More to Come. For Now This.

Yes, Bea Arthur died, so did a little part of my soul (thank YOU for being a friend).

Yes, apparently on top of everything else, we must now prepare for a pandemic.

Yes, Arlen Specter jumped ship, but frankly my dear, do we give a damn?

Yes, Adam was in the bottom two and sweet jesus, how is that possible?

And yes, there have been other things on my mind, but the heart and soul have not been interested in exploring them. But I will, oh I will.

For now, luxuriate in this. It spoke to me.

"What I expect from my male friends is that they are polite and clean. What I expect from my female friends is unconditional love, the ability to finish my sentences for me when I am sobbing, a complete and total willingness to pour their hearts out to me, and the ability to tell me why the meat thermometer isn't supposed to touch the bone." —Anna Quindlen, Living Out Loud

Not Exactly Scientific

Apparently MSNBC is running a poll asking people to give President Obama a grade on how he has done during his first 100 days. Of course the right has flooded the poll and currently are leading the numbers with about 40%  giving Obama a F. So if you have a few moments to waste, check it out and vote:

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29493093

Sorry I can't do the link because I already voted on it. So you will have to cut and paste.

Who's Worth More?

Paper, Scissors, Stone

by Tom Wayman


An executive's salary for working with paper
beats the wage in a metal shop operating shears
which beats what a gardener earns arranging stone.
But the pay for a surgeon's use of scissors
is larger than that of a heavy equipment driver removing stone
which in turn beats a secretary's cheque for handling paper.
And, a geologist's hours with stone
nets more than a teacher's with paper
and definitely beats someone's time in a garment factory with scissors.In addition: to manufacture paper
you need stone to extract metal to fabricate scissors
to cut the product to size.
To make scissors you must have paper to write out the specs
and a whetstone to sharpen the new edges.
Creating gravel, you require the scissor-blades of the crusher
and lots of order forms and invoices at the office.
Thus I believe there is a connection
between things
and not at all like the hierarchy of winners
of a child's game.
When a man starts insistinghe should be paid more than me
because he's more important to the task at hand,
I keep seeing how the whole process collapses
if almost any one of us is missing.
When a woman claims she deserves more money
because she went to school longer,
I remember the taxes I paid to support her education.
Should she benefit twice?
Then there's the guy who demands extra
because he has so much seniority
and understands his work so well
he has ceased to care, does as little as possible,
or refuses to master the latest techniques
the new-hires are required to know.
Even if he's helpful and somehow still curious
after his many years—
Without a machine to precisely measure
how much sweat we each provide
or a contraption hooked up to electrodes in the brain
to record the amount we think,
my getting less than him
and more than her
makes no sense to me.
Surely whatever we do at the job
for our eight hours—as long as it contributes—
has to be worth the same.
And if anyone mentions
this is a nice idea but isn't possible,
consider what we have now:
everybody dissatisfied, continually grumbling and disputing.
No, I'm afraid it's the wage system that doesn't function
except it goes on
and will
until we set to work to stop it
with paper, with scissors, and with stone.


"Paper, Scissors, Stone" by Tom Wayman from The Face of Jack Munro. © Harbour, 1986.

Courtesy of Garrison Keiller's The Writer's Almanac—Not a bad argument in this day and age when people are losing their shirts and livelihoods.

Axing the Boys

Maybe I just need to stop reading Newsweek?

The April 20th issue ran a piece by Zachary Karabell that said the current unemployment woes were not affecting the sexes or the classes equally. That in fact, more minority men were getting the ax then anyone else.

Now admittedly my friendships with minority males is lacking in numbers, and I work in a professional/white collar world, but I see mostly women getting laid off around me. (And yes, this may have more to do with the fact that I have more female friends than male.) So what gives?

And in other less than cheery news, my home state got a nod from the Washington Post recently as having the highest percent of uninsured residents as a result of recent job losses. Yahoo! We are Number One! Even in this article, the person interviewed is a woman. (Although I suppose you could go on that old chestnut that women are more likely to seek regular healthcare than men.)

Are the laid off men just less vocal? What is going on here?

Death Knell

In case you haven't pursued my personal info and just happen to be a passerby and not a loyal friend that I guilt into reading my ramblings, you may not be aware that I work in publishing. (Silly reader, you thought I was just a civilian who had a way with words? Alas, I am a professional bullshitter, poorly paid, much maligned and generally regarded as suspect by anyone who sees nothing wrong with a sign for the Kwik Mart.)

Publishing is an industry that has been declining of late. Or so the media seems so fond of telling me on practically a daily basis. (Salon talks about newspapers in particular here and here. Newsweek has review popular authors like David Baldacci and Jodi Picoult and bemoaned the declining popularity of "Literature.") Oh yeah, and then there was this lovely ode to Amazon's Kindle also from Newsweek.

I get it—print is dead or at least on life support. Thus goes the way of the dodo the only thing I am really good at (despite the evidence to the contrary I am providing by ending my sentences with prepositions). And if you hadn't already convinced me with the news listed above, then the continuing layoffs that my friends have experienced again this week, should clue me in. 

So what's a girl with newsprint on her fingers and clauses in her heart to do?

I got nothing. Except my stubborn insistence that despite all the dang technology those IT folks throw at us, all the online information and networking available, there will always be stubborn old coots like myself that want something of heft to hold in our hands while we sit on the beach, or while we ride the train to work, or when we curl up in bed at night. 

Almost 570 years ago, Gutenberg brought us the printing press and ushered in a new era of communication. But lest we forget, the art of storytelling existed long before letters were mechanically embedded into paper. Our earliest ancestors found ways to share their tales, whether it was through oral traditions or cave paintings like those found at Lascaux, France. Something tells me that won't change. What will change is the methods, perhaps, of how we do this.

Don't count publishing out just yet.

Fox News Did A Good Thing

I am flabbergasted gentle readers. I never, repeat NEVER, thought the day would come when I would be happy/excited/impressed with any news item to come out of FOX News, but color me all of the above, because it has happened today.

I was reading from Rebel Dad's blog and he featured the link below, which is a great look at a group of stay at home dads. The piece isn't condescending, it gives the men's reasons for their decision, it celebrates what they get out of the experience and most of all it defies the ridiculous stereotypes that are so often associated with dad's who take on the daytime child rearing role.

This is a big deal for me, as the spouse of a stay at home dad. I have gotten, along with my spouse, the puzzled looks from people when we explain our situation and I know the struggles he has had with the role, the isolation, as well as the loss of identity with not being in the work force.

But I still say in the end that what my spouse is doing (and other stay at home dads) is way more important than anything they did in their "real" jobs. Most days I think my spouse knows this. And everyday I know he knows how lucky he is to have this time with the spawn.

"Dead Wrong"

Those are the words that Vice President Biden used when he commented on  Darth Vader's Dick Cheney's comments that Americans are less safe today because we aren't hanging terrorists up by their toenails.

As you may have gathered from yesterday's post (Spies Like Us), I am not even remotely in favor of the tacts the Bush Administration took to "secure" our safety. And I am deeply disturbed that Obama's people are not only keeping these tactics available, but are expanding on them. Wiretapping without a warrant and sending people to undisclosed locations does not keep us safer in the end. Not only does it turn people around the world against us and create even more future terrorists, it takes away many of the basic tenants of civil liberty that our country was founded on.

But what is most intriguing about the hubbub around Cheney's and Biden's remarks is the media's response to what Biden said. 

First of all let me set some things straight—Cheney is no longer in office; he doesn't have access to the information to determine what the United States security position is.

Secondly, it is poor cricket indeed for the former administration to be so bold in their criticism this early on in the new administration's time in office. Dubya ain't doing it; his daddy didn't do it, and Clinton didn't do it. There is a time for former leaders to criticize, but it surely isn't during the first 100 days when so much is at stake. While it would appear that Cheney has indeed "gone rogue," it would be nice if someone could reign him in. (Where is a man-eating shark when you need one?)

Finally, even if it were ok for Cheney to be critical at this point, or even later when it would be in better form, there is no need to sound so gleeful about the idea of another terrorist attack on Americans. This man is practically begging someone to do something just so he can be pronounced right. That is disturbing and he just might be even more deranged than I previously imagined.

But back to Biden. Joe's response to Cheney struck me as measured and almost subdued, which is saying a lot for Biden. I mean dude hasn't always been one to watch what he says . . . . This time around, however, I feel like he struck the right tone, respectful disagreement. CNN has more here.

The Right is being critical of Biden's response (of course), as Salon's Joan Walsh details in her blog post and as seen in this MSNBC clip where she debates David Rivkin, who not only thinks that Cheney isn't insane, but also managed to get Joan's name wrong too. Classy. Biden is not the one out of line here. Not even close.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Spies Like Us

Well Obama has messed up big time in my opinion. (I know I will give you a moment to sit down and read this again, yes I have criticized our new president who is a Democrat—take your time, I have a while.) Obama has sided with the Bush Administration on wire taping and is actually seeking to expand the whole shebang so that the government can NEVER be sued for listening in on normal Americans. So not only has he protected Bush's folks on torture, but now he is also doing the same on surveillance.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is throwing around terms like "state secrets" and "sovereign immunity" to explain why they think in the words of Salon's Glenn Greenwald "the Patriot Act bars any lawsuits of any kind for illegal government surveillance unless there is "willful disclosure" of the illegally intercepted communications."
Greenwald goes on to say:

In other words, beyond even the outrageously broad "state secrets" privilege invented by the Bush administration and now embraced fully by the Obama administration, the Obama DOJ has now invented a brand new claim of government immunity, one which literally asserts that the U.S. Government is free to intercept all of your communications (calls, emails and the like) and -- even if what they're doing is blatantly illegal and they know it's illegal -- you are barred from suing them unless they "willfully disclose" to the public what they have learned.

I get that Obama's administration doesn't want to piss off the folks who are doing intelligence work, but this seems to go against everything that Obama ran on. It brings me no joy to denounce Obama and the DOJ on this, but this kind of continuation and expansion of Bush-era tactics is something that we can not stand for as Americans. Not cool Mr. President.

As a citizen I am not at all comfortable with the idea that we citizens have no recourse against being bugged by our government. Hello, what about my civil liberties folks? Yeah I believe that Obama and his government is a better bunch than Bush, but that still doesn't make it cool. I don't want Gandhi listening in on my calls or reading my emails. I don't care who you are, I want my privacy no matter how inconvenient it is to my government or my political party.

Olbermann covers it in his fifth story last night:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And here is a skoosh more from Keith:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Never Forget

I am puzzled by the fuss that has been raised over the Obama administration's decision to allow, after 18 years, the return of fallen soldiers at Dover to be seen by the public at large.

First of all, the decision has been left up to the families, they can choose to let the public be a part of honoring their loved one or not. It isn't mandatory and I highly doubt that anyone is going to strong arm a family into letting the media into their private moment if they don't want them there.

Second, with so little being mentioned now about the casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (or ever during the eight years we have been at war unless the numbers were massive) anything that can be done to remind the American people of the sacrificing still being made is a good thing in my mind. No matter how you feel about the wars, or the military (and I will be the first to stand up and say I am not a fan of either), these men and women are doing their jobs and have died as a result. They deserve our honor, our respect and most of all our attention.

Finally, as war becomes more and more technical like a surreal video game and less the hand-to-hand combat that was common just 100 years ago, I don't think we can ever go wrong in emphasizing the high human costs associated with any armed conflict. War is NOT a game, no matter how much we try to turn it into one. People die. They are horribly and permanently maimed in body, mind and spirit. We all need to be reminded of what we ask when we send young men and women, barely adults, out in uniform. Is what we are asking them to do worth their lives? Would you give you life for it, or you child's?

If seeing a flag draped coffin come home, makes the realities of war to "real" for some, then I guess they need to start asking themselves questions like those above. Perhaps your answers will surprise you.

Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out

Once again my boyfriend nails it. Jon Stewart on Rush Limbaugh's decision to forsake Gotham:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Rush Limbaugh Leaves New York
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Black Lesbian Coming to a TV Near You

Now this is how I like to start off a Thursday! Fox (of all people) has just signed a contract with comedian Wanda Sykes to do a topical late night show starting in the fall. The show is expected to take the place of MadTV, but no definite night has been named for it yet.

I love Wanda Sykes. Her stand up is hilarious and she and Jane Fonda were the ONLY reasons to give Monster-in-Law a second glance. (J-Lo, who? Blech.) I for one will most definitely be setting the DVR for this one, especially if the rumors of her doing a Real Time with Bill Maher format are true.

Ole Rupert would give Satan himself a half hour time slot if he thought it would make him money.

And in other exciting liberal talk news—Air America's Ed Schultz is going to be hosting his own MSNBC gab-fest at the 6pm hour. Ed has been filling in quite a bit lately for various folks on the liberal news joint and he has a great, down-t0-earth appeal, ala Jack Cafferty, which I think will bring him a lot of viewers.

Speaking of Cafferty, he had a high time the other night on The Daily Show if you have a few minutes to spare.

When Rape Is Legal

Well it takes something pretty shitty for people to start reminiscing about the good old days of the Taliban, but Afghanistan has figured out just how to do it. President Karzai just signed into law that allows women the right to refuse sex ONLY when they are sick. Otherwise, they better be prepared to jump on the happy train and like it. The law also says that Afghani women must have their husband's permission to leave the house. 

I get that this is a different culture, and I don't expect these women to be running around like they are auditioning for the next season of Bret Michaels' Rock of Love, but it would be nice if they weren't going backwards in terms of their rights as humans.

But then again, we do live in a world where many African girls and women miss out on work or school because they don't have the proper sanitary accoutrements to welcome Aunt Flo. Makes you look at your Tampax in a WHOLE new way . . .

Salon has more here. Sad, sad stuff.