THIS & THAT #23

WHAT’S WHITE AND WHITE?

WITH NO COLOR IN SIGHT?

If you watched the self-congratulatory ceremony in the White House Rose Garden today after the GOP narrowly passed their version of a health care reform bill, you may have noticed that many of those applauding themselves were white-skinned, white-haired males, and few were wearing visible female attire.

That’s not to say that some of the male majority attending weren’t wearing fishnet stockings or garter belts beneath their manly attire. All politicians know that it’s best to project a front that their constituents will feel good about. All the GOP representatives who were there, clapping, singing and taking selfies, had best enjoy the moment.

A SEVEN-YEAR ITCH

It took the GOP only seven years to pass their flawed health care bill, and when the voters in their districts read the fine print and discover that Trump-care or Ryan-care, is nothing to brag about, they might think a bit longer and stronger as to whom to vote for in 2018. That’s when 435 congressional seats are up for election, and Republicans currently occupy 246 of those seats.

MAKE AMERICA GRATEFUL, AGAIN

The GOP should be grateful that they would once again be dealing with an equally inept Democratic National Committee at election time, just as they had to do during the last self-imposed failure in 2016. Look at THIS & THAT #22 for more insight on that subject.

It should be noted that only seven of the 216 GOP representatives who voted for the new health plan, had enough guts to hold town hall meetings in the immediate future. The rest will wisely rest.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ELECTED OFFICIALS RUNNING YOUR COUNTRY?

Fifty-one percent of the U.S. population is female, and 19.4% of the 114th House of Representatives are women, which include 21 Republicans and 62 Democrats. The Senate’s 100 seats have 21 women, with 16 being Democrats and five are Republicans.

The Junior Senator from Illinois, Democrat Tammy Duckworth is an Iraqi War Veteran, who served as an Army helicopter pilot, and lost both of her legs and damaged her right arm in combat. She retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2014.

State of the Senate Quiz:

What three states are each represented by two women in the U.S. Senate? In one state, the Senators last names are Hassan and Shaheen. In another state, the Senators first names are Maria and Patty, and they are not members of either the Andrew Sisters or the Osmond family. The third state is California, where Zora dislikes the elder Senator who has been in office since 1992.

THIS & THAT #11

The World Is Watching Cleveland

But Not for an NBA Championship

The Republican National Convention opens on July 18 in Cleveland, Ohio, and a June Pew Research Center poll found that nearly four-fifths of white evangelical voters plan to cast their ballots for Trump “despite his multiple marriages, lack of piety and inconsistency on the issues they care about most.”

White evangelicals make up about one-fifth of all registered voters and are a very important and coveted bloc who can turn out the vote through their churches and social networks.

The poll also revealed that Roman Catholics favored Clinton over Trump by seventeen percentage points, helped along by Hispanic Catholics who supported Clinton over Trump by a huge 77 to 16 margin.

Black Protestants favored Clinton, while white mainline Protestants were for Trump over Clinton, 50 to 39 percent.

Don’t Count Me In

In a nation of an estimated 324,232,589 American citizens, the largest religious groups were Christians that comprise 70.8% of that population. Evangelical Protestants make up 25.4%, Mainline Protestants 14.7%, and Historically Black Protestants total 6.5%. Among the remaining Christian groups are Catholics at 20.8%, followed by Mormons, Orthodox Christians, Jehovah’s Witness, and Other Christian groups.

Don’t Count Me Out

The survey did not show results for members of minority religious groups, like Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims, “because there were not enough of them in the poll.” It’s still thought by some that the United States is a Christian Nation.

A smaller numbers of groups fall under the broad category of Non-Christian Faiths, which comprise 5.9% of the religious total. Jews lead at 1.9%, followed by Muslims (0.9%), Buddhists and Hindus at 0.7%, Other World religions and Other Faiths.

Making up the second largest group are those who checked off “None” at 22.8%, including “Nothing In Particular” at 15%, Atheists, Agnostics, and the very honest who checked off “Don’t Know.”

Americans know very little Americans about the Baha’i Faith, which has a beautiful Temple in Haifa, Israel, as well as about Rastafarianism, Jainism or Taoism.

Whose Side Are They On?

Speaking of the Republican Convention, which we were some nine paragraphs ago, there are eighteen GOP Senators who won’t be able to make it, and some of the reasons why seem a bit dubious. Remember, our hardly working, do-very-little elected Congress and Senate people, just went on a seven-week summer vacation.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona will be visiting his state’s Grand Canyon, to be sure that it is still there. Arizona’s other Senator Jeff Flake, was quoted as saying, “I’ve got to mow my lawn.” Senator Steve Dalnes of Montana said, ”I’ll have my fly rod in my hand with my wife in Montana.”

Honesty Is the Best Policy

A spokesman for Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said, “Senator Sasse will not be attending the convention and will instead take his kids to watch some dumpster fires across the state, all of which enjoy more popularity that the current front runners.”

Sasse has my vote if he ever runs for office in California.