Sunday, February 23, 2020

 Well, the rain's back. It moved in with some warmer temperatures and they say it'll come down through to Tuesday. On the upside, it's not supposed to add more to the flooding in the state. On the downside, Otis realizes we're not going to be able to take any constitutionals for a bit. You know how much a depressed Jack Russell can bring down a room? Plus, he thinks I make it happen on purpose.



 There really isn't a whole lot going on in the News today. More info on how we barely have a handle on the coronavirus, more centrists/conservatives freaking out over Bernie Sanders' win in the Nevada caucus, and everyone's holding their breath about Trump's upcoming visit to India, in that we all hope he doesn't try to do the accent again.

 This isn't a bad thing, of course. Even in this world of instantaneous news and up-to-the-minute reports on yet another "Never Trumper" wetting themselves, it's nice to occasionally take a break, take a breath and maybe take some stock. A lot of people are making a lot more hay than's necessary concerning Sanders' win and current lead in the Democratic nomination race. Three primaries, less than two percent of the delegates needed to win calculated, and we're not even into Super Tuesday or the big Southern vote.

 I confess, all the hoo-hah surrounding Bernie Sanders' ascendancy in American politics, popularity among some segments of voters, and the outright terror he instills in others evades me. In a sane world, he's center left and not all that exceptional, at that. If anything, he - and to a lesser extent, Elizabeth Warren - is doing basically what FDR and LBJ did. To wit, he (and she) is trying to enact policies that not only address the very real needs of American citizens, but also keep those self-same citizens from rising up and grinding the upper class into mincemeat to feed their pets.

 It really says something that here we are, nearly three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and there are actual adults who can vote, drive and own guns wetting themselves because they're convinced Bernie Sanders is about to unleash hardcore, uncut communism on the delicate bits of Lady Liberty. On the flipside, we have an entirely different group of adults doing hip thrusts at "moderates" who aren't 100% sold on the Sanders Revolution and promising they'll "bend the knee" come July in Milwaukee because, and I quote, they can have "a little gloating as a treat" after being told to "fall in line" for decades. 'Cause that's totally going to work, guys.

 Y'all, I really, really think way too many of Our Fellow Americans have absolutely no idea how none of this works and don't plan to actually learn when pitching a fit is more fun. And I really don't think they fully understand how terrible, bad and awful another term of the Trump style of presidenting would be for all of us. You like having affordable health insurance? Well, kiss that goodbye. This "booming economy" we're all "enjoying"? It's not going to trickle down on us not-rich people over the next four years. And the MAGAts? Hoo boy, they are going to be a mess. They're going to make San Antonio look like a mild disagreement over politics.

 Okay. That's the word count. What else? Been re-reading a lot of Hunter Thompson lately, which seems to be my go-to comfort reads when I got the blues lately. Also watching a lot of Terrence McKenna videos on YouTube mainly because I've got a serious jones for a magic carpet ride and this is the next best thing. The son of one of the other families in the Valley asked Momma if I'd like to work at their very profitable greenhouse because they need an adult on the premises, but I don't think I'll take it. For one, it's probably harder physical labor than I've done in years and, for two, this is all I want to concentrate on.

 I've decided that if nothing else, I want to define myself as a writer again. The only way to do that is, of course, write and I know if I take a ball-busting job at the greenhouse, I won't have it in me to keep this up. If I'm going to work hard, it's going to be at something I want to do, to be. Musically nothing's grabbing my attention and video game-wise I've been going back to third-person fantasy RPG's like Two Worlds II or Drakensang for reasons I couldn't adequately explain even if I wanted to, which I don't.

 Beyond all that, tomorrow starts a new week. More rain's in the forecast and more political lunacy is on the menu. Me, I'm tempted to stay in bed.