Old News and New News

Old news, from Rusty Bower, Speaker of the Arizona (state) House of Representatives, testifying to the “January6th” investigative committee of our US House of Representatives, on June 24, 2022, speaking to Rep. Adam Schiff at a session of the Special  Committee investigative hearing:. . .

(Note: For purposes of simplicity, I , the blogger, have minimally redacted some incidental or repetetive phrases of this interview. 

Rep. Schiff: Did you ask Mr. Giuiliani for proof of these allegations of fraud (election interference) that he was making?

Rusty Bower: On multiple occasions, yes.

Arizona Speaker Rusty Bower: He (Rudy Giuliani) said that they did have proof, and I asked him, “Do you have names? For example, we have 202,000 illegal immigrants, some large number, five or six thousand dead people, etcetera, and I said, do you have their names?

Rep. Schiff: So Mr. Giuliani was claiming in the call that there were hundreds of thousands of undocumented people and thousands of dead people who had purportedly voted in the election?

Bower: Yes.

Schiff: And you asked him for evidence of that?

Bower: I did. 

Schiff: Did you ever receive from Giuliani evidence either during the call, after the call, or to this day?

Bower: Never.

Schiff: What was the ask during this call?. He was making  some allegations of fraud, or a couple of things . . . He had a couple things that he wanted you to do? What were those?

Bower: The ones that I remember. . . that we would hold . . . that i would allow a an official  committee at the (state) Capitol, so that they could hear this evidence and that we could take action thereafter. And I refused.  Up to that time, the circus (I called it circus) had been brewing  with lots of demonstrations both at the counting center and at the Capitol and at other places, and I didn’t want to have that in the House. I did not feel that the evidence granted in its absence merited a hearing. . . .and I didn’t want to be used as a pawn. If there was some other need that the committee hearing could fulfill.  So that was the first ask—that we hold an official committee hearing

Shiff: And what was the second ask?

Bower:  I said, to what end(?) the hearing.  He said, well we have heard that there is a legal theory or      that you can remove the electors of President Biden and replace them; we would like to have the legitimate opportunity, through the committee, to come to that end and renew that. I said that’s totally new to me. I’ve never heard of any such thing, and he pressed that point. And I said: You are asking me to do something that is counter to my oath, when I swore to the Constitution, to uphold it. 

(So that was conversation that took place in 2020. Meanwhile, now shifting this blog time line back to present era:)

New news:  June 2024: After enduring  trump’s slings and arrows of outrageous lies and ranting during their debate, President Joe Biden went to Raleigh and spoke to the people there. He told them:

“I don’t speak as smooth as I used to. I don’t  debate as well as I used to. . . I know what I do know; I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong . . . and I know how to do this job.I know how to get things done . . . and I know what millions of Americans know; when you get knocked down you get back up!” 

So we notice that, in presidential politics, sometimes there are lies and sometimes there are attempted lies, such as Giuliani and his team of insurrectional lawyers were trying foist upon the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives in January of 2020. That insurrectionist strategy launched by trump is a far cry from the honesty and integrity of our President Biden. 

Glass half-Full 

Mike's New Law Prescription

 Well i was born in Louisiana in 1951 and spent most of my youth there. 

So I noticed that that state has mandated posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms. 

I wasn’t thinking much about that until I noticed that Michael Moore hath posted his recommendations for a  new ten commandments. 

Well ok gollee i mean this is America and people can do whatever they want as long as it doesn’t. . . you know. . .(later)

You can view/hear his commendations at michealmoore.com, or something like that. iI think it is on the same online platform where I write blogs, Medium.com.

Let’s get to the point here. I have some things to say about Michael’s suggestions, but first some background about this commentator, me. So you understand the context of my analysis. 

After being born in Louisiana, I was raised in Catholic schools, in the Catholic faith, although my dad was a lapsed Baptist who never went church.  That said, I do think that my 12 years of Catholic education prepared me well for life and whatever it was that I have been doing with my life.  See http://www.careyrowland.com for more about that. 

I did the college thing at LSU, the hometown state university.  It was a great time of learning. Although I was a useless English major with a sort-of minor in political science, I did learn how read and write (you be the judge of that) fairly well.

But I digress. Getting back to the Ten Commandments. . . they are very important. They are a good guide for living and treating people properly in this world. 

When I was 27, I was born again. I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and He still is. 

Now the relationship between Christianity and its parent religion, Judaism, is complicated. Since I am no authority on these matters, I will just say that you should not be antisemitic. As a Christian, I love Jewish people. I applaud our nation’s armed forces who went over to Europe on Dday, back in the 1940’s and chased the damn nazis back into their holes. Let’s just hope that they never succeed in taking over this nation, as they were attempting to do at Charlottesville a few years ago and may were attempting to do on Jan6.

But really, getting back to the point:  the Ten Commandments are a good starting point for a correct understanding of what human behavior and Law should express. 

But we Christians found through Christ a more appropriate working out of that moral Law, through the life and teachings of Christ. You can find more about that in the gospels of the New Testament.  The essence of Jesus message can be discerned in reading his sermon on the mount and other teachings throughout those gospels. 

Here are a few of the primary principles that, I believe, take precedence over the Law and the Ten Commandments:  Blessed are the peacemakers.  Love your enemies. Feed hungry people; clothe people who don’t have enough. Visit people in prison. Love your neighbor as yourself. To that I would add: have some respect for your political enemies. 

Now I think I have written enough here to convey what I think needs to be said now and maybe even what you need to hear, or to read. So I will conclude by getting back to original impetus for this blog.  

I was amused by Michael Moore’s attempted revision of the ten commandments. It was about what I expected from a liberal filmmaker like him. I found his opening a little too irreverent, perhaps even sacriligious (since we were both raised Catholic.) He certainly had moments in his revisionist zeal of inspiration and even quality advice, but of course his liberal bent propelled him beyond the boundaries of propriety concerning identity issues. I mean, this present trouble that we have in America really started when somebody dragged the identity issues into what was called “woke” when “woke” was originally about civil rights and racism issues, which are totally relevant and we were seriously in need of improvement. The bottom line on the sex thing is, in this world, people are free to do whatever they want.

But the better bottom line is do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Selah!  Glass half-Full.

Insanity 2024 style

 “I was born and raised as a child” is a phrase that I heard many moons ago, spoken by my friend John before he passed away. 

 Well that’s an interesting array of topics to just toss out, out of the blue, while undertaking to write meaningful thoughts upon a blank screen: Birth, childhood, friends, and death. . .

There’s a lot I could say about these subjects, but what I’m really getting at is insanity. . . er. . . not exactly, no. . . that wasn’t the idea at all. What WAS that thought I had? . . . must have been an inspiration. I mean, I just watched a vid doc about the Beatles because they were a big deal back in the day when I was a young fool on the hill and in the concluding comments the video producer used the word “insane” in a manner that—it occurred to me for the 7th time lately. . . this word has changed meanings!

I mean, when I was still a young fool on the hill the word was used to identify persons who had literally gone crazy, like, um, in a loony bin kind of crazy.  

But now that the word insane is used to describe—I’m not sure exactly what—um, um (the new word for and, um) . . . let’s just say nowadays it seems to indicate, um, beyond what’s ordinary, or maybe, in some contexts, even beyond the ordinary in a good way, like, like (like, the new word for “I’m thinking about it” ) maybe even “inspired”, like. . . what a great idea!

So maybe “insane” has totally switched places with “inspired” or . . . quite an inspiring idea or . . . or maybe just different.

I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. I mean, I don’t like to think of the other possibility that. . . um. . . like the world has gone insane and maybe nobody has really noticed the societal change, nobody except, um . . . me? 

Or maybe it has something to do with January 6th being thought of as some kind of legitimate historical event.  If that’s the case, maybe the world is going insane, I mean, um, like attacking our Capitol and trying to debunk our Constitution was just, like, a walk in the park. 

Yeah, that’s it.  Jan6 was just a walk in the park, like, you know, from the Ellipse to the broken window in an upper hallway while Nancy and Ted just happened to be running for their life and Mike was down in the bunker praying for wisdom. 

I mean, somebody has to stand up for America instead of, you know, “stand back and stand by” while all hell is breaking loose. 

Yeah that’s it. Most likely methinks the world has indeed gone bonkers and now I’m starting to figure it out. 

Yeah that’s it. The world has gone insane. Or, wait, maybe its just the US, maybe its just US who have gone insane and now everybody is starting to realize it. . . like, um, when Dorothy woke up and hey, what in the world?

Maybe I should be looking for my ruby slippers? Seems I ain't in Kansas any more, or even, like, Oklahoma, or . . .

Oh, that’s insane. Fuhgedabowdit! Maybe its just that the fox hath stolen the henhouse.  

Go find the farmer in the dell and tell him the fox hath stolen his henhouse.  Insane? Yeah, maybe. That could be it. Come to think about it, I knew we were in for a rough ride when I started hearing things, like. . . the little birds started tweeting in my ear. 

Or maybe it was when the fox stole the henhouse. 

Insane? you say? Join the club. Methinks this must be what English majors do when we get old.

 No worries! Fugedabowdit! So you think the world is going crazy? That's just, like. . . insane. It’s all in your head.  You can’t make this stuff up. Reminds me of an old musical, Oklahoma!? No way; that's just insane. 

Glass Half-full

The Hurly Burly Swirl

 Oh ye foolish Republicans, who hath bewitched you? 

(as if I didn’t know) Oh ye blarney-blinded GOPpers,

How is it you fell for such whoppers?

How is that yon golden scarecrow descended 

from his dark towers; the Elector count was ended

when he clicked his heels and tweeted magic drivel 

to signal his insurrectionary swivel

to signal when the  hurlyburly’s to be done

and when the counting’s lost and won . . .  

when fair’s made foul and foul’s made fair 

through the Elliptical and Dome’d air.

“Stand back; stand by” spoke the Jester in his maga-dare, 

when his dogged whistle sailed through fogg’d air;

then maga magic spoke foul to fair

and dogged drivel filled Ellipse air. 

’T’was then the hurlyburly ’t’was done

’t’was then when the battle lost was won.

or so they thought;

’t’was them who had been bought!

And as if the dirty business . . . t’were not enough, 

to secure the  dirty duty stuff

Now it turns out that behind the scenes

Lawyers do dream up immunity dreams

to cloak the hurly burly in dark words

of jingle-jangle and legal turds

in jibber-jabber of legalese

lost in an alito sneeze

to find the battle lost as won:

so what was done is then undone 

as the Jester had said

before our Rule of Law was dead

Then the daily caller sent out her call

to let the the crows know one and all:

Now’s the time for maga fun!

While the hurly burly’s being done. 

Summon crows; call them all.

Immunity’s the call! 

Smoke

Recalling Redemption

    Childhood memories of Mississippi in the 1950’s provide historical context for my story, early education wrapped in Catholic school memories, although that deep postwar South was a beehive of Protestant buzzing. . . then a move to Louisiana layered my childhood experience into a ‘Cajun’ French gumbo dominated by Catholicism and high school named “Redemptorist.”

    Today, at age 72, I am pondering that concept, “redemption”, which is layered into my post-LSU season of sales in Florida, a brief jail sentence there and ultimately a trek to the promised land in lofty Appalachian wonderland, Asheville, Aspen of the East.  My elevated worldview was intensified there, including a failed attempt to start a newspaper, the purpose of which was to block the severing of a mountain so that a road could go through.  But have no fear. An unexpected Nashville opportunity yielded a serendipity album of original music: 

    By 'n by, disillusionment and a failing marriage compelled me to hit the road, Austin bound. But that musical quest propelled me to a crossroads and a road less traveled—Waco, where i had a pentacostal encounter with people who were serving the King of Kings. . . changing my course, my values, my priorities, my path through life. Who’d have thunk it? 

Then . . . a momentary rambling around the Rockies for week or two, stopping along the road at some point to compose a song on my guitar, “Follow,” which you can hear at  http://www.careyrowland.com  

After a while, I journeyed into the decision to return to Asheville, where I rounded up some friends and recorded a second album. 

    Funny thing happened on the way to the Kingdom of God, brutha Bo’b caught the train to heaven at about that same time; he did a vinyl which included an intense gospel message, including the most basic gospel message of all: “He’ll replace wrong with right!” 

Years later, in the domestic haven of love, marriage and raising three young’uns, I turned, having left the vinyl circular behind, to writing books. So far, in this life, I’ve managed to publish four volumes that illuminate an historical view of this world:  Glass half-Full, Glass Chimera, Smoke, King of Soul, which you can read snippets of at   http://www.careyrowland.com  

Lastly, I will mention that that last novel, King of Soul, (Thank God for Jeff Bezos and Amazon KDP) is a story about what happened to our nation during the war in Vietnam.  

Sands of Time

 Watch these lines of rhyme

Slip through the sands of Time.

Washington was father of our nation

Lincoln gave birth to Emancipation

When Roosevelt saw the Crash of ’29,

Hope was sown in New Deal time. 

After Europe torn by nazi scourge

Eisenhower silenced world war dirge.

“50’s found Ike as President

Elvis as chief resident

As Abe had gone to Gettysburg

Jack went to unwall Berlin urge

for peace, almost seen 

like Martin, with his Dream

Walk hand in hand

and together we’ll stand

on a new threshold.

But We gotta be bold. 

But. . . but . . .

But what?

But Kennedy in Dallas slain

Jackie cloaked in bloody stain

Kronkite takes off his glasses

As smoke veils o’er knoll of grasses?

But hey life goes on. That’s what!

I feel it in my gut.

What’s done is done.

But who had the gun?

Fugedaboudit.

Life is good; don’t doubt it. 

What’s gone is gone.

Carry on.

Love is coming. 

The beat goes on. 

Drum keeps on drumming.

You think so?

I know. I know!

Life is good, y’all. 

Let’s go to the mall.

Yeah I say unto thee

All Americans got to be Free!

I mean Martin glimpsed the Promised Land,

But taken down by trigger’d hand!

Still yet we build our American heaven.

But where were you on 911?

Don’t remind me. 

Don’t you see?

We gotta let it slip through the sands of time!

cuz despair ain’t worth a dime. 

And I told him that!

As Amos, to Andy, had said.

And we ain’t dead!

Yet.

Glass half-Full

Gun Power Done Done

 When Death Gun Be Done 

Before anything could be done

Fate foisted foolishness

before anybody could run.

History wrote a story

with the firing of that gun.

Royals lost their grip

With Sarajevo stun 

Krauts launched at Marne

Reason then undone.

Euros lost their Reason

with the firing of that gun.

Four years in trench

beneath the fury of the gun.

Stuck in Flanders mud

Nothing could be done.

’Til armistice stumbled in

Wnen guns were undone. 

Then all is well for awhile

Till hell again did come

Through upstart corporal ire

And peace again undone

Cuz devil went down to Guernica

Looking for luftwaffe fun

Drag’d whole damn world

Again by tyranny of the gun.

‘Cuz bombs are just a glorified

Flinging of the airborne gun

To mangle a fragile peace 

the peace of Versailles undone.

Reich demons running wild

hoisting death ton by ton

to obliterate a Euro peace

once again undone.

But in that second war

with holocaustal gun

zyclon be in noxious death

People of the Book to be undone 

Every demon born in hell

with the power of the gun

Until yanks crossed the Rhine

To rip that reich undone

with eastern fire from Ruskie Joe

But if Joe had that far come

He shooda learned

From what Ike and Bulldog had done

Yeah uncle Joe shoulda known

that power of fist and hammer and gun

as Ike and Harry had spoken

that tyranny of terror, fist and gun

even tyranny of stalag/gulag

must some day be undone!

Later, after PT 109 time

Jack spoke in Berlin, let the world come 

“Let them come to Berlin”

See what the Ruskies had done

Meanwhile back at the Ranch

Cowboy called for wall to be undone

But it didn’t happen until Gorbachev

with Glastnov thaw did come.

Now I don’t know I been told

shit that’s done can be undone

and in heaven streets are gold

Yeah, son, this world will be undone. 

When the One who conquered death

When He again doth come!

After death is dead

What’s done is done.

No more power of the gun. 

And I told him that.

Glass half-Full