Indiana saved from ISIS

Governor Mike Pence has denied a Syrian family of three, exiled from Homs since 2011, permission to enter Indiana.  After all, they could be terrorists.  In Syria the father ran a used clothing store.  The couple’s son is four years old.  But you never know.  Better safe than sorry.  Might be carrying a bomb.

No, they won’t have to return to Jordan where they were living.  The Connecticut governor, a Democrat, said they would be welcome.  They will be settled in New Haven.

Reactions to the Paris Massacre

Everyone was predicable.  The CIA director calls for more surveillance.  Sen. Toomey wants to shut the borders to Syrian refugees.  Republican governors, “Christians” all, say there’s no more room in the inn.  

Bleeding heart liberals, a group in which I include myself, ask who will help the refugees.  We don’t think it is fair that relatively poor countries like Turkey or Jordan should be forced to bear the burden of feeding and housing hundreds of thousands of people.

Sen. Rubio, equally predictable, notes that of 1000 refugees, suppose just one is ISIS.  My question to Rubio is, how do we know you aren’t part of a Castro sleeper cell?  Didn’t your parents come from Cuba?  (I am fully aware of how mean that is, but I am tired of that little prick.)

Cowardly bigots

My first thought on hearing about the Paris massacre was that now Americans would oppose accepting the few Syrian refugees we had planned to take in. 

Sure enough, governor after governor now says no to accepting Syrians. Millions of refugees, including women and children, need help.  The Paris massacres don’t change that.  ISIS must be so pleased; they succeeded in increasing the misery of all those people.  ISIS cannot defeat the west, but they can sow fear and dissension.  They have done that, which means they are winning.

I suppose many anti-immigrant bigots are quite pleased with the Paris bombings.  It gave them the excuse they were hoping for to reject the refugees.  

Defeating ISIS

I’m all in favor of punishing ISIS.  I think the whole ISIS movement should be destroyed.  It is composed of people who do not belong in the family of nations, who are the equivalent of Nazi functionaries at Buchenwald.  

I’m also in favor of “boots on the ground.”  I’d like to see a coalition of forces tasked with the job of eliminating the whole ISIS infrastructure.

However, if such a task is undertaken, Americans should share in that equally.  I have yet to hear people like Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham and people of that ilk call for a return of the universal draft.  Until that happens, I will oppose U.S. involvement.  I don’t see why the lower income and less educated group of Americans should be asked to bear the burden of military action.  

If this is a burden to be borne, it should be borne equally by all Americans.

Democrats in the Obama era

In the last eight years Republicans have done extremely well.  As of January Republicans will hold 32 of 50 governorships, 10 more than they had in 2009.  816 Democratic state lawmakers have lost their jobs while Obama was president, and Republican-controlled legislatures have doubled since Obama took office.

Is it his fault?  I would say in part it is.  When Howard Dean was running the Democratic Party, Dean emphasized a 50-state strategy.  You concede nothing to the Republicans; you fight for every state.  In 2008 Obama benefited from this strategy, winning states that Democrats had written off in the past.

Unfortunately, President Obama organized something called Obama for America, which was not a party-oriented organization.  Later the group morphed into Organizing for America, but the emphasis was on helping administration policies, not the Democratic Party.

In Carbon County the club that grew out of the Obama campaign called itself “Carbon County Democrats for Change,” and it was affiliated with the County Democratic Party.  As a consequence, the Democratic Party in Carbon County is stronger than ever.  Unfortunately, Carbon County seems to be the exception, not the rule.

Garlic and shallots

Tom Merkel, an organic farmer in Mahoning Township, gave me some garlic and shallot sets.  I planted them today.  I think this was the latest and coldest day of the year that I have ever planted plants.  I’ll let you know next spring if it was a success.   

I can tell you that I made apple jelly with apples from one of our trees just two days ago, and that was a complete success.  It is soooo good.

Pipeline Party

This evening I attended a pipeline party at the Big Creek Grange in Franklin Township.  About 90 landowners, environmentalists, and other sympathetic people showed up to eat, drink, and listen to music by Free Range Folk, an amazing group from the Jim Thorpe area.  

We learned what we could do to hinder and stop the 36-inch PennEast/UGI fracking natural gas pipeline that would fragment forests, harm state gamelands, pollute watersheds, run roughshod over property owners, and wreck state parks, 

Everyone in the hall was in opposition to the proposed pipeline.  They were opposed because of the danger of explosions.  Because of the environmental damage.  Because of the lies PennEast/UGI has been telling about the necessity for the pipeline.  Because of the use of eminent domain for private profit.  

We learned that PennEast UGI is angry.  it is scared.  And, if we stick together, it will lose.