Month: July 2019

On Wednesday, I got up early and watched both of the Mueller hearings. And to my disappointment, Mueller did exactly what he said he would do. He stuck to the written report. I was surprised that he wouldn’t even read from his own report, instead opting for the democratic representatives to read each passage in question. The whole hearing was both disappointing and enlightening. I was hoping that a more vocal and engaged Mueller would show up. That did not happen with the exception of his warning against current Russian efforts to undermine our 2020 election.

I, like most Americans, didn’t bother to read the full Mueller Report. I didn’t feel like I needed to read it since I can already see that Trump is a person who doesn’t belong in office. Upon his election, we already knew that he was a dishonest, tax-evading, draft-dodging, sex offending, thief whose criminal behavior is in plain sight. He acts impulsively and without a conscience to compel him to obey laws let alone adhere to morality and common decency. He shows with his tweets just who he is, so I didn’t need to read the Mueller Report to further convince me of his unfitness for office. But I wanted to watch the hearings to find out specifically what was alleged.

And now I know. And based on what I heard, it is evident to me that Trump did in fact obstruct justice and should be impeached. But it also became clear that the Republicans are in bed with Trump to the point that they are trying to skirt justice with attempts to divert attention away from Trump’s behavior to that of Mueller and the investigators. Mueller said too little in his own defense against ridiculous allegations and democrats ignored the Republican attempts at misdirection.

I’m doubtful that many Americans watched the hearings. My own husband didn’t bother. He’s already decided that he wants Trump out of office and he didn’t need the hearing to convince him of anything. But my husband, like too many Americans, hasn’t taken any action other than to to tell me how much he hates Trump.

After the hearings, I emailed both the Senate Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and my congresswoman, Julia Brownley that I was convinced that Trump should be impeached after the hearing. I also expressed that I was for taking the investigation further to include financial crimes. I encouraged my Facebook friends to call or email their representatives because it is apparent that our representatives will not do anything until they hear from enough of us. They must be pushed to do the right thing.

On the way to Costco Friday, my husband commented that nothing is going to change with this Presidential situation–that we are stuck with him. I quickly pointed to Puerto Rico and the ousting of their governor. I said the people took to the streets for twelve days and basically shut down the country and he finally resigned. I reminded him that we can make things change when we decide we have had enough.

Trump is still in office because not enough of us have had enough. If there was a call to take to the streets to impeach him, I would take to the streets. Right now, there is only a call to let our representatives know how we want them to proceed. I for one, want a full House investigation that possibly leads to impeachment and I have said so.

I celebrated the Forth of July with a small gathering in my backyard for a barbecue. I decorated the yard with flags in flower pots, red, white and blue centerpieces, and patriotic tableware. I even created my own playlist of patriotic songs. It was a nice way to celebrate the creation of a nation with high aspirations for liberty and justice for all. Our nation is not yet perfect, but we as patriots continue the daily struggle to make it better. This past week forced us to revisit questions about who is American and what values do Americans stand for.

When I respond to this question, I start with the Preamble to the Constitution: “We the people”. It’s about us, the people who populate this land. Almost all of us are either immigrants or we are the children of immigrants. However, our short history reminds us that the question of who is a person was once debatable. Native Americans were seen as savages. Blacks were chattel, and women were children. All these groups took part in the founding of this nation during the Revolutionary War. Since its founding we have always occupied this land collectively, working to build a nation, yet White men used their violence to exclude whole segments of the population from their rights as people. Thankfully, through a Civil War and multiple Civil Rights Movements, our notion of who is a person has expanded to include people of color, women, and finally LGBTQ persons.

Yet, in July 2019, the president and his followers are challenging this progress. He is toying with the White nationalist stance that only White people are true Americans. Perhaps Nancy Pelosi was right when she said this week that Donald Trump was really about making America White again. Sorry Trump and Trump supporters, but that ship has sailed. Now back to my beloved Constitution.

The Preamble goes on to explain our purpose: “in order to form a more perfect union”. The founders acknowledged that even in their day, the union had flaws. Among the first flaws was slavery, but there were other flaws that they were essentially blind to such as the treatment of Native Americans and the disregard for women. They saw, as we still see, room for improvement toward a more perfect union. Striving towards perfection is an attitude of aspiration, not arrival. It is the continuous improvement model. As a people we must spot our imperfections and strive to be more inclusive and fair.

The founders describe the need to “establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.” That covers a lot of ground for our daily lives and the lives of our children. There is a lot of room for improvement. However, we’ll only make progress if we have the right people in the three branches of government. These people in government must be able to see, hear, and understand the needs of we, the people, and they must be held accountable to their oath to uphold our Constitution.

That’s why this week was such a dangerous and disgusting one. To have the president of our country brazenly spewing racist and xenophobic comments about four Congresswomen of color who are all citizens of the United States and who have been duly elected to office as representatives to lead us toward “a more perfect union” as they and their constituents see it, is an affront to every patriot.

The president publicly declared that these congresswomen of color must hate America if they see flaws in our nation and that they should therefore “go back to where they came from” rather than aspire to help fix the flaws. His comments are unpatriotic, White nationalist, and worse, extremely destructive. It is counterproductive to silence “we the people” especially when those people are non-white. Remember, Donald Trump himself spent many years criticizing this country and its leaders. What of Bernie Sanders? Notice how he never tells Bernie to go back to where he came from.

I was glad to see Gayle King’s interview on CBS with the four Congresswomen who are nicknamed, “The Squad”. They showed that they are intelligent, thoughtful, insightful, courageous, vocal, positive, and very patriotic woman who love this country and its people. These women have ideas about making a more perfect union and moving towards all the important things our preamble talks about. Their names are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.

While I may not agree with all the ideas represented by each of the Squad members, that is not the point. The point is that it is our patriotic duty to point out our nation’s imperfections and then to take part in the real debate over how to make them better. Our duty is to vote in people who can ably represent our ideas for how to perfect justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. We are after all, the people.

I’m the heaviest I have ever been in my life. And I don’t like it. It’s not only that I don’t care for how I look in the mirror, but so many health risks are associated with carrying the extra weight. So, I’ve looked at my lifestyle and can point to some habits that need to be revised in order for me to lose the weight slowly and to keep it off.

For me, exercise has never been the issue. I already walk and run on my treadmill and bike for 35 – 45 minutes Monday – Friday. I do weights and stretching. I work in my yard on the weekends. I do my own housework. But just about all of my other activities involve sitting. When I’m not at my sit-down office job, I enjoy reading, writing, doing puzzles, sewing, painting pots and watching my Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean soap operas on Netflix. That’s a lot of sitting! It seems that the hobbies I add to my life all entail a lot of sitting. Apparently, I like to use my brain and my hands, but my body isn’t getting the exercise it needs.

I admit that I’ve sometimes ignored my Fitbit when it tells me to move to reach my 250 steps per hour. I’ve been averaging 9 out of 12 Fitbit movement goals each day although I generally reach my 10,000 steps. But no more blowing through those notifications. I’m going for 11 out of 12 movement goals each day. I realize that 12 out of 12 isn’t always possible because I can’t very well stand up and start walking around in the middle of a meeting. The other thing I can do is continue with a 20-minute walk during lunch, something I stopped doing during my July break. And finally, I’m going to add an additional 10 minutes on the treadmill or bike each evening.

But exercise isn’t everything. By far the most important aspect of losing weight is food. I eat way too much of it. I love fruits and vegetables, but I also love beef, fish, lamb, pork, and poultry in portions that are too large and too often. That Paleo diet was right up my alley, but my doctor didn’t like it. And apparently, it’s not so good for the environment either. So, I’ve essentially kept the organic eating aspect of it along with severely limiting sugar, grains, and wheat products. I’m sticking with honey, even in my coffee, and avocado oil, olive oil and ghee.

I long ago gave up soda and fruit juices in favor of more water. Nine times out of ten I grudgingly walk away from cookies, candy, ice cream, donuts, pastries, and desserts. I don’t deserve a pat on the back for this one since my 23 and Me DNA results confirm my preference for salt over sugar. And therein lies a huge problem for me. I love chips and French fries. The other day, I was watching a talk show and the hosts were talking about their favorite type of French fries. Some liked shoestring while others preferred steak fries. My problem is that I haven’t met a French fry or potato chip I don’t love. Moving forward though, I’m going to limit my fried potato intake to mirror that of my intake of sugar, rice, and wheat products. I’ll go back to eggs for breakfast with my plain Greek yogurt, organic blueberry & organic strawberry smoothie. This spring and summer, the strawberries and blueberries often come from my yard. Otherwise, they are frozen organics. These will be the hardest dietary changes alongside of cutting back on my consumption of animal proteins. I’m not a huge fan of eggs, but they make a great breakfast.

Accountability is everything, so I’m going to start keeping track of my progress. My goal is to lose about one pound per week until I have lost 50 pounds. I wrote out an eating plan for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and my television snack (one bowl of Skinny Pop organic popcorn). I will weigh myself every Friday and record it.

I believe if I can stick to my new plan, with only occasional deviations, then I’ll not only lose the weight, I’ll like the body I see in the mirror, and quite possibly I’ll improve my health outcomes for years to come.

My first experience with a major earthquake was on February 9, 1971. It happened early in the morning and woke me up. That earthquake registered 6.9 and I was terrified. I vividly recall holding on to the sides of my twin mattress thinking that if the wall gave way, I would ride my mattress to the ground from my second story bedroom. And by the way, that Sunday morning in church, I had my actual come to Jesus moment.

Fast forward to the 1994 Northridge earthquake. By that time I was married with three children and a terminally ill mother. The feel of that earthquake was profound as it felt as though the house was being lifted up and down. The kids were so traumatized that they slept on the floor of our bedroom for nearly a month afterwards. The damage from that earthquake was extensive throughout neighboring Simi Valley and Northridge, but our new home, built to earthquake standards, was unscathed.

Living in earthquake territory all these years, I’ve come to appreciate the random nature of when the earth will start shaking. There have been many small earthquakes that don’t rattle my nerves much because I expect them. The key for me is being prepared as much as possible for when the big one hits. And the experts have been assuring us my entire life that the big one is coming. In fact, it is overdue.

Sometime between the 1971 and 1994 earthquake, my mother started teaching earthquake preparedness classes for the city of Los Angeles. Like any good mom, she made sure I knew what to do and what to keep in my earthquake kit. It is because of her that I keep a kit in a closet, complete with flashlight, batteries, food, water, portable blankets, can opener and a first aid kid. A second kit is kept in the trunk of my car. I sleep in pajamas and keep shoes beside my bed. Heavy bookcases are anchored to the walls. I keep at least a quarter of a tank of gas in my car at all times. I know that the safest place is under a sturdy table or desk, not the doorway. I know not to immediately run outside. I know to check for gas leaks. I thought I was basically prepared.

And then the Ridgecrest quake happened this week with a magnitude of 6.4. We didn’t even feel it. Not at all. But it was a reminder that I needed to update our earthquake kits and it occurred to us that Michael didn’t have one in his car. At first he balked at the idea that he needed one. I had to convince him of the randomness of an earthquake and how he might well be on the road away from home when it occurred. Convinced of the necessity, I spent Friday shopping for earthquake items for his kit and to update the current kits.

And then an even bigger, 7.1 earthquake, also centered in Ridgecrest hit that same night. This one we felt. The house swayed gently for at least 30 seconds. We realized that although we were in no danger, there were people who were at that very moment experiencing a terrifying and possibly devastating event. My daughter and her husband who live closest to the epicenter felt it strongest. They had been grocery shopping when the first one hit and were a little shaken by it; this one was bigger. My daughter in Vegas was like me and didn’t feel the first one. But within minutes we were on the phone confirming that everyone was safe and that we had all felt this one.

As humans, we need to affirm our experiences with others. We need to know that we aren’t crazy or alone. There is comfort in knowing that others are just as afraid, concerned, and wary as we are. I’m not certain how helpful it is that the news networks go on for hours playing and replaying every aspect of the earthquake and its many aftershocks–most of which we don’t feel. I admit that one of the first things we did immediately following the 7.1 quake was to turn on the news to see what the coverage was.

My husband used the occasion of this quake to show me where the gas line is in order to turn it off. It was a perfect teachable moment. This last earthquake was a catalyst for updating those earthquake kits and providing one for my husband’s car. It was also a perfect argument for replacing my iPhone 6S because the battery was nearly dead when I might have needed it most. It won’t hold much of a charge anymore and if the electricity is out, I’d have to depend on my car to charge it. So, the biggest expense will be a new iPhone.

I consider myself blessed that today we have the opportunity to become better prepared for living in earthquake country. Others in and around Ridgecrest aren’t feeling so blessed today and will need our financial and emotional support in the days and months ahead.