Are WE Buying Democracy?

There is no doubt that this election has no precedent in American history. Even the election of 1860 with FOUR presidential candidates wasn't this divisive. We all know what happened. Lincoln won even though his name wasn't on some Southern ballots. His election set the stage for Civil War even though he never supported abolition. He did support not extending slavery and that's all the Southern states needed as an excuse to leave the union and form their own government.

While we have had name calling since the beginning of the Republic, the 2024 Election, which has basically been going on for four years, has reached to many, a new low. Never has name calling been so ubiquitous, crass and demeaning.

Even more alarming is the cost to elect representatives of our Republic. Estimates are that just the presidential election alone will cost $1,000,000,000. That's right, one billion dollars. Add in the costs for Senate and the House of Representatives and I wouldn't be surprised at a sum of between 2 - 4 billion more dollars. It makes you yearn for the British system where campaigns are held to a strict 90 day period.

What has alarmed me in this election are two important issues:

1. The cost of each race AND that these are Senators or Representatives appealing far outside their state boundaries. Send $3.00 or $5.00 or $10.00! Some aren't shy of asking for $100.00 or more. If you sent money to each plea every day for a month, many of us would be broke.

However, the bigger issue is why is this allowed. Are Senate or Representative races now a national affair? Can I vote in Georgia, Texas or Florida even if I'm a resident of California? I don't think so. This is becoming a big issue I feel needs to be addressed. But, will it? 

I asked Chat GPT who was trustworthy for the Democrats and it Suggested the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or Act Blue. For Republicans the Republican National Committee or a candidates web site and also a senate or representative overall web site. Republicans seem a little more organized.

We have struggled for decades in limiting election costs and the power of money in elections. After this election I would say this is a good time to seriously tackle the serious threat unlimited money poses to our democracy. Can we afford money to buy our candidates? Can they truly represent us when they are bought by the highest bidder?

Besides how sure are we this "donation" to a PAC or committee is going where it says? Before you send, check ahead.

2. My second concern is how elections are handled. Presidents, United States Senators and Representatives are elected per statues in the United States Constitution. As such they are Federal representatives. We should have a standard procedure, a playbook that every state in the union must follow NOT the banana republic statues some states have creatively come up with especially in the past four years. How you vote in California, Texas and New York should be the same NOT different as it is today. If states want to hold their internal elections differently that is the peoples choice. On the Federal level they must be identical. And, for good measure whether it's a Tuesday or changed to a Sunday as it is in most of Europe, it should be a Federal holiday to give every eligible voter a chance to vote. A standard Federal format would end the endless battles waged in courts pro and con voting rights. Why this wasn't done decades ago is a mystery. It needs to be standardized now and forever going forward.

I urge you consider these issues as we vote in 2024 and continue moving forward. They are key issues in maintaining and hopefully strengthening our Republic!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!

Why I Avoid Movie Theaters and Cable TV: Ads, Ads, Ads!

Friends invited me to go to the movies yesterday. It looked like an interesting movie and I hadn't been to a movie in ages. We had dinner before at a favorite Mexican restaurant before the movie. Believe me dinner was cheaper than popcorn and a drink at the theatre! And I hate Pepsi. 

 We got there a bit early but at 7:00 pm, the movies listed start time, we were inundated with over 20 minutes of ads. I suddenly remembered why I had avoided movies the past few years. The repetitive ads. Reviews of upcoming movies were nothing but sequels. And the endless appeals to buy something to eat, eat and drink.

They were featuring a classic, BEETLEJUICE made in 1988, 36 years ago. CarMax even had a themed ad around BEETLEJUICE. 

It sure highlights  the lack of original ideas today. It's impossible to avoid ads these days just like the American movie makers can't seem to avoid making sequels. STAR WARS 114, Rocky 39, Transformers 34 ... and on and on. 

And where are the movies for adults? Few and far between. I have discovered the Palm Springs Library has an excellent DVD collection, often with current movies like OPENHEIMER, BARBIE, TAR, etc. Wait a few weeks and there they are. 

I have often found "small" movies, foreign and domestic I have never heard of that are delightful, thought provoking and original. JULES is a small comedy about an alien landing in a senior's backyard. He and later his senior lady friends try to figure out how to help the non-speaking alien to repair his spaceship and get him on his way. They manage in a clever charming way, one you would never suspect. There are no explosions, wild road chases but instead a quiet tale of how to help. I never saw it in theatres here. 

Now there is no ad respite from Amazon, YouTube or Netflix, to name a few. To be ad free you must agree to an additional tier of payment to enjoy ad free entertainment, entertainment that was ad free until recently.You already have been paying for it but they want even more money.  I guess Bezos' Blue Origin rockets need more fuel, the Netflix CEO needs an even larger salary and Lord knows why Zuckerberg needs more from YouTube. They don't pay for the content.

Bezos' rockets are thirsty!

At 78, soon to be 79, I have amassed a DVD collection because Netflix and Prime remove movies I want to see and are now using ads just like broadcast TV. That is free. Shopping at thrift stores results in many cheap DVD purchases. AND, I can watch them whenever I want too!

 Our library has a large collection of most TV shows both American and British BBC series. I personally think they are vastly superior to American shows in depth of their writing and originality. In 13 seasons of CALL THE MIDWIFE, no theme is ever repeated. You would think birthing babies can't maintain a season but it does and also shows how England struggled to change after WW II. 

My favorite Christmas
movie and I can watch
ANY time I want!

 Theatres have forgotten their audiences as they attempt to squeeze every penny out of you as well. It used to be an affordable social event, something I remember doing until we had kids. Even then you'd arrange for a setter and enjoy an event away from home and the kids. Now however, with ticket prices about the same price as the movie's DVD, why not wait a few weeks and enjoy it on your 85" TV with a Sonos sound system? 

And that's what people are doing. Those seats in the Regal Theatre were hard, and there wasn't much footroom. Tell me, why leave the comforts of home where your Pepsi is the cost of at least a 6-pack of beer and your popcorn could buy a 25 pound of popcorn kernals at Smart & Final? I rest my case!!!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!

I'll Tell You Why We're So Stressed - TECHNOLOGY!

I had to deal with two major issues last week, with CVS and my health insurance. You can't help but consider these issues are designed to discourage as much interaction as possible. The cartoon says it all.

Let's start with insurance, always a hot topic in America  On July 26, 2024 I called my provider for the reimbursement form for an oxygen concentrator my pulmonologist wrote a prescription for. After the usual queries from deaf and dumb robots, key pad punching  and about 20 minutes later I got a human. After explaining what I needed (I don't think she understood the word reimbursement) I was told the form had to be mailed.

This cartoon IS funny until it isn't

Startled I reminded her this was the 21st Century and why not just email me a PDF for me to print,  gather the necessary documents and mail back. Better yet, scan them and send her a PDF of all nessesary documents.  She assured me, was adamant, this wasn't secure enough. The form HAD to be mailed. While I didn't say it, I wasn't sold on the security of the USPS these days either. No amount of pleading could convince her so I waited for a long delivery time.

This last Thursday, August 29, 2024, I again called my health insurance and again after 20 minutes of diddling around got another person. I explained my problem, she looked up my reference number and after a pause asked me to turn to my computer. (I was already on the web site) and I told her so. She had me go to several screens and before I knew it there was the reimbursement form. I asked her to wait to make sure it downloaded, and she did. I thanked her, hung up, printed the form, made copies of the documents and got them ready to mail. Thank you Paulette! All done in under 30 minutes.

She guided me for 5 minutes, the copies took another 25. So I waited 34 days for nothing! What a difference a call can make. 

CVS takes frustration to a whole new level.

Last Friday I go to pick up my medicine and the clerk asks for my CVS app. I looked at her blank faced. She then asks, "Do you have one?" I replied I did but never and couldn't use it. This after two years battling their tech department to find out why it wouldn't work. I opened it and of course, yet again my password was wrong. She finally gave me my medicine and I came home to try again. I was warned to use it next time as I left.

Even my iMac couldn't give them the correct password so I clicked FORGOT PASSWORD and tried to start again. So between my phone and computer I finally got in and all appeared well. Until my birthday. It was set at August 06, 2006. That was not my birthdate but no matter how I tried to change it, it would not read what I put in the keypad.

It finally dawned on me I had to hit the arrow keys atop a monthly calendar. It tool 728 taps on that calendar to get to 1945 and my birth month. When I selected my birthday, the one I've had 78 years, it said that's not the birthday they had for me! You can just about imagine my reaction! This BS had been going on nearly an hour. I called the number on the screen.

When I finally got a human I was told to call yet another number and for once it was a short wait. So, together the tech and I spent another half hour trying to solve this issue. #%@*%!

When I finally got in I was surprised about how much information they had on me. But it's the process that frustrates at every turn. I'm sure every 15 year-old navigates this stuff on a daily basis. At my age I don't. However, in both cases and several others, it's taken a phone call to make something work. As the song says, "It's Not Unusual!"

iOS 18 for my iPhone comes out soon and I'm terrified of all the changes that will bring. It took several trips to the Apple store to solve my iPhone 15's issues.

Technology isn't made for us seniors anymore I guess. We are dinosaurs from the past!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

An Alarmist View of the USPS

I have had several events dealing with the United States Postal Service in the past view months. This gives me pause as I wonder how this same issue will affect Mail-In Ballots for the November 5th Presidential election?

Let's discuss the recent events first. As you know I believe everything that happens to us is through design. How we drive, what we see and hear, even where we go has in some sense been designed by man and his attempts to manipulate nature.

I related earlier about a box of books I sent to my daughter in Memphis.  The box arrived, the books didn't. It was only after trying to duplicate the lost shipment I was told they were insured and she could file a claim for them. NOWHERE on the "I'm sorry" label she received did it say that. Let's say that is lack of design. We can get the box there but not the contents! Another time I received back the packaging I mailed sans item. 

Then letters from Memphis which took 2-3 days to get here, took 10 days, then 12 days, then 17 days.  The latest letter didn't arrive at all. There is clearly a pattern here. 

Then finally a letter, actually a bill, mailed to me this month from Rancho Mirage, CA, 8.3 miles away, a 15-20 minute drive from Palm Springs, CA took 12 days to get here. TWELVE DAYS! Even the Pony Express in 1849 was faster from St. Louis!

Tossed mail

The USPS used to be one of our proudest and sacred institutions. Stealing mail was a first class crime!
Founded in 1750, before our Republic, even our Revolution, its first Postmaster was Benjamin Franklin, headquartered in Philadelphia. It continued to evolve, until 1792, into a Federal institution. It reached over 750,000 employees before the Internet gutted its revenue. Now it's the home of catalogs (a 100 a month) and junk mail pleas for money 0over 200 a month) at, I might add, very cheap rates. We pay over 70 cents a first class letter while they pay 10¢. No wonder they lose money.

Trump Appointed DeJoy in 2020

The current Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee with a tenure of 10 years, has made no qualms about his intention to:

1. Privatize the Post Office. If he had his way it would go to UPS or FedEx. Stock options?

2. Do everything in his power to cripple the post office.

 We saw some of his efforts in 2020 where processing centers were closed, equipment mothballed, even collection boxes removed to make it harder to just send mail. Then bags stuffed with mail-in ballots were found hidden in corners, hidden in trucks, even dumped in gullies outside of town.

If they experimented with this in 2020, imagine what they can do now? In California EVERY registered voter will get a mail-in ballot. We can mail it in (probably not a good idea this year), take to secure boxes scattered around the city or, take in to humans in voting polling places, open three days BEFORE the formal election day. Unfortunately the poor folks of Georgia are not so lucky. It is even a crime there to give a person water as they stand in long lines because of limited polling places.

I believe that if there's a national election for President, Senator or Congressman (woman), ALL states must follow the same rules  If states want to manage their own banana republic style elections for state offices, fine. Federal office elections should hew to the same standards in EVERY state.

What every Republican election denier doesn't seem to realize, is,  their candidates were on the same ballot as Donald Trump and if they won their seat on that ballot and Trump didn't, where is the fraud? Think about it. If they won how could there be fraud? No court in this land has found any evidence of fraud. Unlike more than a few elections in our past, 2020 was probably the most honest election in our history.

Avoid your ballot looking like this!

So, prepare yourself Democrats and Republicans. Your vote will be the most watched than in anytime in our history. Make sure YOUR vote is counted!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

 

Why I've Had It With Technology

I loved sci-fi as a kid.  I read everything connected to the future, a place we were assured would be better and safer. I read Bradbury, Asimov, Heinlein, Dick, Clark (I've watched 2001: A Space Odyssey over 25 times ... Clark wrote the film with Stanley Kubrick), LeGuin, Orwell and later to more recent writers like Gibson, Weir,  Crichton, Vonnegut, Liu and many, many more. As a kid and younger adult I hoped for a better future.

What we got instead is a civilization cut off personally from each other instead fixated on a tiny screen or listening to mindless telephone robots telling you "You are very important and we will be with you in a moment," NOT! I guess we have different definitions of "a moment!" I don't consider waiting 45 minutes a moment. 

And you can't help but realize this is by conscious design. Maybe you'll give up.

Two cases in point today, no, three. I just opened my mail and found a bill I paid July 12, 2024. I went on Eisenhower Hospital's My Chart site and it shows the bill was paid. So time will be wasted, telephoning through multiple menu options to get them off my back. I give it an hour, right?

Because I use an oxygen concentrator for long periods each day I applied and receive slightly better electric rates. It's not much but every little bit helps. SCE sent me a letter asking for an update. Not finding what I needed on their web site I tried calling for three days using a variety of their numbers. I never spoke to anyone. I once lived a few miles from their headquarters in Rosemead, CA and know 100's if not 1,000's of people work there every day and no one can answer a phone in under 35 minutes to one hour? I gave up. I truly don't know what to do.  Write a letter I guess and hope for the best.

Then after that experience I tried calling MetLife. The letter wanted me to confirm a contact person if I was unable to. I called the number on the letter and was greeted by, "Since you have called today you will receive a FREE life lock dongle to wear around your neck, kinda like a dog tag. I didn't want one. I have an Apple Watch that calls 911 if you fall and don't respond. In fact two dear friends died from deadly falls that my watch could have saved. No matter how I tried, every option seemed to have to give me that damned dongle.

Finally I went to the MetLife web site and called the number there. After a few options I got a human but he had to send me somewhere else. We waited another 10 minutes or so while being told it was faster on the web. Maybe if you're 15.

Finally a live person came on the line and said, "Well, you really didn't need to do anything if there are no changes."  I told her that's not what the letter said. LOOOONG pause. She recovered and said thank you and we hung up. That was another 30 minutes gone, maybe more as I really hard to get past the robotic chatty Kathy on the first call.

What have we done with our lives? Fifty years ago when I was say 28 most of the time an operator transferred your call to someone and they actually answered. I have seen first hand many offices where the phone rings and there is a person there.They ignore the ring. I don't even bother to leave a number for a call back. They NEVER call back.  I tried that until after the third callback number mailbox was so full you couldn't even leave a number  Shows you how much they care.

Rather than the future giving us more time to be together it's spread us further apart. It's also been the greatest cause of stress in our society. Remember Southwest Airlines tech meltdown last Christmas? Can you imagine the stress that caused? Or, data breaches that release all your personal data? Everyone felt the meltdown when computers around the word crashed because of a faulty update. Maybe, just maybe we have become TOO reliant on technology. You wonder if its reach is really understood.

I remember NASA spending thousands of dollars to create a pen that would write in space. The Russians, we discovered, found the solution. They used pencils. And truth be told you still need a pencil and paper to write things down while using a computer. The older you get the more you use them too!

I wear a T-shirt that says, "Just once, I want a username and password to say, CLOSE ENOUGH!" I think we all could agree with that!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!

WE CARE, WHEN WE REALLY DON'T: A USPS Saga

On June 25, 2024 I packed a box with 3 books for my daughter and grand daughter who live in Memphis, TN. The next day I took it well wrapped to the Palm Springs main post office. I wrote books on the cover to get the book rate as together they weighed 3 lb. 16 oz.  The box included the following books:

Probably they totaled $50-60.00. So I didn't insure them. I mean what could go wrong, right? When I called my daughter a few days later she said the books didn't arrive but the box did. This is what she received from a caring USPS:

Not exactly what I sent. AND, this is not the first time this has happened. A few years back another book I sent to them was lost. This package came back to me sans book. Someone between Palm Springs and Memphis must like books and is too cheap to buy them.

"We Care" like hell. In fact mail service has been deteriorating since about 2017 when Louis DeJoy, a huge donor to Trump's campaign was appointed Postmaster General by the 45th president. His stated goal is to privatize the post office, an American institution since it was created by the Second Continental Congress in 1775, even before our Revolution. Benjamin Franklin was the first postmaster.

The post office department was established in 1792 establishing postmasters across this nation. Being appointed postmaster was a plum job with good pay and often was a reward for party support  DeJoy follows a long list of questionable appointees in our history.  In fact DeJoy's salary of $301,000+ rivals the President of the United States who makes $400,000.

To be fair however, the cuts and slimming down started under the previous postmaster.  It was DeJoy however who closed processing centers, removed mailboxes and ordered new gas powered mail trucks rather than electric vehicles the government was mandating. In fact it was widely believed he did everything in his power to delay or stop mail in voting in the 2022 election. There weren't irregularities at the  polls, it was the bags of undelivered mail hidden or attempted to be blatantly destroyed. 

Service has definitely slowed down as well. A letter that arrived from Memphis say in three days, has recently taken 16 days IF it arrives at all. I have proof. I now date stamp all my mail.

I don't have a good history with USPS, especially since moving to Palm Springs. Finishing a divorce I had to send notarized papers, Priority Mail, from Palm Springs to my lawyer's office in Century City, Los Angeles, CA, a distance of 122 miles, door to door. It took 9 days. I could have driven there in half a day despite the horrendous LA traffic!

Then a few years ago the birthday present I sent my sister was stolen from the McIntosh, NM post office. I didn't believe her until checking her story I read about the robbery in the Albuquerque, NM newspaper. This begs the question of how secure mail really is?

I see First Class stamps are going up yet again from 68¢ to 73¢. Paying more but getting less seems to be a new American trait. Am I wrong? Go say to the grocery store and see for yourself. Or, eat out. You blame the President but never the corporate Republican CEO's that are doing this.

If DeJoy is REALLY trying to cut costs, let's look at what the "Franking Privilege costs taxpayers. For those that don't know many government officials are allowed to send mail to their constituents for free. It seems each Congressman gets a yearly total of 300,000 franked letters while a Senator gets 540,000 a year. They said in 2015 this costs taxpayers $8.3 million. It seems the average cost in contested districts runs about $172.00 for a vote for unsafe districts and $63.00 a vote for safe districts. Let's look at this figure. I would question this at 68¢, the cost we taxpayers pay for a first class letter for "1" ounce. Calculating the cost at "real" prices we pay that comes to :

300,000 x first class rate of 68¢ = $204,000 per Representative x 435 Representative = $88,740,000.00.

This figure alone is 10 times what they said. Wait there's more1

Senators 540,000 pieces x .68 = $367,200.00 x 100 Senators = $36,220,000.00 for a grand freebie total of just Congress of  $124,960,000.00. Remember out cost is climbing to 73¢ July 19, 2024. Better stock up on those forever stamps now. Christmas is around the corner.

Another money draw that clutters up our mailboxes with cheap mailings (10¢ cent on average) has been the proliferation of non-profits begging for money.  You support one and another 100 pleas arrive. And don't get me started on catalogs. I get more than a 100 a month.  Sure I have ordered from a few but 100's? No. If they all paid their fair share there would be a lot fewer and the USPS would be healthier financially.  Look up the salaries of non-profit CEO's and catalog owners. You will be amazed. It's legal snake oil.

What's missed by the powers that be is it costs as much to deliver a free or non-profit letter  or catalog as a first class letter. Repeated damaged mail and 16 day delivery times are unacceptable. Maybe it's time for the postmaster general to be an UNDERCOVER BOSS and see what's really happening!

You want to cut losses then make everyone pay their fair share. It was once the American way!