Day: February 9, 2020

Dang it…got a cold…

I’ve had a throat tickle; it is now a slight cough. Doesn’t seem that bad; I feel just a bit down.
My “run” was nothing special; just my usual 5.3 mile W. Peoria course followed by a .92 spur to the local pizza place.

Time: 1:14:51 or 12:03 a mile..not so good but in line with my usual “easy run” training pace, and it felt easier than the last few, even with the minor amount of sleet, wind, etc.

Later: caught a college basketball game; with 16 minutes to go Bradley appeared to be in command, leading 44-30. But Evansville fought back to tie the game and with 3:50 or so to go, they had a 1 point lead. But BU got all of the rebounds down the stretch and shot 8 consecutive free throws. Bradley had a 38-29 advantage on rebounds and went 18-24 on free throws. The more perimeter minded Aces only had 8 free throws. Bradley shot 49 percent from the field (more inside shots and dunks); EU just under 40. But they launched 28 3 point shots, making 6, whereas BU was 1-11.

A rant about poverty and safety nets..

Fact: modern day America is not 50,000 years ago or even 500 years ago; we are not living in a resource scarce area. I realize our ancestors had it very, very hard…at times, they even had to kill unwanted kids during times of extreme scarcity.

That isn’t our current state in the United States of America.

People become poor for many reasons. Many kids are born into it. And about those poor parents having kids:

It is complicated. Sometimes, people make reasonable decisions based on reasonable assumptions and unfortunate things happen: accidents, illnesses, lay-offs…unexpected caretaking duties for a family member, a baby is born with a chronic health condition that is expensive to deal with, etc. It can be a million things…reasonable people can behave reasonably and things still go bad.

And yes, sometimes, the parents are morons…just complete idiots who do stupid thing after stupid thing, and they are blissfully unaware of their stupidity. They start with no margin of error, behave recklessly and become even worse off.

Nevertheless…

In my opinion, a humane, relatively affluent society should provide some basic floor for living: to me that includes basic shelter, food, schools, heat (in cold weather regions) and medical treatment.
Of course, most people do better when there is incentive to work for it; I am not talking about luxury for everyone. But I am talking about our society providing some peace of mind that no one will be thrown out in the cold…not even the complete idiots.

Yes, I know…some will refuse help…there is always that vexing balance between giving people the freedom to fail and be idiots and being cruel..so I am talking about “help to those who need and want it” and basic help.

Yes, this would include my tax dollars going to some that I find unpleasant. So be it.