Beanie Babies and stuff - IMO Janice Koweek

This time of year I think of Jan. She owned the world's best toy store during the year's my daughters were growing up. Each year's presents were kept on the third floor until we picked them up Christmas Eve. The Barbie dolls; the Barbie cruise ship; the Princess Leah doll; the games; the kids' table and chairs. Her store had them all.

Walking into The Town Fair, the girls entered a "kid friendly" place. A place of wonder and wonderful surprises and displays. In our small town, all the kids were familiar to Jan and her employees. Every birthday, every Christmas, every time the girls had saved up enough to buy that special Barbie outfit or Star Wars figure, we headed for the store.

And Jan would slip something into our bags of purchases we had not chosen. Something she knew I loved. A beanie baby toy. Soft, cuddly, adorable. She warned her customers that these were not investments, they were toys. Today they are worth about the same or less than they paid for them then. But I have a small collection of them that I treasure. Tiny reminders of a woman who always gave full value to her customers. A woman who gave generously to every local service organization that petitioned for a donation. A woman who knew her customers by name. A woman who was one of the greatest friends I have had in my life.

Every Christmas Eve our family would march into The Town Fair to pick up that year's Christmas gifts and to give Jan and her husband Art our homemade gifts of baked goods, ornaments, and cookies. It was a major part of our Christmas celebration.

Unfortunately, The Town Fair closed its doors before my granddaughters (now 10 and 6) were able to experience its delights. But my daughters treasure the memories spawned there. And I? I have a small collection of Beanie Babies that Jan slipped into our bags. It is hard to believe Jan left us over five years ago.

IMO Jan Koweek
For her myriad acts of kindness to my family and myself, I give thanks.
For her attentive involvement in the large and small matters of my life, I give thanks.
For her sound counsel, advice and unflagging support, I give thanks.

For her steadfast example of how to grow a worthwhile life, I give thanks.
For her keen, often irreverent sense of humor, I give thanks
For her warmth, hospitality, generosity and caring, I give thanks.

By her incredible fortitude in the face of suffering,
Most remarkable expressed in her unfailing kindness and her famous and atrocious puns, I am awed.

For the greatest gift of all, knowing her as friend for thirty-six years, I rejoice and give thanks to God.

Farewell dear friend, you are most sorely missed.

IMO Janice Koweek.

Payroll Taxes and Funding Social Security - A Contrarian Viewpoint

Another December and once again payroll tax cuts are "on the table." I opposed them last December. I oppose their extension beyond the end of the year and I adamantly oppose increasing the payroll tax cuts.

"But why?" You ask. "We thought you were a big liberal. All the liberals support the payroll tax cuts."

I oppose the cuts because:

1. In 2011 they cost roughly $120 billion that did not go to support Social Security benefits and accellerated Social Security's inevitable arrival at "cash flow negative" and the depletion of the Social Security Trust Fund.

"That's what the Social Security Trust Fund is for," proponents argue.

True. But the cuts increase demands on the Trust Fund and decrease the number of years it will last.

2. Social Security has succeeded because it was NOT an unfunded entitlement program. It was fully funded. It is threatened because it will, at current levels of contributions, cease being funded when the Social Security Trust Fund runs dry. Contributions should be increased - by crashing through the ceiling on contributions (currently $106,800 of earned income).

"The shortfall will be funded by other taxes or the general fund," my fellow liberals retort.

Right. How long do you expect THAT to last if Obama loses in 2012 and Republicans gain control of both houses? 5 minutes sounds optimistic to me.

3. Tax cuts have NOT proven to be terribly effective tools for economic recovery. More jobs is the best way to raise government revenues and support safety net programs.

Many of my fellow Americans, liberal, conservative and libertarian have been convinced the population demographic dooms safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security. I believe the greatest threat to these programs is not aging baby boomers, but the ever increasing concentration of our nation's wealth in the hands of a shrinking minority of its citizens and the eroding income of the 99 percent.

I am not sure I am a Progressive. I believe our government should pay for what it spends, not borrow to cover operating expenditures. On the other hand, capital expenditures (i.e. infrastructure, education, research and development) can be amortized over time.

For now, it looks to me like it is the liberals who may in the end be responsible for putting the final nail in the coffin of this country's hard-won safety nets. The radical right must be licking their lips in anticipation.

Too Much Stuff

I clear off the dining room table, disseminating the mail to: business, home, my spouse, myself. But there is still that hand-embroidered holiday tablecloth I have to find a place for. The drop-leaf table that serves as a credenza in my home office stubbornly refuses to let me clear it to the point I can put that leaf down that is SUPPOSED to elevate ONLY for the day I do my household accounts. Medicare stuff for me and my spouse. The camera with pictures still not uploaded to the computer. The Cd's I have yet to copy onto my IPod. The odd notes, forms and notices I don't dare to file until I am absolutely sure they are no longer needed. If I can't clear it off, where the HELL am I going to wrap holiday gifts?

My computer desk is covered with notes on pending matters. Charges on my debit card that have not yet come through. Notices from my health insurance company that have to be matched against invoices from my health providers to guarantee each charge is correct and balanced.

The cards for my current health care coverage and the cards for the coverage that begins January 1. The notices from Medicare for me and for my spouse whose coverage will begin in February. The coupon from JC Penney that is only good until Christmas. The receipts for all those online Christmas gift orders. The note on the electrician's visit - oh right, he came last Thursday. I can toss that one, but where the hell is the invoice?

Three books I am currently in different stages of reading. Four small yellow pads with important notes on the first page that I do not DARE to discard. The binder containing "Medicare and You."

I have way too much stuff and way too little space in which to store it. Every time I try to clear some of it out, it seems to say "Wait, you might need this later."

Time for a bonfire in the backyard?

Doctor's Office - Dial one for an emergency...

I was six years old and passed out. Mom called our family physician, who came to the house, examined me, diagnosed heat exhaustion and recommended rest in a darkened room, cool compresses and avoiding direct sunlight.

I was 20 and getting married in college. Mom found a reputable gyn man, made an appointment for me for a birth control consultation so I could finish college.

I was in my 30s and 40s and called my doctor's office and made an appointment when a health need arose.

Today, I call my doctors office, get voice automation and a selection of choices - Dial 1 for an emergency; dial 2 to renew a prescription; dial 3 to leave a message that might or might not result in a return call. To get an appointment takes a minimum of 2 weeks (for an emergency). Otherwise go to the emergency room.

Mom is now 96 years old. She does not have an answering machine or voice mail. A highly intelligent woman, nevertheless she is technologically challenged. When she calls her doctor's office, she gets confused by the maze of automated choices. The evaluations she receives after her appointments suggest she can access her records online. Mom has never used, let alone owned a computer. Her solution? She writes her doctor a letter and mails it. When he calls back, she might not be home. She is a very active 96 year old, frequently on the go.

Not too many individuals her age live alone and independently. But there must be others out there. Folks who grew up in an age when the family doctor made house calls; when the telephone was used for emergencies; when automation was a unique assembly line procedure used to produce Model T Fords. There does not seem to be a great deal of room in our society for folks like her. Folks that face the terrible decision of giving up their cars in the face of fading capabilities, but who are still very capable of taking care of themselves. Folks who like to make trips not just to the doctor or the grocery store, but to their favorite restaurants, friends, the library, the hairdresser or masseuse. Folks who do not want to reside in Assisted Living Facilities or Nursing Homes or Elder Communities, but find such decisions forced upon them by the exigencies of day to day survival.

In the meantime, she writes a letter to her doctor to avoid his automated telephone system and struggles to face the reality that a mini-stroke may have changed her life forever and robbed her of the rituals that make her life livable.

Thanksgiving - not so much for the "small people"

Unless you live in the antiquated Commonwealth of Massachusetts, renowned for its archaic "blue laws," if you are one of the "small people,"  Thanksgiving Holiday is probably not for you.

The major retailers continue a tradition of creeping closer and closer to the actual holiday for opening their doors to the onslaught of Black Friday shoppers. The earlier the opening hour, the more likely a retailer's employees will be forced to work on the holiday itself.

Then again, who ever said holidays are for everyone? If you live in Massachusetts, finding an open store for that forgotten item that absolutely must grace your holiday table will be a frustrating exercise in futility. Everywhere else in our great nation, you simply run out to your local supermarket and pick it up. Sure this means the less fortunate among us must work on our nation's most family oriented holiday (I do not count Christmas because of its religious orientation), but so what? The people who truly matter (me, myself and I) will get to enjoy the holiday, celebrate family and eat the turkey like true Americans.

We already have decided that Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Veterans' Day are for shopping. Why not Thanksgiving? After all, it practically breaths down the neck of Christmas - the day we devote to the celebration of consumerism. And absolutely nothing should get in the way of that.

Work on small people, so that the more fortunate among us can bask in the glory of the celebration of Thanksgiving. You live to serve. Unless, of course, you happen to live in Massachusetts.

Am I a NIMBY? You Betcha!

Most of my adult life I have listened to disparaging remarks about the "Not in My Back Yard" crowd or "nimbys." Nimbys are accused of wanting all the benefits of industrialization and technology but fighting tooth and nail against using their own areas to produce the products or dispose of their refuse. No smokestacks. No factories. No cell phone towers. No dams. No pipelines. No high tension electrical wires. No exploitation of natural resources. No landfills.

In the meantime, mountaintops have been dumped into savagely polluted valleys in West Virginia and Kentucky, toxic high tech waste has been exported to poor nations, carbon  spewed into the atmosphere, plastics and chemicals have created massive dead zones in our planet's oceans.

Now our fresh water supplies and the very stability of the ground we stand upon are under assault from hydrofracking.

The strongest voices against environmental contamination and alteration frequently come from local opposition - the nimbys. If our only hope is to save our environment tiny little pieces at a time - the nimbys may be our court of last resort. Are they guilty of hypocracy? To some extent. But in the absence of leadership on our state, national and international levels, the movement to stop destroying our environment has to start somewhere.

When it comes to destroying the environment, MY BACK YARD is the planet Earth we all share.

OWS - It's over, Right?

Around 2 a.m. this morning the NYPD began clearing the Occupy Wall Street Ziccotti Park site. Although some film coverage exists, it is scanty. News media was blocked access to the site as were protesters attempting to enter the area. Below are three links I was able to find.

ABC news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_osX6JWdvU
Russia Today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpq-moDIkl8
AlJazeeraEnglish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2pVafxS8ZU

Protesters were informed they could return after the site had been cleaned. The tents and equipment were loaded onto trucks and removed.

At roughly the same time an Occupy Albany site was cleared in the state capital. Over the past week or so, encampments throughout the country have been cleared in roughly the same manner. The procedure of initiating the evictions during the small hours of the night appears to work well from the police standpoint.

I guess this ends Occupy Wall Street. With winter coming on and officialdom cracking down, surely now the protesters will give up and go home and everything will return to "normal."

Or not.

Occupy Wall Street Should... .

Hanging out on Reddit and scanning online news services, I have been struck by a familiar refrain. Lots and lots of bloggers, media outlets and pundits are offering lots and lots of advice to Occupy Wall Street.

Occupy Wall Street should support Election Reform... . Occupy Wall Street should appoint a leader. Occupy Wall Street should support this agenda... . that agenda.... my agenda... . this pundit's agenda... . that celebrity's agenda... . should define its agenda... .

Republicans try to cast the movement as a "Democratic Party" phenomenon. Democrats appear to think the movement is theirs for the taking. Afterall, where else can they go? Does THAT sound familiar to anyone?

President Obama gives vague, unclarified nods in the movement's direction, without taking a position. Does THAT also sound familiar?

Every organization from the ACLU to organized labor to Moveon.org to the Americans for Prosperity (co-opters of the Tea Party movement) either wants a piece of this action or wants to marginalize it.

To date the movement has resisted these attempts. I hope it continues to do so. I believe the movement's power lies in the fact it is unaffiliated with any of the woefully compromised institutions that have brought us to this unlovely place. Why? Because in the meantime it is highlighting the very real problems our society faces and the very real perpetrators of disfunction that landed us here.


The problems we face cover a wide spectrum of global economic, environmental, technological,  humanitarian challenges. None of them can be solved by sound bytes or politically correct truisms. Only a hard, slogging, cooperative effort has a hope. Kudos to Occupy Wall Street for avoiding the easy answers to date.

Do the 99% envy the 1%?

The assumption of the 1% is that everyone shares its values and wants what it has. On a theoretical level many of us probably do. On a day-to-day basis, we are about providing for our families, finding jobs that pay living wages and living free from fear that a layoff or an illness will strip us of everything.

The folks I know don't mind working hard - they do it every day. They just want a share in the fruits of that labor.

Health Insurance Costs Continue to Soar

Yesterday I opened a notice from my company's health insurance provider. It announced the "state-approved" increase in coverage costs for 2012 - almost $100 a month per policy. In December I enter "Medicare World" and will be paying for Medicare Part B. The company insurer is aware of this and has lowered the monthly charge for my coverage - a paltry $40 a month. The new rate means my coverage will only cost about $50 more a month (not including the new monthly cost of Medicare Part B).

I intend to go with a more reasonably priced Medicare Advantage product. I just don't understand why the company's carrier offers such a lousy deal.

Goodbye Finger Lakes?

The fight to prevent/permit hydrofracking has come to one of the most beautiful corners of New York State - the Finger Lakes Region.

Will hydrofracking do for the Finger Lakes, what mountaintop removal did for Appalachia?

Mountaintop removal: http://www.nrdc.org/energy/coal/mtr/?gclid=CJmMhLKzmqwCFQM75QodTjjjOA

The Finger Lakes: http://www.fingerlakes.org/

When the Banks Trump Governments

I hope I am wrong but my reading of the European Union debt crisis is that the banks are more powerful than governments. Not just individual governments of smaller nations like Iceland, Ireland and Greece, but the big guys - Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

How did these private institutions achieve supremacy over the governments whose purpose is to govern their societies? I am not sure. I suspect that the bank recapitalizations that occurred in 2008 and the failure to reform seriously flawed institutions were only the final phase of a long-term evolution into world-wide plutocracy. If the new world order resulted in economic and political stability, one might grudgingly accept it; however governments, flawed though they all are, are required to offer some degree of accountability to the governed. The corporations and private institutions now wielding the power do not share that burden - just ask the stockholders of News Corp, recently rebuffed in their attempts to hold the Murdock Family accountable.

The United States is not insulated from this phenomenon. When/if the EU collapses, our system will not be far behind. Why? Because our banks too are heavily leveraged in the EU crisis. Our economy is much weaker than Germany's.

For the immediate now, the international financial institutions are urging, no demanding, that the EU countries protect the banks from the bad debt of EU member nations. This protection can only be purchased by pouring trillions (yes, that is what I meant) into the black hole of an already debased system. The inevitable result will not be a resolution of the EU crisis. It will be the dragging down of the strong economies into the abyss in which the weak ones already reside.

The recipe being urged on the EU is a recipe for long-term disaster. That disaster will NOT stop at the Atlantic Ocean's eastern boundaries.

Thanks alot Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Nicholas Sarkozy, Tim Geitner, Larry Summers, Robert Rubin, Christopher Dodd, Dick Cheney, Alan Greenspan, Chief Justice John Roberts, Tony Blair, Dominque Strauss-Kahn for working so VERY closely with the new masters of the universe.

Medigap or Medicare Advantage?

As I approach my decision date, the road ahead remains foggy. A trip to the Office of the Aging was less productive than I had hoped. Once they learned I was computer literate, I was informed  http://www.medicare.gov contained all the resources I needed to make a decision.

I downloaded two .pdfs of 60 pages each. The first listed what Medicare covered. The second purported to guide readers through choosing a Medigap policy. I am just beginning to learn the difference between Medigap and Medical Advantage policies.

Medical Advantage - what I have learned so far... .
Equals one-stop shopping. The policy covers all health insurance reimbursements, including Medicare. The insured pays for the Medical Advantage plan, the plan pays for Medicare Part B insurance and medical costs covered by the policy. Drug coverage is included in some, not all of the plans.  When drug coverage is included, the drugs the insured uses need to be specified to determine if the plan chosen covers those drugs.

Policy costs vary considerably as does what is covered, but the policies tend to cost considerably less than Medigap policies.

Many of these plans restrict the insured to doctors in the plan and require referrals for specialists.

Medigap or Medicare Supplement -
The Medigap Policy is in addition to Medicare and claims are submitted separately. The insured pays for Medicare Part B coverage and for the Medigap Policy.

Drug coverage (Medicare Part D) must be separately obtained. The result? With Medigap the insured ends up with three bills - Medicare Part B, Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Medicare Part D. The cost is considerably higher than most Medicare Advantage policies but the coverages tend to be greater and do not limit choice of doctors.

Medigap plans offer "Policies" with legally mandated coverages. Costs vary between insurers even for the same policies (coverages). Determining policy price is not always easy. Some companies put the policy rates right up on the websites. Others require you to register at their sites before divulging this information.

Dental, Vision, Hearing coverage - not
Dental Insurance is not covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medigap. Medicare Advantage does often cover up to two preventive dental visits a year, but that is it. Likewise a vision exam might be covered, but not glasses. Same with hearing exams. Other policies don't cover them at all.

Decision?
Still working on that. The superior coverage of Medigap is tempting but the cost probably will be close to that my company currently pays for standard health insurance and that is not cheap. On the other hand, it is possible to get coverage for foreign travel with some Medigap policies and that is a factor.

Probably also need to consider some kind of long-term care policy...

Back to the 'net for more research.

Unseemly Celebration

Come, let us dance on the corpse of our enemy,
Let us scatter his limbs to the wind.
Let us revel in joy at his death,
Let us savor the taste of revenge.

Come, let us decimate his friends and family,
Let us bring his filth to an end.

Come, let us dance on the grave of our enemy,
Let us banish him into the night,
Come, let us dance on the bones of our enemy,
And rejoice in our own power and might.

October 20, 2011

The People are Not Happy

It did not start on Wall Street, or in Madison, Wisconsin, in Libya, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Syria, Chile or London. It did not start with the Tea Party protests. It did not even start with the massive crowds Barack Obama attracted in the United States and around the world when he campaigned for the U. S. presidency on a platform of "change you can believe in."

For years the G-8 summits have been picketed and protested by large, committed groups of opponents to the Plutocracy that decides the economic fate of the globe.

When the U. S. declared war on Iraq, millions of protesters demonstrated in cities across the globe, including the U. S. itself. Of course the mainstream media downplayed or ignored them, so perhaps they did not really happen at all? I guess THEY were not part of the "coalition of the willing."

What is significant is that the unrest is increasing; the momentum is growing; the demonstrations are now stretching from India to Greece, from Chile to London, from New York City to Portland, Oregon.

Throughout history the rich and powerful have oppressed the poor and weak. And throughout history, when the pendulum swung too far in favor of the rich and powerful and the "small people" were ground down to the point where they had nothing left to lose, societies lost their glue and revolutions occurred.

Intelligent billionaires like Warren Buffet see the danger and attempt to avert it. But the mindless nature of most corporate empires precludes such perception. Our society has reached the tipping point. I do not believe we have yet crossed the point of no return. But the gathering storm no longer can be denied.

Barach Obama was elected because he offered the "hope" of "change." That change has eluded us. The man who received the Nobel Peace Prize and went on to wage ever greater wars, is not, perhaps, the vessel of change we thought we elected.  His administration has coddled the financial industry that mindlessly dropped us into economic disaster, insisted government must pick up the tab, and then, by successfully resisting all attempts of that same government to reform it, ended up more powerful than the governments (read Great Britain, Germany and France (i.e. the European Union) and the United States) that rescued it from disintegration in the vain hope that action would also rescue their economies (read FAIL to that!).

Make no mistake. The Old Regime will not "go quietly into that good night." It will adopt the measures of Syria and Libya. It will use the same subterfuge the Egyptian military did to foil the true advocates of change by sacrificing its figurehead. Non violent demonstrators will be corralled, beaten, maced and tear gassed. Predator drones, already used on innocent bystanders in foreign countries, will be deployed on native soil. Homeland Security will track down dangerously adept leaders and their naive supporters alike.

The best case scenario would be a pragmatic awakening in Washington. A coming together to solve our terribly urgent problems. Our leaders might already be too deeply in thrall to their corporate overlords to attempt this.

The creation of a viable third party might avert the inevitable meltdown of our democracy. But far too many roadblocks already are in place to make this outcome at all likely.

Tough times a coming.

Greek Austerity = Disaster

A bottomless pit is threatening the entire European Union and most particularly its wealthiest, most successful member, Germany.

Every time the European Union comes to the "rescue" of Greece, the situation worsens. The imposed austerity measures are destroying the Greek economy. With each passing month, tax revenues decline - way beyond predictions. As the economy staggers, so do revenues. At the same time interest rates on Greece's debt continue to escalate. Greece is stuck between a rock and a hard place: revenues to pay that interest are battered by the austerity measures required to secure the debt.

The resulting demand for the European Union (read France and Germany) to cover the spread is beginning the threaten the two strong economies in the union.

The prescription written to solve the crisis is the problem. It is treating the wrong disease! The time has come for the institutions that hold the debt and charge the ever increasing interest rates to actually experience the risk implied by those rates and take a haircut. In fact, all governments need to insist that devaluation of the debt is a prerequisite of any rescue package from here on out.

Ireland had a BUDGET SURPLUS before their banks failed and the EU pressured the country into rescuing the financial institutions. The result? Ireland's national debt spiraled out of control and the country's economy crashed and burned. A similar situation is occurring in Greece and threatens to spread to Spain, Portugal and Italy. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that the European Union can rescue all these economies. The almost inevitable result is the imploding of the European Union, the Euro and disaster to the still-viable economies of France and Germany.

The time has come (actually it came 3 years ago) to herd rogue financial institutions into Chapter 11, restructure their balance sheets, write off their "toxic assets," break them up and reissue their stock. The debt would be written down, not increased, as solid assets are separated from the drecht and the drecht is valued at pennies on the dollar. Too big to fail must be sent into the history of failed economic initiatives. Control, supervision and separation of the speculative from the custodial roles of financial institutions reconstituted.

The alternative? A total, catastrophic meltdown of the global financial structure.

700 Demonstrators Arrested in New York City

Occupy Wall Street is entering its third week. Its numbers continue to increase. Yesterday over 700 demonstrators were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. Despite mainstream media's best efforts, this story is getting hard to ignore.

Spin off demonstrations have cropped up in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Albuquerque. What the hell is this about, you ask?

It's about bailing out the banks with public money while social programs get slashed. It's about a financial industry that learned after 2008 it really could get away with anything, take any risk and the U. S. Government would step in (with public money) when it started to crash and burn. Financial institutions get the goldmine, the 99 percent get the shaft.

It's about young people graduating from college with mountains of debt who cannot find jobs.

It's about people who have just about had enough of the inequity, the unfairness, the injustice of a system that has lost its way.

Ah well, tomorrow the media plan minute-to-minute coverage of the Amanda Knox case in Italy and the trial of Michael Jackson's lawyer and the dampers once again will be in place.

If it's not on the nightly news, it's not happening, right?

Then again, 700 arrests in one afternoon on the Brooklyn Bridge is kind of hard to ignore.

My Life with Toilets

It is supposed to be that warm, comfy place where you read a good article or book, perhaps smoke a cigarette, relax and merge with the cosmos. Admittedly, there was a time when this Zen-like state was interrupted by a loud knocking and "Are you done yet? I really, really have to go!" But as an aging boomer, those days are, for the most part, long past. I have staked out the "downstairs", my spouse the "upstairs" for our special digestive system elimination moments. Even those rare occasions when we have house guests (strictly family) rarely interrupt the basic rhythm of our rituals.

I remember reading years ago that the history of civilization is the history of plumbing. Without the latter, the former is unachievable. My reaction? DUH!

But sometimes things go awry. You confidently flush and witness a slow, inexorable flow to the top of the bowl. IS THERE A PLUNGER IN THE HOUSE!!!

Your husband, minding your pre-toddler child, reads that Pampers are flushable and doesn't read the rest of the instructions. Hours later you return home from your meeting to discover you missed a terrible and frightening flood, an emergency visit by the plumber (they NEVER do that for ME), and a suspicious moistness on the ceiling below the upstairs bathroom (a few dry days and it will go away, please God).

It all goes back to 1962. My brother graduated from his prestigious prep school (please note I went to public high school) at the same time Mom finally achieved her Masters of Education from BU. A seriously large party is planned. The big day arrives. A few scant hours before the guests are scheduled to arrive, disaster. The single, lone, only toilet in the house overflows and runs and runs and runs. Water begins to pour through the dining room ceiling. On the plus side, the party is planned for the lovely backyard. On the minus, guests (and family) are admonished they must walk two blocks to the nearest service station for bathroom facilities. Also on the plus side? My parents NEVER served beer or any form of alcohol at their parties!

I was the hero(ine) that figured out how to stop the water flowing (turn-off valve, ever heard of it?). Since that day I have been renowned by the nuclear family as the member who "understands plumbing." (Since that day I also have felt responsible for alleviating any plumbing disaster occurring in my vicinity.)

Overflows occur. Last April I innocently flushed after using the toilet at my late mother-in-law's coop. Minutes later my niece Kristin observed that the toilet was overflowing (very, very nasty). I grabbed the plunger beside the toilet, stopped/cleared the blockage and then began  throwing every damn towel in the linen closet on the floor (it WILL leak to the floor below; it WILL stink; it WILL result in nastiness if it is NOT CLEANED UP.)

After about 15 minutes of sopping up the mess, my brother-in-law Steve came to my rescue, something for which I will ALWAYS be grateful. He finished the clean-up, applied the disinfectant and disposed of the noxious towels. Steve, did I ever say thanks for that?

Fast forward to my home and its two functioning toilets. The upstairs toilet doesn't want to flush, needs a lot of tries, urging. The downstairs toilet flushes really well 95% of the time. Unfortunately, when it runs, it spews water out of the tank and onto the floor causing more wetness, dampness than one wants in a season of high humidity and massive rainfall.

Finally, I call the plumber. He comes. Replaces the inner mechanisms. Leaves. I travel to visit my daughter, check into my favorite hotel and guess what? The TOILET is running. Maintenance arrives, fixes it.  After several days I return home to learn that there has been a flood in my office. Traces of toilet paper leave little doubt of its nature. I am spared the experience but my landlady is now checking everyday to make sure it has not recurred. The source of the problem is elusive.

I get up Tuesday morning and notice water(?) is seeping around the base of my upstairs toilet. Plumber comes. No it is not the seal, as I had feared, but a simple nut that requires tightening. No charge. The downstairs toilet has twice gotten stuck and run (at least it no longer spouts water against the top of the tank and then onto my floor).

Toilets. They are what my life is about.

The Age of Social Security and Medicare

In a few short months I will reach the age of "Medicare." For half a year I have been inundated with mailings from every health insurance company under the sun urging me to send for their informational packets. I thought Medicare was the total package. Guess I was wrong.

A couple of weeks ago I wandered into the local Social Security Office to register. The folks were courteous and helpful. All my information was available to them once I gave them my SSN. Questions: Are you working? Yes. Do you intend to continue working? I sorta think so. Might go part-time. Are you covered by your employer? Yes.

It was determined I qualify for Medicare Part A and B. But if I want perscription drug coverage, dental, hearing, eye care, I will need additional coverage. I will have to pay for Part B. I will also have to pay for additional coverage. I asked what kind of coverage I should get and was advised to visit my local Office of the Aging for information on what was available and what would best suit my needs.

Today I made an appointment. Somehow, I thought it would be easier than this. Foolish me. For years my employer has payed increasingly exhorbidant rates for health insurance that covered less and less. But time and again I heard "Once you are on Medicare, it is wonderful. Everything is so easy." Maybe things will work out that way once everything is in place. For now, I feel like I am wandering around in a maze / haze. I have developed a whole new level of respect for my 96 year old mother, who has been dealing with these issues on her own since 1995 when my Dad died.

I suspect there will be more to come on this subject.

10 Years Ago on 9/13

9/11 did not end on 9/11. The horror, shock, heightened nervousness lasted for months. It could almost be described as a national case of post traumatic stress. For days afterward people did not move from their televisions unless it was absolutely necessary. As someone who worked from home, I found myself constantly checking for news updates.

Almost exactly 48 hours after the towers collapsed, I received a phone call from my son-in-law. My daughter had gone into labor and my first grandchild was about to be born. In less than an hour I had packed a bag, withdrawn cash from the bank, gassed up the car and started the 215 mile trip.

As I headed south on the NYS Thruway, the road was empty. I sometimes saw a vehicle heading north. Occasionally I would run across an official-looking vehicle heading south. But for the most part I had the road eerily to myself. I spent the trip alternating praying, singing patriotic songs and listening to the radio. Route 287 through New Jersey was the same. It wasn't until I hit 78 heading west that I encountered some truck traffic - postal service, Fedex, a rare semi pulling cargo. I was not aware of speeding, but made the trip in 3 hours.

In the hospital waiting room the television was showing CNN - continuous video of the attack and collapse of the twin towers. My daughter's father-in-law Walter joined me and we talked about 9/11 as we awaited the arrival of our grandchild. Finally my son-in-law emerged from the birthing area and invited me in to meet my granddaughter. Joy and relief battled for place as I welcomed my beloved Emily into my life and reassured myself that my daughter was all right. Emily's parents were bursting with love, joy and delight. They were now a family!

A few minutes later I went downstairs and outside to put my new cell phone to good use spreading the news. First, my husband. He was on the west coast and we had no idea when he would be able to return home. At the time, there was a very real possibility he might have to rent a car and drive across country. Next my mother, mother-in-law and younger daughter. And last a few of my very dearest friends. Each call was greeted by boisterous cheers as the news was shared with anyone within listening range. Everyone was thrilled that after two endless days of unremitting tragedy, at least for us, there was good news. I will always treasure that day and Emily's arrival as my return to faith in the future.

The national nightmare did not end - in many ways it continues to this day. The anthrax murders by mail, the endless wars, the Patriot Act. But always for me it has been balanced by the tremendous joy the first Emily and 4 years later her sister Abby brought into my life.

Note: My husband got a seat of one of the very first flights east on Saturday, September 15. Until I saw him emerge from the terminal, I did not dare to believe he would actually make it back. The following Monday he flew to Florida. Visiting clients was (and is) what he did to make a living.

Obama's Jobs Speech

I'm sorry my liberal friends, but I think cutting payroll taxes is a really, really bad idea. Why? Because Social Security shortfalls will cause the program to become an "unfunded mandate" and increase its vulnerability to conservative attacks. (You know the ones that have been highly effective to date.) Yet another of our precious safety nets will become threadbare to the point of breaking.

When is Washington going to face the stark fact that cutting taxes DOES NOT equal economic stimulus?

Romney's Job Plan is Republican Rhetoric

If elected president, Mitt Romney will cure the U. S. job crisis. He has the magic bullet. Can you possible guess what it is?

According to NPR, Romney's plan is to cut taxes on companies, cut regulations, cut federal spending, curb the power of unions, increase exploitation of U. S. sources of fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) and challenge China's currency policies. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=140205846&ft=1&f=

When are Republicans going to face the bitter truth that cutting taxes and spending, far from stimulating the economy and lowering the country's debt, exacerbate job losses, swell deficits as revenues fall further and increase societal instability? That's easy - they will not. Why is the more interesting question.

The party's stubborn adherence to magical thinking becomes suspect when a candidate like Romney, who unlike many of his Republican opponents is NOT an ideologue, jumps on board. It is not about improving the economy. It is not about limiting government. It is about dismantling the last vestiges of American democracy and making official the country's transformation into an oligarchy run by the rich and powerful and unrestrained by any vestige of leverage residing with the "small" people.

The IMF urges U.S. and European Stimulus?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), better known for its ruthless enforcement of stringent budget constrictions on borrower nations, is urging the world's economic leaders to spend themselves into further debt and temporarily abandon their austerity measures.

As seen in the Huffington Post link below, International Monetary Fund Chief, Christine Lagarde, is urging European countries and the United States to employ economic stimulus.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/04/imf-lagarde-stimulus-us-europe-economy_n_948407.html

It sounds like the IMF believes our only hope of stemming the tide of a collapsing global economy is its version of a Hail Mary Pass.

European politicians appear to be rejecting the call. Given its current political climate, U. S. response is unlikely to be more enthusiastic.

At least some global financial leaders are becoming concerned about the persistence of the Great Recession's impact on social stability. An Arab Spring is one thing. Huge demonstrations in Israel, the massive protests in Madison last winter and the riots in England something else again.

The Bad, Bad Left is Failing Obama

In the New York Times article linked below the disillusioned left is taken to task for its lack of appreciation for President Obama:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/magazine/what-the-left-doesnt-understand-about-obama.html?hp

The Times can talk down to me all it likes. This article does NOT change my mind that President Obama failed the people who elected him, waffled and retreated on every major issue, let the House of Representatives carry his water for two years, then left its members out in the cold during the 2010 election season.

Now the 2012 election season approaches and the Obama camp is (rightly) afraid of losing its Progressive supporters so it once again wags its finger at them. I guess the plan is to campaign on the slogan - "If you are progressive, we are your only choice, just look at the alternative."

Great strategy guys. Good luck with that.

Kissing Off the Democratic Party?

For more decades than I care to number, I have confidently identified myself as a Democrat. Over the past 2 years I have been suffering from an identify crisis.

During the Bush years, being a Democrat seemed to be a no-brainer. I abhorred Bush's foreign and domestic policies, found his vice president extremely easy to demonize and shuddered as I witnessed the dismantling of the Bill of Rights.

Along came the Obama hope campaign and, after initial disappointment over Hillary Clinton's withdrawal from the race, I eagerly jumped on board. He would close Guantanamo Bay, reestablish the Bill of Rights, unite the country, reinvigorate the economy, rein in the financial industry and bring peace and justice to all. All right, so maybe my expectations were unrealistic. At the very least, I expected strong leadership from the Oval Office that would reestablish a progressive agenda and speak for the "small" people.

What I got was a president who began slipping to the right almost from the minute he took office. A half-assed stimulus - half-assed because it was half tax cuts and half job stimulus. It managed to stop the downward spiral of the economy but failed to reverse direction. I got more war in Afghanistan. I saw his political capital squandered on two years devoted to passing a health care bill that far from reforming the system, more firmly entrenched the control over our health by the private insurers and big pharma. I got more erosion of the Bill of Rights. I got the Obama/McConnell tax bill last December. I saw half-hearted financial reform neutralized almost from its enactment.

I have witnessed the dismantling of public education; further deterioration of our nation's infrastructure; our nation bullied by multi-national corporations like BP as they laid waste to vast swathes of our environment. Guantanamo Bay remains open. Rumors abound that rendition continues. The financial industry gave its members obscene bonuses after raiding the U. S. Treasury. Unemployed and underemployed Americans continue to struggle to survive with increasingly threadbare safety nets under them.

The definition of "centrist" inexorably drifts to the right. Progressive has become a "code word" for radical Leftist.

The swelling ranks of America's poor are blamed for our failing economy while the wealthiest corporations hoard trillions and continue to ship jobs overseas to countries willing to permit conditions little better than slave labor.

I believe that only serious sacrifice by all members of our society will bring us out of the doldrums in which we are stuck. But sacrifice is not being asked of the wealthiest among us. It is being forced upon those least able to oppose it or support it.

I have watched the Democratic Party play a complicit role in the ever widening stratification of American society. It has betrayed the unions. It has betrayed the environment. It has betrayed voters who put it in power. It has become a faint echo of its former self and I no longer expect either progress or constructive, forceful action from its officials.

President Obama is scheduled to make a "major" speech on jobs next week to a joint session of Congress. By now I anticipate a "campaign 2012" speech that perhaps will seek to rectify the mistakes of the past 3 years. To paraphrase Margaret Mitchell, "Frankly, Mr. President, I no longer give a damn."

Taking that walk into the County Office Building to remove my party affiliation from my voting registration is not something I take lightly. I am very close to taking that walk.

Another Presidential Speech

President Obama plans to make a major jobs/debt speech after Labor Day. According to Huffington Post, progressives are urging the president to "go big." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/barack-obama-jobs-plan-progressives_n_942533.html

I don't think "going big" in his speeches has ever been difficult for Obama. He usually talks a good game. My problem is I no longer have any faith at all in his will and stamina on the playing field. Time and again I have watched him stake out his position with flourish only to begin his retreat the minute the opposing team takes the field.

How about a "little less talk and a lot more action" Mr. President?

Hanging Tough While Wall Street Tumbles

These are the times that try our patience, test our risk tolerance and tempt us to bail. The past two weeks have decimated my retirement plans. Yes, I knew a correction was overdue; that the economy was not recovering for most working folk; that the global outlook was starting to look grim.

Yes, I know economic cycles are cyclical (a little redundancy hurts no one).  Yes, I have preached "being in the market for the long term" and "downturns offer buying opportunities," for many years.

Regardless, during these turbulent times, each day's opening bell makes my stomach churn, my heart pound and my fingers edge toward the "sell" button.

Hanging tough while Wall Street tumbles is hard to do.

Presidential Vacation

I have made no secret of my discontent with President Obama. But I cannot find it in my heart to begrudge him his vacation. The Presidency is not a 9-5 job. It is taxing, demanding, constant in its pressures and crises. Let the man have his family vacation in peace. It will be interrupted soon enough with another crisis he must tend to.

Long Past Time for Medical Marijuana

This one is for Lisa.

She is a young mother of two boys 9 and 4. Her own mother lost a long, valiant fight against cancer two years ago. Just months ago she underwent a double mastectomy for breast cancer. After three opinions by oncology experts, she decided on the most radical treatment - chemo-therapy - for one reason. She wanted to see her boys grow to adulthood. She accepted the risks, and they are sobering, because the most important thing in her life is those two boys. She has lost her beautiful blond hair. She works her 9 to 5 job through the side effects of her treatment. And, because she is law-abiding,  because she represents in her stubborn, courageous frame the very best that is American, she will not seek ease from marijuana, which is illegal in any form in the state in which she lives.

The Obama Justice Department has been harsh in its enforcement of the federal drug laws against marijuana use. If this beautiful human being lived in California or a handful of other states, she might have access to the drug. In this state? It simply is not an option. So she perseveres. And perhaps Pfizer, Merck, Bayer, or some other big pharma company can provide some weak substitute for her discomfort. But why should she be deprived of this simple, readily available drug that is PROVEN to be a major aid to those undergoing chemotherapy? What conceivable benefit is there to denying her and those like her the ease granted by this simple remedy?

The time is long past when marijuana should be legalized in this country.

Note: I have managed to achieve 6+ decades without using marijuana. I say this only to point out I do not have a dog in this fight.

Support Obama in 2012? Maybe. Maybe Not.

The 2012 Obama for President campaign is underway. Solicitations for my financial support have  started. Understandable, really. After Hillary Clinton withdrew in 2008 and threw her support behind candidate Obama, I donated to his campaign. I wanted a Democrat and my first choice was no longer in the race.

But 3 years of wasted opportunities later, my progressive agenda in shreds, my fiscal responsibility agenda ignored, a primary challenger to the President sounds appealing.

Frankly, Mr. President, I am not feeling the love.

Standard and Poors takes on Warren Buffett

According to NPR:

First: Warren Buffett criticized S&P.

Second: S&P announced it was "reexamining" its AAA rating of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

Third: One of Berkshire Hathaway's major holdings is S&P's competitor - Moody's.

Busines as usual? Myself, I tend to side with Buffett's amazing investing track record.

Equities Plunge, Bonds Hang Tough

Pundits proclaim the devastation on Wall Street is rooted in S&P's U.S. debt downgrade. If they are correct, why are equities down and bonds stable or slightly up? Sounds a tad counter-intuitive to me.

A lot of cash was either stockpiled or invested in equities over the past several months as uncertainty grew over whether the U.S. would default on its debt or raise the debt ceiling. Now, a dim economic outlook and the raising of the debt ceiling is luring investors back into the seriously over-bought bond and gold markets. The European situation  - developing fiscal crises in Spain, Portugal and Italy threatening to pile on top of the colossal problems of Greece and Ireland - almost guarantees U.S. bonds will hold steady or rise (higher prices = lower interest rates).

In the meantime, Bank of New York Mellon has decided to charge customers holding what it determines is "excessive" cash in their accounts. Yeah a lot of big players put cash on the sidelines in the build-up to August 2 as a defense against market volatility. I thought banks were supposed to pay depositors for the money they placed in the banks custody. But if banks don't lend that money, some penalties kick in from the Federal Reserve that cost those banks money. BNY Mellon would prefer to pass that cost onto their larger customers rather than actually lend it to serious borrowers. So... holding cash reserves cost money (in addition to the erosion of inflation), incentivizing well-heeled depositors to put their money somewhere. Their choice appears to be bonds or gold.

For myself, I am NOT buying equities yet. I don't want to catch a falling knife. I am staying alert to opportunities - good companies with solid earnings expectations and stable dividends. (At current prices I consider bonds carry a hefty risk of capital erosion.) If only a noisy part of my brain did not suspect the entire scenario is manipulated by the market's big players.

If it really is Armageddon, all the geese are cooked. If not, like Warren Buffett, I will carefully look for buying opportunities and reexamine asset allocations. On the other hand, I am NOT selling any gold jewelry I might have acquired over the past unnamed number of years.

Recess or Non-Recess?

Let me get this straight. Congress intends to go on recess for a month without funding the FAA - a decision that will cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, leave critical workers in the air safety community unpaid and stop ongoing, already budgeted construction programs.

On the other hand, Congress refuses to go on recess for a month preventing President Obama from making any recess appointments to the hundreds of unfilled positions in the federal government that have been tied up in a Senate where one Senator can prevent an appointment from being brought to the floor. Among the many casualties will be the top spot at the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. As a result this Agency might never get off the ground.

What is wrong with this picture? Have Republicans discovered a way you can have your cake and eat it too? In Washington Wonderland? You betcha.

Note: On August 4, 2011 Congress reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the FAA through mid-September. http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/08/04/138996699/congress-declares-faa-truce-faas-partial-shutdown-to-end-for-now

It was only a name...

My mother-in-law died April 16 of this year, a severe loss to our entire family. When she married she acquired "the curse" of her husband's family - a vagrant "e" in the last name that any German Jew would instantly recognize and acknowledge, but that was strangely out of place in American. My father-in-law, who predeceased her by over 10 years, was very particular about that "e". It was his connection with his forefathers, his extended family, his German-Jewish origins.

Lilo wholeheartedly embraced her married name with the awkwardly placed "e" (in German it would have formed an umlau or some such thing). Her passport, Social Security Card, Medicare Card, membership cards, credit cards, bank accounts, insurance policies all included the "e" in her last name.

Inexplicably, her death certificate did not! My brother-in-law tried to correct the error and the best the bureaucracy would do was add an a/k/a which listed the correct spelling. Not pleasant, but at least it was there.

When Probate Court finally, after 3 1/2 inexplicably long months of deliberation or pure and simple inattention, finally released the Letters of Testamentary they listed her name as listed on the death certificate but mistyped the a/k/a, so that both versions omitted the notorious "e". The result? All estate documentation and correspondence must now list first her correct spelling (as given in her will) and then the two spurious spellings as a/k/a.

My family thinks I am nuts to be upset about this. But she did not have any aliases or a/k/a's during her lifetime. She was VERY particular about making sure ALL her documents included the CORRECT spelling of her last name. Don't these bureaucratic agencies ever proof their work? How difficult would it be to correct it? It would probably take additional months and months of squabbling that we feel totally unequipped to endure.

My mother-in-law was not rich, famous, politically powerful. But she was an incredibly important person in our lives. I feel like she was disrespected in death and this casual negligence infuriates me!

Cut the B-S and Raise the Damn Debt Ceiling

Okay guys, you had your months and months of angst at the expense of the people you represent. You postured and posed for the media, rammed home your talking points and accused the opposition of intransigence as each and every one of you  concentrated on staking out the high political ground and gaining the support of the voters you vehemently pretend to represent.

Well, guess what? Time has come today. Prove you are not charlatans and grifters. Pass a damn debt ceiling increase that takes the country through the next election (you heard me) and get down to the business of representing the American people who sent you to Washington.

Problems with the deficit? You betcha. So start passing appropriation bills that reflect fiscal responsibility. Start compromising - the Republicans on raising taxes from their historic lows - the Democrats on fixing Social Security and Medicare solvency and all of you on trimming back our obscenely bloated defense budget. Take a long, serious second (or first) look at the Simpson/Bowles recommendations. But for our country's sake - stop the meaningless gamesmanship that threatens not only United States fiscal stability, but that of the entire globe!

Stop kowtowing to your corporate donors and start legislating for your constituents and the future of your own children.

Enough is enough.

Dear Representative Chris Gibson

Over the past months, I have been reading and listening to all the reports on the debt ceiling and deficit reduction talks with considerable anxiety and chagrin.

Tonight I listened to the President's speech and am following his advice in writing to you to urge you to vote for a debt ceiling increase whether it includes deficit reduction, tax increases or not.

Although I believe the Simpson/Bowles report accurately reflects the painful, yet necessary steps to achieving fiscal stability, I also believe that raising the debt ceiling is NOT a choice. It is a necessity, before any other steps can be taken. The catastrophic consequences of defaulting will rock our world and destabilize not only the U. S., but the global economy.

Every bank account, investment account, annuity, 401K, 401B, IRA is threatened by default - not to mention Social Security and Medicare that keep our retired solvent and the Medicaid that insures the poorest among us have access to health care. Let us not forget either our military serving in foreign wars, our veterans struggling here at home or our businesses large and small who rely on lines of credit to meet their expenses.

I KNOW you are a patriot. Your service to our country proved that.

I beg you to support raising the debt ceiling. You were elected in a traditionally Republican district. But Kirsten Gillibrand proved that Democrats can win here. The American voters - Democratic, Republican and independent - DESPERATELY want representatives who represent them.

Gay Marriages Celebrate Marriage Equality

Unlike Cinderella, for gay couples in New York State last night's stroke of midnight was a good thing. From Niagara Falls to Long Island marriages were performed as close to midnight as possible in a good-natured scramble to be "first." Among the newlyweds were couples who had been together for decades and couples who were in the early stages of commitment.

I celebrate with them as I privately give tribute to a dear friend who did not live to see this day. To a man who loved his partner through sickness and health until death parted them and yet was never able to emerge from the closet of subterfuge and euphemism that his religion and training had constructed around him. A man who lived a difficult life with courage and fortitude. I will not speak his name here. I have no right to break the silence he kept so painfully while he lived.

But in his memory I rejoice that others can choose openly what he could not.

Government Revenues

Come default on United States' debt, available revenues will be applied against prioritzed government obligations. If Social Security and Medicare are not the first priorities, the contract between the government and its taxpayers will have been broken.

Why do I say this? Because Social Security and Medicare contributions are made from every worker's paycheck and these contributions are matched by their employers. This money is "earmarked" for those programs. It is collected for the sole purpose of funding them.

Do our policymakers acknowledge this fact? A qualification I hear every two weeks when I make my small company's payroll tax payment gives rise to doubt. According to the programmed voice that guides me through the EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payer System), the amounts specified "in the subcategories of Social Security, Medicare and Federal Income Tax are for informational purposes only."

I have always feared those words meant that all withheld taxes were swept into the general fund and the government recognized the Social Security and Medicare components only when it suited its purpose.

Washington is Wonderland!

Let me get this straight. The proposal for solving the debt ceiling crisis is:

Congress will pass a bill forbidding raising the debt ceiling by a set amount. The President will veto it, thereby raising the debt ceiling by that amount. Am I hallucinating or is Washington totally, irrevocably OUT OF ITS COLLECTIVE MIND?

Military Spending Okay in Congress

With solid by-partisan support  the House passed a $649 billion 2012 Primary Defense Budget - an $18 billion increase over 2011 levels.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/08/usa-budget-defense-idUSN1E7670UA20110708
I guess we know what is definitely OFF the table in budget cutting discussions as our peerless leaders approach the debt ceiling deadline.

Good thing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are ON the table, huh?

Who do tramps and thieves in Congress think they are kidding?

Tax cuts for the rich - good thing.

Homeland Security neutralizing the Bill of Rights - good thing.

Cuts to any progressive program remaining - good thing.

Regulation of our water, air, environment, food, drugs - bad thing.

Support for education - bad thing.

Anything at all to "help" our corporate masters - SPEND, SPEND, SPEND.

Social Security on the Chopping Block?

This morning I heard on NPR that President Obama is willing to put Social Security and Medicare on the block in budget/debt ceiling negotiations with Republicans. Of course he is. President Obama always gives away his bargaining chips before he gets any balancing concessions from the opposition.

Last January, in the wake of the Obama/McConnell tax bill, I expressed concern the bill's 2% cut in Social Security taxes (that ripped an estimated $120 billion from government revenues) would weaken the program's financial position and increase its vulnerability to those who would first weaken and ultimately abolish it.

According to NPR, additional Social Security tax reductions will be considered for economic stimulus. Let me get this straight - the Democrats are willing to further weaken Social Security in the name of stimulus at a time when any lowering of taxes is a bad, bad idea?

For months we have witnessed the disembowelment of progressive programs and the de-funding of  regulatory agencies that were created to keep us safe and protect our environment.

The "small" people (that's you and me if you have any doubt) are being sacrificed on the altar of debt reduction while the wealthy grow richer, corporations hoard reserves of trillions of dollars and jobs continue to fly off-shore.

"Great job, Brownie."

Humanity 35. Planet Earth 6.

As we enter the fourth quarter, Humanity has a comfortable lead over Planet Earth. It has exploited its opponent's resources, expanded its population globally and its highly industrialized society increases in power by the second. Planet Earth did score two field goals during the third quarter but has found no defense against Humanity's onslaught of touchdowns as forests were cut down, water sources contaminated and increased refuse from carbon-based fuels poured into the atmosphere.

A tidal wave here, an earthquake or volcano there, melting ice caps and rolling cycles of drought, famine and flooding were shrugged off by Planet's formidable opponent.

Planet Earth's offense did appear to be strengthening as the quarter ended, but Humanity not only held firm, it kicked the offense up a notch, accelerating species' extinction in a spectacular play of ocean contamination. It is now poised to wrench new sources of power from Planet Earth's resources of gas in shale beds with a renewed attack on the water resources. Huge swathes of the Gulf of Mexico are turning into a tar pit. Radioactive waste spews into the ocean off Japan. Environmentalists are murdered in the Amazon. Oceanic dead zones expand.

Oops - Planet just scored a third field goal as monster forest fires and record-breaking floods went global and even threatened to engulf nuclear power plants in the United States. Several more Pacific Islands disappeared under the water.

The game continues... .

"They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot," Joni Mitchell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlNZN94_u-s&NR=1

Budget Wars

Over the past 10 years, the United States has waged two long wars. These wars have been VERY expensive. Elected officials of the Republican Party have been strong advocates of these wars.

For most of those 10 years, appropriations to fight America's wars were kept "off budget," funded with "special" bills. Bills that passed with strong bi-partisan support. It was not until President Obama took office in 2009 that the cost of our wars was included in the budget.

During these wars, for the first time in our history, our government lowered taxes during wartime, putting the ENTIRE cost of our military adventures on credit cards held by major investors like China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the global financial industry, the Social Security Trust Fund.

The interest on the U. S. Government's credit cards was faithfully paid to debt holders like China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the global financial industry. (To the Social Security Trust Fund? Not so much.) NO payments were made on the principal. Government debt increased by trillions of dollars.

After years of speerheading profligate spending, Republicans now insist on steep cuts in government spending to reduce the deficits they played the major role in creating. But they adamantly refuse to support any measures that would increase revenues. They also adamantly refuse to curtail military spending.

Are you with me, here? Republicans are refusing to raise revenues or decrease military spending and they insist America must live within its means. How, you ask, can this be done?

First, unofficially "restructure" government debt by "forgiving" the debt owed to the Social Security Trust Fund. Ignore it. Pretend it never happened. Categorize Social Security as an "unfunded" entitlement. Cut Social Security benefits to the bone, raise the retirement age and privatize its sister program, Medicare (effectively dismantling it).

Second, dismantle the regulatory agencies that were created to oversee the financial industry, protect our environment, the workplace, the food and drugs we consume. Entrust private industry with "self regulation" (an oxymoron).

Third, defund agencies that support and create infrastructure - public education, roads, bridges, railroads, power grids, water and sewage systems.

Fourth, "restructure" public pension systems and neutralize public unions to decrease public liability.

Fifth, privatize what were once government responsibilities - military logistical support, roads, water supplies, prisons.

This is not going to end well.

Stalemate on the Debt Ceiling

Neither side will budge. Neither side will compromise. Neither side will win. Ah, but who will lose?
Hard to say right now. Give it a few weeks.

Will the banks close? Money dry up and disappear?

Will government employees find themselves out of work and out of money? Will soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan be logistically abandoned?

Will the battered remains of our 401k's, pensions and investments join the trash heap that took such a chunk of them in 2008? Will the trucks and trains that cross the country bringing us the very food we eat stop running?

Will the western wildfires wage un-fought? Will criminals take over our streets as furloughed policemen stay home?

Will oil producers stop sending oil to the U. S.?

How the hell should I know? Or Congress either for that matter?

The Virus - a SciFi Short

The returning explorer grimly submitted his report.

"I regret to inform the Alliance the virus has been located in another star system."

"How can this be?" the director asked. "I thought we had finally contained it in the Pollux Sector?"

"Our specialists think its DNA was disbursed when the Medusa Sector was destroyed, before we changed our policy from solar system destruction to containment, sir."

But that was eons ago." his superior protested.

"True, Sir. But this particular virus has proved to be endlessly adaptable to new worlds and stubbornly persistent to the evolutionary cycle."

"Continue," the director sighed.

"It is currently destroying the third planet in a nine planet system. It has already turned one planet into a greenhouse poisonscape and another into a red furnace. Our best estimates conclude it will finish off this "blue planet" in less than a millennium, although that may be optimistic."

"How far advanced is it in projecting itself out of this solar system?"

"It already has the capability. So far none of its projectiles appear to contain the virus itself."

"Implement quarantine procedure," the director ordered. "Will this struggle never end?"

"What is the current manifestation of the abomination?" he asked.

"Its most dangerous variation," the explorer responded. "Humanoid."

New York State Passes Marriage Equality

Moments ago the New York State Senate passed the Marriage Equality Bill 33-29. Tonight I am PROUD to be a New Yorker. And very, very grateful to my own State Senator Stephen Saland for his courageous vote.

Badgering by Marriage Equality Oponent PAC Unabated

The National Organization for Marriage continues its barrage of phony survey calls - an average of 3 or 4 a day. This mean-spirited organization - headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey and supported by prominent clergy of the Catholic Church - are trying to thwart the wishes of the New York State electorate with their campaign against the Marriage Equality Act.

http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.3836955/k.BEC6/Home.htm As is seen in this link to their website, they are targeting New York State Republican Senators in a vicious campaign of intimidation and propaganda.

The repeated robo calls end with their address - 20 Nassau Street, Suite 242, Princeton, NJ 08542 and their phone number - 609-688-0450. Attempts to call that number have yet to meet with anything but a busy signal, which I desperately HOPE means their lines are being tied up by folks as angry with their campaign as I am..

It is past time to remind the religious right in this country that the United States was not founded as a theocracy but with a First Amendment that was a response to the failed example of European theocracy. They are welcome to their religious views until the moment when they attempt to enforce those views on non-believers..

I plead with the targeted NYS Senators to stand up for their constituents and ignore the intimidation and scare tactics of this despicable group.

Telephone Badgering by Gay Marriage Opponent PAC

For weeks two to three calls a day from the National Organization for Marriage have disrupted my days and raised my blood pressure. The group purports to be conducting a "survey," but their agenda is revealed in the very first question they ask. Unfortunately they are robo calls so no one at the other end hears my explosion of anger each time they call.

Today I Googled them and found the following article: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/12/2011-06-12_taking_aim_at_gay_nups_pour_cash_into_ny_in_defense_of_marriage.html

To me, these appear to be the same kinds of folks that are trying to put Planned Parenthood out of business and deprive low income women of desperately needed health services. I sincerely hope my State Senator, Stephen Saland, disregards their pressure and heeds the wishes of constituents like myself who believe the time has come to end the discrimination.

If a religion opposes gay marriage, I believe they have a right not to perform them. Their congregants have the choice to observe their restrictions or walk. But no religion has the right to regulate the lives of non-members.

Last November the Republicans won massive victories at the polls by campaigning for fiscal responsibility and jobs, jobs, jobs. Since elected the only job program they have offered is the already proven failure of more tax cuts. On the other hand, they have consistently, loudly and effectively legislated against the social issues they disingenuously downplayed during the election. Why were these social issues downplayed? Because the candidates knew they would garner far less support among the powerful block of independent voters if they were emphasized.

We repeatedly heard the Tea Party claim it was about fiscal responsibility. Since the election I have seen miserable attempts at fiscal responsibility that concentrate on increasing the burden of the most financially stricken among us, but highly effective attacks on entitlements, stimulus, unions, women's rights, gay rights, regulation of the corporate overlords.

As for the National Organization for Marriage, read my lips: SHUT UP.

Perhaps My Vote Does Matter?

During election season, my phone constantly rings. Robo calls from political action committees and candidates try to secure my vote. As a registered Democrat, I get special attention from that party and its supporters. My unaffiliated spouse gets fewer calls but they cover a wider political base. Political operatives know from the election rolls that we faithfully vote.

Over the past several weeks, as the New York State Senate approached a vote on the Marriage Equality Act, already passed by the State Assembly, I have undergone an onslaught of calls purporting to be a survey by an organization supporting families. The survey questions are so slanted against marriage equality there can be no doubt this organization's narrow definition of family does not include gay partners.

I have already emailed my Republican State Senator asking him to support marriage equality. Will he listen? I do not know.

All the attention we receive during election season or when a major piece of controversial legislation is up for a vote indicates our votes matter. So why do I feel that the communication is one-way? Yes, my vote and support is courted. But all too often those doing the courting do not appear to be listening when I solicit their votes on issues important to me.

On Tenderhooks during My Public Radio Fundraiser

Three times a year my public radio station conducts its fundraiser. As the economy has weakened and millions of hard-working Americans have lost their jobs, their retirement plans and their health care, public radio faces a steeper and steeper climb to meet its fund-raising goals.

Initially the drives were $600,000. With government support of public radio being cut, it rose first to $800,000 and now to a cool $1 million. That means three times a year my favorite station must raise $1 million to maintain its operations. This at the same time that increasing numbers of its faithful listeners are less capable of maintaining, let alone increasing their support. At the same time, the importance of public radio and television has increased as a source of educational material and public information during an era in which budget cuts are dismantling quality public education and for-profit media has descended to the lowest common denominator.

As I write, the eighth day of WAMC's fund drive is waning. They have not yet reached the $800,000 mark. For many years the drives ended on the sixth or seventh day. This one promises to last a week and a half. This is a station that provides an independent voice in a sea of corporate-sponsored mainstream media that blatantly espouses a far-right agenda. This is a station that REFUSES to talk down to its listeners at the same time it gives them a voice.

My station does not have a university sponsor. It must get its revenue from underwriters, sponsors and its listeners. Will it make it one more time? Will it get the funds that enable it to stay on the air for four more months?

My lips to God's ear.

Note: if you are interested in pledging call 1-800-323-9262.

Sex, Lies and Distractions

For two weeks American media have feasted on yet another political sex scandal. It is not that budget deficits, kill Medicare initiatives, America's collapsing educational system, rising theocracy, assault on women's rights and three, or is it up to four now, foreign wars have suddenly disappeared. It is that sex scandals work very well to distract the American citizenry from our real problems.
So-called "mainstream" Republicans and Democrats reap the added benefit of watching an uncomfortably outspoken, highly articulate proponent of progressive causes crash and burn.

So while Congress threatens to default on America's debt, the nuclear crisis in Japan worsens by the day, Homeland Security strips American citizens of their Constitutional protections, state after state enacts hideous laws invading a woman's control over her own health and welfare, our country adds Libya to its undeclared war list, violent storms destroy huge slices of territory while drought, fire and flooding rampage the globe as the planet warms and the oceans rise, we can focus on the real problem - sex stuff.

Good job.

It's What's in Our Food, Stupid

Europe is struggling to locate the source of a brand new strain of E. coli that is antibiotic resistant and lethal. More than one theory blames the common practice of giving antibiotics to perfectly healthy animals as a likely cause. This use of antibiotics has come under fire before as the scientific and medical communities have repeatedly warned of the fast approaching day when "super bugs" will end the miracle age of antibiotics once and for all. In the meantime, savvy consumers are advised to choose their meat from antibiotic free sources. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-gordon/food-antibiotics-_b_871780.html?ir=Green

Of course this article says nothing about vegetables often providing the source of E. coli outbreaks.

Our Republican Congress continues to equate "deregulation" with "jobs" and agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration with "job killing" regulation. This at the same time that corporations prove every day of the week how devastating to our environment, health and safety their actions in the absence of meaningful oversight can be.

Americans are accused of causing their own obesity and diabetes with poor food choices. Agri-business bombards the air waves with commercials insisting high fructose corn syrup is just the same as processed sugar and nothing to worry about. Last week I saw that the popular brand of potato salad I was purchasing listed high fructose corn syrup as one of its top ingredients. What is that about? When I make potato salad from scratch, I do not add either sugar or corn syrup. Why should I? It tastes delicious without them.

Definitions of what is organic have been twisted by agri-business to include products consumers would not consider organic if they knew how they were produced. Food dyes and flavorings labeled as "natural" are sometimes "natural" petroleum or chemical products. "All natural" fruit drinks sold for small children frequently contain HUGE amounts of sugar or high fructose corn syrup and bear little or no resemblance to fruit juice.

Even folks who conscientiously read the labels can be fooled by the list of ingredients. Perhaps the best rule of thumb is to select products with short ingredient lists that contain no words you do not understand. Reduced or low sodium canned goods often contain HUGE doses of sodium. Reduced or low fat products frequently contain high levels of sweeteners. As regulation and oversight decrease, label reading becomes more critical. Of course we are then assuming the labels are accurate. Without oversight, can we rely upon that?

Next time you hear a politician talk about "job killing over regulation" ask yourself who is contributing to his campaign and how product safety can be maintained without oversight. Might not be a bad time to read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the book that started the whole food safety movement over 100 years ago.

Supporting Another Public Radio Fund Drive

Why should I once again dig into my pockets for my local public radio station - WAMC - as it conducts its spring fund drive? The last one seems just a few short weeks ago.

Well, in the interim the Republican-controlled Congress attacked public support of public television and public radio as a wasteful use of tax monies. This at the same time funding for public education was cut to the bone and mainstream media further consolidated into a few wealthy, super powerful corporations that specialize in mind-numbing reality shows and pseudo-news coverage. My Democratic-controlled state government's budget cuts included cuts in funding for public tv and radio and public education.Public libraries also are being squeezed in the spending cuts.

The result is a rapidly shrinking supply of free educational material. Public television and public radio still provide excellent programming and quality news coverage. As long as they do, and I have the resources, I will continue to support them.

I have a special affection for my local public radio station. It gives me the opportunity to listen to and participate in listener discussions that ARE NOT shouting matches and that DO present differing viewpoints.

Time to step up to the plate.

Economic Dilemmas in Hard Times

My thoughts... .

1. Policymakers that put raising taxes off the table in deficit reduction negotiations are disingenuous about their agenda.

2. During tough economic times, those who are doing well need to pick up the slack to help those who are doing badly survive.

3. Defunding public education and laying off tens of thousands of teachers guarantees an unskilled underclass in a society.

4. A negative balance of payments of tens of billions of dollars a year renders budget balancing initiatives futile.

5. Unregulated corporations destroy democracy. Regulation is an indispensable component of free enterprise. Unregulated competition inevitably results in monopoly and oligopoly.

6. Private ownership of natural resources is dangerous to human welfare. Destruction of the environment to make a profit is criminal.

7. Contracts that harm the public good should be invalidated.

9. The same institutions that destroyed global economic stability now control the global economy. This is a BAD thing.

10. Corporations that are "too big to fail" need either to be broken up or nationalized.

11. Corporations are not citizens. They are NOT entitled to equal rights and MUST be subordinate to the public will. Any members of the Judiciary that rule otherwise have violated their oath of office and deserve impeachment.

Bimbos and Stud Muffins

It probably started with reality shows about "wealthy" bachelors pursued by women who wanted to "marry up." Then Flavor Flav traded a disfunctional relationship with Strange Love co-star Brigitte Neilsen for a bevy of publicity seeking nymphets in Flavor of Love.

Bravo began a series about Real Housewives of Orange County and MTV had startling success with Jersey Shore. What do these shows have in common? The participants are superficial, self-absorbed, highly sexed and have the social morals of New York bankers. Bravo has degenerated into a Real Housewives franchise machine.

Whatever happened to Bravo and A&E, which at one time rivaled PBS in the quality of their original programming? Or MTV, once a showcase for innovative, edgy musical videos? Or TLC whose initials, now ironically, stand for The Learning Channel? Or Discovery? Each and every one of them appears to me to have descended far below our society's lowest common denominator.

I reserve my strongest personal objections to the bimbo and stud muffin genres portrayed in the Real Housewives franchise and Jersey Shore, which objectify their subjects as purely sexual, mentally challenged creatures.Ugh.

Lurking on Reddit.com

I really have to stop lurking on Reddit.com. Today following a link I landed in the middle of a YouTube video of dancers being roughed up and arrested at the Jefferson Memorial and the press being informed they had to stop filming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UyiaR1PDhQ When the police were asked what law was being violated, they refused to answer as they continued to clear the monument of visitors.

Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Then another link sent me to Salon.com and an article by a woman who claimed a Chicago hospital initially refused to perform an abortion of her dying fetus while she was bleeding out. http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/05/26/abortion_saved_my_life/index.html

There are the political rantings, largely from the left, but also from the right. The links to articles from obscure blogs and mainstream media. The links to cartoons and pictures that use one quick image to say more than pages of script - like which states get the most back from the federal government. http://www.lazlow.com/uploaded_images/2987025203_fc2c517522_o-748920.jpg

Yeah, I really have to stop hanging out on Reddit. This is getting out of hand. I would spend some time playing online poker, but the Justice Department ripped that option away from me weeks ago. I would go to the gun range for pistol practice instead, but without a permit that is illegal in my state. And getting that pistol permit is very a long, tedious process.

Gee, I wonder if there are any new posts I should see... . http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/

The Patriot Act Extended

In the face of Thursday's looming deadline for its sunset, last night Congress extended the Patriot Act for four more years. In the face of Ron Paul's filibuster, leaders agreed to vote on his proposed amendments. They were quickly defeated.

According to NPR, Paul's amendments targeted the extension of three controversial provisions: allowing roving wiretaps; allowing surveillance of "lone wolf" terrorism suspects; one permitting the courts to collect persons' private information if they are suspected of having ties to terrorism. Paul got the most pushback on his amendment to raise the legal bar before searching gun registration and sale records.

The Patriot Act has always appeared to me to use terrorism as an excuse for weakening the Bill of Rights and controlling the American people.

Obama arranged to "sign" the law remotely just minutes before the provisions' expiration. Once given power, institutions are very reluctant to let it go, no matter how many sunset provisions laws might contain.

School Budgets and Taxes

Yesterday voters in my town rejected the proposed school budget. Last night the school board passed it anyway. State law permitted its passage because it was not more than 1.6 percent over last year's budget. The new budget entails a 9.8 percent school tax increase. It also contains significant cuts in programs and personnel. The increase is less about escalating cost than the deep cuts in state funds available to local school districts.

While our governor seeks to cap real estate taxes - the means by which school districts, towns, cities and counties fund their services, the state budget contains deep cuts in state aid to local education. This puts local school districts between a rock and a hard place.

Local funding of school districts inevitably results in wide swings in education quality. Wealthier communities are better able to support their public schools, poorer communities struggling under their tax burdens find it difficult. In our stratified society this means the quality of education students receive is usually tied to the size of the local community's wallet.

I have heard many members of my community complain about their school taxes because they do not have children or their children are grown. They believe that education should be the responsibility of the students' parents. This is wrong. A well educated populace is essential to a healthy society.

For now, our educational system is crumbling as fast as the rest of our country's outdated, under-maintained infrastructure. And while Washington and the state capitols cut the "fat" out of national and state budgets, the burden on localities grows heavier and heavier. This tax burden has the additional impact of exacerbating the housing crisis as homeownership becomes more expensive.

We all want the services. We just don't want to pay for them. If current trends continue we won't be able to pay for them.

Free Play

The sounds of children playing used to echo through my neighborhood. Their imaginary games were never-ending serials of adventure, science fiction heros, family situations. The girls' activities usually centered around family situations and using Barbie dolls as props; the boys were more into adventure. Of course my daughter Jeanne was the exception. Princess Lea was her heroine, Star Wars was her favorite subject. Fortunately she found a kindred spirit in Billy, the boy next door.

My own childhood revolved around reenactments of favorite Saturday morning TV shows about cowboys and Indians. The hours we spent playing these games are some of my fondest memories. Over the years these sounds have disappeared from the neighborhood. The children living here now go to day care or after-school programs. Their free time has disappeared into a flurry of structured activity - sports, dance, academic enhancement.

Not long ago I went looking for my oldest granddaughter (swim team, dancing, scouting, academic achiever) and found her in the closet of her room, contendedly playing with her Barbies. I immediately apologized for my intrusion, told her what she was doing was a good thing, and left her to it.

It saddens me that a child today has to be reassured that imaginary play is acceptable. Sometimes, while driving to some activity, my husband and I have listened in as our two granddaughters in the back seat acted out some scenario that is obviously an ongoing drama. We exchanged a knowing glance and left the girls to it, relishing our eavesdropping role on a precious childhood ritual.

Today's children are all too often scheduled to the point where they have no time to explore the horizons of their imaginations. This threatens their ability to use the tool of play to work out in terms they understand the world they inhabit.

While their parents concentrate on giving them the best opportunities - in dance, sports, scouting, camp, scholastic activities - they are sometimes deprived of the greatest opportunity of all - to use their own, innate skills to adapt to and make sense of the environment in which they live.

Free play can be challenging to a parent. It can result in squabbles and disagreements that raise voices and are untidy. I believe it is the greatest gift a parent can give their children.

FCC Chairman Baker's Big Move

Meredith Attwell Baker is "moving on up." Last winter as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), she signed off on Comcast's acquisition of NBC. This week it was announced she is leaving her regulatory post to become a lobbyist for Comcast.

The rewards for government regulators whose decisions please the top players in the industries they monitor can be sweet.

Comcast's acquisition of NBC means Comcast not only now controls cable access in given geographical areas, it produces a major slice of its content. The acquisition also opened the door wide to a new round of consolidation in an industry already controlled by a tiny handful of corporations.

Why should I care? you ask.

Because this tiny handful of companies - Newscorp, Time Warner, Disney, Viacom (CBS), NBC that is now Comcast - control most of the information you receive and control access to the sources of information.

What about the Internet? you ask.

Cable and telephone companies control access to the Internet, most of its content is filtered through companies like Microsoft, Google, AOL, Apple. Google now owns YouTube. Microsoft plans to buy Skype. AOL recently bought Huffington Post. Reddit's parent company is Conde Nast.

If a small business owner who lunches with a government official with whom he/she has a contractual relationship picks up the check, the businessperson might be accused of attempting to gain favor with that official. For a major corporation to hire a top government official who has just ruled in its favor has become "business as usual" not only in Washington, but in many state capitols.

One might conclude that our laws and regulations only apply to "the small people." You know - you and me.

Free Play

The sounds of children playing used to echo through my neighborhood. Their imaginary games were never-ending serials of adventure, science fiction heros, family situations. The girls' activities usually centered around family situations and using Barbie dolls as props; the boys were more into adventure. Of course my daughter Jeanne was the exception. Princess Lea was her heroine, Star Wars was her favorite subject. Fortunately she found a kindred spirit in Billy, the boy next door.

My own childhood revolved around reenactments of favorite Saturday morning TV shows about cowboys and Indians. The hours we spent playing these games are some of my fondest memories. Over the years these sounds have disappeared from the neighborhood. The children living here now go to day care or after-school programs. Their free time has disappeared into a flurry of structured activity - sports, dance, academic enhancement.

Not long ago I went looking for my oldest granddaughter (swim team, dancing, scouting, academic achiever) and found her in the closet of her room, contendedly playing with her Barbies. I immediately apologized for my intrusion, told her what she was doing was a good thing, and left her to it.

It saddens me that a child today has to be reassured that imaginary play is acceptable. Sometimes, while driving to some activity, my husband and I have listened in as our two granddaughters in the back seat acted out some scenario that is obviously an ongoing drama. We exchanged a knowing glance and left the girls to it, relishing our eavesdropping role on a precious childhood ritual.

Today's children are all too often scheduled to the point where they have no time to explore the horizons of their imaginations. This threatens their ability to use the tool of play to work out in terms they understand the world they inhabit.

While their parents concentrate on giving them the best opportunities - in dance, sports, scouting, camp, scholastic activities - they are sometimes deprived of the greatest opportunity of all - to use their own, innate skills to adapt to and make sense of the environment in which they live.

Free play can be challenging to a parent. It can result in squabbles and disagreements that raise voices and are untidy. I believe it is the greatest gift a parent can give their children.