The Writer's Life: The Writer's Life 6/27

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

The Writer's Life 6/27 - Two Heads, Four Lips

According to an article in today's NY Post, there's encouraging news on the medical front. Researchers at Duke University have been injecting a modified version of the polio vaccine into brain tumors. Of those with aggressive cancers, 21% were still alive six years later, as opposed to the 4% who'd undergone chemo.

Here's a perfect example of why politicians have such a low approval rating. A Post blurb cites the driving record of NY State Senator Marty Golden: 14 speed-cam tickets since 2014; three since 1/1/'18; 42 total violations since 2013. No wonder he wants the cams replaced by stop signs and traffic lights. Would anyone be surprised if he violated those as well? The arrogance and sense of entitlement of the political class never ceases to amaze. Although I have yet to be bagged by a speed cam, I hate them. Unfortunately, Golden is the last person I'd want advocating for their abolishment. Still, he is not the poster boy for political arrogance in NYC. That is Michael Grimm, convicted felon who resigned from his congressional seat in 2015 and who tried to oust the current holder, Dan Donovan, in yesterday's primary. The voters saved the GOP from yet another black eye. Meanwhile, ten-term incumbent Joe Crowley of Queens was upset by an avowed socialist, neophyte Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who, like President Trump, spent one tenth of the money her opponent did. Crowley's a socialist who would never admit he was one, as are most, if not all NYC pols. The real upset would be a Republican winning that seat in November.

The right is thrilled and the left is outraged that the Supreme Court upheld President Trump's travel ban regarding Muslim countries. The vote was 5-4. This shows the importance of the national election. Had Hillary won, the court's makeup would have made approval impossible. Then again, the ban would have never even been proposed. How sweet it is! And now justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his resignation, which will make the midterm elections even more important. If the Republicans lose control of Congress, the court will likely return to a liberal bias.

I'm reading a book by a psychologist who was born in Europe. Of course, the subject often turns to sex. I've been dog-earring pages that contain thoughts I'll blog about when I finish. Here's one that won't make the cut but is too funny not to mention at all, a riddle the author heard as a boy in Vienna: "Why do men think so much and women talk so much? Because men have two heads and a women has four lips."

My thanks to Steve, the poet laureate of Sheepshead Bay, who bought a pictorial of the work of photographer Edward Weston, who passed away in 1958 at 71; and to the gentleman who bought CDs compilations of Gershwin and a DVD of four action movies that probably went straight to video; and to the woman who selected a thriller by Fern Michaels; and to the gentleman who donated about 15 books spanning a broad range of fiction and non. Only three were of questionable marketability: a book on astrology that seems dated, a science textbook, and a collection of plays for children. I left them in the lobby of our co-op.