Contempt!

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There can be no clearer example of contempt for Congress, and therefore all of us, than the testimony given the Judiciary Committee of the House by Cory Lewandowski this past Tuesday.  Lewandowski’s demeanor, his evasion, his stonewalling and his insulting language to elected representatives of the people of this nation is justification for an immediate citation for Contempt of Congress.  And yet, nothing happened.  The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Gerald Nadler, was puny and impotent.

This is symptomatic of the Democrat’s complete failure to bring accountability to our government. They are simply afraid, or don’t have a clue on how to manage this process. The campaign for Congress in 2018 was brimming over with calls for oversight and plans for bringing the Administration to task for the egregious continuing abuse of power and stonewalling of Congress.  After the election we were told, the era of accountability had arrived—finally.  And yet, nothing has happened.

The White House and the administration have been incredibly successful in burying or withholding information that the public is entitled to.   They continually flaunt the law, refuse to answer subpoenas, claim privilege when there is none, and ignore all attempts at Congressional oversight.  What is clear is that the Democrats and the Congress at large are impotent in the face of continuing abuse of power. 

We are living through a time in our history that will be remembered as a shameful chapter in the story of America.  It will be described as a time when our institutions failed us because we had let the rot of corruption invade and consume our government.  Trump is only the latest symptom, albeit the worst symptom, of an idealistic society that has lost its way.  Our government is not responsive to the people of our country because of the pervasive effect of lobbyists and monied interests who have purchased our politicians.  Example: Why, when 90% of our populace want much more stringent gun control regulation, Congress and the President won’t act.  They are all bought and paid for by the gun lobby and gun manufacturers.  Multiply this paradigm by every area of influence and potential interference by corporate interests and you understand why our government is paralyzed.

It is inconceivable to me why Democrats are not more vigorous in efforts to meet each challenge to the Constitution's concept of separation of powers and obeying the rule of law with immediate judicial action to bring compliance from the administration.  When subpoenas are ignored, or witnesses stonewall legal oversight, they should be immediately cited and arrested for contempt.   Judicial intervention should be swift and conclusive.  Actions of judicial process should be fast-tracked with legislation, if needed.  Fines should be levied instantly and then questions should be answered respectfully and truthfully.  If witnesses still stonewall, they should go to jail until they agree to testify truthfully.  That is the way our system is supposed to work.  I watch every day while the Democrats wring their hands and announce all the ways they are going to ‘investigate’, and yet, they are wimpy and ineffective.

And now we have this whistleblower incident which is just the latest and perhaps the most egregious of all unprecedented abuse of power occurrences.  Donald Trump and his administration have corrupted our Democracy.  There is so much wrong with what is happening here that this event alone is grounds for impeachment.

Hey Democrats, we have laws that are on the books that are supposed to be obeyed!  When they aren’t, you are the only ones remaining who are supposed to be uncorrupted enough to represent the people.  We certainly can't count on the Republicans!  Where are you????

Maybe you are just like all the rest of our elected representatives who are purchased and corrupt—unwilling to actually act in the interests of our country over party. 

Where are the people in government like the founding fathers? Instead we have Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, Gerald Nadler, Nancy Pelosi,

and all the Republicans.  God help us!

Hunter for President!

In the ‘what really matters’ department, here is some revolutionary campaigning on the part of my 10 year old nephew, Hunter:

At his school in Atlanta, apparently there is a bubbling controversy over the presence of only one Panini machine in the cafeteria.  At lunch time, there is a mad dash for the Panini machine by many of the students.  Since there is only one machine, the scene at the Panini machine sometimes resembles ‘people jamming through the doors of Best Buy’ on Black Friday after Thanksgiving!

There have been near altercations, much frustration and general disappointment at the inability to get a Panini at lunch by many students.

Enter our hero, Hunter-my nephew, to save the day by running for Class Representative with a promise to try to work with the ‘powers that be’ to solve the problem.  He is running his campaign with integrity, zeal, and a message to his peers that is embodied in his campaign poster……to wit, I present a message that appeals to the  ‘masses’!

Too Late?

I have just spent the past two weeks in the North Carolina mountains on vacation enjoying the cool and clean air around Lake Chatuge.  The sensation of elevation and breathability is profound.  Living in Naples for the past 16 years has been wonderful, however that wonderfulness is quickly ebbing as the climate inexorably changes.  What used to be hot but bearable summers have now become periods when even walking outside to go from our main house to the guest-house, where our video business resides, is beastly and anti-human.  The sun and the air are not good for humans anymore.  The sun feels like a hammer that beats on my head even with a baseball cap on, and the air is uncomfortable to breathe because it is so warm and laden with moisture.  Things are much different from when I moved here in 2002.

As the debates go on by the Democrats about how climate change is one of the main issues on which we need to act, we do nothing.  In fact it is worse than that.  Our present administration does everything it can to exacerbate the conditions that are changing our environment—reducing regulations on all sorts of polluting by fossil fuels; denying the science that for the past 30 years has proven them wrong; quitting our participation in the only global movement thus far to acknowledge the changing climate and provide a framework for action.

Time is running out.

I listened to Greta Thunberg from Sweden give a TED talk online and I was moved.  I urge each of you to do the same. 

Greta's Talk

Greta is a 16 year old girl from Sweden who made headlines this past week from her trip over the Atlantic on a catamaran to emphasize the need for action.  She is an incredibly articulate and persuasive agent for change that will bring about awareness of the peril we are all in.  Her view of her life and what she and her children and grandchildren will face is stark and unnerving.

Her generation wants to know why we are not doing anything?  The facts are clearly present.  Greenhouse gas emissions are steadily increasing causing global warming.  She wants to know why there is no action to try to reverse it.  The fact of the matter is that the past 20 years are the hottest on record in history.  Many believe we have already passed the tipping point.  Greta asks what she should tell her children 50 years from now when they ask why we didn’t do anything when we clearly saw the handwriting on the wall. 

Why don’t you try to answer that question right now?  I can’t.

All I would be able to say is that the politicians were unconcerned and didn’t believe the science.  Do you think the children of 2075 will buy that?  They will be living though disease, famine, dislocation of large populations caused by rising sea levels, collapsing economies, social and civil upheaval; and finally, mass extinction of living species, including our own.

You may think I am an alarmist.  The problem here is that the mass of uninformed people in the civilized world are all like frogs who are put in cold water on a stove and as the water heats up, they don’t realize that they are slowly dying until it is too late to jump out of the pot.

Are you aware that many people of our younger generation are deciding not to have children because they don’t want to bring them into a world where the environmental conditions will be so difficult to survive?  How about your children?  Ask them if they understand how their lives are going to change?

The solution to the increasing anxiety on the part of everyone about this extinction level event, that is slowly but inexorably overtaking us, is to talk about it.  Do you notice how when the subject is raised, most people just shrug and say, someone will figure it out, or ‘it makes me too anxious to talk about it’?

Time is running out.  Wake up and talk about it.  If you don’t, you will be doing your part to doom our children and grandchildren’s future to a hellish condition that you may not be alive to experience, but they will.