Take A Bow For The New Revolution

I woke up this morning and Donald Trump is our President-Elect. The sun still rose this morning. I'm still going to work today. I still have bills to pay. The world looks just the same, and history ain't changed.

Yet.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, and figure out why I'm feeling such despair. Forgive me if I ramble a little bit.

I've always believed that after the election, you move on and make the best of it.  The first item of my Fraternity's Code of Ethics says that I should elect the best men as leaders and follow their planning. Put another way, everyone needs to row, or the boat doesn't go anywhere. But everyone has to row together, and someone has to steer. Once we've decided who's going to steer, we need to row hard and trust that he's pointing us in the right direction.

We used to do that. We really did.

It used to be that hearings on Presidential appointments were mostly a formality, to check out whether or not the person was qualified to do the job. Of course there was some posturing during the hearings so that legislators could score points for their party, but when it came time to vote they were by and large unanimously accepted.

Now it's a shit show, where political parties are interested in getting their person into the appointment, or preventing the other party from getting their guy in. Legislators aren't doing their jobs, they're trying to score points.

I really believe that most people who hold public office do it out of a genuine desire to serve, and truly have their constituents best interests at heart. Or at least that used to be the case. These days it seems as if we're electing legislators so that they can go score points for our team, and not let the other team do anything. And if it looks like the other team might do something good, they have to stop them from doing anything good, because if they do something good then we look bad.

What a fucked up way to govern.

Recently I heard some pundits on NPR point to the 2000 election as the time when things started to get bad. I'll  have to respectfully disagree with that assertion. I think it started to go bad in 1992, but I can see how one could make that argument.

I remember so clearly in 2000 when Dubya beat out Al Gore. That one stung.

But after the election I still believed that deep down, Dubya wanted to do what he believed was the right thing, even though I thought it was the wrong thing. Dubya was a fairly decent guy from what I saw.

Of all of the recent Presidents, Dubya is they guy I'd most like to sit down and have a few beers and bullshit about sports. I really do like the guy as a person.

I still think he was the worst President in the history of our country, but I never really thought he was a bad guy.

Another thing is that I felt as if the 2000 election wasn't won fairly. Somehow, that made it easier to shrug off. We didn't lose, they cheated.

Not so this time. Trump won fair and square. He did what no one thought could be done, and that leads me to despair.

Despair that I see friends who are now saying stupid shit like "I really didn't want Trump to win because he'll be awful, but I couldn't bring myself to vote for Hillary" followed by a lame 3rd party argument, or some bullshit about emails or Benghazi.

Despair that some of my friends are saying that they voted for Trump because of economic reasons, and never considered anything else.

Despair that my daughter was crying last night because she's afraid that now she and her girlfriend won't be able to marry, or even be safe out in public together.

Despair that the racist elements of our society are now emboldened because they were tacitly approved by this campaign.

Despair because we're now the punchline for every comedian in the world now.

Despair that my country would choose fear, rather than reason.

Despair that my country would choose hate, rather than love.

This wasn't just any election, this was a referendum on the future of this country and the path we're going to choose.

And I'm not sure how to move on from here.

~Easy

So Long, My Loyal Friend

13 years ago we went to the Humane Society just to "look around". I was not planning on bringing home a dog that day, but the Universe had other ideas.

As soon as she saw him, Dawn stopped and said, "that's our dog!" The kids and I were unsure, but Dawn was adamant. She'd had dreams about him and recognized him the moment she saw him.

Needless to say, he came home with is that day.

Bosco was the name given to him at the Humane society, and since he was used to it, we opted to keep it. It seemed to fit him

In so many ways, he was the perfect dog. He was smart as hell, and highly protective of his pack. I never worried about the house when he was home, and I knew that the girls were safe in the yard, or on the streets if he was with them.

Of course, he wasn't without flaws.

In his younger days he was a runner. If he got out the door, he was off to galavant.

The trash can was never safe around him. For him it was a wondrous thing, filled with treats that were only found after the contents gleefully strewn about the house.

He hated to get wet, and was so prissy he would go to the bathroom on the sidewalk rather than get his paws wet in the grass.

He was sensitive to additives in dog foods, and thus had to have the most expensive brand or he'd break out in a rash. In spite of this, there were never any ill effects from the trash, or either of the two birds he ate whole.

My favorite times with him were out in the back yard. Whether it was yard work, the girlies in the pool, or grilling dinner, Bosco loved to be outside. He was always on high alert, ready to chase out any squirrels, birds, cats, and a duck that was very lost.

One memorable night he was even ready to take on a possum! He had it cornered back by the garage, and it was perched on top of the fence, hissing at him.  I had to actually pick Bosco up and carry him back into the house.

Over the last year, I've known that the end was coming. He's no longer able to go up and down the stairs. He has a hard time eating and drinking, and he's lost at least a third of his body weight. He still perks up his ears when he knows I'm going outside, but he doesn't usually do more than look longingly at the door without getting up. When he does go out he gets tired quickly, and wants to go back in quickly.

Today we're taking him to the vet to leave on his final journey. I'll be right there with him as he leaves, so that the last thing he sees is me.

Goodbye, my friend.

RELOAD: Today's Word

(Originally published on Facebook 11/25/2014)


Intransigent - characterized by refusal to compromise or to abandon an extreme position or attitude  

It's been a while since I was really compelled to sit down and write something, but I've never been so saddened to see otherwise intelligent people unable to change their minds in the face of facts. I understand passion and conviction, but at some point one must stand up and face reality. Here is a hard Ferguson truth that many will find difficult to swallow.

Darren Wilson is innocent of murder.

The Grand Jury studied the evidence, and looked at the totality of it before they came to their conclusion. Even if there were no witnesses, the physical evidence tells the story pretty clearly. Physical evidence has no agenda, no point to make. It simply is. You can cherry pick what one witness said, or one piece of Darren Wilson's testimony and try to spin things to fit the script you want to see, but if you look at the entire framework the story is pretty clear. 

Yet I'm still seeing folks that are upset about the verdict, even in the face of clear cut physical evidence. It's like watching the Republicans froth at the mouth about Benghazi. We need another investigation!

I also see a great deal of ignorance about the way a police officer should do their job. Stupid shit about tasers, shooting to wound, and even allowing the subject to leave. Just amazing stupidity from folks who've seen too many episodes of Southland. Part of the job involves the application of force at some point. That's a tricky thing. Apply too much and you hurt or kill someone. Apply too little and you're the one who is hurt or killed. Life and death decisions are made in split seconds, and then analyzed ad nauseum by the same types of idiots I mentioned above.

If you live in St Louis there's a Citizen's Academy that will give a glimpse into what the police do and how they do it. It will open your eyes.

Darren Wilson didn't kill Mike Brown that day specifically because he was black. However, the fact the Mike Brown was black played a part in everyone's actions that day, especially in how the bystanders reacted.

Problems between the black community and the police department are real, if for no other reason than that's how they perceive it. Statistics on actual interactions are sadly vague at best and what little data there is can be spun in multiple directions. So when Mike Brown's accomplice started the narrative that Darren Wilson had shot Mike Brown for no reason while his hands were raised, it spread like wildfire because that was the narrative that resonated with people in the neighborhood. It made sense to them because that's how they experience it. They still cling to it even after it's been refuted because it resonated so strongly.

Hell, it makes sense to a lot of people. Who doesn't remember being hassled by the cops when they were a teenager? I can remember being hassled for epically stupid reasons like the time I got a ticket for Operating a Motor Vehicle Without a License Plate Lamp. The cops used to chase me and my friends out of the various places we'd congregate to drink beer, maybe smoke some pot, and generally bitch about how unfair things are when you're a teenager. Yeah, the cops were a real pain.

But I'm a white kid from West County, an upper middle class part of St Louis. White kids mostly grow out of it. We become adults, and the cops stop looking at us with distrust.

That's not generally the result in the black community.

As bad as it seemed to me, I know that kids of my age with darker skin tones had it worse. The history of black folks interactions with police are mostly negative. The inherent belief that the police are not to be trusted under any circumstances is firmly woven into the tapestry of their culture. Just as deeply embedded in the fabric is a helpless feeling that they're being marginalized and ignored.

That's what the protests are about.

Yes, the protests started with a narrative about a killer cop gunning down another young black man, a narrative that we now know to be untrue. How they started is irrelevant. What matters is that we don't stop now. The conversation needs to continue, but it can't if we're still stuck arguing about what happened, and whether or not Mike Brown got "justice".

When they speak of "justice", folks want Darren Wilson to be punished for killing Mike Brown. In this context, the proper word for what they want is "vengeance". Justice is impartial, and follows the facts. Or at least it should. Unfortunately, it's something else that's been in short supply for the black community, and another root cause for the anger that's bubbling up.

Racism is not alive and well, but it ain't dead either. It's not even on life support. 

However, it is getting tired. 

The only way to kill it off--if that's even possible--is through frank and uninhibited conversations among all of us. The tensions that are there can only be resolved with an honest and open conversation. People of all skin tones need to look inside themselves, re-examine their ideas, and root out the layers of self-deception within them.

Like it or not, Ferguson is all about race. But it's not about a racist cop.

The Worst Spot In The Vast Wasteland

My wife loves to watch HGTV. She could literally sit there all day watching it. Every so often I'll get sucked in briefly. It always makes me feel dirty. I can feel my IQ dropping as my brain rots from watching it. It's like crack, but with people that are more annoying than crackheads.

I hate HGTV so much I'm not even sure I can properly convey it. But let me try.

First and foremost, I must acknowledge the insidious genius of their scheduling. HGTV runs their programming in such a way that it's almost impossible to stop watching. The next show literally starts right as the previous one ends. Breaking free of the vortex is a Herculean task.

One moment we see Ivanka and Chip relaxing on the veranda of the beach house they bought on their own private island, clinking glasses of Dom Perignon as the sun sets. The next moment we see a couple strolling through a delightfully exotic city as the voiceover says "Muffy and Biff are both retired high school teachers looking for a vacation home in Thailand so that Muffy can write Twilight fan fiction and Biff can continue his dream of working as a Ladyboy."

Well damn, now I have to watch that.

And so it goes in a 24 hour cycle. It's a dope peddler's wet dream.

Then there are the shows. There is a dizzying variety of shows, and they pummel you with stupidity.

Were Tiny Homes even a thing before HGTV shoved them on us? I thought that I lived in a Tiny House until I saw some of the crazy shit they're building. Most of them have to be on wheels, because they don't meet any kind of building code for habitable space. I really think that most of these folks need to be examined for some kind of mental illness.

House Hunters shows people looking for a new house. They're given three to choose from. Setting aside the fact that the whole thing is bullshit anyway, the concept is screwy. Who in the hell is actually dumb enough to buy a house after looking at just three of them? And are they maybe in the market for a bridge?

Flip Or Flop features a pair of yuppies buying houses on the cheap, sight unseen, and trying to flip them for a profit. I hated these two the moment I saw them. They epitomize the stuck up rich kids on campus who just know that they're better than everyone, and they're the reason most people hate fraternities and sororities. The fact that they're flippers justifies my first impression of them. Because they're buying stuff at auction, it means that they're profiting from the misery of others. Isn't that just awesome? Every time I see them I hope that this is the episode where they go bankrupt and they have to shoot femdom porn to make ends meet.

Love It Or List It is that perfect storm of truly obnoxious hosts and guests who are petty to the point of insanity. The hosts are an arrogant pair, one is a slimy looking realtor, the other a designer who looks as though her entire life has been one shit sandwich after another. The guests on the show are tired of their home because their St Bernard had puppies and the need an extra room for the dogs to shit in, or the color on their appliances has faded and they simply MUST have a new house rather than buy new appliances. The hosts compete to see whether the realtor can find them a new home or the designer can make the home they're in workable for them. Each guest is more insufferable than the last, and the hosts spend all of their time snarking at each other and/or about the guests.

The worst part is that there are TWO versions of the show. In the second one, the realtor host actually oozes slime. I can see it running from the bottom of my TV set. The designer on this version is tolerable, but only because she actually looks like she might have enjoyed her life at some point.

My dream show would be one where the house catches fire, trapping them all inside. Except the St Bernard and her puppies. Because, dogs.

Income Property follows in the footsteps of the douchebags who host Flip Or Flop. This is a guy who looks like a Gordon Gekko protege, and his idea is to help homeowners turn their homes into cash flow machines. In my 20 years as a City Code Official I can attest that most of the folks who try this are always either a) Gaping Assholes or b) fucking idiots. Usually both. This show merely puts it on the screen for all to see.

Fixer Upper features the most annoying hosts on the network. Actually, there's nothing really wrong with the concept of the show, it's just that I can't stand Chip. How in the hell Joanna puts up with him at all, much less lets him get close enough to father all those kids, is beyond me. Also, it would be nice if there was just one episode where they didn't have mutual orgasms every time they find shiplap.

To be fair, there is one show that I like. Rehab Addict features a host who travels around Michigan and Minnesota looking for old houses to restore. And I do mean restore. She doesn't cut corners, and she's not looking for a quick flip for a profit. Her passion for the work shows throughout.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still not going to watch it. It's like another half hour at work for me. But it does redeem HGTV a little bit.

But not enough to make up for letting Chip Gaines on TV.

~Easy

The Right To Work

Every time a holiday rolls around I see a lot of musings about the true spirit of the holiday. At Christmas we buy gifts and put up decorations, and folks bemoan the commercialization and how we're forgetting about Jesus. On Veteran's Day we put out the flag and have a BBQ, and then some remind us that it's a day to honor those who have served our country. On Memorial Day we put out the flag and have a BBQ, and then folks remind us that it's a somber day to commemorate our fallen soldiers (and that's it's not Veteran's Day).

On Labor Day it seems that most of the country has forgotten what we celebrate.

The US Dept. Of Labor defines it thusly on their web page:

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Why do we celebrate this?

Prior to the labor movement:

• Workers often worked 12 hour days, 7 days a week. 
• Little or no consideration was given to worker safety. If you got hurt, then you were out of work.
• There were no sick days, or vacation days. 
• Children as young as six were working in the field and in the factory for fractions what their adult co-workers were paid.

Today, thanks to the labor movement:

• 8 hour workdays, with a maximum of 40 hours
• Regulations regarding worker safety, and compensation for injured workers
• Sick leave and vacation leave, oftentimes paid.
• Child labor is largely illegal

On this day, we celebrate the workers who built this country.

On this day, we celebrate the ones who fought and died for the rights of workers.

On this day, we celebrate the workers who continue to organize and fight to keep these rights.

Here in Missouri, we're facing another challenge to our labor rights. The so called "Right To Work" movement. Don't be fooled by the rhetoric. What it really is is the "Right To Be Paid Less" movement.

Their argument is that no one should be forced to join a Labor Union. Employers should be allowed to hire non-union workers in a union shop.

On it's face this seems pretty awesome. Let's say that Joe Worker is hired by ABC Corp making widgets. It's a union shop with 50 workers. Joe gets paid the same rate as the union guys, but since Joe doesn't have to join the Union and pay dues, Joe has more money in his pocket every payday. About $10 more.

Joe is a freeloader. He's reaping the benefits of the negotiators that the Union worked for in the negotiations with ABC Corp. without paying for them. But, he's getting a great deal, and he tells his friends and family.

A year later, the union shop at ABC Corp. only has 25 union members. The other 25 employees are non-union thanks to the Right To Work legislation. The contract that the Union negotiated will run out at the end of the month, and the Union has to decide whether or not they will represent these workers.

The Union is stuck because they don't want to represent the freeloaders. However, the other half of the workers are members in good standing. The Union decides to not represent them in negotiations and they offer to help find new employment for their members.

Now that the contract has expired, ABC Corp is free to deal with all of their workers individually, instead of as a group. One by one, they cut everyone's pay by 25 percent. Also, there will be less vacation and sick leave.

There are two other widget makers in town who were non-union shops, but they had to pay their workers close to the union wage in order to keep employees, and offer similar benefits. Now that ABC Corp. has gotten rid of the union and lowered their wages, the other two widget makers are free to do the same and the wages for their 100 employees is lowered as well.

Oh, and Joe Worker? He got pissed about his pay cut and argued with the manager about it, so he got fired.

This is the Right To Work.

Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it?

So on this day, enjoy your BBQ, and hopefully you got the day off with pay.

~Easy

Back In The Saddle, Again

Today I stopped by my dad's house to help him setup his blog. In the process, he asked to look at mine. Somewhat to my chagrin, I showed it to him.

There's only the one post.

Now there are two.

The thing that irritates me is that I've been expressing myself and writing some things, but I've been too lazy to post them here. All I have to do is copy and paste from the damn Facebook note I wrote, but it was too much trouble.

If they ever hold an Olympics for laziness I'm a shoe in for the gold.

So I want to really and truly get back in the saddle here. After all, I can't let the old man beat me. Plus, I have a ton of drafts and old blog posts that I can re-run.

More to come.

I mean it, this time.

~Easy