Hope is a serer rat

I have often described myself as a skeptical optimist. I hope for the best, but not expect the worst. Yesterday in church, the worship associate (lay person that gives a reflection) recited a poem by Caitlin Seida called "Hope Is Not a Bird, Emily, It's a Sewer Rat". I've attached it. The sermon from the minister was about "Hope On Trial". She said, "To hope or not to hope? That is the question we wrestle with as we consider divergent perspectives on hope in light of our times. Is hope a thing with feathers, or is it a sewer rat? Does it inspire acquiescence, or action? What role does hope play in our own lives and how does it shape our orientation to the future?"

I have hope for this country, the American people, and the world, but I can't just say "Oh, well" when things charge into oppression and injustice. My hope calls me to action. I demonstrate. I write articles for the climate newsletter. I post shit on Facebook. I write in my blog. Even the fiction I write aims to keep us looking up. I can see the best in people. Even people like Donald Fucking Trump. He'd be a lot better person if he'd had a better dad. Talk about grooming our children!

Giving up hope means turning to drugs or violence or suicide. People with hope don't commit suicide.

Anyway. Life goes on until it doesn't. And I intend to do whatever I can to keep it going on. It may get a lot worse before it gets better, but I'll never give up. And I'll never give up hope.

Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving. We have company coming. I did weeding and deadheading in front and back and moving furniture. My wife did a bunch of baking and cooking... and directing. I love the way we work together, always by consensus.

That's the number one thing I'm thankful for: my wife.

I'm thankful that we have a roof over our heads that doesn't leak, and that we have enough income to keep it there. Enough income to keep food in the larder. Enough income to pay for good health insurance. Enough income to keep the cars fed. Enough income to share with those in need.

I am also thankful for the community at church that we're a part of. I'm thankful for friends and for my ease at being friendly. I'm thankful for fellow writers, who read my stories and whose stories I get to read.

I'm thankful for the Sonoma County Public Library and the rich selection of books they have to lend for free.

I'm thankful that we're able to live in California, a deep blue state that, to a much greater extent than a lot of states, makes a safe place for people of other than the white, Christian, cisgender male persuasion.

I'm thankful for this Bellevue Ranch neighborhood, for its diversity, its (relative) peacefulness and its safety.

I'm thankful for my health, physical and mental, emotional and spiritual. For eyesight and hearing, for smelling and tasting, for touching and balance.

I'm thankful for my level of intelligence and for the upbringing I had that taught me to use it. For the upbringing I had that taught me not to hate.

It's a good life I have. Much better than most other folks have. I hope the next one is a little more equitable for all the souls in the Universe.

 

I just wrote an email to Donald Trump

 I just sent an email to Donald Trump. Here's what I wrote:

Dear Mr President--

I am very uneasy with your promise to "go after" your political enemies. Of course, your political enemies will never vote for you. But look at all the people, Republicans, Democrats and Independents who voted for you in 2024. You can get votes when you listen to and help the people. Please stop hurting the people: citizens, immigrants, poor people, sick people, people who aren't Christians. The only people you're not hurting are the obscenely rich people. Stop acting like a thin-skinned, insecure teenager and act like a man. I'm the same age you are. I know you can act like a grownup because I do.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Let me know if you agree, disagree, or have no opinion. Send your own email to him. Be polite, civil, reasonable and factual. You can go to https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ to send your comments.

H. R. 22 - Silencing Americans Act

House Republicans are calling it the SAVE Act. SAVE stands for "Safeguard American Voter Eligibility". It will require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. Sounds like a good idea. We can't have non-citizens voting.

But in reality it is a Project 2025-inspired voter suppression act. Here are a few facts about it.

·         Overnight, it would essentially end online and mail-in voter registration. 

·        Proof of citizenship doesn’t mean a simple driver’s license. It means a birth certificate or a passport – documents that tens of millions of citizens simply don’t have access to. 

·        Married people who’ve changed their names wouldn’t be able to register using their original birth certificates -- effectively disenfranchising millions of women. 

·        Trans and nonbinary people who’ve changed their names to reflect their gender identity would also face massive challenges to voting -- and the State Department’s ban on updating sex designations on passports (if upheld in court) would add to the difficulty of satisfying the bill’s proof of citizenship requirements.

·        The burdensome requirements would disproportionately impact voters of color, low-income voters, elder voters and younger voters. How many college students do you know who have a birth certificate stashed in their dorm room?

·        Arizona and Kansas tried similar legislation and tens of thousands of eligible voters were disenfranchised. 

The Republicans in Congress do not represent their constituents fully. They only represent white Christians. This is a attempt to Make America Christian Finally. "Finally" because this country was never a Christian theocracy. But if the Project 2025ers have their way, it will become one. 

Climate Coup

The Musk presidency is not just an attack on democracy. It's a death sentence for everyone on the planet. We are right next door to a runaway greenhouse condition and with this new administration stomping on the gas pedal (literally) we'll hit it before there's any chance to change course, or even slow the change in climate.

We sit back and wonder how anyone could be so stupid as to destroy our planet's habitability. But they're not stupid. The billionaires will be the last to go down. They can afford air conditioning and sky-high energy prices and gated communities and prob'ly private militias, so what do they care? Their intention all along has been to, Scrooge-like, reduce the surplus population.

No one can sit still and merely hope they go away. We all need to fight, march, demonstrate, gather in townhalls, write letters, speak out. We speak now or forever our peace will be held for us.

Dear Republican friend

 I'm not against banning abortion. But I would like the laws to hold the father responsible for the baby as well as the mother. Our DNA technology today can precisely identify the father.

I'm not against ending birthright citizenship. That's only in the Constitution because our country was brand new and nobody was a natural-born citizen.

And I'm not against cutting the wasteful spending by the government. But I don't think putting a man who makes billions on government contracts in charge of cutting is wise. How come none of his contracts is being looked at? And how come he's gutting the services that oversee his operations?

When Trump won the election I congratulated you. I said, "Your person won."

You replied, "Thanks! I feel the country won as well."

Are you still of the opinion that our country has won?

My New Year's Resolution

I told my brother in an email that my New Year's Resolution was to do all that I can and a little bit more to listen and learn, to speak and teach, to love and be loved, to share the wealth and the load (this is the most important one), and to promote laughter (or maybe this is the most important)!

And then a few hours later I wrote about the mass mowing down of revelers in the French Quarter of N'awlins by an enraged pickup driver, and concluded that it was a harbinger of what the year will be like.

We're going to be anxious but hopeful until January 20th when Trump takes office and then we're going to know that we are fucked.

How can I keep believing in the inherent worth and dignity of every person?

Like I said in my memoir ("The Winter Of My Discontent")... There's more to being a man than just slugging somebody, but there's more to being a Christian than just turning the other cheek. I think... I hope! I do more slugging than turning these next 4 years. I have to resist, persist, and insist. And keep looking up.

This is the beginning of four years of tribulation for liberals. We must resist the forces of evil. We must persist in hope that we can make a difference. And we must insist that our freedoms remain. The freedom to be white or not. The freedom to be male or not. The freedom to be Christian or not. The freedom to be native born, or NOT!

I pledge allegiance to the flag, not some fat ageing draft-dodger who has been privileged all his life and thinks he's "God's chosen one." A pox and a virus on him!