Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

It’s Christmas Eve and while I have so much to say, the only thing I will say this Sunday is Merry Christmas to my Christian friends and Happy Holidays to everyone else.  In the words of a favorite Christmas song: “May the joy of the season surround you.”  I pray you take today and the rest of the year to be fully present with family and friends and also with those who are less fortunate, filling their lives, too, with your love, kindness and generosity.

About Taxes and Tax Cuts

Ramming bills through Congress along strict party lines hasn’t proven to be good policy.  The ACA or Obamacare at least invited Republicans to contribute, but Republicans had already decided that they were going to oppose anything Obama wanted to do despite the fact that the ACA was originally a Republican idea.  That leads us to the Republican failure to repeal and replace the ACA.  Is it any wonder that they had no better ideas after 8 years, especially since the ACA was their idea?  That brings us to their obsessive need to pass something big.  I wish they had tackled infrastructure and not taxes. Continue reading “About Taxes and Tax Cuts”

California Fires

 I’ve lived in Southern California almost my entire life.  It wasn’t until the 1970’s that I experienced the horror of the wild fires that come with living in this great state.  When I was 13, our family moved out of the city to a magical place  at the foothills of the Angeles National Forest.  We moved to Lake View Terrace, a suburb off what is now the 210 freeway at the east end of the San Fernando Valley.  This week, Lake View Terrace was in the news  again because of the fire threat.  Continue reading “California Fires”

Doing bad and Being Bad

I’m grappling with what to make of all these men who have violated our current moral code by sexually abusing vulnerable woman.  We’ve all heard the saying that good people sometimes do bad things. Any  human being who lives long enough will eventually do something “bad”.  By bad, I mean an action that violates the social construct of morality gleaned from the family or community in which the person grew up.  Clearly Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, Roy Moore, Al Frankin and Donald Trump have done really bad things to women and in Roy Moore’s case, to girls. But when do they cross the line into being bad people?  Continue reading “Doing bad and Being Bad”

Over Consumption

I am a consumer.  I’m a retailers dream come true.  After over-consuming a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with family plus two students too far from home, my daughter and nephew and I headed to the mall for deals.  We purchased exactly what we were looking for at a nice discount. But the mall and the stores were relatively empty, not a single long line anywhere.  Good for us, but I wonder about the economy where they expect the average person will spend $900 on Christmas this year.  I’ll spend half of that and I’m still consuming too much. Continue reading “Over Consumption”

Innocent Evil

There is a tidal wave of political and ethnic division rooted in tribal ambitions and tribal fears threatening the very fabric of our nation.  And we can’t afford to ignore it.  On C-Span Book TV yesterday, I watched the live Miami Dade Book Festival as one of the authors of “One Nation After Trump” presented.  During the question and answer period, a 20 something clean cut and very articulate white male stood up in front of a packed audience and respectfully asked if people like the author were not the racist because they seem to celebrate the fact that whites will soon be a minority in their own nation? Continue reading “Innocent Evil”

Mortality Thoughts

With the continuing pains in my chest and the loss this week of one of our Ventura County community heroes, Mr. John R. Hatcher, III, I feel compelled to write about the great mystery facing us all, death. People close to me will tell you that I am a bit morbid because I talk freely and openly about death. Maybe that’s because I’ve had several very interesting experiences with it over the years. Continue reading “Mortality Thoughts”

Me and My Chest Pains

I woke up Thursday morning and experienced a sharp, fleeting pain in my chest, deep beneath my right breast to be precise.  I ignored it and went ahead with my routine, including 35 minutes on the treadmill despite the continuation of the fleeting pain in the same place.  Then I went to work and by noon I was in the emergency room. Continue reading “Me and My Chest Pains”