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Molly’s Hammer
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more. – Isaiah 2:4
US Holocaust Museum
On September 9, 1980, the Berrigan brothers, Daniel and Philip, and six others, the “Plowshares Eight”, began the Plowshares Movement under the premise of beating swords to ploughshares. They trespassed onto the General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, PA, where they damaged nuclear warhead nose cones and poured blood onto documents and files, as a protest against United States nuclear weapons policy. One of the other six was Molly Rush, a Pittsburgh housewife. “Molly’s Hammer” tells her story surrounding these events.
Saturday afternoon, Anne and I attended the third and final ‘Ignite!’ reading for this year. “Molly’s Hammer” is a play written by Tammy Ryan and is based upon the book, “The Hammer of Justice”, by Lianne Ellison Norman. The play was read by two actors; Nancy Bell read the part of Molly Rush and Dan McCarthy read the part of her husband, Bill Rush and every other character in the play. The play covers the time leading up to the action in King of Prussia, the event and the subsequent legal proceedings. I found the play to be very moving and it will cause me much personal soul-searching in the future.
Molly is a person driven to do what she believes is right, no matter the cost. McCarthy as Dan and all of her other relatives and friends try to talk her out of doing what she is planning, but she will not be dissuaded. After the action, the Plowshares Eight surrender peaceably and go to jail, awaiting trial, where they remain until just before trial, when they finally accept bond. At trial, Molly is looking at sentences of from thirty to sixty years if convicted. Still standing on principle, Molly refuses to adopt a defense that would offer a greater chance of acquittal. Instead, she chooses to put the military-industrial complex on trial, infuriating the judge (McCarthy) and leading to her conviction. In the end though, Bill, her husband, who has fought her every step of the way, stands with her and likewise turns his back to the judge. After ten years of appeals, while still out on bond, the government capitulates and resentenced the Plowshares Eight to probation and time served.
After the reading there is always a Q&A. Seth Gordon always asks two questions: “What do you remember most about the play?” and “What do you think that the play is about?” In the past, even though he says that there are no wrong answers, I have always seemed to have found one. Now I just sit on my hands now and wait for this part to be over and for the wine and cheese to be served. I would say that the most novel answer that I have ever heard in any of these Q&A sessions was one voiced by a mother for her teenage son, “What my son remembers most about the play is when his Uncle Dan said he was pregnant.” McCarthy was portraying Molly’s daughter at the time.
After the Q&A I got to speak with Ryan, the playwright, and for once I asked an intelligent question, “Why did you write this play?” She is also from Pittsburgh and was approached by the author, Norman, to write the play. She interviewed both Molly and Dan Rush, who are both still together and living in Pittsburgh. They are in their eighties now. Molly is still active in the movement, but has never gone to jail again.
By the Sea
Fatata te Miti (By the Sea), 1892, Paul Gauguin
A poster version of this painting by Paul Gauguin hangs on the wall, over the toilet in my in-law’s bathroom. Over the years, I have spent many a long contemplative moment looking at it, while standing at the toilet. It is positioned perfectly for the male of the species to study, while females, I would hazard a guess, only momentarily glance at it, before turning their backs to it. Although, they can still view it in the mirror over the sink. I was pleased to see the original last week at the National Gallery. Two of the three figures in it are obviously female, while the third one in the distance is to my mind of indeterminate sex. I like to think that it is a man, making the bathing portrayed more interesting.
Tonight, Michigan State faces Oklahoma in the NCAA basketball tournament. State has done better than predicted this year, making it to the sweet-sixteen, but then no one should bet against Tom Izzo or his Spartans, IMHO. If MSU should somehow find itself still alive at the end of this weekend, then it will be heading to Indianapolis for the final four. Yesterday there, the Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed into law a so-called “defense of religion” act, which was enacted shortly after the state’s “defense of marriage” act was overturned. The timing of these events is not coincidental. Defense of religion acts are designed to allow people to discriminate against other people, either because the voices in their heads tell them to, or they just hate gay people. Not even Arizona’s Jan Brewer was stupid enough to do that. Calls for boycotting the state were swift in coming, leaving the NCAA in an embarrassing position, especially since it is headquartered in Indianapolis. While the NCAA has made only cautious statements about studying the situation, others have been bolder. I am pleased with the response from GEN CON, the largest fantasy gaming convention around. They lobbied against the law’s passage, but being locked into a five-year contract, walking away was not an option. Instead, they have reached out to more positive elements from Indy, all the while looking elsewhere for the future. Witches and fairies need to lookout for their own kind.
The plasterer finished his work today, on time and under budget. We are pleased with his workmanship too. So pleased that we contracted with him to do also do the painting. Originally, we had planned to do that work, but this will be much faster and easier. Plus the results should also be better.
Apotheosis
Apotheosis of George Washington and the Donut
Saturday, we got an earlier than normal launch. The weather today was beautiful, the pick day of our trip. Our first stop was the Eastern Market, a farmer’s market, but also a Mecca for artists, gift shops and tourists. We had breakfast at a corner coffee shop that featured communal tables and an abundance of crockery. We toured the Library of Congress and then the Capitol building. According to Anne, we were on Dan Brown’s “Lost Symbol” tour. A central feature of this Dan Brown novel is the Apotheosis of George Washington, which is a fresco at the top of the ceiling of the Capitol dome. You can partially see it through the ‘donut’, another artifact of the dome’s restoration. After the Capitol tour we went to see the Supreme Court, which was not in session. In fact almost all of DC was not in session today. On our way over to the National Botanical Garden, we were passed by what I took to be were two congressional aides. As they passed us, I heard the guy ask the girl, “So, he is willing to let 5,000 people get laid off, just to make a point?” After the gardens we had a late lunch / early dinner. We waited for sunset on the Mall, then hopped a train and called it an evening.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith Go To Washington
Capitol Building Under Restoration
Planes, trains and automobiles, just not in that order, but you’ve got to love the patter. I was on hold, waiting to schedule a cab to the airport and in order to entertain the customers, they tell jokes, cab jokes: A passenger in the backseat has a question for the cab driver, so to get his attention; he taps him on the shoulder. The cab immediately swerves into a lamppost. The passenger apologies, “I didn’t mean to startle you.” The cab driver replies, “That’s alright, this is my first day as a cab driver, I’ve been driving a hearse for twenty-five years.”
We did see a bad accident on the way to the airport, but we were not involved. Our cab was a Prius, with 220,000 miles on it. I hope that our Prius is still running as well as that one was doing, when we hit that mileage mark. A field trip of forty fifth-graders from Omaha was on our flight. They reminded me of the similar field trip that Dave and I took to DC when he was in junior high. The Southwest flight attendants tend to ham up the preflight spiel and with this large eleven year old audience, they were in fine form. Because of high winds, the landing was a bit rough, but the kids came through again. With every bump or jump on final, the kids in the back of the bus would whoop it up, roller-coaster style.
We landed and then sloughed our way by foot, roller bags in tow, to the hotel. Then we took the Metro downtown and then started walking around. We saw the exterior of the National Archives, but the line was too long to get in. We toured the National Gallery of Art instead. Afterwards, we toured the National Museum of the American Indian, which we closed. So we called it a day. We had Afghani for lunch and Legal Seafood for dinner. I haven’t eaten at Legal Seafood since my summer at MIT, many years ago, but that’s another story.
You can see in the photo of the Capitol building that it is under repair. The dome is encased in scaffolding and part of the scaffolding is covered with a tarp. Anne thinks it looks like a Band-Aid. I think that the idea of a Band-Aid on the Capitol’s dome is way too allegorical of the political problems in our country.
The 47 Ronin
A380
Way down south in the land of Cotton, where civics lessons seemed to have been forgotten, 47 Republican senators have decided to cozy up to Iranian hardliners, because they just can’t stand Obama. Tom Cotton (R-AR) authored and was one of fourth-seven GOP senators who signed an open letter to the Iranian leadership. The letter in a childish and condescending manner attempted to explain the machinations of American government, incorrectly I might add. The letter claimed that the nuclear arms agreement that is currently being negotiated, could be tossed out later, which is not true. Iran showing more sense than the US Senate, dismissed the letter as propaganda. Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un wonders why they never write to him?
Critics have accused the senators of treason or violation of an obscure and likely unconstitutional 18th-century law called the Logan Act. Enough people have signed a Whitehouse’s online petition asking that these senators be charged under the Logan Act that the Whitehouse will at least have to publicly respond to the petition. The thought of 47 GOP senators being led out of the capital in handcuffs does sound appealing though, especially since I will soon be in our nation’s capital. Yesterday, we got an invitation from our Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to tour the capital building, but because too many other people are also going to be on spring break in DC we won’t be able to tour the Whitehouse or the Bureau of Engraving. Too bad about the Whitehouse, but since Engraving doesn’t handout free samples, I won’t miss it too much.