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

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

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?

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

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

Burning Prisoners of War and Other Unmerciful Things

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.

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

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

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

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

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.