Princeton University Paper Suggests "Pass-Fail" Grade System

                As someone once said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The editorial board of The Daily Princetonian apparently agrees wholeheartedly, as it is urging the school to switch to a pass/fail grading system for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic-driven online-only class schedule. The board opined that the alternative grading system would “limit inequities, as well as the harms faced by the least-advantaged among us.” Well, it would certainly limit inequities between those who study diligently and those who don’t.

                The paper Tigers admitted that such a grading system might “deny many students a valuable chance to lift their GPAs” and would not “sufficiently reward their diligent work from the first half of this semester.” They concluded, however, that “whatever negative effects result” from the proposed pass/fail policy “will be washed out by a shared understanding of this crisis’ unprecedented scale and severity.” Too bad if your hard work and 4.0 grade point average are washed out, but at least you will have a shared understanding of the scale and severity of the politicized pandemic. And of Socialism, for that matter.

                Other Ivy League student groups have suggested that colleges provide free beer and marijuana, complete with home delivery, to their students in an effort to relieve stress caused by the pandemic and virtual coursework.

                Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that his plan would include giving every student $10,000 and an ‘A,’ and would also include nationalizing marijuana production.

Democrats Ramping Up Their War On Babies

                Democrats have recently ramped up their war on babies, fighting on many fronts. On February 25^th, Senate Democrats filibustered a bill called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have banned abortion after 20 weeks. (Though some babies can survive outside the womb after five months, and one would think that amount of time would be sufficient to decide if one wants to keep the baby, why do today what could be put off until tomorrow, right?)

                Senate Democrats also recently voted to block legislation that would have required that medical care be provided to babies who survive abortion procedures. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act did not receive the 60 votes necessary to advance out of the Senate. The final tally was 56 for, 41 against, with every single vote against the bill cast by Democrats. Hell yeah, even if the baby is alive and kicking after an attempted abortion, let’s just leave them on a table somewhere to die. Because, at that point, we can’t decapitate them or shoot them, sadly. Nice party you’ve got there, Dems-- full of loving, tolerant, folks who care so deeply about the marginalized, the downtrodden, the challenged, the little guy.

                What’s more, the American Civil Liberties Union recently filed a lawsuit against seven East Texas towns that had the audacity to declare themselves “sanctuary cities” for unborn children. The ACLU brought the suit on behalf of two pro-abortion groups, the Lilith Fund and the Texas Equal Access Fund (TEA Fund), saying that their rights to free expression and association are violated by the pro-life ordinances. Say what?! Abortion is “free expression?” Why not term it “performance art?” These group’ rights to “free expression” supersede the baby’s right to life? And “free association” is not a term I usually associate with the removal of a “fetus” from a womb. Nor did the Founders. Perhaps we need to rethink the Holocaust. Maybe it was just the Nazi’s preferred way of “freely associating.”

                Mark Dickson, the director of Right to Life East Texas, derided the ACLU’s complaint via a Facebook post, calling it "a meritless lawsuit brought to deter and intimidate cities from enacting these ordinances, which are entirely constitutional and consistent with the laws of Texas." He added, "We have a legal team ready to defend these ordinances at no charge to the cities, and we are prepared to defend all other cities that enact these laws at no charge to the taxpayers."

   Apparently, progressives believe only criminals and non-residents deserve “sanctuaries,” not innocent unborn babies in the womb. It is ghoulishly ironic that the ACLU will sue to prevent states from establishing sanctuary cities for babies while simultaneously holding the view that states have every right to disregard federal law and provide sanctuary cities for illegal aliens.

Criminals Released, Sunbathers Cited

            To say these are strange and perilous times is an understatement.

            A Sudanese national recently went on a rampage in the French town of Romans-sur-Isere, south of Lyon, attacking 7 people on a busy street, killing two and wounding five. He, of course, was chanting “Allahu Akbar” during the assault. This act of terror has gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream media, as they are solely fixated on the COVID-19 crisis.

              Meanwhile, nearly two dozen sunbathers were issued citations at a California beach for violating the formerly Golden State’s stay-at-home order. Not to be outdone, Riverside (California) County Sheriff Chad Bianco announced via a YouTube video that residents could now be imprisoned for violating an order to cover their faces in public during the current pandemic. County authorities averred that local law enforcement agencies do have the power to enforce the order “as they deem necessary.” Nice that local authorities have the power to override the Constitution at their discretion.

              Counties and states around the nation are releasing thousands of inmates from jails and prisons amid fears that they could experience coronavirus outbreaks and the federal prison system may soon do the same, Attorney General William Barr indicated. “Obviously, the health and safety of our inmates and our staff is a top priority for us,” Barr remarked at a Justice Department news conference. He added, “We take seriously our responsibility to protect those who are in our custody.” That’s nice, but what about the rest of us? We are all essentially in custody now.

              But back to California, where officials deemed firearm outlets non-essential and ordered them to close during the stay-at-home period. The state eventually relented after the National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment-supporting groups sued Governor Gavin Newsome and other state officials, allowing the stores to reopen. (Why would we need to protect ourselves now, when so many criminals are being released into our communities?) And, in Malibu, two lifeguard boats and a brace of deputy sheriffs were deployed to arrest a lone paddle-boarder. The paddle-boarder was near no one. At least until the deputies brought him in to be booked.

              Incredibly, these are not the worst abuses of power. In India, police are reportedly beating people who do not comply with social distancing rules. And Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte instructed his police to “shoot them dead” if residents of his nation too aggressively fought the lock-down measures. Yes, “shoot the bastards dead, we’re trying to save lives!”

              On top of all this, a pedophile rapist was recently released from a Massachusetts prison to protect him from the coronavirus.

              To recap, we are letting untold thousands of criminals out of jail so they will be less likely to contract the coronavirus. Yet, we are threatening to incarcerate people for sunbathing and paddle-boarding. Or not properly covering their faces. (Do pious Muslim women have an unfair advantage in this regard? Are laws being unevenly applied?)

 In a sane world, criminals and criminal illegal aliens would be forced to shelter-in-place, say, in a jail, while law-abiding citizens would retain their Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, not vice-versa.

                                                                   

Kennedy Center Pockets Taxpayer Cash, Releases Orchestra

                The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts received a $25 million bailout from the federal government (read taxpayers) as part of the recent coronavirus stimulus bill. Hours later it laid off the entire National Symphony Orchestra. The nearly 100 members comprising the orchestra will no longer receive paychecks until the Center reopens, the Washington Free Beacon reported. The Kennedy Center is tentatively scheduled to reopen on May 10th, but that is extremely unlikely given COVID-19 projections and government’s rapidly swelling propensity to control everything and everybody. If the center remains closed past May, the musicians will also lose their health insurance. Nice timing.

                Frankly, the Kennedy Center had no business getting a bailout as part of the emergency coronavirus package, or “CARES Act.” However, since it was handed $25 million, it had even less business furloughing its entire orchestra immediately after being granted the largesse. This would be as if GM and Chrysler had laid off most of their employees after receiving their massive bailouts in 2009. The stimulus package was intended to provide relief for those who are left unemployed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, not to cause folks to become unemployed. In fact, the law’s text states the monies granted were to “cover operating expenses required to ensure the continuity of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and its affiliates,” including “for employee compensation and benefits,” and specifically includes “artists and performers” as employees.

                The timing of the decision to stop paying the musicians seems preposterous, especially since the Kennedy Center also possesses an endowment of almost $100 million. The Washington Post reports that Ed Malaga, head of the union that represents the musicians, claims that his charges had previously expressed a willingness to discuss ways to accommodate the Center during this pandemic. And that the parties’ collective bargaining agreement requires the Center to provide six weeks’ notice before it can stop paying the musicians for economic reasons.

                Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter said that everyone should share the burden in this crisis and added that the taxpayer bailout would “provide long-term cash flow for essential personnel to ensure that we can reopen.” Essential personnel like, say, Deborah Rutter, no doubt.

China To Purchase MSNBC, CNN

Monday, April 13, 2020 (The Year of the Rat)

News Services— In a surprise announcement earlier today, China revealed that it has agreements in place to purchase both MSNBC and CNN, two of the three main American cable news networks. Wu Han Yú, spokesperson for China’s Xinhua News Agency, told reporters “It only makes sense to add these two great, independent news organizations to our Xinhua News Agency Family under the auspices of our Dear Leader, Xi Jinping, and the Chinese Communist Workers Party.” Yú added that, with the “exciting” new additions, his government’s news organization would henceforth be known as the Xinhua News Network, or XNN.

                When asked what made MSNBC and CNN attractive to his government, Yú replied, “We were impressed by the accuracy and unbiased nature of both networks. Frankly, we just have great respect for the truth. It will be a perfect fit.”

                Yú was also asked what changes Xinhua planned for the two erstwhile American news outlets. He stated, “Very few changes need to be made. They are already in tune with our worldview—meaning the truth!—and so we will basically leave good enough alone, to use an American expression. We may change the title of CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper” to “State of the People’s Republics with Jake Tapper.” And we might do more with Lisa Ling. Oh, and we’d like to see Rachel Maddow in a Hanfu or Zhongshan suit.”

Researchers Say Lockdown Might Need To Last 12-18 Months

            The government of the United Kingdom recently asked its citizens to cut off all unnecessary contact with other people, including friends and family, in response to recommendations from a British research team. Brits are also supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days if anyone in their home has a cough or a fever. What’s more, the researchers also averred that if the world’s lockdown measures are to truly be effective, they would need to be in effect for 12 to 18 months.

Doggone it. Does that make anyone else want to call the Euthanasia Society to see if they deliver? Oh well, as the Brits themselves say, “keep your pecker up!”

 Aris Katzourakis, a Professor of Evolution and Genomics at the University of Oxford, stated that the aggressive social distancing measures implemented now might only “buy time” for the U.K. and other countries to eventually implement aggressive high-tech tracking and surveillance measures. He added, “Once you get things under control, with a lot of targeted surveillance, there are ways of locally relaxing restrictions and returning to some level of activity. [But] it will never be the same until there is a cure, or a vaccine. ‘Returning to normal’ simply isn’t something we should expect to see for a very, very long time.”

It will never be the same? Hmm. The report essentially says that if even one person in the world has the coronavirus, the risk of the virus spreading will require us, meaning governments, to implement aggressive measures to stop it.

 Should this report be heeded, that is it for human life on Earth. Ironically, a purported attempt to (unrealistically) minimize the number of deaths will have guaranteed many more… and rendered freedom extinct along with those who perished. The world economy would be virtually destroyed, people destitute, hopeless, deranged. Domestic abuse, addiction and depression would be rampant. Civil unrest would jeopardize the lives of those who hadn’t already taken their own.

            Shouldn’t “aggressive measures” be taken to prevent this scenario?  

COVID-1984

                Not one, but two sicknesses have invaded the formerly free nations of the west. One is a virus, recently introduced from China, the other an even deadlier contagion, one that seeks out and destroys not just bodies, but minds and souls as well. It, too, has roots in Asia. To wit:

                Rhode Island is deploying the National guard and state police to hunt down individuals from New York who are seeking refuge in the Ocean State. Police are stopping cars bearing New York license plates. National Guard troops are going door-to-door in search of New Yorkers. Once found, they will be compelled to undergo a 14-day quarantine. If they refuse, they may be fined and jailed.

               Big Brother is Watching You.

   New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is threatening to permanently close down churches and synagogues that do not comply with his order to stop gathering during the coronavirus outbreak. He told them, “You’ve been warned, you need to stop services…” Residents of the Big Apple who break social distancing rules will be subject to $500 fines. The state has banned gatherings of any size, decreed that people stay a minimum of six feet away from each other, and ordered all nonessential businesses to shut down indefinitely.

                New Jersey police have arrested folks for hosting parties, including one person who hosted a pop-up wedding at his home. Governor Phil Murphy issued an executive order in March that prohibited “gatherings of individuals, such as parties, celebrations, or other social events” in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus in his state. At a recent news conference Murphy exclaimed, "If you do not need to be out, then we need you to stay at home.” He then added, “And even when you are at home, keep your distance between yourself and other family members."

   If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.

   The Laredo, Texas, city council recently passed a motion subjecting residents to a fine of up to $1,000 for not wearing some form of covering on their nose and mouth in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. All residents over the age of 5 are now required to have their nose and mouth covered when entering public buildings, using public transportation and when pumping gas.  

               We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.

   Police in Chicago recently broke up a funeral for violating Illinois’ stay at home order. A funeral.

   Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

   In Greensboro, North Carolina, four men from the group Love Life were arrested for praying outside an abortion clinic while the county is under a stay at home order. Justin Reeder, Love Life’s lawyer, stated that the group is a religious non-profit, recognized by the federal government as providing charitable and social services and is therefore, pursuant to several provisions in the Guilford County proclamation and the United States Constitution, expressly permitted to continue prayer and ministry. No matter. As Reeder and the four men approached the abortion clinic they were promptly confronted by numerous squad cars, cited and arrested.

 Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

 Vermont’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development has ordered all big box retailers in the state, such as Wal-Mart and Costco, to stop the in store selling of items the agency has determined to be “non-essential.” So, even though these stores can stay open because they sell items the government deems essential, they must not sell the items they have on hand that it doesn’t think are all that necessary. How does it justify that? It doesn’t. Just do what Big Brother tells you to do. These stores must restrict access to the non-essential goods by closing aisles or removing the items from the sales floor. Moreover, showrooms and garden centers must be closed to customers, as well. Several other municipalities around the U.S. have issued similar decrees.

            Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced new guidelines for construction sites operating during the current pandemic, adding that the city will be sending inspectors out to these sites every day to ensure they are complying with the new edicts. Garcetti said, “We will not be shy about shutting down construction sites that do not comply, so comply.” He also used a recent press briefing to encourage citizens of the City of Light to report any businesses that may be violating the order, stating, “You know the old expression about snitches, well in this case snitches get rewards. We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.”

 It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.

 “Government officials across the U.S. are using location data from millions of cellphones in a bid to better understand the movements of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic and how they may be affecting the spread of the disease,” read an article in a recent Wall Street Journal. The piece went on to state that federal, state and local governments are now receiving analyses about the presence and movement of people from their cellphone data.

 But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

 Some American citizens have been threatened with arrest for leaving their homes without authorization or a government-approved reason for doing so. Small businesses are being told they must limit the numbers of customers in their stores and offices or that they must shut down entirely—or have their water and electricity shut off.

“You are a slow learner, Winston.”

“How can I help it? How can I help but see what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four."

"Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.”

 The Serbian government recently banned its citizens from taking short walks with their dogs in the evening. It had previously graciously allowed them to take walks of up to 20-minutes with their furry family members. The country is now under curfew from 5 p.m. until 5 a.m. daily.

Sanity is not statistical.

Germans have quickly taken to reporting their neighbors, fellow citizens, and businesses for disobeying social distancing rules. Germany introduced new measures in March forcing restaurants, pubs and sports facilities, among other entities, to close their doors, and also banned gatherings of people. Since then, the polizei have been inundated with calls from people reporting on their neighbors. An official in Magdeburg was moved to tell citizens that they shouldn’t overburden the police, stating, “People shouldn’t make a report every time they see three people sitting on a park bench,” according to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. In some cases, jealous Germans have reported on Berliners traveling to their summer homes by identifying their license plates. This is sadly reminiscent of the East German Stasi, a network of over 200,000 informants that spied on friends, colleagues and relatives for that nation’s Communist government in order to crush dissent and force them into permanent submission.

Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn't matter; only feelings matter.

England’s Neath and Port Talbot Council is using a space-age talking drone to chase people back into their abodes. The drone is equipped with speakers that will scream out, “This is a message from Neath and Port Talbot Council. Please follow the given rules at this time, you must stay home.” Nothing creepy there. At least it says “please.” One local opined that this is “next level stuff!” and added that it “feels a bit 1984-esque.” You think? (That’s the problem, we aren’t thinking anymore.)

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

No fewer than 24 countries are currently using telecommunications for tracking their citizens locations. At least 14 are using applications for contact tracing or quarantine enforcement. China, home of the virus, has introduced a “traffic-light system” that uses smartphone software to classify individuals as red, yellow or green and determine whether they can move about or meet.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

Google is releasing location data to 131 nations so authorities can determine if people are obeying self-isolating rules. The search engine colossus issues “Community Mobility Reports” showing the frequency of visits to shops, parks and workplaces.

Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.

Amnesty International’s tech division deputy director, Rasha Abdul Rahim, points out that “The recent past has shown governments are reluctant to relinquish temporary surveillance powers,” and adds, “We must not sleepwalk into a permanent expanded surveillance state now.”

Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.

We may already have done so. House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) recently affirmed Democrats’ intent to use the COVID-19 pandemic to further their ideological agenda when he said, "This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently said of the coronavirus crisis: “It is going to be transformative on a personal basis, on a social basis, on a systems basis. We're never going to be the same again.” Unfazed, a reporter asked him, “When do we get back to normal?” He replied, “I don't think we get back to normal. I think… we get to a new normal.”

Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.

      Some in government are legitimately trying to prevent people from dying. Some are giddy at the “tremendous opportunity” to increase their own power. Most would like to do both.

 If we fall victim to doublespeak, which, by Orwell’s definition, means “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously and accepting both of them,” we are sentencing ourselves to an unending servitude, a spiritual darkness never again to be pierced by the light of freedom. War is not peace. Freedom is not slavery. Ignorance is not strength.

As Ben Franklin noted, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

            Let’s hope this COVID-1984 crisis doesn’t end as Orwell’s novel did: “The struggle was finished. We had won the victory over ourselves. We loved big brother.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio Disparages Samaritan's Purse

                New York City has been hit hard by the coronavirus, with scores of people dying every day. The Gotham City’s healthcare system has been stretched nearly to the breaking point. Fortunately, blessedly, Samaritan’s Purse, the global Christian charity, recently set up a large emergency field hospital in Central Park to help America’s largest city deal with the crisis.

                How did the Big Apple’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, react to this act of succor and benevolence? Did he fall to his knees and give thanks for the manna from heaven? Not precisely. In fact, he told the New York Post he found the idea of the field hospital “very troubling.” Apparently, Hizzoner is suspicious of the charity because its president and CEO, Franklin Graham, shares the Bible’s teachings on sexuality, leading him to believe that Samaritan’s Purse might somehow “discriminate” against members of the LGBT community. De Blasio told the Post: "I said immediately to my team that we had to find out exactly what was happening. Was there going to be an approach that was truly consistent with the values and the laws in New York City, that everyone would be served and served equally?" Good call.  I’m sure the charity’s first question to those in dire need of medical assistance would be, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender communities?” Unbelievable.

                Though de Blasio received assurances from the organization that there would be no discrimination of any kind, he still felt compelled to state that he had partnered with the local health system to monitor the shady Christian’s field hospital. De Blasio boasted: "I spoke earlier today with the CEO of the Mount Sinai [health] system, Dr. Ken Davis, who was adamant that they will only continue their relationship with the organization if those rules are followed, that they have a written agreement, that there’s going to be no discrimination whatsoever. We’re going to send people over from the Mayor’s Office to monitor [the hospital]. So I’m very concerned to make sure this is done right.” Or else its curtains, I say! Curtains for you dastardly devils!

                 Hizzoner (and I use the term loosely) then softened his tone a bit and added, “But if it is done right, of course, we need all the help we can get."

                What kind of an epic jackass do you have to be to make these remarks to those who are providing you vitally needed, priceless assistance in times of an almost existential humanitarian crisis? This is asshattery of an almost Biblical scale, even if it comes from a Democrat who disdains the Bible.

                Democrats now openly try to score political points from every single catastrophe, every disaster, every tragedy. They don’t give a rat’s ass about any human being per se, only the ones they think might vote for them. It is incredible—or should be—that, in the midst of a pandemic, de Blasio essentially says, “Well, as long as this group doesn’t abide by any Biblical tenets, I will allow them to help us out and save people’s lives.”

                This is akin to allied leaders saying of Red Cross volunteers on World War II battlefields, “Our primary concern is that they don’t discriminate against pansexual transvestites, of course. That said, if they give us assurances in that regard, they are welcome to help.”

                Or Jews being liberated from Nazi concentration camps averring, “I don’t want to be freed if there are any anti-Semites in this unit!”

                Or British and French leaders during the Crimean War remarking, “As long as Florence Nightingale doesn’t discriminate in any way against atheists and agnostics, she’s free to keep aiding the wounded.”

   What the hell has happened to us?

   Wait, I think I see the problem: we aren’t abiding by many Biblical tenets.

               

Physicians Call For Suspension Of Abortion During Coronavirus Crisis

                Organizations representing more than 30,000 physicians signed a letter calling for the suspension of abortions in the interest of preserving medical resources vital to fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The letter was signed by five groups representing “Physicians who practice according to the Hippocratic Oath,” and included the American College of Pediatricians and the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons.

                The letter read in part, “In such an uncertain and tumultuous time, the entire healthcare profession is being called upon to conserve resources and healthcare professionals to an extent never seen before. And yet, in the midst of this call, while hospitals are postponing elective procedures and many outpatient clinics are rescheduling non-essential office visits, the abortion industry continues with business as usual.”

                Ohio Attorney General David Yost also recently appealed to abortion clinics to “immediately stop performing non-essential and elective surgical abortions.” However, many have already indicated that they will defy the directive and continue performing abortions regardless of the raging global coronavirus pandemic.

                We have seen Italy’s healthcare system strained to the breaking point, with people 80 years old and up being told they won’t receive treatment because limited resources have to be prioritized. We have since seen that threshold changed to abandon those 60 years old and older. Experts have warned that the U.S. healthcare system could soon be similarly overwhelmed, as well. It is a travesty—and a tragedy—that abortion continues apace, siphoning off precious resources from the fight against what is being portrayed as one of the greatest global threats to human health in history…just as it literally siphons off the lifeblood of the babies subjected to it.

                This is doubly sinful. The more abortions performed today, the more likely others are to die as well.

Summer Vacation, Coronavirus Style

Like many of you, I am going a little stir-crazy after the long, cold winter. I am so looking forward to our summer vacation, when we are planning on traversing the length and breadth of this great…… backyard of ours, from the grassier areas in the southwest, to the more wooded northeast corner of our lot. Also, we plan to hit the driveway and spend a week in our camper, gazing out at the wondrous and ever-changing splendor of our neighborhood cul-de-sac. When we return home, we will hit the den and spend a couple of days visiting our big-screen television and the stereo. Then, it’s a quick stop in the family room to catch up with other family members, at socially healthy distances, of course. Naturally, the kids want to visit the game room, though I’d prefer some time in the utility room or the garage. Who knows, we may even travel to the spare bedroom, just to say we’ve been there. In any case, this is sure to be a vacation to remember, traveling all across this great land of ours. Makes me want to sing with joy! (Feel free to join in!)

♪This yard is your yard (honey), this yard is my yard,
From the western fence-line, to the eastern patio,
From the southern maple tree to the northern arborvitae,
This yard was made for you and me.♫

♪I roamed and rambled, and I followed my footsteps
To the gleaming rocks of our suburban landscaping
And all around me a voice was singing
This yard was made for you and me!♫

♪This yard is your yard (son), this yard is my yard,
From the western fence-line, to the eastern patio,
From the southern maple tree to the northern arborvitae,
This yard was made for you and me.♫

            Here’s hoping that you, too, can embark on a Great American Staycation!