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In the wee hours of last Friday morning United States Senator John McCain gave the "No"' heard 'round the world,
...when he cast the third Republican "No" vote that sunk the partial repeal of Obamacare nicknamed "Skinny Repeal," a name as silly as the notion, rendered the more absurd when many Republican senators admitted that the the bill was terrible and that they were only voting for it on a promise from Speaker Paul Ryan that the House wouldn't pass the bill after they, the Senate, had passed it. Seriously, who votes a terrible bill into law while crossing their fingers that it won't actually become law?
...both of whom had already made it clear that they would not support such convoluted nonsense as a "Skinny Repeal."
...who cut short his recovery from recent brain surgery and showed up on the Senate floor to cast the surprise vote that that drew stunned gasps from colleagues on his side of the aisle, stunned applause from those on the other side, and saved the health insurance of the 15 million Americans who would have lost theirs by next year if "Skinny Repeal" had passed.
Those were the words of a man who is facing his own mortality, who knows that his days in this world may well be numbered, that he may soon be called to meet his Creator and give account of his life. John McCain has no more time, no more need to score political points or advance his career or ambitions. He's a man who must know that all that's left for him now is his legacy and history's record of how well he served his fellow Americans. No doubt John McCain has taken his share of missteps during his career,   ...but in his long career in service to his country he's had his moments of heroism as well,   ...amidst the battles he's fought, losses he's suffered and victories he's won. Immediately after the defeat of the Skinny Repeal John McCain left Washington and returned home to Arizona to fight another battle, Today he'll begin undergoing an aggressive treatment against brain cancer. Prayers that he'll win this battle, too. References: https://www.yahoo.com/news/john-mccains-no-vote-gop-health-bill-elicits-gasps-senate-chamber-132236698.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/john-mccain-defends-health-care-070606535.html https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/28/16058488/mccain-skinny-repeal-vote-no-explain-statement?yptr=yahoo
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If there's one thing everyone who knows me knows about me, it's that I am not a dog person. It's not that I don't like dogs...well, actually, it is. I'm just more of a cat person,
...or a rabbit person. Our past rabbits, Buddy and Daisy.
Maybe the reason I'm not a dog person is that my kids never brought home a stray or orphaned dog, random serendipity being the provenance of most of our pets,
Anyway, whatever the reason, I just don't take to dogs. And dogs don't take to me. However, that being said, after my daughter informed me that they'd just added a new puppy to their family, a little male rescue mutt-mix named Fluffy Tail Pinky-Poo Rainbow Dash Sparkle,
...well, I couldn't very well arrive for a visit laden with presents for my grandchildren without bringing at least a little something for my new grand puppy.  ...and some magazines so that the family could learn something about dogs. 
And as long as I'm watching the kids, well, I suppose I can keep an eye on the puppy, too.  
And since the room I'm sleeping in is closest to the kitchen where Pinky's sleeping crate is, it just makes sense for me to get up with him at 2 am for his potty break and again at 6 am by which time he's up and bouncing for the day and ready for his breakfast, and, of course, I'm not going to let him starve,
And if Pinky now insists on following me around everywhere and being in the same square inch as me,
  Of course, it's grandly ironic that Donald Trump chose the anniversary of the desegregation of the United States' Military to announce his re-segregation of the Military by banning transgenders from serving. In the typical fashion of a Donald Trump pronouncement, this one arrived in several out-of-the-blue tweets yesterday morning that caught his staff and the Pentagon as much off-guard as the rest of the planet and has, as usual, left Trump's flunkies scrambling about trying to explain what it was their boss really meant, even thought they had no more idea than the rest of us,
But here's what I was wondering yesterday: For all the fierce and immediate turbulence caused Trump's triple-tweet bombshell:  ...does it actually mean anything in and of itself? Does the President's tweeting something make the thing official policy? Doesn't the President have to sign an something, send down an official order to the the Pentagon, or the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the Secretary of Defense, or somebody? Is there even such a thing as legislation by tweet? And it was a tweet full of nonsense, at that, such as the line about transgenders causing disruption within the military: Among the 1.5 million members of our armed forces, there are only about 1,300 openly transgenders; and according to a Rand Study last year on transgenders in the military, there's no evidence that transgenders cause any more disruption among the troops than do cisgenders (people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth). As for the "tremendous medical costs," the same Rand study concluded that transgender transition medical costs could increase the military budget by 2.4 to 8.4 million dollars a year. The military budget is 50 billion dollars. Of that 41 million is spent annually on Viagra. Well, as it turns out, I found the answer to my wondering this morning when I read that General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced in an official memo that: "There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidelines." What do you want to bet that's the last we hear of the ban on transgenders in the military? What do you want to bet the whole transgender ban thing was just a Trump whim, something he thought he'd fly up the flagpole to see who'd salute? Looks like nobody did. But I'll bet you anything Donald Trump is sure getting a kick out of all the drama he's once again stirred up.  References: http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/trump-military-transgender/index.html http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2017/07/26/trump-says-transgender-people-will-be-barred-from-serving-in-armed-forces/?nb=1 http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/07/27/donald-trump-transgender-people-military-ban-kth-ac.cnn https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/26/trump-said-transgender-troops-cause-disruption-these-18-militaries- 
I just spent 31/2 days steeped in a 21st-Century equivalent of Walden Pond. That is to say, without internet. Which is as close to Walden Pond as I ever wish to get. Closer, even.
This story actually begins about a week and a half ago when I received a call from my daughter Maria who lives with her family in South Bay. The house-hunt they'd been on for the past several months had suddenly come to an abrupt halt a few days earlier when they not only found their perfect new house, but, by a combination of luck and deal-making, this house was available to them for immediate occupation. Could I fly out soon as possible to help them settle in with the new move?
Of course I could, replied I, and I did, arriving in LA ready on Thursday, July 20, ready to hit the ground running and doing whatever was required of me. As it turned out, hitting the ground running was pretty much what was required. Their new house is lovely,  ...light, and spacious,   
...with a pretty nectarine tree in one corner.   However, on the day I arrived the house was lacking a few desirable household accessories: it had no washer and dryer, microwave oven, working dishwasher, working heating or air-conditioning,
...or floors and carpets cleaned and vacuumed by the previous tenants before they left, or a refrigerator full of food, or a TV connection, and, worst of all, there was no internet! I arrived on Thursday; the house's internet connection wasn't scheduled to be installed until the following Sunday. Oh, no, thought I upon hearing this news, No email! No news! No blog! For days! "There's a McDonald's around here," my daughter offered, "or a coffee shop where you can go to use the WIFI." And I suppose I could in fact have slipped out. But, in truth, slipping out that wasn't what I was here for. I was here to help with the cleaning, the errand-running, the running out to do the laundry, ...the unpacking, the organizing,
...caring for the munchkins so that Mom and Dad could get some work done,      ...and, of course,helping with the biggest drainer of them all of time, energy, and attention:
In any case, for those 3 1/2 unplugged, internet-free days, so enveloped was I in the world going on immediately around me, working,
...all day, then falling into bed at night until it was time to get up in the middle of the night with the crying puppy (which I insist on doing while I'm here to give my daughter and son-in-law a break), I barely noticed or even thought about being out of touch with the bigger world. By Sunday afternoon, though, the internet was up and running and we were all back in touch again, and I'm finally back in the blogging business, at least when I can grab a minute here or there. "So how was it being without internet for three days," asked my Hubby Tom from back home in Columbus. "Actually, kind of exhausting," I sighed.
Everybody knows you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, spit into the wind or pull the mask on the ol’ Long Ranger, but if you’re from Chicago add to the list that you don’t mess around with a Chicago-style hot dog. It’s not just that a genuine bonafide Chicago Dog is the apex of hot dog deliciousness, consumed copiously by Chicagoans, privileged and proletariat alike; it’s that this dog is revered as a symbol of its city, part of Chicago’s pride and joy. However, recently a national corporate condiments conglomerate attempted to mess around with the Chicago Dog, by trickery no less, much to the wrath of Chicagoans. A real Chicago Dog has nine immutable components: A hot dog, of course, resting in a poppy seed bun and topped by onions, tomato wedges, small mild yellow pickled banana peppers known as “sport peppers,” a pickle spear, yellow mustard, a bright Kelly-green relish found nowhere else outside the Chicago Hot Dog kingdom, and a sprinkling of celery seed. Were one to go a bit rogue and a slip a smidge of chili or a few slices of sautéed zucchini or jalapeño onto one’s dog, one could probably do so with a minimum of scorn; but there is one additive that may never ever touch the delectable casing of a Chicago Dog: Ketchup. Chicagoans do not put ketchup on their hot dogs and they don’t suffer those unenlightened culinary troglodytes who do. Tout court, ketchup on a Chicago Dog is incontestably anathema. Now, this ketchup-on-hot-dog taboo, which has been in place since time immemorial and seemed destined to continue on per omnia secula seculorum, was apparently giving the Heinz Company – whose number-one stock in trade is – what else? – ketchup - a goodly case of heartburn. But then someone within the recesses of the Heinz body electric – likely some wisenheimer whiz-kid in Marketing – came up with what the company powers-that-be apparently thought a brilliant idea: trick Chicagoans into eating ketchup on their dogs, get them hooked on the stuff, then corner the ketchup market in the hot dog capital of the world. In other words, the Heinz Company decided to try the time-tested marketing method used by successful drug-pushers the world over. Their scheme played out thus: Heinz introduced a new product they called Chicago Dog Sauce, which they claimed – truthfully – was a tasty blend of fresh tomatoes, herbs, and spices. This new sauce, supposedly – not truthfully - developed especially for Chicago-style hot dogs, comes in a Chicago-blue-and-white bottle with a label that reads “Chicago Dog Sauce” and sports an image of the city’s flag.
Chicagoans were initially intrigued.
…sent me the following video of this Heinz Dog Sauce commercial which shows Chicagoans willing to give this new addition to their beloved Dog a try,
Unused to the taste of ketchup on a hotdog and doubtless psychologically influenced by having been told that what they were eating was some new blend of tomatoes, herbs, and spices, the pranked Chicagoans received the new Chicago Dog Sauce pretty positively. Until they learned that they’d been pranked and tricked into eating ketchup on their dog. The prankees' responses varied, one not wanting to finish his dog, another shrugging off the prank and humbly admitting he liked the sauce, even if it was…ketchup. As for how Chicagoans in general are taking to the ketchup deception perpetrated upon some of their own: Not well. Says Claire: "Actually this is made more interesting by the offended Chicagoans on social media. Some of the guys on facebook are personally offended at Heinz.To quote one, a nurse I used to work with: "This. Is. Wrong". Or another, that put up as his facebook status: "Heinz is about to piss off a HUGE market (Chicago) with a product that isn't wanted and hasn't been asked for at all". And if you want to see some really angry Chicagoans, check out the Jeppson's Malort facebook page. Malort is a Chicago brand of liquor that is notoriously bad, but its Chicago-made and some young people like to make their friends try it when they visit. Just search for "Jeppsons Malort" in the friend finding box and it'll pop up. A few posts down and you will find their take on the Heinz commercial. The comments are amazing. My favorite? "Paid actors from Skokie". Chicago Hot Dog Patriots: 1; Corporate Ketchup Dealers: 0. References: http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-heinz-ketchup-on-chicago-hot-dogs-story.html http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/heinz-s-special-hot-dog-day-sauce-annoy-chicagoans/309762/
The other day while cruising the aisles of my neighborhood Kroger's I found myself playing the "Just Visiting" game. "Just Visiting" is a little imagination game I made up, inspired by and named after a 2001 movie of the same name.  The story line of "Just Visiting" involves a 12th Century knight and his lowly indentured servant who are put under a spell by an evil sorcerer then accidentally sent far into the future by he machinations of a bumbling wizard. However the the knight comes to discover his quest in this new world - rescuing a modern-day damsel who doesn't realize the distress she's in - while his manservant discovers a wonderful world of doughnuts and equal rights. The movie's comic scenes mostly involve the two Medieval characters' fearful, befuddled and amazed reactions to life in 21st Century Chicago. Now, I know that the leitmotif of a person being transported to a bewildering future is a fairly common one in fantasy fiction and film; 
 ...I soon after started from time to time playing my little game with myself, imagining what a person from hundreds of years in the past might actually think if they were suddenly dropped into my time, place, and head, and were suddenly experiencing the world through my eyes, "Being John Malkovich" - style.  Anyway, the other day in Krogers, a typical, ordinary, crowded afternoon, while I strolled around the store doing my shopping, people-watching along the way as I always do everywhere I go, observing all the people peacefully doing their shopping,     ...or doing their jobs,   ...I began playing my "Just Visiting" game. And for my visitor from the past I chose to drop behind my eyes a white man of wealth, privilege and property from the American South two hundred years ago. "What do you think of the future?" I asked the bewildered visitor in my head. "It's called holding these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal. True, we don't have it down pat in this country, not nearly, not yet. But we're working on it. Because what you see, this is the way we Americans like it. Most of us. "Oh, and by the way, you and your fellow plantation-owning slavers are now among the ugliest villains of history and we still blame you for a number of social and economic problems our country suffers two hundred years later. "So if you want to free yourself and your descendants of the stigma and stench you will bear for all time, go home, free your slaves and then darn it, PAY someone to do the work from which you reap your wealth!" Then I sent my visitor back home and wondered if he would have heeded my warning.  "Equal And Opposite Reactions" by Patti Liszkay is available at blackrosewriting.com amazon.com barnesandnoble.com Kindle Edition, Nook, and Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio  When Senator John McCain was diagnosed with a blood clot near his brain a few day ago he was, thankfully, able to immediately receive the health care he needed. According to his office he received excellent treatment at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. His doctors say that after a few weeks of recovery he should be able to return to job as a senator. And fortunately for Senator McCain, he and his family won't find themselves drowning in a sea of debt over many tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills that they have not the means to pay. The McCains will not lose every penny of their life's savings or have to mortgage their house to pay for the Senator's medical bills. Their credit won't be ruined and they won't have collection agencies hounding them and calling them and their relatives late at night. Their lives won't be crippled by stress and fear, they won't be agonizing over what will they do, how will they get by? They won't have to set up a GoFundMe. Senator McCain will recover, God willing, and his life will go on as before. Should he need follow-up or subsequent medical treatment, he won't have to do without it, he won't have to jeopardize his health or his life because he can't afford the health care he needs. One wonders if during his convalescence Senator McCain will ponder how fortunate he is to be among the Americans who receive excellent health care because they have good, substantial health insurance. Will he wonder how it would be for him and his family if they were among the 23 million who'll lose their insurance should the health care plan awaiting his vote pass in the Senate? Will he wonder what would have happened to him if all he could afford were one of the cheap junk bare-bones insurance policies that insurance companies will be allowed to foist on the poor or the unsuspecting if his vote facilitates the passage of his party's health care bill? Will he thank God for the gift of his life and health and promise in return for his recovery to use his position to advocate for making the excellent health care that he was blessed to received available and affordable to all Americans? Will he refuse to vote for a bill that would put millions of Americans in a situation that neither he nor his fellow Senators would ever want to be in themselves? We'll see. References: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/us/mccains-surgery-will-delay-senate-votes-on-health-care-bill.html?action=click&contentCollection=Health&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=ar http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-will-vote-health-care-bill-after-mccain-recovers-surgery-n783476  "Equal And Opposite Reactions" by Patti Liszkay is available at http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, Kindle Edition, and Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio In these turbulent, Trumpulent, troubled times, it's easy enough to find oneself down in the dumps and singing the blues. Seems we all need a bit of cheering up, a good laugh to get us through the dismal news being pumped out daily - make that hourly - regarding the shenanigans of those we've elected to lead our country, not to mention the family members and shady associates who've more recently gotten into this bad act.   But take heart, I've got just the antidote for your blues, guaranteed to cheer you up and give your brain a good tickle. If you haven't already met him, meet the Bald Piano Guy.  The Bald Piano guy is the alter ego of Alan Schwartz, a veteran middle school music teacher and virtuosic pianist from Long Island who sings, dances, and composes hilarious parodies satirizing the follies of our politicians. Mr. Schwartz began his career as the Bald Piano Guy in 2015 when, taking on the persona of his fellow New Yorker Billy Joel, he composed a protest to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo against the state-required school testing, a parody of Joel's "Moving Out" called "Opting Out" that you can - and should - watch at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D066lb9fbQA  A year later Schwartz produced another protest against the newly revised, supposedly improved - though just as bad - state tests. This delightful video, still paying homage to Billy Joel, is called "It's Still Opting Out For Me," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waqo8u_OtsM  
 With the dawn of the Trump era the windfall of material provided by the new President and his administration has been a gift to comics everywhere, including The Bald Piano Guy, who now writes and composes so prolifically that one can find a treasure trove of his brilliantly clever musical comedy jewels on Youtube, among which are, "The American Health Care Act, A Musical Parody" of "76 Trombones" from "The Music Man": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpqzb_9bV80   There's a really great "Hamilton" take-off called "The Ten Tweet commandments": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RklNnAq81kQ  ...and his most recent opus, just published today, a George Gershwin salute called "Let's Say That Conway's Off": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN_eP4ZA0ns  And then there's my favorite so far, a Cole Porter knock-off called "It's Devossy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNVtJFK5xdc   The above are just a few of the Bald Piano Guy's dozens of awesome videos. You can see them all at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC-RVWfof_Q7s7YGDWT-xXg/feed and also on his Bald Piano Guy Facebook page. Check out the Bald Piano Guy. He's good for what's ailing us.  References: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/239472/bald-piano-guy-opts-out-draws-thousands-of-fans/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teacher-responds-to-betsy-devos-hearing-with-scathing-song_us_5880e3ace4b070d8cad0e8de  "Equal And Opposite Reactions" by Patti Liszkay is available at http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, Kindle Edition, and Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio  Oh, these kids! The mischief they get into! The grief they bring down on their parents!
 Oh, whoops! That's Draco Malfoy. Here's the one I meant. (I always get those two mixed up).  Anyway, that boy does not does not know how to behave himself, and he's so mean. He kills beautiful, rare animals for no reason, other than to get his picture taken next to their bodies.   
 As if their father's money weren't sufficient to buy them any other thrill their hearts could desire, this is their heart's desire.  Then, as boys like Junior eventually do, Junior got in with a bad crowd, .Russian rock star Emin and British tabloid writer Rob Goldstone,  ...who enticed him to get into his dad's stuff, and meet with powerful Russian government lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who's like, "I didn't do anything!"  Except that the grown-ups found out, and now young Junior is in big trouble!  Of course, Daddy Trump will probably get Junior off the hook. Just yesterday Donald Sr. said that his son was "a high quality person." That's apparently Rich-Speak for "He's a good kid." (Sigh). Still, if that was my kid I'd be praying, too. and making sure the picture got posted all over the internet.   "Equal And Opposite Reactions" by Patti Liszkay is available at http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, Kindle Edition, and Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio  I wish I weren't such an anxious person. In exchange for being calm I'd gladly take on the extra 25 pounds I'd probably be carrying around if not for all the fidgeting, flailing, pacing, sweating, emoting, and physical and mental bouncing off the walls that are a by-product of my anxiety stylings. And yet these days even the most cool, calm and collected among us should be an anxiety case. Anyone who's not an anxiety case right now is either not readying the news, doesn't believe the news, doesn't care about the news, or isn't taking the news seriously. I met up with some not-serious-taking Ohioans back in the good old days before the 2016 elections while I was canvassing for Hillary. When one old-timer asked me why I thought he should vote for Hilary I replied that if Donald Trump won he'd get us into a nuclear World War Three with North Korea. "Maybe World War Three is what we need," the old guy chuckled, "blow everything up and start over from scratch!" "We should be building up our nuclear stockpile," quipped another Trump supporter whose door I inadvertently knocked on and who was not throwing away his shot at shocking an old liberal lady, "everybody's doing it!" However the problem today is not so much that everybody's doing it as that North Korea's doing it and Donald Trump's main response so far has been to casually toss out that the United State could "end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea." Kim Jong Un's come back was to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile last week that with a bit of tweaking could theoretically hit Alaska, not to mention take out South Korea or Japan. "I guess (the Americans) are not to happy with the gift package we sent them for the occasion of their Independence Day," snickered Kim Jong Un after watching his missile launch. Donald Trump got back at Kim by sending two fighter jets to buzz the Korean Peninsula and bomb the waters off its cost, adding that he was considering some more "very severe things" in response to North Korea's missile test. Kim Jong Un shot back yesterday that Donald Trump is pushing North Korea and the U.S. to the brink of nuclear war. "Don't play with fire on a powder keg," warned the North Korean newspaper that is Kim Jong Un's mouthpiece. Meanwhile Donald Trump has been popping off alternately critical, fawning, and whining texts in an effort to get China to toughen up against North Korea. But, while China is not crazy about living next door to a nuclear North Korea, China and North Korea are - if only out of necessity - allies and trading partners and China has no burning desire to see Kim Jong Un toppled. Or to have Crazy Kim's missiles pointed in his direction. "You and Kim work it out between yourselves," says Chinese President Xi Jinping to Donald Trump, "talk, negotiate. And try backing off North Korea a little. No more bombs in the water." In the meantime China has begun paling around with the European Union, grabbing the opening left since Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accord, alienated our Western allies who in turn froze him out last week at the G20 summit, and turned over the position of world leadership from the President of the United States to Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany. Angela Merkel with Xi Jinping, who recently donated two pandas to the Berlin Zoo.  And so Donald Trump has brought us to this point where the United States is left without a single real ally - Vladimir Putin doesn't count, he's playing Trump like a chess pawn -  ...to go it alone against North Korea in a war of threats, missile tests, and bombs in the water. So far. This is making America great again?  References: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/world/asia/trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un.html?mcubz=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/04/world/asia/north-korea-missile-test-icbm.html?mcubz=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/world/europe/xi-merkel-trump-china-germany.html?mcubz=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/world/asia/north-korea-south-us-nuclear-war.html?mcubz=0 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/06/us-could-use-military-force-against-north-korea-says-nikki-haley http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4678998/Kim-Jong-threatens-Donald-Trump.html
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"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio 
Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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September 2023
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