Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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Going, Going, Gone

On Jan. 20, 2017 I put the “Not My President” bumper sticker on my truck.  I also put the American flag in the distress configuration on it.  For the first few months afterwards I was getting flipped off regularly.  Then it more or less stopped.  The flipping off restarted the couple months leading up to the election.  I got where I did not flip them off in return, but held up my thumb and forefinger about one inch apart to represent my estimation of their manhood.  I don’t recall a woman ever giving me the finger.

With Joe Biden set to become the 46th President I feel I can take the bumper stickers off.  I feel like I am waking up from one the worst nightmares of my life.  A nightmare that has gone on for 4 years.  I know we have a couple more months of the Orange Monster, and that he can do much damage in the that time period. But I can see daylight.  I can see a time when I might start feeling some pride for my country again.

I cannot express the relief that I felt with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  And at the same time the disappointment I felt in so many of my fellow citizens. In my life time of presidential elections there has never been a clearer choice between good and evil.  Yet almost half the country chose to vote for Darth Vader over Yoda.  I do not really understand why anyone would have voted for Trump in 2016, but I more or less excused them as buying into to his bull.  This time around it is incomprehensible for me.  They have had 4 years of watching his incompetence and malevolence, and they did it again.  Oh well.

Going, going, and soon to be gone.

Keep well.

 

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Marching to a Theocracy

When the Founding Fathers spoke of Religious Freedom, what they really meant was freedom from religion. They were very adamant about avoiding what was so common in Europe at the time, state sponsored religions. There was a very strong push in the infancy of our country to set up a state church.  Fortunately, we more or less escaped that calamity.

I have always thought of the United States as a religiously diverse country.  This belief arose because there are so many different protestant religions in this country.  The reality is that, according to the Pew Research Center, the United States is around 78% Christian1.  This puts us in the middle of the pack as far as religious diversity is concerned.

Some 223 years after our constitution went into effect; Continue reading “Marching to a Theocracy”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #3,171

yeah I know you did not ask!

Here is something I thought I would never have to do.  I was speaking to a young woman via Skype to practice my Spanish.  She lives Coca, Ecuador, a city of 40,000 in Amazonian jungle whose primary business in oil.  We had a long, rambling conversation about politics and the upcoming election in the United States.  She apparently has another student who is younger than her (she is late 20s) and a big supporter of the Orange Monster.  He is absolutely convinced that Putin’s Bitch is a man of the people and will win the election. He had told her that all his young friends are of the same opinion.  I did my best to dissuade Micaela that this is not the common position.

At the end of the conversation I did something I never would have thought I would do… I asked a person living in a small South American country to pray for my country.

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Elections by Lottery

See link to a podcast at end of article.

I do not not know if this is a good idea.  I do not know if this is a bad idea.  I do know it is an interesting idea.

I believe I would get very little argument if I were to state that our current process of electing folks to public office is dysfunctional trending towards the cluster f*** arena.

I’m not sure where this idea first originated, but they have been experimenting with this election process in Bolivia, in schools there.  The process is basically instead of having traditional elections with campaigning you have a lottery.  Everyone who might want a particular office puts the equivalent of  their name in a hat.  If their name is drawn out they get the office.  At least at this low level Continue reading “Elections by Lottery”

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How cool is that?

Metropolitan St. Louis is more or less a Democratic area amidst the sea of red that is Republican Missouri.  However the sashaying Señora Weinhaus and I live in the suburb of Chesterfield which is smack dab in the middle of the 2nd Congressional District.  This is the district which has given us such Republican notables as Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin and Ann “What Climate Change” Wagner.  This time around Jill Schupp is running against Ann Wagner.

I have absolutely nothing positive to say about Wagner except one thing.  She inadvertently gave me the tagline for my blog.  In 2013 I posted an article on my blog, Ann Wagner, Global Warming Denier…Be scared, very scared. The article was picked up by Continue reading “How cool is that?”

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Barr and Pompeo Goosestepping to The Rapture

A fellow Luddite sent me this article by Yvonne Owens, Why, And To What, Have Mike Pompeo and William Barr Sold Their Souls?, with the following comment:

“If some or most of this is factual, it explains what has stumped me, maybe all of us, as to why the right-wing absolution of Putin. I’ve read various theories and hints at this explanation. This is the best dive into the story I’ve found.”

I will admit that when an author has laden an article with so many loaded terms I wonder about  the article in general.  BUT, I will have to admit I agree with her on many points.

My thoughts after reading the article. Continue reading “Barr and Pompeo Goosestepping to The Rapture”