Kitchen Sink

No más

I can’t take anymore Facebook. I’m out. I’ve been beaten. My intention is not to pile on Facebook while it’s fashionable. Well, this post might be – but not my behavior leading up to it. I’ve poked my head in to check on a couple of folks I knew were going through a rough time. I’ve tossed in a few random thoughts I figured might amuse a few people. But all of my recent…
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Soapbox

States Rights Attack!

Am I the only one who hears folks yelling about the Constitution and State’s Rights in the same breath, and feels their irony senses start to tingle? Let me get the obvious out of the way: I’m not a Constitutional Scholar I didn’t play one on TV While I’m at it, let me get the less obvious out of the way too: I’m not a historian I don’t think I’m smarter than the average bear I…
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Wellbeing

Sitting in the dark

A month or so ago, I posted a picture to Facebook with the caption: “in over my head.” I think it sounded like I was lost, or any number of things other than what I intended, without the context of the pictures I posted before (which I suspect slipped past many folks). We were on a camping trip, visiting a place that goes much of the way back to me and Cheryl’s childhood. The…
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Current Events

The Facebook reply that wasn't

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m the mostly absent author of this site. The name’s John, but my friends call me John. I have not said much about the looming election, mostly for mental health reasons. That’s not meant to be a joke. I’ve started a few dozen posts – I think. I’ve lost track. I’ve always given up less than a few sentences in, already emotionally…
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Soapbox

Being the other end

They have my number, so they call me. Nothing about my job is life or death, but it’s not insignificant either. Parents, children, and court orders fill my day. The parents call me because they don’t know who else to call and I usually have an answer. They don’t always like the answer and I’m not naive enough to believe they always accept it (or act on it), but some do…
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Politics

Bedtime thoughts

Do you trust the health insurance industry more than your government? Really? The right spent the last thirty years (at least) selling the idea that government is the root of all problems, and they’ve made a killing. But ask yourself, has your government let you down that much? If so, have you ever called your representative in Congress or Senator to let them know? Have you ever written them…
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Current EventsPolitics

Getting Ted wrong

I was born in Massachusetts so I’m required to have a soft spot for the Kennedys. There was rarely more tension in my house growing up than when my mother would accuse my father of voting for Nixon or Reagan… herself a liberal Democrat in the Kennedy mold – and fan of Ted, the liberal lion of the Senate, in particular. She named one of our cats Ted during the dark years of…
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Politics

Differences

We learned another difference between the “far left” and “far right,” as characterized by the media, these last few months. Well, maybe I’VE learned a few things (being a little slower of synapse). The things liberals fear tend to be true. Here’s another one of those fears you can add to the list: we never left McCarthyism and it’s legacy completely…
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