Carl, I think you are doing pretty well if you remember that goat at the
bottom of the stairs.
___
Robert G. Ingersoll
“Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never
inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the
Church does neither.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll,
On 9/27/2020 12:12 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Speaking of fuzzy memories and having to wait for familiar names to
drop in out of the fog, I was having a discussion with Cathy the other
evening, and I said, "I was listening to an old talk
by...ah...uh...when his name surfaces I'll just blurt it out".
The next morning I turned to Cathy and said, "Ralph Nader!!!" She
smiled and patted my hand.
Back in my Golden Days, I enjoyed speaking. My staff might have
different memories, but none of them are here at the moment, so this
is just my remembering. Because of my big willing mouth, I became the
Departments Blind Expert. A dangerous title, indeed. But as I've
grown older, and my voice shaky, and words getting lost somewhere
between the brain and the lips, I much prefer writing. Especially
with gadgets such as this computer with JAWS. I can stick words in as
they come bopping along memory's paths, or I can simply delete stuff
that seems to have come out as nonsense. I recall back in the late
60's when I returned to college as a newly blinded man. I had a
Braille Writer, a portable typewriter and a reel to reel portable tape
recorder, along with my trusty slate and stylus. And since I was in
my early 30's, I had the strength to pack it all around with me from
class to class, one-handed, since I also used a travel cane,...a trip
I could never make today.
But despite my shaky memory, at 85 I've been declared the WCB
Historian. Since I am getting to be one of the elders in WCB, I find
that if I can't recall an event, people accept whatever story I
concoct (Just kidding). .
But I do preface my memories as "My Memories", which might vary from
the actual events. I don't feel bad about saying that, since all
history is someone's memories. But my first memory was back in 1937,
just prior to our moving from Spokane to Seattle. My second clear
memory was my mother sitting by my hospital bed prior to my having
cataract surgery in 1939.
I clearly recall walking to my Kindergarten class in 1940, and crying
when I realized my mother was not going to stay with me.
It's amazing to me, thinking of what memories my brain retains, and
how much of my full life has been lost forever. I remember clearly
walking up the hill to Kindergarten, stamping on the brown leaves that
lay on the sidewalk. I imagined that they were little houses, and I
was a giant monster. My mother,not yet 29, told me not to get my new
shoes wet or muddy. She seemed so old to me. But I have no memory of
the day before, or the day following.
The Human Brain is still a mystery.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/26/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, that's what I've told my daughter, over and over again. But
nevertheless, I suspect I'll end up in one because in order for that not to
happen, she and my son-in-law would have had to have bought a more
adequate house for me to rent and someone who is competent and caring would
have to be available to check on the person who is hired to care for me.
It
is much easier for adult children with busy lives to hand their aging sick
parents over to nursing homes and to believe, or pretend to believe, the
lies they are told about the care that is provided. My mother was in
Calvary
Hospital, a facility dedicated to the care of terminally ill cancer
patients. But she took more than a year to die. She was receiving medicare.
Calvary didn't accept medicaid and the medicare funding for hospitalization
ran out at the end of a year. They transferred her to a nursing home. I
chose, what was reputed to be one of the best available to us. The first
thing the nursing home doctor did was to change her pain medication, the
formula which Calvary had found to keep her free from pain as she was dying
from cancer, because he thought the drugs were too addictive. He reduced
the
amount of pain medication and the pain returned. I had this terrible
argument with him to convince him to restore the levels she had been on,
and
he did. But she was miserable and alone there and frightened. She asked me
if I could hire an aide just to stay with her. But before I could figure
out
how to do that, within about 2 days of her request, she died. But I can
also tell a horror story about a doctor at Sloane Kettering Memorial Center
where my husband was as he was dying of brain cancer, and that was a high
quality cancer hospital. The medical profession has turned into a
nightmare.
It has changed radically from what it was like back in the seventies. But
so
has everything else.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 6:49 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't Handle
Supreme Court Battle
My mom died a few days before her 77th birthday of uterine cancer. She
also
had diabetes and heart problems.
She spent the last 3 years of her life in a nursing home, due to the
effects
of her illnesses. I am not a fan of nursing homes. i told my wife that I
would rather die than be in one of those places.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 3:41 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't Handle
Supreme Court Battle
My father was 56 when he died of colon cancer. He'd been a factorysenators.
worker and had to stop working several years before he died due to a
heart attack.
My mother was 84 when she died of cancer, but she'd been ill for
several years before her death.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 6:03 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't Handle
Supreme Court Battle
My dad died at age 47. My mom was never able to get to the point where
she would consider a new relationship, and she became more lonely and
depressed as she grew older.
Very sad!
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 2:48 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't Handle
Supreme Court Battle
If that's what seems important, finding a new partner, than you'reimpossible.
correct.
And for people in their sixties and seventies, people who are
physically healthy, that might be important. If you're a woman in
your eighties with health issues, physical disabilities, finding a
partner is hardly a priority. I think that losing someone with whom
one has had a longterm, intimate relationship, is very hard.
Replacing such a relationship, really replacing it with something
similar, is close to
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 5:37 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't Handle
Supreme Court Battle
The one advantage that old men have is that women tend to outlive
men, so if an older man happens to be single, he would have an easier
time finding a female companion. I remember when my mom lived in a
senior mobile home community. They had a singles club, which might
as well have been a single women's club, because there was never more
than one man at any of their functions.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 2:26 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't Handle
Supreme Court Battle
Yes, I read Mary Trump's book and a number of others and I know that
Trump had issues from toddlerhood on. But people who know him have
also written about how some of his capabilities have waned in the
past few years, and that probably has to do with aging. It's
certainly true that people would become upset at age limits being
set for people holding political office.
At
the same time, our society is very comfortable segregating the
elderly and consigning their care to under paid, under educated
caregivers in largely profit making institutions where they are
warehoused, victims to infections due to lack of proper sanitary
conditions, and to abuse and, at the moment, a pandemic. And while
Diane Feinstein is permitted to stay in her position where she might
inadvertently harm our nation, most of us old women, are treated
with a kind of gentle disregard by everyone, including our loving
children who do not see us as the fonts of wisdom due to our
experience, but as old fashioned, forgetful nuisances. The position
of old men is somewhat better.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 5:10 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
I agree with what you say about aging politicians but if an age cap
were even to be suggested, you would hear the cries of age
discrimination loud enough to wake you from your sleep.
Donald Trump's issues have little to do with aging. He is at best a
narcissist who was both enabled and abused by his father, but the
real family tragedy was how Fred Trump Sr. treated his oldest son Fred.
Usually
the oldest son get favored treatment in families, but in this case
Fred Jr.
was the child singled out for the worst abuse.
Even though she obviously has an agenda, mary Trump's book is a good
case study of the Trump family dynamic.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 1:48 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
Andy, if only that were true. My short term memory is like a sieve.air.
And names and words disappear when I need them, just fly off into
thin
Aging is very weird. I haven't lost my intelligence, but my
capabilities are disappearing and my mind isn't as alert and quick
as it was. These people, judges, politicians, who refuse to retire
at a reasonable age, as far as I'm concerned, they just aren't
admitting to themselves that they are incapable of functioning
adequately enough to remain in their jobs. And they have people
around them who enable them to continue. But it's dangerous. Biden
is a perfect example. I'm in better mental shape than he is, even
if he's younger than I am, and everyone is pretending that he's
capable of being President. Trump had mental problems before he was
burdened with aging difficulties. We have all these Supreme Court
Justices in their eighties, along with a bunch of congress people and
insane!It's
platitudes.MiriamJapan.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 3:54 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
WOW!
And your mind has the agility of someone in their 20s.
I hope that i have those capabilities in 10 years.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 12:38 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
I'm certainly dating myself. I'm old. There aren't many people on
this list who remember the day when our country dropped the first
atom bomb. I do. I also remember the day our country declared war
on
majority.Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 3:18 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
Miriam, you are dating yourself when you refer to that book. i
believe it was written in the 1960s.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 6:49 AM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
Frank,model for them.
I read that book about 50 years ago so I don't remember the details.
But the point was, I think, that the blindness system was
inefficient and it benefited the people who worked in it more
than the people whom it served.
It was rigid and institutionalized. On the other hand, rehab of
blind veterans was flexible and focused on the needs of the
individual, and its goals were to get the client functioning
fully as soon as possible and as independent from the system as
he could be. I'm sure the book still exists and is accessible,
and you can read it for yourself. It was produced by NLS.
I read it in braille.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 4:44 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
Miriam, what was it about the VA that was different?
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 9:39 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
Way back, there was a book called, The Making of Blind Men. The
author's thesis was that most agencies for the blind were doing a
terrible job and that the V A was doing a really good job and
should be a
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 6:14 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
I retired in 2016 from my job as a rehabilitation counselor for
the VA in West LA working specifically with vets who were
homeless, and who had MH and/or SA issues.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 2:43 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
I know that there are some really exceptional old people like
Noam Chomsky with his photographic memory and Daniel Ellsberg,
(who is beginning to sound to me like he's slowing down a bit),
and 2 or
3 more whose names escape me right now because I'm slowing down
a bit, but really, I think there should be an age limit for
public office, probably eighty, possibly seventy five.
What CA facility are you referring to?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 4:46 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
Here in CA many Dems regard Feinstein as a do nothing senator
who should have been a Republican.
I had the opportunity to meet her in 2014 when she visited our
VA facility.
The one thing she was passionate about was veterans issues, and
she visited our facility because she didn't think we were doing
enough to help homeless veterans.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 1:25 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't
Handle Supreme Court Battle
Democrats Worry Feinstein Can't Handle Supreme Court Battle By
John Bresnahan and Marianne LeVine, POLITICO
25 September 20
s the Senate prepares for yet another brutal Supreme Court
nomination fight, one particularly sensitive issue is creating
apprehension among
Democrats:
what to do with 87-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking
member of the Judiciary Committee.
Feinstein, the oldest member of the Senate, is widely respected
by senators in both parties, but she has noticeably slowed in
recent years. Interviews with more than a dozen Democratic
senators and aides show widespread concern over whether the
California Democrat is capable of leading the aggressive effort
Democrats need against whoever President Donald Trump picks to
replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Judiciary Committee is the critical battleground in the
Supreme Court confirmation process. At stake, her own
Democratic colleagues worry, is more than just whether the
party can thwart Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
in his rush to fill the seat. Some Democrats privately fear
that Feinstein could mishandle the situation and hurt their
chances of winning back the
Feinstein sometimes gets confused by reporters' questions, or
will offer different answers to the same question depending on
where or when she's asked. Her appearance is frail. And
Feinstein's genteel demeanor, which seems like it belongs to a
bygone Senate era, can lead to trouble with an increasingly
hard-line Democratic base uninterested in collegiality or
bipartisan
questions.Just this week, Feinstein infuriated progressives after
declaring her opposition to ending the Senate's legislative
filibuster - a top goal of party activists if Democrats win
full control of the Congress and White House in November. Some
on the left called on her to resign over the comments, although
other Democratic moderates have expressed similar views.
In a phone interview, Feinstein pushed back hard against
suggestions she could no longer effectively serve as ranking
member of the Judiciary panel or is incapable of handling the
upcoming nomination fight.
"I'm really surprised and taken aback by this. Because I try to
be very careful and I'm puzzled by it," Feinstein told POLITICO.
"My attendance is good, I do the homework, I try to ask hard
hearings.I stand up for what I believe in."
Feinstein relies heavily on her ever-present staff to deal with
any issues, frequently turning to them for help in responding
to inquiries. Feinstein had to be coaxed into wearing a mask
around the Senate during the early days of the pandemic,
despite being part of the most vulnerable age groups for the
disease. She's only made two floor speeches in the last nine
months, her last being in early July, although she remains
active in committee
fight.And then there's the lingering fallout over Feinstein's role in
the hugely controversial Judiciary Committee hearings for
Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, an issue that factors deeply
into the questions about her suitability for this latest
nomination
puzzling to me."seats.Feinstein waited for several weeks before disclosing
allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh had
sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. The bombshell
accusations nearly sank Kavanaugh's nomination, and senators in
both parties questioned why Feinstein didn't move more quickly
to disclose Blasey Ford's statement.
A Democratic senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity,
said a group of Feinstein's colleagues want Sen. Dick Durbin
(D-Ill.) or Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to serve as the top
Democrat on the Judiciary panel for the upcoming nomination
hearings, which are expected to be extraordinarily contentious.
This senator is worried that potential missteps by Feinstein
could cost Democrats
age 85.result.""She's not sure what she's doing," the Democratic senator said
of Feinstein.
"If you take a look at Kavanaugh, we may be short two senators
because of that. And if this gets [messed] up, it may be the
same
"I think it could impact a number of seats we can win," the
senator added.
Another Democratic senator said party leaders were "in an
impossible position," pointing out that Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer
(D-N.Y) and other senior Democrats can't replace a female
senator for hearings on an expected female nominee to replace a
deceased female Supreme Court justice.
However, the senator said there have been discussions among
some Democrats about making changes to the seniority system
next year due to their concerns over Feinstein. The California
Democrat would be Judiciary chair if Democrats win the majority.
A third Democratic senator put it this way: "She can't pull
this off."
Other Democrats privately said there have been complaints to
party leaders that Feinstein is not capable of handling the
Judiciary post in the current situation. Some of these senators
said Feinstein should have retired rather than run for
reelection in
2018 at
Feinstein's age was an issue in that campaign and was raised
repeatedly in news reports, but she defeated Democrat Kevin de
Leon by almost 10 points.
Feinstein has already stumbled once in tangling with Amy Coney
Barrett, who is widely seen as the frontunner to be Trump's
Supreme Court nominee. At a
2017 hearing for an appeals court seat, Feinstein told Barrett
that "the dogma lives loudly within you" - a remark that was
instantly seized upon as anti-Catholic bias by Republicans.
Schumer declined to comment on Feinstein or her role on the
Judiciary Committee.
To Feinstein, her work on the panel is comparable to what she's
seen from other Democratic ranking members across the Senate.
"And so it's difficult for me to see, I don't know what people
expect,"
Feinstein said. "I've been on the committee for a while. I've
seen how the committee works and I've seen how other chairs on
our side of the aisle work. I don't see, to be very blunt and
honest, I don't see a big difference. I'm prepared, so that's
both positions.Feinstein also pointed out that as the minority, Democrats only
have limited weapons to wield in any nomination fight.
McConnell eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees,
so Democrats can slow the confirmation process down, but they
can't stop it as long as Republicans stick together.
"Let me say this - I know it's going to be a fight, I
understand that."
Feinstein said. "I don't have a lot of tools to use, but I'm
going to use what I have. We can try to delay and obstruct but
they can run this process through. That doesn't mean that we
won't fight tooth and nail."
Feinstein - the first woman to serve as ranking member on
Judiciary
- has built a long record of legislative success since becoming
a senator. She authored the 1994 assault weapons ban, pushed to
increase automobile fuel-efficiency standards, and has been a
leader on environmental and civil rights issues. Feinstein also
led a long probe into the CIA's post-9/11 interrogation and
detention programs that led to the historic 2014 torture report.
When asked whether Feinstein is still capable of doing the job
of ranking member, Durbin said, "I believe she is." Durbin is
next in line on the panel behind Feinstein. Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-Vt.) has served longer on Judiciary than any other Democrat,
but he serves as ranking member on Appropriations and can't
hold
Durbin said he wasn't aware of any discussion over replacingSen.
Feinstein.
And
as to suggestions from some of his colleagues that he should
take over the Judiciary post, Durbin added, "I'm not going to
get into that speculation."
Whitehouse, a former U.S. attorney, wasn't eager to discuss the
Feinstein situation either, offering only a terse comment on
the matter.
"She's a very distinguished lady for whom I have great affection,"
Whitehouse said, declining to comment any further.
There is recent Senate precedent in both parties for replacing
senior senators who are seen as no longer capable of handling
the job.
The late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) was replaced as the
chairman of the Armed Services Committee during the late 1990s.
And in 2008, the late
Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) voluntarily gave up his role as
Appropriations Committee chairman. Over on the House side,
committee chairs have been forced out at several key panels in
recent decades, including Appropriations and Energy and Commerce.
But Feinstein is also not alone when it comes to aging
lawmakers in powerful positions.
Feinstein is the second-oldest member of Congress behind Rep.
Don Young (R-Alaska), who is almost two weeks older. Sen. Chuck
Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Finance Committee, is also
87, while Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is 86.
Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who is seeking
reelection this year, is 85. Among House leadership - Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn are 80 and Majority
Leader Steny Hoyer is 81. Former Vice President Joe Biden will
turn 78 shortly after Election Day and Trump is 74.
Some Judiciary Committee Democrats defended Feinstein and said
they see no reason to try to replace her as ranking member.
"She's an extraordinary person and I'm fully confident in her
leadership,"
said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
"Her leadership has been really steadfast and courageous," said
Sen.
Richard
Blumenthal (D-Conn.). "She has extraordinary insights and
instincts based on her vast experience. I see no reason to
question this leadership."
