I'll Call It Like I Feel It

by sheila morris

For any who want more, complete list of all posts by month since 2011

  • beware the (fill-in-the-blank) immigrants


    I collect words and quotes like some people collect antique automobiles, and recently I’ve been interested in American presidential quotes on specific topics like, for example, immigration. The American Immigration Center offers quotes from noted Americans on the topic of immigration including the quotes of these presidents.

    “I take issue with many people’s description of people being illegal immigrants. There aren’t any illegal human beings as far as I’m concerned.” Woodrow Wilson, 28th.

    “Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as their talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd

    “As an immigrant, I chose to live in America because it is one of the freest and most vibrant nations in the world. And as an immigrant, I feel an obligation to speak up for immigration policies that will keep America the most economically robust, creative and freedom-loving nation in the world.”  Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th.

    “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries {Haiti, El Salvador, other African nations} come here?” Donald J. Trump, 45th.

    Shame on you, 45, for such a reprehensible comment that sullies the legacy of not only other great American leaders but spits on the words of the Statue of Liberty herself as she has welcomed the world on Liberty Island in New York Harbor since 1886.

    Give me your tired, your poor,

    your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

    the wretched refuse of your teeming shores.

    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me –

    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

    And finally, as I celebrate our national holiday today of the birthday of one of the greatest civil rights activists in our history, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I leave you with a personal favorite quote of his.

    “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous

    than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

    Stay tuned.

     

     

     

  • maybe if we don’t talk about them, they’ll just disappear


    In March of this year, two months after the inauguration of the 45th. president of the Unites States, the Department of Health and Human Services dropped questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in two surveys of elderly people (which must surely explain why I wasn’t included in either one of the surveys).

    Shortly after the new administration took over the West Wing of the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services removed all information about LGBT Americans from its website. That’s right…deleted…gone…erased.

    And now the words transgender and diversity are two of  seven words no longer allowed at the Center for Disease Control according to a recent administration rule. The other prohibited words include vulnerable, fetus, evidence-based, science-based and entitlement. 

    Seriously.

    In the spirit of bipartisanship, I decided to create my own list of seven forbidden actions for the West Wing inhabitants in 2018:

    prejudice

    discrimination

    knee-jerk reactions

    selfishness

    alternative facts

    early a.m. tweeting

    maniacal nuclear threats

    I lost my holiday spirit with this one, but I promise to retrieve it. Until then…

    Stay tuned.

     

     

  • 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.