America, the Ugly - Independence Day Rant

Someone I know posted something on Facebook that I found offensive. I was so angry, I posted a very careless sarcastic comment. The statement she posted was:

"We have illegal immigrants who are staying here on a military facility while homeless veterans are outside the gate with no shelter and no food."

My sarcastic comment was: "Yeah just kill those kids and be done with it!"

I steamed and fretted about it for an hour or so. Then, also thought better of my comment, for the sake of the relationship between me and the person who posted, as well as the fact that someone might actually take me literally and agree! Heaven forbid.

So, I went back to the posting. No one else had responded yet. And I then posted the following.

"I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I just get so sick and tired of the hypocrisy of statements like that. Yes, we need to care for our homeless, veterans or otherwise. I go to my local homeless shelter regularly to donate clothing. I hand out money on the street corner. Not much, but a dollar is a dollar.

These children seeking refuge from us are starving, sick and courageous for traveling all that way to seek asylum in our country that has a statue of liberty with a statement on it. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Either we are proud Americans willing to stand up for the human rights that we supposedly believe everyone should have or we are hypocrites and believe it is only for US citizens.

Note: I got a little personal here and have changed the name of the person I was addressing.)
How quickly we forget our own history. Griselda, what's the history of your mother's people? How did they get here to the land of the free? Do you know?

I know my own family history going back for generations. We came here for the same reasons those kids are coming here. Did you hear about the one they found dead yesterday?

Do you have friends who were refugees from another country? I do. In fact, the father of my grandchildren came as a child refugee from San Salvador. I have friends who came from Russia as children. They are now grown up and committed American Citizens. I have a young friend who escaped from rape and torture as a child. She now takes care of a little old lady and bicycles 20 miles round trip daily to attend college classes to make a difference in our lives. A dear friend who came to our country served in the military and sacrificed his life during the Viet Nam era. My own son's grandparents came into the U.S. and never applied for citizenship. Does this make all those people unacceptable members of society. I would be very surprised to know others would think that.

I cannot believe how cruel, insensitive and un-christian people are towards these "Illegals". I'm ashamed of our countrymen."

Note: This is the end of my rant. Sometimes I am so ashamed to call myself an American. 

At Last Performed by Rain Ward (cover)

Please enjoy lovely niece, singing "At Last".



16 year old Rain Ward of Austin, Texas performed At Last in a contest and won second prize.

"At Last" is a 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical film "Orchestra Wives". It was performed in the film and on a record by Glenn Miller according to Wikipedia. It looks like there is some discrepancy about what other movies it was in and who performed them when I look at Youtube. Miller seems to have made several recordings.

Personally, I find the most moving rendition by the incomparable Etta James in 1961 Recently, it was recorded also by Celine Dion and Beyonce, both of whom, in my opinion, I think do not do the song justice the way my niece does.

Revealing Genetics

Not only has 23andMe, DNA research organization, shed some light on my personal medical issues, it has provided me with fascinating ancestral heritage. At one time in my life I spent eight years doing genealogy research. That was before the internet made it so easy.



I thought I had a very thorough understanding of my background. I had researched and diligently proven all I thought I needed to know all the way back to my ancestor, Charlemagne. 




True, my genetic makeup is mostly northern European as 23andMe revealed. But, Oh! What a surprise it was to learn that I do have that smidgen of Native American that everyone thinks they have but don't. 


And oddly enough, I found out I've got an Ashkenazi ancestor or two. 


I'm going to have to expand my genealogical research. 

I doubt, however, that I will ever find my Neanderthal ancestors, though. Seriously, I've got Neanderthal! 


 I love this stuff. Who am I? Who are you? Are we kin? You betcha!

Cancelling Bears Brown Bag Deliveries

I just cancelled my Santa Cruz Gray Bears brown bag deliveries. Every week I have been receiving it free. The idea is very nice. But, for the little I am able to eat, it is not worth it. I usually have to find someone to take the food off my hands. Not an easy task when I have a limited number of (also elder) friends and am not well quite a bit.

A friend has chickens, and when no one wants the food, I call her and she comes to get it. Chickens don't eat broccoli, so that goes to waste. Continuing to receive the bag of food weekly, it really isn't fair to those who run the program and the volunteers, even though they don't know of my dissatisfaction. Their ideals and commitment to their good deeds deserve to be effective. But, the amount of time I spend calling around to friends to find someone who wants some item of food, is not worth my time and energy, which could be put to better use. And, I can barely eat what I am given. Usually it is the following:

3 potatoes
3 onions
2 bags of salad greens
Brussels sprouts
3 carrots
3 apples
1 can of green beans
occasionally white rice or dried beans in a small plastic baggie
Bread of some sort

Am I being ungrateful? My mother, (RIP) would be quite upset that I don't appreciate what I am given. She would want me to "Eat it all gone! People in India are starving to death!". It has nothing to do with a lack of gratitude. I remember that back in the 1970s it made the news that elders were eating canned cat food because they couldn't afford to buy human tuna. And their lack of balanced nutritional intake contributed to their demise. I'm sure that before this became news it was an ongoing issue for elders and those who were poor but not poor enough to qualify for food stamps, which didn't exist as a regular government program until 1964.

I cannot often eat potatoes. I put them in the vegetable drawer where they get wrinkled and start to grow. Onions are totally out of the question. I would be so sick if I ate them. The doctor warned me not to eat Brussels sprouts due to my propensity to produce bladder stones. Same goes for spinach which is often in one of the salad bags. Green beans, believe it or not contribute to upset stomach along with the dried beans. I've come to the conclusion that I can buy apples without bruises and carrots (which I love) without having to find someone to take the other items. When the chicken lady is not available, most all of it becomes garbage. Sadly, I no longer try to keep a compost bin.

So basically, I can use the rice and bread, though the bread is often out of date and in need of a saw to cut through it. Only kidding about that. A good serrated knife will do the job.

Why don't I just use my food stamps to buy the food I am able to eat? Fifteen dollars a month of food stamp allotment is not sufficient to provide me with adequate nutrition to get through more than a week. And believe it or not, though my income is officially "below the poverty level" I do not qualify for more than the fifteen dollars.