MY GOODNESS:
It's Earth Day.
How Ironic. Here we are, having ignored our Earth and its problems for so long, and now we are paying the consequences.
OK, Earth Day is about the land and the air and the
water; all things we can not live without - they being in good shape,
that is. But they aren't. And neither are we just now when the virus
that takes all of our attention. Someday it will
be over, and we will still have the problems of pollution, and toxic
chemicals not properly regulated, and famine, all related to a Climate
that IS changing--and which we have been ignoring also at our peril.
One thing COVID-19 should have taught us (??) -- a
problem somewhere on our Earth can end up being a problem everywhere on
earth. We are connected, we are one world, we are one mass of
humanity, and we live or die together.
That should not scare us. Almost all religions try to
teach us respect for and aid to our fellow humans. Now that their
lessons have come home to us in spades--and caskets--can't we learn?
"Can't we all get along?"
The "richest, most powerful nation on Earth" has been
brought low by an invisible bug from a town most of us never heard of.
And when this passes, will we go back to our old ways, or just wait for
the next bug from the next unknown place? We should have learned we are "our Brother's keeper." Earth Day helps remind us of that, and boy did we need reminding.
But now we've had our faces rubbed in it; painful,
but important. We, mankind, are resilient. We shall rise again, if we
but learn the lessons Earth Day has so horribly reminded us. We can
learn, we should learn, we MUST learn.
I'm just sayin'...
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Thoughts In The Time of Plague
I believe in God and consider myself a Christian.
(I hope God considers me a Christian, too.)
Perhaps I listened to too many good Presbyterian sermons growing up in my small West Virginia town, but I do believe, with them, that the "church" is not the brick and stained-glass building we worshiped in, but the people of the congregation, the members of the faith instead; maybe that's why I have not been much of a churchgoer over the years, but I believe, whether in a building or not.
If you truly "love thy neighbor" why would you put them at risk by insisting on a crowded meeting Easter Sunday, or any other? To insist on such here in Kentucky after we have had several examples of the virus traced to church meetings--including some deaths--hardly seems "Christian." And with broadcast services and drive in services even less so. I can "render unto God" without getting ill or putting others at risk even if I do skip the most sacred of all Christian services of the year, a genuine pity but a necessity in the time of contagion.
Far more that we spend time trying to learn the lessons of WHY this old testament pestilence has been visited upon us. Why we still have traditional areas of mass poverty where disease flourishes--after years of warnings---"wet"markets where this virus supposedly originated---after years of warnings---of failures to vaccinate properly which has allowed once eliminated scourges to reappear---after years of warnings.
And we can think and think and think why a "loving God" would allow this to happen to innocent people worldwide?
I don't know that answer, and I don't know anyone who does.
God knows.
I'm just sayin'...
(I hope God considers me a Christian, too.)
Perhaps I listened to too many good Presbyterian sermons growing up in my small West Virginia town, but I do believe, with them, that the "church" is not the brick and stained-glass building we worshiped in, but the people of the congregation, the members of the faith instead; maybe that's why I have not been much of a churchgoer over the years, but I believe, whether in a building or not.
If you truly "love thy neighbor" why would you put them at risk by insisting on a crowded meeting Easter Sunday, or any other? To insist on such here in Kentucky after we have had several examples of the virus traced to church meetings--including some deaths--hardly seems "Christian." And with broadcast services and drive in services even less so. I can "render unto God" without getting ill or putting others at risk even if I do skip the most sacred of all Christian services of the year, a genuine pity but a necessity in the time of contagion.
Far more that we spend time trying to learn the lessons of WHY this old testament pestilence has been visited upon us. Why we still have traditional areas of mass poverty where disease flourishes--after years of warnings---"wet"markets where this virus supposedly originated---after years of warnings---of failures to vaccinate properly which has allowed once eliminated scourges to reappear---after years of warnings.
And we can think and think and think why a "loving God" would allow this to happen to innocent people worldwide?
I don't know that answer, and I don't know anyone who does.
God knows.
I'm just sayin'...
Friday, April 3, 2020
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
I'm talking about the way the GOP majorities in Frankfort passed an unusual one year budget this week.
OK, they were absolutely right to make it only one year, instead of the traditional two. No one knows what the future of state revenue is in the time of Covid-19. I might quibble about their unusual voting plan, but if the Dems or the ACLU think that was illegal, let them sue. (Not that they did before when the legislature refused to follow the Constitution and pass a budget at all by April 15th only a few years back.)
End of most "Good"
No raises for state employees, including teachers. (Take that, Andy Beshear!) No funds for libraries, no funds for school textbooks, and no funds for any new social workers, at a time when everyone knows there will be many more demands on them in the weeks ahead due to the virus, when present workers are already way above the national standards in caseloads. That is truly ugly.
Why is it so easy for Republicans to raise "sin taxes?" But do nothing about real, basic revenue. No taxes on casino gambling, or even expanding casinos here when multimillions flow out of our state each year to every surrounding state that has gambling parlors. Stoopid! (More later) No taxes on medical marijuana.
Let me agree entirely with senate minority leader Morgan McGarvey, truthfully chastising the majority when he said.."Since 2008, when the economy collapsed the last time, the cupboard has been bare and we haven't restocked it." Even a broader tobacco tax the guv proposed went down, tho an increased vaping tax passed. While we wait a year, other states will reap revenue from Kentuckians traveling to their casinos. Sports betting, in this sports-crazy state, was also rejected. Makes no sense.
Will we know more in a year? Probably. Can the GOP majority be counted on to do better? Probably not.
Now let me add a few words of objection to some acts of our governor, who has been doing extremely well in his late afternoon virus news conferences. (Can anyone really see these conducted as well by Matt Bevin??)
You have overreached yourself guv, in closing so many places. Please reconsider and keep checking on places that might reopen, as well as others that may need closing. OK, this is personal, but I have a pair of glases that need repairs. Optical goods stores are closed. I also need a haircut. Every time I went to get one, social distancing was enforced, even informally. Are we to go back to Dan'l "Beard?"
But what is this crap about closing our borders to people from other states (any other states, not just hot spots apparently) I think that is beyond your powers, good goal tho it may be, and most likely UNConstitutional. Hope someone challenges it. Do we really want turn away all those people who come to buy our cheap bourbon, by quarantining them. And what about Kentuckians who go to Nashville or Illinois casinos, and come back? Are they to be put away for 2 weeks? Makes no sense either.
But, as Mr. Beshear said, this MAY be a small price to pay in the midst of a unique tragedy we are living through, but together, we will make it.
I'm just sayin'...
OK, they were absolutely right to make it only one year, instead of the traditional two. No one knows what the future of state revenue is in the time of Covid-19. I might quibble about their unusual voting plan, but if the Dems or the ACLU think that was illegal, let them sue. (Not that they did before when the legislature refused to follow the Constitution and pass a budget at all by April 15th only a few years back.)
End of most "Good"
No raises for state employees, including teachers. (Take that, Andy Beshear!) No funds for libraries, no funds for school textbooks, and no funds for any new social workers, at a time when everyone knows there will be many more demands on them in the weeks ahead due to the virus, when present workers are already way above the national standards in caseloads. That is truly ugly.
Why is it so easy for Republicans to raise "sin taxes?" But do nothing about real, basic revenue. No taxes on casino gambling, or even expanding casinos here when multimillions flow out of our state each year to every surrounding state that has gambling parlors. Stoopid! (More later) No taxes on medical marijuana.
Let me agree entirely with senate minority leader Morgan McGarvey, truthfully chastising the majority when he said.."Since 2008, when the economy collapsed the last time, the cupboard has been bare and we haven't restocked it." Even a broader tobacco tax the guv proposed went down, tho an increased vaping tax passed. While we wait a year, other states will reap revenue from Kentuckians traveling to their casinos. Sports betting, in this sports-crazy state, was also rejected. Makes no sense.
Will we know more in a year? Probably. Can the GOP majority be counted on to do better? Probably not.
Now let me add a few words of objection to some acts of our governor, who has been doing extremely well in his late afternoon virus news conferences. (Can anyone really see these conducted as well by Matt Bevin??)
You have overreached yourself guv, in closing so many places. Please reconsider and keep checking on places that might reopen, as well as others that may need closing. OK, this is personal, but I have a pair of glases that need repairs. Optical goods stores are closed. I also need a haircut. Every time I went to get one, social distancing was enforced, even informally. Are we to go back to Dan'l "Beard?"
But what is this crap about closing our borders to people from other states (any other states, not just hot spots apparently) I think that is beyond your powers, good goal tho it may be, and most likely UNConstitutional. Hope someone challenges it. Do we really want turn away all those people who come to buy our cheap bourbon, by quarantining them. And what about Kentuckians who go to Nashville or Illinois casinos, and come back? Are they to be put away for 2 weeks? Makes no sense either.
But, as Mr. Beshear said, this MAY be a small price to pay in the midst of a unique tragedy we are living through, but together, we will make it.
I'm just sayin'...
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