Claims And Issues

"I WILL!" VOTING IN THE GEORGIA RUNOFF ELECTION.

I have sent out 15,300 texts as a volunteer with the Poor People's Campaign to Get Out The Vote in the Georgia runoff.  I want to tell you today about the reply that meant the most.

Parenthetically, the Poor People's Campaign GOTV texting is nonpartisan, although I can tell from many of the replies that some people perceive a partisan bent toward the re-election of Senator Warnock, which is not the case with the PPC's texting.  I have also sent out 50 nonpartisan GOTV letters for a different organization, and 100 partisan postcards for other organizations to re-elect Senator Warnock in this runoff.

The replies to my texting have used one certain curse word, many of them.  A significant percentage, but not nearly half, maybe 20% of the replies have used the "f" word.  They do not use any curse words that begin with b, d, s, or any other letter except f.  I put the lack of vocabulary down to the sad state of American education.  But that's another issue.

Today I want to tell you about the text reply that meant the most.  Our standard Poor People's Campaign text to Get Out The Vote is a straight-forward message to vote in this important election, that every person's vote matters, and for more voting information such as voting hours and locations to click on the link provided in the text by the PPC.

The one reply that meant the most to me was more of an exchange, or in EMail terms, you might call it a string.  I do not remember the voter's name, and I would not tell you her name if I did remember it.  She replied: 

"Thank you."

I wrote back:

"Thank you as well.  Stay well and stay safe.  And … keep on voting!"

She replied again:

"I will!"

Out of the 15,300 texts I have sent so far in the Georgia runoff, this exchange means the most.  Oh, I am not saying that 15,299 texts are not good; they were and they are good.  What I am saying is that this exchange alone makes it all worthwhile for me even if there had not been 15,299 other texts.  So far.

Before I conclude this simple report, I want to add a simple message.  We, all of us, me included, often go through each day without realizing the positive effects our words and actions have on other people every ordinary day.  We don't have to be a United States Senator or something like that in order to have an effect.  We can make a contribution even without special words or actions.  I knew that, but I kind of forgot it for a while.  This unknown person texting replies in Georgia has reminded me of that.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

Today is not only Thanksgiving, it is my Anniversary!  I remembered the date thanks to my wife, I have to say!  Have a good day today.  It's special.  Give thanks and joy.

"Somebody Told Her She Could"

by Dennis Wall.  An Ode to a Post-Polio Champion, my Wife Dianne.

Inspired by Edgar Albert Guest's poem, "It Couldn't Be Done" ("he tackled the thing that couldn't be done, and he did it!").

 

Somebody told her she could

And she with conviction replied

That she could and she would.

 

There were thousands to tell her

She was different from them all,

Their lives paused by a fall.

 

Success where some did not try,

She from her birth all through her life

Stood tall after she fell.

 

Somebody told her she could

She from birth heard it often enough

That she could, and she did.

-30- The End.

This blog ©2022 by Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

MERRICK GARLAND'S "SPECIAL PROSECUTOR" APPOINTMENT WAS INTENTIONAL, NO MISTAKE.

(Bill Barr Photo by Doug Mills/New York Times)              (Merrick Garland Photo byTom Brenner/New York Times)

There have been some op-eds saying that Attorney General Merrick Garland made a mistake appointing a "special prosecutor," Jack Smith, to handle the national security information heist and the January 6 Insurrection matters involving The Grievance Boy.  Garland's appointment of a special prosecutor was not a mistake.  It was intentional.

It has been clear for a while now that there is enough evidence already to prosecute The Grievance Boy on both counts, theft of  national intelligence documents and Insurrection.  However, Merrick Garland has not prosecuted.  It is not because Garland does not think the evidence is there.  It's because he does not want to prosecute.

Appointing a special prosecutor in these matters will take the pressure off Merrick Garland to prosecute, but not in the way most people think.  Garland appointed a special prosecutor not to prosecute.  He appointed someone else to take the blame for out-loud declining to prosecute The Grievance Guy.  The special prosecutor is there not to take no action, but to take action and decline to prosecute.

Shades of Bill Barr haunting us still.  Barr famously took another special prosecutor's report, held on to it until he had put his own spin on it that the special prosecutor's report actually exonerated The Grievance Boy (it did not), then released the report which was so long that many people did not bother to read it;  after all, Barr read it so they did not have to, they thought.

This time there will be no spin by the Attorney General.  When his special counsel issues his report that there will be no prosecution of The Grievance Guy, the Attorney General will not hide it and misrepresent it.  This Attorney General will put this special counsel's report on the evening news, on the Department of Justice website, and on the bulletin board at your local grocery store.  That is why this special counsel was appointed in the first place.

Today of course is the 59th anniversary of the murder of President John F. Kennedy.  2023 will mark 60 years, half a century, since that terrible day.  For a previous generation, the death date to remember was when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died.  That generation is almost entirely gone now.  For my generation, the 60th anniversary of President Kennedy's death is a sign that our generation is departing, but hopefully it is also a sign that we remember the way it was and that we will not go quietly into that good night.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WE ARE GOING TO WIN ON DECEMBER 6, TOO.

(Voting Booths, Flags / Common Grounds Project)

We are White, Black, Latino and Hispanic.

We are straight and we are LGBTQIA+.

We are Catholic, Baptist, evangelical, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Buddhist, all kinds of Christians and all kinds of people.

We are voters in the United States of America.  We live here.  And we will not be denied.

So it's on to December 6th and let's win then, too,  with our Sisters and Brothers in Georgia!

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

MAYBE NOT OPTIMISM, BUT ALWAYS HOPE.

(Image by Peter Ringenberg / University of Notre Dame)

 

I have been thinking a lot lately about optimism vs. hope.  What's the difference?

Sometimes the best definitions are by example.  Take the current U.S. House of Representatives for example.  I personally am not overly optimistic that Democrats will win a majority of the gerrymandered districts at this point.  The numbers favor the Republicans, as they intended when they drew most of these districts.

But I am hopeful.  Hope is durable.  It endures.  It lives for the long term.

To paraphrase Robert F. Kennedy who paraphrased George Bernard Shaw back in the day not so long ago, "Some people see things as they are, and ask 'Why?'  I dream things that never were and ask,  'Why not?'"

Maybe I am not overly optimistic, but I am hopeful.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"THERE'S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE. WHAT IT IS AIN'T EXACTLY CLEAR."

These words from a song in the 1960's describe what is happening in our day in 2022  as well as they described yesterday in the 1960's.

There is something happening here.  What it is ain't exactly clear.  But there is something happening in this country.

As I said before, so I say again:  It feels like 2018 again. 

Maybe it will become more clear on Election Day.  Whatever is coming, it feels like it will come then.

Faith is belief in things unseen, they say.  Hope is similar.  Hope is belief in things that are not yet seen, but will be seen.  Certainly things will come more clearly into view over the long term.  But what is happening here is happening now, even if it ain't exactly clear yet.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.