To Baby Lilly Grace-What does the Future Hold for you?

To my Great-Granddaughter, Lilly Grace:

On Friday, your family waited eight hours at the hospital for your arrival.  We were all super excited to meet you. Your birth would bring us all a new life experience.  Your father, my grandson, would be a Dad for the first time.  Your Dad’s parents would be grandparents for the first time. Your Dad’s other children would be an aunt and uncle for the first time.  And the Grandparents would be great-grandparents for the first time.  Texts were flying back and forth between the birthing room and the waiting room.  All day we watched as other families received the news of the birth of the addition to their family.  They were mostly nonchalant when told of the birth.  Not your family!  When we got the text “We have a baby,” the room erupted into shouts of joy, thunderous applause, and hugs.

When I held you, my emotions got the best of me.  You were so tiny, so beautiful, and so innocent.  Then my happiest moment was marred by the thought, “What will this country be like in your lifetime?” Unlike the birth of my grandchildren, I felt fear for you, my great-grandchild.

During my lifetime, I have seen many changes in our climate, but during the last few years, change is coming at warp speed.  I feel we have failed you, my sweet great-grandchild, and all the other babies being born, by not protecting our planet from the ultimate disastrous effects of climate change.  And Lilly Grace, I pray for your children who will most assuredly be faced with famine, extreme fires, entire nations and states disappearing under the rising sea levels, fish shortages, and entire extinction of some plants and animals. 

You see, Lilly Grace, life as we know it now will cease when the temperatures rise 2.0 degrees Celsius. Last week the United Nations released their panel’s report on Climate Change.  This report was prepared by thousands of experts all over the world.  They report that temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees sometime between 2030 and 2050.  The report went on to say that if the burning of fossil fuels is not stopped completely by 2020, there will not be a strong chance of avoiding the severity of climate change.

We now have a President that should be leading us to do the things to prevent more climate change.  Instead, he withdrew from an agreement to work with the rest of the world to combat climate change—Paris Climate Accord.  However, this President does not want to join the fight.  It’s all about money that is generated by oil and coal.  I know you’re thinking that money is not worth losing a planet and its people over.  I agree, but have spent a life-time seeing the affects of men and greed so I’m not surprised.

We’ve been warned for many years about climate change.  We’ve had years to stop it. The biggest obstacle to action has been public opinion.  Most Americans believe that climate change, if it happens, won’t happen in their lifetime so they don’t care. The saddest part is they aren’t thinking of future generations and are being selfish.

The President calls climate change a “hoax” and his followers believe him.  The President says wind farms are ugly.  The President has removed information about “climate change” and “global warming” from the White House website. This President has removed many regulations from industries and corporations that could decrease greenhouse emissions and give your generation a few more years before devastation begins.

You should know, Lilly Grace, there’s a great partisan divide over the climate change issue. A recent poll shows that 91% of Democrats worry a great deal about climate change, in contrast to only 33% of Republicans. We have an important election coming up next month, called the mid-terms.  That is when we elect the politicians who make laws the citizens want.  This is the most pivotal election of my lifetime and for the future of our country and planet.  If Democrats do not take control of the legislature in these mid-terms, we lose our best chance of implementing important programs by 2020 which is the projected deadline by the scientists.  And, if this President is re-elected in 2020, I grieve for what is in store for you and those that come after.

Love, (insert whatever you decided to call me)

Climate Change Deniers Waiting on Hell to Freeze Over

You’ve heard of “Christmas in July.”  Well, we just experienced “July in Christmas.”  How can anyone, especially the leaders and wanna be presidents of this country, continue to deny the obvious? 

At the Conference on Climate Change in Paris this month, 195 countries came together and signed onto a plan to combat global warning.  Yet, in the United States of America, we are divided, mostly along party lines, on whether global warming is even occurring, despite overwhelming empirical evidence.  Waiting until hell freezes over to act will be too late!

In my column last week, my wish for you was to “make a memory.”  That’s what I thought of on Christmas Eve as the tornado sirens were sounding and an emergency warning came over our phones to “take cover now!” As George and I were running in circles bumping into each other, my mind was screaming, “I didn’t mean this kind of memory!”  Had it been an actual tornado, I’m pretty sure we would be in Kansas right now because we never left our porch.  Our lack of action had more to do with disbelief than panic.

I’m sure my neighbors, who live along the banks of the Towaliga River, were also experiencing disbelief as they hurriedly moved out their precious belongings from their homes to avoid the floodwaters.  When you live on the river, this is not an extremely rare occurrence, but not at Christmas time! 

This Christmas time flooding does have one redeeming aspect.  A check with High Falls State Park revealed they are experiencing an unusual number of day-trippers viewing the vicious water spewing over the dam and the rocks.  Families are taking advantage of this occurrence to enjoy the outdoors and spending time with each other.  Now that’s a good Christmas memory!

As we put away our Christmas bounty and pack away our decorations, it’s time to turn our attention to the New Year celebration.  Do you believe in the traditional New Year’s Day meal?  Some call it a superstition.  Whatever you call it, I believe in it.  Just ask my children!  My children can turn down collard greens any other day of the year, but on New Year’s Day, I make them eat greens even if they have to choke it down!  It can’t be proven that eating collard greens assures you of having money the entire year.  But it can’t be disproved, either.  I’ve had lots of lean years, and I always wondered just how bad things would have been if I had not eaten greens for money, black eye peas for good luck, and hog jowl for happiness.  I’m not going to test the theory!

Over the years, I have softened on my hard line taken on New Year’s Day food.  It’s okay not to eat collard greens specifically. Turnip greens, mustard greens and that new stuff, kale, can be substituted.  Hog jowl does not have to be eaten with the black eye peas.  It can be fried and eaten for breakfast that day, or you can substitute any pork product, like ham, with your black eye peas.  However, there is no known substitute for black eye peas.

It’s also that time of the year when we have to make the big decision.  Our New Year’s resolution.  I’ve never had much success with those.  And, I hate for people to ask me, “What is your New Year’s resolution?”  If I tell them and don’t keep it, everyone will know I’m a failure.  Therefore, this year I’m not going to tell anyone my resolution.  Let’s just say, if I show up skinny, you’ll know what it was.  If I don’t, you’ll never know that I tried and failed again!

As we close out 2015, I thank you (the readers) and Will Davis for allowing me to share my opinions on issues facing us as Monroe Countians, Georgians, and Americans.  Buckle up!  2016 may be a rough ride.

Kentucky Clerk Is in Contempt

If there’s one good thing about Hillary Clinton’s email controversy, it’s that we aren’t constantly hearing “Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi.”  This email issue is not going to go away and Hillary should save her breath.  I watched the entire interview with Hillary by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.  Hillary did an excellent job of taking a complicated process and breaking it down to a level even an uninformed FOX News viewer could understand.  It doesn’t matter if she did not commit a sin of commission or omission by having an email server in her home.  All that matters is there may be some incident, some word, some phrase, that may be twisted, turned, and interpreted into something sinister.  Be prepared to hear about Hillary’s emails ad nauseam.

Last week was unusual for President Obama.  He had a good week!  He made an historic trip to Alaska, among other reasons, to show the effects of climate change.  Before leaving, he addressed the criticism of environmentalists for his agreement to allow Shell Oil to drill oil in the Arctic.  Did you hear all the accolades Obama received from oil companies and proponents of pipelines?  No?  Me, either.

He was the first American President to cross the Arctic Circle.  He showed the shrinking glaciers up close and warned of the dire consequences if we do not take immediate action to stop carbon emissions.  We were shown remote villages slowly sinking into the sea.  The people of these villages depend on sustenance hunting and fishing.  Hunting season is getting much shorter and more dangerous due to melting ice.  The ice habitat for seals is disappearing. 

Personally, many times when someone would mention climate change, my eyes would glaze over.  I knew it was happening but I didn’t see it as an eminent threat and did not grasp the seriousness of the problem.  This trip by President Obama got my attention.  Global warming is real and if a candidate for President says otherwise, or they say they do not believe in the science, that candidate should be crossed off your list.  We can no longer afford to dilly-dally on creating renewable energy.

One thing for sure, it wasn’t a partisan visit.  He arrived with a gift for the people of Alaska by changing the name of Mt. McKinley back to its original name, Mt. Denali.  Nice, but Alaska has a mere three (3) electoral votes.  Ohio, the home of President McKinley for whom the mountain was named, has a whopping 18 electoral votes. When we voted for “change” we didn’t mean the name of a mountain. “What were you thinking, Barack?” 

I’m sure the best thing about the Alaskan trip for the President is the “fish tale” he brought home.  A salmon spawned on his shoe.  The President quipped, “He was happy to see me!”

To cap off his successful week, the President returned home to an apparent Iran deal victory.  He has enough votes to sustain a veto of disapproval by the Senate on the Iran Deal. 

So I cannot be accused of never calling out a Democrat for wrongdoing, I am compelled to talk about the County Clerk in Rowan County, KY, Kim Davis. Clerk Davis has refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Her mother was the Clerk for over thirty years as a Democrat.   Then her daughter, Kim, inherited the position, ran, and was elected as a Democrat.  She is giving Democrats a bad reputation.  Someone needs to explain to this woman that she is a government employee serving all the people in her County.  If her religious convictions stand in the way of doing her job, she needs to quit. I will point out that Kim Davis has been married four times.  She became pregnant with twins by her third husband, while she was still married to her first husband.  I’m not sure how the second husband fits in, other than he adopted the twins.  She is quite a “rounder” by anyone’s standards, but a moral arbiter, she is not!

A federal judge put Kim Davis in jail for contempt.  There’s no word on how long she will be there but I’m sure it’s ample time to sign exclusive interview and book deals.

Governor Deal in Cahoots With Koch Brothers

Governor Deal is at it again!  First, it was war on bus drivers and lunchroom workers.  Now he is waging war on teachers and making a power grab for our education system.  He represents the party whose mantra is “smaller government” and “more local control.”  Yet this week Governor Deal announced he would be creating a new government agency.  This education agency would have NO local control. After all the po-mouthin about the state budget, the Governor must have found the money to pay for more bureaucrats. 

This week Governor Deal announced his intentions to “take over” certain schools in Georgia labeled as “failing.” These certain schools happen to consist of poor and mostly minority students.  He offered little detail other than he was creating a new Agency with a School Superintendent appointed by the Governor.  Deal calls it “The Opportunity School District Plan.”  These schools will be autonomous from local school board control.  He would have the power to hire and fire teachers and principals at these schools.  Teachers will no longer have a strong voice or the protections of teacher unity organizations.  The Governor and his handpicked Superintendent will have the power to convert these schools to Charter Schools, and I have no doubt the end-game is vouchers for private schools for the not so poor and the not so minority.  

After twelve years of Republican reign in Georgia, the education budget has been cut eight billion dollars.  There are nine thousand fewer teachers today than twelve years ago. Think of all the new schools that you have seen built in the past twelve years.  Nine thousand fewer teachers?  Does it make any sense to a reasonable minded person that spending and personnel went down in the last twelve years?  We experience daily the effects of the soaring cost of living, from the cost of a loaf of bread, a gallon of gasoline, and the cost of heating and cooling our homes.  It is obvious!  Our students and teachers are NOT failing….our State government is failing THEM!  And this lame-brained, poor thought-out scheme is not the answer. 

By the way, the ideas put forth this week by Democrats in the Legislature were not much brighter.  We are not in the business of providing for all the needs of the children in the school children.

It is fortunate that these radical prescribed changes to our education system by Governor Deal have to be approved by WE THE PEOPLE by voting on an Amendment to our State Constitution in 2016.   That gives us time to come up with an alternate plan, one that doesn’t seem like punishment to our students and teachers.  This is not just a change in the way students are taught.  The Governor’s plan involves altering the entire structure of our education system.  The system we have now is working for Monroe County Schools.  Why would we want our forward progress halted by a “new” way of doing everything?

To stop this irrational act, we have to move quickly.  Shortly, the Koch Brothers will be flooding our State with propaganda in support of the Governor’s takeover of education in Georgia.  After all, anti-public education is the centerpiece of the Koch Brothers’ agenda.

You’re familiar with good ole Charlie and David Koch, aka The Koch Brothers; the John Birchers operating under new names; the beyond-billionaire brothers who have already pledged a day’s pay to the 2016 Republican Presidential candidate of their choice.  For these brothers, a day’s pay is nine hundred million dollars!  There’s no limit to how much the Koch Brothers will spend to uphold their interests.  They do not want students to be taught the science of climate change. They want students to be taught from history books that have been re-written to fit their lily-white narrative.

Governor Deal is following in the path of other states on a backward spiral, like Wisconsin, North Carolina, Kansas and Louisiana.  He is following the path dictated by the Koch Brothers and their many affiliated organizations.  So, too, are most all Georgia Legislators.  Follow the money.

At the risk of sounding like one of those wing-nut jobs that I complain about all the time, follow the money and you will see that Governor Nathan Deal is handing the minds of our children over to the Koch Brothers on a silver platter!

Marilyn Langford