The world today
Both my husband and I lived in rural Kentucky and could hardly wait to leave. We came to Nashville in 1972 and have been here mostly ever after. He taught himself particle physics by picking up a Scientific American month after month and understanding more each time...and probably had other science books.
He would have gone into space given any chance at all. He chose the name Kirk after Captain Kirk on Star Trek in hopes our son would fulfill his dream.
Alas, as I always laugh, our son opted for that ever so financially lucrative philosophy degree. His point was that employers would train whatever one needed to know on the job.
That degree has made him a wonderful person. Although he was/is in Portland, he helped me get through the loss of my husband/his father.
An NPR addict, I hear the headlines and some articles in great depth. I know the antics "ykw" (my word for the person who is NOT my president) uses are detrimental to our whole nation. He has appointed billionaires who don't care for the departments they are to be responsible for. Dr. Carson in Housing and Urban Development is known for saying he grew up in public housing. That's his main accomplishment. Billionaire Betsy Devos has taken full advantage of giving the limit of donations for her position as head of Education. She wants to eliminate a billion dollars from the already ailing system.
Kirk and I spoke at length last night and his knowledge of what the fine print has hidden was good to know and enlightening. Before he had pointed out that the repubs have Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidency. This means the already fabulously rich are in line for more tax cuts, more drilling on national lands, more environmental ruining, (one of my major dismays is that an early paper signed by ykw allows much more poisoning of small streams wildlife surely depends on), despite the fragile state of the earth because of global changes by humans. I just read an iceberg the size of New Jersey has broken off due to the warming of the climate.
Kirk explained the intricacies of how the repubs got ykw elected. Oh my! We are a nation in DEEP DEEP trouble. This 4th of July was the first time it ever occurred to me that this country may not survive. A person with a doctorate in Physics stated it will take eight years to replace the brain drain of people who cannot sell their ethics for a job.
The repubs think government should be smaller. In this complex world I highly disagree. People who are not visible but essential such as those who monitor climate, volcanoes, study the weather patterns...they need to be in a stable job! Currently there is not a head of FEMA (Federal Emergency planning). Anyone old enough to remember the hurricane in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast fiasco surely would encourage a capable (not patronage) person be put in right away. This is not the place to make government smaller.
Rick Perry has just received a report of coal being reinstated instead of renewable energy. The reporter assures us there are back-ups of back-ups for the grid and renewable energy. However, the natural gas moguls want to run a pipe through 5,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail. We need someone bright, not someone picked for donations to manage the details.
NPR just had a session on new plane bringing jobs to most jobs. Their piece isn't loaded yet so I can check the numbers of trillions this plane will cost. All this while the number of people with pre- and diabetes is larger than ever. So, is this regime going to just open German death camps with ill people housed there?
Obama wanted to add something I consider essential. He wanted to cover the costs of people being counseled on their end-of-life wishes. This is what I remember anyway. It was a product of spin that marketed this as death squads. I'd much rather instead of a several trillion dollar plane (think of the heartbreak when it crashes on the test trip!) help for those with diabetes and other illnesses.