Stats

Comments Posted By choicelady

Displaying 4,681 To 4,710 Of 5,146 Comments

A Coalition of Church and State – Introduction

Thank you all for your kind words, but it is Sue who is doing all the heavy lifting on this series! I get to sit back and coast. My hat’s off to you, Sue! I can hardly wait to read it all!

I find the religious insights of everyone, lapsed or practicing Catholic to Agnostic marvelous! I think I’ve said before – despite my job, I do not belong to a church. Spirituality and, more important, moral decency, are not confined to a religion or to religion as a whole. I think you all would find my allies in my world totally in sync with each and every one of you and would not give a rip if you did or did not believe in God. Because, among othe things, who can REALLY say who/what God IS? I tend to come down on the side of whoever said once that the only honest thing you CAN be is Agnostic. So I’m a hopeful agnostic but with a real commitment to the teachings of, yes, Jesus, Maimonides, Buddha, Muhammed (pbuh), MLK, Jr., Gandhi, A.J. Muste, and even that old reprobate, Bertrand Russell. And I find Oscar Wilde and Groucho Marx useful, too. The United Church of Christ has a seris of slogans. One is “Don’t put a period where God only put a comma.” It’s on their banners and in their churches. The author of the comment? Gracie Allen. Enlightenment is everywhere.

Difference between us and “them” (besides the fact I never EVER owned that much make up) is in the BEST T-shirt slogan I ever saw:

“Lord please deliver me into the company of those searching for the truth, and save me from those who have found it.”

» Posted By choicelady On March 9, 2010 @ 9:30 pm

The Catholic church, unlike the Pentacostals and End Times folks, is NOT monolithic. The “Jew Killer” mentality lived baldly in the Passion Play at Oberammergau while Pope John XXIII rescued Jews by the dozens at no small peril to himself.

What has changed is a dreadful conformity of thought. Pope Benedict, a most learned man, is trying to abolish the teaching of evolution as real science and introduce some aspect of “Intelligent Design” into the works, dismissing evolution as “merely a theory”.

We are in the middle of the Great Division that will be as historically significant as the Great Schism. It is no wonder that the Old Guard is hardening in many quarters. It is in peril not from “modernism” but from forces just as rigid and archaic but not the Church. The single biggest threat to Catholicism is Pentacostalism and its ‘charismatic’ fervor. At least until the dirt poor people it selects as its target discover that they are just cannon fodder for corporate America. Pentacostal End times folks do not yet have a Liberation Theology.

» Posted By choicelady On March 9, 2010 @ 9:07 pm

I also wondered when it was that “born again” women (we used to hear them say they were “saved”) looked so tarty.

Well, one anti-abortion protester once turned to a group of pro-choice people and told them to F*CK off. When one of the pro-choice people gasped in mock horror, the anti said, “I’m born again. I can do anything I want.”

There you have it. It’s apparently a ‘get out of jail free’ card.

» Posted By choicelady On March 9, 2010 @ 8:56 pm

Thank you, Sue! Lets me off the hook, you cannot know how grateful I am, and brings ME new insights, too. I can’t wait to read it all!

I would like to say that there is a huge “Christian Left” though I hate that pigeonhole. The mainstream Protestant denominations working in concert with progressive Catholics, Jews, Muslims etc. do have a significant place in the world. We were very powerful in all 50 states in helping shape the better parts of HCR, and we were acknowledged for that presence by Rep. Pelosi, Sen. Sherrod Brown, and many others. Our members were transformative, at least in CA, for moving “Blue Dogs” to support of progressive parts of the impending bill.

So how do we get thanked? Glenn Beck is urging everyone to LEAVE any church that embraces the Social Gospel saying they are communist or fascist. Jesus was a Commie? Who knew?

We in this position (I am Public Policy director for a large organization doing advocacy on social justice. We have 1.5 million members in this mainstream, progressive Protestant community of faith) are caught between two polar opposites: the wacko RW frings (OK – I’ve given up being nice about them) and the secular progressives who can’t believe we are not actually Jerry Falwell Lite just waiting to convert you or tell you that while, yes, we looooove you, you are just a sinner at heart.

NOT who we are. At ALL.

The Social Gospel tradition is not about salvation at all, is not at all convinced God exists or certainly not as an old guy with a white beard keeping tally about daily sins in a Big Book. It’s about following the teachings of Christ that radically departed from the Old Testament tribal traditions to find a new, all-encompassing form of universal love. Gooey sentimentality? Nope. A recognition of common humanity, the power of good, the destructiveness of hate and division, the inclusiveness of care for creation. Belief in a Supreme Being just often means knowing there is something bigger than self. However it manifests itself in your own hearts and minds is pretty much irrelevant (so you can keep the Big Book guy if that works for you. I don’t – unless it’s on take off or landing…)

I have tangled with the religious right for the better part of my own life. They are the opposite, believing “good works” are irrelevant, that judgement of others is essential (that Ann Coulter discussion of Jews needing to be ‘perfected’ is a case in point), and that personal salvation is the ONLY issue. The fact that you actually cannot find that in the New Testament is beside the point for them.

In my encounters with the religious right, I’ve learned that they have totally come to believe in what any normal person would dismiss as rank superstition – the End Times. Because of a faulty set of record keeping, we are supposed to be at the end of the Six Days of Creation (a day is as a thousand years, a thousand years is as a day). They believe it was 4000 years from Adam and Eve to Jesus, and 2000 years til now, so… You can do the math. This means that first will come The Rapture – the holy are lifted from their graves and the holy on earth will be swept to Heaven leaving only their blood and skin (eeeeuuuuw) on the ground. Then will come seven years of Tribulation during which those Left Behind will be tested to see if they can repent and join the Raptured. That is probably also Armageddon (it’s a little vague) with, finally, all the bad people cleansed from the world so Jesus can come again.

Jews are OK for now – Christians are directed to be nice to them for those seven years (must be a comfort after 2000 years of persecution) so they will help fulfill the prophecy and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Hence the coalition between Hagee et al. and Zionist Jews. Of course each prays that at the end, the others will be sent to Hell, but for the moment this works for them. Sort of.

But the rest of us? Nonbelievers, Muslims, Hindus, Social Gospel Christians, Catholics – we are all evil. We must be converted or removed.

At the core then, government cannot direct our daily lives in ANY way, but theology MUST direct the course of government so that the End Times will happen. We, the evil ones, must be destroyed. Removed. Stopped. Halted. You say you accept GLBTQ people? You are an impediment to Christ’s return. You say you believe in sharing the world’s resources with those in need? An impediment to their uplifting themselves through conversion or, better even, accepting their lot in life and being humble in their starvation. You say you honor women’s autonomy? Gasp! A perversion! Out = all of you OUT!

Never in the history of human kind has there been such an extensive pre-dispensationalist (get rid of the evil beforehand) End Times notion. You have NO idea to what lengths these people are going to take over the world. It’s global. They are sending missionaries to the most remote parts of the world to “share the word of Jesus” so they can say they did. NO one therefore will have an excuse NOT to adopt their world view. These anti-science people are using genetic modification to breed the prophetic red heifer (some place in Revelations – can’t actually find it) with only 3 white hairs. Well – they have five of them now, so they’re on their way.

The Temple issue though – still unresolved. It is creepy as all get out that the fundamental issue to the reconstruction is removal of all Muslims. Small wonder to me that we have wars in Muslim nations instigated by a True Believer.

And here at home we have Christian Identity and a myriad of groups all willing – eager – to blast away those whom they hate.

And that would be us. All of us. Convert or die. No gray, wussy middle ground here. So Glenn Beck is supporting that as is Ann Coulter etc., etc., etc.

We no doubt live in interesting times. And if you know Chinese proverbs, you know that is a curse.

So thank you Sue – this is of major importance. We cannot dismiss these people lightly since time is running out for them (we are now 14 years past the Jesus is Due date) and they are no longer in power. Never underestimate their capacity for extremist revenge. After all, in their eyes, you don’t say “No” to God.

» Posted By choicelady On March 9, 2010 @ 11:18 am

Web Address for GROW – Please Vote

Oh – shoot – I did vote for that and forgot all the history.

Now I KNOW I need a vacation.

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2010 @ 6:59 pm

I am definitely in a bad mood over the “Posse” stuff today. My original thought was “growUP.org”. I need a vacation.

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2010 @ 6:58 pm

Last Call on Healthcare Reform from White House

Hi KQ! Good – VERY good – to hear from you. Thank you for this. I did sign indeed. Our national faith network is gearing up as well, and we have sent nationwide alerts to our members for this one, last movement forward. I AM optimistic since I see real spine in the Dems for getting this done. As for the PO? Well – maybe not as optimistic, though I’ve NOT given up hope there either.

We need health care reform for KQ and everyone else here on the whole planet, not just PlanetPOV, who must get taken care of well and made whole. You are always in my mind KQ and Planeteers without coverage! We are keeping on keeping on. Too close to quit now!

Thank you for your good and useful post, KQ. Take care of yourself!

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2010 @ 3:22 pm

HATE IN AMERICA, Part 4: What Can Be Done to Combat Hate

Twice I have encountered a person (in one case two people) who murdered from hate. One victim I knew. The other two had family I got to know through the trial.

I have had the oddest reaction – I have felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. In both cases the three perps admitted their guilt, so there was no ambiguity, but I still felt nothing. I cannot explain it. Of the three perps in the two cases, one killed himself. Felt nothing about that either. The other two are in for life. Nothing.

I think it’s my way of completely distancing them as human beings. They are just – nothing.

Cannot explain it any better than that.

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2010 @ 3:36 pm

Wow – brilliant as always! Thank you so much for doing this series.

Since the 1990s when the first wave of anti-government violence erupted so powerfully (remember the fears of martial law and black helicopters that came when Clinton took office?) the numbers of groups acting in response have also grown.

One thing about those younger than we here on the Planet is that they have grown up in a much more diverse society, don’t see the government as anything they care about much at all, certainly not an oppressor even under the last 8 years, and they are vastly more inclined to be racially, ethnically, religiously, and sexually more indifferent to other people making them far more inclusive and far more tolerant. It’s not universal, of course, but it does give one hope.

In the meantime, our concern for combating hate crimes grows, people declare themselves more actively on behalf of inclusion, and even as the RW expands and hate festers, well, so does its opposite. The yin exists and flourishes right along with the yang.

Since the majority of the tea baggers are old farts, one can live in the hope that nature will take its course leaving the young’uns more prevalent. Until that happens, though, having a list of resources such as this is essential.

This is so comprehensive no one can go wrong just keeping this resource close at hand. Amazing work, Cher. Brilliant job, beautifully done!

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2010 @ 3:31 pm

GROW – The Specific Agenda and Tactics

Hi everyone – I have to say I HATE the name “Citizens’ Posse” because of the Posse Comitatus movement that thinks it has also been “deputized” to take the law into participants’ own hands. They savaged a county clerk here in CA some years ago, trapping her in her own garage and beating her because she refused to file their phony lien papers against public officials.

I think using that term, Posse, is just horrible and could indeed give rise to that kind of action by that kind of person. We do NOT live in a fully rational world!

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2010 @ 10:07 am

Hi-

I think everyone is right to challenge the SCOTUS ruling first and foremost. In CA Prop. 15 is working to get voter approval for the first ever “clean money” election for the office of Secretary of State. The money will come from changing the annual payment for lobbying rights from $25 per year to $350 (which most other states already charge.) Now my query is – does the state, do the people of the state, have the RIGHT to a clean money campaign given the SCOTUS ruling???? So that IS an essential issue for democracy on a number of levels.

I also want to pursue something, though will do so myself if no one else is interested. I want to put a great emphasis on changing forms of corporate ownership from joint stock companies to worker ownership and management. I refer you all to a great book by Gar Alperovitz, “America Beyond Capitalism” in which he discusses this at some length. I have long known that if companies are struggling, they can minimize the drain on their resources that comes by having unrealistic outflow to absentee stock owners. Instead if worker-managers own the company, they can decide NOT to have a profit at ALL, to put money back into the company to strengthen it, to increase pay for themselves which stabilizes them, to delay payments to themselves in order to get through hard times – any kind of decision that then benefits the workers AND the communities in which they live. KQ and I have discussed this before, and I think it’s imperative that we challenge the notion that joint stock corporations are the only form of profitability. So if anyone is interested in this aspect of challenging people over profit, please let me know? Thanks!

» Posted By choicelady On March 1, 2010 @ 10:48 pm

Grass Roots Over Washington (GROW)

Hi-

A little late to the table; was out of town trying to get over the Cold That Will Not Die (6 weeks and counting), but I LOVE this, and I thank everyone who has worked so hard getting it together. I do think it has a simple strength that will attract people and makes a serious point with a smiling countenance. Lovely!

» Posted By choicelady On March 1, 2010 @ 7:31 pm

Join MoveOn’s Virtual March for Health Care Reform Today!

Hi escat and KQ – As one of the covered progressives pushing the PO, it’s out of gut level fear that without that, you may be forced to buy insurance that, soon, you also may not be able to afford. That said, I do think the recent control plans – rate control especially – do help the individual’s safety. But without a PO and serious rate control, it will soon bankrupt us as a nation with the subsidies for individuals at the rate the rates are climbing. If it turns out to add to the deficit, the Reeps and Blue Dogs will kill the entire plan.

The immediate program for those desperately needing care (and I think, escat, your back qualifies as a chronic problem) will be into the pool within weeks to months. How it works and what it costs is unclear, but there is a percentage cap on what you would pay that is not wonderful but in line with what single payer would cost in CA. The gummint pays the difference, and that gives you some breathing room.

KQ – and now escat – I do my work and advocacy ALWAYS with you in mind. I discuss people living on the edge needing care they can’t get, and I think “such as KQ”. Mind you I don’t tell people – your privacy matters – but I think of you each time I train people, lead discussions, put out alerts to our members. You have become my focus. I evaluate everything in terms of ‘what’s good for KQ’ and what isn’t.

Yeah – I suppose we can get along for now without a PO, but it scares me that without it way may cover you for a few years then yank the program on the grounds of cost.

I am furious with the Dems over this. Boxer was quick to support the PO, but where are the intelligent folks to point out that support for reform declined when the Senate bill left OUT the PO, not when the House bill had it?

So the question discussed above is right on – are they ignorant of what voters really want, in the pocket of the insurance companies, or just stupid? I’m voting for C.

» Posted By choicelady On February 25, 2010 @ 7:23 am

Thank you , all of you. Thank you for reminding me of Courage, Cher. Thank all of you for pointing out that some of what’s public is private anyway, so WTF?

At the bottom I know – I KNOW – the Senate bill alone is actually not awful. It will make a huge difference for millions, will expand Medicaid and raise provider rates adding 15 million people and stabilizing the rest. IMMEDIATE care for people with no insurance and chronic or life threatening problems – anothe 18 million. And people won’t go bankrupt because of it.

And I lost sight. You all helped put this “little engine that was fed up” back on the tracks. I will indeed keep on keepin’ on.

Thank you. You talked me down!!! Blessings, Cher – that post is beautiful! Thanks to all for such sensible words, thoughts, and deeds.

» Posted By choicelady On February 24, 2010 @ 8:48 pm

Hi everyone – thanks for posting this, and seeing that we have over 1 million voices for reform including the public option done through reconciliation.

BUT – the choicelady/churchlady is in a massive funk. Our national faith call today had discussions with Maura Vanderslice Deputy Director of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives. I asked her what about the public option, and she gave me a non-answer. I KNOW it can be created through reconciliation and that we now have 26 or more Senators who said they’d do that.

And then the mountain fell on me. The faith community tomorrow will have an ad in “The Hill”, the paper for the Capitol staffers (an online version exists) so I went online and saw yesterday’s version. The pronouncement from on high came down that there won’t be 51 senators and the WHITE HOUSE is “shutting down” (their words in The Hill) the movement for the public option.

I don’t what to believe. There were some rumblings tonight on Olbermann, and I was too depressed to watch.

There are several emotions ranging here. One is the feeling that, as in this earlier discussion about the Dems, they are wimps and just as tied to business as usual as some of the Republicans. The second is that the poll nosedive for health reform came with the Senate bill that left OUT the public option. People don’t hate health reform – they dislike anything that does not have a public option. The third emotion is that my work in CA is pretty pointless since both Boxer and Feinstein are on board with a PO, and most of the Congress (there are three Blue Dogs – Latinos no less – who’ve raised their ugly heads, but most of the Dems are on board.)

Most of all, it’s the feeling that what is good for the public, good for the nation, takes second spot to just getting something done.

Now the vote to remove the exemption on anti-trust from the insurance companies DID pass the House 406 to something!!! Within the Senate-cum-White House plan, there is a move to have national oversight of insurance rates which is equally great. In this cobbled-together plan, the individuals up to $88K (400% of the federal poverty level) would pay from 2-9.8 percent of income for their polcies, and they’d be subsidized for the rest.

And herein hangs the problem – if the federal government has to pay the difference between affordable health plans for families and what the slavering insurance corporations want, this nation WILL go bankrupt over health care costs. It’s lousy, no matter what. Not that bad for people, but REALLY bad for the government budget.

The chief staff person in CA for single payer (sponsored now by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco) says we would not even have to talk about single payer IF we had serious rate control as they do in Germany and Switzerland. Single payer is not cheap. It costs an average of 8% of one’s pay, less for less well paid folks, more for some others. The rate for a family policy in Germany is about $750 per month – that ain’t hay since a family policy here is about $1000. BUT – the rates are predictable and reliable and do not include co-pays, deductibles, etc.

The only way we could get a more reasonable plan would be with a PO – so what the HELL is going wrong that we cannot move the DEMOCRATS to do this? The Republicans cannot drive this train – they want NO change, so why are the Dems handing the possibility of NO change to them? What happens tomorrow if they agree to nothing – do we have Dems with cajones to do what is RIGHT or do they capitulate TO the Right?

One thing is certain – if we do not have substantive health reform NOW, Dems will lose hugely in November. If they pass something that is really helpful, they will win. Why do they not see this?

So – someone talk me down. I have worked this stuff for four years, and I am at the end of my tether and my patience and my morale.

HELP!

» Posted By choicelady On February 24, 2010 @ 8:09 pm

Democrats: Are We the Knee-Jerk Party or Just Jerks?

LOL!!! Yes, I know all 14. They are my neighbors! And in their way, they are cool. Salt of the earth people just as Sarah portrays herself (which is her appeal if you don’t look too deeply.) They are victims, but they insist it’s the gummint not corporations. That I do NOT get.

And I probably will never go to NASCAR, but I have gone to kick boxing, ice hockey, done line dancing, and actually like CW music. (I love Trisha Yearwood, wow.) I LIKE those people who work hard, have rock ribbed values, and aren’t jerks. I also LOVE the union people I know who are quite the same. These are the people who built this nation. They deserve better than the sneering contempt of the fern bar set. BTW – I go to fern bars, too. They deserve better than the sneering disregard of people who work with their hands.

So many people have more in common than they will allow themselves to know. Our easy dismissal of one another’s strengths and one another’s anguish has simply got to stop.

» Posted By choicelady On February 24, 2010 @ 8:41 pm

Hi Cher – I think I did a lousy job of explaining about WHOM I was thinking. I am not thinking of Congress so much as pissed off advocates who barrage me with ways to control the conservative forces. Much of this has nothing to do with religion. Everyone with a hobby horse (as opposed to a genuine concern) believes those who are different must be controlled! And the Left can be as awful as the Right in these regards.

I get inundated with demands that I support legislation or policies to:

Take away ALL guns, even rifles for hunting, because a) hunting is wrong and we should all be vegan b) guns never have a justifiable use c) all guns are equally bad and someone could use a rifle instead of a Saturday night special d) all gun owners are scary people who cannot be trusted. (I am not making this up – all of these have been said to me over the years.)

Compel all Ob/Gyn med students to do abortions or not be allowed to graduate, no exceptions.

Force children saying silent, individual grace over lunch to stop.

Insist that private non-profits NOT taking public dollars to accept (fill in the blank) as members, employees, whatever, no matter what the organization’s beliefs.

And on and on. Luckily, I no longer see too much coming out of Congress from the Dem side that reinforces these kinds of reverse prejudices, but man is it hot on the ground even so! I’ve started deleting my involvement in these sorts of list serves and from people who have “the answer” to some question.

I find absolutism pretty indefensible regardless of its origin, and we on the Dem/Left side of ADVOCACY need to keep speaking out against this “other” prejudice that too many of our allies insist is the cat’s meow.

Sorry I did not make this clear!

» Posted By choicelady On February 24, 2010 @ 1:39 pm

GREAT assessment, Marion! I think you’ve nailed it, and I like the thoughtful reflection you’ve given to the background to Dem wimpiness coupled with the need for compromise. Compromise is not wimpy. To have a legitimate government, you HAVE to pay attention to the other side, to honor their concerns. You don’t have to give away the store – people did elect whom they elected for a reason – but you cannot trod on the others with hobnail boots without consequence.

I see the Dems getting a spine, and I’m happy about that. I also see Obama publicly reaching out to the Republicans, and I’m happy about that, too, because I think each time he does, and they say “NO” it strengthens, not weakens, our move forward. “We tried. Look at how stubborn they are! We need to move on even if they won’t”

My beef is indeed with the very public people such as Maher (I think I am the one, at least one of the ones, who says they don’t give a rat’s ass about people) and the unseen but mouthy armchair “liberals” who have some hobby horse that has not yet passed that makes them threaten to sit out the next election. As if THAT makes sense!

My greatest hope is that the Reeps are self immolating. The split in several primaries next week between not just competing candidates within the party but the inclusion of tea bag people as well, means that it is very likely that they will get the WORST candidates imaginable or push people such as Rick Perry so far to the extreme right that the rank and file voters will just say NO to the party again.

Last night on MSNBC one commentator noted that the Republicans see Brown’s victory as a signal that all is turning their way without noticing that the party members who are part of the tea bag movement are running up the hill toward THEM bent on destroying even the extra conservative mainstream party people. They seem oblivious to their own party’s radical fragmentation. The leaders are Frankenstein. Teabaggers are the Monster, and it’s gaining on ’em.

One note – the tea bag folks seem to be, like the Christian Coalition before them, to be running for local offices. We did a great job in the 1990s of “outing” them, so we need to keep our eyes on that level of governance, too. No toe hold for wingnuts!!!

I now have forgotten which of us so brilliantly looked at the teabag demographics and posted that they are whiter, more male, more wealthy, and only 11% of the populace. We should take heart from that. They are not a threat to solid and principled Dems but ARE a threat to entrenched Republicans. These are the same people (perhaps actually the VERY same people) who supported George Wallce and Curtis LeMay couple of decades ago. They are containable. They are internally divided as well as divisive to the Republican party, and while they cannot be dismissed out of hand, they need to be located in time and space as the relatively small force they are.

That said, their BEST role is finally – FINALLY – galvanizing the Dems to be more assertive. If you have Bayh, Nelson, Landrieu all signing on to a bill that may well include a public option, we are succeeding in rebuilding the party’s spine.

Remember JFK – he was a traditional Cold War Dem who morphed into a very new kind of president in his three years. The Dems themselves had to grow since they were emerging from a decade of threats from anti-communist fervor, from McCarthy and HUAC, and were as wimpy then as they are now. But the crises of the time – civil rights, the first days of Vietnam, rotten judgments in Cuba, etc. – pushed them to become what they were for the succeeding years. I would argue that the disaster of the Bay of Pigs led to the careful and nearly miraculous outcomes of the Missile Crisis. Kennedy totally changed the approach from military intervention to negotiation with the USSR, and nuclear holocaust was averted. (Years ago the late “Saturday Review” had an outstanding story on the process that averted war. Kennedy was brilliant in what went on, receptive to negotiation, and it may, IMHO, have contributed to his assassination.)

I never could precisely figure out why the Dems picked Carter who was, observably, NOT a strong Dem and who did not keep the faith with traditional Dem policies or constituencies. His failure was predictable, though I still believe the Iran Contra mess proves the point that Reagan deliberately negotiated with Iran to KEEP the hostages so Carter would be defeated. There IS a word for that. Starts with T. So I don’t blame Carter entirely, but he betrayed working people time and again, supported the rise of the global economy and all that implies about selling out manufacturing and thus unions, and was the true father of deregulation that laid the ground for Reagan. I look on him as the last mod Republican, not a failed Dem.

And from that point on until now, Dems swallowed the Kool Aid of globalization and deregulation right along with the Republicans. The only difference between the parties was around a few social programs and social values. Thomas Frank’s “What’s the Matter with Kansas” is spot on – if both parties are selling out ordinary people, then the one with the ‘values’ structure will prevail. If people don’t have jobs or economic security, they will find God and go with the flow.

Well, Dems have to come home. We have to have leaders that support the guys and gals living in small towns (you know, the “real” America of Palin’s assertion) in the South as well as North, with God and guns and no real jobs.

We got sidetracked into trying to regulate ordinary people’s lives around their values as much as the right tries to regulate sex. We have to see a distinction between hunters supplying protein to their families and the Saturday Night specials. We have to honor people’s right to worship (not taking over the PUBLIC space) and stop the sneering and lumping of all people of faith together. We have to bring back manufacturing and other solid, middle class income jobs. We have to stop making clean and green an elite-only way of life. And – all who know my history of commitment to women’s reproductive rights, hang on – we DO have to understand that we can’t say this is a woman’s PRIVATE moral decision that must remain hers alone AND insist that it is ‘just’ a medical procedure that everyone should pay for with federal dollars. We just cannot have that both ways since it dishonors the deep beliefs of many other WOMEN. It’s an unnecessary wedge between women and an untenable argument we can never uphold with honor.

I detest the lefty folks (I being one of the lefty types) who simply hate everything. We need not only a spine for the party officials but a heart. We can create a compassionate world, but it will never work if we sneer at the people who like country music, drink beer from long necks, ride in pick up trucks because they do the hard work. We can no longer throw away the auto workers and steel workers, the mechanics and machinists, the foundry and welding operators. These people and their INDUSTRIES are our survival.

What we CAN do is meld our green perspectives with those industries. We can honor workers by helping them become owner-managers of the plants and corpoations. We can accept that if we drink chardonnay and they drink beer, that’s just a matter of taste, not character. And we can stop assuming that those people – blue collar WHITE guys – are not worthy of our concern. Everyone is worthy of our concern.

Even Sarah.

Then we will regrow the party, and more to the point, the process of democracy. We will start speaking for real Americans, not just corporate interests. And, given the SCOTUS ruling on corporate speech, we’d better declare ourselves FOR THE PEOPLE now, because it won’t be long before we will have to ask the 19th-century question:

Which side are you on?

» Posted By choicelady On February 24, 2010 @ 10:29 am

WHY SO AGGRESSIVELY PASSIVE?

Rarest – I used to live in Tullahoma. It’s poor there when the world is rich.

I cannot explain why you cannot get a job, and the thought of you homeless is horrid, especially there where there is almost no real help for those on the streets. Or, more likely, dirt roads.

All I can say is IF you lose a roof over your head, go to a city. More opportunity for jobs, for one thing, more services, less friendly. But it gives you access at least to computers – the public library.

For jobs – look to temp operations, Manpower etc., that hire and pay by the day. They want and need stand up people. They get a lot of druggies and drunks applying. It’s hard – I’ve hired from Labor Ready and it’s usually moving jobs – but it gives you pocket money and often enough to get some shelter. Do that BEFORE you get so poor you can’t keep your car. Don’t wait until the last minute. Move NOW if you can.

Don’t hesitate to approach churches (mainstream Protestant and Catholic won’t bother trying to convert you.) They sometimes can steer you to jobs, and they sometimes will hire you to do maintenance in exchange for letting you live there. They need people for that and cannot afford to pay. Make the request – they may not have thought about it. But steer clear of the Evangelicals and Pentecostals – they want your soul, and it ain’t worth it just to get a cot in the basement!

If you’re near Tullahoma, try St. Barnabas Episcopal. Many years ago they had a “sexton” who lived in the basement. If they don’t have anyone now, they might very well take you. Tell them a former parishoner from the late 60s suggested this. We were friends with the man who did the work then, and they might like to revive the practice or know another church that could do that.

You are living the life of the 1930s. It’s a hard, hard world. You are officially about to become a tramping artisan. Wear it proudly because there is no disgrace in what has happened to you.

But be sure to stay close to a library with a computer so we can stay close to you. We care. We’re pretty powerless on the material side, but we DO care. You are in our hearts!

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 8:33 pm

Nellie – you are SO right about that! And look at the difference even today! I work with immigrant rights people, and with people working for racial equity, and they STILL “get it”. They have fire in the belly and a real sense of purpose. I love them! That was and is the core – the commitment breathes vitality when you have a reason. Too many of us are too comfortable, and too many won’t risk anything for justice because they want to be sure they have iPods first. It’s the “first” priority of comfort that has done us in. Thank you for making this really, REALLY clear.

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 8:15 pm

Let me suggest, in addition to “The Tipping Point” that everyone read “Blessed Unrest” by Paul Hawken (and NO it’s got nothing to do with religion!) He documents the movements, largely in developing or very undeveloped nations, but also in embattled communities in the US that are not only challenging corporate hegemony but finding new and really creative ways to see their communities and economic activities function. He has a web site, too, so take a look. He says there are over a million social movement organizations all looking at innovative ways to take back their lives. It’s an amazing book! VERY hopeful.

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 8:06 pm

Is that not the absolute BEST thing ever? LOVE it!

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:59 pm

Yup. What I thought. I think it’s masterful since the work of pulling parts of the House bill into the Senate bill to go to reconciliation is what I watched happen two weeks ago in DC.

I am SO impressed by what Obama is doing – it’s a public exposure to the base degradation of us by the Reeps. A master stroke!

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:57 pm

kesmarn – you have identified this precisely. We are one another’s retreat when the work and life get ugly. I like to think of us as the homestead – the refuge and retreat (that is safely fenced and protected!) where we can eat put up our feet, take off our flak jack,ets, and hang out for fellowship and comfort. With or without Snuggies.

I’ll bring the pie. You got the coffee on?

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:52 pm

Oh, Cher – that is magnificent! Simply wonderful! I’ve read Piercy but never that.

If you do stand outside, please PLEASE let us know if anyone sides with you? It’s like the government program renunciation Blues Tiger developed. It will be very interesting to see the results.

Be careful though – perhaps best to have another with you – the two? It’s that “have your back” thingy…

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:45 pm

Lord – haven’t thought about that in decades! I was taught that with grave seriousness by my 6th grade teacher. All proof that ‘they’ were trying to take over.

THEY did not have to take over. WE handed it over. More profitable that way.

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:41 pm

Thank you, Khirad! That means a great deal to me. I hope your Dad is still around because anyone who “got” the 60s that clearly is someone of great insight. Glad he brought you up!

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:39 pm

Thank you, Cher. That is not only telling but enormously gracious of you. I understand what you’re saying to me.

My growing disillusionment with Lerner is of little importance, but I am sad he has turned out to be such an empty suit.

We may not ever have a single leader, but we have so much reference – from Gandhi to King to Chavez to anyone else who matters to us – to lead us by what we know, even if not “in the flesh”.

I went to Antioch for two years in the height of the civil rights/early anti-war stuff, and there was a self-styled campus leader (a self-styled atheist Messiah) to whom everyone bowed. My brilliant roommate and another really brilliant woman were discussing something they wanted to do, but how they had to get (Name Removed) to OK it. I looked up from what I was reading and said, “Why don’t you just DO it? You both know what is needed and are fully capable of doing it. You don’t have to wait for his blessing.” They looked positively shocked. I know that my roommate went on to become a pretty activist feminist. I like to think I jump started her that day.

Maybe we don’t need leaders. Maybe we just need allies and friend? That may be the social anarchist in me, but I really do think people have more smarts and gumption than they know.

So let’s not let the five points drive us from the doing of what we believe is right.

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:31 pm

I think that all of the various bills have become muddled. What Obama has cannot pass through reconciliation and go onto the House since it won’t be passed there. This is the ‘talking points’ bill to give the Reeps as little reason for heart attacks as possible, then showing America they won’t support even this. It is my belief from Congressional staff, that the REAL bills are “behind the curtain” and will come out when the various Dems in both houses are ready to act, swiftly. I know Rockefeller said he won’t vote for something, but I think it’s this bill, not the real one. You know – the one that is still “behind the curtain”.

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 7:22 pm

Hi Cher – I love this post, think the points are, in the main, quite remarkably on the money.

Let me tell you why I have problems with Tikkun and Rabbi Lerner.

The issue for the progressives, and that includes the faith community, is that we are not immune from ego and empire building. I was present at Lerner’s conference in Berkeley four (I think) years ago when Lerner used Tikkun as the springboard to political power and headed up the formation of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. He had Jim Wallis there, another ego-driven “progressive” (anti-gay, anti-choice that he is), and it was clear the two men, the Rabbi and the Evangelical, were boon companions.

But the majority of us who were there were muzzled. I attended the workshops on economic alternatives, and it simply sucked. The people in charge had not a clue what was needed to build an alternative universe, but they sure did not want to hear from any of us. they already HAD a plan. The Rabbi had determined that through moral persuasion, he could get ALL American corporations to consider issues such as the environment, fair pay, compasion for communities in the Third World, etc., etc., etc. He developed a plan called “The New Corporate Bottom Line” and would entertain NO thoughts to the contrary.

I taught corporate power for 15 years for Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations Program. I know what the legal and political foundations of American corporate power are. What the Rabbi would NOT understand is that C corporations (the vast majority and all the Wall Street traded ones) have gotten laws changed over the years so that they are FORBIDDEN to consider anything but making money for stockholders, and they may consider that as a secondary issue to their own management salaries and incomes.

Needless to say, Lerner has succeeded not at all in getting corporations to sign onto his ‘new bottom line’. They cannot legally do so.

He also would not remotely entertain the idea of worker ownership and management, of community ownership of things such as their own supermarkets, of having communities affected by development have a SAY in what happened to their neighborhoods. No – HE was the Economic Messiah who would lead us all out of bondage. He knew it all. We were just to be his followers doing his bidding.

So in building the Network, he refused to heed any of the rest of us who are “out here” doing this work. He won’t unite with us in our work, wanting us to support only HIS work – which is bogus.

Back when Z magazine was founded, the first couple of issues were consumed with articles about “reunions” of 60s radicals, and then with letters about how so and so was not invited to said reunion. Ego was everything. Work on justice gave way to sniffy hurt feelings and domination of one group over the other. If you know Gulliver’s Travels, you’ll remember that Lilliput had a civil war over which end of the egg to open first – the little end or big end. That’s how ridiculous these disputes have become.

Well, there is another way to look at it all. My husband was the editor of the student paper at SF State under the Hayakawa administration. It was he who refused to shut down during the 1968 student strike over establishing Black Studies as a legitimate course of study. He stood his ground, got arrested and did fairly serious jail time, all for free speech. In 2008 the reunion did not even contact him much less invite him to speak. And you know what – he was just sad. He did not get on his high horse in high dudgeon. He stil works for social justice for people who are not himself – and he has no skin in their game, but he does have heart there.

That is what we’ve lost – if we ever had it.

But the energy that people now expend on “you dissed me!” “No – YOu dissed ME” is part of what has dissipated our energies.

Much of the 60s was manifest narcissism. How many people would have marched against the war had there been no draft? Look at the lack, overall, of protest against the war in Iraq – because no one had anyting at risk. How many “activists” really were looking for a way out of their boring lives and, when things finally ended, went right back into the corporate world? We said it was growing up, but it was really partly a lack of serious commitment and only a commitment to fun, pushing our parents’ nose into our politics, and hanging out doing our Thang.

I find commitment to issues has not been a part of post WWII action for most people, even when they appear to care. If your ox is not being gored, where are people to fight for what is right? The people who did NOT have skin in the game for civil rights (we white folks), Vietnam (women, the exempt), economic justice for workers (we college educated well employed) who stuck with issues because they were RIGHT and JUST – we are few upon the ground. I’ve already ranted about the capture of environment by the Neo Cons who call themselves “Crunch Cons”, and all the “Me Too” indifferent liberals – they who care nothing for the people who produce our food or the impact on people of color for soaring prices, they do want to make sure that THEY have all the good stuff, all the organic clean stuff, and if the poor don’t, well, tough.

Into this comes Rabbi Lerner. He and I are in the same rought Boomer generation (he’s older but not a lot). His driving force behind Tikkun is making himself the voice for “social justice” – except he has not got a clue what that is, really. It is what HE says it is, and you damned well better conform.

My organization lobbies, and we invite the Network of Spiritual Progressives and similar groups to join us on health care reform, lobbying for budget reforms to assure that the poor don’t literally wind up dumped in the gutter (Arnold’s only plan), etc., etc., and you cannot get them to work with us because they are so busy building their empires.

At the foundation of why there is no movement in America lies that. So many have bought into the “get ahead by any means” rhetoric of Reagan that even the most leftie person I know will stab activists in the back so they don’t grab the limelight or, worse, make the armchair dilettantes look bad.

I know about back stabbing. I have a full Ginzu midnight special sticking out of mine.

Am I pissed?? You bet. Do I quit? Not yet.

What impresses me no end are the Planateers. I see differences of opinion, different lives, geographies, age, race, whatever – but I see a unification of heart. There are kajillions of us here and in the world – we just don’t know it. We find one another by chance most of the time. We are the ones doing the work. We are the ones serving those in need, tending the sick, raising thoughtful kids, working hard, paying bills, and still finding time to raise our voices for change. I AM paid for what I do, but the pay is pretty marginal. But we keep on keepin’ on because we all know there is a way to a better world.

We have trusted the other people, the self styled leaders way to long. Bob Edgar, now CEO of Common Cause, was the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches before he moved over to Common Cause. He is a Mthodist minister and was a Congressman for a time. He wrote recently, “We are the leaders we have been waiting for.” If that sounds Obama-esque, well, that’s where it started, with Bob.

We ARE the leaders we have been waiting for. And our move to build something new, something dynamic, something HONEST and committed to real good – that’s what needs to happen. It’s not empires, not fiefdoms, not inflexible parties with lots of rules. It’s this community we have forged on the Planet.

And for all of you for whom religion makes you cringe at best, gag at worst – take this with the heart I deliver it. In all of the world, I’ve never met more moral, kind, spiritual people than here. Never. Religion is idiotic, false, and corrupting, but faithful spirituality lives supreme in all of you, theists and a-theists alike. It matters not what you believe about that – the brilliance of compassion for others and the world shine through each one of you, and that is where the real change must begin and is beginning here.

So we can be the change we want in the world. We are a small band (for the moment) of dedicated people. But I think people will gravitate to the core of what we always discuss – kindness. We want a kinder world. And we are willing to work for it. And that will help undo all the reasons why nothing seems very different. We represent real transformation. That is very worth the doing.

» Posted By choicelady On February 22, 2010 @ 6:49 pm