What Is On My Mind Today? The Obama Portraits….Where’s Waldo and the Many Shades of Grey

 

What is on my mind today? The portraits of Michelle and Barack Obama.

The President’s reminds me of a where’s Waldo picture and I have to find the one cannabis leaf. I haven’t found it yet. Still looking, because I bet there’s one there.

This quest of mine is more of a reflection of my sense of humor and myself as an artist than the former president.

Michelle’s makes me mad. Here is a woman who was our nation’s first lady of African decent and who has the most gorgeous brown skin and she’s painted grey. Grey!  What an awful thing to do to a wonderful strong role model for young black children. Especially, when so many young girls spend their entire lives trying to escape being many shades of grey.

It has not escaped my notice that white skin has taken a beating lately, but since when did black cease to be beautiful?People, it’s a sad thing when you lose your colors….especially the really bright vibrant ones….It is a shame when the only color on a portrait of a woman of color is the yellow, pink and red stripes of her dress…..just saying…..

Careless Words–Deadly Consequences

Words can be loving, tender, soft, kind, gentle, calming, peaceful, truthful, false, wise, foolish, heated, cruel, offensive, hurtful, hate-filled and violent.   Words motivate, educate and manipulate.   Words are powerful things.

No great revolution or societal upheaval in history began with weapons and guns…they began with words. Divisive and dehumanizing words.  Words that lifted up some at the expense of others.

Obviously, we have not learned that lesson from history, for today words such as: hater, godless, nazi, racist, bigot, thug and any number of racial terms including propaganda based phobias are constantly being used to bully and shame.

Furthermore, we live in an age where truth, as defined by God in the ten commandments as not bearing false witness, and the truths revered by our nations founding father’s as self-evident, “that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” have now become merely relative.  I do not believe that most people recognize that there is a difference between opinion and truth or fact and fiction.

My professional career was in politics and communications.  I worked for both Republican and Democrat leaders and as much as I hate to agree with Donald Trump about anything he is right the system is rigged. It has been strategically rigged by the use of careless words over a long period of time.

For decades now instead of loving one another as fellow members of a united colorblind society we have allowed ourselves to be divided by words with hyphens…African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Gay-Americans, Christian-Americans, Atheist-Americans, Poor-Americans, Wealthy-Americans and the list just goes on and on.

To further separate neighbor from neighbor cold impersonal sophisticated overly simplistic words are deliberately created and used as propaganda to advance treasured often self-serving causes…many of which are not equal, ethical, moral or respectful of other people’s freedoms.

These careless words are then repeated as “talking points” over and over again to change truth to fiction, advance a related or unrelated agenda, reassure the voters who are dependent on the paternal services of that prospective political party, or used to just keep voting blocks in line.

Again, yesterday, more careless words.

President Obama and Governor Dayton both made public statements about institutionalized racism in law enforcement escalating already raw, and rightly so, emotions after the horrible situation in Baton Rouge and of Philando Castile’s death after a traffic stop. The governor went so far as to publicly convict the officer.

Last evening, Dallas law enforcement lost five police officers when they were ambushed as they worked protecting peaceful protesters exercising their constitutional right to speak out against institutionalized racism in law enforcement.  The shooter just, “wanted to kill white people, especially white cops.”

My heart and prayers go out to the families of the young men who were killed by police this week and to the families of the fallen members law enforcement in Dallas, Texas. May our country seek resolutions of peace, and put people before personal and political agendas. Let our leaders practice the politics of respect, reject the the politics of division and be recommitted to insuring the equal application of justice and the rule of law.

The use of careless words are much more dangerous to a free society than guns.  As the Bible says in James 3, verse 5, ” So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire.”

Careless words can have deadly consequences….just saying.

A Tornado Day and Hillary Clinton’s Emails

 

There are days in Minnesota when you wake up go outside and know that somewhere in your beloved state someone is going to get nailed by a severe storm.  Today is one of those days…it is a tornado day.

Before the days of Doppler radar, weather radio alerts and around the clock weather reports, people, who were wise, learned to see, smell, feel and hear the signs of approaching storms.

One of my Uncle Ed’s favorite stories was about a farmer who had his own weather forecasting system that was the envy of all of his neighbors–a weather stick.  For generations his family had relied on this weather stick to provide accurate reliable information on weather affecting their farm.  How to read the weather stick was a carefully kept family secret.

So what actually was the farmer’s famous weather stick?  It was a sturdy one-inch square piece of wood that was painted white and stood out from the ground about three feet.

The secret to accurately reading the farmer’s weather stick was as follows:

If the stick is wet….it is raining.
If the stick falls over…it is windy
If the stick was getting dented…it was hailing.
If the stick was snapped off…it is tornadoing.
If the stick is covered with water…it is flooding.
If the stick is covered with ice…it is sleeting.
If the stick is completely invisible….it is snowing.

The farmer’s ability to tell weather by using a simple stick may have impressed and been a wonderment to his neighbors, but he knew that all he was doing was stating the obvious. He, like his ancestors, enjoyed playing his honest trusting neighbors for fools.

Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and President Obama have about as much respect for the intellect of the American people as the farmer with the weather stick did for his gullible neighbors.

It is obvious that internal reviews of Hillary Clinton’s unsecured email server by the state department, department of justice and the criminal investigation by the FBI have been thwarted at every turn by the Obama Administration. If you believe that the meeting between Attorney General Lynch and Bill Clinton on that Phoenix, Arizona airport tarmac was not prearranged, and that this decision by the FBI a week later is just a coincidence, boy, do I have lake shore property to sell you cheap in that hot desert state.

So, this morning’s announcement from the FBI, that there would be no criminal indictment of Hillary Clinton for her “reckless” handling of classified information and her use of an unsecured off-site private email server, is no surprise and merely states the obvious–the Obama administration and the Clinton political machine’s cover-up has reached its preordained conclusion.

Having the ability recognize and the courage to state the obvious in today’s world seems to be a lost art. So here is a tip to help relearn or acquire that helpful skill….if it looks like a skunk, walks like a skunk and smells like a skunk…you are obviously dealing with a skunk.

Hillary Clinton is a skunk that is playing the electorate for fools and I hope Bernie supporters give her hell at their convention…just saying.

 

 

 

End Political Fighting Until Scalia is Decently Buried.

I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to the family of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  I am sorry that you no longer have the joy, comfort and companionship of your husband, father and grandfather.  He will be greatly missed. I hope that knowing that your family has the gratitude of our entire nation for his many years of service in the judicial branch helps brings you a small measure of comfort.   May God bless you and may he rest in peace.

That is all the president, presidential candidates and members of congress should be saying about the death of Justice Scalia until the man’s family has had a proper mourning period and he is decently buried.

I can’t speak for other voters, but personally I am appalled that our politicians are no longer people.  People bury their dead. Human beings show some measure of respect to the deceased’s family.  Obviously, there is no honor among thieves or politicians in 2016.

This is what I have learned this week about our nation’s politicians:

1. Our President is not going to the funeral of a Supreme Court Justice and he lead a filibuster when in the Senate to stop a President Bush appointment to the Supreme Court.  The president should be at that funeral, period.  Secondly regarding his judicial appointee senate filibuster…can you spell hypocrite?  The president needs to work with the senate to put forward a justice that can be approved.  The country is sick of tit for tat politics….that is why Donald Trump’s numbers go up 
2. The Senate leadership has clearly stated they are not up to the challenge of having fair hearings on an appointment for the supreme court. That no matter who the president nominates they are going to stall and never approve his candidate.
   Why?  Are they so cocksure that they are going to retain the majority in the Senate?  If the public sees nothing but obstructionism for the next nine months, I sincerely doubt that. Then, too, what difference does it make if the nomination is this year, was last year or four years ago?  Like it or not Obama is president.  He has the constitutional right to appoint a successor to Scalia right up until his last day in office.  Also, what will they do if they retain the senate and the voters send to the White House a President Clinton or Sanders?  Are they going to filibuster for the next four years? As the public sees further political stalemate Donald Trump’s poll numbers will go up. 
3. Both parties bickering over who gets to appoint is totally hypocritical.
   If the shoe was on the other foot and a  Republican was president the situation would be completely reversed.  The voting public knows that this is all politics and is as disrespectful as heck to the family of a good and descent public servant.   The more they bicker over this, the more Donald Trump’s numbers will go up. 
4. The responses of the presidential candidates to this situation have been totally self-serving. Again, ambition first, nation last. Whether it is Republican candidates frantically waving their hands like over eager schoolroom students shouting, “Not him, pick me, pick me, I get to do that.”  or Ms. Clinton making this into a racial issue, the present pool of candidates is all wet.

   As an example, it is amazing to me that Mr. Cruz, who promotes himself as a constitutional expert, would even begin to question whether or not the president has the duty to nominate. It is obvious that Mr. Cruz’s interpretation of the constitution varies on whether or not the situation benefits his personal ambitions.  Just for the record Mr. Cruz, you are no more qualified to be commander and chief than Obama or Rubio.  You are all eggs in the same Senate experience basket.

   Then there was Ms. Clinton turning yet another situation into a racial issue.  Ms. Clinton, you need quit dividing the nation by race, gender and religion.  Our nation’s voters did elect a black man president, then four years later they gave him a second term.  We don’t need another lecture from a woman who put her own political ambitions ahead of our nation’s and personnel in the field’s security by using an unsecured private server for classified government business.  That was just stupid beyond words and someone needs to say so.  And, yes,  I believe that a decision that bad disqualifies you from lecturing anyone about anything or being president. 

I would hope that as Justice Scalia lies in state at the Supreme Court Building the divisive rhetoric will cease.  That his family will be able to feel the sincere sorrow of a nation for their loss.  That congress and the president will again appeal to the better angels of their nature and work together to fill that judicial seat with an outstanding unbiased candidate.

Justice Scalia, may the peace that passes all understanding be present at your memorial service.