Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments Oh, yeahhhhh… » Posted By choicelady On December 23, 2011 @ 2:21 pm kes – good luck with the dinner! Hope you have help and that it’s delicious both from the great food and the great company! Merry Christmas! » Posted By choicelady On December 23, 2011 @ 10:14 am Oh thank you, Sue! Christmas memories for me are all good. My otherwise dysfunctional mother did holidays really well – simple but special, and we always had good times. She was an excellent cook and made terrific cookies and included my brother and me in the process. Those spice drops? We did a kind of Toll House recipe with those instead of chocolate chips, and they were delicious. Our only major disaster was the year we tried to string popcorn and cranberries a la tradition. What a mess! But it was just funny. We never did it again but were always happy we tried it. We made paper chains that we kept for years, squished a bit from storage, but “Tradition”. We often had people come around for dinner, and that was fun, too. My folks had great friends who were interesting and witty and a pleasure to know. We always had a live tree so the smell of evergreen coupled with cookies baking is very powerful for me. Candles, nice Christmas music on the radio – all was good. Got lots of books and clothes usually, and those were my fave presents. The joy of Christmas vacation was having something new to read and the time to read it. I went to church, my family did not, but when I sang in the choir they did come. It was nice. My best Christmas memory musically is either playing Oh Holy Night in the school orchestra or hearing Nat sing the Christmas Song. Nobody did it better, IMHO. Thought he’d live forever and sing that for us. Glad we have recordings! After the holidays came January and back to dysfunction. Oh, well. That was tradition, too. As an adult my brother married a Jewish woman, and I got regular involvement in Hanukkah which I love. I spend the holidays with her family one year when Hanukkah coincided with Christmas and just before New Year’s Eve and 30 years later still have my “eighth night” bottle of perfume from my sister-in-law’s aunt and uncle whom I adored. That last night we had tea and gorgeous cookies, music, singing, and family in gathering. It was tons of fun. It’s largely why “happy holidays” means a lot to me – it’s NOT just about being Christian. It’s about all of us everywhere celebrating as we choose. So happy holidays everyone! Whatever you do and however you do it, may it bring real joy. » Posted By choicelady On December 23, 2011 @ 7:29 am OWS Episode V: The U.S. Empire Strikes Back Last report I saw, not necessarily reliable, is that he’s out of the hospital and OK. That’s all I’ve heard. » Posted By choicelady On November 21, 2011 @ 6:04 pm You mean he isn’t still the weird little college Republican? Wow – always thought that was his high point and he just kept going. » Posted By choicelady On November 21, 2011 @ 6:01 pm The one GOOD piece of news, if you can call it that, is that the two UC Davis Campus Police who maced the non-violent protesters were put on leave by the Chancellor. For everyone in CA – there is a place and set of procedures by which you may bring formal complaints against law enforcement. You are supposed to begin with the specific department, but beyond that, since you will likely get little or no response, there is a link at the CA Attorney General’s web site you can use: http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general/government.php Scroll down past the first part on contacting the departments including complaints against judges, and you will find the right link to the complaint form – it’s in English and another in Spanish. Don’t blow this off if you were a witness or victim – it’s important. » Posted By choicelady On November 20, 2011 @ 8:57 pm THIS needs to go viral – maybe it will stop some of the police departments from doing this! Nothing cools one’s jets half so fast as a whomping big fine! » Posted By choicelady On November 19, 2011 @ 12:26 pm I am here to say that at NO point when anti-abortion protesters did exactly these things were they ever treated this way. In the cases of “lock and block” – chaining themselves together with titanium locks – the police brought in bolt cutters after HOURS of letting them sit in clinic waiting rooms. In all the years of all the blockades, tear gas and flash grenades were NEVER used. Ever. Protesters WERE hauled away and arrested, but they were never harmed even when they went limp and had to be carried out by 4-6 officers per protester. The one Buffalo PD office who treated someone roughly during booking was put on leave immediately and later resigned. So – after YEARS of that – why this? It has to be impelled from above. The UC Davis campus cops perfectly well know how to deal with crowds and, to my knowledge of their actions over a decade, never maced anyone before no matter what. This is despicable behavior. The chancellor definitely MUST be held accountable – revolting treatment especially ON a college campus where the protesting parties are out of public way. No issue of impeding the public stands up over at UCD, none, so that cannot even remotely be used as justification. Yeah – Bloomberg has shown his true alliances, but so have all the other mayors and authorities. SHAMEFUL behavior. Absolutely shameful. » Posted By choicelady On November 19, 2011 @ 12:24 pm On this we are in total agreement. This is reminiscent of July 1892 at Homestead, of the Memorial Day Massacres in South Chicago, of Kent State. What the HELL is the matter with mayors and police in this country? I have major reservations about the wisdom of camping in public areas – state sanctioned violence is NOT the alternative. NOT. Watching the police drag that young woman by the hair this morning in NYC – why? What was that in AID of? She was outnumbered, there are procedures, what the HELL made them do that to her? Police riots are nothing new. I have contact with Bloomberg’s office – the faith community in general is over a totally unrelated issue – and he WILL BE HEARING FROM US. This is beyond stupid and beyond disgusting. How dumb are we to repeat the very things we now repudiate from 40 years ago? And let me observe – no one ever did this to anti-abortion protesters even when they tied up city blocks for hours and days at a time. I was there – anti-abortion people got treated well EVEN WHEN they attacked the policy and they DID. We are a nation of chicken shits – the rich holler, mayors jump, and ordinary people get beaten. Stupid, stupid, stupid. » Posted By choicelady On November 17, 2011 @ 6:12 pm A Snapshot of The Occupy Movement Discussion on Planet POV I have to agree with Murph on some of this. The “fraudsters” need to be defined – it was largely NOT banks that originate the subprime loans but unregulated mortgage brockers such as Countrywide and others – and they all did some very illegal things that ARE being prosecuted by the feds via the district levels. You cannot bring back “Glass Steagall” – Glass and Steagall are people, and they are dead. You also really want to re-think this since today even credit unions (mine for example) have brokerages as part of their business. What you CAN do – and why language matters – is segregate deposits from investment, make sure banks cannot themselves invest in speculative paper, and insulate depositors from investors even if they are the same people. You cannot create a Commission to overturn the impacts of Citizens United – you need a Constitutional Amendment which is UNDERWAY. So get on board. No Commission can thwart a SCOTUS decision of this magnitude. Want to break up too big to fail banks? How about simply re-instituting anti-trust legislation AND anti-cartel legislation. There is more than just banks at stake here. I get the movement and momentum (that being the only list I’ve seen) from OWS – but it’s laboring in ignorance of what happened and what and how to reform. This is where coalitions of occupiers AND policy people need to come together – but there is a barrier I’ve heard over and over against working on policy. AND the drumbeat against the president to DO these things is, as bito and Murph understand, TOTALLY STUPIDLY IGNORANT. THE thing essential – and where the OWS low polling numbers worry me a lot – is voting in liberal Dems to retake the House and expanding our reach to the Senate. No Congress, no action. Period. The President does not make the law. He enacts it. So hollering outside the White House to get these changes is pointless. OK – I will stop being so cranky, but it won’t stop me from being worried. I don’t want to see reform delayed as long as the end to Vietnam was delayed by public opinion that was freaking hostile to anti-war sentiments for years and years. I want our side to be rational and thoughtful not just loud and demanding in the changes proposed and the targets of our action chosen. Otherwise we may see a major reversal and Romney or worse as our next President. That, to me, is totally worrisome. » Posted By choicelady On November 16, 2011 @ 1:09 pm Well Ef ’em if they take my crankiness at PPOV for an excuse to do this! I’m just cranky, not stupid. And I will defer ALWAYS to my fellow Planeteers in the hope I’m wrong, not demanding that I’m right (especially not Right!) I have no bloomin’ idea, but this suggestion is worthless Bagger garbage, and Sue – you’re a genius for figuring it out! Sorry, abbox – you lose. » Posted By choicelady On November 16, 2011 @ 12:56 pm Sally T – it’s taken me several days to get up the nerve to read this. I’ve been following the Penn State disaster, but I can’t listen to a lot of the commentary. I have NO idea if this was part of my past or not – I flinch at such stores but have no such memories – but I do know I was raised by a mother who at minimum ignored every peril that confronted me and possibly, at worst, tried to kill me off through “diseases” that she inflicted – Munchasen Sydrome by Proxy. I think – think – I’ve come to terms with what she did. She hated me, and I don’t to this day know why. But reading this, I am horrified by the pain inflicted on your husband by adults who saw him as property they could abuse. And it hit me in the gut, and it made me cry, and I am gladder than I can say that he’s getting through this. Not past it – through it. The Penn State horrors still have not come to terms with the legacy to the children. We talk deeply and meaningfully about the failure of adults to care, but we have NOT dealt with the children, and we will continue to fail still others. Thank you for being there passionately for your husband! I’m glad beyond words that the two of you have each other and that, hand-in-hand, you can walk through the rest of your days together in strength, healing, and love. May all of Sandusky’s victims find someone who loves them that much. It is the least – very least – all of us deserve. » Posted By choicelady On November 16, 2011 @ 6:45 pm The End of #Occupy? Or a Restart of New Economic Justice Movement? Hi agrippa – well no, policy will continue as it did before and after OWS. The issue is understanding that many of us have been fighting these battles via policy changes for YEARS. I don’t care if the OWS people do or do not get involved since it’s pretty clear they don’t care, but the rest of us do. Nothing new under the sun has come from OWS other than heightened awareness that some things such as a Constitutional Amendment to challenge Citizens United is imperative. At minimum we need to fight for more teeth in Dodd-Frank. We who DO policy always did – and now whether or not the OWS people like it or not, that IS where it must go. The right to organize HAD to culminate in the Wagner Act or union rights and protections would still be idiosyncratic and not guaranteed. Women’s suffrage HAD to end in the 19th Amendment or we’d still have some states denying us the right to vote. The Civil Rights movement had to lead to the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act or we’d still be marching over the bridge in Selma. Women’s reproductive rights had to end in Roe v Wade or you’d never have a consistent set of rights for women nationally. Then the murders had to end in FACE laws that protected physicians and others from being shot to death. As a long-time veteran of street action everything you think you won with protests, encampments, marches, demonstrations – all of it can be gone with the stroke of a pen if you do NOT pin it down in law. There is no need for there to be ONE policy issue. But there is a need for there to be core values – those started out great with the “We are the 99%” theme. It collapsed under the weight of focus on the encampments and their right to do what the homeless cannot – sleep outside in a public area. That made them the 1% of the 99%. And at least in two cities around here, the homeless got the boot from OWS – their rights mattered not at all to those who had homes of their own but chose to sleep rough and to defy the police. We need to get back the “We are the 99%” mentality. We need that core value – laws and policies have to help the majority – but the specifics of whether you fight for affordable housing, lowering tuition at public universities, ending predatory lending, developing community and worker ownership of business – that can and must be diverse. You do NOT NEED NOR SHOULD YOU PURSUE consensus because among diverse people who do not know one another, consensus turns over power again to the 1% even if technically they are the 99%. No minority must ever again be able to thwart the majority. Not EVER. Let people pursue what drives and motivates them so long as it has a broad based benefit. Worrying about consensus is the death knell to the creation of a movement. Trusting others to pursue their goals and ideas well is the lifeblood of commitment. That is all that is needed » Posted By choicelady On November 15, 2011 @ 3:14 pm He may NOT be toast with the born agains. I’m going to be rude here: some years ago an anti-abortion zealot, in a fit of pique at pro choice people, told them to Fuck OFF. In mock horror one of the prochoice folks said, “Well! That’s not very Christian of you!” The anti said, “I’m born again. I can do anything I want.” And there you have it. If you’re born again, nothing matters. Cain can say and MEAN he did nothing inappropriate because harassing a woman who is NOT born again is not, in his warped mind, a sin. Even committing adultry – and like Clinton, a BJ is not sex – does not count as sin. In sum, he cannot sin. He’s born again. So his true believer followers will agree – he’s born again, he cannot sin. He can do anything he wants, and he is forgiven. Period. However – for the independents, the moderates, the mainline Christians, the non-Christians, the traditional GOP – he IS toast. That kind of self denial no longer cuts it. The defeat of the “personhood” amendment last night in Mississippi should tell you that the extremist binge of the past 30 years is OVER. People are no longer willing to go down that long and crevass-laden road. The days of deferring without question to this insanity are OVER. The days of not questioning someone’s religious beliefs are OVER. Cain. He is SO over! » Posted By choicelady On November 9, 2011 @ 10:47 am That’s not Herman Cain giving a peace sign. That’s Herman Cain saying how many more settlements for sexual harassment are waiting in the wings to be revealed – that he remembers. » Posted By choicelady On November 4, 2011 @ 11:56 am I loved it when Krauthammer asked Cain if it was racism that these “allegations” of sexual harassment were emerging. Of course Cain agreed. Ed or someone noted – it’s not “just emerging” or “just made” but is a FACT that the NRA (restaurant folks, not the gun guys) gave a woman a year’s salary as a settlement to drop charges against Cain. That’s a FACT. The FACT is emerging. The other two settlements are now revealed. That is NOT an ‘allegation’ of sexual harassment but evidence of a done deal. And racist? Talk to Bill Clinton about that. As for a conspiracy? No one remembers when Paula Jones made her original charge against Clinton she stood before the media with – TAH DAH – Randall Terry of Operation Rescue fame. Terry had a five-page paper stating that OR was going now to sue – SLAPP suits – pro-choice people. I was one of those sued, not once but twice. WE obtained a copy of Terry’s directive and used it in state and federal court to show malicious intent in the various suits. President Clinton could not be sued directly – that would have given the game away – but Paula Jones’ suit was Randall Terry’s revenge for being put in federal prison for the 1992 “fetus flashing” incident directed against Clinton as a candidate. Now that is a conspiracy. And since Clinton is white, no, these things are not about race, they are about ACTIONS (Thomas, Cain) or about false allegations (Clinton) and the latter is always what conservatives do to liberals and NEVER the other way around. OBTW – when conservatives say feminists believed Anita Hill because she was “pro choie” – no I did not. She had taught a Bob Jones University and I therefore assumed she was a conservative Christian. Thought so all along and actually have no reason to change my mind since I know nothing about her. So stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it Mr. Cain! You’re a scumbag. You’re just mad you got caught. » Posted By choicelady On November 4, 2011 @ 8:23 am Well I guess you’re right – these “extra” people come thick and fast, don’t they? I really wonder if reaching 8 billion will happen as quickly. I heard the birth rates globally are slowing which is GOOD. I do recall when the 6 Billionth (is that a word?) person arrived though. Scary another billion came on board while I was not paying attention! Back? Better I guess. Drugs don’t work anymore – one night then blah. Why would anyone get addicted to this stuff when it’s pretty useless? Takes the edge off, but no more than that. Had a GREAT day yesterday – little pain at all – until 3 pm when it all came crashing back. I have an MRI Monday night at 7 pm, so we will know more after that. Anyone had one? I know I get rammed into a narrow tube for 30-40 minutes and have no room to even READ. Now that’s torture! Oh, well – despite my boasting about how strong and flexible I am even at this (cough) certain age, something was bound to go amiss sometime. Just hoped to put it off another 30-40 years is all… » Posted By choicelady On November 4, 2011 @ 8:08 am Wow – that’s cool, foodchain. Next we’ll be comparing notes on who was born where, under the most auspicious stars, and who’s eligible to be the next prophet. Oh – wait. That’s been done already. Never mind… » Posted By choicelady On November 4, 2011 @ 8:02 am Khirad – you’re a mere sprout! How did one so young get to be so wise? You’re a model for all of us. » Posted By choicelady On November 4, 2011 @ 8:00 am And Emily Dickinson another good place to go! Smart and deeply intuitive women, they. » Posted By choicelady On November 3, 2011 @ 11:24 am In that seriously creepy ad where he slowly smiles – a smile that never reaches his eyes – I can see evidence that he took being the CEO of “Godfather’s Pizza” waaaaaay too seriously. Capo di tutti capos he is NOT but thinks he IS. Tony Soprano would be a better president. » Posted By choicelady On November 3, 2011 @ 11:22 am I’ve just begun the daily read, but I did want to get in that I was the And yes, sigh – that DOES mean I’m older than Cher. And probably most of you. » Posted By choicelady On November 3, 2011 @ 11:20 am Thanks KT – yup, it pretty much sucks. The part that annoys me is that I am very flexible, do Pilates, am very strong – and I hate that my body is “acting up”. I’m having to admit I’m not a kid anymore – the WORST admission EVER. The pain is getting better now that I have Good Drugs. I WILL survive! Thank you for your kind commiseration! » Posted By choicelady On November 1, 2011 @ 3:20 pm All the press is to the good – it’s always useful to say to elected officials, don’t cut benefits. It helps them say “my constituents want…” to stave off the GOP. Never wrong to do that. But don’t send money to the hair on fire liars – that is just sowing seeds of discontent as if the Dems were utter morons and totally spineless which frankly they are NOT. Look at the bills Cher listed (BRILLIANT AND USEFUL CHER!) that they were willing to support! Look at what DID get done that has been a game changer for the American public. If people in the wobbly and “unread” middle think “they’re all selling me out why bother to vote” then it does real harm. Thanks, dear friend, for kind words about the back. I am taking some time off and hanging around with my cold pack (frozen corn – softest and most pliable thing I can find) that works beautifully. But it was the Percocet – the same thing that got Rush into trouble – that has taken away the nerve pain that feels as if the leg is on FIRE and also creepy crawly at the same time. I never thought Rush and I would have anything in common – but I looooove Percocet. I, of course, take it as directed. He, of course, did NOT. Therein lies one MORE difference between us. Clearly the back is not making me give up ALL my ravening cautionary tales. I am willing to agree now that if the Dems DO something stupid we need to cream them at the polls – but having talked to Becerra’s office and the sneering disregard the woman had for the media, I believe this is just more MSM and PL hype. The fact that we see our brethren and sistren falling for it on the PL side is VERY demoralizing. ESPECIALLY when we have Herman Cain and all the flat taxers to worry about! » Posted By choicelady On November 1, 2011 @ 3:17 pm Well, technically the Supercommittee CAN make those cuts with a 7-vote majority. No cuts can be made to these program later, in “sequestration” when automatic defunding formulae are applied. But let’s get real here – who among the Dems is stupid enough to cut BENEFITS? BENEFITS???? It’s not as if we have Ben Nelson (who really IS too stupid to live) on the committe. None of the Dems would do that. NONE. You’d have to have ONE Dem, and they won’t hang themselves out to dry. So the hype is all around cuts that can and should be made – you know, cutting the giveaway to Pharma in Medicare Part D – something everyone agrees with unless it’s the hair on fire way to scream “Obama’s cutting benefits”! There is quite a lot that can and will be cut – all of it from Bush’s privatization. Not only can I live with that, I WELCOME it because it is good for all those programs. Yes – I am inundated with these SAME so-called progressive groups that got all het up over ever single plan that has been out there and every fright they pushed off on us was wrong – and, oh by the way send money so we can continue to fight Obama and the Dems. I wish we were this brazen – we back off the scare tactics. It’s why we don’t have money flowing into our coffers. Bah! » Posted By choicelady On November 1, 2011 @ 3:08 pm Hi! LOL!!! Yes – and pull out the satin loungewear rather than the grungy sweats! You are absolutely right. Still hurts. Feel better anyway! Thanks, dear friend! » Posted By choicelady On November 1, 2011 @ 3:01 pm Hi Cher – excellent stuff. But let me weigh in on Trumka, whom I met once and once adored – I’ve been flooded at work all day with this and other “hair on fire” messages that the Dems on the Supercommittee were giving away benefits in Social Security and Medicare. So – I called Xavier Becerra’s office and asked WTF (much more politely however). They are not allowed to say (yes it’s closed – so was the Constitutional Convention to prevent outside political pressure). However – when I asked WHERE is this coming from the woman said, “The mediat” so I asked if there were any way they had “inside info” and she said absolutely NOT. These rumors have NO foundation in fact as the original hoopla did not. They are cranking up anti-Dem opposition from people who damned well ought to know better. Here are two things you need to know – both in the first round of cuts and AFTER the Supercommittee, every program itemized in the Pay-Go 2010 Act (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, TANF (welfare), VA, Pell Grants, EITC, and many, many more) that do NOT depend on annual budget funding CANNOT BE CUT. If the “hammer” falls they will be immune. What CAN be cut are things considered ‘discretionary’ or up annually for budget allocations. This does include Head Start, WIC, education, the new health care reform program, and other things we care about. AND EVERY DIME OF DEFENSE SPENDING. IN the Supercommittee any cut has to get 7 votes. Now let’s be realistic – who will stand for re-election after cutting benefits? YES they will cut waste – drug purchases are fair game, provider fee for service rather than a patient-friendly “bundling” of payments that look at your well being holistically in treatment options – good cut, fraud (billions annually)on durable medical equipment provisions – all of that is GOOD, good use of tax money, good freeing up of money spent badly. But benefits? Not in a million years. Revenues are not likely to be included – but this kicks in when, conservatively, we will end the Bush era tax cuts giving us INSTANT revenue increases from $1.2 trillion (rich people only) to $4 trillion (all of us). We get revenue just by doing NOTHING. So before we tear out our hair with rumors that DO NOT HAVE ANY BASIS IN FACT it is important to know that this is not only unlikely but that all the main programs we care about are held harmless in the post-Supercommittee automatic cuts. So Mr. Trumka – stop perpetrating rumors. YES we must continue to assert our demand for good benefits in earned support programs – but let’s not give the Baggers aid and comfort by claiming without FACT the Dems are selling us OUT. NO ONE can provide a shred of evidence, and as rational, evidence=based people we demand that of you, Mr. Trumka, just as much as we demand evidence from the Right. Enough already. BTW folks – sorry not to be more present. Doctor thinks I have a ruptured disc from standing too long on a picket line for hotel workers. Glad I did it. I will get better. Was worth it. I now have major night-time drugs that help a LOT. My new motto is – just say YES! I’m also very cranky, so Mr. T. is not helping here. » Posted By choicelady On November 1, 2011 @ 1:39 pm DOJ and Voter Suppression Activities To be fair – I had to show my birth certificate back in the 60s when I turned 21. EVen then I remember some people unable to do so for lack of papers and not registering. The question is how many people ARE being disenfranchised and how did they every register before and if they continue to vote, how is it they have to RE register? Those are the key issues of discrimination. TN is already under suspicion! » Posted By choicelady On October 30, 2011 @ 5:12 pm Look at the DATE – that was 2008 when the years before (esp. Florida?) had all been spent hunting down voters they could weed out. The opposite is now true. The DOJ as I understand can be invited into a state if the gimmick (photo ID etc.) is discriminatory. I’m not sure of the mechanism, but that is why the Citizens Redistricting Commission was so careful with the VRA guidelines and keeping voting communities coherent and empowered. The feds could be called in and asked to undo anything that was in violation. Bito – how strong was that SCOTUS ruling on “yes you can ask for ID”? I’m unaware of that. Our best test – when you vote, take the polling officials’ ID (quietly) if you are WHITE and not asked for your ID. Keep track if you are a poll watcher which you have every right to be. See if there is discrimination racially, ethnically, etc. Evidence – field evidence – is critical to overturning this new poll tax device. » Posted By choicelady On October 30, 2011 @ 5:06 pm Hi- No Cher – those are just the states with direct federal oversight, but everyone is required to obey the VRA and that IS actionable. However, Ohio is being challenged on the right of voters to vote ON the redistricting so a judge has forbidden its implementation until AFTER the 2012 election and voter decision. But the DOJ can enforce any violation of civil rights. There is a section for civil rights VOTING violations. The Assistant Attorney General over this Civil Rights Division is Thomas Perez – I met him here in Sacramento last year and think he is committed to this work. He spoke very strongly about protecting the rights under the VRA. They are not limited anywhere – just don’t sit and watch all states as they do regularly in the Good Ol’ Boy ones that want to bring back the Fab 50s in all its racially segregated glory. Sigh. » Posted By choicelady On October 30, 2011 @ 4:59 pmComments Posted By choicelady
2,430,016,305th person on the planet at the time I was born (which is none of your beeswax). I was also the 75,295,618,249th person to have ever lived.
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