Hallway to Nowhere

Category: poems

  • Pence

    Pence does not offer any consoling alternative to Trump. He is even is in some ways more unsettling, since he has well thought-out reasons for why he believes what he does. He’s a devout Evangelical Christian and a staunch Tea Party conservative who has been known to describe himself as “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” As governor of Indiana, he was responsible for a 2012 anti-gay “religious freedom” bill (later amended) and  one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. He has also attacked Planned Parenthood. His stance on immigration is definitely NIMBY. While he did decry Trump’s tweet on Muslims entering the country, he proposed as a congressman in 2006 that undocumented aliens be encouraged to self-deport and re-apply as guest-workers. As governor, he has opposed taking in immigrants. He’s liked by Paul Ryan and has ties to the Koch bros. Pence:Trump’s “man in the gray suit”.

    Lest you be tempted to mistake my words for admiration, let me make myself clear: Pence is fervently ANTI-everything I hold dear: anti-gay; anti-abortion; anti-feminist; anti-open immigration; anti-Liberal…..the only redeeming thing I’ve found is that he does have a healthy respect for the freedom of the press, unlike his running mate, Trump. Otherwise, he’s the kind of hardcore True Believer that I definitely don’t want  as potential POTUS, anymore than I wanted Ted Cruz. I don’t want anyone who is going to govern by faith, rather than reason. We’ve tried that before (with George W) and ended up with the mess we’re in today.

  • The Wall

    I read that Kansas Secretary of State and prominent anti-immigration activist Kris Kobach has successfully lobbied for language supporting Trump’s absurd Wall into the Republican platform.  “The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”  Exactly how this wall is to be paid for was not addressed, though Trump has said that he will force Mexico to do so, both by threatening to seize money that people here send back to relatives in Mexico and by some unspecified more ominous means. Despite Dan Stein’s statement that Trump’s Wall is a “surrogate” for other border control measures, Trump himself has never disavowed that he intends building a physical wall, though  engineers, economists, and others have repeatedly said that it is impractical, ineffective, and costly. But reason has never stood in way of Trump’s fevered plans.

    Here’s a little something to help you contemplate Trump’s Republican  ‘Murica:

     

  • Radical Gun Proposal

    I’m going to make a radical proposal which will probably make those reading this post howl about the Second Amendment. Fine. When Obama was elected, I heard “Obama’s coming to take your guns!” Now it’s “Hillary’s coming to take your guns!” Here what I propose: the government-the federal government-SHOULD confiscate every firearm belonging to anyone, outside of those weapons legally issued to those employed as policemen (and after the coverage of recent shooting by police officers I have my doubts about the wisdom of this) or the military. If you are not in the militia, you DON’T need a gun. Period. This is not the colonial era, when you had to hunt for food. Yes, I know that people still hunt. And they enjoy doing that. So I’m making an arbitrary moral judgment here. (This is my blog, so I can.) But I believe that in this day and age, when gun violence is so widespread, that owning a gun for even hunting should be forbidden. I live in a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. It’s bucolic. Yet yesterday a man with a gun drove down the interstate randomly shooting at people. A woman was killed. I don’t want to hear “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” any longer. That’s simply not the case. The likelihood of violence dramatically increases when a gun is present. Guns don’t kill people. People WITH GUNS kill people.

    On a personal note, I want to address the idea put forth by a friend of mine that society would be safer if every household were armed, i.e. had a gun. However, studies show that guns are not likely to be used in self-defense and instead have a higher chance of being stolen, used for suicide, or ending in some form of accidental mishap. That’s research. If every household were like my landlord, for instance: sober, knowledgeable about guns and gun safety, responsible, serious about his duties as a citizen, sane, etc,, then perhaps I might concede her a point. But more households than I care to think about resemble the one seven blocks away, wherein dwell folks who are regularly visited by the cops for various illicit activities or the one down the street belonging to the man who informed me that I’m burning in hell due to being queer and a Jew. Do I feel safer, knowing THESE people could have guns? Hell, no!

  • Trump’s Message: Being a Bigot is Acceptable

    Like many other Jews and others, I was disgusted by Trump’s blatantly anti-Semitic tweet directed somewhat mystifyingly at Clinton. But Trump’s attitude afterwards about the resulting furor that the tweet caused is even more disturbing. He has staunchly DEFENDED the offensive tweet, despite the damning knowledge coming to light that the imagery was lifted from a racist source. Rather than acknowledging that this was playing to the old canard about Jews and money, Trump continued to insist it was a sheriff’s badge and would not back down. Racists and anti-Semites, including David Duke of the KKK, praised the tweet and then embellished it. Still Trump saw no evil. Despite his oft-repeated statement that he will be the best friend that Israel ever had, it is clear that Jews are included along with Muslims in his hit list. So his message to Americans is this: it is okay to be a bigot, as long as you’re discriminating against a Muslim, Jew, or Mexican. Fuck anyone who’s not white and Christian.

    Addendum: I had a friend tell me that she hates for people to look at Trump and think he is the poster boy for Christianity. Here was my reply:

    While Trump might not be the poster boy for Christians, there is no denying that he favors Christianity. His campaign has established an Evangelical Advisory Board, which includes right-wing figures ranging from Michele Bachman to Focus On The Family’s James Dobson. He has not made any such committee for other religious groups, including Jews and the much maligned Muslims. He claims to be A Christian and assiduously courts the conservative Evangelicals, even to the point of being “born-again”. So, while I don’t want to tar all Christians with the same brush, (I know some fine people who are Christian), Trump is doing his utmost to tell people who AREN’T Christian (and white) that they are not welcome or wanted and that this is acceptable behavior. It would be nice to hear Christians pointing out that this is not Christian behavior! Some have and do. But a sizeable minority seem to agree that racism is justified, when directed at suitable others, i.e. heathens, be they Jews, Muslims, atheists, or other non-believers. (Or even the wrong color Christians or Christians from the wrong country.)

  • Trump’s Message: Being a Bigot is Acceptable

    Like many other Jews and others, I was disgusted by Trump’s blatantly anti-Semitic tweet directed somewhat mystifyingly at Clinton. But Trump’s attitude afterwards about the resulting furor that the tweet caused is even more disturbing. He has staunchly DEFENDED the offensive tweet, despite the damning knowledge coming to light that the imagery was lifted from a racist source. Rather than acknowledging that this was playing to the old canard about Jews and money, Trump continued to insist it was a sheriff’s badge and would not back down. Racists and anti-Semites, including David Duke of the KKK, praised the tweet and then embellished it. Still Trump saw no evil. Despite his oft-repeated statement that he will be the best friend that Israel ever had, it is clear that Jews are included along with Muslims in his hit list. So his message to Americans is this: it is okay to be a bigot, as long as you’re discriminating against a Muslim, Jew, or Mexican. Fuck anyone who’s not white and Christian.

    Addendum: I had a friend tell me that she hates for people to look at Trump and think he is the poster boy for Christianity. Here was my reply:

    While Trump might not be the poster boy for Christians, there is no denying that he favors Christianity. His campaign has established an Evangelical Advisory Board, which includes right-wing figures ranging from Michele Bachman to Focus On The Family’s James Dobson. He has not made any such committee for other religious groups, including Jews and the much maligned Muslims. He claims to be A Christian and assiduously courts the conservative Evangelicals, even to the point of being “born-again”. So, while I don’t want to tar all Christians with the same brush, (I know some fine people who are Christian), Trump is doing his utmost to tell people who AREN’T Christian (and white) that they are not welcome or wanted and that this is acceptable behavior. It would be nice to hear Christians pointing out that this is not Christian behavior! Some have and do. But a sizeable minority seem to agree that racism is justified, when directed at suitable others, i.e. heathens, be they Jews, Muslims, atheists, or other non-believers. (Or even the wrong color Christians or Christians from the wrong country.)

  • Immigration

    So, I did some research and found that the oft-repeated assertion that illegal immigrants get benefits such as free healthcare and other things while paying nothing into the system via taxes is a myth. The Institute For Taxation And Economic Policy (ITEP) estimates that undocumented immigrants were responsible for 10.6 BILLION in state and local taxes in 2010, and the Social Security Administration reports they paid 13 billion into the Social Security Trust Fund (which will never benefit them) via payroll taxes. I am sure these numbers have only increased since then. They are not eligible for any state or federal benefit program, though their children born in this country are. The jobs many do, at least in the case of the Mexicans, are usually in the service industry and not ones competed for by native-born Americans. Studies show that cities with a large number of immigrants experience a general wage INCREASE for all, regardless of job. And foreign workers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mechanics) industry are increasingly vital as the number of US graduates in these fields decline.
    Source: THE US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE uschamber.com
    That’s my factual portion. Now for the personal. I’ve heard some very racist remarks directed at both Mexicans and Muslims. I’ll address the ones about Mexicans first. Most of the Mexicans I have seen are poor. Most seem to be hard-working. Many speak Spanish. I’m getting really tired of hearing “You’re in America, speak English!” If they know enough English to communicate, that’s fine. I don’t think they are expecting US to learn Spanish. Their children will learn English in school. If they want to continue to use Spanish amongst themselves, why not? But to hear them talked about the way I heard African Americans talked about as a child growing up in Mississippi fills me with a most nasty sense of deja vu. In some parts of the country “dirty Mexican” has become the new “nigger”, and that should not be tolerated.
    Now, as to the Muslims. I’ve seen and heard comments that no Muslims should allowed into the country, that Muslims should be thrown out, etc. This is as absurd as saying “All Christians think homosexuals should be killed,” because one extremist group happens to think so. MUSLIMS ARE NOT THE ENEMY. Too many people have this idea that any Muslim is some crazy who  is going to bomb something, shoot someone or want impose Sharia law on everyone. This is NOT the case. Most Muslims who come here are peaceful, want to live a good life in their own way, and are not anymore prone to violence than you or I. Are there extremists? Yes, but those can be found in ANY religious group. They are crazy Christians ( the Westboro Baptists, Christ Identity movement), crazy Jews (Lev Tahor), crazy Hindus (Saffron Terror) and I’m sure other religions produce their own varieties of nutjobs as well. No other than Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, campaigned for “the rights of the Mahamdan, the Jew, and the pagan.” Just because a person who is Muslim carries out a mass shooting doesn’t mean we should blame Muslims or Islam. Did we blame Christians or Christianity for the Oregon hostage situation? (Answer: no.) Most mass shooting and acts of violence in the US have been done by non-Muslims-statistically by those identifying as CHRISTIANS, yet we continue to stigmatize Muslims. MUSLIM does not equal TERRORIST. (And, lest you accuse me of not having any personal acquaintance, I have several good friends who are Muslim and have visited mosques.)