jubyred

Item 5

Back to my list...

I'll defer to Bill Moyers on this.  The clip video is here, but here's a partial transcript.  I couldn't have said it better myself.

"What struck me about my fellow Texan, Karl Rove, is that he knew how to win elections as if they were divine interventions. You may think God summoned Billy Graham to Florida on the eve of the 2000 election to endorse George W. Bush just in the nick of time, but if it did happen that way, the good lord was speaking in a Texas accent.
Karl Rove figured out a long time ago that the way to take an intellectually incurious draft-averse naughty playboy in a flight jacket with chewing tobacco in his back pocket and make him governor of Texas, was to sell him as God’s anointed in a state where preachers and televangelists outnumber even oil derricks and jack rabbits. Using church pews as precincts Rove turned religion into a weapon of political combat -- a battering ram, aimed at the devil’s minions, especially at gay people.
It’s so easy, as Karl knew, to scapegoat people you outnumber, and if God is love, as rumor has it, Rove knew that, in politics, you better bet on fear and loathing. Never mind that in stroking the basest bigotry of true believers you coarsen both politics and religion.
At the same time he was recruiting an army of the lord for the born-again Bush, Rove was also shaking down corporations for campaign cash. Crony capitalism became a biblical injunction. Greed and God won four elections in a row - twice in the lone star state and twice again in the nation at large. But the result has been to leave Texas under the thumb of big money with huge holes ripped in its social contract, and the U.S. government in shambles - paralyzed, polarized, and mired in war, debt and corruption.
Rove himself is deeply enmeshed in some of the scandals being investigated as we speak, including those missing emails that could tell us who turned the attorney general of the United States into a partisan sockpuppet. Rove is riding out of Dodge city as the posse rides in. At his press conference this week he asked God to bless the president and the country, even as reports were circulating that he himself had confessed to friends his own agnosticism; he wished he could believe, but he cannot. That kind of intellectual honesty is to be admired, but you have to wonder how all those folks on the Christian right must feel discovering they were used for partisan reasons by a skeptic, a secular manipulator. On his last play of the game all Karl Rove had to offer them was a hail mary pass, while telling himself there’s no one there to catch it."

Slurp Slurp

What a shocker...gas prices are down to $2.08 a gallon here just in time for the mid-term elections.  Don't think the oil companies don't know whose dick to suck.

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming on Transbuddha

And I'm not the only one noticing it...

Read this

And this

And this

State of the Union

Just thought I'd post my 2 cents on the State of the Union address from the Dubyuh...

HA HA HA HA

The scariest thing is that I really think that he believes his own shit. 

My personal favorite part was his sudden interest in alternative fuel sources.  Well, now...there's a GREAT idea.  I wonder why no one ever thought of that before.  What, are you some kind of GENIUS or something? 

That's right up there with recent TV ads from Ford Motor Company telling us that now it's time for them to be competitive in the global market.  That hybrid SUV is really gonna make all those Jettas and Accords run scared. 

Too Little Too Late, guys.  Maybe if you had gotten your heads out of your asses a little earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess. 

Happy Holidays

When did the phrase "Happy Holidays" suddenly become a personal affront?  God, these people have some screwed up priorities.  So, celebrating the birth of Christ with day-after Thanksgiving sales beginning at 6 a.m. is great.  But, acknowledging the people who aren't exactly like you in the world is insulting and belittling.  How very Christian of you.

Here's a news flash-not EVERYONE in the world celebrates Christmas.  I know, I know, it's shocking.  It's difficult to believe given the abundance of fake trees and Muzak versions of Silent Night being pumped into  every single retail outlet, but it's true. 

As it turns out, in a span of six weeks, there are a total of five (FIVE) major holidays.  Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and New Years.  The phrase "Happy Holidays" is simply an acknowledgment of that.  "Whichever holiday you might be celebrating, I hope it's a happy one. If you celebrate a few, I hope they're all happy. "  Seems nice enough to me.  Somehow, that equates to a big FUCK YOU to the religious right. 

I wouldn't walk around saying "Happy Birthday" to everyone I saw on my birthday.  You know why?  Because they don't celebrate MY birthday.  That doesn't mean that my birthday isn't important or that I can't whoop it up as much as I want to.  It doesn't mean I can't tell whomever I want that it's MY birthday.  I can invite them all to my party if I like.  Or not.  It's my choice.

September 11th

I didn't realize what the date was until I was in my car on the way to the Red Cross shelter and heard it on the radio.  I didn't plan it this way, but I'm glad this is how spent this date.

Drew stayed home with the kids so I could go do someting.  Watching it on TV is driving me crazy.   

So, I went and it was different than I expected.  Disorganized and slower.  The Red Cross had decided to stop giving out debit cards to evacuees that very morning so they asked for a group of volunteers to meet the hundreds of people who were waiting in the parking lot all night for some financial assistance and hand them a flyer with a phone number and a website on it for them to call or log onto so their card could be mailed to them.

Phones?  Computers?  Addresses?  The holes in this process were a bit overwhelming in the wake of what we knew.

I did not volunteer for that gig.  I am a chicken and was looking for something a bit warmer and fuzzier today.  So, I was a case worker.  I sat at a table and met with families to find out what they needed (housing, medical assistance, identification) and then walked them to the correct table with the folks who could help them.  I filled out a form for each family with everyone's name and birthdate so everyone is accounted for and not a soul more and then I held up my hand (like their car is ready at the car wash) and waited for the next family to come to me.

I met a woman and her son from New Orleans.  He was about BoyChild's age and beautiful and scared and shy.  They managed to drive in her car because she had the foresight to park it on the top of a tall parking deck the day before.  Once the water went down, she left. Her apartment and everything she owned was under water.  No job to go back to.  No money.  No family.  Her son was running a fever. She had spent everything she had on a hotel.

The next family had come from the Superdome.  Dad, Mom, 3 kids-all teengers.  Well-dressed and articulate.  Looking for permanent residency in Georgia.  He said they won't go back.  There's nothing left. I started to ask about the Superdome but then thought better of it. 

I thought people would be crying or emotional.  Instead, everyone seemed hard and on edge.  Tired.  Focused. Of course they were.

Worse Than We Thought

I don't watch TV anymore. I took it out of the living room a couple months ago and haven't missed it much. So, when Katrina hit, the only bits and pieces of info I got were on NPR during my drive to and from school.

I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I watched Oprah today-taped from Houston where many survivors are now sheltered at the Astrodome. Dear God, the things I saw and the stories I heard. Children being raped and gunfire and bodies everywhere.

Some people, still alive but seriously hurt, were taken to lie among the dead bodies because the people there don't have the resources to help them. They don't even know their names. They will die alone and no one will ever know what happened to them.

I was pregnant with BoyChild on September 11th 2001. I thought about the world I was bringing this child into. Was it really so full of hatred and evil? But it became clear in the minutes and days and years afterwards that it was not and is not. The world cannot be defined by a few evil individuals.

Then the tsunami came.  And again, I was reminded of the resilience of people.

But I don't know-this just feels so dirty and ugly and sickening. The hurricane is one thing. The treatment of human beings is another-both from the government and the treatment of one another by one another. It truly sickens my heart. We have so much.

I crawled into bed with BoyChild moments ago and sobbed to myself quietly-so thankful for my dry land, for my family, all of us together, for my warm bed, my health and that of my loved ones. Thankful that we are together and have the luxury of considering things like what to have for dinner and what to wear to school.

The world feels like a different place to me. Maybe not the world, but this country. I feel like the curtain has been pulled back and it has all been made perfectly clear who matters and who doesn't matter. It has left an indelible mark on my soul.

Katrina

I ache for those mothers I see on TV holding exhausted and thirsty children, hot and sticky and terrified. Completely lost.

The Horror, The Horror

I'm moving to Canada.  And when I get there, I'm going to vomit for about twelve days straight that my homeland is full of ignorant fucks who would vote this moron into office after four years of the most self-absorbed bullshit I've ever had the misfortune to witness. Have we learned NOTHING?

I'm so sick and tired of God's name being thrown around in support of discrimination and political gain.   Stop using MY God for your agenda. 

The Dubyuh signs have finally come down from my neighbors' yards, but it doesn't change the fact that I feel surrounded. I guess I'm just tired. I want the comfort of recognition and affirmation around me. None of that to be had here.

I feel like I'm swimming upsteam and the current is hard and fast.  I'm a single blue dot in a very red state.

Why Left is Right

I admit, I want social programs. I want affordable healthcare for everyone. I want amazing education for our children. I don't understand people who don't care about these things or don't understand why they are vital to the health of this nation.

And I'm smart enough to understand that those programs cost money. I don't mind paying for part of it. And to those who say they don't want to pay for it because it's not "their" issue (like people who don't want to pay higher school taxes because their kids are out of school), I say GROW UP. All of these programs (and countless others) affect EVERYONE, whether directly or not.

My goal as a parent (and a person) is to teach my children that they are connected to this world. They were blessed enough to be born in a free country to educated, loving parents. With that, comes great privileges and also great responsibility. In the same way that they will one day be responsible for making their beds and cleaning their rooms, they are repsonsible for respecting the environment. In the same way they are responsible for taking care of each other, they are to tend to their neighbors, near and far. That responsibility is what a true Christian understands.  It's not about money.  It's about what's right.  And it's about being blessed enough to be part of the world's only superpower.  America has moral obligations just as its citizens do.  Our government MUST be an example of that.  Otherwise, what is the point?

We are all a part of many "families." The families in our house, our neighborhood, our city, our country, our gender, our race (you get the point) and those communities are connected in very small and very great ways. If the kid down the street isn't lucky enough to be born into a loving family who values education (after all, it IS just luck), it will affect everyone he comes into contact with and those people and their actions in turn affect me even if I never even knew the guy. Martin Luther King Jr. once said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In one way, I think this is what he meant.

That kid may turn to crime. He may hurt someone. He may go on welfare. He may go to jail. In all of those scenarios, he becomes my problem. And then there are the things he may NOT do- He may not contribute to my world. He may not teach my child. He may not give back. So every choice he makes affects my world. Even if I never knew that kid. 

I understand that I affect my world just as you do, too. So, it is in my best interest to ensure that he is taken care of (which doesn't mean just hand him money-as the Republicans seem to ascribe to Democrats- but may mean to teach, to train, to love, to respect, to understand, to offer). In turn, I expect him to give it back to the others.

Some people just don't see that vital connection. Some look at anyone in need (which is everyone, by the way) as his own island. "It's not my problem." It seems to be all about MINE MINE MINE with them. They have the "right" to own guns. They have the "right" to drive huge gas-guzzling SUVs with their "I Love America" bumper stickers (If you LOVE your country so much, how about protecting her natural resources? How about decreasing our dependence on foreign oil?) They have the "right" to spend their money only on themselves. They have the "right" to decide who is worthy of the rights our Constitution declares are for EVERY PERSON.

I have the same rights. But what about our RESPONSIBILITIES? Some right-wing "Christians" seem to have missed the Christ part of that word.  Do they really beleive that Christ (who never owned a thing) would be bickering about his share of that last supper?  When the bill came, was he going to bitch and moan about having to pay for Peter and Paul?  Seriously.

Many people only speak of these kinds of social programs in terms of dollars-"those Democrats are going to raise taxes again!" Yes, these programs cost money, but we are the WEALTHIEST nation in this universe. Is that money better spent benefitting Corporations and the Wealthy? Personally, I think George Bush can keep his lousy $200 he sent me and do something about the fact that my dad is worried he can't afford his $1000 a month rheumatoid arthritis prescription (one of 5 he takes each month) since the company he retired from (after 30 years) will offer him no medical benefits despite the steadily increasing (and nauseatingly high) salaries of the execuitves. 

So, that's very generally why I'm supporting the Democratic nominee. In more specific terms, I don't hate George W. Bush. I believe that his administration has done what they deem best (although I disagree with what that has been) and have cut corners and fed their egos just as many Democrats have done. John Kerry is probably the most bring guy around.  I wish there was someone more dynamic, better spoken, someone with some charisma.  But I'll take what I can get.  Namely, someone who comes a little closer to Christ. 

I want a candidate that understands that we are part of a bigger world and who aims to be more than just the biggest kid on the block. I'd like to see some humility and some respect for the rest of the world and not just dominance. It all comes back around, after all. We learned that on 9/11.

It's embarrassing to me this weird, blind patriotism that occurred after the tragedy of 9/11. No one was allowed to question one move the Bush administration made for fear of seeming unpatriotic. "You're either with us, or yo're against us. If you don't support our President, the no-bid contract of Halliburton, the connection between 9/11 and Iraq, and your loss of personal freedom with the Patriot Act, then go move to France! Now shut up and eat your Freedom Fries! "

I feel like the current administration is still playing that card. It's ironic to me because that questioning is what makes us Americans. It's what makes us free.