Living in Society
Politics mostly social commentary.
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The atmosphere was particularly clear Saturday night. Moon bright, stars twinkling. A fine time to be outdoors despite the cold. On Sunday, for entertainment, I read The Movie Ad Book by Malcolm Vance, a book with 120 full page, color reproductions of classic motion picture posters. My canon of movies makes a short list. Chronologically,… Read more
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Like in every year since 2017, when Republicans gained majorities in both chambers of the Iowa legislature, there is a voting bill this session, House Study Bill 697. A person could set their clock by this behavior. The impact of the annual process is to make elections more difficult for Iowans. Changing the duties of… Read more
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There are two parts to turning the country around and both run through the ballot box. The first is voting: making sure we take care of ourselves by checking our registration and then voting in person, either early or on election day. Encourage everyone we know to do likewise. The second is changing the public… Read more
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It snowed overnight, meaning winter is trying to maintain its grip. The forecast is for snow to continue until 10 a.m. It will all melt, maybe later today, tomorrow for sure. I reread wrote here yesterday’s post and stand by it. There is more work to do to flesh out what happiness means in measurable… Read more
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I searched “How is the GDP doing right now?” The answer returned from the internet was “U.S. GDP or Gross Domestic Product is the total value of goods produced and services provided in the U.S. It is at a current level of 27.94T, up from 27.61T last quarter and up from 26.41T one year ago.… Read more
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It is good to begin walking the lake shore trail now that most snow melted. Getting outdoors and breathing fresh air is a boon to our existence. Not that many in modern American society care much about that. How do we measure happiness? Certainly, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) doesn’t adequately factor it in. Neither… Read more
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When I was on the county board of health we updated our pandemic response plan multiple times. It was all in a day’s work, although most revision work was done by staff. The board was expected to agree. I read the document and it looked okay to me. That was ten years before the coronavirus… Read more
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There are two parts to turning the country around and both run through the ballot box. The first is voting: making sure we take care of ourselves by checking our registration and then voting in person, either early or on election day. Encourage everyone we know to do likewise. The second is changing the public… Read more
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I’ve been chatting it up with some neighbors on social media. There was consensus we hunkered down inside our homes for most of January because of snow and freezing ambient temperatures. There is hope for a break in winter and we’d just as soon move into spring. Personal productivity lags in winter. It’s time to… Read more
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I am a Cold War warrior. I was in the U.S. Military during the period NATO stood down Soviet forces at the West German border. Based on intelligence received from friends who spied on Soviet troops, we believed we could whip their collective asses on any given day. That was likely our youth speaking. In… Read more
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