Displaying 661 To 690 Of 5,146 Comments Well go right ahead and blame Obama for this. Congrat! I just read your business description below, and I can well believe the little ankle biters would LOVE your re-enactments of tent surgery with the buckets and gore. Perfect thing for today’s kids. Seriously, this is excellent news, and we wish you another good 15 – or 20 or more – with a better economic environment in which to flourish! And yeah – Romney would blame you for making it work under Obama instead of failing like the GOP predicted. Knowing you’ve peeved Romney? That’s a notion to cherish. Good job, well done! » Posted By choicelady On March 4, 2013 @ 10:18 pm AdLib and KT – I see this as a logical extension of patriarchy. I don’t think it’s even terribly surprising given the things groups such as “Promise Keepers” purveys. The male dominated woman is presumed to be Biblical. What took this a bridge waaaay too far some years ago were stories I heard from minors who were seeking abortion with their parents’ support and in secret from the man – adult yes, predator – OMG yes – who told them from the beginning that if they got pregnant, the man (who met the same description) would take them to a house where they could give birth and he’d make sure the baby was placed in a loving Christian home. He was ADAMANT they must not have an abortion. The girls all thought they had found their true love – until they got pregnant and saw how virulent and controlling he was. Never could prove it. The parents were all aware of their own daughter’s case, but we could not tell them about the others. I suspect a baby making and dealing ring in western NY state. How despicable is THAT? The issue is dominance over the powerless. Using one’s authority or perceived authority to force people to submit sexually is the product of our times. Inequality now, as it was a century ago, is being promoted as normal. Submission is ‘normal’. Obedience is ‘normal’. That’s the legacy of the 30-plus years of hyper individualism and increasing fear in conservative circles that they are losing power. » Posted By choicelady On February 20, 2013 @ 8:50 pm Hi Nirek – I’d never disagree with the premise about our warped spending priorities. You are quite correct about that! I do wonder though if this man was mentally ill – or brainwashed. I think there is a difference. I’ve been around totally sane people who, given really dangerous information as gospel, use their intelligence to what seem to us to be insane ends. If you’re told day after day that the “gummint is cummin’ fer ya”, it is actually rational to defend yourself. Hate talk is pernicious because it builds on molecules of fact. Just enough to “prove” the points being made. I will have to say I have NO idea why this man wanted a child. Not a clue. That and the murder of the bus driver seem utterly irrational. Having sat through one long and wandering confession by an assassin about why he did what he did, I’d have to wind up saying he was perfectly sane – and radically disposed to hate certain people and willing to save his idea of the world by eliminating them. (He apparently shot several people though that’s never been proven.) This is why the emphasis on mental illness and not at all on political zealotry worries me. Zealots are not insane. They are very rational. And they may be very law abiding – until they are not. And even if they are mad as hatters, they now will NOT get help because they want to stay OFF the mental health list so they can get ON the list of being a gun owner. We need to think this through VERY carefully. » Posted By choicelady On February 5, 2013 @ 8:58 pm glenn and Nirek- Thank you for hearing out the issue. It’s also useful depending on the discussion, to talk about lawfully present or not lawfully present people. All the Right’s sneering at our “political correctness” misses the common theme that we are using these descriptors (disable, developmental challenge, undocumented) as adjectives or adverbs NOT as nouns, so that we keep people’s humanity in the forefront. Somehow that just doesn’t seem silly to me. Dehumanizing people is how we committed slavery, so many atrocities in Vietnam, torture. I guess it’s useful if those are your goals. But maybe we wouldn’t shoot so many little kids if we stopped turning everyone into an object? Thank you for hearing me out! » Posted By choicelady On January 31, 2013 @ 7:40 am Just one VERY friendly observation, glenn – can we try NOT to call undocumented people “Illegals”? I belong to a nationwide effort to “Drop the I Word” because it dehumanizes them. Just a friendly suggestion – we would like to make the term “undocumented people” instead. Thanks for considering this. » Posted By choicelady On January 30, 2013 @ 3:44 pm Oh wow what an amazing young woman! Kudos to your daughter and your family for taking her in. I have no doubt in my mind you made a major difference in her life. As a sidebar – the woman in blue is Karen Bass, former Speaker of the Assembly in CA, now a member of Congress. She totally rocks. I’m thrilled to know they’ve joined forces! Bass has had tragedy – her ONLY child, a daughter plus the daughter’s husband were killed in a horrid car crash not long ago. Karen’s engagement with children is of long standing – she has always done what is right by them. That’s a good ally for Nicole to have. BEAUTIFUL photos, wonderful achievement, congratulations to all of you! » Posted By choicelady On January 21, 2013 @ 8:00 pm agrippa I think this is right on. Richard Hofstadter wrote “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” and noted exactly that. We have often had extreme rightwing politics, and, for a free nation, our obsession with conspiracies and persecution is surely odd. Not always misplaced, but way over the top on reality. We gather the wagons, get out the guns, and wait for “them” whoever they may be, however they manifest themselves to us. Moving forward to a more open society is a long slog marked by a lot of backward sliding. It will probably calm down, but somewhere in the next 30-50 years, it will flare up again. We are just weird. » Posted By choicelady On January 19, 2013 @ 11:14 am Sigh – they sound GREAT, Kalima! Your Japanese Siamese are probably also not overbred. I miss my three NON purebred cats from years back, love my current two, and I hope you can have them again. I do agree that the wacked out behavior of some animals has ever so much to do with their owners! That’s why YOUR cats are so nice! Proof right there. » Posted By choicelady On January 19, 2013 @ 11:05 am Siamese were vastly overbred at one point. Made ’em nuts and disgusting critters. Same has happened to various purebred dog breeds – collies, cockers, St. Bernards, Belgians – all of which at some stage were too dangerous and sick to keep. If you remember European royal history, happened to people, too. The “madness of King George III” was from too close intermarrying as the hemophilia was later in Germans and the Romanoffs. Over-breeding is a really stupid thing to do, and Siamese were fave show cats so turned out in droves, nasty, violent, paranoid. They’re great when they’re interbred because they’re smart as all get out, but I’d not risk a purebred of ANY animal these days. Can’t trust ’em unless you know the breeders. Mutts, mongrels, and alley cats are my faves. » Posted By choicelady On January 19, 2013 @ 11:02 am Yeah – Siamese may NOT have been the best intro to cats. Cats are just as varied as people, all have different “catonalities” just as dogs have different dipositions. I had three back east that were all ‘found’ cats that bonded. Our neighbor’s cat made four – they all slept in our livingroom. We kept the window cracked open in the front, on a security lock, so they could come and go. One of them was the sweetest guy in the world so got beaten up a lot by bully cats down the block. Sometimes at 3 am I’d hear the cat fight, get on my robe and head out to find him. The remaining three cats would come out the window and walk down in a row behind me. If we found him, all four would follow me home. Always wondered if anyone ever witnessed my late night cat parade. And yes – these ARE the cats I’ve mentioned before that struck a deal with the rat living under the china cabinet. They paid him no attention at all. Never knew what the bribe was. Depending on the “catonality” I love cats. There are quite a few I cannot abide. But overall they, like dogs, find favor when they’re compatible and good company. I like their individuality and refusal to take orders just as I value the loyalty of dogs. They’re all good, all creatures great and small. » Posted By choicelady On January 19, 2013 @ 10:57 am Weekend Music Thread-Sunrise Morning and Friends Oh AB – she is spectacular indeed! This song has been running through my mind since I found your post. Beautiful! Thank you so much. As a tribute to bito – all I can hope is that someone loved him in person as much as we all loved him here. This just makes me ache hoping he has an ‘eternity’ with someone who cares. Thank you so much as well for introducing me to this amazing woman! What a voice! I’m so glad you know her!!! If you’re in contact tell her she has a whole new fan base! » Posted By choicelady On February 5, 2013 @ 8:48 pm Sigh. Is it not bizarre we’re even HAVING this conversation? I think the dogs are the best protection. Obviously not in all situations, but in most. Despite my “little followers” over the years, I’ve opted NOT to have guns. Even one. My parents had a wonderful dog, a Belgian shepherd, who was their best defense, not that they really needed it. Outside of the fact he needed constant companionship, he was so careful with them that when he lost his hearing, he lay in front of the door watching the side window light for shadows so he’d always be prepared. Of course anyone walking BEHIND him cast a shadow, too, so he spent a long time protecting us from us. But his heart was in the right place. I cannot bring myself to get a gun. I am totally with my friends who have them under these circumstances, but I’m not there. Yet. » Posted By choicelady On February 3, 2013 @ 2:32 pm Oh JM – I’m so, so sorry that happened to her and to you. » Posted By choicelady On February 3, 2013 @ 10:01 am Hi Kalima- One category of citizen MAY need guns: those who are in the cross hairs of the rightwing extremists. Doctors who offer women reproductive health care are packing. I believe (though I don’t know for sure) that at least at one time Morris Deese of Southern Poverty Law Center kept a rifle at home. I have several friends who have riled the Right who have hand guns. I don’t blame them at all. And there is not one among them who does not wish it were not so. But there is not one among them who is unaware of their own risk and wanting SOME kind of protection for themselves and the people around them. That is what our lax laws have gotten us – some people who would NOT have guns now feel they have no other option. How stupid is that. » Posted By choicelady On February 3, 2013 @ 9:59 am Dear foodchain – I think you’re right! You know I work for a faith organization, but none of us see Heaven as a place with people in long white robes playing harps, wings or no wings. UGH! I’m fascinated by quantum physics and all the insights it brings into how much we do NOT know, and into possibilities. Whether or not one is theistic, the idea of “Spooky Action at a Distance” where things move absolutely in tandem no matter how far apart – what MIGHT that tell us about collective consciousness, about dimensions we are merely surmising, about — whatever. If it’s the unified theory where everything is everything else, then we ARE one, past, present, future. It offers the possibility that the energy that is a person – and energy cannot be destroyed – survives, and perhaps is coherent. So bito – if you’re energy around us – we love you still! We might not be able to hug you, but we DO send our thoughts and our own energies your way to keep you in our hearts. foodchain – you are seriously onto something very wonderful here! » Posted By choicelady On January 31, 2013 @ 6:28 pm Thank you, Cher – that gives all of us some hope. If there is an ‘after’, may it be what bito wanted, however that may have been. Just so he will be at peace, free from pain, free to spread his wings once again. We will ALL miss him so much! » Posted By choicelady On January 31, 2013 @ 4:40 pm Thank you Kalima, Kes, AdLib. I am in tears knowing our beloved bito is gone. He was one of the first with whom I directly communicated, too. I’d written something of my own life – my time helping the Eastern Airlines mechanics in their strike – and he joyously responded that he’d done that, too. From that a true friendship was born. We shared roots in many way, bito and I. We both come from the Rustbelt, both had strong alliances with unions, both had the same sense of what mattered in our nation’s history and ethos. He honored me always by calling me “Mrs. Perkins” saying I sounded like FDR’s Labor Secretary, Frances Perkins. I could NOT have been more flattered and tried to live up to that in all ways. He was funny, sweet, kind, insightful, and very, very clear about what he believed to be right and wrong. His passion for justice was never ending, and he presented his views clearly, honorably, succinctly. He took no guff, but he was never mean. Goodbye bito. I love you and always will. Go sweetly to your rest and please, if there IS an “after”, know how desperately you will be missed, how deeply we care, how much better we all are for having known you. » Posted By choicelady On January 31, 2013 @ 9:05 am Weekend Music Thread-Social Conscience and Togetherness These women – and all the women I teach and train to be activists – were the foundation of this song’s meaning. Several of them marched with Rev. King, others were union activists, many have been teachers, social workers – people devoted to working for a far better world. They’ve all been committed to stopping the hate, the violence, the injustice, and even those now in their 80s still speak up, still make a difference. They leave me breathless with their devotion to doing what’s right and good. I think you’d love them! » Posted By choicelady On January 27, 2013 @ 10:09 am Hi Kalima- I know about that film and know about the REAL Calendar Girls and can say that the women in the UMC conference probably would NOT do that, but they’d look and laugh and appreciate those who did! The UMC women are amazing – they are fearless, dedicated to promoting justice, and took on this video and music with gusto. It was a ton of fun being there with them to see their responses! It’s a highly integrated group – Black, white, Latina, Asian – and they ALL loved it and all were very moved by the video, too. VERY cool women! » Posted By choicelady On January 27, 2013 @ 10:05 am The faux Christians tried to undermine progressive ones – giant fail. It is entirely clear who pays attention to Christ’s teachings, and who just appropriates his name to look good. » Posted By choicelady On January 26, 2013 @ 7:59 pm Man in the Mirror was the theme for the annual United Methodist Women in Sacramento. The video and song were the opening offering – and everyone but EVERYONE loved it! Yeah – these ARE the proverbial blue haired churchladies. They tackle racism, sexism, economic justice, and every other key issue as well as challenging the relgious right – and they rocked OUT to Man in the Mirror. » Posted By choicelady On January 26, 2013 @ 7:56 pm WATCH AND CHAT LIVE: President Obama’s Inauguration – 1-21-2013 Your eyes, outside looking back, are a critical part of our “reality testing” about what is important. Americans have become spoiled brats, even among those who don’t have a lot. We bought the Reagan mantra – government IS the problem – as if it made any sense. What uneducated white person living in a trailer and marginally employed actually benefits from current corporatist policies? Why have they bought the line? Is race REALLY that important? The only real function of skin is to keep your guts from falling on the floor. Other than that, it’s pretty meaningless as a way to distinguish those picking your pocket and those sharing your experiences. I do think we’re turning the page – that was the theme when I sat 20 feet from BHO at the CA Dem Convention – and that’s what scares the power brokers. We’re NOT falling for it all anymore. Witness the election. Witness new polling from guns to choice – the world is turning back toward equity, fairness, justice. We can’t be bamboozled forever. I would wish for youth better understanding of Civics, yes, because they do prove Lincoln’s adage that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. I just wish they would not fall quite so often, quite so long. A bit of understanding about how democracy operates, how Congress works, MIGHT help keep things in better persepctive. But I’d urge you to go global with your observations – America:a view from overseas – to remind us ALL who we have as president, and what good things we have as a nation. Might be a major wake up call! Hugs and thanks for all your wonderful writing and reflections! » Posted By choicelady On January 22, 2013 @ 6:49 pm Kalima! LOL!!! I’d not thought about the “leaders” elsewhere, but I think you nailed it. Yes – we picked this one wisely after maybe 40 years of not so much. What’s stunning to me is that for those of us who do policy wonky stuff and know the inside strategies and heavy lifting that goes on, he has turned out to be FAR BETTER than we’d ever dreamed. Never thought I’d have a president who was MORE than I’d hoped. He is not only grounded in the values we care about, he defines success in the “art of the possible”. In very base terms, he’s a GREAT poker player: know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em. I really love this president. I’d say I love him “warts and all” but I’ve not detected any of the latter. Nor in his running mate who appears to be the first Veep to be BFF with his president. That duo is amazing. And the First and Second ladies of the land absolutely rock, individually and together. This was a happy day. Not a liver-spotted grump to be seen. Enjoy from afar, Kalima – he’s president of the US but a citizen of the world. » Posted By choicelady On January 21, 2013 @ 7:51 pm Weekend Music Thread-Ladies Night Wow – blast from the past! Thank you! » Posted By choicelady On January 20, 2013 @ 8:38 pm Oh I LOVE her and this song! KT – I have never EVER told you how much I admire this feature. I am utterly incompetent in doing any postings, but your work is flawless and therefore AWE-some. I’ve heard things I’d never heard before thanks to you, AND found things I’d forgotten I liked! Thank you for such wonderful selections you give us and for your inspriation to others (not technologically impaired) to post their own. SERIOUSLY excellent addition to the Planet! » Posted By choicelady On January 20, 2013 @ 8:35 pm REVIEW: Predictable and Repetitive, Has American Politics Jumped the Shark? OK AdLib – Whew. Wasn’t sure whether absolute frustration had made you give up! I will take this in the spirit it was given. Obviously I’m spending waaaay too much time with various forms of the Dark Side (not HP but others that have crept into my reading.) Glad you’re not giving in, up, or out! » Posted By choicelady On January 16, 2013 @ 9:05 pm You know I love you, AdLib, but this plays into the hands of the Bagger nihilists I fear. We’ve gone through much worse before, honestly. Any look at the output of Congress in the “Know Nothing” era, in the 1870s and 80s – it’s worse. It’s vastly more xenophobic with very little to offset that nativism. It’s anti-labor,pro corporation, stuffy, no vision, imperialist. Oh – and post civil war, it was highly oriented to wiping out indgenous people. And then there was the post WW II period – slaveringly anti-commie and willing to let zealots such as HUAC and McCarthy run amok. It’s been what we see today – and much, much worse. And we’ve weathered the crisis in all those times as well. What we progressives and liberals lack is a sense of what it takes to reverse course is time. The RW, especially the religious right, took from 1964-1980 to get their claws into things, took from then to now to screw it up this badly, and we need to take the long view about restoring our authority over our process. cyrano- I LOVE the coin and all the recommendations from KT et al. about the verso – but it is precisely because our president, the adult in the room, understands how dumb it would be to capitulate to this kind of extremism that your design will not be placed in history. Sorry! Sort of. WE CAN survive this. It’s frustrating, annoying, sometimes scary, but we CAN do this. We have before, and today we must. Nothing else under the sun will ever be half so worthwhile as what our forefathers created. It is not a perfect system since perfection doesn’t exist, but it has indeed trumped Parliamentary styles and many others. While unlike Happy Days we can’t bring back the original writers (!) we can embrace their intellectual maturity. The system DOES work when we don’t gum it up with gadgets, tricks, superficialities, etc. Let’s advocate for a return to democracy. We will be pleasantly surprised I think how well it does work when we let it. » Posted By choicelady On January 16, 2013 @ 12:54 pm Oh so true. If we’re going by numbers, overall we’d be a Catholic nation not because they’re the majority but they ARE the largest plurality. That would surely piss off the fundies! They never EVER think about it, assure us all that they, not we, have all the rights, and don’t think people who are nonbelievers have ANY rights at all. If these goobers were truly secure in their beliefs, they’d not be so slaveringly eager to make sure we all adopt their views. They think if they can make us conform, it proves they are correct. Wrong. » Posted By choicelady On January 5, 2013 @ 1:30 pm He was indeed correct, KT. If you read Jeff Sharlet’s amazing work, “The Family” you’ll see that these zealots had designs on America since the Depression, and when they lost in ’64, they used that time QUIETLY and corruptly to gain control. They hate the Constitution, they do not revere it as they claim. The honest ones will admit they believe rights are for ONLY Born Again Christians though they cannot find anything to support that IN the Constitution. About the separation of church and state, I had one chirpy young woman pronounce to me that “The founding fathers got it a little bit wrong. We will make it right.” Aaaaaggghhhhhhh! » Posted By choicelady On January 4, 2013 @ 6:41 pm Nirek – I was thinking back on previous Speakers. Rayburn, Tip O’Neill, even Martin who was GOP, and it was not until Newt that we got Speakers who were venal, disgusting, and hyper-partisan. The whole world changed with Reagan who gave permission – even encouragement – to ignorance, stupidity, and division. What horrifies me is how many Americans bought it and how many still do. When I was younger during Vietnam, surely one of our most contentious periods EVER, a GOP Senator championed the conscientious objector status of his young constituents, most of whom would not have voted for him had they been older. He did it anyway. It was the Northern GOP whose votes helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Where did all that go so that GOP Speakers reflect the diminishing returns of a decadent party? The single change was the admittance of religious extremists to central positions of power and authority in the GOP. That was Reagan’s cop out and sell out. Rather than showing respect but keeping them in their place, the party capitulated and still is. Dominionists call the shots even now – Baggers largely are religious extremists, too. If the GOP wish to be “relevant” outside the walled and gated country club communities, they need to get real, stop embracing extremist views, and start finding educated people with real American not just RW religious values. Boehner is the LEAST awful presence, and he is clearly and obviously deteriorating from RW pressure and their unrelenting demand that he be irrational. It’s downhill from here when HE is the best they can do. » Posted By choicelady On January 4, 2013 @ 9:26 amComments Posted By choicelady
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