Samhain Thanksgiving Moon
All day today in Jason and Medea, Ovid. Two more full days before my time with Greg on Friday. A little creaky. To be expected. Still, got through four verses plus. Into a groove. Not a fast groove, mind you, but a groove nonetheless.
Samhain Thanksgiving Moon
Posturing is not politics. It’s pandering. Boehner and crew are posturing. They lost the election and as even David Brooks admits will be blamed if the country slides off the fiscal cliff. It is not bad politics to admit that. It’s what politics are about. Elections have consequences and one consequence of this election is that Obama and the Democrats have the whip hand on these negotiations.
Brooks thinks there can be a grand bargain where Boehner and his tea party allies concede the point on the tax revenues in return for a 2013 deal to hammer out a deficit reduction package for 2040. Not sure what they have in the air there at the New York Times, but it must be the good stuff. Is there a need for a deficit reduction plan that cuts spending and raises revenue? Yep. Does have it to be a full platter for the rich and a teeter-totter resting on the combined backs of the poor and the middle class? Nope.
The plan that makes sense has not been put forward, at least in what I’ve read. And I’m waiting to see something practical, both politically and economically. Somebody has to put one forward. Maybe Hillary will do it.
On the Whitehouse lawn there arose such a clatter,
the whole nation wondered just what was the matter,
when what to a wandering pundit appeared,
but a tax and spend package, what the tea party feared,
the jolly old elf who delivered the present,
winked, laughed and said, “Now, it’s all spent,”
So come back next year and plan to do nothing,
It’s finished; it’s over; go eat some stuffing.
Samhain Thanksgiving Moon
Coming back to the surface after a quick dip below into the land of lethargy and woe. (not really, it just rhymed and I liked the flow.) Still, feeling more normal this morning, ready to get back at the translating, see if I’m still interested enough to continue. I suspect that I am.
Tom, Warren, Stefan, Mark, Frank and I met last night at the Woodfire Grill in St. Louis Park. Discussed Stefan’s Dad. Possible congestive heart failure. Long term care insurance: ponzi scheme or important resource? The complexity of retirement related issues, especially health insurance of all kinds. Thanksgiving. Frank at his daughters with her in-laws. Mark’s 91 year old mother-in-law cooking a meal for 18. Warren’s family and their first Thanksgiving without either Mom or Dad. Tom and his grandson taking several steps at their home. Our visit to Denver where Jon and Jen took on their new role in the family by throwing their first thanksgiving. (as the child-rearing, career oriented generation)
Watched a TED talk on Monotasking. Not very good. Half hearted. Even so, I find the idea reinforcing since I tend to monotask. I like to focus on one thing for hours at a time, even weeks at a time. Over the last three months I had three priorities: Terra Cotta tour, Missing revision and the Mythology class. Each one required dedicated time, with no interruptions.
This is not new behavior for me. When I was in college and seminary, I went the same way, compartmentalizing study, friends and politics. During my working years with the Presbytery I did multi-task, a lot. I never like the way it felt. My feet never touched the ground and the next buzz was already building while one task got sat down.