A Letter to the Editor

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My gentle snowflakes, with some pride, I tell you that my hometown owns and runs a very excellent retirement community for the people who can still live independently. It is called the Homestead Retirement Community. 


Since the economic downturn, our little town has been seeking ways to cut costs. Some short sighted people have been campaigning to sell The Homestead. They want to take it out of the public sector (where it is run for the good of the occupants and the community) and sell it to some for-profit corporation or LLC (which must, because that is the duty of a for-profit group, run it with the sole desired outcome of making money--as much as possible). Now, the City Fathers have actually taken that very, fateful step:  the Homestead is for sale. 


I was personally livid over this development. Consider that:  me, livid. I have a nephew who gained a place in our family lore by uttering the phrase, "Careful, Glenna [that's me] will get ugly."


So, being me, I dragged out my soap box, dusted it off, climbed aboard, sharpened my "pen" and fired off a letter to my local paper.

I think it is horrendous that the City is trying to sell the Homestead. 

It may be "good business" but it creates a lousy perception of what "society" (as in the social fabric of the community) is in Alva! 

 If memory serves me correctly, Alva voted for the Homestead because there was a lack of adult living space for those citizens who were not in need of rest home care (Beadles, Share, etc) but who were concerned to keep living alone.  [I have, since this letter was published in the local paper, been set straight by a very highly placed source:  "citizens did not vote; there was a survey with overwhelming positive results."] 

The creation of such a facility in Alva would enhance the community. It would show that the people of Alva valued ALL members of the community. It would allow more people to stay active in Alva, longer. It was to be a contract Alva made with its citizens.

 Enid, Wichita, Oklahoma City offered the type of facility that the Homestead became, but they require a BIG buy-in that was forfeited when the residents moved out. In addition, those other places are not Alva and Alva residents are in Alva because they want to be--their friends are here, their church is here. 

I have taken several of my friends from out of town to see the Homestead. People from the Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex, the Boston area, the Denver locale, the San Francisco region, all rave about how wonderful the place is. When I tell them there is no buy-in they all really do a double take in amazement. They bemoan the fact that there is nothing similar in their own geographic area or in the area where their aging parents live. 

Alva could certainly do a better job of advertising the Homestead. Also, if residents could bring their pet--say one small dog or one cat or one bird--more would move to the Homestead earlier, at a younger age. Someone bringing a pet could pay more of a "cleaning deposit" than others; they could pay a little more each month for the pet. I am sure some set of rules could be worked out.

I really, firmly believe that Alva should re-think this business of selling such a fantastic asset as the Homestead. Finally, since the oil and gas boom has come to town, surely Alva can find the money to continue offering this jewel to our older citizens.

I have not changed my mind. I still think it is an incredibly BAD idea to sell this community treasure.
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Fear

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"...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts." FDR

Ever since 9/11, this has become a nation of fear. GW famously told us to go shopping. He did not tell us that we would prevail. He did not tell us that as a nation, we could get through this. He did not tell us that nothing anyone could do to this country would change who we are. We should have listened.

For the rest of his 2 terms, GW & his minions worked very hard to instill fear in us. It seems that they have largely succeeded. We should have listened. They also changed who we are as a country--declaring war against a nation that had not attacked us, extraordinary rendition, torture, diminution of civil rights, unauthorized wire tapping, allowing a great national treasure of a city to drown, politicization of the justice department, etc, etc, etc. We should have listened.

Now, Cheney is happily going about spewing more "be afraid, be very afraid." And Americans are listening. Many are so fearful that they refuse to have terrorists incarcerated anywhere in this country -- "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror..."

What have we become? Cowardly, spineless, fearful piles of jello?

Have Americans forgotten that during WWII, this country was home to thousands of Nazi POWs. Citizens were not afraid then. My home town had a POW Camp where only the "worst of the worst" were housed--the hard core Nazi officers and non-coms. No area citizen was killed nor even harmed by any POW. Very few even escaped. Most were recaptured.

We have to regain our self-assurance as a country. It is a matter of facing our fears and making the decision to abandon them. "No" you say? Then, what next? Carry your "what-if?" game clear out to the end. Answer the "what if?" What if a terrorist gets loose in this country? Aren't our law-enforcement personnel capable of re-capturing him? Then back to lock-up. What if? Not so fearful.

Don't say, "No." It is truly just a matter of making the decision. Quit asking "what if?" Decide that we can manage in any situation. We will not be afraid. We will not live with fear.

Make the decision. Quit being afraid. This is the United States of America. We will not live in fear. We can do anything.
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Update: here is what an interrogator on the ground in Iraq has to say about Cheney's talking and talking and talking.

Democray Demands Action

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Allan Uthman over at Smirking Chimp has a very good blog entry about us, U.S., all of us and our great slide into tolerance for abuse of power. He also includes the little tid-bit that Bush told Scott McClellan that he (Bush) was responsible for the Valerie Plame leak. I missed that announcement: man (Bush) should be in jail.

In addition,

• Reports abound that scores of loyal [emphasis mine] Bush mid- and low-level appointees in many departments are in the process of “burrowing,” that is, changing their job status from political appointments, which change with each administration, to career civil service positions, which will make it hard for Obama to fire them when he takes office. The object is clear: to surround Obama with hostile operatives, hamstringing his agenda at every turn with leaks, foot-dragging and other forms of sabotage. Smooth transition, indeed.

• The fact that Bush, Cheney, and the rest will walk out of the White House and back into lives of decadent opulence and ballooning bank accounts is a shame, a damn shame of historic proportions. And the shame is ours. Bush is the worst outlaw ever to occupy the White House, and it is not enough that he simply leave.

• We all hold our breath and ... allow the most craven, criminal administration in American history to keep right on pillaging our laws, our money, and our collective sense of decency right to the end. We, as a nation, are a miserable failure.

Go read it. If this account doesn't make you mad, nothing will.

Every citizen in the land--including Republicans--should be in the streets as Molly Ivins suggested banging pots and pans and demanding action.

We should be biting them all on the ankles. Or kicking them on the shins. Or tweaking their noses. Whatever it takes.

We must not simply return to our recliners and let Obama do the heavy lifting. He can not do it alone. The forces of evil are even now aligning themselves against any good, beneficial changes.

We need to take all the energy we poured into the election and keep writing/e-mailing our Congress people telling them what we expect them to do. Even when they are Republican and we know they will not only ignore us, but also even fail to give us the courtesy of a response.

"cc" each letter to whomever ran against your congress-person in the last election; "cc" your state Democratic Party office, too. Do it.

If you are reading this, you know how to use a computer. Find the address of your representative and both of your senators. Put them in your contact list. Use those addresses. Keep using them. Put this act on your daily or, at least, weekly to do list.

Do not let Congress slide back into their cess-pools and fail to do anything constructive for this nation. We have had that for 8 years.

Democracy demands action--NOW.