Getting involved.

There are so many things going on in this country that I consider wrong.  Majorly wrong.
It is critical to actively oppose this stuff.  I do. I can't, however stay hopped up on righteousness about everything.  It's just too exhausting and in too many cases futile.  So after many hours of thinking I've settled on two:  for my family it is critical to retain the provisions of the Affordable Care Act which offer protection to those who have pre-existing conditions as well as protection against lifetime caps.
IN my immediate family there are 8 out of 15 who would be considered to have a pre-existing medical condition.  IN a few of those cases it very likely would be life-threatening.  So, letters will be written!

The second area where I'm extremely concerned is the environment.

So here's a little story about me.

When I was a child growing up in Independence, MO to see a rabbit was an event to be talked about. I didn't see deer, raccoons, or many squirrels either.  Even birds were limited to robins-I love cardinals don't remember them.  To see a hawk was so rare that it caused a stir in the family and I can remember my father commenting on the fact that there were doves around.  I'd never seen (or heard) those so I really didn't know what he was talking about.  I'd also never seen an eagle, an owl, a falcon, a bear, a wolf (outside the zoo), a coyote and the list goes on.

In 1984 the US hosted the Olympic Summer games in Los Angeles.  The smog was so bad countries discussed not sending athletes just like they did for Bejing and Rio.  While LA still has air quality issues at times it is MUCH better and most of the rest of the country only has really bad smog occasionally.  (Denver's inversions not withstanding.)  For those of us who suffer from Asthma clean air is a big deal.

Back in the days before unleaded gasoline, children suffered from lead poisoning more frequently because of auto exhaust than from lead in paint.  Not happening now because the EPA stepped in and forced the oil producers to change (paint producers too!)

The EPA has stepped in to insist on proper disposal of toxic and radioactive wastes-is it perfect no- but another Love Canal hasn't happened.

Today, the rabbits, deer, raccoons, squirrels are considered nuisances along with beaver (building dams in farm country), and Canadian geese.  Songbirds have made a huge comeback- nearly every year I have to look up some bird I've never seen before!  Swans are in Missouri again.  Hawks are sitting in trees, on telephone poles and fence posts most every mile.  I've had an owl sit outside my window at night and hoot-somewhat sleep inhibiting but still very pleasant.  The falcons are flying in the concrete canyons of the city catching pigeons and raising babies.  Eagles are flying everywhere, including just east of the Country Club Plaza along Brush Creek.  Some of those comebacks are due to the efforts of the Missouri Conservation Department, some to lack of predators, and some due to the fact that humans don't scare them so much.  The bird comebacks though, especially the birds of prey, are due to the Environmental Protection Agency's Ban on DDT.  DDT was used to kill insects and was effective a first but birds eat insects and are eaten by other birds (etc up the food chain) and DDT is stored in fat.  The further up the food chain you went the more concentrated DDT was and in Raptors is caused egg shell to be so thin and brittle that the weight of the mother sitting on the nest caused them to break long before any chick would hatch.  Every time I see an eagle my heart just soars.  Also helping to return numbers of Bears (black and grizzly), Elk, Mountain goats, antelope, big horn sheep, wolves, coyotes and any number of animals I had rarely if ever seen where the protections of the Endangered Species Act.

Perhaps this doesn't mean anything to most folks but I believe with all my heart that life would be much poorer without Bears in the Mountains, Bison on the plains, Swans on the rivers, and the birds of prey in the sky.

The majority party in Congress is trying to end the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species act both.  I will do all that I can to stop them-it many not be much but I will try.
Without both my life would be less interesting (and so would my blog!)  I urge each of you to write, email or text your Senators and Representatives to stop this action.