My Anthem, My Troubadour

 America's Last Troubadour

Whilst drinking my first cuppa of the day, I like to visit the blogs I follow, to see what's new in their worlds.  One I follow is written by artist, Gary C. Myers.  He regularly features a link to a music video he finds interesting: today's link was to a song Johnny Cash recorded shortly before his death, "I See a Darkness."  

While at that video site, I found another song (God's Gonna Cut You Down) that seems fitting for these times and for the current Occupiers of our White House.  I have decided this will be my battlecry for this stage of The Resistance.  If interested, click the link under Johnny's image above.

I've put a link in the first para to Gary's page because of what he posted today.  I'd never seen that cartoon by Dr. Seuss before: how damned spooky can it get?   I don't know if Seuss wrote the blank verse, but I found it powerfully thought-provoking.

Hope today day goes well for all of you.

Message for All Women

This is short, intended originally for Mike (blog name Genial Misanthrope), whose email address I have lost, to pass on to his kids, in case they haven't seen the story yet.  However, it has important info for all women and those who care about them.  

I received this from friend Zhoen (blog name One Word): thank you, Zhoen - I'm happy to receive the link.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12-05/cross-generational-group-us-women-planning-nationwide-strike-against-trump

 

Back to the trenches!  It costs very little, if anything, to join this movement, but will send a strong message.  Women are the ones who will be hurt most by a Trump presidency, so we must be among the ones to do something to affect change - legally, without resorting to violence.

 

STRIKE!

I Don't Think This is What Ben Franklin Had in Mind

Dear Friends:

I wish you all well, hoping your holiday is warm and loving, full of family and good friends - and mighty good food, enough for all!

My daughter sent me the follow image which I think you will enjoy, no matter for whom you voted.  My sincere and deeply felt apologies to Meleagris gallopavos everywhere for the unintentional slight.

Martha

Worth a Shot

Friend Fresca wrote:

     "When we who believe in speaking up come up with a symbol that everyone agrees on, I'll wear that. But until then, I'll stick with the safety pin to represent even just the possibility of a pinprick of light in the darkness."

I suggested a multi-colored, striped megaphone.  It doesn't fit Fresca's ideal, but I figured I'd give it a go.  It's meant to represent all races, all orientations, abilities - all of us!  (I might change the orientation of the human-color stripes, though; from darkest on top to lightest on bottom...or some other way.)

It's a work in progress.

A Voice of Reason (and Humor) In a Desert of Deep Despair

John Oliver, HBO

 

 

 

Last week was one of the most confusing, disheartening and disturbing I've ever experienced, that sent me into a nosedive of despair.  I refer to the U. S. Presidential election, of course.  This morning, I discovered John Oliver and the video (linked above) that made me laugh heartily for the first time since last Tuesday (also known - in my family - as the Day of the Clown Apocalypse.  Now I understand why my daughter fears clowns.)

 

If any of you could use a good laugh and some ideas about how to defeat the Reign of Terror I fear Trump will bring to our republic, I can recommend giving Oliver a listen.

 

To put things into perspective, the greater tragedy last week was the loss of two icons from the world of music: Leonard Cohen and Leon Russell.  They left behind great libraries of their works, which eased, somewhat, the grief of their passing.

 

Peace be with you.

George's Worst Fears May Have Come True

I subscribe to Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac.  Today's issue had an article about George Washington's farewell address, which follows.  Wish the Nation's newspapers would carry this now and every day until election day, then every election year thereafter.  We need to be reminded of the intent of our founders.  (Of course, I should read the entire address before making such a proclamation, but I am taken with what I've read here.)

http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20160919/

On this day in 1796, President George Washington's farewell address was printed in the Daily American Advertiser as an open letter to American citizens. The most famous of all his "speeches," it was never actually spoken; a week after its publication in this Philadelphia newspaper, it was reprinted in papers all over the country.

The address was a collaborative effort that took Washington months to finalize, incorporating the notes that James Madison had prepared four years prior when Washington intended to retire after his first term, as well as numerous edits from Alexander Hamilton and a critique from John Jay. Madison, Hamilton, and Jay were accustomed to writing collectively; together they had published the Federalist Papers, 85 newspaper articles published throughout the 13 states to introduce and explain their proposal for a Constitution.

Now only eight years old, the Constitution was in danger, Washington feared, of falling prey to the whims of popular sentiment. In 6,086 words, his address seeks to encourage the nation to respect and maintain the Constitution, warning that a party system — not yet the governmental standard operating procedure — would reduce the nation to infighting. He urged Americans to relinquish their personal or geographical interests for the good of the national interest, warning that "designing men" would try to distract them from their larger common views by highlighting their smaller, local differences. "You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection," he wrote.

Washington also feared interference by foreign governments, and as such extolled the benefits of a stable public credit to be used sparingly, recommending avoiding debt by "cultivating peace" and "by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned." Although he conceded that "the execution of these maxims" — or, in layman's terms, balancing the budget — was the responsibility of the government, Washington wagged a finger at individual citizens too, reminding them that "it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant ..."

http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20160919/

 

Let's Make This the Year of the Write-In Election

I have always voted my conscience, whether the candidate of my choice was on the ballots or not.  Since 1968, the first time I was eligible to vote, I've voted the party ticket only five times: twice for Obama, once for Clinton (the first time he ran, then I wised up), for Carter and for Humphrey (would have voted for Bobby had he lived).

My other votes went to people I knew wouldn't make it or wouldn't even be considered or want to run - one who was dead: Andrew Young, Barbara Jordan, Betty Friedan (ERA), Ann Richards, Eleanor Roosevelt, Carl Sagan.

With the choices before us this year, I've decided to vote for candidates who best expressed my hopes for our country, for the future I'd want for my grandson and all those who come after I'm gone.  I want leaders who will guide us back to the dream that our nation was founded on (only better): liberty, equality, justice and  fraternity - that state or feeling of friendship and mutual support.  Honesty, integrity, diversity.  Peace and economic stability, adequate healthcare, education for all who seek it, no hunger or homelessness.  Consensus-building, harmony and community.  This might be the last election I get to participate in, so I want my vote to count, to mean something more than party affiliation or flipping a coin.  I want it to reflect my values, my hopes, my love for this world and what I think America could be.

I recently read a post by Frank Conway in which he declares he doesn't want any of the candidates; he wants George Washington.  That's why I thought, why not write in our candidates based upon our values and hopes.  Of course, it could be argued that that's what the current candidates already represent...but not for me, and, it seems, not for a lot of other voters out there.  

So, here are my candidates, with links to why I'd vote for them.  Otherwise, I'm not voting this year.  I will be in mourning for what we are becoming, or have become.

 President of the United States: 

Barbara Jordan

(Skip to time mark 2:46 for the beginning of her address.)

Vice-President of the United States:

Shirley Chisholm

Wikipedia has articles on both women, for those of you who don't know or remember them.

I'm sorry, thought the PBS link led to the video.  It doesn't.  I'll try to find it and repost.