Monday--

It is cold today and feeling colder because of the brisk wind that chills brutally.  I went out long enough to rearrange a couple of things so I could move the bird feeder (after I filled it of course.)  I am feeling a bit washed out so I don't know how much I will find worth the energy to comment on.

However, Robert Reich has a piece that I think is right on the money.  In most areas of our lives we do feel powerless.  Sometimes the only power we have is the power to say "No, we don't agree with this."  That is what the voter who no longer votes is saying.  Over the last weekend I had a similar experience.  We got our new MacBooks and part of the package included the tech's services to "migrate" the contents of our old MacBooks onto our new ones.  Mom's went beautifully but mine gave all kinds of problems.  This was Saturday and we left the shop with the new computers and the promise that we could come back Sunday when a more skilled tech would be working and get it done.  Well, we did that and the tech told us that they would need "two or three days and would call us."  I said "NO" much to their surprise.  I got the process done in two hours and took my machine home with me functioning much like my old one--only better.  We have said no to a lot of other things as you know if you have followed this blog.  No to On-Star in spite of the dealer's persistence. No to expanded cable service--again in spite of the company's desperate attempts to "upgrade" us.  No to highly processed supermarket foods in spite of constant advertising during the few times we have the cable TV on.  I think the only way this will change is when enough of us decide that the TINA alternative (There Is No Alternative) is not an alternative, say "NO!" and look for the alternatives they say aren't there.

Ah, yes!! Leave it to Kunstler to lay out a potential nightmare that so many of us are ignoring.  I have been hearing about the push for a "cashless" society and in many ways I am in it now.  My Social Security is automatically deposited and I use the debit card attached to my account--though I try to reserve it for large purchases or to purchase Nook books.  Otherwise I try to use cash.  I am and have been uneasy about the ease with which unknown and unnamed parties can trace what I buy.