5
When I go missing from these pages, there has to be a reason. A good one. A better one, in fact, to convince my editor for leave of absence. I took off because we were moving homes. Not going far away from my present dwelling, but far enough to stretch the human bones.
The shift involved physical labour, not the rigorous kind, but hefty enough for a senior citizen to shuffle stuff around. Oh, by the way, senior citizenship is second best to being a US citizen! You get discounts everywhere you go for being a ‘baby boomer’ as the Americans call their adult population born over half a century ago.
Soon we will balloon to 80 million. Darn, it makes one feel like an ancient relic. Pushing grandma over the cliff to avoid healthcare expenses or a death spiral, as the Republicans term the philosophy where the old and useless should be left to pass away without much ado from medicos. Spend money to save the young and healthy, is their motto.
One of the last columns I wrote before taking off earlier this year was ‘A Life Report.’ I borrowed the idea from a New York Times columnist who invited comments about life from folks over 70. Not having reached this mark yet, nonetheless, I’ll venture out on my winter of work. I need not have worked; I could have hired help. But I thought I could remodel the kitchen myself and thereby save thousands of dollars.
I painted the walls, pasted decorative metal panels as backsplash giving a retro-industrial look; refaced old formica cabinet doors by painting over them. Once over, the operation ‘do-it-yourself’ was a disaster. Finally, I hired a contractor, a Princeton-educated guy with an attitude. He scoffed at my labour gone waste but promised to fix up the place. He did, but not without a price.
Meanwhile, the Republican show host Rush Limbaugh, who sports a receding hairline, a fat face, a piggy frame and a racist demeanour called a law student a ‘slut and a prostitute’. Her sin? She testified before Congress that in some circumstances contraceptives saved women’s lives and should therefore be provided by the health insurance carrier. Rush lunged at her and demanded that if he as a taxpayer was to pay for the young woman’s pleasure, the act should be posted on the Internet for him and all other (perverts) to watch. He repeated this many times over on primetime TV!
The wind cannot read. America fumbles with words ranging from gross to reprehensible as the presidential election heats up. President Obama is being called vile words that even don’t spare his dead mother. A white judge in Virginia sends a text message from his hallowed chambers abusing Obama’s mother for having married a black guy, Obama’s dad, whom he calls a dog.
The law student called a slut wins no sympathies from the Republican presidential candidates, Romney, Santorum and Gingrich. Their lips are sealed. So scared are they of the wrath of Rush, that they dare not criticise him. “Can a man (one of the three) really face down a nuclear enemy when he’s afraid to cross a fading windbag?”
I’ll say it again: the wind cannot read.
We had a snowless winter. The icy chill never came our way; nor did any snow flurries. Spring is here and the temperatures aided and abetted by hours of sunshine make each morning worth waking up for. The stores are already flaunting summer wear. Pastels in light, wispy cottons, as crisp as they come invite the skinny to go bare. What about the rolly-polies?
The yellow daffodils have sprouted. Splendorous cherry blossoms breathe beauty all around. They are the first to arrive and announce that good days are comin’… But are they really? I hate to sound cynical but America is not ready to embrace the spring yet with the gasoline prices rising and many jobless.
Racism and sexism reinforce our view of the ‘Ugly American.’ It’s fuelled by conservative Evangelists who like the Taliban hold extremist views, except they don’t believe in violence as the radicals do. “Sex-tary” (coined by Rush, who else?) for Hillary Clinton who never tires of lecturing the world on women’s equality is hitting out at her fellow Americans. “Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me,” she tells a gaggle of women. “It doesn’t matter what country they’re in or what religion they claim. They want to control women. They want to control how we dress. They want to control how we act. They even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and bodies.
“Yes,” she continues to applause, “it is hard to believe that even here at home, we have to stand up for women’s rights and reject efforts to marginalise any one of us, because America needs to set an example for the entire world.”
One Obama-basher proudly drives around with a bumper sticker, "Don't Re-Nig in 2012." And in smaller print below, “Stop repeat offenders. Don't re-elect Obama!” The presidential candidate Santorum accuses Obama of “favoring pornographers over children and families.” If porn gets a mention can Pakistan be far behind? A TV commenter from Huffington Post compares Santorum and his gang’s pious hypocrisy to Pakistan where porn flourishes while the populace wears religion on their sleeves!
