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OPINION
Sttnes
gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com
The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Nothing divine in waiting for election results
With all due respect, the poem could use a bit
of an update. We’ve got a whole new crowd that
deserves consideration for a miserable forever
after. Let’s start with robocallers who manage
to disrupt our supper and the bad people who
try to trick us on the internet into giving them
our bank account information.
Because of a finite
deadline, I won’t be
commenting on the
election results in
Georgia until next
week since some of
you will see this before
ihe election and some
afterward.
But not to worry.
As I have noted pre
viously, American
humorist Will Rogers
used to say, “I don’t make jokes.
I just watch the government and
report the facts.” Me, too. There
will plenty of jokes going forward
after the results are in. No matter
the outcome or the party, the gov
ernment is the government and a
politician is a politician.
In the meantime, I have been
analyzing Dante Alighieri’s clas
sic poem, the “Divine Comedy.”
(How is that for a nifty segue.
Jokes? Comedy? Is this guy good
or what?)
Actually, I have discovered that
the “Divine Comedy” isn’t funny
at all. It would be appropriate
to compare it to Bill Maher and
Kathy Griffith, who call them
selves comedians but who aren’t
funny, either.
The “Divine Comedy” is a poem
that describes Dante’s
dream of traveling
through the three
realms of the dead:
hell, purgatory and
heaven. It was written
between 1308 and 1320.
If Signore Alighieri
were to write it today,
he might describe hell
as Detroit City after
dark, and purgatory as
waiting to hear a live
voice when you call for service
while a robot tells you your call
is very important. Heaven could
be no place but the University of
Georgia, the oldest state-chartered
university in the nation, located
in Athens, Georgia, the Classic
City of the South. (That one is a
no-brainer.)
When Dante made his imagi
nary trip to hell, he discovered
nine circles or levels there and
where you were located depended
on how serious your sin was. For
example, there is limbo, where
a lot of virtuous pagans reside.
I know a couple of atheists who
are nicer to deal with than some
stiff-necked, know-it-all Bible-
thumpers. Limbo sounds like just
the spot for them.
Of course, some of the pagans
could wind up in the Heresy sec
tion of hell if they push God too
far. That’s not my call. I think
some of the stiff-necks are liable
to get put in the Sullen and Wrath
circle. Maybe they can bring their
guns and tell whoever runs that
department, it is a “sanctity of
life” issue.
Down toward the bottom of Hell
is the Violence Circle. I’m not sure
how big a deal that was in Dante’s
day but we could fill the place up
today with all the violence going
on. To know a bunch of white
supremacists, street gang thugs
and ISIS terrorists were sharing
the same circle and getting their
collective fannies burned would
be heavenly.
There are a bunch of other
circles like Lust (Look out, Jimmy
Carter. God may forgive you for
your racist campaign for gover
nor — I don’t — but He probably
remembers you talking to Playboy
Magazine about having lust in
your heart. You might want to
alert your apologists.) And then
there is Gluttony where a lot of
people end up when their arteries
explode after their second and
third trips waddling through the
line at the All-You-Can-Eat buffet.
A lot has happened since Dante
wrote his “Divine Comedy” some
700 years ago describing who
goes to what circle in Hell and
why. With all due respect, the
poem could use a bit of an update.
We’ve got a whole new crowd
that deserves consideration for a
miserable forever after. Let’s start
with robocallers who manage to
disrupt our supper and the bad
people who try to trick us on the
internet into giving them our bank
account information.
Anybody who abuses a child
or an animal needs to go to hell,
where a Rottweiler can chew on
their nose into eternity while cher
ubs slap them upside the head.
And let’s leave room for the
professional football players who
make millions of dollars playing
a kid’s game while siring multiple
children with multiple mommas,
slapping around their girlfriends,
snorting drugs, getting in nightclub
brawls but still finding the time to
kneel on Sunday and disrespect
their country, alleging police bru
tality. Wait! Did I just generalize?
My bad. They would never do that.
Please don’t tell Dante I said
this, but I find the “Divine Com
edy” a divine bore. Will Rogers is
a lot funnier. If it wasn’t for this
infernal deadline, I would already
be jerking the chains of a bunch
of pompous politicians. Having to
wait a week is just pure — well,
you know.
Dick Yarbrough is a North Georgia
resident whose column regularly
appears Saturdays. Contact him at
P.0. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139;
online at dickyarbrough.com; or on
Facebook.
DICK YARBROUGH
dick@
dickyarbrough.com
Congress
needs to
pursue shared
prosperity
BY KY-NAM KWON MILLER
Tribune News Service
The Democrats have taken back the House
of Representatives in what feels like a clear
rejection of the false promises and bigotry of
the Trump administration. But now, they must
go beyond anti-Trump rhetoric and push bold
ideas to advance opportunity and prosperity
for the vast majority of Americans being left
behind by the policies of Washington, D.C., and
Wall Street.
In our $19 trillion economy, a well-connected
few have done spectacularly well, while more
and more working Americans struggle to make
ends meet. Democrats must chart a real path to
prosperity that can replace failed, trickle-down
economics — one that invests in and uplifts
Americans on the margins and breaks down
barriers to opportunities.
House leaders should announce a bold
agenda for their first 100 days. They can start
by aggressively pushing for two bills introduced
in the Senate earlier this year that have gone
nowhere under Republican leadership: the
“LIFT the Middle Class Act” from Sen. Kamala
Harris, Democrat of California, and the “Ameri
can Housing and Economic Mobility Act” from
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachu
setts. Both would help ordinary Americans who
got little or nothing from the GOP’s massive tax
cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
Harris’ bill would provide a refundable tax
credit of up to $6,000 for low-income and mid
dle-class Americans, bringing some balance
into a tax system that has become grotesquely
skewed toward the wealthy. Warren’s deficit-
neutral measure would address our growing
housing crisis by building or rehabilitating 3.2
million housing units; assisting first-time home-
buyers living in low-income, formerly redlined
neighborhoods; and investing $2 billion in long-
overdue support for buyers whose home equity
was obliterated in the 2008 crash.
Warren’s bill also takes initial steps toward
strengthening the Community Reinvestment
Act, a little-known but important law that dates
from the late 1970s. The law, written to fight
redlining — the practice whereby the federal
government joined with banks and other institu
tions to deny mortgage loans to people of color
— needs an update to deal with changes in the
financial industry. Redlining, though techni
cally illegal, never completely went away.
These proposals represent a good start, but
Congress could and should go even farther. We
need a Community Reinvestment Act for the
21st century that harnesses the tech economy
to invest in opportunity in every American
community.
By giving a fair shake to all and opening door
ways to opportunity for those who have the least,
we can build prosperity for all of us — not just
the 400 billionaires who now own more wealth
than the bottom 64 percent of Americans.
It’s true that none of these proposals will
become law quickly, so long as the GOP controls
the Senate and the White House. But no impor
tant change comes quickly. We can start build
ing a better, fairer America, and Democrats
now have a chance to lead the way.
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letters@gainesvilletimes.com or from the form at
www.gainesvilletimes.com. Please include your
full name, hometown and phone number.
JIM POWELL I For The Times
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