Tuesday, February 5, 2013

It's Getting Harder and Harder

It's not only the fact that the 49'ers failed to show up until after the lights went on again. I've been feeling it for a while, now.  The world is going to hell in a hand basket, and I'm not enjoying the ride.  Nope, not enjoying it one bit.
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Jerry Sandusky's lawyers wanted a new trial. Their request was not granted, but I didn't like seeing his name on the scrolling banner below the pictures on ESPN.  Of course, the pictures above the verbiage were of Lance Armstrong and the cyclists whose lives he ruined.  There wasn't much to feel good about there, either.
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NPR was filled with stories documenting the slowing of our economy as businesses wonder what the future will hold.  Congress plays games, and the private sector cannot plan.  Then, again, neither can the Pentagon; contracts are not being renewed, or awarded.  Businesses are not hiring or laying off in anticipation of the sequester... or, to be more precise, because of the fear of the unknown.

If Mitch McConnell still needs to thwart the President at every turn, I hope someone clues him in to the effect his petulance is having on the economy,
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A little boy was kidnapped from a school bus by a grizzled loner who killed the driver before retreating to his underground bunker where he held the child for six days.  I can't believe that I typed that sentence.  I can't believe that it's true.
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Obvious reforms to our regulations regarding weaponry are necessary, and backing away from them is cowardice on the part of our legislators.  Turning the discussion into when and how often the President shoots skeet really doesn't need to be part of the conversation.

Didn't he prove his macho chops during the boring Scott Pelley interview by saying he's among those "who like the big hits"?
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The more I think, the more I'm seeing that it's a mental health issue more than anything else. Thugs will still find guns, despite the law's best efforts.  Responsible citizens will continue to own guns. But a 22 year old young man who was denied entrance to the military due to his precarious mental health would have a much harder time procuring a Glock with an extended magazine. We won't stop all inappropriate use of weaponry, but I wouldn't mind a few more speed bumps along the road for my own, personal, shooter.

I can't figure out why that's not obvious to everyone.
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Our State Legislature is at it again, proposing bills to ban local enforcement of new federal gun laws which might ban assault weapons and extended magazines, bills to require hospitals to check citizenship along with blood type, bills that would require a loyalty oath before receiving a high school diploma.

They might go nowhere, but somebody actually thought them up.  That's almost scarier.
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So, as I battle a tummy ache and read about Clytemnestra stabbing her just-home-from-the-Trojan-War husband in the bathtub, I'm finding that it's getting harder and harder to find the silver lining in any cloud outside my personal purview.

I can make my own smiles; I've proven that.  It would be nice if the rest of the world didn't try so very very hard to get in my way..

8 comments:

  1. Excellent post. Why can't reason prevail?

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    1. Oh, Olga.... if only they'd listen to us.... if only.
      a/b

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  2. I'm with you, a/b. I spend a lot of time these days just shaking my head in disbelief over one thing or another.
    And maintaining my inner joy....by damn! ;)

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  3. We have to find our own joy 'cause at every turn someone is trying to thwart our best efforts to create happiness. It's all somewhat depressing, but we have to be better than that and have to keep fighting for what's important. Trust me, there are days when I just cannot take it and I just want to give up fighting for anything. At times it just seems so futile, but if we all band together, we can move mountains. That's what we have to take away from all of this. We are more powerful as one than we are alone. We can all fight for what's important to us--together!

    Hope your tummy ache is gone.

    Sending hugs,


    Megan xxx

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  4. It seems like a really testy time and I don't know why. There are a few good stories amongst the rest but so much depressing. It makes it tough.

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  5. AZ state politics is a never ending source of inflammation for me. The bills you referenced will cost the state money when the Feds challenge them in court. What was the point? Then I drive down the road in front of Tucson Mall and observe the chucks of asphalt on the side of the road due to the potholes forming. Roads can't be maintained, but stupid unconstitutional laws may be passed. And then there is Mitch, who with two of his cronies, slipped in a rider on the financial cliff legislation to give Amgen a $500M exemption on Medicare price controls for one of their dialysis drugs. Immediately after passage, all three misanthropes received large checks for their campaign funds. I could go on, but it's impolite to vent on someone else' blog. Hang in, enjoy the day, it's looking like it will be a nice one outside.

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  6. I'm convinced that one reason the print and broadcast news has almost always felt like bad news is that they must emphasize figures on grounds (Gestalt sense, maybe). Which is to say: they can't afford to cover ALL the news. What makes something news is when it's different from the norm.

    Turning this around, we can conclude that most of what actually happens (vs. is reported on) is NOT bad news. It's life as usual, or it's good news.

    When you want to know about what's going wrong, turn on the news. By the time we get to be our age, AB, we don't really need reminders of how things go wrong. They've been hammered in, repeatedly and loudly, our whole lives. We just need to remind ourselves that we hear them only because they're taking place against a backdrop of peace, silence, contemplation, and all the rest. If it really was all (or even mostly) cacaphony, we wouldn't hear it. As Diane Ackerman says in another context, our senses would just tell us: Oh. THAT again.

    This, anyway, is the story I tell myself when I need to feel less anxious.

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  7. I ran from the news yesterday - Pilates, walking with the kids at Prince, Physical Therapy, then a movie with my sweetie (see 2/6/13 post) - and I was calmer.

    Glad I'm not the only one who's noticing this. Thanks for the suggestions, the support, and the sense of being part of a community.
    a/b

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