The irreverent musings of a sardonic wisenheimer who’s prone to fits of hopefulness and hypersensitivity.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
So Long to the Dean of Twitter
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| Rebecca D'Angelo/The Washington Post |
I can’t say I knew Congressman John Dingell. We were in the same room several times – at the Michigan Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinners, at meetings and state conventions, at a Michigan League of Conservation Voters tribute at the Ark in Ann Arbor – and I’m Facebook friends with Debbie Dingell, who was married to John for 37 years and who’s represented the 12th District, John’s old district, in Congress since 2015, but I don’t recall being lucky enough to even shake hands with the complex, imposing, charming guy who served in Congress for decades and was known as the Dean of the U.S. House of Representative, the Dean of Michigan’s congressional delegation and the Dean of Twitter.
Too bad. He died two days ago of prostate cancer. Now I’ll never get the chance.
Click here to read “John Dingell kept his Twitter followers entertained until the end.”I used to hear his name a lot. I worked for an environmental organization that supported raising mandatory automobile fuel efficiency standards and the congressman, who had strong ties to the auto industry, was opposed to the idea. He wasn’t referenced angrily or with invectives; he was an opponent on this one issue who deserved respect. He actually voted pro-environment most of the time and was known and lauded for his commitment to public and environmental health.
The many tributes and obituaries that will come out now that he’s gone will provide an in-depth look into Mr. Dingell’s life but even a cursory on-line search turns up interesting tidbits. The Congressman was anti-gun control and pro-NRA. He chaired the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee from 1981 to 1995 and from 2007 to 2009. He promoted national health insurance and health care reform long before others. He introduced legislation that created a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department. He presided over the House when Medicare was passed in 1965. He went after corporate and government fraud. His nicknames were “Big John” and “The Truck” for his forceful nature and his hulking 6-foot, 3-inch frame. He was the longest-serving congressman in American history. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom back in 2014 when it still meant something to get a medal from the president.
Click here to read his obituary in the Washington Post.
Speaking of the Washington Post, one of the most read pieces at its website right now is entitled, “John Dingell, My Last Words for America.” Here it is:
John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who served in the U.S. House from 1955 to 2015, was the longest-serving member of Congress in American history. He dictated these reflections to his wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), at their home in Dearborn, on Feb. 7, the day he died.
One of the advantages to knowing that your demise is imminent, and that reports of it will not be greatly exaggerated, is that you have a few moments to compose some parting thoughts.
In our modern political age, the presidential bully pulpit seems dedicated to sowing division and denigrating, often in the most irrelevant and infantile personal terms, the political opposition.
And much as I have found Twitter to be a useful means of expression, some occasions merit more than 280 characters.
My personal and political character was formed in a different era that was kinder, if not necessarily gentler. We observed modicums of respect even as we fought, often bitterly and savagely, over issues that were literally life and death to a degree that — fortunately – we see much less of today.
Think about it:
Impoverishment of the elderly because of medical expenses was a common and often accepted occurrence. Opponents of the Medicare program that saved the elderly from that cruel fate called it “socialized medicine.” Remember that slander if there’s a sustained revival of silly red-baiting today.
Not five decades ago, much of the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth — our own Great Lakes — were closed to swimming and fishing and other recreational pursuits because of chemical and bacteriological contamination from untreated industrial and wastewater disposal. Today, the Great Lakes are so hospitable to marine life that one of our biggest challenges is controlling the invasive species that have made them their new home.
We regularly used and consumed foods, drugs, chemicals and other things (cigarettes) that were legal, promoted and actively harmful. Hazardous wastes were dumped on empty plots in the dead of night. There were few if any restrictions on industrial emissions. We had only the barest scientific knowledge of the long-term consequences of any of this.
And there was a great stain on America, in the form of our legacy of racial discrimination. There were good people of all colors who banded together, risking and even losing their lives to erase the legal and other barriers that held Americans down. In their time, they were often demonized and targeted, much like other vulnerable men and women today.
Please note: All of these challenges were addressed by Congress. Maybe not as fast as we wanted, or as perfectly as hoped. The work is certainly not finished. But we’ve made progress — and in every case, from the passage of Medicare through the passage of civil rights, we did it with the support of Democrats and Republicans who considered themselves first and foremost to be Americans.
I’m immensely proud, and eternally grateful, for having had the opportunity to play a part in all of these efforts during my service in Congress. And it’s simply not possible for me to adequately repay the love that my friends, neighbors and family have given me and shown me during my public service and retirement.
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| John and Debbie Dingell Courtesy Max Ortiz/AP |
In my life and career, I have often heard it said that so-and-so has real power — as in, “the powerful Wile E. Coyote, chairman of the Capture the Road Runner Committee.”
It’s an expression that has always grated on me. In democratic government, elected officials do not have power. They hold power — in trust for the people who elected them. If they misuse or abuse that public trust, it is quite properly revoked (the quicker the better).
I never forgot the people who gave me the privilege of representing them. It was a lesson learned at home from my father and mother, and one I have tried to impart to the people I’ve served with and employed over the years.
As I prepare to leave this all behind, I now leave you in control of the greatest nation of mankind and pray God gives you the wisdom to understand the responsibility you hold in your hands.
May God bless you all, and may God bless America.
Come to think of it, I’m starting to remember one time when Congressman Dingell did smile and wave directly in my direction. Rest in peace and thank you, sir.
Sources: CNN, The Washington Post, Twitter, Wikipedia.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Hey, #MeToo: Where's the Outrage About Cyntoia Brown?
I haven’t blogged in a long time. There have been many reasons for this. Chief among them is that there is so much bullshit going on in this Age of The Lying Orange Imbecile, so much outrageous, unbelievable, noteworthy, Tier One-level outlandishness at the local, state, federal and international levels, so much offensive, unjust, unacceptable behavior on the part of human beings who do or should know better, that I’ve just been too overwhelmed, too depressed, too jaded and pessimistic and nauseated to put fingertips to keyboard. I wanted to but I just couldn’t.
Until now.
In the last few days, I’ve run across several references to Cyntoia Brown, a young woman of color from Tennessee who had an unfortunate childhood, got into drugs and prostitution, chose an abusive 24-year-old pimp known as “Kut Throat” as her “boyfriend” and was sentenced to life in prison for killing 43-year-old Johnny Allen, a real estate agent who “bought” her and who was asleep when she shot him in the head with his own gun back in 2004. (She claimed he was going to shoot her so she took him out first.) She was just 16 when she went to the Big House – she had been deemed competent to stand trial and tried as an adult although she wasn’t – and last week the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that she won’t be eligible for parole until she’s 67 years old.
Click here to read “Cyntoia Brown, Sentenced at 16, Must Serve 51 Years Before She Is Eligible for Release” in Rolling Stone. And click here to read about “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story,” a documentary on the case that appeared on PBS back in 2011.I’m not sure why Cyntoia’s deplorable situation penetrated the fog that seems to surround me of late. Maybe it’s partly because I too have made unwise choices for which I’m currently being punished excessively. Maybe it’s because the way in which this then-underage victim of sex trafficking is being persecuted is so blatantly wrong. Maybe it’s because she was around the same age as the kids I used to co-parent are when she got in trouble. Maybe it’s because Tennessee has by far the harshest juvenile sentencing laws in the nation. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror if I didn’t step outside of my own Pity Party for 60 minutes to add my voice to those demanding justice for this hapless young woman.
What Can You Do?
Although Cyntoia’s case will now be considered by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, it seems like your best bet is to contact Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam right away. He can grant Cyntoia clemency before he leaves office next month.
Governor Bill Haslam
State Capitol, First Floor
Nashville, Tennessee 37243
615-741-2001
You can also send Cyntoia a card or note.
Cyntoia Brown
#410593
Tennessee Prison for Women
2 North, B49
3881 Stewarts Lane
Nashville, Tennessee 37218-3302
And you can always join a Facebook group. Two are here and here.
In a time when white people get laughably lenient sentences for rape and murder while people of color are sentenced to prison for decades – or themselves murdered – for lesser offenses, we must each do what we can to speak truth to power, cry out for the voiceless and confront racism at every opportunity.
Now I can look at myself in the mirror tonight. Can you?
Sources: Rolling Stone, Color Lines.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
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