THE ROAD AHEAD

     We all like to look ahead and see what is coming our way. At times we look in the rear view mirror and wonder how the hell we reached this point and then we think of and realize what we did wrong. It takes some people longer than others at times, but unfortunately, when the bad times are here - they are here - and no amount of willful blindness will serve one right.
     So what is ahead for us in the country and the world? I am not a political maven, only one who reads and thinks and formulates thoughts. There are experts that are paid to tell us their thoughts - take them or not. That is our free choice, but I wonder, very hard, whether this free choice will be here in the future. We have all seemed to come to a conclusion that if we do not like something, or wish it gone, then we make it so.
    An example? Burning or desecrating the flag is an abominable act, despicable and yet, and yet - it is allowed by law, by the Constitution as part of free speech guaranteed to us by the First Amendment. There are words that are spoken under this amendment that might be considered hurtful or hateful to some, yet if they do not cross a red line, then they are allowed. Such is the beauty and the pitfall of our country, such is what makes the world go round and such is what made our country grow as people traded thoughts and ideas and progress was made, sometimes too slowly, but still, it was achieved.
     Today we are in another world. We have a president elect who cannot string together enough words for a complete sentence unless it is written for him and he says exactly what is given him. He repeats words in his inane and at time grossly mistaken tweets. He is like an adolescent sitting there in the early hours tweeting away, denying truth and always trying to show how the world is against him and how he is always right. Well, he is not, but we are stuck with him unless we can get him impeached for his violations of ethics. And there will be many.
     Why? Well, for the first time we have elected a president whose first concern is not the country nor its citizens nor the state of the world nor the conditions of humanity nor our edging closer and closer to the point of no return on climate and environmental change - no, not on that, but instead on how he is going to run the country based on how it will benefit HIS business holdings and it has already started, mucho!! This man who is supposed to be a role model for the citizens, encourages others to follow his crooked path, dodging laws, changing laws, making of his family a royal family, and sending shivers down the backs of many like me who are worried what will we look like after four years and will we still be a democracy.
     What is ahead? Well, we have the supposed deal with Carrier, which will keep - or so we are told - about 1,000 jobs here but the rest go off to Mexico. And how was this deal arranged? In a manner that will cost us, the taxpayers mucho dinero for there is a deal with corporate taxes and costs to companies that move offshore and less taxes on money that these corporations are holding offshore rather than spending here in the country. Not so sure this is the deal we need or want. Or can afford.
     More? Okay, there is a woman in Tennessee in prison for a YEAR and for the crime of what? Trying to get an abortion and since Tennessee makes it almost impossible, she tried a coat hanger one on herself with tragic results and for that she is arrested and held in jail till trial, a year already in delays. There is a woman in Indiana who was sentenced to 20 years for her abortion but the sentence was vacated on appeal. There will be more and more of this especially as Mike Pence is now VP elect and he is a rabid anti choice person. Tragedies await.
     The media has been hard pressed and threatened and yes, one does not always agree with the papers or other media outlets, but that is their right, to say and print what they want and hope for and think and even print contradicting articles in the same paper. I despise the Times for their Israel coverage and their bias, but rooted for them the whole way in this campaign. That is what makes - or has made - the world and the country go round - at least until now. What will be with this dude? I shudder.
     As for the rest of the world? Well, look at France. Look at Austria now with the right wing on the rise and bad news ahead. Look at England with its anti Semitic chantings by students and by Labor party members. Look at the aggression of Russia and Putin, the daring moves he has done and why not? He has his buddy Trump coming up soon enough so why worry, just forge ahead and take back all the former SSRs that were lost in the breakup of the Soviet Union. Russian is Russian.
Look at China now running to burn more coal as the pressure of the US is off them so WE are the ones who will suffer. We all share the same atmosphere and what goes around comes around, literally. Will we finally descend into the apocalyptic world we see in movies and novels, where people wear masks and breathing apparatus and the few elite live a different world and life while the rest suffer? You answer that.
     The world is running out of clean and available water. We are eating up our agricultural lands by the tens of thousands of acres. We are burning our oxygen giving trees. We are once again, ignoring the needs of people for the needs or desires of the few. Fat cat time is here once again and if you doubt that, just look at he prices of drugs, today insulin being a topic and look at the new head of Health and Human Services, one who does not believe in Medicare, who wants vouchers, is determined to get there and as for those of us with multiple chronic issues - well, screw you, for no insurance will take you, you are too costly, and doctors will not accept the paltry payments that Medicare will pay out so wave goodbye.
     And even the small and petty supposed leaders of our time follow suit, feeling a free rein given that our newly elected president does the same. Look right here in the Village where we are being pressured to take on a new contract and deal with Atlantic  whilst they have produced almost nothing in their visceral life, only words and promises and most of those cannot be taken to the bank! And what do you think Comcast will do for the last three years of their contract - run to service us, to solve our problems? Why would they as we have thrown them away after years of service, and now much improved service.
     We have a UCO which wastes money by the fistfuls. David Israel says he belongs to a watchdog committee that calls out governmental waste so hello, look in your own mirror. Thousands for murals, for extravagant plantings and many have to be redone and redone - just look at the Clubhouse where we now have a bricked up area with a tree in the middle rather than the flowers and plantings that were there before and before and before. Why can we not think ahead some time. Look at the waste of literally millions of dollars on the ----poor roadway job, at the money thrown away or repairing and paying for new items and then calling it a non capital expenditure so we have to eat it rather than Levy and WPRF.
    So to appear watchful and concerned, we try to make up for waste by nickel and diming amenities of the Village like a 2-3 thousand expense for karaoke, an activity enjoyed by many and had to be voted back in.
     We have a UCO who shuts down media outlets and allows them to deteriorate in quality and then when they are just so bad and cannot be hidden anymore, gets someone to come back, promises the world, so perhaps people will forget the damage done. But we must always remember that David Israel has a good pitching arm, managing to throw many people directly under the bus so be warned.
     Can this be fixed? I hope so, both nationally, internationally and right here in the Village. We can start by joining in a March echoing that of Washington post inauguration and all over the country. We are serving notice that we will all be watching, that the mandate is not for oppression nor for misogyny nor for hatred or division, nor xenophobia, or threats to the very fabric of our country, no matter what political party one belongs to. Join us here on Jan. 21, 2017, meet at the Clubhouse room C and step off for a circumnavigation of said Clubhouse at 10 AM and send a message to the world - we are here and we care.
     There is much work to be done - and if not us, then who? and if not now, then when? This and more, was said by a wise Rabbi in ancient times - and is just as relevant today as it was then. So roll up the sleeves and let us get started. We are not done yet. Not by a long shot.