Closing Out 2009

I gave some thought about what to write for
this transition from one year to the next. In
the end it is clear that nothing political
was resolved in 2009 that we could close the
book on. If anything, most issues remain
unresolved and a few new ones have arisen.

For example, in my family our Social Security
income will be about $34 less per month in 2010
than it was in 2009, and that's before currency
devaluation because of inflation which has
not disappeared. We'll have roughly $400 less
because of increases in Medicare costs to us
(not counting the Blue Cross supplemental
cost increases). I'm not looking forward to
whatever medical care difficulties will be
introduced by the new health care laws passed
by the federal government.

About the only thing(s) that can be closed out
in 2009 are the three (the say things come in
3's and it certainly seems true in this case)
deaths of people I have been close to in my
life. I won't bother with details about two
of the individuals that readers here won't
be familiar with, but the most recent death
was a person I've written about (August 17)
in this publication before.

Alex Zelchenko died on the morning of December
24th 2009 at age 95. It appears that the
cancer tumor in his lung became infected,
leading to multiple organ failure and after
some days of lingering unconscious, he expired.
Alex was a perfect example of "pulling the
plug on grandma" not only once, but in his
case twice.

The one major improvement that seems to be
underway is that the beginnings of a political
awakening are evident. People need to become
more directly involved with governments at
all levels, to become more confrontational,
and vote the bad players out of office. That's
most of the career politicians in office today.
Tea parties are one thing, but without
translation into direct action on election day,
things like not voting a party line,
we'll have the same graft and corruption ongoing
in this community, state, and nation. Simply showing
up and voting isn't enough. Each of you needs to
put thought into how you vote.

We wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.

Bill Vajk