image: huffingtonpost.com
I mention in my yellow sticky post on the homepage that I often seem disgusted and elated in quick succession. Well, I wasn’t kidding. Take the past two days.
A few days ago I shared an article on my Resident Alien Facebook page that tells us that the whole Kim Davis episode–the county clerk in Kentucky who refused to wed gay couples while not refusing to keep cashing in her paycheck–actually resulted in an increase of about 13% in people who feel she should do her job.
Thirteen percent! That’s quite something. That means that some people who’s knee-jerk reaction was that she has a right to practice her religion have been listening and reading and now realize why there should be a separation between church and state. And that that doesn’t mean a war on religion, rather the freedom for everyone to not have any particular religion imposed on them by the government. Because that’s what Kim Davis is when she’s at work–she’s the government.
So having that discussion–in the news media, on blogs, at family tables–is educating people and making them think a little further than their nose is long (Dutch saying). Thank you, Kim Davis! But still, do your job or resign, I say.
Then, just as I was full of hope for the country, I learned yesterday that conservative Christians are up in arms because Starbucks has introduced its cup for this holiday season: plain red and green. Oh no! It’s a war on Christmas! Do they want the power to force a company like Starbucks to put something in the line of “Jesus is the reason for the season” on their seasonal styrofoam coffee cups? Apparently.
*Sigh*
Also yesterday, in the car, doing the rounds of Goodwills to get some seasonal decorations, I heard on NPR (National Public Radio) that the Federal Appeals Court upheld a decision by the Texas Attorney General to deport illegal aliens, even if they’ve lived here for decades and have children here who would be left by themselves, orphans for all intents and purposes. The people representing these undocumented immigrants, many of them their American-born children, are taking it to the Supreme Court. In the current political atmosphere I’m not optimistic about their chances.
A few minutes later I heard an item on Syrian refugees arriving somewhere in the Mid-West. Before a family arrives, an apartment is arranged for them, which is furnished with donated furniture; the kitchen is stocked with three days worth of food and when the family arrives they are given an ethnically appropriate meal. Apparently this is required by law.
That’s so sweet!
Resident Alien -- Being Dutch in America 