The Friday Photo
June 12, 2015
My mother is having complex surgery today. The waiting has begun.
Author: codec
The language of love
The Tonys are one award show worth watching, and I tuned in for a little while on Sunday night. This ad by Wells Fargo, which aired between the incredible theatre performances, is worthy of an award in its own right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxDsx8HfXEk&feature=youtu.be
Conservative Christian leader Franklin Graham, took to Facebook to announce he would move the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s money out of Wells Fargo to “fight the tide of moral decay that is being crammed down our throats by big business, the media, and the gay & lesbian community.”
Graham counted on Facebook as an effective tool for announcing his outrage and call to action action Well Fargo.
I guess Graham made an exception, just this once, about using Facebook, a company that promotes same-sex equality. As Domenick Scudera points out, Graham is going to have to make a lot of exceptions if he wants to go much past snail mail for broadcasting his calls for moral righteousness.
I’d sure like to know who did the homework on finding a new bank for stashing Graham’s cash. On Monday, Graham announced that the association bearing his father’s name is moving its money to BB&T.
Ooops. BB&T sponsors a Gay Pride parade in Miami. The bank even set up a makeshift chapel in their South Beach branch for a wedding ceremony legally uniting two men who have been together for 55 years.
Graham did mention, while announcing that BB&T is his newly anointed bank, that the organization would save $100,000 a year on fees.
Does this mean if the savings are large enough, it is ok to compromise on “fighting the moral decay” brought on by equality?
Working the Circulation Desk
The Friday Photo
June 5, 2015 
A Little Free Library is a great way to teach children about being part of a community. Both of my grandchildren took books home to read (and helped add more young reader books to the box).
Two boxes, 8.5 years
The Friday Photo
May 29,2015
We’re downsizing today. These two boxes are filled with documents spanning 8.5 years (and counting) of some of the most difficult, rewarding, and meaningful work I will ever do.
We have failed our heroes
Today is Memorial, or Decoration Day, a day of pause begun decades ago for decorating the graves of Civil War soldiers.
The long weekend is now dominated by stores holding big sales, high school graduations, blockbuster movie openings, and the unofficial beginning of summer.
Today media outlets will provide us with beautiful photos of thousands of small flags doting the graves of the heroes buried in Arlington. The President will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown and make some remarks. Local television will update viewers on local ceremonies at 6:00 and 11:00 tonight.
Before the day ends, our country will have 22 more veterans to mourn, soldiers whose lives where cut short due to their willingness to serve in our armed forces.
The United States spends billions on waging wars with no exit strategies. Our fighting forces are built on the backs of the poor, officers who tolerate sexual assault and intimidation, and military families who can’t afford to feed their children without food stamps.
Even worse, when our soldiers return, we fail to provide them with the services they need and deserve.
Our failure as a country is why 22 veterans will kill themselves before Memorial Day comes to an end. Twenty-two brave volunteers who came forward, and survived, will reach their breaking point today and succeed in ending their pain and agony. Twenty-two families, made up of parents, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, will begin preparations to bury their soldier.
Because there are war injuries we can’t see with our eyes, we fail to see them with our hearts.
We’ve seen the photos
The Friday Photo
April 17, 2015
Twenty years ago we saw heartbreaking photos of heroes and the injured escaping from the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Instead of pouring over the pictures from that awful day, listen to stories of survival told by Christopher Nguyen and his mother Phuong, and PJ Allen and his father Willie Watson, both recorded by NPR’s Story Corps.
Where’s The Friday Photo?
I didn’t post a photo last Friday because I didn’t think I had anything that was worth posting. What I did think about a good bit on Friday, and other days, was about putting Rural and Progressive on hiatus to figure out if I should continue.
It takes me A LOT of time to crank out posts that are heavy on politics. Fact-checking, reading a variety of sources, double checking, proofing, maybe asking for a review before posting, and triple checking take time. When I worked at home and my schedule was flexible I could pick up and put down posts throughout the day.
And then today Hillary announced. So I signed up and donated to her campaign.
This election isn’t about electing the first woman POTUS (even though we’re behind the curve on electing women to national leadership in America). This election is about children, women, seniors, people of color, my LGBTQ friends and family, the middle class, the working poor, our veterans, energy production, peace, public schools, rural communities, national infrastructure, the arts, health care, housing, food shortages, and our natural resources.
So I ‘m figuring out what Rural and Progressive will be in the future.
Got a suggestion? I’d love to hear it.
Among cousins
The Friday Photo
April 3, 2015
Checkers is a universal language,
The groaning board
The Friday Photo
March 27, 2015
My mother-in-law died peacefully this morning before breakfast.Homemade food began arriving in time for lunch.This photo captures most of what arrived after 5:00 pm.
In the rural South no one ever wonders what they’ll eat when they
have to plan a funeral.
Does Charlie love you?
One of the best posts here was written by my friend Man Martin (he corrected the Declaration of Independence). Man usually writes for laughter, but this essay demonstrates his skills go far beyond humor. Please read it and then share it.
Plays with matches
The Friday Photo
March 20, 2015
This pendant was made for me by Life is a Verb Camper Jen Land. I wear it everyday as a reminder to be invested and to speak up. And to choose carefully when using matches.
It finally arrived!
The Friday Photo
March 13, 2015
My husband has put thousands of miles on the bike he has owned for over 30 years. After years of looking at bikes and saving for a new one, his arrived earlier this week. I don’t know anything about bikes except to say this one is beautiful.
Drinking the Kool Aid
The Friday Photo
March 6, 2015
This is a benchmark birthday for my husband (55 years old in a few days). He decided he would drink some Kool Aid.
Gov Deal’s band-aid approach to health care
Hancock County, Georgia’s poorest among our 159 counties, is getting much needed help with access to health care via technology, community leaders, and innovators in delivering care to patients.
Right now people living in Hancock County have to drive to a neighboring county to see a doctor for any and all medical concerns. Even something as simple as an ear infection requires a drive of at least 25 miles to another county. Getting to the doctor can be a huge expense and feat of logistics for Georgia’s rural citizens, including those in Hancock County.
A new program, with a price tag of just $105,000, will now bring state of art health care to Hancock County’s citizens. Patients, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), and doctors, connected through secure technology, will work to determine medical problems and where a patient needs to receive care. Emergency room trips and the cost of care should be reduced, while patient health outcomes, and the establishment of medical homes for patients, should improve.
I don’t want to diminish the importance of this program for Hancock County, which has Governor Deal’s support.
But it is important to understand that making access to health care easier and more affordable for Hancock County’s citizens via technology, isn’t enough to address the failure to provide affordable health care to all of Georgia’s citizens.
And a pilot program announced by the Rural Health Stabilization Committee last week won’t either. The Committee will create four hub and spoke type health care delivery sites. Dcotors and EMTs, along with the patient and technology, will assess medical problems and get the patient to the appropriate place for care.
Using technology to care for patients isn’t new in Georgia. Telehealth has effectively been used for emergencies, specialty consultations, and mental health care in our state for years. What these programs offer should increase access to very good health care, reduce costs, save time, and improve patient health outcomes.
But these programs aren’t going to solve the bigger problems of delivering health care to Georgians and making it affordable. The Rural Hospital Stabilization Committee wasn’t convened to address Medicaid Expansion. Gov Deal’s spokesman Brian Robinson has been clear about that.
Governor Deal remains a staunch opponent of saving our state millions of dollars with Medicaid Expansion and improving access to health care for underserved Georgians. Instead, he and his buddies in the Georgia General Assembly, chose to constrict access to health care via Medicaid Expansion. That also means our elected officials have redirected the federal tax dollars Georgians send to Washington every year to states who have chosen to expand care and reduce costs with Medicaid Expansion.
Hancock County’s new telehealth program, coupled with the hub and spoke pilot program designed by the Rural Hospital Stabilization Committee, are big pluses for a few communities.
Governor Deal and the General Assembly can do more for Georgia’s citizens who need access to health care. We need more than a lick and a promise.
What remains of winter feed supplies
The Friday Photo
February 27, 205
This field around the corner from our house will be green with cotton in a few months. The few remaining bales of hay serve as a reminder that winter is almost over.
We’ve been adopted
The Friday Photo
February 13, 2015
I keep telling this cat that despite the fact it has its own Cat Condo with felted wool scraps, food to eat, and fresh water, that we are not its family. I have been saying that since the fall but it doesn’t seem convinced.
When grandparents are the parents
Last week the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Gov Nathan Deal said this about Georgia’s families where children are abused, or worse, murdered,“When was the last time the press or anybody else asked the greater family, ‘Why didn’t you do something about this?’ It really galls me, quite frankly, to see an able-bodied grandparent complaining about the fact that DFACS didn’t do something to protect her grandchildren. And my question is, well, where were you?’ ” (DFACS is the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services).
Where were these grandparents? US Census data from 2012 says this about grandparents and their grandchildren:
Number of grandparents living with grandchildren 265,530
Percent responsible for grandchildren 46.9
Percent of grandparents raising grandchildren for 5+ years 38.8
Percent of households with no parent of grandchild present 32.8
Percent of grandparents over 60 years old 34.1
Percent living in poverty in 2011 25.2
Number of households with grandparents and grandchildren 171,939
Percent of all households in Georgia 4.9
Grandparents in Georgia who care for their grandchildren are eligible for a whopping $50 per month from the state of Georgia. Have you priced diapers, day care, or children’s books lately? Fifty dollars doesn’t begin to make a dent in the costs of raising a child.
Single grandparent Deborah Paris, who is raising three grandchildren, told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer “Our system will pay a foster care parent to take care of children and supply and do what they need for them,” she said. “But me, as a relative or actually grandparent, you give me little to no assistance. … Our system is just awful.”
We need to address multiple problems concerning the welfare of children in our state. Gov Deal shouldn’t begin by making grandparents the scapegoats where the state has failed.
Hands On Science
Science Night was last night at Creekside Elementary School. Exhibits included lots of hands-on opportunities for children and their parents. The room was humming with children moving from one table to the next. All the exhibitors were so enthusiastic. As I loaded this photo I noticed the woman in the back of the picture squatting down to eye level with a child who might be about four.
My grandson Chase, in the red sweatshirt, was looking forward to touching snakes like he did last year. His sister Ella, in the dark fuchsia jacket, wasn’t as enthusiastic about them.
Don’t let child abusers and marital rapists hide behind religion
The AJC Political Insider reports that the Georgia Baptist Convention met last week to support a bill floating in the Georgia General Assembly sponsored by Marietta Republican Representative Sam Teasley. HB 29 will allow people accused of child and spousal abuse to use their religious beliefs as a justification for their violent and abhorrent actions. (The bill would also legislate discriminating against a person because of race, sexual orientation, their religion.)
Legislators who support HB 29 made an exception that doesn’t allow child sexual abuse, but beating a child, perhaps to death, could be claimed as justified by the abusers and/or murderers. Anything short of child sexual abuse is fair game under the law. Rape happens within marriage. When a woman says No, even to her husband, then it isn’t sex, it is marital rape. HB 29 legalizes it.
I just can’t find a way to be tolerant of beating or killing a child, or beating, raping, or murdering a spouse, because your god told you it was ok. And our legislators shouldn’t either.
Not feeling the love
At $4.5M for a 30 second spot, Super Bowl commercials get just about as much hype as the two teams playing. McDonald’s made sure it was in the mix in front of a huge television audience Sunday night. Ronald McDonald and friends need to find a way to regain dominance of the fast food market. With profits down 30 percent, clearly the Golden Arches aren’t the first choice for families anymore.
The giant fast food chain didn’t try to win customers with highly styled photos of their menu items. Instead, they decided to focus on their customers’ hearts rather than their stomachs:
http://youtu.be/iq2Sm2XGv_s
Companies giving away products to build consumer confidence and loyalty isn’t new. What also isn’t new is the fact that many McDonald’s employees can’t make ends meet on what the restaurant pays.
Just how bad is it for a McDonald’s employee living on minimum wage? A full-time worker (40 hours a week) clocking in for minimum wage earns $15,080 per year. A Bloomberg View article points out that the median individual earnings are $40,040 per year. The U.S. poverty level is $23,550.
A full-time minimum wage worker at McDonald’s makes $8,470 LESS than the poverty level.
McDonald’s thought it could help employees by providing them with a sample budget:
The company doesn’t include any costs for heat. Or food.Or clothes and shoes. But it does include income from a second job.
McDonald’s wants to win back the hearts of customers who choose to drive past the Golden Arches with a free meal, while the people bagging the fries and burgers tighten their belts.
I’m not Lovin’ It.