I can do the math. I know how budgets work. I know we are spending 137% more than the entire nation produces. I know Biden's plan is to skyrocket that spending. 
 
Take Biden’s Medicare for all. The estimate of his plan says it will add $13T to the budget. But if you look at the history of estimates, you will find they are often grossly understated. But let’s keep to estimate, it is easier and limits speculation on guesses.
 
Medicare right now is the biggest line item of Federal spending at $1.3T covering 60 million Americans, or about 18% of the population. But what Biden ignores is those same 60 million Medicare covered Americans, are STILL paying for their coverage.
 
 You pay into Medicare for 45 years or more, enroll at 65, and get charged for coverage, Part B, that covers only 80% of doctor visits, tests, and some treatments. No meds, no vision, no dental, and no hearing, which are big-ticket items for those over 65. So, you buy a Medicare-approved plan to cover what Part B won't, but there is a deductible involved. Same with Part D (meds). Your approved plan can be a cheap and bare bones policy or full of bells and whistles and expensive as you can stand, but It will cost you at least 35% of your Social Security each month. And take care as to which type of plan you buy, because it may limit your choice of where you can go for treatment. If you plan to travel, well… just keep that in mind.
 
So, what is that $1.3T budget item labeled Medicare, being spent on? Why are paying into the system for 4 to 5 decades and STILL have to pay for coverage? Now Biden wants to add almost 270 million more people to that system, and he says he can pay for it by taxing those making more than $400k. That is mathematically impossible, as only .01% of our population makes $400k or more. 
 
We spend more than we produce. You'd have to send every citizen a bill for $81,857. Well that was price tag the first day I started writing this blog post. The next day it was $8 more and each day forward it will be even more, and that bill includes children as they are being born. Biden and his supporters want to add to that. The MONEY IS NOT THERE. Tax everyone at 100%, it is NOT there. Tax all goods and services at 100%, STILL NOT THERE. Tax everything at 100% Guess what? STILL NOT THERE. What about that is beyond a Democrat’s ability to grasp? Like going to a gas station that has one gallon of gas to sell and thinking you filled your tank and driving 3,000 miles. NOT going to happen.
 
For about 18 months before I reached age 65, I researched the hell out of this one item. I am not wrong. And that is just one item Biden wants to expand on. If you look at the rest of his spending plan and can still vote for him, I got nothing for you. Ignorance I can deal with, but stupidity is a lost cause. 
 

There are times I don't sleep. Instead of getting up and writing, I lay there awake thinking, hoping the random thoughts running in my head, bore me enough to put to myself sleep. 
The older I get, the worse I sleep. Is it age, or the medication age seems to demand I take? Then again, what does it matter? I am awake in the dark, alone with my thoughts, and I have more than six decades to contemplate.
The Broken Road getting me here is long. So is everyone else's. I'm not complaining about my Broken Road, it has made me who I am today, and will make me who I'll be in the future. Yet at night, listening to the love of my life breathe in peaceful sleep, I find I reflect more on the bumps and potholes the road laid out before me.
Yes, I think too on the smooth places, the friends that have been there in times good and bad. 
I think of my friends. David, whom I've known since Kindergarten, and Kent going back to about 3rd grade. Ken H, who while, in grade school got me into Church. In high school, there was Nancy, Sharon, Fred, Mel, Harm, Tom, Bear, Ken F, Diane, Howard, Marcia, and most often Sandi and the long-Broken Road that lead me back to her. I think of the many others after high school. The people I served with, they too are touchstones in my life. They were there then, and are here now. They each played and with few exceptions, still play a part on my Broken Road, even though except for a few, we haven't had a face to face is more time than I care to admit to. Yet, they are there. Some not far from where we all met, some in states far away. Distance has not faded our friendship or each other's influence on our personal Broken Road. 
I think of those that entered and walked with me no matter how short the sharing of the Broken Road was, and wonder how they are now? It is them, I reflect on the most. What was my part on their Broken Road? Did I help, or hinder? How has the Broken Road changed them, helped them to grow? What new friends did they make that were there for them in times of need?
It seems with social media it would be easy to reestablish contact with all of those that shared our Broken Road. In some cases, it has, in others, not so much. Some I know are online and my reaching out has been ignored. Ignored for reasons only they know. I must accept it, though I often wonder why. Maybe the Broken Road led them in another direction, made them into someone I don't need on my Broken Road. Or worse, I was not a help but a stumbling block and became the person they don't need on their road. Do I want to know? 
The question is full of problems. What would I learn about me? Would I be faced with something I thought was known only to me? We all have secrets and we all want to keep them. 
In the end, yes. I do. I want to know. They were my friend, I cared then, and I care now. I reached out, they were friends and that is what matters. I think about them in the wee hours of the night, wishing them the best, hoping they each have found happiness and peace. And I hope someday, our Broken Roads will cross in some way. If fences need mending, then I pray we will. If we can't mend them, then I pray we can still be there for each other. We are each now who we are, in part because we laughed cried together on the same Broken Road no matter how brief we traveled together. We laughed, because life hurts, and it's the only thing to make it stop hurting.May you walk in the love of God and love those God sent to you.
Your friend, then, now, and forever.
 

I’m looking 67 years on Earth in the eye. Like most people I’ve done things in my life I am not proud of.

I’ve always looked at my move away from the Democrat Party with pride, but until lately, having been a Democrat was not something I was ashamed of having been. 
 
I can no longer say that. I am ashamed I was ever a democrat. I cannot believe I was ever part of a party that has descended in a hell not seen since the 1930s and 40s.
 
I didn’t like Carter’s policies, nor Clinton’s nor Obama’s. They were disasters for our nation. But I never hated them. Never wished them ill, never wished them harm, never wished them dead. 
 
I can’t believe I was once, long ago, a member of a political party that today revels in hate and ill will to those they oppose politically. 
 
Yes, before you ask, I know there are some bad apples in the fringes of all movements. They do all the above when they think no one is watching or listening. But what is taking place today is not in secret, not on the fringe. They are now the mainstream of their party, and proud of it.
 
The media and the Democrats have spent weeks demanding Trump denounce hate groups, and the within minutes of his Tweet announcing he and the First Lady have tested positive for COVID, hate by the Democrats flooded the media with wishes for their deaths.
 
Worse still, there is not one member of the DNC with the balls to stand up and say, this hate is wrong. That wishing someone dead is wrong. Their lack of condemnation speaks to the true nature of the ideology of their party and supporters. 
 
I am ashamed I ever was a Democrat. 

I posted on a few Colts and local news sites, stating I am done with the NFL and the Colts specifically. I won't abide by the disrespect shown to the flag and therefore our Vets. 
 
There are a lot of people on these sites who think only they have 1st Amendments rights. We are told get with their program, our opinions are moot, our right to free speech void judging by the attacks flooding those of us that have used our free speech to say we are done with this shit.
 
What I don't understand is their insistence there is no disrespect involved. Just one day after opening day and there are many sites full of people saying enough. Yet, here they are defending the disrespect. Don't they understand they are actively making sure people get and stay pissed at them for their actions? 
 
Are they so devoid of creativity that they cannot find a way to be inclusive of those that otherwise agree with them?
 
Are they so devoid of common courtesy, that they are unable to respect the deeply held ideals of those they need to help their cause? 
 
Of course, this post makes me a racist, as I've been told on more than few occasions. With them, tolerance  and civility has no home in any  discussion of the Flag and our Vets. 
 
I stand for the Flag. I stand for those, who answered our Nation’s call before me.  I stand for those wounded who can't. I stand for those that gave their lives for this flag and nation. I stand, because I respect the sacrifices others have made. I stand, because I was Blessed by God to serve and come home whole.
 
I stand for all.

​Trypanophobia is fancy word describing those of us that have a fear of needles. 
 
When I was 18, I joined the Air Force. One of the first things that happens in basic training is the issuance of your very own personal Shot Card. You get a little booklet, fill it out with name and Social Security Number, then start down a line, get stuck in the arm, get the card stamped for that particular injection, and move on to the next shot. 
 
Fear is not an option. You get over it or go nuts. Those shots must be kept up to date, less you get orders overseas. Your orders will direct you to be up to date and the base hospital has to sign your check out list that you are, in fact, up to date. You learn early on it is better to keep up with them, than have them all done at once. And odds are, when being sent to someplace like South East Asia, there are going to be needed shots over and above what is needed to keep up to date state side.
 
Over the 11 years and 22 days I served, I filled up two of those Shot Cards
 
I learned to ignore the fear… mostly.  The fear changed to hate. Shots were better than getting sick, though I think Cholera can’t be worse than the shot. I got my Cholera shot the day I left Offutt AFB for Thailand. I drove from there to Colorado Springs to meet my parents, visiting an old family friend. I was driving a stick shift Datsun truck. It wasn’t long before an ache developed on my right side. The shot was given in the right cheek, which started to ache. The ache radiated out from there to my entire right side and grew into full blown pain if I moved my right leg or arm too much. I learned to shift left footed and left handed. By the time I arrived at my destination 8 hours later, I was a mess. Thank God it lasted just under two days. The booster I took at the LA Air Station 10 days later was a cake walk.
 
Leaving the Air Force, I thought I was done with shots. Well, at least 99% of them.
 
In 2003, that changed. Sort of. No shots, but needles every day. On 23 November 2003, I get a call from my doctor’s nurse telling me the test results are back. Type II Diabetes. All I can think of is needles. 
 
No shots, just finger sticks each day. The first time I did a finger stick at home, and hearing my reaction, my wife remarked she was going to learn how to swear in Thai and Lao. I learned how to stick my fingers with little or no pain in short order. I think the big thing for me is not seeing the needle. The needle in the lancet is hidden. You put it against the side of your finger tip push the button, it sticks you then retracts back into the device.
 
I’ve had a good run. A decade of control with no meds is no small feat. The failure rate for control with diet and exercise alone is 95% each year attempted. I did it for almost 11.  Oral meds alone worked for another 6 years. I knew injections were inevitable, but I had hoped to put them off longer than I did. But, well, this is the nature of Diabetes. It is insidious and progressive.  
 
My numbers started to rise. I thought it was because I was not active enough, but even on days where I’d come in exhausted and overheated, my numbers didn’t budge. My body made the choice for me. 
 
Trypanophobia. Sticking a finger is not the same thing, as injections. Click and its over faster than saying click. Talking an injection… well… A needle, a real-life injection needle. 17 years ago, I told my wife that when the time came, she’d be the one injecting me. No way I was going to inject myself.  Did I mention the injection is in the belly? 
 
I’m in with the healthcare coordinator, alone. With COVID19, my wife was not encouraged to be there with me. The healthcare coordinator is showing me the different types of injection pens.  I pick one, Trulicity, I think now, because it was the of the two options where I can’t see the needle. The problem was she was not aware I was coming in and took the pen out of refrigerator when I arrived. She held it in her hands to warm it up, but not long enough. Pull the cap off, rotate the pen so the lock-unlock indicator is facing me, push the other end into my belly move the indicator to unlock and push the plunger. CLICK, it burns a little, wait for the second CLICK and I’m done. From click to click is a long time, 5 to 10 seconds. Night and day from a finger stick. 
 
I feel tenderness at the injection site for days, but it’s not a bad deal. Switching sides each week helps. 
 
Trypanophobia. Not anymore. Well, not as long I can avoid seeing the needle. I still won’t look at the needle in my arm during lab tests. 
 
There are times when I am sure I picked the wrong disease. No exchanges allowed… I checked.
 
 
 

​On July 25th, the keyboard on my MacBook Air started giving me problems. The letter S stopped working.
 
The MacBook was bought 5 years ago this coming “Black Friday,” and had never given me a problem that even remotely required a trip to the shop So, I can’t complain. I have a great computer.
 
The only thing I’ve done is buy an external storage device for it. The internal storage which came with my MacBook Air is anemic at best, and external drives are cheap. 4 Terabytes is more than I’ll use. 
 
Yes, Apple has taken strides in memory storage, but I’m not yet willing to spend almost $500 more than I paid for this one to get just 2 Terabytes of memory. 
 
So, I find myself standing at the Geek Squad Desk at our local Best Buy, the place I bought my Mac from almost 5 years ago. 
 
The first thing I’m told is they can’t work on Macs. All they can do is ship it to the closest repair center. Expect it to back in August 4th. I even got that in writing on the receipt. Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad. Sure. 
 
From there it went downhill at the speed of sound. One the 1st of August, a week after I dropped it off at Best Buy, I get an email saying the computer was being prepped for shipment. Call me crazy, but, I was starting to doubt they’d make the date they gave me for getting my computer back. So, I called the Geek Squad at our Best Buy for answers. Umm, ah, gee, and well, are not what I, or any customer wants to hear. What they did say was because of COVID the computer sat on a shelf in quarantine for a week. I asked if they were aware of the use of UV light or alcohol wipes and such? No response. I was told it would be 3 weeks to get it back. I should have got the liars name. I hoped he was right, but, for some reason, I was doubtful. No clue why.
 
Later that day another email announced they shipped it. One week down, how many left? The adventure continues.
 
Twelve days, yes, I said twelve days. Twelve days later, another email informs me they have received my computer at the facility. Phileas Fogg traveled around the world in 80 days, in 1872, why did it take my computer in 2020, 12 days to travel less than 100 miles? Well, now it’s there I think, a few days to do what needs to be done and I’ll get it back. Sure thing.
 
Ten days later, I get a notice that I needed to call the Geek Squad 1-800 number to discuss the estimate for the repair. Note: Geek Squad has my home phone number on file, so calling me direct would speed things up, if only by hours. Days if I hadn’t been checking the repair status daily.
 
I had to pay a deposit to leave computer at Best Buy. The deposit is used against the total cost of the repair. I was told the balance would be $92 and change. Remember this amount, it plays a role later. Hint, I should have gotten his name and more important, I should have checked his math. The tech, really a customer service rep, has no idea what is wrong with computer, and knows only what it will cost to repair. He said I’d get a call in about an hour. He was unable to say why the call was going to be made. Just over two hours later, I call them. I end up talking to a guy in India. The problem is the “push 1 for idiots, push 2 for morons, and push 3 for I have no clue,” puts this guy on the line and he was the wrong department. He explained this to me repeatedly while attempting to find out what was going on. He was so busy explaining the call should not have come to him, that he was not listening to what I was saying. I finally had to yell at him to shut up. In the end he patched me through to local Best Buy tech. All this guy could say was the records showed I approved the estimate and that was all that was needed. He had no idea why I was told someone would be calling be in an hour.
 
One more thing about my friend from India, he was reading from a script. Anything I said that was not within the parameters of his script was more than he was trained to deal with. Once he shut up and listened, he did what he could and helped as much as his limited abilities allowed. I regret yelling at him to shut up. Check that, I regret the need to have done so, it really wasn’t his fault. He was not trained to think outside the given script. Customer Service today is about getting the customer happy as fast as possible and move to the next customer. Satisfied should be the goal not just happy.
 
The computer has now been with Best Buy or the repair center for 29 days.
 
Day 31, I get a notice the computer’s problem is being diagnosed. I wonder how they arrived at an estimate when they had yet to look at the problem two days ago, but refrain from calling for fear I’d mess up their system and have to wait longer. System? Yes, I said system, shoot me.
 
The good news is they knew in short order what the problem was and ordered the part which was in stock. Don’t ask. I don’t understand it either.
 
Day 34, I am informed the computer is fixed. But, I’ve yet to be told what was done, other than the upper case was bad. As Gibbs would say, “In English Tim.” A new keyboard was installed. But I didn’t know that until I got it back. All the keys are new, shiny and unworn.
 
Twelve hours later it was shipped back to Best Buy. And twelve hours after that it was ready for pick up. Did they send it out with Mr. Fogg?.
 
I arrive to pick it up, and am told the balance was not $92 but $80 more. I argued, but, well, I didn’t know who I talked to, and as I said, I didn’t check the math when given the estimate.  My fault. I would not have changed the total had I checked, but it would not have been a last minute surprise.
 
35 days in total
 
I’ve used Geek Squad before and was happy with the service. But it was them doing the service at our home. They fixed the problems and for a reasonable cost.
 
When I attempted to get an answer as to why all this took so long, it was always hinted that COVID was the main reason. I find that inexcusable. When you offer a repair service it should cover all the products you sell even if that means having Apple people on the payroll and on site.
 
Their customer service stinks. Most do. I know it is at thankless job, I was a Customer Service Lead for 3 months for Reserve Army Travel in DoD. The difference is, I was not limited in what I could do, I understood Travel Pay and their problems. I was free to process the claim myself or give it to someone I trusted to get it done and done right.
 
Companies are spending their reputations and sales to save a dime, and the customer knows it. 
 
The Mac is great computer, but the company is missing the boat in not having easy access to repair services. 
 
Sales are half the service and we need to remind companies of that, daily.
 
 
 

I need your help
I have an idea for a new book, but it is written by you. Okay not you alone and not the entire book, just a chapter or so. You choose a combination of  three books from the 129,864,880 published books in the world, then write a thousand words or so defending each choice.
Sounds easy, right? Well, maybe not that easy. So, allow me to explain what is I am attempting to do here.
I read and write science fiction. This new book involves the genre, but not in a way which limits your contribution if science fiction is not your “cup of tea.”
In 1895 H.G. Wells published The Time Machine, the story takes place in 1899 London, well it starts there, but his adventure moves to the year 802,701, where his protagonist finds love in a beautiful Eloi woman name Weena and her people. The Morlocks are raising the Eloi as sheep for consumption. The Time Traveler destroys the Morlocks. However, in destroying the Morlocks, he leaves the Eloi without any means of food production, shelter or other means of survival.
H.G Wells, ends his tale with the Time Traveler presumably returning to the year 802,701 to gather proof of his adventure and to help the Eloi.
In 1960 George Pal directed the movie The Time Machine, based on Well’s story. As with all book to movie ventures, changes were made. Mr. Pal wrote and filmed an ending H.G. didn’t write. Yet it is intriguing, and that is where you and maybe your friends can contribute to the effort.
Mr. Pal’s last scene is a conversation between Filby and the Time Traveler’s House Keeper. The Time Traveler has departed back to the far future at this point. The House Keeper remarks to Filby that three books are missing from the Time Traveler’s library. “Which three?” asks Filby. “I don’t know,” responds the House Keeper.
So, imagine yourself the Time Traveler, your love is lost, alone, without means to survive more than a few days, more than 800,000 years in the future. You are despite to return to your love and help the Eloi build a civilization. 
Which three books do you take with you, and why?
That is your assignment, chose three books. The books can be pre-1899, the date the original story starts, or you can choose any book up to today. And if you are really adventurous, you can pick three pre-1899 and three modern. 
Start with a bio of yourself, nothing fancy, but enough that the reader gets an idea of who you are, then choose your three books and defend your choice. No upper word limit, but try to write at least a thousand words for each choice.
Then send it to me. I will collect all the stories, edit them, then put them into one book and publish it. The working title for now is Which Three Books. Feel free to also give your thoughts on the title.
Email me at Greggmacklin@comcast.net

​We are not known for getting out much. Well, I thought that was the case until COVID-19 came along, and we found ourselves ordered not to travel into town unless we needed to go for food or going to see the doctor.
 
The stay at home order has been in effect for more than a week and we’ve been out once to the store and the Post Office. We have a PO Box in town, so we don’t have much choice. Mail to the house is iffy as the kids get bored and play smash the mail box at times. Sadly, the law takes a dim view of the obvious cure for such uncouth behavior.
 
When we did go out we found ourselves looking at all the things we never noticed over the years. I love Dogwood trees in bloom. We have two on our property, and a Crabapple tree, all in bloom. But we never noticed before, all the Dogwood tree between our home and town. We never noticed how many were in town either. 
 
We take so much for granted in our everyday lives. So much so, that we have gone blind to God’s daily gifts to us. Dare I say they were until now, mundane? It was our loss.
 
COVID-19, has inflamed our fears, yet it has made us look beyond ourselves. People, though needing to keep a safe distance from others, are saying hi and waving to one another. We are finding in this age of wireless communication, a deep human need for real contact with our fellow man. 
 
People are setting aside time to hunt bear in neighborhood windows, wave at people we don’t know, pray for family and strangers alike. Even use a drone to meet new people. People are taking to the sidewalks for a group sing along each afternoon. We cheer doctors, nurses, EMTs even the person keeping the shelves stalked at the store. 
 
We are finding life’s joys in a time that scares us all. 
 
We are finding ourselves, we are finding our humanity, we are finding our need for each other and for God.
 
We as as nation, as a world, as humankind, must take hold of this and never let go. Shun the petty and revel in the kindness, and love we see.
 
Pray for those we lost and we will lose. Pray for the over worked nurse that took the time to hold the hand of the dying so they did not die alone. They are Angles sent by God to do a job, only an Angel can do.
 
May God Bless you, and keep you, and yours safe, and may you ever see His hand in your life.

​If we learn anything from COVID-19, it is that people revel in fear, and there those that will make billions selling it while governments use it to take more power.
 
Listen to radio and it’s about COVID-19. Watch the news and it’s about COVID-19. Watch entertainment news and it’s about, you guessed it, COVID-19. 
 
Facebook is flooded with posts about COVID-19.
 
The common thread with all is the threat of the virus is to everyone with numbers and charts to prove their point. 
 
Curiously absent are those doctors reporting that this not as bad as the fears being peddled. God help you if you have the stones to point this out to the true believers of the COVID-19 Church of the Apocalypse.
 
Yes, I know that last sentence is a bit sarcastic, but you know there is far too much truth in it.
 
A few days ago, someone called me out for presenting facts not in accordance with the COVID-19 Church. We had a back and forth about the numbers reported on confirmed deaths inflating the mortality rates overall, when even the CDC says from 80% to 83% of the total cases are under reported. When I posted a link, she agreed, then said it was too early to tell if the 80% would start to lower later. She needed to be fearful and found a way to make it happen even in the face of the facts.
 
Another person insisted some experts claim COVID-19 will persistently give those that recover breathing problems. What she was saying is the “some” experts were “most” experts All her links managed to carefully parse their words and phrases with the likes of it could, might, we think, it seems, it is possible, etc. Pointing this out, well, that is a sin deserving of death. 
 
Again, she needs to fear, and she like so many others, feels the need to propagate their fears to others. They research for the phrases and fears they want to validate and take extreme offense to anything and anyone who presents a logical counter to their fear.
 
Yet, I’m not surprised at all this. Fear sells, it gets clicks online, and makes even kids rich and famous.  In a few months, the fear will something else. I’m betting it goes back to the doom and gloom of the environment “crisis.”