Octogenarian Screwed by AARP

The last organization I expected to be screwed by was AARP. A few weeks ago AARP was right on the ball and notified me that my membership was expiring in October and it was to my advantage to renew it without delay so I could take advantage of all the money saving benefits and services AARP offered seniors. After some soul searching about the value of an AARP membership, I decided to be supportive and  renew for another three years (at my age, this could very well be a lifetime membership). Off went my check for $43 which AARP efficiently processed. Today I received another reminder pleading for renewal of my membership with a disclaimer that my renewal and this reminder may have crossed in the mail. Fine, except this last reminder also contained a monetary incentive to renew my membership. Yes sir-ee, If I renewed, it would cost me $36 instead of $43. WOW, if I had procrastinated a couple of more weeks I could have saved $7 which I would have gladly contributed to their Foundation. Just proves that the early bird does not always get the worm.

I love Westerns, but not guns

This is a post about guns. No, I'm not going to rant about the latest gun massacre on the national scene. I'm passing on the Washington, D.C. Naval Yard gun violence. I'll probably pass on the next massacre and the one after that and the one.........enough already. That's not what I want to write about. I've already done it 47 times and realize I'm beating a dead horse.

My issue with guns in this post is a passion of mine. I love Westerns. I'll turn off a baseball game

with the Indians at bat in the bottom of the ninth, the bases loaded and no outs, in order to catch a movie about the Wild West. The Wild West equates with guns. Lots of guns and lots of mayhem. I'll stay glued to the TV set fascinated by the fastest gun in the west. It's been this way since I was a child. I recall my cousin and I replaying every Western we just saw at the neighborhood theater. My favorite role was playing Tom Mix (not because his horse was named Tony).

 Even in the midst of a depression, gun sales (toy guns that is) were brisk. They came in all forms. I loved the ones that fired caps. My cousin opted for a bee-bee gun. My father emphatically let me know that anything more deadly than a cap gun was taboo for me.

The point is, I'm having a difficult time rationalizing my passion for Westerns with my passion for more effective control of guns in our modern society. I never traded in my toy gun for the real McCoy. I feel fortunate that I have never wanted to settle a dispute in the manner of those quick draw artists of the past. With my temper, this has been a blessing. Still, I don't feel like a hypocrite while I'm watching a Western. As the song goes, "that's entertainment".

 This country, whether we like it or not, was put together by gun violence but it does not follow that gun violence must continue to be at the forefront today. Had to get that last piece of preaching or "botta" into this post. Now it's time to bring it to an end. It's almost time for "Gunfight at the OK Corral".

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Just when I was getting comfortable with online banking and putting my files in the cloud, NSA comes along and breaks down the encryption codes designed to make the Internet secure. As I recall, NSA refers to the National Security Agency. That's strange. A government agency which is supposed to make me feel more secure has now made my Internet activities less secure. I'm told it is their way of catching the bad guys. That may be so, but if the price for security is to give up security, then we may be heading down the wrong path. It is comparable to throwing out the concept that "Its better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man is wrongfully convicted". I think that in the future any secure Internet web site should be required to publish the  disclaimer, "USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!"

Who's in the hot seat?

Britain's House of Commons voted not to approve a military strike against Syria. The debate took a few days. Now we have the spectacle of our Congress starting a debate on the same subject. Judging by today's hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Syria's Assad should have no fear of a military strike by the United States in the very near future. By the time Congress has exhausted its hearings in the Senate, hearings in the House, a debate on the floor of the Senate and a debate on the floor of the House, members will be too exhausted to vote.

Unless the United States has been attacked, Congressional approval of military action is not an efficient process. Obama must have known this before he asked for Congress to approve his taking action against the government of Assad. What's he trying to prove? I hope it is not his way of obliterating that red line he hastily drew.

 I'm not sure who is in the hot seat, Obama or Congress. One thing for sure, the American people waiting out  the outcome of all the hot air and posturing are feeling the heat.

Labor Day In Danger

Corporations have been known to announce large layoffs just before Christmas. Bank of America has chosen to layoff 1000 employees in Beachwood, Ohio just before Labor Day. Maybe its time for Obama to declare that one more large layoff before Labor Day and corporations will have crossed the red line. Retaliatory action could go as far as abolishing Labor Day ( with Congressional approval of course).

In a more sober vein, if something isn't done to create more jobs in this country for those who are not rocket scientists, Labor Day as a day to celebrate the efforts of all hardworking Americans will die a natural death. Maybe China or India will pick up the slack.

Bring back the bows and arrows

Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the Obama administration would hold the Syrian government accountable for what he called a “moral obscenity” that had shocked the world’s conscience. Syria's Assad apparently has broken some sacred rule of modern day warfare - no killing with chemical weapons.

A commentator on CNN pointed out that thus far in the Syrian civil war, about 100000 have been killed by weapons that go boom-boom, while 360 have been killed by chemical munitions. The 100000 killed, unfortunately were killed by approved weapons of warfare such as bombs. missiles, drones and automatic rifles.  The loss of life by conventional warfare weapons has resulted in hand wringing by the West and idle threats of "some sort of action" but it is those 360 lives lost by Assad unleashing chemical warfare munitions which will probably call for military action. Of course, any kind of military response designed to deter further use of chemical warfare weapons will escalate the number of lives lost by bombs, missiles, Drones and automatic rifles.

Chemical warfare should be strongly condemned. At the same time, warfare itself should be abhorred. There is nothing civilized about warfare no matter how sophisticated the weapons of destruction are. If we are going to regulate what kind of weapons are permissible in a conflict, I suggest that bows and arrows should be the weapon of choice.

Whether he likes it or not, Obama may very well be drawn into his own "little war". It will be a war that will cost more economic destruction here at home. It will be another war that we cannot win. It will be a war that we do not need. There are those who will point out that limited military action will get the job done and avoid a war. A rose by any other name smells the same. Surgical bombing, Drone attacks or any other kind of limited military action are in essence a declaration of war.

Tweets, Chirps & Squawks

A couple of days ago I started to compose a post for this blog. As I mused over what I had written, I was shocked to realize that I was not blogging, I was Tweeting.

My blog page, About Blogging, states : At times my posts may resemble “tweets” and I may wax sentimental about some event or person in my past but I’m not ready to abandon blogging for Twitter or Facebook.

I guess I’m ready. Not to abandon blogging, but to admit that tweeting is not a substitute for blogging. If I find myself tweeting, I will delete the post and in turn “tweet, chirp or squawk” on Twitter (see the sidebar). So far, I have kept my distance from Facebook. In the meantime, if I have anything to say beyond 140 characters worth, Blogger is it.

ed note: Of course this was an underhanded way of breaking my blogging slump. In my defense it did take more than 140 characters.

On Depression

A senior visiting a doctor these days is grilled on a number of items. Number one on the list is, “Are you depressed?” I suppose that if you are an octogenarian there is a good chance that you would answer positively to such a question. After all, at that age, a lack of energy and difficulty in maintaining concentration is not uncommon and could lead to despondency, accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy. Pleading guilty to depression could carry a life sentence of one Prozac per day or worse yet a visit to a “shrink” once a week for thirty minutes for the rest of one’s life or until insurance coverage runs out -in which case there is no alternative other than to start enjoying life again.

I submit that some depression is actually healthy and that anyone who denies being depressed by the state of the nation and the world is mentally challenged. The chaos in the Mideast, the ever increasing frequency of gun violence, a dysfunctional Congress, the erosion of our privacy rights and the futility of rooting for the Cleveland Indians to win their division are grounds for depression. Acknowledging this only shows the possession of high standards. These high standards can be accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy when we contemplate possible solutions. The frustration which borders on depression only increases when it becomes apparent that those in a position to fix the problems are just as inadequate as we are, if not more so.

Obviously if fits of depression increase in frequency to the point where there is no interest in life, what was once a healthy trait becomes a demon (I guess this is what the good doctor was searching for). So how do you fight the demon? That’s what “shrinks” are for. Then again, According to Buddha. "It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell." Meditate on that!

The challenge we face is to keep depression as an occasional visitor. If we can learn to recognize when it is wearing out its welcome we have won the battle. Embracing all that is right with life and being grateful for life’s blessings can show depression the door. Easier said then done?  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.


　

It takes $$$$ to be a libertarian

I never paid much attention to libertarians until Ron Paul ran for the Republican presidential nomination. Even then, I dismissed the whole idea of libertarianism as much ado about nothing. How wrong could I be? Very wrong!

 I perused cleveland.com (powered by The Plain Dealer) this morning (it's Tuesday- no home delivery) and was drawn to this headline:

Will Libertarian Amazon-Washington Post owner order Rand Paul endorsement?

Jeff Bezos a libertarian? I didn't know that. The Koch brothers, libertarians. Didn't know that either. Obviously I'm not very informed. Now I know why I dismissed libertarianism as much ado about nothing. I'm just not greedy enough or more importantly, rich enough to be a libertarian.

Unless you have tons of money it does not pay to be a libertarian ( or is it an ass). Only the very rich have the luxury of actively promoting the idea of a minuscule federal government. Let the rest of us eat cake.

Jeff Darcy's editorial cartoon prompted this post. Hope he doesn't mind that it is gracing this blog.

About OCD

My favorite TV show --- make that one of my favorite TV shows --- or would it be more accurate to say ---- actually write ---- I liked watching Monk on TV. For some reason or other, which I can’t recall, he reminded me or better yet I associated with him. I didn’t really associate with him, so perhaps I should leave it that he reminded me. That still does not make the point. He reminded me of me. Is that too many me’s? If I pose a question do I need to answer it? Oh my, that’s two questions so far and I really don’t know how to answer them without looking stupid. I wish I hadn’t posed the questions. I could delete them but I’m too far along. Monk would have deleted them. Maybe I should delete them - they really do not have anything to do with what I’m writing. Or do they? I do want this short essay to be perfect. Getting something perfect just drives me nuts. I know this isn’t perfect but it’s much better than the first draft. If I keep typing it will get better but that could go on all night. As a matter of fact, I probably have made my point. I hate “probably”. Either I did or I didn’t. Why don’t I call this my second draft and leave it at that. I have all day tomorrow to work on it. Some of the grammar and punctuation sucks. Is that a cliché? Clichés are trite and I sure don’t want this to be trite. I’ll ask the High Primal to check my grammar and punctuation. Yes that’s what I’ll do. Even if everything is grammatically correct this will need a lot of work. Someone once told me that anyone with an obsessive compulsion disorder should not be a writer. Actually that’s not true. How else can a perfect essay be written? 

　

One more for the road

No, I'm not on a binge. Just one more rant about The Plain Dealer and home delivery before I put the whole subject to bed.

Today is Wednesday and true to their promise The Plain Dealer distribution people deposited a hard copy of the paper at my garage door. Breakfast with a newspaper. Life is good.

My euphoria lasted through half a cup of coffee. The news in the paper was as stale as the piece of toast on my plate. Indians got clobbered by the Tigers for the umpteenth time - knew that before they played. Al-Qaeda threatening to bring us to our knees again - already knew all that Washington is willing to tell me. Browns training camp news galore - boring as all hell. Obesity down in the country except for Ohio - don't need a newspaper to tell me that; just walking down the street does the trick. One whole section devoted to food (Taste) - proving that Ohio is committed to leading the nation in the number of fat people (according to the High Primal, if you want a body that does a lot, you must put up with the bulk). I could go on and on but that would bore me as well as anyone who may be reading this. Suffice to say that the Wednesday edition of the PD should have been labeled "All The News You Already Know".

Being without the hard copy of a newspaper the past two days was no big deal. That Bezos guy is right. Within the next twenty years there will no longer be newspapers as we know them today. He's spent 250 million for The Washington Post to prove that.

One more for the road. The Plain Dealer e-edition was obviously designed for an iPad. Since that's the device of choice I think the PD's marketing gurus could have come with an iPad giveaway promotion. Not so, butt thank goodness for The New York Times e-edition. It's friendly with all my devices.

No Plain Dealer by the garage door

Monday, August 5, 2013 - opened garage door, reached for The Plain Dealer, got zilch. Of course! No home delivery! Not until Wednesday. Then not until Friday and then Sunday. Should mention the bonus (whatever that is) on Saturday. Home delivery is now an event. Need to mark my calendar.

 The good news is that I can get to my computer and view The Plain Dealer e-edition. The bad news is that The Plain Dealer e-edition is not very user friendly. In fact it is a user turn off. Oh well, getting my news from The New York Times on line won't be so bad. Actually it will be just fine.

The Plain Dealer spinners would have me believe that they are doing me a favor by bringing me into the twenty-first century as far as news delivery is concerned. If more newspapers follow their strategy, the role of newspapers for news delivery will go the way of dinosaurs.

What's in a Headline?

Choosing a few words to convey the main point of an article can be a challenge. The result sometimes lends itself to misinterpretation. A few that caught my eye recently ( it didn't hurt):

 Efforts to Recruit Poor Students Lag at Some Elite Colleges (New York Times 7/31/13) - Should come as no surprise. It is much easier to recruit good students. Furthermore, college is meant for good students.

NSA officials grilled over phone records (The Plain Dealer 8/1/13) - Grilling over charcoal would have been preferable. In either case, it's a violation of the 8th Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

New Tools for Keeping the Lights On (New York Times 7/31/13) - What's wrong with a light switch?

Peace Camp wraps up to the beat of drums (The Plain Dealer-8/2/13) - Sounds like a call to arms.

A Wandering Mind Gathers No Moss

Worries Mount as Syria Lures West’s Muslims- so blared the headline for a story in last Sunday’s New York Times. Evidently much ado is being made about who is helping the rebels. “Young Muslims are traveling to Syria to fight against the government of Bashar al-Assad, raising fears among American and European officials of a new terrorist threat when they return home”. Not necessarily true. Foreigners fighting in the Spanish Civil War were the inspiration for some great novels- not terrorism. Maybe some young radicalized Muslim will return from Syria and write “For Whom The Muezzin Calls”. We may even see some  historical epics like “The Cedars Believe In Allah” or “Winter in Damascus”. Then again they may return as more accomplished bombers.

Carlos Danger, aka Anthony Weiner, is giving user names a bad name.

Finally got a letter from The Plain Dealer explaining how pleased I’ll be with their 3 day a week home delivery and what a treat their e-edition will be. Re-read it three times and I still was not thrilled until I realized that there was indeed a plus side to the reduced delivery of hard copies. Fewer papers to put out for recycling. As for the e-edition, my DEL button will handle the trashing.

I haven’t written much about the hard playing Cleveland Indians who are currently 2.5 games behind the Division leader. I’m not going to start now since I’m mindful of Chief Wahoo’s curse. If only the Dolans would retire him, first place would be a cinch.

The Cleveland Browns opened training camp last week. They are apparently way ahead of schedule- one concussion already reported.

Kudos to Senator Sherrod Brown. He's moving to Cleveland from the outer suburb of Avon. Another way of looking at it, the good senator is putting his money where his mouth is.

One way to beat cancer - redefine it! A group of experts has determined that as far as cancer is concerned we are still living in the nineteenth century. What to do? They have recommended changing the definition of cancer and eliminating the word from some common diagnoses as part of sweeping changes in the nation’s approach to cancer detection and treatment. That will bring the cancer rate down dramatically. Now we need to redefine what obesity is and eliminate so many fat people walking the streets.

I need a smart phone like a hole in the head

In a moment of weakness, I dumped my dumb phone and got myself a smart phone. What’s so bad about that? Nothing other than I need a smart phone like I need a hole in the head. Let me be clear about my smart phone. It’s an Android, not an iPhone. There is too much “I” in everything we want or do these days. Besides it is also more expensive than the Android. Family members who have iPhones expected no less from me. The High Primal was elated, especially when I convinced her that her dumb phone and my smart phone would be able to communicate in a crowded mall.

I’ve had the phone for over a month now and have only made a couple of phone calls with it, both of which were “no answer“. I’ve been too damn busy trying to understand what makes it so smart. I’m at the point now that I’m comfortable with enough Apps that I can relax and start treating it like a phone - oops, a smart phone.

My phone tells me where I’m at and even pinpoints it on a map. I’m sure that the folks at NSA like this feature. It also navigates but I don’t really need this App - my High Primal can get me lost a lot easier. It plays music but I’d rather sit in my easy chair and listen to the radio. All in all it has more Apps than I can possibly absorb.

I now have an appreciation of why Androids (and of course iPhones) are called smart phones. They are smart - very smart. Their IQ, I’m sure, exceeds that of most users ( yours truly excepted). I’m amazed - I can walk around with a computer in the palm of my hand.

(I go back to the days of having to write a Basic program in order to get some information out of a dumb computer. My first personal computer was the TRS-80 (better known as the Trash80). If you weren’t acquainted with MS-DOS, there was no way that the machine could spit out any information. My point is that now have a computer, aka a smart phone, in the palm of our hand which outperforms most personal computers of the past.)

As far as walking around with a smart phone is concerned, I have so far avoided looking like a zombie with a box held to his ear. The smart phone remains in my pocket except when I‘m comfortably seated somewhere. With all these caveats about the use of a smart phone, one might ask why I got one in the first place. Probably because I actually do have a hole in my head.

I wish I could say that this post is being sent to Blogger via their blogging App but I can’t. The procedure appears to be too complicated. Hell, I haven’t even learned how to take a decent picture, never mind posting to this blog.

I’ve got to bring this post to an end - my phone is talking to me. Oh yes, I didn’t mention that these things have something called voice recognition. If the High Primal finds out, I’m sure she will want one. She loves to make small talk.

Adding Insult To Injury

Future Rock star

Every now and then, Toby the Toyota demands that I navigate him to his favorite drinking spot, the neighborhood Shell station. Usually the stop is uneventful except for the ever increasing price of Toby's favorite drink. Luckily Toby does not demand top shelf; regular suits him just fine. Our most recent stop proved to be traumatic, at least for me. Some asshole had decided that it would be a good marketing gimmick if while satisfying an auto's thirst, there was music playing at the pump. Perhaps the intent was to take some one's mind off the dollars ticking away while the Toby's of this world satisfied their insatiable thirst. Bad marketing ploy! The music is trash, the audio is garbage. The oil company only succeeded in adding insult to injury.

I had a little talk with Toby as we drove away tanked up. He just had to learn to quench his thirst. Better yet, I asked him to come up with a drinking spot where all we heard was the click, click of the gas pump. If he didn't cooperate, I threatened to replace him with someone who just soaked up electrical juice.

About The Four Freedoms

We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.--President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to Congress, January 6, 1941

We are still looking forward to a world founded upon the four freedoms spelled out by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Seventy-two years later we live in a world where freedom of speech and expression is under scrutiny in the name of national security. We live with religious intolerance and persecution. Starvation in third world countries is commonplace. We live in a world where instilling fear in a populace is the weapon of choice in order to foster a particular ideology.

At one time it was anticipated that the United Nations would be the instrument to finally realizing “a world founded upon four essential human freedoms”. To some degree this international body has brought focus on genocide, starvation and deprivation of human rights in the world. Given the political maneuverings which dictate every move the United Nations makes, we should be grateful that trying to address the problems causing human suffering is even on its agenda.

Highlighting the four freedoms is part of FDR’s legacy. Achieving them awaits that leader who can finally convince people that humanitarianism should take precedence over their own personal perceived needs. John F. Kennedy took a stab at it in his inaugural address (1/20/1961) when he implored his fellow Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country". Again they became words for a legacy.

The chances of a world in which  freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear are the rule rather than the exception, are about as good as the NRA supporting a repeal of the Second Amendment.

  

A Movie And Free Dishes

The High Primal ,as I've noted before, is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to movies. Halliwell's "Film Guide" never strays far from our TV set. One would think we venture out to a movie theater frequently. Not so. For some unknown reason (the fact that I'm not a movie buff may be a clue) we get our fill of movies via Netflix, an occasional DVD purchase and Turner Classic Movies on the boob tube.
 
While watching a vintage movie, ”Footlight Parade”, on TCM, I couldn’t help going back in time when it was a treat to go to the neighborhood theater for a night at the movies.

Dish night at the Family Theater in the 1930's is especially memorable for me. If it wasn't for china set giveaways, I doubt that neighborhood theaters would have survived at the height of the depression era. A free piece of tableware was handed out as you gave your 15 cent (as I recall) ticket to a grouchy theater owner. My mother and my aunt competed as to whose set of china would be completed first. The highlight of the evening was not the movie but the sudden crash of a dish as someone scrunched through a row of seats to get to an empty one in the middle.

It's amazing that in the midst of a deep depression, people found the few pennies to get to a movie in order to get something free. Amazing but understandable. It's the American way. Just think, in the midst of the sequester the very rich are looking for a free pass on taxes. But I digress.

 Maybe the High primal and I would get to a movie more often if they gave away something like Marx Brothers bobble heads. Hmmmm, just when was the last time we saw the inside of a movie theater? Don't get me wrong. I'm not too cheap to venture out to a movie, but to be honest, I'm scared shitless of vampires.

You're next trip may be sooner than you think!

I received an offer today (along with a few million other consumers) from an unnamed credit card company. Action was requested on my part ASAP in order to take advantage of all kinds of deals and rewards on my travel plans. Not being a frequent traveler or a fellow traveler for that matter, I quickly decided to relegate this "offer I could refuse" to my favorite trash can. As I was doing so , my eyes focused on a dramatic plea obviously meant for non-frequent travelers - "You're next trip may be sooner than you think". My God, that's true, but why do I need a credit card when that trip rolls around. I know that funeral directors take every penny that they can but do they take credit cards? Anyway, my plans are to put off that last trip for awhile. As for the credit card company, their application was properly cremated and the ashes were unceremoniously flushed down the toilet.

ed note: The High Primal received the same offer but chose to tell the credit card company to stuff it up their ass.

Father Knows Best

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

On July 4, 1776 the  British  colonies of America evoked these rights to shed themselves of a government bent on denying them "certain unalienable rights" and began the American Revolution. On July 3, 2013 the Egyptian military in response to a perceived will of the people, deposed a democratically elected President of the country and ended Egypt's experiment with democracy.

 Democracy is never an easy birth. A coup d'e-tat ( although Washington will be reluctant to deem it so)  to achieve the reforms that people clamor for is an abortion of democracy. Once again the Egyptian Generals are playing the role of "Father knows best". Whether a democracy will be conceived again is up to the Egyptians. It is their choice, not ours.