I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: politics

  • sweet home Alabama!


    Thank you to the people of Alabama for restoring my faith and hope in a life-long American dream of liberty and justice for all and for reminding me that Every Vote Counts.

    I especially want to thank the black women of Alabama for their contribution to this important win. I believe in your march to the polls yesterday I could hear echoes of the   voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose words are etched in stone in the Civil Rights Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

    Just imagine if one day justice really could “roll down on us like waters and righteousness (which Webster’s everyday thesaurus describes as that which is  honorable, ethical, honest, just, fair, equitable…) like a mighty stream.”

    Until then…

    Stay tuned.

  • The Rich Man, Middle Man, Poor Man Tax Reform Act of 2017


    So both houses of Congress have now voted to pass their version of the Rich Man, Middle Man, Poor Man Tax Reform Act of 2017 in which the Rich Man becomes measurably (in gazillions) richer while the Poor Man, as Pretty is fond of saying, is another day older.

    But what about the Middle Man? The Middle Man has been charged with paying for the gazillions of new debt that will be owed to China, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, drug cartels, money launderers, the Koch Brothers and other major political donors, lobbyist lenders, etc. for generations.  Tsk. Tsk. Shame, shame, shame.

    The final draft of the Senate bill will be a surprise for the Senators who voted on it without ever seeing the final draft.  Imagine their surprise if the final version had an addendum requiring all Senators serve without pay for the next 20 years to help pay for the deficits the new tax law generates. Oops. That would never happen, of course, but what a fun thought.

    Tax reform proponents tout the corporate tax cuts as the catalyst for economic growth through larger investments at home in the USA including hiring additional employees, major capital renovation and new construction projects while a number of actual CEOs questioned about the corporate tax rate cuts said they planned to use the cuts to reduce their own corporate debt and buy back their own stock. Uh, oh. Stockholders vs. sweat equity. No contest.

    Regardless of the consequences to the country, the president had his first major legislation approved on the very same day that Lt. General Michael Flynn, his former National Security Advisor, plead guilty to lying to the FBI concerning the Russia investigation which the White House suggests is fake news and akin to going snipe hunting. The plea carries a maximum five year jail term so Mike Flynn is beginning to feel like the fake investigation is very real.

    Talk about a mess. Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian Chief.

    They were all in the news in Washington, D. C. this week – even the Indian Chief who watched two Navajo WWII Code Talkers honored at an official White House event as they stood beneath a portrait of former president Andrew Jackson who is known for his disgraceful treatment of Native Americans (think Trail of Tears) and heard the current president make a racial slur during the ceremony by referring to a Democratic Senator as Pocahontas. Can anybody help me here.

    Now the Sexual Predator in Chief has thrown his support in recent days to the accused child molester running for the Senate in the state of Alabama, Roy Moore. Come on, Alabama, I’m pulling for you to stand up for decency ten days from here when you go to the voting booths…please.

    Somebody stop me.

    Okay. I’m thinking back to happier times at Casa de Canterbury and wondering if they were the good ol’ days.

    Pretty Too and Pretty – Christmas – 2011

     

    Smokey Lonesome Ollie in December, 2011

    I’m hoping the rest of December turns out to be less stressful than the first couple of days – for everyone.

    Stay calm, stay patient in traffic, stay tuned.

     

     

     

     

     

  • I was this close


    The Pulitzer Prize people called and said I was probably going to win their Nonfiction Prize for Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home this year but I had to be available for an interview and photo shoot this past Saturday night. I had to say no because that was the night of the annual Carolina – Clemson football rivalry game which I never miss.

    (Gamecocks lost 34 – 10) Bummer.

    P.S. My Longhorns also lost their football game on Friday night to Texas Tech and, to complete the sports trifecta, my Gameock women’s basketball team lost to Notre Dame on Sunday night. Trifecta major depression…plus no Pulitzer.

  • I just love the gays!


    SOUTH CAROLINA PRIDE PARADE: LIGHT IT UP!

    Friday Night, October 20th. 7 – 11 p.m. on Main Street

    Pretty will be marching with the Rainbow Light Saber Brigade led by annual head cheerleader for the gay Pride celebrations Light Brigade Captain Matt Tischler who says there are a few spots available in his regiment tonight so check with his FB page for updates and instructions on where to meet and when.

    This is our first year for a nighttime Pride Parade in the almost 30-year history of Pride Parades so Light It Up, Columbia!

    Tomorrow the Famously Hot South Carolina Pride Festival starts at noon and goes on until ??  Take the whole family, why don’t you?? The Harriet Hancock LGBT Center sponsors a special area for children’s entertainment.

    P.S. I hope to see you tonight – I’ll be wearing my Pride beads in memory of Freddie Mullis and in honor of Dick Hubbard who loaned them to me to wear in Pride Events until they find a permanent home in the Queer Section of the Caroliniana Library at USC. Freddie and Dick wore these colorful beads, bracelets and rings in the 1993 March on Washington.

    P.S.P.S. I won’t be walking with Pretty – I’ll be riding in the Business Guild automobile with the Famously Hot Mar-lah-ti-dah who ended her instructions for our meeting tonight with the words, I just love the gays. I do, too, and we party tonight in Columbia, South Carolina!!

     

  • the inconvenience of truth


    Wildfires are raging out of control along the west coast bordering the Pacific Ocean in California as hurricanes formed in the Atlantic dumped unwanted, unprecedented amounts of rain on the Gulf Coast and east coast over the past few months. People in all parts of the country struggle to salvage and rebuild their broken lives from natural disasters that have created damages in the gazillions of dollars while they mourn the loss of loved ones unable to get out of harm’s way during the catastrophic events. American citizens in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands beg for food, water, shelter and electricity as they experience the total destruction of their infrastructures and homes.

    A mad man in Las Vegas waged his own personal war against demons we may never identify, but what we do know is that he killed almost 60 people and wounded 500 more in a bloodbath executed from his hotel windows overlooking 22,000 persons at a country music concert on a Sunday night.

    Today I heard a story about two of the victims of the wildfires in California: a hundred year old man and his 99-year-old wife who died in their home yesterday. They had recently celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. Imagine.

    Meanwhile, the headlines involve a Hollywood movie mega mogul who has been fired for decades of sexual harassment against women and a president (who openly admits to sexual harassment) lunching with his secretary of state who called the president a “moron” last week. They are reportedly comparing IQs for lunch table talk.

    Other headlines involve the arguments between the president’s third wife a/k/a the first lady and his first wife a/k/a the new author regarding who is the more influential in the president’s life which moves our nation from reality TV directly to soap opera within the blink of a book promotion.

    Our nuclear treaty with Iran hangs in the balance this week with rumors it will not be renewed. Our relationship with the unstable leader of North Korea is tenuous at best. Nuclear missiles here, there, everywhere…

    America burns within itself as debates over climate change, racial and transgender discrimination, wealth disparity, patriotism, kneeling at football games, nuclear deals, the perception of the presidency, health care, tax reform, Russian election interference, building a wall, immigration, gun control – these are a few of the hot button issues that divide us; and our differences become a  deep, dark wedge  of despair in our democratic process.

    It is imperative that people of good will speak truth – even if it is inconvenient because the fabric of our society is in danger of being torn apart. There is no “little” moment of truth.

    We must speak truth during coffee breaks at work with our co-workers, standing in the grocery store lines, at family gatherings, at Sunday School and church, in our seats at concerts and sporting events,  at PTA and business meetings, with our next door neighbors – and especially in our homes where we must wage peace as we teach kindness and respect for others to our children.

    Our individual responsibility is to commit outrageous acts of everyday rebellions whenever we are confronted with our own moments of truth. The answers we seek  to the problems we have as a country lie within ourselves. Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their nation.

    Amen.