February 21, 2018--Trump Running Scared

As evidence that some of the most arrogant of politicians in America are already feeling the heat being generated by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 teens were murdered a week ago, the Florida state legislature, aware that busloads of survivors of that mass shooting were on the road, heading for the capital in Tallahassee, 400 miles north, before even showing them the courtesy of a meeting, like the cowards they are, they voted overwhelmingly not even to consider, not even debate about ways to control the kinds of weapons of mass destruction the shooter used to mow down their classmates.

They exposed themselves--only cowards are afraid to talk. 

All those tough-guys (mostly men) who attend Florida legislative sessions with their openly-carried hand guns stuffed in the pants (how appropriate), sensing the potential political power these children are generating, hid in their offices during the morning and then later vacated them hours before these children arrived, after attending, earlier in the day, another funeral of one of their classmates, before these survivors arrived to share their stories and to seek the help of adults sworn on their bibles to protect them in their classrooms as gun violence in the schools turns more and more deadly, before being confronted by representatives of the youth of Florida, who they claim to represent these useless legislators voted as they did, not even having the courage to wait to talk with these constituents about gun control. 

Instead, they up and ran for cover.

Cringing behind their desks and feeling manly clutching their weapons, may bring them a sense of protection, but these students, in a campaign that is rapidly taking hold in high schools across the country are in fact a real threat to them and their undeserved prerogatives. 

These children are bringing at last a reckoning. A powerful one, one that hopefully will begin to mean "never again," one of their tag lines, knowingly or not, similar to the "never again" avowed by Jews who survived the Holocaust.

Another coward, cringing in his gilded bunker in Washington, a coward who sought and secured five phony deferments so he would not have to serve in the army during the Vietnam era, that tough-talking coward, who some call "our president," is at least willing to talk or, as he promises, listen during a meeting later today at the White House that will include some of the Stoneman-Douglas survivors.

This pretender is not prone to listen to anyone about anything must be running scared because otherwise he would be lying in bed as usual this afternoon taking an "executive break," watching Fox News while gorging himself on Big Macs. We'll see if he can sit still longer than the usual 15 minutes he is capable of concentrating.

If he thinks he can cool these kids out by inviting them to their (not his) White House, he shouldn't hold his breath because these children, many already old enough to vote, with hundreds of thousands more eligible to do so in just a few months, in November during the midterm elections, they, and not you, Mr. president will ultimately determine who sits in state legislators, houses of Congress, and, yes, even in the office you illegitimately hold.

Your directing the Attorney General to do the paper work to ban the use of "bump stocks" that turn semi-automatic, military-style weapons into automatic weapons of bloodshed is evidence of how scared you are of the power of these kids. This is begrudging acknowledgment that as rigid as you have proven to be they are bringing fear to your heart, which must be a feeling familiar as Robert Mueller's noose tightens. 

Nothing that you do will deter or distract them. They are unleashed and activated and will not be bought off by phony listening sessions or White House tours. 

They are coming for you for a reckoning and you should be scared for your political life and already shaky place in history because that is what a reckoning is--holding people like you responsible for things you are constitutionally required to do. 

It is obvious that this means nothing to you. You do not even understand your sacred constitutional role. But they do. They have been paying attention in their American history classes. 

These kids are on the move not only to take their protection into their own hands but to teach any of us who may have forgotten or, like you, never even paid attention or understood, what America means.

But you do have strong survival skills--that I'll grant you--and though you truly do not understand you are feeling sacred. 

As you should be.

June 15, 2016--Midcoast: Headscarf

The woman ahead of me in the checkout line at Kohl's in South Portland seemed distracted. While the rest of us were organizing purchases in our shopping carts, she was looking around as if under scrutiny.

Perhaps it's because of her headscarf, I thought. With the massacre in Orlando still dominating the news, and with the killer from an Islamic background, it wouldn't be surprising for an identifiable Muslim out in public to be nervous about what non-Mulsims might be thinking.

As her eyes swept the store, when she caught me looking at her, she quickly lowered her head and began to fidget with the clothing she was in the process of buying.

I said, not knowing exactly why, "It's still so windy."

With that she turned fully around, now with her back emphatically to me.

Not deterred, I said, "The forecast, though, is for it to subside later today. The wind." Still no reaction, "I'm worried about the plants we bought recently," I chattered on, "The wind dries them out and it's blowing too hard to water. Oh well."

By then she was first in line and one-by-one gently handed the pants, T shirts, and blouses to the cashier. They didn't exchange even a word but I could read the cashier's body language. She was decidedly not happy dealing with the woman and after ringing them all up, without folding them, stuffed the garments, as if they were garbage, into a large plastic bag.

When it was my turn, the cashier sighed audibly. "Not my favorite morning," she muttered to herself, but intentionally loud enough for me to hear.

"Sorry about that," I said, "It's the wind."

"Couldn't care less about that."

"Then what . . . ," I began to say knowing I should probably pay and get back in the car and head home.

"Come here to go on welfare and get us to pay for their health care and then the next thing you know . . ."

I knew she was referring to Orlando.

"Here I am working three jobs, none of them with benefits, and they just show up and have nothing better to do than go shopping." I tried to suggest without saying that I didn't want to hear this and was eager to be on my way.

"Did you see her nails? Pretty fancy don't you think?" In fact I had noticed them. "Check these out." She held her hands close enough to me so I could see them without my glasses. "Haven't had the time or money to get them done. It's been ages. Last time was when my daughter got married." She took a deep breath, "What a world."

The wind had indeed subsided as I made my way to the parking lot. As usual, frustrated with myself, I couldn't remember were I parked and so I wandered first to the left and then to the right. And saw standing there, between two towering SUVs, the woman in the headscarf.

To avoid agitating her further, I turned around and began to head back toward the store, for the moment not thinking about where I had parked. I just wanted to get out of her presence and leave her in as much peace as possible.

"Mister, mister," she called to me. I kept walking. But she continued to call out to me and so I stopped and looked back toward her. I couldn't determine what was best for me to do. It was clear she was distraught. Should I wait for her to come closer--it was evident she wanted to as she walked rapidly toward me--or should I pretend I couldn't hear her and head back into the store, feeling certain she wouldn't follow me there. It was unusual enough, from what I knew about Islamic women, that she was trying to engage me unobserved but in public.

Following my instincts, I stopped slinking away and waited for her to get closer.

"You seem nice," she said when she caught up with me. Carefully standing at least six feet from me she again avoided eye contact. "I din't mean to ignore you in the store."

"That's OK," I said.

"I knew what that woman was thinking. The cashier. What she felt about me. Especially right now with the news."

"I didn't pick anything up from her," I lied.

"That's nice of you to say. But I know it's not true. We came here from Somalia two years ago. My husband is a doctor and works now in the hospital in Portland." She gestured toward downtown. "I have two young children at home and I stay with them to take care of them. My sister's with them now. I'm studying to become a real estate agent so I can work when they're both old enough to be in school."

"I wish you well with that," I said. Still not feeling comfortable. And not entirely understanding why.

"I heard what she said. The cashier. We're not on welfare. We pay taxes. We're becoming Americans. Studying for our citizenship. More than anyone, we hate what happened in Orlando and before that in San Bernardino. I don't know why I'm telling you this. Maybe I want Americans to know who we are and how we feel."

"I can only imagine," I said, not lying.

"I know what people think. That we're all terrorists. I see the way people look at me and my husband. But with this . . ." She touched and adjusted her headscarf.

"I hope that's not true," I said, "Making it more difficult is what politicians and candidates are saying."

"I follow the news. I understand what you are saying. But can I tell you something I'm ashamed to admit?"

"Only if you . . ."

"I don't blame them. It was the same in Somalia. We came from educated people and then there were the militias. All the kidnappings and killings. They too called themselves Muslims, but they were animals. And so in Mogadishu, where we lived, if I saw a young man who made me think he was from Al-Shabaab, I wanted him to be captured and even killed. Just from the way he looked."

"I can understand."

"What I am saying is that in that way I was no different than the cashier. I even understand wanting to build walls and not let any Muslims into America." She began softly to cry. "I hate myself for saying that. But that's what being afraid does to you. So I understand."

And with that, she turned away and headed back up the aisle of parked cars.

September 25, 2013--GOPcare

Forty-two times Republicans in the House of Representatives have voted to repeal or defund Obamacare.

Most recently the end of last week when they did so as part of a budget package to make the entire federal budget contingent upon eliminating it. Effectively, they said, if you want the Affordable Care Act, there will be no government--no Social Security, no Medicare, no national parks, no aid to education, no airport security, no oversight of drugs and medicines, and even (their favorite federal program) no military.

And then they went home for their 6th or 7th vacation of the year.

Additionally, they left a marker back in Washington, saying that unless Obamacare is ended by the end of October they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling. They will not vote to pay for federal programs that they themselves already enacted into law.

Effectively, they are, with this, drawing a legislative red line which asserts that unless the Democrats and the president go along with this they will allow the United States for the first time in history to default on our financial obligations--if you have T-Bills, they will not pay you the interest you thought was guaranteed; and the U.S. dollar will no longer serve as the world's reserve currency because we will have welched on our international debts and obligations.

All because of Obamacare. All because the GOP leadership has caved in to the Tea Party crazies who are really anarchists seeking to eliminate most of our government, seeing nearly all of it profligate and evil.

While spending much of the past two years futilely voting against Obamacare, the Republicans have not put forth a credible alternative health care plan of their own. One to cover the 44 million Americans who who have no coverage, or would have none if Obamacare were to be rolled back--mainly dependent children and lower-income workers whose employers do not provide medical insurance or do not have the $5,000 to $10,000 a year to buy their own insurance.

By not voting in favor of a plan of their own the GOP is rendering a death sentence to hundreds of thousands of Americans who will die prematurely without preventative or on-going care.

I know for these radical Republicans the death penalty is one of their favorite governmental programs; but at least executing people comes after someone commits a heinous crime and is tried and convicted.

To kill people (and that in fact is what we're talking about) because they cannot afford to pay for an operation or cancer-fighting medications is not so different from condemning someone to death through the courts.

One difference--we usually put people in the gas chamber one at a time. Denying people the medical help they need and deserve is nothing short of mass murder.