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.