Easter Parade in America

Sing like Bing (Crosby)

This time of year you are liable to hear a classic oldie which - perhaps - even young folk know. This is the White Christmas of Easter - Easter Parade (written by Irving Berlin). Someone changed the original lyrics to a be more suitable for the current political environment.

In my red Trump bonnet, with "MAGA" written on it,

I thought I'd be The Lady of the Easter Parade.

Who's that wench in navy? With that blonde hair so wavy?

And what does "BBB" mean in my Easter Parade?

On the avenue, Penn' Avenue, when photographers do snap us

That brat will scat when I show her my Uzi

I believe The Big Lie, so where is Trump our Big Guy?

And why are all these guardsmen in my Easter Parade?

In the next election, there'll be a big correction,

We'll whoop these left wing Commies and their social charade.

Look around you lady. Your own State votes are shady.

And soon there'll be just whites folks at the Easter Parade.

Not so fast lass. Hold your ass. Voters Rights Act will trump Trump

And you'll find that you're up the creek in manure.

When The Donald's locked up, we'll see how bad he screwed up,

Then red and blue can hold hands at the Easter Parade.

#thebrewsterblock

Somewhere Over the American Rainbow

The Dreams That You Care To Dream Really Don't Come True

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high

There's a land that was once so free before the Big Lie.

It was served by two parties, red and blue,

And the dreams that they all did dream now will not come true.

Won't waste my wish upon a star 

Up where ideals and truth are far behind me. 

Where honor melts and pledges drop

And lies are broadcast from the top

That's where I find me.

There's a Statue of Freedom, way up high

And The Statue of Liberty both now wear a sigh.

They once stood tall and made us strong

Now there's no rainbow, what_the_hell_went_wrong??

#thebrewsterblock

 

Georgia on my Mind - and Everyone Else's

Georgia Not So Sweet After All

There is no logical or reasonable explanation for Georgia and its governor signing SB202. He says it will make it easier to vote and hard to cheat - RIGHT (extreme right)! If you believe that I am not parking my sleigh on YOUR roof next year.

Replacing the secretary of state as chair of the state election board? Remove and replace ANY election official for poor performance? Photo ID in order to vote is reasonable except you can bet your bottom dollar that if you are black or not white enough, hell will freeze over before you get that ID for the next election. What is next? Even with a valid ID your name is conveniently not present on the local voting list when you do show up to cast your ballot? That would be easy to do - clerical error naturally but still delay your vote until it is too late.

Since it is now published, just read the first page. If an election is not going the way they want it to go, the government can effectively replace, terminate, introduce, restrict etc., etc. anything and anyone they want. They say that they are fixing problems. The word is correct - FIX. The FIX is now in for sure.

Amazing! After spreading the Big Lie about the last election being rigged, they are now trying to publicly rig all future elections in Georgia. This is like all of the umpires calling a time out, and meeting in center field during a ball game to change the rules themselves in favour of the home team.

As some have already said, this is the GOP choosing the electorate it wants to vote instead of the citizens choosing who they want to run their government. It must be overturned.

It is time to call in world bodies to monitor and oversee American Presidential elections. Perhaps it should be Russia, China, or The Philippines.

#thebrewsterblock

I Love You - is it Overused?

I Love You, a Much Diluted Phrase

Many people will disagree with me on this but that is what writing opinions is all about. Take "I love you". Love in its true sense is not yet taxable or forbidden (but who knows what the future holds?) and that is to be celebrated for sure. But what does LOVE really mean? THAT is the question.

Is it really just me and my generation - baby boomers - or has the phrase "I love you" or the more common "Love you" become just an automatic and almost compulsory utterance? In my family none of us felt unloved (2 brothers and a sister) while at home. The hard work and sacrifice on the part of my parents to give us a decent life - the best they could - went hand in hand with family love. I don't recall any frequent "I love yous"  but also didn't feel deprived since my friends' families were similar.

Today I hear the phrase everywhere and every day from almost everyone. People can't leave home or hang up the phone without saying it. Preponderance of phones is probably a factor here adding to the frequency but it seems now like nothing more than "See you"; "Bye". Just like "How's it going?" and "How are you?" - you don't really want to hear someone tell you how they are for ten minutes. It is simply a traditional greeting. In the same way "I love you" has become both traditional and expected.

I am not criticizing here - if those who follow the practice feel that their family is better off for it so be it. Good for them.

To me however, it begs the question what is left for expressing special feelings for that very special person - often your physical partner - if you say the same thing to everybody else? Do they merit "I really love you?" "Double love you?" As well the word is used in everyday language way too often. My wife watches many designer / renovation shows. Every day I overhear "I just love that colour!"; "I love that lampshade!"; "I just love that toilet!"

In the heat of passion with the speaker if I were to hear "I love you" or "I love it when you do that" I would have to wonder "Yeah but more than the toilet" I heard you admiring this morning?

I think we need new expressions for those moments. Keep the "I love you" for departures and hang-ups but let's have something better for the warm glow of cuddling after lovemaking. Any suggestions?

Maybe you should just say "Oh by the way, I bought you that lamp!" and hand it over while you are both still in the mood! Save the toilet for something REALLY special!

#thebrewsterblock

Children and the Mexican Border

 Child Immigration - What Do You Do?

This is a tough one. We all remember pictures of children who were kept in cages after crossing the Mexican Border, during Trump's years. Some were without their parents; some were taken from their parents. It was easy to do the Dump on Trump thing but now the same thing is happening by the hundreds every day. What is the Biden administration going to do?

They can't keep building temporary shelters but that seems to be what is happening. Are there enough volunteers to adapt or find foster care for them? That too is an administrative nightmare since the true parents might show up some day. Pressed as they are, how do those responsible for the kids prevent possible abuse of the children by those foster parents? It happens too often already in foster care with American born kids.

Whatever means are taken, who is going to pay for this? Most Americans are already strapped for cash and the government is up to its neck in COVID debt on top of everything else. There is no magic bullet. However like a sinking lifeboat you have to stop the leak. In this case the flow is the stream of desperate kids.

With news coverage and social media these days those who have not yet left their country of origin will see that hundreds of kids are still being accepted daily despite the "rules" saying not to come.

One thing could be done in the meantime - teach them English while they wait - it can only help with their futures. Maybe the U.S. government needs to appeal to the public for ideas. Awards could be given to those with the most novel and promising ones. This would not be politically attractive and would take guts. Perhaps tax incentives to existing reasonably well off families would be an incentive to offer foster care until real parents are located.

I have to wonder if those opposed to Biden are surreptitiously encouraging more families to come north knowing it is now Biden's Achilles heel rather than Trump's. If the current administration does solve the problem reasonably they will be heroes. If they keep placing it on the back burner it will sink them along with the kids, just like that lifeboat.

Get after it Joe. Delegate it to Kamala the way Obama handed things to you. Your future depends on it.

#thebrewsterblock