Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments The Repeal Of HCR or They Will Say Anything… Cher – when he got this implant, I noticed in a story about his procedure that one side effect is that he has no pulse. None. Anywhere. At all. For some reason that totally creeps me out. It would merely be an interesting phenomenon in someone else, but with him? It totally creeps me out. Totally. » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 9:41 pm Wouldn’t that be interesting! I lived one summer on Cape Breton teaching at the University of Cape Breton college, and all I can recall is my absolute delight that those discussions were had along with the beer and pretzels. Nothing special. No necessary agreements, but no fracas either. Just a thoughtful reflection of “what could be good for Canadians?” It was wonderful. Wish we could do that here. And mean it. Of course there are other things going on – lots of discussion of a ‘third way’ in which local control such as worker or community ownership and management of industries and business ARE occurring. There is a great deal to be said for that since state ownership is often just another form of corporatism. On the whole though, you are not hearing even this above the local level of politics. Wouldn’t it be loverly, as Liza Doolittle sang. Sigh. » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 9:37 pm Thanks! I’d not gotten around to that source yet!!! » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 2:22 pm Not to be vulgar, kes, but blackberry brandy was a time-honored remedy for “the runs”. Instead of drinking it, perhaps you should send it to the GOP in Congress? Just saying… » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 2:21 pm Well bito – you have to have SOMETHING to put into the bill. Remember that the bills are quadruple spaced with huge margins for mark up. There are about 40-50 WORDS per page. So see? They need something to fill all that white space. Whaddya want – POLICY or something? » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 2:15 pm Gawd – and here we thought you just sat around eating bonbons…made of Fair Trade chocolate, of course, you unreconstructed hippie you. » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 2:13 pm That would be it, OK. » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 2:12 pm kes – what is the source of the story? Was it a local reporter (nominate that soul for a Pulitzer!!!) or wire service or reprint? I’d love a link if there is one!!! Thanks for the info! » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 1:23 pm This is the weak link, yes, but there are ways around that because so much of it is in the general budget. I’d like to note that I am cautiously optimistic about the White House’s ability to control the House majority’s slavering desire to kill off everything they don’t like. They have wants and wishes, too. The Tax Compromise passed in December shows the power of conscientious negotiation: The amount “given up” in extending two things – 2 more years of tax cuts for those netting 250,000 and above plus the higher exemption ($5 million) before the estate tax kicks in – totaled 16% of what passed. SIXTEEN PER CENT!!! That was the GOP wish list, period. The rest – 84% – EIGHT-FOUR PERCENT – went to all of us in continued tax cuts, to the unemployed whose extensions were voted down, to Earned Income Tax Credit money for the working poor, and a myriad of other benefits. THAT IS HUGE!!!!! You can read the analysis at the progressive budget analysis site for Center for Budget & Policy Priorities at: In other words, Obama “done good”. Done GREAT! Thank you, Mr. President, for getting provisions that genuinely help working families!!! This gain includes a startling new tax credit for businesses – mostly manufacturing with hardware investments – that is called the “Expensing Provision”. Huh? Well, this is the first GOOD idea we’ve had in the last 40 years! In Europe if manufacturers or those investing in capital improvements buys new equipment, they allow a write down almost immediately. We depreciate it over 5-7-10 years. The Expensing Provision will allow OUR manufacturers to buy new machinery in 2011 and take a 100% bonus exemption plus a 50% credit in their next tax year. We do this accelerated depreciation – when businesses FAIL. We pay CASH to manufacturers and other businesses with capital goods when they go OUT of business even if that is the reason they bought the business in the first place. The poster child was Youngstown (OH) Sheet & Tube, a profitable company bought by a bunch of investors from Lykes Steamship who closed the mill, ended 10,000 jobs, and tore down the plant. They used their cash to get into electronics. The government-subsidized write down and cash back plan has depleted our manufacturing industry, reducing it to a “cash cow” rather than encouraging growth and new jobs. As a long-time supporter of both manufacturing as an essential part of our economy AND of good middle income (union) jobs, I am over the MOON at this Expensing Provision and hope the freaking RW National Association of Manufacturers will become Obama’s BFF and fight to retain this tax credit – at least the depreciation speed up. It’s seriously good for Americans. Now add in affordable health care, and you can see how these benefits benefit America overall in humane treatment of our people AND in global equity in terms of trade. The buffoons who say health care is a job killer are indeed providing what bito so kindly calls “invalid statements”. Nicely said, bito. And every inch the truth. » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 1:18 pm Martin Luther King Jr. – Remembrance and Revival Hi everyone. This story is finally making MSM and HP. Spokane has dangerous folks abounding there. It crawls with anti-government, racist, Christian Identity folks, so while this is terribly scary, it’s not actually surprising. There are ties between Spokane and the Sacramento Valley – anti-abortion zealots robbed banks in Spokane (I think they killed armored car drivers) to finance their clinic bombing spree. The local US Attorney here – a first rate great guy – prosecuted such a case back in the 90s. Tomorrow and Friday the clinics are holding open houses for the anniversary of Roe, and I’ve called them to remind them that this bomb in Spokane is a heads up for them. Too much violence, too many stealth ties. Over at HP there remain sanctimonious sorts who say, “Oh why do you have to POLITICIZE this (meaning the bomb incident).” Well, prima facie – bombs ARE political. Saying we need a civil discussion or debate is fine over ideas, but how can such a thing occur over a freaking BOMB???? That’s like saying we should civilly and nicely all debate lynching. IS there “another side”???? Scary times, scary people, and scariest of all – denial. » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 9:56 pm I just looked up Louie – he was a JUDGE??????? How did THAT happen? He graduated from Baylor School of Law?????? How???? No one THAT ignorant could possibly have a working understanding of the law. NO ONE. I tremble at the thought he “administered justice” to anyone at all. Aiiieeeeee! » Posted By choicelady On January 18, 2011 @ 2:28 pm Oh indeed, bito! And I second the esperanto motion! In English… » Posted By choicelady On January 17, 2011 @ 9:31 am Khirad- You wrote (jokingly) “…As to these Muslims you talk about you must be lying. They’re all America hating radicals, the news told me so.” Riiiiight. We had and have gay Muslims in Sacramento. It is a challenge for the Muslim community that is stepping up to the plate on this. We had a young man murdered here a couple of years back, a Sikh, not a Muslim, but murdered by two Russian Pentecostal Christians for at least the perception he was gay. First group forward in support of the LGBT community – the Muslim community. Not one trace of awkwardness. Open compassion and care for the living and the dead. We held an in-gathering on Sept. 11 to counteract the proposed Qur’an burning in FL – we read from the Qur’an and placed flowers on it. One of the Qur’ans was mine. As I read my verse I noticed that in the gathered group (this occurred, BTW, on the steps of the Catholic cathedral) were imams I’d not seen before – Shia in full robes. Wow. I’m accustomed to Sunni who are more comfortable in western clothing, but this was HUGE. It was wonderful, joyous, and strengthened ALL of us. Besides me, one reader was a rabbi, one a woman UCC minister, one evangelical, one Scientologist (she’s very nice), and two of the readers were Druids. We don’t fool around here. We MEAN the inclusion. The Muslim community takes away not hate but care and concern. That counts. When the Copts were bombed, even though my organization does not represent them, I was sent many supportive and caring messages condemning the bombings, and I know those with ties to Egypt spoke out boldly IN Egypt against what had occurred. Things are changing and profoundly for the better in many fronts. Too bad all we see and hear is the hate. It’s not what’s driving change. One has only to look at the people in your photos to see real hope and energy. That is what is driving the change. And the religious fundies on ALL sides will fight like crazy to stop it. You cannot stop this, not forever. Thank you Khirad for letting us see inside this movement! » Posted By choicelady On January 16, 2011 @ 7:24 pm Ques! NEVER – I’m a policy wonk and paid to do these things! I learn SO much from you and your insights!!! Everyone here teaches me something every single day. This is entirely about reciprocity here on the Planet. And I ASK you – do you REALLY want to be in a position to even have to know there IS an NSC 68????? Think of all I miss that many of you see – art, music, literature. I read so many posts here about things I don’t know anything about at all. I’m often the one feeling like a doofus!!! But more to the point, what you know nourishes me. Me? I can return info on…NSC 68. I love what I do, but it’s NOT for everyone. That’s how we get through – sharing. It’s our strength as a community of VERY diverse people! What I hate about the Dark Side is that art is bifurcated from politics from literature – everything from everything. Here we share and share alike. How incredible that is! » Posted By choicelady On January 16, 2011 @ 7:07 pm Khirad thank you for all of this. I’m trying to digest it because I HAVE been watching but not understanding. That’s what we do – pay no attention. Then when things simmer or explode, we don’t have a clue. On one level though I do think we have turned a corner as we did with Honduras – Obama is the first president to challenge the National Security Council 68 (NSC 68) – THE post-WW II document outlining the US’s determination that it was supposed to engage everywhere, anywhere to force outcomes beneficial to the US. It was the foundation for the “domino effect” – can’t let one nation head in a direction that is inimical to our cause because others will also topple. Ostensibly NSC 68 was to block the USSR; in reality it blocked every democratic but not necessarily capitalist-friendly outpost. As SueinCA notes, that’s what led us to jump on Allende’s government even though it was duly elected and thus legitimate. It was NOT friendly to being a mere outpost colonial base for mineral extraction by US companies. That was intolerable, hence the CIA mixed in and secured the coup – and all the horrors that followed. I see our nation FINALLY letting nation states work things out for themselves. At least I hope that’s what’s going on. This part I think I understand. Whether it works is another issue. I do not discount the creepy possibility that The Family and their CIA operatives (yes – they do have them) will intervene, US foreign policy be damned. Internatlly I understand little other than to see roots in the Battle of Algiers here. There is just so much people will tolerate. The Green Revolution in Iran is quietly proceeding, and the youth there and in Tunisia do not intend to be silenced, deprived of free speech and expression, but beyond that – what? A factor in the US that interests me is the growing split between US Muslims (adopting Western thought and practices) and their nations of origin. I think very little has been evaluated about the positive factor that may have become. I say “may” because I’m not at all clear about this. Not only do we have the usual push from immigrants who now feel “American” and want to assimilate, there are some unheralded factors I deal with daily, some changes that may have altered the US Muslim community in world historical ways. After 9/11 almost immediately two groups stepped forward on behalf of the Muslim community’s safety – Japanese-Americans and LGBT Americans. The bonds were set in protection for Muslims and they endure a decade later. Immediately on their heels were my folks – progressive Christians. Then all API Americans and minorities of all types. That endures. When US Muslims do speak “back home” it is filtered through this new set of alliances. In every setting I hear IMAMs claim equality for LGBT people as well as religious and racial and ethnic minorities. That is transformative. They spoke out – to ME directly so I know – over the New Year’s bombing of the Coptic Christians and globally denounced this act of hate and terror. They went up against “their own” on this. Transformative. I see the secularization of states in a very positive light because here in America Sunni, Shia, and other Muslims work hand in hand. Even the most religiously devout still embrace equality for all. The anger and divisions “back home” simply do not exist here. I see the devout embrace the First Amendment principles of free exercise of religion. They are exporting that as well. That is the missing story, the story the Religious Right and Neo-cons CANNOT tell because it undermines the scapegoating of Muslims as the fear-based replacement for the defunct “commies”. My HOPE is that people of the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia like the Green Revolution of Iran will continue to press for democracy and secularization so that all versions of Islam may flourish with none dominating. So that Islam and other faiths may co-exist peacefully. So that freedom of thought and expression will prevail. Wow. My FEAR is that, even if we continue to repudiate NSC 68, subterranean forces (The Family etc.) will create new terrorist leaders, new hyper Muslims and tyrants, will fund those movements illegally but well, and that the process of US intervention will continue, this time as so much before, unseen. It behooves all of us at the Planet and elsewhere to make this a focus of our inquiry, to watch our foreign POLICY and also the shaddow actions of RW forces that work outside legitimate channels. Thank you so much, Khirad – please, PLEASE keep us posted. This is definitely “the best of times, the worst of times”, and your insights can help us pay attention to a nation we know way too little about but whose people may be the bearer of the new age of democracy and inclusion. Or not. » Posted By choicelady On January 16, 2011 @ 1:38 pm Good heavens, NO you’re not bad. The loss of a young person to mental illness IS a tragedy, and even when he’s done awful things, doing them in the grip of delusion is horrid for him as well as the people he’s harmed. No one understands why his age group is so often and so massively afflicted. There appears to be a physical reason, we just don’t yet know what or why. I have read a great deal about his ravings. He is the typical “lone wolf” whom we have long feared. Many others have been the same. In 1999 the Williams brothers from Redding, CA firebombed three temples in Sacramento, murdered a gay couple back in Redding some weeks later, then returned to Sacramento in one victim’s car to torch an abortion clinic. They belonged to no groups, were not actively political, but they were infused with RW ideas and gleaned much of their animus from internet sites. Loughner did the same. Jared is more overtly insane than the Williams brothers, but it’s a matter of degree, not kind. Loughner WAS targeting a Congresswoman, organized and planned the shooting. Prima facie – it’s political. The Southern Poverty Law Center and Public Eye who study these things have found waaaay too much information that shows what he’d been reading and to whom he was paying attention that link his thoughts to RW ideas. Why the MSM seems hell bent on exempting him from the realm of RW politics is unclear. He was influenced. It’s beyond question. The Lone Wolf is precisely that – the movements love them because they do NOT belong, and that gives them a shooter AND plausible deniability. So yeah – I feel terrible for him and the loss of possibility his tortured mind created. What fresh hell he lived with day after day. Not everyone – not even most – mentally ill people do harm. But some do, and if they’ve been seduced by conspiracy discussions, a sense that “someone” is the “enemy”, then whoever is pointing this out of control person those ways does share culpability. What simply amazes me is the skedaddle every single RW person does when the inflammatory words actually produce violence. If you don’t WANT it, don’t PROMOTE it. But then please do NOT indulge in Insaniotics by pretending your armed and dangerous phraseology just mean – voting. People died because of your words. If you did not want that to happen, then shut the fuck up. » Posted By choicelady On January 14, 2011 @ 9:50 pm Why It’s All the Democrats’ Fault What creeps me out is that Sue Myrick is the woman who wrote the preface to some RW book that affirms a “Muslim conspiracy” because CAIR openly – and this is the key issue – is seeking to place some of their young leaders into Congressional internships. How something open and transparent can be a “conspiracy” eludes me, but Myrick is wedded to this notion, and she is part of a small but intense group wanting to rid Congress of ALL “Muslim influence and infiltration”. So her signing the civility pledge has left my brain in a meltdown. Yikes. » Posted By choicelady On January 14, 2011 @ 8:00 am Thank you, kes, yes! AdLib’s provision of laughter made me allllll better! And I LOVE the image you offer up of Sarah crashing to the floor in pumped-up “injury”. I bet you’re right! Have a GOOD day, all. Here are liberal memes – Love is better than hate. Laughter is better than self-pity. Kindness is never wrong. Inclusion is better than isolation. Pouting sucks. Planeteers know these things. Maybe others who wallow in self indulgence and mock victimhood will figure them out. Hope is better than not. » Posted By choicelady On January 14, 2011 @ 7:56 am OK, after a VERY long two days, good ones but stressful and creating scads more work for me, I had a headache, upset stomach, and sinus problems. I admit the sinus was probably not related, but I’m kvetching here, don’t bother me with details. So as I said, I sat down to read this and wound up laughing SO HARD I now feel 100% renewed!!!! The biggest guffaw of course is the oil fillup, but the whole imagery is spot on and freaking believable!!! I’ve been listening to various people defend Sarah on her “blood libel” comment, and what amazes me – other than the conservative Jews who have sold out to her Christian Dominionism in support of Zionism – is the Mystique of Victimhood that permeates the Right. It’s what gives them the gumption to be uncivil. They’re victims, you see. Victims of WHAT one might ask. Well – we liberals and worse have taken away ALL their freedoms and are enslaving them!!! Can you NOT see that? We point at her for her utter irresponsibility in using gun sights on Congressional Districts. When someone takes her up on that imagery, well – she has suffered mortally from our repressive criticism! When we tell her fellow Dominionists that they cannot use the institutions of government to proselytize – we are stripping them of their “religious freedom”. When we tell anti-abortion protesters that they must stay 15 feet from unwilling patients and clinic entrances, why – they are “persecuted” for their beliefs!!! Conservatives have created the cult of victimhood. Why? Because REAL victims have helped create real change. So Faux Victims can at LEAST whine and flap and demand the same. When some of us don’t buy it, that’s when AdLib’s scenario kicks in – if they can’t demand compensation and changed laws to assure they keep power and money, well then they create Double Speak and incivility. White is black, rich is poor, thugs are abused, thieves are robbed, head stompers demand apologies from the stompee, and someone who is criticized has suffered a “blood libel”. You doubt it? You $^(*&# !!! – we’ll show YOU!!!! Most 4-year-olds know better, but the conservatives have raised whining and self pity and victimization to an art form. It is now public policy. For them, you understand, for them and only them. They need a new form of affirmative action – be nice to white conservatives. So yes, AdLib, thank you for a great laugh at their delusions!!! It seriously made my day. You nailed it and them, and if they never EVER get an “ah hah” moment of self awareness, well at least they’re good for major entertainment!!! » Posted By choicelady On January 13, 2011 @ 8:31 pm Ohhhhhhh, yeahhhhhhh. Another reason why the religious right hates the mainline Protestants – we don’t beat people up, not even kids. Clearly we aren’t fit to be in the Kingdom of God since we actually believe that hopey-changey-lovey stuff. To the Religious Right, compassion is for wimps. Saw a T-shirt of theirs once: “Intolerance is a beautiful thing”. Outside abortion clinics, these “baby lovers” would plant their kids in strollers across the driveway where drivers entering the clinic COULD NOT SEE THEM – and then the moms would walk away and chitchat while their infants served as a fragile – horridly fragile – ‘barricade’. Cannot tell you how often we called CPS or the cops. Older kids, if reluctant to freeze in winter or broil in summer on the picket lines, would routinely get smacked across the face for their “sass”. Wonderful, loving parents, they. Says it all. Says every damned thing you need to know. » Posted By choicelady On January 11, 2011 @ 11:28 am Like his understanding of the power of values very much. I met him once, and he’s delightful. He does NOT over simplify but, like life, of course it’s not an absolute on the “strict parent, nurturing parent” conservative-liberal bent. My liberal mother was the strict parent who passed judgment on EVERYONE. Interestingly she held up wayward rich people as undisciplined and selfish, an interesting twist on the liberl-strict parent difference she exhibited. Overall though he is spot on. And this is such an interesting expansion of his work! You should think about publishing it outside these orbits! » Posted By choicelady On January 11, 2011 @ 11:22 am Nah – the RW would think you were talking about liberals. That’s whom they see as “Big Brother” not themselves. » Posted By choicelady On January 11, 2011 @ 11:16 am Ques – GREAT analysis of the bifurcation that exists within America. I read some Lakoff here but think your insights are exceptional. I’d like to add my own observations that I think support your excellent assessment. Something that has always confused me is the total absence of spanking on 1950s sitcom TV. From “Father Knows Best” to “Stu Erwin” to “Beaver Cleaver” the use of dialogue and discussion were the only ways kids (not that they were ever really bad) were ever disciplined in the ’50s sitcoms. Isn’t that odd given the conservatism of the times? You’d think we as a population would have learned something from all that. I once heard the head of a local NAACP defend whipping (not spanking) as an essential core to Black family. I met a Pentecostal preacher who said, without a shred of self reflection, that when his tiny 2-year-olds were kids and wouldn’t settle down to sleep, he’d take a belt to them, and then they’d be very quiet. How could ANYONE whip a baby with a belt?????? I BET they settled down! Twenty years later, I’d be unsurprised if they’d slit his throat. He may have gotten “obedience”, but his grown adult daughter had FIVE kids, all out of wedlock, all by different fathers, so I’m not quite sure what the belt taught other than questing for love in all the wrong places. She was one of the angriest people I’ve ever, EVER met, too. Some ‘teaching tool’ that was. We do have a nation of brats, narcissists, egomaniacs, and you find tons of them on the conservative end of the spectrum. If spanking actually taught anything, it was sheer survival, looking out for your own self at any cost. Being spanked is absolutely the loss of power over your own physical integrity. Kids for whom that becomes a way of life are angry people. How can living in fear and resentment of the person who is supposed to protect you do anything but engender rage and a sense that you can trust NO ONE? I doubt the odd smack is psychologically harmful, but routine spanking and whipping are forms of bullying, and we know that bullies are too often those who’ve been bullied. Conservatives may claim “spanking did ME no harm”, but if you are angry at your government, hate your neighbors, are sure everyone is getting something you aren’t, and resent what the Joneses have that you don’t, then yeah – spanking harmed you a very great deal. So I say to conservatives who mourn the loss of Beaver-Cleaver days – then be Beaver-Cleaver parents. Do as they did. Teach your kids, don’t beat your kids. Some values liberals hold are definitely worth sharing. » Posted By choicelady On January 10, 2011 @ 2:35 pm Shooting Democracy in the Head Y’all are sounding a lot like Edward Lear. Pretty cool! » Posted By choicelady On January 10, 2011 @ 2:40 pm Vivian Maier: Photography’s Emily Dickinson? Khirad – as one who remembers well your smashing photos from your long and wonderful trip, I’d not be so hard on you! One of the key differences is depth of field. Modern cameras just do not have it, and digital is worse. I worked with a government documentary photographer who carried an old plate tripod-mounted camera because no other would give him the richness of detail in a complex setting. He was documenting historic industrial sites (Jet Lowe is his name – you can still buy his only book I think) and needed that detail. So don’t dis yourself – think about finding an older camera with a deeper field, then go black and white, too. But first – find someone who knows how to develop pictures! Or learn to do it yourself. Even I can, and I pretty much suck at everything technical! Developing and printing is as much fun as the taking, IMHO. Working with longer lenses and older cameras gives you a huge range of opportunities to play with all that – light, depth of field, texture. Try it! You’ll find it’s an entirely different experience. And as wonderful as you were with the color photos, you’ll be boffo with the B&W and the right camera. » Posted By choicelady On February 8, 2012 @ 7:28 pm I love the little boy and baugettes on the bicycle! Really HATE the little boy and the gun – given the time, it’s a gut wrenching reminder of lynchings. Not sure what lies in the photographer’s mind! Creepy – and probably exactly the point? Some of this feels very much like Magritte’s surrealist paintings. Amazing stuff. Thank you, AdLib! » Posted By choicelady On February 8, 2012 @ 7:22 pm Well Sue! I never knew that about you! I helped document one of Bethlehem Steel’s plants, so we share that interest. We;ll talk about it soon I hope! Her work is stunning. She reminds me a bit of Louis Hine (though her work is somewhat better quality due to better equipment) and especially of Milton Rogovin, a Buffalo, NY photographer who did studies of the lower west side of the city, Black churches, miners around the world, and yes, steelworkers. He died last year, age 103. He photographed almost to the end. Her work is rich in its honoring of the people in her photographs just as they are. The light is gorgeous, but the people are all very differently recorded, and that’s unusual. Some look straight on, some are inert, some don’t even know she’s there. That is extremely unusual in what is essentially a portrait photographer, albeit more like Rogovin’s work, ordinary people. Unlike him, she treats each subject as unique and reveals that in the highly different poses. Very interesting woman, very unusual eye. Thank you, Ques, for sharing this. I’d briefly heard about her on the radio, but I never have seen her work before. This is a real gift to us! » Posted By choicelady On February 8, 2012 @ 7:18 pm Mid-Atlantic Trip Part 14: For Art’s Sake Indeed. In Delaware Park, alongside one of the newer expressways, there stands a very good reproduction of Michelangelo’s “David”. With a fig leaf. Sigh. » Posted By choicelady On January 5, 2011 @ 4:49 pm Simply stunning, Khirad! I’ve been in and out of DC over the years but NEVER to the art museums. I now have a hunger to go. Next time for sure! Thank you for all the gorgeous photos of this amazing trip. I think you took more time to share them with us than you did actually being there, and that’s a real gift. Happy New Year to you – where you off to next? I can hardly wait! I live vicariously through you1 » Posted By choicelady On January 4, 2011 @ 8:47 pm Marion- I’m not sure I can add much to this comprehensive assessment of who we are. I do know we’ve been this divided before (remember “hard hats” v. “hippies”? Pro-segregationists v. civil rights proponents?) On the other hand, I don’t remember that we were this stupid before. Even people with principles I detested were better informed than they are now. Could it be – conspiracy theory here – that the dumbing of America was deliberate? Reading Jeff Sharlet’s book, “The Family”, I was utterly horrified by the chapter on the desired take over of US history by the Religious Right – only to see it come to pass in Texas. Dumb people are easily led. Smart people are a pain in the butt. I’ve lived all over the country and count people of widely divergent backgrounds as good friends and acquaintances. This Jan. 12 marks the death of my “best friend I met only once”, someone SO different from me that I treasure his presence in my life. A cop, a Catholic, from a blue collar family – the only thing we ostensibly had in common was that we both hailed from the greater Chicago area. But we shared real values of care for those in need, a loathing of hate crimes and what lies behind them, a wacky sense of humor, compassion, and love of honorable actions toward others. I won’t go into the details, but he changed my life partly from posting the funniest revue of a Y2K “Survivalist” expo that I needed to read, that caused me to laugh until the tears ran down my face, at precisely the darkest hour of my life. We became firm friends until his untimely death which still lingers heavy in my heart. I’ve known farmers, the homeless, steelworkers and autoworkers, cleaning women, people from all points north-south-east-west. They are part of who I am. I discount nothing about them, or any of them, save for the few who are unwilling to listen to the others at all. What characterizes solid Americans, no matter who they are, is a willingness to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I find most people, even when angry, WILL listen if we begin where they are then ask – what would YOU do about whatever issue is on the table. It often pulls them up short to consider how few options most people have. That is where the Rugged Individualist meets reality. There are NOT a lot of options, never have been. When we take away entry level jobs (claiming blue collar, especially union, people are making “too much money”)or cut hours and ship jobs overseas, when we value farm property as if it were a shopping mall and drive families out of agriculture, when we shove tax burdens DOWN as they do in the South – then yeah, there are not a lot of options. But those with stability DO need that mile long walk to understand the “no options” state of American life. It’s not Beaver Cleaver land any more. Those who condemn others and say, “Well I would never do” fill in the blank or “they could have done SOMETHING” to improve fill in the blank – but then have NO suggestions yet have no compassion either – those are the people who fail the test of being an American. Increasingly they are our leaders. Sarah and Michelle, Glenn and Rush. No compassion, no understanding. Too many people – is it growing? – follow the Reagan lead: just so I got mine. That is un-American. It was the Robber Baron attitude we, as a people, worked against through the New Deal. What I don’t get is how we lost that sense of we, the people, vs. the rich and powerful. But maybe that’s back to the dumbing of America? Our notions of American strength are based on 19th Victorian justifications for that thievery by the rich – American Exceptionalism is a product of land grabs from First Nations people, of justifying imperialism, slavery, inequities that were once almost non-existent. We do NOT teach the truth of our founding roots based as much in economic equity as in our quest for autonomy over our beliefs. We add to that 19th Century justification a dimension of folklore rooted in Hollywood – the John Wayne mentality about the frontier being conquered by a lone man with a six shooter. Bah, humbug – it was massive cooperation. The Grange represents America, not the lone cowboy. Settlements had to be cooperative for people to survive. How could they NOT be? The Great Plains is an unforgiving place to live and farm. Settlers came in groups, not individuals. How can we see “Wagon Train” and not KNOW that? After WW II, instead of moving in families and community groups, we moved as nuclear families, put up individual houses with fences around them, and turned out back on our communities. We always knew “it takes a village” but have repudiated – refudiated? – that entire principle. And yet there are many who still understand, who still come together for a reason, who value community and understanding ‘the other’ among us, to welcome them in as the neighbors and support network we need to have. That remains the ‘real’ America, and it can and does exist everywhere. But you wouldn’t know it from our voices of hyper individualism who are asking us to do the impossible – live as if we and only we matter. We are strongest when we work together because it’s not north-south-east-west-rural-urban that divides us. It’s isolation. It’s utter self interest. It’s loneliness and the fear that produces. The real America values other Americans, no matter who we are, and we need to get that back NOW. » Posted By choicelady On January 4, 2011 @ 10:35 amComments Posted By choicelady
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3342
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