Kamis, 11 Januari 2018

Random Musings





The snow geese have arrived. 

They arrived later this year than in past years.  Probably because of the unseasonably warmer weather we have been having here in southern Delaware.  

I took this video last week, during my morning walk through the development where I live. My morning walk is one of my pure pleasures this time of my life.  On this particular morning, as I was completing my two and a quarter mile walk, the snow geese flew overhead. I looked up and let that good, natural feeling of communing with nature envelope me.

Lately I haven't been in much of a mood to pound this keyboard to punch out a blog posting.  Not that I don't have anything to write about, I do.  I always do.  That's one thing I never lack, subject matter of what to write about.  But for some reason, and I think I know what it is, I just haven't been in the mood to put my mental musings in a blog. But I feel a responsibility to keep it up.

In three days we'll have a new president. I'll be very frank with you folks,, I am fearful, very fearful.  Talk about the 'end of times.'  I am THAT fearful.  I hope my fears are overblown but I do have this sinking feeling they are not.

So what have I been doing these days?  Playing online Scrabble with my Travel Sidekick, Pat, an always enjoyable and soothing past time. 

I've also been organizing my 86,000 some photos and videos on my computer.  A YUGE job. Sometimes I wonder why I am doing that because after I'm gone no one cares what I have on my computer.  But for now, I care and I also derive pleasure looking at all those photos, especially the older ones, tagging them and putting them in some kind of order.  Who knows, maybe one of my great-nephews or great-nieces will have an interest once they get past their young years.  By the way I am now a great-great uncle.  Two of my great nieces have daughters of their own.  Man oh man am I old.

My current challenge is to get a handyman to install a bidet on my toilet.  Talk about a change of subject.  You know me folks, I veer right and left, sometimes with a very sharp curve.  

Next up is taking Bill for his first visit to a cardiologist. Bill and I both have irregular heartbeats.  I was hoping to get Bill to see my cardiologist but he's booked up until May.  Bill's cardiologist is in the same practice though.  Thank goodness the VA Choice program is covering the expenses.  This visit to the cardiologist is more to prepare Bill for his cataract surgery. Then maybe after his surgery we can get his driver's license back.

Well, this is enough musings for now folks.  I have some Scrabble games to catch up on before Trump blows up the world while I can.



Doomsday?




Any body else feel like I do today?

I woke up this morning with this feeling of impending doom. The last time I felt even this close was when we had trouble selling our house in Pennsylvania and were struggling paying two mortgages and facing financial ruin. The feeling I have this morning is even worse.  I fear for our country.

Do I really have to explain what is the source of my feeling of impending doom?  For those of you still wondering, it is the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States.

What have we done?  Correction, what have THEY (those people who voted for Trump) done?  Don't they realize that they voted for a person who is grossly unsuited to lead the most powerful country on the earth?  

Last night I was listening to Trump speak at one of the pre inaugural events, hoping he would finally begin to act presidential.  Didn't happen.  Believe it or not he was still bragging about wining the election instead of speaking about bringing our country together.

My immediate fear with the new Trump administration is that the Republicans in Congress will steamroll their long desired wishes to begin dismantling the social safety net of Social Security and Medicare. 

My second fear, and this folks just scares me to death, is that Trump's finger is on the nuclear button.  I haven't been this afraid since I was eight years old and told to crawl under my school desk of the Russians dropped the atom bomb.

I'm not afraid to admit that I am afraid.  God help us.

Letter to the Editor




Marie Antoinette - Queen of France who lost her head through her indifference to the common man

Dear Sir,


The following is my response to the proposal in the Delaware state budget to eliminate the senior citizen discount in the annual real estate/school tax bill:

Subject: Who thought this was a good idea?
(Imagined ) Conversation in governor’s office re budget shortfall:

 Budget Director:

 “Governor, we’re short funds in our budget. Any suggestions how we make up the shortfall?

 Governor Markel: 

 “Let’s tax those seniors who have been getting a free ride. Take away that $500 senior citizen tax credit on their annual real estate/school tax bill.” 

 Budget Director:

 “But what about those senior citizens who live on a fixed retirement income? Those senior citizens who are already faced with ever increasing costs in food, heat, and insurance?”

 Governor Markel:

 “Let them eat cake”

My partner, now husband and I moved to Delaware from our beautiful, paid off home in Pennsylvania, eleven years ago to escape the ever increasing real estate/school taxes in Pennsylvania.

We didn’t want to move. Hardly a day goes by that my partner/husband laments how much he misses our home in Pennsylvania, a home we planned to live out our days.  But when our taxes reached the $8,000 a year threshold, and were increasing each year 10 to 15%, I had no other choice than to sell our dream home and move to Delaware, the Land of Low Taxes.

I had always envied my longtime school friend Larry who lived in Claymont , Delaware and his low three figure annual tax payment.  My friend Bob who lived outside Georgetown, and his low three figure annual tax payment.  Even my late millionaire friend Ed, who lived on the three hundred block of Laurel Avenue in Rehoboth Beach, his taxes were also under a $1,000 a year. 

 “Time to move” I told myself. So we uprooted everything and put our house up for sale and had a new house built in Milton. This was in the year 2006, right as the housing market started to collapse.  We almost lost everything because we owed money on our new house and couldn’t sell our old house.  We eventually did sell our old house and ended up with a $100,000 mortgage on our new house, which we hadn’t planned on.  This was bad but at least we now had a low tax bill that wasn’t going to increase 8 to 10% a year or more.

However, since we have lived here we have seen our tax bill slowly increase from $1,200 a year to now $1,500 a year. This was the net bill, less the $500 tax credit given senior citizens who had lived in their home at least a year.  A welcome break from our Pennsylvania tax bill, which was rapidly approaching $10,000 a year. 

Our main source of income is our Social Security payments.  I also receive three small pension payments from my career years bouncing between banking jobs, trying to survive “right sizing'. 

 Now, in order to supplement our income and keep up with the ever increasing household bills like heat, electric, insurance and food; I work part-time at a local hotel. 

 My partner spouse is 88 years old. I am 75 years old.  There will come a time when our household will have to get by on only one Social Security payment.  And, if I’m fortunate enough to have a long life, there will probably come a time when I’m not  checking in hotel guests and earning those extra few dollars that enable me to take “indulge” myself and take a holiday a few times a year and keep up with those ever increasing household bills and insurance payments. 

Over the past few years I have already started to cut back on expenses. 

Do I need that fancy phone plan?  Perhaps not so I cut back. 

Do I really need all those magazines subscriptions? 
Besides, those magazines are all filled with ads anyway. 

Cancel those subscriptions. 

Do I really need to eat out at all those fine Rehoboth/Lewes restaurants?

We cut out those restaurant forays last year.  

Each month I see all our bills increase while our Social Security payments and my pension payments stay the same. 

I’ll never see another increase in my pay at the hotel in my lifetime.  Service jobs are notoriously underpaid. One doesn’t get rich off a hotel front desk job, no matter how many Trip Advisor kudos one receives.

Then I read in the Cape Gazette that Governor Markel, submitting his final budget, suggests eliminating the $500 senior citizen tax credit on their real estate/school tax. 

Really?

One of the pleasant surprises for me, when we moved to Delaware, was how respectful Delaware was to its senior citizens by giving them a tax break like this.  Unlike Pennsylvania who is cold and raises those taxes each year, regardless of age or income bracket. Delaware recognized the value of encouraging senior citizens to relocate to Delaware and thus contribute to the local economy. 

In my ten years working at the hotel I have lost count how many couples have told me they were visiting Delaware to check out the housing situation because they could no longer afford the taxes in their home state.  Almost all of my neighbors in the development where I live now have retired here from another state to get away from the high taxes from their home state.

Did they move here because of the fabulous Delaware beaches? 

 Did they move here to be closer to the outlet stores?

 Did they move here for the gourmet restaurant experience?

 Did they move here because of the fishing opportunity?

 Not a one.

When I asked them, they ALL told me they were moving because they couldn’t afford to pay the school/real estate taxes in their home state any more.

I find it very shortsighted to take away the $500 senior citizen discount on the school/real estate tax bill.

For the amount of revenue anticipated of the 25 million dollars.  While 25 million is no amount of small change, it is only a drop in the bucket of the 350 million short fall in the proposed 4.13 billion dollar Delaware state budget.

To me it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to ask those thousands of senior citizens living in Delaware struggling to get by on a fixed income to pay an extra $500 a year in taxes. 

 Just who thought this was a good idea?


KellyAnne!!


Welcome folks to the newest star in the political galaxy of stars: Kellyanne Conway.

I was wondering how long it would take Saturday Night Live to take on this rich treasure trove of deceit and lies, Mrs. Kellyanne Conway herself.

Sit back and relax and enjoy:



Trumpism Corrupts: Spicer Edition


Sean Spicer, White House press secretary scolding the media for telling the truth

I am worried folks.

After witnessing this weekend the worst start of an presidential administration in my life I am worried to death.  This man we have in the White House is dangerous. 

Already he has forfeited his creditability by sending his press spokesman out to state an easily provable lie.  How can his press spokesman regain the press (and I don't care what you think of the press) and the country's trust after such a deplorable and shameful display of such 'Baghdad Bob' lies?
This statement from the conservative newspaper The Weekly Standard expresses how I feel exactly:

'Rule #1 for press relations is that you can obfuscate, you can misrepresent, you can shade the truth to a ridiculous degree, or play dumb and pretend not to know things you absolutely do know. But you can’t peddle affirmative, provable falsehoods. And it’s not because there’s some code of honor among press secretaries, but because once you’re a proven liar in public, you can’t adequately serve your principal. Every principal needs a spokesman who has the ability, in a crunch, to tell the press something important and know that they’ll be believed 100 percent, without reservation.
But like I said, this isn’t about Spicer.

What’s worrisome is that Spicer wouldn’t have blown his credibility with the national press on Day 2 of the administration unless it was vitally important to Trump.

And if media reports about crowd size are so important to Trump that he’d push Spicer out there to lie for him, then it means that all the tinpot-dictator, authoritarian, characterological tics that people worried about during the campaign are still very much active.'

Folks, unless this man changes his way he is going to destroy out country and get us killed.  I am deadly serious.

We don't have time to indulge Donald Trump.  This isn't a reality show, this is real life.  Donald Trump needs to realize that he is working for us and to leave his fragile ego behind. 

Time to grow up Donald and time for the Trump supporters to stop giving him a pass. This country can no longer afford to indulge his childish and selfish behavior. By the way, who cares about crowd size anyway? With all that Donald Trump has in his In Box, why is he obsessing on crowd size?  

Grow up Donald.