Booked

My Facebook friend, Wendy Wilson, recently posted the ten books that most influenced her. I have been contemplating this and wanted to share. These are not the best books I have ever read, but the ones that influenced me the most.

1. The Bible. Whether or not you believe (I do, but challenge a lot of it), it is a seminal concept for America’s laws and mores – for better or worse.

2. Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land.” It was, in it’s own way, a bible for the 1960s counter-culture. Do you grok it? I’ve read everything Heinlein has ever published and he is a helluva storyteller. By the way, I read it only after my first lover insisted it was the greatest book ever. Thank you Karen.

3, The Hardy Boys stories. One day, when I was in eighth grade, I got suspended for the day for a minor infraction. I had to spend the day in the library and found, ironically, “The Tower Treasure,” the first in the series. I must have read at least 20 or so of these detective stories, often two per day on weekends. Last spring, I ran into an old friend from those days and his main memory of me was that I loved to read. That day started it.

4. “The Cruel Sea.” Written by Nicholas Monsaratte, the book is a tale of the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. The focus was far more on the men who served on escort ships rather than the war itself. It was the first time my father gave me an adult book to read. As a senior, I wrote a book review on it and the teacher read it to the rest of her classes. It was the first time anyone had done so and it was the first small step towards becoming a professional writer.

5. “The Fireside Book of Baseball.” A huge book filled with articles and cartoons about baseball, much of it was focused from the turn of the 20^th century through the early 1950s. It was a compendium of short stories, newspaper reports, and excerpts from books. Given to me by my father, it inspired a lifelong love of the game. I lost it when I was in the Army, but was delighted to again find a copy when my ex’s parents passed. I don’t have many hardcover books as Amazon’s Kindle made reading easier as I travelled throughout the country in recent years. But I hold this one to be very precious.

6. The Harry Potter books. I began reading them when I was a teacher to find out what my students were so crazy about. I wound up buying the last one at midnight of its first day of sale. About once a year, I re-read each book and then binge watch the movies.

7. “The World of Jimmy Breslin.” At that time, Jimmy was a writer for the New York Herald Tribune and this book is a series of his columns from that era, along with some stories about Breslin. This includes the famous column about the JFK murder where he interviews the man who is digging the grave. While most students would get the Times delivered to their homeroom, I always brought the Trib in. Going back to early childhood, my parents would read the color comics to me every Sunday. Breslin was a writer who inspired me to top him – I never did. I even saw him on the Subway when he was writing for The Daily News. It was so like him to live the life of the blue-collar folks who so loved his work.

8. “Executive Orders.” I began devouring Tom Clancy’ s novels about protagonist Jack Ryan with “The Hunt for Red October.” In “Executive Orders,” Ryan is waiting outside and about to make an acceptance speech as he replaces a disgraced vice president when a 747 airliner smashes into the Capitol Building killing virtually every government leader – The President, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs, the Cabinet and heads of many agencies such as the FBI. Ryan has to rebuild the entire government and it makes for a fascinating look at our government.

9. “Ender’s Game.” I discovered this book at the end of the summer as the library sold off its collection of summer reading paperbacks. I bought a bunch mainly for incarcerated students I was teaching at that time. But I’ve read this book over and over. It’s about a bunch of genius kids who are sent into space to fight a war against aliens. The ‘battle school’ they attend is designed to teach strategy. But these children, who have superior intelligence, are isolated and it helped me understand my own dealings with the school system. I had an IQ of 134 according to my high school transcript, but graduated #380 in a class of 400. I just couldn’t be bothered to do the busy work because I already knew it, having read the entire textbooks by October. It helped change my opinion of my high school self.

10. “The Age of the Tail.” Author H. Allen Smith was a well-known humorist. His most famous book, “Rhubarb” is the story of a cat that inherits a major league baseball team. But I loved his look at the social ramifications of the changes in life when in 1957 all mankind begins being born with a tail. Hilarious changes in etiquette, clothing and more are satirized. For example, one woman, born just before the change, doesn’t want to be associated with ‘older’ people. For her wedding, she wears an artificial tail as her bridesmaid moves it during appropriate times of the ceremony. Yet another gift from my father, it taught me satire.

Honorable Mention: Hector Hugh Monroe, whose pen name was Saki, was a British writer of short stories during the late 1800s and early 1900s. His life was shortened when he died at the age of 46 during the First World War. My favorite story is “Tobemory,” a satire on Victorian manners. At a country house party, a man announces to the others that he has taught the house’s cat how to speak. Tobemory has viewed many indiscretions of the guests. But being a ‘gentlecat’ he speaks no evil other to imply what he knows. Meanwhile the terrified humans attempt to kill him – unsuccessfully – in several ways. They are saved when another cat kills him. Of course, another gift  from my father.

From here???

It has come to my attention that while Trump won the election, Hillary will win the popular vote. It's happened five times before -- beginning with Andrew Jackson, and until this election, the Al Gore defeat. But the political differences have never been so dramatic until now.

That, of course, leads us to why we need — or don't need — the electoral college. People scream that the election should not be decided by 538 people. It isn't really. Each of the electors, people assigned by the candidates to represent them, generally reflect the choices made by voters in their state. It was proposed by Alexander Hamilton and opposed by James Madison. 

But that's history, as this election will shortly be. And while Hillary supporters hope that some rogue Trump supports will vote for Hillary, Trump has just too many electors for a few to make any difference.

And so we have a president elect who is loud-mouthed, addicted to Twitter, without experience and is appointing cabinet members who, in the minds of many, are completely opposed to the status quo. You can't have much public housing when the Secretary opposes it. The EPA has someone who is decidedly anti-EPA, and so it goes. 

What is going to happen will be far more than the end of Obamacare. It will be a cultural sea change, perhaps a violent one. Many aspects of our social agenda will be completely changed. Programs from the Lyndon Johnson era may disappear. What would our society be like without head start? 

We will see an even greater polarization of racial lines which, I suspect, will lead to increased violence. There will be many anti-poverty campaigns. But here's the problem: Johnson's Great Society programs weren't aimed at the Black population. Its primary focus was on rural Appalachia and similar places of intense poverty. And if you travel across rural West Virginia, for example, you encounter countless abandoned and crumbling housing owned by whites. 

Once, places such as rural Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Western New York grew as huge corporations ripped natural resources such as iron, coal and even oil from the ground. We've pretty much stopped using coal, especially to heat our homes. the amount of iron our steel mills use has been reduced considerably through recycling. And mills are closing due to competition from Asia and cheap and inferior steel products flood our markets. And with them, tens of thousands of good union jobs. I am a baby boomer. And I grew up in an era where it was assumed I would be better off than my parents. And for much of my life I was until the great recession put me permanently out of work and my marriage ended. . But if you ask young people today, they are not expecting that the "American Dream" is their birthright.

There is going to be a huge economic upheaval. One of my sons works for a human service organization treating developmentally disabled adults. I wonder if it will be funded? I certainly can see much legal action as programs are cut and a conservative Supreme Court upholding the cuts. They will have to rule not on the Constitutional issues, but on the issue of if the government has the right to not provide social services. It has already been ruled that social services themselves are Constitutional, but does that mean they have to continue to exist?

It is a scary prospect. I am glad that I have Social Security, a dependable source of income. I don't envision even a conservative court disbanding it. But the fact is, it is possible that the amount of my monthly payments could be reduced. I can envision people like myself flooding bankruptcy courts. 

Do you know what I know?

It’s the holiday season again. I have more than 200 holiday songs in my iTunes and sometimes I suddenly burst into tears when one comes on. I suppose after listening to many of these songs for nearly 70 years, it can be normal.

Take, for example, “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” It was originally recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943 – the Second World War era. While generally considered as a letter written by a soldier to his family, the lyricist, Kim Gannon, said it was written about anyone who couldn’t be home for Christmas. In fact the song was banned by the BBC because of its potential do damage troop morale. The last line, I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams,” was considered quite depressing at the time.

But my interpretation of it differs strongly. The song begins “I'm dreaming' tonight of a place I love • Even more than I usually do
• And although I know it’s a long road back, • This, I promise you …I’ll be home for Christmas.”

The song describes an ideal holiday, with snow, mistletoe and presents – all where the love light beams. And for me, that was the Christmas of 1954; the last Christmas my family was together before my mother walked out on us in a drunken stupor.

The place I loved was that day and that time and the road back was impossibly long. My parents never divorced. I have no clue why. But from my childhood I hoped that one day they would reunite. But my father died in 1972 and finally I accepted, at the age of 24 while in the Army, that my being home for that Christmas was only going to happen in my dreams.

Perhaps the saddest Christmas song ever also came out of 1943. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” It was originally part of the score for “Meet Me In St. Louis,” a musical. Judy Garland, a tragic figure in her own right, sang the song.

“Next year all our troubles will be out of sight,” was a hope a frightened little boy could cling onto. And that frightened little boy grew into a still-frightened big man. Perhaps I was looking for the “olden days, happy golden days of yore. There have been way too few Christmases with faithful friends gathering near to me, and I thank God for my friends Frank and Gina who were there on those first Christmases after my wife of more than 30 years and I divorced. Even then, I have felt friends were few and far between. I find myself blessed with more than 100 Facebook friends these days and while most are simply acquaintances and classmates (some of whom I barely knew then yet somehow am close to now), there are many I feel very close to.

Yet still this song nearly always turns me into a tear machine. Both these songs are of hope. Yet in my soul I know that Christmas, and Jesus Birth, is the real hope in my life. These days, my favorite carol is “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.” This is a version sung by the Joy Strings, a former Salvation Army Band, and is set to the melody of “House of the Rising Sun.” I feel that every year we have the opportunity to make the community we live in our personal Bethlehem. For in every heart there is a chance for a spiritual rebirth.

The earliest Christmas song I remember is Gene Autry’s “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” that my parents gave me for my wind-up record player. I was around three or four when I went to my cousin Luke’s Cub Scout Christmas Party and the children sang “Silent Night, Holy Night.” To this day I think it was one of the most wonderful performances ever. I was so filled with peace.

I am not a big Elvis fan. Like others, I really liked him when he burst upon the scene. But I became less passionate about his music. But he put out a Christmas Album with the classic hymns: “It is not secret what God can do” and “Peace in the Valley” that are filled with passion and hope.

Other songs bring back happy memories. “Do You Here What I Hear” was always an enjoyable carol. But I remember it from my senior year of high school when I joined the chorus in need of three more credits in order to graduate. We sang it for our Christmas Concert and went caroling one night at the town green. Yes, they were called “Christmas Concerts” in the1960s and are now “Winter Concerts.” And battles still continue over religious music in public schools, as administrators have to walk a fine line. It seems that religious music is acceptable in a concert not exclusively dedicated to a Christian or other religious holiday. And so, perhaps, “Away in a Manger” is fine as long as it mixes with songs like “Winter Wonderland” and “A Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).

It is interesting where religion fits into the public schools. Sometime around 1995, I was substitute teaching a third grade class in a local public school. I decided everyone should write something about Christmas. I asked the children to give me words about Christmas and they were very enthused about sharing words like Santa, presents, Christmas Trees, decorations, writing cards, snow, etc. We were about 30 words in before one of the children asked, “Doesn’t Christmas have something to do with Jesus?” Walking a very fine line, I was allowed to say that Christians believe Jesus Christ was called Christ because it means “Savior” and the mas in Christmas meant birthday. The children then took the words that were on the board and had to use at least five of them to write about Christmas. Alas, not one referred to Jesus in their essays, which I suppose was good for me since it was a public school after all.

Other songs lift up my spirits. I laugh at “Dominick The Donkey,”  “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” and similar songs. There are those who may say that these songs are disrespectful to God, but I think that no matter how much we are off target regarding Jesus birth, God enjoys his children laughing about silly things. As a young child, for example, I loved Spike Lee’s “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” and “I’m Gettin Nuttin For Christmas.” I always enjoyed the sexual byplay of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and Ertha Kitt’s sensuous “Santa Baby.” And I remember a version of “12 Days of Christmas” via Sesame Street with Cookie Monster ending each verse with “And one delicious cookie.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibJKwCGkk8

And then there is the New Year. Long before Dick Clark’s “Rocking New Year’s Eve, Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians ruled the roost in the early days of television, coming from first the Roosevelt Hotel and then the Waldorf Astoria. I found his last New Year’s Eve show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL60HdslvOk

Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne” came at a time, 1980, when I was having problems in my marriage. I spent much time thinking about old girlfriends and lovers. “We drank a toast to innocence…” seems to continue to play on my mind. I find great comfort that my senior prom date and I have been reunited. As I listen to this song, I wonder about so many different “might have beens” and think how I found so many different ways to just walk away from relationships. Many remember Harry Chapin’s Taxi. He wrote a sequel to it called, “Sequel.” It was the story of Sue and he many years later as Sue is flying high on life and Harry is acting on the stage. Harry ends with:

Yes, I guess it's a sequel to our story

From my journey between Heaven and Hell

With half the time thinking of what might have been

And half thinkin' just as well

I guess only time will tell

There are dozens more songs that, as happened many times, have overwhelmed with Christmas spirit. There are some radio stations that dedicate their entire playlists to Holiday music. It’s a nice break from sports, politics and oldies. Yet, driving in my car, I can still burst into tears. . .and also into joyous song!

So tell me, how does holiday music affect you?

The ‘loyal opposition”

When I was a child, Republican Dwight Eisenhower was president and Congress had Democratic majorities. Democrats called themselves “the loyal opposition” and while there were ideological differences, the country’s business continued.

Kennedy and then Johnson then became presidents, and while both elections against Nixon and Goldwater were rather hostile, the nation healed and continued the country’s business.

Nixon was a great president, and had a lot of support until he was forced to resign and his appointed vice president, Gerald Ford, took over the reins. And somehow, despite having a president who was not elected on a national ticket, the nation continued its business. And this kept going on: through Carter, Regan, and others. But along the course of America’s story, something happened. People began to hate.

I suppose it got out of hand when Bill Clinton was impeached. There was much rancor. It seemed as if some Republicans wanted to get back for the abuses of Nixon. Yes, Clinton was a sexual predator in many respects (though I think it was all between consenting adults), but to impeach him because he lied about getting a BJ from an intern doesn’t exactly strike me as treasonous.

But there was rage when Bill beat the rap. And it was at the Clintons – both of them.

We went through the Bush presidencies, and exercised our rights to not give George H.W. a second term. But the gloves really came off with George W.  Frankly, I don’t blame people. George W. was simply incompetent. Clinton left him a massive surplus and he insisted on returning it to the people. That’s OK, but to do so, he actually borrowed money – from China, no less. He led us into a war with Iraq without any proof they were behind 9-11 and somehow managed to deregulate us into the second-worst economic crisis in our history.

And along came Obama – a (gasp!) Black man with a vision for change. And he did make a change in our health care system. And the country’s rage, fueled by billions from our insurance premium dollars,  again emerged. And so did the Tea Party.

I watched with concern the emergence of this movement.  It was packed with birthers, birchers, militias, and white supremacists. But unknown to most of us, it was backed by huge donations from people like the Koch brothers.

Suddenly, long time conservative Republicans were ousted by Tea Party candidates in primaries and these new candidates had a “never compromise” attitude. Politics is sometimes called “the art of compromise.” It needs to happen for the nation’s business to continue. But for the last six years we have been in a stalemate. While most notably, Obama’s Supreme Court nominee has been blocked for strictly political reasons, there have been hundreds of appointments to lower federal courts also blocked. This leaves us in a judicial morass. Court calendars have been clogged beyond manageability. It is one small example of failure to get Constitutional guarantees such as the right to a speedy trial. Civil cases can go on unresolved for years. Insurance companies can refuse to pay for life saving treatment that is apparently covered, and keep the interest for years on amounts that will eventually be awarded to plaintiffs.

And that’s just one example. We need to fix our highways. Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania is an example. Lanes are constantly blocked for temporary repairs throughout the state. We need to deal with the horrible results of our war on terror. There is no congressional approval for the President’s efforts recommended by our military. How many times has President Obama been forced to use executive orders when Congress refuses to act? We need to stop the stealing of digital information, yet Wickileaks seems to be backing the GOP by leaking Democrat e-mail. I ask you, how different is this action from Watergate?

Now of course, the supporters of Donald Trump are not going to accept simple things like facts. These people are blindly following a path that won’t listen to facts. But you know what? There were others who supported very liberal candidates like McGovern or McCarthy. They even had a name – the counterculture – that consisted of a whole lot of hippies and others.

And the nation recovered from these people. But Trump has said something that is untrue. The election is rigged. It isn’t and Trump knows it. At this point, Trump is going to lose. And it is obvious he is not going to be a gracious loser. He is simply going to be a loser. 

Throughout history, losing candidates have given concession speeches urging people to support the winner of the election. For the good of the nation, Trump has to deliver a helluva concession, including saying Hillary won "fair and square." and deny that the election was rigged. He must graciously point out that the people have spoken before thanking those who supported him. Can he do it? I just don't see it happening, and it could tear apart the nation.

His followers, mainly those of the “no compromise,” Tea Party mentality, will not accept that the majority of Americans oppose what Trump stands for. And I ask myself, are we seeing the maturation of the “disloyal opposition?” I hear many quote Jefferson: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Will the followers of Trump, who consider themselves patriots, become the tyrants? 

I am grateful that I am approaching 70 years of age and might not live through the upcoming chaos. But I can inevitably see that my children’s eyes might witness a chaos that will make them look back to the simpler times of their childhood, when Americas was a democracy.

Only The Donald

OK, I have not yet decided to vote for Hillary. But I am definitely not voting for Trump, And the gloves are starting to come off. I am abandoning my stand about having civil discourse. This is a response to one Clinton Hater who posted a laundry list of Hillary's issues on Facebook. Hillary has been accused of much and convicted of nothing. So here's my "Only The Donald" laundry list.

• Only The Donald has absolutely no political experience.
• Only The Donald is a billionaire who doesn’t pay taxes -- over and over.

• Only The Donald  has his fashion line made in third world countries instead of the United States, which isn't exactly bringing jobs back. "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created." WTF??????
• Only The Donaldasks if it is O.K. to use nuclear weapons.
• Only The Donald says: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume are good people.”
• Only The Donald wants to ignore what is great about America: "I'm putting the people on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of this mass migration, that if I win, if I win, they're going back." Whatever happened to "give me your tired, your poor, your humble masses yearning to breathe free" that every child is taught in social studies?
• Only The Donald, during a conservative forum in Iowa last July, dismissed Senator John McCain's reputation as a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam. "I like people who weren't captured, OK?"
• Only The Donald trashes his opponent’s (Jeb Bush) wife because she is Mexican while marrying three different European women, who became American Citizens through those marriages.Is it any wonder that every living GOP president and presidential candidate refused to attend this year's convention?
• Only The Donald wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, saying: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on." which is not only unAmerican, but unconstitutional.
• Only The Donald has the balls to have his five children from three wives stand with him and talks about family values.
• Only The Donald was quoted in an article about him in Atlantic Magazine: “You really want to know what I consider ideal company?,” Trump replied. “A total piece of ass.”
• Only The Donald has bankrupted small businesses by refusing to pay them to build his now vacant casinos.
• Only The Donald has declared bankruptcy for his businesses four times as a way to evade paying other bills.
• Only The Donald has humiliated his female employees, including Miss Universe for being too fat.
• Only The Donald says "Women have one of the great acts of all time. The smart ones act very feminine and needy, but inside they are real killers. The person who came up with the expression 'the weaker sex' was either very naive or had to be kidding. I have seen women manipulate men with just a twitch of their eye -- or perhaps another body part." in one of his books.
• Only The Donald has had ongoing celebrity feuds with Rosie O’Donnell and many others including Anderson Cooper, Macy’s, Mark Cuban, Bill Maher, Cher, Brian Williams, Chris Matthews, Barbara Walters, Bette Midler, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Robert DiNero, Arianna Huffington, and so many more.
• Only The Donald continued his “Birther” demands for years after the “long form” certificate was issued.
• Only The Donald managed to interrupt his opponent more than 50 times during the first debate.
• Only The Donald has trashed a federal judge who is judging a lawsuit against him because she is Mexican.
• Only The Donald has a multitude of business failures including Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage, Trump Steaks, GoTrump.com, Trump – The Game, Trump Magazine, and Trump Ice . . .Not to mention the criminal enterprise known as Trump University. and has destroyed Atlantic City's economy with his closed casinos. And only The Donald says his business experience will make him the greatest president ever. Say what?
• Only The Donald is either an ignoramus or a pathological liar. In the first debate alone, fact checkers say he lied about the loan his father once gave him. He lied about his company’s bankruptcies. He lied about his federal financial-disclosure forms. He lied about his endorsements. He lied about “stop and frisk.” He lied about “birtherism.” He lied about New York. He lied about Michigan and Ohio. He lied about Palm Beach, Fla. He lied about Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve. He lied about the trade deficit. He lied about Hillary Clinton’s tax plan. He lied about her child-care plan. He lied about China devaluing its currency. He lied about Mexico having the world’s largest factories. He lied about the United States’ nuclear arsenal. He lied about NATO’s budget. He lied about NATO’s terrorism policy. To quote Hillary: "I know you live in your own reality"
• Only The Donald is the first GOP Presidential candidate in history to not be endorsed by the ultra-conservative Arizona Republic newspaper (started publishing in 1890) and the first GOP Presidential candidate not to be endorsed by the ultra-conservative Dallas Morning News since before the Second World War.
• Only The Donald hasn’t even let the American people scrutinize his tax returns, which could help the nation judge his claims of business acumen.

Both of these candidates are suspect and unpopular. But one of them will be elected. I would rather have the alleged crook THAT HAS NEVER BEEN CHARGED WITH ANY CRIME than this egotistical, narcissistic bigot whose main claim to fame has been as a reality show host. 

How can Trumpeters have so much hate for this woman who has withstood decades of scrutiny so intense it would wither most politicians. The vehemence of some of the anti-Clinton attacks strains credulity. Or are they still pissed off that a certain president beat impeachment for getting a blow job from a consenting adult intern?

Five Guys

I grew up in the years when McDonalds was starting out. One day, the director of the farm for boys where I lived said we were going out to dinner, the only time we ever did. He gave us each a buck and told us if we really wanted to pig out, to bring another one.

And so we took the school bus to one of the first McDonalds in New Jersey and we did, pig out that is. Burgers were 19 cents, so were fries. A large soft drink was about a quarter and milkshakes were 39 cents.

Of course, I became addicted to McDonalds and have about an extra 50 pounds on my body to prove it.

I’ve tried Wendy’s and Burger King. But they just didn’t measure up in those days and Mickey D’s has been my preference  -- especially when I’m on the road.

In fact, as I write this, the prom date and I are on the road in Ohio and the Mickey D breakfast menu is just about the only one designed for a take out breakfast. We drove 11+ hours the day before and so I picked up a couple of orders of oatmeal and we split a big breakfast. But McDonalds is rarely a place I go to for burgers anymore. Now it’s Five Guys.

Although one of the smaller burger chains, it’s clearly the best. The prom date was sick today and she spent much of her time in bed. So at dinnertime, it was clearly Five Guys and when I came back with the plain brown bag containing our burgers and fries, she was well pleased.

I first discovered Five Guys somewhere around Milwaukie, Oregon, where my son and his family live. I was on the way home and a little hungry and so I stopped and ordered a large fries. The cost was a little high, until I was handed a bag containing a 20-ounce cup of fries and they took two extra scoops and put that into a brown bag.

Now that’s a lot of fries. The serving will easily feed four adults. But the thing was, they were fresh. I mean these fries had never seen a freezer. On the floor were cartons of raw potatoes with a sign saying where the spuds were grown. Five guys employees run the potatoes through a French fry cutter. They don’t peel them so a lot of the fries have skin on them, which not only make them taste better, but the skin provides better nutrition.

Everything is fried in peanut oil, which is also less greasy and healthier too since it has no cholostrol. Now I’m not saying that fried foods are good for us, just that these fries are better than the ones you get out of a freezer at a fast food joint.

But it is now time to discuss the burgers. A burger is two third-pound patties, which have been freshly ground and hand shaped. The place does not have a freezer. You can also get a “junior” burger with one patty for about a dollar less. There’s an old advertising jingle for McDonald’s Big Mac – “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.” But if you order a Big Mac, that’s what you get. With Five Guys, you choose your toppings ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, barb-b-que, hot sauce and A-1 sauce are the condiments, then the veggies include lettuce, tomato, green and jalapeño peppers, pickles, onions (raw or grilled), and mushrooms (again raw or grilled).

 

You can order whatever you want and if you want extra onions or mushrooms, for example, they’re all your’s  -- all included with the burger. And because the burgers are cooked fresh, they come out tender and juicy. Ever looked in the back kitchen at McDonald’s? They cook burgers in bunches and put them in heating bins. It just isn’t the same. Most fast food places also season their burgers. Five Guys has salt and pepper packages if you want the spice.

They also sell hot dogs; also with the condiments you want and grilled cheese, a veggie special grilled cheese and a BLT. Bacon on the burgers and dogs cost extra.

As for drinks, they also have home-spun shakes with about ten different flavors. I sometimes will have a cherry-strawberry-banana shake. But more often I will have a soft drink chosen from the more than 100 varieties from Coke’s advanced dispenser system. For example, Sprite Zero can be poured into your cup with lemon, cherry, orange and other flavors. Today I had a vanilla diet root beer.

Since everything is cooked to order, you have to sit around and they offer free peanuts in the shell while you wait.

I usually take out my meal, but there is a dining room. It’s nothing fancy, but there are plenty of seats and stools.

All I can say about this is that in more than seven years of blogging, I’ve never endorsed a place to eat (though I did once mention a great Florida juice stand). Simply put, check it out and you’ll find that instead of a ‘happy meal,’ you will find yourself quite happy with your meal.

Ike

The 34th
President lived rather modestly after finally retiring. He was the Supreme Allied Commander of our forces in Europe during the Second World War and the head of NATO forces after that. He “retired” to become the president of Columbia University until being the President of the United States.

The first time I heard of Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was in November 1952 when my mother took me inside the voting booth at our Upper West Side polling place. She voted for the other guy, Adlai Stevenson. Adlai was crushed – twice – becoming the Democrat's sacrificial lamb in 1956. 1952 marked the first time a Republican was president in three decades. And Ike, as everyone called him, was also wanted by the Democratic Party to be their nominee.

We recently toured the battlefield at Gettysburg and the Eisenhowers spent their last years at a farm near the site of that conflict. Ike, and his wife Mamie, had lived in an estimated 40 homes during his military career and had some rather fancy temporary housing for eight years in Washington DC. But the Gettysburg farm was the couple’s first and only home.

The home was rather modest. In fact, he had to write a book, Crusade in Europe, to afford to purchase it. I had read a first edition of the book about a quarter century ago from my mother’s estate. But alas, it has been lost.

We had a guide, another New York social studies teacher, who reminded me of some of the events of his Presidency, such as the Suez crisis. The Israelis, British and French invaded Egypt to gain control of the Suez Canal without Eisenhower’s knowledge. Ike was livid and had strongly warned Britain not to invade. He threatened serious economic damage unless the three invaders pulled out, including major financial damage to Britain’s economy. Historians say that the crisis signified the end of Great Britain’s role as a one of the world’s major powers. Egypt was allied with the Soviet Union at that time and the threat of a possible nuclear war was realistic. Yet in any high school history course, this crisis isn’t even mentioned. It drives me crazy that events I consider as touchstones in my lifetime, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the JFK assination, the 1968 assinations of Malcomb X, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, Woodstock and the first lunar landing get so little attention. The wars in Korea and Vietnam have been consolidated into a day’s study of “the cold war era.”

But Ike’s role in history has been well established and I need not go any further into that. What I was astounded to discover was how ordinary and simple his home was.

When the Eisenhowers purchased the home circa 1950, the house was falling apart and had to be completely rebuilt. In fact, there was a colonial-era house found underneath the house. The couple built a small stone house next to the main brick house and then spent much time renovating the main house. But the house, when completed, was modest. The main living room was only slightly larger than most people’s living rooms. And the other rooms were all within the normal range. There are eight bedrooms, but two were allocated to a maid and an aide. In addition to the master bedroom, Ike had a smaller bedroom which doubled as a study.  What surprises me is that the home is so simple. Ike and Mamie spent a lot of time on the back porch, doing things most people did in that era. They watched black-and-white television. Ike loved westerns while Mamie was obsessed with the soap operas. There was a card table, and Ike loved to paint. The house has several of his paintings and it is estimated that about 250 paintings are in private circulation. Move into the bathrooms and you’ll see nothing special. A simple toilet, sink and bathtub were the mainstays throughout the house. The kitchen had appliances of the era, such as a mixer. The bedrooms had portable radios – large ones, many times the size of today’s alarm clocks. The beds were generally twin size.

About the only special thing in the house was some wallpaper Mamie had put in. It contained the great seals of every state. The pattern was a standard one offered by the manufacturer, and the company simply changed the background color to suit her tastes, which was usually a light pink.

It’s such a contrast to the way we view the homes of former presidents. The Clintons live in a mansion in an exclusive enclave outside New York City. The Bush families own a sprawling ranch. The Kennedy compound in Hyannis is large and isolated. But the Eisenhower family simply craved privacy. The farm had no identification that a former president lived there. Today, the driveway had a “do not enter sign at the street, but nothing to indicate the former president lived there. About the only concession to the life he led was a small Secret Service building next to a barn.

According to our guide, Ike loved to take visitors to the Gettysburg battlefield and he also had a small golf hole installed. But it was a working farm as he raised Angus cattle and frequently showed them.

Ike was a president who apparently cared more about what was right rather than himself. What a contrast to the very rich candidates of the election of 2016. Could you imagine The Donald or Hillary spending their time in a manure-laden barn instead of being full of bull?

Reunion

It’s been a long day and will be a short night. There is a gentle summer rain that should be lulling me to sleep. But I am too filled with joy and contentment. I have just attended the 50^th year reunion of the Ridge High School (Basking Ridge, NJ) Class of 1966.

Reunion is a funny word. it is not just a gathering of people who once knew each other, but the union part of the word indicates a bonding that once was and, from my perspective, still is.

I only spent half of my freshman year with this group of people, but I also was part of the class during middle school – 6^th through 8^th grades. And these people are very dear to me, possibly much more than my classmates at Morristown High School (NJ) where I graduated. This RHS class, numbering just over 100, was small. But their beauty was immense.

In previous years, I had gone to five schools and lived in 11 apartments in the four years since my parents separated. I lived with my mother, an alcoholic drama queen. The best way I could explain it was I had a mental breakdown by the time I was 12 years old. I wound up at Bonnie Brae Farm for Boys in Millington, NJ. The stability of having an ordered life and consistent treatment helped me to settle down while I attended the in-house school there.

About nine months later, I returned to the public school system while living at Bonnie Brae. Even though I had to repeat 6^th grade, it was OK. I had learned little in the previous school year and realized it was best for me. And so I spent the last few months in school with the children who eventually became the class of ’66. Those first few months, I felt very much like an outsider, as usual, because I not only was the new kid in school, but also a Bonnie Brae Boy. I had no idea what the “townies” thought of me, or any Bonnie Brae Boy during that time. I pretty much kept to myself, but there was absolutely no way I wanted to go back to the in-house school.

The Friday evening meet and greet

The next year I returned to the same school, with the same classmates. We moved from class to class with new teachers, rather than staying with one teacher. And the transition was smooth. I was with the same group of classmates for the first time in my life.

Slowly, very slowly, I came out of my shell as seventh grade began. And I started to learn things. Mr. Whittaker, my English teacher, spent endless days on sentence structure and diagramming. With that instruction, I was able to become the professional writer that was the backbone of my career. I became comfortable with my classmates. Eventually we began supporting one another with both life and schoolwork.

Then suddenly we were in Oak Street JHS and in the 8^th grade, a different building with some new teachers. But by now, I was comfortable with my classmates. My grades improved and I became involved in sports and clubs. I learned a little about soccer and played on the school team. I also played football and baseball. Suddenly, I was something of a class leader. I was in Mr. Koza’s camera club, and guess who later became a professional photographer? The social studies teacher, Mr. Mitchell, refused to take my BS and inspired me to teach that subject after a middle-life career change was forced upon me due to injuries.

But the most important thing was that I felt I was an important part of this group. I felt accepted.

And that was the year I discovered girls. 

After a few false starts with girls with whom we laughed about during the reunion, along came Valerie. It was kind of weird, the way I had discovered her. I had asked a couple of girls to a dance at Bonnie Brae.

A midday bar-b-que at a classmate's home. It ended just before torrential rains began.

The first girl I asked was with her BFF and I couldn’t get them separate. So I finally asked the girl and the BFF burst into laughter while the other girl, the object of my two years of unknown, unbridled affection, politely declined. This incident turned out to be a major factor in my life as I became extremely fearful of rejection for some time. The next girl I asked said her father would not let her date until she was 16. I thought she was just brushing me off but later learned it was true. The third girl said she would ask her parents, who said “no.”

Now you have to understand, these three girls were some of the most attractive in the class. I spoke to Mr. Persico, Bonnie Brae’s director, about it. He suggested I ask a girl who was a friend, not necessarily a pretty one. And so I asked Valerie. And she said yes. I felt glad I had a date for the dance, but somewhat apathetic because she seemed to be so plain.

But then came the night of the dance. Valerie, who didn’t primp too much at school, suddenly was an incredibly beautiful woman, drop-dead gorgeous, and perfection beyond belief. A dash of makeup with a beautiful dress with a modest neckline and an incredible hairdo made her the belle of the ball, though she didn’t realize it. There was a song by The Lettermen, a popular group at that time, titled “The Way You Look Tonight,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSsTguCePLk) that I considered “our” song, though I never told her that. But every time I hear it, I still remember that night when I discovered that girls were clearly the most wonderful things ever! When my son married his wife, I chose that song to play as I danced with her at the reception. 

And all my Bonnie Brae friends who saw Valerie agreed. A few days later we were hanging around the day room where we studied and played board games. They started an A cappella doo-wop song that began with: 

“Valerie, (Aaaaaaah)  oh my Valerie, (Oooooo)) Valerie, I love you so, so, so (so, oh, so)

And Valerie, (Oooooo) oh my little Valerie, (Aaaaaaah)  I just want you to know, (know, oh, know.)”

The lyrics continued with her being so fine and having kisses like wine; possessing eyes that sparkled in the night, etc.

It was, of course, what was then called “puppy love.” But the feelings, and hormones, were raging. But the thing was, when she said she loved me, I didn’t know how to respond. I really never had an example of it in my chaos-filled home life. I often wonder if I still don’t understand love. At that point, we hadn’t even kissed.

Through those elementary years, our music teacher was Paul Grossman. Several years after the class graduated, he had a sex change and became Paula Grossman. In recent years, trans people have become somewhat accepted. But at the time, even though she was tenured, the school board fired her. Sometime around 1973 I was working for the Dover Daily Advance newspaper and when I mentioned in the newsroom that she was my teacher in elementary school, I was sent to get an interview. After finding a 10-year-old Plainfield phone book (does anyone still use them?) I made contact and got an interview. Ms Grossman always had a great sense of humor in school and greeted me with “you’ve changed, but who am I to talk?”

And here we get serious. Bonnie Brae boys were accepted. Most of my classmates didn’t know we had juvenile records. For example, I was charged with B&E. I saw a baseball in the basement door where I lived and broke in to get it. Others ran with street gangs. Some were sexually abused and some, who never made it to public school, were sexual abusers. But the classmates treated us like equals. And it helped us incredibly. Mr. Grossman cast one of us, Jimmie Shields, as the lead of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta  -- something most of us Bonnie Brae boys marveled at. While we were always part of athletic teams and clubs, we were rarely thought of as having that kind of talent. We were proud of Jimmie, a gentle giant, albeit it a lonely one. When my father visited me every other week on Sunday, he hung out with us like a puppy wanting to be included.

And then I was a freshman. The previous years had strengthened my mind, body and soul. No longer did I feel like an outlaw and outcast. There I was, playing football, even if we were the worst freshman team ever. We never even scored. We only had about 15 boys start the season. That meant most of us had to play both ways. By the second quarter, we were usually exhausted as the teams we played against sometimes had two to three times as many players.

Top: 1963 yearbook photo of the freshmen team, Bottom, the RHS football field today posted by Joy Monroe. 

We got close to scoring once. After being behind by at least 40 points, we got near the goal line and the opposing coach put his starters back in and they stopped us. A small squad, we wound up with only eight players after injuries and our season was cancelled. Those who were left played a little with the jayvee team. But it was something we owned, and it united us.

Dinner is served at the reunion

I joined the music appreciation club and we even heard a song by some British group called the Beatles. We breezed through French I, having had three years of it in elementary school, but the guys paid little attention as the teacher was very beautiful. Algebra I was a little tough as we were taught learning the “new math.” RHS was only in its second year of existence. But all the teachers, most of whom were quite young then, were great people who cared. It was an experience where we learned from each other.

And then it was time to leave. On the day we broke for Christmas vacation, the people at Bonnie Brae told me it was time for me to go home to my mother. They said she had been sober, had a good job and a much better apartment. Well, I suppose two out of three weren’t bad. 

The next date I had with Valerie was at a youth nightclub run by a local Morristown church. My mother drove us between Morristown and Basking Ridge. It was a chance to simply talk and on the ride home, we were in the back seat and finally kissed well over a year since that incredible first date. But I discovered mom was driving drunk after letting Valerie off. I never wanted to risk Valarie, or any other person, again. From then on, I paid for taxis but I was so ashamed about my mother I didn't contact Valerie for nearly 50 years. 

Morristown High was very different. A class of more than 400 to start with, those from Morristown came in from several different elementary schools. Then there was another group from nearby Morris Plains, and yet another from Harding Township. When we were sophomores, yet another larger group from Morris Township joined us. These diverse groups formed all kinds of cliques even before entering high school. There were also groups based on religion and color. There were greasers and preppies. And I was the new kid. At Ridge, we were far more homogenous.

At Morristown, I never really fit into a niche. I did some sports, drama and debate. I never played football again because I blew my knee playing baseball and it wouldn’t hold up. The only sport I was any good at, swimming, was worse after the injury as my knee actually rattled when I was kicking.

I once visited a juvenile court judge and begged to go back to Bonnie Brae. But since I wasn’t committing any crimes, I couldn’t. My mother’s drinking prevented me from inviting friends into my house. I spent most of my evenings working to avoid her rantings; lifeguarding at the Y, ushering at the movies and delivering Chicken Delight instead of doing homework. I did not attend activities such as parties that I might have made friends in. I survived several courses simply by getting top grades only on final exams. In junior year history, I had the top grade in the entire school in the final and the teacher, who only lasted one year, wanted to give me a F for the year. Somehow, after screaming at the guidance department, I wound up with the only A I had in the three plus years I was at Morristown. I had made the honor roll several times in the Bernards Township system.

Despite having a recorded IQ of 132, I graduated 380^th out of 400 students. In the past five years or so, I have become much closer to my classmates than I was in those high school years.

I do not look back at the Morristown years with nearly the affection of my friends of my Bonnie Brae years, but the lessons they helped me learn then, and the support they gave me, probably meant the difference between a productive life and a life sentence.

I have been a professional writer, photographer, advertising executive, marketing manager and social studies teacher. I am the first in my family to graduate from college (with honors no less) and I even obtained a masters degree (magna cum laude).

I throughly enjoyed talking to many people and exchanging life stories. I didn't know many of the students because I left before they arrived at Ridge. I spent time talking to a Bonnie Brae Boy whom I knew only briefly even though we shared the same cottage. I simply came home late from school every day after practice and crashed into bed after dinner and homework. But talking to team mates and others was wonderful. Some of the people who were in my class had incredible lives.

I think my reunion experience was highlighted by a single moment that shows how much friendship means. One of the women, Joy, was best friends with Carol during 8th grade. But they had separated. Carol happens to be a dear friend and so I dialed her on my cell phone and handed Joy the phone. The two talked until the battery was nearly dead, and while I didn't listen to the conversation, Joy's joy went into orbit and I came home to a thank you note from Carol. Within a brief time, the two became Facebook friends.

I was saddened to learn of several friend's deaths.  Greg Noll, Donald Tucker, Jim Knox and Ross Bloom were team mates. Vicky Welch and Christine Jeffers were always very nice to me and died way too young.  I admired Tom Shoudy and Azlyade Mitchell, expecting them to be wildly successful. Suzanne Thomas and I became fast friends after an 8th grade co-ed basketball game after we both went for a rebound and became entangled with one another as we crashed to the floor. We were both teased about it after our hands wound up where they really shouldn't have been. 

Speech time. I had the honor to say a few words about how Bonnie Brae boys were welcomed

Friendship. I once heard a saying that real friends are the ones you don't see for years and are there the minute you need them. And so, to the Ridge High ’66 classmates I met at the reunion, and others from those days, thank you and I guess I finally learned how, and why, to say: “I love you.”

Profile of the Sociopath

Michael Munzer 

Found the following after Googling 'Sociopath" (http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html). There is much more info on the lower part of the site.

I don't care who you vote for but I suggest you compare the candidate you support with this list. Of course, the one you oppose has all the symptoms.

This website summarizes some of the common features of descriptions of the behavior of sociopaths.

Glibness and Superficial Charm 

Manipulative and Conning 
They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims. 

Grandiose Sense of Self 
Feels entitled to certain things as "their right." 

Pathological Lying 
Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests. 

Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt 
A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way. 

Shallow Emotions 
When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises. 

Incapacity for Love 

Need for Stimulation 
Living on the edge. Verbal outbursts and physical punishments are normal. Promiscuity and gambling are common. 

Callousness/Lack of Empathy 
Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them. 

Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature 
Rage and abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others. 

Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency 
Usually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet "gets by" by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc. 

Irresponsibility/Unreliability 
Not concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed. 

Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity 
Promiscuity, child sexual abuse, rape and sexual acting out of all sorts. 

Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle 
Tends to move around a lot or makes all encompassing promises for the future, poor work ethic but exploits others effectively. 

Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility 
Changes their image as needed to avoid prosecution. Changes life story readily.

My vote goes to. . .

The primary campaign is over and the conventions are to come. But because the primary elections are so long, more than a year, I have come to a conclusion as to whom I am voting for.

To be up front about it, I have never voted for a Republican, though I feel that Eisenhower and Regan were good presidents. But Nixon and the Bushes? ‘Nuf said.

I’m not especially fond of Hillary, despite the fact that as a former New York resident, I voted for her as a senator. I think it’s her rather cold personality. But that is a cold efficiency as well. Her experience as a senator and secretary of state is impressive. I think that Republicans have overdramatized an honest mistake about the e-mails and Ben Gazi is something well beyond her control. But Hillary is like Teflon; scandals never seem to stick to her. Remember Whitewater?

Then there is The Donald. Assuming that he wins the nomination at the convention, he is simply a nightmare.

The businessman and reality star has appealed to what is the worst of America. He has picked out two minority groups, Mexicans and Muslims, as the reason for all our problems. It reminds me of Hitler and the Jews.

I don’t like Trump’s business decisions either. He has deliberately bankrupted his casinos several times, closing one of them. He has more than 200 lawsuits against him for not paying his bills. As I write this, the workers at one of his casinos are on strike. He has failed with many different businesses ranging from golf resorts, to wines and steaks. And Trump University is considered a complete fraud.

It seems that just about every day, he says something outrageous. Yet, despite his views, they appeal to many whites, especially the middle class. The fact is that the middle class has significantly disappeared for the first time in our lives. I am outraged by the way the one percent thrive. It’s not that I wish them harm, but I want good jobs.

I think that the reason why so much of our manufacturing has departed to other nations is simply labor costs. We invented television, now even the Japanese have lost that base to Koreans and Chinese. On my street, most of the cars are from Japan. Our clothes are made in Asia and South America. I still remember hearing “Look for the union label” commercials on radio in my childhood. We’ve gotten rid of tungsten light bulbs and got fluorescent, and then LED bulbs from China. Furniture? Ask the people in the Carolinas about that. And the list goes on. Most of our appliances, except washing machines, are made in Asia. The washing machines are from Mexico, as are our car batteries. Railroad cars, once the province of Pullman, are mostly from Canada. And what drives me insane, Apple computers and other products are generally Asian made. And when I need tech support, it comes from India. About 15 years ago, I got a masters degree in educational computing. When teaching didn’t work out, I figured I could get a job in tech support. No way. Tech support is in India.

These are the jobs that enabled out middle class to prosper. And The Donald’s bluster about them isn’t going to get them back. What is going to get them back is the refusal of the American people to stop buying foreign products. That ain’t gonna happen…ever, just ask the Walton family. You know, the family that owns Wal-Mart. Nearly all the clothes and hard goods they sell are imports. When did you last go to Wal-Mart, not because you liked it. But the price was cheap. Alas, so is the merchandise.

Of course, I could vote for no one. But that doesn’t give me the right to complain. I am tempted to vote for the candidate of a “minor” party, whom I may agree with but has no chance to win. But that would be a waste. I like a lot about what the Libertarians say. I don’t really care a whit about what happens to Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan. I don’t want my tax dollars to be spent in areas where people oppose us – or the puppet governments we support. Has anyone learned lesson from Vietnam? Nope. Bush took us to Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama kept us there. I want to see that money spent on schools. I want socialized medicine because I’m fed up with paying insurance companies who, in turn, spend billions on their political agendas.

This is the first time in my nearly 70 years of being a member of the American population that I feel I must vote for a candidate I don’t like. There was a time when our Presidents were people to be admired. What happened to the Ikes, JFKs and LBJs? And even the losing candidates had honor: Stevenson, Humphrey, Goldwater, Dole and Gore. Politics was once something to aspire to. When I was a child, kids wanted to grow up to be cowboys, cops, astronauts and Presidents. Now, they want to program computer games.

Our current President has been the victim of more hate than any President in American History. Is it because he is a Democrat, or because of his race? All he has done was oversee an economic recovery and the death of bin Laden. He has improved health care, despite what those who oppose him say. And he has suffered through this abuse with grace and dignity. It used to be that the opposing party didn’t make it their business to paralyze the country because it didn’t like the president. When Clinton faced a Republican Congress, the business of the people still continued despite the rancor and even the bullshit impeachment attempt.

Republicans remind me of spoiled children these days. They are furious that they failed to get Former President Clinton impeached (over a blow job, no less), and so they want to destroy the woman who stood by him. But they are so full of rage that they have created a monster for their candidate.

The only way we will be able to have a functional government is if we have the same party control both houses of Congress and the executive office. The last time that happened was when Obamacare was passed, based on the Massachusetts plan formed by the eventual Republican Presidential nominee. Despite the massive opposition funded by billions of dollars we have paid to the insurance industry, there has been no dramatic change in health care. The insurance companies, once non-profits such as Blue Cross, are still turning obscene profits, mainly because Obamacare forced more people to get health insurance. America’s greatness was when the Democrats took power in the great depression; When the Democrats stopped illegal racism and created a “Great Society” in the 1960s which included vital things like food stamps, Head Start and Medicare, and these days, when Obamacare gave health care to millions more before the tea party rose and strangled the government in a deliberate attempt to seize power instead of working within the system.

I am currently reading a series of science fiction books where an industrialist has created terror in order to foster his control of the country.  In the plot, mankind is faced with two alternatives, a peaceful but totalitarian state; or a state determined by individuals. The central power of our life force has been damaged, and there is a potential for the universe to collapse if it is not repaired. Totalitarian equals a saving of the life force, because there will be no conflict, as well as no freedom. But you take your chances with self-determination and the possibility of saving the life force?

How close is this to Trump, or for that matter Hillary? I don’t know. So here’s whom I’m voting for – are you ready? I have an absentee ballot and as I look at it I’m going to pray about it. Then I’m going to flip a coin. Heads=Trump, tails=Hillary.

I am open to suggestions.