Displaying 3,721 To 3,750 Of 5,146 Comments Hi- You MUST come back to S. CA – you are entitled to domestic partnership rights at minimum. You are being treated as poorly as “welfare moms” under the old welfare programs – no man in the house – which is beneath disgusting. Come back! There is not a lot of help, but there is FAR less discrimination. If you wind up in LA or any major city, turn to the Metropolitan Community Church – the GLBT-friendly (founded FOR GLBT people) for guidance on resources. They are great. Do NOT let yourselves be separated for housing! Next they will kick you out of his entire life and decisions. Here you have rights. That is hugely important since you can get shared resources. It matters. Come HOME! » Posted By choicelady On June 24, 2011 @ 1:03 pm Illinois schools got in – the vast majority north and northwest suburbs of Chicago. I did not grow up there. My folks bought a home in an ultra conservative western Chicago suburb area thinking it had good schools – they were OK, but if it had not been for my mother’s weirdness about northern Chicago burbs being the goal of social climbers and thus anathema, I could have done MUCH better. On the other hand, I might not have spent the past decades fighting the religious right that I contended with daily in the town where Billy Graham went to college. My Unitarian Democratic family was NOT a good fit, and I rememeber high school as sheer hell. But it sure opened my eyes! » Posted By choicelady On June 23, 2011 @ 8:29 pm This is Bush’s SCOTUS. You’re expecting REASON? Buddy – you are a man of good heart. Naive as hell, but good heart. » Posted By choicelady On June 23, 2011 @ 8:18 pm {Cough} I got 100% – I knew the judicial review answer. I was a history and American Studies major – I had BETTER get 100%!!!! I also passed Cher’s 4th, 8th, and 12th-grade history tests a few days ago. Nice to know I could still get my diploma. Small triumphs, happily received. » Posted By choicelady On June 23, 2011 @ 8:16 pm That’s it. Funny! » Posted By choicelady On June 22, 2011 @ 11:50 pm Hence the sidebar today about What does Sarah Palin take in her coffee? Half. Several of us could not breathe for a time for laughing. » Posted By choicelady On June 22, 2011 @ 11:49 pm It’s hard to boycott them AGAIN. I’ve been boycotting them so long, I have nowhere left to turn in fierce and defiant opposition. I doubt ugly letters would help once they figure out I don’t shop there anyway. Suggestions, anyone? » Posted By choicelady On June 21, 2011 @ 2:02 pm It’s indeed a sad day for justice BUT the Supremes opened a door – each class of employee can file AS a class. The Supremes ruled it would be “confusing” to have so many different jobs all mashed together (I think they did not say it quite that way.) So “unmash” them. Then Wal-Mart would be fighting quite a large number of smaller class action suits. All clerks – a class. All supervisors – a class. All greeters – a class. All warehouse people – a class. You know – corporations really should beware of their wishes…there ARE other ways around this that make us stronger and them weaker. Hah! » Posted By choicelady On June 21, 2011 @ 2:00 pm Congratulations! Have a swim. Drink lemonade! Read a fun book! Take a walk (if it’s not too hot). Good things come to those who’ve taken exams and now are done. » Posted By choicelady On June 21, 2011 @ 1:53 pm Cher – given the history of your Dad, it’s clear why Danny Thomas would come closest to your image of reality! An immigrant with roots deep in both his culture of origin AND the US, a planner and plotter who (though Danny’s character was in show biz) made deals to advance his career. A man with a delicious sense of humor AND irony – I can see how Danny Thomas’ character might resemble your father! Mine really did approximate the patience, humor, and wisdom of “Father Knows Best” – a show that dealt with kindness and respect among family members I always thought. Jim Anderson also showed a great deal of support for his two smart daughters by encouraging them to BE smart, talented, athletic, and to stand up for their talents and self respect. I think the show was way ahead of its time in that regard. My father was pretty much in that vein. The rest of the shows seemed alien indeed. But I always loved Danny Thomas – and it’s fun to think the show might have resembled your life a bit. The 50s and early 60s were just weird culturally in all kinds of ways. The fact we can find ANY moments of positive affirmation of healthy relationships is something like a minor miracle. Beats the “dad bashing” of too many shows today though. The men on the Planet certainly show us that THAT’s not an accurate picture! Thanks for the memories! » Posted By choicelady On June 19, 2011 @ 4:16 pm Sally – that is definitely part of the issue. Back in the 50s Packard started to go out of business because their cars lasted forever. So Detroit started planned obsolescence. It kicked off a lot of the “buy now pay later” mentality we live with today. You cannot nurse things along – the “shade tree mechanic” who repairs his or her own car is a thing of the past since they are so technical now. Poet and essayist Wendall Berry talks about sustainability in the “cream and egg” family farms – those that can withstand drought, hail, and other disasters with the cream and eggs they can still sell. “Small Is Beautiful”, the idea of smaller and more sustainable scales to EVERYTHING that require downsizing is now making a comeback. If every piece of farm equipment we make is for the 500,000-acre farm, the 160-acre farm will perish – the scale of equipment and cost is ruinous. And it’s not durable either! Sustainability is in the head of the beholder, too – how many young couples on HGTV walk into a kitchen I’d kill for (mine is serviceable but sort of tired) and sneer “everything has to go” because the NEW appliances are WHITE instead of stainless steel???? So even the NEW becomes disposable, and the disposees (or whatever you call them) are locked into a spiral of ever-greater debt. You have absolutely nailed one of the critical aspects of our dependence – and that one is both inflicted from without in shoddy goods and from within in, well, stupidity. » Posted By choicelady On June 18, 2011 @ 8:38 pm With these kinds of economic missionaries, I think yes, the perfect MUST be the enemy of the pretense. There are too many better options than to be beholden to the market system that mandates your purchase of inputs but dumps you when it comes time to sell. It is designed to weaken people even as you give them some more money initially. It’s going to rebound on them – the more you’re tied into the global market, the more fragile your economic stability. The true definition of power is not getting what you want. It’s making sure others are utterly dependent upon you. That’s the most vile form of servitude, and most of us are not seeing how capitalism is reverting to forms of feudal obligation that keep people from exercising their own wants, political goals, lives. » Posted By choicelady On June 18, 2011 @ 4:06 pm Kaptur is one reason we need to parse our support of candidates VERY carefully. She is passionately ANTI-abortion. I think she is Catholic. On every other issue I adore her – she has such a voice for working people and for economic and social justice! But I know tons of people who’d throw her in the pit for her anti-abortion stance. I worked my butt off for 20 years for women’s right to choose. I am hounded by the anti-abortion forces to this day because of it. But I will stand by and with Kaptur, vehemently disagreeing with her on that issue but lovin’ her forever for her righteous passion on everything else. I can be discerning and choose to look at the whole. Not everything can be reduced to a single issue. PS kes – this is very easy for me to say since I don’t live in her district! But I deal with others similar to her, and the same concerns apply. » Posted By choicelady On June 18, 2011 @ 10:52 am He’s using his vast wealth to bring – uh – “improvement” to people in Africa. He is “helping” farmers in very impoverished locations, I think in Uganda for one, to grow cotton. Of course, he insists that they use GMO seeds which tie them in bondage forever to Monsanto that owns the seeds. The farmers cannot seed save, a key factor in sustainable self sufficiency, and the cotton those seeds produces is inferior quality meaning farmers get less on the market. The fact he has them growing FOR the global market is yet another form of bondage. So be careful when you wish for Mr. Gates to “use” his money for good. Define “good” first. Gates is making sure that while farmers may have a bit more money, they for sure are not increasing their relative autonomy. Gates, Soros, and all the billionaires directing outcomes with their money are NOT promoting self sufficiency but are creating a somewhat less immiserated class of dependent, market-bonded serfs and working people. Welcome to the Brave New World. Is it worth being tied to global forces just to have a little more money? That is one big, thorny problem we are NOT discussing. Alternatives DO exist. One of them, the work by Grameen Bank to provide loans for microenterprise, is being assaulted because some – by no means all – of the lending carries high interest. That tends to be different nation to nation, but the work they do WELL is being challenged for that which is not going well. Oikocredit, a faith-based investment operation started by the World Council of Churches is under the same attack despite their very LOW interest rates for microenterprise. The sources of the challenges? Two forces: pro-state advocates who think government should do everything, and pro-bankers who think conventional financing should rule as with the IMF and World Bank. Both sets of criticism of Grameen and Oikocredit overlook and disdain the interior political issues of self sufficiency. They both see local control and freedom from market or governmental forces as a threat. IMHO that means microenterprise has done enough of a good job to become a serious challenge to global capital and centralized control of people’s economies. I’m not overlooking some of the problems, but I AM concerned that as with so many other things, a serious challenge to centralized control generates a massive pushback via distortion and outright lies. Those interested in global agriculture can subscribe to a very good listserve at the Oakland Institute. The Executive Director, Anuradha Mittal, is one of the keenest analysts of how superior nations dominate global agriculture through manipulation of land, water, money, and markets. Her stuff is well worth reading. You can check her web site: http://oaklandinstitute.org/ Her current issue is how Western hedge funds are manipulating Third World land. She tackles a variety of concerns, and she travels widely to get the information first hand. She is also beautiful, funny, and one of my favorite people. I recommend a look at her work. So suck eggs, Mr. Gates and Mr. Soros and all you billionaires. We WILL challenge your global hegemony. We don’t have the money, but we DO have the will. » Posted By choicelady On June 18, 2011 @ 10:43 am Calm, dear, calm. These stock photos offer only so many alternatives. AdLib is one of the LEAST ego-driven people I’ve ever met. He is recycling photos because the supply is small. Only YOU have the talent to provide new stuff! The rest of us are image challenged, including AdLib. I second Buddy – choose the Beatles! » Posted By choicelady On June 18, 2011 @ 10:19 am Amen! Artist -women of an age old enough to be in Congress don’t do this stuff. It’s not “boys will be boys” but a firm matter of there being nothing illegal about what he did. Stupid yes. NOT illegal. We have to push back here – Vitter visted prostitutes that IS illegal and is still there, and we don’t have anything to be ashamed of about standing by someone who was merely – yes, merely – immature and stupid. It’s not sexist. Should some woman be that equally dumb (a level of equality I’d prefer we not achieve) then I’d stand by her, too. So long, of course, as she’s not one of the people telling other people how to live. WEiner did something stupid, not something unethical or illegal. Enough already. » Posted By choicelady On June 11, 2011 @ 7:35 pm kes – you have nailed the progressive miasma – we fight each other, not the Right. We can’t cooperate for beans, and to this day I do not understand why. AdLib and I have had a long discussion about left strategies – when to cooperate and when to pull out. For decades I’ve had major differences with various groups, but unless there was illegality or utterly unethical behavior involved, I tend to back away. We are too small a universe for internecine warfare OR empire building. On the latter front, it never ceases to amaze me that groups protesting the monopolization of America seek their own monopolies by which to dominate the rest of us. That said, I don’t have to play, but I do have to be cool about how I go about NOT playing. I refuse to “out” people for no reason other than my snit fit or ego. This is the stupidity over Weiner indeed. What he did was sophomoric, kind of icky, and dumb – what WAS he thinking in this age of “nothing is private and Andrew Breitbart is watching you”???? But it was “hands free”, and I agree with Rachel – if David Vitter can patronize prostitutes and get diapered by them, then Weiner is JUST a temporary embarrassment and nothing more. Get over it. Move on! We have a job to do, getting rid of the religious and secular right and its hold on policy, and Weiner is essential to that. Smack him if you want, but GET OVER IT. He did nothing illegal, and it’s between him and his wife, period. GOP says, “Weiner”! We say, “Vitter”! That WILL shut them up. They hate having that rubbed in their faces since he did something massively ILLEGAL. Enough on the Left! FOCUS! » Posted By choicelady On June 11, 2011 @ 7:30 pm At least better than The Donald’s – I think the Honey Badger took roost on The Donald’s head. » Posted By choicelady On June 11, 2011 @ 8:44 am And Perry’s Texas STILL has a $25 BILLION deficit. So much for “good management” he brags about. » Posted By choicelady On June 11, 2011 @ 8:43 am Political analysts say the Newtie team bolted because they did not wish to be tied to a loser. I think Newt will move on to No. 4 if No. 3 gets ill. I think No. 3 will hang onto Newt for the Tiffany’s account. Unless that’s hers in a prenup, of course. One question I want answered – what doofuses continue to say Newt is “an intellectual”???? That man is dumb as a doorpost. Glib I will grant you. Well informed and thoughtful? NEVER! » Posted By choicelady On June 10, 2011 @ 1:12 pm I’m with you on that, kes! Won’t it be ironic if the Mid-East obtains democracy just as we’re eroding our own? I can’t believe how willing people are to holler about freedom and give it up all at the same time. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 10:09 pm Yup. Having large bands of unemployed is great for depressing wages. Of course, these bozos forget it also depresses consumer power, but hey… Relaxing child labor laws is great because they work cheaply – if it was good enough for the textile mills, it should be good enough for the contemporary corporations, right? Keeps the little buggers from demanding a public education, too. Win-win for corporate capitalism. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 10:07 pm GREAT description! » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 10:04 pm I don’t think it’s in power, so we agree. I DO think there are forces “out there” such as The Family that favor embedded inequality with a coherent elite totally in charge, no freedom of thought, capitalism that is harnessed entirely to the will of the core governmental elite, and a submissive populace that also serves the state. What is likely to save us is the fact that capitalists won’t sit still for being told what to do – unless they can be part of the decision making, of course. The factors exist, but they have not and likely will not assume total command control. We have always had a strain of that in America. So far it has failed to win all the marbles. So far. We need to be vigilant however – with Haliburton, Blackwater, and many other powerful corporate forces desiring command control and all too willing to share it with The Family and their ilk, we must never relax thinking “it can’t happen here.” It damned well nearly did under GW Bush. That’s as close as I hope we EVER come. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 10:03 pm Thanks, bito – at least I was relatively in the ball park. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 9:56 pm I looked at the Snopes site that linked to several presidential decor photos. The only RWB motif was Clinton’s with gold drapes. Plug ugly, in my opinion, but all the others were pretty moderate. Kinda liked GHW Bush’s taste. I can see few changes between Bush and Obama. The RW need to foment is just beyond belief. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 9:47 pm Holy smokes – lookie the flags! Hoo boy. But should we give so much work to China? That seems to be where all the US flags are made…Anyway I say hey to the Prez for standing tall with all them flags! But maybe that’s just cover for his REAL feelings? Can’t be too careful, you know. And I agree with you bito – where are the Islamic symbols on them there curtains? Must be sooooo tiny so we’ll all be fooled and not see ’em, right? Man that’s one sneaky prez. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 9:38 pm I just emailed the FCC and thanked them for further destroying democracy and fairness. I also wished them a good night’s sleep. Suggest everyone does the same. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 9:31 pm SallyT – that would be tidier, wouldn’t it? What I don’t get, as someone who does a LOT of anti-hate crimes work, are the white supremacists who emulate both the ‘gangsta’ culture on one hand or, like the skinheads, the ‘leather guys’ in the Castro district. Too many tattooed, baggy-pants and hoodie-wearing white kids look and act EXACTLY like their Black peers for me to “get” how the white kids are “superior” in culture as they will claim. If you’ve ever seen a photo of a skinhead or KKK bar scene, it’s indistinguishable from a leather bar. Put the two side by side, and you will be hard pressed to tell which is which. I’m not claiming the skins are repressed, but, well, I’m just stating the obvious. » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 8:31 pm Oh I like that. Like that a LOT! » Posted By choicelady On June 8, 2011 @ 8:25 pmComments Posted By choicelady
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