Greetings to all. First of all I send greetings to my many friends in LaConner, Washington -- I am gone five years from the Skagit Valley, but I still have the spirit. I salute my friends in South Texas. I was there for a year and a half working at the Wilson County News. People were kind to me and I hope to see them again. I salute my pals in Columbus, Ohio. I was there briefly but very intensely for two months, working around the clock for John Kerry in his failed bid for the Presidency in 2004. I bonded with my co-workers and we are all still friends.I don't hate 'em. I just wish they would touch the ground and grab a hold of the same rope in my hands.What we don't need is a couple of nonstop talkers with pretensions of leadership. Bernie and Hillary have plans for us! They know what is good for us!No, although I much prefer the broom, the gas blower has its place.I know how to handle the gas leaf blower myself and I do use it from time to time -- I am not some kind of environmental extremist that goes around picking up leaves with his bare teeth.Then the Mexican fellows could come over with their gas-powered leaf blowers and join the effort. Now I'm afraid that Hillary and Bernie, being elderly, and not being accustomed to manual labor, might have to struggle using this noisy machine. They might want to stick with the broom like I do.And they could the both of them shut up while they were doing this chore and then listen to me talk for a change. That's fair. That's taking a stance against income inequality.Why don't they do some of the chores themselves? It would do Hillary and Bernie a world of good to come and help me sweep the sidewalk under the jacarandas. She could take the broom and he could take the dust pan -- thus achieving gender parity.And Bernie doesn't take out the trash. Instead he has devised a three-part plan to improve working conditions for the people who take out the trash for him. Plus a pension.But Hillary doesn't take out the trash. Instead she gives a speech about how much she cares about the people who do that for her.They kept going on and on about what they were going to do for working families, but they don't do any work themselves. W.O.R.K. This is a concept familiar to most of us. For instance, if we see that the trash bag is full, then it becomes our task to carry the trash bag out to outside bin for pickup. That's what we do.It's hard for me to recognize talking as honest work, if that is all you do. I heard Bernie and Hillary talk for two hours and afterwards I got a little agitated. I couldn't figure out why. It's not that I disagreed with them, but don't they ever stop talking? They each one of them got two ears. Do they ever listen? And when do I get to talk?I was thinking about this after I watched Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have their debate. Man, can they talk! A couple of professional talkers. I couldn't do that much talking in a month, my jaw starts getting tired after a while and I get tired of the sound of my own voice.I got status to burn myself, so I use the broom when I work for somebody. I enjoy the simplicity of this labor. It's good outdoor exercise and I get paid -- nothing wrong with that.Mexican crews use a gas-powered blower rather than a broom, because the blower confers status. A broom is for sissies, but a noisy gas engine has power and power confers status. As it is, landscaping work is pretty low on the scale of success. A Mexican fellow might brag about his construction job and buy a good truck and sweet talk some lady, but if all he does is mow lawns -- well at least he has a job and he might rise up someday, he hopes, and some lady might think he was all right just the same -- but still, you don't brag about mowing the lawn.Jacaranda trees make pretty purple flowers, but they leave a mess on the sidewalk, so my job is to sweep up the leaves and twigs. The Mexican crews all use a leaf blower for this job. Leaf blowers are noisy and they blow up dust and emit noxious fumes. People hate the noise, but they hire the crew to get it cleaned up, and they put up with the noise because they don't want to sweep their own sidewalks.By Fred OwensFROG HOSPITAL -- Feb. 14, 2016 -- unsubscribe anytimeSweeping the SidewalkFinally I remember very fondly the friends I made at the Tikkkun group in Boston in the 1990s. This was a Jewish reform and discussion group. I am not Jewish, but I joined anyway. Of course they argued with me. We all argued with everybody. That was the fun......So, saying hello to my friends around the country and around the world -- a librarian in the Vatican, vintner in Israel, a radiologist in Qatar, a doctor from Cuba -- it takes all kinds of people on the Frog Hospital mailing list. The list is strongly tilted leftward, but we keep a ten percent conservative balance -- not so much to be fair, but just because we like them too.My greetings to all of you from Santa Barbara. We are blessed to live in this beautiful city near the ocean, and all we are saying is that we are four years into a drought and sure could use some rain.It will rain. The drought will end. Every drought that ever was has ended. And the same for the war in Syria. It will end. All the wars that ever were have ended.love to all,Fred
Frog Hospital Subscription Drive. Your contribution of $25 is greatly appreciated. The Frog Hospital newsletter has been cruising down the Internet for 16 years now. I have tried to kill this newsletter several times – tried to stomp it out like the ember from an old campfire, or dig it up like a pestiferous weed, but it won’t die – Frog Hospital just keeps on going.So please send a check. Your contribution keeps me from getting cranky. It helps me to maintain a detached attitude. Let’s keep it going….
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