Under His Eye in the Republic of Texas, by Kenn Orphan

Image by Glendale United Methodist Church – Nashville via Flickr

by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
June 23, 2022

If you’ve never traveled around the state of Texas, you won’t really get an accurate picture of this odd land of extremes. The cities, especially Austin and Houston, are islands of relative sanity surrounded by a sea of crazy. All this considered, the unveiling of the Texas GOP’s platform should come as no surprise. They have merely tapped into the paranoid, hyper-nationalist, fascist zeitgeist so prevalent among a large swath of its white, Christian population.

Deconstructing the State: Getting Small, Part 6 by Arthur D. Robbins

by Arthur D. Robbins
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained
May 9, 2017

War has indeed become perpetual and peace no longer even a fleeting wish nor a distant memory. We have become habituated to the rumblings of war and the steady drum beat of propaganda about war’s necessity and the noble motives that inspire it. We will close hospitals. We will close schools. We will close libraries and museums. We will sell off our parklands and water supply. People will sleep on the streets and go hungry. The war machine will go on.

Back To The Future: The Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln by Arthur D. Robbins

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

by Arthur D. Robbins
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Sept. 30, 2015
December 17, 2015

A President of the United States would never operate outside the law, ignore the U.S. Constitution and the courts, shut down the presses, imprison his domestic adversaries or turn his guns on his own people. Well, Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th president did of all of that and, curiously, has been turned into a national hero for his troubles. Lincoln ignored his closest advisors and the temper of the times to engage in the bloodiest war in American history, a war that could easily have been avoided. Single handedly Lincoln terrorized the entire nation. So let us take notice. What happened once could happen again.

Countdown: Texas Secession (2009)

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

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May 15, 2009 — From Countdown May 14, 2009.

The New Secessionists by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
April 26, 2010

Acts of rebellion which promote moral and political change must be nonviolent. And one of the most potent nonviolent alternatives in the country, which defies the corporate state and calls for an end to imperial wars, is the secessionist movement bubbling up in some two dozen states including Vermont, Texas, Alaska and Hawaii.

These movements do not always embrace liberal values. Most of the groups in the South champion a “neo-Confederacy” and are often exclusively male and white. Secessionists, who call for statewide referendums to secede, do not advocate the use of force. It is unclear, however, if some will turn to force if the federal structure ever denies them independence.

Ugly Americans Stay Home, Soiling Our Nest – Why Does the Unhinged Fringe Hate America? by Robert S. Becker

By Robert S. Becker
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.beyondchron.org
rbecker@cal.net
Oct. 20, 2009

We’re growing strange species of anti-American reactionaries these days. Earlier, arrogant Ugly Americans strutting abroad were always brash cheerleaders for their Homeland. Today, scores of deluded, unpatriotic numbskulls equate good citizenship with debunking America, especially: (a) our legitimate elections (despite pushing remote “democracy” wars), (b) majority rule (taking over “their” government), (c) the President (subversive alien), (d) government programs (rank socialism), and (e) free-market media except FOX “News” and rabid talk radio. How do teabaggers with infantile hoaxes hope to get “their country back”?

Thus frustrated fringes get fringier every week, like crazed chickens bloodying their own. South Carolina whiners blasted hardcore Lindsey Graham for not being hardcore enough, crying out “fake Republican,” “traitor” and “war criminal.” Unhinged mass hysteria likewise turned senators into mulish fools. Simultaneously scorning fair play or common decency, 30 very ugly GOP senators condemned Sen. Al Franken’s successful amendment denying government contractors the right to block remedies by duped, abused employees. One case involved a woman gang-raped – and held captive by Halliburton staff on its premises – whose contract forbade legal recourse.