New View Askew

Some Perspective to Help You Through 2017 Does the thought of what the new year will bring got you down, Bunky? Feeling like the country is heading in the w rong direction?   That it could, in fact, be the end of America?  Well buck up, I solved your solstice sorrows and I have the cure for this malady too! We've seen this movie before - Please read on to see how other years started and then answer the simple question at the end. (All info from various sources, Wikipedia.) Jan 1918 - the first wave of the great flu pandemic was winding down in the US, finally dying out completely in April. Estimates say that between 50 and 100 million people were killed world-wide, more than the Black Death plague. In the U.S. about 28% of the population became infected; 500,000 to 675,000 killed over 12 months - that would be over 29 MILLION dead today.   On top of this WWI was still going strong. We lived through it. Jan 1932 - the country was mired in the depths of the G

                                11 th Annual Solstice Story - "12 Days of Solstice" This is truly a difficult time of the year for many people. (Okay, mostly for me.) You have to admit that even with global warming, now through, oh say, early May, there isn’t much to live for.                                                                         A TV commercial’s view of winter                                                                 The calendar has brought us back to the heinous point in time that is the approach of the winter solstice. That time of the year when we teeter on the edge of madness between the never-ending cold and darkness . . . and the glimmer of hope that we will make it to the first warm breezes of spring.  Oh yeah, and there is also the dismal election we just survived (barely) and, depending on their proclivities, half the people that voted are celebrating and half (well a little more than half) are debating moving out of

What I Learned from   Downton Abbey  and  Poldark Huh, Looks like a Pederson Family Reunion Okay, I think I’m starting to get it. Mrs Dear Leader and I have watched the entire “Downton Abbey” series three times and now we're through “Poldark” for the first time and I think I’ve learned something: English people really speak funny. Okay, just kidding. No, seriously here's what I've learned: Change is a bitch - and also inevitable. On a positive note, we always get through it.  If you haven’t watched Downton you would, of course, be one of the three people in America who haven’t and if so I’ll catch you up. Simply stated, it’s a series that follows the family of an English peer (Earl Grantham to be exact) from the years 1912-1926 and they live in an English manor called - duh - Downton Abbey. It has an “Upstairs/Downstairs” feel since the servants are as important to the story as the family.  (That's doing it a disservice, it is a really great series

Score: Rabble 1, Elite 0 You know all the talk about how the “elite” are in charge and ruining the country has been making the rounds among all the (elite) media, talking heads and politicians, right? Well, I thought it was about time to see how this charge is holding up now that this “deplorable” campaign season is over. Here’s how I see it: Essentially, the elite gave us Hillary. Now you can love her or you can hate her but the fact is that she was a deeply flawed and unpopular candidate; it may not be totally fair but she lost and there you have it. Despite her resume, in a normal election there is NO WAY she should ever have been a candidate.  However, she was clearly the candidate that the elite (at least on the Democrats side) wanted. And they got her. On the other side, the rabble (sorry, can’t think of a better name for the opposite of elite) gave us The Donald. Despite the herculean efforts of the Republican elite to stop him, they had a candidate who, if he

Poor Prudie - even she was surprised by Mr. Trump's victory! This was a tough election – duh! In my opinion we were offered two very poor candidates for president, both with very obvious flaws. So much so that it was the case that many people voted AGAINST the other candidate rather than for their's – a damn sad way to run a country. In any event Donald Trump won so we need to move on but I cannot lie, it hasn't made me happy. This is my effort to help get straight with this, for myself if no one else. If it makes you feel better too, fine. If not . . . well, there’s always 2020 (or 2018.)   If you’re a Republican you might feel like this . . . " Go back to  Pharaoh  the liberals," the LORD commanded Moses. "Tell  him  them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me (and guns)   Exodus 9:1(mostly) "For evangelicals, for the Christians, for the everybody, for everybody o