Displaying 5,011 To 5,040 Of 5,146 Comments A very dark and depressing day in Montana Hi Kesmarn – about the women, yes, I think it’s true. But half of those hanged for witchcraft were men, and the same thing applies. It’s very much like the anti-choice fanatics today – much of their rage is NOT about abortion but about people (mostly women) having control over their lives that they do not have. MA in 1690 was stripped of its autonomy and made a colony. The seafaring people got shafted when English sailors took over. Those who weathered the change were seen as enemies. In those days, everyone believed in witchcraft, and it was not a far stretch to think if you did well when others did poorly, you must be possessed and therfore supernaturally powerful. We have long seen scapegoating, especially by those who are having tough times. The KKK upper-class leaders recruited dirt poor farmers who were natural allies of free Black dirt poor farmers. So they drove the wedge of race, and new scapegoats were found – freed slaves. LOTS more convenient than having them turn on the LANDOWNERS who were ripping off both whites and Blacks in equal measure! Where is the stamping plant? I lived once in Buffalo, NY and knew the people at that Ford stamping plant. They were my students and friends – I would HATE it if they actually did what we’d talked about and had it collapse! Horrible! Nothing is certain, but what IS certain is if THEY get stimulus and can get that going, they have a far, far better chance of success than if the plant is absentee stockholder owned. I hope they can do this wherever they are! » Posted By choicelady On December 15, 2009 @ 8:39 pm Sure! Hence – “tater”!!! I’m unaware of Blue State people saying it that way! Blue State people, at least in NY, PA, OH have perfected the plural “you” – youze. But not tater. » Posted By choicelady On December 15, 2009 @ 8:30 pm Welcome, Tiger. This is a great planet on which to live, rich or poor, employed or not, whatever you do, whoever you are. We’re glad you’re here. » Posted By choicelady On December 15, 2009 @ 7:34 pm Thank you for saying that, Karate! I feel like a jerk sometimes when I think that, but it’s really true. When I want to bite someone’s nose off, that is precisely the time to be kind. Thank you Pepe for your kindness – it’s really amazingly good to BE kind because it makes YOU feel human, too! Every act of kindness and help does create change, and everyone you help can at minimum breathe a bit more freely for the moment. That IS what being human is all about. » Posted By choicelady On December 15, 2009 @ 7:30 pm Bet it comes from the kids’ counting game with fists – “One potato, two potato, three potato, four.” Naturally it would morph into ‘tater’. It really implies a whole lotta people never got beyond age 6. Kinda worrisome but cute all rolled into one. » Posted By choicelady On December 15, 2009 @ 7:26 pm bit’o- I am a solid believer that there HAS to be a “third way” to reform our economy. We’ve tried Laffer and Friedman over and over on the unregulated free market. We’ve seen the dull wit of state-run business in Eastern Europe. So. First I went back in history and found that in the 600 years between the end of feudalism and the rise of industrial capitalism (capitalism is only about 200 years old, folks) there WAS a different way that brought amazing prosperity to all people. Not the SAME prosperity, but a level of self-sufficiency and lack of want for most people. That was when we had a “moral economy” in which the people who produced things did so with high levels of autonomy, but the town or city controlled cost while the craftspeople, men and women, controlled quality. That entire standard of fairness in all economic things existed from 1620 to 1802 in MA – people controlled production both as independent crafts people, farmers, etc. AND in factories (of which there were very few.) The law protected everyone – producer and consumer alike. And in that time, people were amazingly equitable in status, sufficiency of living, and democratic input. And – women had their OWN economic rights and, if they were heads of households, VOTED in the key democratic base – the town meeting. Moving forward in time, it has been statistically verified that worker owned and managed businesses are MORE profitable than others because if employees are also owners, wise decisions get made. Owners in general do better than hired managers, and when the people who work in a place are ALSO the owners, it’s simply amazing. One wise man told me he believed that the strength of smart business decisions lay under the worker’s cap! Capital has always depended on the wisdom of employees, but they simply will NOT admit it. What we can no longer tolerate is absentee, disinterested control of our economic endeavors. That is the same whether it’s stupid managers or stupid bureaucrats. The state-corporation dispute we hear today is precisely the WRONG issue – it’s absentee self-interested managers vs. on-the-ground vested owners. Small business does pretty well. Worker owned and managed (and managed is the key) do brilliantly. Simple “ownership” as in United Airlines is insufficient. You have to use the brains of the working people to make a business do its best. That would be Southwest Airlines! I know these experiences such as that of the copper region because I look for them. A friend came from the “little finger” area of Michigan where workers did buy and run a copper plant for nearly 20 years after it was to close. They did finally close – but an entire generation survived and flourished because of the buy out. There are 11,000 worker owned businesses in the US, and all are stable and profitable. It’s why credit unions (community owned) have done fine while banks flounder. Base your ownership in a community or employees, and you have a vastly better chance of survival. The ‘rake off’ for profit to absent owners is gone. If you have to break even, you can. You see worker-owners making sacrifices, getting through hard times, flourishing when absentee-stock-owned companies crash and burn. VERY different standards of value about what is important. NO one is paying attention to this save a handful of us who see this as the keys to the kingdom for revitalizing our economy. Sure – a new WPA would help a LOT, but letting workers take over a “failing” company would help much, much MORE. So that’s my rap, and I’m sticking to it! I really urge you ALL to read Gar Alperovitz’s book, “America Beyond Capitalism.” It is absolutely boffo! Oh – and the colonial New England work? My own four years of primary research for an unwritten dissertation. When I stop doing advocacy for social justice and retire, I’m writing the damned thing. Count on it! I’ll dedicated it to all of YOU. » Posted By choicelady On December 15, 2009 @ 7:17 pm I am so sorry Pepe! Here is a suggestion – a long shot but it’s worked a couple of other places, notable the copper range of MI and a Milk Bone plant in NY. When the plant closes, Smurfit-Stone will write it down – take an accelerated depreciation – to get back millions in past taxes they paid. That is CASH, tax-free, that will go to we don’t know who. Here are some approaches: The state of Montana buys the plant, lock stock and barrel at that write down price and re-sells it to the workers or community to keep it running. MT puts up the money at low interest through existing bond funds (all states have them) to be repaid through profits. And there WILL be profits since worker owned and managed businesses have very different profit standards. See Gar Alperovitz in “America Beyond Capitalism.” If S-S has taken tax breaks, credits, infrastructural support from the local or state government without fulfilling promises made, consider asking the local government or state to demand repayment. The repayment can be the plant and its equipment. They can VALUE the plant at the WRITE DOWN price (the company’s price to the feds)so that if there is money owed to S-S, it’s way less than some absurd “market rate”. One person in the MT state legislature who might be open to this is Margaret MacDonald from Billings. She might be very helpful. I hope this works! » Posted By choicelady On December 15, 2009 @ 2:44 pm Wyden is right about the limits of reconciliation. You can address only budget-related issues there, so any of the good reforms in private insurance could not be submitted. On the other hand, if we could ram through a universal single payer to balance the budget… Yeah. Right. » Posted By choicelady On December 14, 2009 @ 8:39 pm nellie – I’m so glad to hear Randi agrees with my assessment. She has good judgment. It may be possible that some of the blue dogs in the Senate will cave and vote well when they can whine that they were forced to do so. We’ll see. Just a lighthearted point – I once stayed at a B&B in OR where Wyden and his lovely companion (name unknown) were also staying. He never spoke one single word to any of us – and when my husband and I sat behind him at a play, only his very nice woman companion spoke to us. He’s a cold fish – but wow – good politics. I’ve decided not to let his personality overwhelm my respect for his political savvy. I suspect Liberman is the opposite – personable I hear, but what a cretin politically! » Posted By choicelady On December 14, 2009 @ 8:38 pm I am so angry I could spit! Yes – a trigger may well have helped, but we cannot have mandates to buy a commodity in the largely unregulated private market. There is not even a TERM in economics for that! Last time someone used the force of law to make you pay a private entity was FEUDAL TRIBUTE. I am sick of the conservatives in this country, but I’m also sick of the progressives who have stopped writing, working, calling, doing anything at all. They would rather whine than do the work. So it’s left to us, and we are exhausted. Time to go back though – still have conference committee to get past and then BACK to the Senate where Liberman MUST be threatened with loss of everything and told to put up or shut up. Disgusting. And America will hold the Dems, not the conservatives, not the Republicans, accountable. Wait and see. We are a stupid nation. » Posted By choicelady On December 14, 2009 @ 8:31 pm Hi- Rage, rage against the dying of the light… We MUST keep shouting! Liberman and Nelson are a minority, and the rest of the Senate once DID have a majority not on the filibuster but on the vote. Reid must exercise brass knuckle tactics here – bust them down to the worst seats on the least significant committees. What the Senate does is not the end. But if we don’t scream, we will lose everything. There is not one single thing Wyden told Rachel that really matters. Market reforms do NOT have caps on premiums, and the possibility of “carrot/stick” tax increases won’t do it. They will hide profits – always have. The rest of the guarantees are worthless without rate control. Pre=existing conditions will simply shove ALL rates upward. There is nothing in this “reform” that will accomplish one damned thing. Does anyone know who the Senators are who killed this? There wee only five in the Gang of 10 plus Lieberman. That’s not enough to kill it off – so what’s the hold up? Liberman did this before and got threatened off supporting a filibuster, so what has happened? If you live in any of the conservative states or have anyone there – I had parents in NE so wrote using their old address – SEND YOUR MESSAGE NOW – and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. They have to hear. I have been told that across the boards MOST Senators have received support for a public option, so what the HELL is going on???? The strength is in the House. They will support a public option, but WE must support THEM. No choice. The lines are drawn. Which side are you on? » Posted By choicelady On December 14, 2009 @ 8:24 pm Hanukkah: the festival of light Oh, yes – mmmmm! The BEST! Thanks for this great post, Cher. Got any good recipes without flour though? I can’t eat wheat, and I’m not sure how to make latkes without flour. Flour substitutes are pretty awful. » Posted By choicelady On December 14, 2009 @ 1:25 pm Hi- I loved this, and am indeed familiar with the traditions partly out of interest and partly out of family. My sister-in-law and nephew are Jewish, and I once spent Hanukkah-Christmas with her family and had the most wonderful time! We did have a Christmas tree (though her mother worried how she’d explain it to the neighbors – who were actually doing the same) but put stars of David on it along with Christmas ornaments. The whole thing was about warmth of family and friends, the feelings of connectedness and spirituality, and I STILL have the tiny bottle of perfume I got on Eighth Night. It’s all joyous which is really the point. » Posted By choicelady On December 14, 2009 @ 1:23 pm Stupid is a Pre-Existing Condition: Whatever Happened to Suffering Real Consequences? I have to say, since this is HP, that this may or may not be true. Reid has only to say to Lieberman that all he needs to do is vote for cloture, that the Senate has enough votes for a public option and a good plan. BUT if Lieberman tries to go against the caucus on cloture, he will find himself the lowest-ranking member on Tourism to Bora Bora. Lieberman already made it clear he’d not give up his chairmanship of Homeland Security for anything. HP is given lately to false headlines and hyper-ventillating. So I’d not give their stories much weight. We shall see. This does not mean L. is a nice guy because he is NOT, but I’m not trusting this source anymore. » Posted By choicelady On December 14, 2009 @ 11:53 am OK – being three hours behind a lot of you and still awake, more or less, I hope y’all go back and read ALL the comments here. You are the most amazing people I’ve encountered in many years. There is such maturity, thoughtfulness, and outright kindness in these posts! I am part of many commentaries on blogs, but I have NEVER read so many outstanding and wise statements from anyone, anywhere. As one of the fairly “newbie” commentators, I took to your collective and individual presence within HOURS. Every single one of you embodies the essence of human decency, thoughtful reflection, and compassion. And you all have that rare gift – a sense of humor! WOW! I am SO grateful to you all for just being who you ARE! Thank you for letting me move to the Planet. It’s the best place I’ve been in years. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 9:31 pm Thank you on ANY level, TRP! Tha’t so kind of you to say! I love your posts, too, and I do now know we’ve shared similar experiences. The true comfort of growing older is to see the good and bad of life can co-exist in the same place, same time. It’s exasperating as hell, but it sure makes for an interesting ride! » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 9:25 pm Oh boomer – I so understand! I have spent much of my life as the “polka dot” – the only white person in the group. I worked with a city official, one of the greatest men EVER, and was taken in by all of his supporters and made part and parcel of every gathering. When the book, “The Secret Life of Bees” came out, I cried at the descriptions of the little girl (I was an adult, but it did not change this) feeling the warmth and inclusion of the Black women who’d taken HER in. I love August Wilson’s plays because they are so much about the men and women I’ve come to know and love. There is so much pain in the lives of the courageous people who have fought discrimination – and there is so much love and laughter, too! I am so blessed to have had these years of their friendship and warmth and support and inclusion. It has enriched my life, and yes – those WERE the best parties I EVER went to! I’m so glad you had that experience and cherish it. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 9:20 pm I am struggling with Muslim customs too. I get In Focus, the periodical, and it has some fascinating ads. One was for NON silk ties that were “halal”. Well, I associate that entirely with food – like kosher is. So I wrote a friend, a US woman convert to Islam, and said, “how can ties be halal? We don’t EAT them?” She about died laughing since halal is yes, codes of conduct. Silk is reserved for women since men are not supposed to adorn themselves, but – women CAN. So I learned something – and gave my friend a good laugh. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 9:14 pm Hi- I started to watch some time after it began, and I wound up starting with the John Brown segment. I have come to loathe him because he’s the icon for the ‘justifiable homicide’ anti-abortion murderers. They think he made shooting doctors an OK thing to do. So, I had to turn it off. Otherwise I’d have watched indeed. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 9:10 pm TRP – any church that would boot you out is a fraud as far as faith goes. I’m horrified! And so sorry that has happened to you. Everyone needs community – depending on your desire, look to other churches. I now know why we resonate – I lived those great years in Buffalo! As much as people there and Rochester are salt of the earth, they can be closed minded and very cruel. I am so sorry. I refuse to let people dictate to me about how I live my life which is, by all measures, incredibly BORINGLY ordinary! Save for my politics, or course. But NO one can tell you that you are unworthy of the embrace of faith, so find others who share your views and be with them. They will love YOU, that is for sure. Whoever judged you? It’s their loss, for sure. PS -bet I’m a LOT older than you, and I am living energetically and even sexily in my middle age – it really IS a state of mind these days. With your poetry and art you have an energetic vision. Therefore, you are NOT old! » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 9:07 pm Wow Kalima – that is frightening, isn’t it? Does he not remember the lies and hate directed at his people in the US during WW II? What does one do with all that? I would counsel you to be his calm and quiet guide if you can, but I must say I’m put off by the cruelty to animals, too. But I also know that at the end of days, even my liberal-to-the-core mother became suspicious, angry, distrustful of people whose very rights she had championed at some cost to herself. You may be dealing with early stage dementia. If so, that’s terribly sad. Life isn’t easy, is it? Thank you for your kindnesses to him, even as he grows more difficult probably by the day. Turn to us if it grows worse – we’re here for you. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 8:57 pm Oh indeed! I have a great deal of interaction with Muslims from quite conservative to very progressive, and I adore them! You are SO right – they embody all the “American” virtues! They are who we once were – hard working, close-knit families and community, all the things we SAY we believe but leave on the doorstep once we finally do make it. My only problem with Muslims is my tendency to forget NOT to hug the men! (My problem, not theirs!) But I’m getting good at it. I’ve rarely met warmer or kinder people. Once I was a guest speaker at an interfaith women’s iftar (the evening meal breaking the daily fast of Ramadan) where total strangers offered to have me to their home that night! Wow. They were amazing, funny, warm, kind women. I’ve never met anyone, save one Shiite cleric, who was not outstandingly warm to me, and he was new to the country and just nervous around an American woman with no hijab. (His problem, not mine.) Indeed – they have renewed my faith in humanity! Wonderful people! » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 8:51 pm TRP – beautiful “book” with wonderful meld of word and image! I like Impermanence and Blind very much. Wow. Be not afraid – your work is wonderful! I know Rochester, or used to. Good town, solid people, but not given to the rise of such as thee very often. It is a place of permanence, not flights of imagination. You are both of it and without it. Says volumes about your creativity to write without disdaining where you came from. That’s a gift. Good night. Thank you for sharing! » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 8:42 pm Oh RarestPatriot – I share your fear and I hope we’re both wrong! Impersonality is so scary. I know, as a trained historian (and you CAN try this at home) that we’ve gone through this and worse before. A century ago many of our cities watched kids starve under their noses and walked on by. Right after WW II life was golden for some, a nightmare for many – riddled with corruption, brutality, etc. If you were Black or other minority, that’s the whole history of your experience. So some things have changed for the good, but so much has not. We do have choices. I choose to be a center for my friends. I choose to reach out. I still bring food to people in times of trouble. I will say that is NOT reciprocated. But I keep on doing it. I bet you do, too! (OK – maybe not the casserole thing -but whatever you CAN do.) I still wave thank you to other drivers when they let me move over. Rarely does someone wave when I do it for them. I still do it because I keep thinking it will restore civility, so I don’t stop. We of antique values do have something to offer. I’m glad you grew up as you did. Keep on keeping on! » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 3:49 pm The lonely pursing the lonelier? I think pursuing rich men for the baubles they bestow is indeed disgusting; holding out the baubles to GET the women is equally sordid. Would anyone look at Hugh Hefner if he wasn’t rich? He’s kind of creepy and always was. But underneath it all, is it not simply so pathetic? Where is the heart and fulfillment? We seem to be willing to settle for the superficial. What scares me is how attractive this seems to our youth. Ugh. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 3:25 pm I’m exhausted by it all. Quite a number of years ago, Rober Coles, the noted psycholgist who wrote about children in many different circumstances, did an article, “Children of Entitlement”. It focused on the rich and privileged, but I think it extends to even those raised poor who become wealthy and, in their own way,powerful. Americans don’t seem to respect their neighbors (they might be making $5 more than we) but do love the Rich and Famous. Why? This adulation all folds into the race to have 4000-square-foot homes and what I call “kitchen envy”. Karl Marx once discussed the ‘feteshism of commodities’ so this is not new. We have so few personal relationships anymore that we have to have things – ever-changing, more and more – to feel good. I have a young relative who is a millionaire – young, hip, with it, spending lavishly on what he admits are toys but who has no real relationship with anyone, friend or love. He got it from his mother who always embodied the saying “she knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”. I feel sorry for him – deeply, worriedly sorry for his hollowness. He is very lonely. And is that not what this is all about? The happiest people I’ve ever known have been cops and union families, people with a tight, loyal circle of friends and supportive relatives. Too many of the rest of us have no support, no security, no nothing. So we move on to successive lovers, things, experiences, all the while seeking what we can’t find in work that no longer matters, people who no longer care, relationships that are no longer reciprocal. I lived for several years in a working-class integrated neighborhood where we had block parties, spent summer nights doing gardening and conversing together, exchanged help when we needed it, shoveled sidwalks in winter. I babysat my neighbors’ kids who, when older, came and sat with me and my husband on our front porch and just talked. Young Black kids talking with middle aged, white adults! Cool! We had such a wonderful life! I now live in a similar area where I know fewer neighbors, but I still sit on the front porch to say hi to those going by. Someone has to make this a real neighborhood! I wonder who talks with Tiger. No one talks with my relative unless they want something from him. Bet it’s the same with Tiger. How sad. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 3:19 pm Very good observation, KevenSeven! » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 2:54 pm Progressive slippage is taking a HUGE toll on those of us still working on issues. We all discussed a couple of weeks ago that people forgot that Obama said change is up to PEOPLE, not to him. Well, I believe that wholeheartedly and work day and night to accomplish what I can. But I AM demoralized by the armchair so-called progressive critics who not only trash Obama but also trash those of us still working. Friday I got bamboozled into what I thought was supposed to be a discussion about health care but turned into a debate about the congressional plan vs. single payer. The person who invited me to drive 8 hours round trip, is a smug “progressive” who set me up as the fall guy because we believe we’re obligated to be involved in the discussion about what’s on the table, never mind that we totally agree single payer would be much better. So I got trashed and diminished by him in front of an audience (small, thank God) for not being “too good” to support working on the outcomes. Most of what he told the audience about the plan was WRONG, and I was quite careful to lay the blame on the media, not on him, but it was clear he had brought me there to show how bogus I and my organization were for trying to craft a good plan instead of sniffily dismissing it because it’s not single payer. The fact that he’s still alive is testament to my basically good nature. I am still furious, but more to the point, I’m scared because he was NOT the only one who thought they were ‘too good’ to be engaged. How we lost real progress is because for too many, it’s an issue of narcissistic superiority. Saw it all through the 60s, and here we are once again. We cannot sustain real change if we wash our hands of the hard work it takes to dig in an insist on what we want. And it is those armchair critics who are giving support to the tea bag folks through their contemptuous dismissal of this president and congress. They’d rather whine than work. And that’s the death knell of a democracy. » Posted By choicelady On December 13, 2009 @ 3:39 pm Good for you, good for Sam (he’s one of the Good Guys anyway.) I had sent out what I had thought was an idle alert – did it anyway – to the folks in CA 1 where I have a grand total of 39 contacts. Little did I know that they were massively turned on to move Mike Thompson, a Blue Dog, around. They organized from Davis to Eureka, and raided his district offices in person and sent many, many personal letters. One week later, he had a front page story in the Sac Bee saying he’d changed his mind and was supporting the public option. One of the ministers then wrote to me from a very small church in a very small town apologizing (!) for having ONLY 85 people turn out at his office! That exceeds the numbers of people in her whole church!!!! We were the only group working CA 1 and Thompson – and we turned him. Never underestimate the power of human voices. That’s what the arrogant, sneering “progressives” are not bothering to do. But REAL people are in this for the long haul. They make me cry, they are so wonderful. » Posted By choicelady On December 12, 2009 @ 7:16 pm Hi- I can’t say, without the bill and amendments in front of me, what the exact language is, but I do this day in and out, and I was quite horrified Thursday to hear from RACHEL MADDOW even, things that were wrong, wrong, wrong! I communicate directly with Nancy Pelosi’s chief consultant on health care and Sherrod Brown’s head staffer on same. NONE of what the MSM has reported has been accurate, and when I got a transcript of the Thursday morning press briefing with Pelosi, it got only weirder since MSM declared the public option was dead with Pelosi’s assent. It is NOT dead, it is central to the House commitment on health reform, and she SAID so. That was my WTF moment! Per your concern, I understand what KQuark has noted – caps vastly raised, no cutting off sick people, etc., etc. All this MSM (and even NON MSM) bad reporting is making people crazy, and I’m leadin’ the pack. It’s one thing to advocate for what we want; it’s another to have to correct misinformation in order to advocate for what we want. I take ibuprofen like candy these days. Oy! I DO agree with boomer1949 – write, write, write! If you ever lived in another state, use the address to write your senators and congress there, too. Friends, family – make them say what we want, too. I have it directly from the House and Senate staff mentioned above, that volume and frequency of contact DOES MATTER. And don’t leave it to the likes of me – I’m a “professional” in advocacy and don’t carry the weight you, as independent citizens do. And then round up the snotty elitest armchair “progressives” you know and make THEM do SOMETHING other than just critize Congress and Obama. Make them put their money where their very fluid mouths are. I’m sick of them. They are a drag on the whole system. Bah! One thing that is absolutely certain – voices equal votes, and votes CAN outweigh money. I’ve seen it over and over. Believe in your own authority and power to change things. » Posted By choicelady On December 12, 2009 @ 11:08 amComments Posted By choicelady
Not talking you down, but this is NOT over. This Senate bill HAS to go to conference committee where Pelosi – I got this from her chief health consultant in an email between us last Thursday – will NOT back down on what the House passed that does have a public option.
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