE

LET'S NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS

YOU HAVE A CHOICE -- WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?

ARE ELECTRONIC TOYS TO BLAME FOR POOR GRADES AND OBESITY

A JEALOUS, ANGRY, VENGEFUL GOD?

NOT A COLD DAY IN HELL BUT COLD JUST THE SAME

WALKING, TALKING AND THINKING

COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS

WHY DON'T TEACHERS LIKE MERIT PAY?

EVERY GENERATION HAS MORE THAN IT NEEDS - SO THEIR PARENTS THINK

THE PROBLEM WITH BELIEFS -- THEY CAN TRAP US

COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS

REGRIPPING GOLF CLUBS - EVEN A CAVEMAN CAN DO IT

IS GLENN BECK STARTING A THIRD PARTY?

THINGS YOU NEVER FORGET

TIS THE SEASON: CRECHE OR CURSE

HOW SHALL WE DIE: SWINE FLU OR SWINE SHAPE?

THE CARDINAL WAS OUT OF LINE

FLORIDA - DAY 2

FLORIDA - DAY 1

THE CAR IS PACKED, IT'S TIME TO GO

FALL LEAVES

Mulching leaves into lawns better than raking them

CAN ANY OF US TRUST THE MEDIA?

WHY NOT GIVE THE MONEY TO CHARITY?

I'VE LOST CONTROL

POLITICS AND RELIGION -- BUT MOSTLY POLITICS

ANOTHER EMAIL ALERT TEST POSTING

STILL TESTING MY EMAIL ALERT PROGRAM

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE

Tom Teepen: Alternate reality confronts Obama and his yes-we-canners