July 18

I hadn't decided to post today but this pissed me off. Why in the hell the grown men who run the Babe Ruth League thought that little girls would be happy and grateful for the "keepsakes" they gave out as awards for the softball champions baffles me. What is worse in all previous years girl champions got trophies. Why not this year? How many embarrassing episodes of bad publicity will it take before people (men and women both) decide to treat the achievements of women (of all ages) and men (also of all ages) with respect? Oh, that goes for the achievements of all differently abled people a well.

I saw something on this earlier this week on a TV news show. The talking heads keyed in on the 66% of Republicans in southern states but the actual story is more complex and more concerning. Significant percentages of Democrats and Independents also agree with the notion of secession. And it isn't just the southern states. All areas have a large percentage of respondents who agree though not a majority. One noted that some of the respondents might actually be signaling party loyalty and may not actually agree. That doesn't make sense. Why would Democrats and Independents agree? Riddle me that one!

Actually--on that last--I do have an idea. A character in a book I like to re-read every now and then, when faced with the very real possibility of sections of the country separating from the union, noted that people tolerated the Federal Government because it "won wars and provided them with needed benefits" and the government had't done either in a long time. That sounds like a good description of our current government. What has been done (effective vaccines in record time, the COVID relief bill) was good but too little made it down to Main Street level. And the totally dysfunctional administration of the Former Guy has led to an entrenched and amplified anti-tax movement. The dysfunction has penetrated to the current national legislature. Someone on a panel on the news this morning asked why the Dems didn't just give the Republicans what they say they wanted. I laughed remembering how often the Obama administration did just that only to find the Republican opposition changed the demands. We are moving quickly to get out of our latest war of choice without even the pretense we expressed when getting out of Vietnam that we won anything and all of the new measure to benefit ordinary people is hitting the brick wall of the filibuster. That seems to sum things up.