GOP Censures?

An article in today's AikenStandard is titled "South Carolina GOP censures Rep. Rice for impeachment vote."  My thoughts follow, beginning with a comment on Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders, you see, is my Senator.  Well, not exactly the one I can vote for, or against, at election time, but the one I relate to well.  You see, Bernie regularly gets press that shows his opinion on whatever, and those opinions generally mirror opinions I might have.  Like I said, Bernie Sanders is my Senator.

Add to Bernie, SC Representative Rice for providing his thinking on his vote in support of what many feel is an obvious need for a second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.  And what did that get him?

Well, the GOP in my state voted to censure Representative Rice for that vote.  Right or wrong, that’s what they did.  Which makes me wonder if the current batch of state legislators remember our one-time Senator Strom Thurmond.  Strom was a Democrat, initially, as were national politicians from most southern states at the time.  Strom left that Democratic Party, first becoming an independent of note in national politics and eventually emigrating all the way to the Republican Party.  This, it seems, was just the start of a similar relocation of politicians from most of our southern states.  What was known as the “Solid Democratic South” continued as a solid group with the one difference.  They became, and remain, solidly Republican.

My opinion is, you see, if any censure is to be made of anyone in this matter, it is a censure of those members who voted the current party line on this issue—the vote for censure that indicated little actual thought was given by any one of our legislators to anything.

Thank you, Representative Rice.  When our current SC Governor moves for reelection, I hope you might consider running yourself.  It would be refreshing, to say the least, to have a Governor who thinks for himself when issues needed for South Carolina are given consideration.  Sometime that old “Party Line” just won’t do!

Ancestry dot what?

Well, on giving the topic just a bit of thought, I do have a bit to pass on.  The other night, one of my grandchildren called me up and asked if there was anything in my early years that I thought he might be able to use in one of his assignments.  It seems his teacher must be the kind of person who appreciates backgrounds.  That being the case, she decided to use her ability to provide homework that might give her students the opportunity to learn a bit about their heritage.  So, on passing on a few vignettes from my one and only published work (my autobiography), I felt maybe, just maybe I may have done my part in giving my grandson Dylan what he might need to earn a good grade for his assignment.

 

Well, as sometime is the case, his assignment forced me into a bit of thought about my (our) backgrounds.  Setting aside his grandmother Jennie’s attributes, both of her parents being definitely from Great Britain, I gave my ancestral remembrances just a bit of consideration.  My mother’s background was pretty easy to come up with.  Her dad was a Newbanks, a good German family name.  And her mother gave just as well, having the name Feallock—again, quite Germanic.  

 

From my other side, My dad always said we were Scotch-Irish.  Given a bit of consideration as to what that might describe, I will begin by pointing to that movie, “Braveheart.”  If you happened to have seen that movie, you might remember when our hero gave his salute to the British King who was overseeing the battle.  “Ah, the Irish,” was the King’s comment having just observed a backside presentation by our hero’s army.  Well, as you probably remember, the British succeeded in their difficulty with their Irish neighbors, and moved on with the defeated Irish, finding they had great difficulties in getting the defeated nation to do what they, the British, wanted them to do.

 

So what did this bring on?  Well, the Scotch were another matter.  Apparently the Scotch were willing to do what they needed to do to satisfy the Brits.  And, because of this, many Scots were brought into Ireland to get the British wishes accomplished—mostly, I believe, in the growing of crops to send to Great Britain.  That being the case, the term “Scotch-Irish” came to describe those imported Scots and, from the time I knew enough about heritage to ask questions on the subject, what I always heard was, from my dad, that we were Scotch-Irish. 

 

So, my heritage being known, I now wonder why I am called “White?”  It can’t be from the color of my skin, a somewhat taupe color that I grew up understanding was a flesh tone.  I am really no more a white colored person than virtually all of my African American friends are black colored.  If not white, then, how should I think of myself?  Well, given what I have described so far, I'm pretty sure that, following the custom my darker friends have used for many years, I could make my label appellation something like “a Scotch-Irish Germanic American.”  Yes, I suppose I could, but why not go the route of our African Americans and call people like me a European American? 

 

Or, again following our African descended friends’ lead, how about Euro-American?  Euro-American me?  Sure, why not?  We then might say we have Afro-Americans, Euro-Americans and (why not) Asian-Americans on our block, or so I believe.  Austra-Americans are also a possibility.  No Antarc-Americans, though.  There just never has been much of a human population at all on that last continent.  And, as for that South American complement, well they and we will just have to share.  Euro-American North (or South) is just a bit too much!

 

Ancestry dot who?  Well, today, let’s just concentrate on Euro-American me—something grandson will hear about sometime soon, believe me.

 

And, as my “Editor-in-Chief” friend always opines to his followers:

         Thank you, dear readers, for reading!  (Close enough, John?)

                                    Thanks, again!

Return from MB-2

A return from another time--Jan 3, 2020, "Morningbrain--"Deux..."

 

Well, it is 6:30, just a bit late for morningbrain, but that is because I ignored its call just a bit earlier--5:30 or so--when it began as I stumbled out the door and across the front lawn to field the paper which our carrier thoughtfully provided around 5 AM if she (I think) was on schedule as has been her wont for the past year or so. In any case, that being done, Tobi and I returned to our places alongside Jennie--he to return to sleep, and me to engage in my usual, if a bit later than usual, morningbrain activity.

 

That’s just how it works, although a bit later than usual, as I said, today. In any case, it’s still quite dark out, something that will begin to change pretty soon, though. And mb and I are slowly coming together with a few thoughts. (Have to laugh at myself here--when doing my first edit, I thought I had made a mistake. Not so, though, as mb well knows,)

 

First up is that business of those end days, starting with my dad.

 

When he passed on, I was there, but just in the beginning. One thing he did while I was there was to begin moving his arms, in almost a swimming nature. Which was something I did not understand. Nor did the three others who were there with me. In any case, if they, Leo, Walt, and my old scouting friend, had understood, they did not pass on any advice. I will pass on just a bit, since learning was accomplished, thanks to a bit of recollection about what Dad was wanting. A touch was all, a touch which I did not give. Something that I regret but need never regret again since it was the last thing I learned from him. His last gift to me.

 

And thanks to that learning, when Uncle Marshall was passing, and when he, like Dad, reached out, I was there and I took that hand and, hopefully, provided what uncle wanted, a small thing, a touch. He calmed immediately when I took his hand, and when I passed it on to another shortly thereafter. Which, I suspect was a good thing for us all. It was just a short time later that he left us--peacefully, it seemed. Something that may not have occurred, if Dad had not taught me what he did teach me as he was passing.

 

Just one more thing to thank him for, the next time I see him.

 

There. Morningbrain struck, and morningbrain did its job.

 

Thanks, mb.

Hank Who?

 

When I read the headlines in my morning paper, I think to myself, “I wonder what my grandkids would think if they were to read that headline?”  “Hank who?” then comes to mind.  And why is that, you might be thinking?  Well, if that’s what you are thinking it means one thing to me:  You are probably among the minions of readers who are, if not my age, then approaching my age, in any case.

 

You see, we oldsters often think everyone thinks like we do—something that just is not the case.  It wasn’t the case when we were moving through our high schools, or when we were, ourselves, young marrieds, or even when we had kids moving into one of those high schools that we remember going to ourselves.  No, things just don’t change all that much, which brings up that saying, “no matter how much things change, they really just stay the same.”  Or, words to that effect.

 

Those high schoolers of mine, who I like to call “my grandkids,” may or may not even have heard of Hank Aaron, even though here he is, on the front page of my paper, having moved on to the clouds (or to wherever!) 

 

I, though, remember Hank, he really wasn’t all that much older than I, you see, and “Hammerin’ Hank” put those balls over the fence more often than any of his compatriots while I was watching him from my livingroom sofa, or, on one occasion, from the bleachers in that stadium in Atlanta. Really something. 

 

Still, that’s only one example of how my thinking differs from the thinking of my own children and the thinking of my children’s children.  When I was one of those children, in high school, at that, and someone mentioned “music,” my thinking turned to PP&M, or, maybe to Petula Clark.  My parents probably thought of Bing Crosby, or those Dorsey Brothers, and as for my Grandparents’ thinking, well, honestly, I have absolutely no idea.  Each generation has, it seems, their own thinking when a term like that comes up, even though we all may provide the exact same definition when asked what the dictionary might say about the term.

 

Strange.  Strange, but true!

 

And, as for Hank Aaron, and even as for that “paper,” my kids know what I’m talking about when I mention them but my grandkids?  No earthly idea!

 

How about that!

RE: Covid-19 immunizations

 

I have a problem—suspect you might have a problem too.  It is with attempting to register to receive a covid-19 immunization and having no reasonable record of the receiving entity’s receiving my request, much less of my request being acted on. 

 

Now, I don’t know about you, but this is highly frustrating.  I am not trying to get anything special here—just trying to get some recognition of having made a request through the premiere agency in my area and having no record of my request having been received and/or acted upon.  Who can find out what is going on here?  Can I contact a legislator and get any information?

 

I sent my request via the Aiken Regional Medical Center’s site.  I filled out documentation on a “VAMS” something or another.  I have a notation indicating something has been received.  I have no knowledge of what my efforts have resulted in vis-à-vis my request and the opportunity to receive a vaccination.

 

Will send this to my personal doctor, and to ARMC, and to my political representatives (every one I can find an email address for), and to our new President, and to my local newspaper.

 

Hopefully, somebody knows something.

 

I DON’T!

 

And that is, at the very least, frustrating.

Trumpian environmental probems

Problems may be the name of the game when Biden and crew take over.  According to an article in Scientific American, funding problems initiated by Trump may require quite a bit of correction.

"President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team says the Trump administration has done more damage than anticipated to the government’s ability to address climate change.

"Potentially lowering expectations for the incoming president’s early climate efforts, Biden officials say their agency review teams have found deeper budget cuts, wider staff losses and more systematic elimination of climate programs and research than they realized.

"Some climate moves can’t happen until Biden officials remedy those deficiencies, a senior transition official said, because 'those have been very carefully directed budget cuts to the very parts of the [EPA] that are going to be necessary to get rid of [Trump’s] outrageous rollbacks.' "

For more info, go to the recent Scientific American article by Adam Aton, E&E News, January 6, 2021. 

Just a little something

Take a look!

 https://www.facebook.com/steve.geddes.792/posts/3674704212623129?__cft__[0]=AZWmHo1j_XewMdSqRYlOQy4fvxQZFz0uTkvisfyWw_c-mqDiqQMUcPsiLm9vVwSLtFYZWWkAmoatUUzp06JW_-8_nTFQpU3EFw2lm8SZROrR7A&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Morningbrain...Deux

Once upon a time, there was a second Morningbrain.  It was Morningbrain...Deux.  Somewhere along the line, though, I returned to the original Morningbrain, where we are now, and left behind ...Deux, for reasons that are not particularly relevant.  Still, there is some rather interesting information in "...Deux,"  and some may find information there that may be just what they may need for one reason or another.  So, dear reader, I may suggest you take a look: "https://stephenvgeddes2.blogspot.com/2019/04/ " and enjoy. 

I do believe MB2 may be just what I might need from time to time, though.  Will give the matter some thought and see what differentiation might be useful.  Will pass this on, and will probably define what is there, and what is here, in the near future.  Thanks to all.

New Year? Any new readers out there? 😊

New readers?  Why would anyone need that?  Well, I guess I could ask for a few suggestions.  Tell me what might sell, if you would.  Do you suppose the price I’ve been requiring of my readership is just a bit too high?  Well, now, if I were to reduce that price, temporarily, in any case, I guess I’d have to ask all my readers to first tell me where to send the check—that’s about the only way I can drop the current price to my readers, right?  When you start out charging nothing, the only way to improve on that (for the reader, that is,) would be to provide a payment to anyone who might take the time to read your offering. Well, that sounds like a good idea to me!  So, after you finish reading, drop me a line in support and tell me what you think!

 

Other than that opportunity to pay a bit to my readers, and my need to know where to send my payments, I do have a few other requests you can help me with.  My main needs, needs you can supply by providing valuable information to me, are:

 

          1)  Topics to write about.

          2)  Preferred information sources. 

          3)  Ways to increase readership.

          4)  Suggestions on publication frequency.  (And)

          5)  Anything else?

 

And that, dear reader, just about does it.  Would you please attach your thoughts below, as comments for my consideration?  I would sure appreciate whatever you think might improve this blog. 

 

And, in addition to those comments, as your contribution to the continuance of this blog, please send your mailing address, and your supporter check for $10 (didn’t think reading this should be absolutely without cost, did you?)  And know, my dollar to you, dear reader, as payment for your readership, will be in the mail as soon as my staff might be able to manage it—no later than 3 weeks from the date of our receipt of your check. 

 

And thanks!  We writers need all the support we can get!

 

(Heh, heh, he!)

 

{;-}