All finished with Town politics. 

I submitted my resignation letter and suggested that with a conversation I may revisit my decision. Wasnt worth the time it took to write the email. never heard back except to say they need a copy of the letter. You would have thought a discussion? a brief conversation?..no. Gone. ok. works for me. frees up my evenings and weekends after 15 years in school and a myriad of degrees. 

 Well....

so many changes..out with the old..in with the new.

Started a new job last week after 36 years at my previous one. Im 62 why am I starting all over?..like some many of my younger co-workers have done..I chased the money and got it. a series of events took place over the past year or so that told me it was time to go. First I got my Masters degree. I had been promised a better position, more pay..and so forth when I got the degree. What did I get?..an email saying great job. I eventually went and talked to my boss and he told me I had wasted my time getting the degree. I would never get much more money and basically be happy I was still employed. Well, my problem was I had seen salary surveys online during my Graduate school career that stated a average salary was xxx,xxx for a person with my qualifications and eduction. I was making xx,xxx . An entire X below the AVERAGE. Sent out one resume on a recommendation and the gentleman gave me an offer right then and there. 

I didnt understand before because I believed in loyalty to the company and the company would be loyal to me...well thats bullshit. Businesses are there to make money and employees should adopt the same attitude. If business A wont pay you what your worth..Business B will or Business C will..

I wish I had learned that earlier in my career. It might not have been such a struggle at times if I had. 

Trumps parade. My thoughts

          I am a supporter of the military. Many of my family members have served , some their entire career. I have nothing but respect for them. Even the guy I used to work with who seemingly spent 20 years sweeping out airplane hangers in nowhere Kansas. 

          That parade had nothing to do with the military. It was to swath the ego of our liar in chief. estimates of 50 to 60 million dollars were wasted on a parade reminisint of North Korea and Russia despite the facts that came out later that their parades were full of phony rockets and broken equipment. The squeeking treads on the tracks of the tanks yesterday pointed it out. 

         It must have been embarassing for the military to march down the streets of washington DC and find them mostly empty while reports of hundreds of thousands of people showed up all over the country for No Kings rallies. Meme's took no time to appear comparing trumps crowds to local tag sales, the line at the DMV..the line at the staduim to pee in the trough.Even trump news outlets said "thousands" instead of the usual bloated exaggeration. Maybe "thousands" was the bloated exaggeration. Thats a thought. 

         

        

Well, Proud of my town meeting colleague's

 We had our Bi-annual Town Meeting yesterday( for those who don't have this , we elect representatives for a town meeting (think congress in a much smaller but SMARTER instance) and we meet twice a year to discuss and vote on matters in our town( budgets, bylaws etc...) Yesterday was our spring town meeting. We had a number of the usual questions that appear every year (allocate this, approve that. Basically housekeeping articles.) and a few important ones. a Camping bylaw that would make homelessness a felony if carried far enough-failed. An article regarding allowing LTC(license to carry) gun owners permission to carry in our municipal buildings-FAILED resoundingly.(to my surprise given our gun culture here) and an amendment to trim the other town dept's budgets to fund our school system shortfalls--this also failed. 

        I did not support the camping question because we are short of resources in our town and it placed a demand on the police to maintain patrols of the known area of campsites the homeless have created. During the discussion it was divulged the town has exceptional programs in place to house the homeless and in fact have currently reduced the homeless to Zero or almost zero. The question would have created civil fines that the homeless cannot pay and taken to the extreme would had led to jail if the fines were allowed to lapse. Homelessness should not be a crime anywhere. A lot of us are a major illness away from joining them given the soaring costs associated with medical procedures. 

       I did not support the Gun question because of public safety. The employees of the town when polled (even though a slight majority were LTC) - they did not want guns in municipal buildings. Municipal buildings in our town are a 9-iron away from public schools and their facilities in fact the Town hall is surrounded by the middle school on one side, athletic fields behind and the Stadium of the 3rd side. There was talk that the building itself belonged to the school dept since it had originally been a school. 

       The school question. I supported it even though I knew it would fail. I believe the gentleman had the right idea but the chainsaw approach was wrong much like Musk. Forcing the town depts going forward to maintain a percentage increase equal or less to the schools would certainly be a start. Does it solve the problem? no but it does make unappetizing solutions a little more palatable. 

The problem is Prop 2 1/2. in its concept to force town government to stay within a 2.5 % annual increase of growth. This eases the strain somewhat on the homeowners. Well it does not take into account of all things Inflation and Insurance costs whose annual increases far exceed those of inflation. In the past 20 years we have seen this town get lean. Very lean with cost cutting. we don't pay comparable salaries, offer lousy benefits and as a result the turnback's our administration boast of are simply salaried budgeted for unfilled positions. Great system. we have turned off streetlights, we now pay for trash and bags, everything to do in town hall comes with a fee. before much longer the bathrooms will charge a quarter. Nickel and dimed to death?. More like $25 and $50. 

That's the town we decided we wanted because God forbid we pay more in property taxes. We pay convenience fees. Use a service-pay a fee. Downside is children in school, the service of Public Education. I have no problem paying my share of public education. I fully support education and those who provide the service. These kids are our future. My 4 kids went through the system and three graduated college and the last works fulltime for a government contractor. They received an excellent education but know that education is in danger because of short sightedness regarding money. Why build today what we can put off till tomorrow?. Well we can and we do. just remember that school that will cost 25 million next year will cost 30 million the year after and more the year after that. How long can we afford to wait to fund education? 

 

Friday Night flight over NYC at dawn. Learning as I go. its amazing how much the authentic flight manual really makes a difference. Flap positions, take off speeds , engine settings...couldnt even takeoff without that information now flying all over the world. 

TRUMP TACO's an easy explanation.

 

Over the last week or so the term #TrumpTaco or #Taco has come across my timelife and on TV. What follows is my explanation of exactly what a Taco is. 

        Media defines it as Trump Always Chickens Out....TACO. He threatens countries with tariffs but when it comes to enforcement...he delays or cancels. The definition does make logical sense. We know he is perceived as a bully and when confronted. Crumbles.

My explanation goes on a slightly different path. Here it is. On Monday Trump makes headlines threatening Whitemanistan with 75% tariffs on widgets. As we have seen the markets are incredibly sensitive to his comments like this. The news media reports it and the the stock market slumps. On Tuesday Trump and his "buddies(Flunkies and congressmen) buy on the dip...depending on the depth of the dip it could extend to wed or even into Thursday.  Untold millions of dollars. On Friday, Trump announces a "deal" with Whitemanistan for a much smaller tariff or cancel the tariff all together. Funny thing is the media in Whitemanistan report of no such deal or even negotiations. (That's the problem he has with Canada. The media is so close we can hear for ourselves about what happened and since we have no basis to disbelieve them and no basis to believe ANYTHING trump says) The market soars and they dump their shares for a large profit. The new tax cuts for the wealthy guarantee they get to keep their profits. 

We are being played. Art of the Steal. 

Fun times on the FinComm.

 Fun times,

   Town meeting approaches and we as a town are facing a dilemma. Recently our Select Board (who were well within their rights) hired a new town administrator with a substantial increase in pay over the previous administrator and mayors of several surrounding much larger towns. Se ethe articles in https://dartmouth.theweektoday.com/  for background information. The following are my thoughts and do not express the thoughts of the Finance Committee or its members in any way. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have resigned my position as a result of the situation and another that is brewing) 

 The Finance committee spent months over the winter and spring meeting with and reviewing the budgets of the different town depts. We asked questions of the the dept heads about capital needs and present budgets conditions and we felt as a group a 3% raise for employees was do-able given out town budget and financial constraints. we spent meetings discussing the effects of people getting 4% while their employees get 3. After the meetings ,discussions and arguing (good naturedly) we agreed on a preliminary budget  to submit to the Select Board. we received back a budget with an abnormal increase in one line item. Town Administrator. The budget has been increased to 225,000 over the 200,000 we had agreed on.

       Dartmouth is encumbered by a process called Proposition 2 1/2 . Google for more information. 

With the town manager getting a 25,000 raise or more (depending on who you talk to) how do you tell the other employees in town who do an excellent job that they might get 25 HUNDRED dollars if they are fortunate. 

Another fact that draws into question the contract is the fact the mayors of surrounding towns which have a much larger population have substantially LOWER salaries. New Bedford for example pays its mayor 167,000 (almost 60,000 dollars less.) and Fall River 118,000 and its Town Administrator 145,000. New Bedford's annual budget is roughly 6 times Dartmouth's budget . Shouldn't those figures be turned around?

about time for an upgrade.

          It finally happened. the yoke and quadrant system ( flight simulation hardware) finally went on sale. I use fs9 (flight sim 2004) to fly all over the world without ever leaving my office. I flew a bunch of planes (737, little Cessna's etc...) and finally chose a Boeing B-50 . the RB-50F to be exact seen below flying over the lush green fields of Ireland. This plane had a long and varied history in the USAAF starting out as a replacement to the B-29 with larger engines , a larger tail and many advancements. It was in fact a stop -gap between world war 2 and the age of Jets. several were used in a variety of roles. Weather detection, photography and even refueling tankers for the jets that replaced them. Ive added several items that were not available to the pilots of that era. Flight computer navigation, a Heads up display, ground proximity warning system, GPS, modern autopilot and landing system. Every time I fly I learn something new about this plane. 

          Im not a "gamer" with an expensive setup and the newest "cutting edge " hardware. I downloaded the game for the folks at Internet Archive for free. Bought a 34 dollar joystick. (best 34 dollar joystick you can imagine ( the Logitech pro something) on Amazon. scoured Flightsim.com and Simviation for planes and gauges, scenery, tips and tricks , went on Youtube to see great videos on how to optimize the experience through tweaking the program parameters and suggesting add-ons to improve the experience. The landscape of Ireland below was such an add-on. Its amazing. 

         The reason I went the "economy route " was simple. a lot of people spend a lot of money building a great flight setup to discover after a while it gets kind of boring. I'm trying to get the best experience without spending a fortune and so far I have. I went as far as purchasing the electronic versions of the flight manuals for the B-50 and many of its various versions from a website that specializes in out of date manuals in New Zealand. downloaded all six 500+ page manuals and voila. Reading material for the next six months on my wife's original 12 year old iPad. courtesy of iCloud. (first time I ever used it). right ..why by new when used will do! I don't believe in built in obsolescence. I have an old iPhone 7 my kids used years ago on my motorcycle for a compass and weather. works great. 

Olaf. 

 Well, its been awhile. I decided to start updating and adding fun little things featuring my relatively new love of aviation. Odd how someone who gets so motion sick would love flying but. Whatever.

I've added a few new webcams for far and exotic places . Greenland , Las Vegas and St Martin where I believe they land right over your head on the beach. 

In the last few months I finished my Masters in cybersecurity and resigned from my towns finance committee in protest over 2 events that occured recently in my town. I'll be posting about them later.

Ive joined Bluesky as Olaf Olaffsun and quit X. 

Problems Native Americans face voting

                      Alot of the information for this post has come from here:

https://vote.narf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/obstacles_at_every_turn.pdf  

From:

https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voting-for-all-americans-native-americans

"Native Americans, like all citizens of the United States, have the right to vote in federal, state and local elections. Native Americans may also vote in tribal elections and may have dual citizenship in two sovereign nations, the U.S. and their tribe.

For voting in federal, state and local elections, Native American voters, especially if they live on reservations, may face challenges distinct from those faced by others: rural locations, limited residential mail delivery, housing insecurity and more. These problems are not unique to Native Americans and policy choices that address these challenges often aid other voters as well. For instance, rural voters everywhere may face issues with postal service, and voters with limited literacy or English proficiency on and off reservations can benefit from plain-language elections materials."

 

 

In Obstacles at Every Turn: Barriers to Political Participation Faced by Native American Voters, NARF identifies challenges for Native American Voters, some of which we summarize here:

• Geography: Traditional addresses give a number and a street name. When registering to vote, people are assigned to a voting precinct based on their home address. On reservations or in other rural areas, nontraditional addresses, or homes with no address at all, are common. Those living on Native American reservations may use a description for their address which may be hard for others to identify. Registering to vote is based on the geographic location of a home, and if that's hard to identify, it can be hard to get registered and for election officials to assign a voter to a precinct.

• Housing insecurity: Because of poverty and the lack of housing on many reservations, nontraditional residences-couch surfing-are more common, again making voter registration harder. Some people don't have fixed addresses, or they don't feel they have a residence to list on the registration forms, which may discourage them from registering to vote.

• Mail service: The U.S. Postal Service may not deliver mail to many Native American or Alaska Native homes due to nontraditional addresses and distance from towns or cities. Many of these voters may not reliably receive election materials, including absentee/mail ballots. Many Native Americans in rural areas use rented P.O. boxes for mail delivery and these P.O. boxes may be in short supply. Boxes are often shared, so ensuring that a ballot gets to the right person can be difficult. Mail delivery may take longer in rural areas. Longer postal transit time could mean absentee or mail ballots aren't returned to the election office in time to be counted.

• Poor roads and vast distances: Unpaved roads may become impassable after bad weather, and the distances between voters and resources may be large. The Navajo Nation in the southwestern United States, for example, is approximately the size of West Virginia. In such circumstances, voters' P.O. boxes could easily be 20-40 miles from their homes, and county seats even further, so making a trip to town to get a ballot is hard. On some reservations, like the Duck Water Reservation in Nevada, traveling to an in-person voting location can be over 100 miles round trip. Some Standing Rock Sioux tribal members must travel over 50 miles to the nearest South Dakota Department of Motor Vehicles office where they might register to vote.

• The digital divide: Broadband availability is often worse in rural regions, including tribal lands, than in other areas. Without reliable access to the internet, communications with election officials (such as online voter registration, online requests for absentee ballots and communications about missing ballots) can be difficult.

• English fluency: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin have American Indian/Alaska Native populations with enough nonproficient English speakers that one or more Native languages are "covered" by section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. That means that in some jurisdictions, bilingual ballots and voting materials must be provided in Apache, Choctaw, Hopi, Inupiat, Navajo, Pueblo, Ute, Yup'ik or a catchall group for all other languages, according to the Department of Justice's most recent determination of covered languages from 2021. The next determination will be released in 2026.

Literacy: Like in other high-poverty communities, low literacy rates can be a common concern on Native American reservations. Making sure that voting materials and ballots are written in plain language can make a difference.

 

 

Policies that Affect Native American Voters

• Mostly-mail voting: Eight states and D.C. have adopted all-mail voting; all but one are in the West, where the percentage of Native American voters is higher. With mostly mail voting, all voters are mailed a paper ballot to vote at home and may return their ballot through the mail or at a designated drop box or voter service center, though other in-person voting options may still be available. However, Native American voters may not have a mailbox or a fixed address and therefore getting a ballot in the mail may be difficult. Mail delivery times may be longer on tribal lands as well.

• Reducing in-person voting: Some states that implemented mostly-mail voting have reduced in-person voting options to minimize costs. These decisions may impact Native American communities more than others. If early voting can be provided on the reservation, then voters can combine voting with other errands to the tribal headquarters. Some jurisdictions use mobile registration and voting stations to meet voters where they are.

• Ballot collection laws: Laws that restrict who can collect and return voted ballots may have a disparate impact on Native American voters. In some tribal communities without access to residential mail delivery, limited access to transportation and a culture of sharing rides and errands, allowing someone besides the voter to return an absentee ballot can help facilitate voting.

• Registration requirements: Requiring citizens who are registering to vote to show a document with a traditional mailing address may not be easy for some Native American voters. Allowing voters to register using the address of tribal headquarters (as is now possible in Washington state) or by identifying on a map where their residence is, and allowing a verbal description of an address are other options.

• Forms of voter ID: In states with voter ID requirements for in-person voting, adding a tribal ID as an allowed form of identification is an option. Some tribal IDs do not include photos, or expiration dates, and accommodation for those could be made.

 

 Their seems to be no simple solutions but we have got to make changes. A one size fits all election system does not work in our country. We cant have 100% mail or voter ID because people will be excluded. We need a system that works for everyone not just the Have's but all the people in our country about the age of 18 who are eligible to vote. People shouldn't have to ride a horse 100 miles or more to cast a ballot. We continue to say your vote is your voice..well too many people have no voice and this must change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Internet access under attack.

The fund that pays out for millions of people to have internet access when normally they cant afford it is running out of money. The bill to reinstate the funding has bi-partisan support yet our Speaker wont allow it to come to vote. familiar refrain huh? I was "surfing the web" the other night as I'm prone to do on occasion and came across this story.  https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/29/tech/broadband-affordability-acp-rural-older-americans/index.html . The ACP or accessible connectivity program allows millions of people to connect to the internet who would not be able to by providing much needed funds to pay the bill. I read the article and several similar articles that seem to highlight a specific segment of the population at risk. numbers as high as one in five Americans benefit from this program. Why?...the Internet is a luxury.., they don't need it..Well 20 years ago I would agree. This is 2024, our entire society is now Internet based. If you had told me 25 years ago that very few people would have land line telephone service now , I would have scoffed but its difficult to find anyone without a cell phone. One benefit from Covid was the rushed adaptation to technology. When my daughter was born with special needs , a trip to "the big city" (about 60 miles away) was a monthly if not weekly event to see specialists. Now she sits at the dining room table with her laptop over the Internet talking to these same doctors who saved her life years ago. Universities offer classes online. I am working towards a master's degree over the Internet because of the distance to the University. School programs at major Universities are online. they wouldn't be possible without the Internet. The elderly have used the internet to keep in touch and keep up to date with their families around the world. they also use it for doctor's visit when no transportation is available. Facetime and other similar programs allow these people to stay in touch and stay active as their mobility decreases instead of staying home alone and sometimes forgotten. 

         The federal government has made literally dozens of promises to our indigenous peoples. between 30 and 40 percent of these its been estimated don't even have running water.

 

Now it seems that we are going backwards in yet another aspect. The Internet access being limited those who can afford it and limiting access to those who really need it. 

Update: As expected the republicans let the funding lapse.

Tired of this..

How did we get here?

         The question asked by "Lenny"(Steve Zahn) to "Guy Patterson" (Tom Everett Scott) in the movie "That thing you do" moments before a live TV broadcast. We dont live in a movie and neither of the candidates are Sparticus.

         Our Presidential race could be a movie but I doubt Hollywoods' screenwriters could write something like this. On one side we have the democrats who pushed the current president out of the race after a subpar debate performance which they felt jeopardized their election chances. Do I agree? I suppose yes but where were these people in the run up to the convention when it became apparent there was a problem? If Harris had been chosen months ago or vetted among other candidates the situation may be different. Water under the bridge. She is an excellent candidate and in another time , she would have swept to victory and who knows she still may.

       The Republicans: Where do I start. A congress that has done virtually nothing to benefit the American public despite legislation introduced that would have improved the lives of millions. Funding for hurricane relief is put off until "after the election" by the speaker because it would remove a campaign point the republicans are standing firmly on and possibly aid the democrats. Block legislation then condemn the democrats for doing nothing. Ingenuous. 

We have all seen the news clips from campaign stops by Trump. A stop in Latrobe PA , which was the hometown of my childhood idol Arnold Palmer featured a story regarding his genitalia. When did this become the norm?..Trump referred to Harris as a "SHIT Vice President" I don't ever remember seeing that. This only scraping the top of what has been said. We have devolved so far penis stories and profanity are accepted from a candidate for the highest office in the land with the explanation "That's Trump" . 

The Media has been of absolutely no help as incidents like these are either not reported or glossed over. For example Trump participated in a photo op at a closed McDonald's where Trump pretended to "work" cooking fries and handing food out the window to pre-selected "customers" (trump supporters) and asking predetermined questions. This was done because Harris said her first job was at a Mcdonalds franchise but couldn't produced a w2 from over 40 years ago to prove it. I really think no one could produce one and franchisee's don't keep records that far back even IF the Mcdonalds she worked at still exists today. Many jobs Ive had are for businesses that no longer exist.  I have a degree in Electronics from a school that no longer exists. It happens. Apparently from what Ive seen , Trump ate there and fed his crew then left without paying for the food or lost sales during the photo op. Sounds normal for him. Back to the media  by far the majority of the media didn't report on these facts simply showed footage of trump handing food out and in a heavily edited clip cooked fries. The actual footage showed the stable genius unable to perform the action without being walked through it twice and still screwing it up.Do we hear about that? ..no. I will give NBC props when they aired the Arnold Palmer story(who according to his daughter Peg couldn't stand trump). 

these are just a few of the recent things since I could write about things like this for months without running out of material. 

How did we get here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ides of November

 What the hell..

He's selling WHAT?...BIBLES. of course. He's selling bibles to help pay the legal bills he's incurred regarding a case based on paying off a porn star he cheated on his wife with so we wouldn't find out at election time. There is no shame, no bar too low. Golden sneakers..basically anything he could put his name on to petal to the faithful. A political Televangelist. Brother Don and his church of the Holy Grift. whats next?..adaptations to the commandments?..7 Commandments according to DON. (no mention of adultery, theft or coveting thy neighbors wife(or daughter). What gets me is that people buy it. They believe he actually cares about them. Even after J6 where we all sat and saw the attack on the capital to stop the election process. Cant even keep track of the lies. It surpassed 10,000 months if not years ago. 

           Court cases: 91 indictments. Makes no difference to the faithful. They believe its 100% politically motivated because he says so. He passed legislation that raised their taxes while lowering his and friends. Lied about Covid and people died. Apparently donated one quarter of his salary (though noone can figure out what he donated it to) and the faithful claim he donated all his salary. Claims about "I'll be too busy to play golf" were quickly forgotten as he formulated a plan to play and stay at only his own courses and gouge the government for services for his entourage and secret service to the tune of (last estimate I saw) 165 million dollars) 428 days of the 1461 days he was in office(almost on in three) . In four years he played TWO rounds outside of his property. This became the norm and was quietly forgotten about. 

          Back to the court cases. He is counting on delay upon delay until he is again elected president then all these little "inconveniences " will go away magically. The President has unlimited immunity. Think about that. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants to and there is no consequences in his mind. He once said in Iowa at a campaign stop "I can shoot someone of 5th avenue and nothing will happen". When your the president in trump's eyes thats true. Now as the wheels of Justice grind exceeding slowly as appeal and delay and appeal again is allowed and November is coming. All I can say about the situation is an ancient quote some 2000 years old paraphrased to fit the situation.

                                        America, Beware the Ides Of November

Caesar was murdered by the roman senate in 44BC. In November we have to decide what type of country we want. The parallel is daunting. We can easily find our Republic murdered at the ballot box. Our elected officials across our country are submitting legislation about subjects they have absolutely no experience in but make great sound bytes. Old men who's experience in medicine is taking a Statin every night and looking left while coughing believe they are experts on female reproduction. Overly religious zealots are passing legislation that strips citizens of their rights. LGTBQ+ rights that were long in coming and way overdue when they were finally enacted are now endangered. There is no future for us I see if we keep going backwards. 

How to begin moving forward again? There are a number of things we need to do. Even an idiot can see we need to fix our borders. I cant argue that point but barbed wire and other hazards that risk the lives of these people trying for a better life is wrong. People are dying trying to get here. Oh the cry about criminals and rapists and the dregs of other countries is not new. It was dumped on every unfortunate group of immigrants since our country was founded. It only changed when a newer group came. Now its the Latin Americans. the Mexicans, ..the people (if you were to believe the propaganda) are taking all the welfare services and all the jobs.  

 

                

ramblings...

 How did we get here?..a candidate who is leading in the polls for one party who has been indicted...not once..not twice but THREE times now. The worst part is knowing the news industry has two sides. They play to their audience and they don't seem to know where the truth ends and the lies start. Its called "the spin". With good "spin" you could convince anyone of anything. We see it time and again. You could take a trump supporter and show him a video clip of some heinous behavior that seems to permeate his being. Then play a clip of Trump denying he said that. You ask the person again and he says it never happened. These aren't stupid people and countless hours have been wasted arguing and families and friendship destroyed because you think your right and the other person is an idiot. 

    The other answer is "well the other side does it too" and I believe there is more than a hint of truth in that. It seems that neither side of the aisle is fighting for us but enriching themselves at our expense. A figure I saw said Mitch McConnell has voted down increases in the minimum wage something like 10 or 15 times while voting to increase his own salary approximately the same number of times. Really?..yet the people in his district keep voting him in. why?

  Another question is term limits. we have them- they are called elections. When a long time politician is re-elected yet again after a easy campaign against a local no one , people scream for term limits because there's no other way to get rid of the person. Term limits work both ways and against both parties so as long as we have a two party system this isn't going to change. Probably why you don't see much complaining about it.

Norse contributions to Christmas.

Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. Its a good time for some history. Today's lesson is "how much of our contemporary Christmas celebration do we owe to the Norse/Viking culture." I'll show some examples (borrowed from other internet sites) that hopefully will show that it is at least possible that Christianity adopted these activities while the adoption of Christianity was taking place in Scandinavia.

We will start of with the most obvious symbol of Christmas: the tree.
Vikings and Scandinavians in general decorated evergreen trees with carvings of the gods, runes, clothing, and food. These items were thought to ward off evil spirits and encourage brighter ones to visit the home because they honored the gods and begin to bring about the new spring.. This tradition continues in people placing cherished objects and sacred images on an evergreen tree such as figures of angels or putting a Christmas creche beneath the tree. The Vikings worshiped trees, especially the evergreens of the Scandinavian forests, which they believed were the special plant of Balder, the sun god. Since they remained green throughout the winter, the trees came to represent the promise of new life, a reminder that spring was just around the corner.

Santa: The Norse god Odin was said to be 'the father of all gods'. Described as a bearded old man wearing a hat and a cloak, Odin would often ride his eight-legged horse Sleipnir across the midwinter night's sky, delivering gifts to those down below. Sound familiar? Although it can be argued that our modern Father Christmas is a fusion of ancient myths, legends and folklore, the resemblance and connection to the Norse god Odin has many historians believing he was the original Santa.

The Christmas wreath:

Whilst the Romans originally created wreaths to be displayed as a symbol of victory, they became connected to our festive celebrations by way of Yule. Like the evergreen trees, wreaths created using an evergreen plant such as Holly, would be brought into people's dwellings during Yuletide to remind them of the warmer days to come, a reassuring symbol during the long cold winters of the Scandinavian north.

The Vikings themselves would set alight to a 'sunwheel', which strongly resembles our modern wreaths. The burning wheel was then rolled down a hill in the hope of enticing the sun to return.

Mistletoe:

According to Norse legend, Odin's son Balder had been prophesied to die so his mother Frigg visited every entity in the cosmos to secure an oath from them that they wouldn't harm her son. She neglected to consult the mistletoe believing it too small and harmless to threaten the life of her son. The mischievous god Loki got wind of this oversight and carved an arrow out of the mistletoe. Balder would eventually be slain by Loki's creation, mistletoe proving to be his only weakness.

In one version of the story, Frigg's tears of sorrow fell onto the red mistletoe turning them white, which resurrected her son. Mistletoe came to represent renewal, love and peace with Frigg promising to kiss anyone who passed beneath it.

The Christmas Elf:

Once again we have Norse mythology to thank for another of our well-known Christmas stalwarts, the elf. Referred to as the álfar (where our word 'elf' comes from) or 'hidden people', these supernatural humanlike beings were often described as tall, pale and beautiful and equipped with magical powers.

So how did we go from the álfar to the short, pointy hat wearing elves we imagine in Santa's workshop today? Again, we have another myth from Nordic folklore to thank, that of the 'nisse'. The nisse is a mythological creature associated with the winter solstice and Christmas season, best described as looking like your typical garden gnome - short and equipped with a red pointy hat.

The little creatures are said to live in the stables and barns of a homestead, guarding the property and those dwelling within. Treat it well and it'll be helpful to you, treat it badly and be prepared for some mischief around your house, perhaps explaining why today's Christmas elves are often represented as cheeky.

The Christmas Goat :

In Scandinavia, decorating your home with straw goats, so-called “julbock” is a very popular tradition. The goats have been a part of the tradition for such a long time that many might have forgotten exactly what they represent, but it is believed that the goats were an homage to Thor and the goats that pulled his carriage across the skies, Tanngnjóstr, and Tanngrisnir.

The 12 days of Christmas:

Before we were all singing about turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree, the ancient Norse were enjoying their midwinter festival of Yule for exactly twelve days. Beginning on the day of the winter solstice (the longest day and night), the feasting festivities would carry on for 12 days, creating the origins of the 12 days of Christmas we celebrate today.

Christmas ham

It's a dish that's featured on most Christmas tables at some point during the festive season and once again, we have the Norse to thank for our Christmas ham. Feasting played a central role in the way the Vikings and other ancient Germanic people honored the gods. One such ritual saw the sacrificing of a Wild Boar to the Norse god Freyr in the hope of a fruitful harvest during the next season. 
The boar would be the centerpiece of the feasting, very much like the Christmas ham that adorns our modern-day tables.

Yule log:
In Nordic tradition, the Yule log was a carefully selected log that was ceremonially brought into the house and burnt on a hearth (brick or stone-lined fireplace) during the time of Yule. Part of it would be saved and kept until the following year to not only protect the home but also act as kindling for next year's Yule log.
A burning log

Whilst the tradition continues to this day across the world, it has also transformed into a culinary one with many people choosing to furnish their Christmas tables with a chocolate Yule log.

In Nordic tradition, the Yule log was a carefully selected log that was ceremonially brought into the house and burnt on a hearth (brick or stone-lined fireplace) during the time of Yule. Part of it would be saved and kept until the following year to not only protect the home but also act as kindling for next year's Yule log.
A burning log

Whilst the tradition continues to this day across the world, it has also transformed into a culinary one with many people choosing to furnish their Christmas tables with a chocolate Yule log.

Christmas Caroling:

Christmas caroling is otherwise known as wassailing, which has Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon origins. Traditionally, peasants would visit their feudal lords and sing songs in exchange for gifts and treats. This gives new context to the line from the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas: “We won’t go until we get some, so bring some out here.” The famous 12 Days of Christmas is also a Norse tradition in that it was believed that Odin, the King of the Gods, rode across the heavens for 12 nights during this season of the midwinter feast which lasted 12 days from the winter solstice.

Videos:

https://youtu.be/_429DBg6ihA






























 

ok elections over...now what?

 Well its the day after the election and as expected..well hoped..All the democrats in Mass won. We have our first female governor ever. Yes she's a open lesbian but that really none of my business. I don't care. I think what's more is she is our first female governor. All the usual people won with a majority unopposed...or barely opposed. Being a strong democratic state its not surprising. In RI Seth Magaziner won a hard fought victory keeping the seat from flipping. The slate of Democrats also did extremely well from the Governor on down.

The title of this was "Now what"...the picture will be a little clearer over the next few days as the last of the votes are counted. There apparently will be a runoff in Georgia for control of the Senate. Will we have coalition building and bi-partisanship? if our history is any clue the answer is NO. we will spend the next two years watching gridlock as nothing is done , legislation is blocked and brinkmanship will be the order of the day. It takes a solid majority to get anything substantial done.This has been true since the days of FDR and his alphabet agencies. 

well its now 10 days after:..the Dems somehow held onto the senate while the Reps nudged over the finish line to gain a small majority. True to form they immediately forgot all the things they ran on and began to attack Joe Biden. I can fully expect NOTHING will get done in the next two years. The house blocks the senate, the senate blocks the house and if that fails Biden veto's knowing there are not enough of a majority to override. the perfect recipe for gridlock. 

The only way our system works goes back to a Ted Kennedy analogy regarding a loaf of bread. The first time you introduce something new you ask for the loaf but settle for a slice. That gets your foot in the door so to speak. The next time you ask for a second slice then a third..If the idea is sound and successful, the trips back become easier. You may not end up with an entire loaf but there is enough to do good for our citizens which is and always should be the goal. We have forgotten that. The minority is a stop legislation at all costs scenario which gets us nowhere. Mcconnell stating on the day after the election in 2008 is a picture of this. "We will work to make Obama a one term president". This is a limited and frankly short sighted and dangerous philosophy since if you remember we were in the midst of a recession triggered by the previous republican president. They often do not have our best interests at heart.

About a week to go.

 There's about a week to go before the election. Ive voted for the last 40 years in all different types of elections. Ive even run for local office myself and won. If there's one thing Ive learned its that its never as dire as the losing side predicts afterwords. Until now. Given a worst case scenario when the republican seize control of the house and the senate, the less than favorable presidential numbers, there is the real chance we could be screwed like permanently. 

We saw during the trump presidency, while everyone was making orange jokes and commenting on everything from his lack of class and sophistication to what can only be described as fondling his daughter, the making fun of the disabled ....there are far too many to name, he was naming conservative judges. The same people he named came before the senate panel and lied, lied and lied again about very important things such as a woman's right to choose. Most disappointingly they were confirmed and the same people they lied to sat back and clutched their pearls yelling "they lied" and were completely powerless to do anything about it. 

The candidate's lie and whats disheartening is the nonchalance in how they do it. As if no one will fact check them, they tell whoppers worthy of the burger King himself Donald Trump. The facts are checked but by them the 30 second attention span of the average American has moved on and the lie becomes truth. Facts are twisted or simply made up and are accepted by a people addicted to instant gratification. Go out to eat...look around the room and see how many people are using their phones for everything but phone calls. Faster phones..more memory ..faster connections..got to have the information as it happens..and the media plays along. The news cycle has gone from days or weeks to minutes. Trump knew this and I'll give him credit for it..when some article came out about him being caught doing something, he would do something or say something crazy just to distract the media and us. He would do this knowing it would disappear very quickly. Its the same with these candidates. Hershel Walker has got a whole bunch of stuff in his past. Lying about his achievements, the abortions he's supposedly payed for then campaigned as pro life. Its a fairly long list..but the voters dont seem to care. Oz, the same sort of story..against John Fetterman who recently had a stroke and suffered through a difficult debate with Oz. I dont think for a moment Oz knows a thing about Pennsylvania or politics and it would be a grave mistake to elect him. The question they should be asking is Oz, a better man than Fetterman was before?..He will after all improve and there's a hell of a lot more to being a senator than standing at a poduim debating. Anyone who watches C-Span should know that.  

We'll see what happens and on Wednesday morning we will know the course of our country for the next 2 -6 years. Lets hope for the best and VOTE!

Ramblings...

Its been alittle while since I got to sit down and write something. I was watching the Jan6th committee meetings today and the thought still ran through my mind as it did on Jan6th in that if this were any other country in the world and they attacked the capital, the military would have opened up on them and very quickly ended the uprising. Since we live in America where we seem to have an amazing tolerance for everything but people who are different, short prison sentences in most likely country club jail seem to be the lesson learned and presidential pardons. The republican politicians who seemed to so quickly run for their lives , just as quickly decided it was no big deal. Seeing the video's from that day and days after then months after, what a difference. 

Today's politician seems to be willing to trade everything that makes them a moral and responsible human being for power and money. Most if not all are already millionaires so what is driving them?..its power. The power to force people to live their lives how others see fit. The legislation passed in the last few months taking away a woman's right to choose what happens to and in her own body with little or no exceptions. Rumors of the supreme court "re-considering" hard won civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community and as usual the voting rights of (usually) minorities and the poor of all races. The voting rights are endangered (as usual) to help keep those in power in power. Its the same reason we dont have term limits. The people in power are going to pass legislation limiting themselves to a few terms? hardly. 

          We are at fault for the most part because we continue to elect these fools and they know who they are. Politicians who show up during the election cycle and promise the moon then disappear until the next cycle. Every state has them. None of the 50 are immune to this. With all the social media out there the best we can do is complain about Biden or Trump or whatever idiot is in the stupidity spotlight that week. Dont get me wrong , Several senators spend months seemingly basking the light of Idiocrasy. A massive Ice storm strands thousands in the dark and cold, their senator splits to Cancun. A governor spends desperately needed funds for a political stunt to ship 50+ immigrants to Martha's vineyard and sit back in horror as they are welcomed by the residents. Who would have thought. They didnt even have to decency to call ahead but somehow FoxNews was there at the airport. 

Back to the Jan6th thing. If this were indeed another country, I'd like to think the powers that be wouldnt be afraid to do what should be done. What is the fear that strikes these people ?...I wish some would tell me..

Election Day

 Well its primary day here in Massachusetts. the day every two years where we see who will be shaping our future going forward. You say "Wait that's in November" . Well technically your right but in such a democratic leaning state as Massachusetts , if you win in September usually you have the job in November except for the Governor. We tend to have republican governors. I finally understood why as I saw other states pass absolutely insane laws on a range of topics. Its a system of checks and balances. a democratic house and senate pass a law and the governor says "whoa!!! that's crazy" and veto's it. if the house and senate have enough votes its a override. it does happen but not all that often. you know that already from your civics class..never took one?..you should..its tough to participate and I mean participate in a system like this if you don't understand it. TV doesn't help..FoxNews, CNN and the others are so slanted I'm amazed the hosts don't need seatbelts to keep from sliding off the screen. I'm sure there are level headed reporting out there..I'll just have to keep looking. I voted. I supported candidates Ive supported for years..Maura Healey..the worst thing her opponent said was "she was litigious" as Attorney General I certainly hope so. Shannon Liss Riordan..Lawyer running for Attorney General..always defended the little guy..skycaps, taxi drivers, exotic dancers...etc..very pro union as I am..since we are all little guys she seems the perfect choice. Again the only negative I found was a claim she was "spending her own money" oh boy that's a killer. the weather is crappy and that might lower turnout a little but we'll get our usual 30%..maybe a little more and we'll see what happens

 Election day..

      Tomorrow (tuesday) is election day here in Massachusetts. Im supporting :

      Maura Healey for Governor

      Tami Gouveia  for Lt Governor

      Shannon Liss Riordan for attorney general

      William Galvin Secratary of state 

       Deb Goldberg for treasurer

      undecided for auditor

     Bill Keating for representative in congress.

     Chris Markey   State Representative

     Mark Montigny Senator in general court