INTERESTING TIMES

I'm in the livingroom because our tenant sleeps directly under my office---and she doesn't get up til 11am or so.  This means the livingroom becomes my office.  It's good having a tenant--money coming in for very little effort or expense.  And she will move out mid-March and I look forward to that.  Friends will come visit and stay in our basement then, and it is good having friends.

Another first world gripe this morning: my left wrist hurts.  I tweaked it hard (and banged my elbow) running a waterfall a few weeks back, and yesterday I spent the day kayaking.  That seems to have aggravated it.  I can't seem to take enough anti-inflammatories to be comfortable.  I wonder if I might have broken something in the wrist but my doc appointment doesn't come around until April 1.  No foolin.

The big news of the world is of course that Israel and the U.S. are gleefully attacking Iran.  How disgusting it is, all of it.  My apologies to the world for the dastardly behavior of our president and congress.  War is great for a few rich people and terrible for all the poor who suffer and die as soldiers and anyone caught near to the "action".  How disgusting the language we use to justify it.  How delightful the language in Jesse Welles songs, I listen to them on utube and they stick in my head.  War isn't murder.  Join ice.  Red.  Lots of good political protest songs and a few nonpolitical, like Bugs, and Siddhartha.

Taxes are my next project.  I have a giant basket full of papers that needs review just to find the ones needed, and then I need to look up whatever I haven't got yet.  I'm married now (this is a first time marriage that happened in my 50's) and my husband does the taxes.  That's cool, I don't mind not doing taxes, but I am still doing my father's taxes because he is in memory care.

Hope my friends out there in the world are doing all right.  Might be a good time to lay in an extra supply of foodstuffs and TP.

I was going to quit running the East Fork Lewis after the last lap when my back hurt when I landed from Sunset falls and hurt even worse landing from Horseshoe Falls.  Those drops are about 12 feet and 25 feet tall respectively.  The trick is to not land flat, to reduce the compressive forces on your spine.  But both of those drops make you land flat, or at least, try to.  Anyway yesterday I had someone else run my 9R through sunset, that saved my back.  Then at Horseshoe we scouted and I ran the left line as planned even though the water was 1000cfs higher than I usually see.  The line is stragihtforward but uncontrolled: you drop into the sluice and the water buries you before you even plug into the white at the bottom, and then while you're under water some strong currents hit you and you get flipped end for end before even resurfacing.  I hit my left elbow on the boat while underwater, and the twisting of the boat wrenched the paddle in my hands, hurting my left wrist.  I resurfaced upside down and rolled up on my second try, mad, because I was in pain.  Funny how pain pisses me off.  This morning, the day after that adventure, I'm OK, but still kind of pissed/sad about the fact that my body can't take the beating anymore.  Whitewater kayaking is very much about this question: can you take the abuse and still roll up.  The better you get, the less abuse you take, but it's still hard on a body and I'm about to turn 60. 

I just read in the Times that the olympic crowd booed JD Vance, and that the Italians are in the streets protesting against ICE.  Our pussygrabber in chief has sent his paramilitary to Europe and they don't like it either.  My apologies to the Italians; it's bad, we know.  The Americans have morphed into the likeness of our president who is a criminal and a demented, mentally ill man in the final stages of his devolution.   Wish we could have sent you something better.  Keep the faith; decency may not prevail but we can at least maintain small pockets of humanity where compassion and kindness are known.

from google:

 pabulum • \PAB-yuh-lum\ • noun. 1 : food; especially : a suspension or solution of nutrients in a state suitable for absorption 2 : intellectual sustenance 3 : something (as writing or speech) that is insipid, simplistic, or bland.

Easily absorbed = simplistic and bland?
Intellectual sustenance doesn't sound that desirable in this form.
Nor does food.
A little spice goes a long way.

Shrinkflation is a cost-saving, price-stabilizing gambit using reduced size/amount of product for the same price.  I know it is happening because now I have 3 different sizes of powerade bottles.  Consumers often don't even notice that a familiar product has shrunk a little bit. The contraction in our economy is just beginning.

Over the last few years I have been "othered" by a surprising number of Americans.  I have been called names by right-leaning folks who have mistaken me for a leftist.  They called me a statist, a snowflake, a libtard.  The leftists call me names too, especially when I reveal my libertarian sympathies.  According to them I'm a transphobe, homophobe, islamophobe.  I'm a woman so I don't get called sexist, but I do get called honey and darlin'.  I'm so tired of it all.  If you think I'm on either of those two sides, you're wrong

I believe that as humans we all should have certain rights, human rights, the most basic of those being dignity.  There is nothing dignified about name calling.  Tribalism doesn't have to go this low.

I believe that by working together, the people of a nation can achieve great things.  Working together means getting past our differences enough to team up and think about the common good.  I believe in the basic Christian values I learned as a child, that we should help out those in need, that we should be kind to all, even those who've made mistakes, even those who are different from us.  It appears to me that democracy depends on us sharing those beliefs, and that a certain selfish narcissism has overtaken our culture.  People say me mine, not us ours.

I believe in peace over profits.  Sure, war is profitable.  I did regret selling my Haliburton stock years ago, but I couldn't stand to have it in my portfolio.  I'd rather live in a time and place when I do not fear being shot just for showing up on the street.  I'd rather live in a time and place where connection is more valued than conflict.

I don't get my way.  I want my vote to count in a democracy, and because of where I live and the way this democracy is structured, my vote doesn't count.  I am building a micro-culture with me and mine, a small world where people are kind to each other, where listening happens, where compromise is possible.  It doesn't fix the problem with our government, but it helps keep me sane.

I do NOT stand with the loudmouths on either side of this culture war, especially not the fascists.  We cannot let them remain in power.  We must somehow reach the people who fear socialism and communism, because we are so far from those concerns it's not even funny.  We the people must speak up for decency, for fairness.  And we are, we will.

I am frustrated and agonized by the malfunction of our government, by the two-party paralysis, by the electoral college and all the devices by which my vote is removed from the count.  I am aggravated that I do not live in a swing state, so I don't even get to see the sneaky pac ads that musk paid for.  I am aggravated that humanity, even the richest of humans, seem to still be inadequately evolved to work together longterm.  We are too easily misled, too easily fooled.  I mourn for all that we have lost, and hope that the screaming can be stopped and reasonable, kind people will once again step up to assert that cooperation is the way, and drama and dominance make for a masculine wet dream but result in unhappiness and disaster.

These words were found in my father's handwriting:

THE HAPPY WANDERER

I. I love to go a wandering, along a mountain track,
And as I go I love to sing, my knapsack on my back.

II. I tip my hat to all I meet, and they wave back to me,
And blue birds sing so loud and sweet, from every greenwood tree. 

IIII. Oh may I always wander, until the day I die,
And may I always laugh and sing, beneath God's dear blue sky.


VIVA LA COMPANIE

I. Let every good fellow now join in the song.
Success to each other and pass it along.

II. A friend on your left and a friend on your right
In love and good fellowship now let us unite.

III. Now wider and wider our circle expands,
Let's sing to our comrades in far away lands.

 

I have just acquired a packraft.  My first one.  I’ve been lurking, curious about packrafts for years now, watching my friends, listening.  I come at packrafting from a whitewater background.  I’ve run rivers in every kind of craft.  Kayaking and rowing remain my favorite ways to flow.

 

I see packrafting as a means to access rivers that require carrying my boat farther than I want to carry a hardshell.  These days whitewater kayaks can easily weigh 50 pounds before I put float bags, a water bottle, a throwbag, hand paddles, first aid kit, and lunch in there.  The packraft weighs 8 pounds, plus add in all that same stuff.  Carrying my backpacking kit plus 14 pounds of boating gear is still going to be a load, but I am excited to do it.  Nothing is more enticing than a new wilderness river.

 

I understand that lots of people come at packrafting from the opposite direction.  It’s a forgiving craft in which to learn to paddle whitewater.  More maneuverable than a raft, it gets you interacting with the river on that individual scale.  For these folks it could easily be their favorite boat out of their whole quiver, because it offers the most independence.

 

The trap I see is the one I face.  I have seen friends do it—transition to the packraft for self-support missions and then have a hard time getting back in the hardshell.  For people who aren’t confident in their roll, or who flip over too much in a kayak, the papckraft is an obvious choice.  You get to go on the river without such stress and worry.  

 

The problem with removing that stress and worry is that it blunts your edge.  Just as paddling a kayak with really good stability does.  You stop sitting up and engaging your lower core, instead relying on the boat to provide balance.  Eventually you merge with the blob that you are sitting on which might as well be a couch.  Pass the popcorn.

 

My plan is to maintain my edge as long as possible.  I paddle an edgy kayak that requires me to sit up and paddle actively.  It flips me over really fast if I get lazy or inattentive.  Thankfully my roll works, and this combat-roll practice is making it better.  I’m not young, so the downslope is in sight, but for now I’m still getting better at kayaking.

 

I don’t intend to roll my packraft.  I will try it, but not hard enough to hurt my shoulders.  If I find it easy then I’ll do it, but no straining.  I got a self bailer so I can just climb back in to self rescue.  I’m hoping that with my whitewater skills I won’t flip over too much.  We shall see if I fall into the packraft trap.

You don't know me.  I'm from Tennessee and I was born in the 1960's.  I've been an independent as long as I've been politically aware, because it is clear to me that both of our dominant parties here in the United States of America have become corrupt.  Both are overly influenced by big money, favors and whatnot.  Political figures on both sides have found ways to work the system to stay in power and enrich themselves.  Both parties have become more extreme because our voting systems including closed primaries cause that.  The incentives in our system are all wrong.  It might seem to be time to blow it up, to clear the slate in a dramatic way.

I would argue there's a right and wrong way to clear the slate.  Blowing it up is the wrong way because so much useful stuff gets destroyed in the process.  The right way would be to update our voting systems so that no one population gets to decide for all of us.  Open primaries, non-partisan districting, and ranked choice voting would fix our problems immediately.  The far left wouldn't be stuffing wokeness down our throats.  The far right wouldn't be trying to set up an authoritarian who will rule without regard for the Constitution.  We would have more options, instead of always having to choose between extremes that are both awful.

The beauty of the American system of government and its Constitution is that it was designed to keep any one faction from gaining absolute power.  That saying about power corrupting, and absolute power corrupting absolutely--that's absolutely true.  Our government was designed to keep anyone from having too much power.  The plan is to force us to compromise for the good of the people.  Compromise is hard work. 

Our government is supposed to be OF the people and FOR the people.  Not OF the academics, Christians, rich people, minorities, white people, men or any other single group.  OF THE PEOPLE.  FOR THE PEOPLE.   This is why America is a beacon on a hill for people all around the world.  A place where regular people have a chance.  A place where you won't get killed because you look different or celebrate a different totem.  THIS is the greatness of America.  Our forefathers had a vision and we have carried it forward for over 200 years.

Democracies usually fail before 200 years.  It's rare for a democracy to last as long as this one has.  And it is riddled with imperfections.  It needs work, a big update, a major overhaul.  Those who pretend it's perfect are totally nuts.  We made a lot of changes early, and the civil war forced us to make a bunch more changes.  We're about to have to get busy again.  If this democracy doesn't fail this November because too many people vote for a DICTATOR, we still have a lot of work to do.  The Democrats aren't autocrats like DJT, but they aren't going to give up power easily either.  WE THE PEOPLE must force the changes needed, and those changes will disempower BOTH of our dominant political parties and return the power TO THE PEOPLE.  Ranked choice voting.  Open Primaries.  Non-partisan districts for voting. 

Democracies require work!  They don't work if the people aren't paying attention or doing the work.  A failing democracy is not a reason to give up, it's a reason to get after it!  If we let Trump win it's because we gave up, we were too lazy and too ignorant to make the updates needed to keep rulership in the hands of the people.  Or return it there, really.

If we let our government fall prey to a dictator who ditches the Constitution, we will have lost all that we've fought and died for, for so long.  We'll be right back where we started when those rich Brits and the king were bossing us around.  Don't remember that?  It's because it was 200+ years ago!  History seems real boring until you start repeating it.  The LAST thing we need is to let Trump destroy all the democratic systems in our government in order to glorify himself.  It will take hundreds of years to dig ourselves back out of that pit.  Autocracy is a very bad trap. 

If we let the Dems take this next election, we might live to see the changes that would actually help!  We'll be fighting against them too, but at least they aren't about to ditch the Constitution and ignore federal law to deport a whole bunch of people.

There are LOTS of other changes that we need to work on, but our voting systems must come first.  I pray that NO DICTATOR gains power before we are able to hit the RESET button on our systems and keep working toward a more perfect union.

Even those too lazy to vote feel it their birthright to blast our elected representatives from every direction.  We complain bitterly when we do not get all we want as if it were possible to have more services with lower taxes, broader health care coverage with no federal involvement, a cleaner environment without regulations, security from terrorists with no infringement on privacy, and cheaper consumer goods made locally by workers with higher wages.  In short, we crave all the benefits of change without the costs.  When we are disappointed, our response is to retreat into cynicism, then start thinking about whether there might be a quicker, easier, and less democratic way to satisfy our wants.

--Madeline Albright on page 116 of Fascism, A Warning.  This quote comes on the heels of a section about globalism and about the manipulation of public opinion using the internet.  The first part of this book was the best short history of Europe I have ever read--for once it made sense.  Excellent read: recommend.