Blinded by the Light

We just returned from “Blinded by the Light,” a new release featuring a Pakistani family in Britain.  The father is traditional, but the son wants to be a writer.  Conflict ensues.  The movie is set in the 1980s, and the son gets much of his inspiration from Bruce Springsteen songs.

This was a period in Britain of “Paki-bashing” and marches by white supremacists.  At one point the son tells his father that in America they don’t care where you are from.

It is an excellent movie, even if it got a few things wrong.

Joe Walsh

Tea Party hack and right-wing radio host Joe Walsh has announced he will run against Donald Trump in the Republican primaries.  Walsh is an ass who often made racist comments.  He even mocked the Sandy Hook parents.  When in Congress he was one of its nastiest members.  He is a major contributor to the lack of civility in our political life.

Nonetheless, there are some differences between him and Trump.  First of all, like some other Tea Party types, he is concerned about the deficit.  Secondly, he apologizes.  He told an MSNBC commentator that during his broadcasts he said things about his opponents that were “horrible” and he was sorry for that.

Finally, he is not a complete idiot.  

P.S.:  I don’t understand why we just don’t nuke Hurricane Dorian and put an end to it.  I thought Trump said that would work.

When Everything Changed

When I graduated from Palmerton High School in 1960, the girls in our class had very few options.  They could become nurses, teachers, secretaries, or housewives.  Many of them went to college, but they did not go to law school or medical school.  That was what boys did.

Gays and lesbians had to hide their sexual preferences.  Stewardesses were fired if they were married.  One airline ran an Executive Special in which only men were allowed to fly, although their cigars were lit and their drinks were served by slim “stews.”

It was possible for women to be doctors and lawyers, of course, but the schools had quotas for women.  The firm that hired Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, assumed she was applying for a secretarial position.  There were no female governors.  Female senators or representatives were anomalies.  

The Civil Rights movement was dominated by men.  The space program was dominated by men.  Sports was dominated by men.

Somehow in the space of about 25 years a great deal changed.  We can measure progress in two ways.  We can look back and compare today to back then.  Or we can look at were we are now and see the disparities that still exist.  I am fully aware of many of those disparities.  However, sometimes it is inspiring to look at battles won.  

I just finished When Everything Changed, a book by New York Times columnist Gail Collins.  She writes about women who battled on college campuses, in boardrooms, in the military, in sports, in government agencies, and in daily life to improve the lot of women.  The stories are inspiring and often anger inducing.  If you have a teenager, boy or girl, it would be a good thing if they read the book.

I should warn you that it was written in 2010, so there is nothing about the Clinton-Trump race or the “me too” movement.  We are not done with this.

Vote no on "Marsy's Law"

Doyle Heffley’s latest newsletter mentions that he is working to eliminate property taxes.  Just like in previous years.  The man is truly relentless.

He also writes about “Marcy’s law,” a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution concerning victims’ rights.  It would let victims know about proceedings in courts and allow them to be heard in pleas and sentencing procedures.  It passed with no dissenting votes in the legislature.

We now get to vote on whether we want it in the Constitution.  While I have no objection to the law, it does not belong in the Constitution.  This is not a constitutional issue.  It is a matter for legislation.  If the bill contains something we would like to fix down the road, a simple legislative act won’t be enough.  We would again need to amend the Constitution.  Did you ever read the Pennsylvania Constitution?  Neither did I.  It’s a chock full of stuff like this.

The Constitution should be reserved for the institutional rules of government.  It is not for simple bills.  Legislators know that.  So why was it passed unanimously?  Because no one wants to appear to be against victims’ rights.  An opponent might use that no vote in the next campaign. 

Do the right thing.  Vote no in November.

Our interconnected world

If you don’t think so, wait until the Amazon jungle is completely burned.

Collecting signatures in Nesquehoning

On Saturday afternoon I sat at a table with Denise from the organization Fair Districts to gather support for an independent citizens’ commission to draw the legislative districts in Pennsylvania.  Two bills, both with Republican and Democratic co-sponsors, are before the Pennsylvania legislature, but we still don’t have a majority of legislators in favor.

Fair Districts is trying to educate citizens about the bad results of gerrymandering and gain support for the bills.

I was pleased that most people had heard of or knew about gerrymandering.  We collected a large number of signatures in support of the bills.  There were the usual “I don’t want anything to do with politics” people, but there were also people who pulled out their wallets or opened their purses to give us money.  (We were not taking any money.)

The store that permitted us to do this was Redners.  If you live in that area, please shop there.  So many stores, especially the large chains, will not let you get anywhere near with a tabling effort, even if it is non-partisan.

A bilingual story

A Pennsylvania Dutch farmer is walking through his field when he sees a guy drinking from his pond, scooping up water with his hand.  The farmer says, “Trinken sie nicht das wasser, die kuhe und die schweinie haben in ihr geschissen.”

The guy shouts back, “I’m a Trump supporter and this is America.  I don’t understand your gibberish.  Speak English, you moron."

The farmer says, “Use two hands; you’ll get more."

Thanks to my friend Bill for this one.  I don’t speak Penna. Dutch very well; I hope I spelled it right.

David Koch dies

I was thinking up all sorts of clever and mean things to say.  The Koch Brothers have done more to undermine American democracy and American values than anyone other than Trump.  

I decided not to do that.  We have so much nastiness and viciousness on the internet; why should I add to that?  So, I’ll just say that one of the Koch Brothers died yesterday.  

But you wouldn't believe just how hard it is to be taking the high road.  It is really really hard.

Bangladesh as role model

The world’s largest refugee encampment, over 500,000 people, is located in one of the poorest countries in the world, Bangladesh.  The refugees are the Rohingya, fleeing from “ethnic cleansing” in Myanmar.

Last year, in 2018, the U.S. accepted a total of 21,000 refugees.  That is the total from all areas.  I don’t have the total figures for Rohingya refugees, but it is less than 1% of what Bangladesh has accepted.

Rohingya refugees are Muslims.

Roundup

The EPA will not approve warning labels for the weed killer Roundup, which contains glyphosate,  The International Agency for Research on Cancer has said that Roundup is ”probably carcinogenic.”

California tired to put warning labels on Roundup, but that is now tied up in the courts.  The EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said, “We will not allow California’s flawed program to dictate federal policy.”

A number of successful cases have been brought by cancer patients against Roundup.  There are an estimated 13,000 plaintiffs who have pending lawsuits against the weed killer.

Remember, you don’t have to use Roundup.  You really don’t.

Info for this post is from Adam Beam, “EPA Won’t Approve Warning Labels for Roundup Chemical,”  Lancaster Farming, (Aug. 17, 2019), p. A10.

The Mideast Peace Process

Today in a column on the Times OpEd page Thomas Friedman explained the Mideast peace process.  His conclusion is that there is no peace process.  

Israel is full of religious fanatics and politicians not above using fear to win elections.  The Palestinians are divided into two factions; both incapable of recognizing that Israel is here to stay.  The Americans are, as everyone knows, led by an Administration of cynical clowns using the conflict to get votes.

And so the mess continues.  More settlements, more shootings, boycotts, walls, checkpoints, no understanding, no chance for a lasting peace.  

I am so tired of religious people, be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, or Hindus.  Do you know who doesn’t make trouble?  Who likes to live in peace?  Whose motto is “Live and Let Live.”  Atheists, that’s who.

Planned Parenthood resists

The Trump, administration issued a rule that money provided for the federal family planning program cannot be used by any organization that refers women to doctors who perform abortions.  Planned Parenthood receives about $60 million in federal funds annually.  This has permitted the group to provide birth control, pregnancy tests, and screening for breast and cervical cancer to many poor women.  In some rural areas Planned Parenthood is the only agency that provides such services.

Planned Parenthood had a choice.  Accept the money along with the gag order, or reject the money and forego the care.  It rejected the money.  I don’t see how it had any other option.  Roe v. Wade has not been overturned.  Abortion is legal.  And this Administration once again puts political considerations above the health and safety of women.  

The info for this post comes from Pam Belluck, “Planned Parenthood Opts Out Over Trump Rule,” New York Times, (Aug. 20, 2019), pp. A1, A14.  The editorial opinion is mine.

Buying Greenland

In 1884 German Chancellor Bismarck was worried that competition for African colonies would lead to conflict among European powers.  He sent out invitations for representatives from European counties to meet in Berlin and carve up Africa into zones of influence.  At that time only Ethiopia and Liberia were independent African nations.  The delegates got out maps of Africa and drew boundaries.  I guess I don’t need to point out that no Africans were consulted.

That kind of colonialism went out of style after World War II.  A few colonial remnants still exist (Greenland, Puerto Rico, Guam), but present conflicts are less likely to be between a colonial power and its subjugated people, than launched by internal groups (Kurds, Basques) who chafe under rule they regard as illegitimate.

Which brings us to the goofball in the White House wanting to buy Greenland.  Greenland has people living in it.  You just don’t buy them, and Denmark, the colonial country, will not sell them.  I can say with assurance that the self-governing people of Greenland would definitely not want to transfer to the U.S.

Greenland, by the way, has about the same number of people as Carbon County, Pennsylvania.  Maybe the U.S. could sell Carbon County to Denmark. 

Poking the hornets' nest

Three weeks ago I wrote the Lancaster Farming newspaper asking why it ran a column on religion.  Every week a Protestant pastor expounds on theology.  I pointed out that I was sure the pastor was fine person, but I saw no reason to include a column on Christianity in a newspaper about farming, especially since at least some readers, including me, were not Christians.

They printed my letter.  The following week the paper included seven letters telling me that you couldn't be a farmer and not believe in god or to skip the column if I didn’t like it.  Nobody said I would burn in hell, although at least one hinted at the possibility.  The strangest one called me a “social media activist.”  Me, who is not on Facebook, never “tweeted,” never texted, and don’t even have a smart phone.  Linda said they probably googled me. When I did that, I found this blog was listed, so here I am, “social media activist.”

Then Lancaster Farming ran a poll to see if the readers thought a religious column was appropriate.  The poll showed 79% wanted the column.  What surprised me was that 21% said no.  I didn’t participate in the poll.  It didn’t seem quite right.

On Saturday there were three more letters critical of me.  One letter said the paper should have “more God, less UN.”  One said the Bible has everything to do with agriculture, and one called me selfish for wanting to deprive readers of a column they enjoy. 

My hot peppers did not do very well this year.  I have a feeling that quite a few readers of Lancaster Farming will be convinced they know the reason.

Wrecking the Bureau of Land Management

Trump has appointed William Perry Pendley to head the Bureau of Land Management.  The BLM is in charge of 245 million acres of our land, mostly in the west.  That is an area larger than Texas.  

Pendley has said, “The Founding fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold.”  He has expressed sympathy for Cliven Bundy, the fanatical terrorist who refused to obey BLM regulations on cattle grazing.  He has made fun of Native American religious sites.  

Trump did this by Executive Order.  He was advised by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, former oil and gas lobbyist.  

Pay attention.  Forget the bullshit tweets, the MAGA hats, the campaign rallies, the silliness about buying Greenland.  Focus on the policy, the destruction of the environment, the foreign policy blunders, the deliberate dismantling of decades of progress.  Remember, it doesn’t matter who the Democrats nominate.  Vote for the responsible adult.

Emma Lazarus

Kenneth Cuccinelli II, acting director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, said what Emma Lazarus really meant to say was “Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge.”  He also said the poem referred to “people coming from Europe.”

Ms. Lazarus (1849-1887) was not only a poet (the words on the Statue of Liberty are a portion of a sonnet called “The New Colossus”), she was also a social reformer who aided penniless Jewish immigrants arriving in the U.S., helping them to stand on their own two feet.

Perhaps before Mr. Cuccinelli expounds on the meaning of a poem, he should learn a little something about it and its author.

Coincidence? I think not.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (Full disclosure: I was a member at one time) reached a $3.75 million settlement with a meat packing plant owned by Koch Foods.  This was after an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint that the plant had sexually and racially harassed Latino workers.

Guess who owned the poultry processing plant in Mississippi recently raided by ICE?  It was Koch Foods.

Last year OSHA fined the owners of a unionized meatpacking plant in Salem, Ohio, for the death of an undocumented worker.  A week later ICE raided the plant.

Here’s the deal.  If you are undocumented and employed, don’t try to unionize.  Don’t try to complain. Work in dangerous conditions, work for low pay, and keep your month shut.

Missing Nixon

When I taught American government, I would devote an entire class period to Nixon’s impeachment.  It was an exciting tale, with late night clandestine meetings, Senate hearings, the discovery of the taping system late one Friday afternoon, the misuse of the FBI, the CIA, and the IRS, the Supreme Court, the articles of impeachment, and finally the one-sentence resignation letter.  

Nixon was despicable.  If he had succeeded in staying in office, American democracy would have been in mortal danger.

Nonetheless, I cannot imagine Nixon gutting the Endangered Species Act to aid mining and drilling companies.  After all, it was the Nixon Administration that pushed the legislation that formed the E.P.A.  

Nixon was a ruthless and immoral man who caused the deaths of thousands of American and Vietnamese men and women by prolonging the war, but, as the cliche went, “the system worked.”

Now we have Trump.  Again American democracy is in mortal danger.  I don’t think anyone now could claim the system is working.  It is not only animal and plant species that are going down.  American democracy is going down.

150 years old

Scientists believe that the first person to live to be 150 years old has already been born.

Please let it be Ruth Bader Ginsberg.


Tomorrow:  Missing Nixon.

Woodstock's 50th

It’s the 50th anniversary of Woodstock  For some reason many people assume I was there.  The closest I came was in the New York Port Authority bus terminal seeing these incredibly muddy people on their way home from the event.  I was commuting from New Jersey to the U.N. doing research for my dissertation.  I had a wife and child in State College.  I was a responsible person.

And yes, I wish I had gone.  It would have been worth the trip just to hear Jimi Hendrix play the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Raids and Anne Frank

Terrible things are happening outside.  At any time at night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes....  Families are torn apart:  men, women and children are separated.  Children come home from school to find their parents have disappeared.

Anne Frank, 1943

Anne Frank did not write in English, but that is an acceptable translation of what she actually wrote, and it does appear in her diary.

I want to thank my friend Bill in North Carolina for sending me the quotation.

My most difficult writing assignment

My friend Pat would like to put messages on cars with Trump bumper stickers explaining how Trump is destroying American values and the American political system.  She would like the message to be reasonable and delivered in such a way that the recipients are not insulted, but instead begin to understand why Trump is such a disaster.  She is hoping to convert rather than condemn.

She asked me to write it.  She said I was a good writer, and she is depending on me to draft the message.  

I’ve had difficult assignments in the past, but this one is really really hard.  I sit at my keyboard, write something, delete it, write something else, delete it, and so it goes.  I just can’t come up with the right words.  I’m beginning to think I might not be able to do this.

Who do Penna. Democrats support?

In late July a reporter visited a Democratic picnic in Newton, Pennsylvania, and asked a number of people whom they planned to support.  Many of them were partial to Biden, but all were determined to oust Trump.  The one I liked best was Ms. Snyder, a 62-year-old activist.  She told the reporter she divorced her husband of 35 years in 2016 over his support of Mr. Trump.

She said, “He’s always been a Republican and I’ve always been a Democrat and that was fine.  Then, with the rise of Trump, “He became an angry man.  It was like I was watching this white guy who I thought I knew all of a sudden become racist, become all of the things Trump represented which I abhorred.”

Good for her.

Trump sums up his day of "healing"

“We had an amazing day.  The love, the respect for the office of the presidency–I wish you could have been in there to see it.”

My Antonia

About two weeks ago columnist Bret Stephens recommended reading My Antonia by Willa Cather.  He said it was the perfect antidote to Trump.  I have visited Red Cloud, Nebraska, Willa Cather’s home town, and I read some of her short stories and a novel, but I had never read My Antonia, her most famous book.  The Palmerton Library had a copy, and I just finished it.  

Antonia (An-ton-ee-ah, with the accent on the first syllable) is the eldest daughter of an immigrant Bohemian (now Czech) family.  Her English remained poor all her life.  She was one among many Nebraska immigrants, including Danish and Norwegian families.  When her parents came to America, they had to pay a 50¢ tax (now about $12) and not be convicts, lunatics, or idiots.  

When you hear people say, “my ancestors came to America legally,” if they came when Antonia’s father came, they had a low bar.  If they came when my ancestors arrived, they could even be idiots!!!

Cather’s book is a work of fiction, of course, but it gets across how the people of that area lived and worked together, attended each other’s funerals, and built a community.  

I’m pretty sure the book is still in print.  If not, visit your library.

Walt Whitman, 1819-1892

2019 marks the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth.  It really isn’t that long ago.  He died in 1892, three years after my grandmother was born.  Since I am tired of Trump and his supporters, I thought I’d just post Whitman’s “I hear America singing.”  Here it is.

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

I hope that makes you feel better.  (And thanks to Tom M. for reminding me of the anniversary.)

"Shoot them"

In May, Trump said we are being “invaded” by immigrants.  The El Paso shooter said he wanted to stop the “invasion.”

Trump asked his rally crowd:  “How do you stop these people” from crossing the border?

“Shoot them!” Someone screamed.

He laughed.  Then the crowd laughed.

That was posted by Rep. Jim McGovern.  I thought I’d pass it along.  Thanks to Bill to bringing it to my attention.

Moscow Mitch

The Kentucky Democratic Party is selling tee-shirts with a picture of Mitch McConnell in a cossack hat and the caption “Moscow Mitch.”

The party has already made over $300,000 on the shirts.

Is this fair?  The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in July that Russia targeted election systems in every one of the 50 states.  The findings, however, were so heavily redacted that even some key recommendations were blacked out.  

McConnell has personally blocked consideration of election security legislation.  It seems to me that “Moscow Mitch” fits this blowhard unpatriotic Senator very well.

Info on the Russian efforts is from David E. Sanger and Catie Edmondson, “Russians Hunted Election Defects in All 50 States,” New York Times, (July 26, 2019), pp. A1, A15.

Climate change news today

First, the scary stuff.  You probably read about the record-breaking heat wave in Europe in recent weeks, with temperatures in Paris reaching 108 degrees.  That heat wave has now reached Greenland, where the ice pack is melting in near record amounts.

But here’s the good news.  Lisa Friedman authored an article in today’s Times about young college-educated Republicans.  Putting aside why a college-educated person would be a Republican, the article explains that these young Republicans are upset and concerned that the Republican Party is not doing more about the issue of climate change and are speaking out.  That is something to celebrate.

Food stamps

The Department of Agriculture recently issued a new rule to “close a loophole” that it said allowed people with high incomes and savings to use food stamps.  

The Department estimated the new rule would cut off an estimated 3 million people.  The rule would also mean that about 500,000 kids would lose free school meals.

You can add your own comment about this.

Gail S. (Seidel) Levine, 1947-2019

Ms. Levine died earlier this week.  I never met her, didn’t know her, but I know our country is a lesser place without her presence.  

Here is the last sentence of her obituary that appeared in the Morning Call today.  “Donations in her memory can be made to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research or to whoever is running against Trump.”

I pledge that I will give $50 to that candidate in her name.  It can be Warren, Biden, Sanders, Bullock, or any of the other Democrats running. 

I wish I had known Ms. Levine.  She must have been a wonderful person.  My condolences to her family.