Month: May 2020

I am tired
I feel sick
What is happening?
The Covid-19 story
All the rules
Changing from day to day
Masks are bad
     They are needed for front-liners
Masks are good
     They keep others safe
Masks are not necessary
     They actually do no good
Social distancing is smart
     Thought up by a sixth grader
Vilified by epidemiologists
     Including John Hopkins studies
Isolate yourself if possible
     Cause of many deaths
Place the sick in nursing homes
This caused many unnecessary deaths
     “If you can do it safely was implied”
It was easier to blame the President
 
Walmart is fine; Mom and Pops – No
Elected surgery –No; Abortion –Yes
Tattoo –Yes; Haircuts –No
The rules of dictators; too risky to violate
Don’t go north for the holiday; Dictator goes north
100,000 dead; President is blamed for not caring
     He cared from day one and set policies
This is while he was being impeached
The Speaker of the House celebrates in Chinatown
 
People are eager to have open up as in Florida
Other governors refuse to act reasonably
Houses of Worship must remain closed
Multi-trillion dollar relief packages passed
Money goes to special pet projects and the arts
Desperate people remain desperate
Illegal aliens are granted entitlements
People are going stir-crazy
Four policeman involved in the murder of
a shop-lifter by kneeling on his neck
He states that he cannot breath
This is captured on video
 
Citizens protest; taking to the streets
Are distraught because of confinement
Antifa members flown in to begin riots
Black Lives Matter members enter the fray
Civil demonstration turns into full-blown chaos
Protests expand into cities around country
Again Antifa members flown in to orchestrate
the riots and destruction; it appears well intended
to those who will suffer the unintended consequences
 
The uprising and rebellion will cost billions to
repair and has destroyed all of the recent gains
This was the real purpose; not
the protest of the death of a human being
 
Frustration leads to anger; it is a two way street
Leadership is needed but cannot be found
Insurrection cannot be controlled
The intifada has been successful
The losses unparalleled
Closed worship houses cannot respond
The real enemy wins again
We can only begin once more
 
Justice will prevail; the murderers will be tried
They will be punished for their crime
Citizens will walk around dazed
Covid-19 will be forgotten
Religion may make new inroads; appealing to
People’s precepts and what is important
We will recover; it will take a great deal of time
 
I am tired; you are tired
We feel sick; we are sick
Our hearts ache
We cannot ask why
We know why
It is time to get our house in order
Time to remember the forgotten
 
Stanski
May 30, 2020 ^
 

My heart lies here in Gulliver, Michigan
here on the great inland sea
I leave it now and again to travel to Manistique
and do my shopping and engage in my social activities 
It too is on this remarkable Lake Michigan 
 
I read once that Manistique was spelled wrong
when officials were recording documents and
the misspelled word became the official spelling 
I cannot remember how it was intended
to be spelled and perhaps it doesn’t matter
as most don’t know or care 
 
We have many streets there in Manistique and
some are common named streets and some are names
that belong in the tongue twister category: 
Cero, Arbutus, Steuben, Nahma, Boling, schnurer,
Chavala, Poupour, Barque Point, Wawaushnosh,
Chvala, and Catagarus and many more. 
 
They are just names and people get used to them and
can navigate around and find them. 
I think they should be changed,
that is all street names, every few years or so. 
A good mix up would keep people alert, focused and determined. 
 
Streets could be named after people in the community;
people who own shops, teachers, medical people,
paper mill folks or those who have contributed
through the volunteer systems or ministers. 
Don’t you think that would be a good idea? 
 
I don’t mean to be brazen, but wouldn’t
a Stanski Street be nice.  It has a nice ring to it;
kind of a poetic sound, reminding one of
their favorite song bird.  Anyway, whatever
the street names, the town is a lovely place
with plenty of good hearted people and
I am happy to know some of them and be with them.
 
Stanski
May 29, 2020 ^

We were talking,
My son and I as we
climbed and hiked
through the mountains
in Salt Lake City
What is this path call I asked
Davenport Trail he replied
How did it get that name?
There is a long flat rock
where people sit to rest 
It is like a couch so they
called the trail after it
 
Watch for snakes he said
There’s one now but
it was just a little one
They are the worst as
their venom is powerful
It reminds me of that
line drawing I bought in
Santa Fe at a thrift store of
a guy jumping over a snake
You have to be careful
 
Funny how they name streets
Library Street by the Library
Forest Avenue, University Avenue
State Street, Main Street
Washington, Jefferson and Madison
Apple, Walnut, Maple, and Cedar
First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth
There is a reason for all
There is an antidote of
a women in Des Moines,
the capitol of Iowa
who was goosed on Grand,
but thought it was Pleasant
 
Out where I live they are
mostly county roads so
they are all numbered
Not in numerical order either
so you just have to know
They are mostly gravel but
some are paved
Keep watching for snakes, Dad
You have to know that, too       

Stanski  
May 28, 2020 ^
 
 

We have snowshoes
June doesn’t call for them
But then you never know
How far north you might go
 
We try to get closer
Than ever before to
Those that have gone on
To that distant shore
 
How many years older
At least fifty it seems
Back in your childhood
Now you have dreams
 
We could not sense their struggle
Always seemed like a holiday
Abstract existence in warped time
What words, if you could, would you say?
 
We could climb mountains
Or be willing to try
Just to get closer
For one more goodbye
 
Love cannot grasp it
That sense of belonging
No one let go
Yet there’s that longing
 
Magical times in young minds
Who thought it would always go on
Grandpa and grandma forever
But no it ended, they’re gone
 
The laughter and the nonsense
Oh!  To get it back
The power for a miracle
Is something that we lack
 
We wish there was a road there
All we had to do was drive
Start in reverse and travel real fast
To when they were still alive
 
No, the world turns
We’re left with a prayer and a hymn
And the truth is
We have become them
 
Stanski
May 28, 2020 ^

 
What is the date today?
 
      I don’t know
 
Don’t ask me hard questions.
 
Earlier
 
      I didn’t even know what day it was
 
 
 
Still alive
 
      And moving
 
Looking for my schedule
 
      Then I’ll know
 
If I should find it
 
 
 
In the mean time
 
      Did I have lunch?
 
I thought we had eggs
 
      But maybe that was yesterday
I think they were tasty
 
 
 
Stanski
May 27, 2020 ^
 
 

Body of Christ
Often broken:
Corruption
Manipulation
Exploitation
 
Resolutions:
Return to identity
Focus on the poor
Establish again its vocation
 
Failure brings:
Loss of spirit
Jealousy
Power games
Pettiness
 
True vision
Concern
Love
Peace
 
Remembering:
We are parts of the whole
Need for healing
Consideration for all

Stanski
May 26, 2020 ^
 

 
You play the hand
Knowing all about rules
What you will do is
Entirely up to you
 
    Some will say they
    Didn’t get the cards
    Find others who agree
    Sit around on their lards
 
You wake early, eager
To play the game
Get ready for opportunity
To claim your share of fame
 
    Watching the others react
    Can they say, “Imagine that”?
    While they tend to amalgamate
    I become the fat cat
 
Still playing, praying and working
Like wind forming a snowy drift
Remember what my cards were
Thankful for the wonderful gift
 
    The losers begin to wonder
    Is this all there’ll ever be?
    Can we possibly do better?
    They finally begin to see
 
I speak of possibilities
They put away their fear
Finally ready to listen
Success is somewhere near
 
By Steve Haarman
June 19, 2012
 

In 1936 Winston Churchill wrote a warning in an essay:
We must not be led into adopting for ourselves 
the evils of war in time of peace upon any pretext
whatever.  The word' civilization' means not only peace
by the non-regimentation of the people such as is required
in war.  Civilization means that officials and authorities,
whether uniformed or not, whether armed or not, are made to 
realize that they are servants and not masters.

Socialism or overweening State life, whether in peace or war,
is only sharing miseries and not blessings.  Every 
self-respecting citizen in every country must be on
his guard lest the rulers demand of him in time of peace
sacrifices only tolerable in a period of war for
national self-preservation. (End of essay)

Larry P Arnn, President of Hillsdale College continues:
the sacrifices that are demanded of Americans today 
may be necessary, but they must never become customary.  
The purpose of our government is to keep us alive, yes, 
but also to keep us living and working, as is our right.
Going forward, our best leaders will eschew political
gamesmanship and work to control our borders, fix our 
public health agencies, and end our dependence on China 
and other foreign countries for goods that are essential
to our national health and security.  We must prepare 
ourselves to face the next pandemic without surrendering
our way of life. Mr. Arnn's writings are presented by

Stanski 
May 25, 2020^

WHAT I LEARNED
The CDC was created in 1942 as 
the Office of National Defense 
Malaria Control Activities, and 
in 1946 was renamed the 
Communicable Disease Center.  
For many decades it focused 
its full efforts on its 
original mission:  viruses 
and communicable diseases.  
But by the 2000s, the CDC, 
like most executive agencies, 
had become largely independent 
of political control and 
lost its focus.  It had 
widened its work to include 
chronic diseases and addictions, 
nutrition, school health, 
injuries, and – a telltale 
sign of ideological corruption 
and mission creep – racial and 
ethnic approaches to community health.  
It is a logical fact that if you 
favor some people you 
must disfavor others.  

In 2007, the late Senator 
Tom Coburn issued 
a well-documented report 
entitled, “CDC Off Center – 
A review of how an agency 
tasked with fighting and 
preventing disease has 
spent hundreds of millions 
of tax dollars for failed 
prevention efforts, 
international junkets, 
and lavish facilities, 
but cannot demonstrate 
it is controlling disease.  
In the years since, there 
have been reports documenting 
multi-million dollar CDC studies 
on topics like the 
prevention of gun violence, 
how parents should discipline 
children, and chronic health 
conditions among lesbian, gay, 
and bisexual populations.  
In 2017 alone, the CDC spent 
over $1.1 billion on chronic 
disease prevention and 
health promotion, 
$215 million on 
environmental health, 
and $285 million on 
injury prevention – 
all purposes that are 
addressed by other 
federal agencies.  
That money could have 
been used to prepare 
for communicable diseases, 
including replenishment of 
our stockpile of masks 
and ventilators.  
In other words, 
it could have been used 
to do the work the CDC 
was created to do. 

These are words of 
Larry P. Arnn, 
President of Hillsdale College 
presented to you by

Stanski on May 25, 2020 ^

 
Looking through the window
                An overcast day
Your eyes glaze over
                For just a moment
 
The sun peeks through the clouds
                Light filters down
Shadows are erased
                Gloom leaves as your eyes clear
 
A small deer walks by
                With wet shanks
Possibly from the lake
                Where a drink was taken
 
Small birds fly by
                The cardinal lights upon a small tree
Its red matches an apple
                Resting on the ledge of another window
 
Looking out the front door
                I see the propane truck driving out my driveway
I know without looking that
                My vacation fund has just dwindled
 
I sit back down and
                Look out the window
With hope that something is there to see
                That will put me back in my groove
 
 
Stanski
May 25, 2020 ^