"How would you feel?"

Just now, Cathy sent the following letter to the Louisville, KY, Courier-Journal:

To the editor:  

Yesterday, while everyone focused on health care, the citizens of Washington, DC, capital of our great nation, received again a boot in the face; this time, from your Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).

As you may know, Senator Paul attached a rider to a piece of legislation that would have given our city increased control of its own budget. This is the sort of control exercised by every other city in the country. The Senate Committee, headed by Senator Lieberman (ID-CT), fully expected it to go through without problem. Then came Senator Paul. Senator Paul's rider was totally unrelated to the budget legislation. Instead, it would have abolished the right of all DC women to terminate pregnancies under any circumstance. It would, at the same time, have loosened DC's gun control laws. Senator Paul said he attached this rider "because [he] could."

I am one of the people who live in Washington, DC. We have been disenfranchised since the early years of the Republic when representatives delineated an area that now is home to 600,000+ people but did not allow it to have representation in the national Legislature they created. In fact, we couldn't even vote for President until 1960.

Perhaps this decision made sense then--in a time when travel was by horse and buggy; TV did not exist; and airplanes, cars, and the Internet were not even gleams in people's eyes.

Today, this lack of representation is outrageous. As a retired grandmother who still teaches part-time, I love this beautiful city in which I live. I love its history. I love its monuments. I love the river that runs by it and the trees that line its banks. I love the young folks who play games of touch football on the grass by the Smithsonian. I love the tourists who come with their children to walk about, marvel, and reflect. Plus, I am too old to move.

So I am constantly angered and saddened that my neighbors and I have no voting representation in the legislature of our nation--and that Americans in other parts of the country do not seem to care. And my blood pressure goes way up when insult is added to injury, and someone, like Senator Paul, who lives in another part of the country, steps on our elected officials to interfere with our city and its  governance.

How would the citizens of Louisville feel if Eleanor Holmes Norton, our Washington DC representative (who is not allowed to vote), had been able to do this--and therefore done it--to you and your city? What if Representative Norton had pushed aside your city council, your budget head, your state and local reps, and dictated to Louisville? Would you not be outraged?  Whatever the issue, Ms.Norton, as wonderful, educated, and respected as she is, has no business dictating to the citizens of a city that lies about 600 miles away.

Neither does Senator Rand Paul.

I wish you would write and tell him this.

Sincerely,

Cathryn Carroll

The Crossword

XE has a crossword puzzle embedded on the home page, right-hand column.  It's been there for a number of months, and XE works it daily, sometimes more than once.  Her scores have improved greatly since she started.  From 500 points per completion, today she scored 5109!!  The secret is, when you make a mistake, don't sit there and scratch your head.  Promptly erase the bad letter(s) and tab on to the next word.  You can fix it when you've completed as much as you can, and the cursor goes back to the top.

Speed doesn't necessarily count for much.  Accuracy is better.  Sometimes the booboos happen in typing!  Ugh.  When my final score is less than 1200, I go back and try it again to see if I can do better when I know what has to be typed.  Ha.

Anyway, this is one of many crosswords I do per week.  The other daily is the one in the WashPost's Express freebie tabloid that's often just lying about on the bus or metro.  Nobody who just tosses these things to the floor does the crossword.  With such a ready supply, I always make sure to carry a ballpoint pen somewhere in my cargo pants.  Usually I can finish the puzzle by the time I get to my stop, which normally is about 15-20 minutes. 

I also work the Sunday crosswords in the NYTimes and WashPost, if they are available.  I'm not buying these two rags any more.  Not paying a single penny more than I have to for right-wing bull crap.  It just encourages them!  That said, I now can finish both of those in a few hours. 

The other free crossword is a weekly in the Washington City Paper, which comes out every Thursday.  That's really a hard one.  It combines lots of current events and music and art facts plus the author does it in that British ironical style: lots of puns.  That takes me a couple of days.  Last week, however, it was a total mess.  The clues did not match the squares.  E.g. they had a nice clue for #25 down, but no squares led down from #25.  Oh, my!

Genug, Already.....

I got these words in an email this afternoon (this morning and yesterday, too) (from the same people):

For the first time in modern American history, the incumbent (that's us) will get outspent in a re-election campaign -- by some estimates as much as 3-to-1.

Over the last 10 days of this month alone, GOP outside groups will spend $20 million attacking President Obama on TV.

What is it that the voice mail says?  "We're sorry....."

Thank you for thinking of me.  I've voted in every election I could since I was 21 years old.  That's a LONG TIME.  I'm not only a voter but also an active campaigner.  I regret that my annual income barely scrapes in at five figures and that my savings balance is, um, hoo.....is that a MINUS figure?  Guess so.  What that means is my ability to fork over any more $3 contributions is at an all-time low!  Live with it.  I'm wondering if there aren't any billionaire Democrats?  Can't they kick in a little more?

Sigh. The only thing I can see is for us pore lefties to STOP WATCHING TV.  Period. Don't watch those freakin ads!! Turn the toob off until the next cycle of whatever it is that cycles in an election year.  BITE THE BULLET.  Sign up for Netflix and watch the streaming movies and TV shows a day or a week later.  

And for sure, you can listen to tapes or CDs on the radio.  No need to tune in for all the idiotic ads.

Just do it.  We don't have to spend our hard-earned nickels and dimes to enrich some TV or radio station owner!!  Bleah.

New Leaves!!

My rubber plant (tree?) has new leaves on every branch!!  Thanks, dear Rain Kachina, for your wonderful visit last week--and today, too!  You scrubbed off all the dust & pollen and worked your magic on the plant, which had been languishing in the house until I put it out on the balcony.  You just never know, do you.  Life lurks in our dust-covered days until it gets what it needs to flourish.  

p.s.  I'm posting these on Snoozeville Chronicle, too, which is my daily journal, recently revived.

An Open Letter To The Supreme Court About Health Insurance, By Jen Sorensen - Kaiser Health News

Thanks to Echidne for posting this on June 6!

An Open Letter To The Supreme Court About Health Insurance, By Jen Sorensen - Kaiser Health News

On the High Line...

The plaques (on various walls) say the High Line is NYC's newest public park. The High Line Park was created on a former elevated railroad bed used for delivering goods between the meat packing district (Gansevoort St.) and 30th St. on the West Side.  (The last shipment was a load of frozen turkeys in 1980.)  As a park, it's a dandy. My wonderful friend Mary Lou and I went over there on Sunday for a walk.

I'd never been up there (it's 30' above street level) before. The last time I was close was 5 years ago when Sally, Cathy, and I met Naomi in Chelsea's gallery area to see "The Plains of Sweet Regret," a video installation of ND scenes by Mary Lucier. Then, signs talked about the work proceding on the High Line, but it wasn't open yet.

Sunday was perfect: lots of sun, cooling breezes, and appealing photo ops.

P.S. Thanks to Joared (see comments), I'm including a link to Charlie Rose's "Conversation about the High Line."

Mary Lou

Looking north

--Favorite backdrop--10th Avenue

More of the garden

Lovely day for a stroll

Looking east

Love this photo!!--looking east again

Close to the river

Napping under the trumpet vine

Another view looking east

Some of the former tracks preserved

little fly on chicory flower

We've all heard of chicory.   Here (and in Baltimore) it's just a local weed growing in vacant lots and along the roadside.  Elsewhere (see also the link), the roasted taproots produce a treasured beverage.

Anyway, there's a lovely patch of chicory along the sidewalk on my way to the local library.  I stopped to snap a photo with my cell phone and spotted a cute little fly enjoying a meal on this distinctive blue flower.  Thanks to yesterday's breeze (and my assorted nonskills with a cell-phone camera), the image is not sharp.  This isn't exactly a fly or a bee....something in between?? A fake fly or a fake bee??

I've been calling this blue flower "sassafras."  So much for memory.  My botanist-engineer friend Liz told me what they were some years ago when I noticed them growing along the road in Virginia.  Come to find out this a.m. when I looked it all up, sassafras is a TREE, and they use it to make root beer.  I knew it was some kind of beverage.