590. Decisions, Decisions, and Decisions.

I've not written for a while. Much has changed. I've gotten older this week. No, I didn't have a birthday - that is in September - September 23rd for those who have their calendars handy. It is on a Thursday this year and I will, in fact, be getting older then. It will be my 50th. Damn.

Earlier this week, my little brother turned 48. That made me old enough. Tomorrow my mother will be 70. Seventy. That makes both of us older. Double Damn. My mother, who is probably my best friend and has been for most of my life, was born in Frankfort at the old Kings Daughters Hospital downtown on Steele Street, on January 22, 1940. She is the only child of her late parents, Vivian "Tommie" Lewis and Daniel Thomas Hockensmith. She lives in the house her father built in 1957 off South Park Road in southern Jefferson County, along with my ailing (but doing better) father (whom she divorced in 1964 but takes good care of him nonetheless) as well as my niece Lindsey, who helps a lot, and Lindsey's boyfriend Matt. That home has always housed a variety of relatives and would-be relatives, and including Dad, once-were relatives (at least in her book). So, tommorrow we celebrate. Happy 70th Mom.

But it is perilous times in which we are celebrating. A year ago I was celebrating in grand fashion with friends the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president. We travelled to the Federal city to enjoy the festivities, and we did have a great time. But the year has not been good in as many respects as one would like. We're still at war, something a lot of us thought we'd be getting out of. Instead we're just shifting over, albeit to a more logical foe, the Afghans. We've started and not finished more than a few legislative battles including the elephant in the room, health care. It will likely go unfinished now that the voters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have deprived the Democrats of a magical 60th vote in the United States Senate. And, proving they are the strongest arm of the Republic, today the Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote (sound familiar), has decided that corporations have First Amendments rights, including those involving donations to political campaigns. (A note here - unlike most of my liberal brethren, I have always sided with Mitch McConnell on this matter, known in legal circles as Buckley v. Valeo, a 1976 case on the matter which was revisited in another case, McConnell v. FEC in 2003, and now this one, known as Citizens United v. FEC). With today's ruling, striking down parts of the McCain/Feingold law, we will return to the pre-Theodore Roosevelt/Bill Taft days of an America where unrestrained capitalism is king and absolute power will corrupt absolutely. It has not been a good week for the American Republic.

I had intended to go further here but I've just this moment received a text-message telling me of the passing of a family friend, "Aunt Rosie" Krill. Aunt Rosie wasn't my aunt - rather she was the aunt of my friend Sherry. My guess is Aunt Rosie is in her 90s. She was quite a character. Her brother, Pete Habeeb (also deceased), once operated the old Min's Cafe on Story Avenue. I worked for Pete as a night manager there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Aunt Rosie worked many years at Min's. Her sons operate the Colonnade Restaurant here in town. I'll quit here. Rest In Peace Aunt Rosie. May your soul and the souls of all the departed Rest In Peace.

Thanks Be To God.