Photo Wednesday

It used to be photo Friday over at "Women On..."  That long-dormant blog that I shared with several amazing women from AOL J-land so many years ago...

Anyway, lets have photo Wednesday today, shall we?  Haven't been getting out near enough to get pictures...and when I do, that new lens is keeping me kind of stymied. 

But I do get one or two that I like.  Here's one.  Taken at Finley NWR on 1/30/18.

I'll Get It

I get messages from the strangest places.  Oldies radio station, a 41-year-old Billy Joel tune.  (Hard to believe either of us is that old.)  The lyrics were written by a young man for a young man.  But they spoke to sexagenarian me today--the me who has been fretting about an uncertain future in retirement... 

I think I can take that and run with it. 

Hoodwinked

Just clicked on a story that claimed to want to tell me the best places to stash my cash and earn "HUGE" interest, rather than "risk" my cash in the market. "22x the average savings interest!!!"

Easy to make that claim when the "average" interest available on a savings account at your bank these days is .06%. No, that's not a typo...that IS "point-oh-six" percent. Six one-hundredths of a percent. So that wild and wonderful "22x the average" pencils out to a whopping 1.32%.

Pretty hard to get excited about that when I can remember  when I started working for a living, regular passbook savings accounts paid 5.25% with no minimum balance, no fees and no restrictions on access to your money. Hell...even twenty years ago you could get a  6-month CD that paid 3%. 

Anybody still skeptical that we have been hoodwinked into pouring all our hard-earned cash back into the pockets of the guys who already HAVE all the money? 

SMDH

Bible-Thumping Catholics?

I came across a link to an article in the National Catholic Reporter on Facebook the other day.  The article was about how the Catholic Church in Europe might be bowing to pressure to deal in some positive way with gay marriage...though gay relationships are frowned upon and gay marriage is banned by the Church, perhaps some kind of  "blessing" of the relationship could be finagled without everybody going to hell about it.  I didn't read the article, but I did click into the comment section just out of curiosity. 

I had to laugh at a thread that had two commenters spouting bible verses at each other.  The Catholic Church is about as connected to the bible as Santa Claus is to the Nativity story.  My sense when I was growing up Catholic was that the bible was an inscrutable sacred text which only theologians and scholars tackled...we peons were entitled to nothing more meaty than the watered-down and politically engineered interpretations they passed down to us.   

So I had to throw in my own comment.  Which no one has as yet commented upon, but I thought it worth bringing here:

"I was brought up Catholic, went to Catholic school. I have to laugh when I see Catholics quoting the bible. We were never taught bible in religion class, only catechism--Catholic dogma. The bible was a book you had in the house and cherished as if it was some kind of icon...you didn't actually READ it (and since it was the KJV, you would have had a hard time reading it, anyway..) I literally knew nothing about the bible until I became a "born again Christian" in my twenties.

"Unfortunately, the most enduring thing I learned about the bible during that time was that you can cherry-pick "scripture" to prove blessing or damnation of just about anything. You can bless sin (many a born-again Christian has "forgiven" adultery using the example of David and Bathsheba. Knew a pastor who fooled around on his wife, married his lover and named their first child "Solomon." Sheesh!)

"Any thinking human gets to the point of understanding that Christianity does anything BUT honor the Spirit of Creation. Neither does it promote brotherhood, empathy, compassion, or love of fellow man (esecially if he is in any way different from you.) One only needs to look at the violent track record of organized religion over the ages to see how poisonous it is. I would advise gay couples to walk away from such a destructive, violent and ultimately evil source and seek out blessing from some agency that is actually capable of  and joyous about conferring it. Rather than trying to change a backward and judgmental Church."

With my apologies to my Christian friends.  I am normally not (publicly) so angry and condemnatory about Christianity--I know there are fine people who embrace it with love and understanding.  But sometimes the intractable judgmentalism that seems to be so much a part of the basic foundations of the faith just cause me to...lose it. 

The Problem With Creating a God In Your Own Image

During the Clinton Administration, the GOP began to fan the flames of the ugliest and most base human emotion--selfishness, greed, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, tribalism; naked hatred of anything that is not the white male capitalist establishment--through under-the-table encouragement, even financing, of right-wing media. 

In the early days of the "movement,"  no sensible politician of the “mainstream” Republican party publicly espoused the meteoric growth of this contentiousness, of this embrace of ignorance and disdain for facts and truth.  But since it was having the desired effect of putting the American electorate directly into their hands, their winking silence on the subject tacitly encouraged the descent of the American public into the divided, hate-filled, tribal-mentality hell that exists today.  Gradually, the tenor of our society has become, “If you don't believe in lockstep every thing that I believe, you are the enemy and I hate you.  And, I have RIGHTS!!!  I can (and will)  do anything I want…you try to stop me if you don't like it."  With the unspoken caveat that if  you DON'T stop it, then any negative repercussions are YOUR fault.  So much for taking personal responsibility.  (But that is a different rant...)   

Over time, GOP legislators themselves began to buy into and publicly demonstrate this behavior.  Once they gained power, there was nothing they wouldn’t do, no words too objectionable, no act too outrageous, if it allowed them to manipulate their "base," maintain that power and wield it to their own best advantage (NOT, mind you, to the advantage of their constituency); up to and including denying the President of the United States his Constitutionally conferred right to place a judge on the Supreme Court, should a vacancy eoccur during his tenure.  They did this because they COULD.  Who was going to stop them?  (Can you tell I STILL haven't got over that one?  But THAT is also a different rant....sigh!) 

In 2016, Republicans promoted and then lined up behind a man who not only represented, but vividly and unabashedly displayed the aspects of human nature which the GOP has been encouraging and giving a platform for over twenty years.  They literally created a god in their own image--a leader who flat out, no holds barred, walks the walk and talks the talk the GOP has been "mainstreaming" for two decades.   

So I had to shake my head when I heard a quote by GOP Senator Lindsey Graham on the radio last Friday.  This was during a Congressional “discussion” of Trump’s now infamous (but either denied or decried as “fake news” by Trump loyalists and the Cheeto himself) comment about immigrants coming here from “shithole countries”  like Haiti or third-world African nations—nations mostly inhabited by dirt-poor black people.    

“Tuesday we had a president who I was proud to golf with, call my friend, who understood immigration had to be bipartisan ... but he also understood the idea that we had to do it with compassion. ...I don't know where that guy went. I want him back." 

Even as mainstream Republicans have rushed to embrace Trump because of his popularity with the base, they have found themselves stymied, even distressed, by his behavior.  He does NOT play by the rules.  Those rules being that Congress and members thereof can be as contentious, mercurial, untruthful, faithless and anti-negotiation as they please--or as will please whoever paid to put them in office--but the President must NEVER exhibit this kind of behavior.    

For  sixteen years--a large portion, if not  the entire tenure, of many of those in Congress right now--the President's role has been either to be the puppet-mouthpiece for the Party and the monied interests that control it, or to be the anti-Christ enemy who must be thwarted at every turn.  Members of Congress may lie and fudge, fabricate and disseminate misinformation, point fingers and call names, in order to whip up the base.  But up until now, the President has been relegated to the position of the eye in the center of the storm.  Slightly above and disconnected from the winds and destruction of the storm itself.  All decorum and calm.  All very controllable.

GOP legislators have absolutely no idea what to do with Trump, now that they've got him. He's not reasonable.   He doesn't negotiate.   He points fingers and calls names.  He lies.  He tweets.  He rants.  His word means nothing. 

On Sunday, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, on the talk show circuit in the wake of the "shithole" comment, had this to say about negotiating with Trump on the immigration issue/government shutdown:

"[after speaking to Trump and making a major concession on funding for Trump's wall]... Chuck [Shumer] came back to the Hill.  We sat down in his office, ad I said I think we're going to avoid the shutdown  I think we're ready to go.  Two hours later a call from the White House said the deal is off.  We're not going to stand by this at all.  How can you negotiate with the President under those circumstances?  He agrees to move forward face-to-face and within two hours pulls the plug."

Well stated.  When there is no truth, no respect, and no honor, there can be no negotiation.  Only it's not JUST the Democrats' problem, any more. 

Lindsey Graham's politically correct public tap-dance before the cameras was that Trump was being "badly served" by his staff.  Nice try, Mr. Graham.  But  what's obvious is that YOU are aghast at the situation...that it took only two hours for Trump's hardline advisors to get in his head and cause this bad faith about-face.  But Presidents don't behave like this, so we have to shoot the blame over to someone else. 

The problem with this, sir,  is Trump IS the president and he DID do the deed, regardless of who was in his ear at the time.  And you have no idea how to move forward with a guy who is controlled by whomever he spoke with last, or by Fox and Friends, or by the voices in his own head... rather than being utterly under the thumb of the GOP Congress.   

"Oh, no!  We've put an infantile bigot bully with no honor and no filter in the highest office in the land, and we have no control over him whatsoever!  What do we do now?" 

Good question.  Probably one you should have asked before you all lined up behind him like he was the Second Coming.  It's not like he isn't exactly what he showed himself to be during the campaign--the one thing he hasn't lied about in eighteen months. 

What do we do now, indeed?

Words to Grasp and Treasure from Dr. King

Oprah: Just...Don't

Oprah Winfrey delivers a speech at the Golden Globes…a perfectly passable speech, only a couple of flubs and stumbles over words.  It is mildly political, in that it addresses the over-wrought “#metoo” movement, which is all the rage among Hollywood women this year.  I have in previous entries explained why this movement is leaving a bad taste in my mouth…  One of my primary questions about it is, where were all these “metoo” celebrity women in 2016 when we were being treated daily to the systematic and brutally misogynistic piling on to Hillary Clinton, the first viable female presidential candidate in our history?  Yes…where were you then, Susan Sarandon??!?  Fuck you. 

So obviously I don’t exactly acknowledge the “metoo” movement as the political bandwagon upon which to hitch a ride to the 2020 presidential election.  Perhaps if she had spoken about DACA, or Islamaphobia, or income inequality, or the Kim/Trump nuclear pissing contest, or even the “Tweeter-in-chief” himself, I might entertain a political nod in Winfrey’s direction.  But the fact is, since she retired from her daily interview program, she has made an obvious effort to remain studiously apolitical.  One look at her Twitter feed will tell you all you need to know about THAT.

Just after 2016’s disastrous presidential election, I made a comment to someone on Facebook that we don’t allow  women to be “charismatic; ”  when our female public figures display passion or excitement or drive for a cause, they are called out as shrill, unfeminine, loud…bitchy.  Threatening, obviously, to the male status quo that is SO cemented in our society.  And that the only “charismatic” female I could think of in 21^st-century America was Oprah Winfrey.  But that was in no way an endorsement of her as a candidate for President. 

Though she surely wouldn’t be as ill-suited for the position as the current occupant, she is nevertheless as unqualified and ignorant about the job and the world of politics surrounding it as the Cheeto.  Her only saving grace might be that she would immediately understand her lack of experience and ability, and would surround herself with quality people that could keep the country moving forward in spite of the ignorance of the chief executive.  We could HOPE for that, anyway.  We really have no way of knowing.  We DO know that her "charisma" is rooted in the human interest, sob story, gawkers-at-a-train-wreck media...Not a direction in which we would like the nation as a whole to (continue to) go.   So it’s probably best to leave politics to the politicians.  And legislation to the legislators.  And leave media personalities to jockey for position in their own cesspool.   

Winfrey could serve her country best by choosing a talented, experienced female LEGISLATOR to get behind, and investing her considerable fortune, media connections and charisma into propelling that woman to victory in 2020. 

Let’s hope that is what she chooses to do.                

Makes Sense...

ORGANIZE THIS!!!!!!

Twitter is allowing the deranged President of the United States to flagrantly flaunt its "terms of service." which specifically state you are not allowed to harass, bully or threaten violence (if nuclear war doesn't qualify as violence, I don't know what does.)

Twitter is doing this for the publicity and the $$$$$.  It's ALWAYS about the money.  Small comfort that will be when the earth is a smoldering cinder. They don't realize that their money will be no good in hell.    

#gettrumpofftwitter

Share it on Facebook, Tweet it to everyone you know...email it to your Congressional Reps. 

No one seems to take Trump's threats seriously.

We didn't take his candidacy seriously, either; and look where that got us.

#gettrumpofftwitter

NOW!

New Year, Same Old Crap

Been sick as a dog for the past fur days...a predictable end to 2017 and inauspicious lead-in to 2018.  

But I've managed to while away the time with a pretty decent Facebook back-and-forth about (who else) the Trumpster.

These started out as comments on a friend's post, when she shared and commented on a story about Hillary Clinton being polled as the Most Admired Woman in America for 16 years in a row.   Comments slamming Mrs. Clinton (surprise) devolved into arguments about the attributes of our illustrious 45th president.  I managed to bang out a pretty decent summary of my thoughts on #45. 

As Follows:

"And while I'm at it, I'll address your earlier rant about how 'lefties' hate Trump just because he's Republican.

"Trump is a con-man of the highest order who threw his hat into the presidential election ring on a publicity stunt lark. I seriously believe he had no idea of the success he was going to encounter in his campaign...and his ability to whip frustrated, disillusioned and dangerously mal-informed voters--who had been fed a steady diet of naked hatred by right-wing media for 8 years of the Obama Administration--into a frenzy of anger and revolt. It was like crack cocaine to an addict...his gigantic ego couldn't get enough of it. So he allowed himself to believe that, since the people were out there cheering for him, he must be presidential material after all. But he has not the intelligence, nor the experience, nor the temperament to be sitting at the head of a table in a boardroom, much less behind the desk in the Oval Office. To cover that up, he lies, he blusters, he bullies, he obfuscates, he tweets...he has repeatedly demonstrated from day one that he has absolutely no respect for the office he holds. He has ZERO self-control and ZERO respect for anyone or anything. And his blind followers call that "not being politically correct" and think of it as a virtue! Seriously!!?!? The man holds the office of "Leader of the Free World!" And he is petrifyingly lacking in any personality trait that would fit him for that position.

"Even so, those of us who were shocked and dismayed when our fellow Americans propelled this dangerously unqualified charlatan into office were willing to concede (desperately hoped, fingers and toes crossed) that he might grow into the office, and turn out NOT to be the disaster we all knew him to be. We all held desperately to that glimmer of hope after his mostly intelligible inauguration speech...and everything predictably went to hell after that.

"Trump is a stupid, childish, dangerous egomaniac. The GOP Congress has made the unbelievably corrupt decision to support this dangerously inept man, because they can manipulate him to get what they want. I hope their big victories taste as sweet when North Korea lobs its missile at the US and the whole world goes up in flames. But, wait...I forgot. It will be Obama's fault."

Please, Universe.  We've suffered an entire year under this raving idiot.  Don't make us hold out much longer...