One more thing...

What I believed possible has come to pass, yes, the Donald has become the next POTUS.  Not that I voted for him or approve of his brand of buffoonery but rather I am old enough now to understand what a populace that feels marginalized can do when faced with more of the same. 

Rallying his minions beneath the banner of "it's THEM" and lip-syncing the siren song of 'Murica Furst, the Donald's stance on immigration and terrorism is as astute as any factoid wielding FoxNews bobble-head. With apologies to Mr. Gore, the truth was damned from the start for BEING inconvenient.
 
The evil that foments acts of terrorism doesn't discriminate based on age, income or even race, gender or hair color. It’s only purpose is to terrorize. When the fear becomes palpable it pushes us to demean or diminish those we see as different. It underscores the darkness, not the light.

History shows that barring those that would bring hard work, generosity and vision to our country is always a mistake. People who judge others only by their national origin or gender are always proved short on wisdom. Defending angry words as mere jokes or as slips of the tongue never works. All is revealed.

When we speak with respect and seek first to understand, we are charting a better course for us all. In the coming year, let us not give-in to the fear. Let us be slow to anger. Let us be wise.

Hoping for us all a very-very Happy New Year!

always,

Believe it or else...

Kim Davis is only one county clerk in Kentucky but, she is the one that Bible-beaters everywhere will count as the one that protected the hysterical in Christ from an infestation of same sex couples. Glory be! It's a shame she wasn't shown the door and fitted for an orange jumpsuit.

But, the powers of persuasion in the Kentucky state house came to their senses and CHANGED THE LAW. That's right, they stripped the counties of that power wholesale. Now the unclean in Christ can now wed without regard for any pointy headed county clerk to say otherwise.

As an aside, it's a fun fact that Ms. Davis has been married four times and sees no conflict of interest judging by her own behavior. Even the pontiff missed that one. Ahh, we all know the heart wants what the heart wants, right?

I was raised an evangelical but, I grew up and learned better. I still have my faith but I KNOW what my religion is because I've been able to step outside, walk around it and kick the tires. The "true believers" within any given belief system are the ones that will not only die for the sake of their sacred cows, they will butcher and eat them too. Pass that sauce, will ya, hon? Well, maybe not the Hindus but they have never had a dry-aged rib eye seared to perfection.

And there's the nut in the shell game. All religions can be a bit wonky in the make-sense department. From the Hebrew Hasidim avoiding mirrors on Saturday to Pentecostals speaking in tongues to Mormon's magical underwear, there's literally something for everyone. In the religion of my birth, there's a lot of dunking in water and chicken dinners afterwards.

As a warning, when you hew to a faith, you better believe their way or else suffer the slings and arrows from them that do. From excommunication to stoning, to female circumcision or aversion therapy, religion plays mediator between risk and reward to their own benefit. And they DO benefit. Ever been inside a cathedral or an evangelical MEGA church? You'll see where your tithes go.

Even in the 21st century if you flaunt your well rounded knowledge in front of those that lay claim to all things Godly, you're likely to end up like Jesus. And we all know how well that worked out for Him.

With One Sad Mistaken Mom and One Too Many SOBs...

When the GOP wrapped up its Warped Tour of the Damned in Cleveland it reminded me of an oft proved axiom--never underestimate silly people in large numbers.  As clueless to the cause as they are ill-informed of the remedy, the party faithful seem fed up with the status quo.  And they should be.  

But even with the real reasons (gerrymandering and Citizens United) staring them in the face, the Donald's minions are blinded by the same virulent contagion that infected the populace of pre-WWII Germany--ignorance playing itself off as enlightenment and hatred masquerading as love of country. 

And therein lies the rhubarb.  The Donald has taken the dirt road, plucked the low hanging fruit of collective angst, made hard cider and besotted the party of Lincoln.  To that end, the Donald would do Lenin proud.  The Donald would make Hitler swoon.  The Donald would make our forefathers steel themselves for a fight.  Hamilton would not have thrown his shot wide at the Donald.

Even Ted Cruz, a guy with plenty of chutzpah if only a teaspoon of good sense, tried appealing to the angels of our better nature.  But with the timbre of his voice reminding us of the strangling of lambs, no wonder they booed him off the stage. 

Full disclosure, I am an old-school Republican and no fan of Hillary.  But there's the devil you keep because she's the devil you know.  The Donald is a devil of another stripe.  The same stripe that runs down the back of all despots who pound their agenda with a cast iron hand.  The same stripe that dehumanized the non-Aryan.  The same stripe that holds no quarter for dissent nor even argument.  The same stripe that builds gulags and guillotines. 

Take heed, America.

Just a... 'nother brick in the wall...

I am lucky.  Lucky enough to be able to enjoy my fruits and veggies on the cheap.  Lucky enough to be the umpteenth grandchild to a family with roots planted here over one hundred fifty years ago.  Lucky enough to qualify me as native.  But how much time in-country does one have to spend to be considered a native?  Most of us were born here and that usually suffices.  Ask a real native American the same question and you might get an education. 

Suffice to say, we all hail from somewhere else.  Natural born is usually enough yet nowadays some say that’s not enough.  Think: birthers and the funny orange-haired rich guy behind that particular bowel movement who is now running for the highest office in the land.  Fun fun.  

How many of us really believe that in order to quell the touted tsunami of undesirables into our fair land that all we have to do is build a barrier between us and the more southerly regions of our shared continent?  Really? 

France tried that after World War I.  The wisdom of the French was to plant a line of big guns in the ground and point them at Germany.  Quite an imposing sight, I imagine.  If you enjoy grand examples of failure.  When the time came, a certain Bavarian corporal and company ignored the Maginot Line altogether leaving the lonely Frenchmen to buff their big guns while the Wehrmacht goose-stepped down the Champs-Élysées.  Perhaps monsieur would enjoy a little cheese with that whine?

It took me five minutes on Bing to illuminate our delusion.  The continental U.S. has over 82,835 miles of coastline guarded by satellite surveillance and the Coast Guard.  With only 41,000 active duty members, that means every uniform in the service would have to patrol two miles of coastline 24 hours per day 365 days per year with no potty breaks.  This fact alone makes the über fence along the 1,869 mile border with Mexico a colossal example of American stupidity.  

The self-righteous always flog the notion of legality but I'll wager no law ever filled an empty belly and no electrified razor wire atop a fence will ever keep a good parent from trying to feed their hungry children. The people that come here are not the bomb toting job stealing bad guys we have been lead to believe, but rather people who’ve heard of a place where they cannot only survive but thrive by the sweat of their brow if they will only risk the crossing. They don’t want state welfare, they want a chance. And who are we to deny them? 

Immigrants, that’s who.

Guns, guns, gunzzz...

http://www.politifact.com/florida/article/2016/jun/12/7-things-know-about-guns-and-gun-violence-after-or/?utm_source=TBT_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Politifact%20Email%20June%2013%202016

The above weblink is to a Politifact article explaining some of the misinformation surrounding the latest carnage in Orlando and the anti-gun rhetoric currently bandied by all of the major news outlets. To that end, I give my take on what I would consider as an answer to gun violence in the U.S.  If you haven't surmised already, I am a gun-owner and supporter of the Constitution and its current interpolation/interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.

First off, limiting the size, caliber and/or capacity for a firearm is a fool's errand. To imagine, or think, it will save lives is tantamount to buying into that email I received yesterday guaranteeing 79,000% return on a single investment. To wit, Chicago has no gun stores within its municipal limits. However, it owns the title of Murder Capitol of the U.S.  T'is a terrible irony that the former would foment the latter but such are the best flayed plans of pundits and politicians.

Instead, what I can imagine is a system that allows for an instantaneous vetting system. One whereby the magnetic strip on the reverse side of a driver's license could be run through a simple go/no-go device installed at every store that sells guns and ammunition. If an individual with a codified history of mental illness, prescribed psychotropic medications, and/or any other proscription deemed by law enforcement, the vendor could just return the individual's license and inform them of their purchase limitations in said store.  

Being tied into such a system, that individual's presence in a gun selling establishment could immediately be flagged for followup by law enforcement. The bugaboo comes with connecting all of the pertinent databases required for such a system to work. And honestly, the establishment of such a system would most likely become problematic as Edward Snowden has so aptly proved.

In full disclosure, I am an on-again-off-again member of the NRA, a persistent gun owner and former shooting competitor. This also ain't my first rodeo. I've learned that gun laws, as with any law, only affect the law-abiding citizen and never the law-breaker. That being reality, shouldn't we use technology to better protect the law-abiding from the deranged, addled, radicalized and sad sick souls among us so that we may know them. 

Just imagine...