South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast
Life in Lake Jackson, Texas viewed and photographed by one citizen who spends his time with Methodists and Democrats mostly
I will offer more on this myself after I finish reading the entries from various writers. However, after reading the first by Annie Proulx and the next by Dave Eggers, I wanted to go ahead and post it so others could take a look for themselves. The Guardian offers a fresh view from the UK that I don’t get from the Times and the Post, my usual first stops in the morning.
I will get back to these essays later. In the meantime, enjoy them as YOU have the time.
They are patriots. They regularly sacrifice for their country and its constitution. Their work is fundamental to democracy and the rule of law. They are nonpartisan. We depend on them for fair and free elections. Their hours are demanding and their pay is low.
These attributes make them perfect targets for presidential insults.
Why not? It is only by matters of degree the extent to which they share these attributes with Gold Star mothers, American POWs, our fallen warriors, frontline health care workers, teachers, the intelligence community, the FBI and virtually anyone, including those in his own cabinet who do not satisfy his demand for personal loyalty.
And that is my thought for today. Mask up. Wash your hands. Go vote.
Yes, it’s a play on the old Edwin Edwards bumper sticker when he, the convicted criminal ran for governor of Louisiana against David Duke: “Vote for the crook. It’s important.” Edwards had been indicted and acquitted (a small detail in Louisiana politics and usually a temporary condition) on a variety of public corruption charges during an earlier term as governor.
Indeed, during the new term he won by trouncing Duke, he faced federal charges and was convicted.
If you don’t know who David Duke is, join Trump. Never heard of the guy.
I have been posting signs in my yard for weeks now – for Democrats. My next door neighbor soon answered with signs in support of his candidates – Republicans.
Today my heart was gladdened to see that the neighbor across the street had posted a Biden-Harris sign.
But within hours, her next door neighbor had sullied the front of his home with a big, blue sign for Trump 2020 with the very presidential message “No More Bullshit.” The sign covers most of his garage door. It’s the same taste level that would gild the garden statuary and have Roman columns installed on the front porch if they were wealthy people. But they are not. So they can only talk like Trump.
My friend in Albuquerque saw this yard sign recently: PERSON, MAN, WOMAN, BIDEN, HARRIS.
Commit that to memory. There may be a mental functioning test at your polling place, a new voter suppression tool to replace literacy testing.
The president checked in this morning with this rambling message meant to put Americans at ease. He spent four minutes to say what he could easily have said in half a minute: that he feels pretty good, that he has benefitted from the miracle of modern medicine (didn’t he tell us there would be miracles?), that his spirits have been lifted by the well wishes he and Melania have received from, get this, people from both parties (a good example of bipartisanship, why doesn’t the democrat party try that?) etc. Then he said it all a few more times for emphasis. HE CAN’T DO ALL CAPS IN A VIDEO; PEOPLE TURN HIM OFF WHEN HE’S TOO LOUD. So he just meanders around and says it three or four more times.
At first I thought he looked terribly pale and my heart skipped – is my president’s life in danger? But as I recovered my composure, I slowly came to realize that he didn’t look ill; he looked humanly normal. I had become accustomed to an orange Commander-in-Chief. But today our Fifty Star General looked so natural. No makeup and no tie. I thought for a moment he was going to slip out of his coat into a soft blue cardigan and reach for a pair of Top-Siders and tell me that he’d love to be my neighbor.
But no. It’s my neighbor he wants to be the neighbor of. The one with the MAGA signs in his front yard. But he never said it. This was our tender moment of bipartisanship.
So, in keeping with our tender national moment, allow me to offer thoughts and prayers to the president and his family. And also for all those maskless Republicans and other followers who gladly expose themselves to this life-threatening disease as an expression of their loyalty.
The president’s co-morbidities, such as age, weight and high cholesterol, have been widely reported. (There has been no mention of bone spurs but they apparently add no risk for sufferers of COVID-19.)
Less attention has been paid to the pre-morbidities and they, however, can be much more deadly. And they vastly enhance the virus’s transmissibility.
So, check yourself out for these dangerous conditions – pre-morbidities if you will – that can make you a victim and bring you down just as they have the president: 1. narcissism, 2. solipsism, 3. arrogance, 4. science illiteracy, 5. mammonism, and 6. (somewhat counterintuitively) germaphobia.
The latter is included as a pre-morbidity only because sufferers of the disorder tend to focus their entire disease prevention efforts on hand washing to the exclusion of other useful practices such as mask wearing.
So, before you go shopping or to a political rally (and now I borrow the style of a friend) put your mask on, dammit.
And of course, I would be remiss if I did not offer blessings to our president and his family. May they all recover and enjoy good health for many years to come. And may this experience encourage them to work on those pre-morbidities so that they may reduce their influence on their lives. And ours.
Lake Jackson, TX 77566
September 20, 2020
The Honorable John Cornyn, United States Senate
Dear Senator Cornyn:
I have written or called your office in the past, urging you first to support to removal of President Trump from office during his impeachment trial, and then to demand his resignation following his treatment of peaceful protestors in Washington, D.C. Now, as a veteran, I take exception to having a commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the United States who constantly reminds us of how little he thinks of the men and women who commit their lives and blood to the preservation of our Constitution and democratic way of life.
Moreover, the president is corrupt. He shows no sign of caring about the rule of law, the freedoms of citizens, the circumstances of the people, or about our standing in the community of nations. He cares greatly, on the other hand, about the secrecy surrounding his finances and his once-desired project in Moscow. All his behavior since he came into office has been colored by his apparent wish to remain friendly with Vladimir Putin as a business partner and personal ally.
Now, with the death of Justice Ginsburg, the President has the opportunity to replace a tireless fighter for the oppressed and the weak with a defender of wealth, power, and plutocracy. As a United States senator, you should find a compelling interest, as I do, in assuring that voters are consulted before any presidential nominee is confirmed.
Fortunately, I recall that nearly the entire Republican caucus in the U. S. Senate is on record supporting the principle that presidents must not name new justices to the Supreme Court during an election year. Instead, the American people should first be given their chance to express themselves on the matter by voting in November. It surprises me that the Majority Leader has discovered exceptions to this principle. That the honorable senator and other members of his caucus will hold courageously to this principle of democracy, however, I do not doubt for a moment.
Thank you for serving the needs of Texas, and of the United States, by giving us all a chance to have our democratic voices heard in November, before proceeding in the new year to act on a new nomination to the Court.
Sincerely,
Thomas H. Fowler
South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast 