Saturday, August 20, 2016
Friday, August 19, 2016
RE STEW RICHLAND ARTICLE
Here is another guest posting and I will defer mine until Saturday nite or Sunday morning. This issue is important and well worth the double postings. It is called who is the boss in our democracy?
Stew, re your posting about ID cards at pools being an unwritten WPRF rule, this is
what I think. You just don't understand (I say that with a smirk on my face). YOU'RE
IN CENTURY VILLAGE, WEST PALM BEACH. The dictatorship that exists and what
is passed down to the subordinate dictators and the appointed knaves makes it
difficult to enjoy your homestead.
Oh, oh, --- the men with the arm bands are looking at me. There are about 500 rules,
regulations, CV laws, governing controls, policies, house orders, procedures governing
behavior, principles of conduct, and more, --- all at this Century Village that make for
not so comfortable living. You're prohibited from doing this and doing that, -- practically
everything. The next thing that the dictator will want is your finger prints, your blood
type and the password to your computer.
There are methods and means to do things for the benefit of all of the people, and there
are methods and means from the dark ages where you are ordered to comply or suffer
dire consequences. The latter is the case here in CVWPB.
Unfortunately in a dictatorship, matters can only get worse, and when they become
extremely bad, they seem to hit a floor with no bottom. The dictator and his co-dictators
say that CV is a marvelous place to live. Of course, -- they control the newspaper, the
TV; they can say whatever they want before the Delegates to convince them that all is
great in CV, and smite flat anyone who may have a legitimate opposing view. When
you control the gavel, basically you control what is happening at the time.
I've said this a number of times before, and I'll say it again, --- because of this dictatorship,
CVWPB will no doubt become the costliest condominium complex to live at among
Florida's more that 5,000 condominium complexes.
This place is morally and politically corrupt, and there doesn't seem to be anyway to
topple over the dictator, his subordinate dictators and the bowing knaves. Nobody seems
to care, and the ones that do, are afraid of being persecuted by a tyrannical ogre having
dictatorial might, and fear of retaliation for speaking and acting righteously.
There is only one way, in my considered opinion, that this Village can really survive the
long term, and that is to change the dictator to a more people oriented person. With him
will also go his subordinate dictators, the knaves, the people given committee jobs who
know nothing about what committee-people are supposed to know; the newspaper
suck-ups; the "Hail Caesar" people all gone; and WPRF told what they can and can't do
all relative to the needs and wants of the paying unit owners and renters.
It's not that I totally dislike or hate the president of UCO, Mr. Israel, ---- its just that he
represents the true and absolute meaning of a DICTATOR, and he goes to extremes to
be mean and cowardly and he has exhibited hundreds of examples of the despicable
manner in which he relates to people.
So, when some Senior Citizen lady at the pool is berated and talked down to for not
having her CV ID in hand, --- you have to know where all that is coming from, and
trickling down to an untrained security guard. The DICTATOR is the man who is
ultimately responsible; this is classroom 101.
Rome, Italy, had a dictator named Nero. That beautiful city at that time was brought to
its knees by dictator Nero. Yeah, one man, a dictator with full and absolute control
can do it. Fortunately, Nero committed suicide and the wicked domination ended.
EDWARD J. ROSS
ATTENTION EVA RACHESKY BY STEW RICHLAND
This is a guest posting by Stew Richland and a very important one at that. please read. I will post in the afternoon so people will have plenty of time to read Stew's important thought piece.A lesson learned is never really forgotten.
In the days of old, when Knights were bold, in order for them to obtain a Knighthood by their lord, they had to learn some basic lessons on their civil obligations. This was known as the Code of Chivalry. This code emphasized courtesy to women. In most civilized societies children are taught to respect all adults and when adults are at the senior citizen level we must extend them every courtesy. “Good Form” as our British cousins observe includes opening a door, carrying a package, offering your seat and most important of all talking to seniors in a polite, moderate tone, speaking slowly so they could process your request and finally acknowledging the fact that many of these seniors are physically impaired in some way and must use a device to assist them in walking.
Stew Richland
In the days of old, when Knights were bold, in order for them to obtain a Knighthood by their lord, they had to learn some basic lessons on their civil obligations. This was known as the Code of Chivalry. This code emphasized courtesy to women. In most civilized societies children are taught to respect all adults and when adults are at the senior citizen level we must extend them every courtesy. “Good Form” as our British cousins observe includes opening a door, carrying a package, offering your seat and most important of all talking to seniors in a polite, moderate tone, speaking slowly so they could process your request and finally acknowledging the fact that many of these seniors are physically impaired in some way and must use a device to assist them in walking.
Well in the last few days we have seen a growing number of incidents at our pools that clearly illustrate that our security patrol lacks training in basic “Chivalry” training and lack the simple basic prerequisites to deal with our more senior citizens.
A few days ago the rover security patrol was ordered to enter our pool areas and ask bathers for their “IDs.” There were no signs posted on the entrances to the pool area to inform residents that this was the new norm at the pools. Prior to this, the only time a security patrol was observed was when they drove past the pool on their rounds and the only time they entered a pool area was in response to a call to security when children were jumping into the pool with little regard to the welfare of the seniors sharing the pool.
Based on the interviews that I have conducted as a member of the P@S Committee and some of the phone calls I have received, many of these seniors were told by security to display their IDs. Many had left their IDs at home, some were left in their vehicles, but none carried them into the pool. Security demanded that all IDs must be shown as proof that they were legal residents and had pool privileges. The burden of getting out of the pool, pushing their walkers to go to obtain their IDs or even going out to their car was very stressful, to say the least. When many of these seniors objected to this intrusion to their recreational time, the security guards posture, language and tone became somewhat rude. In one instance, two more security cars had to be called to render assistance.
In one instance the same security guard returned to the pool that he had visited a few hours earlier and asked the same people to show their ID cards. One pool person shouted at the security guard and reminded him that he was there earlier and should be able to recognize the seniors he had already checked.
There is no question that these seniors were angry with this new WPRF policy. Reactions ranged from refusing to show IDs to security, to ignore them completely or to go as far as forming a committee to raise awareness of these issues.
The problem lies directly on the shoulders of WPRF and those who give the instructions to security. At the very least, WPRF should have informed the seniors that use the pool of this new initiative by the posting these new rules on the entrances of all the pools a few weeks in advance of the policy to advise seniors that IDs must be available when asked to show them. In addition, the rover patrols should have been given some sort of sensitivity training when asking seniors to display their IDs, they would not feel intimidated. At the very least, if a senior could not produce their ID when requested, all security had to say was, “These are the new rules, so please, the next time you come to the pool bring your ID, thank you so much.”
I hope the powers to be consider how they deal with this issue before it escalates to something worse.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
THE CRACKS BENEATH
Walking around in Chicago one would never know that there are tensions riveting the nation. One would never know from the crowds in the stores to the bulging shopping wagons at supermarkets that there is any kind of financial crisis and from the casual conversations one has on line or while waiting for something, one would never know that there is an increased sense of hate and despair within our society. So what to do?
The first thing to do is to know who it is that is speaking, holding forth on whatever topic and then evaluate. For example, listening to Steven Bannon yesterday, the new recruit to Trump's campaign, I thought I was listening to some little pugnacious combative guy who is gonna just show everyone the right way, whether they like it or not. He had an excuse for every misbehavior of Trump's. I sat there muttering back at him and thought how this just confirmed my opinion of Trump and how it is sinking lower every day, not what one wants to think or feel about a Presidential candidate.
But this combative behavior extends to the entire Republican Party. Instead of formally and publicly disavowing Trump as their candidate and concentrating on the other open positions - the better for them to stall the government for yet another few years - they are going rabid about those damn emails. Now they want to publish all they get from the FBI and why they got anything in the first place is puzzling. I would like to have the political affiliations of those who made that decision investigated. In any case, these people who were so rabid about these emails now claim that there is nothing that cannot be published to the public as they are generally unclassified, be it the original emails or the papers of he investigation - so if that is true then what the heck what they yelling about in the first place? The fact that by using that server she avoided the server of the State Department that had already been hacked by both the Chinese and the Russians? And now we have Trump being backed by his best cheer leader ever - Putin! Topsy turvy world we live in.
What I would like to see totally explained and justified is the exchange of money for people held in Iranian jails. I thought we did not pay ransom or deal with terrorists as USA policy but I guess things changed and the Obama administration forgot to tell us. I would like to hear Clinton's opinion on this and while I most certainly sympathize with those captives and families, this only opens the door for more dealing with terrorists, funding them so they can cause more trouble for us and in any case, where is the last one left there -what is his fate- Robert Levinson, where are you?
This hiding the truth, shading the truth has become habit at all levels of government. We have it here in Florida, and G-d knows that PBC is a disaster zone for the virtues of honesty and truth in so many instances, and here in CV how many times has the truth been avoided, shall we say and only appears when the challenges are too much to ignore. At least we have the Finance Committee on air but again, as I will listen to it later I have to wonder was there tampering with it? That suspicion eats away at trust, at faith in our system and I wish it were not so. We question the whole radio and Channel 63 business, that which belongs to us and not David Israel and yet these two entities along with The Rag have been used as shills for him, with the editors long overdue to be turfed out, retired to pasture.
And what about the cracks in our voting system? Personally, I feel there should be ID necessary but perhaps there can be more that is acceptable and if sometimes there is a bit of difficulty in getting this ID, well maybe it would make it all the more appreciated, but there must be a sensible limit to any difficulty, especially if the targets are voters that would go to a specific party for the most part. Not playing nicely when we block voters. It is of the same mentality of those who used to encourage the "vote early, vote often" system of voting. But blocking voters does not only happen in the larger world; all one had to do was stand on the ridiculous line at the last vote and see how people were told they could not vote and funny how so many of them were for one person rather than another. We too, here in CV, must still reform our voting system. Computers are not enough; there must be an elimination of any participation of any UCO official or CV person in the balloting and voting and counting.
And yet even as we might despair, we still find moments of light. Just yesterday I finally clicked something right on Facebook and a year old message popped up, a message from a former student, actually from my first year back at work after all the kids. And it brought tears to my eyes and a validation to my heart. Here was a young man, then a boy, who sought me out on Facebook, any way he could contact me, to say thank you for a talk I had with him and how it has helped him throughout the years. If I did nothing else other than that, I would be pleased with my career but I know from others that there were more of these interactions and again, teaching is hard work, but intrinsically rewarding and the chance to influence others, to help them - is priceless.
So the cracks beneath can still be paved over, filled in and made whole again. But we must work at it, stress the positive, difficult as that might be and work for a better future - in the world, in the country, in the state and in our Village. I only wish I could always remember that feeling of hope, of optimism for that is how we will move forward but! we must also be realistic at the same time, face the truth and correct the wrongs if we are to move forward.
The first thing to do is to know who it is that is speaking, holding forth on whatever topic and then evaluate. For example, listening to Steven Bannon yesterday, the new recruit to Trump's campaign, I thought I was listening to some little pugnacious combative guy who is gonna just show everyone the right way, whether they like it or not. He had an excuse for every misbehavior of Trump's. I sat there muttering back at him and thought how this just confirmed my opinion of Trump and how it is sinking lower every day, not what one wants to think or feel about a Presidential candidate.
But this combative behavior extends to the entire Republican Party. Instead of formally and publicly disavowing Trump as their candidate and concentrating on the other open positions - the better for them to stall the government for yet another few years - they are going rabid about those damn emails. Now they want to publish all they get from the FBI and why they got anything in the first place is puzzling. I would like to have the political affiliations of those who made that decision investigated. In any case, these people who were so rabid about these emails now claim that there is nothing that cannot be published to the public as they are generally unclassified, be it the original emails or the papers of he investigation - so if that is true then what the heck what they yelling about in the first place? The fact that by using that server she avoided the server of the State Department that had already been hacked by both the Chinese and the Russians? And now we have Trump being backed by his best cheer leader ever - Putin! Topsy turvy world we live in.
What I would like to see totally explained and justified is the exchange of money for people held in Iranian jails. I thought we did not pay ransom or deal with terrorists as USA policy but I guess things changed and the Obama administration forgot to tell us. I would like to hear Clinton's opinion on this and while I most certainly sympathize with those captives and families, this only opens the door for more dealing with terrorists, funding them so they can cause more trouble for us and in any case, where is the last one left there -what is his fate- Robert Levinson, where are you?
This hiding the truth, shading the truth has become habit at all levels of government. We have it here in Florida, and G-d knows that PBC is a disaster zone for the virtues of honesty and truth in so many instances, and here in CV how many times has the truth been avoided, shall we say and only appears when the challenges are too much to ignore. At least we have the Finance Committee on air but again, as I will listen to it later I have to wonder was there tampering with it? That suspicion eats away at trust, at faith in our system and I wish it were not so. We question the whole radio and Channel 63 business, that which belongs to us and not David Israel and yet these two entities along with The Rag have been used as shills for him, with the editors long overdue to be turfed out, retired to pasture.
And what about the cracks in our voting system? Personally, I feel there should be ID necessary but perhaps there can be more that is acceptable and if sometimes there is a bit of difficulty in getting this ID, well maybe it would make it all the more appreciated, but there must be a sensible limit to any difficulty, especially if the targets are voters that would go to a specific party for the most part. Not playing nicely when we block voters. It is of the same mentality of those who used to encourage the "vote early, vote often" system of voting. But blocking voters does not only happen in the larger world; all one had to do was stand on the ridiculous line at the last vote and see how people were told they could not vote and funny how so many of them were for one person rather than another. We too, here in CV, must still reform our voting system. Computers are not enough; there must be an elimination of any participation of any UCO official or CV person in the balloting and voting and counting.
And yet even as we might despair, we still find moments of light. Just yesterday I finally clicked something right on Facebook and a year old message popped up, a message from a former student, actually from my first year back at work after all the kids. And it brought tears to my eyes and a validation to my heart. Here was a young man, then a boy, who sought me out on Facebook, any way he could contact me, to say thank you for a talk I had with him and how it has helped him throughout the years. If I did nothing else other than that, I would be pleased with my career but I know from others that there were more of these interactions and again, teaching is hard work, but intrinsically rewarding and the chance to influence others, to help them - is priceless.
So the cracks beneath can still be paved over, filled in and made whole again. But we must work at it, stress the positive, difficult as that might be and work for a better future - in the world, in the country, in the state and in our Village. I only wish I could always remember that feeling of hope, of optimism for that is how we will move forward but! we must also be realistic at the same time, face the truth and correct the wrongs if we are to move forward.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
AND THE WORLD GOES ROUND AND ROUND
So have we reached the high point yet of idiocy in this campaign. Once again the FBI stirs up the dust in an area that has been covered and it releases emails to Congress and now the Republicans who screamed to the heavens about a release of oh such important items, now these same people are thinking about releasing the same emails and this after they have been reclassified and not unclassified as most were during that time. So which is it? Either they are secret or they are not and you cannot have it both ways.And this at the same time that it seems the vaunted NSA has been hacked itself. Oooh, maybe we should send David back to them - for keeps, as he is the self proclaimed savior of the country after 9/11 so perhaps he can do it again, huh?
The hypocrisy of this whole campaign and our era are truly nauseating but I must say that Trump plans now to come out in the open. No more allowing others to try to contain him and his mouth and ideas. Nope, he has recalibrated and reorganized and placed new people at the head of his campaign and these new people are those who have encouraged him to run as a nationalist, as an outsider, all along. So the truth now openly hits the fan, does it not. And now is the time for Americans to truly look inside their head and heart and ask themselves if they are truly ready to support a nationalist with all the dirty laundry and bad tastes that it brings with it.
As far as I am concerned this man is a walking disaster and he needs to be put in his place. And if he calls others names then he has to take those that apply to him. Influenced politics? Let us see. He owed $30 million in taxes to the state of New Jersey yet under his good ol' boy Chris Christie, the state decided that oh, $5 million would be enough. Really and truly? Wonder if we could all work out such advantageous deals should any of us find ourselves in a tax mess! But then again, our friends for the most part lack such connections, correct? So enough of this kettle and pot business and get down to the nitty gritty. Argue the issues and let the truth come out. Trump is a potential dictator, a potential violator of our Constitution for he lacks any knowledge and all respect for it and will ride roughshod over it.
Follow his ideas to their end of the line conclusions and see what happens. I just spoke to a lovely kid the other day who was born in another country and there are now some visa issues, never mind that he came here legally and has grown up here since he was an infant - so what, would he have been barred as an -shudder - immigrant? I mean where does this all end? And if we go down the line do we check the national heritage of those who displease the government and then several generations down from their ancestors immigrating to this country, they are told that uh uh, now they qualify as immigrants and out they go! See, it is just silly, yet dangerous. And what, will the last one out shut the lights too?
I am not a fan of free reign and no rules. But neither am I a fan of Fascism. Liars? Yes, politicians often lie, probably part of the job description but can we not at least demand a basic honesty, a holding of the interest of the electorate at heart, statements made with sanity in mind and speech, support and respect of world leaders and a lack of hatred of "others"? This whole election is getting quite frightening and I wish, frankly, that it would get back on track. At least then I could get back to our own situation and I could ask more questions like - why is the venue of the Finance Committee meeting being changed to a smaller one? Is it due to a lack of A/C still and if so, why not cancel it as the Broadband was? It does happen, does it not?Will it even be posted or will it be another of David Israel's selective publications, where hiding the truth is prominent and first in importance. Yesterday there was no main Clubhouse because of a lack of A/C. Was it the chillers again? And if so, when are we finally going to fix this situation that has not been correct since the rebuilding of the Clubhouse after the hurricanes - and after a major delay in doing even that!! Can we not do anything correctly the first time round and stop playing around with our funds? Who keeps making these faulty decisions and bad picks of contractors? We all know the truth there so let us look forward to another election and some better transparency and in the meanwhile go to today's meeting and ask hard questions and demand answers. Do not let yourselves, ourselves, be walked over and on. Our Village, our funds, our lives. Tick. Tock.
And of course, a shoutout to.......
The hypocrisy of this whole campaign and our era are truly nauseating but I must say that Trump plans now to come out in the open. No more allowing others to try to contain him and his mouth and ideas. Nope, he has recalibrated and reorganized and placed new people at the head of his campaign and these new people are those who have encouraged him to run as a nationalist, as an outsider, all along. So the truth now openly hits the fan, does it not. And now is the time for Americans to truly look inside their head and heart and ask themselves if they are truly ready to support a nationalist with all the dirty laundry and bad tastes that it brings with it.
As far as I am concerned this man is a walking disaster and he needs to be put in his place. And if he calls others names then he has to take those that apply to him. Influenced politics? Let us see. He owed $30 million in taxes to the state of New Jersey yet under his good ol' boy Chris Christie, the state decided that oh, $5 million would be enough. Really and truly? Wonder if we could all work out such advantageous deals should any of us find ourselves in a tax mess! But then again, our friends for the most part lack such connections, correct? So enough of this kettle and pot business and get down to the nitty gritty. Argue the issues and let the truth come out. Trump is a potential dictator, a potential violator of our Constitution for he lacks any knowledge and all respect for it and will ride roughshod over it.
Follow his ideas to their end of the line conclusions and see what happens. I just spoke to a lovely kid the other day who was born in another country and there are now some visa issues, never mind that he came here legally and has grown up here since he was an infant - so what, would he have been barred as an -shudder - immigrant? I mean where does this all end? And if we go down the line do we check the national heritage of those who displease the government and then several generations down from their ancestors immigrating to this country, they are told that uh uh, now they qualify as immigrants and out they go! See, it is just silly, yet dangerous. And what, will the last one out shut the lights too?
I am not a fan of free reign and no rules. But neither am I a fan of Fascism. Liars? Yes, politicians often lie, probably part of the job description but can we not at least demand a basic honesty, a holding of the interest of the electorate at heart, statements made with sanity in mind and speech, support and respect of world leaders and a lack of hatred of "others"? This whole election is getting quite frightening and I wish, frankly, that it would get back on track. At least then I could get back to our own situation and I could ask more questions like - why is the venue of the Finance Committee meeting being changed to a smaller one? Is it due to a lack of A/C still and if so, why not cancel it as the Broadband was? It does happen, does it not?Will it even be posted or will it be another of David Israel's selective publications, where hiding the truth is prominent and first in importance. Yesterday there was no main Clubhouse because of a lack of A/C. Was it the chillers again? And if so, when are we finally going to fix this situation that has not been correct since the rebuilding of the Clubhouse after the hurricanes - and after a major delay in doing even that!! Can we not do anything correctly the first time round and stop playing around with our funds? Who keeps making these faulty decisions and bad picks of contractors? We all know the truth there so let us look forward to another election and some better transparency and in the meanwhile go to today's meeting and ask hard questions and demand answers. Do not let yourselves, ourselves, be walked over and on. Our Village, our funds, our lives. Tick. Tock.
And of course, a shoutout to.......
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
GOOD MORNING - I THINK
Greetings from the Windy City. Got here late last nite thanks to our wonderful aviation system and then had work to do to earn my keep! Wash. Dishes. Straightening out. Trying hard to remember who did that for me....oh, that's right, it was ME!! But seriously, I am happy to do what I can for my daughter who is a single mom and has it all on her shoulders.
Anyhow, our flight from PBI was delayed over an hour - what a surprise - and we did not make up time in flight. In fact, we made lovely circles in the sky when we reached Chicago airspace and then finally when we landed not sure where we were as it took a half hour to find a gate! There were people on the plane who had connections to make and we practically threw my seatmate out the door so she could run and then guess what - they shut the door in her face! Night at the airport. That sucks. Aside from all those poor unconnected fliers, the flight was pretty good as we had a little two year old boy otherwise known as Superman to keep us safe, so adorable, and my seatmates were interesting people, part and parcel of the working world of women today - always on the go with pictures of kids being sent all the time.
Kinda' glad I am out of the working world at this point and flying just to see kids and grandkids and not work burdens. And the world continues to deteriorate as we speak and fly. Panic at JFK sent hordes all over, out on the tarmac, under tables, running and shouting and guess what? It was a false alarm. Yup! Nothing actually happened other than someone having a large stupid mouth and everyone reacting to the circumstances of the world. Lucky there was no collateral damage.
So what is the matter with us all? The matter is that we have not tapped our best and our brightest to run the whole shebang and instead we have become the laughing stock of the world. Now others besides me are questioning whether Trump has Alzheimer's, early onset or not. Not only does he refuse to release his taxes, but he also refuses to release his health condition from his doctors and that is not funny. One thing to have a crook accused of stealing $6 million from a Jupiter country club but to have a demented one as well, well......so the question is why does he refuse to release this info. As President he would have to, especially his health, so what is the problem other than something stinks here, reeks to the heavens.
It is time we realize that we need to analyze the situation as it is and not as we wish it to be. We are not in the situation where we have a great choice to make. Names are thrown left and right. Liar. Crook. And yet, if we have to go to the best of the set then again, there is no choice here. Trump and Trump University. Trump and his 3500 lawsuits against him as individual and businessman. Trump as the man who is constantly going broke in so many of his endeavors. Trump who was lucky he had Daddy's cushion of money. Trump who did not have to make his way from an adverse childhood. Trump, whose campaign manager had millions from Ukrainian sources and where is the discussion on this? And we discuss whether Clinton knew that someone was going to a meeting? Or that someone wished to give some knowledge of events in a foreign country? Or that some emails were hacked or not as they were on an unhacked server? Welcome to the club!
I think we have to look at the candidates and evaluate. Who seems to be sane? Who has had the experience? Who is open to people, certainly at this point? Who appears to be losing percentages of supporters by the day? Who has the support of leaders all over the world and who frightens them with erratic behavior and remarks? Even my driver in Chicago last nite initiated a spirited discussion on the matter ( we have hired him before). And here is a guy one might think would be a Trump guy and yet he was Hillary all the way and had major historical points to back up his opinion.
A necessity of thinking before any election is of great importance. There are so many choices locally and one must think and think again before filling in that arrow connection. Who has been honest? Who has done better by us, for us? Who has the interest of CV at heart? Who has an open office and door policy to constituents and who does not? Think. Research. Vote.
And by the way, interesting story came to my ears. A well known figure in CV, a member of UCO and an official in his association has decided that Home Depot is suspicious and he is not satisfied with their credentials and refuses to allow them to do work in a unit there. Truly, is this the roof debacle all over again when a certain roofer was forced upon scared associations after the hurricanes and then roofs came off. I will never forget the sight of the roof of a Dover building hanging over the side.
Why is this allowed? How does a person think he can get away with this. This person has initiated other sneaky maneuvers such as money shenanigans when it came to the roofing bill payments, leaving us essentially busted and thank the Lord above we had Dorothy to get our collective nuts out of the fire.
So when elections come around again here in CV, think carefully. Elect your delegates carefully. Control the misuse of power by a president of a building. Think again and be honest with yourself. Elections nationally, statewide, locally and CV - all the same theories and principles. Truly.
And another shoutout to my avid fan. HI!!!
Anyhow, our flight from PBI was delayed over an hour - what a surprise - and we did not make up time in flight. In fact, we made lovely circles in the sky when we reached Chicago airspace and then finally when we landed not sure where we were as it took a half hour to find a gate! There were people on the plane who had connections to make and we practically threw my seatmate out the door so she could run and then guess what - they shut the door in her face! Night at the airport. That sucks. Aside from all those poor unconnected fliers, the flight was pretty good as we had a little two year old boy otherwise known as Superman to keep us safe, so adorable, and my seatmates were interesting people, part and parcel of the working world of women today - always on the go with pictures of kids being sent all the time.
Kinda' glad I am out of the working world at this point and flying just to see kids and grandkids and not work burdens. And the world continues to deteriorate as we speak and fly. Panic at JFK sent hordes all over, out on the tarmac, under tables, running and shouting and guess what? It was a false alarm. Yup! Nothing actually happened other than someone having a large stupid mouth and everyone reacting to the circumstances of the world. Lucky there was no collateral damage.
So what is the matter with us all? The matter is that we have not tapped our best and our brightest to run the whole shebang and instead we have become the laughing stock of the world. Now others besides me are questioning whether Trump has Alzheimer's, early onset or not. Not only does he refuse to release his taxes, but he also refuses to release his health condition from his doctors and that is not funny. One thing to have a crook accused of stealing $6 million from a Jupiter country club but to have a demented one as well, well......so the question is why does he refuse to release this info. As President he would have to, especially his health, so what is the problem other than something stinks here, reeks to the heavens.
It is time we realize that we need to analyze the situation as it is and not as we wish it to be. We are not in the situation where we have a great choice to make. Names are thrown left and right. Liar. Crook. And yet, if we have to go to the best of the set then again, there is no choice here. Trump and Trump University. Trump and his 3500 lawsuits against him as individual and businessman. Trump as the man who is constantly going broke in so many of his endeavors. Trump who was lucky he had Daddy's cushion of money. Trump who did not have to make his way from an adverse childhood. Trump, whose campaign manager had millions from Ukrainian sources and where is the discussion on this? And we discuss whether Clinton knew that someone was going to a meeting? Or that someone wished to give some knowledge of events in a foreign country? Or that some emails were hacked or not as they were on an unhacked server? Welcome to the club!
I think we have to look at the candidates and evaluate. Who seems to be sane? Who has had the experience? Who is open to people, certainly at this point? Who appears to be losing percentages of supporters by the day? Who has the support of leaders all over the world and who frightens them with erratic behavior and remarks? Even my driver in Chicago last nite initiated a spirited discussion on the matter ( we have hired him before). And here is a guy one might think would be a Trump guy and yet he was Hillary all the way and had major historical points to back up his opinion.
A necessity of thinking before any election is of great importance. There are so many choices locally and one must think and think again before filling in that arrow connection. Who has been honest? Who has done better by us, for us? Who has the interest of CV at heart? Who has an open office and door policy to constituents and who does not? Think. Research. Vote.
And by the way, interesting story came to my ears. A well known figure in CV, a member of UCO and an official in his association has decided that Home Depot is suspicious and he is not satisfied with their credentials and refuses to allow them to do work in a unit there. Truly, is this the roof debacle all over again when a certain roofer was forced upon scared associations after the hurricanes and then roofs came off. I will never forget the sight of the roof of a Dover building hanging over the side.
Why is this allowed? How does a person think he can get away with this. This person has initiated other sneaky maneuvers such as money shenanigans when it came to the roofing bill payments, leaving us essentially busted and thank the Lord above we had Dorothy to get our collective nuts out of the fire.
So when elections come around again here in CV, think carefully. Elect your delegates carefully. Control the misuse of power by a president of a building. Think again and be honest with yourself. Elections nationally, statewide, locally and CV - all the same theories and principles. Truly.
And another shoutout to my avid fan. HI!!!
Monday, August 15, 2016
THINKING IT THROUGH
First I would like to apologize to some people who sent items to post on the blog and they were not. I have been under the weather this past week or so after surgery and a bad allergic reaction, so apologies to all who might feel slighted.
This posting is one that I have been working through in my head and will continue to do so as I write it. People might disagree with it but these words are coming from both heart and mind so please read accordingly. It is a bit long, but worth reading. Worth the thinking it through.
Recently there has been a spate of slave related movies, Civil War movies, a remake of Roots, and an upcoming movie about Nat Turner's Rebellion, a slave rebellion in the South which was bloody and frightening on both sides. There has also been for some time a resurgence of vicious anti Semitism that has become PC and almost can be called the fashion of the day and what is worse is when there are Jews themselves caught up in this viciousness as they parrot those who hate them without realizing what they are doing. And soon the movie Denial will be released, a movie about the Holocaust denier David Irving and the Holocaust historian, Deborah Lipstadt. For those who read Leon Uris's novel QBVII it is as if the book has come to life.
In any case, here are my thoughts as they have developed and are developing mixed with lots of questions. Obviously one of the first is how can people deny the facts of life, the facts on the ground - the camps, the ovens, the smokestacks, the pictures and reels of film, the testimony of those who survived, the diaries left behind by those who did not, and the words of the killers themselves. And yet, deny it they do and when that horrific series of killings and slaughters are denied, the stage is set for more, and trust me, there are people out there willing and able to do so, including right here in our own USA. It is not hard to turn people against another group of people if they are portrayed as "the other", different, lesser beings, worthy of not much at all and therefore, easier to kill and mistreat and torture, et al.
And then we have the period of slavery here in America and even before it was America as an independent country but existed as a colony of Great Britain. The story of Roots begins before the country was established and to give it credit, the role of native Africans in the slave trade is portrayed, though they are given an excuse as being "entrapped" by the rifles and arms of the English, thus escaping full responsibility. But that is not really so is it? No matter the reason, anyone taking part in this trade, black or white, English, American colonist, Portuguese trader, or whomever, anyone - is guilty and yet there are questions to be raised.
Slavery has been part of history since the beginning of time - just as there has been hatred of the Israelites from the beginning of time. It seems hatred has no time when it did not exist. In any case, the conqueror or victor always took the vanquished hostage into captivity and they served their masters as slaves. It was the normal situation. These slaves too lost their background, their roots, and were often lost in the mists of time, lost to their people. The African slaves, no matter where they were taken, had the same experience, losing much of their roots, though in some countries they were able to keep more of it, albeit under slave conditions.
Slavery was an economic tool and a moral degradation of body and soul and the two could never be separated, but people are very good at hiding the truth, covering it up, making pets of some slaves, selling off troublemakers or ignoring the whole situation. Just as the Nazis took Jewish slaves into their homes at the camps to serve as slaves there, and talked in front of them as if they did not exist, did not matter, so too did the slave owners of America and elsewhere. Such was the status of life within the system of slavery. Slaves were sub-human and therefore of no account.
However, what I noticed about this Roots version is that it has almost gone entirely the other way and there are basically no good white people other than a woman who played a spy for Pinkerton and she was quickly dispatched by hanging by a caricature of the evil Southerner. Another one was portrayed as a yelling off the wall preacher who ranted of Hell and the Devil and flames. That was it. And all slaves other than one who chased after Kunta Kinte as he tried to escape are almost all caricatures to a degree as they are presented as the "noble savage" able to overcome all and be wonderful deep hearted people despite their predicament. True, there are always people who can rise above it all, but then again, no group of people is perfect, not at a 100% rate and making it so is being unfair to their humanity as well as going the other way.
Truth to tell, there is no way we can portray it all as it is within the fog of history, some closer, some farther away, but we can try to be fair to all and remember history and the times. WE say to ourselves, we wonder, why did they not know better, why did they not feel deep within their souls the darkness of this slavery, of one person owning another, of this degradation of ALL who partook of it, who supped at the table of this depravity? And yet two centuries later we could have asked the same questions of the Nazi Holocaust and of their native assistants and trust me on that, the Lithuanians, the Ukrainians, many Polish, the French, yes, the French and many others amongst the Netherlands and other conquered countries enthusiastically took part in the killing , in the slaughter of the Jews and other sub-humans of the times. Should they not have known better by then?
But the truth of the matter is that people are fallible and in many evil ways, in turns of thoughts which should long ago have been banished from our minds - but have not and so we continue with the same sins, the same evil. Look today at ISIS and Boko Haram and look at what they do - they take slaves, worker slaves, soldier slaves, sex slaves, and beat and kill and maim and should we not all have known better by now?
History might give some excuse to people, but not really we say, and yet we continue to allow history to form around more slavery and more hate and more evil. We just saw the movie Anthropoid, about the attempt to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, one of the worst that came out of the Nazi movement and in that attempt thousands of Czechs were killed in reprisal. Such is the thinking and the reaction of those who look upon "others" as of lesser importance, lesser matter and therefore it is easier to justify killing them. And yet we read of stories where the murderers of the Holocaust had to be relieved of duty for it seared their hearts as well, the constant slaughter, the cruelty, and yes, the inhumanity of it all.
And one fact keeps coming to the fore. All these people who denied their own humanity just as they denied the humanity of millions of others - these people were never happy, always unhappy, angry, always missing out on the better things in life and no, not the goods and homes and art they stole from others, not their blood and their lives, but of love and peace and serenity. These were never present in their lives and it is as if they knew what they were doing was wrong, beyond wrong, yet how to stop? That they did not know or care to know perhaps. Humans are good at fooling themselves.
So how do we get to the truth of history? Beats me. There is a reason it is called his story. It is the story as the victor allows, the story mostly from the his side of life rather than her story and it all plays a role. One would think that perhaps, hopefully, mankind is improving but there are too many truths of life around the globe to maintain that statement with a straight face. It seems that the old hatreds never go away and if it seems so, it is simply them morphed into some other representation and for all of our sakes can we not do something? Is it not better to live in true peace, with love of family and friends surrounding one rather than the tamped down hate directed at those who would control others? Even look at the hate that is being generated in this Presidential campaign and it did not start there - it came into it with its miserable head held high. Who is right here and who is wrong? How do we distinguish between the "safe" other and the dangerous one? If I knew that - I could rule the world! But who would want to! Who would want to be the target of such hate, such anger - and yet there are those at all levels who want just that, who are seemingly immune to it as they march along in their evil paths. Perhaps we all need to face the truth within ourselves and search deep within our souls for our boundaries and once we do that only then can we perhaps put aside all the lies, all the old and eternal hatreds and become as G-d meant us to be - humans in His/Her image, doing right and justice throughout our lives, caring for family and for the strangers in our midst.
I can use the refrain Tick, tock here again but in all seriousness, sometimes I wonder if we even have the second note alive. Perhaps we are at the Tick only. Read history, learn history and try to understand it for only that and only then can we perhaps avoid the repetition of history that seems to constantly eat at our souls.
This posting is one that I have been working through in my head and will continue to do so as I write it. People might disagree with it but these words are coming from both heart and mind so please read accordingly. It is a bit long, but worth reading. Worth the thinking it through.
Recently there has been a spate of slave related movies, Civil War movies, a remake of Roots, and an upcoming movie about Nat Turner's Rebellion, a slave rebellion in the South which was bloody and frightening on both sides. There has also been for some time a resurgence of vicious anti Semitism that has become PC and almost can be called the fashion of the day and what is worse is when there are Jews themselves caught up in this viciousness as they parrot those who hate them without realizing what they are doing. And soon the movie Denial will be released, a movie about the Holocaust denier David Irving and the Holocaust historian, Deborah Lipstadt. For those who read Leon Uris's novel QBVII it is as if the book has come to life.
In any case, here are my thoughts as they have developed and are developing mixed with lots of questions. Obviously one of the first is how can people deny the facts of life, the facts on the ground - the camps, the ovens, the smokestacks, the pictures and reels of film, the testimony of those who survived, the diaries left behind by those who did not, and the words of the killers themselves. And yet, deny it they do and when that horrific series of killings and slaughters are denied, the stage is set for more, and trust me, there are people out there willing and able to do so, including right here in our own USA. It is not hard to turn people against another group of people if they are portrayed as "the other", different, lesser beings, worthy of not much at all and therefore, easier to kill and mistreat and torture, et al.
And then we have the period of slavery here in America and even before it was America as an independent country but existed as a colony of Great Britain. The story of Roots begins before the country was established and to give it credit, the role of native Africans in the slave trade is portrayed, though they are given an excuse as being "entrapped" by the rifles and arms of the English, thus escaping full responsibility. But that is not really so is it? No matter the reason, anyone taking part in this trade, black or white, English, American colonist, Portuguese trader, or whomever, anyone - is guilty and yet there are questions to be raised.
Slavery has been part of history since the beginning of time - just as there has been hatred of the Israelites from the beginning of time. It seems hatred has no time when it did not exist. In any case, the conqueror or victor always took the vanquished hostage into captivity and they served their masters as slaves. It was the normal situation. These slaves too lost their background, their roots, and were often lost in the mists of time, lost to their people. The African slaves, no matter where they were taken, had the same experience, losing much of their roots, though in some countries they were able to keep more of it, albeit under slave conditions.
Slavery was an economic tool and a moral degradation of body and soul and the two could never be separated, but people are very good at hiding the truth, covering it up, making pets of some slaves, selling off troublemakers or ignoring the whole situation. Just as the Nazis took Jewish slaves into their homes at the camps to serve as slaves there, and talked in front of them as if they did not exist, did not matter, so too did the slave owners of America and elsewhere. Such was the status of life within the system of slavery. Slaves were sub-human and therefore of no account.
However, what I noticed about this Roots version is that it has almost gone entirely the other way and there are basically no good white people other than a woman who played a spy for Pinkerton and she was quickly dispatched by hanging by a caricature of the evil Southerner. Another one was portrayed as a yelling off the wall preacher who ranted of Hell and the Devil and flames. That was it. And all slaves other than one who chased after Kunta Kinte as he tried to escape are almost all caricatures to a degree as they are presented as the "noble savage" able to overcome all and be wonderful deep hearted people despite their predicament. True, there are always people who can rise above it all, but then again, no group of people is perfect, not at a 100% rate and making it so is being unfair to their humanity as well as going the other way.
Truth to tell, there is no way we can portray it all as it is within the fog of history, some closer, some farther away, but we can try to be fair to all and remember history and the times. WE say to ourselves, we wonder, why did they not know better, why did they not feel deep within their souls the darkness of this slavery, of one person owning another, of this degradation of ALL who partook of it, who supped at the table of this depravity? And yet two centuries later we could have asked the same questions of the Nazi Holocaust and of their native assistants and trust me on that, the Lithuanians, the Ukrainians, many Polish, the French, yes, the French and many others amongst the Netherlands and other conquered countries enthusiastically took part in the killing , in the slaughter of the Jews and other sub-humans of the times. Should they not have known better by then?
But the truth of the matter is that people are fallible and in many evil ways, in turns of thoughts which should long ago have been banished from our minds - but have not and so we continue with the same sins, the same evil. Look today at ISIS and Boko Haram and look at what they do - they take slaves, worker slaves, soldier slaves, sex slaves, and beat and kill and maim and should we not all have known better by now?
History might give some excuse to people, but not really we say, and yet we continue to allow history to form around more slavery and more hate and more evil. We just saw the movie Anthropoid, about the attempt to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, one of the worst that came out of the Nazi movement and in that attempt thousands of Czechs were killed in reprisal. Such is the thinking and the reaction of those who look upon "others" as of lesser importance, lesser matter and therefore it is easier to justify killing them. And yet we read of stories where the murderers of the Holocaust had to be relieved of duty for it seared their hearts as well, the constant slaughter, the cruelty, and yes, the inhumanity of it all.
And one fact keeps coming to the fore. All these people who denied their own humanity just as they denied the humanity of millions of others - these people were never happy, always unhappy, angry, always missing out on the better things in life and no, not the goods and homes and art they stole from others, not their blood and their lives, but of love and peace and serenity. These were never present in their lives and it is as if they knew what they were doing was wrong, beyond wrong, yet how to stop? That they did not know or care to know perhaps. Humans are good at fooling themselves.
So how do we get to the truth of history? Beats me. There is a reason it is called his story. It is the story as the victor allows, the story mostly from the his side of life rather than her story and it all plays a role. One would think that perhaps, hopefully, mankind is improving but there are too many truths of life around the globe to maintain that statement with a straight face. It seems that the old hatreds never go away and if it seems so, it is simply them morphed into some other representation and for all of our sakes can we not do something? Is it not better to live in true peace, with love of family and friends surrounding one rather than the tamped down hate directed at those who would control others? Even look at the hate that is being generated in this Presidential campaign and it did not start there - it came into it with its miserable head held high. Who is right here and who is wrong? How do we distinguish between the "safe" other and the dangerous one? If I knew that - I could rule the world! But who would want to! Who would want to be the target of such hate, such anger - and yet there are those at all levels who want just that, who are seemingly immune to it as they march along in their evil paths. Perhaps we all need to face the truth within ourselves and search deep within our souls for our boundaries and once we do that only then can we perhaps put aside all the lies, all the old and eternal hatreds and become as G-d meant us to be - humans in His/Her image, doing right and justice throughout our lives, caring for family and for the strangers in our midst.
I can use the refrain Tick, tock here again but in all seriousness, sometimes I wonder if we even have the second note alive. Perhaps we are at the Tick only. Read history, learn history and try to understand it for only that and only then can we perhaps avoid the repetition of history that seems to constantly eat at our souls.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
TIME BY PHYLLIS RICHLAND
time........ by phyllis richland
We only have so much of it, so why waste any of it, being mean to each other, saying cruel and hateful things to each other, causing others to feel as if they don't count, not giving others credit for what they do or say or who they are.
So, when your time is up and not many people have a nice or kind word to say about you, could you have spent your time in a better way? And if you don't care, then I have just wasted some of my time.
Some good questions to think about.
We only have so much of it, so why waste any of it, being mean to each other, saying cruel and hateful things to each other, causing others to feel as if they don't count, not giving others credit for what they do or say or who they are.
So, when your time is up and not many people have a nice or kind word to say about you, could you have spent your time in a better way? And if you don't care, then I have just wasted some of my time.
Some good questions to think about.
THIS AND THAT
Things are looking up a tad as people begin to think and see the truth through the wool over their eyes. At least a tad anyway. Republicans are seeing the truth re Trump and wondering just how the hell do they get out of this mess but don't look to me. I haven't got a clue unless they can find some loophole somewhere. I think the best thing to do is just renounce him once and for all and concentrate on other strategies. Meanwhile, we can wonder about where their brains were when they foisted him upon us and we can also wonder where the brains of the electorate were, at least those who voted for him in the primaries. Did they not realize that this man would not change his behavior nor actions nor statements and he is now the bull in the china shop they cannot get out of there. If people would only think thru the consequences, the long range consequences of their behavior, their choices and their words, what a better place the world would be.
So now the only thing left is to publicly and permanently disavow this man as the Republican candidate for president and concentrate on other strategies. Disavow his hate, his lies, his dishonesty and where are those tax return anyway? Now there is talk that the RNC will concentrate on getting the other candidates for the remainder of the positions open into office but then again, I ask what will we then have? Will they have learned a lesson from their do nothing recent Congress or will we have the same paralytic strategy in place, with loyalty to the Party rather than to the people and the Nation? Many of those elected under the Tea Party banner are at risk of losing their seats - and no loss as far as I am concerned.
So let us jump to the DNC and the latest - the major hack of the accounts and information on Democratic members of Congress, releasing emails, addresses and phone numbers and the filth that is coming through to their contact points. Who did it? Is it a new black hat hacker or the Russians and if so, at the behest of whom? The State apparatus of Putin or the urging of Trump or the natural carryover of loss of boundaries once the first hack took place. And let this be a lesson to us, especially to those who deem themselves techies and can see no wrong in constantly adding to the Net coverage. There are troubles with it and often the low tech way is the more secure. A simple burner phone defeats all the fancy stuff and ain't that a kick in the teeth and meanwhile we are all becoming paranoid about our information and scams and ripoffs so maybe we all need to take a step back and reevaluate and do some research and thinking.
So some good news. How about those Olympians, Phelps, Ledecky, Biles and the rest of the gymnastic team and all the rest who have done a marvelous job over there in not such good circumstances. Green water, huh? What is that all about and I hope those swimmers and divers do not come home with some weird disease from unclean water. And how about the nastiness of some such as the Egyptian judoka who would not shake the hand of his victorious opponent, Or Sassoon, from Israel. I thought these Games were supposed to represent bonhomme, good will and new friendships but then again if that was all they represented then we would never have these doping scandals would we?
Aha! Here is a good one. Read The Black Widow from Daniel Silva. This book is a great read and you will not want to put it down and then will be unhappy when it is finished as it was that good. He has definitely firmed up some opinions in this latest book in his series and it is quite scary considering that he wrote all of it before the attacks in Paris and Brussels and it is like an echo of history and what is more frightening are the other attacks and plans found in the book. Will they too come true? Dear Lord, I hope not. Read the book.
And hey, here is a good one. Hope I do no harm here, giving praise to someone and hoping that David Israel will not take this amiss and screw the guy. Friday Gerry went to UCO to complain of an issue we were having with some debris and huge mirrors that were thrown down by the trash site of another association and what could be done about it. Well, Waste pro came along on their regular schedule and did a yeoman's job on most of the items - moving dumpsters and picking lots of heavy stuff up by hand but the mirrors - uh uh. Hazardous. They must be broken up into pieces but how to do that safely? Anyway, I gave them ice cold bottles of water for their great job and thanked them. Perhaps we should all do that more often. it is hot and heavy work.
Saturday morning a knock on the door and there is Don Foster, our new official CAM and he tells me of the results of his investigation as to who actually dumped the stuff and what will happen. I look forward to the mirrors going bye bye and I appreciate Don's prompt attention. I also asked about the algae and was told that they are being more proactive and hopefully there is progress, with some canals and areas cleaner. I know my lake is still full of the stuff but maybe they are dying? Hopefully. Anyway, I appreciate the effort, the attention and the civility of the exchange. Now if we could only reform the rest of UCO.......
So where does the world go from here? I have no clue. Will we wise up and make better choices? Will people come to their senses? Will people have the moral strength and courage to do what must be done? I truly hope so and here I am fulfilling the needs of one of us who wants me to write about her more often so shout out to Gracie for today. As for the rest of us, let us think, pray, think again and all pull together for a better Village, state, country and world. Big task. Is it possible? I certainly hope so. What is the alternative?
So now the only thing left is to publicly and permanently disavow this man as the Republican candidate for president and concentrate on other strategies. Disavow his hate, his lies, his dishonesty and where are those tax return anyway? Now there is talk that the RNC will concentrate on getting the other candidates for the remainder of the positions open into office but then again, I ask what will we then have? Will they have learned a lesson from their do nothing recent Congress or will we have the same paralytic strategy in place, with loyalty to the Party rather than to the people and the Nation? Many of those elected under the Tea Party banner are at risk of losing their seats - and no loss as far as I am concerned.
So let us jump to the DNC and the latest - the major hack of the accounts and information on Democratic members of Congress, releasing emails, addresses and phone numbers and the filth that is coming through to their contact points. Who did it? Is it a new black hat hacker or the Russians and if so, at the behest of whom? The State apparatus of Putin or the urging of Trump or the natural carryover of loss of boundaries once the first hack took place. And let this be a lesson to us, especially to those who deem themselves techies and can see no wrong in constantly adding to the Net coverage. There are troubles with it and often the low tech way is the more secure. A simple burner phone defeats all the fancy stuff and ain't that a kick in the teeth and meanwhile we are all becoming paranoid about our information and scams and ripoffs so maybe we all need to take a step back and reevaluate and do some research and thinking.
So some good news. How about those Olympians, Phelps, Ledecky, Biles and the rest of the gymnastic team and all the rest who have done a marvelous job over there in not such good circumstances. Green water, huh? What is that all about and I hope those swimmers and divers do not come home with some weird disease from unclean water. And how about the nastiness of some such as the Egyptian judoka who would not shake the hand of his victorious opponent, Or Sassoon, from Israel. I thought these Games were supposed to represent bonhomme, good will and new friendships but then again if that was all they represented then we would never have these doping scandals would we?
Aha! Here is a good one. Read The Black Widow from Daniel Silva. This book is a great read and you will not want to put it down and then will be unhappy when it is finished as it was that good. He has definitely firmed up some opinions in this latest book in his series and it is quite scary considering that he wrote all of it before the attacks in Paris and Brussels and it is like an echo of history and what is more frightening are the other attacks and plans found in the book. Will they too come true? Dear Lord, I hope not. Read the book.
And hey, here is a good one. Hope I do no harm here, giving praise to someone and hoping that David Israel will not take this amiss and screw the guy. Friday Gerry went to UCO to complain of an issue we were having with some debris and huge mirrors that were thrown down by the trash site of another association and what could be done about it. Well, Waste pro came along on their regular schedule and did a yeoman's job on most of the items - moving dumpsters and picking lots of heavy stuff up by hand but the mirrors - uh uh. Hazardous. They must be broken up into pieces but how to do that safely? Anyway, I gave them ice cold bottles of water for their great job and thanked them. Perhaps we should all do that more often. it is hot and heavy work.
Saturday morning a knock on the door and there is Don Foster, our new official CAM and he tells me of the results of his investigation as to who actually dumped the stuff and what will happen. I look forward to the mirrors going bye bye and I appreciate Don's prompt attention. I also asked about the algae and was told that they are being more proactive and hopefully there is progress, with some canals and areas cleaner. I know my lake is still full of the stuff but maybe they are dying? Hopefully. Anyway, I appreciate the effort, the attention and the civility of the exchange. Now if we could only reform the rest of UCO.......
So where does the world go from here? I have no clue. Will we wise up and make better choices? Will people come to their senses? Will people have the moral strength and courage to do what must be done? I truly hope so and here I am fulfilling the needs of one of us who wants me to write about her more often so shout out to Gracie for today. As for the rest of us, let us think, pray, think again and all pull together for a better Village, state, country and world. Big task. Is it possible? I certainly hope so. What is the alternative?
Friday, August 12, 2016
HYPERBOLE? EXAGGERATION? I THINK NOT!
So yesterday it seems the world woke up to the asinine and telling statement of Trump that two of the original founders of ISIS, you know, that organization of Islamic extremists that wants to kill us all, are Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. Wow! The depth of the understanding of history!
So what? Am I nuts? What depth of understanding? This man is nuts, emphatically so, but also crazy smart. He makes an outrageous statement and keeps himself in the news cycle, gets shown to have people applauding - applauding! - his statements and all the talking heads discussing what he said. He knows that his technique is time and history tested - a Big Lie told often enough, repeated often enough, becomes the new truth.
What is even worse is when people who should know better, people who are actually part of the federal government, people like Peter King, a Congressman from NYS I believe, states that oh, Trump has made his point but is using hyperbole, a bit of exaggeration. Truly? When the man himself denied that, turned down the opening that an interviewer offered him and stated that no, he meant it literally - founders of ISIS.
Okay, so we now have someone who is definitely mentally unbalanced running for office for the position of the highest office in the land and perhaps even in the world and I seriously wonder what we would find if we did a PET scan of his brain! Don't you? And to think that there are still thinking people out there who can actually contemplate pulling the lever for this guy?
And what are people doing instead? Instead of demanding that the RNC stop this farce, truly pull back and away from this man in a united front, rather than the piecemeal manner in which it is happening, suddenly decide that they need to check the possible "conspiracy" going on between Clinton and her aide and the Clinton Foundation. Well, let me clue some people in. When people work together it is often found that they join the same organizations. It is nice to go someplace with someone one knows. It gives a shared bond and okay, maybe even a good way in which to curry brownie points, but so what. If the organization does good for others, so what? What is funny is that often the underling at work becomes so involved in this new interest that he/she actually assumes a higher position of authority within this group and ends up giving the work boss orders in this situation! It is quite funny when that happens.
Let us all return to reality and let us all realize that at a supposedly mature age we are to at least have learned how to distinguish between reality and fantasy, to have a good set of reins on idol worship, on the desire to be a groupie. Folks, this is not a man to lead us or anything else. This is a man who believes what he says or has convinced himself of it and in any case, who cares, for he is getting publicity and gullible followers, and those who say they will hold their noses and vote for him! Truly, is this the way to speak of a man to lead us during these perilous times? Talk of a man who lies! He promises to do better for the working man but will he really, this man who bought all his stuff for his hotels from overseas? No made in the USA union label for him! Oh no! And bringing back jobs? That would be great but these jobs also need to be realistic ones for yes, while we need to bring back manufacturing to the USA, it will be not the old way but a new way. Automatic procedures are in place so not so many workers will be there. But we still need tool and die workers, a great skill job, operators of specialized machinery and many other workable positions but it will require serious study as to what is needed and possible and what is wishful thinking about a time that will never return unless we have some kind of apocalyptic cataclysm! And here come my zombies!!
Look, I am no Obama fan. I think he has not been a good President for us. I think that under his administration we have become a country of splintered society, a society where a new term is now in use POC (person of color) and that makes it okay to start screaming all sorts of junk, to insist that it is okay to exclude white people within certain spheres but not the opposite way around? We have turned back to hatred and fear and I, for the life of me, do not understand that, not when there was such a mixing of society, of workers, of friends, of colleagues. But when there is a weak person at the helm that is what happens - domestically and overseas as well. However, at least he is sane, cares for people and knows the right and wrong of some topics.
However, be that as it may, for our next President we need one who knows which end is up. One who has shown determination and skill in weaving through the shoals of life, one who has the stick to it ness that we need, the knowledge of how to do that, the experience in real life and professional life, who has weathered disasters, personal and work related and who does not give up. That, I believe, is Hillary and she will show a good strong face to our allies and to our opponents and it is about time that we elect a woman as our leader. So many other countries have already done so, past and present, and what the heck is the matter with us. Here we still have the daily scandals of men still objectifying women and the tawdry and shameful sex scandals that result. Time to go for those who know how to keep all zipped and tucked and to deal with those who do not, as she has unfortunately had to show in her own life - and let us get on with being the country we can and should be - the strong and resolute leader of the free world, the defender of liberty and justice, the speaker of truth, the country of honesty and care - and common sense.
Okay, Gracie, here it is for you - and that is exactly what we need here in CV as well - and hey, might as well throw in the country and the state as well. But that is for another day and another blog. But remember - Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
So what? Am I nuts? What depth of understanding? This man is nuts, emphatically so, but also crazy smart. He makes an outrageous statement and keeps himself in the news cycle, gets shown to have people applauding - applauding! - his statements and all the talking heads discussing what he said. He knows that his technique is time and history tested - a Big Lie told often enough, repeated often enough, becomes the new truth.
What is even worse is when people who should know better, people who are actually part of the federal government, people like Peter King, a Congressman from NYS I believe, states that oh, Trump has made his point but is using hyperbole, a bit of exaggeration. Truly? When the man himself denied that, turned down the opening that an interviewer offered him and stated that no, he meant it literally - founders of ISIS.
Okay, so we now have someone who is definitely mentally unbalanced running for office for the position of the highest office in the land and perhaps even in the world and I seriously wonder what we would find if we did a PET scan of his brain! Don't you? And to think that there are still thinking people out there who can actually contemplate pulling the lever for this guy?
And what are people doing instead? Instead of demanding that the RNC stop this farce, truly pull back and away from this man in a united front, rather than the piecemeal manner in which it is happening, suddenly decide that they need to check the possible "conspiracy" going on between Clinton and her aide and the Clinton Foundation. Well, let me clue some people in. When people work together it is often found that they join the same organizations. It is nice to go someplace with someone one knows. It gives a shared bond and okay, maybe even a good way in which to curry brownie points, but so what. If the organization does good for others, so what? What is funny is that often the underling at work becomes so involved in this new interest that he/she actually assumes a higher position of authority within this group and ends up giving the work boss orders in this situation! It is quite funny when that happens.
Let us all return to reality and let us all realize that at a supposedly mature age we are to at least have learned how to distinguish between reality and fantasy, to have a good set of reins on idol worship, on the desire to be a groupie. Folks, this is not a man to lead us or anything else. This is a man who believes what he says or has convinced himself of it and in any case, who cares, for he is getting publicity and gullible followers, and those who say they will hold their noses and vote for him! Truly, is this the way to speak of a man to lead us during these perilous times? Talk of a man who lies! He promises to do better for the working man but will he really, this man who bought all his stuff for his hotels from overseas? No made in the USA union label for him! Oh no! And bringing back jobs? That would be great but these jobs also need to be realistic ones for yes, while we need to bring back manufacturing to the USA, it will be not the old way but a new way. Automatic procedures are in place so not so many workers will be there. But we still need tool and die workers, a great skill job, operators of specialized machinery and many other workable positions but it will require serious study as to what is needed and possible and what is wishful thinking about a time that will never return unless we have some kind of apocalyptic cataclysm! And here come my zombies!!
Look, I am no Obama fan. I think he has not been a good President for us. I think that under his administration we have become a country of splintered society, a society where a new term is now in use POC (person of color) and that makes it okay to start screaming all sorts of junk, to insist that it is okay to exclude white people within certain spheres but not the opposite way around? We have turned back to hatred and fear and I, for the life of me, do not understand that, not when there was such a mixing of society, of workers, of friends, of colleagues. But when there is a weak person at the helm that is what happens - domestically and overseas as well. However, at least he is sane, cares for people and knows the right and wrong of some topics.
However, be that as it may, for our next President we need one who knows which end is up. One who has shown determination and skill in weaving through the shoals of life, one who has the stick to it ness that we need, the knowledge of how to do that, the experience in real life and professional life, who has weathered disasters, personal and work related and who does not give up. That, I believe, is Hillary and she will show a good strong face to our allies and to our opponents and it is about time that we elect a woman as our leader. So many other countries have already done so, past and present, and what the heck is the matter with us. Here we still have the daily scandals of men still objectifying women and the tawdry and shameful sex scandals that result. Time to go for those who know how to keep all zipped and tucked and to deal with those who do not, as she has unfortunately had to show in her own life - and let us get on with being the country we can and should be - the strong and resolute leader of the free world, the defender of liberty and justice, the speaker of truth, the country of honesty and care - and common sense.
Okay, Gracie, here it is for you - and that is exactly what we need here in CV as well - and hey, might as well throw in the country and the state as well. But that is for another day and another blog. But remember - Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
DOING WHAT ONE MUST
There comes a time, sometimes more than once, when one must do something that is hard or distasteful or uncomfortable, but done it must be. It could be a confrontation that will be distinctly uncomfortable or a stand that one must take or responsibilities that must be addressed though the doing so will be difficult. If you have not faced this in your life then you have lived a particularly blessed and sheltered life and count your blessings, but for most of us that did not happen.
As a parent in a family unit, one takes on that deep responsibility of being accountable for the life and support of others. Your children cannot and should not have to take up a parent's slacking off and sometimes that burden on a parent is unbelievably hard, yet do it we must. Take a look at the two Presidential candidates and ask yourself who did what one must and who did what satisfied an itch or a whim.
Clinton has been held up to a light which has accused her of being too tough, hard to know, a shell around her hiding her emotions but just yesterday I read an article which opened my eyes and made me say shame on me to myself. I often wondered what happens to the public figure who is ousted from office. What is the future there? What is the financial status and that question was a deep one as we too lived a life that often went from paycheck to paycheck with no deep cushioning or none at all at times. Coming from a background that did not allow for wealth causes one to make sure that there is always something coming in so as to put food on the table, clothes on the back and a roof over the head. With us it also meant a huge financial burden of tuition for schools as we sent ours to private Jewish day schools and did not see an alternative to that. So I know the feeling of concern, the deep need to have a job that paid decently and to make sacrifices to keep that job, to earn that salary and to take on extra jobs, incurring long hours of work.
So I read yesterday of that deep need to support her family that Clinton felt when her husband lost his job as governor. The whys and wherefores of how and why this responsibility devolved upon her in the main is not important; what is, is the fact that this woman sucked it up and did what she had to do and if she felt that she had to hide the soft inner parts of her soul from others in the working arena, how well do I sympathize. Being a woman in the working world of professional people was not always the world of politeness and courtesy, of respect and honesty. One often had to keep a guard up. I know that it is difficult at times for the women of this generation to understand this but the world was a different place then for us. So kudos to Hillary for doing what she had to do.
Now juxtapose her and the depth and honesty and hard work of her commitment to her family and herself and her duties as a parent and wife, putting that right next to that of Trump, a man who came from a level of wealth most of us can not even begin to understand and see what he has done with it - and what he has done with himself. This is the man who talks of "Second Amendment people" or accuses Obama of founding ISIS along with a partnership in that of "crooked" Hillary. Really!! Meanwhile, he is the one who is being sued and is in court and how about the trial right here in Florida, but be that as it may, these ridiculous and dangerous statements are not presidential in the least. Involving Russia in our internal politics is neither cool nor impressive, rather it is dangerous and scary and to find out that there is more hacking that has been uncovered is discouraging to say the least.
Words are dangerous and that is why there are those in the political arena who fear them and the truth they hold. Even as they engage in wordplay to denigrate opponents, they try to stifle the words of these same opponents so as to insure their remaining in office. Are they doing what they must to survive? So they feel, but they must accept the rage and the antagonism they engender with these actions and attitudes.
Trump maintains an aura of bewilderment and anger at the comments and reactions to his antics, but antics they are not. They are scary representations, hints, at what a future President Trump might be, how he would act and what disasters he would bring upon us. And so, even with some people not particularly liking one candidate or the other as a warm and fuzzy being, we need to leave our stuffed teddies back home and vote as adults. We need a stable person at the helm, one who knows what it is to buckle down to hard work, to sacrifice personal needs for the greater good, be it family or country, to suck up the hurt that another can heap upon you and tough it out.
One does what one must - but one must do what is right and not justify criminal or hateful words and actions under that statement. It takes a tough person to do the right thing in bad times and I believe that Clinton is the better choice by far. Do I agree with her in everything? Not on your life but do I agree with anything of Trump is the better question and even if I did, do I trust him to do the right thing, to steer a steady course in an increasingly unsteady world? NO!!! That is a resounding no.
And doing what one must rings solid and true in all arenas of life. It is not pleasant to punish that little cutie especially after his/her antic made you secretly laugh, but if not addressed, the future consequences can be bad, so gird yourself one does and then does the right thing. It is not pleasant to face the hard truths of life, the hard paths of life, but we must if we are to survive and even thrive and we must do all that whilst remaining on the straight and narrow, honoring the traits of loyalty, of truth, of honor, of transparency of actions and statements, of care for others and of love. That is not easy to do, but do it we must and when we leave those traits behind in the name of power, of position, we lose much of our humanity.
Our political leaders and even, sadly enough, too many of our religious leaders, have gone off the tracks. We see it every day, read of it, hear the TV newscasters blaring about it and suffer under it in our lives. It is incumbent upon us to do what we can to root these people out and for me that means making my choices in the polls in the larger elections and here in the more local one. And yes, so I will satisfy those waiting for me to say it so you can send more dumb comments to me, yes, David Israel has gone off the tracks. I do not know what his initial motivations were, and will even be willing to believe they were good and proper, but they certainly are not now. Right now his concern seems to be the retention of power, the imposition of his desires and needs on the electorate, the use of improper pathways to achieve these goals and the impersonation of a worldly dictator in his behaviorisms, so there ya go Gracie, PC and any one else who validates their lives with vicious spume, but nothing will stop me from doing what I see as a must, whether you like it or not.
We must all look into our lives and motivations and ask ourselves at this stage in the game just whom are we kidding? This world does end for all of us and sooner than later for most of us in ACT III so why not do the right thing, difficult as it might be at times, and look towards the next world. And if that is a non starter for you and you do not believe in that world then fine, do it because it is the human and humane thing to do, do right because it is right. Might even sweeten your life up a bit. Do it so your name is blessed after you are gone rather than cursed and denigrated.
In any case, tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The time is ticking away and nothing is forever. Time for all to shape up and for those who wish to keep up with misdeeds and poor behavior, remember nothing is permanent around here or on this globe on which we are spinning through space. We have found that out the hard way, have we not?!
As a parent in a family unit, one takes on that deep responsibility of being accountable for the life and support of others. Your children cannot and should not have to take up a parent's slacking off and sometimes that burden on a parent is unbelievably hard, yet do it we must. Take a look at the two Presidential candidates and ask yourself who did what one must and who did what satisfied an itch or a whim.
Clinton has been held up to a light which has accused her of being too tough, hard to know, a shell around her hiding her emotions but just yesterday I read an article which opened my eyes and made me say shame on me to myself. I often wondered what happens to the public figure who is ousted from office. What is the future there? What is the financial status and that question was a deep one as we too lived a life that often went from paycheck to paycheck with no deep cushioning or none at all at times. Coming from a background that did not allow for wealth causes one to make sure that there is always something coming in so as to put food on the table, clothes on the back and a roof over the head. With us it also meant a huge financial burden of tuition for schools as we sent ours to private Jewish day schools and did not see an alternative to that. So I know the feeling of concern, the deep need to have a job that paid decently and to make sacrifices to keep that job, to earn that salary and to take on extra jobs, incurring long hours of work.
So I read yesterday of that deep need to support her family that Clinton felt when her husband lost his job as governor. The whys and wherefores of how and why this responsibility devolved upon her in the main is not important; what is, is the fact that this woman sucked it up and did what she had to do and if she felt that she had to hide the soft inner parts of her soul from others in the working arena, how well do I sympathize. Being a woman in the working world of professional people was not always the world of politeness and courtesy, of respect and honesty. One often had to keep a guard up. I know that it is difficult at times for the women of this generation to understand this but the world was a different place then for us. So kudos to Hillary for doing what she had to do.
Now juxtapose her and the depth and honesty and hard work of her commitment to her family and herself and her duties as a parent and wife, putting that right next to that of Trump, a man who came from a level of wealth most of us can not even begin to understand and see what he has done with it - and what he has done with himself. This is the man who talks of "Second Amendment people" or accuses Obama of founding ISIS along with a partnership in that of "crooked" Hillary. Really!! Meanwhile, he is the one who is being sued and is in court and how about the trial right here in Florida, but be that as it may, these ridiculous and dangerous statements are not presidential in the least. Involving Russia in our internal politics is neither cool nor impressive, rather it is dangerous and scary and to find out that there is more hacking that has been uncovered is discouraging to say the least.
Words are dangerous and that is why there are those in the political arena who fear them and the truth they hold. Even as they engage in wordplay to denigrate opponents, they try to stifle the words of these same opponents so as to insure their remaining in office. Are they doing what they must to survive? So they feel, but they must accept the rage and the antagonism they engender with these actions and attitudes.
Trump maintains an aura of bewilderment and anger at the comments and reactions to his antics, but antics they are not. They are scary representations, hints, at what a future President Trump might be, how he would act and what disasters he would bring upon us. And so, even with some people not particularly liking one candidate or the other as a warm and fuzzy being, we need to leave our stuffed teddies back home and vote as adults. We need a stable person at the helm, one who knows what it is to buckle down to hard work, to sacrifice personal needs for the greater good, be it family or country, to suck up the hurt that another can heap upon you and tough it out.
One does what one must - but one must do what is right and not justify criminal or hateful words and actions under that statement. It takes a tough person to do the right thing in bad times and I believe that Clinton is the better choice by far. Do I agree with her in everything? Not on your life but do I agree with anything of Trump is the better question and even if I did, do I trust him to do the right thing, to steer a steady course in an increasingly unsteady world? NO!!! That is a resounding no.
And doing what one must rings solid and true in all arenas of life. It is not pleasant to punish that little cutie especially after his/her antic made you secretly laugh, but if not addressed, the future consequences can be bad, so gird yourself one does and then does the right thing. It is not pleasant to face the hard truths of life, the hard paths of life, but we must if we are to survive and even thrive and we must do all that whilst remaining on the straight and narrow, honoring the traits of loyalty, of truth, of honor, of transparency of actions and statements, of care for others and of love. That is not easy to do, but do it we must and when we leave those traits behind in the name of power, of position, we lose much of our humanity.
Our political leaders and even, sadly enough, too many of our religious leaders, have gone off the tracks. We see it every day, read of it, hear the TV newscasters blaring about it and suffer under it in our lives. It is incumbent upon us to do what we can to root these people out and for me that means making my choices in the polls in the larger elections and here in the more local one. And yes, so I will satisfy those waiting for me to say it so you can send more dumb comments to me, yes, David Israel has gone off the tracks. I do not know what his initial motivations were, and will even be willing to believe they were good and proper, but they certainly are not now. Right now his concern seems to be the retention of power, the imposition of his desires and needs on the electorate, the use of improper pathways to achieve these goals and the impersonation of a worldly dictator in his behaviorisms, so there ya go Gracie, PC and any one else who validates their lives with vicious spume, but nothing will stop me from doing what I see as a must, whether you like it or not.
We must all look into our lives and motivations and ask ourselves at this stage in the game just whom are we kidding? This world does end for all of us and sooner than later for most of us in ACT III so why not do the right thing, difficult as it might be at times, and look towards the next world. And if that is a non starter for you and you do not believe in that world then fine, do it because it is the human and humane thing to do, do right because it is right. Might even sweeten your life up a bit. Do it so your name is blessed after you are gone rather than cursed and denigrated.
In any case, tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The time is ticking away and nothing is forever. Time for all to shape up and for those who wish to keep up with misdeeds and poor behavior, remember nothing is permanent around here or on this globe on which we are spinning through space. We have found that out the hard way, have we not?!
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE
Do you remember yourself ever opening your mouth and the wrong thing coming out, the wrong words, a misstated sentiment? Wish you could take it back? Well, that is one aspect of foot in mouth disease and it is extremely difficult to undo. What is worse is when in the effort to undo the harm, the second foot goes in and the situation worsens.
Trump seems to be the example par excellence of this syndrome or disease. Every time he strays off the reader, every time he does not parrot the words given to him by his writers, every time he tries to ad lib or shucks, just try to be one of the good ol' boys - well, there goes that darn foot. The sad thing though is that this man is running for President of the USA and think of the harm just one stupid or dangerously dumb statement can create, the waves of aftereffects.
The latest contretemps is an example of that dangerous ripple effect, the waves hitting the shores overseas. In talking abut Clinton and the Supreme Court, Trump warned those who want to avoid any gun control that Clinton is a danger to them and their rights. Should she win and appoint her choices for Supreme Court, well, there goes the whole thing, according to Trump, never mind the facts that intervene.
First of all, there is only one vacancy on the Court and no one appears eager to resign so as to open another vacancy. Second of all, what an exaggeration and misuse of language and crowd riling techniques. For example, I am a supporter of the Second Amendment. I believe that non criminal, non mentally ill, non terrorist people, non felons have the right to own a gun after proper investigation. Those who sell guns illegally need to be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law and if that extent needs to be stronger, than by all means. However, it does not mean that I support assault rifles or any weapons in that category. Does that mean that I am a danger to "Second Amendment People' as Trump claims? I certainly hope not, for that would make me into a split personality!
But his dumb and dangerous statement about a possible solution to the problem as he sees it is just about the worst and even in thinking about this I wonder if this can be considered criminal as it actually encourages some nutjob out there to take a rifle and go a'huntin' for Trump's opponent. I cannot even write that name in this same sentence for it truly is an encouragement of someone out there to do something terrible. He says, and I quote: "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment....By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks...."Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know." Is this another case of Henry II and Thomas a' Becket?
This is not a presidential candidate in any way shape manner or form. This man can not be trusted to deal with the other leaders of the world, many of whom are just as nasty and careless in their language, ready to turn on a dime and this guy, this Trump, who takes the statement of "shooting from the hip" to an extreme is shudder, shudder, not the guy we need at the helm! G-d forbid! And that most ridiculous statement that oh,, he will change once in office, yes candidates often change to a degree in office but they do not shed their entire skins and this supposed change, would that be before or after he involves us in WWIII!
Who could we trust here in his administration? Who would remain in this administration other than his kids and suckups who have no other home? The flood out the door will be swift and thick and the American people will be left behind to suffer the consequences. Quite like the people of CVWPB are as we suffer under the twisted and corrupt and inefficient administration headed by David Israel. Meetings held or cancelled on whims, officers who appear to be never there and have nothing to say when they are - so what the hell do they do all day when they are there, eat the snacks that our money buys for them? Decisions that are made outside the legal bounds of our by laws, neglect of the infrastructure and a serious and dangerous lack of future prep and planning, and on and on we go. Zika? Algae? Hey, never mind about that for after all, no one is pregnant here and the wind will come along and blast apart those mats of algae and anyway, they are "grass cuttings"! Well, by the way, all that the past few days of winds and torrential rains have done with these mats is push them around the lake, increasing their territory and so exactly how does that benefit us? Try asking that question at a DA. And speaking of that, where is the DA video already? Working on its editing perhaps?
The situation is not good anywhere one looks. The political lit comes flooding into the mailbox, each one a contradiction of the opponent's statements. Who to vote for? It is indeed a problem. How does one know where to place one's trust? Gerry and I read it all, took notes on what they said at DA meetings when they came and who came - who values our bloc of votes. I certainly hope that we all do not develop a case of foot in mouth disease and say the wrong thing here in all these elections and that believe it or not, we need to look ahead to another March when another presidential vote is in order. That is if the winner of the current presidential election is the right one and not the wrong one who will blast us somewhere off into who knows what territory and then here, CV, will not matter one whit.
Voting is a great responsibility and so is being a candidate. Would that we could match the two sides in an ideal situation.
Trump seems to be the example par excellence of this syndrome or disease. Every time he strays off the reader, every time he does not parrot the words given to him by his writers, every time he tries to ad lib or shucks, just try to be one of the good ol' boys - well, there goes that darn foot. The sad thing though is that this man is running for President of the USA and think of the harm just one stupid or dangerously dumb statement can create, the waves of aftereffects.
The latest contretemps is an example of that dangerous ripple effect, the waves hitting the shores overseas. In talking abut Clinton and the Supreme Court, Trump warned those who want to avoid any gun control that Clinton is a danger to them and their rights. Should she win and appoint her choices for Supreme Court, well, there goes the whole thing, according to Trump, never mind the facts that intervene.
First of all, there is only one vacancy on the Court and no one appears eager to resign so as to open another vacancy. Second of all, what an exaggeration and misuse of language and crowd riling techniques. For example, I am a supporter of the Second Amendment. I believe that non criminal, non mentally ill, non terrorist people, non felons have the right to own a gun after proper investigation. Those who sell guns illegally need to be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law and if that extent needs to be stronger, than by all means. However, it does not mean that I support assault rifles or any weapons in that category. Does that mean that I am a danger to "Second Amendment People' as Trump claims? I certainly hope not, for that would make me into a split personality!
But his dumb and dangerous statement about a possible solution to the problem as he sees it is just about the worst and even in thinking about this I wonder if this can be considered criminal as it actually encourages some nutjob out there to take a rifle and go a'huntin' for Trump's opponent. I cannot even write that name in this same sentence for it truly is an encouragement of someone out there to do something terrible. He says, and I quote: "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment....By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks...."Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know." Is this another case of Henry II and Thomas a' Becket?
This is not a presidential candidate in any way shape manner or form. This man can not be trusted to deal with the other leaders of the world, many of whom are just as nasty and careless in their language, ready to turn on a dime and this guy, this Trump, who takes the statement of "shooting from the hip" to an extreme is shudder, shudder, not the guy we need at the helm! G-d forbid! And that most ridiculous statement that oh,, he will change once in office, yes candidates often change to a degree in office but they do not shed their entire skins and this supposed change, would that be before or after he involves us in WWIII!
Who could we trust here in his administration? Who would remain in this administration other than his kids and suckups who have no other home? The flood out the door will be swift and thick and the American people will be left behind to suffer the consequences. Quite like the people of CVWPB are as we suffer under the twisted and corrupt and inefficient administration headed by David Israel. Meetings held or cancelled on whims, officers who appear to be never there and have nothing to say when they are - so what the hell do they do all day when they are there, eat the snacks that our money buys for them? Decisions that are made outside the legal bounds of our by laws, neglect of the infrastructure and a serious and dangerous lack of future prep and planning, and on and on we go. Zika? Algae? Hey, never mind about that for after all, no one is pregnant here and the wind will come along and blast apart those mats of algae and anyway, they are "grass cuttings"! Well, by the way, all that the past few days of winds and torrential rains have done with these mats is push them around the lake, increasing their territory and so exactly how does that benefit us? Try asking that question at a DA. And speaking of that, where is the DA video already? Working on its editing perhaps?
The situation is not good anywhere one looks. The political lit comes flooding into the mailbox, each one a contradiction of the opponent's statements. Who to vote for? It is indeed a problem. How does one know where to place one's trust? Gerry and I read it all, took notes on what they said at DA meetings when they came and who came - who values our bloc of votes. I certainly hope that we all do not develop a case of foot in mouth disease and say the wrong thing here in all these elections and that believe it or not, we need to look ahead to another March when another presidential vote is in order. That is if the winner of the current presidential election is the right one and not the wrong one who will blast us somewhere off into who knows what territory and then here, CV, will not matter one whit.
Voting is a great responsibility and so is being a candidate. Would that we could match the two sides in an ideal situation.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
THE MISFUNCTION OF DYSFUNCTION
The disease of our country is dysfunction. We cannot seem to function properly anymore, our ideals compromised, our priorities misaligned, and our methodology of democracy and country forsaken. Instead we have a culture of rot, of focus on what's in it for me thinking and a refusal to hear other people, listen to other ideas and a consistent emphasis on Party with a capital P rather than with a small one. As a result of that we have developed a generation of cynics, a generation which demands immediate action rather than on using proper channels. We have even reached the "high point" of nominating a presumptive party candidate whose fellow party members have denounced him in ever growing amounts.
We have a country that is under siege, from within and without. We have those who demand that theirs is the only way and therefore it must go their way. We have those from the outside who say that America is the Big Satan and must go down. And yet, our esteemed leaders refuse to state the obvious and in fact, deny it. We are told by our President that ISIS is not Islamic. Well, then, Mr. Barak Obama, what the hell is it other than that? It is a hateful, murderous political and terrorist group which by now has reached the level of a country for make no mistake about it, it has established a "caliphate" already between all the area it holds now in the Syria-Iraq border areas and within, into each country. They control everything within these areas and how it is run - cruelly, corruptly and by Islamic law! Their goal is to destroy the rest of us, to establish a worldwide Caliphate, to take us down and what do we gain by denying this? They themselves say so.
And no, this is not to say that we blame all Moslems or that we should ban all Moslems any more than we should ban any religion, but we must be aware and alert and vet carefully - all people - for terrorists come in all shapes and colors! And we must be realistic. Their punishments are vile and cruel. The punishment of crucifixion is one that is within their storeroom of approved punishments especially for the unbeliever. It has a bad attitude towards those who are not Moslems or indeed even those Moslems who are not of their sect so dhimmitude, or second class citizenship for the unbeliever and nasty stuff for the rest. Those Moslems who live in the land of apostasy are just as bad as the unbelievers.
All that I have written is not PC and there will be many who will wish to crucify me! but the truth is not what we wish, but what is, in reality. And that reality is that we have turned into a dysfunctional country with a man running for the position of President of all of us Americans, a leader in the free world, and yet, his economic plans will benefit the wealthy so, so much for the 1% losing some of its ill gotten gains, we are to turn back to coal and free for all energy fields and have Keystone again - and for what? Oh, we must remember that according to these people there is no climate change, no warming, no more flooding than average - and how do they know it? Why simply because they say so!
We have a national security system that is anything but. We are told that we will have to get used to it, living in this tension filled atmosphere, not sure of our safety within an arena or stadium or theater. Our malls are soft targets so hey, here's one for on line shopping! This is all singular to a malfunctioning society, a dysfunctional one, one that refuses to recognize the truth.
In denying that truth we allow false and old with age canards to revive once more. There is the nasty blood libel once more, the Jews control all the money once more, the need to root out all Jewish connection to the land of Israel, the nastiness that is allowed to stand unchallenged as for example when the Lebanese delegation to the Olympics refused to allow the Israeli one on board, or when the Saudi judoka refused to take a chance on having to fight an Israeli and so she forfeited. And the IOC? What did they do? NOTHING. They could barely force themselves to acknowledge the memories of those athletes killed in the 1972 Olympics because they were Jews, because they were Israelis.
Malfunctioning, dysfunctional societies are many within the world today. They range from large countries to small, from huge entities to the smaller more local ones. Look at our state governments and think back to how much corruption is uncovered there, how much Party politics there is and how little gets done for the people of the state and then track this rot all the way down to the smallest entities and wow, look, there it is - CVWPB - but that is for another day. Just know that the rot that has affected our country is alive and well here within our home and we must be aware and do something, stand up to it, fight against it, here in CV and in fact in the rest of our governmental entities. Vote for those who still have some honesty and courage and not for the same old same old! And in a choice that is not so good - go for the better one. That is what we can do for a start.
Truth is the way to go. Righteousness is the path to walk. Honesty is the trait to value. Loyalty to the people is key.
We have a country that is under siege, from within and without. We have those who demand that theirs is the only way and therefore it must go their way. We have those from the outside who say that America is the Big Satan and must go down. And yet, our esteemed leaders refuse to state the obvious and in fact, deny it. We are told by our President that ISIS is not Islamic. Well, then, Mr. Barak Obama, what the hell is it other than that? It is a hateful, murderous political and terrorist group which by now has reached the level of a country for make no mistake about it, it has established a "caliphate" already between all the area it holds now in the Syria-Iraq border areas and within, into each country. They control everything within these areas and how it is run - cruelly, corruptly and by Islamic law! Their goal is to destroy the rest of us, to establish a worldwide Caliphate, to take us down and what do we gain by denying this? They themselves say so.
And no, this is not to say that we blame all Moslems or that we should ban all Moslems any more than we should ban any religion, but we must be aware and alert and vet carefully - all people - for terrorists come in all shapes and colors! And we must be realistic. Their punishments are vile and cruel. The punishment of crucifixion is one that is within their storeroom of approved punishments especially for the unbeliever. It has a bad attitude towards those who are not Moslems or indeed even those Moslems who are not of their sect so dhimmitude, or second class citizenship for the unbeliever and nasty stuff for the rest. Those Moslems who live in the land of apostasy are just as bad as the unbelievers.
All that I have written is not PC and there will be many who will wish to crucify me! but the truth is not what we wish, but what is, in reality. And that reality is that we have turned into a dysfunctional country with a man running for the position of President of all of us Americans, a leader in the free world, and yet, his economic plans will benefit the wealthy so, so much for the 1% losing some of its ill gotten gains, we are to turn back to coal and free for all energy fields and have Keystone again - and for what? Oh, we must remember that according to these people there is no climate change, no warming, no more flooding than average - and how do they know it? Why simply because they say so!
We have a national security system that is anything but. We are told that we will have to get used to it, living in this tension filled atmosphere, not sure of our safety within an arena or stadium or theater. Our malls are soft targets so hey, here's one for on line shopping! This is all singular to a malfunctioning society, a dysfunctional one, one that refuses to recognize the truth.
In denying that truth we allow false and old with age canards to revive once more. There is the nasty blood libel once more, the Jews control all the money once more, the need to root out all Jewish connection to the land of Israel, the nastiness that is allowed to stand unchallenged as for example when the Lebanese delegation to the Olympics refused to allow the Israeli one on board, or when the Saudi judoka refused to take a chance on having to fight an Israeli and so she forfeited. And the IOC? What did they do? NOTHING. They could barely force themselves to acknowledge the memories of those athletes killed in the 1972 Olympics because they were Jews, because they were Israelis.
Malfunctioning, dysfunctional societies are many within the world today. They range from large countries to small, from huge entities to the smaller more local ones. Look at our state governments and think back to how much corruption is uncovered there, how much Party politics there is and how little gets done for the people of the state and then track this rot all the way down to the smallest entities and wow, look, there it is - CVWPB - but that is for another day. Just know that the rot that has affected our country is alive and well here within our home and we must be aware and do something, stand up to it, fight against it, here in CV and in fact in the rest of our governmental entities. Vote for those who still have some honesty and courage and not for the same old same old! And in a choice that is not so good - go for the better one. That is what we can do for a start.
Truth is the way to go. Righteousness is the path to walk. Honesty is the trait to value. Loyalty to the people is key.
Monday, August 8, 2016
DO WE NEED THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT HERE?
Just watched my recording of the Olympics Opening Ceremony and was impressed and I wonder why a nation that could do this cannot get itself together. Surely if so many people volunteered to take part in these ceremonies, learn the intricate steps, and mix together with the heavily diversified populations of Brazil, then surely there is nothing that could stop them from overcoming their country's problems. And yet, there they are, all the problems and for an answer as to why we have no further to look than at our own country.
We too are a mixed population and for proof of that all one had to do was look at the 500+ strong Olympics USA contingent - white, black, Asian, all creeds, colors, national origins and all Americans. Arms slung around each other they danced, cheered and shouted USA, USA. And here, in the country they came from, what do we shout? Hatred of things different from us, hatred for the other Party, hatred for the principles of America. I cannot figure it out for certainly all this hate goes nowhere and furthers no good cause.
Yet we refuse to relinquish our diverse feelings if it means that we have to compromise even a tad. We regard each other with suspicion and we forget that we all come from the same country and no matter where our ancestors came from, be they four generations ago or this generation, we are all Americans. If we do not welcome those citizens then we ourselves will create more hatred and more violence. Seems simple, and yet it is not.
For an example closer to home take a look at the previous Friday's Delegate Assembly. It seems that this is the third DA that has frustrated David Israel for all that he appears to think is most important is to vote approval for Mary Patrick as an appointed member of the Executive Board. Why that is I have no idea for there is a proper quorum and a proper amount on the Board and why he is so hot and heavy to get this appointment through is beyond me. It is not as if the Board challenges him for almost to a man or woman they are all his echoing puppets so what is with the dire need of a new one?
In any case, it seems that the quorum at this DA was not by a large number and two delegates walked out. Now anyone who has attended these DAs knows that people are forever walking out. Why? Who knows? Perhaps for the same reason that they walk out of shows or lose their attention span after ten minutes or perhaps when they see that this DA too will be a waste of time with no serious business to take place other than this person vote. Who knows - perhaps the Shadow - but for David Israel to be so paranoid so as to immediately accuse someone of a plot here is beyond dumb, beyond stupid, and is just an example par excellence of the paranoia that has afflicted him for years already. I wonder if these two delegates even knew each other!!
In any case, it is because of people with that attitude that nothing gets done here. It is because of that attitude that we have no Zika program other than to perhaps organize teams to go find bottle caps with water inside! We have no serious program to get rid of the algae which is killing our waterways and providing nice stagnant waters for the Zika to multiply. We have no serious plan to stop this constant resodding of grass edges where trucks and drivers are veering off the road so think of something else to do! Sod is not for free and neither is the labor. We have no serious programs about anything here other than the constant push for broadband for which UCO has no right to do and that is it, other than to prettify the UCO building and plant expensive trees!
This is a great place to live, to make friends, to have good times. It actually might function better now with an LCAM though there are now issues with membership of this same individual on committees. Don Foster has shown that he can turn himself around so let us help him complete the turnaround and at least remove any suspicious thoughts from that arena but somehow I doubt that Israel will allow that to happen.
Where are the plans for new fencing - in a serious manner, an affordable and better choice than the prison like fencing we now have. Where are the plans for techniques to battle the motel associations. It seems so quiet now but these problems are still here and the quiet only benefits UCO as they refuse to do anything, making up excuses or playing catchup with other issues such as the sprinkler law that associations were already taking care of it by themselves. Why does he admit that there are 40 - 50 associations that already have wired up and does that not send a message to him that we do not want or need broadband at this point and we wish to hold off on that expense. Where is the serious work on the post Millennium agreement? Where are the new bylaws or are we going to get a truly big surprise on that one? What about realistic plans for the roads? What about security here? Where are the plans to let the Village know that there is a Village wide problem, that there is a shooter, or something even worse? How are we to know? And when one questions security all we get is oh, not our job. They could not even be bothered by a complaint from a woman at a pool that she had been molested, raped, as she lay there half clothed and did we hear about that from the PBSO? Nope!
There are things in this Village that must improve. We must bring in the proper spirit, bring in fresh air and chase out the old. One great way would be for David et al to rid us of themselves, tend to themselves, and perhaps see that there is life beyond UCO and computers. Do not be the Lebanon of the Olympics who could not ride on a bus with the Israelis. Do not be the spoilsport of a Saudi Arabian judo athlete who refused to compete against an Israeli. Man up, accept responsibilities, choose the right path and let go of your paranoid and nonsensical and hurtful behavior. Never too late to start over, to make amends and do the right thing. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
We too are a mixed population and for proof of that all one had to do was look at the 500+ strong Olympics USA contingent - white, black, Asian, all creeds, colors, national origins and all Americans. Arms slung around each other they danced, cheered and shouted USA, USA. And here, in the country they came from, what do we shout? Hatred of things different from us, hatred for the other Party, hatred for the principles of America. I cannot figure it out for certainly all this hate goes nowhere and furthers no good cause.
Yet we refuse to relinquish our diverse feelings if it means that we have to compromise even a tad. We regard each other with suspicion and we forget that we all come from the same country and no matter where our ancestors came from, be they four generations ago or this generation, we are all Americans. If we do not welcome those citizens then we ourselves will create more hatred and more violence. Seems simple, and yet it is not.
For an example closer to home take a look at the previous Friday's Delegate Assembly. It seems that this is the third DA that has frustrated David Israel for all that he appears to think is most important is to vote approval for Mary Patrick as an appointed member of the Executive Board. Why that is I have no idea for there is a proper quorum and a proper amount on the Board and why he is so hot and heavy to get this appointment through is beyond me. It is not as if the Board challenges him for almost to a man or woman they are all his echoing puppets so what is with the dire need of a new one?
In any case, it seems that the quorum at this DA was not by a large number and two delegates walked out. Now anyone who has attended these DAs knows that people are forever walking out. Why? Who knows? Perhaps for the same reason that they walk out of shows or lose their attention span after ten minutes or perhaps when they see that this DA too will be a waste of time with no serious business to take place other than this person vote. Who knows - perhaps the Shadow - but for David Israel to be so paranoid so as to immediately accuse someone of a plot here is beyond dumb, beyond stupid, and is just an example par excellence of the paranoia that has afflicted him for years already. I wonder if these two delegates even knew each other!!
In any case, it is because of people with that attitude that nothing gets done here. It is because of that attitude that we have no Zika program other than to perhaps organize teams to go find bottle caps with water inside! We have no serious program to get rid of the algae which is killing our waterways and providing nice stagnant waters for the Zika to multiply. We have no serious plan to stop this constant resodding of grass edges where trucks and drivers are veering off the road so think of something else to do! Sod is not for free and neither is the labor. We have no serious programs about anything here other than the constant push for broadband for which UCO has no right to do and that is it, other than to prettify the UCO building and plant expensive trees!
This is a great place to live, to make friends, to have good times. It actually might function better now with an LCAM though there are now issues with membership of this same individual on committees. Don Foster has shown that he can turn himself around so let us help him complete the turnaround and at least remove any suspicious thoughts from that arena but somehow I doubt that Israel will allow that to happen.
Where are the plans for new fencing - in a serious manner, an affordable and better choice than the prison like fencing we now have. Where are the plans for techniques to battle the motel associations. It seems so quiet now but these problems are still here and the quiet only benefits UCO as they refuse to do anything, making up excuses or playing catchup with other issues such as the sprinkler law that associations were already taking care of it by themselves. Why does he admit that there are 40 - 50 associations that already have wired up and does that not send a message to him that we do not want or need broadband at this point and we wish to hold off on that expense. Where is the serious work on the post Millennium agreement? Where are the new bylaws or are we going to get a truly big surprise on that one? What about realistic plans for the roads? What about security here? Where are the plans to let the Village know that there is a Village wide problem, that there is a shooter, or something even worse? How are we to know? And when one questions security all we get is oh, not our job. They could not even be bothered by a complaint from a woman at a pool that she had been molested, raped, as she lay there half clothed and did we hear about that from the PBSO? Nope!
There are things in this Village that must improve. We must bring in the proper spirit, bring in fresh air and chase out the old. One great way would be for David et al to rid us of themselves, tend to themselves, and perhaps see that there is life beyond UCO and computers. Do not be the Lebanon of the Olympics who could not ride on a bus with the Israelis. Do not be the spoilsport of a Saudi Arabian judo athlete who refused to compete against an Israeli. Man up, accept responsibilities, choose the right path and let go of your paranoid and nonsensical and hurtful behavior. Never too late to start over, to make amends and do the right thing. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
THE PAIN OF PAIN
Weird title, right? But not really when one understands it. Pain is an entity unto itself. It robs one of a clear head and at best, remains an insistent ache in the background. I wonder how many decisions that were made during moments of pain were twisted and/or skewed because of that pain. How much anger was misdirected and the consequences of that misdirection?
But pain also brings certain things into focus. It forces one to concentrate on one topic and one topic only - at a time - and think carefully about one's opinions and words. It also reminds one that there are people out there with pain, with debilitating pain and we forget about them too often, say tsk, tsk and move on. We must remember that temporary pain is one thing and permanent pain another.
We also need to give each individual's pain validation and not feed them with stories of "Oh, I know someone..." that does not help; in fact, it makes the present pain sufferer feel unworthy or a baby or that something is wrong with themselves for feeling that pain. Instead of that, all the victim wants is to be validated, acknowledged in his/her pain and that it is alright to have that pain.
It is the same thing in all other areas. People are not necessarily made to feel better when another's tale of a similar situation is related to them. It is kind of like the difference between an original formula medicine and the generic which looks the same and is supposed to do the same thing, yet there is a chemical difference within it and that can lead to not so good results. We must accept those results as real and move on from there.
What about pain that is inflicted upon one from the outside? What of mental pain as opposed to physical pain? Unless that pain comes from a feeling that is legitimate and proper, then that outside pain is wrong, morally so. If one has a child or sibling or friend who has gotten enmeshed in something then that mental anguish is proper, but if one is threatened with harm to those loved ones unless something is done or said, or physical harm is applied to a person to force that action, then that is wrong too. But if there are extenuating circumstances.....then what? You see, nothing is as clear as we first thought is it? We do not understand a common topic of life and yet we babble on about it and its use and meaning.
And we do that about many things, the meaning of which we truly do not know. Leaders unfortunately think they can lead on all topics because they are in a leadership position but that is not so, for they must open the door to experts. When that is not done, when self pride induces them to go down another track then pain is a result, mental pain, moral pain, financial pain. When one stays in office too long past the sell by date, there is no more freshness, no more innovation and instead what we have is a dull maintain the status quo situation and a painful future as one contemplates the results of us stagnating. And that gives much pain, if not physical then morally, financially, emotionally and reality wise.
When some people are so stupid - sorry, there is no other word for it - as to think that one can elect one person and then think that that same person will change, will improve, will make saner decisions - all against what he stands for now - puhlease! Remember the show I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!? Well, it is one thing when it is on a stage Off Broadway someplace, but not when the stage is a world wide one affecting billions of people. One must judge one as he/she is AT THE MOMENT - and not what we hope they will evolve into. Wishful thinking does not make it so.
The current election is a painful one. It has torn back the covers over many ugly feelings, has exposed many people in their hateful moments and statements, and reopened the divisive lines of American society. No, we were never this kumbaya country; we always had pros and cons and people eager to speak up, but this hatred for one another, this pain that we are causing and inflicting on others - this has to stop.
Pain. Thank G-d mine is ebbing, each day, a bit better than the day before but the pain of the country is another topic altogether. We must all think carefully and choose wisely. We must read past the lies, the "untruths" and the temporary adjustments and see clearly what has been laid out with deeds and statements prior to this election campaign. We must understand that some Republicans wish to hold a years long filibuster of sorts, preventing any Democratic ideas and bills from getting through and what will we have at the end? NO judges. A non functioning Supreme Court. No budget for the federal government so no checks, no programs, no pay for our soldiers so who will defend us and why? All for hubris, all for the desire to inflict a pain of sorts on others so as to prove a point, the proving of which will destroy us. So think carefully now in August Primary time and very carefully in November. Who will be the best for us, for the country? Who will truly serve we, the people, and who, on the other hand will inflict pain, a pain such as we never have had before.
But pain also brings certain things into focus. It forces one to concentrate on one topic and one topic only - at a time - and think carefully about one's opinions and words. It also reminds one that there are people out there with pain, with debilitating pain and we forget about them too often, say tsk, tsk and move on. We must remember that temporary pain is one thing and permanent pain another.
We also need to give each individual's pain validation and not feed them with stories of "Oh, I know someone..." that does not help; in fact, it makes the present pain sufferer feel unworthy or a baby or that something is wrong with themselves for feeling that pain. Instead of that, all the victim wants is to be validated, acknowledged in his/her pain and that it is alright to have that pain.
It is the same thing in all other areas. People are not necessarily made to feel better when another's tale of a similar situation is related to them. It is kind of like the difference between an original formula medicine and the generic which looks the same and is supposed to do the same thing, yet there is a chemical difference within it and that can lead to not so good results. We must accept those results as real and move on from there.
What about pain that is inflicted upon one from the outside? What of mental pain as opposed to physical pain? Unless that pain comes from a feeling that is legitimate and proper, then that outside pain is wrong, morally so. If one has a child or sibling or friend who has gotten enmeshed in something then that mental anguish is proper, but if one is threatened with harm to those loved ones unless something is done or said, or physical harm is applied to a person to force that action, then that is wrong too. But if there are extenuating circumstances.....then what? You see, nothing is as clear as we first thought is it? We do not understand a common topic of life and yet we babble on about it and its use and meaning.
And we do that about many things, the meaning of which we truly do not know. Leaders unfortunately think they can lead on all topics because they are in a leadership position but that is not so, for they must open the door to experts. When that is not done, when self pride induces them to go down another track then pain is a result, mental pain, moral pain, financial pain. When one stays in office too long past the sell by date, there is no more freshness, no more innovation and instead what we have is a dull maintain the status quo situation and a painful future as one contemplates the results of us stagnating. And that gives much pain, if not physical then morally, financially, emotionally and reality wise.
When some people are so stupid - sorry, there is no other word for it - as to think that one can elect one person and then think that that same person will change, will improve, will make saner decisions - all against what he stands for now - puhlease! Remember the show I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!? Well, it is one thing when it is on a stage Off Broadway someplace, but not when the stage is a world wide one affecting billions of people. One must judge one as he/she is AT THE MOMENT - and not what we hope they will evolve into. Wishful thinking does not make it so.
The current election is a painful one. It has torn back the covers over many ugly feelings, has exposed many people in their hateful moments and statements, and reopened the divisive lines of American society. No, we were never this kumbaya country; we always had pros and cons and people eager to speak up, but this hatred for one another, this pain that we are causing and inflicting on others - this has to stop.
Pain. Thank G-d mine is ebbing, each day, a bit better than the day before but the pain of the country is another topic altogether. We must all think carefully and choose wisely. We must read past the lies, the "untruths" and the temporary adjustments and see clearly what has been laid out with deeds and statements prior to this election campaign. We must understand that some Republicans wish to hold a years long filibuster of sorts, preventing any Democratic ideas and bills from getting through and what will we have at the end? NO judges. A non functioning Supreme Court. No budget for the federal government so no checks, no programs, no pay for our soldiers so who will defend us and why? All for hubris, all for the desire to inflict a pain of sorts on others so as to prove a point, the proving of which will destroy us. So think carefully now in August Primary time and very carefully in November. Who will be the best for us, for the country? Who will truly serve we, the people, and who, on the other hand will inflict pain, a pain such as we never have had before.
Friday, August 5, 2016
OOPS!!
Paul Ryan made a big slip yesterday, a big ooops! He sent out an SOS to Republican Party supporters, to fundraisers, that the Republicans are in dire need of money. Why? So that they can be reelected or newly elected, what ever the situation, or else - and here is the kicker - they might be handing President Hillary Clinton a blank check. Yup, you read that right.
But how is it to be read in its deeper meaning. Was this a slip of the tongue? Was this a true statement of what the bigshots of the Republicans think will happen? And what are they going to subject the people of the United States to should Clinton indeed win the election and the Republicans win the Houses. Will we have, are they promising, another stalemate where it does not matter what the issue is, what matters only is that the Democrats never get a bill passed, certainly not without a Republican spoiler contained within it.
So this is what it has come down to. Once again the people will be screwed royal and nothing will happen. We will come down to past last minute budget bills, no progress on or in any meaningful way with any bills to be passed and just simply have another do nothing Congress.
I do not vote party lines but rather the person line. What does that person say and more important, what has that person done or promised to support? Is that person going to be a Republican party zombie, following the orders of those at the top, ruining things again for us out there, or will that person be independent and vote conscience, interests of his/her electorate? It takes courage, but for Pete's sake we must have some public servants who have that bit of courage, who know they must represent the government that Lincoln spoke of - "of the people, for the people, by the people". And he was a Republican!
The Republicans must get back to the roots that nourished them and not to the sour leaves that have grown on that tree. Will they do it? Can they do it? And can the Democrats in both Houses of Congress see what it is that is happening and reach out and connect, and finally do their jobs?
There are too many secret deals in government. There are too many backroom discussions and plans. There is too little support and defense of the people. And that nasty type of government winds its way down to the smaller fold as well. For example, what was or is the whole backroom deal between David Israel and the owners of the CSI building? Is it true that the owners have ceded control of the building to David Israel, that he will determining what or who is allowed within its sacrosanct halls and in return received a deal from David Israel that he will fill up those empty rooms, that he will get some cash flow going again for the owners? And what does he get? Well.. it will be another arena closed off to any opposition, again in violation of every rule and right of a person and is there more besides? And what about the deal? Does it allow the future renters to call in people at the gate? Will that mean the end of whatever security we do have? And for what? Money? Power? Is it not enough already?
Now all this is rumors, allegedly true, but once again, let us demand that David come out in public and explain his behavior re this building. Why did he demand control over the people who rent and meet in it? Where and why did he attain this power? Does he have a monetary interest in this as well? Any and all must be answered in a public forum.
This is the man who admitted publicly in a meeting that at least 40 to 50 associations have wired up but here he is, trying to blackmail Comcast into shutting off that avenue and why? So he can get his broadband, something we already have and something that is so iffy, what with none of the infrastructure there - only a demand that we pay extra fees or higher fees to cover the expenses of the company. Truly.
Talk about stalling the government. That is exactly what the DA should do, vote no on most requests except for what we truly need - to clear and clean the waterways, to investigate what is going on with Fairways and the golf course and how UCO is going to insure our rights, to keep up with the infrastructure and irrigation. And finally, in March get rid of this man who is a spoiler in every sense of the word. A man who is so paranoid that he is afraid that there are 200 million people out there reading my blog, that he boasts of the readership he has but sorry, dear, I could do the same thing - I have the same map with its shades of green which are always changing with the results of the week, and I too have all these various foreign countries reading the blog - how they find it is another story, one that confounds me, but read it they do so quit the empty boasts. There are people who know the truth and is that what you have been doing in your little batcave, adding figures for the years of your blog? Wanna' do mine - I am too busy to waste time on that but evidently you have plenty to waste as you never come out and play with others, do you?
Just as it is time to clear the air in the ranks of politicians within Washington and state capitals, it is time to clear the air here in the Village as well. The old UCO is rank with disuse, with misuse and needs a freshener, new voices, inclusiveness and honesty. We will never get that with David Israel there - he even lies about his age, for heaven's sake! If that is not the peak of all hubris I don't know what is! Tick tock, tick tock.
But how is it to be read in its deeper meaning. Was this a slip of the tongue? Was this a true statement of what the bigshots of the Republicans think will happen? And what are they going to subject the people of the United States to should Clinton indeed win the election and the Republicans win the Houses. Will we have, are they promising, another stalemate where it does not matter what the issue is, what matters only is that the Democrats never get a bill passed, certainly not without a Republican spoiler contained within it.
So this is what it has come down to. Once again the people will be screwed royal and nothing will happen. We will come down to past last minute budget bills, no progress on or in any meaningful way with any bills to be passed and just simply have another do nothing Congress.
I do not vote party lines but rather the person line. What does that person say and more important, what has that person done or promised to support? Is that person going to be a Republican party zombie, following the orders of those at the top, ruining things again for us out there, or will that person be independent and vote conscience, interests of his/her electorate? It takes courage, but for Pete's sake we must have some public servants who have that bit of courage, who know they must represent the government that Lincoln spoke of - "of the people, for the people, by the people". And he was a Republican!
The Republicans must get back to the roots that nourished them and not to the sour leaves that have grown on that tree. Will they do it? Can they do it? And can the Democrats in both Houses of Congress see what it is that is happening and reach out and connect, and finally do their jobs?
There are too many secret deals in government. There are too many backroom discussions and plans. There is too little support and defense of the people. And that nasty type of government winds its way down to the smaller fold as well. For example, what was or is the whole backroom deal between David Israel and the owners of the CSI building? Is it true that the owners have ceded control of the building to David Israel, that he will determining what or who is allowed within its sacrosanct halls and in return received a deal from David Israel that he will fill up those empty rooms, that he will get some cash flow going again for the owners? And what does he get? Well.. it will be another arena closed off to any opposition, again in violation of every rule and right of a person and is there more besides? And what about the deal? Does it allow the future renters to call in people at the gate? Will that mean the end of whatever security we do have? And for what? Money? Power? Is it not enough already?
Now all this is rumors, allegedly true, but once again, let us demand that David come out in public and explain his behavior re this building. Why did he demand control over the people who rent and meet in it? Where and why did he attain this power? Does he have a monetary interest in this as well? Any and all must be answered in a public forum.
This is the man who admitted publicly in a meeting that at least 40 to 50 associations have wired up but here he is, trying to blackmail Comcast into shutting off that avenue and why? So he can get his broadband, something we already have and something that is so iffy, what with none of the infrastructure there - only a demand that we pay extra fees or higher fees to cover the expenses of the company. Truly.
Talk about stalling the government. That is exactly what the DA should do, vote no on most requests except for what we truly need - to clear and clean the waterways, to investigate what is going on with Fairways and the golf course and how UCO is going to insure our rights, to keep up with the infrastructure and irrigation. And finally, in March get rid of this man who is a spoiler in every sense of the word. A man who is so paranoid that he is afraid that there are 200 million people out there reading my blog, that he boasts of the readership he has but sorry, dear, I could do the same thing - I have the same map with its shades of green which are always changing with the results of the week, and I too have all these various foreign countries reading the blog - how they find it is another story, one that confounds me, but read it they do so quit the empty boasts. There are people who know the truth and is that what you have been doing in your little batcave, adding figures for the years of your blog? Wanna' do mine - I am too busy to waste time on that but evidently you have plenty to waste as you never come out and play with others, do you?
Just as it is time to clear the air in the ranks of politicians within Washington and state capitals, it is time to clear the air here in the Village as well. The old UCO is rank with disuse, with misuse and needs a freshener, new voices, inclusiveness and honesty. We will never get that with David Israel there - he even lies about his age, for heaven's sake! If that is not the peak of all hubris I don't know what is! Tick tock, tick tock.
Thursday, August 4, 2016
VEINS OF HATE
This is turning out to be one of the most horrific political campaigns ever. The voices of hate, the vitriolic yelling of slogans at so many of the Trump rallies, the virulent and poisonous anti Semitism that is pushing its way to the fore, the enmity between adherents of both candidates and it just goes on. Is this the USA or is this a third world country first learning how to live in and with democracy. Is this a country of all or is this a once united country that has taken political opposition to the fore with loyalty to the party rather than to the country. Communist, Fascist or whatever, the world has lived through that already and is this what we want in our country, for our country.
People must look deep within themselves and look at their candidates and choose carefully. Yes, both are not perfect, but there is a difference between one candidate who comes with the baggage earned in her various roles within our government, where enemies and stories are rampant and the other candidate who just seems to be totally and mentally off balance. To pick an argument with a Gold Star family, to babble statements that make no sense and then deny ever making them when they are there as clear as daylight, to have to engage in myriad personal suits against him be it his fake Trump University or his real estate dealings or his tawdry reality shows - what is there to choose. And where are his taxes?
What is most frightening to me is the fact that the hatred of the presidential campaign seems to have found companionship in the veins of hatred of others. A group of BLM goes to the West Bank and calls the Israelis the same as ISIS. A black Oberlin professor, a college noted this year for its horrific attitude towards Jewish students and their support of the BDS movement, states "that the Islamic State was funded by the C.I.A. and the Mossad organization, the Israeli intelligence service, and that Mossad was behind the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris." And there is more but enough printing of words of hate, of vicious lies.
Even more sad is the fact that African Americans are buying into this hate and forgetting who was marching right there with them in Selma, who filled the buses during the time of the Freedom Riders and who was buried in the swamps. They forget the Jewish attorneys who fought fiercely for them and for civil rights in the courtrooms of the nation.
And in the rest of the nation we have people such as David Duke or some weird guy running for governor out west who rants with poison drooling out of his mouth that the Jews control all the media and the rant goes on and on, nothing new, just the same old hate over and over again. And this hate leads to more hate and relations that were moving along, now have come to an abrupt end and perhaps even a backwards movement and the question is not only why but who has instigated this and cui bono - who benefits? And ladies and gentlemen, who benefits as far as I can see is the Trump movement. They have brought back words of hate and viciousness into the campaign. They have poked and prodded until people explode. The Trump campaign appeals to the lowest of the low far too much and those who do not like him yet are still going to vote for him need to think again- Party or country? Make a choice.
When members of his own party back away from him, when supporters of the Republican party move away from him, when his own VP running mate differs with him and breaks away on an important issue, then where are we going with this? The Republicans needs to stand up en masse and disavow this man and all he stands for. Every woman in this country needs to oppose him and his backwards views of women. If a woman is assaulted or harassed at work she should leave? Seek another job? Really, we are back to that again? Women are to be denied their own rights to their own bodies? Are we in the 21st century or have we returned to the worst of the past?
The man is a demagogue, openly stated by now in newspapers and other media. The man is a danger to our democracy and heaven forbid he should win! There will be a mass movement out of this country. Check how many of his supporters are people of his own ilk who are dictatorial in their own lives and hey, we got one right here in the Village, a man who shows the same disrespect to his own electorate, the residents of the Village and who speaks in a denigrating manner of and about Jews, forgetting that he himself is one, like it or not! Like seeks out like and it is a pity that we still have some good people blinded to the evils that his reign would bring about.
Veins of hate lead to streams of hate and the blood flows, figuratively and literally. A dim future is in the wings with Trump. We need to fight against this and if one thinks that there will be much to work with in a Clinton administration then fine, get out there and in there and volunteer, do something, but allow democracy to continue here in the USA. Allow decency to be the order of the day and not the threat of law and order and the egomaniacal statements that "only I can do it!"
People, it is up to us. I have done a bit, working the streets for voter registration. Now how about the rest of you. Think how important this is. Register. Vote. Think. Work to make things better and work to rid us of these awful veins of hate.
People must look deep within themselves and look at their candidates and choose carefully. Yes, both are not perfect, but there is a difference between one candidate who comes with the baggage earned in her various roles within our government, where enemies and stories are rampant and the other candidate who just seems to be totally and mentally off balance. To pick an argument with a Gold Star family, to babble statements that make no sense and then deny ever making them when they are there as clear as daylight, to have to engage in myriad personal suits against him be it his fake Trump University or his real estate dealings or his tawdry reality shows - what is there to choose. And where are his taxes?
What is most frightening to me is the fact that the hatred of the presidential campaign seems to have found companionship in the veins of hatred of others. A group of BLM goes to the West Bank and calls the Israelis the same as ISIS. A black Oberlin professor, a college noted this year for its horrific attitude towards Jewish students and their support of the BDS movement, states "that the Islamic State was funded by the C.I.A. and the Mossad organization, the Israeli intelligence service, and that Mossad was behind the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris." And there is more but enough printing of words of hate, of vicious lies.
Even more sad is the fact that African Americans are buying into this hate and forgetting who was marching right there with them in Selma, who filled the buses during the time of the Freedom Riders and who was buried in the swamps. They forget the Jewish attorneys who fought fiercely for them and for civil rights in the courtrooms of the nation.
And in the rest of the nation we have people such as David Duke or some weird guy running for governor out west who rants with poison drooling out of his mouth that the Jews control all the media and the rant goes on and on, nothing new, just the same old hate over and over again. And this hate leads to more hate and relations that were moving along, now have come to an abrupt end and perhaps even a backwards movement and the question is not only why but who has instigated this and cui bono - who benefits? And ladies and gentlemen, who benefits as far as I can see is the Trump movement. They have brought back words of hate and viciousness into the campaign. They have poked and prodded until people explode. The Trump campaign appeals to the lowest of the low far too much and those who do not like him yet are still going to vote for him need to think again- Party or country? Make a choice.
When members of his own party back away from him, when supporters of the Republican party move away from him, when his own VP running mate differs with him and breaks away on an important issue, then where are we going with this? The Republicans needs to stand up en masse and disavow this man and all he stands for. Every woman in this country needs to oppose him and his backwards views of women. If a woman is assaulted or harassed at work she should leave? Seek another job? Really, we are back to that again? Women are to be denied their own rights to their own bodies? Are we in the 21st century or have we returned to the worst of the past?
The man is a demagogue, openly stated by now in newspapers and other media. The man is a danger to our democracy and heaven forbid he should win! There will be a mass movement out of this country. Check how many of his supporters are people of his own ilk who are dictatorial in their own lives and hey, we got one right here in the Village, a man who shows the same disrespect to his own electorate, the residents of the Village and who speaks in a denigrating manner of and about Jews, forgetting that he himself is one, like it or not! Like seeks out like and it is a pity that we still have some good people blinded to the evils that his reign would bring about.
Veins of hate lead to streams of hate and the blood flows, figuratively and literally. A dim future is in the wings with Trump. We need to fight against this and if one thinks that there will be much to work with in a Clinton administration then fine, get out there and in there and volunteer, do something, but allow democracy to continue here in the USA. Allow decency to be the order of the day and not the threat of law and order and the egomaniacal statements that "only I can do it!"
People, it is up to us. I have done a bit, working the streets for voter registration. Now how about the rest of you. Think how important this is. Register. Vote. Think. Work to make things better and work to rid us of these awful veins of hate.
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