An Evening of Lunacy

by Glenn N. Holliman

Terry Field is no stranger to this space.  His insightful and pithy articles often make for challenging reading.  In this tome he moves into a different writing mode, describing the neighbors who drop by for a visit.  Terry and wife, Fina, spend their winters in a semi-gated, semi-retirement community along the Gulf Coast of Florida.  

Terry Field, a Brit wintering in Florida USA

Yesterday afternoon, pleasant neighbours agreed to visit our humble home for a return match of drinks and dips. Dips – American culture – with the promise of ‘cocktails’, to be made by yours truly.

Fina and Terry incognito on another occasion.

Both wearing MI6 inspired shades.

The neighbours are great folk – one couple includes a retired lady police commander from the hell of northern US rust-belt cities. This gentle lady, then armed to the teeth, broke up drug-houses, patrolled streets whilst dodging happy little teenagers spraying sub-machine gun bullets for fun and kicks. Her husband, also a serving police officer as well as ex-military, was also in attendance.

Wearing combat fatigues. (Probably planning to fight off the local alligators).

In some ways it reminded me of Tonbridge Wells. Anyway, back to the plot.

These pleasantly cocktail-dressed ex-warriors arrived with a brand new pair of neighbours in tow, to share hospitality. These wore in no way military; they had had physiques once, but not anything to speak of.

The additional pair were quiet, with roaming eyes, and thin bodies. Booze I thought. They want booze.

I offered a ‘martini’ as a starter to our arrived guests.

“We make a real dry Martini’, said the thin man.

‘Aah’ said I; ‘the expertise in cocktails is American rather than British – so you

mix your own’.

He did.

It was dry as a bone; it was a massive slug of vodka, ice, nothing else.

His thin female companion did the same.

Right, the Florida room with a southern exposure, 

the scene of the conversation.

All moved to the Florida Room for the ‘dips’; the ladies grouped together and us

men coagulated at the other end of the room.

I sat down; the thin man together with the husband of one of the police

commanders both joined me.

I sipped my martini. The vodka drained and the thin man refilled and returned.

He turned to me, announcing ‘I am pissed that my taxes go to these immigrants,

lefties, commies and tattooed scum’ followed by ‘Trump will put an end to this’

‘That Muslim bastard Obama wrecked America, screwed us over. What do you

British think of Trump?’

By now, he had become coloured around the neck; you know, the way a grouper

is on a fishmonger’s slab. Purple with pink lines.

The eyes rolled as they tried to bore into me.

I took my courage in my hands, and ventured

‘Well, since you ask, I think Trump is a liar, an idiot, and an irrelevance’.

The pressure cooker that had been the thin man’s head whistled; steam poured forth; ‘You think that our president is a liar! That he is an idiot! He is leading us out of the crazy mess the liberals and that Muslim Obama left us’.

‘Our young people are brainwashed by our teachers, and by the time they go to

college that are all God-damned communists. AND they are tattooed!’.

Fearing apoplexy (his, not mine), I back peddled a touch, smiled and nodded, all

the while sporting a rictus smile. I looked like a corpse; I felt I may soon be a real

one if this thin neighbour was ‘packing heat’.

‘It’s gone too far; that Obama wanted to ruin America!!!!!’ ‘He does NOT

represent American values’

He launched into a long tirade of hatred about the idle scum who were draining

his tax-dollars.

‘Can I offer you a celery stick and some avocado dip?’ I ventured. That was the catalyst that made Vesuvius emit a mini pyroclastic flow.

‘Lazy bastard liberals have ruined this country. This president is going to stop all

that! He’s bringing back factories and jobs.’

‘But factories don’t need people any more’ I said.

‘I earned two hundred thousand a year in the seventies’ Thin Man said.

Well done! I responded.

Silence.

I broke the ice. With a little flame-thrower.

‘I know some very nice people – friends actually, from Pennsylvania. They are

educated, responsible, hard working types, kind, pay their taxes, have no tattoos,

have always worked creatively – and are Democrats who loath your Trump and

love and respect Obama. As do I.’

The Thin Man mixed another massive vodka on the rocks, sank into the chair,

rolled his eyes to heaven and said ‘impossible’. They must be AARP!!

“What is that?’ I asked. ‘Being British, I am unfamiliar with American medical terms, I ventured.

‘AARP’ he said. ‘It’s not a disease. It’s the Association of Retired Persons’ he said.

His even thinner and equally vodka-filled lady-wife enquired what the first ‘A’ in

‘AARP’ stood for.

‘I dunno’ the sozzled spouse responded.

‘I think I know what it stands for’ I purred, now trying to ingratiate myself.  ‘It stands for ‘America’.

‘No it can’t be that’ they both said. ‘But anyway, AARP is all communistical’.

“Really’ said I.

At this stage in the progress to a full-blown asylum status for my little condo. I

had visions of other entities, such as the ‘Salvation Army’ as being responsible for

a contemporary ‘Manchurian Candidate’ type attack, or the American

Automobile Association’ planting IEDs along the National Mall.

Clearly I was loosing it. But my companions had already done that.

Brightbartic paranoia was hovering about proximate to my frontal lobes. I reached for a comforting piece of carrot and plunged it, with uncharacteristic force, into the Maine Lobster dip. I retrieved a tasty piece of crab-leg. Munched; relaxed. The danger seemed to pass. I spoke too soon.

Left, Terry relaxes and keyboards his latest thoughts on the human condition

“Them Mooslyms want to kill the world, then each other, then get at the virgins!’.

This helpful interjection entered the fray from the direction of the gentleman

husband of a police commander. He had been in Iraq. He was packing heat. I

smiled at him, nodded sagely, offered a slice of desert with marinaded

strawberries – he declined because that would ‘contaminate his blood’.

‘Excellent decision’ I said. Much better to remain pure!

NOW I was entering a dark world of Dr Strangelove; My condo had become

Burbleson Airforce Base. I identified with Peter Sellars in an entirely new way.

Now the Thin Woman extracted herself from the gaggle of ladies, approached her

subsided ‘principle other’ and said ‘Let’s Go!’

Joy unconfined. Oh wonderful Day’.

I rose unbidden. ‘Thank you SO much for coming and welcome to the

neighborhood.’

The thin man rose, stared at me for a long moment and asked ’Am I an

irrelevance’.

‘It’s possible’, I replied.

Quietly, all left. The packed heat left.

I made a strong coffee.

‘Welcome to America’ I thought.

Allen Hench, for many years a successful Pennsylvania attorney, has traveled extensively world-wide, taught at a major university in the States and has even hosted an early morning classical music hour on public radio.  One suspects he does his best thinking and composing while doing his daily run of several miles.  When in gathering, he always seeks out the opinions of others as if searching and probing for a better understanding of our human condition.  Here from a Christian perspective he ponders how to reconcile the Gospel, historic American values and the present political and social situation in the United States. - Glenn N. Holliman

   . . . And, just what version of the New Testament supports current US policy regarding humankind world-wide ?    

The Statue of Liberty -- closed for the next four years

Emma Lazarus’ famous 1883 lines obliterated

 “AMERICA FIRST” -- The new national motto

Our new  goal -- US supremacy

“America the Beautiful” replaced with “America the Great”

The problem

I am troubled and perplexed.  I do not understand how we got to this era of a national selfishness, abandoning long-standing US concern for non-Americans.  I, and others, cringe at the ugliness that oozed from the inaugural address.  The sentiments proclaimed were embarrassing.  

 What happened to the idea of being a citizen of the world?  Or, the Christian notion that all mankind-internationally-is our neighbor?   Are  these old-fashioned notions that shaped customary US headship,  now superseded by a warped or perverted national pride? 

Is a Christian to have two levels of brotherly love: one for Americans, and a lower one for non-Americans?  I never thought so—but it seems a large portion of the country, including many Christians, do.

Right, Allen and his wife, Ellen, often open their home for hospitality.

The recognition

On Feb 12, we prayed:   “Forgive us, God, for thinking we are the center of your world.”[i]  We  acknowledged:  Our “harsh judgment of brothers and sisters, strangers and friends  . . .  [our] ridicule . . . [our] silent grudges . . . [barring] us from freely accepting others  . . . “  

Is more required?                                                                                                                                                      

We confessed these failings.    But, does it end there?   Where do we go now:   individually . . . , as a Church, and . . .  as part of the American Christian faith community?   Should we explore a response to this “unchristian-like” turn our country has taken?  Should we develop or implement a Call or Plan of Action for our Congregation, and/or the greater American Christian community?

Determining the action plan   

                                                                                                                            

To answer that, analyze the upcoming Lenten preaching scriptures.  The point from Deuteronomy: Walk in obedience to God, or else.  From Isaiah: Woe to those who make unjust laws, . . .  issue oppressive decrees, . . . deprive the poor of their rights  . . . withhold justice from the oppressed . . . .  and continues asking:    What will you do on the day of reckoning, . . .  Where will you leave your riches?   [These excerpts sound like God-inspired authorship proclaimed in the last four weeks---and, maybe, as a direct rebuttal to some political pomposity].   Add the final scripture from Luke and the package of principles  grounded on the words and actions of Christ along with other New Testament teachings. 

 Christian values used to determine public policy                                                                                           

Should not this package, considered in its totality, be our guide, as Christians, in helping to determine public policy in 2017 ?   And, how should we be effective proactive Christians, especially when a large part of the Christian community, the “Christian right,” may be strongly supportive of some of the Administration positions others would challenge?    

This writing is not intended to suggest ignoring  legitimate security issues relating  especially to immigration; and these contentions may indeed justify some positions, or at least warrant caution. But, somewhere there must be a balance between security issues and theological truths, and give us a reasonable, just approach.

What do we do now? 

                                                                                                                                                    

I do not want the within to be just rhetorical even though I admit I have no answers.    I invite reaction, improvements to the articulation of the issues, suggestions, thoughts --- a dialogue.  What do we do now ?   Can we progress as a national Christian community, or are the philosophical divisions thereof too wide?   Or, do we ignore a national crusade, and forge forward as a congregation?  Or individually?

Allen Hench                 

                                                                                                                  

 “In any situation, the best thing is to do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt

Comments?

---

A Little Note Taking Stock of the Underlying Poison

Terry Fields, our Englishman who lives in France and who winters in Florida shares his latest take on the transatlantic political scene.  Grab a cup of coffee, read, challenge and reflect. - Glenn N. Holliman

I am snug at home, prosperity increases for the asset-rich, but others shudder with fear.

The brexit vote and the Trump victory are now a little way behind us, but little of consequence has yet happened, unless you are an undocumented migrant in the United States, where you now have cause to wake at 4 am in a sweat of fear.

Photograph by Terry in his Florida haven, picture taken this past week of mother and baby owls.  Fitting that owls, the wise bird of history, should take us residence with our well-read Mr. Field!

The British have railed both for and against the brexit referendum, but nothing has happened to affect the economy, society or the political life of the country, and the continent.

The press in Europe is, in general, in a foment of rage, indignation and moral superiority concerning Trump; anything he says and does causes a new scream of undiluted rage and anguish; The town halls of America are the sites of expressions of fear and anger over the future of ‘Obamacare’. The president says many of the protesters are paid and thus not genuine; many seem honest and fearful on inspection of MSNBC or CNN. On Fox, they are suggested to be paid insurgents. Pay your money; take your choice.

Global stock markets are enjoying a good run up; in the context of the last decade, it is still really quite modest, but profitability is rising in corporate land, and there is undoubtedly a focus on business in the USA. One is reminded of the dictum of President Coolidge ‘ The business of  America is business’.

Inroads are being made on the panoply of controls and environmental directives that have constrained American industry, with an early decision to allow Appalachian coal producers to dump their run offs in local streams and rivers. There will be very much more of this in the future; the accent now is on business, not on controls and regulations.

As I write, there are very large numbers of ‘undocumented’ immigrants who must be experiencing acute anxiety – the easing of restrictions, levels of criminality etc that puts many millions ‘into the frame’ for removal by the ICE.

Yet most Americans are comfortable, more or less. Most are safe, adequately prosperous, secure. I am in this category also. This new politic makes one bring to mind the European political instabilities we all recollect, where the safe comfort of the citizenry contrasted with the terror experienced by those the state chose to target.

A Mexican committed suicide by throwing himself from the border bridge – after his third ejection from the United States.

Brexit Fun.

BY the end of May, the future of the EU in the short to medium term will very probably be established. If Le Pen has won in France, the house of European cards will collapse, and Brexit will become a side story as Europe implodes politically, socially, culturally and very probably economically. Similarly with the Dutch election, but less critical in its implications for EU continuation.

If the EU continuity seems probable, then there will be the potential for a robust defence against the British attempt to maintain market access but with no commitment to the ‘four freedoms’ and no fee-for-access payment.

British Prime Minister May’s entire potential for any success depends upon the EU and its constituent parts being disordered and at each others throats. That will not happen if France and Germany stabilise, and coalesce around a developing response to the Trump administration.

The Soul of the Nation is alive in its Town Halls.

Watching the confrontations – for that is what they are – between the attendees and their – in general – Republican senators where raw emotion concerning the probable removal of Obamacare and its possible replacement  - puts me in mind of the rage felt in Britain by very many people  over the performance of the NHS. No riotous meetings, but vast numbers of people enraged, frightened, badly treated, abused by inappropriate neglect, and much more besides - but unlike in the United States – cowed by the British power elite, since unlike the American, the Brit has a forelock and is often required to tug it hard.

Both systems are failures, for frighteningly similar reasons. In Britain, the rich use BUPA, Nuffield, or self-finance. For the rest there is the soviet-style NHS.  Thus in Britain funding inadequacy is a core problem.

And in America?

There is funding inadequacy to finance Obamacare, since the young with low probability of using the system are not required to buy the insurance, so, predictably, they do not.

In the USA, a high percentage of the total healthcare system cost includes litigation for tortuous wrongs.

In the UK, the tortuous wrongs are autofunded by repeat usage and the social payments of the welfare state to the damaged.

Either way, the costs of healthcare are inadequate to demand.

Both systems achieve the same outcome – local impoverishment of supply for the most disadvantaged – but each system starts from very different opening positions.

Therefore will someone please go back to basics, create insurance costs based on herd basis mortality and morbidity statistics, and generate an inexpensive system of corrective actions for tortuous loss, that removes lawyers and adversarial litigation from the process?

Whoever does this will win election and power from now until the ending of the world.

Hint here – in the US we have a system of mutual care operated by church groups, whereby the mortality and morbidity statistics are applied to compute reasonable premiums and excellent coverage. If they can do it, why is it not universally applied?

A simple impediment to the roll out of such a scheme – the existence of the extremely rich.

The rich patient

The rich doctor

The rich lawyer.

They all want more than their moral share.

Rich men, eyes of needles, the Kingdom of God. Remember.

Fear is the key.

In the eighties, it was the Libyans, in the nineties it was the Iraqis, in the noughties it was 911 and the Middle East neocon agenda, now it is every migrant trudging past our front doors to the next casual employment.

Time to ditch the fear. Across the Atlantic, there are two populations of rich and comfortable, but fearful people that number not much south of a billion in number.

What can these migrants do to us?

Why work for us, join us, live with us, and become our friends.

Or at least most of them can.

And that means it really is time that a serious conversation needs to be had concerning Islam, its real nature, its precepts, the directions and requirements held within the Holy Koran, its ‘political’ project in non-Islamic countries and societies, its objectives, and how it fits – or does not fit – into western society.

That is the hardest of all, since the legions of the politically corrupted need to be set aside and ignored in order for such a social conversation to be undertaken.

Climate Change

To avoid catastrophe, the removal of carbon usage from energy systems need to be achieved by 2050. 

That will not happen with the United States using political distortions against responsible science in order to prosecute industrial policies designed to garner the votes of the desperate.

Nothing more needs to be said on this matter at present. And nothing worse could be imagined.

The internet and Universal Suffrage.

Are they both compatible with the continuation of western democracy?

Discuss.

Happy days.

I am Terry Field and I approve this message. ( Was that ok, Vladimir, or do you want anything redacted?)

Steph considers....

Steph, our South Australia biographer and screenplay writer, responds to my request for comment concerning the widely publized telephone call last month between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Australia.  The call resulted in disharmony with Trump challenging an agreement for the USA to take a thousand or so refugees stranded on an island in the Pacific.  We thank Steph for her take on the situation. - Glenn N. Holliman

Hi there Glenn

The launch of my book went extremely well, and at last I have the mental strength to pen a few words re. the  Oz attitude to Trump’s reluctance to accept x number of refugees from Oz in a deal made by Turnbull and Obama. Our PM Turnbull did not want to break his policy and allow any boat people to become citizens of Australia. As soon as he does that, even with one baby, the floodgates will open once more and we will be besieged by boat people. As sorry as I feel for the boat people as individuals, there are other refugees who are waiting in line in camps, and have been doing so for many years.

                         Can you spot the colorful creature in Steph's garden?

So! Turnbull is dead scared that Trump will actually override the deal – at the moment these stranded refugees  (mostly young Middle Eastern men) are holed up on Mannus Island and on Nauru, but this is becoming more and more untenable as they roam around and (understandably) feel frustrated and angry. Now, I understand that only those refugees on Mannus and Nauru who have been vetted thoroughly, will be allowed to go to the US if Trump allows it. BUT, there your President has a problem. If he allows this deal, he himself will be breaking one of his campaign pledges, and so far, to many Australians’ amazement, he has set in motion exactly what he said he would. Naturally he doesn’t want to be seen by his supporters to renig on his promises, even if it is to help an old ally.

Letter writers to our newspaper have been all singing the same tune – whether or not you like the man himself (and few here would want him as a friend), and whether or not you like his policies, he has been true to his word. They are asking ‘What is wrong with wanting to strengthen border controls in one’s country to make absolutely sure you are not importing someone with dangerous and fanatical views, posing as a hapless refugee?’ It keeps happening – in the US, in Australia, and all through Europe where countries good-heartedly opened their gates and said ‘Welcome to all’.  The letter writers are also asking ‘What is wrong with carrying through your pre-election promises? – it is rare and refreshing to see’.   Others say he has done more in two weeks than our PM has done in a year!

It’s HOW Trump enacts his policies which make decent people everywhere cringe. He’s like a big boorish bulldozer – a polar opposite to the charming Obama who used politically correct phrases in a most natural and convincing way, but did nothing to satisfy all those who were seeing (just as the Brexiters did) the quality of their lives worsening while no-one at the top was listening to their unanimous voice about regaining control of their country and its core democratic non-sectarian values, and maybe getting their job back too.  

The irony of the Trump case for ‘making America a safer place’ is that he seems to be all for every American citizen owning a gun, including the mentally unstable as you have pointed out Glenn.  And so Trump will continue to shock and embarrass as he pushes through the mountain with his bulldozer. A little like the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, unpredictable and hard-line against drug-runners and corrupt police – but you can hardly blame many for watching his pro-active line with a sneaking regard. And thus it is with Trump – so far anyway….

So while many Australians can understand why your President Trump is reluctant to honour that deal made by the former President Obama, they’re just a tad uneasy at how he reportedly spoke to our PM (ie, at the boorish nature of that phone call).

A thoughtful reflection - comments?