I had a half dozen things to talk about tonight, but I'm not sure which direction I want to go in. I know I want to talk about one thing, and that is the choices that the current administration in the White House are making. I know that I said I would try my very best to keep politics off of this blog, but sometimes you have to speak up. I know that a tweet isn't policy, and that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have come out and said that they will not change any policy until they are formally notified of a policy change, but the idea that someone who used bone spurs as a reason to get out of serving in the armed forces would tell someone else that they aren't worthy to serve is ridiculous. The reasons he gave for why he was going to ban transgendered people are the same reasons, that were argued for why; blacks couldn't be in the military, women couldn't be in the military, gays couldn't be in the military. Do you see where I'm going with this?
The other reason was of course money. According to the DoD the reported cost of trans healthcare adds up to $8.4 million dollars annually. Don't get me wrong, that is a lot of money, but you need to look at the whole picture, for example, the DoD spent $84.24 million on erectile dysfunction prescriptions. That is an even bigger number right? Now an even larger one, and this will give it all a little more perspective. The DoD healthcare budget is around $50 billion dollars. Make sure you read that number right, that is billion with a "B". When you look at the big picture, both of those numbers are slight percentages in the grand scheme of things. That brings me to the final point on this matter, this is simply a blatant attempt to discriminate against a very small number of individuals.
Don't worry, the boring preachy part isn't quite over yet. I have one more thing to talk about. Earlier this week Orange 45 gave a speech in front of a Boy Scout jamboree. It has been done by many Presidents before and will surely be done by many after. Here is a little history lesson for you that you may not know. When he regaled the story of William Levitt, a real estate tycoon, he left out some interesting facts about him. What he mentioned was how Levitt became very wealthy form his developments of the suburban neighborhoods and sold his company, buying a yacht and then implied that he had yacht sex all over the seven seas. William Levitt did all of that, but the one thing you didn't hear, was how despicable a person he was. He created a suburban neighborhood called Levittown. This neighborhood was for whites only. He had clauses put in the purchase contracts that an owner couldn't even sell their house to non-whites. He wouldn't even sell to jewish people, and he was jewish himself. He tried building other neighborhoods like Levittown, but was pushed back through legal challenges. He fought all the way to the Supreme Court, where the high court refused to even listen to his case. That is when he sold his business. It was going to go under if he didn't. It's said that you can be judged by the company you keep. In this case it's the company you idolize.
I need to change the mood a bit, so I'm going to leave you with a song tonight. I had an urge to listen to some disco today, and that meant non other than Donna Summer. When I was a kid, I was in love with Donna Summer. She was beautiful with the voice of a goddess, and she had soul. This isn't my favorite song, but it's a good one. In fact, my ukulele teacher asked if I wanted to learn anything in particular tonight on the guitar, and I happened to mention this song. Get this, he actually recorded with Donna Summer way back in the day. I was floored. Anyway, I chose this song, because it has the quintessential disco guitar sound. I want to learn how to get that sound. I plan on making that sound part of a song that I will eventually use on the YouTube channel. That means I got to learn something very new to me today. It is the art of dampening the strings between strums. It's going to take some work, but I have the idea down. Enough of this, let's just get to the song. Here is Donna Summer with "Bad Girls".
My favorite part of this song is the whistle blowing and the background singers line of "toot toot, yeah, beep beep". That is just fantastic. I'll try not to make the next post boring and preachy like tonight. I should be telling you all about the kayaking adventure. I say "should" because the plans are being altered as I type this, and I have no idea of the final plan yet. Either way, I do expect to make a video this weekend. it will either be that or it will be a motovlog. I'll let you know on Sunday night. Don't forget, it will be live by 7 PM New York time. Peace in and goodnight.
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