Monday Musings: February 8, 2010

Updated on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 08:11 by mavenandmeddler

Watching the Sunday morning round of political shows, I listened to Alan Greenspan deliver his whiskered old dogma that lowering taxes would certainly help bring the economy out of its funk. Then, an ad came up for the woman who would like to replace Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, Sue Lowden.

Sue is an all American success story.

Family from the old sod that came to American to work in the coal mines. Sue bused tables in New Jersey to take the runner up place at the Miss America pagent, and fly off with Bob Hope on a USO tour.

Or something like that. It’s the same old political ad.

Her plan for success in Nevada: lowering taxes.

I wish it were that easy. Simple cause and effect.

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Monday Musings: December 28, 2009

The kids left for home in the Bay Area early this morning, and we’ve spent the day picking up, putting away and trying to use up leftovers from parties and dinners. I really do feel like after several days of non-stop eating,  I could easily never eat again. Maybe just tea and the occasional bowl of cereal. Ugh. But we really had a wonderful time together.

I emailed foster dog Mom, Joy, about ‘Slick’. It’s a no go. I was wiping tears away while writing the email. But here’s the deal, I’m sad because he’s so damn perfect … the perfect dog for me/us … except that he doesn’t cotton to cats and isn’t likely to change.

Joy said that he’d be relentless with Ladybird and we just can’t do that to her. We both adore that furry neck warmer.

That said, I’m mounting a campaign to get Slick adopted by the right person/s who don’t have a cat. I will post additional information - Joy was incredibly forthcoming with me about him - so that hopefully the word gets out. This very special guy deserves a wonderful home for the new year.

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Monday musings: November 23, 2009

Well, I guess we’ve gained a bit of ground toward health care reform. The Senate bill passed the crucial vote and is now going to the floor for, gasp!, debate. I’m puzzled by those who would have prevented this ultimate expression of the democratic process: debate in an open forum.

What is it about open and honest debate that the opponents of health care insurance reform fear? What’s the worst that could happen?

I know what it is.

The fabric of space time could completely unravel. The universe might open up with an enormous crack, spilling out dead people and horrific events. Giant bolts of lightening, worthy of the END OF TIMES would rage across the nation, igniting false prophets like Joel Orsteen and Mitt Romney.

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Talking points: A fact sheet on health care reform issues

In today’s Reno Gazette-Journal there was an article entitled: ‘Competition absent among private insurers’. This wasn’t a surprise to anybody that is actually sentient and intellectually concious, and a fact that seems to be repeatedly missed by the purveyors ofthe neo-con dogma.

Once again, I’d provide the link if I could find the article on the RGJ cum USA Today site.

Here’s the bottom line: opponents of health care reform say that a public option would doom the private insurers by squashing competition. The idea being, I guess, that the public option would be so great that we’d all flock to it? Isn’t that the whole idea of competition in a free marketplace? I mean, the Big Insurance Companies would have to get off their backsides and really provide service and a product. Wow, just how unfair is that?

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Heath care reform debate: What is this really saying about us?

Over the weekend I’ve listened to more of the town hall meetings - rancorous, hysterical and filled with bitterness- and read more and more of the comments in the foreign press by citizens of countries with some form of national health care. The difference between the comment threads ‘here’ and ‘there’ is both amazing and depressing. Here: laced with obscenity, personal attacks and free of actual issue related content. There: civil, well reasoned, thoughtful.

What’s going on? It all seems to point to some disturbing possibilities about us, as Americans, and our ability to self govern.

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Friday Fish Wrap: April 10, 2009

Do you have any idea what it’s like to come in, sit down and write a blog post … or two, or three, each and every day? There are days when you’re just briming with ideas and oodles of high dudgeon. There are days when you got exactly 4:15 hours of sleep the night before, for whatever reason and you feel just like you’ve been pulled through a knothole … backwards. Not, shall we say, a barrel of bubbling bloginess. Is that a word?

Then there are times like this evening. We were up at Russ’ place for dinner and watched a movie. “Marley and Me.”

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