Much Ado about Much

I was totally devastated when my best friend told me they have Alzheimer's.  I felt and was as helpless as when we learned that my first wife had a malignant tumor in her left breast.  When we learned that my Dad had surgery to remove a huge malignant tumor in his thorax, I went into a nearly year long period of numb denial, and when my Mom began to show symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, we could not deny that because every day she was going away from us to that world of no memory, few feelings, extreme depression.

I spoke to my friend yesterday.  We talked about books we were reading, and the difficulties of reading heavy, hard bound books in bed when you fell asleep and dropped the book on your face.  Heavy Reading took on a whole new significance, and black eyes became marks of erudition.  No more "oh, I walked into a door", or "I accidentally bumped into my wife's knee".  Now one could legitimately claim that I dropped a book on my face, and the fellow conversant would know it was the truth and once again you were trying to read yourself to sleep rather than knock yourself unconscious with some great book.

When I mentioned this problem to a friend who loved to read, he had a ready solution, and suggested that I tear out 20 or so pages of a heavy book and discard them after I read them.  My love and respect for books is so strong that I am having trouble starting that course but I DO really want to read Churchill's six volume set about the second World War, so I'll probably do it.

But as always, I digress.  The FaceTime conversation with my friend ended when the battery on their iPhone gave warnings of dissipation, and we ended our conversation at what felt like an appropriate time.  We resolved nothing, but we managed to ease my pain tremendously.  I hope I did the same in some small way for my friend.  My heart is not lighter, but it no longer feels like it is being compressed in a pressure chamber.  For the sixty years we have been good friends, my pal has eased my pain more than often, and I always said that they knew me better than I knew myself.

Is this what life is?  Are these '' Golden Years" or at best, mildly tarnished Brass.

Memory

I need to remember the location of this blog so I can maintain it and write to it.

Re the comments on K's Speech

I am very suspicious of someone who tries to put their own "spin" on someone else's alleged speech. I didn't see what Krauthammer wrote or said, but I know who Krauthammer is--a huge supporter of Israel but a strong Christian Conservative (why is it that so many Christian Conservatives are strong supporters of Israel (rhetorical question!) yet are always so negative and filled with vitrolic hatred for almost anything else they oppose?) I appreciate his support of Israel but deride his conservatism. But that's not the point. The fact is that some guy is interpreting something I did not read, and I am not going to believe anything the man says.

I never liked Obama. I respect his knowledge and his achievements and his education, but any Chicago raised Politician is suspect. Chicago is the city that works because of the well-oiled machine that runs it. The Daley Machine has been and is a great positive thing for Chicago. The father and now the son Mayors have made Chicago one of the greatest cities in the world--full of art, beautiful parks, creative improvements like the new roof gardens which cool buildings and clean the air at nearly zero cost, and efficient city services.

It is super clean, super segregated, and a great place for a black up and coming politician to get an education and tutelage from a guy like Jesse Jackson. Jesse is one of the great manipulators of all time, and even if he didn't train Obama, BO could simply observe Jackson the Great finagle his way to wealth and the American Dream. Those $5,000 suits that Jesse wears weren't donations plucked out of the Goodwill Box. He either paid for them or blackmailed some clothier to give them to him.

So the meteoric rise of Obama is, to me, highly suspicious and probably filled with corruption. That does not make him intrinsically bad, just suspect. He got a good education at Harvard and an even better one in the backyards of Chicago. These stood him in good stead when he was campaigning, and will help him be a good, if not great President.

NOW, having said all that, what about his plans for the USA? Don't forget that the guy is smart, very smart, and cunning. He got elected on a platform of change, but immediately installed a whole lot of good-ole-boys in the key positions of his government. That does not portend for a positive change, not in my mind at least. BO has backed away from many positive promises he made during the campaign (closing the prison in Guantanamo, opening previously classified (Cheney classified EVERYTHING--even used toilet paper was classified by Deadeye Dick) documents, allowing public access to White House Visitor Logs, etc., etc., but he did get us on the road to leaving Iraq, and did leave the possibility of dialog open with Iran, and did try to initiate peace movement in the Middle East (that just isn't ever going to happen--the arabs can't make peace with themselves, they sure as hell aren't going to make peace with the Jews who, with their democratic state and great history of growth, education, innovation, land reclamation, etc., etc., are a shining example of what can happen without a monarchy and restrictive freedom found in so many of the arab countries.)

Obama is NOT going to bankrupt the USA. Bush/cheney already brought us to the verge, BO needs to spend us back away from that cliff-edge. In my mind, any universal health program is better than nothing. Right now there are Fifty Million Americans without health coverage. Getting them covered is crucial, critical, and just must be done. The laws of the USA compel treatment for indigent people who are ill. Hospitals cannot turn away a critically ill individual. So someone has to pay. Why not make health coverage universal, mandatory, and force the people who are not covered to pay something? Every little bit helps, so let's take a little from everyone, and let's make sure some poor sick kid doesn't die because his folks didn't have insurance. Once the coverage exists, perhaps we can elect some politicians who aren't corrupt and who will make it economically feasible.

I really believe in the concept of "One, three year term for all elected politicians and judges." Nobody should be allowed to run for public office after serving their 3 years. Get rid of this life tenure for Supreme Court Justices. Eliminate the Imperial Senators and the 30 year Congressmen and make all of them get the same health care coverage and social security that the rest of the American People get. I'm tired of seeing senators rolled into the senate in wheelchairs because they are too old to walk and can barely stay awake thru a day's session. How can guys like Spector and Kennedy legislate if they are being radiated and operated on to try to preserve a few more months or year of life? Three year term limits will eliminate a lot of theft, and will stop these multi-million dollar campaigns which are financed by lobbying interests and which obligate the elected official to give more consideration to contributors than to their constituents. Let's make all the members of congress pay for their 'junkets' out of their own pockets. No more fact-finding trips to Bali to investigate dancers' navels. No more first class tickets for the congress person or their girlfriends and/or wives. Let them fly on whatever military transport is available, no special trips on private B-58s!

I'm tired of being exploited by employees--and the members of the United States Government are my employees, just as they are your employees. They work for us. We pay their salaries. Let's stop treating them as royalty and maybe they will start working like they should.

Don't Let Go

We are in grave danger of allowing Bush and Cheney to skate--to get away with the billions and billions of dollars they stole, to evade charges for the treason they committed, to ignore the murders they caused by fabricating a platform for theft in a falsely incited war, and to hold a place of honor in history as President and Vice President of the United States that they don't deserve, didn't earn, and brought dishonor to.

These two terrorists (for they fit the classic definition of terrorist) ignored the Constitution and destroyed the Bill of Rights. They allowed the economy to run uncontrolled until our country was bankrupt and had lost its place of leadership in the world. They caused a worldwide recession and a near depression in the United States. They deserve the hangman's noose, not a public platform.