Our Hood -- Climate Change--And The Threat Of The Global Warming Denyers

Hasn't  rained in a while here in L.A. and we're still waiting for at least cloud cover. Once in a while Weather.com comes up with rain in the ten day forecast, but it's replaced in a few hours with another sunny day. I guess a post of possible rain in the future is to keep us interested in coming back to see if any rain is in the forecast at all. If this was August, with low eighties for a high, I would be overjoyed, but it ain't. It is February, we should be wet and cold and reading about the Spring Baseball lineup while we wait in anticipation to wear short sleeves and eat a hot dog. Instead of winter weather, I'm in shorts, sitting outside, wondering if it would be a good idea to break out the fans for the patio.  We cook outdoors, the day's heat is enough to warm the house. Cooking inside makes it too hot though, as if it were August. That's what worries me, it's been like this for the last three years. Creepy in a way and all because our country is being held hostage by people who deny there is a problem. And that if there is, it is not because of human activity.


Then there is us. Those that feel we can do something to keep our planet healthy. Do we need more gas guzzling cars? Are there alternatives to fossil fuel? Do we need huge volumes of consumption and more and more people to feed, house and maintain?

To us, we are living on something like a spaceship traveling in our galaxy. We are so fragile that when earth is compared to our galaxy, we aren't even a speck. So we better take care of our spaceship. There is no life raft, no other planet for us to disembark on. We need to practice good husbandry, leave the earth well tended for future generations to enjoy the splendid condition of being alive.

What's going on now is a rape of our planet with this advertized need to consume more. We are overpopulated with starvation's of entire regions occurring constantly.  There are children in America without enough food. You don't have to go to a third world country to see hunger anymore. And we're suppose to be the bread basket of the world.

We need to all work together but there are those, in power around the world who want to do nothing, or worse, prevent the rest of us from doing anything. We need to eliminate these global warming denyers anywhere we find them in an office of power. They are the real threat to us all. The need is urgent, it is no longer something in the future, it is now.

Remember to vote, making sure the candidate actually has a plan to curtail global warming, it is a matter of life or death for us on earth. 

Let's Bitch: How Petty Can You Get?

I bike with a retired group of riders. It is the Wednesday ride, one of two days in the week I can get away for a few hours--if lucky. For the most part it is an odd group of riders, two retired teachers, one retired doctor and me. Sometimes we are joined by the husband of one of the teachers or an outside group of retired professionals who are also, former bike racers in their youth. All are Jews save me.

Why that's brought up is because one of those that joins us on occasion, one of the former bike racers and regards himself as progressive, hates Germans. He hates them so much he wants to exterminate all Germans. Not just Nazis, but ALL GERMANS. Besides that quirk, he enjoys talking about how much he has, his stuff, his money, on and on to ad-nausea. None in our group like him, BUT he's a Jew. And for some reason, I cannot understand, we have to sit with him when he is there.

I ignore him for the most part and once he found out I was of German decent and not a Jew, he has, for the most part, kept his mouth shut about exterminating Germans. One of the teachers in our group enjoys baiting him for comments on killing Germans. Movies, books, anything presently public that concerns Germans, the teacher brings up to entice him into his rabid behavior.

It's uncomfortable. First, they are all Jews and I'm not. And I'm of German decent and queer. The funny thing is, none of them have a problem about the queer part and none of them are particularly religious, most being atheist.

So, it is a very odd group of retired riders to say the least. But now there is a new problem to contend with. The teacher in our group, Mickey, who enjoys baiting the German hater, also likes to tell everyone what they should do or not do, what they should wear or buy, what movies they should watch and what books they should read. It's annoying and he has now fixated on my using my e-reader to read the New York Times when we are at our rest stop, The Corner Bakery. I bring it with me of late and am really enjoy sitting outside with coffee and roll, reading. I also get in the conversation from time to time but not a lot. The reason being is they enjoy talking about films, travel, and dining, none of which I can do because of Wally's condition. We use to do all those things but not now. I'm okay with it, doesn't bother me but one day I thought, why not read, like Wally and I did when we traveled. The first thing we would do in the morning when on vacation would be to find a cafe nearby and the local newspaper. We would buy a couple of papers, if they had more than one newspaper to read, and sit with our coffee and breakfast with a good read. It was for us one of the best parts of the day. Something we both enjoyed.

If I'm lucky, I can get away for a few hours on Wednesday to ride with the group and Saturday to ride with Juanster, when he can get away himself. Those are the two days I have for a little R&R. As it turned out yesterday, I wasn't able because Wally's catheter had plugged up the day before and we spent the night in emergency to replace it.

Of course I'm going to continue reading and avoiding the, Kill All Germans guy, but how petty can you get. And this from educated seniors.