Hello and yeah, been a while. How about a political rant?

This is close to the text of an open letter I sent to President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and Representative Stephen Lynch, relating my opinions of Louis DeJoy. There are some minor differences between this and the ones sent through the various contact forms, mainly for the President, since that one has (apparently) a 1500 character limit on its messages. At least they don't (yet) use the abysmal captcha asking you to pick photos of dog crap to post.
 

Dear ;

I am aware of many of the problems facing the country and the government as well as the Government. However, when I read this headline and the article on cnn.com the other day,
Postmaster General announces 10-year plan including longer mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours
By Kristen Holmes, Liz Stark and Devan Cole, CNN
Updated: Tue, 23 Mar 2021 18:50:32 GMT
Source: CNN

my first thought was how stupid is Louis DeJoy? He doesn’t need ten years to do that; he’s been doing a brill job since he was installed to do just exactly that.

Then, I realized that it’s the death of a thousand cuts. He figures, over ten years, we won't notice. He’s planning the demise of the Postal Service as a useful organization; one that can therefore be wiped off the face of America, replaced by DeJoy’s Message Service™ (Only a 50% increase in rates [today] over that useless entity that can’t even buy gas powered vehicles to keep our economy strong!”

I have a personal issue with DeJoy’s improved service from the end of 2020, though based on news reports I am one of a great number, and my issue is petty in the grand scheme of things. And it’s a first world problem; the package was finally delivered. Attached below is the image of the USPS Tracking Results which show this package required two plus weeks and visits to Brockton,MA; White Plains, NY; Jersey City, NJ (five times); Kearney, NJ, and Springfield MA to make the trip from Mountainside, NJ to our home in Stoughton, MA. I’d have to say Mr. DeJoy is doing a bang-up job!

If your desire is to have the postal service vanish and all its equipment, etc., trashed the way DeJoy had sorting machines sold for scrap (I don’t think he actually had them sold, just disassembled them and discarded the pieces in parking lots.) during the run-up to the elections last year; and a substantial fraction of the employees trashed along with the equipment (’cause so many are gurls, you know, and not only that, they’re not pure-blooded European descendants, and what does a good ’Murrican company need with those?), then keep Louis DeJoy in his position, where he can continue to follow trump’s orders to get rid of that blight on good American Capitalism.

In other words, do the right thing:
One: Eliminate the need for the Postal Service to self-fund its future pension needs til beyond the date when the climate has destroyed even the most ardent nay-sayer.
Two: Get rid of the person who wants to kill you. In case you’re keeping score, that would be Louis DeJoy.

Thanks for your attention and concern.

 

Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Fair Warning: A Political Post, on Syria

An open letter to my Senators and Representative concerning the upcoming vote on President Obama's request for military action in Syria.

Dear Senator/Representative;
As one of your constituents, I'd like to inform you of my position vis a vis President Obama's plan to punish Bashar al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.


While the tragedy of the almost 1500 Syrian citizens cannot be denied, I doubt that those involved really discriminate between Sarin and incendiary bombs or gunfire. The hundred thousand plus other Syrian (and other) dead should have roused an equal outrage. Since they have not, I'm left to think the President would have me believe that the treaty -- to which Syria and other MidEastern countries are not signatories -- ranks higher than the offense to common human decency that the other killings fill us with.


That's a common enough argument, I suppose. I am confident in President Obama's record for doing what he says, and the record gives me confidence as well that, given authorization, he will not allow events to overcome him and us.


If you will read my suggestion: Listen carefully to every briefing. Discover the mission's goal, its definition and how we may recognize it. Discover the disengagement process. More importantly, find out what happens when the plan fails and chemical weapons are again used, because to me, it seems certain that they will be. I am not as confident as Secretary Kerry that the rebels are lily white in this matter, and our actions may well embolden them to attempt to frame al-Assad, intent on putting America in the position where we must increase our involvement to "punish" his "continuing" evil.


Understanding the goal is crucial, I believe, since I think none of the parties in the civil war particularly like America; President Obama and Secretary Kerry have the unenviable job of picking the least worst, and no matter what we do, I see a fundamentalist regime in Syria's near future, as much as I believe in secular government. The goal should be limited, clearly defined, and in your opinion if you vote Yea, achievable. It should be a better outcome for Syria and for the world than declining to act as the President believes necessary.


Similarly, you must believe if you vote Yea that the consequences of both success and failure are accurately described, and acceptable. Also, they must be more acceptable to the country than those of voting Nay, preventing the President and the United States from additional involvement.


Personally, I don't believe that intervention is a wise move. I believe our moral outrage is sadly misplaced. I'm not convinced al-Assad is the only culprit. I'm sure that our action will play into the hands of those in America who would have us at war for their profit, and I'm as certain as can be that without a full-fledged intervention, our actions will vanish like smoke. Except in the history books.


However, I also believe that the President, the Secretary and you as my representative, have more detailed, accurate and comprehensive information than I. I ask you to use that information to make the best decision you can on this crucial matter.

No matter how you feel about this, please take a few minutes to inform your Senators and Representative of your views. That's the way it works. And of course, vote when the time comes.

If you don't know your Congress-critters' email addresses, check this web page. 

Comments welcome.
 

It's been a while

Sorry 'bout that, especially if you actually looked for new content.

Politics:
Been watching the R primary season. It's interesting, in a train wreck kind of way. I am in the demographic that's supposed to love, cherish, and honor Republican values: over 60, white, male. I find that the values I love, cherish and honor: women's rights (as well as, not instead of, men's), freedom of choice unfettered by governmental influence (mostly - I agree with not calling "Fire! in a crowded theater) and religious influence, and courtesy in public debate, are apparently not much valued in the Republican mindset.
As holder of three graduate degrees, I firmly believe that education past grade school is critical to our country and indeed our world, and deserves support.
I think rape is the forced imposition of one's will on another, and of course, abortion opponents are all over that one, aren't they?
So, I'm seeing no one in the R camp that I could even not vote against. Or as Bob Cesca says: "Keep going, Repubs, you're doing great!"

Mercenaries:
I decided to publish the whole story, instead of keeping it two books. I may take some of the deleted scenes (so to speak) and offer a collection of short stories later on. I'm planning an availability later this month.
Anticipating that, I sent Mercenaries: A Love Story (which is the whole thing, 157K words) to my beta readers, and did that cause some #amediting! I'm waiting on the last batch of edits, and will then publish. I'm thinking of KDP Select, so if anyone has experience, good or bad, or can point to a useful source of information, that would be appreciated.

Paypal:
I depublished Book One on Smashwords in anticipation of KDP Select, but the recent brouhaha over censorship raised my eyebrows. I'm fairly certain that the root cause was pointed out by a commenter at Joe Konrath's blog (note: I linked to the 'offensive' blog post, not the overall blog):

Ummm, why's everyone coming down on PayPal because of this? Last I checked, they're catching heat from the credit card companies, and PayPal stands to lose far more by losing the credit card companies than Smashwords does by losing PayPal.

And another one said:

PayPal's reason for exercising its right in such a forcible manner certainly stems from its own agreement with the Credit card companies and banks who have their own masters pulling the strings. I think, if you follow the money long enough, you will find a wrinkly old man with lots of money, who is in love with his dog, but feels guilty about it, and now wants to force his moral dilemma on everyone else.

I think these people have put their finger on the root cause. After all, the process, for CC companies anyway, began ten or so years ago, when no one complained that, under pressure from government, they refused to accept payments from those "lolita" web sites, or so I've heard. The current position seems a natural progression from that one, and it's likely to continue. It's a function of where the most money can be earned at the lowest cost (read: risk).

I think that's enough for today. I'll try to not make you wait so long next time.
Comments welcome.

Open Letter Day

Open letters to my Senators and Representative. I hope you will take a minute and do the same for your Senators and Representative, whether you agree with my feelings or not.

To John Kerry, US Senator, Massachusetts
The current charade over the debt ceiling

I hope that you will do all you can to assure that any plan implemented to avoid default, or to reduce the deficit, includes revenue increases along with spending cuts. I will find it *very* difficult to support any candidate who cannot see his or her way clear to making sure that the 'pain' is shared.

thanks for your attention.


To Scott Brown, US Senator, Massachusetts.

Hello, Senator Brown. As an independent voter, I could not support your special election effort. However, your record since being elected has exceeded my expectations.

But to current affairs. I find the posturing in Washington - on both sides, but to me, far more obnoxious on the Republican side - has brought me to a tipping point. I will not be able to support the candidacy of any person who does not agree that revenue increases must accompany the necessary spending reductions in order to put our (the US) financial house in order. I cannot accept that this problem - brought on by years of neglect from both parties and both the Congress and the White House - must be solved in a relative instant and on the backs of only a fraction of the citizens.

I hope that this position makes sense to you, and that you are able to help the Congress and the government make positive progress in the days ahead.

Thanks for your attention.

To Stephen Lynch, Representative for the 9th District, Massachusetts

Rep. Lynch, I hope that you continue to support the notion that revenue increases must accompany the necessary spending cuts as you and your fellow representatives attempt to put the US financial house in order. The Bush era tax cuts for wealthy Americans must go; they should not have been continued the last time this came up.

Please let your fellow Representatives know that some citizens feel as strongly about this as the 'no tax ever' constituency does about raising taxes, and I think there are likely more of us, especially as the effects are understood.

Thanks for your attention.


So far, I have a robo-reply from Senator Kerry.
Update:
I also received a robo-reply from Representative Lynch. 

I'm happy to see any opinions expressed in the comments.