And the Title Goes To...

This past Monday and Tuesday, PBS aired a special on George
W. Bush's presidency. It ran for four hours over the two days.
It was a frank recalling of W's life, beginning with his parents
George H.W. Bush and Barbara, and ended when he left the
White House for the last time.  Though it was a scant eleven
years ago I forgot all the nation went through under his presidency.
Beginning with the 9/11 attack and ending with the worst
recession since 1929.  But through it all, Bush was a man who
did his best under insurmountable odds, a man who loved his
country and the people in it.

There were those who said the United States would never
recover from the damage done in those four years.  The
world, which was with us after 9/11, turned away in disgust
when it became  apparent that we had given up our
principles for a false sense of security.  Our reputation and
leadership role were badly damaged.  We were no longer
considered the leader of the free world.

But slowly, in the ensuing eight years of the Obama
admininstration, we began to restore both our economy
and our image in the world.  And with the exception of
the cock-up in Libya, our foreign policy was once again;
'we mean what we say and we say what we mean'.  But the
economy wasn't improving for all sectors of the
population.  The gap between the haves and the have-nots
was growing at an alarming rate.  And into that void
walked a snake-oil salesman who promised these poor
people the moon.

Donald J. Trump, the consummate showman, made his
living talking the good talk, but he bailed out when it
came to walking the walk.  He convinced certain
segments of America that their misfortunes were not
of their making.  It was Mexico, China, NATO, and the
world, they were out to get us.  We were suckers, chumps,
the whole world played us for fools.  They took our money
and we got screwed.  And if he was elected, he would make
them all pay.

Trump was crass and he was crude.  He called the government
a 'swamp',  and said he and he alone could finally clean house.
He insulted our allies and exulted the cruelest of dictators.  He
attacked his political opponent and called her a felon who should
be in prison, and said he would make sure she would be if he
was elected.

He bragged about sexually assaulting women.  He said he could
shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose one supporter.  His
campaign stops looked more like revivals, with chanting and
cheering, all the behest of the candidate, Donald Trump.

And in November of 2016, Donald J. Trump was elected president
by the electoral college, his opponent received three million more votes,
but not in the states that mattered.  The world was mystified.  Trump
began his presidency by lying, about everything, from the size of
the crowd, to the fact that the sun shone down on his inauguration
ceremony.  And he has lied to the American people over 18,200 times
since.  His inaugural speech was a diatribe listing all the perceived
ills of America.  In stead of lifting up the spirit of the country he
put it down.

From that day, there has been a progressively downward slide in
opinion of the United States throughout the world.  Our president
has been laughed at, and mocked  whenever he leaves America to
attend meetings with other world leaders, and not without justification.
His behavior is appalling, his demeanor is condescending, his dress
is inappropriate, along with his manners.  As my mother used to say;
"Were you born in a barn?'.

But his cluelessness is not just apparent amongst our allies, it extends
to our adversaries also.  After his meeting with North Korea, he proclaimed
to the world that it was safe from nuclear war because of him.  Really,
how did that work out?  Kim is still busy building and testing nuclear
weapons as we speak.  His best buddy, Putin, is still busy interfering in
our politics, and not in a good way.  And his ever-expanding trade war
with China is destroying farming communities across the country.  He
blunders though world like a bull in a China shop - pun intended -
destroying everything he touches.  His saving grace is, most countries
believe his administration will end soon and America will return to it's
leadership position, if China doesn't usurp it.  But that hope is wearing
thin also.  How long can our allies demure in our favor?

As bad as the first three years of the Trump presidency was these past months
have been horrific.  His total mis-handling of the coronavirus is criminal.
He has traded the economy, on which his re-election depends, for the lives
of thousands of Americans, his total lack of empathy for the suffering and
deaths of the people whom he was elected to serve is appalling.  And once
again he is admittedly choosing the economy over the health and safety of
the rest of us.

He refuses to listen to the experts who are telling him that to open up America
at this time, before all the safety measures are in place, would cause the virus
to come back, perhaps worse this time.  What kind of person admits to trading
lives for monetary gain?

And late this week, the virus struck close to home, Trumps personal valet has
come down with Covid-19, and a person close to the office of the Vice-president
has also been shown to be infected.  While there is still not sufficient tests for
those who need a test for the virus the White House personnel is tested daily.
Whoops, how did that work out?

Trump has said that it just goes to show, testing is not the answer to combatting
the pandemic.  Perhaps he is right, the answer appears to be; get rid of the main
problem in America come this November, if the county is still here.

I never thought I would say this; but I miss you 'W'!  Hands down the title of
"Worst President of the Century" goes to Donald J. Trump.

                                                       I'm just sayin'

She said, He said, Now we have a say

For those of you who don't know, I coordinate a class for senior
learners in Reminiscence Writing.  It is generally for older adults
who wish to leave a written legacy to their children and grandchildren.
It is not teaching as much as it is mentoring, directing writers in
grammar, punctuation, and clarity.  Some times the writer just wishes
to expose a personal tragedy, because it must be brought to light,
finally.  And so it was three years ago.

The classes are not large, and are usually split equally between men
and women, this class consisted of six women and five men, myself
included.  We are pretty much in the same age range, early to mid-
seventies, so many of our remembrances are of the same time period.
This particular story was precipitated by something that occurred, and
was widely reported in the news.

The woman writer was recalling her first days on campus as a freshman
in college.  She came from a small town out east and was leaving home
for the first time, attending a university in a much larger city than the
one in which she lived.  On her second day at the university, she sought
out one of her professors after class to ask a question.  He invited her to
his study later that evening when they would have time to go over her
question in detail.  Of course, what he had in mind and what she had in
mind were two different things.  Shortly after her arrival, she was pushed
up against the wall and was grouped and focibly kissed.  She managed to
get away but she was badly shaken, so much so that this was the first
time she revealed what had happened to her.

Amazingly enough, she remembered the day it occurred, the first name
of the professor, the furnishings in his room, and the cologne he wore.
She remembered what she was wearing.  After almost sixty years these
things were as fresh as if they happened yesterday.  The other writers in
the room listened in silence, and then, as if a dam had burst, five of the
six women all recalled similar incidents, myself included.

The men in the room were dumbstruck, they found it difficult to believe
that so many women had suffered the same or similar trauma.  Why this
is so, I do not know.  Most women live with this male conduct to a
greater or lesser extent their entire lives.  I was attacked while still in
my teens.

I had blocked it out of my conscious memory for years, told myself it
was over and done and maybe it never really happened at all.  You can
fool yourself into believing that.  Then one day, an arrogant man brags
that he can grab women by their genitals  and get away with it because
he is famous.  And it all comes flooding back; the humiliation, the
degradation, the helplessness, the nausea, and you remember, and you
can't kid yourself anymore.  This is the problem I am having with
Ms. Tara Reade.

I fully understand that she suffered a traumatic event, I am not saying
that what she said happened did not happen.  What I am finding difficult
to understand is why her recollection is so poor.  You can forget whether
it happened on the third floor or the second floor, but you do know what,
when and how.  I remember it all, the man who attacked me had cigar
smoke on his breath, and when he forced open my mouth, I could taste
it.  To this day the smell of cigars on a man's breath makes me physically
ill.

There is one other problem I have with Ms. Reade's recounting of the
incident.  I was working in an office at the time  Ms. Reade was working
at the Senate Office Building.  Most conservative places of employment
had strict dress codes, particularly for the woman.  Some did allow pant-
suits for women, many, especially if one was in contact with the public,
required a dress or a skirt and jacket.  Uniform of the day included dress
shoes, and that usually meant wearing pantyhose.  If  Ms. Reade was so
attired, what she said happened could not have happened.

I have another reservation to Ms. Reade's claim.  The kind of attack that
she suffered is not usually a one off.  Men who prey on women in that
fashion are prone to attack more than one woman, case in point, the man
who occupies the White House currently.  He has had numerous women
come forth with the same story - it's like bed bugs, if you see one there are
a whole lot more lurking in the shadows.  The man who attacked me was
a supervisor overseeing many women in a factory setting.

When I broke away from him, I ran to the ladies' room and there I
encountered two of those women. Sobbing, I told them what happened, they
tried to console me by saying he was harmless, he does that to all the women.
However, they needed their jobs so they put up with it.  That was my
introduction to the world of sexual harassment, some of it brutal, some of
it more subtle, but always there none-the-less.  I took the cowards way out,
the women asked me not to say anything, it would only mean trouble for
them, so I quit that job. And to add insult to injury, when I used the company
as a reference for my next job, the man who attacked me gave me a poor
referral.  I often think about those women who had to go on enduring the
assaults just to keep a paycheck coming.

But the women in Joe Biden's Senate Office have nothing but good things
to say about him, and Ms. Reade is the only woman to bring such accusations
forward against him.   Are the rest taking the cowards way out?  Perhaps, I
can't be sure.  I do know that when Biden was confronted with his 'touchy-
feely' behavior, he has made a genuine effort to control himself, and he has
apologized for his actions.

Now let me say something to the men who may be reading this - if you wouldn't
do it or say it to your male colleague, don't say or do it to a female one.  Don't
touch her hair, obviously smell her cologne, or hold on to her arm when you
are speaking to her.  If you wouldn't go up to the guy at the next desk and say,
"Damn, you look hot today!", think twice about saying it to the woman at the
next desk.

                                                           I'm just sayin'