Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments Progressive media’s wrong turn: adversaries vs. advocates This is an outstanding evaluation of progressive media, Nellie. Thanks for the thought that went into it. I loved Al Franken when he was on because he would cite chapter and verse of whatever it was that was being discussed. I learned a huge amount from his careful use of “mouthnotes” saying what his sources were. I like that about Olbermann and Maddow, and, though we don’t have an Air America outlet any longer, I liked Randi when she dropped the harangue and started doing the same. I like to learn, not just hear badgering. In the print media, I read The Nation, but I find the same tendency to sniffy over generalization. I happened to meet Christopher Hayes at a conference last week and really liked him, and he is one whose work I think does the discernment necessary, but columnists such as Katha Pollit give me fits. There is too much deliberate digging up of an issue to bash someone about, even when the bashing is utterly nonsensical. I wish I thought we were in the middle of growing pains, but you’re so right that the very sources upon which we once relied have themselves become corrupt, and I also am not seeing places where good analysis holds sway. I keep reading stories about the US practice of torture as if it’s still going on – only to read cases that are years old. And yet people assert “oh, sure, we still do it” without a shred of fact to back that up. The same is true as it was on health reform – oh, it’s a corporate sell out, oh, it’s not ever going to pass, oh, Obama doesn’t want this, won’t support that – and when it passed, there were progressives (not even single payer folks) who were ANGRY because LOSING and being a martyr is a much more familiar place to be. I think the whiny hype and adversarial edge comes from not having a clue how to be in positions of real change. ALL the people I know who deal with social justice, community revitalization, direct services to those in need – WE all think this nation is making significant progress. The adversarial media don’t because they are into form, not substance. They can afford to bash Obama and Congress for lack of ideological purity. Like to see THEM try to run this nation as a nation for ALL people without making compromises! I cannot, for the life of me, figure out HP. I look at it once in awhile, but my devotion to it has given way to the utter boredom of smug rejoiners and the persistence of trolls. You are quite right that it has become sensationalized, and there are no good links to good stories anymore. Even their religion section has too many wussy or conservative voices. You’d think they’d court some REAL progressives, but noooo. I find I learn the most here at the Planet. I’ve gleaned amazing data and information and views from everyone. It’s a marvelous combination of incisive reporting, good analysis, and lovely humor and humanity. For this time in history, that’s hugely important. It’s a great place to be. » Posted By choicelady On March 31, 2010 @ 9:01 pm I was raised by a highly dysfunctional mother who nevertheless did GREAT holidays. We were fairly simple about it all, but it was always fun. We had friends and family around most of the time, and I never had a bad time. I know people who hate the holidays, but I love them. I shared Hanukkah with my sister-in-law’s family one year when it overlapped with Christmas so we did both, and it was a joy! Both parts were glorious, and I loved it. Tradition! It really does help make you strong! » Posted By choicelady On March 31, 2010 @ 9:30 pm Thank you for this and especially the beautiful illustrations that help make this more clear to those of us who still don’t fully understand it all. I’ve been to seders since part of my family is Jewish, but the oddest one was years ago at the home of a non-religious family that served much of the traditional food, had almost none of the ritual and as a main course served – lobster! Even I knew that was not kosher! I hold that experience as a part of the oddity of American life – too much acculturation leads to weird excess! Still and all, it was interesting. Thank you for reminding us of the story. Continuity through thousands of years is still pretty awesome. » Posted By choicelady On March 31, 2010 @ 9:25 pm That said, I loved following the success of Susan Boyle. She has an amazing voice, and with a lot of coaching, she has become quite lovely, poised, yet still funny and natural. No one my age is anyting but happy for her and for her dream come true. Part of our refusal to age is fine – I’m a “certain age” and can still sit cross legged on the floor, squat and rise without even grunting and with no hands, and I’m glad because it means I’m in good shape. I did catch a glimpse in a store mirror though – I am beginning to look my age (Gasp! Horror!) but I decided I actually LIKE it OK, so I’ll not let it keep me up at night. We fear death because we fear the loss of options. We are the narcissistic, “I’m worth it” generation that cannot abide limits. I know there’s an element of that in me, but I also know I currently have NO debt, none, and I’m fine with that far more than I’d be with a lot of whizz bangs and the wolf at the door. I hope one thing comes out of this recession/depression – more of us working together and more of us with peace of mind. That would be very much worth it. » Posted By choicelady On March 31, 2010 @ 8:42 pm Any show that features Tom Delay in a skin-tight red jump suit is good only as an emetic. » Posted By choicelady On March 31, 2010 @ 8:34 pm There will be double guilt from the much bigger waistlines from all that ice cream! “Does this Depression make my butt look fat?” ” ‘Fraid so, honey.” So we’ll eat more, on credit, and the whole thing starts all over again. » Posted By choicelady On March 31, 2010 @ 8:33 pm This is awesome. It does not surprise me, but it does distress me that it is THAT easy to hurt even older kids this way. We do build in success/failure standards that are utterly arbitrary – and yes, built around the corporate model of zero sum win/lose. Right/wrong answers to complex issues. Think of the teacher who put on “Snow White” as a play for 5th graders – and made all the Black kids be dwarves while the white kids got starring roles. Jaime Escalante died yesterday – Stand and Deliver – who did not accept or believe kids would fail IF teachers believed in them and helped them learn. Too many teachers tell kids right from the beginning – you can’t do (fill in the blank.) Lucky for me, when people told me I could not do something because of (fill in the blank) it simply pissed me off so much I did it. I wish more girls had the “Show ya!” attitude, but too many cave because they know no options. Boys have the problem in different ways. And overall, learned helplessness generates manic purchasing of toys to fill in the emptiness, hope they will finally make us matter. And Bad Bosses make us work harder and longer and with less humanity for fear we have no workplace power and will be fired if we don’t do what they say. We feel utterly dependent on what they tell us to do. Learned helplessness is the result of an entire society that rewards bullies and disposes of the cooperative, the pacific, the kind, the compassionate. We who are older may frown on the slacker generation, but in some ways they are more honorable than those who cave in to learned helplessness. They are often forging new ways of living and being together, more cooperative, less racist, less exploitative. Oddly the kid with the droopy pants may ultimately be the salvation of the world if he or she has rejected learned helplessness and all it implies. At least I hope so. » Posted By choicelady On March 31, 2010 @ 8:26 pm Coalition of Church and State: The Influence of the RR/Our Response Wonderful summation, Sue! This entire series has been awesome, and we thank you for it all! » Posted By choicelady On April 1, 2010 @ 4:36 pm Hooray! My husband has had three, and I had one, and it’s not fun, but it’s not awful, so I’m glad it’s over and you’re fine. Sue – definitely do coffee, but you will be ravenous, too! Something about not eating anything for a day before really gets to those of us used to three squares. Best to you as well. Happy javaz is good! » Posted By choicelady On April 1, 2010 @ 4:35 pm History of the World, Part 1– Passover Edition Sue – I have a sneaking suspicion that many people “adopt” other holidays and traditions to have access to the great food. You must tell your son about Ramadan! He will get delicious food (albeit only once per day) at the iftar dinner breaking the fast. I’ve never HAD anything so good! He needs to adopt ALL the world’s religions since they all have good food (except for anything that comes from Scotland – beware the haggis, my native homeland ‘treat’. It is my profound belief that the Scots migrated to find a decent meal.) I discovered the best part of working in an interfaith world – the people first, the food close behind. » Posted By choicelady On March 30, 2010 @ 7:55 pm Kes – you’re not wrong to worry about this guy or feel creeped out. In my 32-page, 4-color booklet on The End Times (given to me by an anti-abortion, homophobic zealot), it specifically says that rapture ready Christians need to be NICE to Jews for seven years to get back the Temple. I’m SURE, after 2000 years of persecution, that must make all you who are Jewish feel just a darned sight better, yeah? Of course one must never forget that Hagee and his ilk are down on their knees praying you either convert or got to hell. So if you’re Jewish, after the Rapture I’d not be holding my breath for redemption from these guys… » Posted By choicelady On March 30, 2010 @ 7:50 pm So wonderful, Cher! But I really need your help. I understand not eating leavened bread, but where does the intersection of matzoh and NO GRAIN come in? I am severely wheat intolerant and avoid matzoh, gefilte fish, matzoh ball soup, and everything but macaroons, bitter herbs, etc. because – and here is where I need help – I was told that it’s all WHEAT. Just unleavened wheat. Am I wrong? Have I been avoiding the seders just because I was told wrong? Now the wine – I’m fine with that! But I have been invited to varous seders and avoid them like the plague because of my wheat intolerance (which is NOT a hate crime but a physiological reaction!) Correct me if I’m wrong and I will run – no FLEE – to the closest seder! It has, as a Christian, always bothered me no end when Maundy Thursday (last supper) and passover do NOT coincide. I think the Christian calendar should be in sync with the Jewish calendar so that we alway celebrate the last supper on the day of Passover that the last supper WAS. It’s too confusing when they don’t coincide and it is an artificial separation of the “too good for you” Christian attitude. So those are my puzzlements – what about the wheat, and what about the lack of cohesion. If you can answer those, I will be a very happy camper. I already got past my refusal to believe Christ went to hell and then rose. A really wonderful minister told me I don’t HAVE to believe it literally. It just means there is always hope. And I’ve been much happier ever since. Cher – I’m looking to YOU now on my redemption on Passover! » Posted By choicelady On March 30, 2010 @ 7:43 pm Coalition of Church and State – The Family A friend from Springfield, MO where he lived, said when he was Attorney General he allowed, in violation of MO law, the KKK to erect a tent and sell their wares on state property. He is a member of the Assembly of God church, is at least sympathetic to the Army of God in their anti-abortion activities, so when he was in the Bush cabinet, my friend called him the Sorta miss that… » Posted By choicelady On March 28, 2010 @ 8:15 pm Whew – mind-boggling, Sue! I’ve read Sharlet’s book, but you have things I either did not remember or he did not say. This is hugely important for us to know! I consider these people hideously dangerous. I think they ARE distinct from the “rapture ready” evanglical-Pentecostal end times folks since The Family is entirely about POWER – their power. Their presence in foreign affairs is horrible, and I think I’ve been unintended witness to something of what they can do. One of the central figures in The Family is John Ashcroft. He has ties to Regent University, Pat Robertson’s bastion of Christian education. Last summer (I think I’ve referred to this story before, sorry) I was at a conference that housed us at a convent near Catholic University in Washington,DC. The convent rents rooms (very TINY rooms) to students, one of whom struck up a conversation with me at breakfast the first morning. She told me she was from Burma (Myanmar) and proffered the information that her father was a high-ranking military official (Myanmar being a military dictatorship) and her mother was a “Christian”. Not Catholic, a Christian – big, big difference with these folks. She said she was studying accounting in some form, but she had come to the US originally to go to Regent University where she became (her story) “good friends with John Ashcroft” and then proceeded to tell me about a conversation they had. I have to tell you I don’t remember the details of the related conversation since my mind went into overtime – this meant her father and mother as part of Myanmar’s military ruling class had enough clout to get their daughter to the US and into the hands of The Family’s chief ally, John Ashcroft. I knew from Sharlet’s book of their role in deliberately undermining democracy around the world. Clearly there are ties between Myanmar and the Family that may have impact on the democracy movement in that nation – impacts that are not at all good. Now, moving ahead a couple of months: you remember the peace and democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest for 14 years? You recall that she was about to reach the end of her term of imprisonment just before the “election” there? And you recall that a supposed Mormon swam across the lagoon outside her house, climbed the wall and refused to leave for some reason? Well under the terms of her house arrest, Suu Kyi is to have NO visitors outside her family and a few staff. His “visit” extended her arrest, kept her from participating in the elction, and – ta dah – the Mormon guy was quickly released back to the US. Do I think he was at least a dupe for The Family? Hmmm. Is grass green? I don’t know if he is part of The Family or not, but people said he was historically not wrapped too tight, and how easy would it have been for someone to use him to keep Suu Kyi from leading people to vote for a REAL candidate they really wanted? I do NOT think this was by chance. I think this was the clear hand of The Family stopping the work of democracy by stopping Suu Kyi from being freed. This is how they work. All we can do is expose them, bring sunshine to their craven acts, and make people aware they are being manipulated by these horrid people. SueinCA – thank you for being a huge part of the sunshine. This is a real contribution, and we need to archive the series and pull it out once a week to remind ourselves that “They” have not gone away. » Posted By choicelady On March 28, 2010 @ 11:42 am High Times Ahead for California? I may be the only one here who loathes the stuff – smoked twice and hated the feeling – so in a thousand ways this is my “no skin in the game” moment. That said, my ONLY issue with this is that if it qualifies, my board will have to take a position on it for our ballot recommendations, and that will be VERY fun! Ten progressive clergy and two lay people all trying to figure out how to say YES without pissing off our more mod members!!! Several of our member denominations have pietistic or temperance legacies, but hey – we ALL know that prohibition generates crime, so… I’m going to enjoy this a great deal! And yes, since everyone but me is doing it, why NOT make money off it? MY vice of choice is no longer available since it’s chocolate cake or pudding, and since I’ve grown wheat intolerant, and there is usually flour in both, I can’t do either of those things. One square of dark chocolate a night – yeah, tax THAT and see how far you get! I think this is an excellent idea. My only question is whether it will generate tax dodging rather than law evasion as the next criminal issue? In the immortal words of the immortal Gilda Radner: it’s always something. » Posted By choicelady On March 28, 2010 @ 2:26 pm Blue – this is outstanding and very helpful. Sue – you are so correct about the right and the need for prophecy to be fulfilled. I once was given a booklet – four-color drawings and EVERYTHING – on the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming. My fave part was that Christians during all this are directed that for SEVEN years, they must be nice to Jews. That’s so they can take back Jerusalem. At the end of this, of course, God will smite Jews who have not converted. All in all, there’s not much percentage in the relationship FOR Jews in Israel, IMHO. I have long worked with peace-seeking Jews and Muslims who are trying to find their way to a humane solution to this long, long enmity. I have now a glimmer of hope, but only a glimmer. This post serves to provide some ideas I’d never considered before, and I thank you, Blue. It’s real food for thought. One thing is outstandingly clear however – RW End Times Predispenationalist Millenarian Christians have GOT to go! They have hate for both sides of the conflict and are seeking only their own gain. No Zionist worth his or her salt should have a thing to do with them! » Posted By choicelady On March 27, 2010 @ 11:04 am Vox Populi – AfterChat – 3-26-2010 OK – I did not understand ONE WORD of the first posts here. Sorry I missed Vox – was at a dinner for Death Penalty Focus and Friends Committee on Legislation. Actually ate GOOD chicken, but clearly lost the thread of the entire Vox Populi Experience. Or this is a new planet, and I’m not speaking the language. You technically savvy folks are awesome! » Posted By choicelady On March 26, 2010 @ 10:02 pm The Singing Salmon From Wasilla LOL!!! This is SO funny! But Sarah will take it as a hate crime against her, so keep your head down when her helicopter hovers near! » Posted By choicelady On March 26, 2010 @ 10:02 am LOVE these photos Vitupe! Great to see this wonderful man relaxed and being himself. Is it my forgetfulness or are the Obamas the first First Couple in our lifetime to use money to buy things for themselves? I can’t recall a single instance when previous presidents entered stores, shopped openly, and then PAID for things. Too many follow the British Royal Tradition of never having money on them and never buying things themselves. The reason I think this is important (though not very) is that I do think that tends to keep them in touch with what ordinary people experience. What a decent and personable man is our Prez. I really like him! » Posted By choicelady On March 26, 2010 @ 10:07 pm Whew – Sue you have met the greatest frustration of our time: lack of empathy. I applaud you for sticking with this conversation. Not easy to do, not easy to hear. Used to live in Davis and was on the Hate Crimes Rapid Response team. After some hate incident, I used to go to candlelight vigils (don’t get me started about that) where I’d inevitably hear someone say, “How could this happen in Davis? It’s such a nice little town.” Gag me with a spoon. It’s a horrid and sanctimonious town that gives rise to hate by its imperious dismissal of “the other”. Some years ago, Rober Coles, the psychologist, wrote a book, “Children of Privilege” as part of his study of the world’s children. We are raising kids who have not a shred of understanding of other people who are growing into adults lacking the same. We are a nation that dismisses structural and systemic problems by telling the victims of same that they need “personal responsibility” to “snap out of it”. Because money DOES buy easy exit from trouble, they project everyone has unlimited choices. Being poor, especially being poor and a person of color, is damned hard work. EVERYTHING takes vastly more energy and time. And these kids in Granite Bayy, Roseville, and Rocklin hae no clue. And I have NO idea how to build empathy in them. Take them to a homeless camp, and let them hear the stories, and they come away thinking, “Well, I’d never let MYSELF get this way! I’d have done SOMETHING to get out of this!” But ASK what that somethng IS – there is no answer. When I asked a blogger how people living near toxic waste dumps and power plants, with no groceries and only fast food joints around them – how were these people supposed to “stay healthy” – the anser was, “Move”. Never mind trying to figure out how you’d do that on $684 per month. Or on nothing. No – don’t know how to combat that arrogance and disinterest in other people. Just do NOT know. I’d like to hear more about what happens in this class – can you keep us updated? I already like your professor! I hope your deep compassion rubs off on some of these people! » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 8:32 pm Vitupe – you defined the essence of Christianity in one fell swoop. Everyone deserves forgiveness. We rarely fully understand anyone, even those we love, so trodding lightly on judgement is essential. That does NOT mean we don’t have the right to be vexed, annoyed, peeved, or downright angry at people, but we will never walk a mile in their shoes, so forgiveness is all. We express it not in making them our new BFF but in doing what we can to make sure they can go on, can survive, can live another day. It’s not much and it’s everything to take people as they come. That is the gift of acceptance that is the hub of Christ’s teachings. Judge not. You really nailed it. Rarely have read it done better. Thank you. » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 8:21 pm Dear e-cat – you’re amazing! That is so hard, especially when the victim is unlovable and so needy in ways that no one person can repair. I also found myself worrying about the cats as I read this, but I do agree with everyone – what is this woman’s REAL story? How do we generate so many helpless and dependent people who cannot fend for themselves? I work with a group that brings women out of welfare into the community of the strong. It’s amazing to watch them testify about earning degrees and getting jobs – with scars of abuse on their arms or gang tattoos on their necks. But why do we wait until kids are massively dysfunctional adults before there is massive intervention? Years ago when I thought I wanted to be a preschool teacher I worked in a wonderful preschool in the inner city of Indianapolis. We got those kids ready for school, helped settle their demons, and provided a caring environment for them. They ALL flourished. Then came the Reagan years, and the federal funding vanished. Most of the programs dried up – and crime and dysfunction soared. When we live in a nation of YOYO – you’re on your own – and not community, when we blithely support charity but NOT justice, when we diss the government but turn our individual backs, then – surprise! We get a Dickensian society with a tiny rich population and a growing one of dependence, drug use, emotional and mental illness. It’s not the government that creates weirdly out of tune people – it’s the absence of any caring at all. By the time the abandoned child becomes the messed up adult, yes social services can stabilize but cannot fix the mess we allowed to grow. I believe in the “don’t just give a fish, teach fishing” or “hand up not hand out” principles not from a RW anger of “don’t bother me!” but from a point of view of justice. But we won’t spend the money on real education, social service interventions, etc. to assure healthy kids become healthy adults. Charity does not cut it – it patches the immediate hurt and need, but justice helps people become independent and have self respect. You are doing GREAT things with the intervention for victims, but there are some things too great to fix, and this woman is one of them. Her needs have been allowed to grow, expand, engulf her as she as a functional person has been allowed to shrink, shrivel, disappear. We turn our backs on children when we could help. Then we turn our backs on teens when we could repair. And we turn our backs on the adults who are creepily needy. It takes you and the social services system and its pros every ounce of energy to keep her alive and grounded, when maybe, when she was a little girl, it would have just taken the care of one or two people helping her then. But we might have had to raise taxes, and we could not have that, could we? So we neglected her to make sure those with good income could have another iPod, and you’re picking up the debris as a volunteer. Brave new world. Thank you for who YOU are and what you do. It DOES matter. » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 3:41 pm Oh congratualtions, Cher! Just GREAT. Prize kinda sucks, but I suppose it depends on taste. On the whole I’d prefer that to the pony. You don’t have to clean up after HHCNF. Way to GO, our dear friend! Your daughter is not entirely wrong – where would we be without you? But let her know you live by house rules – you share. So there. » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 8:14 pm Any Lawyers Looking for Extra Credit? So to speak… » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 10:47 pm Yes, Vitupe – where DID you get that photo? I did not know botox allowed your face to move that much. Sure a different look from the Happy Homemaker guise she offers the public! » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 10:47 pm Did it! Thanks for the tip! » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 10:45 pm It’s OK – we’ll run alongside screaming “It’s PATSY, not BAMBI!” Of course she probably considers us fair game, too. » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 10:44 pm Job Application for Republicans Nicely said, Vitupe! The reason the Republicans still have jobs is the reason hedge fund people do – the ones doing the hiring are just like them. The voters in those districts are the ‘hiring’ folks, and they want someone to reflect their will, however narrow and selfish and self-destructive that is. There is no one watching that ‘store’ – the district is self destructing. I’m trying to recall the party’s turning point. It may have been Dan Quayle. It certainly was Newt and company. It’s when the pseudo-religious drunken frat boys took over the House for sure – the ones who made ol’ Dixiecrats look good. Or at least less bad. My generation was the epitome in too large part of narcissistic self indulgence, and the Republicans honed that particular bent to a fine way of life. All for me and nothing for you. Image is reality. Personal responsibility – for you, not me. So the nation DID fire them in 2008, but we couldn’t get them all, so here we are. As long as there are people in the ‘hiring’ position who LIKE that sort of representation, we will have these thugs. But we got rid of the Dems and Republicans who had done the Red Hunt and cold war and all that. We did have some amazing leadership from both parties in the 70s – Aboureszk, Udall, McCarthy (the good one), on and on along with Percy and some others who were decent and fair. We CAN fire these dudes, and I rather suspect that over the next few years, we may finally see a change from this lowlife set of bullies. It’s worth working for. » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 8:41 am The T Party — T for Terrorists Sanity – didn’t we have a good conversation about “stealth”? I do believe boring from within is a good thing for two reasons. One is learning. The other is teaching. I think, given where you are and your personal experiences, being good with defense is a good thing. On an emotional front, I detest our gun culture. On a personal safety front – not so much. I’m on a “hit list” (bet that does not surprise anyone – Ms. Big Mouth) but because we’re in a city, I hesitate to ID myself that way to the cops. It actually puts US at risk if they know we have registered firearms. I’d hate to call for something little and have them over-react! But I’m pretty good with a 9mm and an MP-5. The fact that the latter is nearly as big as I am is pretty funny, but my targets were bodacious! So to the RW thugs – don’t piss off the Churchlady. You just never know. » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 8:09 pm boomer – forgot to say thank you for keeping Rosemary close to you. She has gone through hell for justice. I’m glad her story is available to all. She is amazing. She’s also funny, bawdy, a great neighbor TO her neighbors (including a family with KKK ties that she has moved politically) has 8 dogs and 16 cats and keeps her home immaculate despite that. She is a hard drinking, hard living, totally dedicated fighter for justice. I’m proud to call her friend. » Posted By choicelady On March 25, 2010 @ 8:03 pmComments Posted By choicelady
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