Pronouns

I’ve been a member of the American Civil Liberties Union since I was an undergraduate at Ursinus College in the early Sixties, although I did quit for a time after the Santa Clara County Chapter defended the right of prostitutes to work in our neighborhood near San Jose State.  Would-be customers would cruise the streets and proposition female students.  Eventually I did rejoin ACLU, and I’ve been a member for decades.

The latest newsletter just arrived, and it has pictures and descriptions of some of the volunteers along with their desired pronouns.  Since there is little reason to ever contact these people personally, and since no one will remember their names anyway, what is the reason for listing their desired pronouns?  It is to show how “with it,” how sensitive, how caring ACLU is.

When I am introduced to someone, I sometimes have trouble remembering his or her name five minutes later.  Now you want me to remember pronouns as well.  This is why people make fun of “progressives.” 

Union busting in the South

Workers in the Mercedes-Benz plant outside of Tuscaloosa are voting on whether to join the U.A.W.  Southern politicians, depending on low-wage workers to fill their factory jobs, are in an uproar.  Republican governors of six states (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee) issued a statement in April criticizing unions as “special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by.”  

The values they live by evidently include keeping workers at the mercy of large corporations and forbidding them to bargain as a group.  Alabama’s Speaker of the state’s House of Representatives called the U.A.W. “leeches” and pushed through a law that denies funding to any company that voluntary recognizes a union.  

Mercedes has already fired workers who supported the union.  

Information for this article was taken in part from Jack Ewing, “Turning Point As Auto Union Eyes Alabama, New York Times, (May 17, 2024), pp. A1, A20.  Anger and disgust with the South are my own personal views 

Whippoorwills

Earlier this evening I heard a whippoorwill call.  It is the first time in many years.  In the Fifties I would hear them every night; a wonderful sound and one of the few birds I could imitate fairly well.  

According to the Cornell Ornithology Lab, whippoorwills are in steep decline, dropping 69% between 1966 and 2010.  Scientists don’t know why.  You can hear their sound on YouTube.  In a few years that may be the only place you can hear them.

Was That So Hard?

I support the Israeli people.

Netanyahu is a terrorist.

I support the Palestinians.

Hamas is a terrorist organization.

See how easy that was.

My friend Bill sent me that meme a few days ago.  I think it sums up exactly how I feel.  Hamas is a terrible organization.  It has never cared for the Palestinian people, nor has it done anything to better their lives.  Netanyahu is currently under criticism from his own military for having no idea what to do with Gaza once Hamas is defeated.  He is only interested in maintaining power.

You can support the right of the Palestinians to have their own state without calling for the end of Israel.  You can see Hamas for what it is without supporting the attack on Rafah.  You can be an adult.

Pete McCloskey, 1927-2024

 Soon after I moved to California, I drove to the town of Walnut Creek to see this bank festooned with a huge peace sign.  The bank was under the direction of Pete McCloskey.  McCloskey, a Congressman, had earlier beaten Shirley Temple Black in a race for Congress, a campaign detailed in the book The Sinking of the Lollipop.   In 1971 he launched a campaign against Richard Nixon.  McCloskey, a Marine who won the Navy Cross, two Purple Hearts, and a Silver Star in the Korean War, had visited Vietnam three times and was horrified by the napalm attacks and the use of cluster bombs.

Of course he lost to Nixon, but he kept fighting for good causes.  One of his bills was the Endangered Species Act of 1973.  

In 1987 he was sued for libel for $35 million by Pat Robertson, the “Christian” evangelical who was then running for President.  Robertson claimed he was a combat Marine in the Korean War; McCloskey said it was a lie.  When many other Marine officers said they were willing to testify that Robertson had avoided combat, Robertson then said he didn’t have time to both sue and run for President.  He dropped the suit and paid the court costs.  

In 2006 McCloskey said that the Republican Party was hostile to progressive causes, and he became a registered Democrat.  He died a few days ago at age 96.  He was a true patriot.

Some of the information for this post was taken from McCloskey’s obituary written by Robert D. McFadden in the New York Times, (May 10, 2024), p. A 21.

Lansford refuses cash

Sometimes people will say to me “I’ll text you.”  Then I explain that I don’t have a smart phone, and they find this hard to comprehend.  Doesn’t everybody have one?

When Katrina hit New Orleans the evacuation order detailed the routes for cars to leave the city.  What the authorities didn’t realize was that thousands of residents of New Orleans did not own cars.  

Lansford Borough Council has decided that the Borough will not accept cash for payments for sewage transmission fees and other charges.  You can pay be credit cards or by check.  Unfortunately, many residents of Lansford have neither bank accounts nor credit cards.  Believe me, they don’t.

When asked how they could pay, a Councilwoman said, “They can get a money order.”  Really?  Then they have to go the the Post Office.  And money orders also have a fee.  This is typical of authorities who can’t imagine how some people live.  They assume that since they have a checking account or a credit card, doesn’t everyone?  No, some of us don’t.  This discriminatory rule should be rescinded.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

My review:  Caesar, the one-time Ape leader, preached “ape not kill ape,” and believed that apes and humans could live in harmony.  But that was a long time ago, and Caesar’s teaching have been perverted by Proximus Caesar, who uses force to remain in power and greets his subjects in a ranting daily speech that opens by claiming that it is a wonderful day. 

His followers hang on every word, saluting him and cheering him on, hoping to Make Apes Great Again, although they don’t wear the hats.  In the end some human/ape cooperation manages to overthrow Proximus, although the relationship between the peaceful apes and the human (who has a pistol and knows how to use it) is left ambiguous, no doubt a setup for the sequel.