Civil Rights Irony

Wow, the right's talking about Civil Rights now. I've got to say this. They were silent when left wingers were being arrested and thrown out of Bush "townhalls." And left wingers are the guys that get assassinated in our history (Kennedy, King, Kennedy, Lennon, etc.) The right wingers are the ones that often go out of their minds with hate speech and pray for the death of Congress people. So I'm cutting the White House a lot of slack. I do give this guy credit for asking for Cheney's info, too, though.

Health Care Game

Schmog and I were discussing the demise of the Public Option last night. He pointed out that the current health care bill is basically what Clinton and Co. tried to pass against all that opposition back then. So if Obama's goal was to simply accomplish what they did not, he's about to do so. And perhaps the Public Option was a brilliant red herring for the Republicans and the tea parties.

Global Warming

Have you met someone one who thinks that car and factory emissions are not responsible for global warming? I did today. He wasn't stupid. He watches Fox News.

Healthcare

I'm giving my facebook friends a break from my ranting about healthcare. I never get any comments anyway. Either I'm preaching to the choir or they don't care.

So I'm looking at the Rasmussen poll that puts 56% of Americans against the current healthcare bill (Pew has 47%). I could throw this bill out, my only caveat is that it seems to make some major insurance reforms (allowing pre-existing conditions).

The reason I found this poll was because I got into a very interesting argument with an "independent" man who doesn't believe government should run healthcare and that the private sector could take care of it (I knocked that position down from every angle I could think of). He also puts a lot of stock in the "facts" he gets from Fox News. He was really pissed that Obama might sign a healthcare bill that "60% of Americans don't want." So I found this poll from June very interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html?_r=1>New York Times

85% said our healthcare system needed to be changed or fundamentally rebuilt. 76% said they supported something like Medicare for those under 65!

It's maddening that our Congress and our President isn't even close to giving us what we actually need and want.

Labels II

I saw this video last week and really liked it. At first taken back by her vulgarity, but then my art has been too, so I can't judge that at all!

Peace.

Feminism is just a label...

A thoughtful article about what Feminism means today. It is a teachable moment for me...the next time someone asks me if I'm a feminist I'll say, "Why do you ask?" And then, "I'm not sure what that label means to you, but I do believe all people are equal, and that we all deserve respect and to control our own lives"

Peace.

Obama's Reading List (Political Wire)

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/12/obamas_reading_list.html

Shared via AddThis

Considering our heroes

I've said recently that we choose weird heroes. I waver between seeing the truth of Michael Jackson as a perpetrator and a victim. People are choosing to see Michael Jackson as a misunderstood artist who has been falsely accused of crimes he did not commit (even though he settled a case for millions of dollars).

Was Michael like Woody Allen? Or Mike Tyson? Mike actually went to jail and people still see him as a hero. He was recently given a movie roll in The Hangover (I guess he's served his time).

I used to question why people supported Woody Allen and Mike Tyson in the face of such damning testimony. Usually, the victims were written off as setups, or temptresses.

It often seems that the real victims, mostly women and children, get ignored or worse, accused of false accusations, while the perpetrators get forgiven (even when they are obviously NUTS).

Maybe the truth is that we are each both perpetrators and victims; and this is what we really want and recognize in our heroes. Is this what I tell my children? Is this the epitome of lost innocence?

So Michael, may he rest in peace, may have victimized children, but he was an amazing talent that was definitely victimized by his father, by his industry, by the press, and by his AWFUL plastic surgeons (does anyone talk about how disrespectful his surgeries were and who was responsible for that?). And this same family and this same industry and this same press glorified Michael's death yesterday.

I wonder, where were these glorifications these past 15 years?

Debbie Rowe

I'm not a fan. I don't like the deal she made with a superstar, and if I were a judge I would question her motives in entertaining custody again, especially without "Blanket." But I bristle at the attacks such as, "No real mother would do this to her children!"

She was an egg donor. What's the difference between her and a sperm donor? Would we have this much vitriol for an absentee father who wanted to reenter his children's life? Maybe?

If you were Debbie Rowe and you could pull your biological children away from the custody of the Jackson family, would you? What better options do these children have?

America's Children?

I often consider what is the best use of the modest charity funds we distribute every year. Childhood illnesses? Homelessness? It is usually a local charity, helping those most vulnerable. But lately I've been thinking a lot about hunger. And perhaps there are those in our society, especially soon, who are starving and need help. But I also think of the United States as having many safety nets. Our churches (I grew up in one), our government (my family got foodstamps for awhile), WIC, and our land (food grows well and fast here).

Don't cry when you read this but tonight when I was rocking my 15-month old baby to sleep in my arms I was thinking about the very real but not actually threatening fears he experiences upon every separation from his caregivers. I was thinking about how he's probably reassured by his room and his (getting older) mom's image. This image I had of myself as an older and tired mother quickly brought up one I get every once in awhile, that of a mother that would have lived in a holocaust camp. It is much easier to type this than to actually speak it...but I think of how unbelievably unbearable it must have been for mothers to comfort their children then.

And this leads me to this: Are there mothers like those Holocaust mothers now in The World? Are there infants who are not safe? Are there families who are threatened every day? Who are not comforted by their rooms, their mothers, or their food? And this is where I want to help, in addition to America's children...for I am so thankful for the freedoms for our own children.

Peace.

Later thoughts: Looking at the BBC News I see images of children injured in Pakistan (our weapons?) War torn Palestine, Africa, etc.

Wow

So many of these people's stories and words have brought me to tears, but the courage of this one really moved me to blog. Wow, may we all be as incredibly brave as these folks!!

Tax us!

Maybe it will take higher taxes to make our citizens PAY ATTENTION and TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for our government. Maybe THAT's why Republicans are against actually FUNDING instead of BORROWING for our state's services.

Rush Limbaugh and his like are not really advocating for Joe the plumber (or Joe the painter), who can't pay for private Fire Fighters, or for private teachers, or for private nurses and doctors; Rush Limbaugh and the FUNDED conservative press corp are advocating for millionaires and billionaires who CAN afford their own private life bubble. They're just smart enough to get the working class to fight their battles for them.

I would like a team to target every district that these anti-tax-but-happy-to-spend Republicans represent and SHOW how state funds help their community. And show how their community's state taxes FUND or don't fund them.

Peace.