Political Signage

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

There aren't many political signs or bumper stickers on display in my community of West Plains, Missouri.  I have a Koster sticker on my car which promotes our Democratic candidate for governor.  There are a few large signs along major roadways, all supporting Republican statewide candidates, and a couple of local redneck businesses are festooned with Trump paraphernalia.

Today I made a drive to Kansas City for a flight to Oregon tomorrow.  Along the way I saw two bumper stickers:  one supporting the re-election of Roy Blunt, our Republican senator and the patriarch of a coven of lobbyists.  The other was promoting Democrat Chris Koster for governor.

The governor's race is interesting in that the Democrats have nominated Koster, our state's current attorney general, and the Republicans have selected a first-time office seeker, Eric Greitens, who is running on his military record.  The interesting aspect of the race is that Koster is a former Republican and Greitens is a former Democrat.  All bases are covered!

The senate race in Missouri is also worth mentioning.   Blunt, the well oiled and financed incumbent, is leading in the polls - but not by much.  He could be defeated by the Democratic candidate Secretary of State Jason Kander if Hillary Clinton would get off of her well-financed butt and actively campaign in the state.   Right now she seems to be ceding Missouri to Trump.

(If Hillary writes off Missouri, this poor typist will write her off.  One of the third-party candidates would probably appreciate my vote.)

I did see one interesting bumper sticker at the grocery store here in the Kansas suburbs of KC.  It was a profile drawing of Trump's blonde hair along with the words:  "Stop Bigotry."  Of course, Trump says he is not a bigot - he tells that to his all-white audiences before challenging blacks to vote for him because they have nothing to lose.

Sadly, they have nothing to gain, either.

Trump was in Mexico today trying to appear statesmanlike.  Hopefully President Enrique Pena Nieto was able to fix him up with a delicious taco bowl for lunch - and maybe the names of some available maids who could slip across the border and work in his hotels!

Hurry up, November!

Lest We Forget

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

On July 9, 1868, all former slaves in the United States were granted citizenship by virtue of the newly ratified 14th Amendment.  They were, on paper at least, the equals of their white neighbors.  Unfortunately, the road to full equality was littered with Jim Crow laws and a wide array of passive and active resistance measures by white America.

One of the most effective ways of keeping America's blacks "in their place" was the overt use of fear and intimidation.  Not very long after the Civil War ended a former Confederate general by the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest organized a group of masked Christian vigilantes who scoured the countryside at night terrorizing the new black citizens with beatings and lynchings - always without trial and often without any substantive evidence of wrong-doing.  Forrest called his group the "Ku Klux Klan."

The fortunes of the Klan ebbed and flowed over the next century and a half, with the organization surviving to this very day.   One of its primary legacies is a history of summary executions, usually in the form of lynchings, where black individuals were accused of a crime or of perpetrating an insult on their white "betters," found guilty by mob consent, and then hung from the nearest stout tree.  The practice of lynching moved beyond the bounds of the Klan and into unaffiliated white mobs.

More than 4,000 blacks in the United States have been lynched since the end of the Civil War.  Now, at long last, there is a movement afoot to memorialize these victims of hatred and bigotry.   A national monument to the history of lynching is being planned for Montgomery, Alabama, and is set to open next spring.  The memorial will contain the names of every identified lynching victim in the United States.  Another aspect of the memorial will be to place historical markers in every U.S. county where lynchings occurred.

The move for a memorial to the victims of lynchings is also a push back at all the the various Confederate memorials that are still in existence today, something to show that southern culture was more than just mint juleps and evening strolls among the live oak trees and dangling Spanish moss.

Proponents of the lynching memorial also want to draw attention to the fact that summary executions of blacks in this country continue today with police and "stand your ground" vigilante shooters killing unarmed black individuals - often children - with alarming regularity.    They would argue that when race is a factor, justice is anything but equal.

DailyKos had an on-line article on the subject of the proposed lynching memorial last week.  I posted the following comment to that article:

"The U.S. Postal Service should get involved in this effort also with an "educational" stamp on the horrific subject - as a counterweight to the "cultural" monuments littered across the U.S. that glorify bigotry."

It's time that the history of lynchings in America is recognized and takes its official place on the pages of our history - lest we forget.

John McCain: Panamanian Octogenarian

by Pa Rock
Whippersnapper

My former United States Senator, John Sidney McCain of Arizona, was born eighty years ago today in the Republic of Panama. 

McCain - a man who has spent more time on Sunday talk shows than Lawrence Spivak, Tim Russert, and George Will combined - is currently running for his sixth term in the Senate.  Tomorrow he faces Dr. Kelli Ward, a right-wing zealot and former Arizona State Senator, in a Republican primary.  If he wins that contest, which he is expected to do, McCain will face the much more formidable Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick in November.  Kirkpatrick's main campaign tactic has been to link the cranky old incumbent to the erratic GOP presidential standard bearer, Donald Trump - but Arizona tilts right anyway, so that strategy may not work.

Geriatric Republicans have a tendency of doing well in Arizona politics.  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio ("Joe R. Piehole" to his close personal friends like me), age 84, is also on the fall ballot as he tries to secure his seventh term as sheriff of the whole white world.

Many happy returns, Johnny Mac - may you and Lindsey have a wheezing good time trying to blow out all of those candles!

The Brains Behind The Donald

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

People who get caught up in the complex business of running for President of the United States must necessarily surround themselves with a large team of paid operatives and advisors as well as legions of volunteers in order to get the compete effectively and ultimately win the race.  Many of the people involved in the campaign will go on to serve meaningful posts in the new administration and assist the victor in governing - so a look at who is guiding the campaign and advising the candidate offers a view as to what the next presidency is likely to look like.

Last month Donald Trump reportedly had a hundred and seventy paid staffers, and Hillary's campaign was paying over seven hundred individuals.  Trump once bragged that not only could he run a campaign on-the-cheap, but that he might also be able to turn a profit while seeking the presidency.  (Will that lead to Dollar Store diplomacy?)

Trump has reorganized the management of his campaign on multiple occasions.  In June he fired Corey Lewandowski, his campaign manager, over what appeared to be Lewandowski's inability to get along with Trump's adult children.  He was replaced by Paul Manafort, a professional lobbyist who has not only been aligned with several past Republican campaigns, but with the exploits of a few foreign leaders of questionable repute as well.  A couple of weeks ago Manafort was brusquely demoted and quickly left the campaign.

Currently the Trump campaign is being "managed" by Kellyanne Conway, a former advisor to the campaign who has been on board as "campaign manager" a little less than two weeks.  Ms. Conway, a former lawyer, pollster, and political operative, works under the guidance of the campaign's CEO, Steve Bannon, a "journalist" of sorts who is on loan to the campaign from the right-wing Breitbart News.  Bannon has been the source of a string of ugly headlines for the campaign as his personal history is being raked over and discussed in the press - stories centering on past charges of domestic abuse against his former wife, maintaining a "ghost" voting residence in Florida and possibly committing voter fraud, and most recently allegations that he has some personal issues with Jews and once vetoed his daughter attending a certain school because too many Jews went there.

It would appear as though The Donald still does not have his campaign management organized or sorted.  And then there are a couple of "advisors" who are worthy of mention.

Former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, the cherry atop the right-wing fruitcake, is claiming to be a foreign policy advisor to Trump.  Bachmann, a law school graduate from Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, has little in the way of actual foreign policy experience herself - except for an extended congressional junket to Germany, Ireland, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq in 2007 - and a brief time in 2012 when she and her family became Swiss citizens - but she probably does have access to an atlas and a globe.

The other Trump "advisor" or note is Fox News hack Sean Hannity.  The "fair and balanced" journalist admits that he has been offering Trump and his family advice on campaign strategy and messaging, though he denies having any interest in eventually securing a position for himself in a Trump administration.

With campaign management in disarray, and the candidate apparently seeking advice from any nitwit who crosses his path, is it any wonder that Hillary's lead lengthens by the day?  Instead of trying to get "on message" as many in the GOP leadership are imploring him to do, perhaps this would be a good time for the candidate to pack his bags and fly off somewhere for a long vacation.

In paraphrase the The Donald himself:  What has he got to lose?

Pa Rock is on a Roll

by Pa Rock
Lotto Addict

Most days I spend two dollars on the Missouri Lottery - buying one Missouri Lotto ticket and one Show Me Cash.  The Missouri Lotto is drawn twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so by the time a drawing rolls around I have accumulated either three or four tickets - each with two sets of numbers.

 The basic prize on the Missouri Lotto is a free ticket for matching three numbers on a line of six numbers - 1 to 44.  I do that occasionally and have actually won three free tickets ion the last two weeks.  The next prize up is usually between twenty and thirty dollars for matching four numbers on the same line.  (The prize amount varies according to how many tickets were sold for each drawing.)  I have won that about five times over the years.  Anyone who matches five of the six numbers wins several hundred dollars - and six of six wins the jackpot - currently $1.3 million.  The jackpot rises $100,000 each drawing.  Occasionally the Missouri Lotto jackpot will rise to five or six million dollars before some lucky soul hits all six numbers and cleans it out.  Then the top prize reverts to one million dollars.

Show Me Cash starts its climb at $50,000 and sometimes works its way up to three or four hundred thousand dollars before it gets hit.  The Show Me tickets are just five numbers - 1 to 39 - and the drawings happen seven nights a week.  The lowest prize is $1.00 for matching two of the five numbers, followed by $10 for matching three of five, and $250 for hitting four of five.  I hit the two of five every couple of weeks - and remarkably have also managed to do so on the last three drawings.  I have won the ten dollar prize on three or four occasions, and nothing beyond that.

While I am on a roll with three minor wins over the past three days, I also realize that I have not "won" anything, just replaced the three dollars that I spent on the tickets to begin with.

There is a drawing coming up, however, that I feel certain I will win.  A few days ago I felt pressured to buy a raffle ticket from a guy who is part of our pinochle group.  He was selling chances to benefit a couple of Marine Corps charities - including Toys for Tots and Wounded Warriors - both good causes.  The prizes were all gun and gun-related:

1st Prize:  Ruger AR-556 Model 8500, M-4 Style  (Retail $749.00)  (An automatic rifle)
2nd Prize:  Ruger LC9s, 9mm Model 3325 (Retail $449.00)  (A pistol)
3rd Prize:  2 Concealed Carry Classes

As someone who has a marked disdain of guns and the gun culture, I suspect that there is no way I can lose.  The former Marine who sold me the ticket asked later what I would do with the gun if I won, and I told him I would take up squirrel hunting.  In truth, I will probably sell it and invest the proceeds in something more worthwhile - like Missouri lottery tickets!

Or, more likely, sell it and give the money to Gabby Giffords to use with her anti-gun work.

Or, more likely still, use an acetylene torch to turn it into a piece of fine art.

One thing is certain, however, with me as the winner, the squirrels are safe!

(Note to Bill Gates and the geniuses at Microsoft"  "Prize" is a word, and I have spelled it correctly.  Buy a dictionary!)

A Phallic Victory

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Texas is a strange place.

This past August 1st marked the 50th anniversary of the mass shooting at the University of Texas at Austin.  The shooter, a UT student by the name of Charles Whitman, climbed to the top of the campus's famous clock tower and opened fire with multiple weapons.  He picked off students and others for a couple of hours before being killed himself.   This past August 1st was also the day that it became legal for registered gun owners to openly carry their guns into college and university classrooms in Texas.

Not everyone at the University of Texas was happy to see the new law come into effect.  There were the expected protests of faculty members who did not want to have armed students sitting in their classes, and, in a move reminiscent of the 1960's, students began to protest as well.  One group of students in particular is causing quite a stir on the Austin campus.

While guns may now be carried openly on the campuses of higher education in Texas, the "open carry" of sex toys is prohibited.  A protest group calling itself "Cocks Not Glocks," has begun distributing dildos to students for them to carry to on campus.  The group so far has distributed over five thousand of the life-like male organs, many of which were donated by local sex shops.  One news source referred to this symbolic protest as the modern version of "make love not war."

Now when students gather on campus, the talk can immediately focus on "whose is bigger," regardless of which side of the controversy they represent.

Burkini Beach Party

by Pa Rock
Moral Arbiter

When my grandparents were young, people would go to the beach in long bathing suits, attire that often hid everything except the face, hands, and feet.  After the First World War and our sudden exposure to the rest of the world, things began to modernize:  hair was bobbed, hemlines came up on dresses and legs were bared, and swimming attire was abbreviated and much more practical.  Skin was coming into vogue.

It used to be that moral outrage ensued when people showed too much skin to the world.  Those who felt a passion to control the things that others were exposed to, got righteously indignant at the idea of topless dancers - and apoplectic when "bottomless" dancers started appearing in some of the dingier dives.  Pornography was banned in certain communities, and some of God's chosen felt the calling to burn magazines that featured naked photographs of the human form,  Nowhere was this revulsion against over-exposure more evident than at the beach.  Bikinis for women and form-fitting swimsuits for men became more and more common in the years immediately following World War II - and not everyone was happy about it.

By 1960 Brian Hyland was loosening our morals with the song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" and Hollywood was starting to make a string of "beach" movies featuring a score of so of scantily clad young people playing volleyball and having adventures on the beach.  Surf's up!  One of those movies was artfully titled, "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini."

As those beach kids began hitting middle age, topless beaches came into vogue, and some places even went all in with nude beaches.  There wasn't much left to the imagination.

In less than a hundred year span, the world went from serious over-dressing at the beach, to the times when people could wear as little as they deem absolutely necessary - and even less!

But just when it seemed to be at the point where anything goes as far as swimwear is concerned, the morality police felt impassioned to storm the beaches once more and issue edicts on what can and cannot be worn while frolicking along the seashore.  This time instead of demanding the people cover up, the opposite tact is being pursued and certain vacationers are being ordered to "take it off."

Several towns and coastal communities in France have recently passed ordinances that forbid the wearing of what is popularly termed "burkinis" on their beaches.  The burkini is a swimming outfit worn by Muslim women that covers the entire body with the exception of face, hands, and feet - somewhat like the attire that my grandparents wore to the beach at the beginning of the twentieth century.  The rationale against the wearing of burkinis is that they might incite acts of violence due to France's recent history of Muslim-sponsored terrorist attacks.  Those supporting the women's right to dress as they wish at the beach see the local bans as part of an international war on women and on the Muslim religion.

There have been some incidents in France within the past few days where police have forced women to remove their burkinis - at times in front of their children.  There is also a move in the French parliament that would make it a crime to take pictures of police interacting negatively with individuals in burkinis - and a crime for posting those confrontation photos on social media.

Germany is considering a nationwide ban on the wearing of burqas - the veils used by Muslim women to cover their faces when they are out in public.

One side is fighting terrorism, the other side is fighting religious intolerance - and each feeds off of the other.  Wouldn't it be great if it could all be resolved with a game of beach blanket bingo - and a case or two of cold beer!

Tougher than Chinese Algebra

by Pa Rock
Cher Groupie

Cher, the iconic singer and social activist, made news last January when she and Icelandic Glacial, a bottled water company, together donated 180,000 bottles of clean and safe drinking water to the government-ravaged people of Flint, Michigan.  When Cher sees a bad situation developing, she rolls up her sleeves and gets to work.

The same principle applies when Cher sees a bad person rising to political prominence in America.  This is her country, too, and she is not about to stand idly by and do nothing as fascism rears its ugly head of dyed, combed-over hair.  Cher has turned her big celebrity gun on Donald Trump - and she has done so with a vengeance.

Last Sunday Cher was in the gay mecca of Provincetown, Massachusetts, raising money for Hillary Clinton and doing some extreme venting on Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.   She referred to Trump as a "f---ing idiot,"  and she also labeled him a "consummate liar" and a "sociopathic narcissist."  She also managed to sing a few songs during her tireless tirade and help Hillary raise over a million dollars.

Cher's words about Hillary were much kinder than those she spewed at Trump.  She noted that although Mrs. Clinton can come off as somewhat shy, she can also a very formidable individual who is "tougher than Chinese algebra."

After decades of living with and around Bill Clinton, Hillary is undoubtedly razorback tough, but when it comes to spitting out Chinese equations, Cher ain't no slob either.   I would have no qualms about voting for her to lead our country.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Rest of the Story

by Pa Rock
Collector of Trivia

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a 1968 film about a crackpot inventor who transforms an old racing car into a flying wonder, wasn't a great movie by anyone's standard, but it was entertaining and colorful - sort of like the love child that might have resulted if Willie Wonka had ravaged Mary Poppins.  West Plains' own Dick Van Dyke portrayed inventor Caractacus Potts, a man who was out to instill a zest for life in his children.  Sally Ann Howes was Potts' love interest, a candy mogul's daughter by the name of Truly Scrumptious.  The film also featured British comedian Benny Hill as a toymaker.

Famed author Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay for the movie - all of which was based on a children's book by Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond spy novels.

All of that trivia related to the movie is fairly well known, and anyone who ever watched the film has only to hear the title before the tune of the title song begins breaking forth as a hum or a whistle.  What isn't so well known, however, is that Ian Fleming got his idea for the book from an actual race car whose name was "Chitty Bang Bang."

Count Louis Zborowski, the son of a Polish nobleman and his American wife, was a millionaire playboy and automobile enthusiast living in Great Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.  He built and raced four cars of his own design, each of which were named "Chitty Bang Bang."   Ninety-four years ago today on August 23, 1922, Count Louis Zborowski drove his newest version of "Chitty Bang Bang" in the first Southsea Speed Carnival in England, clocking an amazing 73.1 miles per hour as he won the race.

A very young Ian Fleming was in the audience of one of the races where Zborowski competed, a race the lad never forgot.

There are two stories regarding the unique car name.  The first is that it is a play on the sounds made by the very loud engines of the early automobiles.  The second, and far more likely, is that the name came from a more bawdy source:  soldiers returning from the front in World War I were given a "chit" which they could take to Brussels, France, or England and swap it for a "bang" - a story that adds a whole new layer of meaning to the title of the movie and the song!

Interestingly, to me at least, Count Zborowski was killed in a race in Italy when his car crashed into a tree - on October 19, 1924 - the exact day my father was born.  The Count was twenty-nine at the time of his death.

And that, as Paul Harvey used to say, is the rest of the story!

Monday's Poetry: "The Star Planters"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator


The "Middle Ages," sometimes referred to as the "Dark Ages," was a period of time that stretched from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. until the rise of the Italian Renaissance and the Age of Exploration which began around 1500 A.D.   It was a time, particularly in Europe, where luxuries like education and wealth and even health were controlled by despotic monarchs and the all-pervasive Catholic Church.  The impoverished masses struggled daily to survive their desperate circumstances.

One of my history professors described the Middle Ages as being "a thousand years of camping out."  That is an image that has stuck with me - a millennium of people laying on the ground and staring off into the night sky as they waited for sleep.  It is no wonder that the vista of deep darkness strewn with sparkling stars  became the canvas upon which much of the world's mythology was created.

This poem, "The Star Planters," looks at the night sky from a cowboy's perspective and imbues it with imagery of the American West.  There are multiple versions of this poem in existence, with this particular one being by an anonymous poet.


The Star Planters
by Anonymous

Them Stars! How often I've laid on the prairie
An' watched 'em go sweepin' around
My bronco a-dozin' beside me an' nary
A breeze nor a whisper of sound!

I've learned the main bunch of the heavenly ranches
There's Jupiter, Venus and Mars
Religion? He don't know its primary branches
What ain't been alone with the stars

Some clusters is branded-- the Dipper, the Lion,
The Eagle, the Sarpint, the Bear
The Horns o' the Bull and the Belt of Orion,
And Cassia O' Whats her-name's Chair

But lots of 'ems mavricks, roamin' the ranges,
Unclaimed by the herds in the sky,
No part of the big panorama that changes,
From Winter to Summer-- and why?

Well, mebbe it's gospel and maybe he sold me
But here's the whole story at least
That Big Chief Citola, the Navajo, told me
The night of the Corn-plantin' feast

When all of the mountains was set in their stations
An' threaded with canyons and rills
The Star worlds, the last of the mighty creations
Was layin' in heaps on the hills

In masses of silver, of gold and of copper,
All polished and shinin' and new,
Poured out on the granite like corn from the hopper
Awaitin' their place in the blue

Now, first come the Bear o' the Mountains, who faces
The North, from his cave in the scours;
He lifted his paws to the Heavenly spaces
An' laid out his picture in stars.

Then over the peaks of the western dominions,
The Eagle who battles the storm,
Flew up to the heavens with star-dusted pinions
An' printed the lines of his form.

An' next, that the tribes an' the nations should wonder
The buffalo leaped into the sky
That shag-headed Bison whose beller is thunder,
Emblazoned his image on high.

But now came the Coyote so crafty and clever,
A scalawag all the way through;
The yap-throated, critical varmint who never
Is pleased with what other folks do.

Says he, "These stars was intended to brighten
The uttermost reaches of Night,
But YOU go and use 'em in pictures to heighten
Your glory; and that isn't right.

Jest WATCH ME! I'll show you how stars should be planted"
An' he jumped in the glitterin' piles,
He kicked and he gamboled, he danced and he rambled
An' he scattered 'em millions of miles!

So that's why they glimmer at sixes and sevens,
Stampeded all over the Vault
A lasting disgrace to the orderly Heavens,
An' it's all that coyote chap's fault.

An' still you can hear him, the yelpin' Coyote,
A-mockin' the stars in the dim
Of night on the Barrens, with yammerings throaty
While they look reproachful at him.

Well, mebbe it's gospel and mebbe he sold me,
But that's the whole story, at least,
That Big Chief Citola, the Navajo, told me,
The night of the corn-plantin' feast.

The Great Forfeit of 2016

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

While some expected the Trump campaign to have folded by now, or to have been abandoned by its parent organization - the National Republican Party - it has survived, more or less intact, and blows ever onward.  True, the campaign has had about as many managers as the candidate has had wives, and has less sense of direction that a drunken cat tied to a Sit and Spin, but yet it lives, and with each passing day continues to give hope to legions of morons that Trump will miraculously prevail in November and return America to a time when yards were protected with picket fences and white men reigned supreme and unquestioned - the days when the "others" in society knew their place and stayed there.

Angry old white people know what's best for America - just ask them.   

But the reality is that Trump's base, and indeed the base of the Republican Party, is too small to provide enough votes to win the election.  Trump's strength lies in non-college educated, older white voters, and, in particular, those in that grouping who happen to be male, as well as substantial numbers of evangelical Christians.  He also has a strong appeal with the Confederate flag-waving segment of the public who though vehemently "not racist," do express sympathy and sensitivity to the cultural history of the Old South.

The latest iteration of the campaign seems focused on expanding the base with a specific outreach to racial minorities.  Trump, who is currently polling at about one percent with black Americans, has hit on a theme that they should support him because their lives are already in the toilet and so what have they got to lose?  The message is less than inspiring and being delivered to predominantly white audiences - which raises a question about whether it is outreach at all, or just further solidification of his lily-white base.

Trump is now boasting that he will be such a great President for blacks that when he runs for re-election in 2020 he will receive 95% of the black vote - a nugget of nonsense designed solely to bait the press into repeating it.

The candidate is also making tentative noises about possibly moving to legalize the status of some undocumented immigrants who currently reside in this country, but it will take more than just hints and whispers to undo the substantive damage that has already been done by his racist, wall-building braggadocio.  

If Donald Trump could concoct a formula of falsehoods that would increase his share of the votes among minorities, it would be at the expense of losing an equal or greater portion of his racist base.  

The reality is that Trump has no formula for winning because he is already far too well known to effect any change that would be believable.  People know Trump for who he is, and that person does not appeal to enough voters to win the election this November.

The speeches will continue, as will the finger-pointing and accusations, and perhaps even some debates.    Barring a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, however, Donald Trump is headed for a resounding defeat this fall.  He has never had a path to victory.   The Republican Party bosses are focused on the down-ballot candidates and the presidential prospects for 2020.

Donald Trump is on his own - and he is hopelessly floundering.

This election is, at its very essence, a forfeit.

Jan Brewer Stumbles Over Her Tongue

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

While polluting the air waves of a local Phoenix radio station this week, political has-been Jan Brewer managed to stir a bit of desert dust when she referred to Hillary Clinton as a "lying killer."  The former governor of the Scorpion State had been trying to make the case that Democrats could not win Arizona when she inexplicably coughed up this hairball:

"People want a fighter. They’re tired of the lying killer, uh Hillary Clinton and Bill Clintons of the world." 

Later, as Brewer was trying to dig her way out of the slander hole, she offered the explanation that "lying killer" was just a "mispronunciation" of the Democratic nominee's name.   She added, "I was trying to say Hillary Clinton.  It was a stumble of the tongue."   An alternative explanation might be that the Sand Hag had taken one too many spins on her bar stool.

In Brewer's defense, politicians in Arizona have to be outrageous in order to make headlines because most available news oxygen is gobbled up by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  The 84-year-old lawman who, like Brewer, is also an ardent Donald Trump supporter, is currently behind in the polls in his bid for re-election to a seventh term as sheriff of Maricopa County - and he appears likely to be facing contempt of court charges over his blatant disregard of a 2007 court order to stop racial profiling - a staple of Arpaio's police procedures.

It's hard to miss Arizona - but Pa Rock tries!

Trump in all his Glory

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Sometime in the dark of night last Wednesday a person or persons unknown deposited a life-sized, flesh-colored statue of Donald Trump at the center of Union Square in New York City.  The statue, like many other fine works of art, was a nude.  It portrayed the GOP presidential candidate complete with his very recognizable blond comb-over and large potbelly, along with a tiny penis and no testicles.

The big, naked effigy brought out the tourists almost as quickly as any other pile of cow excrement would draw flies.  Hundreds of people rushed to Union Square to snap selfies with The Donald in all his glory.

Yesterday the New York City Parks Department removed the makeshift tourist attraction.  Someone with the Parks Department tweeted this parting shot at the statue of the man who claims that he will be the most "fit" person to ever serve as President:

"NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small.”

Ouch!  That had to hurt!

There is no word yet on when or where the mystery sculptor(s) will unveil a similar work on Hillary, but it, like that of The Donald, is sure to be a hit with art lovers everywhere!

Joaquin Castro Shills for a Sleaze

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

I have mentioned the Castro twins of Texas in this blog on several occasions.  Julian earned a name for himself as a highly effective mayor of San Antonio before moving to Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago where he now serves as Obama's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.  Julian Castro was widely reported to have been on Hillary's shortlist for veep.   Joaquin Castro earned his political stripes serving in the Texas legislature and is now a member of Congress from the Lone Star State.

Both of these young men are highly respected members of the Democratic Party, and both seem destined to climb to greater political heights.  There was a hint in  Dailykos this morning that Joaquin might even be considering a run against Senator Ted Cruz in 2018.

Whatever Joaquin Castro chooses to do in the future will certainly ripple across the national political landscape, and I wish him well with those choices.  On one of his more recent choices, however, I do not wish him well.  Congressman Castro issued an email appeal for contributions yesterday that has left me - well - flabbergasted!  He is out begging for campaign donations for the re-election of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the disgraced former leader of the Democratic National Committee and the best friend of loan sharks everywhere.

In his email, Congressman Castro describes Wasserman Schultz as "one of the fiercest and most outspoken progressive champions in Congress."  Joaquin, you need to take that load of fresh manure over to Lowe's so that they can bag it and sell it in their Lawn Care department.  Debbie Wasserman Schultz has run her campaign off of handouts from her buddies on Wall Street - and there's nothing "progressive" about that at all.

Wasserman Schultz represents Florida's 23rd congressional district, an area which gave Hillary over 70% of the vote in that state's presidential primary earlier this year.  Most polls indicate she will have a fairly easy time defeating her five opponents - the main one of whom is law professor Tim Canova, a true progressive.  Wasserman Schultz's expected victory over Canova is but another chronic symptom of the political leprosy that is eating away at democracy in America.  She is sailing into re-election on the winds of advantage generated by her former position within the DNC,  money from rich corporations - as well as from scumbags like the payday lending industry which she has so artfully tried to protect, and, most sadly of all, appeals from otherwise good people - like Joaquin Castro.

Yes, Debbie Wasserman Schultz probably will be re-elected, but it won't be with any dollars from me, and it won't be an affirmation of her "progressive" values.  Protecting loan sharks is not "progressive" in anyone's sense of the word.

Joaquin Castro is a fine man, but begging money for a political sleaze like Debbie Wasserman Schultz puts an ugly blemish on his reputation.  He should make amends with deliberate speed by publicly withdrawing the request for the donations and apologizing for trying to bamboozle the good people on his mailing list.  We expect better from him.

Friends in High Places

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

It hasn't been that long ago that a freckle-faced young girl wearing braces sat on the bleachers at a junior high school in Little Rock and dreamed of becoming a cheerleader, the absolute top of the social ladder.  Today that little girl from Arkansas has flowered into New York socialite Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky, a wealthy and shrewd political operative, wife, and mother of two.

According to the popular press, one of Chelsea's best New York buddies is Ivanka Trump Kushner, herself a busy and savvy socialite, wife, and mother of three.

Chelsea, age 36, and Ivanka, age 34, have more in common than just their stations in life, New York lifestyles, and their children.  Both ladies, raised as Protestants, married into the Jewish faith to husbands who are highly successful young businessmen.  No doubt when Chelsea and Ivanka take the kids to the park for a play date, they have much to discuss.

But the play dates have probably been put on hold as Chelsea's mother and Ivanka's father get necessarily down-and-dirty in their campaigns for the presidency.  In fact, a couple of news sources reported that the ladies formally placed their friendship on the shelf for the duration of the campaign.  Both Chelsea and Ivanka lead busy lives, and both are involved in the political campaigns of their parents, so tales of the kids and juicy social gossip will just have to wait.

There was a press report yesterday which revealed that Ivanka has left the Trump campaign behind for a few weeks while she takes a much needed break.  Ivanka is on vacation with another of her good friends, Wendi Deng Murdoch, age 47, the ex-wife of bazillionaire publisher Rupert Murdoch and the mother of his two youngest children.  Interestingly, Wendi is reportedly the current girlfriend of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump warns that the election is being rigged, but looking at the group of people crowding into that social bed - Chelsea and Marc, Ivanka and Jared, Wendi and Rupert and Vlad - one has to almost wonder if the entire human experience isn't being rigged.

Who knew there was life like that beyond cheerleading?

Would somebody please pass the Grey Poupon?

August on the Rebound

by Pa Rock
Farmer in Summer

The sun is finally peeking through today after a long weekend of cool drizzle and showers,  The rain was slow, drip-by-drip slow, but constant.   Now the yard has lakes, but hope romps and splashes in the sunshine.  August is rebounding!

The air-conditioning at the house went out of Friday night, and it took until yesterday to get someone here to check it.  The repairman had to order a part out of Springfield, and it will hopefully be here and installed sometime tomorrow - just as things start getting warm again.

Everyone at Rock's Roost is tired on the constant wetness.  The straw-covered ground in the peacockery is soaked and spongy, and the birds are anxious for the farmer to show up with some dry straw.  They hope it will be today.  The little cat who has headquartered in and around the chicken coop since his arrival at the farm two months ago has now decided that he is a barn feline.  That's fine with the farmer because there are mice in both locations, but the peacocks are noticeably uncomfortable at having kitty so close.  The cat eats much of what the big birds' feed on, and it seems to be particularly fond of the dog food that gets thrown to the peacocks as well as the bits of bread.  The only time there is open conflict between the cat and the peacocks is when the fur ball bounces too close to "Peewee" the baby peacock - then Mama Peacock intercedes with realistic threats of violence.

The baby chickens and two baby ducks are nearly a month old now and ready to be turned out of their nursery enclosure.  Any time the door to the nursery is opened - for feeding or watering - all of the little guys (and dolls) rush forward trying to burst through the open door.  Occasionally one will make it past the flustered farmer and out onto the yard.  Invariably when that happens, the free bird panics as he or she tries to figure out how to get back inside.  It's beautiful today, so perhaps this is when the farmer will decide to forget to close the door to the chick nursery.  Yard bugs beware!

It's been less than ten days since the last mowing cycle ended - number 10 for the season - but there are several areas of the yard already looking desperate for another good mow.  The farmer dreads starting up the mowers, because once he does it becomes four days of hard work.  A few leaves have already fallen, so fall is coming - and with the arrival of fall, the need to mow becomes less frequent.

Does anyone remember Gale Garnett's "We'll Sing in the Sunshine"?  That's the farmer's song of the day.  He's puckered and ready to whistle, but first he has baby chickens and ducks to free!

Dead Votes Matter

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Certain leaders in the Republican party who seem to be constantly critical of the party's presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, have been busy of late encouraging the alleged billionaire to at least put up a pretense of being interested in black votes.  Chasing black votes, however, does not seem to be on the candidate's "to-do" list.

The past week, for example, Trump flew into Detroit on his private jet, rushed across town in a chauffeured SUV, and spoke to a large assemblage of mostly white and entirely privileged locals known as the Detroit Economic Club.  Then he hopped back in the SUV and headed to the airport.  The round-trip across Detroit took The Donald past some of the most blighted inner-city landscapes in America and along streets populated by some of the poorest of America's underclass - many of whom are black - but Donald kept his head down and ignored the desperate reality that he was traversing.  If any of those people qualified as voters, Hillary was welcome to them.

And that has been the Republican attitude since blacks first began voting in substantial numbers in the mid-twentieth century.  The Gallup polling organization began tracking "black" votes in presidential elections in the year 2000, but the group was collecting racial data as a factor in voting as least as far back as 1952 when it classed voters as "white" and "non-white," with Hispanics being folded into the "non-white" grouping.

The election of 1952, the first match-up between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson found Stevenson, the Democratic candidate capturing 79% of the "non-white" vote.   Four years later his percentage for that racial grouping dropped to just 61%, the lowest "non-white" vote total for any Democratic candidate for President from that time to the present.

Republicans had a bit of a high-water mark in 1960 when Richard Nixon, of all people, collected 32% of the "non-white" vote in his failed race against John F. Kennedy.  Four years later in the election of 1964, enthusiasm for Democrats spiked when LBJ garnered 94% of the "non-white" vote as he pounded Barry Goldwater into the footnotes of American history.  From that point onward the Democratic presidential nominee always earned a minimum of 80% of the "non-white" vote with one exception:  the election of 1992.  In that contest Bill Clinton, a man who fancied himself "America's first Black President" until Obama came along, only took 77% of the "non-white" vote on his first run for the White House.  The remaining 23% was split between George H.W. Bush (11%) and H. Ross Perot (12%).

Beginning in 2000 when black votes were singled out of the "non-white"grouping, all of the Democratic candidates for President have received over 90% of the black vote.  This, according to Gallup:  Gore (95%), Kerry (93%), Obama (99%) and Obama (95%).

Donald Trump is not going to chase black votes because he is a well known commodity with a history of racism.  Black votes matter - just not to Trump.  He sees his path to victory as maximizing his base and not worrying about extraneous groups.  Trump's base is angry, old white people, and it is with them that he will expend most of his efforts.  Of course, since his base is dying off daily, one of his primary efforts needs to be quickly generating as many absentee ballots as possible.  Get those votes before the grim reaper intercedes.

Dead votes matter.

Gaming the Blame

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Alleged billionaire and benevolent-despot-wannabe Donald John Trump is already trotting out his excuses in case the most beloved human in the universe actually loses the presidential election in November.  The tagline in the event of that unseemly outcome:  "Crooked Hillary cheated.  The election was rigged."   And that makes a certain amount of sense.  Somebody as thoroughly wonderful and deeply loved as Trump could not possibly lose, and a victory by Hillary must necessarily be due to fraud.

By blowing that smoke up America's skirt Trump does two things:  he maintains his image as the consummate winner even though he may actually lose, and he de-legitimizes Hillary's potential win.  She can spend the next four years fighting off the constant attacks by the country's endless supply of morons as they wail that she is not the real President because she did not win the office fairly - in much the same vein as Obama was not the real President because he was not born in America.  It will be just one more unnecessary and useless diversion along the road to good governance.

Trump unveiled his ready excuse for losing weeks ago.  Now he is refining it and shaping the whine to fit individual states.  This past week he applied it to Pennsylvania saying essentially that he could not lose Pennsylvania, so if he does lose it will be because the other team cheated.  Then he issued a call for concerned citizens to be at the polls actively looking for those sure-to-be-there cheaters. 

Getting to the polls in America is already like walking the gauntlet as prospective voters have to navigate through hardcore, last-minute campaigners littering the sidewalks and parking lots in order to get inside the buildings where they cast their ballots.  Now add to that mayhem the presence of the Trumpettes pushing in as they try to "observe" and intimidate voters.

It will be a zoo.

Some people may leave in disgust, without voting - much as their grandparents did in the 1950's when they had to deal with obstacles like poll taxes, literacy tests, and white supremacist poll workers.  The concern then, as now, was not with voter fraud - it was with keeping certain people from voting.

Trump continues to be a bully.

Hillary and Bill Are Rolling in It

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

John F. Kennedy once said that he wanted to be President because that's where the power is.  Nowadays that statement could probably be modified to reflect that being President is where the money is.

It hasn't been that many years ago that Bill and Hillary were little more that a couple of ridge-running lawyers trying to scrape together a living in the backwoods of Arkansas. Then, in 1977, Bill became Governor of Arkansas at the tender age of thirty-three, and the money started rolling in.  Hillary, then a partner in the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock, managed to get herself appointed to the Board of Directors of Walmart, and the days of looking for roadkill to put in the stew pot were officially over.

Yesterday the Clinton's and Kaine's released more of their tax returns in an effort to embarrass the shameless Donald Trump into releasing a few of his.  Trump, for his part, continues to file those requests at ain't-a-gonna-happen.com.  Mr. Trump, who once famously needled Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, says that his returns would be detrimental to his campaign - and he is undoubtedly right.

But Hillary laid hers out there for the whole world to see.  In the year 2015 Hillary and Bill Clinton reported an income of $10, 745, 378 - noteworthy for the fact that it was down nearly fifty percent from the previous year.

One might arguably wonder how two lawyers,  neither of whom still practice law, manage to amass that kind of income.  The answer is primarily for speaking fees - people pay each of the Clinton's to show up at meetings and get-togethers to speak.  Hillary currently commands a horse-choking $225,000 per speech, with the fee sometimes coming in as high as $400,000.

Nice work - if you can get it.

The reality of hiring somebody like the Clinton's to speak is that rich individuals and big corporations are doling out that cash for far more than just hearing a politician warble - the big boys are buying the attention of the politicians - and access to those individuals - something that is unavailable to poor pud-knockers out in the Podunk's.

2013 was a good year for the Clinton's.  Bill took in $13.2 million for forty-one speeches with the highest per speech payout being three-quarters of a million dollars.  Hillary also gave forty-one speeches that year, but had to settle for just $9.7 million with one topping out at $400,000.  Hopefully things will even out when she, too, can advertise herself as a "former" President of the United States.

Bill Clinton also made a whopping $16.5 million  from serving on the board of Laureate Education, Inc - a massive for-profit college scheme that contributes to the Clinton Foundation.  He resigned that role as Hillary started edging closer to announcing another White House run.

(When Hillary finally did declare her candidacy, she spent lots of time begging for donations from ordinary American's like me.  "Just one dollar, Pa Rock.  Please just send me one lousy dollar - that's all I ask!"  She didn't get it.)

On a positive note, the Clinton's paid a tax rate of 31 percent in 2015 - which is close to what normal people pay.

Alleged billionaire Donald Trump, however, is having none of this transparency stuff.  He doesn't want America knowing how much income he makes or how much he pays in taxes - or even his actual worth.  He may also have business shenanigans that he would prefer to keep under wraps.

So, kudos to Hillary and Bill - and the Kaine's - for throwing open their tax records and letting America browse.  It's motivating to know that there is real money to be had even in the most sordid of occupations.  And for those who donate money to either candidate, Clinton or Trump, remember the words of American showman P.T. Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute!"

Let them both self-fund!

The Gipper's Kids Don't Like Trump

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

There are some in America who can't understand why former President Ronald Reagan has not yet been canonized, engraved onto our national currency, or at least chiseled into Mount Rushmore.  True, he may have forgotten to serve in World War II, but when he finally did get his fighting pants on, he kicked the hell out of those air traffic controllers!

More than a few of those fawning Reagan sycophants are beginning to make comparisons between the Gipper and their idol de jour, Donald John Trump - but the children of Ronald Reagan aren't having it!

Michael Reagan, the adopted son of Ronald Reagan and his wife, Jane Wyman, has been a conservative radio personality for many years.  He is offended by comparisons of Trump to his dad, and he refers to the current Republican nominee as "an embarrassment."  Michael has announced that he will not be voting for Trump.

Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, is an actress (and former groupie with the Eagles) who is not often in the public eye - but Donald Trump's recent remarks about "Second Amendment people" taking care of Hillary - or her justices - has gotten Ms. Davis fired up.  She has this to say about Trump's "horrifying" remarks:

"To Donald Trump: I am the daughter of a man who was shot by someone who got his inspiration from a movie, someone who believed if he killed the President the actress from that movie would notice him. Your glib and horrifying comment about "Second Amendment people" was heard around the world. It was heard by sane and decent people who shudder at your fondness for verbal violence. It was heard by your supporters, many of whom gleefully and angrily yell, "Lock her up!" at your rallies. It was heard by the person sitting alone in a room, locked in his own dark fantasies, who sees unbridled violence as a way to make his mark in the world, and is just looking for ideas. Yes, Mr. Trump, words matter. But then you know that, which makes this all even more horrifying."

And the third surviving Reagan offspring, Ron, Jr., the son of Ronald and Nancy, is also unambiguously unimpressed by the bigoted, blowhard candidate.  Ron Reagan, a noted liberal commentator and outspoken atheist who has proclaimed that he is not afraid of burning in hell, found himself aggravated and agitated over the way Trump puts down others (Carly Fiorina, for instance) on issues of physical appearance.  Ron sniped:

“This egotistical, narcissistic guy with the weird comb over swanning in his private plane. … I mean, look in the mirror, fat boy. Look at that hair, you’re ridiculous! Where do you get off talking on anybody’s appearance? It’s just so unchivalrous. My father would recoil at that sort of thing.”

Take that, fat boy!  And you're horrifying - and an embarrassment!

Thus speaketh the children of God.

Bring in the Hogs!

by Pa Rock
Farmer in Summer

There is a pond on my place.  It holds some water, but not much.  When the pond is full, as it has been on just a couple of occasions since I have lived here, it is a beautiful small lake - but most of the water is gone within a day of the rains ending.  My little pond needs to be sealed.

There are a couple of ways of sealing a pond.  One is to bring in the bulldozers, smooth everything out, and hope for the best.   I pursued that approach by inviting a fellow who owns some heavy equipment over to assess the pond situation.  He was  almost too honest, saying that the pond had been dozed before, and that he would be happy to do it again, but that he seriously doubted that he could seal it.

Another method of sealing a pond involves the use of bentonite, a dry chemical substance  that comes in large bags and is poured along the surface to be sealed.  I have used bentonite at another location, and while it works to an extent, it is expensive.  I have also heard that the substance will eventually wash to the lowest spot in the pond where it will coagulate and need to be cleaned out.

The third method is a more common practice and more environmentally friendly - and it is the one suggested by the honest dozer operator - bring in the hogs.   Hogs eat, crap, sleep, and wallow.   On hot summer days they particularly like to wallow in cool mud.  This past week my son set the first post in what will eventually become a fence surrounding the entire area where I want my expanded pond to stretch.  If we can get the temporary fence completed by early spring, I will bring in a couple of young pigs and let them eat, crap, sleep, and wallow to their heart's content.

If the pigs do their job a large, nice pond should begin taking shape.  Then the fence will come down and we can bring in the geese!

Things are happening at Rock's Roost!

The Presidential Campaign Should Have Ended Yesterday

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Yesterday Donald Trump made another of his off-the-cuff and very ill-advised sarcastic comments, this one suggesting that "Second Amendment people" might be able to do something about Hillary Clinton if she is elected President, something that would keep her from appointing justices to the Supreme Court.  Trump was probably trying to be funny (kinda, sorta) as he spoke in Wilmington, North Carolina, but his humor missed the mark.  He crossed a line, he pushed a limit, he finally went too far.

As reported in today's on-line edition of the New York Times, Donald Trump said this in Wilmington:

“If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.   Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don’t know.”

I'm not a fan of Hillary Clinton, and if I had made the statement that Trump made, as a part of this blog, the Secret Service would have already been knocking at my door.  At the very least a "suggestion" was made that conveyed the notion that gun violence might be one way to keep Mrs. Clinton from putting liberals on the Supreme Court. When asked about Trump's outrageous statement a befuddled Secret Service admitted that they were aware of what he had said, and they referred reporters back to the Trump campaign. 

A statement was made that could clearly incite violence against a presidential nominee of a major political party, and the Secret Service responds with a "ho-hum."  That's outrageous!  Yes, I understand sarcasm, but Bubba in Boise probably doesn't.  What Donald Trump said in Wilmington could be interpreted as a call-to-arms by certain under-educated elements of our society - such as the knuckle-draggers who support him and wallow in his every word.

Donald Trump's fitness to serve as our Commander in Chief is being questioned by various current and former members of government (more that a few of those being in his own political party), members of the armed forces both past and present, leaders in the national security field (fifty of whom signed a petition critical of him), and international leaders and officials.  He is a brash and outspoken individual who seems to be unable or unwilling to employ common sense or exercise self-restraint.    He is a man who should not have access to Morse code, much less America's nuclear codes.

The Republican Party made a mistake in nominating Donald Trump as its presidential candidate, and the Republican Party needs to fix their egregious error - now!   A presidential candidate who calls on a foreign power to hack the emails of his opponent is a despot-in-waiting.  A presidential candidate who puts forth the notion that gun violence might be one way of handling his opponent is a danger to us all.

The campaign should have ended yesterday.   A decent individual would have issued an immediate apology and withdrawn from the race.  Barring that, both the National Republican Party and the Secret Service need to act.

Trump on the Couch

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The American Psychiatric Association has recently felt the need to remind its members that it is a breach of professional ethics to analyze people they haven't met and formally evaluated.  It particular, the esteemed organization is telling the medical professionals from whom it collects hefty dues to avoid the urge to make diagnostic pronouncements regarding the mental health of Donald J. Trump.  In order to ethically do that, the psychiatrists should first meet the candidate, then formally evaluate him, and then receive his explicit permission to discuss the results of that evaluation with interested third parties.

Justin A. Frank, MD, is a psychiatrist who made news (and a pile of money) back in 2004 when he published a book, Bush on the Couch, that was in essence a psychological profile of the then sitting President, George W. Bush.   Frank psychoanalyzed President Bush based on the available record and came up with what many regarded as a fairly accurate portrait of the mental inner-workings of America's leader.   A few years later he repeated that effort with the next President and published Obama on the Couch.

The temptation for mental health professionals to crack open their DSM-5's and go after someone like Donald Trump, a man with a raging ego and few (if any) filters, must be well nigh irresistible.   But, as the American Psychiatric Association  has reminded its members, it would also be unethical.
 
Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass of California's 37th congressional district has launched a petition on change.org speculating that Trump may be suffering from (or wallowing in) a narcissistic personality disorder, and her petition calls on him to undergo a mental health evaluation.  Bass, herself a former mental health professional, has more than 25,000 signatures on her petition so far.

The Donald loves attention and has famously decreed that all publicity is good publicity.   However, he does not like to be told what to do - so it is doubtful that Trump on the Couch will make it to bookstores anytime soon - unless, of course, he can figure out a way to make a few bucks off of it himself!

Monday's Poetry: Untitled Tribute to Black Lives Matter

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator


Black actor Taye Diggs recently let his outrage over police shootings of unarmed black men lead him to express his feelings in a poem.  The piece, told from the perspective of a black child reacting to his parents concern over shootings of unarmed blacks by police, was published on Mr. Diggs' Instagram account in a free verse format under a blank black square.  It was untitled.

The reason "black lives matter" to the point that the phrase has become synonymous with a contemporary civil rights movement, is that for so very long black lives did not matter.  White Americans stood silently by - and some even joined in - as blacks became targets of lynchings after the Civil War.  Lynchings were an almost routine form of street justice in America for nearly a century.  After that practice and mob rule were curtailed with the Civil Rights movement and legislation of the 1960's, the focus of street justice shifted to a more subtle, though just a deadly, source - the death and injury of black individuals, particularly young black men, at the hands of those sworn to protect us all - America's law enforcement.  Unnecessary police brutality, as with lynchings, promoted the idea that black lives actually did not matter.

And a movement was born in the blood of discrimination and sanctioned violence.

Some responded,with strong indignation, saying  that all lives matter, but many of those voices had been strangely silent during the century when black individuals were suffering quick and deadly vengeance at the hands of white mobs.   Certainly all lives matter now, just as they did then - but then there was a systemic disregard of black lives.  Now, by focusing a strong, positive light on black lives, the hope is that the attitudes that allowed lynchings and police brutality can be changed - and society can be made better and stronger.

Black lives really do matter.  Children, such as the boy in Digg's poem, should not have to live in the fear that they could be killed solely because of the color of their skin. 


Untitled
by Taye Diggs

--> I'm finished brushing my teeth
I’m coming down the stairs
I’m ready for my bedtime story
Does anybody care

I’m standing in my P. J.s
My bunny slippers on
But Ma and Pa are watching tv
I think something’s wrong

Why is mommy crying Pa
She’s pointing at the screen
It’s like she knows them people
People I never seen

And why does daddy look so mad
Mommy do you know
He keeps on rubbing the side of his head
And walking to and fro

What is this tv show
And now I start to feel real weird
My insides getting heavy
I yell at mommy one more time
Daddy Are you forgetting

Mama slowly turns to me
Her face fighting the tear
She cut the tv off right quick
She kneels and pulls me near
Why is daddy leaving the room
Why did he slam the door
Mommy searches for her words
In the matted carpeted floor

Honey something very bad happened
We didn’t want you to see
But we just saw a man get shot
Right on our colored tv

Why would someone shoot that man
You both said guns were not good
Did the man steal or rob someone
Was he not doing what he should

Then I feel my mama’s anger
The straight stiff of her back
No she hissed through her teeth
Police shot him cuz he was black

I tilt my head with question
As Daddy enters still blue
But my skins dark just like the Man’s
Does that mean I’ll die too?

Ma and pa stare at each other
Blank scared looks on the front of their heads
Neither of them could say a word
As I imagine myself……. Dead. 

Im finished brushing my teeth
I’m coming down the stairs
I’m ready for my bedtime story
Does anybody care
——————————————
I’m standing in my P. J.s
My bunny slippers on
But Ma and Pa are watching tv
I think something’s wrong
——————————————-
Why is mommy crying Pa
She’s pointing at the screen
It’s like she knows them people
People I never seen
——————————————–
And why does daddy look so mad
Mommy do you know
He keeps on rubbing the side of his head
And walking to and fro
——————————————-
What is this tv show
—————————————–
And now I start to feel real weird
My insides getting heavy
I yell at mommy one more time
Daddy Are you forgetting
—————————————-
Mama slowly turns to me
Her face fighting the tear
She cut the tv off right quick
She kneels and pulls me near
Why is daddy leaving the room
Why did he slam the door
Mommy searches for her words
In the matted carpeted floor
—————————————-
Honey something very bad happened
We didn’t want you to see
But we just saw a man get shot
Right on our colored tv
————————————-
Why would someone shoot that man
You both said guns were not good
Did the man steal or rob someone
Was he not doing what he should
—————————————
Then I feel my mama’s anger
The straight stiff of her back
No she hissed through her teeth
Police shot him cuz he was black
—————————————-
I tilt my head with question
As Daddy enters still blue
But my skins dark just like the Man’s
Does that mean I’ll die too?
—————————————–
Ma and pa stare at each other
Blank scared looks on the front of their heads
Neither of them could say a word
As I imagine myself……. Dead.

Source: Taye Diggs Writes Powerful Poem for Black Lives Matter | Black Lives Matter, Taye Diggs : Just Jared | http://www.justjared.com/2016/07/30/taye-diggs-writes-powerful-poem-for-black-lives-matter/?trackback=tsmclip

Visit:Just Jared | Twitter | Facebook

Im finished brushing my teeth
I’m coming down the stairs
I’m ready for my bedtime story
Does anybody care
——————————————
I’m standing in my P. J.s
My bunny slippers on
But Ma and Pa are watching tv
I think something’s wrong
——————————————-
Why is mommy crying Pa
She’s pointing at the screen
It’s like she knows them people
People I never seen
——————————————–
And why does daddy look so mad
Mommy do you know
He keeps on rubbing the side of his head
And walking to and fro
——————————————-
What is this tv show
—————————————–
And now I start to feel real weird
My insides getting heavy
I yell at mommy one more time
Daddy Are you forgetting
—————————————-
Mama slowly turns to me
Her face fighting the tear
She cut the tv off right quick
She kneels and pulls me near
Why is daddy leaving the room
Why did he slam the door
Mommy searches for her words
In the matted carpeted floor
—————————————-
Honey something very bad happened
We didn’t want you to see
But we just saw a man get shot
Right on our colored tv
————————————-
Why would someone shoot that man
You both said guns were not good
Did the man steal or rob someone
Was he not doing what he should
—————————————
Then I feel my mama’s anger
The straight stiff of her back
No she hissed through her teeth
Police shot him cuz he was black
—————————————-
I tilt my head with question
As Daddy enters still blue
But my skins dark just like the Man’s
Does that mean I’ll die too?
—————————————–
Ma and pa stare at each other
Blank scared looks on the front of their heads
Neither of them could say a word
As I imagine myself……. Dead.

Source: Taye Diggs Writes Powerful Poem for Black Lives Matter | Black Lives Matter, Taye Diggs : Just Jared | http://www.justjared.com/2016/07/30/taye-diggs-writes-powerful-poem-for-black-lives-matter/?trackback=tsmclip

Visit:Just Jared | Twitter | Facebook

Im finished brushing my teeth
I’m coming down the stairs
I’m ready for my bedtime story
Does anybody care
——————————————
I’m standing in my P. J.s
My bunny slippers on
But Ma and Pa are watching tv
I think something’s wrong
——————————————-
Why is mommy crying Pa
She’s pointing at the screen
It’s like she knows them people
People I never seen
——————————————–
And why does daddy look so mad
Mommy do you know
He keeps on rubbing the side of his head
And walking to and fro
——————————————-
What is this tv show
—————————————–
And now I start to feel real weird
My insides getting heavy
I yell at mommy one more time
Daddy Are you forgetting
—————————————-
Mama slowly turns to me
Her face fighting the tear
She cut the tv off right quick
She kneels and pulls me near
Why is daddy leaving the room
Why did he slam the door
Mommy searches for her words
In the matted carpeted floor
—————————————-
Honey something very bad happened
We didn’t want you to see
But we just saw a man get shot
Right on our colored tv
————————————-
Why would someone shoot that man
You both said guns were not good
Did the man steal or rob someone
Was he not doing what he should
—————————————
Then I feel my mama’s anger
The straight stiff of her back
No she hissed through her teeth
Police shot him cuz he was black
—————————————-
I tilt my head with question
As Daddy enters still blue
But my skins dark just like the Man’s
Does that mean I’ll die too?
—————————————–
Ma and pa stare at each other
Blank scared looks on the front of their heads
Neither of them could say a word
As I imagine myself……. Dead.

Source: Taye Diggs Writes Powerful Poem for Black Lives Matter | Black Lives Matter, Taye Diggs : Just Jared | http://www.justjared.com/2016/07/30/taye-diggs-writes-powerful-poem-for-black-lives-matter/?trackback=tsmclip

Visit:Just Jared | Twitter | Facebook

Little Marco Walks the Dogma

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida may not make it to work every day, or even most days, but his lackadaisical job attendance in no way deprives him of the right to say what's on his mind - even if his thoughts and insights are dangerously dumb.  The senator, whom Donald Trump famously dubbed "Little Marco," also fancies himself to be a Man of God, a Christian warrior with a righteous duty to protect the "unborn."

The Zika virus, a raging worldwide pandemic, is quickly spreading into the United States, and it has a penchant for attacking fetuses - with one result being severe microcephaly.  There are nearly two thousand cases of Zika already reported in the U.S., and over four hundred of those are in Florida.  So far Florida is the only state where cases of Zika are known to have resulted from contact with mosquitoes within the local area - six cases in all.  Zika cases are originating in Florida, they are spreading through mosquitoes and contact with infected people, and the resulting health crisis is deadly serious.

Enter Little Marco spewing his political opinion laced with religious dogma.  He was already on record as opposing abortion in cases of rape and incest, but now Marco Rubio has added to his holy list of intolerances.  He is opposed to abortion even in instances where the mother has contracted the Zika virus. 

It's what Jesus would have wanted -  medical suffering, a lifetime of hardship and disability, financial and social destitution - and all for what?  So that a baby can be born who will live with profound health defects and round-the-clock medical attention for decades?  Or so that Little Marco and people like him can go to bed at night feeling a little more pious and self-righteous?

Senator Rubio, it's time you stood for something besides religious intolerance.  How about becoming the poster boy for common sense and humanity.  Those are social viruses which we all need to be spreading.

Hilton Aims for a Better Class of Guests

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Hilton Hotels, one of the the world's premier hoteliers, is out with a new advertising campaign that has left at least one American extremist group with its panties in a twist.  The new ad, which features a photo of two scruffy-looking young men lounging in bed together and laughing as they share a pair of headphones, is appearing in some mainstream magazines, including Travel and Leisure, and that has the highly self-righteous American Family Association up-in-arms.

(The American Family Association has been designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.)

The hotel's advertisements featuring the real-life gay couple are running in several magazines including some which are not gay-specific publications.  That has Tony Perkins and the gang at the American Family Association highly agitated because those magazines can be found in places where ordinary people tend to assemble - like doctor's offices.  And while the Perkins' people may not necessarily read the highbrow literature available in medical waiting rooms, they are susceptible to looking at the pictures.

Hilton is getting smart and addressing the world as it really is.   Lots of gay people are upwardly mobile professionals who make good money and go on vacations - and it is the 21st century.  The hotel chain will make a lot more money targeting that demographic than it will trying to woo members of the American Family Association out of their pop-up trailers.

Clint Tries to Get Rowdy

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Clint Eastwood, the 86-year-old actor best known for talking to empty chairs, is out with a new tiresome tirade, this time in support of Donald Trump.  Clint told Esquire Magazine that he will be voting for Trump in the fall because Hillary has supposedly announced that she will be following in Obama's footsteps.  And Clint doesn't like Obama - not one bit.

The particular bug that seems to be biting Clint's butt is the notion that some people think Trump is a racist.  Clint, who can clearly remember the 1930's, thinks that is a bum rap.  Yes, Trump might have said some dumb things, both sides have, but that doesn't make him a racist.  And just because Trump wants to build a wall to keep Mexicans out of our country - and just because Trump has been unfairly hobbled in a court case because the judge is of Mexican heritage - well, nothing racist there - just move on.

Clint thinks Trump has tapped into a great truth when he rattles on about America being awash in too much political correctness.  It wasn't like that when Clint was a boy - early in the last century - no sirree bob!

Some of Clint's remarks to Esquire were exceptionally colorful:

"(Trump's) onto something because secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up.   That's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're really in a pussy generation. Everybody's walking on eggshells."

"We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist."

You tell 'em, Dirty Harry.  When you grew up schools, restrooms, lunch counters and even the Armed Forces were segregated.    People knew their place, even where they should be sitting on a bus - and a rope and a stout tree limb taught respect.    But then those radicals like Truman and Eisenhower got into office and started screwing things up.  Now it's all just disappearing.  Can America ever be great again - like it was when you were a boy? 

Maybe it's time, Clint - time for you to slip quietly off to Shady Pines where you can peacefully enjoy the sunset of life while having meaningful conversations with your chair.

Maybe it's time to leave the sentient world alone.

Trump's Crazy Train

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

I am thankful for many things, and very high on the list is the fact that I have lived long enough to see the U.S. presidential election of 2016 begin taking shape.  The race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, two deeply flawed candidates, just keeps getting more and more bizarre.

Hillary looks to the future while also glancing occasionally into the rear-view mirror to monitor a galloping herd of minor scandals - things like Benghazi, a couple of email messes, leaks from the DNC hack, the sure-to-come reanimation of Vince Foster, and Monica Lewinsky sightings.  It's just a matter of time until Monica's stained little blue dress shows up on Ebay or at Sotheby's.

And Trump, who likes looking backward to a time and land that never were - is being even more fun - if deranged can count as "fun."  Hillary famously said that The Donald is a man who can be baited with a tweet.  To prove her point she provoked the thin-skinned narcissist by showcasing a Muslim Gold Star family at the Democratic National Convention who used their time at the podium to berate the bigoted blowhard.  Trump was not only baited, he was hooked!  Now, more than a week later, he is still engaged in a war of words with the parents of a fallen American hero - and the Republican party can't get him to c ease and desist.  Trump has to have the last word, and if that means talking and yelling forever, so be it.

Donald Trump's insistence on getting back at the Khan family has led to stern rebukes from the Veterans of Foreign Wars as well as Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona - a man whom Trump now says he won't endorse - and Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire whom Trump is also marginalizing and belittling.  Then, just for good measure, Donald Trump informed the media that he is also not endorsing the reelection bid of House Speaker Paul Ryan at this time.  That has some bigwigs in his party furious at the nominee - including party chair Reince Priebus.

One Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives has said that he will vote for Hillary in November, and another stated that he is "just not there yet" when it comes to voting for Trump.  Other members of Congress are keeping their political distance from the candidate or trying to get him to focus on running a more disciplined campaign - and quit taking the bait.  The message is "sit down and shut up," though Donald seems to only be able to hear what he wants to hear.

This week it was learned that Donald Trump, a man who takes pride in being a bully, had asked one of his foreign policy experts why the U.S. can't use nuclear missiles in dealing with the world's problems.  Seriously.  Is it any wonder that President Obama has described Donald Trump as "unfit" to be President?

Now word is circulating that some top Republican Party officials may be planning an intervention with their volcanic candidate - tie him down in a room somewhere and talk til he listens.  The trouble with that, of course, is Trump doesn't listen.  He's smarter than the rest of us and has piles of inherited money to prove it.  Plan B seems to be to get at him through his kids.  He has some respect for them due to their superior breeding.

Another story in the news is that Republican Party strategists are formulating a plan of operation in the event that Donald gets mad and takes his toys and goes home - or withdraws from the race.  Apparently the Republican Central Committee can select a replacement.  However, that would all have to come together before the end of September in order to have time to get the new candidate's name on the ballot in all fifty states.  If Trump were to pull out in October, that would royally screw his party - and Donald would never think of harming a fellow Republican - unless of course it was John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, and on ad infinitum.

I haven't had this much fun since Rocky and Bullwinkle went off the air!

Every day more wheels roll off of the Trump Train, yet it still clings stubbornly to the tracks.  It thinks it can, it thinks it can - and God help us if it does!

Nearly One in Ten Missouri Dems Voted for Chief Wana Dubie

by Pa Rock
Voter

The 2016 Missouri primary election has come and gone with very little in the way of surprises.  Jason Kander, Missouri's current Secretary of State, handily earned the right to challenge incumbent Senator Ol' Roy Blunt in the general election.  Democrat Kander has built a strong political organization to promote his candidacy, and he was able to capture nearly 70 percent of the vote.   Some observers are now rating the race between Kander and Blunt this fall as a toss-up.  Blunt won his own primary with 72% of the vote.

Current state attorney general Chris Koster easily won the Democratic primary for governor, stomping three other candidates by capturing nearly eighty percent of the votes cast.

The only true race of the day was the Republican slug-fest for the gubernatorial nomination.   Former Navy Seal Eric Greteins barked and swam his way to victory over three other candidates - millionaire and self-funder John Brunner who finished second, Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder who came in third, and former Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway who finished last.  Greteins won with over a third of the vote, leading Bruner by nearly ten percentage points.  The three losers finished relatively close together.

Eric Greteins got lucky toward the end of the campaign when the Democratic Governor's Association began funding ads against him.    He was able to make it look like the DGA was trying to manipulate a Republican election - which it was.  Greteins deftly played the victim card to his benefit.

One surprise during the evening came with a rather strong performance by Chief Wana Dubie, a marijuana legalization activist from Dent County.  The Chief finished third in the Democratic race for United States Senator, garnering nearly ten percent of the vote.  One in ten Democratic voters in Missouri cast their official ballots for a man who has a burning marijuana leaf tattooed across his forehead! 

As my old platoon sergeant used to say, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"

For the times they are a-changin!

Primary Election Day in Missouri

by Pa Rock
Voter

I've got to learn to quit complaining because it always comes with a cost.  This time the cost was in time and gasoline, both precious commodities.

I bitched in this space a few weeks ago about my disgust at having to drive a few miles (three - each way) to vote, and then having to enter a fundamentalist church in order to secure and cast my ballot.  Somebody up the political food chain must have been paying attention because I got a card in the mail last week informing me that my voting place had changed.  It was now on the extreme far side of town (an additional two miles - each way) and located in a Baptist church.  That'll teach me!

Today is primary election day in Missouri and the premier state race is a four-way Republican scramble for governor - with the winner more than likely to face the state's current attorney general, Chris Koster, in the general election this November.  While I was tempted to take a Republican ballot and help the Stupid Party select its gubernatorial candidate, I opted instead to vote the much more mundane Democratic ballot.  The Democrats have multiple candidates vying for a couple of offices, but there are strong favorites for each office and no surprises are anticipated.

I cast my primary vote for Chris Koster for governor - and I have his bumper sticker on my car.  Koster has built up a big war chest for the general election, and he should benefit from the blood-letting going on among the four Republican candidates.  Koster appears to be free of controversy and well liked - and he has the charm and smarts to become a national player at some point. 

My primary vote for United States Senator went to our current secretary of state, Jason Kander.  Kander, an Afghan War veteran and the youngest statewide office holder in the nation, is posing a serious electoral threat to our sitting senator, Ol' Roy Blunt.  Ol' Roy seems to be struggling to free himself of the tar baby that is Donald Trump.  One of Kander's primary opponents is a marijuana legalization activist from Dent County who goes by the legal moniker "Chief Wana Dubie."    The Chief is, of course, a colorful character - and he has a burning marijuana leaf tattooed on his forehead! I have to admit that part of me wanted to cast my vote his way - but defeating Ol' Roy is just too danged important - and Kander is the man who can do it!

Tomorrow's news out of Missouri will be who the Republican's choose to carry their banner into the governor's race this November.   The four candidates - Eric Greitens, John Brunner, Catherine Hanaway, and Peter Kinder - are all polling surprisingly close together with Greitens and Brunner generally leading by slim margins.  They are slinging more poop an army of angry monkeys - and it literally could be anyone's race. 

Sadly, the Democratic Governors' Association has chosen to insert itself into this race.  A group funded by the DGA has reportedly paid for media ads attacking Eric Greitens, the one that the group appears to fear most - although at least one major poll shows Greitens being the most vulnerable potential opponent for Koster.  The DGA, in my most humble opinion, has done little more that waste a half-a-million dollars meddling in Republican affairs - and, in the process, given the GOP a campaign issue.

(Trying to co-opt voters in the opposing party is a campaign tactic that was honed to a sharp edge by our senior United States senator, Claire McCaskill, when she literally used her electoral cunning to select her Republican opponent four years ago - and then beat him ragged like an old rug.)

Eric Greitens primary qualification for office seems to be that he is a former Navy Seal.  He also has a history of loose affiliation with the state's Democratic Party and was encouraged by party officials a few years back to run for Congress as a Democrat.  In 2008 Greitens went on a road trip with former governor Bob Holden to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.  Greitens has also taken a lot of grief over a one million dollar donation that he received from a California venture capitalist - a man who is being sued by a woman who claims he held her as a sex slave for thirteen years.    Greitens' sanctimonious opponents have demanded that he return the donation or give it to charity - but Greitens must truly be a Republican at heart because he has chosen to keep it.

John Brunner, a native of St. Louis, is a retired businessman - and a self-made millionaire - who has the ability and the inclination to self-fund much of his run for office.  Brunner would have voters believe, much like Donald Trump, that a business background is is an asset for holding public office.

Catharine Hanaway is a former Speaker of the Missouri House and U.S. Attorney.  She is posturing as "the" law and order candidate of the election and finding fault with the protesters at Ferguson - but not the police.  Hanaway, like Greitens, has a rich sugar daddy who has contributed generously to her campaign.

The final candidate is Peter Kinder, Missouri's current lieutenant governor and the candidate most polls show as likely to finish last.  Kinder, who has no sugar daddy dumping big money on his campaign, dropped out of a race for governor four years ago after it was revealed that he had had some sort of an affair with a stripper and had misused state money.  He, like Greitens, also appears to be Republican to the core.

The polls close at 7:00 p.m. - Missouri time - and which of these four "conservative" yahoos will take the state GOP crown is anybody's guess.   They are a narcissistic and angry crew, and the poop will likely keep flying for a few more days - and, I suspect, Chris Koster is counting on it.

Here's hoping for a long, bitter recount!

Good luck, Chief Wana Dubie.  I hope you finish a strong second!