{"id":5744,"date":"2011-03-17T11:59:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T18:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=5744"},"modified":"2011-03-17T11:59:42","modified_gmt":"2011-03-17T18:59:42","slug":"well-im-not-pessimistic-pessimistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=5744","title":{"rendered":"Well, I’m Not Pessimistic<\/i>-Pessimistic …"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"… but I am, these days, a little more down than up.\u00a0 Particularly over the union-busting going on in so many states, and peoples’ refusal to see what lies behind it.\u00a0 Republican governors and Republican-dominated state legislatures aren’t trying to save money by busting public employee unions and cutting back on education and services funding.\u00a0 The money saved won’t go into other parts of their budgets; they’re going to hand the money over to corporations and the rich in the form of larger tax breaks.\u00a0 In a word, they’re taking yet more of our money to give to their rich friends.\u00a0 And in the process, they’re trying to eliminate unions, which traditionally drum up votes for Democratic candidates in state and national elections.<\/p>\n

Despite the huge crowds turning out to support public employee unions in midwestern states, I think the Republicans are going to win this round, as they have already pretty much won in Wisconsin.\u00a0 Do teachers’ unions … and other public employee unions in the states where Republicans are trying to take away collective bargaining rights … have strike funds?\u00a0 I bet they don’t.\u00a0 The only way public employee unions can hold onto what they have now is to go on strike for the duration, and not only that, but to commit serious sustained violence against the scab workers who’ll be hired to replace them.\u00a0 They have to be serious, deadly serious, and willing to go to jail.\u00a0 I don’t think that’s in the cards.<\/p>\n

So yeah, I’m a little pessimistic right now, but things will swing back eventually.\u00a0 At some point people will have to realize the extent to which they’re being robbed by the crooks in power.\u00a0 We will, won’t we?\u00a0 And then<\/em> we’ll rise up!\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

I listen to NPR and am lucky in that I live in a community with a large enough listener-subscriber base to keep its local NPR affiliate going even if Congress cuts off<\/a> the small amount of money it currently gives to NPR at the national level.\u00a0 Actually, an even larger community, Phoenix, is just up the road, and they have a thriving NPR affiliate, KJZZ, which comes in loud and clear here in Tucson.\u00a0 Not only that, KUAZ and KJZZ schedule their spring and fall fund drives on alternate weeks, so that you can switch stations during sponsorship drives … but of course you still contribute, right?<\/p>\n

Years ago I briefly considered retiring to my home town, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.\u00a0 One of the deciding factors against going there was that Cape didn’t have an NPR station (the nearest one was in St. Louis, too far away for radio reception).\u00a0 I think Cape has NPR today, but I doubt they have enough of a subscriber base to keep it if national NPR is defunded.\u00a0 I imagine most small-town NPR affiliates will fold.\u00a0 And then people will be stupider and less well informed, with predictable political effects.\u00a0 Oh my, why doesn’t NPR at least fight back<\/a>?<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

I know where Arizona can save money without impacting education in any way.\u00a0 Every school district in the state is “unified,” whatever that means (frankly I don’t think it means anything).\u00a0 Every school bus has the word “unified” on its side, as in “Tanque Verde Unified School District” or “Tucson Unified School District.”\u00a0 All that black paint has to cost something.\u00a0 What if those buses just said “Tanque Verde Schools” or “Tucson Schools” instead?\u00a0 Would the school districts still be unified?\u00a0 Sure they would.\u00a0 Think how much we could save!\u00a0 Hundreds of dollars at least, probably thousands.\u00a0 Let’s get on that, Governor Brewer!<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

So, on to happier personal news.\u00a0 I’m checking out as a volunteer docent at the Pima Air & Space Museum<\/a>, the third-largest air museum in the United States.\u00a0 Eventually, I hope to lead tram and walking tours through the open air and hanger displays, talking about the history of aviation and some of the more than 300 aircraft on display.\u00a0 The checkout program is rigorous and will take a couple of months to complete.\u00a0 By the time I’m actually leading outdoor tours, probably this fall, the radioactive fallout from Japan should have stopped … see, I’m still capable of optimism!<\/p>\n

Donna’s sister Georgie is visiting from Michigan, and while she’s here, helping Donna with her flower garden out back.\u00a0 Yesterday Donna, Georgie, and I celebrated Polly’s birthday with a great meal, and this weekend we’re all going bicycle riding.\u00a0 Next Thursday I’m riding the motorcycle to Las Vegas for a few days.\u00a0 While I’m there my son Gregory’s planning to borrow a motorcycle so he can ride with me on a day trip to southwestern Utah and back.<\/p>\n

When I get back, it’ll be time to treat our redwood gates, the fence around the pool pump, the slats in our flatbed trailer, and our old park bench out front.\u00a0 The Arizona sun will destroy anything, but putting protective stain on the wood once a year delays the process.\u00a0 Other pressing maintenance projects: draining and refilling the spa, replacing the pool heater.\u00a0 The joys of home ownership never stop.\u00a0 The idea of moving into one of those condos where they take care of everything for you gets more attractive by the year.<\/p>\n

Busy busy busy.\u00a0 I’d better get back to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… but I am, these days, a little more down than up.\u00a0 Particularly over the union-busting going on in so many states, and peoples’ refusal to see what lies behind it.\u00a0 Republican governors and Republican-dominated state legislatures aren’t trying to save money by busting public employee unions and cutting back on education and services funding.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,10,3,2,8,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bicycling","category-current-events","category-flying","category-personal","category-politics","category-words"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5744"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5761,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744\/revisions\/5761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}