Updated Numbers

As of today, these are the most current figures from the Covid-19 pandemic:

Deaths in the U.S.A. - 62,000

Confirmed cases in the U.S.A. - 1 million

Number of unemployment claims filed in the last six weeks - 30 million

Number of unemployment claims filed last week - 3.8 million

Those number speak for themselves, I think. So I'll leave it at that.

Of Pandemic and Procedures

Would someone please wake me up from this horrific nightmare?

Even as confirmed deaths from Covid-19 in the U.S.A. now sit at 52,000 and twenty-six million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits (with perhaps ten to twelve million more who qualify but haven't been even able to start the process of filing), the federal government continues to fail us.

The President has openly talked of imposing restrictions on aid to states and cities based on their policies, including cities that are sanctuary cities. The Attorney General is actively pursuing
the taking of legal action against states that refuse to end lock down orders. A ten billion dollar
loan to the Postal Service that was authorized by Congress almost a month ago has yet to be released by the Treasury Department. 

Need I go on? Shall I go on?

Congress continues to do nothing more for we, the people. The scheduled return of our Senators and Representatives, which was set for next week, has now been delayed indefinitely.

We continue to deal with an unprecedented crisis on a state-by-state basis.

Some states have lifted their lock down orders. Five states never put such an order into place to begin with. Others have continued to extend them, as New York has done several times now.

The Vice-President visited the Mayo Clinic earlier this week, and to just about no one's surprise, didn't wear a mask.

What's so sad about all this is that lock down orders have worked. Using masks has worked.
Social distancing has worked. Yet, our so-called leaders not only discourage what works,
they have insisted, and continue to insist on actively shutting it all down.

We, the people, have already sacrificed far more than we ever should have had to.

When will those we elected to govern us rise up and meet the challenge they face?

Kicking It Old School

So, here I sit in my room, listening to a locally owned and operated radio station. One whose on air staff includes two announcers I've been listening to for over forty years. And I'm listening on
a 1970s era transistor radio with a pair of very good sounding vintage headphones.

Life is good.

Where Is Spring?

This will be a very short post. I have some errands to run and want to get them done before the snow fall gets to be too heavy.

Yes, you read that correctly. We are almost five weeks into spring and for the second time in the last six days, the Binghamton, New York area is experiencing snow fall. Last Friday, it was just light flurries but right now, it's coming down fairly hard.

I'm going to sigh, now.

Because on top of everything else we have to deal with right now, the weather
locally has been bad for the last few weeks. Temperatures in the day time have been anywhere from ten to thirty degrees below average.

We did have one nice day sixteen days ago, when it was sunny and 70 degrees.

But one day is not enough, not for me, at least.

And as I look out my window, the snow fall has intensified just in the few minutes I've been writing this.

So I'd better get out there and get things done quickly.

Wishing you the best, dear reader.

Pastors And Protests

I am so saddened to have to write this post. In a better America, a saner America, there would be no need for me to do so. But we live in an America where far too many of us are ignorant and proud of it. An America where far too many of us, down deep inside care only about ourselves and no one else.

I was raised up in Baptist churches. The first two my family belonged to were fairly progressive

in their beliefs and actions. More importantly, most of their members practiced what they preached.

They truly did unto others as they would have others do unto them. 

The third church was much more old line. Very conservative and headed up by a pastor

who was in his late sixties and wanted things to be just the way they had always been in his younger years. He was an unpleasant and bad person. He retired not that long after my family joined his church and was replaced by a much younger, much nicer man. 

This man quickly became a very good friend to my late father. A friend who gently helped my dad, for an all too brief period of time, become a much better person. 

When that second pastor left, Dad found it all too easy to regress. He had lost a very good friend, and that hurt him a lot. 

When my parents separated, Dad and my brother stopped attending church services. I joined a

church that was very good and continued attending it until I moved several miles away.

Why am I telling you this?

I am telling you this because over the last few weeks, I've seen just about every church, mosque

and synagogue in my area suspend services or move them online. I am glad to see that. 

Also, I thought it'd be nice to give you a little background information on myself.

And also, because I want to, need to, express my disgust at those ministers who insist

on holding services in person. It comes to no surprise for me that every single one of them I've

read about remind me of that much older pastor who was, as I say, not a nice person. 

In other words, I know their type, all too well. They are among the worst of the worst. 

If one is to know them by their deeds rather than their words, consider carefully for 

those deeds speak clearly and loudly. 

For they choose to break the law by placing themselves and those around them at great

risk. 

They rant and rave about being persecuted, which is one of the sickest, saddest things I have ever witnessed. This is not the former U.S.S.R. where preaching the Gospel could easily get you thrown into prison or committed to a psychiatric ward.

This is the U.S.A., where state and local governments have shown a remarkable measure of restraint when dealing with flagrant and repeated violations of stay-in-place and social distancing orders.

Orders which are under attack by well organized groups. Those attacks have been sanctioned, and sadly, even praised, by the President. 

One such group even has ties to the Devos family and may have received funding from it. That's Devos, as in Secretary of Education Betsy Devos. That group staged a protest in front of the Michigan Capitol building where many of those present were openly carrying loaded firearms.

I honestly believe it's just a matter of time until these protests turn violent and some idiot
opens fire on a police officer or unarmed bystander. That will make for a defining moment in
terms of just how open insurrection will be dealt with.

More Thoughts On Our Current Crisis

As we continue to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, a few things have become clear to me.

The federal government failed to act in a timely fashion because Donald Trump ignored
the warnings he was given. As the death toll mounts, let us keep that in mind.

The American economy is taking a hard hit and a full recovery will neither be easily accomplished
nor happen quickly. Though neither has been officially declared, I consider the economy to be in recession and headed for a depression.

For as bad as things are, they'd be much worse if not for the stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment benefits. I will state, for the record, that I have received my $1200 payment. I will also state, again, for the record, that I am currently receiving unemployment benefits.

State and local governments have been starved for cash for decades. Now, when their actions are needed desperately, they simply can't get the job done.  I applied for SNAP benefits fifteen days ago.

Broome County Department of Social Services finally mailed paperwork to me two days ago that I received yesterday. It was the landlord form and nothing else. So, once they get that back, I'm looking at another week at least, to have a decision made on my application.

By that time, I'll quite possibly have enough cash coming in that I won't qualify for benefits. But in the meanwhile, those benefits would have helped me out a lot had I received them. I've had to apply for benefits a few times over the years, and the entire process never took more than three days.

I'm sure that the people who work for the DSS are doing the best they can. It's not their fault that
the number of applications has far outpaced their capabilities.

I'm just relieved that I am in good financial shape and will be for the next few months, at least.

And to you, dear reader, I wish safety and happiness.

The Times We Live In (Part 3)

So, here we are, in the middle of a crisis that is worsening every day. I'm doing fairly well, myself, but I know that far too many of us are not. Too many of us are looking into empty refrigerators and empty cupboards. Reliable data indicates that one out of every three people who have been to a food bank to get food this month have never done so before.

Right now, unemployment is sitting near 10%. Industry estimates peg the number of restaurants that will close permanently at anywhere from 15% to 25%.

The response to the situation is a patchwork of actions taken by local and state governments. Some governors have done a great job while some others have failed miserably. Even those who have done very well have come up short in various ways. I, personally, would like to see Governor Cuomo take action to do more for those of us who are out of work.

Due to his extension of his "New York State On Pause" order, which was set to expire on April 20th, but will now remain in place until at least the 29th, I will be out of work for several weeks.

I applied for unemployment insurance twenty-three days ago and no decision on my claim has been made as of today.  The New York State Department of Labor said they needed more information from me; forms that were dated March 26th and March 30th were mailed to me on April 6th, which is the main reason for the delay. The forms came in yesterday's mail.

I am very grateful to one of the staff members in the housing program here at the Binghamton YMCA. She took the time to fax the completed forms on my behalf, and also attached a cover
letter explaining why I had not completed and submitted them any earlier.

Earlier this year, when we had three paychecks in January and I received both of my income tax refunds in February, I took all my extra cash (which totaled just over $1200) and put it into my savings account.

As of today, all of that is gone. I used it to pay my bills for March. I used it to
buy a few things I needed (no lie, I had three pairs of headphones all stop working in the same week, which was a real "you've got to be kidding me" experience). I stockpiled several weeks worth of food, dry goods, shaving cream and other necessities.

I used some of it to buy music, because I need music, now more than ever. There is just one compact disc that has the full mono version of "Leader Of The Pack" on it, so I spent $20
for a copy of it. It's titled "The Best Of Tragedy" and still shows as having copies for sale
on Amazon. It was worth the money I spent on it, for that song and a few others also on the disc.

A week ago, I applied for SNAP benefits, and as of this afternoon, Broome County DSS has yet to assign a case worker to my case. So, I'm waiting for someone to do something, because I do qualify for benefits.

I have not ordered any food to be delivered as I simply can't justify the expense right now.
I have, to be honest, purchased a few meals from restaurants as take-out orders, because some
of the dishes I love the most I can't prepare at home. So once or twice a week, I treat myself
to something nice like fried chicken or lamb over rice with a side salad.

I ran into Lauren today, while we were both waiting for the #5 bus. I miss Lauren, and I miss Mike, as well. Both are very capable and good co-workers. Lauren said that without us being there and without the cafe side being open that things are very boring for her.

The daily count for the daycare program has taken a real hit, as expected.

She has very little work to do in terms of actual cooking. She told me that she has done a lot of extra cleaning she really never had time to do before.

I told her that I miss working with her, because I really, truly, do. It was nice to just see her for the short time we waited for and rode the bus together.

As always, dear reader, wishing you the best.

I Just Need To Do Something Normal

As we all continue to deal with the current crisis, I feel a great need to think about something else. Something more pleasant and enjoyable.

So, I'm going to reminisce about what it was like going to summer camp for me from the year 1979 to the year 1983. All of those years, I attended a camp in Smithville Flats, New York that is named Camp Bayouca. The camp is still there, and still active, though goodness only knows if there will be a camp season this summer.

The first year I went I was thirteen years old. It was just the second time I had been away from my family for several days. The counselor whose cabin I was assigned to was nice, and every year after that I also had good counselors. That first week I learned two things. One was how to scale a wall. The other was how to use a bow and arrow. 

Another thing that happened that week was when my counselor got permission to take all of us in his cabin to play miniature golf at a nearby course.

To my surprise and joy, his car was the one my father had just sold the year before. I looked at the service record on the left front door to be sure, and there I saw where Dad had recorded oil changes with his initials and the dates. The man my dad had sold the car to had given it to his son, my counselor, as a college graduation gift. So I got to ride in it two more times, which was a real blast for me. That car was a 1962 Ford Fairlane that was white with red trim and red interior.

The next year, in 1980, I learned how to use a trampoline and I met two guys my own age who were friends from the Syracuse area. We were reunited the next year, and the two years after that, for the full week. We also got to see each other two other times, over Labor Day Weekend when the camp had its annual 2-day retreat for older campers in high school.

I remember that every year I had a fair amount of spending money while neither of them had any money. They were always so grateful when I would buy sodas for all three of us.

The third year, the trampoline was gone because the premiums on the insurance policy for it had become too expensive. But that week was still fun, because I hung out a lot with those two guys, and I also spent a lot of free time with a very sweet girl that I had developed a crush on. We played a lot of what was then called "Frisbee" golf that week.

Now, let me talk about this before I forget to do so. I am grateful to the two churches I attended because in three of those five years, my fees were paid by those churches. In fact, the fifth and final year, I thought I wouldn't get to go. The fourth year was the year my Dad was able to pay for everything.

But our youth pastor and his wife came up with the money out of their own pockets that fifth and final year. He surprised me by coming to our home a few hours after Sunday services to tell me. He even took a half day off from work at his second job to drive me to camp, and gave me spending money, again, out of his own pocket.

One of the other things I remember are the first time I was allowed to be the one to ring the bell that rested in a tree in the middle of the campgrounds. I remember playing softball and scoring the winning run in one game. I remember the female counselor who took a risk while we were playing "Frisbee" golf by ourselves. She kissed me (she was 19, I was 17) and told me I was the nicest guy she had ever met.

I remember a few nights when it was warm enough to have night time sessions down at the lake we used. I never learned how to swim, but the lighting was adequate that we were allowed
to canoe short distances with a counselor in the canoe. I remember making a few small donations to help the camp build a swimming pool.

Some of the other activities were classics, like seeing how many people we could fit into a 1960s era VW Beetle. Some were more 1980s oriented, like doing a trust fall.

I would have gone one last week in the summer of 1984, as the age limit was eighteen, but I had graduated high school, which made me ineligible to attend.

I had fun every week I went. The food was actually quite good and the facilities were clean and well maintained. The camp had a nurse's office that I only had to use once for a sprained ankle.

Good memories.