80 years of war

I can remember being shuttled off to a strangers ‘house during WWII to be cared for while my parents worked at the Pittsburg ,Ca Camp Stoneman. All traces of the camp are now gone, with only a stone monument to identify the location.

20 years ago one could still see remains of foundations, but now that is all filled in with apartments or light industry.

I also remember seeing the tanks roll by on flat bed rail cars heading for the port of Oakland during the Korean War.

Then there was the big argument about whether or not we should be in Viet Nam, and I was a hawk on that one, and since my husband had been in the Navy was the dove.

Now that we have entered into the era of “Forever Wars” I am getting sick and tired of hearing war stories, war movies, and re hashing of the Holocaust.

I thought my old age would be more serene than it is, but the only way to filter the horrors of war stories is to almost go off grid, and I am not ready to do that.

The next best thing is not to watch the evening news, but since I now have access to news online the next cutback will be not to check it three times a day.

I got to thinking about how my days were spent in the years from 1948-1953, when we barely had a black plastic rotary phone and no other devices save a table radio.

I did a lot of wandering around the neighborhood, visiting my friends, walking downtown to get a ten cent Coke, and reading a lot of classic library books.

I never had my own record player or money to buy 45 rpm records, but did enjoy Elvis on the Stockton radio, KSTN.

We have such a frenetic life style now, that it is more comforting to daydream about my past life than make an effort to join in the present community activities.

If I want to have a peaceful and not pressurized retirement I will have to do some heavy filtering, and start withdrawing my attention.

I feel spied upon when the phone tells me that I have spent so many minutes of “screen time” every day. So no more games on the cell phone.

I get more than slightly irritated when the iPad announces that I have not “backed up ” my unit.

Who the f*@$! cares?

When I am reading a book on the unit it pops down a message, startling me, and says that I have achieved my goal of reading for the day.

Who asked you? You stupid computer!

I have been reading for 75 years and never “set goals”.

The one kind of book that I do not read is any book about a war, preferring murder mysteries or biographies or even science fiction.

I know senior citizens are not supposed to be computer literate, but I am and can find and download books to read on my laptop quite readily.

It is just that the subject of war keeps cropping up on every platform, so escape is impossible.

Moscow

Some think that when the clock strikes 12 noon on the next new president, that Trump will be on a plane to Moscow.

He knows that there are unsigned indictments waiting for him for all his many criminal activities.

If this happened would that not constitute treason?

Just sayin.

Think about it- an American President in the hands of the new KGB whatever they call themselves now.

King Henry Redux

I think we have a problem here. When King Henry VIII did not get what he wanted he either twisted arms in his government and grabbed power from the Pope, or chopped off heads. He was an avid pussy hound, and was loved for that little trait.
Now we have this great clown in our government who is an avid pussy hound, and since Henry made it so easy to discard wives legally, he does not need to chop wives heads’ off.

We also have a lust for power in our so called leader, and Trump seems to be channeling Henry, so we can expect more twisted laws, and more economic distress.

Those in Henry’s court were afraid of him, and did not dare tell him that he was a fat, mean arrogant s.o.b  who stank. The same applies today.

The only brave and honorable Republican is Mitt Romney, and he can be sure his head will stay put.

Misguided

Now we are faced with the fact that our leaders are capable of following an insane person, plus being a liar and narcissist.

If ordinary people can swallow lies of those in high places, what does that say about us THE PEOPLE?

For those who elected this moron, i can forgive their momentary blindness, and selfish reasons. Part of it is a backlash against the previous administration, and part is a willful blindness to the problems of climate change and how we are degrading our world.

Why do we do such damaging and stupid things?

If you are a person who looks up to a leader who is a proven liar, cheat, insulter, bully, and all around doofus, what can you say about yourself?

Are you proud of this attitude?

Maybe you are, and will stick to that story no matter what the facts show.

It is unfortunate that our economy has provided the support of stupid people, so they can go on voting with their basest instincts, never thinking about what their votes do to the future, which is their children and grandchildren.

We have seen other attitudes like this in the past, but they were known for what they were- The Know nothing Party.

Maybe the new label fore the Republican Party should be -We also know nothing.

Moaning and groaning

This morning I was treated to the image of Trump complaining that he was getting impeached. As if it was so unbelievable that he of all people would be subjected to such indignity after his very fine job in office.

He claims that he has done things that no other administration has done, and that is his poor treatment.

Well, yes, he has insulted everyone possible, from babies to NATO.

He has made rich men richer, colluded with foreign countries, and hired crooks and thugs to protect him.

Most of his crew are extremely stupid, just reflecting his mind set.

Even if he gets off, and remains in office, he will have to live with “forever being impeached”.

Could not happen to a more deserving guy.

Roman life

Deadly Election

01/17/20

I am not talking about any modern day election, but the ones back in history, in about A.D. 89.

In her book Deadly Election, Lindsey Davis gives us a pretty accurate picture of Rome in the time of Domitian.

When I read an interesting book, I like to keep an atlas and Wikipedia link handy, to explain the background and anchor me in place and time.

Lindsey Davis puts a lot of humor into her narratives about an informer, who in this case is a 29 year old woman, widowed and taking care of her family business.The heroine moonlights as a auctioneer in her father’s business while not acting as an informer for political candidates.

Her job includes digging up dirt on her client’s rivals, talking to all the notorious gossips, like grooms, house slaves, merchants, bankers and scullery maids.

Slaves are an important source of info, and do not need to be paid, although a lot of coinage changes hands.

Being an informer, or official espionage agent, is an honorable calling in Roman life.

In modern day we call them Public Relation hacks.

The elections in those days had to be run by the Emperor, and were usually won by the candidate that had the most pull, and largesse. Rallies in public were a must, and word of mouth the best kind of advertising. Not every one wanted to achieve high office in order to govern.

Most saw election to the Senate as a way of making a lot of money, and acquiring more vineyards, slaves, advantages marriages, or seaside villas.

This sounds very familiar.

When I looked up Domitian who ruled for a few years, I was shocked to find that he was a nasty piece of work.

Maybe not as bad as  Nero, but definitely not loved by the people. Since he spent a lot of money on raising the pay for the military, he did have a high approval rating there.

Domitian’s favorite way to get rid of rivals was execution, even of cousins. Or should I say especially cousins, as they were potential rivals for the throne.

In the end of this novel, the crime is solved and life goes on for Flavia Albia.

Lindsey Davis has written many books about the life and times in Ancient Rome, and I always learn something new about Roman life, which was rather brutish and short despite having public baths and night watchmen.

Books

Difficult Books

01/10/20

The Road from Coorain

The Sound of Gravel

Educated

The Road from Coorain was a story I read long ago, and proved that if a female had brains she could rise to the top in an extremely chauvinistic society. It also helped that Jill Ker had family money and took advantage of the very best of schools that Australia had to offer.

When the men of the family die off and there is a huge sheep ranch to take care of, the women are not able to work this to their advantage.

Owning a large property and being the managers of livestock gets a woman nothing but sunburn and back aches as far as I am concerned.

Jill wanted out, so she studied her way to Harvard and remained there.

Good choice seeing as now her country is in a state of emergency and will be so for the near future.

Educated by Tara Westover was another tale of a girl being exploited with no future for her in the wilds of Idaho. Basically she was a junk yard dog, with no birth certificate, immunizations, or formal schooling.

With the help and encouragement of one of her older brothers, her mother, and the public library, she educated herself enough to gain entrance to college.

Even going to BYU was preferable to living with exploitive and abusive male relatives.

She parlayed her story into a memoir and television interviews.

The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner, is a very difficult story to read. Her life in the polygamist colony in Mexico read like it was a tale of white slavers. Even the immigration compounds in America had better hygiene than she did.

They had no running water, indoor toilets or showers, electricity to the shack, and depended on American Welfare Food stamps for a subsistent life.

She went to a Spanish speaking grade school, and was always behind.

Due to her so called step -father’s laziness and ignorance, three people died of electrocution from faulty wiring along a fence.

The sound of gravel is the sound she heard as she poured dirt on her mother’s wood coffin.