Conservative pundits are taking umbrage at labeling as extremists persons who attack and murder at Planned Parenthood facilities. You know - the folks who for decades now have been bombing clinics, shooting doctors who perform the legal procedure of abortion and harassing persons attempting to enter the facilities for medical services.
These are the same Radical Conservatives that scream Muslims are bringing Sharia Law to America. The sames American stalwarts who would close our borders to the Middle Eastern and North African refugees fleeing war, famine and drought. The very same patriots that are once again pounding the drums for war to which they will happily send your sons and daughters. You know. The warm hearted souls who love our veterans as long as they are serving and dying overseas, but who refuse to budget services for them when they return crippled in body and soul. Yeah, those sweethearts.
I usually don't call them extremists. I prefer the terms homegrown American terrorists, Radical Christians, Radical Conservatives. I find it difficult to discern differences between them and the Radical Jihadists and Radical Islam they abhor.
Here's what I think...
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Not Exactly Home for the Holidays - Letter to a Friend
My Mom is showing marked improvement since we asked Charlotte to come twice a week. Charlotte has a deep, caring rapport with Mom - very nurturing in a way I have never been. We still have our weekly outings to a restaurant - usually Carrabbas, which has great atmosphere and service.
We are all going over to the Assisted Living Facility at Summerfield to join Mom for Thanksgiving because wheelchair transport on the holiday seemed problematic. I hope it works out OK, but am considering trying to rent a wheelchair capable van for Christmas. Once you give up these things, life changes forever. My heart turns to all the Thanksgivings when Mom and I put the extra leaves in the table; put on the special, embroidered tablecloth; and then covered it with plastic; set the table with the best China, silver and glassware. We always did this the night before and loved the pristine setting that promised culinary delights on the morrow.
We always went to Kozel's the night before (going back to all the years my Dad was with us too and, of course, the girls) and then the big day arrived and Lilo and Werner arrived from New York. Everything was bustle and preparation and interruptions and Werner ALWAYS needed a snack as soon as he arrived and Lilo and my parents brought pies and cookies and paper mache Pilgrims and bagels and Lilo's special green cream cheese and chaos and unexpected guests and it all worked out somehow and Bill wore the biggest shit-eating grin because there was nothing except fishing he liked half as much as hosting Thanksgiving Dinner.
Over the years the rituals have changed as life insisted upon happening. Turns out this year marks another change none of us are really prepared for. We will just have to see how it works out. And hope that the ghosts of those who have gone before us rest easy. Mom is the only parent still with us.
We are all going over to the Assisted Living Facility at Summerfield to join Mom for Thanksgiving because wheelchair transport on the holiday seemed problematic. I hope it works out OK, but am considering trying to rent a wheelchair capable van for Christmas. Once you give up these things, life changes forever. My heart turns to all the Thanksgivings when Mom and I put the extra leaves in the table; put on the special, embroidered tablecloth; and then covered it with plastic; set the table with the best China, silver and glassware. We always did this the night before and loved the pristine setting that promised culinary delights on the morrow.
We always went to Kozel's the night before (going back to all the years my Dad was with us too and, of course, the girls) and then the big day arrived and Lilo and Werner arrived from New York. Everything was bustle and preparation and interruptions and Werner ALWAYS needed a snack as soon as he arrived and Lilo and my parents brought pies and cookies and paper mache Pilgrims and bagels and Lilo's special green cream cheese and chaos and unexpected guests and it all worked out somehow and Bill wore the biggest shit-eating grin because there was nothing except fishing he liked half as much as hosting Thanksgiving Dinner.
Over the years the rituals have changed as life insisted upon happening. Turns out this year marks another change none of us are really prepared for. We will just have to see how it works out. And hope that the ghosts of those who have gone before us rest easy. Mom is the only parent still with us.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Keep Your Goddamn Huddled Masses Off My Shores
When Hitler was marching across Europe, fleeing Jews were denied refuge by many countries, including the United States, forcing numbers of them to return to Germany where they were sent to the death camps.
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States ordered American citizens of Japanese descent to be rounded up, their property confiscated and entire families relocated to isolated internment camps quickly thrown together for that purpose.
When members of a criminal group of radical Islamists took down the World Trade Center, the United States waged war on and dismantled any semblance of order in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Shock, fear and anger are natural human responses to aggression and terror. If they are not tempered by reason, bad situations tend to be made worse. We do not want to open our doors to Middle Eastern and North African refugees. Neither does Western Europe, although those countries appear less able to hold back the tide (especially since we took out Gaddafi who was holding a buffer zone against the African component).
If we do not want to be inundated by a tide of migration such as the world has periodically seen since human beings first went on the move, perhaps we should be more careful to avoid or prevent the political and economic destabilization of huge swathes of our planet. The strongest drive of any living thing is survival. We have it - it is why we want to close our doors to strangers. It is also why those strangers will sooner or later be pressing at our gates.
Bravado and bigotry exacerbate the problem.
Can we have some serious brainstorming here, please.
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States ordered American citizens of Japanese descent to be rounded up, their property confiscated and entire families relocated to isolated internment camps quickly thrown together for that purpose.
When members of a criminal group of radical Islamists took down the World Trade Center, the United States waged war on and dismantled any semblance of order in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Shock, fear and anger are natural human responses to aggression and terror. If they are not tempered by reason, bad situations tend to be made worse. We do not want to open our doors to Middle Eastern and North African refugees. Neither does Western Europe, although those countries appear less able to hold back the tide (especially since we took out Gaddafi who was holding a buffer zone against the African component).
If we do not want to be inundated by a tide of migration such as the world has periodically seen since human beings first went on the move, perhaps we should be more careful to avoid or prevent the political and economic destabilization of huge swathes of our planet. The strongest drive of any living thing is survival. We have it - it is why we want to close our doors to strangers. It is also why those strangers will sooner or later be pressing at our gates.
Bravado and bigotry exacerbate the problem.
Can we have some serious brainstorming here, please.
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