Friday, February 16, 2018

Friday, in review


I’ll take this backward. I went to town to sign and retrieve my tax return. I picked up the armload of mail on the way home.  I defied the weather when I left, in a sweater. Go ahead! Rain! Get colder! See if I care. It actually was snowing as I came up the steps, three or four hours later.

My phone rang. I could reach it, and did, fingers dropping a bill while fumbling for the house key. It was my drug insurer, and my opiod paid med denial is reversed. This is day fourteen of tooth sucking, bird flipping pain. I do wish an autoimmune disease on every person involved in the opiod crisis they made. Plus degenerative arthritis. It could bring about the resolution, that’s for sure.

Let me run with that one. A semi-automatic loosed on the halls of congress could bring about a solution to the excess of guns crisis. The best solution, though, is voters loosed on the halls of congress. Check your representative’s bank account.

I have three, two senators and a representative (from a blatantly gerrymandered district). Two have taken no money from the NRA. Nada. Zero. Zip. One is awash in a cool hundred plus grand. In the same order, two are Democrats, one a Republican. Listen to what your representatives have to say, and vote accordingly. In November, vote.

Today was gym, with Greg. He’s thirtyish, and vaguely recalls, from week to week, that I’m probably in pain. I generally don’t mention it, unless there is something I cannot do. The final routine today was a new stretch. Visualize: on my back. Left foot flat on the floor. Right ankle on left leg. Both hands around left thigh, fingers interlocked behind. Pull left leg to chest.

My fingers do not interlock, they barely meet. I can pull back my leg and suppress the moan of pain. I am pleased. We switch to same action, right leg. This is the totally trashed leg, but I’m game. Fingers do not interlock, they do not even meet.

“That’s OK,” Greg says. I can help. A firm hand on my knee sent my leg chest ward. Half the gym must have looked to see who yelled. I sat straight up. “Guess we’ll rack up that one,” says Greg. “Yea, I’m burned out!”


I’m becoming fluent in gym lingo. I can apply it. We are burned out with Congress. Time to rack up senators and representatives who won’t tackle the gun horror in our midst.  Vote in November, and November and November. Never overlook voting. This is your country. Voting is your duty, as well as your right.


The kid gym; moms can leave kids here. I am impressed with tykes zipping around the room.

30 comments:

  1. so glad about your meds, meanwhile you had to suffer, so much red tape in our world today. oh brother, just heard the FBI were notified one month before by someone who knew the shooter in his hometown, see something say something was done, but then those who were told did nothing. more legislation will not stop the doers as evidenced by many a study which says higher gun ownership actually reduces violent crime, perhaps we need metal detectors in schools and psychiatrists or psychologists to help these troubled kids, but I don't think a 19 year old who can't buy a beer can buy a gun, something not quite right about that one; just read a report from MN where gun sales were way up and violent crime way down. Everyone in my town is armed and there is even a shooting team at the high school, the kids who can't play regular sports due to certain disabilities compete in competition shooting and can feel successful at that sport; many volunteer their time to train and supervise these kids here. A gun is a tool like a pencil or a knife, in the wrong hands it does harm.

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  2. I wasn't going to go here, Linda, but I will. We live in an affluent school district. Golf club, no gun club. Laura takes a standard advanced curriculum, sciences, math, English, history, band (music) and ASL. Her friends at school are as subdued as she is. Of all the teachers you can count among the subjects mentioned, only two have addressed the shooting. These two teachers have said they care about each and every one of them, then drilled them in all the barricades and how to place them. Which teachers? The music teacher and the ASL teacher. To me, this damns the rest of her teachers, and not faintly.
    There was a ban on assault weapons that Bush let elapse. The NRA moved in, finished buying out Congress and now assault weapons can be purchased by teen agers. See something, say something doesn't work. No one is teaching gun safety. Precious few are looking out for the troubled teenagers.
    This country has legislated against stupidity. Regulated stupidity. It's damn hard to smoke a cigarette in America these days. It needs to become damn hard to fire a gun, whether by banning sale of guns that belong in a regulated army, banning bullets, or just plain confiscating the excess of guns and turning them into plowshares.

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    1. Hari OM
      Brava! Brava!
      ... and am so glad you are going to get those meds. YAM xx

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    2. I second Yamini's bravo, Joanne. Gun reform is needed. Gun reform does NOT mean sportsmen and women won't be able to have guns. People really have to stop falling for the NRA line.

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    3. Well said. And the tired old lie of more guns equals less violence/shootings has been disproved so often it almost needs no response. On another subject: Friday. A radio program you might enjoy is "week in review", it on at noon, pacific time (two hours later for you?) on KUOW. You can stream it at KUOW.org. It's hosted by a very knowledgeable guy and he has interesting guests of almost every stripe. Sherman Alexis is a frequent guest.

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    4. Our PBS station doesn't carry that Week in Review. Thanks, I'll look into it.

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  3. I am so glad to hear you have the meds back, Joanne. Misery be done!

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  4. I agree, if they quit making bullets for the assault weapons, you won't see mass killings from guns. Let the dummies that bought them in the first place sit around with guns they can't use.

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  5. You are absolutely right that voting is the only way we are going to get out from under the NRA. Those kids in Florida have started calling for action from Congress. They are our best hope and soon they will all be voters. As for the meds, it makes me so angry that you had to suffer because of some stupid insurance company. You are one tough lady and I am in awe.

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  6. I am so sick of these gun apologists. 'it's not guns it's mental illness.' bullshit. not every mass shooter has mental health problems. most of them are just privileged white males gorging on hate and bigotry and who think they aren't getting whatever it is they think they deserve. and mental illness isn't killing people in Canada or Australia or the UK. so yeah, the problem is unfettered access to whatever firepower they want. guns don't need to be banned (well some do and the things that make them even more deadly) but they should be damn difficult to acquire and should be registered. citizens do not need assault weapons for ANY reason. I could list all the ways we could start to rein in this madness here but I already did that on my own blog. you know. these kids in Florida that survived? they aren't fooled. they know the problem is access to guns and they will all be old enough to vote very soon.

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    1. and oh yeah, I know that exercise. we do that in yoga. it's good for sciatic back pain.

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  7. I think voting g should be mandatory, they made insurance mandatory.

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  8. By the way, we're in our 70's, who cares if we're addicted, beats pain.

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  9. Vote yes yes - From what I understand the NRA does a great job at getting their vote out. There needs to be another voting group to cancel theirs. BTW - the original NRA years and years ago was focused on gun safety. I think it was after the assassination attempt on Reagan that the NRA focused on their interpretation of the 2nd amendment.

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  10. So tired of kids dying while Congress does nothing!

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  11. I'm glad you FINALLY got the denial reversed on your pain medication, Joanne.

    And I couldn't agree more with you on the voting. The laws there are insane, and you can't change people's minds; you have to change who's in charge.

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  12. I'm also tired of those who say now is not the time to discuss this. When is the time? After all the funds for safety programs are pulled?

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  13. The kid gym looks about my speed. I did one of those stress tests yesterday where you walk on a treadmill as long as you can while they monitor heart, lungs blood pressure etc, I didn't last even two minutes before I couldn't breathe.
    You are doing so much better than me.
    I'll add my "vote, please" to yours, even though I don't live in your country.

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    1. You must keep your house too clean. I just read the article that household cleaning products breathed in are the same as twenty cigarettes a day. Stop cleaning, I tell you.

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  14. You made me spit my coffee when I got to the auto immune comment! Funny but sad too! Have a great day Ms Joanne. My best to the young ladies as well...

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  15. almost forgot! I have you listed on my blogroll! Hmm.....hint!

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  16. We went to an exercise class the other day, supposedly for seniors. I think the leader must have been on speed.

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  17. That was a really great post, Joanne. I was glued to all of it.

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  18. Helpful trainer...pulling something where it doesn't want to go. Some things are best left alone yes?

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  19. I'm glad your insurer reversed its denial of coverage for your pain meds. Good news, I hope you find relief now.

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  20. I have 3 relatives who teach at public schools. Hope that sort of killing does not happen in Hawaii.

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