A kindness!

A read this on Facebook. Bravo!

FOND DU LAC, Wis.- Bud Caldwell has quite the daily routine. He calls it the best part of his day.

Rain or shine, Bud visits the bench that he bought and dedicated to his wife Betty, who passed away two years ago.

He tells her what is new in his life, and leaves a daisy and a penny behind.

A snowstorm blocked Bud's path to the bench two weeks ago, so he got some help. Two park employees saw Bud sitting in his car in front of the snow covered walkway.

"We gotta make sure he can get to his bench and talk to his wife," said one of the employees.

So they grabbed shovels and cleared a path. It's a gesture Bud won't soon forget.

"Two young men did such a nice thing for one old man," said Bud.

Since that day, Bud hasn't lost the chance to tell Betty just how much he misses her.

We Have a New Political Party

The Koch Party.

For Sale: Political Races

For Sale: Political races.

Did you read yesterday that the Koch brother’s political groups plan to spend nearly one billion dollars to shape the congressional and White House elections in 2016.

It seems to me that elections ought to be won by the force of ideas that benefit the whole, not the narrow beliefs of the wealthy few who can purchase influence by selective and secret donations.

All PACS distort. Transparency is the only path to truth.

The Blizzard of 2015

I’m Sitting by a fire and watching the storm. We call it a blizzard. Most times we’d call it a “nor’easter,” but with sustaining high winds and low visibility it becomes a blizzard.

There is something exciting about watching nature’s fury from a place of comfort. I hope as many as can be are hunkered down for the duration, but I know that’s impossible. So I pray for the safety of all who must work, as we get on with the task of living and servicing the needs of so many.

I’ve seen a few blizzards in my time and while the fury and cold is dangerous there comes that moment when it’s over and the sun shares its luster on the new fallen snow with a squinting brightness.

Even the most cynical souls begrudgingly acknowledge the beauty of a blizzards aftermath before they shovel a walkable path to daily living. Dune-like drifts of white-smooth snow festoon the landscape before the wrinkled piles of shoveled snow disturb the symmetry. Eventually the dirt surfaces and turns the pristine white into gray lines on the shores of side roads while the snow-waves sustain their fleeting beauty far into the woods.

I trust all who read this missive are in their space of comfort and can feel the joy that nature’s tempest engenders if only for a moment.

UPDATE: In my area not much. Perhaps I should retitle this post, THE FIZZLE OF 2015.

Restaurant Observations

I was at a restaurant last night and, as usual, became the observer of other patrons.

I watched a Father and a son dining along and not really having any communication. The Father was on his cell phone either surfing the net or texting and the kid was eating.

I was surprised since usually this scenario is the other way around. The kids are texting on the cell and the parent preoccupied with staring off in the distance or in conversation with other adults.

I thought the kid was more adult than the adult.

I wonder when parents of all ages will realize that a dialogue with other generations increases agreement, understanding and cooperation.

The key is dialogue, listening and sharing feelings.

The State of the GOP

In so many ways, I really want to try to embrace the GOP ideas to govern this country with elegance, courtesy and fiscal responsibility, but when they continually dump on the President blaming him for everything except not putting the top back on the toothpaste I find it impossible to participate.

Mitch McConnell says Obama doesn’t set the agenda. The last time I looked I thought the executive branch of government did just that. The majority of this nation elects a  President,  not just one Senator's state or one Representative district within a state. The usurpation of executive power is unbelievable.

Republican whip Rep. Steve Scalise, who still has some serious explaining to do for giving a speech to a white supremacist organization, said President Obama’s one message was “his way or no way.” I read the entire State of the Union speech and I didn’t get that message at all.

Speaker Boehner says Obama’s proposals were “fantasy land.” I didn’t get that message either.

And then with an apparent slight to Obama, because the GOP thinks this is the way to govern, Congress invites Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before congress to apparently rebut Obama’s hopes and wishes on a nuclear treaty with Iran. That’s not a slight, that’s an insult to the Executive branch of government.

These are not citizen politicians speaking and acting as our forefathers had hoped; these are rich, arrogant, partisan, powerful (because we elected them) career politicians. There is nothing wrong about being a rich politician, but there is something wrong about being an arrogant, partisan and powerful politician and using that illusion to obstruct the common sense of compromise in American government.