The Only Wall America Needs: The American Immigrant Wall of Honor

The Only Wall America Needs: The American Immigrant Wall of Honor Ellis Island

The Misogynist

I offer this poem, written by Austin Dobson in 1874, as a token of solidarity with today's Women's March on Washington, and in cities all around the world. It is a message for all those Americans who voted to elect the 45th President of the United States of America.





THE MISOGYNIST


When first he sought our haunts, he wore
His locks in Hamlet-style ;
His brow with thought was 'sicklied o'er,'–
We rarely saw him smile ;
And e'en when none was looking on,
His air was always woe-begone.

He kept, I think, his bosom bare
To imitate Jean Paul ;
His solitary topics were
Æsthetics, Fate , and Soul ;–
Although at times, but not for long,
He bowed his Intellect to song.


He served, he said, a Muse of Tears :
I know his verses breathed
A fine funereal air of biers,
And objects cypress-wreathed ;–
Indeed, his tried acquaintance fled
An ode he named 'The Sheeted Dead.'


In these light moods, I call to mind,
He darkly would allude
To some dread sorrow undefined,–
Some passion unsubdued ;
Then break into a ghastly laugh,
And talk of Keats his epitaph.


He railed at women's faith as Cant ;
We thought him grandest when
He named them Siren-shapes then 'chant
On blanching bones of Men' ;–
Alas, not e'en the great go free
From that insidious minstrelsy !


His lot, he oft would gravely urge,
Lay on a lone Rock where
Around Time-beaten bases surge
The Billows of Despair.
We dreamed it true. We never knew
What gentler ears he told it to.


We, bound with him in common care,
One-minded, celibate,
Resolved to Thought and Diet spare
Our lives to dedicate ;–
We, truly in no common sense,
Deserved his closest confidence !


But soon, and yet, though soon, too late,
We, sorrowing, sighed to find
A gradual softness enervate
That all superior mind,
Until,–in full assembly met,
He dared to speak of Etiquette.


The verse that we severe had known,
Assumed a wanton air,–
A fond effeminate monotone
Of eyebrows, lips, and hair ;

He read 'The Angel in the House' !


Nay worse. He, once sublime to chaff,
Grew ludicrously sore
If we but named a photograph
We found him simpering o'er ;
Or told how in his chambers lurked
a watch-guard intricately worked.


Then worse again. He tried to dress ;
He trimmed his tragic mane ;
Announcing at length (to our distress)
He had not 'lived in vain' ;–
Thenceforth his one prevailing mood
Became a base beatitude.


And O Jean Paul, and Fate,, and Soul !
We met him last, grown stout,
His throat with wedlock's triple roll,
'All wool,' enwound about ;
HIs very hat had changed its brim ;–
Our course was clear,––WE BANISHED HIM !

A Presidential Thank You

This is the third and last letter I have received from "My President."  Thousands of Americans will receive this letter from their President thanking them for writing him.  And to him, I say, "Thank you for being 'My President."

How the Affordable Care Act Really Became Unaffordable

Donald Trump tweeted this morning that the Democrats are to blame for the massive premium increases in the cost of Obama Care.

And that the Republicans must be careful: "the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster..."

If Marco Rubio were a Democrat, that might be true...

Republican researchers actually found a way to make the Affordable Care Act unaffordable two years ago.  And Marco Rubio introduced the seemingly unnoticed bill as a rider to the Omnibus Government Spending Bill.

The rider bill prohibited the Department of Health and Human Services from using government funds "to bail out" failing health insurance companies.

When the Affordable Care Act was created, insurers had no idea how much it would cost to insure the people who signed up for Obama Care. To entice the insurance companies to keep premium payments reasonable, the government created a Risk Corridor Program.  This program was set up to reimburse insurance companies who lost money during the first few years of Obama Care.  The funds for the Risk Corridor Program would come from either the excessive profits of successful insurance companies or from the government itself.   Senator Rubio's bill effectively killed the Risk Corridor Program by prohibiting the use of government funds to "bail out" failing insurance companies.

And insurance companies were fleeing from Obama Care as fast as they could. Some insurance companies folded, while others raised their rates a few months before the election.  Insurance companies lost 8 billion dollars.  So surely, the companies that survived would raise their premiums high enough to make a profit and then some.

And whose fault was it?  It had to be the Democrats!

And whose fault is it still?

Donald Trump wants you to think the Democrats own it...