An Outrageous Misuse of the US Military

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There was a major story in the news a couple of months ago when six members of Congress got together and issued a statement to the members of the United States military reminding them that they take an oath to the Constitution and not to a President - and that they should not follow illegal orders.  That extremely bold statement of fact so enraged the tattooed primate who heads the Department of Defense that he said he would commence action to bring at least one member of the congressional delegation back to active duty, court-martial him, and have his rank and retirement pay reduced.

That past Trump administration outrage came to mind this week when I read a story indicating that the military was again issuing orders or strongly encouraging troops to do something that might run counter to their personal belief systems and clearly have nothing to do with the defense of the nation.  The Military Religious Freedom Foujdation (MRFF), a private watch-dog group whose focus is on keeping the military and its commanders from imposing religious beliefs and points of view on the troops, issued a report indicating that service members were being encouraged or ordered to go and watch the Netflix documentary "Melania," an homage to the First Lady for which the Trump family pocketed $40 million.

The MRFF's report said that it had received reports from eight installations stating that commanders had either urged or directed troops to attend showings of the film, with some of the commanders making it a mandatory unit activity event, and with at least one of those unit activity events requiring attendance in order to avoid a penalty.  The MRFF also noted that some of the commanders involved had also been known for wearing MAGA hats,.

The Department of Defense has stated that there is no official directive requiring service members to see the film "Melania."

Some things are just understood.

What an outrageous misuse of the United States military!

New Mexico Stands Tall for Families and Humanity

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I have crossed New Mexico several times over the years, mostly along the main highway corridor that runs east-to west and was known as "Route 66" when I was a child traveling with my parents to visit relatives in California.  Today that same basic roadway is known as Interstate 40, a relatively straight four-lane that goes from Texas to Arizona and connects the cities of Tucumcari (in the east) to Santa Rosa, Albuquerque, Grants, and Gallup (in the west). It's a famous passage with lots of history, and always brings to mind that famous rhythm and blues standard, "(Get Your Kicks on) Interstate 40."

My most memorable trip to New Mexico was in 1994 when, as a fairly new employee with the state of Missouri, I had already earned so much "comp time" from shuffling foster students around on weekends and evenings, that I was ordered to take some time off rather than the state risk having to buy it from me at some later date.  I hadn't been on a train since I was in elementary school, and a friend who was a travel agent (remember those?) convinced me to take a train from Kansas City and go someplace.  I studied the rail maps and wound up choosing a place I had never been before, but one which contained much in the way of history and places of cultural interest - Santa Fe, New Mexico.  

Santa Fe was not on the AmTrak rail line, but the train company ran a shuttle service that transported passengers between the train station in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, roughly 60 miles or a one-hour trip.  I spent a week in downtown Santa Fe at a decent motel and explored many sights including the old historic plaza, San Miguel Chapel (built in 1610) and the oldest church in the continental US, the state capitol building, and so much more.  It was a wonderful trip and I met many very nice people there.  I always intended to return to Santa Fe someday, but never have.

New Mexico has featured prominently in the news a couple of times over the past few months for what I consider to be very commendable reasons.   Both focused on bills passed by the state's very progressive legislature and signed into law by New Mexico's  forward-looking Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The first of Governor Lujan Grisham's progressive measures was the no-cost, universal child care program (UCC) which became law last November and eliminated income-limits for state-subsidized child care assistance up through the age of thirteen.  More children with state-approved child care meant more parents being able to work or get an education - something other states, such as my own state of Missouri, have yet to figure out.

And this past week the state of New Mexico took a significant step to limit the power of Trump's masked and marauding secret ICE army when the governor signed the "Immigrant Safety act" into law.  The new legislation prohibits state and lcoal governments from entering into or renewing contracts with federal immigration authorities (ICE) for civil detention.  In other words, the state of New Mexico will not assist ICE in locking up its residents.  It also prohibits public land and facilities from being used for immigration detention.

While most of the nation is still focused on subjugating women and people of color, New Mexico stands tall and is stepping into the future by building a more affordable and safer environment for all of tis people.

¡Felicitaciones gobernadora Michelle Lujan Grisham y al pueblo de Nuevo Mexico!

An Unhinged Bottom Feeder

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Barack and Michelle Obama have something that Donald Trump will never possess:  class.

One of my first acts of consciousness each morning is to check the news headlines on my phone.  Ths past Friday morning I found an oddball story in one minor news source that was so shocking I assumed it had to be fake.  The story said that Trump had stayed up late the previous night banging out tweets and reposting memes.   That part was easy to believe, but then it went on to say that a few minutes before midnight he had posted a video showing Barack an Michelle Obama's faces on the bodies of apes.

No, that couldn't have happened, I surmised.  Not even Donald John Trump was that racist and stupid, and even if he was, surely someone on his staff is in charge of monitoring his social media postings and would not have let that remain up.

The story didn't appear in the other news sources whose headlines I read in the mornings, and National Public Radio (NPR), one of my primary news sources, wasn't covering it on their morning news programming.  But when I checked in with NPR around noon, they were covering it and noted that equating Blacks with apes was "a long-standing racist trope from the Jim Crow era used to dehumanize Black people."

As the uproar began to pick up steam, the White House responded by sending Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt out before the cameras to mock the press for trying to turn it into a big deal.  When that didn't work, Trump began spitting out statements and excuses:  He hadn't posted it.  A staffer had posted it but hadn't reviewed the entire thing and seen the part featuring the Obamas.  No, the staffer had not been fired.  Okay, he (Trump) had posted it, but he had not viewed the entire thing either.  No, he (Trump) had done nothing wrong,  And, no, he (Trump) would not apologize.  Case closed.  The meme was up for 12 hours before finally being pulled down.

The reviews poured in:  US Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black GOP member of the Senate, called it "the most racist thing to come out of the White House."  GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York called the post "wrong and incredibly offensive" and said it should be withdrawn and an apology offered.  Republican Senator Roger Wicher of Mississippi called the video "unacceptable" and requested that Trump apologize.  Senator Ricketts of Nebraska, another Republican, also expressed outrage.

Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, referred to the posting as "appalling."  Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, called it "heartbreaking and unacceptable," and said Trump should apologize.   GOP Senator John Curtis of Utah called it "blatantly racist and inexcusable" and said it should have never been posted or left up for so long.

And those were just the Republicans reacting.  The Democrats tended to be even more offended.  

Democrat Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, called the posting "racist," "vile," and "abhorrent."  Democratic Representative Maxine Waters said the meme was "brazen" and "racist," but said she wasn't surprised because "that is who Trump is."

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat from Texas said:

"Most of us already know who Donald Trump is.  We already know there are no bounds to how low he's willing to go.  We know he has no moral compass.  We know that his behavior is a disgrace.  So while his behavior is not shocking, it is certainly disgiusting and disturbing."

But it was Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader of the US House, whose summary was the most poetic.  Jeffries said in a video on Instagram:

"F*** Donald Trump and his vile, racist, and ignorant behavior.  This guy is an unhinged bottom feeder."

Well, f*** yeah, he is!

The racist meme stayed up for twelve hours, and Trump, who claimed no responsibility because he had not viewed it in its one-to-two-minute entirety before posting, declined to apologize to the Obamas over the egregious insult.  Trump, who bullied his way into national political prominence with claims that Barack Obama had been born in Kenya, does not do apologies.

Here's hoping Barack and Michelle Obama, armed with their Harvard law degrees, sue the shirt off of Donald Trump's back - and take his golf cart, too!  $50 billion sounds about right!  

Narcissism in a Raging Mode

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A great deal of my professional training and education was in the field of clinical social work, and while much of my professional career was as an educator, I did spend the last quarter of my working career as a licensed clinical social worker with the US military.  I also have a copy of the "Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of mental Disorders (DSM-5)" within easy reach of where I sit typing this morning, so I do have a working knowledge of mental health issues.  On December 24th of last year I posted a piece in this blog on a mental health condition called Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).  It was short, and it follows here as a preamble to something else that I wish to share.  Bear with me.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a recognized mental health condition.   People with the disorder often exhibit a heightened sense of self-importance, a desire to be admired, and a lack of empathy for others.  They expect special treatment, seek constant praise, believe they deserve special privileges, and exploit others without regard for their needs or feelings.

While narcissists are the type of people others generally try to avoid in social situations, if they possess money or power, they can command attention, an ability which feeds into their mental health disorder.

A raging narcissist might soothe his inner demons by placing his name on buildings, or golf courses, or battleships.   He might place his image on things like coins, or gild his home and work space as though it was some royal splendor from ages past.  He might try to increase his self-importance by seizing things which do not belong to him.  He would very likely take great care in his personal appearance and go to extremes to appear younger and more virile than he actually is.

A narcissist is not a person who would be expected to rush out and help a friend in need.  He might profess interest or friendship, but only while it was of direct benefit to himself and his own interests.  He would not make a good confidant, babysitter, or neighbor - and he should certainly not be trusted with power, responsibility, or money.

The primary and consuming interest of a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder is himself.   Once others are aware of that and internalize it, the commotion and distractions caused by the narcissist can be seen for what they truly are:  symptoms of a mental health disorder.

Putting a narcissist in charge exacerbates his mental health condition and can have negative impacts on those must operate and survive under his leadership.  

People suffering from mental health disorders need mental health treatment, not unchecked power. 

Just sayin . . . 

A couple of weeks after that, on January 5th of this year, in another blog posting, this one entitled "I Object!", I discussed my frustration and displeasure at Donald Trump placing his own name on the Kennedy Center and above the name of the war hero and former US President for whom it was named a half-century ago, and I also aired my displeasure about the US Treasury's announced plans to put Trump's image on commemorative dollar coin celebrating the nation's 250th anniversary this summer.  In other postings I have mentioned Trump's gold visa cards in which he essentially sold entry into the United States, and his insistence on having his own signature attached to the nation's economic recovery checks issued to combat the economic effects of the COVID pandenic,

Trump's narcissism was so out of control that it was becoming a national embarrassment.  This week a couple of more examples have hit the news.  Yesterday, there was a story about a new government-issued  "Trump Rx" card that offers a discount for some drugs if the purchasers use cash, and there was a bigger story regarding Trump's efforts to get two major US transportation hubs named after himself. 

In that second story it was revealed that last month Donald Trump had approached US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer with a "deal" that certainly had the smell of extortion.   Congress approved funding for a new rail and vehicle tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey in 2024 and construction was already started when the Trump administration froze $16 billion in funding for that massive construction project during the October goverrnment shutdown last fall.  If the funding is not released by this Friday, construction will stop and more than a thousand construction workers will suddenly be unemployed.

The "deal" that Trump reportedly proposed to Senator Schumer was that he would unfreeze the $16 billion and allow the project to keep going if Schumer would agree to renaming Penn Station in New York City and Dulles Airport outside of Washington, DC, after Trump.  Schumer declined.

The person controlling the levers of government is exhibiting narcissism so repugnant and at such an astounding level as to defy belief, a mental health condition in a raging mode.  When will enough be enough?

The Rehabilitation of Marjorie Taylor Greene

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who represented Georgia's 14th congressional district for five years until her abrupt resignation early last month on the day after she became eligible for a government pension, was considered by many to be one of the more reprehensible members of Congress.  

Ms. Greene rose to prominence as a social media promoter of conspiracy theories like the idea that the 2018 California wildfires were started by a "space laser" that was controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family.   She also promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory that a cabal of prominent Democratic pedophile politicians were running our government.

(To her credit, MTG later redeemed herself somewhat on the pedophile theory when she finally figured out that many of the pedophiles were Republican politicians and their rich donors.)

Ms. Greene pushed false narratives such as the 2020 election was "stolen" from Trump, a plane did not crash into the Pentagon on 9/11, and the Sandy Hook massacre of those very young children as a "staged' event.  She has spoken out against the LGBTQ community, pride flags, individuals who are transgender, and made remarks that many regard as racist such as referring to Black people as "slaves" of the Democrats.  Ms. Greene also pushed the idea of a "national divorce," a proposal to divide the United States into two countries, one of red states the other comprised of blue states,  presumably something like the American South initiated in 1861.

One of her outrages which stuck with me was the day during her first campaign for Congress when she came upon Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg as he was walking around Washington, DC, and the Capitol meeting with various officials about proposed gun control legislation.  Ms.. Greene chose to follow along in the young man's wake filming and heckling him as he made the rounds.  Mr. Hogg, who was barely out of high school at the time, kept his cool remarkably well, showing his class, while Ms. Green clearly displayed her lack of it.

All things considered, the "old" Marjorie Taylor Greene was not the type of person that some would want for a neighbor.  But that was then, and this is now.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, in one respect, got her national divorce, but it was not between the red and blue states, the big breakup that she help to  bring about was between her and Trump, the MAGA extreme nationalists versus the cult leader who was basically focused on his own self-interests. The defining force in the split between Trump and his far-right flank was the push by Greene and a few other Republicans for the release of the Epstein files.  

Greene had yammered on for years about conspiracies involving pedophiles within the US government, and as it was becoming evident that Jeffey Epstein oversaw a sprawling network of social, business, and political contacts who were involved the trafficking of children for sex, Green chose to join with Democrats in pursuing the full release of the Epstein files.

Donald Trump initially fought release of the Epstein files and tried to reason with Greene by telling her that releasing the files would hurt friends of his.  But the former Trump toadie held to her principles and would not be swayed, and she was instrumental in ultimately getting the law passed which mandated release of the very sensitive and secret files - a law that Trump felt politically forced to sign.  He had been cornered by Marjorie Taylor Green and a handful of Republican legislators who supported the Democratic initiative to open the files.

Greene and a few other extreme MAGAts also stirred Trump's ire by sticking to their "America First" principles and opposing his moves to entangle the United States in conflicts abroad.  Things became so strained between MTG and Trump that he turned on her and withdrew his politiccal support.  Trump went so far as to publicly ridicule the congresswoman and refer to her as "Marjorie Traitor Greene."  After his public taunts resulted in physical threats to her and her children, the congresswoman from rural Georgia said "enough" and announced her early retirement from Congress, one full year short of the completion date for her elected term.

Trump flexed his political muscle and vanquished a political headache, but if he hoped to silence her, that has yet to happen.  Marjorie Taylor Greene is still out there making speeches, giving interviews, and stirring the pot.  Donald Trump has not heard the last of her, and neither have we.

Maybe this time around, with her addiction to Trump broken, MTG will be more grounded in reality and use her time to focus on the common good, things like the protection of children from predators.  May your next trip around the sun be better, Marge, for you and for all of us.

Look Who's Coming for Your Guns!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Certain conservative elements of American society have worried aloud for generations of their fear that the government would one day come for their guns.  In order to be prepared for that assault on their liberty, they have hoarded and hidden massive amounts of guns and ammunition, and coerced state legislatures into passing open-carry gun laws that in most cases impose absolutely no restraints on their ability to be armed any damned where they please. They knew that the day would come when some sort of liberal government (hippies, feminists, gays, Blacks, whatever) would show up and begin trying to disarm God-fearing, patriotic Americans so they could make their children change genders.

What the armed paranoids did not anticipate was that when the gun-grabbers arrived, they would be conservatives, like themselves, the frontrunners of a new authoritarian world order.

Two weeks ago in Minnesota when registered nurse Alex Pretti was murdered by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Trump administration immediately began blaming the victim for his own death - as they had done earlier with the ICE murder of Renee Good.  Pretti had showed up at the protest armed with a loaded pistol in his waistband - one that he never brandished, and people from Trump to FBI Director Kash Patel to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem used the fact that he was carrying to declare him an armed insurrectionist.   They said that the shooting was his own fault.  No one, they argued, should carry a weapon to a protest.  End of discussion

Except for the past several decades the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Gun Owners of America (GOA),  and other gun rights' extremist groups have fought valiantly for Americans to go anywhere with loaded guns, and they knew that if exceptions were made as to who could carry and where, their own right to carry would be slowly chiseled away.  By and large, the noisiest portion of the gun rights' community was not happy with Alex Pretti being vilified by the government for carrying a weapon.   As they saw it, having that gun with him was his "right."

Then  last Monday US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, made the situation worse when she told a Fox News interviewer that anyone who brought a gun into her district (Washington, DC) would face jail time - and she meant ANYONE!   Pirro, a former television personality who was appointed to her current job by Trump, said:

"I don't care if you have a license in another district, and I don't care if you're a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.  You bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail and hope you get the gun back."

After the howl went up from Republican lawmakers and gun owners, Pirro tried to pull her foot from her mouth by saying she had been focused on people who were "unlawfully" carrying firearms, which was clearly not what she had said.

Keep stockpiling and hiding those guns, Joe Bob, because sooner or later Trump's masked goons are going to come looking for them!

Many Monsters Hurt Many Children

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In a brazen and highly partisan political maneuver to get the Epstein onus away from Donald Trump, House Republicans on the Oversight and Accountability Committee issued a subpoena for Bill and Hillary Clinton to appear before the committee where they would sit for depositions (a.k.a. "be deposed), which the Clintons promptly declined to do.  This week, however, as the House prepared to take a vote to hold the Clintons in "Contempt of Congress" and it became apparent that even some Democrats in the House would vote for the measure, the former President and First Lady changed their minds and agreed to be deposed.  

The Clintons' lawyers requested that their testimony be public, and, as nearly as I can deduce from news sources, the House GOP is not in agreement with that request.   Bill and Hillary are both whipsmart politicians and skilled attorneys, and their testimony could show the public the shameful quality of bumpkins currently running our government.

The Clintons will testify on February 26th (Hillary) and February 27th (Bill).  Bill Clinton, like Donald Trump, has long been  closely linked to Jeffrey Epstein, but it is unclear what connection Hillary had to the child rapist.  One news account suggested that her subpoena was just to add extra embarrassment to the couple and that most of her answers were likely to be "I don't know.  I wasn't there."

There is some confusion in the press as to what form the Clintons' testimony will take.  The congressional subpoenas that they originally ignored called for the two individuals to sit through "depositions," yet many of the news reports are talking in terms of them testifying in committee hearings.  Those are two decidedly different things.

As an agent for the state of Missouri many years ago,I have been deposed and had to testify in court on numerous occasions - and they were distinctly different processes.  In a deposition the witness appears before an attorney for either party, often in an office, is placed under oath, and answers the lawyer's questions about his knowledge of the case.  Those answers will inform the lawyer as to whether that person would be of value as a witness in court or not, and also what information he possesses if he is called to testify for the state or the other party.  On the other hand, testimony given in court lets the witness be cross-examined by the counsel for the other party - and courtroom testimony is usually open to the public.

The subpoenas issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability apparently requested the Clintons sit for depositions rather than a hearing.  There is also a requirement that the sessions be electronically recorded and videotaped.  Depositions taken for congressional committees are usually conducted behind closed doors by committee staff and not by the members of the committees.  Witnesses are placed under oath and can have their attorneys present.  

Depositions will not be nearly as entertaining as a public hearing, but they will put a former US Presidnet on record as to his involvement with a known sex-trafficker of children.  The public may not gain access to that record for awhile, but it will be an official government record that will someday see the light of day.  The Republicans singled Clinton out as a partisan move to draw attention away from Donald Trump, but that is very likely to backfire because now a precedent will have been set about Congress being able to call former Presidents to account - and one day Donald John Trump may be a former President, and a Democratic Congress may choose to hold him to account for so many, many things - including his long personal history with Jeffrey Epstein.

This old Democrat is glad to see Bill Clinton being called forward to make an official record of his involvement with child-predator Jeffrey Epstein, and he hopes that he will live long enough to see people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and all of their rich and powerful friends who socialized and partied with the world's most notorious child rapist be forced to do the same.

Many monsters hurt many children, and they all must be called to justice.

Stepping Out Again

 

by Pa Rock

Country Bumpkin

The snow is still covering the ground today, eight days after its arrival, and there are patches of ice on the streets, sidewalks, and driveways.  Old people with brittle bones need to remain vigilant and be extra careful as they wander away from their homes.

I managed to get out at noon yesterday and go into town for the first time in a week.  My objective was to attend cardiac rehab, an exercise group that meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the local hospital and is run under the supervision of two registered nurses.  Classes had been cancelled all last week due to the snow, and I had missed the Friday prior to the closures to be home while our new furnace was being installed.  

After that long break I was concerned that I wouldn't have the stamina or the wind for twenty-five minutes on the treadmill and twenty-five on the recumbent step machine, but it turns out that both sessions ran smoothly and I had no issues with either.

I wear a pedometer on my wrist which counts the amount of steps I take each day, my primary form of exercise.  Two years ago I was doing 10,000 steps on most days, and in the summer that often included a walk to a nearby park and the using its many walking trails.  But my balance has become an issue  and I no longer feel safe walking away from home, especially along the roadways.  Now I do 5,000 steps on most days, around the hose and yard, and occasionally grocery shopping.  I try to never go below 5,000, even if I have to stay up late and march around the house in order to get there.

On days when I have cardiac rehab I pick up an extra 5,000 steps there, so on thos days my goal is 10,000 steps.  I also park in the farthest parking lot when I go to that class (or anywhere else, for that matter) which, in the case of cardiac rehab, adds an extra 600 steps to my daily total.

My numbers were abysmal during the snow, and one day I only logged a miserable 1,900 steps - but most days it was 3,000 plus.  Yesterday that slow streak ended with my return to the exercise class and a follow-up trip to the grocery store, and I clocked in last night at 10,300 steps.  Pa Rock is back!

Our group at cardiac rehab is normally around eight, and I am the oldest.  Some seem to attend as a cure for loneliness and tend to spend much of their exercise time visiting, but I go to keep my blood pumping, and I take the program seriously.  Recently I have begun wearing headphones and listening to music as I workout, something that combats the endless chatter and gives me time to think great thoughts.  While the rest are chewing over each other's family problems, I am lost in contemplation and relaxing to sounds of Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, Billy Joel, the Eagles, and many other poets of my misspent youth.

And the rhythm of the music keeps me stepping, and thinking, and relaxing.  I'm glad to be back at it!

Percy and Basil's Special Day

 

by Pa Rock

Observer of Nature

It's Groundhog Day, one of my favorite holidays of the year, one that really means something!  Groundhog day is the predictor of spring, and with the snow still covering the ground here in southern Missouri, we are all anxious for spring to bust through the ice and snow.   Sadly, with today's beautiful clear skies, all the local groundhogs, several of which reside in burrows beneath my backyard, will be seeing their shadows - making it a certainty that we will experience six more weeks of winter!

Predicting the weather, even with ground hogs, is science, a "folk science" built on generations of careful observation, and it's every bit as reliable as other weather signs, like sudden activity among ants being a sure predictor that rain is on the way, or animals having thicker coats of fur than usual, or which cutlery (knife, fork, or spoon) appears on the inside of persimmon seeds.  Folk science is where "meteorologists" turn when their Doppler is down.  We ignore what nature is telling us at our own peril!

Six more weeks of winter.  Keep chopping that wood.

I first flew into Okinawa on this date in 1972 for a one-year tour with the US Army, with no suspicion that I would eventually spend a total of four years of my life on that very small (roughly 8 miles by sixty miles) Japanese island.  When I arrived on Okinawa it was an American possession, something we had "won" in World War II.  I had been there only three months when Nixon gave it back to Japan.  Soon after I was married on Okinawa and my oldest son was born there a year later.  Forty years after that my youngest son and his wife and infant daughter visited me on Okinawa.

The movie, "Ground Hog Day" starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell premiered in 1993.   My youngest son, Tim, who was fourteen at the time, and I saw it at a "dollar" theatre in Springfield, Missouri, after it had been out several weeks and nearing the end of its theatrical run.  We left the show talking about how well it was written.  I mention that, of course, because Tim has gone on to become a successful screenwriter with  two feature-length films on his resume - and I've always felt like some of the genesis for his interest in film-writing came from the experience of watching a superb example that day in Springfield and then discussing it with his dad.  

(I have no idea why were were in Springfield that day, or why we chose that venue or that movie,  but the experience of watching it and then talking about it with Tim has always remained with me.  Thanks, Bill.  Thanks Andie.)

A friend from another location in the Ozarks whose home is in a rustic setting on hilltop overlooking a river, sent me some photos a couple of days ago of a very large groundhog who lives on her property.  She, like me, has several of the large furry mammals living close by.  My friend mentioned in her email that the big groundhog's name was "Percy," and later added that she calls all her groundhogs "Percy," and all the neighborhood opossums are known as "Joe."  I like that.

I have, according to my last farm census, at leas six groundhogs burrowed in my back yard, under brush piles, and beneath the dirt floor in the barn.  They are getting to be so fat and complacent that I can almost get up to them before they scamper off, and the lawnmower no longer fazes them.  I may name mine "Basil," in honor of the world class hotelier, Basil Fawlty.

Ranger Bob mentioned "cabin fever" in the piece that he posted here a couple of days ago about learning to write and penmanship.  I think cabin fever is my issue, too.  I haven't left the poor farm for a solid week, and I feel as though I am living the same day over and over.

Happy Groundhog's Day - especially to you, Percy - and you, too, Basil!

US Life Expectancy Rises, For Now

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The National Center for Health Statistics issued a report last week stating that life expectancy rates in the US have jumped back from their pandemic lows in 2021 to just above the levels they were at immediately prior to the pandemic, and the new numbers are greater than any prior year going back to 1900.  But, THE UNITED STATES STILL LAGS BEHIND MOST OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES IN LIFE EXPECTANCY.

The new figures indicate that a child born in the United States in 2024 can expect to live and average of 79 years, (81.4 years for women and 76.5 years for men).  Those figures have been climbing since 2021, and represent  roughly the same period of time that President Biden was in office.  Things have changed markedly since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January of 2025 and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was placed under the control of its new leader, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

HHS Secretary Kennedy has embarked on a promotional "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) campaign.  In that effort he has restructured health agencies (getting rid of many experienced leaders), reduced recommended vaccinations, and advocated for the removal of fluoride from public water systems.   He has also changed dietary recommendations to emphasize eating more whole foods, meat, and dairy, with dairy products being full-fat, and less processed foods.  Critics claim the new dietary recommendations are geared more toward advancing the interests of American farmers than they are in promoting long-term health benefits.

The Trump administration cut more than $1 billion in funding for school lunches and food banks in 2025.

In addition to the impact that the new policies of the HHS Secretary will have on US life expectancy, many other factors will also affect the numbers.  One of the most important will be Americans' access to health care.   Enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies expired on January 1st due to inaction by Congress and opposition from many Republican legislators, and thousands of people have lost health care coverage as a result.   Complicating that is the steady rise in the cost of medicines and medical care.  THE UNITED STATES IS THE ONLY MAJOR INDUSTRIALIZED NATION THAT DOES NOT HAVE SOME FORM OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.  

Access to health care, including vaccinations, and good nutrition are key components to long-term survival.   Life expectancy in the United States has increased over the past four years.  It will be interesting to see how those numbers change during the next four years.

On Dip Pens, Penmanship, and Cursive Writing

 

by Bob Randall

(Editor's Note:  Ranger Bob is back with a bit of nostalgia on the fine art of penmanship and learning to write in a rural Missouri public school more than sixty years ago.  Bob and I are three months apart in age, and I, too, went to a rural Missouri public school, but in a different part of the state.  Some of my experiences in learning to write align with his, while others do not.  (See the "comments" section at the end of this blog posting.) In the meantime, Bob and I would both be interested in hearing from others of our vintage about the processes and materials they used as they learned and mastered their writing skills.  Thanks, Bob, for sharing your time, thoughts, and talent with The Ramble yet again!  Pa Rock)

I've been watching too many tv shows based on 18th century plots where characters write letters with quill pens, dipping their "nibs" into an ink well every few words.  Think of Benjamin Franklin signing the Declaration of Independence.  Dip Ben, dip jam, dip in, dip Fra, dip nkl, dip in.   Maybe you could stretch the ink out a little if the ending letters were sparsely inked.  Never mind erasures.

I recall learning to write cursive with a dip pen, an elongated handle with a metal point, the point being basically flat with a vertical split to hold ink.   It lacked the blade of a wing feather at the far end.  With that now between my neurons, I picture the northeast classroom of the floor of the old Wheeling School.  That's where I attended third grade in roughly 1955.  Mrs. Stapleton was the teacher.  Above the chalk boards that covered two adjacent walls were rectangular cards with examples of both capital and lower case cursive letters.  Of course, they were organized in alphabetical order.  We practiced our "penmanship" dipping our pens in an ink well, looking up at the letter cards, and then applying ink to the lines on our paper tablets.  

Do you recall a similar scene?  Why did we use dip pens instead of pencils?  When did we stop using dip pens?   The answer will come to us when one of you says you used those pens and someone who was one grade behind you says nope.   I know that you can still buy those alphabet cards because I looked it up:  less than twenty dollars on Walmart.com.  You can even buy dip pens, but I don't know why.  Google "why use a dip pen" and the answer isn't convincing.   Is cursive writing being taught on a regular basis, or is it just the occasional teacher who is stuck in their own nostalgia?   Do you confuse young postal carriers if you write an address in cursive?  I expect that question to rankle a few postal service retirees.   I'll be disappointed if I don't get a testy reply or two.  Do you write in cursive, or print, or mix and match them?  Do you simply use your thumbs on a keyboard and watch printed words show up on a monitor that corrects your spelling?  

The Wheeling third grade class that year was split in two groups with separate rooms with different teachers.  I wonder if those other kids know cursive.  I know that one of the kids in the third grade that year only writes using printed letters.  I don't recall for sure, but I'm going to say that he was in the other room and that they split us up into a smart group who could learn cursive writing and a dumb group who couldn't.  

I think I'm getting cabin fever.

No Sugar, Sweetie

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

As a matter of personal preference, I don't shop at Walmart and haven't in years, but my oldest son, who lives with me, still goes there on occasion.  One of our dogs eats a special dog food that is only available at Walmart.  We have been home several days because the snow is still with us, though the roads are clear.  Yesterday my son got out, for the first time in several days, and went into town to get the dog's food.  We were also out of sugar, so Nick thought he would pick some of that up as well while he was there - but Walmart had no sugar.  It turns out that there is no sugar for sale in the entire town - something apparently to do with tariffs.

Last week we had a couple of days forewarning about the approaching big snowfall, and everyone rushed to the local stores to stock up on food.  By the time that push was over, many items were in short supply.  Most stores have now been re-stocked, but apparently sugar was one item that was not readily available with the grocery distributors.

I checked on the internet this morning, and the general news seems to be that there is no widespread shortage, but sugar prices have risen dramatically over recent months due to import tariffs - and there are "localized" shortages.  I guess West Plains, Missouri, is sitting in one of those localized sugar shortage areas.  Of particular interest in the sugar situation are the US import duties of 20% to 25% on the sugar coming from Mexico.

American sugar importers pay the import duties directly to the government, then they, like all profit-focused businesses, recoup that expense by passing the cost along to consumers.  And sugar is a major ingredient in the processing of foods, so not only do tariffs directly impact the cost of five-and-ten-pound bags of the sweet white stuff, they also impact the prices of all of the processed foods on the grocery shelves that use sugar as an ingredient - and that, unfortunately, is a lot of damned food.

When my son returned from Walmart yesterday, he explained the local sugar situation to me and went on to discuss tariffs, and though he has had no formal economics training, Nick has a solid understanding of how tariffs work - and he knows who ultimately pays them.  It's a damned shame that Donald John Trump doesn't have that same level of knowledge.

Springsteen Rages on "The Streets of Minneapolis"

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

American rock legend Bruce Springsteen has once again, through his music, taken dead aim at the heart of the Trump administration's war on immigrants and basic American values.  Last Saturday, shortly after the ICE murder of Alex Pretti, an emergency room RN at a VA hospital in Minneapolis, Springsteen took pen in hand and poured his rage about what was happening in Minneapolis into an anthem entitled "The Streets of Minneapolis."

IN THE SONG, "The Boss" honors victims Alex Pretti and Renee Good by name and he also singles out three of the major bad guys:  Donald Trump, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and presidential adviser Stephen Miller.  The song, written last Saturday, was recorded by Springsteen, released to the public yesterday (Wednesday), and is being covered across the internet this morning.  National Public Radio (NPR) is also airing a piece about it today.  One of their reporters described it as "a very angry song," and it is, and it should be.

As I listened to "The Streets of Minneapolis" I was transported back to the angry 1960's and the gravelly voice of Barry McGuire belting out his own anti-war rage in "Eve of Destruction."   Artists like McGuire, Dylan, Baez, and County Joe and the Fish captured their rage and shared it with the world, and Bruce Springsteen has captured his.

Springteen's new song is so on-target that the White house has already issued a rebuke, with a spokesperson calling it "irrelevant"" and "inaccurate."  Here are the lyrics, so you decide:

THE STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS

by Bruce Springsteen

"THROUGH THE WINTER'S ICE AND COLD

DOWN NICOLLET AVENUE

A CITY AFLAME FOUGHT FIRE AND ICE 

'NEATH THE OCCUPIER'S BOOTS

KING TRUMP'S PRIVATE ARMY FROM THE DHS

GUNS BELTED TO THEIR COATS

CAME TO MINNEAPOLIS TO ENFORCE THE LAW

OR SO THEIR STORY GOES

AGAINST SMOKE AND RUBBER BULLETS

BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT

CITIZENS STOOD FOR JUSTICE

THEIR VOCIES RINGING THROUGH THE NIGHT

AND THERE WERE BLOODY FOOTPRINTS

WHERE MERCY SHOULD HAVE STOOD

AND TWO LEFT TO DIE ON SNOW-FILLED STREETS

ALEX PRETTI AND RENEE GOOD

OH OUR MINNEAPOLIS, I HEAR YOUR VOICE

SINGING THROUGH THE BLOODY MIST

WE'LL TAKE OUR STAND FOR THIS LAND

AND THE STRANGER IN OUR MIDST

HERE IN OUR HOME THEY KILLED AND ROAMED

IN THE WINTER OF '26

WE'LL REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO DIED

ON THE STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS

TRUMP'S FEDERAL THUGS BEAT UP ON

HIS FACE AND HIS CHEST

THEN WE HEARD THE GUNSHOTS

AND ALEX PRETTI LAY IN THE SNOW, DEAD

THEIR CLAIM WAS SELF-DEFENSE, SIR

JUST DON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES

IT'S OUR BLOOD AND BONES

AND THESE WHISTLES AND PHONES

AGAINST MILLER AND NOEM'S DIRTY LIES

NOW THEY SAY THEY'RE HERE TO UPHOLD THE LAW

BUT THEY TRAMPLE ON OUR RIGHTS

IF YOUR SKIN IS BLACK OR BROWN MY FRIEND

YOU CAN BE QUESTIONED OR DEPORTED ON SIGHT

IN CHANTS OF ICE OUT NOW

OUR CITY'S HEART AND SOUL PERSISTS

THROUGH BROKEN GLASS AND BLOODY TEARS

ON THE STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS"

A glove can cover a rotting hand, but no amount of spray tan can conceal a rotting soul, especially with artists the caliber of Bruce Springsteen shining a light on it!  Springsteen has it right, and the brave patriots in Minneapolis have it right:   ICE OUT NOW!

Remembering the Challenger Disaster

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Today is one of those rare days in history when old people tend to remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on that exact date many years before.  Other than the anniversaries of specific family and personal events, there are three days that I remember clearly due to a major event that occurred on each of those days.  

The first was, of course, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas - November 22, 1963.  I was a sophomore at the small Noel School in Noel, Missouri, on that day sitting in a "study hall" when I heard the tragic news from an older student who had walked home for lunch and heard it on television while he was eating.

The second big event (and the one I will expand on here today) was the tragic explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the deaths of all aboard) nearly twenty-three years later on January 28, 1986.  I was again at the Noel School, by that time working as the building principal.

And the third major event that made an indelible imprint on my mind was the terrorists crashing US passenger planes on 9/11 - September 11, 2001.  I was a graduate student at the University of Missouri in Columbia and had just gotten off of the elevator on the 7th floor of the tallest building on campus when a classmate approached and gave me that horrific news - as it was still unfolding.

The Challenger explosion, which occurred forty years ago today - on a Tuesday, a school day - had a significant impact on American education because that was the flight that President Reagan had chosen to place a special emphasis on teaching and to try and stir an interest among Amerian Students in science and technology.  The government had conducted a national competition to select a regular school teacher for a ride into space.  During that flight as the spacecraft orbited the earth, the teacher was to present a couple of classroom lessons, and then upon the flight's return from space, go out into American schools and communities to promote the space program.

Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher with two small children who taught in her hometown of Concord, New Hampshire, won the competition.  (At the time of the explosion I was a former high school social studies teacher, age 37, and also working at the school in my hometown.  I was the father of three children, and the two youngest were the ages of McAuliffe's children - so I identified strongly with her.)

The Noel School at the time of the Challenger disaster was a K-8 facility, with the principal as the head of building.  A friend in the community called me with the news, and I went door to door within the school telling each teacher (privately, out in the hall) what had occurred.  Most shared the news with their students, particularly the older students, and some classrooms followed the news on radios or with one of the school's very few television sets.  It was a sad event and a sad day, especially with regard to the fact that McAuliffe was a teacher with a direct connection to American schools, but several of the teachers (especially those with junior high classes) were able to tie into that day's events and use them in their teaching.

The Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just 73 seconds into its flight, approximately 46,000 feet or 8.7 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.  All seven members of the space crew were killed.  In addition to Christa McAuliffe, the crew included Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Judith Resnik, and Payload Specialist Gregory Jarvis.  (Christa McAuliffe was also classified as a Payload Specialist.)

The tragic loss of the Challenger was ultimately a factor in the US government's pivot toward opening the space program to private companies, which had been a goal of the Reagan administration.

The last radio transmission from the spacecraft before it exploded was from Pilot Smith who said simply, "Uh, oh."

  

Absolute Madman! My Trip Up the Taipei 101

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

A big story in the news last week (not as big as Trump's War on America, but big nonetheless) was the adventure tale of American rock climber Alex Honnold, age 40, who scaled the exterior of the tallest building in Taiwan (by far), and formerly the tallest building in the world, the Taipei 101.  Mr. Honnold, a man Yahoo News referred to as "an absolute madman," climbed up the side of the building without using ropes or safety equipment, a climbing process called "free solo."

The Taipei 101 currently ranks as only the 11th tallest building in the world, but it is impressive as hell, standing tall and lean in the center of Taiwan's capital and dwarfing its urban neighbors.  The 101 is, obviously, 101 stories above ground, with five basement levels below ground.  The aboveground part of the structure is 1,667 feet in height.  It has a glassed-in observation deck on the 89th floor, an open-air deck on the 91st floor, and an "exclusive" deck on the 101st floor - all supported by the world's fastest elevator.  (The trip to the 89th floor is 37 seconds.)

Like Mr. Honnold, I too, have ascended the Taipei 101, except I had the good sense to do it by elevator.  While I was a civilian social worker at the Mental Health Unit at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, (2010-2012), two co-workers and I spent several days exploring Taiwan in February of 2012.  One of the first places we chose to tour was the Taipei 101, the literal centerpiece of the city.  Unfortunately, it was overcast the morning of our visit, and the outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor was closed, so we had to settle for the enclosed observation deck on the 89th floor.  (I don't remember what made the 101st floor "exclusive," but it was probably an exorbitant access fee.)

The view from the 89th floor was not great that morning because of fog, but we were able to look down on the structures close to the towering building.  One of the things that I remember being pointed out to us was the Dr. Sun-Yat-sen Memorial Hall which is located a few blocks from the Taipei 101.  

That afternoon we toured a tea plantation outside of the city which was at the foot of a mountain.  We rode gondolas (like ritzy ski-resorts use) up the mountain, and then later during the descent got off and visited a large Buddhist temple.   The fog was gone and that airborne adventure was lovely.  (All those Taiwan adventures are still posted in the archives of this blog.)

But, back to the Taipei 101.   Here is the portion of my blog entry for February 17th, 2012, which recounts that historic (for me) ascent into the clouds (of fog):

"Much of our first day in Taiwan was spent in some mighty high places.  After we figured out how to use the subway system, we traveled downtown and made our way to the Taipei 101, the tallest building on Taiwan and a very unique piece of architecture.   It was a cloudy. miserable day, so after riding what was billed as the world's fastest elevator up to the observation room on the 89th floor, we found ourselves wrapped in fog, more so than usual, and not able to see much from the enormous windows.  There was a very large and very beautiful collection of carved coral on display on the 89th floor as well as much coral jewelry for sale - and plenty of assorted tourist junk."

(If I had suspected that I would be repeating that observation in this blog fourteen years later, I would have taken more pains in crafting that description, but we were rushing around Taipei and the vicinity seeing the sights, and the quality of the blog necessarily suffered as my focus was on being a tourist.)

Alex Honnold, the absolute madman, chose a sunny day for his trip to the top of the Taipei 101, and massive crowds stood below on the streets to cheer him ever upward.  There were also many people watching from the windows inside of the building as he passed.  The entire climb took around an hour and a half.  The daring spiderman listened to a metal band called "Tool" as he made his way, hand over hand, up the side of the building.

Netflix reportedly paid Alex Honnold in the neighborhood of $500,000 to make the live, free solo, climb. an amount he referred to as "embarrassingly small" as compared to other major sports contracts, though it wasn't too shabby for an hour-and-a-half's work.

Pa Rock is fairly certain that he had to pay to ride the elevator up the same building, and that feat left him feeling like an "absolute madman," too!

The Worm Is Turning

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The current ICE Age is starting to show signs of cracking and melting.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to stand in the background and listen as two middle-aged, gun-owning, rural white men discussed the current situation in Minnesota.  Both of the men, who were avid Trump supporters a year ago, seem to have undergone a rapid and seismic shift in their political perspectives of what is occurring in America.  Their primary grievance is the federal government's shifting position on the right to keep and bear arms = particularly the "bearing" part.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the ICU nurse who worked at a VA hospital in Minneapolis, had a gun on his person when he went out this past Saturday morning to be a "legal" witness to the ICE operations in his city, that's true.  The gun was in the waistband of his trousers, and there is no known video footage showing him brandishing that weapon at any time - nor has the government claimed that he had it out threatening anyone.  There is video footage of an ICE agent removing the gun from Mr. Pretti's waistband and taking it away before ICE agents fired multiple shots and killed him.

The video footage of his murder was airing on social media even before the administration grabbed their microphones and began describing the off-duty nurse as an "assassin" and a "terrorist,"  lies which flew in the face of the video footage that the world was already seeing on the internet.   FBI Director Kash Patel grabbed his microphone and began ranting about the fact that Alex Pretti had brought a loaded gun with an extra clip of ammunition to the scene of the protest.  Patel said:

"You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want.  It's that simple.  You don't have that right to break the law and incite violence."

Nurse Alex Pretti was carrying a registered weapon which he was duly licensed to carry.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Gun Owners of America (GOA), the two most prominent gun rights organizations in the US, quickly asserted that the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms while protesting, a right, they argued, that the federal government must not infringe upon.

(It must be assumed that Kash Patel, the current FBI director who was appointed by Donald Trump, forgot about Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who showed up at a rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August of 2020 with an AR-15 assault-style rifle and killed two men at a protest and wounded another.  Rittenhouse and his weapon were both ushered off the scene and sent home by police at the event.  The boy, Rittenhouse, was later charged with homicide, attempted homicide, and recklessly endangering safety.  He claimed self-defense and was acquitted on all charges.  Donald Trump later hosted Kyle Rittenhouse at Mar-a-Lago.)

Kash Patel did not mention MAGA golden boy Kyle Rittenhouse as he lashed out against the dead ICU nurse saying the man's death was he own fault because he brought a firearm to a protest.

Gun right's groups were not happy with the FBI director's betrayal of their basic right to be armed anywhere they damn well please, and, more importantly, ordinary gun-owners like the two I overheard talking yesterday, weren't happy either - and their resentment was deep - and it felt as though it would definitely linger past the next election.

ICE took that ICU nurse's  registered weapon, one that he had a legal right to carry - even to a protest, and then ICE killed him.   That's what the videos show, and that's what rural gun owners saw - and no amount of bald-faced lies from politicians is going to change that.

Cell phones show the world what is really happening on the streets of America.  They are the "weapons" that ICE fears most.  Don't leave home without one!

Another ICE Murder in Minnesota

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

It was bitter cold in Minneapolis yesterday morning when Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old  RN, bundled up in his winter coat and left home to go out on the streets and do what he could to protect his friends and neighbors from the masked and armed ICE agents who have invaded his city.   Not much later he was standing along a public street when he observed ICE agents push a woman to the ground.  The ICU nurse, a trained and skilled medical provider and humanitarian, was helping the victim to get up when he was swamped by several ICE agents who pushed him to the ground.

Alex, who was a nurse at a local VA hospital, had a cell phone in his right hand when ICE attacked him.  His left hand was empty and he had it raised in the air.  He also had a pistol on his person, a weapon that was registered and which he was licensed to carry - but the weapon was not out.  Video footage shows one of the masked ICE agents pulling the gun from Pretti's waistband and walking away before at least one of the agents fired multiple shots into him.  

One report from the scene indicates that at least ten shots were fired

The ICU nurse was unarmed at the time he was killed.  He had been pepper-sprayed and physically overwhelmed, yet was still valiantly trying to protect a stranger who had been assaulted by ICE.

Minnesota and the world lost a good human being yesterday, a highly trained medical provider whose value to his community was immense and whose passing will negatively impact local health care for years to come.  He was senselessly killed by a masked thug whose qulaifications for a "law enforcement" position are unknown to the general public and whose value to the community and posterity are, at best, highly questionable.  Ironically, both Alex Jeffrey Pretti and the man who murdered him were employees of the same government.

Today the United States of America has another dead hero, a man who gave his all to protect and defend someone he didn't even know.   Thank you, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, for your selfless dedication to humanity. You will be remembered with honor and respect long after this government and its ICE horrors are held to account.   Salute, sir!

GOP Plan to Kill Postal Service Marches On

by Pa Rock

Curmudgeon

(Weather Update:  At 8;15 this morning there is about one inch of snow on the ground in south central Missouri, with lots of dead grass and leaves still poking up from the ground and through the gathering whiteness.  A light snow is blowing across the front yard as I sit behind what passes for a picture window, typing.  The birds, primarily cardinals, are hopping among the bird feeders and gnomes trying to consume as much seed as they can while they can.  Alexa says it is six degrees F. outside with an expected high today of twelve degrees F.

Rosie and I darted outside an hour ago and she valiantly attempted to do her business - with some success, but the icy ground hurt her little feet, so I scooped her up and we rushed back into the safety of the house.  The thermostat is set on 73 degrees F, but it still feels chilly, so I may goose it again.

We will survive!)

I have a list of things on my writing desk that piss me off, good material to tap on a snowy day.   I'd like to begin with the US Postal Service (USPS), always an easy target. But before airing grievances against that cesspit, I do want to acknowledge the hard-working lady who is my local delivery person.  Out in rural areas such as where I live, the people who bring the mail are the face of the USPS, and most of them are sweet, kind, and very helpful.  

My mailbox out by the road is larger than the average box, something that saves the mail lady needless trips to my front door, and saves Pa Rock occasional trips into town to pick up large packages when a substitute carrier is running the route.    But I seldom have to go to town for oversized mail.  When a package is too large for the big mail box, my wonderful mail person pulls up the drive, gets out of her car, and walks over and carefully sets it on the porch.  When I'm outside, she hands it to me, and has even offered to help me inside on days when she worried I might be too unsteady - and she always has a nice word for Rosie!

The continuing racket from political Bozos about eliminating rural mail delivery as a cost-cutting measure is a direct and unnecessary threat to the livelihood of thousands of hard-working Americans who carry the mail, and one more way to inflict pain and hardship on the poor and elderly.

But behind the super folks who man the frontlines of the US Postal Service are hordes of sinister bureaucrats and political functionaries whose sole reason for employment seems to be to destroy a necessary and once well-operated mail delivery system from within.  I've not done a "deep-dive" into the postal system's problems, but I am aware of a couple of things which our government has intentionally done to cripple this very critical public service.

The postal service used to be a cabinet position with the Postmaster General (Ben Franklin's old job) reporting directly to the President, but after a massive postal strike in 1970, Congress passed and President Nixon signed the "Postal Reorganization Act" which removed the patronage elements (where politicians were involved in the selection process of postmasters) and tried to turn the operation into a business.  Wages were raised, and postal workers were given the right to organize - but not to strike.  The concept of the postal service as being some sort of government function, something we paid for with our taxes, began to fade, and was replaced with the notion of the postal service being a business that had to make a profit in order to survive and function.

But the postal service didn't completely become a free-wheeling agent of American capitalism.  The head of the organization, still called the "Postmaster General" is appointed by an independent board of governors who are themselves appointed by the President of the United States on staggered terms - a system that does not necessarily work as intended if there happens to be a megalomaniac tyrant in the Oval Office.  (Donald Trump did threaten to fire members of the postal service's board of governors last year, and to place the entire operation under the control of the US Department of Commerce - but later TACOed.)

Congress and President George W. Bush significantly hobbled the US Postal Service in 2006 with the enactment of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) which forced the postal service to pre-fund its Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund years in advance.   The annual payments were supposed to keep the retiree's health plan funded for the next 75 years.  No other government agency operated under such a mandate.  The new program sucked up most of the postal revenue and accounted for 84% of the agency's losses.  The price of postage skyrocketed, service declined, and public faith with the USPS began to significantly wane - which was likely the long-term intent of the legislation to begin with.

Today the postal service is in a losing position and takes abuse from all sides.

The most recent outrage regarding the USPS is a change in its policy for postmarking mail.  The agency recently announced that mail is now being postmarked when it first reaches an automatic mail sorter - and not on the day that it is dropped off at a local postoffice.  That change distorts when an item is actually mailed, masking the length of time that it takes for mail to be delivered.

My son recently sent me a package from a post office in the Kansas suburb of Kansas City where he lives.  It took six days to arrive, when not long ago it would have gotten here in two days or less.  (No wonder they want to mask the delivery time!)   The local mail from here goes out by truck every day that the postal service is operational at 4:00 a.m., and it is trucked to a sorting center (I'm guessing in Springfield, MO - but for all I know it could be Baton Damned Rouge in Louisana!)

A friend of mine in a community close to Joplin, Missouri, (about 180 miles due east from where I live) sent me an important piece of mail that I finally received yesterday - one week after it had been mailed.  Instead of going west, toward my house, it went due north 160 miles to Knasas City where it was postmarked, and then was sent south and east to West Plains, perhaps by pack mule, where I finally received it - seven long days after it was mailed.

Another friend, who lives in McDonald County, Missouri, the southwest corner county of the show-me state, mailed in her county propery taxes on December 30th, a full day ahead to the deadline before penalties are imposed.  The county seat was less that ten miles from the postoffice where she mailed her statement and check.  A couple of weeks later she got a notice that she owed a penalty because her payment had been postmarked on January 2nd, in Knasas Cit, Missouri - 200 miles north of where she had physically mailed the correspondence.  My friend is pissed!

I can put a 78-cent stamp on a letter to my daughter in Oregon on a Monday, drop it in the mail here, then get in my car and drive west - leisurely - spending at least four nights at motels along the way, and easily be sitting at her house in western Oregon when the letter arrives on Saturday, or possibly the following Monday!

One more note:  I did see some speculation on the internet that the new policy of postmarking mail at sorting centers rather than at the location where it actually enters the mail system may have been the result of some political pressure by forces who are opposed to mail-in voting.  Just sayin:)

Pa Rock would rather his tax dollars be used to fund a decent mail service instead of paying masked criminals to terrorize and arrest five-year-olds!

Okay, that's it.  My spleen is vented.  Have a wonderful snow day - and give your mail person a warm smile and maybe a hug - none of this is their fault.

Winter Approaches

 

by Pa Rock

Winter Warrior

The clouds are beginning to mass in preparation for a serious onslaught of winter weather that is expected to begin in about two hours.  The forecast is for snow and then ice across the Ozarks and a big swath of the United States this afternoon and tomorrow, with accumulations (at least in the Ozarks) of up to a foot.

(It's a good thing the US is not on the metric system of measurement because if the forecast was "up to a meter," that would be much more serious!)

During the twelve years that I have been back home in southern Missouri, we have had only minimal snowfall.  That picked up a bit last winter,   Today's snowfall sounds as though it will be our most consequential since I have been back in Howl County.  Forty years ago when I lived in the northern part of this same country and worked as a high school teacher and principal, we had large snowfalls every winter that would result in the schools being closed for three to four weeks a year.  The climate has changed markedly since then.

This weekend should remind us of what things were like back in the day.

I went to the grocery store this morning, always an exciting experience when a big change in the weather is approaching.  At 8:45 a.m. Aldi's was insane.  The place was packed with dummies who waited until the last possible damned minute to get their storm snacks, and stockers were everywhere trying to keep goods on the shelves.  Chaos prevailed.  It was rude, crude, and brutal - much more entertaining than television!

Now I am at home basking in the warmth of a new furnace.  The birds have been fed, the dogs walked and fed, the larders are full, the car has a full tank of gas, and I am seated in front of my typing window banging out a blog, watching the world rush by, waiting on the snow to start falling, and thinking about hot chocolate, and wishing I had bought some.  Maybe I should make a quick run to town and get some!

Winter is not kind to wildlife, outdoor pets and livestock, and disadvantaged humans.   Stay warm and safe - and be prepared to share your blessings (and hot chocolate) with others!

A Very, Very, Very Fine House

by Pa Rock

Homeowner

My house is a very, very, very fine house.  It has two small bedrooms, two small bathrooms, a small kitchen with inadequate cabinet space, a small utility room, a decent sized living room and a finished half-basement.  It sits on a 10-acre corner lot at at the intersection of two paved county roads and is about a mile from the city limits.  The property has three out-buildings that came with the place including one large but very dilapidated old barn, a decent garage, and a serviceable chicken coop.  Additionally there are two very nice 8' X 24' metal storage buildings which I had custom-built seven years ago and are sitting on a concrete slab that was a basketball court when I moved here.

I've never counted the trees, but there are many and most of them are large, so massive, in fact, that some pose direct threats to the house in the event they ever blow over.  When the town tornado sirens wail, about once a year or so, we go to the basement!

My house was constructed by a professional carpenter, one of the best in the area, and he built it for himself and his family - a wife and four sons - in the 1960's.  That family occupied it for the next four decades or so.  There was one owner after them before I bought it.  The house has what builders refer to as "good bones.".

I bought this very, very, very fine house in the fall of 2013 while I was still living in Phoenix, and moved in upon my retirement in March of 2014.  My intention was to live here alone, do some travel and writing,  and enjoy my golden years.  I had a grandson who lived here and was in high school, and I earmarked one of the bedrooms as his in the event he ever needed it.  Now that grandson lives 200 miles away and works full time in the town that I grew up in, the one that I undoubtedly would have retired in had i not relocated here.  Funny how life works out.

But I like it here, and for the first decade there were few major financial issues with my very, very, very fine house,    It had been on a well water system when I purchased the property, and after a major (500-year) flood a few years back, water tests on the well came back negative, so I switched over to the rural water provider.  Getting a meter installed, digging atrench from the house to the meter, and securing the hookup was $2,500 or so, but it was worth the expense and I am glad to be off of the well.

The two other major expenses that I encountered during my first decade of residence were the two storage buildings constructed at a Mennonite family factory seventy miles away and then transported her (a total of $10,000) - not a necessity, but something that I wanted, and matching metal roofs on the house, garage, and well house (there had not been any leaks, but the existing roof was old and I wanted to get ahead of the game.)

So, all things considered and by my perspective, the first ten years weren't too bad.

The second ten, however, are shaping up to be a different story.  This decade in residence began with the central air going out.  It turns out the unit was thirty years old, and that expense ran four grand.  Then one of the big pines (somewhere north of 40-feet tall and the closest one to the house) died and needed to be removed.  I had the tree men take down an enormous dying hickory while they were here with their heavy equipment - $2,200 - and my neighbor who knows about such things assured me that was cheap.  The furnace has been operating in fits and starts for several weeks, and this week it had to be replaced as well.  $3,400!  (Turns out the furnace was also thirty years old.)

There is major bad weather coming in tomorrow, so I was not surprised at all when, while taking my morning shower today, I heard the toilet burping - a totally new occurrence -  and when I finished showering I found that I was standing in an inch or so of water that had not drained.  A plumber will be here later this morning, just in time to get things dug up and spread out before the snow starts tomorrow.

Some days if it wasn't for the lottery, I'd have no hope at all!

I have heard a couple of news stories over the past few days which credit home-ownership (the American dream) with being the most direct path to accumulating wealth for the majority of Americans, but it is a hard path to access, and once you are on it, home-ownership can be an expensive path to navigate.

And now, with private equity firms and ultra-rich s.o.b.'s  snapping up every house that comes on the market, breaking the chains of homelessness and poverty becomes even more complicated.

If ending poverty was a concern of our government, which it clearly is not, building more housing would certainly be one way to begin addressing it.

Oh, my, but I have wandered.  I think I will refer to this type of mindless musing as "the weave" and stop where I am at so that I can rush to town and buy some rock salt for the walks - and stock up on bird feed. A homeowner's work is never done, even in a very, very, very fine house!

Mrs. Brown's Boys

by Pa Rock

TV Junkie

No matter how much time I spend "working" at the computer each day, running into town for cardiac rehab, groceries, or to purchase my daily one-dollar "Show-Me Cash" lottery ticket, or feeding the birds, or checking the mail - I always manage to set aside some "me" time in the late afternoon to watch telelvision and de-stress.  I did away with cable a decade ago, and now I am a streamer currently using three services:  (Amazon Prime - boo, hiss, BritBox, and PBS Masterpiece).

My favorite television programs are British mysteries and police dramas, which I find primarily on BritBox.  I like British comedies (Britcoms), as well.  I am also becoming a big fan of the offerings on PBS Masterpiece, many of which bear strong similarities to BritBox fare.

Because I have been streaming for more than a decade, I am beginning to run out of new material to view, so I am always on the lookout for new offerings or old programming that I initially neglected.  Sometimes the shows that I overlooked turn out to be gems.

One of those recently unearthed gems is an Irish comedy series called Mrs. Brown's Boys, which began as a radio program and then morphed into a televission series on the BBC in 2011.  The show is so popular that it has even spawned a couple of movie specials.  It is currently still in production, and I have just started viewing Season 3.

Mrs. Brown's Boys revolves around the chaotic family life of a widowed Irish mother, her five adult children - four of whom are male, and, as of the beginning of Season 3, four grandsons.  They reside in a small house in Dublin, Ireland, which is where most of the series is filmed and the activity occurs.  Agnes Brown, the mother and lead character in the comedy series, is foul-mouthed and has no filters.  Her language is not for the faint of heart, but it is her everyday speech, and after a few episodes she begins to sound somewhat normal.

Despite the raw language, Mrs. Brown's Boys is hysterically funny - for several reasons.  It is a brilliantly written 30-minute sitcom.  The primary writer is Irish comedian Brendan O'Carroll, a male who also happens to play the lead character of Agnes Brown.  The show is filmed before a live audience with whom the cast occasionally interacts.  And, the stage concept of a fourth wall - the idea that when the audience views the action in a room on stage, such as in Mrs. Brown's kitchen, there are three walls visibly present with appropriate doors windows, furnishings, etc, and the audience is watching through an imaginary fourth wall - that concept of a fourth wall is completely destroyed in this series.

The cast almost routinely steps out of character and interacts with the technicians and cameramen who are filming the show.  At one point in an early episode Mrs. Brown's cell phone rings, she answers it, and walks over and hands her phone to a cameraman saying, "It's for you."  At another point in a different episode the group is sitting in the local pub and Mrs. Brown needs her purse - which she has forgotten to bring.  She stands, without comment, and walks around the end of that set and into the one that is her kitchen at home, picks up her purse, and then walks back into the pub scene.  These lapses often appear to be totally unplanned and leave the audience and the cast rollicking with laughter.

The cast, and particularly Mrs. Brown, shows no mercy when a cast member flubs a line and will usually make fun of them while the cameras are rolling.  The show is a very immersive experience for the audience in the studio -  and it feels that way to the audience at home also.

Another hallmark of Mrs. Brown's Boys is the closeness and camaraderie of the large cast.  Everyone is having a good time during the filming, and it shows.  That is likely due, at least to some degree, to the fact that several of them are related to each other.  The lady who plays Mrs. Brown's only daughter is, in real life, Brendan O'Carroll's wife,  two of the main characters are his adult children by a former wife, and another is his sister.  Mrs. Brown's grandson, Bono, in the show, is O'Carrroll's actual grandson.  It is, to a large extent, a family affair.

Mrs. Brown's Boys is always fresh, lively, and very very funny.  Check it out if you get the chance.