Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Trump and LGBTQ stuff
I guess it is touching that Caitlyn Jenner is still naive enough to believe Republicans when it comes to civil rights issues, but I doubt that was the only reason she sided with them. Any amongst the the GLBTQ spectrum who voted for Trump, I hope you are enjoying what he has done with your trust. Personally, I think his campaign and presidency has been an embarrassment to this country. A large percentage of people decided they would really like to forgo the difficulties of compromise and working under the rules laid out by the Constitution and years of precedent, and the treasure the country was received is basically someone upset he can't rule by fiat like he does in his family business. Kellyanne Conway complained about the ethics requirements for working in the government. Seriously, if there are people turned off by the ethics requirements of serving in the government, perhaps they shouldn't be in the government. The administration has surrounded itself with those willing to be abused by Trump (see Jeff Sessions and Sean Spicer) who for some reason believe that abuse is good for the country. Now Trump is abusing those transgender who serve in the military, because while he never served, he doesn't think they should. It is acceptable for the military to spend $84 million on Viagra and erectile disfunction, but the $8.4 million for transgender medical care is too much money, at least that is Trump's argument. I honestly wonder if Trump didn't tweet that transgender and the military crap as a diversionary tactic from the ongoing healthcare debate in the Senate.
Thursday, February 09, 2017
A link to a poem and thoughts (on what, I am not sure)
I found this great poem by Jameson Fitzpatrick in January's "Poetry" magazine, and I think you should give it a read. I decided it would be too difficult to just take a section of it and post, so that is why I linked the whole thing. Considering how things in this blog have progressed, linking it is likely political.
I was looking, but couldn't find it quickly, so I will either forget about it or search later for the line of Whitman I was seeking, one where he sees no difference in the young men sent to war by either side during the Civil War. It will probably haunt me until I can find it and share it.
Speaking of Whitman, "Long, Too Long America" is one I transcribed onto my FB feed. I got several likes, and then of course someone decided to make the poem political, and said the screaming was from liberals or some such thing. After a calm comment from me about one beauty of poetry was that people could interpret it as they will, especially when the author is long gone. This earned another response of some sort, and I eventually said:
The fact you immediately jumped to something derogatory and negative in your interpretation of the poem, while I was basically using it as a reminder that this country has been divided before, and that we made it through once, and will again, means we really don't see the world in the same way, and our perspectives aren't likely to jibe often. Whitman's war poetry is filled with the blood of young soldiers, and the horrors daily seen, and so there are lamentations also included, but there is also the hope that we will come out whole as a country, and this hope is what carries the poems.
After that, there was little more to be said, and he did sort of apologize. Perhaps we are so polarized because we not everyone is willing to compromise on their vision for this country, a country that has historically and consistently demonized immigrants, but has somehow managed to keep accepting them. We are a country of immigrants, and to deny that is to deny history, and to claim that immigrants have always been openly accepted is also to deny history, since just prior to WWII the US refused to allow a ship of Jewish refugees to disembark. History is dark and sometimes unpleasant, and though they claim it is written by the winners, we all lose if the other voices are completely silenced. With the current methods terrorists seem to enjoy, I think a thorough vetting of immigrants is fair and just, and that vetting got even more thorough when it was discovered some were allowed into the country, only to have them attempt to send money to terrorist organizations. Slowing the process down and increasing the scrutiny was a valid answer, banning people outright fleeing from countries at war is not a measured answer, it is a panic answer that does no good, but does manage to alienate our allies, and make life infinitely more difficult for those fleeing their homes.
Ironically, VP Pence is staunchly pro-life, but a dead three year old boy lying on a beach deserves nothing because he is muslim? Something tells me that VP Pence is only pro-life if there is a chance the child will be brought up as a good Christian.
I was looking, but couldn't find it quickly, so I will either forget about it or search later for the line of Whitman I was seeking, one where he sees no difference in the young men sent to war by either side during the Civil War. It will probably haunt me until I can find it and share it.
Speaking of Whitman, "Long, Too Long America" is one I transcribed onto my FB feed. I got several likes, and then of course someone decided to make the poem political, and said the screaming was from liberals or some such thing. After a calm comment from me about one beauty of poetry was that people could interpret it as they will, especially when the author is long gone. This earned another response of some sort, and I eventually said:
The fact you immediately jumped to something derogatory and negative in your interpretation of the poem, while I was basically using it as a reminder that this country has been divided before, and that we made it through once, and will again, means we really don't see the world in the same way, and our perspectives aren't likely to jibe often. Whitman's war poetry is filled with the blood of young soldiers, and the horrors daily seen, and so there are lamentations also included, but there is also the hope that we will come out whole as a country, and this hope is what carries the poems.
After that, there was little more to be said, and he did sort of apologize. Perhaps we are so polarized because we not everyone is willing to compromise on their vision for this country, a country that has historically and consistently demonized immigrants, but has somehow managed to keep accepting them. We are a country of immigrants, and to deny that is to deny history, and to claim that immigrants have always been openly accepted is also to deny history, since just prior to WWII the US refused to allow a ship of Jewish refugees to disembark. History is dark and sometimes unpleasant, and though they claim it is written by the winners, we all lose if the other voices are completely silenced. With the current methods terrorists seem to enjoy, I think a thorough vetting of immigrants is fair and just, and that vetting got even more thorough when it was discovered some were allowed into the country, only to have them attempt to send money to terrorist organizations. Slowing the process down and increasing the scrutiny was a valid answer, banning people outright fleeing from countries at war is not a measured answer, it is a panic answer that does no good, but does manage to alienate our allies, and make life infinitely more difficult for those fleeing their homes.
Ironically, VP Pence is staunchly pro-life, but a dead three year old boy lying on a beach deserves nothing because he is muslim? Something tells me that VP Pence is only pro-life if there is a chance the child will be brought up as a good Christian.
Monday, February 06, 2017
Gradual Discovery
Over on FB, there is someone I went to high school with, and he is on the opposite side of the political spectrum, which isn't an uncommon occurrence, especially considering I went to high school in Southern Indiana. Regardless, he posted some story about Tom Brady being threatened with a public flogging if he didn't recant his friendship with Donald Trump. I asked if he was serious about such a story, and then said that Tom Brady, like any entertainer, is allowed to speak his political views, and the fallout from them is between him and his fans, like it would be any entertainer. The comment back was something about it being from the left, and he was confused. I am not quite sure what happened, as I was there supporting someone's right to an opinion, and if they choose to be vocal about that opinion, then they should accept the fallout, and I didn't care whether the opinion was from the left or right. I am not going to follow up comments on that chain because it really seems that even when I agree with this person, in this case allowing an entertainer the right to their opinion, I am somehow in the wrong by not condemning those who disagree with it? I know my English isn't that bad, but for some reason I think we are speaking different languages.
[I do consider professional athletes entertainers, since they use their talents to entertain via sport.]
[I do consider professional athletes entertainers, since they use their talents to entertain via sport.]
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Venting a little...
OK, let's get some ugliness off my chest. First off, I do not think that everything President Obama did was wonderful. Contrary to the Republicans though, I do not think his entire agenda was wrong and should be undone as quickly as possible. Starting with medical care, do we live in a country that actually believes everyone doesn't deserve affordable medical care? By affordable, I don't mean that getting cancer leaves you a choice of treatment which will bankrupt you, or choosing no treatment, because it will leave your family in better financial position. I recall reading that "for profit" medical centers have a higher issue of welfare fraud than "non profit," and if this is true, perhaps the government is wrong in just looking at insurance as a solution. (This link isn't the article I had in mind, which was read a bit ago, but shows the various medical frauds from 2015, both of the insurance industry and medicare. It also doesn't say which are for profit or non profit. Regardless, the amount of fraud is staggering.) Since all the fraud mentioned in that article wasn't just against medicare, but also against insurance companies, it isn't something that can simply be put to government incompetence, as private industry has a problem with it as well.
Back to my original point, do we really want to live in a country that can't or won't provide basic medical care to people. Broken bones happen, but for fast food workers or retail employees, if they don't happen at work, prior to the Affordable Care Act, they didn't make the money to pay for treatment without going into significant debt. I know a lot of people bitch and moan about the minimum wage, but if you are working for it, there isn't much chance that you are saving anything, after rent, utilities, and food, and if you are saving for something, an accident will put you back at nothing, whether that money was for school, a vacation, or, ironically, helping out family with medical bills. Republicans began to really get an earful after the election, and while they are still going to try and dismantle the programs, their voters at least have them doing it with a bit more thought and a bit less glee. They care about the vote, not the voter, which is to say they don't really care.
Another gross example of not caring is Trump executive order on immigration. He did not vet this with the agencies involved and he did not think about how it would impact our allies, or those living, working, and studying in this country. He didn't care and just made his proclamation, with the fallout damaging pretty much everything. Follow that up with his conversation with the Australian PM, in which he argued about a refugee agreement Obama had made. The agreement, according to the Australian PM, was for 1250 refugees to be accepted in the US after proper vetting. Trump was arguing 2000, which is a significant overstatement. Trump does have a way of exaggerating things. While the women's march was a scheduled event, last weekend's spontaneous airport protests were brought on by Trump's callous handling of immigration regulations.
Government has almost always been accused of being cold and faceless, insisting on the regulations, regardless of if they made sense. Trump is giving his face to this ugly bureaucracy by showing no care whatsoever for his actions or their consequences. He has a steep learning curve, and he is still carping about Schwarzenegger and his "The Apprentice" ratings.
I guess that is it for now, though I may try to write something a bit later about something other than politics. In my opinion, since private industry was unable to affordable insure all Americans, then the government does have the obligation to step in. We are not a pure capitalist society, because if we were the robber barons and monopolists from the nineteenth & early twentieth century would still have their mini empires; instead, we are a mixed system, capitalist principles tempered by government restrictions, lest we live in a polluted world working 80 hours weeks for below a living wage. Americans are better than that, and our government needs to be as well.
Back to my original point, do we really want to live in a country that can't or won't provide basic medical care to people. Broken bones happen, but for fast food workers or retail employees, if they don't happen at work, prior to the Affordable Care Act, they didn't make the money to pay for treatment without going into significant debt. I know a lot of people bitch and moan about the minimum wage, but if you are working for it, there isn't much chance that you are saving anything, after rent, utilities, and food, and if you are saving for something, an accident will put you back at nothing, whether that money was for school, a vacation, or, ironically, helping out family with medical bills. Republicans began to really get an earful after the election, and while they are still going to try and dismantle the programs, their voters at least have them doing it with a bit more thought and a bit less glee. They care about the vote, not the voter, which is to say they don't really care.
Another gross example of not caring is Trump executive order on immigration. He did not vet this with the agencies involved and he did not think about how it would impact our allies, or those living, working, and studying in this country. He didn't care and just made his proclamation, with the fallout damaging pretty much everything. Follow that up with his conversation with the Australian PM, in which he argued about a refugee agreement Obama had made. The agreement, according to the Australian PM, was for 1250 refugees to be accepted in the US after proper vetting. Trump was arguing 2000, which is a significant overstatement. Trump does have a way of exaggerating things. While the women's march was a scheduled event, last weekend's spontaneous airport protests were brought on by Trump's callous handling of immigration regulations.
Government has almost always been accused of being cold and faceless, insisting on the regulations, regardless of if they made sense. Trump is giving his face to this ugly bureaucracy by showing no care whatsoever for his actions or their consequences. He has a steep learning curve, and he is still carping about Schwarzenegger and his "The Apprentice" ratings.
I guess that is it for now, though I may try to write something a bit later about something other than politics. In my opinion, since private industry was unable to affordable insure all Americans, then the government does have the obligation to step in. We are not a pure capitalist society, because if we were the robber barons and monopolists from the nineteenth & early twentieth century would still have their mini empires; instead, we are a mixed system, capitalist principles tempered by government restrictions, lest we live in a polluted world working 80 hours weeks for below a living wage. Americans are better than that, and our government needs to be as well.
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