Our Christian Values

 I saw a post recently that suggested we need to return to the "Christian values" on which our nation was founded.  It got me to thinking about just what those values were.

    Were theses the values that allowed people to take and enslave men and women who had been ripped from their homes and family in Africa and brought to America against their will?

    Were these the values that allowed people from Europe to take forcibly the lands of the people already here, to purposefully infect them with European diseases,  to forcibly relocate them to inhospitable lands far away, to take children from their families and deny them their language and culture

    Were these the values that allowed "God fearing Christians" to murder 20 of their neighbors (including two of my ancestors) in Salem Massachusetts  in 1692?

    I could go on but I am sure you get the picture.  Unfortunately these "Christian values" are doing just fine here in our Nation, no need to return to them.  We still oppress people of color, rob Native Americans of the royalties from minerals taken from their lands.

    Most concerning is that many still believe in the same type of conspiracy theories that contributed to mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials.  I don't mean this statement to trivialize the concerns of people of color and Native Americans but to emphasize that this mind set to believe unproven allegations contributes to the oppression of those seen as "other".  Other being anyone not of white European heritage.

    Rather than continue to espouse these toxic values perhaps we should consider not the so called "Christian" values but rather the values of Jesus of Nazareth.  One could start with Mathew 25:31-46.  The Sermon on the mount can be instructive of the values Jesus held as is the parable of the good Samaritan.

    We can take pride in the courage and tenacity of the founders but their moral values?  Not so much.

Thoughts on the Wall

I've been thinking a lot about this "great wall of America" that Mr. Trump wants to build.  I'm trying to picture it in my mind.  Would it be like the great wall of china? perhaps like Hadrian's wall?  These walls built about 2,000 years ago were designed so that archers and spear throwers could ward off attacks by those similarly armed.  

So I'm wondering, will we put men and women armed with bows and arrows to shoot anyone climbing over or tunneling under.  After all, these are dangerous people.  They are coming to clean our houses, mow our lawns, care for our elderly and disabled, bus our tables, cook our food.  We certainly don't want people to come here to do these things.

Maybe it will be more like a medieval walled city.  A place where people cower in fear not sure what was the greater threat, the enemy outside or the brutal tyrant inside.  Strange, I never thought of Americans as being fearful cowards.  I had always thought that we were a strong people, confident in our ability to  defend ourselves.

In truth I think that a wall would not wall out the true threat to our nation but rather wall it in.  The true threat is those that are willing to ignore the checks and balances in the constitution that have served us so well for more than two centuries.  People who ignore science, ignore facts, turn there backs on those for whom they should show compassion and reverse the work already done for human rights at home and abroad, these are the ones who threaten our nation.

Cognitive Impairment

I've been thinking about the issue of "cognitive impairment".  First let me say a word about terminology.  It used to be that we would refer to a person who was impaired from birth or early childhood as being "mentally retarded".  The phrase was then used by bullies to taunt other children or even adults.  It wasn't the words that were the problem but the bullies and whatever terminology we use I feel certain that bullies will use it against those they decide to pick on.

Now the politically correct term seems to be "intellectual disability" but I like cognitive impairment.  No words, though, can adequately describe a complex and varied issue.  Our grandson's ability to learn new skills was impaired from birth, his grandfather's ability to remember things and retain old skills lessens with age.  Both are cognitively impaired.

What I want to discuss is what I have learned from watching my grandson for almost 19 years.  His skill set is much like that of a toddler. He has no language, not speech or sign.  There was a little progress in having him use pictures to indicate what he wanted but he really wasn't interested.  He developed his own method of limited communication.  If he wants to eat he pounds on the microwave, if he wants something to drink he finds one of his sippy cups and brings it to a caregiver.
He cannot, however, tell you what hurts and that is a big problem.

He doesn't use the toilet, can't dress himself or bathe himself.  His food is pureed to keep him from choking since he doesn't chew adequately.  Since the food is pureed and somewhat sticky he can feed himself but with the finesse of a toddler, a very messy proposition that caregivers often prefer to avoid by feeding him.

But, and it is a big but, he is not a toddler he is almost 19 and has almost 19 years of experience.  He has learned the routines and cooperates when dressing handing diapers, clothes and shoes usually in the proper sequence.  He knows that different caregivers handle bathing differently and anticipates the steps of each.  He knows that the sound of blender means that food is being prepared and can get very impatient.

He gets bored.  He has mastered some limited toddler games and now has little interest in them.  The same is true with toys and we are always searching for new things that will engage him. Television once entertained him but he seems to have lost interest in the programs he once enjoyed.  He will keep handing the remote to a caregiver as if to say "find something else".  He will invent little games like insisting that someone hold his sippy cup, picking it up and handing it back if it is put down.  He might entice someone to open a door so that he can close it.  These games will keep him occupied until his chosen foil gives up.  I don't think he is ever first to end the game.

So what I have learned is that even someone as gravely impaired as our grandson is not a cipher.  He struggles as best as he is able to understand his environment and the people around him.  He is not static but changes in subtle ways, he is sometimes frustrated, sometimes obstinate but always his own person.  And the bookend to this, his grandfather, struggles to retain what he has learned over 83 years and gets frustrated at trying to remember how to do things that once came easily.  Often he can retrieve the information, sometimes he can't but he, too, keeps trying. I am learning a lot from the two of them.

Jesus or Trump

   Some people comb through the bible attempting to find support for their opposition to homosexuality and abortion.  They search for hidden meanings, insist that they know the mind of Jesus, they don't.

   Jesus was very clear as to what he believed to be important, there was no beating around the bush.

   What did he think about those who would use other people's faith for their own gain?  Just look at what he did to the money changers in the temple. (Matthew 21:12-13)

   What did he think of those who made a big deal of their faith so as to look good, he saw thorough the hypocrisy and condemned it. (Matthew 6:1-4)

   He rebuked those who would keep little children from him, should those who claim to follow him do less (Matthew 19:14)

  When it comes to people we fear, see as a dangerous other, look to the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).  Jews at the time saw the Samaritans as dangerous, the other, Jesus saw them as good neighbors often better people than the pillars of the community.

  What did Jesus say was our duty to the stranger among us, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty?  You know the answer but if you have forgotten look again at Matthew 25:35-45.

 "I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me."

  These teachings of Jesus seem to be the antithesis of the preaching of Trump with which many among us are enthralled.  What are we to think?  Is Trump the Antichrist?  I think not for he is a weak little man.  He may have charisma but so did Hitler and Mussolini.  In all honesty I can't see the attraction of any of these men.

  Is Trump a great prophet.  No, that would be giving him credit for wisdom he does not have.

  What Trump is is a great con artist.  He speaks against the teachings of Jesus while convincing his followers otherwise.

  In truth, one cannot follow Trump while being a follower of Jesus, one must choose.

    

Thoughts on the New Court

I have been thinking about what it would mean to have an entrenched ultraconservative majority on the Supreme Court.

I know that many of my fellow citizens are pleased with the idea that women’s reproductive rights might be abridged, many are joyful at the thought that the right to love and marry whoever one pleases will be revoked.  A supreme court that will allow the government to slam our doors in the faces of those subject to violence and oppression will be met by rejoicing by many, the right to breath clean air and drink unpolluted water so that those “persons” known as corporations can make more money will simply be ignored by those with the resources to live in a place where these things are not an issue.

Then I think are any of our rights safe from a court that is willing to take away the rights of some and I am reminded of the words of Martin Niemöller

“When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.”

 

Impotent Republicans

It now seems that the Republicans are totally impotent when it comes to governing.  I wonder if there are little blue pills that can help them get up to the task.

What Nunes Revealed

Congressman Nunes seemed to think that what he revealed to Trump and the press was big news, that it proved that Trump was right about the wire taps.  No, it didn't vindicate Trump for his ludicrous claims.  What it showed was far more disturbing, it showed us that foreign agents who were under surveillance by  our counterintelligence agencies were talking to members of the Trump team.  Rather than proving Trump was accurate his accusations  it suggests that members of his team may not be honest brokers of Americas interests.

Trump's March to an American Oligarchy

 We are beginning to understand Trump's admiration for Putin as he seeks to establish a Russian type oligarchy in the United States.
  Let's start with his cabinet:
   1.  Department of Labor--a man who wishes to replace as many workers as possible with robots.  Those that remain he would deny a living wage.
   2.  Housing and Urban Development--a man who does not believe in fair housing.
   3.  The Environmental Protection Agency--a man who doesn't believe in climate change nor does he believe that the EPA has a mandate to protect the environment except in very limited circumstances.  He has sued the EPA from his position of Attorney General of Oklahoma.
   4.  Health and Human Services--a man who will not only eliminate the Affordable Care act but radically alter Medicare and Social Security.
   5.  Treasury--a man who wants to eliminate not only the regulations intended to keep banks solvent but deposit insurance as well.
   6.  Secretary of State--a man who is good buddies with Vladimir Putin.

 Then there is the troubling questionnaire Trump's transition team sent to the Department of Energy.  The questions suggest a witch hunt against those in the department who are working to limit the effects of climate change.

 We already have seen how Trump will threaten and intimidate those who criticize him.  He will make up "facts", repeat false news.  Trump likes to schmooze with the rich and the powerful and those are the people he has chosen for his cabinet.   It's not the "Bully Pulpit"  he's just a bully.

 He admires Putin's ability to manipulate his public and surround himself with wealthy oligarchs and it seems that is the way he will rule the United States.  He has put in place a team devoted to relieving the American people of all the protections they have enjoyed and replacing those protections with a system in which there are a few very rich and the rest struggle to survive.

Something Good Came From This Election

As I listened to some of my sixties folk music I wondered where the idealism of our youth had gone, the hope for a better world?  Back then our primary concern was for an end to war and for civil rights for all.  Environmental issues were in the mix, remember "Diet for a small Planet" and zero population growth? These were largely fringe issues, though, important to some, including myself, but not most.

Now war has dropped in the concern of the idealists and the environment has risen to the top, shoulder to shoulder with civil rights and our youth are again on the march.  They rallied with Bernie Sanders, they marched on the Dakota Access pipeline.  They decry the killing of black men for the crime of driving or walking while black. They support the LGBTQ community.  Some may find their activism naive but I applaud their passion.

I give Trump credit along with Bernie for stirring them up, they give me hope for the future.  

America May Be the Loser

 I fear that whichever candidate wins this election it is the American people who will be the losers.
  Should Trump win rather than making us great we will be he laughing stalk of the world.  I fear an economic collapse greater than the Bush's great recession.  Listen to his speeches, they are full of platitudes and short on specifics.  When he does try to be specific he shows himself to be lacking a true understanding of the issues and the facts.
  Should Clinton win it will be four more years of gridlock.  Republicans have promised to again block any initiatives of a democratically elected president not of their own party.  America can not function with another four years of gridlock, we can not continue to be a great nation.  Without a Democrat majority in Congress Clinton's hands would be tied.
 A Republican president and Congress will mean a windfall for the one percent.
 A Democrat president and Republican Congress will mean gridlock with no progress on needed reforms to benefit the middle class.
  Only the unlikely outcome of a Democrat president and Congress will mean  real progress for the American people!

Would You Let Trump Remove Your Apendix?

  Governing is a profession, like medicine, dentistry, law, carpentry, plumbing and even business.  Each has its own unique set of skills and they are not interchangeable.  We certainly wouldn't want a novice to do surgery on us and we wouldn't want a builder to build our house just because he lives in one but knows nothing about how it was put together.
  Why, then, do some think that it is a good idea to have a novice run the greatest nation in the world?  A man who by all accounts is not even a very good business man.  Multiple bankruptcies does not give me much confidence in his abilities.  Multiple lawsuits against him in which he plays tricks, deletes emails and looses documents does not give me confidence in his honesty.
  Too be honest, Clinton was not my first choice for president.  She does, with out a doubt possess the skills needed for governing.  Any questions one might have as to her honesty are also true in spades where Trump is concerned. 
  We are not electing our new bff, we are choosing the person with the necessary skills to govern this great country and that person is Hillery Clinton.

Does It Matter?

  It has come to the point that it does not matter if Trump's accusers are telling the truth.  Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to minimize their experience of these women, if true (and I do believe them) it is an horrific experience and not to be taken lightly.
  A bigger issue has arisen,  and we have these women to thank.  They have stripped the facade from Trump and exposed the monster underneath.
  This is a man who is willing to incite insurrection, puts the very constitution at risk and stirred up the worst in his supporters.  The things that many of his supporters are saying are truly deplorable and rather than trying to damp down this rhetoric he feeds the flames.
  Donald Trump is inciting sedition and maybe treason, in any other nation he would be in jail but this is The United States of America and we have a right to say what we want, up to a point.  We do not have a right to sedition and were he not running for president he would probably be in jail.

Are Trump Voters Deplorable?

  Are Trump Voters Deplorable?  I don't know about most but I will tell you about one encounter I had.
   I was walking up the street to my home.  As I approached a neighbor's house which had a Trump yard sign a  woman who was unknown to me charged at me cheering for Trump.  That was a bit like running at a bull waving a red flag.  I know, I should have ignored her, kept on walking but I couldn't help myself and said what I thought of Trump.  We exchanged our views and as she walked away she said to my neighbor "she should be euthanized".  I think that counts as deplorable.
 

It is not ok!

  When I was in my late teens I took the bus to college. In those days I wore skirts to school. A man came and sat next to me, he ran his hands up my thigh. I was confused, I didn't know what to do. Eventually I got up and moved as far away as I could.
  I can't even bare to write about what happened in a movie theater when I was 8 or 9.
  Yes, I believe these women and yes, I understand why they didn't say anything. They were embarrassed and feared no one would believe them.
  To men who say this behavior is no big deal, just boys being boys, I tell you it is a big deal and IT IS NOT OK!
  To those women who are willing to shrug it off I ask, have you been so sheltered that it has never happened to you?  If it has and you are willing to ignore it then I think you may need to seek help, you may be in denial.
  To those who say "Clinton did it" I will say, Clinton never bragged about it, Trump has.  Whether either man is guilty has never been determined in a court of law, it is their word against that of the accusers.  What we do know is that on many occasions Trump has admitted to assaulting women and thinks it is ok.
  IT IS NOT OK! 

Let's See His Birth Certificate!

How do we know little trumpy wasn't born in his mother's home town in Scotland.  After all, it is far more likely that a women would return to her place of origin to give birth than it is for an American woman to go the third world country of her huband.

Let's see that birth certificate, trumpy, than we can all spend years suggesting it is a forgery.

Trump as the Wizard of Oz

"Don't look at the man behind the curtain, look over there!"

Remember that line from the Wizard of Oz, when Toto pulled down the curtain revealing the Wizard as a fraud?  That's what little trumpy reminds me of.  He doesn't want us to look at his faults, he wants us to look at Hillary instead.

In truth, everything he says about Clinton is true of trumpy in spades!  What we know of his business dealings are all bad, bankruptcies, lawsuits, shady characters as partners.  He doesn't reveal his taxes which might shed light of his business practices.  He inflates the significance of minor transgressions on the part of Clinton in hopes that no one will pay attention to his major transgressions.

He says Clinton is secretive.  Clinton?  We know all about Clinton and most of it is good.  We know what she stands for, she stands for the little guy, the children.  She has a track record going back years.  Trumpy is late to the party, he has no track record in public policy and he changes his stance from week to week.  We have no idea what we would get with him as president.  We do know that he admires autocrats and himself.  We know that he loves money, his own, and wants more of it.  That seems like a very dangerous combination to me.

Do we really want a con artist, a fraudster as leader of our great nation.  I hope not, what would it say about the United States were we to elect him?  What would it do to our standing in the world?  Make America great?  No, it would make a laughing stock out of this great nation.

It's a Woman Thing.

I know, little trumpy will use Hillary's pneumonia as another excuse to say she is not "tough enough"  to be president.  It is a common prejudice of men to call women the weaker sex.  Weaker?

 Ok, maybe women don't have the muscles that men do but what they do have is endurance.  They have to.  They spend nine months carrying another person around inside their bodies and another 12 to 24 months carrying that person around on their hips, back or front.  In many parts of the world women travel miles to get water and wood which they haul home on backs or heads for their families.

When a woman is sick most don't have the luxury of staying in bed.  Women routinely get out of a sick bed to feed their families and do household chores.  They pop a few aspirin or Tylenol tablets so that they can get the kids to school, shop for groceries and run other necessary errands.

In many households women work eight hours at paying jobs (usually earning less than a man).  When they get home they then make dinner, do laundry, clean house and care for the kids.  Too often the big, tough man is sitting in front of the tube.

Perhaps that is why Hillary kept going, saying nothing, it's just what women do.  It's a woman thing.

Before you guys get your knickers in a twist, I know, many men get up and go to work when they are under the weather, but would trumpy?  I doubt it.

trump--Ventriloquist's Dummy?

I've been watching little trumpy give some speeches lately.  I find it interesting that the man who used to ridicule others now uses written speeches to look presidential.  Who writes these speaches?  These speaches sure don't sound like trumpy. 

When there is no teleprompter available he runs his finger down the page so as not to lose his place, rather like we did in elementary school  when first learning how to read.  Is he afraid if he diverges from the text give by his handlers that they will get angry with him and scold him?  We know that trumpy doesn't like criticism, it brings out the worst in him.

So I wonder, if trumpy is elected which would we get, the ventriloquist's dummy parroting the thoughts of others or the real dummy?

The Clinton Foundation Controversy

Trumpy keeps railing against Hillery and the Clinton Foundation.  I've been reading everything I can find and I don't understand the problem.  As far as I can tell, the Clintons receive no financial gain from it, it is a charity.  Do trumpy and his minions think that no one in government should talk to anyone who donates to the American Red Cross, The National Park Foundation, The Wounded Warrior Project or any of the many charities to which the wealthy donate. 

I don't believe I ever heard any criticism of Bob Dole when his wife was president of the American Red Cross but then we didn't have folks combing through e-mails trying to dig up dirt on the Doles. 
Trumpy seems to be reaching pretty far to substantiate his  claim of "Crooked Hillery" the fact is there is really nothing there.  Hillery and Bill haven't been sued for non-payment of debts nor have they declared bankruptcy leaving others holding the bag for there mismanagement as trumpy has done.  No, if trumpy wants to find a crook he can just look in the mirror.

If you want to know what the Clinton Foundation does you can learn more from this NPR story.

trump in an Alternate Universe

I'm not sure what universe trump lives in but it sure isn't the one I live in.  Little that he says has any resemblance to the real world, the one most of us know.  Even trump's supporters, if they really think about it, put aside there fear and prejudice would have to admit that his view of the world is hopelessly warped.

He seems to think that the United States of America is a weak, failed state.  The rest of the world knows that we are strong and look to us to defend them.  True, trump's friend Putan would like to weaken us, take over as number one and if trump were to win he might have a chance for little trumpy is hopelessly out classed in world affairs by even the weakest foreign leader.

He seems to think that our nation is so dangerous we are all afraid to leave our homes.  While it is true that some communities do have a problem with crime those are often minority communities, communities in which trump has little interest.  Now, I am an old lady, I don't live in gated community but I do live in a senior community.  Sure, we do have the occasional break in, things stolen from unlocked cars but am I afraid to go out alone after dark to take a walk?  No!  That's another thing little trumpy doesn't understand, Americans are not a paranoid, fearful people.  There has always been crime and there always will be but we do not live in fear.

He thinks that our President isn't interested in protecting us from terrorism.  Strange, it seems that it was the Obama administration that tracked down and killed Bin Laden,  it has been the Obama administration that has been systematically tracking down and killing terrorist leaders for years.

I know that the economy is not what we would like, that many people can't find full time work or work commensurate with their experience and education.  Does anyone really think that trumpy would change that?  He's the firer not a hirer.  When Obama became president the children of many of my friends were unemployed, now the have jobs.   I see "now hiring" signs in local stores and read that places like Starbucks and Walmart are raising wages.

I think that living in his Ivory Tower little trumpy has little knowledge of the world the rest of us live in but he is the master of manipulation.  This old lady has no intention of being manipulated (well, maybe buy my grandson, but he's special).