2022 Midterm Election Thoughts – # 2

Covid Memorial, Washington, D.C. (3 October 2021)

This installation of over 700,000 small white flags on the Mall

represented the number of Covid deaths in this country at

that time. In 2022, the toll exceeded one million…another

example of American Exceptionalism.

For some reason, the Democrats do not want to remind us that our economic problems are still connected to what Covid has wrought. Sure, Uncle Joe caught flack for saying the pandemic is over. That seemed obvious given that stadiums and theaters are full and schools are open. We are largely vaccinated, not locked down and the medical system is managing the cases that are serious.

Yet there is no attempt to remind us that Covid continues to be a world-wide problem that affects our supply chain. That and Putin’s war have made inflation a global issue that is ridiculous to pin on the president and Democrats. But if it plays well as a political message, go for it. I wish the Dems would try harder to not accept the blame for that.

By Kevin Kallaugher (Baltimore Sun)

(4/19/21)
I saw a clip of Dr. Fauci testifying before a House committee…questioned by Jim Jordan about how/why we continue to thwart our “liberties and freedoms” by all this mask-wearing.

Lio by Mark Tatulli

Of course, the Good Doctor was way too polite as he tried to note his public health priorities…when he should have said something like:

“There are over 560,000 people who no longer have ANY liberty and freedom, you effing moron. When are you going to stop being such a butt-head and understand that the virus doesn’t care about your politics and that people who are expressing their blessed freedom are the ones that are dying? Now, put on a jacket and act like a congressman.”

(January, 2022 – email to a physician friend)
Regarding the plague, of course one should hope for low Omicron mortality rates but that’s not going to move the needle in the dumb-shit community. At no time in human history have so many people chosen to refuse life-saving (FREE!) medicine. The proudly vaccine-defiant need to get very sick and die. Maybe the failing Democrats should instead urge everyone NOT to get vaccinated so the Republicans can reflexively oppose that and get jabbed.
And you wonder why I am a misanthrope…

Drew Sheneman, Newark Star Ledger

Note – I am 76 years old, fully vaccinated and twice boosted. This month I tested positive for Covid. The following day, symptoms included dry coughing, more sleeping and nose-blowing and a lack of mental energy. That’s it. It got no worse and four days later, I tested negative and felt great. This is a disease that has killed more than a million Americans. I suggest MAGA people pause a moment and think about that.

People who refuse to believe that Covid is real and refuse to take the (FREE) life-saving vaccine vote Republican.

2022 Midterm Election Thoughts – # 1

I recently acknowledged to friends that I have four favorite days every year…Christmas, my birthday, the day the pool is closed for the season and the first night of league bowling. Although Election Day is not an annual date, it is by far the most important day when you understand that it represents our one chance to appoint people to represent us and run our government. I have not missed an election since I first became eligible in 1968…and pulled the lever for Tricky Dick…the first of a number of regrettable votes.

As we approach Election Day November 8, I am concerned about turnout, results and what will follow, especially if Republicans gain control of Congress.

By Drew Sheneman (Newark Star-Ledger)

I am disappointed to see that many of the same concerns I had two years ago (Election Thoughts Part 1, Part 2 and Covid Addendum) are still front and center this year. Partisan polarization, ignorance, Donald Trump, inept Democrats and evil Republicans again set the stage for a critical vote that not enough of our citizens will take seriously.

Prickly City by Scott Stantis

Although I don’t think I can improve on what was posted two years ago, there have been a few outbursts to friends and responses to solicitations that are worth collecting here. I tried to compose one or two cogent essays but gave up. There will instead be a series of briefer posts. I hope it will be clear I am not a fan of either party and long for the days when Election Day was a celebrated democratic exercise that led to peaceful transfers of power and honest, cooperative efforts to address the nation’s issues.

Dream on.

Shot of the Day # 42 – Poplar Portrait

I’m intrigued by recent writings that praise trees’ abilities and accomplishments as a cooperative community…communicating chemical information through the air and nourishment through a complex underground root and fungal network. These abilities are said to improve the survival of all the trees in the forest.

I love trees (for the most part…see previous post) and I’m glad science is discovering more about what they do. But it’s hard for me to deny that trees also compete for important resources.

The zoologist in me is more familiar with competition. For animals, there is territory to be claimed, food to be hunted and mates to be won over. I guess it’s a guy thing. I can’t help but bring that perspective to the forest.

Trees have it easy in some regards. Their territory is already established. The sun and chlorophyl in the leaves provide the food for growth, so they don’t have to hunt, graze or scavenge. They don’t have to fight for or woo a mate. The wind and insects set reproduction in motion. The success of the next generation depends on the success of the seeds that are produced.

There’s a reason trees spew out thousands of seeds. Life is tough out there and the odds of survival are long. The seeds of the next generation may be the end-all of your purpose in life but to everyone else, seeds are food.
  

Territorial Trees (7 March 2022)

From the backyard hot tub, one can observe this poplar tableau…which appears to be something less than selfless altruism. The image above frames a group of poplars frozen in time. To the far right is a clearing…open space. The photograph shows bigger, more mature trees on the left. They are tall and straight. They also appear to be pushing the younger trees toward the right.

The older trees were there first and the younger trees on the right are just getting what they can. After all, in the plant world, light makes right. Just guessing here, but since the younger trees on the right face the clearing, they can put out leafy branches up and down their length. The old fogies on the left have to depend on the branches near the top.

With apologies to the published experts, if growing at an angle has long-term, evolutionary advantages, all the trees would do it. I suspect that the younger trees are at greater risk of falling over. More of their mass is off center and gravity has a way of reminding us of that during bad weather. The rest of the trees ‘know’ that straighter is better (ask any Florida Republican).

Plants lust for the light. They do share water and nutrients underground. That interconnectedness helps keep the community habitat stable, especially on hillsides. But above ground, when it comes to the life-giving light, it’s every tree for himself. If a sapling manages to grow to maturity in the forest, it has earned it.