Showing posts with label Blasey Ford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blasey Ford. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

A Troubling Story in Rhyme, Hanging On to Hope



Here I sit
In the quiet of this room
Stillness all about
Will peace arrive any time soon.

Friends on the right
Friends on the left
Noise all around
Truth somehow left bereft.

Her words
Left us troubled
Her story within us stirred
The pain in our souls bubbled.

His words
Spoken in a rage
Unfit for one of such stature
Did not my doubt assuage.

He insulted
A conspiracy that did unfold
He lost any respect
His white male privilege depths untold.

The leader
Of the land did stand
Pronounce her story credible
Yet truth has somehow been banned.

He who received
The least votes
Affirmed by men
Filibustered with many quotes.

He now appointed
One who has little support
Of the people of our country
To the nation’s highest court.

Then that man
Has the audacity
To apologize quite profusely
Doubting truth and its veracity.

Now is the time
To rally around character
Take people to the polls
Truth does indeed matter.

Yes, I will vote
Hope others take note
Bring their friends and neighbors
And restore us after our labors.

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Here I Stand

We are still in a state of chaos, are we not? Partisanship left and right, literally from the right and literally front the left, have genuinely left us divided and angry and in a huge turmoil.

Please allow me to enter the fray and add to the confusion. While I am not out at one of the protests going on around the country, or especially the one in front of the Supreme Court today, count me among the protesters.

I stand with these: 45% in a Gallup poll who do not want him confirmed; 48% in the Quinnipiac University poll; 2,400 and growing number of law professors who do not support his nomination; a YouGov poll that found 43% did not want him confirmed including 40% of men and 46% of women; two people at my house; those appalled by the president*'s mocking of Dr. Blasey Ford the other night in Mississippi; the number of women (and men) who have been shamed into silence; the Reuters Poll with 41% who do not support him including 71% of Democrats, 31% of Independents, 30% of Republicans, and 36% of Republican women; the  ACLU's opposition, the National Council of Churches which calls for his nomination to be withdrawn; the 25+ environmental groups who are calling for his withdrawal; and 100+ civil and human rights groups which are doing the same. Add Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to this list.

These numbers likely do not capture my own friends and family, young and old, who have opinions that have not been tallied.  Yes, I do have friends and family who think that this man is going to turn the tides of the culture war.  I cannot buy the theological heresy in those who say that God has chosen Trump to get the  USA back on track. That theology was not something that I learned in graduate school, nor did I learn that Christians had sold out to the Roman Empire, but instead continued to be subversive to its power.

As I stated in my last post, Judge Kavanaugh's narcissistic rage and entitlement and crass partisan opinion screaming about conspiracy theories eliminated him in my opinion. You can read a fuller summary of that in the previous post.

Bottom line, I just believe the women. I do not believe the man who had every opportunity to articulate a "yes, let's have a full and complete investigation," one who knows how those things work,but, no, he avoided and danced around that yes or no question. There are too many unanswered questions about him including too many people the FBI were not given permission to investigate, so, their report comes down in the early morning hours of Thursday while there are still two days left for more interviews and investigations.

Yes, I do have a theology of protest. I've spelled that out in earlier posts.  I think this is a holy protest.

Here I stand.