Heal the Sick
One month after the installation of my pacemaker, I’m well on the way to recovery. I missed a couple of days of work, but with paid sick leave and good insurance coverage, only a slight tingling on my chest remains.
Reading the news, I can’t help but notice that I am abnormal for a working adult. Hourly workers don’t get paid sick leave. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid. If they don’t get paid, they don’t eat or pay their rent.
How stressful must a minor sickness or illness be? How much more pressure would a major health condition create? Heart disease? Diabetes? Pregnancy? Cancer?
I’ve had good health coverage all of my life. As a child, I grew up on, or near, military bases. I was born in s United States government hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. As the last of four living children, my parents brought me home with no debt hanging over their heads.
When I was reckless, like jumping out of a tree, injuries were common. In first grade on Fort Leonard Wood, I simply hobbled home, and my parents took to the doctor. I don’t remember any fuss about costs at all.
Once my dad retired, things changed. One day, during a transition from one civil job to the next, I sliced open my thumb.
My cousin Mark and I had been playing in my mamaw’s yard. By playing, I mean cutting wood with a cane knife and starting a fire. Her house was in the county about an hour from New Orleans.
I was a pretty bad aim and pretty reckless. The cane knife ripped open my thumb down to the bone. Even though Raceland had a hospital, my mom and dad drove an hour back into the city. They took me to the Naval Air Station for care.
The only health insurance my family had was based on dad’s twenty-seven years of service. The private hospital would have been too much of a financial burden.
I can’t help but look back now and ask, “What if we had no insurance?†What do parents do today if they get sick? What do parent’s sacrifice if their child is injured?
Nearly 20% of Texans lack health insurance. That is twice the national average.
President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law nine years ago. It provided federal funds to expand Medicaid to working families. Texas Republicans refused to take the money.
Why can’t we as Americans unify around healing our sick? Why must our neighbors lose a job or go bankrupt just to take care of a child? It doesn’t have to be this way. America can do better.
I apologize
I’ve been involved in public politics for more than 20 years now. Criticism and disagreements are all part of the process. Often it is just name calling without any substance.
Every once in a while, I will get a comment that makes me stop and think a little bit more. The following letter did just that. The author criticized my comparison Donald Trump to a Carnival Barker.
Take a look:
“An article from Jan. 8, 2021… (compares) a carnival barker— lies (and) intent to deceive (with) Donald Trump. Our president Biden had made the same error in comparing Donald Trump to a carnival worker. I have been in the carnival industry for 30 plus years and I have… to make money. I neither lie, deceive or cheer people. And find it a personal attack of my integrity. The carnival industry, as a whole, has for decades now has been trying to repair the image from the past. Owners, industry associations and carnival professionals like myself who love the industry work hard and diligently to maintain a safe fun family experience full of good memories and a desire to attend again next year and if course generate revenue for the local organization sponsoring the event. Dress codes of conduct and caps on customer spending in games are just a few of the policies set by the majority of carnivals. Another example of discrimination. It happens to us all.â€
After careful consideration, I need to apologize to people who work in carnivals. They have worked hard to overcome stereotypes. They are hard-working Americans trying to earn a living.
While like all professions, they may have a few bad apples, it was wrong for me to stereotype them. Comparing them to Donald Trump was even worse.
Donald Trump bragged about raping married women. He paid hush money to hide cheating on his wife. He bankrupted multiple casinos and threw tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.
Donald spent much of his time occupying the White House doing nothing at all.  He woke up every day, watched Fox News and twitted lies and nonsense.  As the day progressed he headed to the golf course on the tax payers dime, or more accurately millions of dollars.Â
So yes, I need to apologize to the hard working men and women of the carnival industry. I used an outdated stereotype to illustrate a point. In the process I wrongly projected Donald Trump’s behavior on to you.
I am sorry.
Your hard work and dedication should never have been compared to the a morally, intellectually and financially bankrupt person like Donald Trump. I wish you well in the future.
Truth Creates Unity
We all know to take the keys away from a drunk driver. Drinking impairs decision making and judgment. In government, lies produce the same results. Over 400,000 of our neighbors have died because of Covid 19 lies and political denial. Will our democracy be next?
On Jan. 22, 2020 a reporter asked Donald Trump whether there were “worries about a pandemic.†Donald answered “No, not at all. We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.â€
Less than a month later, on February 7, Donald made a private confession.
Did this reality stop the lies and denial? No.
On Feb. 26, at a White House news conference, Donald commented on the country’s first reported cases: “We’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.â€
Here we are a year later, and Covid 19 has not disappeared. A drunk has been driving our car, and the results have been deadly. Donald’s lies threaten more than our health. They threaten our democracy.
In the spring, state and local governments took steps to slow the spread of Covid 19. Since Donald’s followers believed Covid 19 was a hoax, they saw public health measure as tyranny.
Donald fanned the flames. He called on his supporters to “liberate†the states. In Michigan Donald’s rhetoric inspired a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Luckily, the terrorist attack failed, but they were a sign of things to come.
After losing the Presidential election to Joe Biden, Donald Trump launched another huge lie: the election was stolen. This lie, like the Covid hoax lie, inspired anti-American violence at the US Capitol. Finally, Republicans are trying to take away Donald’s keys before he crashes our democracy.
On January 19, 2021, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.â€
Finally, some Republicans are telling truth. They refused to tell the truth about Covid 19, and 400,000 Americans died. By telling the truth now, can they help us save American democracy, or have they already crashed the car?
Tell The Truth
Now is a moment for strength, not weakness. Strength requires facing the truth. As the Good Book says, “Thou shall not bear false witness.”
On Jan. 6, domestic terrorists broke into the United States Capitol to stop the confirmation of the Electoral College vote. What we saw was disgusting.
Not since the Civil War has a political party fought against American democracy. After the armed rioters broke into the US Capitol, they drove both Houses from the floor, vandalized the building, placed bombs and killed a police officer. They wanted to overturn an American election.
Minutes before the insurrection, the crowd had gathered to hear Donald Trump speak in front of the White House.In December, he had tweeted an invitation for them to come to Washington.Donald had told them to “to wild.” His adoring minions dutifully organized. They told the attendees to prepare. They were going to “storm the Capitol.”
On Jan. 6, standing in front of the White House, Donald repeated the now familiar lie. He convinced the mob the pending vote in Congress was theft. The mob needed to “stop the steal.” Donald told them, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol.”
Except he didn’t march. Donald ran to the safety of the White House while the crowd taunted police. The mob was hell bent on capturing the United States Capitol. They pushed through law enforcement. They beat police with bats, wrenches and even American flags. The mob chanted, “Where is Pence?” as they carried zip ties, guns and nooses. It could have been worse.
There is no way to separate Trump-inspired violence from Trump’s election lies. Trump invited the mob to Washington, riled them up with lies about the election and sent them to the Capitol to pressure Congress to overturn the election.
But it wasn’t just that day. Since the election he and his Republican cohorts have been peddling the same lie of a fraudulent election. That has been unmasked as a lie by every court, by every Republican judge and official with authority over the vote.
In 50 cases and more the courts from the US Supreme Court down has upheld the election as legal and binding. These facts did not matter. The lie incited the mob.
A few responsible Republicans across the country have joined him. But Grayson County officials have not faced the truth. Why choose to be on the wrong side of history?
Grayson County Commissioners must stand up for what is right. Until then, do they seriously want to teach our children to surrender to domestic terrorists? Do more Americans have to die for Donald’s lies?
Trust is a Life Skill
Not all life skills are the same. Some are more important than others. One essential skill is learning to tell the difference between fact and fiction. We have to learn who is telling the truth and who is lying to us.
If we don’t learn this skill, life can become pretty miserable.
This week I had to confront reality. I had to face the facts or suffer the consequences. I had to trust a doctor whom I only met in July. He told me the truth. Should I trust him?
This summer, while teaching online, I fainted. It was the second time that I had lost consciousness for no apparent reason.
My normal doctor, whom I’ve known for about 20 years, scheduled an MRI and sent me to a cardiologist. The MRIs were nothing new for me. They are loud and boring.
The cardiologist was. He seemed like a nice young man. (Now that I am over 50, I can say that.) This stranger asked me to wear an overnight heart monitor.
This too was pretty easy. I had already worn a similar device for sleep apnea. The halter found nothing.
The next step was an implanted chip to provide continuous monitoring for up to five years. I asked the doctor if this were the Bill Gates model. He said that he didn’t know but would find out. My sarcasm obviously failed.
The implanted chip was a good choice. It quickly discovered that about once per month my heart slows and pauses for 5-6 seconds. The doctor is concerned that these episodes could happen while driving or another activity.
Think about it. Once per month my heart slows and pauses for 5-6 seconds. No doctor listening to my heart could have found it. Even the chances of a twenty-four hour monitor finding the pause would be small. I don’t understand how the chip worked, but it did.
The next step is a pacemaker. That is a pretty big step, but I will follow my doctor’s advice. He told me that it could save my life or someone near me. If one of these episodes happened while driving, the results could be catastrophic.
At each step of the way I had to test my skills as an adult. Were these experts lying to me or telling me the truth? Certainly there is a financial gain related to the procedure? Couldn’t they just recalibrate the results? Couldn’t they find those lost five seconds?
I decided to face reality. I’m not a medical doctor or expert. Part of growing up is learning to tell the difference between fact and fiction, learning who to trust. It is a life or death skill.
Granny Comeaux’s Cabbage Rolls
Jackie makes the best cabbage rolls every New Year’s Day. She uses a recipe handed down from her great grand mother: Granny Comeaux.
Blend in blender: 1 Bell pepper, 2 celery, 1 large onion, parsley, green onions, garlic
Drain in colander
Mix Meat in Bowl: 1 lb. Ground pork, 1 lb. Ground beef
Season meat with salt, pepper, Tony’s, garlic powder
Mix together blended vegetables and one cup raw rice into meat
boil leaves for 5 minutes, cut stems out, Bowl
Line large pot with outer leaves of cabbage
place rolls in pot
2 big cans of tomato soup and water top two rolls, add salt to whole pot, boil cover for 45 minutes
Here is the “actual recipe” Maddie (Jackie’s mom) dictated over the phone.
Merry Christmas
We live in a world of artificial lights. Light is all around us. It can even be with us twenty four hours if we want it. Natural light, however, brings so much joy. Who among us is not mesmerized by the glow of a candle, a fire or a star?
Darkness is not simply the absence of light. Darkness is a sense of loss. We lose our sense of direction, forcing us to stop and wait for a light to point the way. If we don’t slow down, we will likely run into something and hurt ourselves.
Darkness can also weigh on us. It creates a greater sense of the unknown. Darkness amplifies real and imagined dangers. How much louder is a sound at 2 am in a dark house that 2 pm in a house full of light?
Without artificial light we are at the mercy of natural sources of light. We sleep at night, snuggled in our houses. We work in the day. There is nothing like a fresh cup of coffee as the sun comes up.
We just passed the darkest moment of the year. December 21st was the winter solstice. From now until June 20th the days will get longer and brighter.
It should come as no surprise then that Christians chose December 25th to celebrate Christmas. Yes, Christians chose this date. There is nothing Biblical about it. It is completely symbolic.
In the dead of winter, in the darkest days of the year, Christians celebrate the Light of the World. This Light brings Joy to the World. We put lights on our houses. We put lights in trees. We light up the darkness.
These artificial lights are symbols that drive home the Gospel message.
Matthew 5: 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15 Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.â€
Can we, as Christians, humble ourselves even though we are made in the image of God, not deeming equality with God something to be grasped? Rather, can we take the form of a slave? Can we serve our neighbor?
Service brings light into the darkness. Christmas has all the symbols to guide a Christian on our journey through the world. Where there is darkness, bring light. Where there is sorrow, bring joy. Where there is despair, bring hope.
Merry Christmas! Let’s make a Happy New Year.
State of Denial
I thought that we lived in the state of Texas. Looking at Republican politicians, we must live in the state of denial. Joe Biden won 306 Electoral College votes and 81,283,495 individual votes.
Joe Biden easily won the Presidency. There is no doubt. Even Republicans in the states Biden won, say Biden won. No lawsuit presented facts to challenge that Joe Biden won.
Republican election officials confirm Joe Biden won. Republican governors confirm Joe Biden won. Republican judges confirm Joe Biden’s victory was legal under the Constitution of the United States of America.
At the beginning of December United States Attorney General Willian Barr said “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.â€
Texas Republican politicians, however, are in a state of denial.
Misleading the way has been Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton is infamous because he is currently under a federal felony indictment that could land him in prison. He is accused of misleading investors by failing to disclose he would benefit personally from their investments.
Something similar happened with his frivolous lawsuit against Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania . In each state the loser in the Presidential election sued to overturn the votes counted. The loser never provided any evidence under oath.
The oath is a linchpin of our judicial system. It is one thing to lie on Fox News or One America Network, but it is illegal to lie to a judge. The loser’s attorneys refused to lie in court the way Rudy Giuliani lied on television. They simply had no evidence.
When Ken Paxton filed his suit to overturn the election results, he knew these facts. He simply didn’t care. He abused his office by filing a frivolous lawsuit in the United States Supreme Court. Paxton lacked any evidence, new or old.
To no one’s surprise, the US Supreme Court refused to even hear the case. It wrote, “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections.” That is a fancy way of saying Paxton made no sense.
Well, someone was surprised. Allen West, a confessed war criminal and Chairman of the Texas Republican Party, was. He even pondered if it were time for Texas and other states to leave the United States of America and form a new country.
Do Texas voters really want Republican politicians to lead us out of America? Is Texas really a state of denial? Or is it a proud member of the United States of America? I know my answer. What is yours?
The Pretender
America has never had a pretender before. Pretenders were regular features of European monarchies. In monarchies the government, called the Crown, was the personal property of the king. It passed from father to son or, rarely, to his daughter.
In America, we have a Republic. The term “republic†derives from the Latin phrase “res publica.†The phrase means “public thing.†Our government is a public institution, not a piece of personal property. The people, not God, select our government.
The Founding Fathers choose a Republic over a monarchy because the historical evidence showed that people secure the blessings of liberty and prosperity better than kings. In kingdoms, the heirs often squabbled over the throne. The loser would act as a pretender, undermining the security and prosperity of the people.
The Founders didn’t have to look far into their own history to find a disruptive pretender. During the Eighteenth Century, the Jacobites provided a constant source of irritation to the English. These sore losers sought to restore the Stuarts to “their house.†The English Parliament had driven the Stuarts off the throne twice because of mismanagement.
America only experienced this type of “pretending†once in its history. In 1860 America voters elected Abraham Lincoln, a man hostile to slavery. Every state accepted that Lincoln won the Presidency. In response, however, a minority of sore losers decided to secede from the United States of America.
The Confederates invoked the favor of “Almighty God†and built a new government around the cornerstone of white supremacy. They might have succeeded at dividing the country, but they made a fateful error. They attacked the United States of America.
Every school child learns that America won. The costs, however, of that uncivil war was brutal. Six hundred thousand Americans died because one side lost an election. They betrayed our country’s values. They betrayed the Republic.
Today, some Republicans are begging their leader to accept his loss. Republicans in Georgia counted the votes THREE times. Joe Biden won every time. The Pretender cannot accept reality.
America has never had a Pretender before. Pretenders are dangerous. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperge begged his leader to “quell the violent rhetoric being born out of his continuing claims of winning the states where he obviously lost.†The pretender has not stopped pretending.
Sowing these seeds of violent division couldn’t come at a worst time. Nearly three thousand Americans are dying every day. A true American leader would rally everyone to save lives, not focus on himself.
What do you want written in the history books? Will you support the Republic or the Pretender? Reality or denial? Your choice will write the history of America. What will you do for your country?