Coming Through the Weekend

 As I am writing this, it is in the low teens tempwise outside, and the windchill factor makes the actual temps below zero.  We are in the thick of what is turning into an active winter, with already about a foot of snow on the ground from last week.  Contrary to some popular perceptions, there will be no snow in these temperatures because it has to be in the mid-30s before a substantial snow can fall.  We could have flurries if it clouds over, but nothing significant enough to accumulate.   While I love snow days in much the same way when I was in school (a secret for the school kids out there - we teachers love snow days as much as you do!) I am also I believe ready for a warm-up.  By the time mid-February arrives in this part of the country, everyone is ready for Spring sunshine.  But, the positive is that it is mid-February, and March will be here soon enough.  For people in the other parts of the country who may not have experienced deep snow, let me share a few things about it.

Winter's arrival for many of us is like seeing an annoying but loveable cousin - you have some fun when they first arrive, but you are ecstatic to see them leave too.  The first snow in any winter is a treat for most of us - we love it, and with modern technology we take pictures and oooh and ahhh over how pretty it is.  That is, until a month later when 12 inches dumps on you and you have to shovel out your car just to get to work  - then it is not so fun anymore.  That cycle is repeated every year, and by now, it is, to sound cliche from The Lion King, the "circle of life."  Having a stoic, nuanced approach to snow every year is normal and healthy - we can't control the weather and it is going to happen whether we want it to or not, and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about that.  God created the weather, ultimately controls it, and we adapt to the change of seasons.  Now, that leads me to this business of "climate change."

When you hear a jackass like Greta Thunberg out there screaming "how dare you" about climate change and then getting her sorry butt arrested because she is an overt antisemite, it is a reminder that we live in a world where some of the biggest hoaxes are also money-making enterprises.  You hear a lot about "global warming," and how we must "go green" to shrink an enigmatic myth called a "carbon footprint," but then a few months later you are buried in twelve inches of frozen water vaper that shines blinding white in the winter sun.  If the globe was truly warming, why these big snow dumps on the cities like Baltimore.  I mean, to hear the weirdos who push that "global warming" crap talk, technically Baltimore should look like either Saudi Arabia right now or at best like Acapulco.  However, as I look out the window at the white landscape that buries my back yard, I am not thinking about Martin Denny's Quiet Village playing in the background while parrots squawk and the neighbors have coconuts dropping on their heads.  Sipping a mai-tai by a pristine lagoon is probably the last thing one thinks of when trying to walk on frozen water glazing the sidewalk just outside the front door in a careful fashion so that one doesn't fall on what a student of mine calls a "miningus" (I think the kid inadvertently came up with a new piece of human anatomy).  I say all of that to make this point - climate change is as old as the earth itself, and we go through it four times a year - Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  It is not something catastrophic brought on by the flatulence of bovines, as the esteemed Congresswoman (and I use that charitably with her) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was crying about several years back.  It is simply caused by the natural rotation of the earth around the sun.  The sooner people understand basic astronomy, the sooner the mystery will be solved for them. 

In all honesty though, the weather does need to change soon. I have been out of church now almost a month, and want to attend Mass again soon - even the liberal Jesuits who run the school I work at would be welcome at this point as they can celebrate a valid Mass.  Barbara (my ex-spouse who is now my best friend and current roommate) has been sick for almost 3 weeks, and combined with the weather we have missed a lot of Mass recently.  And I could use Mass, the Sacraments, and just a spiritual boost in all honesty.  Barbara too is sick of being sick - she has been suffering not only from a bout of flu but also that complicated her already existing condition, that being diabetes and an alarming situation with her kidneys having an issue due to a drug the doctor gave her called Ozempic (run the other way if a doctor tries to push that on you!).  Fortunately, she can work from home, but it has been a rough few weeks for her in all honesty.  Fortunately (and a virtual knock on wood!) I didn't catch any virus this year - that flu I contracted last year though was perhaps the worst illness I have had in ages, even worse from when I had COVID a couple of years back.  I was out of commission for over a week with that flu last January, and am praying to never have to experience that again.  And, that leads me to a rant about the medical industry.

In recent years, I have taken an interest in taking supplements as well as researching alternative medicine, and I discovered something.  Many of these natural remedies, when they are marketed, make a claim that the modern medical profession profits off of keeping people sick.  While that could easily be dismissed as a conspiracy theory, I am starting to think that there may be something to it.  Remember that quack Fauci, and the millions he profited from draconian COVID restrictions?  COVID opened many people's eyes to the reality of the fact that the medical profession has become corporatized, and you also see it when they get Federal funds.  A simple medical treatment for something, such as a drug like Ozempic, sells for a whopping $5000 per unit, and then it makes the person who it is prescribed to worse.  You start out with a mild glucose spike, and then the "cure" destroys vital organs - it is becoming apparent that this is not accidental.  Doctors, hospital firms, and other medical establishments get kickbacks based on the amount of something prescribed, which also explains why they were pushing birth control pills on women 20 years ago as a treatment for migraines and dietary issues.  A doctor I had in Florida - and I will name him, Jaggers Keene - pushed birth control pills and power-walking as his cure-all for everything, and I thought then it was a bit ridiculous.  I have nothing against a little exercise, but you don't have to look like a hipster Karen doing it.  Also, notice how they have changed nutritional information?  When I was a kid for instance, you were told you had to have certain fruits and vegetables to keep you healthy - broccoli was one of them.  Now, broccoli is an enemy because it causes people to fart more - this ties the medical quacks to the "climate change" hacks - and all of a sudden it causes cancer.  Of course, a doctor will tell you that everything causes cancer because they want to diagnose you with something to increase their stock in Bill Gates' Microsoft holdings.  I know I am starting to sound like Alex Jones now, but maybe there is something to the suspicion, and maybe it should be looked into more.  I also remember a New York mayor wanted to ban sodas - he was trying to arrest people for buying a 7-11 Big Gulp - but that same mayor is now telling people to drink sodas as a political statement because RFK Jr. rightly decided that they should not be purchased with SNAP benefits.  This is why the "experts" are so full of themselves that if they farted they would deflate, and I don't listen to any self-described "experts" about anything anymore.  Like comedian Mark Lowry said in one of his concerts years back, God created cholesterol too, so if you are going to die one day anyway, you might as well die happy eating what you love.  Maybe a little common sense will eventually prevail over the frantic ramblings of "experts" who stand to lose millions if people started to think for themselves instead of listening to them.  

I think I have pontificated enough for today, as this was more of a fun post with serious undertones, so I will see you again soon.