Friend Felix Speaks Again

Published July 19, 2022 by Nan Mykel

4th of JULY:  GOOD GRIEF!

If you like pretty poems, please look away,

for here I lament decay, dying and death.

I’m not bemoaning my dying contemporaries,

who lately fall like old-growth trees in a forest.

Nor do I pre-grieve my own impending death.

 

My concern is for the fate of our democracy,

as it is doing a dangerous dance with doom.

Our precious political freedoms are eroding.

Our fractured center seems not to be holding.

 

Our democracy could be in its death throes.

Female bodily autonomy has been outlawed,

voting rights have been wantonly suppressed,

there is massive support for Trump’s Big Lie.

 

The Supreme Court defies the majority’s will.

Throughout our land gun fetishism flourishes.

Louder liars shout down the voices of veracity.

Violence grows, the environment degrades.

 

This Independence Day is a day of gloom.

Sadly I fly our tattered flag upside down.

Today I can’t sing Happy Birthday America!

In these dark days, I weep as I sing of thee.

 

Felix Gagliano,  July 2022

 

Couldn’t Resist

Published July 18, 2022 by Nan Mykel

Get a newspaper and roll it up, or get something hard like a rolling pin, make sure your child and dog are both in the room and hit yourself over the head for being so stupid. Your dog is just defending itself, you need to teach your kid what’s acceptable and what isn’t when it comes to the dog. DO NOT ever punish the dog – and what good is it going to do after the incident anyway, it won’t even know what it’s being punished for.

THOUGHT FLOOD

Published July 17, 2022 by Nan Mykel

WELL SIR, IT’S LIKE THIS….

Life’s a jigsaw puzzle but we can’t see the picture until the end.

Won’t the forced babies burn to a crisp well before they’re twenty?  How is that time enough to cure cancer?

In my dream journal, should I record the date I go to sleep or the date I wake up?

Is there a way to tell the difference between a photograph of a sunrise and a sunset?

Promises are too easy to make and too hard to keep.  Handy mermory gets in my way.

It’s easy to believe in Jack Frost because I see him once a year.  Sandman too, the next morning.  But…

So glad I’m not bald ’cause I’ve got bumps on my head.

I hope there’s reincarnation ’cause there’re some folks I need to tell off!

Most are hellbent on tearing down walls.  I need more cement in mine.

The other side of my flapjack says I should be feeding the hungry.

Quick, how does the placebo effect work. Can it help you to walk on water?

Am I outside looking in or inside looking out?

Isn’t it a pity we outgrew miracles!

 

Top of mind issues that aren’t

Published July 17, 2022 by Nan Mykel

Re-blogged. Sad but true…

Keith's avatarmusingsofanoldfart

Issues that need to be top of mind aren’t being discussed because we would rather talk about more exaggerated and contrived issues.

The global water crisis lives here, especially in drought prone areas like the Southwest United States, which is running dangerously low on water. Climate change only makes matters worse. And, this is even before we speak of the lead water pipe structures which have their own set of toxic issues as in Flint, Michigan.

Miami is the most at risk city in the world for encroaching sea levels due to climate change, but the governor calls more dramatic solutions liberal based ideas. Miami has built right to the coast and the limestone guarding the largest aquifer is porous. The fact the number of sunny days flooding has increased with sea water coming up through the street drains in Miami Beach should give people pause. Call me crazy, but…

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BAKING CLIMATE CHANGE

Published July 17, 2022 by Nan Mykel

What’s that smell from the oven?

__________

politico.com via Daily Kos:

“[Manchin] has sabotaged the president’s agenda,” Sanders (I-Vt.) said on ABC’s “This Week.”

[…]Manchin’s reluctance to pass the [Democrats’ party-line spending] bill after months of negotiations has infuriated Democrats who contend the spending bill is desperately needed to fight climate change.

Sanders on Sunday did not hold back his frustration, claiming that “people like Manchin” are “intentionally sabotaging the president’s agendawhat the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want.”

“The problem was that we continued to talk to Manchin like he was serioushe was not,” Sanders said. “This is a guy who’s a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires.”

Why Does He Not VOTE WITH HIS PARTY?  I reckon one reason is that money talks loud.  His pockets are stuffed with  the most funding from  fossil fuel PACs,  From May 2020 to May 2021 he received the most funding from the oil and gas industry of any senator, including $1.6 million in donations from fossil fuel PACs…

NAN SEZ;  That’s in addition to others sabotaging our democratic way of life.  Will the people wake up in time?

_______________________

This, in the face of news from abroad:

Beijing [China], July 17 (ANI): China’s meteorological department has issued a high-temperature warning for 12 days as severe heat waves grip the country, affecting 900 million people and over half of the national territory within a week.

Forest fires rage across Europe as heatwave sends temperatures soaring

Civil defence authorities battle blazes that have forced evacuation of thousands of people across continent

Wildfires spread through western Europe as temperatures reach mid-40Cs

———

 in Madrid and agencies

 

 

The Democrats Remind Us…

Published July 13, 2022 by Nan Mykel
I think there are enough facts here to justify quoting from Democrats.org:
Republican lawmakers are not stopping at overturning Roe. Across the country, Republicans are not only passing total abortion bans with no exceptions for rape or incest, but are now introducing legislation that could ban contraceptives.In Ohio, a group of House Republicans introduced a bill that would effectively ban all abortions from the moment of conception, and potentially other forms of birth control like IUDs.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: “The bill contains just two sentences: ‘The state of Ohio shall recognize the personhood, and protect the constitutional rights, of all unborn human individuals from the moment of conception. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted in any manner that would endanger the life of a mother.’”

The Columbus Dispatch: “Click’s bill, which is being co-sponsored by seven other lawmakers, could also potentially ban other forms of birth control such as intrauterine devices (or certain IUDs) that interfere with an already fertilized ova.”

In an interview, Idaho GOP State Rep. Brent Crane touted the fact that his caucus is considering banning Plan B. 

Boise State Public Radio: “Crane said on Idaho Reports last week that, as chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, he would consider holding hearings on legislation to ban medication abortion and a certain emergency contraceptive.”

Boise State Public Radio: “When asked Tuesday whether that includes emergency contraceptives, like Plan B, [Crane] said, ‘that’s what we would have a hearing for, is to let the committee determine where they stand on that issue.’”

A number of extreme MAGA Republicans publicly denounced Griswold v. Connecticut, a 1965 case that struck down a state law that restricted married couples’ access to birth control.

Mic: “Blake Masters, a Republican candidate for Senator in Arizona, announced that he would only vote for Supreme Court justices who would overturn cases that protect the right to contraceptives. Masters wants access to contraceptives to be a state-level decision.”

MSNBC: “Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee recently denounced Griswold v. Connecticut, a 1965 case that struck down a state law that restricted married couples’ access to birth control.”

MSNBC: “Matthew DePerno, the Trump-endorsed candidate [for Michigan attorney general], concluded, ‘Listen, all these cases that deal — Griswold, Roe v. Wade, Dobbs — these are all state right issues…. It’s going to be a state right issue on all of these things — as it should be!’”

This isn’t anything new from Republicans. Before the Dobbs decision even dropped, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves refused to rule out a ban on certain forms of contraceptives in the state. 

The Washington Post: “Miss. governor doesn’t rule out banning contraception if Roe falls”

MAGA Republicans keep blowing the door wide open on their agenda and proving to voters exactly what’s at stake in November.

I almost titled this post “Don’t Say Gay, Just Do It!”   I managed to control my wild impulse, however.

Greta Thunberg — Simply Amazing

Published July 12, 2022 by Nan Mykel

An old re-blog, an old post, and currently much worse situation,after the (less than supreme) supreme court’s recent capitulation.

jilldennison's avatarFilosofa's Word

I have written before about the young Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, and in fact she was one of my ‘good people’ one Wednesday last December.  Sometimes an activist will start like gangbusters, and then after a few months you hear nothing more about them, but not so Ms. Thunberg.  I see her name in the news at least once a week, and she has been inspirational to many young climate-conscious groups around the world.

Today, she is back in the news, and in a big way! A couple of big ways, actually.

Greta-Thunberg Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and The 1975’s Matty Healy pose for a photo. (Photo: Jordan Hughes)

The first is that she is featured on the first track of the forthcoming album of British pop-rock band The 1975.  In the track, Greta delivers a speech about the global climate emergency, against an instrumental background…

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I WENT TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT…

Published July 12, 2022 by Nan Mykel

With Boko Haram on my mind,

in search of a metaphor

for all the craziness in the world

today, and could not find one.

 

I got hung up on “Why do men

hate women,” and “Why care what

someone else believes?”  It

must be genetic.

 

Overpopulation? Whatever happened

to the milk of human kindness?

It soured.

 

I don’t give a snap if

your god is better than mine.

Good for you!

 

nan 2015

Snuggling Up T0…

Published July 11, 2022 by Nan Mykel

WARM MEMORIES

Let’s Pretend

The Shadow

Kukla Fran and Ollie (by golly)

Stella Dallas

Ma Perkins

My Gal Sunday

The Briarhoppers WBT radio (Wait til The Sun Shines, Nellie!)

The Lone Ranger

As the World Turns

Jack Benny

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Blackberry pickin’

Captain Kangaroo

FBI in Peace and War

Tinker Toys

Arthur Godfrey and All the Little Godfreys

The Old Lamp Lighter

You Are My Sunshine

Hit Parade

Archie Comics

Homemade peach ice cream

Alice in Wonderland

Dick Tracy

Wizard of Oz

Heidi

Raggedy Ann

Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy

Oh Susannah

Amos and Andy

Clothes lines

Charley Macarthy

Little Orphan Annie

Little Lulu

Katsenjammer Kids

Nancy Drew

Freddy the Detective (a pig)

The ant parade (backyard on the farm)

Dagwood

Coal embers settling down at night

Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy

Margaret OBrien

Bobbsey Twins

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Sweet smell of the land after a rain

Ma Perkins

The wild plum orchard

Dog on Wood

Hide and Go Seek

Shirley Temple

I Went to the Animal Fair

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

HOW IS IT that my earlier memories are recalled with so much more warmth than many later others?  You too?  What else do you remember?

 

Altogether Now, Sing…

Published July 11, 2022 by Nan Mykel

There goes my mind! Catch it if you can

 

 

God Bless America…

Allah Bless America…

Brahman Bless America…

Jehova Bless America…

Godhead Bless America

Topic for Religious Study Group:  Do the Christian Nationalists still  read the New Testament or only the old?  Or maybe they’ve doctored up their copies a little…


Sidebar:  On June 24, 2022, the Tennessee Court ruled against a jewish couple who were turned away from state Methodist placement services because they were jewish. As reported on Daily Kos, The Tennessee court majority opinion  argued that because the Rutan-Rams were—after losing out on a foster child opportunity—finally able to foster a child, there was not enough “harm” done. They subsequently argue that just because the defendants were denied state-funded services because they were Jewish isn’t a sign of “stigmatic injury.” How? Because technically the law doesn’t consider Jewish people less than. [It just treats them as though they are?]

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