By Judi Curry
In the past 4 days I have received 5 emails from people asking me why I haven’t written anything lately.
One wanted to know if I had a relapse of Covid. Thank you all for your concerns – I am fine, just so peeved at my fellow man that I find it hard to not rant and rave about the goings on in the world today.
Let me give you a sample – and I know the daggers are about ready to be thrown again. I suspect that the “dagger-throwers” are the ones that I am writing about in the first place.
Where to begin? Perhaps with the lowly Senators of the United States that do not have the testicles to stand up to the horrific former President of the United States – trump. What must he have on them to have them deny that anything other than a tourist excursion took place on January 6th. They were there; they saw what was happening, and still they continue to deny the role that trump played in this insurrection.
Maybe that is not the place to begin.
Perhaps it is now with the strongest person in the Senate – Joe Manchin – who seems to be able to dictate how the voting will go by where he places his check-mark. He was elected as a democrat; it’s time for him to change parties and go where he really belongs – in the trump republican clan – or start looking at what is best for the people of the United States and vote accordingly.
Or maybe it isn’t January 6, Joe Manchin or… maybe it is the ridiculous recount of the ballots in Arizona. Do you believe for a minute that the “counters”, with their blue pens are not changing the original ballot choices? What a complete farce that is.
But wait – how about the San Diego judge that just overturned the California ban on assault weapons by stating “ . . . it a failed experiment” that violates people’s constitutional right to bear arms.”
I’m not finished yet.
How about the right-wing republicans – are there any other kinds anymore? – that are putting a great deal of money behind the recall of our Governor Gavin Newsom? And they want to replace him with a trump supporter that has never had anything to do with politics – Caitlyn Jenner; or Kevin Faulconer, our do nothing former Mayor of San Diego; or John Cox who uses our state symbol – the grizzly bear in his commercials, or even Mary Carey, the retired adult movie actress, etc. What a complete waste of money.
Newsom is doing a fine job with the Covid crisis; he stood his ground when all around him others were complaining. (Thank you, Kipling.) And all those people that signed the petition? Are they even aware of what they are doing? Or are they just following along the republican line because they didn’t get their way.
And talking about recall – what a huge disappointment that the movement to replace Jen Campbell failed. Every single day something else comes up for those of us living in the Ocean Beach/ Pt. Loma area that should be rectified that Campbell does nothing about. She is a “sell-out”- to contractors and companies with money.
The complaints that we, as a community, have made go unnoticed; broken promises are made; and we are getting deeper and deeper into homelessness; crime, and over-crowded traffic. And thanks to Campbell it is going to get worse with what will happen in the Midway district.
And don’t forget the lack of police protection in this area too. I don’t care if yesterday 3 people were issued citations for having an open container on the Cliffs. What I do care about is the constant break-ins that are happening all around us and nothing is getting done.
I am also irked about the legislature re: abortion. I am a woman. I have daughters, grand-daughters and great granddaughters. I resent any male, – the reason a woman gets pregnant in the first place -legislating abortions. It is a medical situation and should be between a woman and her physician. How dare some senator or representative that can buy Viagra and get someone pregnant have a say in what I do with my body. Next we will hear that the companies that manufacture hangers are running out of them! Illegal abortions will, once again, be a concern in the next decade.
I get upset every time I hear someone quote Fox News. As stupid as the quote might be, it is taken for gospel. Didn’t these people learn anything in school? Didn’t they learn to question the obvious lies? Even when the lie is proven, it is still quoted with gusto.
And what about the hatred that is being exhibited all over the US today. It used to be against the immigrants; the Jews and now it is including the Asians. And it is no longer under cover. Thanks to trump and his encouraging words, it is out in the open and few of these minorities feel safe walking out of their house to their cars any more.
He gave people the license to kill and people took him at his word.
I could go on and on, but I suspect I have already ticked off a lot of people reading this.
But as I started out this message – the anger at the American People is building, and I worry about my grandchildren’s lives during the next century. The land of the free does not exist anymore. The hope for a better life does not exist anymore. What does rule us now is bigotry; insanity; and the mistaken notion that the 2020 election was rigged. It is a sad, scary world.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
No Judy, not everybody will be ticked off because I was sitting here grinning while reading so I would say I was tickled instead! Does that count?
You might want to read the links I pasted on the ‘What progressives are saying about’ thread because triggerfinger threw one at me about the Muncher dude and you answered it perfectly (as I did using an analogy)…and Frank posted a link on Trump you’ll like, too. You ain’t alone in your thinking, lady!
And that fat golden retriever you’ve got in the picture? Dec 16th I was given a 7+/- yr old that looks just like yours who has spent the last 4 years of her life alone in a 4×6′ dirt kennel outside off of Addy/Gifford Rd in a multi-family mormon compound because she was a ‘bad dog, wouldn’t listen or come when called, dug holes, barked all the time, ran away whenever she got out and wouldn’t come back, didn’t get along with the other ‘purse accessory’ dogs that lived there, chewed shoes and socks…and never would play fetch with anyone or even pay attention to a ball but my friend said the kids there would poke her with sticks through the wire…. Useless dog, right?
This was what I was warned by the young woman whom my friend brought to my property to meet the dog because the woman was the only one that fed her and she was leaving for college… This dog blended immediately in with the 14 yr old blind husky throwaway I took in a couple years ago, instant pack mates! And they’ve never been on a leash having free run of these forested 8 acres, goes out and comes back no problem; no kennels here just a huge dog run with a ponderosa pine for shade in it but I haven’t used it yet with her. I threw away the choke chain she had on and sewed her up a real collar; she wakes me up every morning with her head on the bed staring at me…Does she want to eat me or is it love? She just stares at me and does this a lot! What does it mean? And her tail never stops wagging and she rolls on her back like an insane wiggle worm, and was just fine in the tub with her first bath…
Serious separation anxiety, follows me everywhere and barks frantic when I leave her in the old 4Runner and I have to make sure the windows are mostly up because you’d be surprised how small a crack a big fat girl dog can get through to follow me… The husky died last Saturday night (heart) and she laid by her side under the apple tree all day long. The husky girl had time enough to teach Cinnamon (Cinners or Brown Dog now) about living here and the property treeline boundaries so now I’m back to one throwaway dog and will keep my ears open about another because it’s always easier having two dogs…
Oh, and did I forget to say that she walks around with a ball in her mouth nearly constantly? She now has 7 for both outside, inside, in the vehicle, out in my shop, and in town at the 2nd hand where I fix things for a friend once a week. So much for not being a ball dog!
Yeah, I know, I got off track but hey this is a cool dog that moved in a few months ago!
Glad you’ve come back from the Covid. There is a form the doctors have labeled ‘Long Covid’ that seems to go on and on with some people. Extremely debilitating lingering after effects, including getting in the white matter of the brain. REAL glad to hear you don’t have that because I know people who are just freaking suffering still with this awful disease. The woman friend who brought the young woman and dog over is only 42 and she’s going up and down still after 6 months. Her husband and teenage daughter both were ‘mild’ cases… Best to you!
sealintheSelkirks
We have agreed on so many things. Too bad you moved out of San Diego!
Dogs are like children. You can get them to do just about anything with love and patience. Enjoyed reading about your experiences.
Thanks for the compliment Judy, and yes we do certainly do.
Yes, there are times when I notice the…homesick I guess it is in some ways from missing my beach world of OB and MB. But I also too-well understand that neither beach are really anything like the places I grew up on 1950s-1980s that are in my memories. That realization was heavily reinforced when I had to go down to bury my last San Diego relative in summer of 2001. I spent a little over 2 weeks sorting through her house out on Mission Gorge Rd. and driving to the beach every morning for waves, and wandering and skating around the old neighborhoods. The air was far more polluted to breath (living in mountains far from a city gives one a good base line for that), and the increased noise and crowds and buildings and congestion were clearly from increasing population pressures. And that was two decades ago.
The start of my 18th year here is June 22nd. Every place has is up and downsides, no doubt about it, but this second half of my life in three different mountain ranges has been pretty dang good…. Pictures on my shop’s home page and more in ‘photo gallery’ at the bottom of the page… http://www.boardwarm.com
sealintheSelkirks
When I hit your link, seal, I got a danger notice and the url changed to mtnthreads.com.
Well dang, so did I, Geoff! It says the ‘security certificate’ fee expired at the end of May. Don’t know what that is about and sent an email to the webmaster tonight when I got home who runs a number of independent shop sites not just mine out of Klamath Falls, Oregon. More than 20 years online sales…but I’m betting this is more about getting paid to ‘authorize’ than it is about anything else because it’s got a quite large encryption security on it, far more than it needs. 128 bit or something like that. I don’t understand computers that way but it’s a safe site. I imagine I’ll hear back from the web folks tomorrow hopefully.
I hadn’t looked at my webpage in a while since it’s a seasonal winter gear shop and I don’t get many orders after February. But I am still selling a book here and there on it. Might be why I haven’t sold one in the last two weeks. I hit the ‘load anyway’ bypass and it popped up fine.
Mtn. Threads Hats & Clothing is the official registered name since 1991 but it’s been boardwarm.com for two decades because it’s easier to remember than mtnthreads.com since people kept putting in ‘mountain’ instead of the abbreviation and not finding it. Duh, ya know?
Besides which it has been a snowboarding gear shop since inception and I designed a way cool sticker that goes with snow surfing…and concrete surfing and wave surfing and wakeboard surfing. I didn’t have room for a river surfing icon though I do that, too! retired botanist got a couple stickers for her Santa Cruz-living daughter and sent them to her a couple years ago for her skateboard…
Thanks for the notice!
sealintheSelkirks
Geoff,
Thanks for the notice. It was an automatic renewal program that didn’t on May 19th. Nobody who went to my site in the last month, unless they already knew the email or phone number, would have been able to contact me. So my site was down for a month. The webmaster said it might have been because the website had to be rebuilt last August when I published the book due to the old shopping cart being unable to handle the new phone apps and this auto program just didn’t make the transfer. I cut all the clothing pages out of the site, too, since I don’t ever get any orders for coats and such anymore. Too much Asia slave-made coming in to the US. Just winter hats and accessories now.
You can now look up boardwarm.com (mtnthreads.com) and see the pics on the home page and at the bottom on ‘Photo Gallery’.
I wonder how many book customers I missed? Bummer. But I still won’t put my book on Amazon because I don’t want to make the sociopath Bezos wealthier by a single dime…
sealintheSelkirks
It works fine now, seal. I went in and had a look around. I got so cold, I had to step outside into the sun. But, it sounds like it’s hotter up there now than it is here in OB. It looks beautiful up there, you’re fortunate that the cold doesn’t bother you. Seems you made it work. Me, I’ll stick to pictures viewed from 32.7495° N, 117.2470° W.
I agree with you about abortion in that I belive the women should have the right to make that choice but interestingly enough, the most heated disagreements I’ve had were with women. In fact I personally come across more pro life/anti abortion women than I do men so I think it really has more to do with religious views than simply men wanting to control women.
For starters, I believe in abortion rights too. What I find difficult is the attitude that men have no say at all in this. This line got me “I resent any male, – the reason a woman gets pregnant in the first place -legislating abortions.” The male is not THE reason a woman gets pregnant, it takes a man AND a woman to do that. This is a complicated issue and I disagree it is a woman-only decision. Sure, it’s her body and she chose to share it. The consequences of a consensual union fall on both parties so both should have some say in this.
I don’t know, Geoff. When men can get pregnant then they should have a say. Not until then.
Ok, then, that is the hard line then. If that is the way to go then a man who wants to keep a child a woman wants to abort should have no further obligation to the woman. The woman who decides to have the child and the man does not want to be a father should bear the burdens and the man should have no further obligation.
Sorry, but totally disagree w/ Geoff on this one. If your “it takes two” POV had any merit, we would presumably also have laws that regulate men’s sperm, right? Haven’t seen that, except that Viagra is free, but birth control for women isn’t, etc.
The fact that Roe v Wade is, once again, even up for discussion is so Gilead it makes me sick. As Chris said, its a religious (nevermind scientific!) perspective, so I don’t want someone else’s religious POV dictating what I do with my body. While you may think the source of the sperm matters, that argument would give an anonymous sperm donor rights in what I do with my body. It is super depressing we are still fighting this…
I had to do a little quick reading before replying, retired. Viagra is not covered by insurance plans. A generic that came out in 2017 is covered. And, from what I read, birth control is also covered.
I don’t understand the comment about regulating sperm.
I agree with your sentiment about Roe v Wade.
I think the source of sperm can matter. The analogy making a comparison with anonymous donors doesn’t work for me. They are anonymous by agreement and have no emotional connection to the women. What I object to is the idea that men only get the blame for the pregnancy, when the woman is equally responsible, and are told they have no right to say anything after that.
And yes, religion has no place in the discussion.
I think since the women is the one carrying the fetus/child whatever you want to call it, she should have ultimately have the final say so. I think we all agree that. I agree with Geoff that the man involved should be able to say something (barring rape) because it DOES take two to tango. Still it is the women’s decision. Seems pretty simple to me. My bigger point though was that it’s more complicated than saying it’s men who want to control women as sole reason for the pro life stance and that there are just as many women who share that view. Religion IS the biggest factor in restrictive laws abortion laws. Should it be? No, but it is.
Ok, fair enough, but what is covered and not covered is wholly dependent on the Plan, including copays, employers, and such, so I’ll concede to the (perhaps) more shallow aspect of that point. But I still offer the point that, if you want men to be part of the discussion, then they must also be part of the controls and solutions. And so what laws do we have that curb men impregnating women? What laws do we have that require men to alter their lifestyles, goals, employment, health, and future financial potential? Child support? Seriously? With respect to the second rebuttal, how many unwanted pregnancies have emotional connection? Certainly, we can rule out pregnancy following rape as unwanted, although certain states would like to eliminate that option for women as well. Its not about blame! We all understand that it takes both egg and sperm to conceive, whether either cells are willingly, or anonymously, offered or not. The fundamental point is that men do not carry pregnancies, women do. So once conceived, a pregnancy remains in the exclusive domain of a woman’s body, that’s just the way the evolution chips lay. And that self-right of proceed or not should never, ever, be dictated by a man, or a government, or a religion. Its just what it is. If men are allowed to own their own bodies, so should women. Sorry, not sorry. :-)
I only answered the statement that you made, retired, saying Viagara is free and birth control is not because making the point the way you did made it seem very unequal and that was not the case.
“And so what laws do we have that curb men impregnating women?” Well, the only ones I know about are laws against rape and incest. What laws are there to curb women from getting pregnant?
“What laws do we have that require men to alter their lifestyles, goals, employment, health, and future financial potential?” What laws do we have that require the same thing of women? Right now, women have a right to an abortion if they wish to avoid all those things.
“And that self-right of proceed or not should never, ever, be dictated by a man, or a government, or a religion.”
I never said anything about anyone dictating anything, all I’ve said is I disagree that the man has no right of participation. One man said “A woman can legally deprive a man of his right to become a parent or force him to become one against his will.” I think if a woman decides to do either against his will, then the man should be freed of all responsibility. Otherwise, the dictating is being done by women.
Well, if a guy could get pregnant I don’t think it would work out very well. I mean, look at what happened to that guy in Alien. I mean, Ouchie! s/
Woman’s body, woman’s choice. Sex is good, accidents happen.
sealintheSelkirks
Fair enough, Geoff, and my ‘sorry not sorry’ quip was glib, so apology there for my disregard of your opinion. But with respect to laws affecting males (rape and incest), conviction does not undo the pregnancy and the female is still left holding the bag and having to make a difficult choice. Right now women in most parts of this country have choice, but it is astounding that this has to be defended year after year. (And while thankfully we don’t have laws curbing women from pregnancy, countries like China do.). And issues like removing funding from agencies like Planned Parenthood b/c they offer termination services is appalling. Right to choice is just a perpetual battle that women should not have to face. And sorry, Widder, for monopolizing the thread! :-)
retired, you and I do not have much of any difference between us. I agree with you. I only tend to venture into this subject when I see a point of view that puts men in a totally bad light. I do not like what I see as extreme views on either end of a discussion and I mean that in general, not pertaining to your comment. On one end, men are the root of all evil. On the other end, women should have no rights. Stepping into this debate is like walking into a mine field, but sometimes you just feel like you need to do it. No hard feelings, I hope.
Haha, none at all, my friend! And I do sympathize that, lately, men do seem to be the root of all evil! And women are hurtling back to the days of the suffragettes! Wtf? While it may sound like “we used to trough thru the snow to school” old boomer dialog, we could sure use some 60s enlightenment these days! Where’d all that go?! :-)
Back when I had to trough through the snow, the snow was WAY colder than the snow they have nowadays. Not only was it up hill going to school, it was uphill heading back home.
Looks like you and Chris are both using the same spell checker. What the heck is up with “trough through the snow”?
Haha, Peter, true enough- lazy proofreaders we are!!
I resemble that. Almost every post I’ve done here has spelling and grammatical errors, repeated words, bad sentence structure, poor grammar, you name it. The irony being this post about bad typing is probably the best put together post I’ve done lol.