From Many Lands

I’m downsizing.  I’m getting rid of literally hundreds of books, including one I came across yesterday by Alberta Eiseman entitled “From Many Lands,”  (N.Y.:  Atheneum, 1970).  The book is about immigrants to America. 

There are chapters on the English, Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Italians, Jews, and Asians.

What major groups were left out?

I’ve heard people ask, “Why do we need a special month for black history?’

There you go.  

Maybe we also need another month for Latino history.  And maybe one more for the original inhabitants of this land.

Too dumb to recycle

I live in Towamensing Township in Carbon County in Pennsylvania.  Our township runs a recycling facility where residents are encouraged to bring #1 and #2 plastic, tin and aluminum cans, cardboard, glass bottles, and paper.  These items are supposed to be placed in clearly marked bins.

Our next door neighbor, Lower Towamensing Township, also had a recycling program, but its program was much simpler.  It was called single stream, and the residents were able to put any of the above items into metal bins.  The garbage company would then pick up and sort the items.  

Lower Towamensing residents were not supposed to put in foodstuffs, diapers, and other household trash.  Those items were part of a regular trash pickup.  Unfortunately, Lower Towamensing had to halt its recycling efforts because the dumb asses who live there contaminated the recycling so much that the trash company refused to continue the program.

Today I visited the Towamensing Township recycling facility.  The paper recycling bins contained huge pieces of styrofoam and plastic bags.  The cardboard bin contained chipboard, like cereal boxes.  If it isn’t corrugated, it’s not cardboard.  The bottle bins contained what looked like a huge fish tank with window glass and metal parts along with porcelain from a toilet.  The plastic container bins were contaminated with all kinds of plastic, even though the numbers of the various types are imprinted on each piece.

What’s the problem here?  Is this a deliberate attempt to sabotage the program?  Are our residents that stupid?  They did vote overwhelmingly for Trump, so that is a real possibility.  In any case, they are acting irresponsibly, the program may end, and the garbage bills may have to be raised because of the increase in tipping fees.  

It does get discouraging.

Pipeline protests and police overtime

Seven Pennsylvania Senators, all in the pockets of the gas industry, have introduced SB 754, a bill to force people arrested in pipeline protests to pay for overtime for police or other law enforcement personal.

The main sponsor of the bill, Senator Scott Martin of Lancaster County, has close ties to pipeline lobbyists.  

Last Friday we saw the Mariner East pipeline in Lancaster County and took some pictures of the destruction visited on farmers’ fields.  I hope it was legal to snap photos of fracking gas pipelines, but in the current climate, I’m not so sure.

SB 754 is blatantly unconstitutional (See the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution), but that doesn’t seem to matter these days.

(I want to thank my friend Tom for alerting me to this travesty.)  

Wind River

Law enforcement on Indian reservations is convoluted and often ineffectual.  The film, “Wind River,” a murder mystery/thriller set on a Wyoming Indian reservation, certainly illustrates the legal jurisdictional issues

Tribal police are not allowed to investigate murders on reservations.  That is the responsibility of the FBI.  In this film, an FBI agent, played by Elizabeth Olsen, teams up with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent (Jeremy Renner) to solve the homicide of a young Indian girl.  The film also includes a large cast of Indian actors.

I don’t think I will spoil the movie by telling you that pipeline workers are the bad guys.  The film, incidentally, was financed in part by a number of Indian tribes.  It does have graphic scenes of violence, but it also contains some of the most beautiful landscapes I have every seen in a film.  (It was shot in Summit County, Utah.)  You definitely should see it.

P.S.:  My sister-in-law Jeannine, who lives in Sargent, Texas, and my brother-in-law Mark, who lives in Gregory, Texas, about 15 miles from Rockport, both had to evacuate.  Both are fine, but at this point don’t know how their homes have fared.  Trump is going to Texas on Tuesday, but I don’t think that will make either of them feel better.

Could we please get serious

Yesterday Trump pardoned Sheriff Arpaio, a man who violated court orders and was responsible for deaths of people in his custody.  The permafrost is melting in Alaska.  The Department of the Interior, which in the past has guarded the nation’s parks and monuments, is recommending that Bears Ears and other monuments be reduced.  We are sending more troops to fight an open-ended war in Afghanistan.  Hundreds of white youths marched in Charlottesville chanting anti-Semitic and racist slogans.  A struggle is going on for a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage.  A pipeline company is suing DAPL protestors for millions of dollars.  Campaign contributions are unlimited.  Then there is the Russian connection.

I could fill the page with important issues.  I really could.  And people are agitating to take down some statues of dead people.   That really is not important, and it is playing right into Trump’s hands.  It allows him to talk about history (about which he knows nothing), and heritage (what irony).  To many Americans, however, he makes sense.  

I don’t like Robert E. Lee either.  Nonetheless, he won’t hurt us any more.  He isn’t resting, he’s dead..  That racist sucker died over 100 years ago.  We have so many more important issues to deal with.  Let’s start dealing with them.

Bolsheviks and Trump supporters

During the Stalinist purges of the 1930s, many Bolsheviks who worked with Lenin were tried in show trials in Moscow and sentenced to death.  The lucky ones were sent to Siberia.  These were men (and some women) who had been with the Revolution from the beginning.  Stalin, however, could not abide anyone who might be an independent actor or source of power.  

In spite of this, many Bolsheviks continued to believe in the Revolution.  They still had hope for a glorious Communist utopia, and they simply could not abandon their faith that things would work out.

Many Americans wonder why Trump’s base does not abandon him.  Why don’t they see through his shenanigans?  They are American Bolsheviks.  No matter what he does, they believe he will Make America Great Again.  They maintain a religious faith.  There is nothing he can do that will shake that faith.

It is both scary and pathetic.

Rabbis stand tall

The annual presidential conference call to rabbis in advance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will be a diminished event this year, if it happens at all.  

Four Jewish groups, representing 4000 rabbis, issued the following message:  “We have concluded that President Trump’s statements during and after the tragic events in Charlottesville are so lacking in moral leadership and empathy for the victims of racial and religious hatred that we cannot organize such a call this year.”

Monsanto, evil company

Earlier this month documents released in a lawsuit against Monsanto showed how that company drafted articles for various academics.  Monsanto said that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was safe to use, and Monsanto’s work was published almost word for word in different journals by researchers who had been bought off.

Here is some good news.  Today the Times reported that the European Union was looking at an antitrust action against the proposed merger of Bayer and Monsanto.  The $56 billion dollar deal would create the largest integrated pesticide and seed company in the world.  The U.S. seems to be fine with the merger.

Just as an aside to readers who tell me they get their news from social media, or cable news, or the internet, did any of you see anything about either of these topics?  I didn’t think so.

[Information for this post came from two articles:  “Monsanto’s Research Sway Is Seen in Disclosed Emails,” New York Times (Aug. 2, 2017), p. B5, and “E.U. Trains Antitrust Magnifying Glass On Plans for an Agricultural Behemoth,” New York Times, (Aug. 23, 2017), p. B3.]

"Hue, 1968"

I recently read a 550-page tome entitled Hue, 1968, by Mark Bowden.  The battle for Hue, the third-largest city in Vietnam, took place during the “Tet Offensive.”  North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops managed to capture Hue, and it took weeks of close-in fighting to recapture the city.

This battle came after Gen. Westmoreland, the general in overall charge of the war in Vietnam, reassured the American public and President Johnson that the war was nearly won.  

Interestingly, although Westmoreland said the war was almost over (the famous phrase was “light at the end of the tunnel”), he kept asking for more troops.

The battle for Hue was horrendous.  Both sides committed atrocities.  Both sides suffered huge casualties, although the majority of the people killed were Vietnamese civilians.  

Hue was the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War.  Increasing numbers of Americans, including soldiers, believed that the war could not be won.

Bowden’s book is not an easy read.  You will be introduced to an American (or a Vietnamese), and a few pages later he will be shot through the throat or have the top of his head blown off.

When Trump spoke last night about the need for more troops in Afghanistan for a war that has already gone on for something like 16 years, I thought about Hue.  So much for the promise to end this war.  Do you think adding a few thousand more troops to that bleeding and unhappy country will result in a “victory”?

Dick Gregory, 1932-2017

I voted for Dick Gregory for President in 1968.  Guys like me helped to put Richard Nixon in the White House and prolonged the Vietnam War for years, with thousands more deaths of Americans and Vietnamese.

Let me explain.  I watched the tv coverage of the Democratic Presidential Convention in Chicago in the Summer of ’68.  I saw protestors beaten and gassed, heard that a majority of Americans approved of the beatings and arrests, saw Mayor Daley scream “You fucking kike” at Sen. Abraham Ribicoff when he criticized the Chicago police, saw Hubert Humphrey unable to articulate an alternate policy on Vietnam until about three weeks before the election, and then only in a very tepid speech.  Humphrey simply was not enough of a leftist for me.

I let my anger get in the way of my good sense.  I voted my feelings rather than my rational thought.  Dick Gregory was running as a Peace and Freedom Party candidate.  In Pennsylvania he was not on the ballot, but you could write him in.  I did, and thus joined a group of impractical and downright stupid people whose votes were instrumental in Nixon’s victory.

"Detroit"

I’m one of those people who complain that Hollywood doesn’t make enough serious movies.  There are way too many gross-out films like “Hangover 8,” and way too many comic book films like “Spiderman 7.” 

I must confess to a certain amount of hypocrisy.  I read the reviews about “Detroit.”  I knew it was a serious film about a major event in U.S. history.  Good cast, amazingly good director, who happened to be a woman.  And it was playing at our local theater.

Nonetheless, I didn’t go to see it.  I couldn’t bear to watch the execution of three black guys in the Algiers Motel.  I know it happened.  John Hersey wrote a book about it.  I just couldn’t bear to watch it.

Neither, it turns out, could most movie goers.  “Detroit” has been a major disaster at the box office.  At this point it may not even make a profit.

I bought three tickets to the film because I think it is important that Hollywood make serious films about serious issues.  I just don’t want to see them.

To compound my hypocrisy, I did see the latest Spiderman film.

The open carry tradition

There isn’t one.  We have had demonstrations all through American history.  It has been a tradition to have people shouting at each other, competing with picket signs, bullhorns, even occasionally and unfortunately fistfights.  

What we didn’t have is opposing sides openly carrying weaponry, especially not semi-automatics.  Even if those weapons are not fired, they will be used to intimidate, as they were in Charlottesville.  

It is time state legislators come to their senses.  One of these days we are going to see a massacre at what should have been a peaceful assembly to air grievances.  Wait for it.

The benevolent leader

In 1960 Yale Professor Fred Greenstein published an account of research he had conducted on hundreds of New Haven school children.  He discovered that children were taught to respect authority figures, especially the President.  He learned that very young children often confused the President with God.

As children grew older, they realized that the President was definitely not God, but they still held residual feeling that the President was more than a mere mortal.  This carried over into adulthood; when Kennedy was assassinated, many people suffered from insomnia, depression, and a general feeling of unease.

Most parents, even those who didn’t like the current President, taught their kids to respect him.  I remember how shocked I was when our daughter, then about five, came home from kindergarten talking about “Pig Nixon.”  I loathed Nixon, wrote letters to him urging him to resign, and went to anti-Nixon demonstrations, but nonetheless told Rachael, “You don’t call the President a pig.  He is the President of the United States.”

Greenstein’s work was criticized.  Another researcher studied minority kids and found that many of them were afraid of authority figures.  Critics said that New Haven school children were not representative of many American kids in Appalachia or inner cities.  Besides, Greenstein did his study during the Eisenhower administration, and it was not a total stretch to confuse the fatherly Eisenhower with Jehovah himself.

I wonder what kids now think of our Nazi-friendly, woman bashing, immigrant-hating Trump.  If I had a kid coming home from kindergarten today talking about “Pig Trump,” would I be shocked?  Does any kid, even a three-year-old, confuse this President with God?

General Washington and General Lee

Trump’s lawyer, John Dowd, forwarded an email that said of General Washington and General Lee, “...there literally is no difference between the two men.”

Let’s see....  

One was the father of his country; one tried to dismember that country.

One made provisions to free his slaves with pensions upon his death; the other fought to preserve slavery.

One was an amazing general who pulled off such victories as the Trenton Christmas battle; the other sent his troops across an open field against a dug-in position to be slaughtered.

One was the first President, the other was a traitor.  

Yeah, about the same.

Principled resignation

Some countries have a tradition of principled resignation by government officials who can’t stomach their government’s policies.  The U.S., evidently, is not one of them.

On stage with Trump at his “infrastructure press conference” were, if I am not mistaken, two Jews, an Asian-American woman, and a general.  When the President started his defense of anti-Semitic neo-nazis, you don’t stand there with your head down.  You turn around, stomp off the stage, and go back to your office to write up your resignation.  

We’re not talking about a Wal-Mart shelf stocker who absolutely needs the job.  We’re looking at people who can mutter “I’m not listening to any more of this crap” and walk away.  What happened to honor?  To integrity?  To courage?

Trump's News Conference

I really didn’t want to write about this.  I actually wanted to post something about how I disagreed with the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue.  

The Trump statement today was so bad that I have to comment.  I saw those people chanting about Jews and blacks, saw David Duke, saw the torches so reminiscent of the Nuremberg rallies in the 30s, that I had to say something about Trump’s statement.  

And here is my take on it.  

I’m not surprised.

How to counter a white supremacist rally

First, you need to realize that those guys like to wear uniforms.  White shirts, helmets, various insignias, confederate flags, sheets with hoods. 

It’s like Halloween.  Take advantage of that.  Have your counter demonstrators get zombie masks, werewolf costumes, vampire teeth, Disney characters, people with Trump masks.  Get bags that say “Trick or Treat.”

When the racist rally starts, infiltrate your people with costumes.  Yell out “Trick or Treat.”  You will have converted the rally into a Halloween parade.  You will have done more than oppose the racists, you will have made them look ridiculous.  Nobody likes to look ridiculous.  

When you fight them, you give them credence.  What you want to do is make them look silly.  You want people to laugh at them.

P.S.:  I always feel like I need to apologize when I don’t post.  Last night I picked up Linda at the Philadelphia airport at 1:20 a.m.; we got home at 3:10.  I was just too tired.  It won’t happen again.  

Is being a Christian important to being an American?

The Democracy Fund, a bipartisan foundation that funds political research, polled 8000 people who voted in the 2012 presidential election.  The survey was done in November 2016.

The survey was about what it means to be an American.  Trump voters really are different.

For example, is it important to have European ancestry?  16% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans thought this was important.  30% of Trump supporters thought so.

What about being a Christian?  About 1/3 of Democrats and 46% of Republicans thought that was important.  For Trump voters, 63%.

The Democracy Fund did similar studies in 1996, 2004, and 2014.  The data show that the nation as a whole is moving away from exclusionary conceptions of American identity.  (Except for Trump voters.)

Crazy man?

Today I was talking to a friend about North Korea and I said, “This guy is nuts.”

My friend said, “Do you mean Kim Jong-un or Trump?”

Think about that.

Gerrymandering petition at the Carbon County Fair

I thought we had a winner this year at the Democratic Party booth at the Carbon County Fair.  Voters say they want the two parties to work together.  Polls show that gerrymandering is looked upon with disfavor.  

I had a map enlarged of the worst gerrymandered district in the state, I had a poster made that said both Republicans and Democrats did it, but all of us could stop it, and I had petitions run off for people to sign.  

It didn’t work.  Thousands of people walked by our booth, but so far we collected only about 30 signatures.  It turns out that people don’t know what “gerrymandering” involves, and they aren’t interested in learning.  It is something political, and they want no part of whatever it is we are doing.  

They do stop in at the Republican booth across the way for peanuts.  I thought the Republicans would hide their Trump signs, but no, they have them out front, and the passers-by seem pleased with that.  

I guess I am one of those East Coast elitists you hear so much about, but I got to say that I no longer understand my fellow citizens or their political beliefs.  It is discouraging.  I see U.S. democracy in decline, and my fellow citizens are oblivious.

Fire and Fury

When I heard Trump’s bluster on North Korea about “fire and fury,” the first thought that popped into my mind was Macbeth’s speech on life.  

Life, according to Macbeth, “...is a tale 

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

That describes almost all of Trump’s tweets perfectly.

Bias against atheists

As an atheist, I already knew many people don’t like us, but I didn’t know just how bad it was.  A report appearing in the journal “Nature Human Behaviour,” polled more that 3000 people in 13 countries.  These countries included somewhat secular states, like the Netherlands and Finland, and deeply religious countries, like India and the United Arab Emirates.  

I’m not going to list the actual questions (you can read them in Benedict Carey, “Research Points to Bias Against Atheists, Including in Mainly Secular Societies,” New York Times, Aug. 8, 2017, p. A8)) but respondents were given a scenario that involved a person who tortured animals and later killed five homeless people and buried them in the basement.  

The respondents in all countries thought the serial killer was more likely to be an atheist than someone who was a “believer.”

It seems to me that most of the mass killings by various terrorists are motivated by religion.  I can’t recall any mass murderer who says, “I’m doing this in the name of atheism”  In spite of that, many people still think of atheists as morally inferior.  

Democratic Party Slogan

A few days ago Sen. Chuck Schumer offered as a new slogan for the Democratic Party.  His slogan, “A Better Deal,” fell flat.  Not inspiring.  Blasé.  Meaningless.  

The New York Times asked its readers to submit something better, and on Sunday, it published some of the suggestions.  Here are just a few:

“The Real Deal.”  The author who suggested this noted that Democrats know how to deliver on health care, job growth, banking protections, and equality under the law.

“For the People.”  The author of this one compared this to the “Square Deal” of Teddy Roosevelt, the “New Deal” of FDR, and the “Fair Deal” of Truman.

“Make America Great Again.”  The letter writer noted this would get free media exposure, point out Trump’s failures, and make Trump supporter’s heads explode.

“BetterTogether.”  Notice no space.  Very trendy.  The writer noted that this addresses the deep divisions that have inhibited our ability to govern.  

“For the Many, Not the Few.”  I think that one is too long.

“Draw the Circle Wide.”  The author of this one says it is from an old hymn:  “Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.  No one stands alone, we’ll stand side by side.”  I kind of like that.

“It’s My Party, and I’ll Cry if I Want To.”  Leslie Gore did it first, but this author said it expressed her general frustration with the Democratic Party.

“Let’s kick Trump’s ass.”  That’s mine.

FERC gets a quorum

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an agency that approves pipelines, now has two new members, enough to establish a quorum so it can start approving pipelines again.  Notice I keep using the word “approve.”  

The agency is supposed to review pipeline applications, but in its entire history it has never turned one down.  The two new Trump appointees include the former energy advisor to Mitch McConnell and a former member of the Pennsylvania PUC who once compared pipeline opponents to jihadists.  

I’m going way out on a limb here, but I have a feeling the PennEast/UGI 36” fracking gas pipeline, the one that will go through Hickory Run State Park, Beltzville State Park, the Wild Creek Watershed, and, incidentally, our farm, will be approved.

Frank Ocean's T-Shirt

Frank Ocean a year ago released a pair of albums entitled “Endless” and “Blonde.”  I am so out of it that I have never heard Mr. Ocean, but I learned he wore a great T-shirt at his recent concert on Randalls Island.  

It said, “Why be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic when you could just be quiet?”  I have to get me one of those.

Drain the lake

Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County, Pennsylvania, was once home to Duke Lake.  Then along came Bailey Mine, an underground longwall mine owned by Consol.  The mine was too close to the lake, and the lake drained away.  

Consol also planed to mine beneath Kent Run and Polen Run, two streams in the Park.  After a three day hearing, a Judge, in response to a Sierra Club action, imposed restrictions on Consol to protect the creeks.

The Pennsylvania legislature responded with SB 624, a bill that would exempt underground longwall mining operations from the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Act. 

This bill became law on July 22.  

Life Sentence for a DUI

Suppose you were 23-years-old, you were attending the University of Washington, you went to a party, you did something stupid, and you were arrested for a DUI?  Although you are undocumented, you had assurance under a previous federal program that you would not be deported.  

However, if you plead guilty, under the current policy, you will be deported.  You can’t speak Spanish, have no relatives in Mexico, but you will receive a life sentence of deportation.

There are a couple ways to look at this.

“Strict Father interpretation”:  Hey, she was here illegally.  What part of illegal don’t you understand?  She should be deported even if she didn’t have a DUI.

“Strict Father interpretation #2”:  Besides she should have known not to drink and drive.  She could have killed somebody.  DUI deserves a life sentence.

“Nurturing Parent interpretation”  Every 20-something does stupid things.  Depend on it.  A life sentence for a DUI is way too harsh.  Have some empathy.

In case you are wondering what the prosecutors in Seattle are doing, they are adopting the nurturing parent approach.  They are finding ways to lessen the charges in cases like this.  Most prosecutors feel everyone should be treated the same, but when some people are give a community service sentence while others are subject to a lifetime punishment, the law is not treating everyone the same.  It needs to be adjusted with some prosecutorial discretion.

Once again I am indebted to the Times, “Deal with Prosecutor to Avoid a ‘Life Sentence of Deportation’ ” by Vivian Yee (Aug. 1, 2017), pp. A1, A15.

Monsanto: Evil Company

I know that in a capitalist system, corporations have no morality.  They are incorporated so that no individual can be held liable for the actions of the corporation.  Britain is more honest about it, where instead for incorporated, the word is limited.  What is limited is liability.

Nonetheless, in the U.S., certain corporations have a culture that stands out for bad behavior.  Phillip Morris, Wells Fargo, Uber, Fox News, and Dow Chemical spring to mind.  

Then there is Monsanto.  An article in today’s Times details how Monsanto drafted articles purported to be “scientific research” backing the use of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup.  

I do not buy Roundup, even though I have lots of poison ivy that needs killing.  I would rather let the poison ivy grow than support that company.  Unfortunately, like so many things I do, my boycott is rather ineffectual when measured against Monsanto’s clout.

[If you want to read the article describing Monsanto’s influence, it is by Danny Hakim, “Monsanto’s Research Sway Is Seen in Disclosed Emails,”  New York Times, (Aug. 2, 2017), p. B-5.]

Late Summer Symphony

I just came in from the front porch.  The late summer symphony is in full swing.  Katydids, cicadas, and frogs are in full voice.

I don’t know how much longer we will hear this symphony.  Global warming, loss of habitat, and environmental degradation are all taking their toll.  Our idiot-in-chief, sitting in his air-conditioned room in Mar al Lago, has probably never heard it.  He wouldn’t miss it.  I will.