The Donald- The Gift that keeps on Giving

I loved my father, but I didn't agree with his politics.  You know how Donald Trump just totally pissed off our immigrant population?  The statements he made about Mexicans raping women, bringing drugs into our country and how he guesses a few are nice people caused a domino effect throughout his media and retail empire. He was given numerous chances to clarify and take back his statements and he stood his ground.  My father loved the Trump.  He frequented his casinos and even had the chance to shake hands with him.  I would like to think that he might have changed his mind about him after all the crap he said last week, but I am afraid he would have hung in there like the rest of the republicans polled that have put the Trumpster in second place out of the twelve or so candidates running for President.

Seriously folks- President.  He is super entertaining, but would he really be your top choice for the person that holds his finger on our nuclear arsenal?  My father hated Hillary also.  He had a whole drawer of anti- Hillary articles cut from various newspapers. I have read her book and I like her politics, but I have misgivings about her truthfulness at times.  I am not sure about her yet and she has never insulted any ethnic group in a speech, as far as I am aware of.

And by the way- Trumpster- didn't I keep it classy and pick one of your best photos?  There were so many other choices.

Southern Charm

  

So yesterday we left our big city and ventured fifty miles out to pick blackberries. Of course we came upon an SUV with the college flag holders carrying confederate flags.  I thought to myself, would that cracker have the guts to drive around Atlanta like that?

I just found this image on google and loved it.  Rednecks- can't you just make like Frozen and Let it Go?

The roller coaster of the last two weeks

Last week was so tragic. The shooting in Charleston hit us hard.  I couldn't imagine a person sitting with a prayer group for an hour and then gunning them down. That was the lowest you could go.

The city of Charleston and the families of the victims took the classiest road of forgiveness.  I won't mention the name of the little racist shit that gunned down the nine innocent people at church. But isn't it great that his actions ended in a complete reversal of his intentions.  The confederate flag is out. I mean I have live in the south since 1978 and have watched the rednecks in their trucks with their gun racks and confederate flags in the back window come an go with no consequence.  Now, at least, the governments won't be supporting the hatred by flying the confederate flag.  Forgiving the shooter really silenced the hatred behind his actions.  Having the President attend the funeral for the preacher was unifying for our nation.  His singing of amazing grace was a special moment in history.

This was a good week for our nation.  Everyone deserves to feel that they can live their lives in their own truth.  The supreme court decision allowing marriage for all was a huge step for freedom for all. I am proud to be an American today.  Now that we are on a roll, it is time to start working towards more regulations on gun ownership. I don 't know how to stop allowing guns in the hands of crazy folks but changes need to be made in the availablity of guns.  Hatred is something we have all faced at one time or another, but this was a good week for the good guys.  Do you think it is possible that the people with the gun racks and confederate flags will feel out of place now?   Do you think that the congregations that have been so anti-gay marriage will soften their stand?  We can always hope.

Deflate gate or Deflect gate?

Professional football has suffered a tough year of scandals.  There is a lawsuit that will award medical damages to those players that have contracted dementia, Alzheimer's or depression resulting form head injuries.  There were the numerous aggressive acts against family members.  Now we are on the eve of the Superbowl and the media is going crazy over deflate gate.  

Let's face it.  After all the horror stories, this scandal is pretty tame.  We can laugh, make numerous tongue in cheek testicle jokes and give the NFL lots of media attention.  No one is talking about Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson now.  I think this scandal has come at the perfect moment to get everyone excited about the Superbowl and take our minds off the true scandals that really have hurt people.  Go ahead and make your wrinkled ball jokes folks, but don't forget about domestic violence, head injuries and homophobia. 

Really? Shame on you Governor Deal!

The governor's race in Georgia is in full swing.  Jason Carter is young and has a likable demeanor.  Nathan Deal hasn't really been able to find anything negative to say about him so now he has made two ads that make fun of his young age- using a ten year old trying to shoot a basketball and not making it in the net to compare Jason's young age to not being able to make a basket without cheating his way and lowering the height of the net.  The other commercial makes fun of his "gift of gab".  Jason Carter has made commercials that state the true facts that have happened during the Deal governorship and he comes off as a caring, truthful young man. The Deal commercial puts animated stars on Jason's teeth to make him seem like a charlatan.  I have been disgusted by Deals underhanded tactics.  Jason deal could bring out the pictures of Snowmagageddon 2014.  That was an example of not preparing for a rare during the workday snowstorm, where many people were trapped on the highway coming home from work.  Remember that? 

When I think of Nathan Deal and his governorship, I basically think of nothing.  He really didn't do anything that helped the regular citizen.  His health care plan for state workers sucked.  He took down the toll plaza on 400- about 5 years too late on that one.  He encouraged more film makers to come to Georgia by keeping the taxes low on their productions.  Meanwhile I spent about $4000 in taxes on the purchase of my car.  I leased and then bought my car, so I got shafted.  Our property taxes, medical coverage, student loan payments have us strapped-but thank goodness we are home to Dumb and Dumber 2!

I hope the regular folks will get out and vote November 4th!  We need to put Jason Carter, Michele Nunn and the other Democrats into office.  Show this country that there are some people in the deep south that care for the regular citizen.  

Is the sentence fair?

We are all sad for the Guidice family.  The sentences of jail time for both Joe and Teresa have to be very difficult for the family.  The judge did think of the family and delayed Joe's sentence so that Teresa could serve her time first.  Would they have had the same sentence if they were not famous?  Probably, I mean they did commit fraud.  I knew a man from my church that served five years for tax invasion. That was very hard on his family and his wife.  

They did not physically hurt anyone, but they did break the law.  We all love the Guidice family.  We have enjoyed everything Jersey, hopefully the family will learn from their mistakes and teach the girls that money and stuff is not the most important thing to acquire.  I have seen a real humbling this year on the NJHWives, I hope this is sincere, for the sake of the girls.

Ferris Bueller meets Carrie Bradshaw

Isn't it magical when two of your favorite characters  form a real life relationship?  Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my favorite movies of all time.  Sex and the City is the ultimate chic show.( thanks to e! we can watch it on a daily basis)  Now they are the New York royalty.  They are friends with the elite of NYC like Kelly Ripa and Andy Cohen.  I just can not imagine how much fun it must be to be able to go out on the town with Carrie Bradshaw and Ferris Bueller.  I am not a psycho- I realize they are actors and are not the same as their beloved characters, but we can romanticize, right?

My sincere apology to Natasha Tretheway

Dear Ms. Tretheway,

I just read an article about you in the AJC and I am so proud of you and all of your success.  Being named the Poet Laureate of the United States is an incredible honor.  I have followed your successful career over the years and I have admired your courage and strength.

I have spent the last 31 years agonizing over a poor decision.  I was 22 years old and serving on my first jury duty at the Decatur Court house.  Your former step father was on trial, ( for the rest of this blog I will refer to him as YMSH- your mother's second husband) for perjury in his first trial.  I had a very bad feeling about this man. He had a very scary stare and seemed to be heavily medicated. The prosecution tried a few times to bring up his original sentencing.  She would speak about a gun and was immediately shut down by the defence team.  The main focus of the trial was that he had lied about ever being in legal trouble and therefore had committed perjury in his original trial.

The defense argued that being charged with a crime while in the Army was not really the same as being charged with a crime in civilian life. ( by the way he was a pimp in Vietnam during the war)  They also said that being charged with neglect for not paying child support was not technically a considered a crime.  We listened to testimony for two and a half days and then went into the jury room.  I was one of two people  in that room that believed that he was guilty of perjury. 

We all realized that a trial for perjury wasn't the real crime.  We were not allowed to know why he was currently in prison.  We were also told that he was medicated because he had PTSD from being involved in the Vietnamese war.

I held our for a few hours and then the other girl changed her mind.  The jury foreman was a professor at Spelman college and he accused me of being prejudice.  "what does a little white girl from the beach in New Jersey know of the plight of a black soldier in Atlanta?"  I cried and I tried for a couple more hours to hold my ground and then I gave in.  I have never forgotten that I gave in.   I cried when the verdict was read.  I knew it was wrong, and that I wasn't strong enough in my convictions.

About a month later I was watching the evening news and the top story was that YMSH had been released from prison and directly gone straight to your mother's house, shot and killed her.  I realized that the point of the trial that I had been assigned to as a juror was to get him a couple of extra years of prison.  He had been writing threatening letters to your mother from prison.  He also had been charged with aggravated assault with a weapon against your mother in the first trial.  We were never allowed to hear about the particulars of why he was in jail.  I think that would have defiantly swayed more of the jurors over to a guilty verdict.

I am so sorry that I didn't hold on in that jury room.  I really wish that I had been stronger then.  I also found out after seeing the TV news coverage that you were a student a year before at the same high school I was working.  You were a cheerleader and I had known of you.  I was a first year teacher and I was teaching the "subbies".  ( the  8th graders that were below the freshmen- subbies). 

I know this is just a blog, basically it is a diary I have created that my daughter may be able to read and get a few laughs from when I go.  I have no interest in Tweeting or Face book.  You will probably never see this.  It does help me to write it all down.  I have keep this in for a long time.

I wish you a long life of success and happiness.  I am so sorry for the tragedy with your mother and I hope that you can forgive me.  I know in my heart that I was young and weak.  I have forgiven myself for my poor decision.  I wish the 54 year old me could have been there in that jury room.  I think that things might have turned out a little differently.  Again I am sincerely sorry Natasha.
                                                                  Momma T

The "New View" is

 

Hurrah for the new and improved version of the View.  From the blessing  from Queen Barbara, to the tributes to Robin Williams and  Joan Rivers, to the eight year old winner of Norway's Got Talent, the new season is definitely an improvement!

First of all, it is so wonderful to see the interaction between Whoopi and the rest of the girls.  I think Whoopi is finally comfortable in her position and free to speak her mind.  Rosie O is lovable and open and I loved her interview with Barbara Streisand.  My daughter and I absolutely love Rosie P.  Her accent is the greatest!  She has no difficulty voicing her opinion and she seems to fit in perfectly.  Nicole is finding her way into the talk show world.  She is the one that has the least experience in TV.  She ia Greek and has a family and although she worked in the Bush white house, she seems authentic.  

I am just so happy that the focus has turned back to politics.  they still talk about all the current topics, but it seemed that politics went out the window after Joy left.  Congrats to the new season.  Keep up the good work girls!

Dude Looks like a Lady!

 

What to say about the early passing of Robin Williams?  Wasn't the Aerosmith song, Dude Looks like a Lady- just perfect for the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire?

I never was a Mork and Mindy fan. I was in college when that show was on and I didn't watch TV during those years.  I loved Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and of course- Aladdin. My daughter was 6 when Aladdin first came out and she cried at the end of the movie because she didn't want to leave the theatre where the genie lived. 

Robin Williams was a genius.  He must have been one of those special homo sapiens that had extra neurons in his brain, ( like Albert Einstein).  

One of my colleagues said that taking your life is selfish. I don't believe that Robin was a selfish person.  He donated his time to so many organizations and did Comic relief with Whoopie and Billy.  He selflessly gave to the public.  We all loved him and he made us smile. Thanks for everything Robin, we will miss you!

A tribute to Joan

 

I just want to take a moment to say goodbye to one of my true heroes.  I have always loved Joan Rivers.  She was crass, edgy and self-deprecating.  She was a woman that found success in a man's world.  She recreated herself after heartache and failure.  She made me laugh every week on the Fashion Police.  I also loved her recent documentary.  She was equally hard on herself and a litany of celebrities.  She was a advocate to the gay rights movement and she brought meals to patients with HIV and AIDS.  She demonstrated the ethic of hard work to many younger people that need a role model like her.  

I can't imagine that the Fashion Police could continue without Joan.  I wish Melissa and her son all the best.   Take care and know that your mother/grandmother was one of kind.  Her humor was ageless. She paved the way for comics like Kathy Griffin.  

Rest in peace Joan Rivers, we all will miss you!

Coal and Oil are the new cigarettes

Remember most electricity is not really clean!



Have you ever driven past the huge electric power plant near Eatonton Georgia?  There are mountains of black coal next to the large smoke stacks.  Some folks don't understand that if you invest in an electric car, you may not have any visible emissions from your vehicle, but somewhere the electricity that you are using is likely to have origins in coal.  Burning coal produces carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide that contribute to climate change just as gasoline powered cars do, but there is solid . waste left and other gases like sulfur dioxide that contribute to acid rain.

When I was a kid, the evil in our society was determined to be cigarettes.  It took over twenty years to convince the general public how dangerous cigarettes were.  The research was clouded by "scientific research" that was later determined to be financed by the cigarette companies.  Over time the government added taxes, regulations and eventually the number of smokers greatly decreased.

Last summer the headlines were that we have surpassed the carbon levels ever scene on the Earth.  We have had scientists trying to warn us about the dangers of greenhouse gases since the 80's.  Finally, President Obama made a speech about reducing emissions last week.  This is not a problem that we can control in the United States.  The emissions we release effect countries like Bangladesh.  The fact that we had the knowledge about the dangers of oil and coal back in the 1970's and we decided not to invest in solar energy technology is simply abhorrent.  Is money is more important than life?  Will that be the legacy of our society?

Knock Knock- Aren't you glad I did Say Orange is the new Black?

I threw my pie for you!

Who is your favorite prisoner?

I have to say that my daughter and I have thoroughly enjoyed our Netflicks subscription.  Orange is the New Black has been our favorite show in a while.  It is rare that a show can make you empathetic to prisoners and also give you a deep belly laugh at times.  If you haven't seen this yet- I highly recommend it.  It is definitely worth the subscription cost for Netflicks.

It is difficult to pick a favorite. Piper is not it.  She is changing, adapting and has become less whiny this season, but we love crazy eyes and red the best.  Pennsatucky, Tastee, Lorna and Nicky are strong seconds.  The best part of the show is learning the back stories of the inmates and why they ended up in prison.  The show is well-written.  We loved the band with the prison guards called - Side-Boob!  Ha- larious!  
 

The Years of living Dangerously

This is a picture of Long Beach Island. I grew up here.  Since I live live in Georgia now, I only visit LBI once or twice a year. I used to tell my students that I noticed the sea level was higher every time I visited.    LBI was decimated by Sandy last year. It turns out that the storm was so much worse because the sea level was over a foot higher than it was when I was growing up there.   Many of the houses have not been rebuilt yet. Many of the damaged houses have to be raised over 11 feet before they can be rebuilt. Many of the people can't afford to do this and they won't get any help from FEMA unless they raise the house. 

   Here is a picture of the type of damage the storm caused.






  I have been teaching about climate change since the 80's.  I was blown away by the data presented in the original reports.  Growing up on the beach, I witnessed many changes to the quality of water.  We used to get plastic bottles and  tampon applicators wash up on the beach each day.  Why did this happen?  Because trash and sewage was being dumped into the ocean and the remnants would wash up on our beaches.  Legislation was passed that made dumping sewage into the ocean illegal and now there is very little evidence of trash on the beaches each morning.  Positive things can happen when we make an effort.

  Our air is cleaner now because of the clean air act.  Why can't we wake up and realize that our sea levels are rising because of human greed?   Burning coal, natural gas and gasoline are drastically changing our climate.  We have to cut down on greenhouse gases.  I truly have appreciated the Showtime series- The years of Living Dangerously.  The documentary series explores many different problem areas around the world.  Politicians are interviewed.  Daughters of fundamentalist Christians try to convince their preacher fathers that climate change is real. I have family that live near Apalachicola, Florida.  The oyster population has decreased to 10% of what it used to be.  The Chattahoochee river (Atlanta) drains into the Gulf of Mexico here.  When there is a lack of fresh water form the north,  the salinity of the bay changes and oysters are attacked by more parasites and then less of them make it to adulthood.  We, Homo sapiens are doing this!  In Atlanta, because of urban sprawl, the water is needed more and more for a growing population.  We also suffered from drought for several years in a row and the Apalachicola bay suffered as a consequence of our over population. (400 miles upstream)

We are all connected to each other. Why are we so scared to turn away from oil?  $$$$$$$$$$$$$ What harm will cutting back on emissions hurt us?   If we move forward with legislation that phases out the production of greenhouse gases and it turns out that the scientists were wrong, then our legacy is still a cleaner environment.  Isn't that a win/win for the silly Homo sapiens?

Wild wild West!

Welcome to the wild west in the heart of a city.  Don't you think the conceal and carry laws in Georgia are as ass-backwards an idea since the proposal to place stickers on Biology text books claiming that Evolution is one of many ideas to explain how the world was created?

Remember how our state took the hit on that one?  We were the laughing stock of the nation!

I feel that this new law that allows you to carry your gun anywhere- even schools and church- it just leaves me very uncomfortable about my surroundings.  Somehow alcohol and loaded guns do not make me feel safe.  Way to go Georgia Legislators- you have carried our fair state back in time to pre- Civil war days.  I know it is difficult for some of you to give up on the Confederacy and ass-backwards way of thinking.  Congratulations on your progressive thinking!

Is there a connection to bad weather and greenhouse gases?

Have you noticed that the top three stories on the news each day are the weather? There is flooding from Florida to Philadelphia. Tornado damage in the Midwest and south.  Fires out west.  Now, we have always had to deal with crazy weather in the springtime, but was it "normal" to have these events occur on a daily basis?  Think about it!

Anita Hill- 23 years after the hearings

I just saw Anita Hill on the Jon Stewart show and she is really a class act.  She paved the way for women in the work place.  The laws were on the books when she testified about Clarence Thomas and his indiscretions in the work place, but if you need to educate yourself about inappropriate behavior in the work place just watch a couple of episodes of Mad Men.  

I started working in education in the early 80's.  I can remember some of the coaches going out in the hall between classes and rating all the girl students.  The cheerleaders got extra high ratings when they had their short uniforms on.  I had a principal that always put his hand on my shoulder or arm whenever he spoke to me.  It gave me the creeps-but what could I do?  It wasn't an egregious offense. I would have lost my status if I had said anything. I had a boss during my summer employment in college that made me go out and drive him to get pot and then sit with him while he smoked it and then drive him home ( to his poor wife and family).  I didn't really like it but I didn't have any power, so I did what he asked.  

 When Anita Hill stood up to Clarence Thomas and spoke about his behavior to congress, she spoke to a panel of 14 old white men about sexual harassment.  Do you think they really had any idea why she was offended? She spoke of the sick perverted jokes and even worse the overt sexual overtures and those congressmen were probable thinking- this is nothing that I haven't done myself. But- it put a little bug in the minds of our nations's male dominated work bosses and within a couple of years, a lot of that behavior was curtailed- at least it wasn't considered normal.

I have always admired Anita Hill and apparently there is a documentary that is coming out that will explore her story and present it to a new generation of girls.  I can not wait to see it. If we had listened to her and nixed the judicial appointment of Clarence Thomas- would that really have been such a bad thing?  

A plea to the global citizens out there- Watch Vice and listen!

If you haven't yet gotten the message- drought, hurricanes, floods, record highs, record lows- this is called climate change.  Everyone has been affected in some way.  Probably the most overt example to me is hurricane Sandy.  The weather is trying to tell us a secret and that is that we are polluting the world with some gases that don't have an odor or a color.  They envelop the the atmosphere and cause a trapping of heat that can change the wind and water currents, increase the number of catastrophic storms and cause the Arctic ice to melt into the oceans.  

We have all heard about the idea of global climate change.  Some of us have worried about this, some think it is a load of crap.  I mean the Northern states just had the coldest temps in a long time- so what do we have to worry about?  I will tell you what we have to worry about- Greenland is melting .  and if the glaciers melt completely- the sea will rise over 20 feet.  There goes the coast. 

If you are concerned watch last week's episode of Vice on HBO. 

We need to decrease greenhouse gases by 80% or there will be a global catastrophe in 3 generations. Does this sound serious to you?

Netflicks watchers! House of Cards- Back with Avenegence!

FU- Frank Underwood- You are a Wicked Man!

Well my best Valentine's present wasn't flowers or candy- it was the return of House of Cards.  I was so flabbergasted after the first episode, I could hardly speak.  Frank Underwood is now the Vice President and he is not exactly the Veep.  He definitely isn't comparable to good old Joe Biden either.  He is simply the most evil character the we love to hate on  television these days.

Check it out.  Orange is the new Black and House of Cards makes a subscription to Netflicks worth the monthly charge.

Did the valentine snow jam influence Congress?

Good news:  We paid our debt last week.  Did the weather have any say in the matter?  They voted quickly and then got the Hell out of Washington before the snow came.  All I know is that I was so sick of the B.S. surrounding the government shutdown and Senator Cruz, that I was so happily surprised that the vote was positive and quick.  Ted Cruz was on Face the Nation last week and he had the audacity to blame the government shutdown last October on the President.  On which planet does he reside?