Ms., Miss, or Mrs.

In the 1950s my mom was not only identified as Mrs. Christman, she was also often identified as Mrs. Elwood Christman.  She had no identity other than being a wife of my dad.  

Sheila Michaels, a civil rights organizer, New York cabdriver, and technical editor who died this week, changed all that.  Ms. Michaels was largely responsible for the use of Ms. as an honorific rather than Miss (for single women) and Mrs. (for married women).  Men, of course, were always identified as Mr., whether single, married, widowed, or divorced.

I remember in the Sixties being flummoxed on how to address women I didn’t know well, and trying to find out if they were married.  I was so relieved when I learned I could use Ms.  Today that is so natural.  

Thank you Sheila Michaels.  You made life easier for women...and for men.

Grandfather

In years past it always annoyed me how grandparents would talk about their grandchildren, show pictures of them, tell how smart they were.  

Now I have a grandson.  He’s 11.  He’s smart as a whip.  He feeds the chickens.  He knows how to look up items on the Internet.  He argues with me about movies.  He understands mathematics better than I do.  He measures out the sugar we need for the raspberry jam.  He helps to pick the sour cherries and the currants.  He helps to dig post holes.  

He doesn’t like Trump.  

Now I get it.

Washington Crossing Park

Today Linda, daughter Rachael, grandson Gavin, and I visited Washington Crossing Park on the Delaware River.  On Christmas Eve, 1776, Washington assembled his troops on the Pennsylvania side of the river and crossed over to New Jersey.  The move included horses and cannons.  Once the Jersey side was reached, the troops had to march nine miles through the snow to Trenton, where a force of Hessians was located.

A second group of soldiers was supposed to cross south of Trenton and march north to capture the Hessians in a pincer movement, but that group never made it across the river.

People sometimes question whether Washington would be standing on a boat crossing the river as he is pictured in the famous painting by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze.  He might very well have been, since the boats used were ore boats that had no seats.  The experienced boatmen were from Marblehead, Massachusetts, an example of inter-colony unity.

These were tough and hard men.  At least one froze to death during the operation.  Nonetheless, the troops who did make it across the Delaware reached Trenton on Christmas morning, routed the Hessians, and may have saved the American Revolution.

This country was once blessed by amazing leaders.  People like Washington, Franklin, and Adams were giants.  They combined intelligence with integrity, and we should be proud of them.

How Presidents should act

Botswana is a bone dry country in the southern part of Africa.  It became independent in 1966 and was listed by the U.N. as one of the least developed countries in the world.  It had almost no paved roads, high schools, or electricity.  

Ketumile Masire, the vice president, took over the country in 1980 upon the death of the president and served until 1998.

After independence, the DeBeers company discovered diamonds in the Botswana, and the country came into some money.  President Masire used that money “to add schools, improve health care, build infrastructure and modernize farming.”

A professor from the Harvard Business School who wrote about President Masire noted that unlike many leaders who wanted to build palaces and statues, Mr. Masire said he would rather build schools.  Today Botswana has achieved middle income status and has a healthy growth rate.

When Mr. Masire stepped down, Botswana had no term limits.  Mr. Masire helped to establish them. 

A final word from Mr. Masire:  “Corruption is an evil.  It is something that has really ruined the economy, the morals and everything of value in a society.”

Mr. Masire’s obituary was in the New York Times, July 1, 2017, p. A24.  The information in this post is from that obit.

You may have noticed that I don’t post much about Trump any more.  His act is getting old, and he starting to bore me.  He’s tiresome.  

Travesty

The Pocono Record on July 2 reported that Pennsylvanians pay more for beer than residents of any other state.  It isn’t the taxes.  Other states have higher taxes on beer but pay less for a case.  Pennsylvania does impose a 10 percent tax on every bottle of alcohol sold in the state to help pay for the damage of the Johnstown Flood, which occurred in 1889, but even with that, other states have higher taxes.

The study compared the prices of cases of Bud Light and Miller Lite, two popular brands of beer.  Michigan, which has the lowest prices, averaged $14.62 per case.  The national average was $18.64.  Pennsylvania checked in at $21.98.  

Pennsylvania was the home of Ben Franklin, who said beer was proof that god loved us.  Home of Yeungling.  Home of Iron City.  Home of the Pennsylvania Dutch.  How can this be that we are paying so much for our beer?  This is just wrong.

Happy Independence Day!

Gov. Wolf stands tall

The Trump Administration has formed a “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.”  It is headed by Kris Kolbach, known nationwide for his voter suppression efforts in Kansas.  He is working for Trump, who famously charged, with no evidence whatsoever, that Clinton had received over three million illegal votes.

The Commission wants to collect from every voter in the U.S. the following information:  First name, last name, address, birth date, political party, voter history, military status, Social Security number.  

Why do they need this?  Does Putin want this?  Of what possible use is this data to a Trump-appointed commission?  

Pennsylvania’s Governor Wolf has noted the past history of voter suppression and says Pennsylvania will not cooperate in providing the requested data.  At least ten states, including Kansas and Mississippi, are also not cooperating.  

Just do it

Trump is proposing that the Republicans in Congress repeal the Affordable Care Act even though they don’t have a replacement ready.  This would send the insurance markets into total chaos, leave millions without coverage, ignore the wishes of Republican Governors who have expanded Medicaid coverage, and rest on a forlorn hope that the Congressional leadership, which so far has been clueless, could produce an actual health care policy.

I have enough anarchist in me that says to the Republicans in Congress:  Do it.  Go ahead.  Do it.