the blue plate special and other thoughts on turning 65

Yesterday was my sixty-fifth birthday.

While I do not feel particularly old today, by all governmental metrics, I am now a senior citizen.  I am eligible for discounts on the Long Island Railroad, movie theaters, museums, amusement parks and a bunch of diners, if I feel like showing up to have dinner before six o'clock.  Then again, why wouldn't I want to have dinner before six, when I am likely to fall asleep right afterwards?

As for the things I would really like, there are no senior discounts, like airline tickets, the good seats at ballgames and driving into Manhattan without paying tolls.

My family and friends have taken great joy in telling me how old I now am.  The exception is my wife, who tells me my age at this time does not matter because I was old when we first met.

I was nineteen at the time.

Turning sixty-five does have its benefits.  Well, at least "benefits" that include being eligible for Medicare, which means that I go from a health insurance policy that was about as good as it gets to a steaming morass of something that a Nobel laureate would have trouble understanding.  I am sure the benefits administrator at the school district my wife taught at where our insurance originates must wake up each morning by now, shaking with fear of the thought that I will contact her with yet another question about our coverage.  You would think that those in charge would want to make sure the average senior could understand coverage rules and procedures under Medicare; however, as an Ivy League graduate, I am as much in the dark about this stuff as I am about theoretical physics.  

Then again, I think I can actually figure out black holes and that sort of thing.  Black holes are where claims under Medicare go to die.

 I was in Wyoming when I originally applied for Medicare.  I was told the process would take about three or four weeks.  Eight weeks later, I went to the local social security office to see what was holding things up, and was told the office in Jamaica, where my application was referred to had received it, but...  well that was all they could tell me.  I was given a direct phone number for somebody in the Jamaica office, who acknowledged they had received the application weeks ago ad done nothing with it.  She then took a bit under ten minutes on the phone with me to review and approve the application.  One wonders what would have happened if I had not gone to the Cody, Wyoming office to find out what was happening.

Or maybe black holes are something invented by the post office for those trying to figure out Medicare.  As noted above, we were in Wyoming when I originally applied for Medicare.  After the application was finally approved, our time was running short before returning to New York.  I placed a hold on all mail, figuring that my supplemental Medicare card and information would be waiting for me when we got back to our Long Island home.  In the mean time, mail kept arriving in Wyoming.  I went on line and placed another hold on the mail, which kept arriving anyway.  When we arrived in New York, I went to the post office to pick up the held mail, and was handed about a month's worth of junk mail.  The rest of it, the real mail, had been forwarded to Wyoming, where it apparently still sits, including various bills, my supplemental Medicare card, handbook and instructions.

A friend went to the mailbox in Wyoming last week and told us it was stuffed.  She says she mailed us the stuff that was not junk mail.  We expect to receive it some time before the next Millennium.  Either that, or I will show up at the post office next week and find out they just discovered the hold order on the mail, and are now storing it up for me even though the order has expired.

At least I still have my health, or at least I better until the forwarded mail arrives.

I still have my family, including my wife, who if I was old at nineteen, must think I am on the edge of fossilization by now, and my sons, who must think the same.  At least my granddaughter has yet to make fun of me.  Then again, she is only eighteen months old and refers to the family cats as "Mama".

That said, I am lucky.  There has been little heavy lifting thus far in my life.  I am told they save that for the time you get a hernia lifting paper plates in the buffet line at the company picnic.  I have a wife whom I absolutely adore even if she thinks I may be Methuselah.  I still have Mom, who still is as sharp as ever, and may be the one person left who believes I am young enough to carry out the garbage.  I have my sons, my daughter in law and my precious grandchild.  I have most of my wits still about me and the ability to travel and enjoy life with friends.  Life has been good to me.

So fit me for a hearing aid -- if my Medicare supplement ever arrives -- and bring on the blue plate special.  I have always liked meat loaf anyway.

park county fair-y tales

 As many of you know by now, our living in Wyoming for the past few years has been a bit of a challenge, with the traditional friendliness that attracted us in the first place having, shall we say... evolved over the past two years. I bring you the latest in Wyoming wholesomeness... 

This is the week of the Park County Fair here in Wyoming.  You know, a good ole fashion hokey, wholesome county fair fresh with corn dogs, cotton candy, demolition derby and parade through town complete with small floats and shriners in little scooter/motorcars tossing candy to the kids lining the sidewalk, where they have to fight the adults for it -- like me.  The fair and the parade are supposed to bring out a certain community spirit that you tend to see in small town America, a certain "can do" in the face of all that keeps seeming to happen to all of us.  There is a certain pride associated, as people working in the local stores come out and watch along with the locals as the parade goes by. 

We were in the local Ace Hardware today as the parade started to make its way down the street, and had a good smile and laugh with the employees as the candy was being tossed to the kids.  We felt a certain sense of community pride as a small float went by urging all to go to Yellowstone "come hell or high water", obviously referencing recent wildfires and the cataclysmic flooding that closed the park for a while last month.

And then...

There is a guy who owns a very large, very yellow station wagon he parks on the side of the main road connecting our small town with Cody, the nearest town of any consequence anyone outside of the area may know.  He calls the big yellow monstrosity "the Trump Train".  As you can imagine, it is festooned with all sorts of Trump paraphernalia, including flags, signs, banners, and the recent addition of  a life sized cut out of cadet bone spurs himself seeming to drive the station wagon, wherever it may be going.

And there it was today, toodling down the parade route in the middle of town, flags and banners flying, with the guy who owns this thing at the wheel, gleefully waving to the crowd.  

Now I have no problem with this guy owning his station wagon and doing whatever the hell he wants to do with it, including hanging Trump stuff all over it and parking on the side of the highway for all to see as they drive by.  His car.  I believe his property.  His choice.

But...

Does he have the right to drive this thing down the middle of the street in the Park County Fair parade fully adorned with all the Trump paraphernalia, including the addition of a flag and painted sign on the side of the big yellow monstrosity, cheering "Let's Go Brandon"?

We all know that "Let's Go Brandon" has become a sophomoric tag line for those who either do not want to or do not have the guts to say in public "Fuck Joe Biden".

So there this MAGA genius goes down the middle of the parade route with his "Fuck Joe Biden" signs and flags, in front of children, among others, and most in the crowd think this is okay. The same people who will scream if you say something like the first word in that slogan near them without attaching "Brandon" to it, and will wash their kids mouths out with soap if they dare.

And trust me, the kids in the town -- and all over for that matter -- know what "Let's Go Brandon" means, unless they are less than three years old.  This has been pushed on them for the last two years by the townsfolk, including their parents.  Remember, that this town is in the county in which the County Commission took the ridiculous vote after the second impeachment of the yellow monstrosity's hero to declare that Liz Cheney was no longer their congresswoman.  Yes, they took the taxpayer's time and money to debate and pass that resolution.

On top of all of this, you need to get approval from the Park County Fair Commission (or whatever its actual title is) to ride your bike, your car, your float or your Trump Train in the parade.  So the Commission apparently thought it was okey dokey to drive this thing telling us all to say "Fuck You" to the sitting president of this country right down the main street of a parade designed to show off community pride.

I do not know what is worse, the idiot driving this thing, whoever at the parade governing body approved it knowing what the message was, or the town cheering him on.

So apparently, we are now to be swelling with community pride to tell our sitting president to go fuck himself.

I am bursting at the seams...

The Silence of the Lambs

I watched the January 6 committee hearing today. I did not originally intend to, but it came on before the hockey game I intended to watch had started, and then I became hooked.

And then I realized I was watching history.

I was watching one of those moments that over the course of your life you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when they happened.  They are moments that define your life and society in general at each distinct time.

I heard the news that Kennedy was shot while walking home from school.  I was in the drive of the school a matter of a few feet from turning onto Virginia Avenue where my family lived then and still does.

When Neal Armstrong stepped out onto the moon's surface, I was a camper at University Settlement in Beacon, New York.  We all thought the bigger deal at the time was Pete Seeger coming to the camp to perform for us kids.

When Nixon resigned I was sitting on the steps of a general store in Willow Creek, California near the end of a bike trip to San Francisco.  That night, the group I was with would celebrate, if that is the term you want to use, at the campsite we were at for the night by drinking just a wee bit by the fire and reciting comedy routines by Cheech and Chong.

I was sitting in my office at 111 John Street on the twenty-second floor when the planes hit the World Trade Center.  I watched from there as the first tower fell.

And today, I watched a congressional committee set out in chilling detail how a president and his followers tried to subvert an election by force.  It was clear from the testimony ad the videos shown that the mob brought to the capital and incited by a seditious, treasonous group would have killed members of Congress and the Vice-President if they had been able to.  All the while, the President did nothing, and in fact, cheered the mob on.

When the hearing was over for the evening, I logged onto my social media account to see what friends, and that includes my friends on the right had to say.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The former president has done a lot of awful things over the course of the past several years.  He has been racist.  He has been homophobic.  He has used the highest office in the land to enrich himself and his buddies.  He has turned the Constitution into his own little plaything.  Every time, the voices in opposition have grown just a bit more quiet.

And now, nothing.

Of all the horrible, diabolical things this man and his thugs have done, they have managed to beat us down by numbing us to the insanity to the point where the worst imaginable merits not a peep in response.  We in opposition are done and done for.

And we will find this out this coming November when there have been no consequences or recriminations, and the forces let loose by this maniac and his thugs come home to roost.

racism in america

Colin Kaepernick did not do anything to anyone.

He simply kneeled in quiet, respectful protest of the way Black people have been historically treated in this country by the formerly white majority, who still maneuver frantically to retain power.

He did not break any laws.

He did not make a scene at the local Wal Mart by trying to spread a deadly disease to other people because it is a violation of his "freedom" to act responsibly and wear a mask or get vaccinated.

He did not put others at risk when he kneeled during the national anthem.  There was no physical danger to anyone posed by his decision not to stand.

He did not try to strike police officers with flag poles, fire extinguishers bear spray or anything else he could get his hands on.  Nobody was at risk when he kneeled.

He did not threaten the life of any public official or anyone else when he stood for his own rights.  No gallows were erected in the public square, ready in case he caught any public official who did not agree with him and did not act upon his first amendment protected right to protest peacefully.

And he was protesting peacefully.

He did not tell his followers that this was "trial by combat", urge them to "fight like hell", to vandalize, to threaten or to commit any act of violence in his name.

He did not break any windows or deface any public buildings.

He did not steal anything, let alone documents from the office of a member of congress.

He did not interrupt any act of any level of government at any time, nor did he try to improperly influence or intimidate any public official in either their official or unofficial capacity.

He did not try to steal an election based on a lie.

He did not destroy evidence.  He did not hide evidence.  He did not obstruct justice.

He did not defame anyone else.

He did not block any chain of commerce, thus causing or contributing to supply shortages and ultimately to inflation.

He did not ban any books from schools or libraries, and in fact, never said what could or could not be said in any classroom in this county.

He did not push to make it a crime to say anything he did not agree with.

He did not try to take away anyone's right to vote for the candidate of their choice, or make it so difficult to do so that it was nearly impossible.  Nor did he fight for the right to overturn the results of any election he did not like.

He did not ridicule science or threaten scientists and/or their families, or use his position in any public forum to urge others to do so.

He did not threaten to jail or summarily execute anyone who disagreed with him.

He did not try to impose his religion on anyone.

He did not deny medical treatment to anyone or force them to travel hundreds of miles to get the treatment they needed because he did not believe in the treatment or procedure being sought.

The people who did all of the above and more are being exalted, praised and practically granted sainthood by certain politicians, public figures, so called journalists and media.

All because the vast majority of the people who did all of the above are, for the most part, white conservatives. 

And Colin Kaepernick is Black.

Those folks who did all of the above were doing nothing but engaging in "legitimate political discourse", all as they violated constitutionally guaranteed rights to others, caused the spread of disease and misinformation, contributed to supply chain shortages and inflation, interfered with constitutionally mandated government functions, banned books, and much more.

They are heroes.

They are white.

They are going on with their every day lives, and will continue to do so until a sense of decency and morality returns to this country.

Colin Kaepernick is Black.

He was, in fact, participating in "legitimate political discourse".

He did not harm anyone, he did not interfere with anyone's rights or any governmental functions or duties.  He did not tell anyone what they could or could not do, what they could or could not say, what they could or could not read, or what they could or could not believe.

He simply kneeled during the national anthem, thereby standing up for his rights.

And for that he was ostracized, vilified, threatened, libeled and banned from his chosen profession.

Colin Kaepernick is Black.

Those other miscreants are white.

They go on with their lives.

This is one of the ways racism in america looks like in the twenty-first century.

top ten worst persons in the world, 2021

We once again present the annual Top Ten Worst Persons in the World, annual being a bit of a misnomer, as we did not publish this last year, although I am sure you can guess who the top ten worst persons would have been.  We invite comment for your thoughts in that regard, as well as the list for this year.  Once again, Cadet Bone Spurs did not make this list, as he could have taken up all ten spots and retired lists of this type permanently.

As always, there are honorable mentions, this year being Karen Fann, the president of the Arizona senate, who authorized the cadet bone spurs paid for Cyber Ninja audit of the presidential vote that ended up finding that Joe Biden won the state by more votes than originally announced, yet somehow still announced that the audit showed massive fraud, and Mark Meadows, who appears to have been one of the driving forces within the White House behind the January 6 events and cover up.  His spine has been exposed, as he was willing to cooperate, until it looked like his information would indict his boss.

And with the preliminaries out of the way...

10.  Boris Johnson --  Well, I said I wasn't going to put Cadet Bone Spurs on the list, but I didn't say anything about not putting his clown, er... clone on the list.  We may begin calling this guy Cadet Bone Spurs, Jr.  No mask mandates in Britain, No vaccine mandates.  Brexit without a viable plan.  Etc.

9.  Eric Clapton -- Keeping the international flavor of this year's list, this one really hurts me.  When I was a kid, I really loved this guy, and saw him in concert any number of times.  Always a great show.  His music is still great, but I won't listen to it anymore, now that he has demonstrated how he feels about Jews like me and sensible people who do sensible things to protect themselves and their friends and neighbors, like just about everyone...  well, except for about a third of the population...

8.  Prince Andrew -- The Brits must hate me by now.  Here's a guy who has literally been handed everything in life, but still managed to drop it.  Lots of guys have been implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell scandal, but at least the rest of them have managed to stay out of the spotlight.  For not managing to keep his yap and his zipper shut...  Cheers mate!

7.  Mitch McConnell -- Well, he had to be here somewhere.  I had thought that loyalty to country topped loyalty to party, but I guess I was wrong.  This guy has enabled everything that has happened since January 20, 2017, and now openly says his job is to make sure nothing good happens during Joe Biden's presidency.  He will allow the country to suffer just so he can be back in charge of the Senate, and the guy he blasted for January 6 back in the White House.

6.  Joe Manchin -- Never before has such an inconsequential politician become such an omnipresent oaf.  Somebody should buy this guy a very large mirror so he can admire himself all day long and leave the rest of us alone.  Voting rights?  Feh...  Climate Change?  Coal!!  Public health?  My daughter is a big pharma exec who skyrocketed the cost of critical medications.  Without this guy, Mitch McConnell would have been an afterthought this year.

5.  Ron DeSantis -- Also known in these parts as "I Wanna Be Cadet Bone Spurs".  The Guv spent the year protecting the citizens of his state by refusing to make anyone wear a mask, refusing to make anyone get a vaccine, even health care workers, trying to punish companies, even private companies large or small, from imposing any health related mandates on their employees or customers, and then trying to reward the most irresponsible amongst us who refuse to do anything to help in the face of the pandemic

4.  Matt Gaetz -- It was a real close call here between this guy and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has demonstrated in a single year how singularly unfit she is for public office of any kind, including sanitation engineer; however, unlike Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene has not yet shown herself to potentially be a sex offender.  We would expect sometime soon, Matt will be out of the House and into the Big House.  In the mean time, Matt, you are still a member of Congress, so how about sponsoring a piece of legislation, any piece other than something designed as a piece of red meat to a bunch of toothless, brainless yayhoos that has no chance of becoming law and is simply a publicity stunt.  You know, like maybe doing the job you were actually put in Washington to do...

3.  Sean Hannity -- This was another real close call, as any number of Fox Cheerleading Network personalities could have qualified here, especially Tucker Carlson, who is well ahead in the early running to be on this list next year, if not win it outright.  Sean Hannity gets the nod here, however, as it turns out he likely was in on January 6, or at least had a clue about what was coming, then after it got out of control, went on the air to denounce the violence, and the almost immediately tried to blame the left and was active on the air in downplaying everything that happened, giving, or at least trying to give, Cadet Bone Spurs cover.

2.  Paul Gosar -- Aside from the fact that it appears he was one of the insiders to the January 6 insurrection, he published a cartoon depicting himself killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow sitting member of Congress, and attacking the president.  In the past, this would have resulted in immediate criminal charges against just about anyone.  How on earth do you threaten to kill a sitting member of Congress and attack and presumably threaten the life of the sitting President and get away with it, let alone still be a sitting member of Congress?

And this year's winner is...

1.  Kevin McCarthy -- That's how.  Then again, we could put here the entire congressional GOP caucus.  We single out Kevin McCarthy here because he wants so badly to be the next speaker of the house that he will enable anything, and I mean ANYTHING, from his caucus.  Kevin McCarthy began the year properly calling out Cadet Bone Spurs for his fomenting the insurrection, and then suddenly became the poster boy for the whole thing after a visit to you know who at his little palace in Florida.  How much do you want to bet Cadet Bone Spurs told Kevin he would be speaker of the house if he backed off and the denied the former guy had anything to do with January 6, and that January 6, in any event, was not a big deal.  For obsequiousness beyond the call of duty, Kevin, you are our winner this year.  Congratulations.

Or should I say fuck you?