The Days Of Our Anti-Lives!

His name was "Tim Johnson". He was a favorite character of mine when it came to teaching To Kill a Mockingbird . (Will they still be able to read and teach that in the Sweet Potato Hitler era?)  The reason is he's not a person but a dog, and not just any dog, a mad dog. And he's significant because it falls to Atticus Finch to put him down when he's roaming dangerously in the road. It's a necessary job and Atticus does it. Just as he defends a black man falsely accused of rape. I loved that dog because his name was an ideal reading-check question and only those who read the book got it -- ever. But these days, Tim Johnson is so much in my memory that I'm constantly calling Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House by the mad dog's name. And you know, I'm trying to do better...really I am.  The current Speaker is one of those Christians who knows what's best for everyone else. He perfectly okay with telling men to stay off porn and women to stay ou

And just like that I'm back. I had an impulse yesterday to close in and build a fortress of books to protect me and mine as best I could from the predations to come. But as the shock wore off that my America is even more racist than I imagined, and that a scary number of women are down with being second-class citizens, I once again found the need to speak my mind. This is the first in what I imagine to be a series of posts from Earth-Deux, a planet not that much unlike a similar one we DC fans know and adore where heroism lived on. But on this Earth -Deux "Sweet Potato Hitler" did not rise from the grave. He was defeated and the people were happy. Oh, if only it were so. But we can imagine. Join with me as we visit Earth-Deux.  With the election of Kamala Harris to the Presidency of the United States of America, the world order remains. The cruel vision of Christian Nationalism is pushed back for a time, and now it's time to see to it that such ugly ideas are once aga

I really, really hope I'm wrong.  But is it over for the nigh two hundred-and-fifty-year-old experiment in democracy dubbed the United States of America?  The Republicans long ago sold their withered souls in worship of their criminal cult leader. But that seems just fine with a majority of Americans, or at least a sufficient number to win the Electoral College and now possibly the popular vote as well. The Supreme Court seems to have been bought off by jokers with cavernous pockets. We now stand on the precipice of a theocracy with its help.  The ugly truth is the ultra-rich have purchased their pet politicians who only pretend to pay lip service to the citizens, who are likely sooner than later to be robbed of even the illusion of a proper democracy in order that even more wealth can be transferred from a future serf class into the pockets of preening neo-nobility. We will be allowed enough pocket money to fulfill our roles as consumers, but little else beyond that. I really hope

While voting has been going on in various states around the union for days if not weeks now, today is actually "Election Day", the day it's decided who the next President of the United States of America will be. There are many other important, even crucial elections, especially those regarding the Senate, but we all have our eye on the biggest prize. That will determine whether the country I was born in continues, or if it changes in all sorts of dark ways. Women in particular are on tenterhooks as to what the decisions will be. It is indeed time for all "Avengers" to "Assemble" and save the day from the villains abroad in the land.  More later when we have concrete news.  Rip Off 

I am enjoying the out-sized irritations of certain talking heads among Conservatives concerning a fairly simple action enjoyed by women for over a century -- the right to vote. The very idea that a woman might enter the voting booth, a venerated place where anonymity is sacrosanct, and while there choosing differently than her husband is driving them mad. I cannot actually believe they are surprised. When women were stripped of the absolute control of their bodies, controls which were meted to mostly men in state legislatures who immediately installed laws which have already killed more than a few women seeking simple healthcare, this day of reckoning was almost assured. Do they really think women are as stupid as they imagine them to be? It seems so.  Our election is far from over, but early numbers about who is voting suggest women have a ten percent advantage so far. Just on the basis of that number alone, it seems we can reason out how things are going to go. All that's left is

 On my ballot in Kentucky this year is an initiative which would allow a change to the state's constitution. It's called "Amendment 2" and it reads in part thusly: "The General Assembly may provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools."  Such a change would allow the Republican super-majority in the Commonwealth's legislature to generate funding or shift funds to private schools such as charter schools and other private institutions, as well potentially religious schools. The latter seems a clear violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but I rather suspect the current Supreme Court would support this outlay of tax funds. If such would be the case, I as a taxpayer would be supporting a religion I did not necessarily share.  Even more immediate is that Kentucky public schools are generally strapped for funding despite being in the top half (barely) of the states in the nation. We were once