Today is Thursday, July 28, 2022, which I can say is my son’s birthday. He is celebrating his 37th birthday in Salida, Colorado, where he is working until July 31. Don’t ask me where Salida is, but “Joshua” was asked to go by top management about two weeks ago and he obligingly went. Looking up the town on Google, I discover that Salida, Colorado, is close to Canon City, Colorado, and is named the “Best Unsung Mountain Town” by Outside Magazine in 2017. Salida is located in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and is known as the “Heart of the Rockies” and has long been a hub of tourism, transportation, and industry in the region. Anyway, today is my son’s birthday and I was able to call him early in the day to wish him well.

Just a day ago, on July 27, long-time television producer and writer Norman Lear celebrated his 100th birthday. Yes, his 100th birthday! As I recall, he was supposed to have attended one of my Turner Classic Movie (TCM) Film Festivals in Hollywood three years ago for the premiere of one of his comedies from 1970 called Cold Turkey, but he was unable to attend, not because of illness – he was 96 – at the time – but because of some scheduling issue. He has been long known for his liberal views and was the driving force behind such television staples as All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and Good Times, all television shows I watched in my household quite religiously. Yesterday on the occasion of his centennial, he wrote a blistering essay/op-ed for The New York Times. In his essay, he opines that he might “be in better shape than our democracy is.”

He goes on to write about how he was “deeply troubled” by the events surrounding January 6, 2021, and by the desperate attempts that the former “president” took to prevent the peaceful transfer of power on that fateful day.

In one paragraph, Lear writes about his dropping out of college to join the U.S. Army Air Forces when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, thus marking the United States entry into World War II. He flew more than 50 missions in a B-17 bomber to defeat fascism consuming Europe. Lear demonstrated his personal commitment to defeating fascism that threatened to overtake the world during the war years. Now he cannot understand “how so many people who call themselves patriots can support efforts to undermine our democracy and our Constitution. It is alarming.”

The aim behind broadcasting the first of his very popular shows on television, All in the Family, is elucidated by Lear as bringing issues to the forefront that Americans were talking about in their own circles that were divisive at the time, issues such as racism, feminism, homosexuality, the Vietnam War, and Watergate. I would hazard to suggest that some of those same issues are still being discussed even today. Lear supposes that if Archie Bunker were alive now, 50 years later, he would have probably watched Fox News and would have probably voted for Donald Trump. Lear believes that the sight of the American flag being used to attack Capitol Police would have sickened his TV character creation and that he would have grown to respect the resolve of Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger in their roles on the House select committee investigating the events of January 6.

Lear concludes his essay with a ray of optimism, stating that he hopes that everyone will work together to build a sustainable future for all people on Earth. He says he has not lost faith in our country or its future. As I see it, it is almost too easy to lose faith in this country, considering all of the threats posed by forces within the country designed to usher in an era of authoritarianism this country has never seen before.

Just heard more shameless behavior coming out of our Repugnican party as the U.S. Senate blocked a bill to provide health care benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving abroad. You would think the provisions in such a bill would be a no-brainer but not for these cruel members of Congress. Comedian Jon Stewart who has shown his advocacy for military veterans time and time again excoriated repugnicans outside the Senate when he spoke to reporters during a news conference called by the bill’s advocates. This justified tirade is covered in an online Reuters article by Moira Warburton titled “Comedian Jon Stewart erupts after Republicans vote against military burn pits bill.”

Displaying his ire toward the repugnicans in the Senate, Stewart fumed, “I’m used to the lies, I’m used to the hypocrisy, I’m used to the cowardice, I’m used to all of it, but I am not used to the cruelty.” He further castigated repugnicans for signing up for any war that is proposed and for screwing over a veteran any way they could.

The military burn pits bill would expand access to health services and disability benefits for veterans who were exposed to toxic smoke from the U.S. military’s use of burn pits to dispose of waste on foreign bases until the mid-2010s. The bill is not totally dead, as it will return to the floor for another vote on Monday, so who knows if reason will return to those despicable senators who voted to block it presently.

Rare cancers and respiratory illnesses were found to have been caused by fumes from burning everything from rubber, chemical waste, ammunitions, and human feces in the burn pits.

The bill, actually, initially passed the 100-member Senate with the support of 34 Republicans and all 50 Democrats, but it seems that repugnicans are getting back at Democrats for their reaching an agreement on a separate bill that would allow them to pass without Republican votes on a $430 billion climate and drugs bill that contained many of President Joe Biden’s priorities. Republicans are crying that their colleague on the Democratic side, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, has now offered his support for the bill. This has angered them to no end, as witness the sputum on Fox News broadcasts on the issue. So when this news was revealed, many repugnicans who had initially voted in favor the bill declined to do so again. So this is another example of how unpatriotic repugnicans really are with respect to their country. They will very easily screw veterans in a fit of indignation. Remember this when you are voting in the midterms.

Let’s hope that Stewart’s stinging words will reach those implacable senators in the halls of Congress. It is a crying shame, no doubt about it. As the argument was put forth: Congress authorizes millions of dollars to send our young men and women into war, but will not spend millions more for the necessary cleanup.

Stay safe and be well.