Let the Dead Past Bury It's Dead

"Let the Dead Past bury it's dead!  Act--act in the living Present!  Heart
within and God o'erhead!       Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The past two weeks have been fraught with emotions from all sides.  There
have been protest marches in major cities and small towns across the globe
in sympathy with Black Lives Matter here in the United States.  The approval
rate for BLM has risen to over 70%, even amongst those who feel the president
is handling the protests correctly, there is a dichotomy if there ever was one.

I, for one, agree with the majority of the demands that are being made, and I
agree that changes must be made.  Even if it is only the outward appearance of
fairness, since I don't believe you can legislate morality.  You cannot tell a bigot
that he must love his neighbor, but you can tell him it will cost him money and
jail time if he discriminates against him.  In other words, you don't have to do it
with a smile, just do it!

There is one thing that I am very much opposed to though, and that is the demand
that statues and representations of Civil War veterans be removed.  You cannot
change history nor erase one evil deed by denying that it ever happened.  Having
lived in the South for a number of years, I am familiar with Confederate Flag Day,
Robert E. Lee's birthday, January 16 - Martin Luther King, who is he - Decoration
Day and a host of other days set aside to remember the 'War of Northern Aggression'.
I am not talking about that, that will never change until the old guard is long gone,
and perhaps not even then.

I am talking about the current spate of wanton destruction of memorials and statues.
They are being defaced, and in many instances, torn down from their foundations.
And not just in this country, but in the UK also.  In the town of Bristol, the statue
of Edward Colston, a slave trader, was defaced, torn down and dumped into the
harbor.  In Poole Harbor, England, activists attempted to tear down the statue of
Lord Baden-Powel, the founder of the Boy Scouts, because he was a supposed racist
and supporter of Adolf Hitler.  Several adult Scouts surrounded the statue and preserved
it.  And to those of you who remember the Beatles fondly, will remember their hit song
"Penny Lane".  When I was in Liverpool, I walked down Penny Lane from the famous
bus stop to Strawberry Fields.  You will be sad to hear that there is a movement afoot
to change the name of Penny Lane, why, because it was named for James Penny, a slave
ship owner.  Tell me, will that make one bit of difference to those poor souls from the
sixteen-hundreds who were captured and sold , to change the name of that street?

In Madison, Wisconsin there is a section of Forest Hill Cemetery called Confederate
Rest, it is the last resting place of the 140 Confederate POWs who died at near-by
Camp Randall.  It was their resting place, at least, until 2017 when some people
thought it wrong to honor them with a plaque commemorating their service, so the
plaque was removed, and if that wasn't enough, the cenotaph with their names was
also removed.  It appears there is no forgiveness even in death.

Did removing those mementos erase the fact that there was a war that nearly tore this
country asunder?  No, it only means that in the future years, we as a nation, will have
forgotten those who gave their 'last full measure of devotion'.  Right now, there are
nine statues in Statuary Hall in the United States Capital Building depicting 'heros'
of the Confederacy.  Nancy Pelosi wants them removed; it is not up to her.  Those
statues were donated by the states that they represent.

Our National Cemetery at Arlington was part of the estate of Arlington House, which
overlooks the cemetery.  Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee.  Want to
change that name also?  Ten prominent military bases in America and overseas are
named for military personnel from the Civil War.  There is a hue and cry to have them
renamed.  And for once - oh god - I agree with president 45.  It was there that the 'Worlds
Greatest Army' the one that saved the world for Democracy, trained.  The names did not
diminish their resolve, not the resolve of the thousands of troops who followed in their
footsteps over the years.

Let us say we take down these representations of what we consider nefarious infidels.
Once we start, where do we stop?  Our founding Fathers were all slave owners, do we
take Washington off the dollar bill?  What of Jefferson and his slave mistress who bore
him several children, do we strip him off the two-dollar bill?  It wouldn't matter much
as no one uses a twoie anymore.  When they drafted the Constitution, they said all men
were created equal, and they meant men, and only white men.  Do we strike such language
from that document?  Yesterday, a mob took down the statue of Christopher Columbus,
and in UK they took down a statue of Sir Winston Churchill, he saved England from the
Nazis for goodness sake.

At what point do we say that the good that a man does outweighs the evil, or is there no
balance to the scales of justice anymore?  And who is to judge?  Let him who is without
sin cast the first stone.  Who of us has not crossed the street to avoid a group of young
black men on a dark night?  Did we make a moral judgement there?  And the bible says
that because Eve tasted of the fruit from the tree of knowledge, all men born of women
will be born through pain.  That's a long time to hold a grudge.  Sorry, but that doesn't seem
too fair to me.

                                                               I am just sayin'

But I Remember...

They say if you remember the sixties you weren't really there.  Well
I was there and I remember them very well.  I remember them because
my husband was a police officer at that time.  I remember well the
ten-hour days and the seven-day weeks.  I remember him coming home
exhausted, and in tears some days because of what he had seen, and
what he had to do.

We lived in the Chicago area at the time.  It was a hotbed of racial inequality,
redlining was the norm, and public housing - read hi-rise ghettos - was
being touted as the answer to poverty and homelessness.  Believe me, you
would rather live in the subway than Cabrini-Green; it would have been
cleaner and safer.  At the time I worked for a company located right on the
border of the city of Chicago and the town of Cicero.  Racism in the North 
was for the most part, covert, not so in Cicero.  There it was practiced openly 
and with malice.

There was a simmering undercurrent of civil unrest in 1968, it was bound to
come to a head when the temperatures warmed up, and the tempers heated up.
It didn't take long.  On the evening of April 4th, 1968, the Reverent  Martin
Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee.  That was just the
beginning, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June and the culmination was
the Democratic Convention in August.

There appeared to be the perfect storm, civil, racial, and political unrest came
together and erupted in a fire storm at the Chicago Amphitheatre.  Americans
were sure the country would be torn asunder.  The unpopular war in Viet Nam,
the civil rights movement, and the deeply divided Democratic Party dominated
all of 1968 and ushered in the 'law and order' president, Richard Nixon.

In the manner of deja vu all over again, we are once again caught up in the perfect
storm.  The world is gripped in the throes of a pandemic, the worst since the flu of
1918.  Millions of people world-wide have been stricken, with close to two-million
cases in the United States alone, and over one-hundred thousand deaths here.  A
number that experts say may be grossly undercounted.

The economic shut down caused by the pandemic across the globe, as nations try
to stop the spread of the virus, is precipitating a recession worse than 2009. The
outcome of that is the World Bank has predicted negative growth for 2020 and
most probably 2021 also.  The United States Congress has authorized over
three-trillion dollars in relief money for individuals and businesses alike.  That is
in addition to the four-trillion that the Federal Reserve is spending on QE.  And still
the unemployment rate is higher than it was during the great depression.

Americans have been locked down, and told to shelter in place since the middle of
March, and for many this poses a significant hardship.  They have lost their job and
it is the first time they have had to go to a food pantry for help.  They are afraid to go
outside and yet desperate to leave the house, torn between safety and freedom.  They
fear losing their homes, and they are struggling with children underfoot, who don't
understand what is happening.  Children who have been locked out of school for
weeks.  Tempers are short and many people are suffering from depression.

And into this volatile situation, was introduced a video of a police officer kneeling on
the neck of a black man, who was obviously already subdued.  For eight long minutes
the man, George Floyd, was begging for his life.  He was crying out that he could not
breathe, he was crying for his late mother's help.  To look on this and not be deeply
disturbed, one would have to have no conscience what so ever.  But to have this death
come on the heels of two other recent deaths of black citizens by white police officers,
finally tipped the scales.

Demonstrations have broken out, first in Minneapolis, where the incident occurred, then
by weeks end in 244 cities across America and finally across the globe.  People marched
in solidarity with America's black population.  It was gratifying to see.  If it were
possible to ease the grief and suffering of Mr. Floyd's family, this should have gone a
long way to do that.  To know that he did not die in vain; that his life meant something
if only at the end.

However, just as the pandemic demonstrated how totally unqualified our president
is to lead the country, these demonstrations doubled down on his ineptitude. Instead
of calling for peace, unity and healing and offering comfort to a nation reeling
in despair, the president called for the military to take control of the streets.  He
called governors weak and 'jerks' and promised to take control of their states if
if they did not.  He called on federal troops to disperse peaceful demonstrators so
that he could walk across the street and pose for a photo-op, holding a bible, in
front of a church that he has never attended.  This photo will probably be part of
his 'law and order' re-election campaign.  But it will also be fodder for those who
thought his actions were sacrilegious. He hides from his people behind a twelve-
foot fence and a phalanx of armed troops in battle dress.

Yes, the country recovered in the 70's, but it took the resignation of a president
to avert a constitutional crisis.  But the country never did heal, under the scars
were festering wounds, that someone just needed to rip off the bandage and
expose them.  That someone was Donald Trump, and now we are reaping the
seeds of hatred and division he has sown for the past three years.  This time
we cannot just apply a temporary bandage to cover the wounds, we must
incise the infectious hatred, we must expose the awful truth of racism to the
sunlight for all to see.  Only then can America begin to heal...all of us.

                                                                          I'm just sayin'

We'll meet Again, Soon I Promise

Today I passed another milestone, today marks the beginning of week
thirteen of my lockdown.  It seems surreal somehow, not to have touched
another human being for three months.  I am in contact with my friends,
with one on a daily basis.  We check in with one another just to make sure
we have survived the night, and we laugh, at little things mostly, but it is
the link to our sanity.

Last week I went to the garden plot I have with the city and I worked the
soil, fertilized, raked and plotted my rows and hills.  I planted the seeds
that one day will give me beans and squash and cucumbers.  I planted the
the chard and tomato and pepper plants.  And, as always, I sowed the seeds
which will become the beautiful flowers that I will harvest along with my
veggies, for they are food for my soul.  They say he who plants a garden ,
plants hope, hope for the future.

My hope is that one day this will be a distant memory and we will laugh
about how long our hair got and scrounging for toilet paper, wearing masks
and latex gloves just to get a quart of milk.  But the laugh will ring hollow
for some of us, those who have lost friends and relatives.  A loss all the worse
for not being able to say good-by.  And new grandchildren that have yet to be
held, breathing in the sweet smell of them, feeling the connection with the
past and the bridge to the future.

There are things I do just to prove to myself that there is a life outside my
condo walls.  I have walked everyday, and today I aired up the tires on my
bicycle and took to the trail.  There is something about a bike ride, the sun
on your face, and the wind in your hair, it is the feeling of freedom.  The same
freedom I felt when I was a child and my bike took me away; past my school,
and the corner grocer, past the park, and grandma and grandpa's house.  No where
to go and all day to get there.

These days I ride the city trail, it is paved and winds its way for twelve glorious
miles thru cool wooded tracts and bright sunny fields.  I pass the park, there should
be children there but not today, there is no one on the swings, no one on the
merry-go-round.  Must be careful.  I go down the hill and across the wooden bridge
that spans the small creek that will bubble alongside  of me for at least three miles
before turning off.  I can hear the peepers singing their spring song, and the smell
of the moist ground that is shaking off its icy blanket, assaults my nose.  The water-
cress is greening the banks.

The trail enters a dense shady stretch, the cool is welcome even though the day is not
warm.  Here there is lush vegetation, some cultivated some natural, all beautiful.  Up
a small hill and I break into a residential section.   Large expansive lawns lead to lovely
homes, all meticulously mowed and trimmed.  Here and there, there is the sound of a
fountain splashing into a pond, surrounded by a riot of colorful flowers planted in
graceful curved beds.  I wonder as I pass, who lives there?  Did they plant their yard
solely for my enjoyment?  They cannot see it from their house like I can from the trail.
Silently I thank them as I peddle past.

I come to my first crossroad; in the hot days of summer an enterprising young man has
a lemonade stand at the corner.  He advertises his business with chalk messages up and
down the trail: "Lemonade ahead - $.50 a glass".  I don't supposed he will be there this
summer, not with the fear of the deadly virus still lurking.  Crossing the road, I continue
my way past homes, these are not so grand, but none the less beautifully landscaped.
Once in awhile  I spot a 'Little Library'.  Most of them say "closed", I guess they are
suffering the same fate as my young friend with the lemonade stand.

I cross another bridge over the creek that has turned and will disappear into a pond.  Now
the trail opens up onto a grassy field, last years cattails are fat and furry, they are shedding
their fluff, no more sleek and sassy brown spears, they have a bedraggled look about them.
A redwing blackbird perches on one gathering the soft material for his nesting bed.  He
trills at me as I ride by.  Up the hill and across another roadway, I peddle past a grove of
elderberry bushes, their blooms not quite open.  Come August they will be covered in
dark red berries.  And further into the trees I spy the Mayapples, the drupes hanging beneath
the umbrella foliage.  They aren't quite ready to taste, picked too early, they will give
one's tummy a message not soon forgotten.

I must have passed a dozen cottontails, some in pairs and some alone.  They are used to
the bicycles I guess, for they look up from their munching, but for a second only.
They don't even flash their fluffy tails; I am just ignored. The ground squirrels play tag
with my bike tires, running to and fro, they dare me to run them over.  They chatter away,
laughing at my attempts to steer around them.

Now and then I meet a walker or a jogger, I smile and nod, they nod back, there is no
conversation as we aren't wearing masks, it would seem so rude to Mother Nature;
as though we were shunning her invitation to come and enjoy her bounty.  I reach the
last crossroad, now the trail becomes part of a street.  It is here that I leave it, I make
a U-turn and head for home the way I came.

It only takes me forty-five minutes to ride that short twelve miles, but in that time, I
can forget that the world is in turmoil, people are dyeing, and so many don't have
enough to eat.  I remember that the world was a beautiful place and one day it will
be again, if not tomorrow, then soon.

                                           I'm just sayin'

What's a Mother To Do?

To those of you who have raised a daughter, this will be all too familiar.
Your sweet young child will one day bring home a beau, not just anyone
but one who means enough to her to introduce him to Mom and Dad.
And your world will come crashing down around your feet.

Here is this beautiful creature that you nurtured for years; thru dancing
school, piano lessons, grammar school, private high school and the best
finishing school your retirement plan could afford, standing next to a
young man wearing torn jeans and a dirty, ill-fitting t-shirt.  She introduces
him and he answers with a grunt.  He needs a haircut, and a shave, his
neck washed, and his nails also.  He looks at your extended hand and he
wonders, what...??

Ok, you say, he must have some redeeming qualities, after all you raised
her to be kind, gentile, sweet and smart.  And then he opens his mouth and
you find him to be rude, ignorant, bigoted, ill-,mannered, and a narcissistic
ass.  It seems as he has gone from one job to another, getting fired or leaving
after making a mess of things, and blaming everyone else for his failures.
Now what?

You sit your beautiful daughter down and try to explain what you find
objectionable about him.  You point out his shortcomings, you tell her that
in the end he will just hurt her and then move on.  You explain how he
insults her friends, and he hangs around with bullies.  His friends are one
step up from criminals.  Does she listen, no way.  The more you put him
down the more she defends him.  You know she understands what you are
saying, she sees the same things that you see but it doesn't seem to matter.
He has told your daughter; you are the enemy, you are trying to control her,
to keep her from finding her true potential.

Sound familiar?  It is an age-old story.  If you are lucky, your child will see
the light before they make a commitment that they cannot undo.

And so, it is in our country today, a rude, ignorant, bigoted, ill-mannered,
narcissistic ass is inhabiting the White House.  What the electorate saw in
him is beyond comprehension.  It is not like theses traits were hidden during
his campaign, no, quite to the contrary, they were in full view.  What was it
then that so enchanted his voters?  Was it the fact that he bragged that he could
shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and they would still love him?  How about his
degradation of women, the handicapped, and persons of color, was that what
endeared him to so many?  Was it his crude, vulgar language, did that speak to
them?  This tin-man, snake oil salesman, grifter, and two-bit hustler has ingratiated
himself to millions, and even to those in his own party.

Oh, not at first, the Republicans saw him for what he was, and they called him out
for it, the press ridiculed him.  But it appeared no one saw, or wanted to see, what
was happening, no one saw the disenchanted people who were tired of being second-
class citizens, tired of being ignored by their politicians and tired of being passed-by,
by the technical revolution.   Someone was telling them it was not their fault that they
were poor, it was the system's fault.  It was a giant conspiracy in Washington D.C.
that took their money and kept them down.   All be it, that for every dollar they send
to Washington, they get eight dollars back, on average.

Now those same Republicans who called him names, faun and flatter him.  But many
have found that he is fickle, the price of his patronage is constant adulation.  One
slip, one show of self-determination, will bring his wrath down upon the hapless
candidate in the form of a primary challenger.

But the man behind the curtain cannot hide forever, he was always one step away
from being found out for what he is, a charlatan, a pretender; and the coronavirus
was that one step.  His ignorance has been exposed for all the world to see.  And
once, where there was just the supposition of his incompetence there is the
realization that he is in over his head and floundering.  Hundreds of thousands of
people have died needlessly for his stupidity, for his vanity, for his inability to
admit to his failings.

The world now looks at us, not for leadership, but with pity.  They see a country
that once saved the world, unable to save itself.  And as for those who believed
he would save them; they are the ones who are suffering the most.  The pandemic
is hitting them hard, and just like Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned, he is
throwing them to the lions.  He is telling them to get outside, go to church, go to
work, save his economy!  Meanwhile they are spreading the virus to friends and
family, while he is safely ensconced in his bubble of protection.

Some people are waking up to the fact that they have been taken for a buggy ride.
Even some Republicans who are running for office now seek to distance themselves
from his erratic behavior.  There is a murmuring in the underbelly of this country,
that with time, hopefully will grow louder.  It is not too late; we have another
chance to make things right.  In just five short months we can say goodbye to the
chicanery, and walk with our heads held high and be proud to be an American again.
We can show the world that we have learned, because all those brave men and women
who died and those who worked so hard, in the past, to make America great, they
taught us better.  They taught us to be kind, generous, giving and loyal to our
friends.  They taught us; we are better than this.  And I have faith that we will do
just that.

                               I'm just sayin'

Some People Get it Right the First Time

The House of Representatives voted on and passed another Virus
Relief Package.  This one for another $3 trillion.  It has happened so
often these days that I am not even stunned by the amount.  I lie,
I am staggered by the amount.  My mind cannot comprehend numbers
of this magnitude.  Our country will face a debt of five trillion
dollars, let me say that again five trillion dollars.  And CBS news
estimates the total cost to the nation at $19 trillion.

What are we getting for this?  A piecemeal handout directed shotgun
style to whomever.  Everybody gets money, whether they need it or
not.  The L A Lakers get money, large food service franchises are
getting money, I got a check.  Did I need that check?  No, I did not
need that check.  And I venture to say that neither did the L A Lakers.

But the poor family who doesn't pay taxes because they don't make
enough money to give 10% to the government, they will not receive
a check because the government doesn't know who they are.  And
unless they contacted the IRS before last Wednesday, they won't be
eligible for a check until September.

The stimulus also called for giving the unemployed a supplemental
check amounting to $600 in addition to their unemployment check.
In most cases that would mean that folks would be getting more money
as unemployed as they were when they were working.  Not much of
an incentive to return to work, is it?

There appears to be no oversite on how and who is receiving these
payouts.  During the last relief package, passed in 2009, called the
Economic Stimulus, the government handed out $787 billion in
bailout money to corporations.  That seems like chump change today.
Many of those corporations used that money to buy back their stock
and park the cash in overseas accounts.  It did however, prevent the
recession from turning into a full-blown depression.  So we were told.

Other countries are passing stimulus packages also, however they are a
bit different.  The UK is paying companies to keep their employees
on the payroll, to prevent wholesale unemployment.  Canada has
passed an unemployment package to continue thru June, July, and
August, called the Federal Wage Subsidy, which pays 75% of a workers
salary up to $847 a week.

Canada also, has just passed a stimulus package for corporations, but
it comes with strict conditions.  Specifically, any firm applying for
the loans must impose limits on dividends and executive pay, and
agree to abide by Canada's climate change goals.  Also any firm
convicted of tax evasion will not be eligible. It is explicitly stated that
this money is a loan of last resort, not a bailout.

The money is available to all large for-profit businesses, including
oil and gas companies and non-profits like airports.  But the companies
must have significant operations in Canada.  To avoid loaning to firms
who have been engaged in tax avoidance and tax evasion, the companies
must provide the government with their complete financial structure
when they apply.  To quote P M Trudeau, "I think Canadians expect
companies that get support from public dollars to have been responsible
around paying their fair share of taxes."  Wow, now there is a great idea
for you.

The companies receiving the government loans would be required to
publish annual climate-related disclosure reports showing they support
national climate goals.

What a way to run a country!  

                                                                I'm just sayin'

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'