Scribblings

The first time my sister and I went to China was 1983 or so. China was still in the depths of the Mao philosophy. Everyone rode bikes and wore dull, grey or dark green Mao pajama outfits.

Of all the things that I remember from that trip, one of the things that has always stayed with me was our official Chinese guide’s description of employment in China. He said there was no such thing as unemployment there. There was only “job waiting”.

Some years later when we went to Tibet, we were made to take an official Chinese guide with Continue reading →

I met Forrest Dunbar when he was a very young man just getting into Alaskan politics. I can’t tell you what he said to me or what his stance was on any variety of issues but I can tell you this: He seemed like a nice, decent young man.

We don’t have a lot of nice and decent people in politics. I give you Ted Cruz as the poster boy for this.  Nice guys seem to get destroyed by the bullies in adult life as well as in school. And Americans seem to eat it up. If you doubt this, Continue reading →

Here’s the world I grew up in – Italian men ruled, the president was in charge of America and the pope was in charge of the world. That was it. That was the hierarchy.

Of course, within it there were subcategories. What Monsignor Vincent said was the word of god, even if he was just praising the grade school Christmas play. What the Salesian nuns said was even more the word of god because – well, you know, Jesus listened to Mary so we had to listen to our mothers which somehow put women above men except it didn’t.

I Continue reading →

Or is it just Ted Cruz and his ilk? Nope, I checked. It’s Republicans. They are tearing down our democracy without a care in the world because they know that under dictator Trump they will rule without limits.

Is there some way to bring out own court case against the Republican Party for being treasonous? Is it wrong that I want to send all Trump supporters to Florida and then build the wall there?

And for all you Republicans out there who happily support Trump because your portfolios are bursting at the seams, you are scum willing to destroy everyone Continue reading →

Here are the things I think we should be thankful for this holiday season. First and foremost, thank you Covid 19. Because of you I do not have to stress over holiday meals with family and/or friends I may or may not like. Seriously, if I don’t want to see them in June, why would I suddenly want to see them in November or December?

I think we also need to send thanks to – yes, this is not a misprint – Donald Trump. While some think he may have been responsible for over 300,000 deaths in America from Covid Continue reading →

Everyone I have spoken to this holiday season – friends, family, acquaintances – all are continuing on with their holiday travel plans as usual because – as they assure me – they know how to travel safely.

So I guess the lesson we learn from this is that everyone I know is smarter than the average American Fauci was addressing when he cautioned against holiday travel. Because they have all assured me that they know how to travel safely. Wow. If only the rest of America had asked for their advice on this, everyone could be traveling.

Americans – we Continue reading →

I have searched my brain for a long time – and yes, there is enough left there for the search to be long – looking for a way to get over my frustration now turning to anger over holiday travel. I have relatives and friends who are traveling and all have the same argument. They know how to travel safely while the rest of the country is apparently filled with the idiots Dr. Fauci was actually addressing who don’t. In other words, the travel advisory, like so much else in this pandemic, is meant for everyone else but me.

This Continue reading →