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Politics as Usual : with the house and senate split, congressional politics will surely be lively. The first hint is the usual fight between a republican house and the debt ceiling. When the president is from the opposite party than house republican leadership, we can be certain of a fight to control the budget, the spending and the tomfoolery surrounding the debt ceiling. Truth be told, republicans will push for less spending than when their president is in office. Then, the reins are off and spending soars. Just look back on all the republican presidents. Their spending was very high and with it horrendous debt surges. Almost always, democrat presidents are the debt reducers while their economies are robust and able to sustain steady taxes and budget surpluses. Meanwhile, the nonsense political games continue. And with good reason: the voting public supports this crap, and it should know better. Read and understand both long and short history. The story becomes apparent. Proper dec...

In recent months I have blogged less frequently and focused more on personal developments than public issues. That is because our household is dealing with problems of aging. Think back on your own life, do you recall anyone teaching you what to expect when you age? I’m talking of those years of 60 and above. Today, my spouse and life partner, Rocky, is 78 and a survivor of two cancers in recent years, but is now battling two new cancers that will take him. We have arranged hospice in the home and have a wonderful service of professionals who truly know what they are doing. We have caregivers as well provided by the county. We receive Meals on Wheels and have additional mealtime help from friends, family and our great church members. In short, the battle is ours but we are not waging it alone. A large supporting cast is ever present. And so much appreciated! Last evening, Rocky woke me from a nap to tell me his blood sugar was low and non-responsive to meds and glucose pills. He ...

We have been in hospice for two weeks, going into our third. Life's rhythms are different now. Five people are on the hospice team and they each have a different function and schedule. Some of the individuals shift onto and off of our team, no warning. The cast of characters involved is variable. the nurse does several things and has authority to do much more than others on the team. The social worker is behind the scenes and works with the county to gain caregiver hours paid for by the county. The chaplain visits every other week and attends to both the patient and caregiver. The personal aide does the shaving, shampooing, showering and personal support services. She even helped us get a podiatrist to come to the house to clip toenails. At our ages we can't see or do the clipping without danger of blood loss! Rocky is also a diabetic and foot infections for forbidden. The new caregivers will help me with cleaning the house, doing the laundry and other tasks needing to be done....

It is not easy to ask someone for help. It is a little easier to ask an unknown audience for help, perhaps because it is less personal? I wrote a blog sometime back in which I rued aging for the loss of ability to do simple chores. At the time it was changing lightbulbs up high or going to the store to buy special bulbs then bringing them home and installing them. Another chore? Folding sheets from the dryer; they are longer than I am tall, and I don’t have another person handy to hold the other end! Getting to a higher shelf is an annoyance; now I know what my short mother had to face every day of her life! But for us, we just move things to a lower shelf and keep higher space for long-term storage that a family member can retrieve for us sometime in the future. At the moment we have trouble keeping the house clean. I never did floors well, but now we don’t have the stamina to push the vacuum around, or a bunch of other things. For my part I keep my bathroom neat, tidy and prett...

Who tells someone what to be, or who to be? Can anyone actually tell someone that? Funny thing is, the Republican Party is telling everyone that you cannot be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual, or anything else sexual. Only straight. The party has pushed these messages for many years. They even have managed to make laws to punish people who don’t obey them. Today the GOP pushes against transexuals. Deep down, however, their messaging is about ‘normal sex.’ If it’s straight – male and females – then it is acceptable. Even the old morality of sex after marriage only, has faded away. Sex while dating is OK. Plunging necklines and short short skirts are also very much allowed. And if a girl gets pregnant under such circumstances? Well, it is her fault for asking for it. Right? When I was very young – 6 and 7 – I knew something was not ‘normal’ about my sexual feelings. I had an interest in other boys but did not act on it. I felt certain it was wrong and would be a sin. Eventually, ...