Weariness and Frankness

This independent voter is weary of people not addressing the obvious and rationalizing actions and behaviors that are less productive. Having been a member of both parties, a Democrat for about ten years of my early adult life and about twenty years as a Republican, I define myself as fiscally conservative and socially progressive. Both parties have some good ideas, while both have some bad ones.

So, let me be frank with my opinions, built off this foundation.

Democrats can defeat Trump, but they can also lose to him. Please study why George McGovern and Walter Mondale got shellacked in 1972 and 1984 and why Michael Dukakis and John Kerry lost in 1988 and 2004. It is not ironic that winning candidates Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were more moderate Democrats. Democrats cannot beat Trump without Independents and some Republicans. They could start by working now to address shoring up the ACA as they committed to do in the mid-terms and not waiting until 2021. Medicare for All is worth the discussion, but we need to address issues today, especially after the healthcare fiasco the GOP went through in 2017.

With that said, people need to look under the hood as to why more progressive Democrats have a few socialistic ideas. We should not ignore that the US economy is fettered capitalism with some socialist underpinnings. On the top end down, we have rules that govern collusion, monopolies, interlocking boards, insider trading, bankruptcy, etc. and on the bottom end up, we have socialistic programs that offer Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Workers Comp, and unemployment protections. Yet, the reason for their focus is America has a widened disparity between the haves and have nots. The key is to have a good debate as to how we address this disparity, not name-call ideas to win elections. Plus, this discussion must be done in the context of our huge debt and deficit problem (see below).

Seeing a dozen Oregon Republican state lawmakers leave the state to avoid voting for a Carbon Cap and Trade bill should be a clarion call. Cap and Trade used to be a GOP idea, but fossil fuel funders told them not to like it. We are facing a climate change crisis and voters must ask what candidates are going to do about climate change. Let me emphasize I left the GOP twelve years ago in large part due to its stance on climate change. Fortunately, climate change action is not waiting on head-in-the-sand politicians, but could be leveraged by more federal help.

My concerns are exacerbated as not only did the US president announce our withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Accord, he asked the G20 this week to soften language on climate change. It should be noted this is in contrast to his businessman stance, where a few years ago Trump staff requested in writing the Scottish government give them permission to build a sea wall at one of his golf courses to hold back the rising seas due to climate change. The word you are looking for his hypocrisy. The other words are fossil-fuel funding.

An issue not being discussed is rising US debt and deficit. Both parties are to blame. Nonpartisan groups and the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Committee clearly state this problem cannot be solved with just spending cuts and tax increases – it must have both, as the math will not otherwise work. These groups also note the GOP tax cut in December, 2017 was imprudent. But, Democrat candidates speaking of tax increases to pay for new social programs are being imprudent, as well. We need tax increases and spending cuts to pay for the poor stewardship of their predecessors.

When America forgets its ideals, we become just another country. I hear we must be a nation of laws, but we are treating migrants like chattel and not following due legal process. There is a reason so many attorneys are volunteering their services to migrants. If we are concerned about illegal immigrants, punishing companies that hire them would limit the economic slavery that goes on every day. Yet, we should also recognize that these folks are doing many jobs Americans don’t want. So, a thoughtful, humane and fact-based solution is warranted rather than a political one. Both parties are to blame, but I hold this president to account for making a recurring problem much worse with his words and actions. He reneged on a bipartisan agreement sixteen months ago and the House never took up a bipartisan Senate bill passed in 2013.

Finally, if we are to be a nation of laws, we should be gravely concerned the country is being run like a mafia family. The White House incumbent is clearly making money off the presidency and favoring countries where he sees business growth for his empire. It greatly troubles me that is daughter and son-in-law are serving unvetted and unapproved roles in the White House, because the president values loyalty over competence and experience. Then, comes the lying, bullying and denigration of critics, allies, media, public servants, etc. I have long been concerned over his setting policy off his lies be it climate change, voter fraud, Russian influence, Saudi prince innocence, Iran nuclear deal, the ACA, environmental pollution, and so on.

There is so much more I could write about. We need Americans to pay attention to better news sources, question things, and push back on politicians asking what they intend to do about issues. We need Congress to remember their job of governance. I feel this president is a clear and present danger to our democracy, our planet and even the Republican party. We are a Republic, not a kingdom and certainly not a mafia-ruled domain.

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Forever wanted

The following is a poem of advice from an author unknown. I came across this today as we were cleaning out a drawer. I either found this poem and wrote it down or wrote it myself. To be frank, I can remember neither course of action. It is written as advice, likely more specific to a young man, perhaps a teen lad.

My advice to you is to bathe often.

A stinky man is forever wanting of company.

My advice to you is to say thank you frequently.

An ungrateful man is forever wanting of company.

My advice to you is to spread kindness through good deeds.

An unkind man is forever wanting of company.

So, be clean, be grateful and be kind and be forever wanted as company.

If you know its source, please let me know. I cannot find it on the web. The only reason I may have written it is the first piece of advice as I read where a woman prefers a clean man. So, it is best to present the best version of yourself. Plus, I do my best to try and be the last two. Truth be known, I have no pride of authorship and don’t hold this up as any paragon. I just like the message.

An American hero – Bryan Stevenson

Who is Bryan Stevenson you may be asking yourself? Per Wikipedia:

“Bryan A. Stevenson is an American lawyer, social justice activist, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and a clinical professor at New York University School of Law. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, Stevenson has challenged bias against the poor and minorities in the criminal justice system, especially children. He has helped achieve United States Supreme Court decisions that prohibit sentencing children under 18 to death or to life imprisonment without parole.”

He is an American hero who has helped free over numerous death-row prisoners who were wrongly convicted. Some of these people should not have ever come to trial. They were guilty by being Black. The DAs did not bother with ballistics tests, even when later challenged. The juries, judge and prosecutors were almost always white.

Stevenson got a new trial which freed one man who had been on death row for 30 years. Earlier attempts years before failed because a line of DAs would not take the time do a ballistic test. The man has still not received an apology for giving up 30 years of his life for a wrongful conviction.

Per the HBO documentary “True Justice:”

“Stevenson has argued five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including one that resulted in a ban on mandatory sentences of life without parole for children 17 and under. He and the EJI have won reversals, relief or release from prison for more than 135 wrongly condemned death-row inmates.” 

He has now helped establish a Civil Rights museum in Montgomery, AL. Part of this museum includes several shelves of jars of soil gleaned from beneath trees where Black men were lynched. And, there are two monuments for every county in America where lynching occurred. The second monument is for the county to take back to remind us of what evil intent can do. He is strident in his view that the death penalty following a pre-determined trial outcome is a legal way to lynch someone, so he feels it is imperative to link this to the lynchings.

In the HBO documentary, Stevenson noted how we do a terrible job in our country of admitting and learning from our mistakes. Germany has many places where plaques note the atrocitues of Nazism. Here, we try to whitewash history, including the “genocide” of Native Americans, a term which is rarely used, but is apt.

We need more heroes like Stevenson. He is very earnest and speaks with a thoughtful and quiet voice. It is refreshing to see such a man where substance matters over perception.

 

Two renewable energy/ climate change articles

Two articles relating to renewable energy and climate change crossed my path this week. The first is about a Reuters poll on what Americans think about climate change. The second is from The Guardian regarding a first time occurrence in the US.

In Reuters,Valerie Volcovici wrote the following about a recent poll of 3,000 Americans in article called  “Americans demand climate action (as long as it doesn’t cost much): Reuters poll.” 

“According to the poll, 69% of Americans – including 56% of Republicans and 71% of independents – believe the United States needs to take ‘aggressive’ action to fight climate change.

Some 78% believe the government should invest more money to develop clean energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal, including 69% of Republicans and 79% of independents.”

When asked if they would accept an additional tax of $100, only a one-third said yes. While I am pleased with the interest, Americans (and all people) do not want more in taxes. Fortunately, the cost of renewables has become very favorable relative to coal energy production cost. This leads us to the second article.

The Guardian posted the following article later in the week about a key first called, “US generates more electricity from renewables than coal for first time ever.” A couple of paragraphs follow:

“The US generated more electricity from renewable sources than coal for the first time ever in April, new federal government data has shown.

Clean energy such as solar and wind provided 23% of US electricity generation during the month, compared with coal’s 20%, according to the Energy Information Administration.”

For several years, I have been reading and commenting the tipping point on the move away from coal has occurred. Natural gas put the first nail in the coffin, followed by other nails from renewable energy.

What I like about these two articles, is the future is here. Climate change is too noticeable to ignore. A politician does so at his or her own peril. Questions must be asked of them as to what do they plan to do about it. The other is politcians need to know renewables are here, the cost has dramatically declined and the growth in market share and jobs is pronounced.

And, we can do much more. The renewable energy technology is here. We just need to invest more in the infrastructure. Plus, we need to do more about the carbon and methane in the air along with other measures to reduce carbon footprints.

A little bit of this and that

Too many issues and events are percolating in my head. Rather than do a deep dive on any of them, here is a little bit of this and that.

Not unexpectedly, Trump sycophants in Congress are rationalizing their support of Donald Trump over E. Jean Carroll’s accusation of Trump raping her over twenty years ago. They “believe the president” rather than the accuser, with some saying they heard Carroll has a “credibility problem.” Let me state the obvious. If you have not noticed, Donald Trump has a huge credibility problem. 

Before 2017, we had a recurring immigration problem where efforts to solve it have died in one house or the other. The current president used fear to make the problem a winning issue blowing it out of proportion. We now have a huge immigration problem at the border on Trump’s watch due to diminished funding of Central American countries, demonization of immigrants from south of the border, threats to build a wall, and not providing sufficient judicial support to process migrants seeking asylum.

Treating children like animals is not who we are. This is not how we make America great. Yet, one thing that I harken back to is about sixteen months ago, this president had a bipartisan agreement with Senators Graham and Durbin for $25 billion for a wall and making DACA a law. There were other measures therein. That was in the morning. Before Graham and Durbin got to the White House in the afternoon, hardliner politicians got in Trump’s ear saying he should be even more unwelcoming. That was the day of the “sh*thole countries” comment.

Speaking of that credibility problem, our allies are not too keen to support the US on Iran. The other six countries in the Iran Nuclear deal said Iran was in compliance and encouraged the US not to pull out. Our intelligence staff agreed, but the president’s gut knows better. Coupling this with his bullying and untruthfulness along with the WMD fiction that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney pushed on the world, makes the US and this president untrustworthy.

Finally, Peter Wehner, a former member of three Republican White Houses, and a Christian, has written a new book called “The Death of Politics.” Last night on PBS Newshour, he said divisiveness started before Trump, but he clearly has made it worse, even reveling in the divisive seeds he sows. He also noted how his fellow Christians are too silent on Trump’s routine bad behavior. He is critical of those who rationalize his many indiscretions, and says Christians need to speak “truth to power.”

I did not want to write a solely Trump concerning post, but our tribal behavior is having reasonable people rationalize abhorrent actions and words from the White House incumbent. I can argue policy decisions all day on Trump’s decisions, but how he conducts himself, how he treats allies, colleagues, Congress, media, et al, is well beneath what she expect from a leader. His lack of a moral compass is disturbing. And, getting back to Ms. Carroll, his defense is “she is not his type.” Well sir, apparently you are not hers. She likely prefers her men not to force themselves on her like you have done with others.

Civil rights up close

My wife and I visited the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, NC yesterday. Why Greensboro? It is built on the location of the first African-American sit-ins at the “whites only” Woolworth’s restaurant counter. The counter and chairs remain as they looked back in 1960 when they were sat in by the Greensboro Four: David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil.

The museum is excellent, but very sobering that such treatment could occur in a land that was supposedly free. And, as our Congress debates the rationale for reparations for slavery, what should be included in the debate is people suppressed, tortured, and/or killed during the Jim Crow period. Seeing and hearing the story of Emmett Till or the Birmingham church bombing which killed four young girls is breathtakingly sad and maddening.

I have written before about the horrific lynchings which often accompanied degradation of the poor soul’s body before and after his death. Death by hanging is a slow death and horrible things were done to the victim to make them feel worse as they died. What kind of evil can make men do that? Black men were lynched for looking at a white woman too long or at all. The great Billie Holiday captured the sadness in her song “Strange Fruit,” referencing strange fruit swinging in the trees.

The Jim Crow period rivals the horror of slavery for a key reason – these were acts committed on supposedly free people. But, their freedom was “contained” in a box of voter and economic suppression. So, Jim Crow was an orchestrated modus operandi to keep Black folks down. Whites who tried to help were also ostracized. And, what is also disturbing, too many ministers found bible verses and preached differentiation and segregation.

We must loudly condemn actions and words today by hate groups who say another group’s rights are subservient to theirs. Nazism, Apartheid, slavery and Jim Crow are part of the same demonization and hateful fabric. It is not supposed to work that way in our country. Our elected leaders are supposed to be our better angels. When they fail to lead in a manner closer to our ideals, we need to tell them so. Or, find better leaders.

Summer of ’69 – a few things to remember

While 1968 was a year of significant occurrences, we are now reflecting on the events of fifity years ago in 1969. Bryan Adams sang of this year from a personal standpoint in “Summer of ’69,” so it is a great way to kick off:

“I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it till my fingers bled
It was the summer of ’69
Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Jody got married
I should’ve known we’d never get far
Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Ya I’d always want to be there
Those were the best days of my life”

This song was penned by Adams and James Douglas Vallance and reveals how the band was so important to the life of the singer. Yet, I find of interest how he interjects how life rears its head and alters the dreams. I do not know how autobiographical the song is, but I am glad Adams stuck with it, as he has crafted and performed many memorable songs.

Fifty years ago, we saw the final straw that caused action to occur on environmental protection. Following the reaction to Rachel Carson’s push with ‘Silent Spring,” the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire as it was so polluted by chemical dumping. Seeing this in retrospect, it amazes me that companies would dump or drain chemical run-off into a river and be surprised by the result. Within six months, President Nixon inked the law to create the Environmental Protection Agency, one of his two greatest accomplishments (opening dialogue with China was the other).

Later this summer, we will reflect on Neil Armstrong taking “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he is the first human to walk on the moon. Buzz Aldrin would soon join him for a lunar walkabout. These actions opened up science as a possible career for many young people and it also showed us that we are mere occupants on our planet. So, it is crucial we take care of where we live for our children and grandchildren. Maybe this helped provide additional context for enacting the EPA.

In August, will be the fiftieth anniversary of Woodstock where 300,000 or so people ventured to a farm in upstate New York for a three day concert. This event still amazes me and I am intrigued by a friend’s recounting of what happened as he was there as a young college student. From his view, he remembers there were so many people, things like food, water and restrooms were dear. He recalls making food runs for people. The music and atmosphere were wonderful, but the challenges are overlooked in memory.

Finally, people who do not follow baseball or football will yawn, but this was the year of two huge upsets, which in actuality, should not have been as surprising. In January, Broadway Joe Namath led the New York Jets over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl. Namath had bragged that they would win the game the preceding week, but what many failed to realize, Namath had a terrific set of receivers and two of the best running backs in the game. This win led to the merger of two rival football leagues.

In October, the New York Mets easily won the baseball World Series over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles (it was a tough year for Baltimore fans). For the first part of the decade, the new Mets were the worst team in baseball. What was underestimated by the Orioles is the Mets had two future Hall of Fame pitchers – Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan and another excellent one in Jerry Koosman. Good pitching will beat good hitting almost every time. I mention these two events as when you look under the hood, the outcomes are less surprising, even though they were at the time.

The decade ended with two eventful years. Unfortunately, the US remained in Vietnam fighting a war which, we learned later, we knew we could not win. Many Americans and Vietnamese died, as a result fighting a war that would last several more years. We should remember people die in wars, before we go out and fight another one. As a Vietnamese soldier said in Ken Burns’ documentary on the war, people who feel they can win a war, have never fought in one.

 

 

Reach out and touch…our leaders with your concerns

I have been in contact with the offices of sixteen Republican Senators to share my concerns about an American problem, not a Democrat or Republican one. I am also going to send the following email to several Democrat Senators.

If you agree with my mission, please feel free to adapt the following to suit your style and message. The staff I speak with say they are hearing from others with these concerns. Calls are better than emails, as you can actually converse and share your frustration.

“Dear Senator, thank you for your service. I am independent and former Republican voter who is following closely a group called Republicans for the Rule of Law. This group is pushing Congress to strongly consider two issues and are sending highlighted copies of the Mueller report to each member.

First, the Senate should move forward a vote on the bipartisan election security bill. It is very perturbing the Senate leader is standing against such a vote. The Russians influenced our 2016 election and already working on 2020.

Second, they side with the courageous statement by GOP Congressman Justin Amash that there are grounds for impeachment in the Mueller report. It should be noted a bipartisan group of 1,000 plus former federal prosecutors agree.

This is not just a Democrat issue, it is an American issue. We are not a kingdom, we are a republic. And, no one is above the law, even the president.

I have shared with my Republican Senators the above. I am concerned for our democracy and our planet, as our credibility has waned around the globe with this untruthful president. Please act.”

Thanks for your time and interest.

The Lavender Scare

My wife and I watched an informative documentary on PBS last night called “The Lavender Scare.” This show documents a lengthy period of US government sanctioned discrimination against homosexuals that lasted from the early 1950s to mid 1990s.

The scare evolved directly from the efforts of Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the “red scare” as he carried out communist witch hunts. He turned his eye toward homosexuals saying (without data) those who worked in the government were susceptible to communist blackmailers. Yet, unlike his communist witch hunt publicly dying due to his “lack of decency,” as the Secretary of the Army said, the Lavender Scare gained footing.

To my chagrin, I learned former General Dwight Eisenhower campaigned for President on this issue and signed an executive order in 1953 to identify and expel homosexuals from government positions. This saddens me because of the obvious discrimination, but also because the former General said earlier the UK team led by Alan Turing that broke the Nazi Enigma code saved 750,000 lives and shortened WWII by two years. Turing had to hide that he was gay, so Ike’s executive order in 1953 would have kicked Turing out of employment had he been his boss in WWII – what would have happened if Turing would not have been around to impact the war?

The fact this government sanctioned discrimination lasted until it was ceased by President Bill Clinton is a shame, as well. Multiple tens of thousands of excellent public servants were kicked out of jobs they loved and did well. And, many could not get good employment in the private sector due to their FBI file. One of those was an astronomer named Dr. Frank Kameny.

Yet, Kameny did not sit still. He became an advocate for gay rights pushing a ball uphill. He wrote letters to Congress members, some of which were caustically responded to giving variations of the same harsh response. He organized protests and would help those who lost jobs. And, he was able to save some jobs, one who spoke five languages and was later decorated for service to the NSA. Kameny was awarded the “Medal of Freedom” by President Barack Obama for being the grandfather of the gay advocacy movement.

Sadly, there is a movement today led by some exclusionary religious leaders to condemn gays and foment their discrimination. My thinking is this is a backlash to the US Supreme Court approving same-sex marriage a few years ago. But, it goes deeper than that with a president who has laid the groundwork for divisiveness to occur with impunity. He did not invent divisiveness, but is not preventing it either.

Let me be frank. We are land of freedoms and civil rights. Unless someone is harming you, you have “no standing” to deny the rights of others. I personally am offended by bigotry in the pulpit as I see this a a grievous dereliction of duty. Yet, that person has a right to say what he wants – provided he is not inciting violence or hate crimes. If the latter is true, then that is not a protected right.

Please watch this informative documentary. And, let’s do our best to avoid going back to this dark period. There was one gay postal worker who was to be expelled in the 1950s, but his boss stood up for him saying I know this, it does not bother me and he does a good job. The gay employee kept his job. We need more of that in our country and less of the hate speech.

Credibility

Former CIA Director Michael Morell said on CBS Morning News today he is persuaded from the evidence Iran is most likely behind the attacks on Japanese and Norwegian tankers. Yet, he also spoke about a credibility problem the US must overcome to convince its allies. He is not alone as newspapers in the European Union and United States have made similar reports.

Morell notes the US faces three credibility issues and he does so with chagrin and in a matter-of-fact way.

First, he said the US is remembered for the ardent and contrived evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction that led to the invasion of Iraq. This information helped build a coalition of support. A UK commission faulted both President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair for being less than forthcoming.

Second, Morell said “let’s face it,” the US president is known for being untruthful on a recurring basis. So, anything he says must be verified. America is less trusted because its White House incumbent is untrustworthy.

Third, many allies view the US as contributing to this mess. By pulling out of a nuclear deal between Iran and six countries, when our allies and US intelligence noted Iran was in compliance, set us on a different path forward. It should be noted Secretary of Defense Mike Mattis said at that time we should remain in the deal. By asserting more pressure on Iran, we are pushing buttons that need not be pushed.

Morell said neither country wants to go to war, but all it will take is an attack on US interests or Saudi Arabia or Israel acting aggressively. It could be an actor that wants to instigate a fight. This should worry us.

I do not disagree with Morell and have tended to find him a voice of reason. What also concerns me is a president who is not (nor cares to be) a student of history and is more concerned with perception than reality. Reality is about to bite him on the behind and we have damaged one of our greatest strengths – our allied relationships.