IT ALL ADDS UP AND THE BILL COMES DUE

  Too often so many of us walk around in a state of oblivion or denial. We think that our behavior, our very thoughts, have no consequences and again, too often, foolishly and dangerously so, we continue on our path of destruction without a second thought. Even as there appears to be an almost heavenly consequence, with catastrophic results, we ignore, deny, and then mourn - and wonder why, what has happened!

We now blithely ignore last year, a year of death, of agony, of loss and a profound change in society, changes that will resound through the coming years. The GOP is trying hard to perpetuate a Big Lie and adds to it a willful and dangerous denial of the truth of Jan. 6, of the truth of a President who turned traitor on his country and dragged so many along with him. They dare to rewrite history, engaging in a massive denial of truth, of facts, even as they occur.

We do this at our peril. We foolishly think that we are in the free and clear of this pandemic, of the agonies of partisanship so exacerbated by Trump and his enablers, people who knew all along that he was dangerously awry, askew, on the sanity scale, yet went along, denied and lied, all in order to maintain power and for what end? That end lives  with us now, an administration that left the nation to battle a pandemic on its own, that antagonized friends until we now remain in the position of trying to woo them back, weakening us.

We are now a nation that is being attacked by an unknown power or faction, foreign or domestic, or a collusion of the two. Strange, science fantasy weapons of energy are being directed at groups of us, with long lasting and debilitating harm, and there we stand, thumbs where they should not be, unable to figure it out. Once again, we are defenseless. Will another surge of pandemic arise or will it be yet another virus coming to us from the world of the other living creatures on this earth? What awaits us? And do we have a share in this, are we part of the cause of this world turning upside down, more so every day?

There is a line in Ecclesiastes which warns us that our dancing will turn to mourning. I think of that line when I watch a horrifying video of two brutal people attacking a motel clerk who was standing  by the ice machine, chatting with another guest. Suddenly she is brutally attacked, thrown down, viciously kicked, many times in the head. The couple, arrested, are seen dancing down a flight of stairs by the court. What the hell is the matter with us? Is there any hope for us at all? Or is the sense of evil, its presence in our lives so prevalent that we have long ago crossed the tipping point?

Yesterday there was yet another deja vu moment for many of us. A terrible disaster, as 100,000 people in Meron, Israel, there to celebrate the end of a period of traditional mourning, were instead part and parcel of the beginning of yet another period of mourning, as a crush of panicked, running people trampled so many underfoot as they ran through corridors and paths trying to get away. Away to where? Why were they running? Did someone yell, falsely instigating a stampede? Once again we found ourselves calling relatives and friends, checking on their welfare, their whereabouts, for we knew that they, or loved ones, were there. Were they okay? Were they among the so many wounded terribly or even crushed to death by rampaging feet as humans ran like a frightened herd of cattle?

Is there no end to this litany of bad, of evil? Is there no end to the thoughts that pervade the sick minds of too many, who deny others their humanity, who laugh at breaking the humerus of a 73 year old woman and laugh about it, or who pull a librarian out of her car by her hair? Are we truly the descendants of the mobs of evil throughout history, giving the enemies of mankind, the foes of good, a win? Have we deliberately or unconsciously chosen the wrong path, more and more of us? Does it even matter how or why, or only the results at this point?

"Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense". That is the motto of the prestigious Order Of The Garter in England. It translates to "Evil to him who evil thinks." Well, we certainly have thought much that is evil, and worse than that, we have done evil, evil coming to touch our lives in so many, too many, ways.

We all made fun of Jimmy Carter when he spoke of lust in the heart, not acted upon, as still a sin. Perhaps he was on the right track. Evil thoughts lead to evil acts, especially as we lose our sense of morality, as we lose our differentiation between good and evil, between right and wrong, as we memorialize these no good thoughts in legislation meant to harm and deny others.

Where are we now? How did we get here? Is there a way out? Answers anyone? Someone?

THE GOOD SIDE

  There are times that I absolutely despair about humankind. I wonder if we ever really and truly climbed out of the slime or are we still mired in it, deeply so. I wonder if the creation of man had a glitch, or a purposely left weak point, demanding that humankind pull itself out of the muck, demand standards of morality and always try to progress. The path to improvement would be in the hands of humankind and brother, but have we fallen down on the job.

The history of humans is rife with wars, large and small. I do wonder if any war can be called 'minor', for the grief of the loss of a loved one or the destruction of one's home, the rape that seemingly always accompanies the victors, much to the horror of women, - all that is not ever 'minor'. Never.

We claim to be better than the animals over which we have dominion. We label certain misbehaviors and aberrations of humankind under the cover of the names of animals. i.e. the person is a snake, or he is a wolf, or she is a fox and on and on. Yet we are the ones who have decided to apportion this behavior to the animals and then labeled people with the names. But we are the ones who do this. We are the ones who supposedly have the higher thinking power, the strength to overcome instincts, the power to ideate and progress. But do we? And if we do, why do we consistently refuse to leave the muck behind, willingly crawling back into it?

There are so many examples of this behavior. A video from 2013 shows the now embattled NRA president involved in shooting elephants, doing a hell of a miserable job, wounding and shooting again and again, even as his wife shot her own 'prize', holding up the tail of one of the most intelligent animals alive as a symbol of victory. Really? How has she missed all the shots and videos of elephants joining a circle to protect their young and weak, or working together to help a young one stuck in a physical mudhole, even as we remain in our moral one!!

The crap of humankind never seems to end. In fact, of late, we seem to be reverting once again en- masse, wholesale, shall we say. One idiot in Louisiana states that the children in school should be taught the "good side of slavery". You read that right. The 'good' side. Is there? Perhaps one owner did not allow severe whipping or did not sell and break apart families. Or perhaps there were none. Or perhaps some people like to be enslaved, their very lives in the hands of others with no say about it at all, no legal recompense, for 'property' has no voice in courts! The good side indeed!

Follow the meaning of this idiot's statement. So there must have been a 'good' side to the Tuskegee horrifying project. Or there must have been a 'good' side in the injecting of prisoners with viruses and experimental medicines without their consent or knowledge. Or there must have been a 'good' side to the genocide planned by the Nazis against the Jewish people and  all the scientific processes and knowledge that came out of it, out of the absolute inhumane experiments they performed on the prisoners, men, women, children, and even the unborn. No. there is most eminently NO good side to any of this.

This dangerous stupidity is evidenced all over the place these days. Partisanship demands that no progress be made at all in any of so many needy areas. Let families go hungry. Stand aside and watch how a country such as India falls apart under an overwhelming pandemic. Such a 'good' side, for we can then plan our own needs in such a time!! Stand aside and watch inhumanities taking place all over the world and stay silent, for otherwise business might suffer! See, the 'good' side is that there will be jobs! Never mind the reek, the coppery odor that pervades these jobs.

There is always an excuse, always a desire, demand and action to be ignorant of the 'wrong' side, of the evil inherent in oppression, in the relegating of a segment of other humans as being of lesser value, good for the 'good' side of nastiness and horror, allowing for new ideas to be able to be investigated with no boundaries and then use the knowledge gained to improve the life of the rest of humanity.

NO! Most emphatically no. There is no "good" side to slavery. There is no good to be found in evil. Making excuses, looking away from the evil, from the suffering, from the very 'wrongness' of it, only pushes us back, further, deeper into the muck. Do you not think it about time that we pull and push and shove and claw our way out of this moral muck, out of excuses for doing wrong, for seeking good where there is none?

If not now, then when? And if not us, then who?

EXPOSED

  So this morning I read an article which talks of an area where rock that is part of the earth's mantle, which should be waaaayyyy below us, is right there on the surface. Images of apocalyptic disaster form in my mind. Are we turning inside out? Is the earth collapsing in some way reminiscent of those B movies of this genre? What does this mean? Should we be afraid? Is there any way to survive if we turn inside out and upside down? How useful is that survival backpack for two for 72 hours in real life?

But read further on and calm down. It has been here for a long time and so far we appear to be stable. I believe that fracking does more harm to our stability than this area of outcropping mantle rocks. Our own behavior towards our home, our only little planet, is far more dangerous to its survival. Furthermore, there is a heck more to worry about in the fracturing of society, in the formation of not outcroppings but deep chasms of division, than in the interesting geological formation.

Turn around, figuratively, and look back at the path we have left, at what we have put forward as history for future study. As historians analyze this era, what will they say? Will they be able to point out when the structure of the earth, of society, began to fracture? Will they notice exactly when strange behaviors formed, when the first growing crack of chasms developed, and for how long they were there, ignored or encouraged?

Fake stories in papers, denigrating the opponents. Real articles that present the readers with horrifying scenes of rebellion, of needless killings, of bizarre and harsh behaviors of law enforcement personnel, the straits in which decent law enforcement finds itself, unable to fight a rising tide of extreme proposals and accusations. A huge trend among the media to report only that which further divides and inflames, causing a growing inability and worse, a lack of desire, to mediate, to change, to reunite, to become America once more, a leader and example par excellence to the world - and to itself.

A GOP member of Congress who hides on a toilet seat, armed with an obsolete Civil War era sword, afraid of a mob allegedly generated, encouraged by the very President of this country and his enablers and partners in crime. Then the growing denial of the truth of this attempted coup, the retraction of truths in favor of lies.

The growing disrespect evidenced in open sight in our society. Poison that lay pretty much hidden under layers of civility, begin to form outcrops, like the mantle rocks in Maryland. These ugly outcroppings of society pose a huge danger to it. One wonders why now? Why has it become socially acceptable, even desirable, in certain circles, to evidence hatred and contempt of others? Why is it okay that streaks of nastiness and worse, that had been squashed down, repressed, hopefully defeated, now find a welcoming atmosphere among too many. 

Please note that this hatred of others, of those different from ourselves, goes both ways. There are no innocents here. Either you are 'fer or agin'. A stand must be taken. One cannot be neutral in issues that divide between good and right, evil and wrong.

It is not an easy road that is before us. It is always even more difficult to overcome retro behavior than to move forward in a straight, perhaps somewhat wavy line. To have to rehash old topics that should have long ago been disposed of, is hurtful to individuals and society at large, yet it must be done. Talk, truthful and honest talk must take place and hard listening must take place as well.

It will not be a smooth road to walk, and we will be tempted by weariness, hopelessness, and bad thinking and leaders, to quit. We will ask why? But we need to turn back in history to a hero of the people, Lafayette, whose motto was, "Cur Non". Why not? Why not make the effort? Why not face the truth? Why not think and believe in ourselves, in the possibility of reform, the founding of a better society, a better world? Why not? Why not?

AND IN THE LOCAL NEWS...

 ...We have a developing story in CV WPB.  Hang on tight, friends, for we are in for a rough, wild ride and the end of the trail is not yet fully in sight. The miserable state of the administration of this Village is traceable directly back to COVID, but even further back than that to the current President, wishfully self deemed the President for Life according to his ambitions, David Israel.

For all the years he has been in office, there has been a growing lack of transparency in government. There has been a shrinkage of diversity of people in the various advisory committees, with the same suck-ups being recirculated, so much so that the same people often vote two to three times on the same item. Not really opening up to the residents is that?

But there is worse than that. Though he has customarily shut down and debased speakers opposed to his opinions, speaking from his seat at the dais, totally against all rules of assembly, and as of March, 2020, it has been much worse. First there were no meetings of committees at all. It was as if the rest of the world knew of Zoom, but this place was still living in 1010 rather than 2020. This from the man who insists he is G-d's gift to the tech world of this earth.

When meetings finally were held, in rather severely  truncated sessions, very little was done, less than that was discussed, and nothing was truly and fully relayed to the residents, if anything at all even was. Contracts were made without prior discussion and committee meetings and votes. Plans were made for a revised agreement for the administration of the Village and wow! What a mess here. 

However, the worst, and most egregious violation of the laws and rules of the Village, the desecration of oaths of office, the ignoring of the residents, was the discussion revolving around a new Millennium Agreement. We were royally screwed the first time around, with a very similar personality in office at that time. It seems we never learn here in the Village.

In any case, it has come out that the Clubhouse was offered for sale, a happening greatly to be desired, with fees on the residents going down as we did not have to provide millions in profit to Benenson or Levy. We could remake the rules better suited to our needs, and take over the  responsibility of it. But was that disclosed, or even offered to the residents? Uh uh! Nope. No way. Zilch. We already are paying for it all, including items on the budget that are really capital improvement under any meaning and interpretation, yet we end up paying for them. Then are told the fees must be raised to cover the costs - which we paid for - and in return for an improved Clubhouse!! The gall of it all!

So, after over a year of nothing, of darkness from the UCO office, other than that building and the guardhouses being constantly cleaned and power washed, with emergency whatever always being checked, with all the neglect of the past year, finally, there is supposed to be an Executive Board meeting on Friday. Seeing is believing, folks, and I hope it is true. I hope there is a quorum. I hope even if there is not, that the discussion is held, issues opened up, and air let in to our suffocating Village.

There is much to be debated. Much air to be let in. Not the least of it all, is where have all the officers been this past year and for many years prior? With almost a constant litany from them as they state "nothing to report", thus publicly admitting their do nothing approach, there have been serious consequences to the very fabric of the Village.

Why did the VPs not go around visiting the Boards of the various associations? It could easily have been done with masks, outside, with distancing, especially as vaccines were introduced. Evidently not much of that happened, did not take place, and hence the absolute growth of hoarding situations and devastation to buildings, and in the case of a Waltham Association, well, I simply cannot see an answer there other than total demolition of that building, top to bottom, side to side.

It is the responsibility of UCO to keep this Village a viable and desirable place to live. They have most manifestly not done that. Yes, there have been individuals who have done their respective jobs, chief among them Don Foster, but too few, too little being accomplished and our very viability challenged. And it all comes down to the shoulders of UCO officers, particularly the President who had a responsibility to the residents and who totally defaulted on that responsibility, simply, catastrophically, fallen down on the job.

So what now, folks? You tell me, or are too many of us still mired in the paralytic muck of inertia and apathy. Most of all - "they" will take care of it, without any idea of who 'they' are. Well, here is a clue to that answer. Go look in the mirror. There you will see 'they'.

CHIMERAS AND HORSES

  That is all I could think of as I skimmed over the news feed at this early hour. "A horse is a horse, of course, of course..." - unless it is not. Nor do we have a talking horse, a Mr. Ed, unless that would explain some of what is coming out of the mouths and broken minds of legislators. A chimera is a thing, a creature that is not of the natural world, the stuff of which horror movies are made. It is a combination of two organisms and is fearful. 

When we read that an embryo with both human and monkey cells has been grown on a plate, for far too long a survival time, be afraid. Be very afraid. That is crossing an ethical line that should never be breached. It behooves us to remember Biblical and  early legends of civilizations re what ensues when man attempts to cross the dividing line between Man and G-d. Be it the Tower of Babel, an apocalyptic flood, plague, or whatever one can bring up, it is the ethical violation that is extremely dangerous to mankind. It signals a recklessness, a fraying and shredding of moral values and borders, an overwhelming threat to a continued existence based on eternal truths and common sense.

But today we seem to have no more borders. So called red lines not to be crossed are crossed every day. No consequences follow, and indeed, after some time, some of our growing herd of talking horses, or asses might be a more befitting term, though certainly the talking ass of Balaam's had more smarts than our modern versions, speak up!! In fact, we keep beating what are dead horses, determined to revive them, participating in civilly unnatural doings.

A conspiracy. A Deep State. A mysterious Florida based company taking over a growing segment of the Pentagon's internet, literally at the last second of Trump's awful,  abysmal Presidency. The insurrection of Jan. 6, with clear clues leading to pre planning, a knowledge that this was meant to be violent, then blaming it on invisible 'anti-fa' people. The massive beating of many dead horses when months after Trump lost the election, there is an armada of trucks carrying votes from Maricopa County in Arizona to a broken down arena, where they will recount - for the third time - at taxpayers' expense -  the votes in a dead horse campaign to overturn an election that has actually been the saving of America as it had just about reached the tipping point into a bottomless pit of self destruction.

Now we have a chimera, an unnatural creature composed of former sane Republicans and extreme supremacists who push hatred, who push antiquated systems of thought that should have been buried long ago. We have talking horses who violate their own words. Rubio, one of the biggest horses around, forgets that he once approved, in 2013, an immigration bill and defended this with these words.  "we are not afraid of people coming in here from other places. I support this reform. Not just because I believe in immigrants, but because I believe in America even more." Then we have another Floridian ass, Scott, who says that he gave Trump an award because Trump had "worked hard". Really? At what? Golf? Destroying this nation?

Finally, we have the ass on top, McCarthy, who says that Trump never knew anything at all about the rebellion and violence at the Capitol and when 'told', he did something about it. So - he knew. He had been watching it on TV. His 'something' to be done was a video hours later which said truly nothing, other than the rebels were 'special' people, basically displaying their love and concern for America. And pardon me while I spew out the nausea induced by this man and his crowd of chimeras.

Dangerous nativism. Excusing drivers who ram protesters with their vehicles because they say they were "afraid for their lives" - even as they drive their vehicle into defenseless people. Now calling a group of THREE people a riot!!!! They can be charged with a felony!!! Where are we? Rubio endorses this, the Republican Party endorses this, and where are we? Belief in America? Not when it has become a dangerous chimera of all the oppressive regimes of the world. Not if it is the America which has forgotten its roots, its natural behaviors, its true tenets.

Dead and talking horses. Lies and nefarious behavior by a chimeric GOP. Let us make sure to support Biden, the Democrats, and the sane Republicans, the few and decreasing, who truly believe in America. Let us set goals, high ones, and even if we do not meet them entirely, at least we strive towards the good, the natural, the true paradigm of "Out of Many, One", the living display of "E Pluribus Unum". Talking asses? Dead horses? Chimeras? Let us be done with them. Now.

RANDOM

 Suddenly the word random is a most popular word. Is it randomly that this has occurred? Or is it just random chance that makes the younger generation settle on the word? Will it change the meaning of the word, like 'sick' or 'fat' or 'my bad' or will it remain in its original definition? These are just random thoughts about the word random.

 I decided to take a random look at the news and see what is going on. Admittedly, I have taken quite a break from serious and long perusal of the news of the day. Yes, I paid attention, but not as intensely as during you know who's administration. I thought, I hoped, foolishly perhaps, that we were done with all that, but there I was, proven both right and wrong.  Wrong in that I hoped that things would improve and right in my predictions and evaluations that said that as a united nation we were in deep trouble.

 This state of Trouble is not a random happening, though. In fact, it is a continuation and exacerbation of all that has come before. It is not random that laws are being passed that restrict voting rights and access nor are the targets of these laws that are so immoral. It is not random that we now have laws being passed that restrict protest rights and even make arrests during a protest, simply for just being there, a felony!! Are we serious!!! What has happened to America? No, this is not random!!

 More 'random'? Another audit in Maricopa County where Biden won by 45,000 votes? Trump wants the National Guard there during this ridiculous and expensive third recount?! Nothing random here, merely another track on the highway that leads towards overthrowing this government. Open violence and rebellion did not work on Jan. 6, so on to the next step. After 360 futile suits to overthrow the election count and results, now on to legislation that passed, is in the courts almost immediately. It is not a random choice to fight these new immoral and should be illegal laws, for if we do not, then we deserve what we get as a result of inaction,  inertia and apathy.

It is not random that we are getting more wars of hate words in our legislatures. It is not random that we have fascistic representatives in those legislatures, people like Taylor Greene or Josh Hawley, or Tom Cotton or Ilhan Omar or Rashida Talib. See there are bad seeds on all sides, but we refuse to recognize that and we fall ever deeper into that seemingly random abyss that grew beneath our feet of clay.

 We have demonized immigrants from doing what immigrants to America have been doing since time immemorial - coming to America, legally or not, driven by deep needs. We have demonized opponents and now cannot distinguish between freedom of speech and forbidden hate speech. We have people still following a man who said "And I then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute and is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs."  Even his own ex-aide said  "That's why we've got to remember moments like this... because we can't allow him or someone like him to ever hold power again."

Will we ever learn to distinguish the truly random from that which only appears to be so? Will we allow a change in meaning of a word to change the course of history? Making and taking a random choice ...... well, golly gee, but I surely hope not!

 

MORE BROKE!

  The title might be bad grammar, but I beg pardon and plead writer's license to make a point. There is something so wrong with our system that we cannot make any kind of distinction between right and wrong, between differences in events. We do not have the patience to wait and sort things out, to delve into the truth of whatever matter is the issue.

We hide the truth like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar, only this cookie jar contains matters of life and death, considers or designs the values of our society. Brother, do we have it wrong! Moreover, until we straighten this mess out, unless and until we accept the dangerous uselessness of lying, well, there is no hope of stopping the chasms developing within American society. These are chasms so deep, the bottom invisible, that the existence of America is at stake.

Please, do not make the error of thinking there is right only on one side and all the wrong is on the other. We have done such harm to ourselves with that thinking, but it is understandable as we look backwards in time to the devastation wreaked on America by the lack of values, by the corruption, by the hatemongering of the Trump administration. However, we must, MUST, look past that and self correct, stop the dangerous trends we have, for they will only make it even more difficult to change ourselves.

The shootings, the murders, of so many Black people, especially those incidents that decide that traffic episodes and minor violations are worthy of immediate capital punishment, must immediately cease. Period. There is simply no excuse for it, and indeed, there is often no excuse to pull someone over or issue a ticket for some of the infractions. But it is done and the horror continues.

However, we also cannot jump to conclusions that all tragedies at arrest scenes are the fault of law enforcement. We must learn to wait for the evidence. We must require all video from body cams and witnesses to be collected and released. The truth will out in these times when there is almost always a recording of events. However, not all of these shootings are the same, and when police officials lie, trying to cover up the uncoverable, as the blood of the victim cries out for truth, they only aggravate the situation and make it impossible to ever believe them.

Take the sad situation of a 16 year old kid, Ma'Khia Bryant, shot by a police officer as she held a knife and charged at two other teens, with the evident attempt to do bodily harm to them.  Put yourself in their place, a knife held by an angry opponent as she comes straight at you. What do you feel? Do you think death is arriving at your door right now? But there are police present, so there is hope for you, you think. The police officer is now in a bind. In a hostile environment, what does he do? Does he shoot, as the knife holder is seemingly intent and focused on doing harm to her foes, or do you think that the better idea would be to say it was too late or there was uncertainty or whatever excuse would work. But would it, for would people say then that the officer did not value the lives of the Black would be victims? Rocks and hard places, with lives at stake.

The shouting has already begun on both sides of the matter and that is exactly the problem. This is not such a clear cut event, tragic though it is. Whenever a life is lost, or taken, it is tragic. But what exactly happened here? How much time did the officer have to make a decision? Whose life was at stake here? What about the videos, whosever view they support? But we immediately jump to conclusions. Each viewpoint supporter shouts so loudly, so incoherently, so sure of oneself, that they cannot and will not hear the other, nor look at the evidence, nor accept the verdict of that evidence.

I do not know what happened there; nor do most, other than the cams, the videos and those involved. However, we must remember that each participant or bystander had a point of view, physical, emotional, political, and could not see the whole picture nor feel the emotions, intents and thoughts of the people involved. Hence their information is inherently faulty for completeness and meshed with that or others. The whole picture must be drawn, completed, before decisions are made.

Unless we all unlearn bad behaviors and habits of the past, we will never have a chance at the present, never mind the unfathomable future. It is a hard thing to do, rife with deep emotions, with hurt that does not go away. But if we are to be America, then that is what needs to take place. The question here is - are we ready, are we capable, are we understanding of the problem and its consequences if we do not reform and change paths -right now!

I am not optimistic. 

IF IT AIN'T BROKE.....

 ... don't fix it.... but it is broke. Our system has failed in so many ways that it is difficult even to list the top ten issues. In fact, very few systems of ours are working without major problems and perhaps it is only the inertia of the system that keeps it going, moving along of its own weight. Maybe. Perhaps. Be sure that I am referring to systems all over the world, America being no different than other countries.

There is something very wrong with a world that has so many living in abject, extreme poverty, forced to live with starvation a definite threat, with no shelter nor hope for the future. There is something wrong with a system that fights and kills, yes, kills, in the name of 'life', to prevent choice for women, but when the child is born there is no system in place to see to its welfare, to help the mother. No, this child is doomed before it is even born. And as for birth control, well, forget that, as that system seems to be moving backwards in too many places. There is definitely something very wrong, so wrong, here.

There is something very broken about a world that goes about destroying its own abode. Yes, the Earth, the globe upon which we all live, and Mars helicopter or not, there are no spaceship arks to take the population away to rescue planets - and even if so, what would stop us from destroying that one also? Just give humanity a few years and they manage to taint it all. Pressure to make money, billions of it, for corporations that are not living beings. Excess money for the fatcats who live on the energy of others. Money that goes into sinfully ridiculous doings like renting a house in the Hamptons for the summer for $2 million dollars when anyone can think of better and more permanent uses for that money. Excesses will come back to bite us in the rear, a big and nasty bite too!

We are in the midst of a runaway slaughter train, what with mass killings almost indifferent in reaction, an almost daily occurrence, dismissing it with a tsk, tsk, and the brutality of too many law enforcement personnel whose corruption and lack of humanity subsumes the good guys of law enforcement. At this time, when gun ownership is proliferating at a huge rate, with too many guns in possession of felons or people apt to misuse them, we refuse to attend to the problem, to fix the system. Nope, the NRA, now in bankruptcy court, is initiating a $2 million campaign against gun control. All the better to reduce population growth, I guess!!!

Our Earth is visibly deteriorating, clearly seen from space. Our cities are overcrowded and our social safety net is falling apart, the holes growing larger and larger. Prejudice and hatred seem to be making a nasty return, a growth industry one might say, even to the point of having young children picking on a biracial child. Where do we think this hatred and dastardly deeds arise? Look to the parents. If the bigotry expressed there is so virulent then what hope do we have for the future?

We have reached such a bad time here in America that one can almost be excused for thinking we have gone back in history. Our political parties are feuding to the point of imbecility. Dangerous as well. Partisanship has taken over, thus making Murkowski's vote so outstanding. "I am going to give the benefit of the doubt to a woman who I believe has demonstrated throughout her professional career to be deeply, deeply committed to matters of justice."

Wait, wait. So you're saying that you voted for someone on their resume and qualifications."    Would that she were consistent in doing that. Perhaps we could have avoided some truly bad steps here in this country. Perhaps she could have proven to be a leader for the good within our creaky, breaking system. Perhaps.

Perhaps it would have meshed well with President Bush's statements condemning his own GOP party. Perhaps then the Green Party, fascistic in outlook, would not be a growing and realistic possibility in Germany, the epitome of evil returning to a place where it grew well, nourished by hatred and indifference to the violent outcomes of that hatred. Or for that matter, the growing dictatorships and influences of the extreme right all over the world. And that includes the USA. The chanting alone of those mobs shakes one to the core.

Every once in a while there is a sign of hope, a bipartisan effort, but too little and hopefully not too late. Always, at vote time there appears to be huge and overwhelming recidivism, as members return to this paralytic partisanship.

Yes, our system is broken or reaching breaking points. We must fix it or face the consequences. How we do that is up to us. I hope and pray that we have not yet reached the point of no return and turn to an even worse system. That danger, that possibility, is there, always and forever. We need to understand that and do something right for a change.

THE WOMEN, AS USUAL

  If only the women ruled the world. If only they did not have to fight men for survival, for recognition of their humanity, then what a world we would have. But men appear to be determined to continue their dangerous and violent behavior, hence the world today. It seems that the women are the pawns eternally, paying the debts of men.

Today, the women of Afghanistan are worried and rightfully so. For so many years they suffered under the Taliban, denied education, denied the ability to work - and survive, were restricted to home and enshrouded in clothing that denied their humanity. They were the coin of repaying debts, were forced to marry whomever they were told to, be it an old man or their rapist, were slaughtered in "honor" killings, and lived in despair.

Yet in these very deep and dark depths of despair, of persecution, women, brave women, ran secret schools, mothers sent daughters to them, and today there are women in government and huge numbers in higher education, even as persecution in Taliban villages continued and even in other places. And we are abandoning them to their horrific fate, to public lashings, to stoning, to a status the equivalent to a goat, and perhaps less than that.

We are doing nothing to insure that their progress and advancement will continue. We are doing nothing to require women's rights as an immutable part of this peace to be. One woman had it pegged just right. She said that women have always been the victims of men's wars and now they will be the victims of men's peace as well. That is such a sad and despairing statement of reality.

The entire world suffers when half its population is undervalued and mistreated. Think not that Western countries are any better. No, there are no public whippings but how many are the recipient of unwanted attentions, of sexual assaults, of unfair practices in business and in life, and only recently, really, were they granted the right to get loans in their own names! Glass ceilings remain, right here at home, from overlooking to inequity in salary.

The world will not be what it should be unless the abilities of all are valued. It take a Maxine Waters or a Val Deming to shut up the blowhards like Jim Jordan. It takes a Pelosi to withstand the verbal abuse, the existential threat to her life. It takes a Jill Biden to stick to her position and remain at work, and get recognized for her own achievements. It take a Kamala Harris to break new barriers. And it takes all the women of the world who withstand daily abuse, overwork, demands on their souls to keep the homes and countries running on an even keel.

Yes, it was just Women's History Month, but we need to be past these almost empty gestures and grow up already. Men, you have met your match in the person of modern day women. Heed their words, their courage, their determination. You have no choice and it is for the betterment of all.

EXITS

  Today, upon entering a venue of some sort, be it movie theater - and long may these stay open - or stadium or lecture hall, one looks for the nearest exit, planning a route out, informing the person with you as to these plans. The next step is to survey the audience for characters that raise your hackles, and you plan again. Uncomfortable, sad, even tragic, for what it says about the state of the world, but reality is what it is.

The question is, how many of us really do understand the concept of reality and adapt our behavior and thoughts to it. So many of us have constructed our own individual la-la lands and refuse to recognize that alterations and rehabs are necessary. Leaks from a roof must be attended to, foundation cracks must be addressed, and the same with society. That is our home and we must make sure that it remains viable and stable.

We have fallen down on that task, failing abysmally. Society is so rife with cracks, fractures in its very foundation, that one wonders if there is any hope. Hypocrisy and 'outrage' rule the day. Talk to an intelligent young adult and you will hear the cynicism our behavior has engendered in them. Yet these are the people who have a great burden: either they attempt and succeed in rehabbing this society of ours or the new society will take its place and we are lost. We will have failed to find the nearest exit, failed to plot our escape route, and certainly failed in our evaluation of the attendees in the society with us, misreading them and the danger they pose. 

Yet more shootings over the weekend and this is the comment we get from a supposed to be responsible leader from our politicos. "Evil exists in this world. HB 1927 gives law-abiding citizens the ability to fight back, to protect themselves and their families w/out being restricted by the govt," ... "God bless and comfort those killed and affected by the shooting in Austin today. It's time for us to fight back."  It is in support of a bill that loosens even more the restrictions on obtaining guns, and pushes the argument that gun owners should fight back - more shootings, more death, an ever growing rancid and hate filled bloody concept.

Yet there is no blowback from the GOP about this comment, just as they defended Trump's incitement on Jan. 6 and ignored the obvious and ever growing heap of proof of the prep work that went into it. No, for they have found their new Public Enemy #1 - Maxine Waters - a feisty woman courageous enough to state the truth that everyone knows yet are afraid to voice and the reality of what will happen should one verdict or another be given in the Chauvin trial. Her remarks “I hope that we’re going to get a verdict that says guilty guilty guilty,” she said ... “And if we don’t, we cannot go away.”  - are atta Wcked by that "white lamb" Cruz, Mephistopheles of our time. She added -   “We’ve got to stay on the street. And we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”  What that means is to continue to protest, but those with violence in their heart will put a different spin on it, projecting their own views upon and over hers.

So the question is this. Do we have an exit strategy? Do we know the nearest exit or substitutes for it? Do we have several routes planned and have we kept our companions informed. Have we spoken plainly? Have we attempted to avoid violence and riots and pandemonium or have we ceded all to the  cracks of society, and to the dangerous ones who fear only justice, compassion, equality, honesty, and safety?

The answer is awaiting finality. We have to choose. WE have to opt for sanity or hatred. WE have to choose between a future for our kids or a Mad Max society. Will we choose correctly? ........

KNUCKLEHEADS?

  John Boehner, who himself must share in the road leading up to the insurrection of Jan. 6, has now called the America First Caucus "idiotic" and its adherents, "Knuckleheads". But that is wrong, in so many ways, dangerous ways. Playing down a dangerous trend, a movement based on hate and incitement to violence, is simply opening the door to an existential danger. How many dictators throughout history have been called clowns and worse, yet the danger they did to humankind is beyond description in so many ways.

Hitler was called a clown. Nero was a target of epithets and insults, and Mussolini was poked fun at for his grandiose military costumes. Trump was laughed at even as his following, a dangerous, wildly skewed demographic, grew and finally erupted at the Capitol. I wonder how many people out there realize how close this government came to being overthrown, how near to death by violence and lynching, the leaders of the body politic were. Those who knew - denied, denied, denied, made little of it, trying to hide facts behind the ever growing storm of Big Lies.

One would think that the nation had enough, that a close call with death, literal and figurative, would have set the stage for some sanity, some reality, to clear the fog in so many heads, but it did not. In fact, in my opinion, we are now at a more dangerous point for now we have the official beginnings and openly expressed desires to found a 'caucus' of supposed leaders that is based purely on hate, purely on the same fascistic foundations of Hitler and the Nazi party. While suggestions of death and labor camps have not yet been made openly, the quarters of migrants, the hatred expressed towards them, the ugliness of attitudes towards anyone other than Anglo-Saxon white, well, it does not bode well for the rest of us. If you deny it, well, it is not only your neck at stake but also mine and the people I love along with anyone who opposes such virulent hatred.

No, these are not knuckleheads or idiotic. They are dangerously shrewd mentally damaged souls and minds who are too close to the seat and reins of power in this country. Those who laughed at Hitler spent their last days in a concentration camp or prison prior to horrific deaths. Those who laugh at Putin find themselves in a revived gulag. And here? I shudder to think of  the possibilities. And mind you, they are not out there, for they have been expressed already.

Trump is a dangerous joke, for we laugh, but he remains in the public eye, damaging all even as he plays his eternal golf game. Taylor-Greene is a fascist, a hater, a hatemonger and needs to be out, expelled from Congress and banned from all legal political bodies. No, it is not Maxine Waters inciting violence, but rather the Trumpians and worse who are the culprits here.

Even more dangerous, for they have no clue as to the real danger of their enabling of the haters, of their falling in line with dangerous people as they struggle to maintain their power, trading partisanship for patriotism, are the people like McConnell, or those like Murkowski or even Kinzinger, who speak out, but so often, too often, vote the straight party line. Words not followed and buoyed by acts will not do the trick.

Today, we are the knuckleheads for denying reality, for dismissing the true danger to our nation's soul. A woman wrote of a purple blister on her finger, a sign of a developing sepsis, which caused removal of fingertips and feet. Well, we already have too many purple blisters on our nation's body, signaling an all too well developed sepsis of the nation's soul.

Soon there will be no medicine strong enough to cure this sepsis, certainly not without violence and bloodshed. Perhaps that stage has already begun and I am closing my eyes to that truth. Maybe. I don't know what to think what with all the shootings, the growing danger of the white supremacists, the explosive anger of so many groups who have been targets of virulent hatred.

All I do know, with every bone in my body, is that at the very least, we are on the cusp of a life change within this nation. Either we go one way or the other, for there appears to be no middle road viable at this point. Too bad, for extremism at either end is not good, to say the least.

Wonder what history books or discs or whatever will be used in the future, will say about this time period. Guess it will depend on who is on top. We had better be, not the not so inaptly named 'knuckleheads".

ALEINU

 

 On us. The burden, the responsibility is upon our shoulders.

The Aleinu project is named after a prayer in the daily morning services that praises G-d and His creations. It is a recognition of His glory and might and a presentation of a deep faith. As part of this project, the participants were asked to develop a reason, a purpose, a project that might benefit others as well as themselves.

This is all part of a simple but powerful Jewish precept - Tikkun Olam - the fixing of the world. Whether it be distributing foods or joining Habitat for Humanity, there are many worthy and simple ways in which to better this world. The main idea is to understand and accept the individual responsibility. It is on us, each and every one of us.

As one ages one tends to look back at a life mostly lived already and wonder if indeed there is any legacy left, any display of the fulfillment of Tikkun Olam, leaving a good mark upon this world, be it in big or small deeds. One especially looks at the children and grandchildren. Who are they and what have they done or are planning to do with their lives. Are they grubbing for fame and money or are they doing good, helping others. taking upon themselves the burden of trust and faith and contributing to this world?

Read what follows and if you can, follow through, but the most important thing here to me is that yes, I have a legacy, the best one that can be left. There are two generations following who understand their responsibilities and mean to follow through on them. This is from one granddaughter and it brought tears to my eyes. I do not always understand why things happen. I often wonder and question why I have PD, for though one can fight off or slow down its harmful effects on the body, the knowledge that it will get worse is always there. One wonders why G-d has 'chosen' yourself to pick upon! 

Yet, when I look back at my life since confirmation or what I have known for quite some time, I realize that I have been blessed. There are now special people in my life who were not there before. Friendships have deepened with many and there has been an outreach from unexpected places and people. I have learned to express heretofore unknown interests and skills and am still flabbergasted by that. And I have seen beautiful caring and love from my kids and the grandchildren as the older ones have, one by one, come down to help, especially after two bad falls. Yes, despite it all, I am blessed.

Aleinu - on us and always will be. Just a bit of contribution of time and effort, of behavior, can go a long way. Whether one is Jewish or not, whether one is young or old, the idea of this project comes through, the effort to improve oneself and influence others is clear. Please read the following, even if only to make me even prouder of this young lady and her cousins as each and every one of them  is involved in projects that help others or, in the case of the youngest, in a beautiful love of Nature.

Hi everyone! Shavua Tov!

I noticed that at the end of davening, I was always in a rush to get to the next place and to finish in a hurry. My aleinu was very rushed, and most of the time I was saying aleinu while walking out the door to get on with my day. For a while I've wanted to do something but I didn't exactly know what. A few years ago, my grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. As the years go by, she has less control over her body and her movements, and there is no cure. As a zchus, (plea), for her refuah, (healing), I started standing still during aleinu. I made cards that you could keep in your siddur and it would mean the world for me if you all could take part in this. I'm attaching a link to a google form. All you have to do is fill in your name and address and how many cards you would like to order and I'll send them to you over the next few weeks. You can order as many as you'd like. I'm also attaching a photo that could be passed around in chats along with the form to get as many people involved as we can. Please share this with friends and family and hopefully with Hashem's help, we can make a huge difference!!! Thank you all and tizku l'mitzvot!!!!! (Be worthy of doing good deeds.)

Here is something of what the submission would look like, with  a space for your answers.

Aleinu Project

* Required

Name *

Your answer

Full Address *

# Street Name, City State ZIP

Your answer

Amount of cards *

Your answer

Tizku L'mitzvos!

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2Fe2M2PzzzqmMUhyQX8&data=04%7C01%7C%7C5bab039bd73f469c8db908d902412615%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637543301096619034%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=WPVF7eKZ2dZgFJiHd7jgTwKLaUl3sJF6BRZFg3acUvM%3D&reserved=0

"LO SI"

  Not in English, this is the title of a nominated song for an Oscar. Listening to it even in Spanish for a non speaker of that language, it is quite clear that this plaintive song has an important message for the listener. The singer is reassuring her beloved that even if no one sees or hears or pays attention to him, she does. She sees. She hears. And in this world where so many of us feel invisible, this is an important promise.

In this  crowded world of ours, speeding by us at a crazy pace, it is easy to feel abandoned, not important to the scheme of things and no one will miss you should you simply disappear. You are of no import. But along comes the singer to reassure you. You do count. You are seen. You are heard. You are of value.

This is the exact opposite of the message that we are getting from the GOP as they endeavor to continue to pass restrictive voting rights bills throughout the country. Or rather non voting rights. Evidently, unless one is a Republican, one is not to be seen or heard, but rather to be deprived of a vital right. But these disenfranchised people are indeed heard and seen and valued. There are people out there who care and who are waging the good fight for them.

But how do we overcome a world where important bills, where the basis of democracy, is tampered with daily? Three months after the insurrection at the Capitol we are still partisan based fighting over what to do, over the causes, the whys and the hows, the answers to vital questions of responsibility and even more importance, of prevention and deterrence of future attacks. We have rabid GOP Senators who are far more concerned with shooting off their dangerous mouths than with the safety of this nation, with the understanding of the horrid meaning of January 6. So much so do they do this, that one is no longer shocked by the outrageous behavior and statements of Hawley, a troublemaker of the first order, or Jim Jordan whose rudeness and misbehavior were so blatant and long lasting that he had to be told by the Chair to shut his mouth!

Schumer talks of "gotcha" amendments that are attached to the Voting Rights Bill. Imagine it! Ever closer to two centuries after the end of the Civil War, we are still fighting it. Who is eligible to vote? Is it to be restricted due to color, place of habitation, hours of work, ease of access to ballots, or should it be made simpler for all? Do we allow the inclusion of "gotcha" amendments that are tacked on, really a version of extortion, as they are forced yes votes in non sequitur attachments to an important bill, too important to be lost due to these other amendments attached to it. The sane know the answer. The others do not. They do not want their "others" to be seen or heard and certainly wish to mute their input and influence in the body politic.

What does this restricted vision and hearing do? It allows for yet more gun violence, as there is  another mass shooting, this time in Indianapolis. It allows for crude and obvious wrongdoing among politicians and big business. It allows for creeps to stage an insurrection against the government, to riot, to threaten to hang those whom they oppose, just like any two bit country. It encourages the growth and strength of prejudice and hatred, the maintenance of misogyny, the corruption of society in so many ways.

We must all embrace the message of this song. We must reassure, in words and actions, that all are seen and heard. All are cared for. We mean to make our society stay on the right path, to check itself, to reassure that errors made were just that -  errors, not on purpose attacks on civilized society. We must be better than we are right now. We must stop our backsliding that is so prevalent today. We must hear and see the truth, the victims and the perpetrators and we must act.

                     "Lo si"

STILL STANDING!

 What's still standing? Lots of things. The Great Pyramid. The Washington Monument. Your childhood home. The old school. The Western Wall. The old geezer who was at least 100 when you were a kid and here he still is! The Capitol! Hopefully, the laws and foundations of a just and compassionate society. We hope. We pray. We try hard.

 However, right now I am referring to something totally different, something personal that does reflect back on the past year and what we have all been living through. So here it is: the legs of the table that we have built from scratch, other than chopping down the tree and milling it into planks and pieces,  well, they are still standing this morning!

 You have no idea what went into that statement. Piece by piece, the planning, the staining, the fitting so it should be as perfect as two very amateur people could do, the finding and sizing of legs and the positioning - oh, the positioning! The CRACK!! as they fell down yet again and doing it all over again. Our determination was fierce.

 So how did we ever get to this point, that in April of 2021, two city raised people would ever get it into their minds that they could build a table, a small one - but still, a table, though we have yet to put a piece of paper on it! Our confidence is strong, our will greater than some inanimate beautiful wood. So, back to the third month or so of the lockdown. 

We were okay, reading, watching shows, talking with friends, but at some point we said we need to do something different, something to change the pace up a bit, a challenge, but an achievable one. Hence, the first shadowbox. And the next. And the next. And the next. until we were out of items to place in the boxes themselves. So....what now?

 On to bigger challenges. We began refurbishing, diving headlong into the esoteric and beautiful world of woods, domestic and exotic. For those who still look at trees and see only their exteriors, there is a whole world awaiting you, secret worlds of colors and patterns, of glorious and inspiring works of Nature. 

 On to the next step. We bought, found, end tables, side tables, seeking only certain types, experimented with various woods, loved the beauty of old fence and barn woods, and our refurbished tables and projects went out all over this country. The shipping!! Oy!!! But what a feeling of satisfaction, of pride. I, who had not a whiff of an artistic sense of creation, me, who still draws stick figures, created new representations of beauty, renewed the life of old furniture and even had requests. Wow! 

 Fast forward a few months and one can see the glimmer of a strange thought. Why not build a table from scratch? No, not a dining room table, not there yet - if ever- but  a small one, just right beside a chair or bed, or as an accent piece. Nothing too bold, just a simple table. Lord, what fools these mortals be! No such thing as simple to beginners.

 More strange, possibly deranged, thoughts invaded my mind even as my hands were busy with the wood and layout for this table. What about some freestyle creative piece, work done to express whatever, on a blank large piece of wood as a background. I saw such pieces on line and actually had done similar, but on the tops and sides of tables. And ladders and stepladders, on revitalized nail kegs now cane stands. I even made my own recycling holding crates and love them! So, like Dora - we can do it! Yes, we can.

Well, the large piece of wood and some other items were bought yesterday. The table? Well, this morning the legs were still standing!! Yay!! Now to firmly and permanently attach them, brace them, and then try out the table. Oy! The suspense is killing me. But there they are - the legs, standing upright, waiting to carry their share of the load. 

 Lessons to be learned. One - never too old to learn new tricks, to take on new challenges. Two - always look for a way to improve a situation. Three - if my table legs are still standing, then so are we. This country has stronger legs than my table. We are still standing despite the attempts and events of the past five years and ongoing to break us. 

My table is still standing, My legs are standing. The country is still standing, battered, but proud, determined to remain so, take on all challenges, and come through the other side still standing.

THE TRUTH IS.......WELL, WHAT IS IT?

 Truth is the real deal. It is the reality, the facts as they occurred in real time, with no embellishment, opinion or interpretation. Yet is that not done all the time, why ''his-story' is just that -a story told by the victor, by the element uppermost in society? Is that not why textbooks vary in presenting the "truth" and the "facts", depending upon the country, the state and the times? Thus how do we know that what we are getting is the truth, the one that is supposedly sworn to in court, and then so obviously and often abrogated.

The past five years of national life have been a challenge to the truth. Political machines often send out their own versions of the truth, as they see it, or want it, and a person must choose. But what if what is put out there is never the truth, or perhaps a tiny grain around which is built a whole loaf of falsehood? The truth is, that this is often a difficulty that is not truly overcome and from that comes the erroneous and infamous decisions in the history of the world.

This tendency to lie, or at the very least to obfuscate the truth, has not trickled, but poured down the tiers of society, with truth being run ragged. Indeed, it is one of the endangered species on this planet! It behooves us to develop methods of protection for truth, the idea and value of it.

So Georgia legislators of the GOP ilk lie about their anti voting rights bill as being one that insures voting rights and truth. UCO here, in the person of David Israel and cohorts deny the interest of the residents here for the sake of seven people who did not show up. Lack of announcement, over a year of cancelations, and yet 107 showed up, hungry for information and they were rudely shut down and chastised on Israel's blog as being uninterested. I rather think the truth is that David Israel was not interested in relating the truths of the past year and why? Lest he be censored? Lest we hear how he has neglected our needs, our contract needs, the Millennium Agreement or its replacement, and on and on. Truth? Not here.

How about the truth in society that prejudice is endemic and epidemic in it. One group hates the other, prejudice is a common factor to all, and the song which iterates how groups of people hate each other in a long, self defeating and depressing train of hate tells it all. This hatred is with us since the dawn of mankind. It leads to war, to poverty, to loss of benefits and progress, to inequality, to disaster for poor families, to oppression. To murder and genocide - nothing good. Yet the truth is, that no one group is free from prejudice No one group has all the right on its side, being totally free of any guilt or complicity in this matter. Anti Asian. Anti Black. Anti Brown. Anti White. Anti Jewish. Anti Catholic. Anti Shia. Anti Rohingya. Anti Armenians. Anti Kurds. Anti Democrats. Should I keep going? 

And in all these anti categories is the kernel - that truth is rejected and blame assigned to all else rather than to where it belongs. We do not want to claim ownership of it even as we lie through our teeth. Even as we go to extremes. For example, take the anti police feeling today. True, they have often proceeded unchecked, shot or harassed innocent people, but there are times that police must exercise force. That is a part of their job in serving and protecting. What we need is a change in society that endeavors to eliminate the causes of the violence, the necessity and appropriateness of proper force, the explosion of gun ownership by so many, too many, who should not have possession of weapons. Much to do and so little time or effort given to it.

Who does the choosing of the truth of society? We do. It is what we allow, what we want, what we call for. "Around here it is not a matter of finding the truth but of deciding which lie you live with better."

(Flannery O' Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters)

Not good, folks, not good.

"A VERY DANGEROUS TIME"

  Yet more garbage going out in the news, from local stupidities to national ones. Florida is continuing to raise an ugly profile as it adds a $9.7 million dollar home purchase by Junior. Oh, yuck! Yet another Trump. Yet another liar who claims to fight for the underdog even as he buys a home that has its own gate, its own large pool and over an acre of 'backyard'. It could accommodate the dwellings of many of his supporters within this house! Maybe he will invite them over for tea.

So Florida gains yet another black mark in its political column. Trump. Trump Jr. Kushner. Goetz. DeSantis. Scott. Rubio. Mast. Not a one of these names is a true champion of the people, and have voted consistently to support Trumpian policies, bought into the election debacle, and refused to impeach a corrupt and treasonous Trump. Patriots? Not really!

Local politicians sell out the people of Florida as they approve an overabundance of building. Developments cover what was once farms, losing a traditional feature of Florida. Trees are cut down to be replaced by heat generating concrete. Office 'condominiums' are being built at an incredible rate even as the ones already built are not nearly at capacity. Once bucolic roads are being enlarged as grassy areas are drastically narrowed. Wonder why? So do I.

Yet even more local wrong doings. The same dude that so earnestly wrote about coming to delegate assemblies has canceled his own committee meeting. Again, a cancelation. Does this garbage ever end? What next? Cancellation of UCO for good, or an honest presentation of it as a dictatorship with the rest of its apparatus declared null and void? It already is just about at that status so no shock there! None at all.

Then of course we have the "replacement theory" controversy. Tucker Carlson used it on his show in a discussion with a guest and in a monologue. The theory, supported and promulgated by white supremacists, chanted in Charlottesville, states that white people will be replaced by people not white - including Jews and all immigrants. It is one of the most vile racist statements and policies ever, chanted and pushed by creeps, by Hitler, by the old Czars by any  and all anti Semites who are right out there in their miserable convictions. For time immemorial!

Spoken right there on the air, Carlson and Murdoch deny it, deny its import, its ugliness and say it really is a "voting rights issue". Of course it is that for that ugliness is a natural extension of that prejudice and the fear of these bigots that their votes will be replaced by those of non whites and accuse "Jews" of instigating this program. Wow!! Jews are such a teeny tiny minority of the world's population yet apparently have superpowers. We cannot even agree amongst ourselves on what synagogue to attend, or even to bother, what prayer book to use, what to say about Israel, yet we apparently all agree on world takeover! What crap!! What dangerous garbage spewing out of the mouths of human garbage.

So yes, Mr. Gingrich, this is indeed a "very dangerous time for the country". But look back and check it out and see who has brought us to this point and who continues on this path. Let us all look back and forward and within ourselves and truly be honest in our evaluation, in our recognition of the individual responsibility we all share in allowing this poisonous theory, these corrupt practices, these corrupted and corruptible, power hungry politicians to flourish.

Danger ahead indeed.

CREEPING ROT

  This morning I read one of the most blatant hypocritical statements ever. A plea was made on David's personal site masquerading as the official Village site, to please come to the next scheduled Delegate Assembly, make a quorum and have a meeting. David then adds his two cents and says it was well said - which it was, but if only that were the whole story.

The comment, the plea for all to attend the next scheduled meeting was almost as good as spitting into the wind. It will be in May, a time when quorums are notoriously difficult to achieve as many people leave for more northern homes. In addition, after more than a year without scheduled Assemblies and other committee meetings being constantly canceled, people did not even know there was a meeting scheduled and thus, did not show up. Nor will they show up in May as they will either not be here, or not know there is a meeting, or will simply blow it off as useless, as the rest of UCO has been for us over the past year especially.

There were 107 people there. These were people hungry, desperate even, for information about just what UCO has done or not done over the past year. What about our financial standing? What about the Millennium  renewal? What are future plans? And on and on. Meetings that did not meet quorums have been held before, simply to pass over information. Now, when there has been a severe drought in information re UCO and CV, the dictator promptly cancels and dismisses, not allowing anyone to speak or raise an issue. 

Anyone smell the rat, the bad odor here? There is too much that appears to be rotten with UCO now, after a too long usurpation of the role of president by David Israel. Perhaps he might have been productive in his first years, though in a most abrasive and rude manner, but he quickly deteriorated into a petty dictator, driving our finances, with the help of enablers. Ed Black who is nowhere to be found now after a disagreement with David. Now passed Joy Vestal, Bob Marshal. And just go down the list of the retreads of the committees, who supported him no matter what he proposed, no matter what concerns were raised.

Now we have had a year of blackout, no information coming through, no details re our finances, no information at all about the new contract with Benenson, deep pocket issues for long terms, a basic survival ingredient in the lives of CV residents. It is time for David to go. Preferably he should be removed from office, but if it cannot be achieved now, particularly during the more vacant seasons of the year here, then he MUST be opposed during the next election. Perhaps, to be merciful, judging on his appearance - or lack of appearances at meetings - and his behavior, he is too ill to function properly and does not cogitate as he should. So mercifully, for all concerned, he needs to retire. Give him a dinner, a plaque and let us get this show back on the road in a proper lane at the proper speed, with the proper information coming through. While we are at it, let us return to term limits. Inertia is no excuse for what we have allowed.

Think about this. Think how we have been our own worst enemy at times. Think how this new world of ours demands fresh and knowledgeable leaders, ones who can think outside the box, who are more up to date on the new information that bombards us every day. A person who knows how to delegate, to unite, to meld, into a friendlier community. That is most emphatically not David, certainly not at this point. Creeping rot can and must be stopped before it is too late and totally overwhelms us.