A Modern Crone's Life

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:23:00 +0000

This was from 2021 and I just published it today, going into the third holiday season without my husband.

Tomorrow would have been Jim and mine's 36th Anniversary. I've been a widow for 9 months and a few weeks. I still do not recognize myself. Who I am outside of the partnership we forged is still a mystery. I'm rolling with it most of the time because I've had a lifetime of learning to live with death and loss since I was 8 going on 9. Dad, 1963. Mom 1989. Baby brother 2006 (age 41). Middle sister 2016 (age 59) Two lifelong friends in 2015 and 2017. I'm no stranger to grief.

There have been a lot of changes. Lots of cleaning up. Donated nearly a thousand bucks worth of Jim's tools and left over building materials our local Habitat For Humanity's ReStore. Built a new DYI fence. I don't have long crying jags over Jim not being here because mostly he is. Or his shade is anyway.

(Oh. "Shade," you ask. From Merriam-Websters: " : a disembodied spirit : ghost" .)

I wish I could cry it all out. But throughout the 9 years he was sick, I grieved - often with Jim and over all that he lost and was continuing to lose as his COPD progressed. I will never forgive the tobacco companies for their dirty work. Don't believe me? Read Wigand's The Tobacco Papers. It's hard to cry. I weep. I get silent. I drift in a memory. My nose gets congested or runny. My eye tear up, but I haven't had an hours long purging raging cry since just before my kid brother died. That's a solid 15 years. I know that sooner or later the dam will break but not yet.

It is almost Christmas. We're in the period of the Winter Solstice now. Tomorrow is our anniversary. Unlike last year when we were both quietly celebrating our 35th and a subdued Yule tide with nothing save a few wreaths hung on the doors and in the windows as we mourned for the over 400,000 dead from Covid and all the families bereft of their loved ones, I decorated this year. I'd like to say I put everything up, but I'd be lying. I put up our tree with ornaments I bought over the years that were sentimental - hearts, birds, cats, books, along with the shells, eggs, miniature wreaths, snowmen, and more. Strings of light were run along the fence and along the eaves. From the Solstice when we wed through to January 6th, we celebrated love. Ours and the worlds. Our part in the world

Now, times are perilous. There is talk of civil war. And as an older widow, that's a daunting prospect. But for the season, I put up the lights and await the return of the sun. Because that is what one does.

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:27:00 +0000

I don't know about blowing this blog up. I haven't posted a damn thing since 2017. It's 2021. I've had friends die in the interval. After 8 years of illness, my husband died of COPD on the 5th of March 2021.
This is within the first month of widowhood and I'm still in the process of dealing with the bureaucratic aspects of a person dying. I know it it sounds bloodless. It's not. I took care of my wonderful partner and, at the end, was with him when he died in my arms, holding my hands. I don't know how to unpack those years. Yet.

Yes, Kansas, You Are Just Like That

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 01:44:00 +0000

Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an engineer from India, was murdered in an Olathe, Kansas bar by Adam Purinton who also shot and wounded two others. Mr. Kuchibhotla was enjoying a post workday beer with a friend when Purinton decided that he was entitled to harass them about their immigration status and demand their papers. Infuriatated by their non-responses to his belligerently inappropriate and unlawful demands, Purinton left got his gun, came back into the bar and opened fire. Kansas own history of racism, years of income inequality and losses fostered under the governance of Sam Brownback and a contentious political season that inflamed people's fear of other nationalities, religions, races, and more gave Purinton full and open license to act as a vigilante immigration agent, judge and executioner. Only one person had the courage to stand against him and got shot for it. Others in the bar did nothing (and I'm reckoning that some of them will claim to being shocked or afraid, but remember: One unarmed person still chose to act). Purinton again left and, at yet another bar, bragged to the bartender about how he just "shot two Middle Easterners." He bragged. He took pride in what he did. He wanted other people compliment his dirty work.

Now we have several news sources reporting Kansans reacting to the shootings with many saying "We're not like this!" But I say Kansas is just like that. The communities of Kansas, the churches of Kansas as well as the state of Kansas allowed the conditions that nourished Purinton's hatred of others not exactly like him.

Mr. Kuchibhotla was murdered by a state whose people in general openly enabled Purinton's hatred. After all, where were the community leaders during the last president's term pushing back against the slanders against President and Mrs. Obama? Where where the politicians taking note of Kansan's working class continuously losing ground while the state's wealthiest flourished? Where were the church leaders who absented themselves when they needed to stand with the interfaith community during the hysteria generating attacks against Muslims whether American or immigrant or visitor? Where were those leaders when Jewish synagogues, community centers, schools and cemeteries were vandalized or when the KKK was dropping pamphlets in different neighborhoods to either recruit new members or intimidate minorities & immigrants? Why did those step aside as their communities wrote 'quality of life' laws against the poorest? Why did they inveigh, from the pulpit, against LGBTQ people for wanting the same rights the rest of us enjoy without question? And the citizens of Kansas? The overwhelming majority sat silent, approving or stood tall in their bigoted glory shouting down the dissenting minority who tried to demand better.

Yes. Kansans are "just like that." Like the people from so many other states who are also "just like that." Tolerance of intolerance makes them just like that.

Update
3.2.17
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hate-crime-killings-kansas-city_us_58b70869e4b0284854b33ab4?

Yep. Kansas is just.like.that. In the three years before Purington's murderous actions in Olathe, Kansas has had 5 hate crimes with multiple deaths. They've done nothing save sit smugly in their church pews, deflecting. They are, for all intents and purposes, at peace with their bigotry and xenophobia.

Carol Bryant Donham's Bloodied Hands; Emmitt Till's Accuser Owns Her Lie

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 18:12:00 +0000

I read yesterday about Carol Bryant Donham finally admitting to Timothy Tyson, author and scholar from Duke University, that she lied about Emmitt Till. A lie that got 14 year old Till brutally lynched; beaten, piston whipped and beaten again before finally being shot, tied to an industrial fan and dumped in a river. Donham's lie that led a broken mother to display her murdered son's mutilated body in an open casket so that the nation could witness the horror visited upon his child's body.

"“That case went a long way toward ruining her life,” said Tyson, who said the Donham family reminded him of his own. He said Donham's views on race had changed over the years, along with much of the country's."

Isn't that nice, kids? I gotta wonder though - how many thousands of black Americans' lives were directly impacted and ruined as a consequence of her lies? How many other black male children, teens and young men were falsely accused for the same things she accused Till of that led to them being imprisoned or killed over the intervening years? But now we should have an iota of sympathy for her because as of 2007 when she was working with Tyson on her memoir, she "was glad things had changed [and she] thought the old system of white supremacy was wrong though she had more or less taken it as normal at the time." Sheer preciousness there. And I'm not willing to give her a pass on this.

All these years and she kept silent instead of coming forward and admitting her lie. All these years when she failed to step up openly, publicly, and vociferously against bigotry and against racial hatred. All these years living in the shadows and silences while letting her lies against Till keep their legs and give racists an excuse to cite his "wolf whistle" as the insult so grievous as to justify child murder.

Frankly, her life in ruins from her lying means less to me than the lives of black Americans who were compelled, against their wills, to bear the brunt of those lies with their bodies, minds, spirits and lives. She has his blood on her hands just as surely as the men who murdered him do. She wrote a cruelly vicious chapter in our nation's history that spoke out against the value of black lives, particularly the lives of black men and black boys.

"Let The Record Show"

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 01:46:00 +0000

Ran across this today: http://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/01/19/let-the-record-show/

I did not consent either. I love my country. I could never vote to endanger her.

Dylan Roof Sentenced To Death

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 13:44:00 +0000

My last blog post of 2015 was about Dylan Roof's sister complaint over her wedding having been ruined by the attention on her brother, so this is as good a place to pick up as any.

So, Dylan Roof went to trial and was convicted of his hate crime murders. Then there was another trial for his sentencing. In between there was a bit of back and forth about whether he was competent, him defending himself or not, etc. But when all is said and done, he was guilty, was convicted and now he has been sentenced to death in federal court.

I caught a short blurb where he is reported to have said that he had opportunities to NOT kill the black worshippers, who he gulled into a false sense of security, but that he "had to kill them." He's a racist and he believed he had to kill them for the sake of defending the white race and whatever racist ideology backed him up.

His rationalization is bullshit. He didn't have to kill them. He defended nothing. He killed because he wanted to. Now, in due time, the nation will kill him. Frankly, I don't care. I'm not for the death penalty, but my own retributive streak would bury him in a maximum security prison's SHU/CMU which would ban him from most elements of human (and humane) contact, seeing the sky, going outdoors, talking with other people, as well as limiting what he could read and write with the idea of preventing him from putting his thoughts out into the public domain. Who knows? Maybe he'll get a lot of that before he is killed by the state for his murderous racism.

Where Did 2016 Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 13:29:00 +0000

I wrote not a word in 2016.
It was a year that saw the unraveling of my world and thrust me into becoming a caregiver for one of my best friends and her now late husband, my own husband, the death of my middle sister and the deaths of a bunch of artists and musicians who were part the background of my youth, adolesence and adulthood.
Then there was the brutal political season and election. There was plenty to say about that but, frankly, I didn't have the heart.
What did I do in 2016? Gardened, went to a local weekend market with my camera and took photos.
And with that, my blog has sat fallow and unattended.
Time to wake up.

It's Not About You, Amber Roof

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 23:38:00 +0000

So racist killer Dylan Roof's actions had collateral damage. He ruined his sister's wedding. So she created a gofundme account to raise money to have a new wedding date and honeymoon. This is bad form all the way around and is totally disrespectful to the families left behind by Roof's victims.

This is what I'd like to say to her: "Honey, it's not about you now. Sorry your asshole brother's actions brought your day to a screeching halt, but he ended the lives of nine people. You get to do a make up day, they don't. Wise up and act like something resembling a compassionate, humane woman."

Freakout Nation wasn't so nice: http://freakoutnation.com/2015/07/dylann-roofs-sister-uses-charleston-massacre-on-gofundme-to-pay-for-wedding-honeymoon/

Black Lives Matter

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 15:57:00 +0000

#BlackLivesMatter

I have long had more than enough of the racism of my fellow white Americans. I don't accept it. I don't approve of it and I work on myself a lot to deconstruct what America tells me about race. I've been doing it since I was 5 or 6 hearing one of Malcolm X's speeches on the Sunday news. I've been doing it since getting slapped by a family friend for saying Leslie Uggams and Diahann Carol were beautiful (along with a number of other black male & female entertainers) and defiantly refusing to accept the "education" of why they were not to be considered beautiful or handsome. I know my schools and teachers were ill prepared to teach about the accomplishments of black innovators, entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists and doctors. Somehow they all got relegated to "helper" status or, more offensively, dismissed with the "give a couple million monkeys a typewriter and eventually you'll get a novel" wave of the hand. But my fairly liberal school still managed to convey the messages and lessons of white supremacy because of the unwillingness to admit the achievements of so many black souls. Over 55 years later, I'm still an imperfect ally because some of the covert messages still made their way in and found a place to take root.

But. But. But.

For a while, during the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even early 00s, I had hoped we were doing better along the way. I guess superficially, that's the way it seemed. And along that way, I've denied and defended my own white privilege - growing up semi orphaned, poor with a working widowed mother, struggling with family dysfunction there is a lot of what we call "intersectionality" now. Being Irish-American on my mom's side - oh, no! The Irish were indentured servants and that was horrible, wasn't it? Being Hungarian-American and first generation American on my dad's side (and whose side of the family despised my mother for her Irish roots) who came over on the boat in 1900 though Ellis Island - oh, no! They didn't have anything to do with slavery or owning slaves. They were involved in the immigrant struggles and labor struggles of their era. And both are true. And not. I was young and ignorant. I had no idea of the concept of white privilege and how it smoothed the way and got you the benefit of the doubt. Oh! and then there are class issues -- socioeconomic issues, too! But I've seen it in so many ways throughout the decades and I've worked hard to not perpetuate it or support it or encourage it because I'm an imperfect ally and I really do believe in social justice and yes I understand that there are assholes in all races.

And in that time I've seen black Americans of all classes demeaned and demonized. In the last 10 years, I have come to see the official system as being at war with them entirely and that it is a continuation of sentiments from the southern states who still have too many who believe that slavery was right and just and their way of life was good. Whether it's arresting and jailing a 10 year old for violating the school dress code because their sweater is the wrong color of blue or taking down an autistic seven year old and jailing them or shooting into a car of black teens because their music is too loud, the system is at war with them. The deaths of dozens of black men and women at the hands of the police and so-called "scared" citizens is ample proof that there is a war on people of color. We cut ourselves a lot of slack for our shortcomings of character, the myriad petty offenses that happen in daily life. Black American's have no slack. They never get the benefit of the doubt. The spew of hate has been like a volcanic lava flow hardening around us over the land. It's intolerable. I hate the hate.

I'd hoped for better out of us, not for a retreat to the madnesses of the pre-Civil Rights, Jim Crow era. I'm ashamed we haven't done better.

I'm ashamed of the cops and others who murder black Americans young and old. I'm ashamed of the store clerks who racially profile well-to-do black women while ignoring the white teenage shoplifters. I'm ashamed of the teachers who call the cops on black kindergarteners and elementary school kids who have emotional meltdowns for whatever reason, because where it's a matter of course when the kid is black, it's as rare as hen's teeth when the kid is white. I'm ashamed of white acquaintances who are unwilling to see what's under their noses and who try to minimize the impact of these black deaths falling back on the line that all lives matters, who cite "black on black crime" while taking hits off their pot pipes, or use the police killings of mentally ill homeless whites to try and say the problem isn't that big. I'm ashamed of white people at pools who call the cops on black kids who're just out trying to have fun - the kind of fun their own kids get to enjoy every day. Yes, the problem IS that big. I'm ashamed that our elementary, middle and high schools can't be bothered to face much less teach the history of black America (and Hispanic and Asian Americans) because they're afraid it'll make white European descended Americans look bad. Well, we did a lot of bad and fucked up things in settling this country and it's long past time we got honest about it.

I don't know what the answer is, but I am committed to keep deconstructing my own biases, to be an honest witness and to be the best ally I can be. That's my duty. Because I know that so many of the things that have benefited my life - my quality of life - have come about because of the foundational work done by black Americans all along the way. Their lives matter, their work matters, their inventions matter, their arts matter and without them, we'd be much worse off.

I've had enough of racist whites and their selfishness; they do not speak for me.

An open letter to the people who hate Obama more than they love America

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 23:14:00 +0000

Today's reading: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/09/1053088/-An-open-letter-to-the-people-who-hate-Obama-more-than-they-love-America?detail=emailclassic Attributed to DailyKos member "Ministry of Truth".

You Don't Get To Complain When You Do Things Like This

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:26:00 +0000

In the news, Michelle Manhart was arrested for interfering with a protest during which a protestor walked on an American flag that was dropped on the ground.

But there is more to the story in that we have a backstory that shows Ms. Manhart is a bona fide, genuine, card-carrying Republican hypocrite: http://reverbpress.com/news/michelle-manhart-posed-nude-with-flag/ and http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2015/04/20/air-force-vet-scuffles-with-police-over-american-flag/26065769/.

She's not up on her flag protocol either and frankly, if she can pose naked with the flag draped and falling on the floor for Playboy and PETA - for commercial gain and to advance her modeling career or whatever that was - then she forever gave up the right to bitch about people exercising their First Amendment rights, even when it includes protestors walking on our dropped flag.

Manhart fails to understand that both actions are covered under the first Amendment. Her assaulting the protestors made her a hypocrite of the first water for her double-standard. One, that because of her misconduct, by the way, got her thrown out of the Air Force.

Ferguson's Orwellian Horror Show Of Injustice And Criminalization

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 15:36:00 +0000

Ex-Police Chief Jackson resigned March 11, 2015.

The horror of Ferguson continues to unwind with the news that the majority of it's population was deliberately criminalized by the leadership of the town as a money making operation by the white leadership. In his blawg article, "Ferguson: Where Everyone's A Criminal", Scott Greenfield discussed the case far better than I'm capable of.

My own response to this news is more emotional and not one schooled in law. I'm angry that this happened. I'm angry that this kind of thing, this collusion to oppress African Americans happens, not just in Ferguson, but other parts of the country as well. Look at Greenfield's article and you see that the oppression in rooted in criminalizing every thing people do or fail to do. Imagine being criminalized for civic or "quality of life" infractions like not suppressing weeds or mowing the grass or keeping a picture perfect yard. Ticket, fine and jail. Rinse and repeat. Vehicles? Too loud a muffler? Driving while black in the white neighborhood?   Going 24 or 26 in a 25 zone? Ticket, fine, and jail. Rinse and repeat. Social activities - walking with friends down the street, having a party, visiting with friends on the porch - any of them cause for a citation or two or three. Ticket, fine, jail. Rinse and repeat. On it goes.

The DOJ findings were that the white town fathers benefited from this. Look at their salaries and bonuses among other things. And the townspeople of Ferguson pay through the nose, deal with the build up of misdemeanor after misdemeanor on their records. Fines, jail, fines, jail. Rinse and repeat. The kicker is that these petty misdemeanors keep the population in place - they lose the opportunity to move into better paying work. They have a record. Employers don't want people with records working for them. And so the people of Ferguson not only get trapped in a cycle of poverty, they get trapped in all the things that show a breakdown of civic life as well. They're fined so heavily that affording the upkeep of their homes, yards and vehicles is priced out of existence for them! They don't get to have a quality of life like the white section of Ferguson gets to enjoy as a matter of course.

But I'm emotional, not a lawyer and here I get to ask "What the fuck?"   What is going to be done to remove these misdemeanor convictions? What about the folks who got so many misdemeanors that became felonies because of too many misdemeanors? What is going to be done to restore these people's good name? What is going to be done to compensate them for the financial damages done to them by those avaricious racist bastards? What army of lawyers and judges are going to work to reverse and expunge the convictions of these hapless people?

What of people who use the people of Ferguson's "criminal records" to justify and rationalize the structural and systemic racism and to continue demonizing African Americans?   My skin crawls at the very thought of these modern day slavers. And I call them that because they put the people of Ferguson into economic bondage against their wills.

Michael Brown's death uncovered a snake pit of corruption. By now many of the white officials involved have resigned their jobs. But it is not good enough that they've resigned. Not by half.

Who Loves America?

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 03:34:00 +0000

Today, one item in the news that caught my attention was former NYC mayor, Rudi Guiliani saying that President Obama didn't love America. That, "You know, President Obama didn’t live through September 11, I did. President Obama didn’t almost have a building fall on him, myself and my police commissioner and my fire commissioner did."   My dear husband reminds me that none of America's other political leaders were at Ground Zero either.   True enough. He reminds me right. And not all of them poured into the city in the days and weeks following, either. What you got pouring in were firemen and medics and nurses and general laborers from around the country instead.

Now it is true that Obama in 2001 was not in NYC, but that does not mean he didn't live through 9/11. I wasn't there either. I was taking calls in a call center in Albuquerque with people from NYC trying to get through to family and friends, from people all around the US trying to call to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to ensure the safety of their loved ones.   So you don't get to take it too personally. We here in America who were present on US soil that day, citizen or not, ALL lived through 9/11. We all lived that day. Indelibly. Irremediably. Just cos' you were the Mayor, doesn't mean your day was any more meaningful and fraught than ours.

What kind of man are you that you'd dare suggest Pres. Obama was not a part of that American body that day? That you'd imply he didn't care? Imply that he was unmoved? What exactly is wrong with you that you think so small?

Top 10 Sustainable Cities. The US Doesn't Have Even One On The List

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 04:41:00 +0000

(Infographic: Courtesy SustainableCitiesIndex.com)
Via: TakePart.com

Burning Prisoners of War and Other Unmerciful Things

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 20:25:00 +0000

Lots to touch on:

ISIL proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that their ideology is bankrupt. They burned their Jordanian Air Force pilot captive POW to death. Americans are howling with outrage. Not so ironically, the loudest howls are coming from the right wing with their roots still set in America's racist history. You know. The past - where lynchings were family affairs and people picnicked while watching men and women hung, mutilated and burned to death. They're still bankrupt too.

I follow a couple of law 'blawgs' with the hope that as an ordinary citizen, I can understand different areas our nation's system of law better and hopefully be a more conscious participant in our society. Today, at Simple Justice, Scott Greenfield's blog wrote "At The End, There's A Cop" , and I discovered the term "carceral justice". It said, in part, "Carceral feminism is the relatively small but incredibly vocal voice within millennial feminism that says due process can be sacrificed if it means catching a few more rapists, hate speech should come with a jail sentence, and images promoting “unrealistic” female body standards should be banned by the government, among other things. * * *"

It made me think of a friendship ending letter I got back in the early 90s when people were all up in arms accusations of childhood sexual abuse and 'repressed memory syndrome'. It hadn't been that long since the McMartin Pre-School saga. She felt that it was tolerable that a wrongly accused father should go to prison on the basis of his then adult daughter's therapy induced "recovered memory" and based on the notion that children never lie about abuse. I was so flabbergasted that she would think it noble to incarcerate an innocent person for the sake of delivering a message that I was dumbstruck. I never replied back to her. I was outraged at her willingness to dispense with several constitutional protections. I didn't realize it then, but today I realized that was my first experience with the idea of carceral justice and what it implied. It stunk then when the idea lacked the words and it still stinks. I didn't reply on Greenfield's blog because my story is anecdotal, doesn't address specific points of law and I didn't want to look foolish or emotional. I still want to believe in truth and justice and mercy, however difficult a task it is.

And speaking of mercy and the lack thereof, yet another republican rep speaks up as pro-rape saying, "Obviously rape is awful," West Virginia Del. Brian Kurcaba (R) said during a committee hearing on a new abortion restriction, according to David Gutman, a Charleston Gazette reporter. "What is beautiful is the child that could come from this."

Bullshit. There is nothing beautiful in the conception of a child through rape. Even women who've carried and kept their children via rape would not say their conception was beautiful. I'd like to hear Kurcaba try telling that to the Yazidi women raped and forced into conversion by threat of death by ISIL forces or to the Nigerian school girls raped by Boko Haram fighters and sold into sex slavery or marriage (or both). Try telling that to the 350,000 to 500,000 Rwandan women raped during the genocide there and the event which finally led to rape being defined as a war crime. Try telling it to the Bosnian women who were raped during the Bosnian war as a genocidal tactic meant to wipe out Bosnia's Muslim population by the Bosnian Serbs under the leadership of Milosevic. Try telling that to the Chinese women who endured rape by the Japanese during the Rape of Nanking. They were all raped in a program meant to erase their identities, both ethnic and personal. There is nothing beautiful about that.

There is nothing beautiful about the conception of a child through rape.

What may possibly be beautiful is that such a mother could come to love such a child. But don't bank on it.

What is not beautiful is that most such women and children will never enjoy the support of their state, their communities or their families. Here in the US, that is quite apparent with the gutting of our social safety net. And here in the US we still have 31 states that entitle rapists to parental rights over the children that result from their crimes of rape. That's not beautiful. That doesn't respect women. That doesn't speak to women's dignity or integrity.

"Prosecutor Regrets Arrest Warrant For Nine Year Old" Yah. Really.

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 17:53:00 +0000

First there was this: http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/13/justice/boy-arrested-gum-theft/

then this: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/idaho-prosecutor-arrest-warrant-year-mistake-28195388

This is my comment to McHugh:

"Dear Mr. McHugh,

I read about the arrest of the 9 year old Kootenai county boy over his theft of a pack of gum and failure to appear in court.

I also read your apology about it and that it was a "mistake." I don't believe it was mistake. Not really. Of course, the genie is out of the bottle and this child is and will remain in the school to prison pipeline from now on. Even upon him reaching the age of 18 and having his "records sealed" in the event that there are no further offenses will not protect him from having his childhood record exposed by anyone who chooses to do it -- not in this era of cradle to grave surveillance and data mining and the increasing loss of our privacy rights via legislation and court judgements working hand in glove groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The combined law enforcement actions against this child also lend great support the narrative in this nation that the poorest among us will always be made examples of in the eyes the general public. The long arm of the law falls heaviest upon them no matter what. Your collective actions work to fulfills the social narrative of the moneyed classes that the poor don't deserve any thought, that there may be circumstances beyond their control, that their poverty IS a moral and character failing. You, the judge who signed the warrant and the police all played your roles in backing up that narrative.

You hewed to the letter of the law every step of the way. I'm sure you did. There are people who will applaud you for it. But others, like me, are also aware that not one of you showed any shred of genuine interest in the boy or his long term welfare. You showed that service to justice was untempered by mercy or compassion. Your public apology which has gone nationwide cannot undo the damage that has been set in motion and which will be played out over that boy's lifespan on levels you cannot begin to calculate.

Each of you adults in your official capacities had opportunities to do better. I'm sorry you didn't. Even though I'm an ordinary person of ordinary means, I am a citizen of this nation and I can't be silent about this. Sometimes a person has to speak up about the little things that, however well intentioned on the surface, work to undermine people's faith in honest, just government.

As a courtesy, I should let you know that I am putting up the text of this comment to you on my blog at: http://morgansher.blogspot.com/

Cordially,
Morgan Sheridan"

Update: I did receive a boilerplate reply from Mr. McHugh. It a reiteration of the press release apology sent out to the media. In other words, he had nothing to say.

Turkey Green Chile Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:07:00 +0000

Ingredients

For roasting:

1 14 lb turkey

1 apple cut in half

1 medium onion cut in half

2 carrots cut in quarters

2 stalks celery cut in quarters

1/4 C olive oil

2 Tbsp melted butter

3/4 tsp black pepper

1 sprig thyme

For the stock:

2 bay leaves

1 Tsp dried minced garlic

1 Tsp peppercorns

2 large carrots cut into 2 inch lengths

2 stalks of celery cut into 2 inch lengths

1 medium onion quartered

For the stew:

6-8 whole fresh Hatch green chiles prepped & chopped up - medium to hot heat OR 1 C Bueno frozen prepared Hatch Green Chile. Fresh or frozen. NO canned stuff.

8 medium red potatoes rinsed and quartered

Pinch of cumin

2 Tsp Kosher salt

Roasting the turkey:

Remove giblets and neck. Set aside or discard as you please.
Rinse turkey and pat dry with paper towels.
Put 1/2 apple in the cavity near where the neck was.
In the larger cavity put in the other half of the apple, the quartered carrots and celery and onion.
Season with black pepper and thyme.
Mix the olive oil and butter and spread over the skin of the turkey.
Cover with foil and put into a pre-heated oven set at 325F. (Gas Mark 3 for those in Europe)
Roast at 325F for 3 hours.
Remove foil and baste using the pan drippings.
Continue cooking for another 45-60 minutes until a meat thermometer says the internal temp is 165F when placed in the breast and 175F when placed in the meaty part of the thigh.

Remove from pan to a large platter and cover. Let cool 45-60 minutes, cover tightly with foil and put overnight in the fridge.

Use the pan drippings to make your favorite turkey gravy & store. --- After all, not ALL of the turkey is going to be used in this stew!

After refrigerating your turkey overnight, you will be breaking it down:

Carve off the right half the breast, wing, both drumsticks and left thigh from the bird and set aside for other meals.
Remove the left breast half and divide that in half and add that to the set aside as well. (Try to carve the breast meat as close to the breast bone as you can when you're doing this.)

You should be left with about a generous cup or so of white meat, the meat of 1 thigh, 1 wing, the whole carcass as well as whatever meat is left on the carcass.

Fill the stockpot 3/4 full with filtered water and add the stock ingredients:

2 bay leaves
1 Tsp dried minced garlic
1 Tsp peppercorns
2 large carrots cut into 2 inch lengths
2 stalks of celery cut into 2 inch lengths
1 medium onion quartered

Pick off all the remaining skin and any visible fat from the carcass, thigh and wing.

Dispose the skin and fat or add to a bowl for feeding pet dogs or cats later.

Break the carcass in half and add it the stock pot. Add the thigh and wing bones as well.

Cook covered on a medium heat for about a 2 hours. It should look like it's gently bubbling but the liquid should not be splashing out of the pot.

Using tongs remove the carcass and all bones from the stock pot.

Pick off any remaining meat from the bones and return the meat to the pot. Dispose of the bones.

You should now have a good rich turkey broth with lots of tender meat in it. Next add in the green chile, a pinch of cumin, the salt and the potatoes. Cook on a medium heat for about 30-35 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.

Serve. Enjoy..

DA Gone Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 13:58:00 +0000

Now there are news reports that DA McCullough knew that some of the people who were going to testify to the Grand Jury in the Michael Brown case were 1.) lying, 2.) were going to lie, 3.) he let them lie and 4.) he has no intention of prosecuting them for perjuring themselves under oath to the grand jury.

"“Clearly some were not telling the truth,” he said during an interview on KTRS 550. He added that he's not planning to pursue charges against any lying witnesses." Let that sink in.

He's not going to do a damn thing about the lying witnesses. He's gonna just let it all go.

Since when is this ethical behavior? What puts this man above the law? Will this man be removed from office for willful misconduct and will he be disbarred?

And he does this, I guess, because he is willing to tolerate the death of an unarmed young black man at the hands of an angry white cop. McCullough did not stand for justice in the case of Michael Brown. He stood for lawless policing and white supremacy.

It's stuff like this that shames America. And it happens all too often.

image Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA

Open Letter to Elizabeth Lauten, Communications Director for Rep. Fincher

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 01:29:00 +0000

Dear Ms. Lauten,

This letter is to register my disgust over the smearing tactics you employed in your "Open Letter To Sasha & Malia".

This is what I see after having seen and then replayed the video and gone over the stills of the event:

1. Teen girls dressed appropriately for their ages:

Sasha wore hose and bobby socks to accessorize her dress with it's neckline hitting the collar bone, and a long cardigan. Her hands were gracefully composed in front of her in a classic, modest pose.

Malia wore dark tights with her plaid skirt and grey crew neck sweater. Her body posture is more guarded as she hugs herself and has a slightly tilted hip.

Neither is a big deal. They're dressed as appropriately as many government and diplomats adolescent children dress in Washington. Their fashion is appropriate.

2. Fresh faces. Not a hint of make up. This is nice because it doesn't mask their expressions. Now, as I'm not a big ol' smiler normally, I don't see their expressions as sullen. Their eyes are cast in the direction of their father. Not away from him. This is important. If they were being sullen, IF they were being disrespectful they would have been looking away from him.

3. Their eyes roll as their dad made a lame joke about the turkeys. Yes they did and it's ok. Teens do this. They roll their eyes at dumb jokes. So do children younger than they, adults, middle aged and elderly people.

4. The Turkey Pardon is theater. It has been Presidential theater for many decades. But it is not a high solemn event. It is not a matter of state. So what if they didn't want to pet the turkey! In my 30s, we had a friend who raised one and it was unpredictable as hell. Anytime I tried petting it, its reaction and flapping around was unnerving. This isn't the Obama daughter's first rodeo with the Turkey Pardon, so I reckon they've already learned that birds do not react in picture perfect ways. Better to eschew the petting entirely than have the bird react less than calmly.

What offends me about your bilious spew was the character assassination of their parents with "Then again your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department" combined with the racist undertones about black women's perceived sexual availability: "Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar."

Our President's daughters, Malia and Sasha, have never behaved disrespectfully in any capacity where they've appeared in in the public eye whether here in the US or travelling abroad. They are always observably modest and respectful, not only to the public, but their parents as well. If rolling their eyes over a lame joke is a horror show of disrespect, then your standards of teenaged civility are impossible to meet in the first place.

It is also clear that these are girls who love and are loved by their parents.

And I bet that is really what chaps your butt.

Shame on you. Your apology was made because you got caught being cruel to people who didn't deserve it, but don't think for a minute that folks don't see it for the political face saving gesture that it is. Prayer? Regret? Unbelievable!

Morgan Sheridan

The Cos

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 09:36:00 +0000

I'm sad about the Cos.

Real sad.

He was hip and cool when I was growing up. His comedy about growing up with his brother and the mystery of kids and parents and enduring in the world created not just empathy but a sense of common ground.

At some point, I heard a rumor or two, but they didn't affect me and he was the Cos. Cool and avuncular.

Rumors get forgotten and then all of a sudden they get uncovered and thrown into daylight again.   But as more voices speak up, a pattern emerges. And the avuncular man who showed us common ground and the understandings of that common ground becomes both tawdry and corrupted.

The pattern of voices is too large to ignore. And while my path never crossed his, my experience has intersected with the women's voices saying "He did this thing to me." and I know they're honest voices speaking, too.   There is a point where settlements and statutes of limitations expire and the sordid reality is finally revealed.

I'm sad that one of my beloved icons turned out to be unworthy.   At my age, I know can't dispense with the lessons I learned from feeling elements of common ground or intersectionality (which is a kind of new concept I'm learning about at 60). The lessons learned are in my bones at this point. On the other hand, it sucks that he turned out to be so much less.

Go See Jim at Stonekettle Station

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 23:22:00 +0000

There is a fine new post Jim Wright has written up at Stonekettle Station. I do recommend reading it. The link is over in my Good Links column.

Your Consideration Requested

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:02:00 +0000

Not too long ago, in May and in another forum, I wrote a message to an acquaintance, a person I've long respected asking for input on a question that was and remains of concern to me. The person I asked is a person who, over the years, has regularly written about honoring and respecting people's innate humanity and has been a well regarded voice of wisdom and compassion in a broader community. Yet I received no reply. Finally, a few days short of two months I broke down prodded said respected person about an answer to that question.

A few moments after that prodding, I received an answer that I'd waited two months on. It was along the lines of "I've learned not to comment on XYZ topic." All right. It's an answer. It's basic, short honest answer. My reply to that acquaintance was that I can accept that, but what I can't understand is leaving me to think my question was unworthy of any reply. Thinking on it more, I still don't get it.

How hard is it to reply within 24-48 hours of getting a message asking a question? I can understand unavoidable delays and circumstances. But making a person wait and wait? Where is the common courtesy in that?

There is also a set of non-verbal messages that gets conveyed when someone ignores another person's questions and includes things like: You don't matter. You're not valuable. Your concerns are (choose as many as fits the bill):
A. Worthless
B. Unfounded
C. Controversial
D. Pointless
E. blah, blah, blah.

I don't regret the asking.

Resistance

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 14:53:00 +0000

http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/21/henry-giroux-on-resisting-the-neoliberal-revolution/

The Music He Writes Isn't A Give-Away

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 22:44:00 +0000

I came across this story at Digital Music News about a musical artist, NJ White, who told a British producer "No, I won't give you my property for free."

Read it and celebrate: http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2013/11/06/whitey

Per the closing line, I'm re-blogging this story to make sure it gets spread far and wide.

A New Low In NM: Rape and Medical Torture Under Badge of Authority

noreply@blogger.com (Morgan) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 21:20:00 +0000

Here is the story: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3209305.shtml?cat=500#. UnmEg3CsjAn and it included the court filings from the victim's attorneys.

Here is what I wrote in an email to Gila Regional Medical Center:

"This is to express my outraged disapproval over your hospital's participation in the rape and medical torture under color of authority of David Eckert and then having the gall to bill him for the acts committed against him against his consent. What your institution has done, along with the doctors and other medical staff, was beyond immoral. Medical misconduct like this should remain in the history books, telling about the Nazi's forced medical experimentation or the excesses of Argentine army doctors in the 70's participating in the torture and execution of dissidents and their family members. This should not be happening in a New Mexican hospital in the United States of America. That man was raped. How dare you fail to stand up for Mr. Eckert and his welfare!?!?

Every doctor, nurse and technician in your institution personally involved in this debacle should be stripped of their licenses for life! Your ethical review panel should all resign their positions. Your legal counsel should be disbarred. Your institution is a disgrace and will forever known for the crimes committed against Mr. Eckert. Whatever fines and settlements you may bestow on him later, it will never excuse the egregious abuse inflicted on that man by your institution.

With the deepest anger and contempt,

[My name
My former military rank, branch and years served ]"

I'm really pissed off about this. The police were doing everything they could to try and construct a drug case out of thin air against this man! And they raped him - caused him to be raped by medical doctors - to further that end and used an invalid warrant to do so! This is disgusting. Eckert was raped and tortured. Here in the U.S. In 2013. This happened here. I have no good will for the doctors involved in this as my letter to Gila Regional Medical Center can attest. The police... oh, gods, they need to be investigated, taken before a grand jury, and sent to trial for their abuses of Mr. Eckert. Fuck the war on drugs. It has been lost and innocent people like Eckert have been brutalized for far too long for no good reason. This is unacceptable and un-American conduct against our citizens. It is wrong.