T/Top the N.S.A. turtle

N.S.A. has a website for children featuring a cartoon turtle wearing a backwards hat and purple sunglasses. The turtle touts the benefits of knowing what your enemies (and presumably Angela Merkel and every American who makes a phone call) are up to.

According to an article by Michael S. Schmidt (New York Times, Jan. 29, p. A10), N.S.A. has quite a few cartoon characters, including CryptoCat and Decipher Dog.  This is the kind of material I would expect to read in The Onion, but it is for real.  

Our tax dollars at work.  

State of the Union

Sometimes I am very disappointed in President Obama.  The Affordable Health Care Act implementation has been terrible, the N.S.A. revelations are an affront to my sense of American civil liberties, and I believe the drone strikes have done far more harm than good.

Then I watch the President deliver his speech and it all comes back.  I remember why I spent all that effort helping to elect him.  I remember the euphoria in 2008 and 2012 when he won.  I am reminded of why I think the House Republicans are not only obstructionist, but also stupid.  I am reminded of how bad off this country would be if McCain had won in 2008 or Romney had won in 2012.  

Health care, minimum wage, immigration reform, closing Guantanamo, climate change, education, foreign policy--on issue after issue this President is on the right side.  The Obama bumper stickers from 2008 and 2012 will stay on my pickup truck tailgate, and I am proud to have them there.

$2.13 an hour

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, unless you are a waitress.  Then the federal minimum wage is $2.13 an hour, an amount unchanged since 1991. Supposedly, if your tips are too small to reach the $7.25 amount, the restaurant owner is required to raise your pay to that level, but try negotiating that without a union to back you up.

I never liked the whole system of tips.  It puts the waiter or waitress in the position of supplicant.  It lacks dignity.  It is demeaning.  Why not pay people a wage they can live on, without depending on diners who may decide not to tip at all.

I also don’t get the whole percentage thing.  You eat in an inexpensive restaurant where the bill for lunch comes to $8.00--say Central Lunch in Weissport.  20% of $8.00 is $1.60.  Now let’s say you eat in a restaurant where the bill comes to $60.  (I can’t name one, but I’m sure there are some around.)  The tip comes to $12.00.  How is that fair?

Seven states, by the way, require waiters and waitresses to be paid the regular minimum wage.  Pennsylvania is not one of them.

Red Mountain Wine

Tonight I’m going to introduce you go Gib Guilbeau, who recorded an album of amazing songs way back in 1973.  Side A, Band 1 is entitled Red Mountain Wine.  Here are the lyrics.

I ain’t got no worries

I ain’t got no home

I ain’t got nobody 

to call on my own

But I’m satisfied with nothing to do

but bum for a dime for some Red Mountain wine.

Some people see me

some people don’t

some women love me

some women won’t

But I’m satisfied with nothing to do

but bum for a dime for my Red Mountain wine.

Got a house in Carolina

and a barn in Tennessee

boxcar in Virginia

and a jail in Waikiki.

Oh I’m satisfied with nothing to do

Just bum for a dime for some Red Mountain wine.

They don’t write them like that anymore.

The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood published a dystopian novel in 1985 entitled The Handmaid’s Tale.  The novel was set in the future when Christian fanatics had taken power.  Certain women were designated as “breeders,” and their function was to become impregnated and have children.  Now life imitates art.

In Fort Worth, Texas, a pregnant brain-dead woman was kept on life support because Texas law prohibits hospitals from suspending life-sustaining treatment for patients who are pregnant.

Yesterday a state district court judge said the life-support could be ended.  

Incidentally, the hospital said the fetus could not survive outside the womb.

The hospital, which is a public hospital, may appeal.

I am always amazed that people who call themselves “pro-life” can be so heartless.

The Man with the Golden Arm

After my last depressing post, I’ve decided to lighten up and tell you about the strange case of Nicholas Caputo, the Essex Count Clerk who conducted drawings for decades to determine which party would have the top ballot line.

Somehow he picked Democrats 40 out of 41 times.  In a 1985 court case, judges ruled 6-0 that the drawing procedure would have to be changed.  The court noted that the chances of picking the same name 40 our of 41 times were less than 1 in 50 billion.  The ruling stated, “confronted with these odds, few persons of reason will accept the explanation of blind chance.”

I forgot to tell you that Essex County is in New Jersey.

Being Cassandra is no fun

According to Greek mythology, Cassandra was given the gift of prophesy.  With the gift came a real downside--Cassandra’s prophesies would never be believed.

On January 17 an article in the Times, relegated to page 8, featured a UN study on climate change.  The subhead said:  “Waiting to Cut Carbon Emissions Could Outstrip Technology’s Ability to Preserve Planet, Report Warns.”

Today’s headline in the Times read “European Union Proposes Easing of Climate Rules:  Binding Goals May End.”

We are doomed.