Another non-weekend coming up

[altivo]

Tomorrow is the guild demonstration session and then I'm gallery guard for the rest of the day. Sunday afternoon is the gallery opening reception (never mind that it will have been open for three days already.) No refreshments will be served because the county health department have become such bastards about things. The way we figured it, the only thing we could serve that would satisfy their ridiculously paranoid requirements now would have been prepackaged Hostess(tm) junk snacks. Where in the past we've offered punch and home-made cookies, veggies and dip, and cheese cubes, all of that is forbidden now under threat of horrendous fines. Note that the people responsible for these rules are all Republicans who accuse the Democratic administration of being anti-freedom nazis, too. Their excuse for this is "Homeland Security" to prevent terrorists from poisoning all of us. I'd say that Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs are much more likely to poison us than a few home-made cookies ever could be.

Gary's mom is coming out tomorrow to stay until Monday. That will allow her to attend the gallery reception and otherwise relax for a couple of days. She's so tense and fearful about living alone in the city that I think the only time she ever sleeps is when she comes out here. (But she doesn't want to move, either.) We went grocery shopping tonight so we are prepared to cook for the next couple of days. Gary is making soup as I write this, and will put bread in the bread machine for overnight. (His mom lives almost entirely off frozen dinners because she finds cooking too difficult now. I'd have to say shoot me first.)

Need to clear off my bobbins so my spinning wheel is ready for tomorrow, and clear my junk off the dining room table so it looks tidier for a while... Then bed I hope.

Comments

[schnee]

Where in the past we've offered punch and home-made cookies, veggies and dip, and cheese cubes, all of that is forbidden now under threat of horrendous fines. Note that the people responsible for these rules are all Republicans who accuse the Democratic administration of being anti-freedom nazis, too. Their excuse for this is "Homeland Security" to prevent terrorists from poisoning all of us. I'd say that Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs are much more likely to poison us than a few home-made cookies ever could be.

Remember, it's only wrong if the federal government does it — states, counties, municipalities etc. restricting your freedom is entirely fine and just what the founding fathers intended! :P

(At least, this is what quite a few people (especially republicans) appear to be thinking, somehow... I never managed to figure out just how one would be able to hold such an opinion without seeing the obvious gaping flaws in it, though.)

[altivo]

I don't think logic or even "thinking" applies in this sort of thing now. Everything is so polarized here that it comes down to more like "A Democrat said it, so it's evil nazi commie wicked freedom-bashing." Homeland Security is totally out of control, but since the whole idea was instituted by a Republican administration, one can't question it without being immediately labeled as a "traitor." This does in fact mimic certain aspects of Germany in the 1930s that I think we'd be much better off without having.

Not long ago I was forced to listen to an elderly woman ranting about how the Obama administration was "bringing in all these Chinese imports to the stores" and "putting Americans out of work." When I pointed out that trade with China was reopened by the Nixon and Reagan administrations back in the 1970s and 80s, and has nothing to do with Obama, she just stared at me blankly. There is no history, only extremist politics. The "Tea Party" morons are on about "unconstitutional taxation" and trying to blame all of that on Democrats, but most of what they are protesting was put in place by Republicans (who have actually been running the country much more of the time than the Democrats have since the Civil War ended in 1865.)

The average American these days knows very little history, it seems.

[schnee]

Alas... I wish I could say you're wrong, but I can't. :/

[bunny_plush]

No refreshments will be served because the county health department have become such bastards about things.

heh, Don't let them know you dye your own wool, or use non-FDA or whomever approved 'ingredients' in your products. That might be the next target of the EMA and Homeland Security. Toxins toxins. You'll have inspectors dropping by to measure percentages and check the validity of your claims...

His mom lives almost entirely off frozen dinners because she finds cooking too difficult now. I'd have to say shoot me first.

I see that with my own mom. The fresh foods we buy her turn and spoil unless we prepare them and sit with her while she eats (a reverse of childhood, eh?). The microwave confuses her and the thought of her at the stove scares the hell out of me. Even the coffee maker has her flummoxed some mornings. She refuses to participate in 'Meals on Wheels' so it's up to us to watch her diet.

Enjoy your show!

[altivo]

Fortunately things haven't gone quite so far in either case. Gerri has no problem with the kitchen appliances or the telephone other than what is caused by a Parkinson's-like tremor that grows worse when she is frustrated or tense. I guess she is in fact frustrated by the television and all the remotes and control boxes required to make it operate now, not to mention the fact that even though she lives right in Chicago, the switch to digital last year reduced the number of viewable stations considerably. Luckily, she's still an avid reader and we keep her supplied with library books weekly.