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| My favorite comfy T-Shirt from the March on Washington 1987 |
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Day Trip to PTown
Friday, July 29, 2011
Father Mychal Judge Nominated for Congressional Gold Medal
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Link to Bilgimage blog here for the story and how you can help advance this nomination.
Link here to the Mychal Judge website.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Breaking News: Prices on Everything To Go Up 64%
"PRICES ON EVERYTHING GOING UP 64% STARTING TODAY - INCOME TO STAY THE SAME OR DECREASE FOR MOST AMERICANS"
Imagine that headline on the evening news or your local newspaper which was $1.50 and is now $2.46.
The $4 gallon of milk at Fast Mart is now $6.56.
The $100 grocery bill rings up at $164 now and that will come out of your wallet every time you stock up.
The electric bill has been pretty steady at $130 per month but from now on you'll be paying $213.
A fill-up of fuel oil for the coming winter is now $820 instead of the $500 you budgeted and there will be more fill-ups to come.
That inexpensive refrigerator at Sears just went from $390 to $640. Thank goodness you don't have to buy one every month. Forget the Honda Fit at $18,000 - its now just about $30,000.
As one of the fortunate low-income individuals eligible for the State's Low Income Health Insurance Plan my rates just went up 64%. How in any Deity's Name can this be justified? What other commodity can get away with this kind of exorbitant price increase? Perhaps this is, in part, due to the State's fiscal crisis, but it surely is mainly due to the Insurance Mafia that is allowed to continually extort the consumer for more profits.
When WILL this end?
Yesterday's Post
I have added a bit of commentary to yesterday's post. The point is that such "reports" are used by conservatives and Fox News to advance the idea that social programs are not needed and should be cut.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
It's UnAmerican for Poor People to Have Refrigerators -Re-edit
The American Heritage Foundation, a Right-Wing-Nut "think tank" thinks the poor have too many luxuries.
Imagine a single parent working two jobs to earn $12,000 per year and raising three kids. If this family actually has a refrigerator to keep a gallon of milk and some hot dogs in and if the kids have an xbox that they got at Goodwill, well, then they're not really poor. Really poor people have sour milk and spoiled hot dogs because they have nowhere to keep food cold. And the kids have a cardboard box to play in if they're lucky.
The report makes generalizations such as: "Father absence is another major cause of child poverty. Nearly two-thirds of poor children reside in single-parent homes; each year, an additional 1.5 million children are born out of wedlock. If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, almost three-quarters would immediately be lifted out of poverty."
If poor mothers married the fathers of their children?... I can think of a dozen reasons why this statement is nonsense, not the least of which is that it does not follow logically either that children in single parent homes "are born out of wedlock" or that their fathers will automatically bring in the bacon.
And I guess the idea of "Bring us your poor" is also un-American as the report states "As long as the present steady flow of poverty-prone persons from foreign countries continues, efforts to reduce the total number of poor in the U.S. will be far more difficult."
The report goes on to make the case that the poor in the US are actually quite comfortable as evidenced by material possessions (cars, TV's, VCRs, dishwashers, air conditioning, refrigerators, microwaves), and overall living space.
The report uses charts with data references but does not show how the data from different sources is integrated or combined to produce the resulting charts. I find this quite suspect.
The thrust of the report is that the US poor are not really that bad off compared to the really poor in other countries; the implication is that we need not worry about the poor in America, they are doing OK. So perhaps all those social programs are not really necessary. They are costing the "rest of us" tax dollars.
So there is no need to raise the standard of living for those with least - it is already higher than they deserve. And they are obese too, so they are apparently getting too much to eat. Really poor people are starving.
The author makes statements that are unsubstantiated: "The most common problem facing poor households was late payment of rent or utilities. While having difficulty paying monthly bills is stressful, in most cases late payment did not result in material hardship or deprivation."
He dismisses the inability to pay for utilities and rent as merely "stressful" and just because it does not always result in the electricity being turned off or eviction, it has no resulting "material hardship or deprivation".
The report is clearly biased against the poor and low income families, is clearly meant to advance the agenda of the most conservative and privileged to cut government spending on social programs that have actually helped bring the poor up to the "high" standards that the report points to as evidence that the poor are not actually poor. The reasoning is tautological.
I add the following because sometimes one just has to laugh at the stupidity that is all around us. Colbert reports on this new "study" that surely helps inform the tea party congress in their deliberations.
Imagine a single parent working two jobs to earn $12,000 per year and raising three kids. If this family actually has a refrigerator to keep a gallon of milk and some hot dogs in and if the kids have an xbox that they got at Goodwill, well, then they're not really poor. Really poor people have sour milk and spoiled hot dogs because they have nowhere to keep food cold. And the kids have a cardboard box to play in if they're lucky.
The report makes generalizations such as: "Father absence is another major cause of child poverty. Nearly two-thirds of poor children reside in single-parent homes; each year, an additional 1.5 million children are born out of wedlock. If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, almost three-quarters would immediately be lifted out of poverty."
If poor mothers married the fathers of their children?... I can think of a dozen reasons why this statement is nonsense, not the least of which is that it does not follow logically either that children in single parent homes "are born out of wedlock" or that their fathers will automatically bring in the bacon.
And I guess the idea of "Bring us your poor" is also un-American as the report states "As long as the present steady flow of poverty-prone persons from foreign countries continues, efforts to reduce the total number of poor in the U.S. will be far more difficult."
The report goes on to make the case that the poor in the US are actually quite comfortable as evidenced by material possessions (cars, TV's, VCRs, dishwashers, air conditioning, refrigerators, microwaves), and overall living space.
The report uses charts with data references but does not show how the data from different sources is integrated or combined to produce the resulting charts. I find this quite suspect.
The thrust of the report is that the US poor are not really that bad off compared to the really poor in other countries; the implication is that we need not worry about the poor in America, they are doing OK. So perhaps all those social programs are not really necessary. They are costing the "rest of us" tax dollars.
So there is no need to raise the standard of living for those with least - it is already higher than they deserve. And they are obese too, so they are apparently getting too much to eat. Really poor people are starving.
The author makes statements that are unsubstantiated: "The most common problem facing poor households was late payment of rent or utilities. While having difficulty paying monthly bills is stressful, in most cases late payment did not result in material hardship or deprivation."
He dismisses the inability to pay for utilities and rent as merely "stressful" and just because it does not always result in the electricity being turned off or eviction, it has no resulting "material hardship or deprivation".
The report is clearly biased against the poor and low income families, is clearly meant to advance the agenda of the most conservative and privileged to cut government spending on social programs that have actually helped bring the poor up to the "high" standards that the report points to as evidence that the poor are not actually poor. The reasoning is tautological.
I add the following because sometimes one just has to laugh at the stupidity that is all around us. Colbert reports on this new "study" that surely helps inform the tea party congress in their deliberations.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| "Poor" in America | ||||
| ||||
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Flowers On A Hot Summer Day
It's nice to know that while out illustrious, do-nothing congress holds the country hostage and marriage equality is up for debate and human rights are summarily dismissed in places like Ghana, flowers still blossom, as if nothing is more important than a show of color.
My sister-in-law gave us this hydrangea about seven years ago. It has never blossomed because I kept trimming back the "dead" shoots in winter. Finally, Leon was listening to the Plant Lady on the local PBS radio last fall and she said not to cut back the dead wood. Well, I now have blossoms and, even more special is the fact that it is a Lace Hydrangea - a lacy center surrounded by the large, more typical hydrangea flowers. I did not expect such a surprise!
In the Dog Park - a big field where people let their dogs run, the chicory is in bloom - the same cool blue as the hydrangea.
My sister-in-law gave us this hydrangea about seven years ago. It has never blossomed because I kept trimming back the "dead" shoots in winter. Finally, Leon was listening to the Plant Lady on the local PBS radio last fall and she said not to cut back the dead wood. Well, I now have blossoms and, even more special is the fact that it is a Lace Hydrangea - a lacy center surrounded by the large, more typical hydrangea flowers. I did not expect such a surprise!
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| The Uncommon But Lovely Lace Hydrangea |
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| Chicory |
Also in bloom is the lowly Queen Anne's Lace, which I always considered weedy and homely, but it does have it's own special loveliness.
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| See Queen Anne in the center of the flower |
Thursday, July 14, 2011
B&B - Closed for Season
The family visitors are packing the van as I write this and we are ready for some peace and relaxation.
When they arrived Monday evening I had a big pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs and sausage waiting. On tuesday morning, Leon accompanied them to Misquamicut Beach where the kids had a great time and they all ate seafood dinners at a restaurant on the beach.
Sisterinlaw and the kids went to an amusement park on Wednesday after I whipped up a breakfast of a dozen and a half scrambled eggs, toast and cereal. Later, Leon and his brother visited a friend with auto parts. (They are both "CarPeople".
Meanwhile I prepared for the evening cookout (burgers, dogs, barbecue pork, potato salad, fresh green bean-from-the-garden salad, green salad, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries and ice cream) for dinner.
Today, what must be a "10" for New England weather, we are getting the camper ready for a weekend in New Hampshire at Mountainside Campground, a quasi-campground for gay men. Quasi- because they are only open on weekends and they aren't set up for electric/water/sewer hook-ups. They do have RV sites, tent sites, a guest cabin and a bunkhouse.
It is near our favorite Vermont hang-outs: Harriman Reservoir (the Ledges)
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| Archival Photo - the Ledges |
and, of course Rock River. I think we will go to the lake (reservoir) on Saturday because it is nice for swimming and pretty relaxing.
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| Recent Photo - Rock River |
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The "B & B" is Ready For Guests (Edited)
Guests (Leon's family - Mom dod not come but an additional grandnephew did for a total of 2 adults and 4 kids) arrived Monday and all was ready, inside and out. We saw to every detail, just like those fancy B&B's. Here are some pics of the yard and gardens:
Last Sunday we took a break and went to the Rock River Vermont (where we met 23 years ago in August). They have a new, what I would call a "low environmental impact information kiosk" with the info etched in clear plexiglass or something.
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| The Outdoor Shower - We Love It! Most Guests Are Too Shy To Use It However |
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| Palmetto, Fuchsia, Papyrus, Pine Bonsai, Red Maple |
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| The Cactus/Rock Garden A Real Pain to Weed |
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| After Like Six Years, Finally Blossoming Don't Cut Back the Dead Wood |
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| Vegetable Garden Doing Just OK This Year |
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| Stella D'Oro |
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| Leon Weeded for Days His New Rain Gauge and Thermometer |
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
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