Saturday, December 23, 2017

INFAMOUS QUOTE

Senator Orin (rhymes with moron), before a gathering of  giddy congressional members at the White House" "Mr. President, history will recognize you as the greatest ( insert adjective) president, ever!"

Saturday, November 11, 2017

VOTER FRAUD

       The Voter Fraud Commission would do well to forget  about  chasing rumors of fraud aimed to confirm the President’s suspicions.  It should instead pay attention to  a single case of flagrant  voter fraud  that is presumed to be okay, though constitutionally extremely doubtful.
All but two states arrogate to themselves a "Winner take All"  policy in determining the electoral college vote. 
        In other words, regardless of how you voted, they tell you how you voted. If this is not voter fraud on an immense  scale. what is it? 
       If you voted for the losing candidate, the state commits  egregious fraud in telling you how you voted. That's how Trump got elected, in spite of losing the popular vote. I challenge anyone to dispute it and I doubt that the Constitution permits it.
       Want to bet that the "voter Fraud Commission" will discover this obscenity, this perversion of the Constitution? How different is this than what goes on in Russia?
  

Thursday, October 19, 2017

CORPORATE PERFIDY REVISITED

The recent onset of an opioid crisis in the country, the direct result of complicity between  legislators and big pharma. allowing big pharma to flood the country with pills, and also a money hungry media, arguably the nation's biggest drug pushers, who will advertise anything to bring in money, prompts me to post again the blog, CORPORATE PERFIDY, covering my own bitter experience, which I first published is September, 2012. 
It is worth noting that complaints to the FDA evoked a reply that my problem was experienced by 1% of people treated, and that is considered to be acceptable, despite the occurrence of permanent damage.

CORPORATE PERFIDY

      Warfarin was developed in 1948 as a pesticide. It functioned as a blood thinner. Pests like rats that consumed food to which warfarin was added died from internal bleeding. In the course of time, it became an object of interest as a means of preventing thrombosis in many physical disorders such as development of clotting following a joint replacement. Conclusions about its efficacy were firmed up in the early 1950’s and approved for treatment of humans in 1954. It has been used successfully ever since.
      Drawbacks are danger of bleeding and interaction with certain foods like leafy vegetables and some medications. The protime, INR, has to be monitored and kept within limits. Visits to clinics to have INR checked are a nuisance and could be every few days until stability is reached. Time between checks may be extended as the patient reaches a plateau in living pattern and food ingestion. Over time, safe usage of warfarin, or coumadin by another name, has lost any mystery and has become routine. Other than the possibility of bleeding, there are no known side effects that result in physical impairment. An advantage, insofar as the patient is concerned, is the low cost. Of course, pharmaceutical firms cannot be expected to support this medication and will naturally spend research money to come up with money makers that do the same job as warfarin.
      Hence the appearance of anticoagulants like Plavix, which, by astute marketing, its developers have captured a fair share of the market. Besides the risk of bleeding, which is not significantly different from controlled warfarin dosage, these compounds have other side effects, some of which are physically debilitating. One such effect, claimed to be rare, which I happen to be familiar with, is an onset of sudden numbness down the left side of the body after just a few days of  taking the medication. Bristol-Myers, which makes Plavix, doesn’t make much of it, though they do list it as a side effect, (recently delisted!) and cautions that one should immediately report to their doctor in the event that it occurs. Paradoxically, doctors seem to know nothing about it. My own experience draws from consulting a dozen local neurologists and cardiologists about the affliction, and none were helpful. At the very least one or two could have lifted the phone and called Bristol-Myers and said: “Hey, I’ve got a guy here whose left side has gone numb from taking Plavix. Can you tell me something about it?” My own attempts to contact the company went unanswered except for a request for a sample from the prescription bottle which by then had been used up.Meantime, for anyone who suffers from this side effect, it isn’t going to go away so long it is reinforced every day. And it may never go away if permanent damage has been sustained. Patient complaints on the internet indicate that the problem is more common than is publicized.
      Meantime, the pharmaceutical firms, happily selling expensive Plavix pills, and aware that warfarin is still widely used, look for other ways to ease that medication out of the market with products like Plavix but with different names.
      One can imagine a scene, high up on the top floor of the Pistol-Fires Pharmaceutical headquarters building in the mahogany lined conference room. (Of course, the names and titles are imaginary too.
      On this particular morning Zachary Taylor Bremerton III, vice-president of marketing, has an idea while shaving before traveling to work in the chauffeured company car. Perks are good for administrators of his status. Upon arriving at work, he calls a meeting of his marketing underlings and product experts for a brain storming session.
      “It’s like this,” he says, addressing the gathering of bright young women and men and a scattering of middle-agers: “We’re doing pretty well with Slavix, but haven’t yet scratched the potential.... not so long as warfarin is the preferred medication. And you know full well, cheap as it is, we can’t make a nickel on it. So...........,” he looks about the room, “any ideas?” For a while it is quiet. Then, hesitantly, one idea after another idea is floated. It is Bremerton’s habit to dispose of ideas he doesn’t like with a wrinkle of his nose.
       Finally, up and coming, street smart, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, MBA graduate of Wharton School of Business Joe Paskudnik speaks up. “Well,” he says, “there’s Cataxiban.” 
   “What about Cataxiban?”  
    “It’s been there sitting on the shelf for a year. We spent a lot of money developing it with Scyther. Trouble is, it’s too much like Slavix. But that might be a minor disadvantage. Advantage is that not many know about it, though all the approvals are in order. We take over the whole warfarin market. No small steps. A major push. What we need to do is give warfarin a bad rap, then move in.”
     “Great idea.” Bremerton sounds skeptical, but this one sounds far out enough to give it a little attention.
      "Go on."
      “Warfarin’s got  disadvantages. INR has to be checked every so often. Patients don’t like having to run into the clinic every few days.... a pain in the butt for clinics. Also the bleeding problem, we can make a lot out of that......high risk."
      No one suggests that self-testing for INR could soon become routine.
      “Any similar risk with Cataxiban?”
      “Well..... yes. They are very close. Warfarin is a shade worse.”
      Poor Joe’s closest encounter with truth. Really too close to call. He plunges on.  "We mount up a major campaign. Make warfarin look bad and at the same time tout the advantages of Cataxiban. Less risk of stroke. Papers, television, the internet.....anywhere people will stop, look and listen. Prescribe two pills a day at.. say nine dollars a pill. That’s a lot better... for us... than thirty cents a day for warfarin.“
      Bremerton looks about the room. He sees approving smiles, heads nodding, shining eyes. His fingers mesh and unmesh. “Paskudnik, You’re going to go far,” he said. “That’s all folks.” The group files out.
      Bremerton speaks to his secretary via the intercom. “Maria, get me Vice-President Jim Disher at Scyther headquarters.” He gets up and starts to pace the room. “This is gonna be big,” he mutters.
      Admittedly, the above didn’t happen exactly as portrayed. But something like it did. A short time ago an article appeared in the New York Times reporting that Bristol-Myers and Phizer had obtained FDA approval for a new drug, Apixaban, also under the generic name Eliquis, that is proclaimed to be safer than warfarin from the standpoint of bleeding risk. Comparison reports (New England Journal of Medicine, Aug 29) don’t confirm that there is much difference, if any. But in recent weeks we have seen a blow-out advertising campaign..... full-page ads in newspapers,.....long television commercials, countless internet ads trumpeting superiority over warfarin and warnings about potential strokes with that medication. Enough to scare the innocent witless. 
      Quite the same as the appearance of Tono Bungay in H.G. Wells’ novel of the same title,wherein, as George Ponderevo, he helped his uncle Sidney Ewart launch an elixir called Tono Bungay, on which he built an enormous fortune.
      Amusing, if it were not so serious, is the litany of side effects, which are similar to Plavix. Some are not noted.....MAY CAUSE SUDDEN NUMBNESS DOWN THE LEFT SIDE OF BODY. But the warning does appear elsewhere.
      Gullible as anyone, I signed up for the pill. Nine dollars each.. Two pills daily. If anything, the medication has exacerbated the numbness problem.
     Articles of complaint aren’t too interesting if a concluding comment is not offered that recommends improvement in a situation.
      My observation is that one step further must be taken. FDA approval should not be the gate opener for launching a new medication on the public. There is too much at stake.
      My recommendation is that the AMA should establish a review board comprised of professionals over the age of sixty who have been around the block. They would study every FDA approval and deliver a message to the medical community and the public regarding its merits against their experience and whether a replacement should even be considered in light of that experience. Board members would be salaried and would be selected out of a slate that has no prior connection with pharmaceutical companies on any level other than normal exposure to sales for learning purposes.
Posted by Edward Hujsak at 4:59 PM No comments:  
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Saturday, October 7, 2017

GO BOLDLY

As a  sometime author, I find it awful that the company that operates under the name, "Go Boldly," would boldly follow the amoral path of using (plagiarizing?)   lines  of a famous , internationally revered poet in order to bolster  marketing whatever it is that they do. Literates in this company (there must be some) are taking the low road.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

THREE MILLION YEAR OLD SKULL

Sometimes I imagine these worn teeth, 
 chattering high up in the jungle vines
where you sought shelter, where down
below a saber tooth tiger paces.
When you turn your head just right
the moonlight reveals the panic
in your eyes. You don't even know
if you will survive tomorrow.

How could you know that with
the first wooden club you used to
open nuts and shells by the sea shore,
you had discovered the principle 
of applied force, that would allow
you to do anything, even vanquish 
your mortal enemies, like the tiger
that waits below?

How could you know the principle
of applied force would lead to tensioned 
bows, spears, axes and knives, gunpowder,
cannons, atomic bombs, travel to the moon 
that mysteriously waxes and wanes and
illuminates your nights?

How could you know the principle 
of applied force would let you dominate,
propagate in large numbers, scatter across
Earth and plunder her? Did you think
that of all the wildlife around you, 
you would be the anointed one?

How could you know that one day
I would be seated here, holding you
in my hands, blessed with thought,
intuition and emotion, trying to figure
just how it was that we got here? 


Sunday, August 13, 2017

CREDO

        Everyone possesses a finer self and a less-than-finer self. The eternal struggle is which is allowed to, or made to, triumph over the other.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

GOOD BYE, CHARLIE



     I’m finding it odd that the title of this story is the same as the title of the first story in my short story book (though in that case it was science fiction).
     Charlie Bierman and I became acquainted in the early days when we both worked for General Dynamics on the design and development of the Atlas ICBM propulsion system. Eventually our careers took separate directions, so over the years we seldom crossed paths. We retired to private life at approximately the same time.
     Among other things I wanted to do was to design and build fine furniture. I decided to join the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association and attended one of their monthly meetings. Lo and behold, there was Charlie, presiding at a table laden with hand crafted toys. Charlie described the Association’s toy program in which members make toys which are then distributed to under -privileged kids around San Diego County, including children at Camp Pendleton whose parents were in the Far East on active duty. 
     Toy making! What could be better? I decided then and there that I would join the effort, figuring that furniture making would leave lots of scrap lumber that could be put to good use.
Toy making became Charlie’s whole life. He met with toy making colleagues weekly in an El Cajon shop where he and his friends designed and crafted an assortment of toys, all of which were distributed by the Association. On occasion they came up with a design where their spouses could add touches such a painted decorations and sewed object like blankets for cribs. Charlie told me once that over the years, more than ten thousand toys had been distributed,
     Charlie carried his talents further, teaching toymaking to students at Palomar College, and participating in President Carter’s Habitats for Humanity” The construction program was geared to construct a home in a single day to help people in poorer regions.
      I met Helen, Charlie's charming wife, when I delivered toys to his home. More often than not, she would  be seated at a table, reading, a few feet away from where Charlie was working in the garage/workshop.
     As the years progressed, work never stopped, though it existed, perhaps at a more relaxed pace. In my case serious illness stopped it altogether, but it was great therapy during recovery. I grew too old to drive and relied on Charlie to come to my home to pick up toys. Still later, when Charlie stopped driving, good friend Eric Robinson provided transportation to pick up added toys from my home workshop. Those occasions were always a great time for reminiscences, recalling our rocket days, and chatting about current issues, like comparing our remarkable pacemakers.
     One day recently, I called Charlie’s number, as I had another batch of toys ready for pickup. Charlie wasn’t there but a message said that he would call back. Later in the day Eric e-mailed me that Charlie had suffered a fatal fall the previous evening. Charlie was ninety-four.
     After some moments of reflection and sadness, all I could say to my good friend, wherever he is, was “Good Bye, Charlie.” 

Sunday, August 6, 2017

PROPAGANDA MACHINE?

The word is that in line with his battles  with the press, Donald Trump will have his own news broadcasts. Maybe Steve Miller will head it.
It brings to mind sometime in the past , when Adolph Hitler put Joseph Goebbels in business on a similar mission.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

LETTER TO FOUR SENATORS

To Senators:
Dianne Feinstein
Kamala Harris
Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren

Dear Senators:

Whatever happened to Advise and Consent, a time-honored role of the United States Senate, if not a mandate, to rein in untoward use of executive power by an unpredictable President?

It is clear that President Trump’s frequent issuance of executive orders reflects an inner desire to perform like a dictator, for whom he has expressed admiration and support. It should not be left to some obscure Attorney General in Hawaii or Washington State to examine and determine the constitutionality of a Decree at some indefinite time in the future, perhaps after considerable damage has been done,


Rather, upon the issuance of an executive order, the Senate should immediately tell the President whether or not this is a good idea. Failing this, you leave the country to be run by Rasputin-like Steve Bannon, who has the president’s ear and has stated that his goal is to deprogram the administration. You can hear  the Grover Norquist crowd  cheering in the background..


Sincerely,


Edward Hujsak


Wednesday, July 12, 2017

GREAT DAY COMING?

Donald Trump, introduced, to religion by two Corinthians, who had nothing else to do at the time, is now holding prayer meetings with evangelicals in the oval office, with  the laying on of hands for good measure.What may be more encouraging and exciting, we may all eventually be saved by executive order!

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

CABLE NEWS

A great day for cable news.
A shooting event at a baseball field in Washington provides non-stop, repetitive fodder, exhaustive coverage for at least two days.
Meantime, it is fortunate that nothing else worth noting  is taking place on Planet Earth. 

Sunday, June 11, 2017

THE HUNTERS

Such a probing,
a hunger, to discover
whether skeletons rest
in crevices on Mars,
or diamonds crust upon
the shores of planets
far too distant to perceive.
Then there's the race
to find the smallest bit
"The God Particle,"
they call it, 
or more prosaically,
"Higg's Boson,"
supposed to tie
all things together.
What a kick for humanity
if it turns out to be 
the same as love.

-e. hujsak

Saturday, June 10, 2017

CORN -ON - THE - COB



Summer is approaching. Memories of the farm - the old swimming hole, boiled new potatoes, corn-on-the-cob.

It reminds me that  my brother Alex was something of an expert on corn-on-the-cob, having figured out how to get freshly picked corn into boiling water in the shortest possible time to avoid starch onset. He advised planting corn as close to the kitchen as possible. When the corn is ripe you set the water to boiling in a pot on the stove. Then you pick the corn and run, don't walk, back to the kitchen, shucking the leafy covers on the go, the object being to get the corn cooking immediately.

Boiled new potatoes got me thinking. History records that Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to Ireland and England in the sixteenth century. after Conquistadors discovered them  in Peru. I doubt though, that I will be remembered for having introduced corn-on-the-cob to Poland, but for the record, I can relate how it happened.

One summer day, around twenty five years ago, nephew -in-law Slav appeared at our doorstep accompanied by his sister Ula and her daughter, who were visiting from Poland. After visiting for a spell, we invited them to lunch with us. The table was set with a variety of garden goods, including a plate at each setting with a freshly boiled ear of sweet corn on it. I remember a slight frown on Ula's face and a wrinkling of her nose. She said to Slav, in a soft, melodious voice, "In Poland , we feed this to pigs!"

Slav replied with a smile, "You smear butter on it, then salt it. It's very good."

They did find it good and remembered it upon returning to  Poland. There they introduced it to friends, who introduced it to friends and, well, you know.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

COAL ANYONE?

Ab opinion piece by Michael Bloomberg in the May 2 Washington post is titled:

TRUMP'S PROMISE TO BRING BACK COAL IS WORSE THAN A CON'

Knowledgable energy people will fully agree. Coal cannot compete with natural gas, which is available in prodigious amounts, worldwide. Some, possibly much of it, is theorized to be not of fossil origin, but came from a component of the atmosphere in early days of Earth's formation. It got trapped in underground fissures as did carbon dioxide and other gases, and methane also got dissolved in hot brine deposits in huge amounts. Coal plants are rapidly being retired from service and are being replaced by  natural gas and renewable sources. In the latter, there are a lot more jobs than coal mining. Ten times more.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

SPACE TRAVELERS ALL

Long before any human sets foot on Mars, you will be able to explore Mars and the moon virtually, in your living room, or perhaps, at lesser expense, in a Starbuck's type venue, as there are opportunities for big bucks to be made. 

You will don a helmet with a view screen and delve into, and navigate google maps, just as though you were there. You will be alone, though the worlds will be swarming with other explorers. Eventually other planets, Saturn's moons, will be open for exploration. Would-be astronauts won't leave a mark behind, nor any other residue from the visit. 

This is one of the next big technological developments, and will probably quell all desire and expense of space travel and promote better care of unique Earth, maybe the only place humans can call home.


Friday, April 28, 2017

NEW AGE

I wonder, what with forty-one dictatorships around the world, and a wannabe in the White House, whether one day historians will look upon this time as THE ERA OF THE ASCENDANCY OF THE PASKUDNYAKS.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

SECOND COMING

Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible towrite in a style that is comfortable for me’

My Dear Trill,

This day, the celebration of a specfic resurrection that is written to have occurred in biblical times - a return to life after death  -  often takes on a broader meaning. “Coming back to life” can be a  renewal in any number of ways. We live in a time when ten disparate nations are in possession of over  sixteen thousand nuclear bombs. Some of the governments are headed by lunatics. Somehow, if civilization is to survive, things must change.
I cannot blame you for being apprehensive about the future, much less be sanguine. Historically there have been other times of stressed relations, misunderstandings, rise of empire building despots, and consequent wars. I am reminded today of the famous work, written in 1919 (following WWI) by William Butler Yeats


THE SECOND COMING 

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; 
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; 
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, 
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; 
The best lack all conviction, while the worst   
Are full of passionate intensity. 

Surely some revelation is at hand; 
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi 
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   
The darkness drops again; but now I know   
That twenty centuries of stony sleep 
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? 


Tuesday, March 28, 2017

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Look for the Trump administration seeking a subsidy for coal burning power plants because they cannot compete with natural gas, which is available in prodigious amounts. Also, wind energy is cost competitive with coal to install and far cheaper to operate.

Trouble ahead in the White House with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner put in charge of a number of efforts, including foreign affairs. Whoa! Does that mean that the Secretary of State reports to Jared, and not the  president?

Trump's reversal of environmental control measures will create an uproar. Many jobs now depend on climate change abatement.

Common sense will eventually drive the legislature to provide medicare for all. One administrative system, modest charge, everyone covered. Rebates if don't use it and take care of health. A healthier nation. Everyone wins.

Friday, March 24, 2017

DECEPTION AND DEAL MAKING

Author's note. Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.


My Dear Trill,

You write that you are despondent, confused by a churning world that has escaped your understanding. You are  not alone.
Commercial interests, a universal drive to encourage  people to consume and acquire possessions, is the engine of what is called progress. Rather than being guided, it operates by pushing boundaries as far as they can be pushed without breaking. You see this in television, which has largely become a medium for huckstering, even making a game of it, for example, and its adoption of the disgraceful role as the nation's greatest drug pusher (“see your doctor”).
Then there is the matter of utter falsehoods being foisted upon an entire population. Sad and troubling  is the election of a professional huckster to lead the country; a man with the reputation as a “deal maker” with a background in casinos, steaks delivered to your door, wine, golf courses, real estate, a failed  “university” (  a practiced liar, as if it isn’t commonly known that this is a necessaary attribute for deal making), and no governing experience at all: a man empty of empathy. We have elected a president who is skilled, howver, in pushing the boundaries, The worry now is that a mis-step could easily  take the nation into war. It appears that he has already given up the role as leader of the free world to Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Germany.
The marginal quality of our new President is common  knowledge, and draws much   critical commentary, a sample of which is illustrated by Richard Cohen’s recent opinion piece in the New York Times. Quote:
“If a budget can be a portrait of a soul, then this president’s is arid and shriveled. It is filled with contempt for the needy. Here is a man dismissive of the arts, the environment, the humanities, diplomacy, peacekeeping, science, public education and civilian national service — in short, civilization itself. If he could defund goodness he would. Charity is also ripe for the ax. Creativity needs skewering. Giving is weakness. All that counts are acquisitive instinct, walls and bans (of the kind that keep mother and son apart), displays of power, and the frisson of selective cruelty that lay behind his successful TV show. Everyone is now Donald Trump’s apprentice, at least as he sees it.”
How far this intrusion on Democracy, behaving more like a kleptocracy, will be allowed to go on is a matter of conjecture. My guess is that by mid-year the President will show signs of tiring of a job he doesn’t really understand, which is not meant to be styled to be run by deception and deal making, and the people will be really tired of him.


Thursday, March 16, 2017

SPACE TRAVELERS

      When you think about it, human space exploration is akin to dolphins leaping out of the water. Contrast this with fact that we are already space travelers, tooling around the sun once a year at 30km per second. We even grow our own food. 
      Further, our spaceship moves along with the solar system in its orbit around the galaxy, at 230 km sec. which occurs once every 230 million years. 
      Rockets can hardly match what exists in the cosmos.

Monday, March 6, 2017

ANXIETY

Authors note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.

My Dear Trill,

     Isn't it odd that America does not exist on maps? The Continents of North America and South America do, however. The founders had it wrong when they wrote "the United States of America' in the preamble to the constitution. Technically they should have written "the United States in the Continent of North America."
     It follows then, Canadians, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Costa Ricans can claim to be Americans. Hawaiians, though part of the United States, unfortunately cannot make that claim.
     For that matter, all citizens in countries in South America can claim to be Americans.

"God Bless America."  

      A nice song. Maybe a suitable anthem for the North and South American Continents. 

     The foregoing may be  food for thought, Trill, but  it is probably unimportant in the grand scheme of things; the immediate prospects for intelligent leadership by a lying, delusional, petulant and vindictive president, and in the broad perspective, society facing a race that is  already out of the starting gates between the Transcendent Man, Dystopians, Luddites, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.



Thursday, February 23, 2017

REMINDER

Write to:

Senator Dianne Feinstein

Now that President Trump has reversed Obama’s decision on the Keystone and Dakota pipelines, they will in all liklihood go ahead with construction. I think it is important to insert in the permits what will happen after the pipelines have outlived their use. Disposal of the pipelines is an important issue, as is restoration of the landscape to its original condition. The companies involved should be required to put up a bond to ensure that the work is done.

And to Governor Brown


Given that  carbon emissions abatement is an important issue for California, and that in many ways California is leading the way for the nation, I urge you to consider requirIng that Diesel locomotives convert to biodiesel. In one significant move, an entire segment of the transportation industry can be converted to a near zero carbon footprint. California can do this as it already has a healthy biodiesel industry. Along these lines, I urge you to authorize hemp growing, a very good cash crop and source of oil as well as other products that grows well in semi-arable areas. Congress foolishly banned the growing of hemp because it belongs to the cannabis family. Hemp could be a source of biodiesel and is already useful for soaps, health oils, rope, fabrics, etc. Why should we have to import it?

Sunday, February 19, 2017

ENEMY IDENTIFIED?

Author's note:  Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable formme.

My Dear Trill,

Brava! You made it to participate in the Women’s March on Washington, an event you will remember with pride for a lifetime. The new President appears to shrug it off, but a sleeping giant has been awakened. Hooray for woman power.
The president was placed into power by an Electoral College vote, but failed to win the popular vote, and in the end, if he does not perform, it will be his undoing.
It is too bad that at the swearing in ceremony he was not required to swear to tell the truth, as lying about matters, small and big, seem to be common. When a president prefaces a statement with “to be honest,” what he has to say is immediately suspect. He frequently states that he has nothing to do with Russia, yet he called upon Russia publicly to hack Hillary Clinton’s e-mails and his son publicly stated that “the family has a lot of money coming in from Russia."
The signs are bad, as he has surrounded himself with a wealthy cabinet and a cabal of advisers of dubious governing experience, and has proceeded immediately to nullify Executive Orders by the outgoing president without regard to consequenses. Beginning  his administration with a mere 36% approval rating, he may be treading shaky ground, especially regarding rulings that affect health care and the environment. Declaring the press an “enemy of the people” is  an invitation to open war with the media, which he can’t win.
Approval of the Keystone Pipeline, reversing President Obama’s disapproval, is taking place even as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aims to shut down the tar sands operations, in part due to destruction of large areas of the Canadian landscape, including boreal forests. A promise that the pipes will be American made, and therefore promise new employment may be entirely limited, as photos show the pipes are already made and stored along the pipeline route. Don’t you think President trump should have been on-board with Trudeau on this subject before lining up with projects that adversely affect climate change? But he believes that climate change is a hoax.

Many more demonstrations by the citizenry are predicted in the future as Americans realize  how fully they have been victimized. Very high on the worry scale are the gag orders on Federal Agencies, preventing them from releasing important data to the public who paid for it with taxes.  But demonstrations will likely not affect this vain president’s impenetrable and glorious self image.

Friday, February 17, 2017

BYE BYE EARTH

Kiss the planet good bye.
Today, Scott Pruitt, sycophant to the oil and gas industries and climate change denier, was confirmed by the Senate to head the Environmental Protection Agency. On track to a dystopian society, 
it seems, at the hands of the Dear Leader.
America's premier con man has told the coal workers that they are back in business as he has axed regulations that had at least partial control over the industry's pollution practices. Apparently not yet aware that coal is on the way out because it is being replaced by natural gas, which is available in prodigious quantities, more efficient and cheaper to build power plants. Moreover, wind power is competitive with coal so the power industry, sensitive to the climate change problem, will lean that way. 

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

DREAM WORLD

In a dream world
poets tell it like it is. 
Women preserve order,
as they do in their own homes. 
Men are stewards of the planet
and all its living things. 
As evening approaches,
their thoughts turn to dancing,
to rhythms
they didn't know were there.
War is unthinkable.

-e hujsak

Saturday, January 28, 2017

PRAISE BE



Praise be upon those happy souls
who care about the elderly
and frail of limb.
Praise be.

Praise be upon the passerby
who trundles in my  trash container,
picks up the Daily News
and drops it by my door.

Praise be upon my Nisei friend
who thinks to buy me apples when she shops
and phones when at the pharmacy 
to learn my needs.

Praise be upon my pc doc
who stops in mid-commute
to check on me.
They don’t do house calls anymore, you know.

Praise be upon my relatives
who weekly check my empty shelves
then stock them full  from Ralphs,
Whole  Foods and Trader Joes.

Praise be upon my aging pals,
who bring by take-out lunches,
gab about how great it was to work in rocketry
and  swap our thoughts about a trip to Mars.

Praise be



-e hujsak

Sunday, January 22, 2017

INFAMOUS QUOTES

-attributed to President Trump-

“This election is rigged;” “Russia! Hack the Clinton e-mails!; ”Climate Change is a hoax;” “Crooked Hillary;” Crazy Bernie;” “Pocahontas;” “The Military is a disaster;”  “There has to be a punishment” (for abortion);  “I’m very, very rich;” “I’ll release my tax returns before the election;“ “Throw ‘im out!;”  “I’d like to punch him in the nose!;” “Bomb the shit out of ISIS;” “Grab ‘em by the pu##y;”  “It’s going to be so-o o o incredible;” “unpresidented;” “We have nuclear bombs, why don’t we use them?;” “We should have taken the oil;” 


Saturday, January 14, 2017

SENATOR FEINSTEIN

Formidable…...Senator Feinstetn  absent from the confirmation hearings to get a pacemaker installed. Back to work the next day.


Dear Mr. Hujsak:

Thank you for writing to express your concerns with President-elect Trump and his future Administration.  I appreciate hearing from you, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

First, let me say to you that I understand your concerns.  My office has been flooded by calls and emails from Americans fearful of the aftermath of the election and what the new Administration will mean for our country.  I have heard from families who are terrified they will be torn apart, women who are concerned they will lose their rights, and parents worried they will not be able to afford their health insurance.  Others have voiced their struggle to cope with the racist and xenophobic attacks occurring within our country.

Since the election, we have been witnesses to hate against Muslim-Americans attacked for their faith, Latino elementary students humiliated by their peers who say they will be deported, and African-Americans harassed by Confederate flags and racist slurs.  We have also seen an unsettling rise in buildings being vandalized by swastikas and Nazi propaganda.  These disgraceful acts toward minorities, immigrants, and women are devastating to our values and everything America represents. 

I will not stand aside and watch the tremendous successes achieved over the past eight years be swept away, or allow our nation’s most vulnerable populations to be targeted.  As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am committed to protecting the fundamental constitutional rights of every American.  I will carefully scrutinize the policies of the Trump Administration, its senior officials, and future judicial nominees.  If Donald Trump is to succeed as President of the United States, he must ensure his actions reflect respect for all Americans and surround himself with advisors who do the same. 

Painted across American history are times when we have chosen to band together against oppressive rhetoric and injustice.  I am ready to help if President-elect Trump and his Administration are willing to work across the aisle to find pragmatic, bipartisan solutions to the many challenges facing our country.  But if there are efforts to roll back the progress we have fought too long to achieve, I will do whatever it takes to defend the values of California and our nation.  

Again, thank you for your letter.  I hope you will continue to write to me with issues of importance to you.  If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C., office at (202) 224-3841.  Best regards.

Sincerely yours,


  Dianne Feinstein
         United States Senator

Sunday, January 8, 2017

RECAP

        2016 has come to an end. Goodbye to  what for some was a forgettable year. With a new president, we can hope for the best, but for me there is little clarity as to his intentions.
Thinking back, I have lived through fourteen presidencies, some good, some 
not so good. The first was Herbert Hoover, though I was too young to remember him. The financial crash of 1929 occurred  on his watch. I do remember Franklin Roosevelt, however..
That was about the time that my father bought a Philco console radio and installed it in the living room of the farmhouse. Then he and my brother Karol erected a tall pine antenna pole about a hundred feet from the house and strung an antenna wire to the eave, down the side of the house and into the living room (the pole was later struck and splintered by lightning).
  Between the tuning squeals we could find a few stations. I recall the radio play "The Shadow" which came on every Sunday afternoon. 
I remember well Roosevelt's Saturday night "Fireside Chats" that always began with: "My Friends," with the emphasis on "My." He was the right  man for the times. Our only three term president. He put the country back to work through the Worker's Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Even artists and sculptors were hired to do murals, artworks, etc. I have in my possession a plaster bust of Roosevelt executed from life in the White House….a gift from the sculptor's wife.
The aristocracy didn't like him, though he did come from a wealthy family. 
Soon after he was elected, JP Morgan attempted a Fascist coup when he tried to enlist Marine General Smedley Butler to raise an army to march on and take over the government. Butler would have none of it and reported it to Congress, but nothing came of it. Today the aristocracy  appears to have taken over the government by other means, judging by the number of billionaires in power. Who knows where that will lead. 
I also remember the real-time Adolph Hitler speeches, haranguing his followers to a fever pitch during his rise to power. I didn't understand it, as he spoke in German, but  the tone of it was decidedly unsettling. People are still letting demagogues have the upper hand.
The 1930's were quite a time: The United States recovery from the depression, the rise of the demagogues Hitler, Mussolini, the Ethiopian War, the Hindenburg disaster, the Long Island Express Hurricane, frigid winters, the Merrimack River flood, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping; Amelia Earharts disappearance in a flight over the Pacific, Orson Welles scary "News" broadcast of a Martian Invasion, Robert Goddard's rocket inventions which the Germans adopted and the onset of World War II. 
Here's to a serene and productive 2017, but don't bet on it.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

AXING OBAMACARE - A BAD BEGINNING

It makes sense, doesn't it, when something like the Affordable Care Act exhibits shortcomings, that steps would be taken to fix it. It's hardly conceivable that it is so bad that an arm of the government would be bent on axing it out of existence. This has been the mantra of the Republican Party since the bill's enactment. It now affects the lives of millions of people, and its history has shown that there are shortcomings. The sensible course of action is to fix it, not kill it. Its shortcomings are clearly fixable and action along this line is what is called for. A gradual conversion to medicare for all, it seems to me, makes more sense. It could be designed so that if people took care of their health and did not use it, they would be eligible for a rebate. A healthier nation would be an automatic result. Everyone wins.