broad minded

Life Moves Pretty Fast

2010-03-18T10:40:00.003-04:00

I am a bit late to the game on this one, but I had to comment on the touching tribute to John Hughes that many of his former actors gave at the Oscars. It coincided with a great article in the March Vanity Fair by David Kamp that attempted to give insight into the reclusive writer and director.

As a solid member of GenX, I can't deny how Hughes defined my teen years. To be honest I can't even fully explain it in some ways, how a man 20 years older than me, could so capture all that I felt, all that I wanted to be, and all that I knew was out of my reach. He simply had a gift.

It was hard watching the Oscar tribute for me. It was emotional and touching, but on a personal front it was also disturbing to see how my idealized visions of youth—Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Matthew Broderick, Anthony Michael Hall, Jon Cryer, Ally Sheedy and even Macaulay Culkin—are older, different, grown up. Because that means I am too. I hope that they feel that they are better now than they were then, as I do. But it is nice to know that when they need to know how far they have come, they have Mr. Hughes movies to go back to and remind them of who they were. Again, thank you Mr. Hughes.

Tex Mess

2010-03-18T10:12:00.006-04:00

You know what? All of you Texans who want to secede—go right ahead. I don't want you anymore. Especially if you are going to insist on distorting history and science to suit your agenda. What my child learns in school should be about facts, not whatever partisan side has their knickers in a twist this week.

Apparently, Texas has this ridiculous power to hold the other 49 states hostage in terms of text books because they are one of the largest purchasers of school textbooks in the country. So what they want from publishing companies ends up being what the rest of us get. I guess that goes a long way to explaining why they want our country referred to as a "constitutional republic" rather than a "democracy." Apparently they are afraid that 10-year-olds will get the "subliminal" message that because our country is a democracy they need to be democrats. Something tells me that kids are smarter than that, but somewhere between pubescence and adulthood, at least in Texas, those same kids turn mighty dumb.

This board of 15 people have also decided to stress the Second Amendment (gotta make sure that kids know they can carry guns!), and ignore the separation of church and state. We wouldn't want a pesky thing like the Founding Fathers fundamental ideas to interfere with how our Christian conservatives run things, now would we? Next they are going to outlaw sarcasm and then I will truly be fucked.

But let's not make this about me. Let's focus on who is really being screwed here—the future of our country. Because if these Texas board members have their way, our kids won't be learning about capitalism, but instead "free market enterprise." Can someone please explain to me how capitalism became evil (aside of course from the way Wall Street has wielded it to impoverish the majority of Americans so a handful of white men can pull in seven figures)?

Oh yeah, and they of course are stressing religion over science topics such as evolution. You know, I truly believe our country is at a cross roads. If we don't take a clear path forward and focus on the future, by educating our children, by seeking advancements in environmentally friendly power, by correcting the errors in our banking, credit and investment industries, and by offering every one of our citizens the right to healthcare, we will not be a world power when the spawn approaches middle age. The conservatives like to focus on how we are the greatest nation, but right now that is all smoke and mirrors. And tomorrow, if other countries continue to prepare themselves for the future, rather than concentrating on the past, we won't even have the smoke and mirrors anymore. All we will have is a bunch of disillusioned citizens who won't know that the world wasn't created in seven days. What a mess.

Love, Exciting and New

2010-02-13T15:48:00.005-05:00

Why someone ever decided that a fat baby with wings was the best emblem to celebrate romantic love is beyond me. Anyone with a baby (or for that matter a kid) knows that trying to get your romance on with a wee one around is a challenge that involves the UN, NATO, some good locks and the ability to get the job done quick. And that is on a good day. But per usual, I digress. Tomorrow is that acclaimed day ala Hallmark—Valentine's Day. And seeing how romance is on the brain, whether you like it or not, at this time of year it seemed an apt time to finally ponder the whole John Edwards debacle.

Maybe it was because I came of age when Clinton took his sax to the airwaves and wooed me via MTV (back when the station played music and not homages to self absorbed brainless twats with tight bums and short attention spans), maybe it is just some genetic abnormality that makes me prone to believe the lofty rhetoric of any earnest liberal, maybe it is even a subconscious rejection of having Jesse Helms represent my beloved state for low those many years. The reason remains a mystery, but the result is that I fell for John Edwards—hook, line and sinker. I don't mean I found him physically attractive, I mean he is fine, but a bit too pretty and polished for my taste, rather I bought all of his "Two Americas," his belief that he could lead our country in the right direction. Sadly, I still believe all of that, and I still believe that he believed it as well. The tragedy is that his political beliefs are not quite enough to balance out his moral depravity, at least not in the eyes of most Americans.

If this were another country, say the oft vilified France, maybe Edwards indiscretions, subsequent love child and his wife's eventual abandonment of him wouldn't have mattered in terms of his political career. Sadly, our American puritanical streak is more evident than the roots on a trailer park blonde. My fellow countrymen can't seem to separate what a person does between the sheets and what they can do in their careers. Right or wrong that is the way it is.

What is so disappointing about the Edwards case is not so much that he cheated, then lied over and over again to his wife who has had enough bad news to last several lifetimes, it is that he had the hubris to think that it wouldn't matter to the American people and that if he had won the Democratic nomination that he wouldn't have been handing the election to the Republican candidate (in this case McCain and his brainless bimbette, Sarah Palin). That is truly inexcusable to me. If he loved his country, he would never put us in that position, especially not after being put through eight years of Dubya whose high jinks nearly tore our country apart.

Don't get me wrong, I am horrified about what Edwards did to his family, and for what? Vanity? Surely he didn't love that woman? But if he did, wouldn't it have been better to be upfront with his wife than try and deceive her? But speculating about all of that is futile, it is private and up to the Edwards' to handle amongst themselves. Andrew Young's book The Politician exposed not only Edwards' indiscretion, but also indicated that Elizabeth Edwards learned of the affair and then proceeded to encourage her husband to continue his then-presidential run. I have always been a big fan of Elizabeth Edwards and was saddened when her cancer reoccurred and even more upset that her husband would do this to her, but if Young's claims are true, she is in her own way just as culpable as her husband in potentially leading our country astray. And dang, that just makes me sad.

I will still wake up tomorrow and naively believe that people are good and that somewhere out there a politician exists who can be honest and who will work hard to do what is best for his/her constituents. But I would be lying if I said that my optimism isn't bruised.

Insult to Injury

2010-02-02T11:40:00.004-05:00

In case you have forgotten, I recently took the time in New Year, New Rant to blog about an unfortunate doctors visit I had the first of January. Well, the other week I got a bill for a pathology test and then last week I got a bill from the doctor's office. The grand total was $133.41. I ignored them because I figured that something had been billed to my insurance incorrectly and it would be straightened out. After all, I shouldn't have to pay more than my $25 copay for an annual well visit, right?

WRONG.

I called the lovely folks at Blue Cross/Blue Shield this morning to find out what the dealio was (because I also had to find out my copay for a little upcoming hand surgery I am having). I was told that I have to meet a $150 deductible before my doctor's visits, etc. are covered beyond my copay. So not only did I get shitty treatment at the doctor's office, but I am now paying for that privilege to the tune of $158.41 (the $133.41 I have been billed and the $25 copay I laid out at the office the day of). Nice, really nice. And what makes this all so much more galling is I don't go to the doctor except for annual visits usually. So basically I have met my deductible first thing this year and it will do me no good, because if I were to stay with this insurance, it would all start over again come 2011.

Now let me break this down for you gentle readers in plain, ole dollars and cents. Currently, the spouse and I are paying a reduced Cobra amount for our insurance of just under $400 a month. The spawn's insurance policy is $125 a month. The spouse's prescription costs are $300 a month and he is still paying for his colonoscopy in 2008 and back surgery in 2009 to the tune of $200 a month. Grand total—$1,025. Bear in mind this does not include a copay should any of us have a doctor's appointment in the month. Our mortgage is under $850 a month. That, very simply, gentle readers is FUCKED UP. If we didn't qualify for the reduced Cobra that total would be $1,725.

But we don't need insurance/healthcare reform, no, not at all . . .

Oh No You Didn't

2010-01-28T08:27:00.004-05:00

So last night the President gave the State of the Union speech, and trust me I have more to say about that (among other things) and plan to get off my duff and post them (really!). But for this moment I would like to concentrate on the actions of one Samuel Alito last night during the speech.

While I think it is nuts to make the Supreme Court (and for that matter the major military brass) attend the State of the Union since they can't indicate any partisanship that however, is the way it is. Except last night when it wasn't. For Justice Alito decided to add his editorial head shake to President Obama's disapproval for the recent Court ruling that allowed corporations to contribute to political campaigns without limits. In effect the Court gave corporations the right of individual citizens saying that it was a First Amendment issue of free speech. Not only does this reverse a hundred years of Court rulings, but it is just plain bad. Corporations do not always, or even some of the time depending on the business, have the best interests of our citizens or our country at the heart of their enterprises. Rather they are often interested in only what makes them profitable. For every Google who pledges to "Do no evil" (which you can feel free to believe or not) there is an Enron that knowingly fleeces its employees and stock holders for the benefit of a small minority. Or an Exxon who allows a natural catastrophe to occur, decimating an environment and a legion of wildlife.

So when President Obama said the ruling had "opened the floodgates" and would allow special interests and even foreign countries to hold sway in our elections, Alito shook his head and apparently mouthed the words "not true."

Wow. In a world where even which big box store you buy from can be a partisan decision, I had hoped we could cling to the allusion that our Supreme Court still had a veneer of impartiality and could rise above the fray of democrat/republican bickering. Apparently like much these days when it comes to our political leaders, I was disastrously wrong. My bad, but Alito's worst.

37 Candles

2010-01-15T20:10:00.004-05:00

I have made no bones about my long and illustrious fascination with Molly Ringwald. From her red locks to her two piercings in one ear to the grunge-era ode to her by the band Sponge, I love me some of the Brat Pack Princess. I thought the closest I would ever come to being like Ms. Ringwald would be a result of a box of Ms. Clairol and my mother not buying me a birthday present when I was 17 until I cried at the local fish restaurant and guilted her into taking me to the video store for a VHS copy of Help! starring the Fab Four (John, Paul George and Ringo, will never, I repeat NEVER let you down).

But alas, as James Bond so helpfully reminds us, Never Say Never Again. Thirty seven years and about 1 hour and 45 minutes ago on a Monday evening I entered the world, if my mother's recollection is to be trusted. Then again, she could have me confused with my brother's birth. Regardless, this birthday I was forgotten. I got calls from my brother, my mother-in-law, my step-daughter, my step-step-son, my grad school friend, and my next door neighbor. That doesn't include the countless greetings from people I barely knew in college who I am friends with on Facebook. But my mother—nothing.

So kiddies, when it comes time for your grown-ass children to hit their 37th, 57th or 87th, if you are still walking the Earth, I prey that you do not forget them. Because whether you are 16 or any age, having your mom forget your birthday SUCKS BALLS.

Word Jumble

2010-01-10T17:21:00.003-05:00

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming . . .

I am alternatively amused and fascinated by the different meanings we imbue on a word. God knows that I love and make frequent use of my share of obscenities and profanities.

"I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Someday, perhaps the spawn will speak so lovingly and eloquently of me.

I honestly think I could make some sailors blush if given the opportunity and I managed to snag the spouse largely as a result of my salty tongue, but I digress. Word meanings—isn't it crazy how we decide that "fuck" is a bad word and that "flock" is not. They are merely letters and sounds put together that we put our meaning on.

Then there are those words that mean different things in different places. One favorite of mine is shag. Here in the good 'ole U.S of A it is a rip, roaring dance made popular on the beaches of the southern states back in the 1950s and 60s. But you cross the pond to our intrepid neighbors in the English language and shag is a less than romantic form of copulation. You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-mah-toe . . . that sort of thing, you know?

So I am intrigued by the hullaballoo that the Right has made about President Obama's lack of the use of the word terror. Does it matter what we call it when someone decides that their ideas and opinions are more valuable than the lives of other innocent human beings? Or does the fact that those human beings don't hold those same values or opinions dear, make them somehow guilty? I guess in the eyes of those terrorists or bombers or extremists, those who aren't with them are against them. Gosh, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?

In the end, terror is just a word that tries to contain the horror of one person or one's group decision to cause harm, unexpectedly and without warning, to another person or group. It is the action and meaning behind the word that we need to focus on, not the word itself.

New Year, New Rant

2010-01-07T15:06:00.003-05:00

Pardon me gentle readers as I digress from our typical topic of politics, although god knows I haven't exactly been verbose on the topic of late. There has been so much back and forth, most of it mindless about the health care debate for the past several months that I have been only too willing to tune it out. Today's little ditty touches on the healthcare topic, but not quite in the vein that our beloved politicians have been tossing about since before Santa squeezed his fat ass down the chimney.

So, today's post is going to get a bit personal, I promise to not get graphic or icky, after all some of you may be delicate. I am going to talk about my yearly visit to the lady doctor. For those of you who aren't female, we of the xx chromosome persuasion are expected to visit the lady doctor on an annual basis and get our girly bits checked out. While I know you men have to go groped in the giblets, trust me, it ain't the same. But I promised not to be graphic.

When I called several weeks ago, after realizing that my normal time of year for this appointment had come and gone with no note from the lady doctor to remind me, I was told that my doctor of the past five-ish years had left the practice. So I picked someone who I saw once during the rotation during my pregnancy with the spawn. This doctor had seemed pleasant enough and I figured it was no big deal.

I arrived 15 minutes early as requested. I waited. After about half an hour, the nurse called my name and took me back to get my blood pressure, height and weight. Ms. Personality asked me no other questions and took no other information. This took maybe five minutes. She then asked me to wait in another waiting room. Almost 45 minutes go by this time and I am finally escorted to the examination room. I don my lovely little gown and sit beneath my paper sheet, eager to share my private parts with someone new. At least another fifteen minutes go by. Finally the doctor enters, shakes my hand, says nice to meet you. She asks me a brief question or two and then begins the exam. She finishes, asks if there is anything else, hands over my chart and leaves. In all, she saw me for five minutes.

Listen, I get that doctors are busy. And she apologize for keeping me waiting. But when the lady who does my bikini wax spends more time in my nether regions than my gynecologist, something is seriously wrong. I had met this lady only once, she obviously didn't remember me (which is fine and to be expected), but to not take the time to a) meet me with my FREAKIN' clothes on and b) to ask me a bit about me and my medical history is flat wrong.

The spouse asked, "Did you expect her to take you out to dinner, like a date?" Well, no, but back in the day when I was dating, a dude had to do a bit more than just make me wait almost two hours and ask me how my birth control of choice was working for me. Admittedly my standards weren't super high back then, but I had some self-respect.

So I think I will be shopping for a new doctors office. I mean, if you are going to stick your head in my crotch, I at least expect you to make a bit of small talk first. I don't think that is asking too much.

Et tu, Newsweek?

2009-11-11T16:57:00.005-05:00

I know that I need to hear both sides of the issues. I should want to hear both sides, and while I have still not resolved my lack of love for Newsweek's redesign from earlier this year (WHEN will people learn that sometimes things are left well enough alone—yeah I am looking at you Facebook), I get their efforts to present a somewhat balanced approach to news and politics. Of course I am admittedly partial to their leftist-leaning writers—sue me I am an unabashed, unapologetic liberal.

But I had to stop and post something in response to the article by Yuval Levin I just read in their latest issue (November 16). And who you might ask is Mr. Levin? (It's ok, I had to ask that question myself.) Well, according to his byline he is the editor of National Affairs. A new publication, National Affairs is a quarterly journal, launched this year, "that aspires to help Americans think a little more clearly about the challenges of governing ourselves." Well bully for them.

Being not entirely sure what it means to "think a little more clearly"—I have found that generally liqueur is involved, or at least it should be—I decided to read on. Another journal, The Public Interest and its former editor Irving Kristol were credited as the model for Levin's new publication. Kristol, Kristol . . . any chance 'ole Irv is related to Bill Kristol of the conservative rag The Weekly Standard? Well a quick little jaunt over to Wikipedia confirmed that yes indeedy, Irv was the proud papa of Bill.

So with just a few quick search statements Levin's credentials as a conservative were established, but I kinda new that from the tone of his article. Titled "What Coattails? Why right-of-center candidated are succeeding in the age of Obama," Levin details why last week's off-year elections were a good thing for the GOP and should be a wake up call for the Dems.

Obviously, I am not convinced that an off-year election, when people are focusing on their own local issues, is really qualified as a referendum on the current president and the entire Democratic party. I will grant you that a mid-term carries a bit more weight, but I think we are jumping the gun to say that 10 months into the Obama administration, people are already fed up and looking to the benevolent Republicans to save us from the savage atrocities of the lefty liberals.

But what got me going about the article came down to two things. First that Levin said "Republicans are not in the midst of a destructive civil war, any more than the Democrats were when they kicked out Joe Lieberman in 2006." Lieberman was never kicked out of the Democratic party; rather, he chose to leave when it became obvious that he was facing a serious challenge during the primary from another Democrat. Last I checked it was certainly allowable for a member of someone's own party to challenge them during the primary season, thus the reason for a primary in the first place. Lieberman likes to whine, that is painfully apparent, but he created a situation in Connecticut where Democratic voters were no longer enamored of him and were leaning toward giving the Democratic nomination to Ned Lamont. So Mr. Levin, if you want me to give ANY credence to your musings, I suggest you get your facts straight.

Second, Levin ended the piece by saying "liberals in Washington would do well to let go of the Republican breakdown narrative, take a real look at the mood of the country and the state of their own party's prospects, and pull back to the center—or suffer the consequences." As some one who freely admits to being left of center, I can assure you that I in no way consider the current administration or the Democratic party in general to be left of center, if anything, the Democrats have become center in many cases with the Republicans veering more to the right. I wish the Dems would behavior as bigger lefties (dare to dream), but sadly, that is just a boogie man created by the right to scare those few Americans who sit on the fence and to reinforce the ideology of the right.

Oddly enough I agree in a way that the Dems aren't taking a real look at the mood of the country. In fact, in my opinion, if they were taking a look at the country's mood they would be doing a lot more left-leaning things, i.e. getting out of Afghanistan, funding a public option (otherwise known as "Medicare for everyone,") and sticking it to Wall Street but good.

So Mr. Levin can live in his fantasy land that the GOP is on the rise and the Dems are causing it. But I don't think that is the case. Not to say that the Dems aren't mucking things up, but I don't think the country is thinking the Republicans are the answer. At this point, I would hazard a guess that most Americans agree neither party has an answer.

Taking Stock

2009-11-05T12:24:00.004-05:00

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi can be vulgar, crude and beyond incendiary and usually I love him all the more for it. Especially with the piece he wrote in the October 15th issue (RS 1089). Dude might want to relax on some of the heavier drugs though because he is getting super paranoid, and yet frankly I fear he may be on to something.

He addresses the unknown figure who gambled on March 11, 2008 that Bear Stearns' shares value would precipitously drop and was right. Taibbi calls it as insider manipulation, an effort on behalf of this mystery figure to cause Bear Stearn's demise. Adding to the general X-Files aura of the whole thing, there was a meeting that same day of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY which was attended by Both Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner and all the major Wall Street investment banks EXCEPT Bear Stearns. And the plot thickens.

It isn't known exactly what happened at the meeting, but by the time it ended Bear Stearns' fate was sealed and investors started banking that the company was going down. Apparently it all has to do with a practice called naked shortselling. Taibbi explains it and I almost understood it which says a lot of his powers of explanation, because banking ain't something Broad gets. I won't bore you with the details or try to explain it myself, but suffice it to say it is dirty and underhanded and generally kind of illegal (you can check out the link to the article above to get the scoop yourselves).

But it doesn't stop there. Apparently someone later tried this with Lehman Brothers and it of course worked again. Vanity Fair addressed the topic in an excerpt from Andrew Ross Sorkin's upcoming book in its November issue. Of course Sorkin is more deferential, polite, etc. than Taibbi and he also doesn't have the paranoid "they are all out to get us" ideas behind his article, but he adds that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs feared they were next. From the tenor of Taibbi's piece I would say that just ain't so, that those two were in on the death of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, but I don't want to fall into complete conjecture.

The takeaway for me is that the banking and investment worlds are dark, murky places and the inside folks like it that way. They don't want the average American to know or understand what they are up to because once we understood it, we would be appalled. It appears that much of what is going on Wall Street is legalized stealing and lying in many ways, but I guess that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to any of us anymore.

What I can't help but wonder is if we had allowed these banks and investment companies that were deemed "too big to fail" to actually fail, how much would the average American have been hurt? Or would if have just wondered those people who will be fingering their six figure bonuses come this Christmas?

Home Sweet Home

2009-11-04T20:35:00.003-05:00

It ain't just something Vince Neil sings about anymore. I guess you have to be a child of the 80s for that one.

Moving on. For the past 15 years, it would appear that everything we have done as a society is to insure that we can live and work anywhere, anytime. From faxes first then cell phones and finally to email and the Internet, we have created a world that makes work something that is always with us, keeping us moving constantly, both literally and figuratively as we chase the latest and greatest job.

But oddly enough an article back in the October 19 edition of Newsweek talked about how grounded Americans are in their local neighborhoods and how unwilling they are to move. And I get it. I have had to apply for jobs outside of my city, and even outside of my state, because there just aren't that many jobs out there that are both interesting to me and that I am qualified for, but that doesn't mean I want to move. I like that the baristas at my local Starbucks know not only my name, but what I drink (and I refuse to dwell on the idea that this might mean I spend altogether too much time in said coffee shop). I like that we know the name of our postman and the guy that owns the restaurant in the heart of our hood. I like that I have a "hood."

I have even dared to dream in my current state of "Funemployment" that I might be able to eke out an existence via freelance work. It would mean a change in lifestyle, somewhat, but it would also mean not working for "the man" again, something that I never excelled at in my heart.

So no, I don't want to move. While the idea seems intriguing sometimes in the frustration of a boring day or when I am longing to have money to spare, it is not one that holds much water when I really start to think about it. So while all of our technology might have first been seen as a way for us to be more mobile, more fluid in our ability to move around the world, it is in actuality allowing us to do just the opposite and stay at home.

I'm On My Way
Well, I'm On My Way
Home Sweet Home
Tonight Tonight
I'm On My Way
I'm On My Way
Home Sweet Home

Joe Lieberman Can Kiss My Ass and Other Musings on Insane Elected Officials

2009-11-04T20:18:00.006-05:00

How in the world have we arrived at a point where that sniveling little Droopy Dog Joe Lieberman thinks he can lord over the fate of every American's health care? I get that many experts thing it doesn't matter and presumably they are right (dear lord I hope so), but it still chaps my backside that Lieberman can pull this stunt for the attention and to give him a false feeling of power. It makes me long for the Democrats missed opportunity to bitch slap him when he switched parties and became an independent because he knew he would lose the Democratic nomination to Ned Lamont. I hope the people of Connecticut give him a good swift kick in the tuckus next election.

Meanwhile, my own state's Virgina Foxx (a personal fave as my regular readers most likely know) opened her trap again and said something that almost surpasses her earlier outrageous statements about heathcare.

I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.

She later added: “It is a bad bill and the American people should be frightened of it.”

Well thank you for that little nugget of wisdom Virginia. It almost makes me wish that the Democrats really were going to institute death panels, because I know of someone I would like to volunteer to go before them first for some "end of life" counseling . . .

That DID NOT Just Happen

2009-11-04T19:57:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, the spouse, spawn and I were cruising down one of North Carolina's major highways on our way to visit some friends from yore. My car still sports its Obama 08 sticker. As we went down a six lane road, we were in the center lane of our three. A car pulled in front of me and seemed to slow a bit. It was covered in copious amounts of anti-Obama stickers. I thought nothing of it, but the spouse remarked that the person probably deliberately slowed down in front of us because of my Obama sticker. Several moments later I moved into the far left lane and proceeded to pass the car. The driver of the car (a middle aged white woman) proceeded to flip me off when we got parallel to her.

Needless to say I was stunned and outraged–I had done nothing to this woman other than disagree with her politically via a BUMPER STICKER. Have we lost all of our ability to agree to disagree with civility?

The incident had really faded from my memory until this afternoon when the amazing level of hostility and animosity some have towards our current president came roaring back in an even more in my face kind of way.

The spouse and I were out at a small local hot dog restaurant that shall remain nameless. I was at the counter ordering when an older man got in the line next to me. As he ordered he remarked that he wished we could go back to the day of five cent hot dogs. As he said this I turned toward him and smiled, but that all changed with what came out of his mouth next. He said that it wasn't going to happen with Obama-laden in office and that he wanted to kill old people like him.

My first instinct was to inform the impolite geezer that we were all dying regardless, some of us faster than others. Then I wanted to yell at him that I was unemployed with no full time position in sight and unsure of my future insurance prospects thanks to the previous administration's negligence and that Obama's administration was trying to help that situation. But a combination of ingrained politeness and distaste for public confrontation (I know you are shocked that I avoid confrontation, but bare with me), led me to just stare straight ahead, ignoring him and stewing. Obviously saying something to someone like that would solve nothing and most certainly not change his mind. Maybe it was weak of me to not address is misinformation and blatant racism, but I also couldn't help being amazed at the sheer gall that this man thought it was not only appropriate to say that sort of thing to a stranger, but that I would agree with him.

And of course it reminded me of the incident on the highway. We really seem to be regressing as a society. I don't have an answer for this, but I am certainly in possession of a full cup of outrage and I guess that will have to suffice for today.

An Elegy for Elegance

2009-10-27T12:40:00.007-04:00

Lo these many years ago, 13 to be exact (my how the 'ole broad is aging . . .), I was privileged enough to land a job at Elegant Bride magazine. It was not located in New York, as it is now, nor was it like the depictions of magazine publishing you often find in entertainment today ala Ugly Betty or The Devil Wears Prada. But it was thrilling. There is something thrilling about magazine publishing in general in my mind. In my career, I have done just about every kind of magazine publishing there is, newsstand, business-to-business and custom, and who wouldn't be excited to see their name on the masthead of a magazine that can be found in Seattle or Topeka or Boston?

What did I love about Elegant Bride? I loved learning the rules of getting married, my anal retentive soul gobbled up the do's and don'ts, the etiquette for how to be an elegant bride like a drunk on a bender. To this day I can still tell you how to properly address an envelope to a household with two last names or what time of day requires formal attire, not that many people care any more about such rules, much less obey them.

I loved seeing my name of course, but what I loved more was the idea that thousands of people were reading my words. Since first grade I knew I wanted to write, and although writing about how to handle including step parents on your invitation may not have been my seven year old self's dream, these were still real people reading my writing.

But most of all I loved the people I worked with—they continued my education on how to be more of a girl, adding how to be a lady and how to be a professional. That is not to say that I achieved those goals while working there. Nor have I necessarily achieved them at this current moment in time, but those women (and man) gave me the ideals I will forever strive to obtain. They showed me style, savvy, fortitude, humor, compassion, adaptability, charm, grace and that sometimes it is best to quit while you are ahead. I was honored to work with them and grateful that I still call so many of them friends.

Several years after I left the magazine, things were changing and not looking promising for me career-wise (and as I mentioned my co-workers did teach me to quit when I was ahead), the publishing company who owned it sold it to Conde Nast. The publishing giant already published Brides and Modern Bride so I never quite understood why they would want a third magazine, although style-wise Elegant Bride was head and shoulders above those two books, and apparently I was right. It would appear that in a recession one does not in fact need three bridal magazines. So Conde Nast is shuttering both Modern Bride and Elegant Bride (apparently we no longer need to distinguish between brides, just any old bride will do during hard times), as well as the parenting magazine Cookie and the venerable Gourmet.

I don't like change and I most certainly don't like goodbyes, but then I guess most don't. And while no one I know works for Elegant Bride any longer, it is still a prized part of my past that is being razed due to the almighty dollar. I wonder what else I love will be lost because of the transgressions of men in suits who control the purse strings?

Atonement

2009-10-23T12:57:00.004-04:00

You know how it happens, you get busy and distracted and the next thing you know weeks have gone by and you meant to call that friend, clean that closet or finish that project. But it doesn't happen, it slips through the cracks and then you start to get to the point where so much time has passed it almost seems harder to do that thing than to just continue on and pretend that it no longer exists.

Unfortunately that is just what happened to me and the blog. It isn't that I haven't had ideas, I have steadily accumulated a stack of magazines with pages dog-eared with topics I wanted to expound on. And yet.

I am consistently amazed at how easy it is for the day to slip away when you are unemployed. Mind you, I have been somewhat busy with some freelance work, possibly something that will even turn into more of an ongoing, long-term gig (fingers crossed), and I am extremely grateful, but that is no excuse. I have been out of the work force for almost six months now and in that time my book shelves have not been alphabetized like I have dreamed of (I blame the spouse who helped me move in low these many years ago—10 to be exact— and who put the books on the shelf with little rhyme or reason), the spawn's toys have only been organized once, months ago, and now the blocks are living with the toy people and the trucks with the puzzles and in my head it is a mighty clash of civilizations that keep me up at night (okay not really, but it does bug me to my anal retentive core), and that dream of scrubbing the baseboards is still just that. And yet.

I do dream of suit shopping with Bill Maher (paging Freud for the meaning of that one), I did a marathon nine hour day of proofing and I attempted to run a 5K. So I have not been idle. And yet.

Earlier this month, one idea I dog-eared corresponded with my boyfriend Jon Stewart mentioning on his show Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement. Newsweek editor Jon Meacham wrote his weekly editor's letter back in the September 28 issue (told you I was thinking of you gentle reader, all along . . .) about the consequences of words. I know the power of words to wound and heal and yet I am endless careless with them, waving them about like a cocked and loaded gun. It is shameless really, so that is why Meacham's essay struck me so I think.

Meacham talks of how we delude ourselves when we think that there was once a golden age of bipartisanship. Like the unicorn and yeti, bipartisanship is a myth, a fantasy that we delude ourselves with when times are particularly hard like they are now (despite those bankers on Wall Street raking in their millions). But where I felt truly called to the carpet was when Meacham talks of Obama supporters saying the hostility towards our President is unprecedented. And he is right, my hostility to Dubya was legendary (at least in my own mind) and was, dare I say it, wrong and misguided. The people who demonize President Obama are just as wrong as I was to demonize Dubya, doesn't mean I like him or that my opinion of him has changed or will ever change, but I should have been able to keep my level of discourse on a more civilized plane. And yet.

The level of hostility and hatred that is leveled at President Obama does strike me as different in tone than that aimed at Dubya. Our current president is being judged, by many, for the color of his skin. In my opinion, George W. Bush was being judged by his lack of intelligence and his gung-ho, cowboy attitude toward diplomacy. Many may think I am splitting hairs, but that strikes me as apples and oranges.

So while I am a tad behind, today I will celebrate my own day of atonement and I will try to do better in the future—not only in keeping a civil tongue when it comes to my disagreements with the conservatives in politics, but I will not let things slide in my life. Like this blog.

Poetry Time

2009-09-16T16:59:00.001-04:00

“Personal” by Tony Hoagland

Don’t take it personal, they said;
but I did, I took it all quite personal—

the breeze and the river and the color of the fields;
the price of grapefruit and stamps,

the wet hair of women in the rain—
And I cursed what hurt me

and I praised what gave me joy,
the most simple-minded of possible responses.

The government reminded me of my father,
with its deafness and its laws,

and the weather reminded me of my mom,
with her tropical squalls.

Enjoy it while you can, they said of Happiness
Think first, they said of Talk

Get over it, they said
at the School of Broken Hearts

but I couldn’t and I didn’t and I don’t
believe in the clean break;

I believe in the compound fracture
served with a sauce of dirty regret,

I believe in saying it all
and taking it all back

and saying it again for good measure
while the air fills up with I’m-Sorries

like wheeling birds
and the trees look seasick in the wind.

Oh life! Can you blame me
for making a scene?

You were that yellow caboose, the moon
disappearing over a ridge of cloud.

I was the dog, chained in some fool’s backyard;
barking and barking:

trying to convince everything else
to take it personal too.

RESPECT

2009-09-12T12:56:00.004-04:00

It ain't just an R&B song so expertly belted by Ms. Franklin gentle reader, it is unfortunately something, along with civility, that is all to lacking in our society today—at least American society, I won't presume to speak for the other nations around the globe.

I have been ruminating on this for a little over a week now, starting with the nonsense surrounding President Obama's speech to school children and the way so many on the right lost their shit over the idea. 'The very idea of the President wanting to tell our kids to work hard and stay in school! How dare he!' Alrighty. I may catch some grief over this, but I stand with many of the more outspoken commentators on the Left who believe this all boils down to simple racism and nothing else.

During a broadcast of the Stephanie Miller show on Air America this week, a guest (I apologize I didn't catch who the guy was, but it was a show when Miller was on vacation and had a guest filling in) stated something along the lines of a lot of this garbage we have been hearing about President Obama is coming from the South and that many Southerns seem to take pride in being ignorant.

At first I was offended. I am a Southerner and I certainly take no pride in ignorance, my own or anyone elses'. But then I started thinking about it more and while this may not be exactly what the guest meant, from my final take on it he may have a point after all. Thirty years ago, before 24 hour media, before the Internet, before bloggers, people got their news from the major three networks, newspapers and some magazines. And while this may be a rosy, glow, Ozzie 'n' Harriet view of things, I have this gut feeling that they were better informed than the average American today who has WAY more access to information. I think this is a particular problem with self-identified Rednecks, who while a vast section of the Southern populous, also exist any where across our nation. My point is people don't seem to care today that they aren't informed, many do take pride in not knowing about politics and history and geography, if it doesn't directly impact them, they think it doesn't matter.

The reaction to Obama's speech I think falls in this domain to a certain degree, while I disagree that it comes exclusively from the South. I believe that a fair amount of blame can be laid at the feet of the media. As Bill Maher said on his show this week, "The Media is supposed to be the teacher." And when the Media gets their knickers in a twist over a Coast Guard training episode, even though it occurred on the anniversary of September 11, before finding out the hard facts, then they are doing a disservice to Americans and are not teaching us anything but that they are not to be trusted.

One of Maher's guests, Paul Rieckhoff (Director, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) also said of the Media, "They confuse balance with accuracy." All too true. Having talking heads from both sides screaming at each other does nothing to educate the general public, it is merely a Jerry Springer-esque way to hold too easily distracted Americans' attention. That isn't news, it isn't educational and it is surely not accurate.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention how that wing-nut from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, figures into all of this. While I often, in my Anglophile heart, long for America to be more British, we are not in fact British. Therefore, it is not acceptable in our Congress to heckle our leader. What Wilson did during Obama's speech before Congress was not only unacceptable, it was juvenile, ridiculous, uncouth, racist and disRESPECTful.

Yep, there we are gentle readers, full circle back to Ms. Franklin's ode. If I had a dollar for every time I had to endure people saying during Dubya's eight years of lunacy that he should be respected because he was president, I would be a rich woman right now and not living off the government's dime and looking for work. But alas . . . . Now those same people are the ones applauding this dipshit who acted like a drunk frat boy at a comedy club. Well turn about is fair play folks. Obama is your president now, and you need to show him the respect the office deserves, even if you don't like him or didn't vote for him.

I made no bones about my dislike of Dubya, still don't, but for all my blustering, I would have been just as dismayed and outraged should someone had acted towards him in that manner. Aw, who am I kidding I would have loved it, just as I loved it when the guy in Iraq threw a shoe at him. My real problem with Mr. Wilson's outburst is less that he made it and more the reason behind it—racism. I bet you dollars to donuts that he would have never done that had it been a white democrat standing up there as president.

Finally, I know this is a bit lengthy and rambling, but I want to close with something else that Bill Maher said on his show last night (I know I need to develop a new news crush) that liberals aren't taking to the streets to protest the way the right-wing crazies are, instead we sit on our sofas and yell at the TV. Well, maybe it is time we get off our asses and show our country some R*E*S*P*E*C*T.

Defining the Times

2009-09-08T09:13:00.003-04:00

A lesson today for all of you who might be confused by the rhetoric being tossed about so liberally in the news of late.

From Merriam-Webster online:

Socialism
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Fascism
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control

Communism
1 a : a theory advocating elimination of private property b : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed
2 capitalized a : a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics b : a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production c : a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably d : communist systems collectively

Nazism
: the body of political and economic doctrines held and put into effect by the Nazis in Germany from 1933 to 1945 including the totalitarian principle of government, predominance of especially Germanic groups assumed to be racially superior, and supremacy of the führer

Now many pundits and talking heads have been spouting that President Obama is a socialist, a Nazi, a fascist. Well I will admit that in some people's eyes the socialist label might have some sticking power to the current administration, not that I have any problem with that personally, I am all for there being less of a yawning gap between the haves and have nots. Plus Sweden doesn't look so bad and they are socialists.

But the latter two labels really rub me the wrong way. Obama and his administration are not fascists or Nazis and while the two groups may both espouse authoritarian rule, their goals for that rule were different in my eyes, as were their ideology of why such rule was necessary.

Now listen, I didn't major in political science, so maybe I am missing some small nugget of correlation between the two, but in the broader range of things, all these people on the right aim to do is frighten the beejesus out of people by invoking Nazis and Fascists and the like.

So far as all this hullabaloo about the President indoctrinating school children today during his speech, well give me a break. President Obama is not the first president to address schools and he won't be the last (Remember Dubya reading My Pet Goat? Anyone??). It appears to me that a speech about personal responsibility, staying in school and trying to get ahead is not even remotely rooted in socialism or any ideology that is centered on the government owning the means of production. No in fact, those all seem like tools that might come in handy for this kind of society:

an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

Yep, CAPITALISM.

Peggy Get Your Gun

2009-09-01T14:43:00.005-04:00

What is there to say about Mad Men? I am quite frankly obsessed—with Don Draper's classic depiction of a troubled asshole, which despite just how unfeminist it is, fascinates me to no end; with the idea that the 1960s were not all Ozzie and Harriet, that people were cruel and manipulative and most of all fucked with abandon; with the way you can see glimmers of change and strength in all the characters, but particularly the women. Big things are afoot this season I believe and with a show that is replete with female writers, it is no wonder that so many of the female characters are as rich, if not richer than their male counterparts. Hello Joan, Betty and Peggy, I am talking about you.

Which leads me to Sunday's episode, where Peggy tokes up, asserts herself with the boys in a way that wins not only the smarmy adulation of the Princeton pal selling the pot, but of her coworker Smith. You could see the wheels turn in that boy's head as he began to rewrite his opinion of Peggy. For that I say hell yeah! You go girl—who is smart and quick and who the boys seem to dismiss specifically for those reasons.

But what I loved most of all is the following, her conversation with her new secretary Olive, that the women at Salon's Broadsheet extrapolated:

And in her loopy, stoned, sweet way, Peggy suddenly gets it: “But you're scared,” she says. Olive isn’t scolding her, per se, she’s scared for her, and worried about the consequences to a young lady who breaks the rules that governed women in her own day. Leaning in, Peggy says, “I am going to get to do everything you want for me. I'm going to be fine, Olive.”

How I have dearly wanted to say just that very thing to older, female figures in my life who have doubted me or worst of all been jealous. 'I am going to get to do everything you want for me, and while you may hate me for it in the end, I will be fine. I am fine.'

In Other Words, an English Major

2009-08-28T10:07:00.004-04:00

Just another reason to love Garrison Keillor . . . the September 2009 Vanity Fair features him on their end page Proust Questionnaire. Mr. Keillor was asked—"What is the quality you most like in a woman?" He responds:

High-spiritedness, wit, a love or repartee and wordplay and allusion and jokes—in other words, an English major.

As a former English major, I say God Bless you Mr. Keillor, if only more boys I knew had held you same esteem for wit and wordplay in my impressionable teens and twenties . . .

On Death and Dying

2009-08-26T12:02:00.003-04:00

"Why would any member of Congress, especially those of us who are grandmothers, want to pull the plug on Grandma?" So sayeth Rep. Maxine Waters (D).

Valid point, one I would think many in Congress could agree on, these aren't exactly young whipper snappers, guiding our fair nation.

Meanwhile, the lion of the Senate is gone, healthcare is no further along than it was two months ago (although perhaps their is a faint light ahead, dare I dream?), and as one older, African American woman at a recent town hall, who had lost her job and had no insurance, queried the gathering only to be booed, "Aren't I an American too?"

Yes ma'am you are, and we are all deserving of care, unless you buy what the CEO of Whole Foods recently shared in an OpEd.

But I digress, a 35-year-old woman is dead of breast cancer, and more like her will die today and tomorrow. If we fix our healthcare, maybe we can save one or two of these people who are loved by so many. Maybe we can't, but isn't it better to try?

Me & Julia

2009-08-18T23:19:00.004-04:00

A twofer! I told you I was inspired . . .

And it is all due to Mrs. Julia Child. I just saw the movie, Julie and Julia, and I found it quite charming, as well as laugh out loud funny. Mrs. Child was a remarkable woman from the looks of things, and not just because she deciphered French cooking for us crass Americans.

While I couldn't come home at 10pm and start deboning a duck, don't you fret, it is in my plans. It may appear that politics is my first love, but I would trade every pundit out there to just cook, and cook well, at will.

Points No. 1, 2 & 3

2009-08-18T22:50:00.003-04:00

Why is it that someone who is most assuredly not a night person is so often struck by inspiration in the final dark hours of the day? Well that is a question to ponder some other day I suppose, but for now, more on healthcare.

I know, I know. I am sick of the topic too, but sometimes you have to worry over something until you are thoroughly sick of it before you see the light and can make things right. I have three points to make in that vein, so bare with me.

Point No. 1
The spouse asked me the other day if I knew what the public option was. I do not. Nor could I properly explain how that might differ from a single payer system. Admittedly, I am sure that I could dig around, do my research and come up with an answer. Hell, I could just try to muster up some common sense and make a best case scenario guess, but off the top of my head? Nope, stuck. And that seems, to me, to be a BIG problem. The spouse and I watch/read a fair bit of the news, probably I would estimate more than your average American. If we can't give a reasonable response to that question, then I would venture to say that neither could that average American. Which means (not that we didn't already suspect this) the people hollering at these town hall meetings have no clue what they are yelling about.

Point No. 2
I have a dear friend of going on 18 years who is in the process of saying goodbye to a beloved friend of hers. This woman is dying of breast cancer and most likely has but weeks to live, if that. She is not even 35. I have met her, dined at her house, and although we are in no sense of the word close, I can't shake the feeling of just how wrong this is. She is younger than me, she never had the chance to have children. She leaves a husband who never imagined he would have to say goodbye to his wife so early and so young. It does something to shake my inner bouncy ball core, which seems so resilient despite my better efforts to kill it. I don't know what the financial condition of this young woman and her husband is. I don't know what their insurance situation is either, but I do not doubt that even if they have "good" insurance there has been a significant accumulation of expense during her sickness. So not only his her husband left alone, bereft, he is left with God knows what kind of debt to handle as he is grieving. That simply seems too much for one soul to take on.

Point No. 3
To finalize, and somewhat combine the previous two points, I was just reading Jonathan Alter's Newsweek essay "Health Care as a Civil Right." In it, Alter not only makes the point that Obama & Team need to reframe the argument for healthcare reform to center it around the belief that healthcare is a RIGHT and not some ridiculous luxury afforded only to those who are not sick and who have money, but that this public option hullabaloo has overshadowed this idea and is, in fact, not central to the issue. Did you know that half of U.S. bankruptcies are a result of medical expenses? Isn't that shameful? And when Alter says, "Passage [of healthcare reform] would end the shameful era in our nation's history when we discriminated against people for no other reason that that they were sick."

Even if you are sick of the subject that is something to think about, don't you think?

The One Where Broad Loses Her Temper

2009-08-11T17:06:00.006-04:00

Moments ago, I was blithely watching the local evening news as they interviewed people at a restaurant that was going to be part of Obama's listening tour on the healthcare issue. When what to my wandering ear should be heard, but an ignorant redneck with eight tiny brain cells. This woman was voicing her opinion that the Democrats weren't on the right track with the healthcare reform because EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A CHOICE.

Well goddamn people (to paraphrase the gd bomb that Chris Matthews just let fly on MSNBC). Last I checked that is exactly what the freak President Obama was offering. A CHOICE. He isn't going to take away healthcare, he is going to make it so more people can have it. If you want to dither about how it is going to be paid for, fine, I got the time. I am unemployed. But don't say horseshit like the plan won't give you a choice.

I thought I couldn't abide a hypocrite, but idiots are fast getting aided to my list of things I just can't take in my dotage.

Political Terrorists and Death Panels

2009-08-08T11:55:00.005-04:00

Once again I am compelled to say that the Democrats need to get off their asses and grow a set. Gentle reader, the nonsense that the GOP is saying in regards to the healthcare plan put out there by President Obama is crazy, and the biggest loon of them all—Sarah Palin—decided to add her measly two cents the other day on Facebook. Come on people, I thought Facebook was for sharing your thoughts on the latest box office offerings and letting your 200 closest "friends" know what you ate for lunch, not implying that the President want's to off your developmentally disabled spawn. But I have been wrong before.

So Palin says that the healthcare plan will create death panels that will determine whether the infirmed or disabled will be allowed to live or die. Hogwash. The stuff that Palin and her buddies in the Republican party are coming up with are so off base as to be laughable, but the problem is the Democrats aren't busting their chops on this. Maybe they are waiting for the lunacy to die down, but meanwhile, the lunatics are growing in number.

Take for instant these town hall meetings where middle aged, lower to middle class white people are asking for their country back. Well I have to agree with Mr. Maher on this one, what they mean is they want their country back from the black guy. Nice, huh?

But speaking of growing a set, the Dems could take a page from Hillary Clinton who when questioned recently about John Bolton's response to her husband's efforts to return the two American journalist being held in N. Korea, laughed uproariously, and then said basically that what had been done was far from out of the ordinary. See for yourself below:

Now that is what I call balls, ladies and gentleman. More democrats need to pay attention to her easy, breezy way of just blowing off the GOP as ridiculous fossils that are out of touch with reality.

But getting to the political terrorists part of things. Steven Pearlstein wrote recently in The Washington Post, about the Republican's efforts to derail heathcare efforts:

The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.

The Congress may be taking a break, but this ain't over yet. Far from it.

RIP John Hughes

2009-08-06T16:56:00.005-04:00

"Sweetheart, you couldn't ignore me if you tried."

And with that, my heart was forever stolen by the groups of dysfunctional, Chicago-based teens that traipsed through John Hughes movies. From Sixteen Candles to The Breakfast Club to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, my coming of age happened to the images that Mr. Hughes placed before me on the big screen. I wanted to be the princess and the basket case, I wanted to have the balls to escape and have the adventure of a lifetime in one day, and I longed to construct my own prom gown from vintage dresses and roar off in my pink Kharman Ghia (still a fantasy to this day). Unfortunately, none of that was to be. But I did pierce my ear a second time in homage to Molly Ringwald, I did studiously court the bad boys until I realized that it was no longer in my best interest hoping one would turn into Judd Nelson, and I did pretend I was daring by the occasional attempt at a Chinese firedrill on a deserted road.

So rest in peace John Hughes, this is one Gen-Xer that will miss you.

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...and an athlete...and a basket case...a princess...and a criminal.

Does that answer your question?... Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Good for Wall Street

2009-08-03T15:01:00.003-04:00

So I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher from last Friday (full disclosure, you know I dvr'ed and watched it on Sunday, but same difference). And he has this writer on there Joe Queenan who right off strikes me as a serious asshat (and no he wasn't a conservative—he was a liberal, see I am not a blanket love all my lefty-types gal after all). I will say that he made several good points, but he got my dander up when Bill asked the panel to grade President Obama.

Queenan said that if the stock market had closed on Friday over 9,000 (I believe this was his number) he would give Obama a 90-something (aka an A), but that if it closed under he gave him an 87 or a B.

What Mr. Queenan was oh-so-less than subtely implying was that if Wall Street is happy the rest of us are doing OK. Uh, dude? Not so much. I mean yahoo and all that Goldman and Bank of America are making money, but that doesn't mean that the REAL America, the folks I see in the grocery day in and day out are hunky dory. Corporate America and therefore the stock market is doing well and making money because THEY ARE LAYING PEOPLE OFF. STILL. I can't say that with enough implied screaming.

I would never say that my life or little world is indicative of how the rest of the country is going, but chew on this little tidbit gentle readers, I live on a corner, two houses down from me one member of that household has been laid off for at least six months now. My immediate neighbor just got laid off on Friday and of course I was laid off the end of April. So three houses in a row, all have members who have been a victim of this recession. And don't even get me started on how all three are women. Nothing funny afoot there at all.

So Mr. Queenan, you can take your stock market rally and shove it up your sanctimonious ass, as far as I am concerned. That is not to say that I don't believe that a lot of what Obama has done is good, I do. But some of it ain't, mostly as it pertains to the money the banks got and the fact that there weren't enough rules and regulations placed on how they had to use that money. But you know the stock market closed over 9,000, why aren't we all happier?

Yes Virginia, You Are a Douchecanoe

2009-08-01T08:38:00.002-04:00

Healthcare is a problem. A big problem. I think that there are serious issues with the idea of someone making a buck over whether or not someone lives or dies. Our system frankly sucks. As one of the unemployed masses, having your healthcare tied to your job just ain't cool, and makes a trying time that much more scary and dangerous. Lose coverage because you can't afford it and you won't be able to get covered again if you have pre-existing conditions. And with insurance companies today, a freakin' hang nail is considered a pre-existing condition I believe.

I know that the Republicans like to say that universal healthcare is evil and that the Europeans and Canadians have to wait for care, etc. That may be true, but if you ask them about whether or not they are happy with their plans, the majority are. For instance, 78% of the French say they are happy with their healthcare. But we wouldn't want to be like the French. Canadians seem equally pleased. Ninety two percent (yep 92%) would recommend their family doctor, and 85% of the population over 12 have a family doctor. Yes there are issues, but that seems pretty good to me. I doubt the same could be said of Americans.

I don't doubt that there are issues and problems with President Obama's health plan. Nothing is perfect, certainly not our system currently. So I say "good for the dems for at least TRYING." But as usual that isn't enough for the GOP. Not that they have a plan, at least not one that I have heard articulated.

And there there is Virginia Foxx. Who had this to say about Obama's plan last week:

"Republicans have a better solution that won't put the government in charge of people's health care," she said. "(The plan) is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government."

Thank God I am not in the district this woman represents, although Lord knows I have enough to apologize for having been born in that area that would elect her I suppose.

Million Dollar March

2009-07-09T15:04:00.003-04:00

Now that the Dems have 60 votes in the Senate you would think they could get off their asses and push through some serious reforms, like oh say in health care for example. Unfortunately, it would appear that some of the more conservative democrats (I can't even BELIEVE I am writing those two words together) seem to have other plans. And their efforts are being aided by the fact that the health care industry is spending at least ONE MILLION DOLLARS a day on lobbying Congress to squash any serious health care reform.

Well gosh guys, thanks for looking out for the little people.

What is wrong with this picture? I mean I thought the country voted for some change last November. It seemed to me that the majority spoke that they wanted the Democrats to make some change in Washington, and not continue down the path of lining the pockets of corporate America like the Republicans did for eight years. Health care should not be a for-profit industry. Why should corporations get rich off the backs of the average American living or dying? They make more money by keeping us sick then they do by healing us. It just all stinks if you ask me.

Republicans Gone Wild

2009-07-08T13:09:00.003-04:00

Like most of the world I was surprised and immensely curious about Sarah Palin's decision to leave office. Part of me gets her wanting to focus on her family if that is in fact the true reason, but something in my gut says no. If that were the case, why wouldn't she have quit before her son was born? Why wouldn't she have never accepted the VP nod from McCain? There is too much raw ambition in this woman for her to simply be quitting because it isn't convenient for her family and their lives. As far as the media attention goes, the Palins have more than courted that in my opinion, so I can't really give her a pass on that one either. I mean what did she think would happen in our media-saturated culture that thinks it is ok to tour the home of a dead pop star, a home that he no longer lives in and is devoid of furniture or personal effects? I mean what does that even tell us about him or us other than that we are extreme voyeurs with souls that may no longer be worthy of redemption?

But back on topic. You can't rationally expect to be the first Republican female vice presidential candidate, especially one with five kids, one of whom is a pregnant teenager and another who is special needs, and not expect to get some media attention. If you thought it would be otherwise you are either in deep denial or delusional. Sarah Palin, may of course, be both of those things, but I strongly suspect she is a bit more canny than that. Lord knows I hate to give a Republican too much credit, but she has to have some smarts to have gotten where she is. So yes, I think that there is much more going on with her resignation than simply wanting to spend more time with her family. The other day the spouse saw a Romney/Palin sticker. So I wouldn't count Palin out in the political arena just yet.

Meanwhile, across the country another Republican governor should be resigning and isn't yet. What is with these dude's in the GOP not being able to keep it in their pants? But hey, at least Mark Sanford has found his soulmate right? Glad that his wife and sons weren't inconvenienced by his little affair of the heart. Just like with Palin, I think there is more going on here than we know about now. First, they tell us they don't know where he is, then he is hiking, but no one can contact him for days over Father's Day weekend. Finally he says he was in Argentina and is having an affair. And he supposedly used some tax payer money to fund his little love jaunts south of the border. But he doesn't want the state of South Carolina to take any of the bailout money, explain that logic to me. I hope Mrs. Sanford sticks it to the Governor but good, he deserves whatever she does to him.

Finally, Norm Coleman has decided to back down in the Minnesota senators race, after eight months, countless legal wrangling efforts, and the state Supreme Court saying that Franken was the winner. How gracious of him. If I remember correctly he said something about not wanting to divide the state anymore. Wow! Really—not having a junior senator for eight months was divisive enough for you?

It is amazing how much trouble the Republicans can get into in less than a month when you are just minding your own business and living life. Don't make me have to start paying more attention boys and girls . . .

Talk the Talk

2009-06-17T14:31:00.003-04:00

I admit it, I got giddy when I heard that CIA director, Leon Panetta had manned up and said that Cheney almost seemed to want the country to be attacked again, merely so he could be proven right about all his doom and gloom media ramblings of late.

And then he did what all Democrats seem to do. Panetta backed down. Dear lord. What is wrong with the Democratic Party? Are they completely lacking in balls? I gotta go with Bill Maher here, who's final New Rule last Friday night called the Dems and specifically Obama to task by saying if they can't get their agendas through now, then when can they?

Dubya thought he had a mandate in the 2004 election because he scraped out a win. Obama beat McCain decisively and he acts like he has to tip toe around a sleeping lion. The Republicans are down right now for the count, but if Obama and the rest of the Democratic Party don't grow a set (and SOON!) then they might as well be on the mat beside the GOP helping them back to their feet before the ref reaches 10.

The Democrats time is now and if they fuck this up, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Enough

2009-06-10T19:55:00.003-04:00

I have been largely tuned out of the normal media melee of late. And I wouldn't say I have missed it. In a way I think I have purposely distanced myself from it all because there is only so much that even I can process at once and current personal events (ie BEING UNEMPLOYED) have somehow taken precedence. Selfish little broadminded.

But I heard about Dr. Tiller being murdered. I was outraged, horrified and disgusted at my "fellow Americans" but still I tried to not let it sink in. Then today an 88-year-old man killed another man at the Holocaust Museum. Dear god people.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH OUR COUNTRY?

How can we harbor so much hate? This decrepit old white supremacist fart, kills a black guard, scares the beejesus out of a bunch of school children and all for what? He's pissed because a BLACK MAN is president? Because some family members job got sent to India? Because he thinks the Jews made the whole holocaust up? I mean what could be so awful and wrong that you are possessed to go kill an innocent person and god knows who else before someone else with a gun stops you?

Yell and scream all you want about the bad things going on in the world, I have no problem with that. But this is insanity and I have had enough.

Vindication Is Mine

2009-06-09T07:26:00.002-04:00

Not to harp on this (because we all know that I would never hold onto something like a dog with a bone . . .) but I am about three issues into the Newsweek redesign and it is still leaving me cold. I have actually skipped articles accidentally because I thought they were ads, the layout confused me so.

Well I am not alone apparently. Rolling Stone labeled the redesign a "Hot Thud" in their recent "Hot Issue" (RS1080). Not even the nuttiness of Lady Gaga gracing the cover can wipe the smile off my face. And here I thought I was just being contrary because I don't like change.

Dr. West, I Presume

2009-06-04T21:35:00.005-04:00

Dr. Cornel West—have you ever heard this man speak? Sometimes it is hard to follow what he is saying because you get so caught up in the rhythm of his words. And it doesn't help that he uses some pretty big words.

The May 28, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone has a pretty thorough article/interview with Dr. West. Dude ain't an angel, and he has some issues, but I can't help but be intrigued by the way the wheels turn in his head.

For instance, when he talks about his idea of what democracy is and how it takes people who are poetic (and not in the verse-writing sense) to shake things up, use their imagination and get the rest of us out of our own little worlds.

We need that. Lord knows I do, gentle reader. I often find myself moved to thought, action, and daring by the beliefs, words, and deeds of another. I have friends and acquaintances who I consider much better people than I am and who possess this almost otherworldly quality to think beyond themselves. I sadly seem to be lacking in that department, but when I am around those people, or reading the thoughts of someone like Dr. West, I can't help, but for a minute, shake off my own "little iron cage" as West refers to it and for a moment, no matter how brief, become a better person capable of so much more.

I guess the key is to make those moments last for longer periods of time.

Guilty As Charged

2009-06-04T21:16:00.002-04:00

One of Obama's crew, Cass Sunstein, has written a book called Going To Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide.

If you can't already tell from the title the premise is that when we get around people who think like us we become more strident in our views and apparently the Web is particularly bad about this (so if you are reading this and find yourself not always agreeing with me—way to go for operating outside your comfort zone!).

Alrighty then, I guess I need to fess up that I am certain I am guilty of this, not that I wouldn't be a flame throwing liberal regardless, but it is easy to see that my knickers are more twisted up after a good hour with Olbermann. That being said, while the Right may not agree, I do find that folks like Bill Maher aren't exactly toeing the total Democrat line and I appreciate when he has non-liberal guests. But unlike the spouse, I can't really bring myself to partake much of FOX. I think he mostly does it for kicks and giggles, but he says it is to see what the other side is saying and I believe he is somewhat sincere in that regard.

It is interesting, because we accuse (and by we I mean me as well) the terrorists and evangelicals of falling prey to this kind of polarization and obviously all groups are susceptible to this. Equally intriguing is how our modern conveniences seem to lend to our ability to segregate rather than bringing us together like they are so often touted as doing.

Work Sucks.

2009-05-30T11:45:00.003-04:00

I know there are all kinds of things going on with the Supreme Court pick (seriously people, she wasn't being racist with that comment, and if the boneheads at FOX had a longer than 30 second attention span and an OUNCE of sense they would know that—on the bright side, if this is all they have got on the woman than obviously she is a pretty sweet choice), and then there are the missile things in North Korea (oddly enough I have a friend that was just in South Korea last week while this nonsense started, I need to talk to her and see what living through that was like), so things are hectic on the world stage. But since I am finding it harder and harder to stay as super-connected to the world at large since I am no longer chained to a laptop 40 hours a week, I am not going to get into that right now.

What I am going to talk about is a book I recently read a review of—The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton. Dontcha just know dude is British. What intrigued me was that in the review is that the book apparently tries to dispell the myth that a job should feel good, that it is fun. Think about it. Most introductions to new people start off by saying "What do you do?" I mean please! And then we look down our noses at them if they say they are a sanitation worker. Admit it, I know that I do.

But being home has made me think about this. As I mentioned earlier, I don't miss work. I don't even super miss being able to say "I'm an editor." I mean yes I am, but I am more than that too. We are all more than what we do, we are the sum of our parts, be those parts mom or dad, single or married, tall or short, loud or quiet, democrat or republican. No one thing defines any of us, or at least it shouldn't.

And according to Mr. de Botton sometimes a job should simply be a job. Maybe we all need to stop thinking of our employment as our soul defining purpose in life and simply as a means to an end.

Serifs

2009-05-21T20:24:00.004-04:00

If you have more than a passing familiarity with the Broad world you might have gleaned that I don't, shall we say "cotton" much to change. I tolerate it, I work with it, I handle it, but I never openly embrace it. Perhaps it is my Capricorn nature, or just some holdover glitch from a past life, because it is most certainly an anomaly with my rapid liberal ideology. No matter. I DO NOT LIKE CHANGE.

I am also a somewhat voracious reader—online articles, magazines and/or books. One publication, Rolling Stone (which I have subscribed to since about the dawn of time—or 1987 whichever came first) recently put me through a massive redesign that entailed the dramatic change of their page size. Most everything else stayed the same and I have moved on. Although I adore the new perfect binding, I would trade it for my over-sized, saddle-stitched version of yore any day.

And now it is happening again. I addressed the pending change of Newsweek in this post. Not only did it mark the final time Anna Quindlen would appear on the book's back page, it was the last issue in the weekly periodical's current incarnation. As of tonight I am about half way through the newly released redesigned issue and I am on the fence. So far I think some of the articles are simply too short and the layouts are leaving me cold. I am less than thrilled with the font choice (serifs, meh), the type seems like it is meant for the large print Reader's Digest edition, and the art is doing this wonky full page bleed stuff that just seems to be trying to hard.

But perhaps I shouldn't judge until I have lived with it for a couple of weeks. I am getting old and feeble minded, so I may not even notice the changes by the middle of the summer and just blissfully digest my weekly influx of news information as I have done in the past.

Until then, if you hear me muttering change is good under my breath without much conviction, you will understand why.

Girl Crush

2009-05-20T14:00:00.005-04:00

I may have a new girl crush. It is still the early stages and she may yet disappoint, but thus far Elizabeth Warren gives me a warm feeling all over.

The overseer of the TARP money, Ms.Warren (Professor if you're nasty!) has quite a little job ahead of her, but methinks she might be equal to the task. I first noticed her when she appeared on The Daily Show awhile back.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

I, like Jon, was comforted by her no nonsense approach. Then there was her appearance with Bill Maher on Real Time. After that I was a goner. She is concise, clear, and completely cognizant of the nature of what we are facing financially. Nothing makes more sense to me than when she details how we went for almost 50 years without a financial disaster as a result of the rules put in place after the Great Depression, and how by starting to lessen those restrictions back in the late 70s and early 80s we have allowed everything from the Savings and Loan scandal to the housing bubble to our current crisis to occur.

I know a lot of people want less government, and it isn't that I think government should be running our financial industries or Wall Street, but I do think they need to put some hard and fast rules into place PRONTO to keep those guys (and gals) in check. While most humans probably strive to be altruistic, we more often than not fail and indulge our inner greed. By putting rules in place to stop bankers and brokers from that we will be doing ourselves and any future generations a huge favor.

Talk is Cheap

2009-05-11T19:23:00.003-04:00

My last post was April 30 at 11.01 am. Approximately 29 minutes later, I once again became a statistic. I was terminated. Laid off. Let go. Kicked to the curb. Pick your euphemism of choice.

It is a weird feeling being laid off. Frankly, almost two weeks later it still kind of feels like a dream or an extended vacation. Interestingly enough, I don't miss the work. I have on occasion missed the autonomy of leaving the spouse and the spawn and venturing out solo into the world. I have most definitely missed the knowledge of a steady income and provided health insurance. I have even missed the uninterrupted time in front of the computer (as I type this the spawn is requesting water and ice—a mother's duty is never done). But I have not missed the work.

I know some people feel lost without the identity of what they do for employment. Regardless of whether or not some corporate entity is sending me a paycheck every two weeks I know I am a writer. That continues and is not subject to change. Presumably I will find future employment, at some time, somewhere again as a writer. I suppose I should be open to changing my career path, but I am a bit of an old fogey in that way and set in my ways. And after 19 years of education, I feel I have reserved the right to say enough.

I ended my previous post with a quote from Anna Quindlen so it seems fitting that I should do it again, although the essay I am quoting from brings me much sadness. Gentle readers, if you have not gathered, Broad minded is not fond of change and the May 11/18 issue of Newsweek not only marks the publication's last issue before a significant redesign, it is notable for being the last time Quindlen will contribute to The Last Word. She writes:

Because all the submissions for the Livingston Awards have to come from reporters under the age of 35, looking at the dates of birth on the entry forms for the finalists was like a stroll through my own past . . . They [the stories] were so thoroughly reported, so well written. The next time anyone insists the business won't survive I may bash him with one of these binders, which are heavy with hope for the future . . . Flipping through their pages . . . I felt certain of the future of the news business in some form or another. But between the lines I read another message, delivered without rancor or contempt, the same one I once heard from my own son: It's our turn. Step aside. And now I will.

I will miss Quindlen's thoughtfulness and insight every other week. It has been a joy to read her for the last nine years. I appreciate that she thinks media will continue. I agree. And I applaud her lack of vanity that allows her to see that after almost 40 years as a working writer, it is time for her to give someone else the opportunity she has had to speak to Newsweek's readers.

However, it is still my turn and while I am slightly older than the new generation Quindlen speaks of, I hope that someone like her, somewhere out there, some day soon, will look at me and see the future.

More to Come. For Now This.

2009-04-30T11:01:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-24T09:14:00.003-04:00

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?

2009-04-22T08:23:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-21T14:15:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-17T09:50:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-10T09:12:00.002-04:00

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"

2009-04-09T11:43:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-08T14:38:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-07T11:02:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-03T10:48:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-02T11:44:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-01T15:58:00.003-04:00

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.

Sweet Dreams

2009-03-30T08:55:00.002-04:00

Perhaps I need to rethink my reading of Newsweek before bed.

Yes gentle readers, my devotion to all things political even extends to my subconscious and non-waking hours. According to the spouse, sometime in the wee hours of the morning, I sat straight up in bed and started giving Tim Geithner hell, all the while sound asleep. The spouse tried to wake me up (first thinking I was mad at him because he was snoring), but to no avail. Shortly after my sleep tirade about the economy began, I laid back down, pulled the covers back to my chin and was out. It was then that he realized I had been asleep the entire time.

At least I don't sleep walk anymore . . .

Left of Center

2009-03-27T14:08:00.004-04:00

Unless we are talking about the Little Rascals, I think that in general "gangs" are not such a hot idea.

Recently, 15 so-called "moderate" Democrats (including my state's own Kay Hagan) have formed a gang to try and dial back President Obama's agenda a bit. One of the group's main goals appears to be to restrain the new administration's spending. Evan Byah is the ringleader and wants the group to be known as the Practical Caucus. Alrighty then.

You know, I certainly am not going to sit back and say that Obama's plan to get our country out of its economic troubles is absolutely going to work. But I do know that the previous administration's financial policies sure did help to get us into this fix and to continue in that vein just isn't the answer. (More on the GOP's fiscal ideas in a moment.)

But back to my Democratic buddies. I get that some of these people come from more moderate states. And as I mentioned above, I get that Obama's plan may not be THE answer, but it is a start or at the very least an attempt. And at this point, I would dare to venture that the majority of Americans want to see some action taken, even if it may be ineffectual or wrong. The waiting game won't accomplish anything. I don't want to be the one caught twiddling my thumbs while more of my friends lose their jobs, or even more go without insurance (either because of losing said job or because they can't afford insurance and oh, say, their house payment).

Here's a who's who of the group:

Mark Begich of Alaska
Michael Bennet of Colorado
Kay Hagan of North Carolina
Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
Mark Udall of Colorado
Mark Warner of Virginia
Herb Kohl of Wisconsin
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Claire McCaskill of Missouri
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Bill Nelson of Florida
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Blanche Lambert Lincoln of Arkansas
Thomas R. Carper of Delaware
Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut (An Independent)

The first six are all newbie Senators. Hope this works for them. I guess if you are a Democrat and not happy that your Senator is taking this stance, you need to let them know. Send them an email and voice your opinion. After all, they were voted to represent you.

While I appreciate that the Republicans FINALLY submitted their own budget plan, it appears to be a rather slim document without any real numbers. Therefore, I don't really think there is much cause for rejoicing just yet. Nineteen pages with no hard figures? Boys and girls, can't we do better than this? I mean either come up with your own REAL solution or just accept that you don't have the answer. And then let's everyone move on.

Loose Ends

2009-03-27T13:57:00.002-04:00

Couple of housekeeping matters I wanted to address about the blog.

First, it would appear that I have a new commentator. Welcome to my new anonymous reader. I am not bothered by having anonymous readers, but it would be helpful to me if you could make up some sort of name or sign off or something so I can comment back to you. Otherwise, it leaves me a bit confused and bewildered and the last thing you want is that. Trust me, it ain't pretty. I hate to ask this gentle readers, but if you could indulge me in this way it would be greatly appreciated. There really is enough flotsam and jetsam in my head with out trying to separate anonymous commentators.

Second, my last post (I believe) referenced the idea of a sort of Broad Minded code of living. I have been rolling this around and I like it! So I hope to compile something in the near future. Stay tuned, I just know you have all been eagerly awaiting tips from me on how to conduct yourself in everyday life . . .

Endings vs. Beginnings

2009-03-20T14:12:00.003-04:00

I feel like I have bought a LOT of sympathy cards lately. It has not been a good couple of weeks for grandparents. The juxtaposition of this with today being the first day of spring really struck me. I have my own little theory of how things work, we could call it the Broad Way, if we were so inclined, and while it hasn't been codified or compiled in any logical manner it exists in a free floating form in my head. (Much as just about anything exists in my head, although if you should never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, then equally true is never go against Broad when 80s music trivia is on the line. Lethal.)

The Broad Way strongly espouses that reincarnation is a possibility, because why would God be wasteful? The Broad Way has also concluded that most people create a lot of the drama in their own lives; loving someone involves so much more than being in love with them; and sometimes a half hour spent in Target is all you need to cleanse a troubled soul. I could go on, but you get the idea.

But all the recent losses for my friends and their families coupled with the idea of spring as a time of rebirth makes me pause. Which leads me to think that the Broad Way needs an amendment. Let's call it the teeter totter amendment—equal good and bad must happen in the world for things to stay in balance. I don't think there can be an change for the future without some sort of loss from the past. Change can be good or bad. So can loss. Sometimes we loose things and it turns out to be the best thing in the world for us, it kicks us in the butt and helps us to move forward. Sometimes we gain things that restrict our ability to live the way we should.

Where am I going with this? Good question. Not sure I have a good answer, but to put it into a worldview/political perspective, I noticed today's headline on the local paper put my state's unemployment rate at 9.9%. That is the average of course, some counties are higher, some lower, but overall that is a high number. Obviously that is bad. Ben Bernecke has recently said that the US recession could be over by the end of this year. While the end of the recession certainly won't mean that all the people who have lost jobs have found new ones, it will mean that our economy will be on a more stable footing and hopefully the massive job losses will be a thing of the past. Good. Perhaps even better, would be if we came out of this with a better grasp on how our money is invested and what gains are realistic and sustainable.

So today is the first day of spring. New things are coming, it is a beginning.

Boredom Antidote?

2009-03-17T12:50:00.003-04:00

Bonus Round

2009-03-17T12:28:00.003-04:00

I guess I am just bored gentle readers. Yes, AIG's dispensing of bonuses to its employees is wrong, wrong, wrong. But I am having a hard time giving a shit. I can't stop it. It isn't like I will get any of that money. And in the grand scheme of things, even without the bonuses, they have WAY more loot than I. But I wish President Obama luck in getting them stopped.

Then there was last week's smack down between Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart. While nothing makes me more gleeful than seeing my boyfriend Jon give someone a good talking to, my soul is more jaded than usual of late and the euphoria did not linger. That being said, if you have ever longed to see Cramer cower, I highly recommend checking the clips out:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

And yeah it is in three parts and was pretty much the entire episode. There are unedited versions available as well. So you know, when you have some spare time, you can watch.

Meanwhile, Bill Maher has cut back to two guests rather than three, and although I was glad he had a conservative on last Friday night, so at least things got mixed up a bit, it was still a big shoulder shrugger. He ended with Sarah Silverman who I just don't entirely get. Guys seem to love her, and I admit she is cute, really cute, but mostly she strikes me as some sort of Freaky Friday experiment gone awry and made permanent—if a frat boy got swapped with a hot Jewish girl and never got swapped back. Ok maybe I just explained the appeal. Nevertheless . . .

Ugh. Maybe it is the never ending rain we have experienced of late getting me down, or the all too frequent sightings of Cheney lately (seriously dude, go away), but I am bored with politics. Perhaps this is just the inevitable let down from the high of an election year. I think the thing that has excited me most lately is the snarkiness displayed of late by current White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Dude has some backbone.

I may be forced to start posting about puppies or rainbows or God forbid something worse like the travails of Britney Spears.

Don't Ask, Don't Know

2009-03-10T09:20:00.003-04:00

In one of yesterday's posts, an old friend commented that it is "the questions that we do not know to ask that are the most important." This struck me as particularly true especially in regards to an article I read on Salon yesterday about healthcare in America.

The article by Joe Conason was entitled "The questions our healthcare debate ignores" with a deck that asked the following questions:
Why does every developed nation except the U.S. have universal healthcare? Why do they pay half as much in medical costs? Why are their infant mortality and longevity statistics superior?

One of the articles strongest points, in my opinion, was this:

Last month, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued the latest in a long series of reports on our wasteful and cruel practices that ought to awaken a sense of national embarrassment. This highly topical study carried a deceptively bland title: "Healthcare Reform in the United States." Naturally, the mainstream media and punditry ignored its findings (although OECD reports promoting free trade often receive wide coverage).

Documenting the gross "discrepancy" between the enormous amounts that Americans spend on healthcare and the value received for that expenditure, the study found that the United States ranks poorly among OECD countries on measures of life expectancy, infant mortality and reductions in "amenable mortality," meaning deaths "from certain causes that should not occur in the presence of timely and effective healthcare."

(emphasis mine)

He goes on to add that of the 30 members of the OECD group that conducted the study only three do not offer their residents universal health coverage—the United States, Mexico and Turkey. Conason continues:

So we pay a lot more in taxes devoted to medical care—not including insurance premiums, co-payments, fees, and other health costs—than taxpayers in those 27 countries that have universal coverage.

How much less? Nations with comparable standards of living like France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, and Japan spend roughly between half and two-thirds per capita what we spend annually. They cover everyone and their results are measurably better. And the supposed downsides of universal coverage, such as lack of access to sophisticated medical technologies, are belied in many of these countries. For instance Japan has lower per capita health expenditures than the United States (and universal coverage,) but its citizens have greater access to MRI machines, CT scanners and kidney dialysis equipment than Americans do.

This all hits home even more since the Broad household just received a bill for the spouse's first colonoscopy this weekend. And what a bill it was! When I called the insurance company to inquire as to why it was so high—he went to an in-network doc, he's over the age of 50–I was told that because a polyp was found and removed, he had TWO procedures that day, each costing over $1,000. Basically the insurance only covers one procedure. Kind of leaves you in a bit of a pickle doesn't it?

So it is nice to see that Obama is asking some questions about healthcare, but it strikes me that we still have a long way to go in terms of asking the hard stuff when it comes to how we take care of our residents.

Drowning in Debt

2009-03-09T11:04:00.004-04:00

Should I believe the article in the February 23 Newsweek that claims the stories about consumer debt ha ve been blown out of proportion? Is this another case of the media getting ahead of itself, taking one story and conflating it into something larger? (i.e. the debate about vaccines and autism—although frankly I still have my doubts about that one, if vaccines aren't the culprit, then something is; or more recently the poor teenage girl who committed suicide and MSNBC blamed it on sexting?—completely ignoring that the girl had a friend commit suicide and teenagers are especially susceptible to something called suicide contagion.)

The article give the hard data as this—$2.6 trillion in consumer debt in 2007, about $8,500 per American (this does not include mortgages, but pretty much all other debt). The number in 2003 was only $2 trillion. So yes our debt has increased. But apparently during the same time mortgage debt doubled. The author says that while the horror stories get the attention, those are small potatoes compared to the millions of Americans who are paying down their debt and saving more.

I guess I will believe this more once we have information for last year and even the first half of this year. It isn't that I don't believe that the credit card side of America's money problems haven't been blown out of proportion, but I am not completely convinced just yet. I mean how does the lack of cost of living increases for people's salaries play into this, as well as lost incomes due to job loss, etc. I am most certainly not a banker or economist (thank the lord!) but it seems to me that there is more to this picture than simply the "hard data."

But then I am a touchy, feely liberal . . .

No Line On The Horizon

2009-03-09T10:41:00.005-04:00

It is hard to know where to start when I have been disconnected for so long. As always, it wasn't that news items didn't pop up that intrigued me (I have a stack of dog-eared magazines to prove it), but it is amazing how easy it is to get overwhelmed by the minutia of daily life.

Case in point, as I type this, I am listening to U2's latest album. It came out last Tuesday and, freakishly enough since it was in my face that a.m. as I journeyed to my expensive coffee-esque beverage purveyor, I bought it. And I am JUST NOW listening to it, almost one week later. This time last week there was 6 inches of snow. Today it will be almost 80 degrees. The world turns on a dime. The bottom can drop out at any given moment, with no warning. Relationships change, drama is created, and hopefully in the end you surprise yourself and emerge from it all for the better.

So meanwhile, much has been made lately of Rush Limbaugh and the freakish pull he seems to have over the Republican Party. I think the fact that so many GOP members have felt like they need to apologize for criticizing an entertainer is the surest sign of what is wrong with the right. Can you even imagine the same thing happening if a Democrat criticized Keith Olbermann or Bill Maher or even Jon Stewart?

I have read/heard several accounts that indicate the Democratic Party is intentionally going after Limbaugh to further divide the Republicans and weaken them more than they already are. If so, then it is about the ballsy-est thing the Left has done in some time.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

A Party in Limbaugh

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Gone With the Wind

2009-02-25T13:59:00.005-05:00

Thankfully I was able to make it home in time to hear President Obama's first address to Congress. Regretfully, it ran past my bedtime and I found myself falling asleep around the 10pm mark.

One of my preferred strategies for dealing with things is the so-called "Scarlett O'Hara defense." This is where you pledge to not worry about something unpleasant until tomorrow, "because after all tomorrow is another day." Believe it or not this can be quite effective. But early in Obama's speech he did a good job of kicking 'ole Scarlett to the curb—"And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day."

Ahem. Basically Obama took all of us, politicians and regular Americans to task last night. And what should have felt like a trip out to the old woodshed of yore, didn't turn out to be as painful as one might imagine due to Obama's masterful oratorical skills. Dude can blend a tongue lashing with optimism in a way I never quite imagined—"Well, I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders, and I know you don't, either. It is time for America to lead again."

When he started in on healthcare, to be perfectly frank, my jaw dropped. An American goes bankrupt every 30 seconds from healthcare costs? That boggles my mind and yet it all makes so much sense. When the majority of people with healthcare have it through their employers, and when you have employers who are offering what can only be described as catastrophic plans with ridiculously high deductibles then you have a recipe for disaster on an epic scale. Lose your job, lose your healthcare coverage. And god forbid you are someone with a healthcare problem and try to buy a plan on your own, you will probably spend more than your mortgage, if you can even find someone willing to cover you. I would LOVE to hear a realistic plan from the GOP to solve this little quagmire. And savings accounts aren't going to cut it.

"We are not quitters." Maybe it is time to let Scarlett rest in peace and just remember that phrase when things get you down. After all it came from a brave, southern girl too, someone real and the time has come for Americans to deal in reality.

Dear God

2009-02-23T16:19:00.005-05:00

I have been thinking about religion and church a lot lately. I have sort of had to because of events that have been occurring at my own little house of worship.

A person's spiritual beliefs are a funny, funny thing. While I deeply love talking politics, and frankly even religion (although I am so far from an expert I daily await God's intervention via lightening bolt), I do occasionally find myself longing for the days when it wasn't considered polite to discuss either. Of course, then I wouldn't be left with much to talk about. All things considered, some may welcome that silence as well.

But religion. I guess I should say that it is my belief that religion and spirituality are really two separate things. Having grown up Presbyterian, church was an assumption, something I put little thought or effort into. It also didn't exactly dictate much in my life short of where I might be on a Sunday morning. What little interest I had was easy to lose in my teens and during college. It helped that I went to a small, then-Southern Baptist affiliated school that liked to keep boys on one side of campus and girls on another. God forbid we mingle. THINGS might happen.

During these formative years, when my opinions began to blossom I came to more and more see religion as bad and spirituality as good. To this day, I can name more individuals that I consider to be in possession of a true sense of spirituality who probably haven't set foot in a church in years, then I can people who loudly and publicly promote their religion and worship every week.

Maybe this is the subconscious Presbyterian in me, but I strongly hold with the idea of good works. I want no part of a God that will overlook the lifetime

I have spent, the good and bad I have done, for one last minute giving over of my soul, no matter how heartfelt it may be. I don't consider myself saved, nor do I aspire to be. Instead I hope that everyday I am doing something, no matter how small, that makes me a better person and does something good for someone else in some way.

I didn't mean for this to turn into Broad's personal path to God (but if you are interested, I can whip together some sort of kit for the nominal fee of $19.99). But what does puzzle me greatly is how so many people can tout their religion, their beliefs, their "what would Jesus do"-ness (by the way, that drives me over the brink, if even one tenth of the world REALLY did things the way Jesus would have, our planet would not be on the brink of disaster either physically or economically, women would not be beaten, children would not abandoned, etc. you get my drift) and yet act so callously toward one another.

Sometimes a church can feel like a bad day in high school all over again. One faction ganging up on another. One group with an agenda and many caught, unknowingly in the cross hairs. None of which are even remotely in the vein of "what Jesus would do."

I don't know what the answer is, but it makes me wonder if the people I know who are spiritual aren't on a better track than those who are religious.

Black and Blue

2009-02-23T15:50:00.004-05:00

I have been remiss in my feminist duties by not commenting yet on the horrible events surrounding Rihanna and Chris Brown. Some of the comments from the media and from celebrities have been deeply disturbing and frankly a bit scary.

Domestic violence is a serious issue, one that many people are loathe to handle. It makes us uncomfortable and lord knows most of us have a tendency to shy away from that which isn't neat and pretty and tied up with a bow. It doesn't matter if "she" started it. Nor should a woman face any stigma for having been the victim of abuse. She didn't ask for it and Rihanna certainly didn't ask for the photos taken of her injuries by the police to be leaked. That was a vile invasion of privacy.

NOW highlights some information on violence against women:

Domestic violence can be defined as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes every year. Less than 20 percent of battered women sought medical treatment following an injury.

What does this breaks down to? Twenty two percent of women surveyed for a 2000 Department of Justice reported being a victim of physical assault. That equals out to 1.3 million women a year in the United States who are victims of abuse. For more answers about domestic violence, visit here.

I have friends and family who have been victims of abuse. I have seen and heard how hard it is for them to distance themselves from a man that says he loves them, yet continues to physically harm them. It is so hard to see someone you love try to separate themselves from a situation that is tearing them down inside and out.

Abusers need help. The abused must never be vilified or blamed. We can never truly say that women are equal in our society until this issue stops being seen as shameful or as something to be hidden. Instead abuse against women needs to be confronted and punished accordingly. No woman living in fear of physical harm to herself or her children is free. And for those of us who have been lucky enough to have never been abused (and I say lucky, because even strong, powerful, intelligent women are abused everyday, this is not merely a problem for the uneducated or weak), we can never truly consider ourselves free either so long as other women live in fear and pain.

The Tortoise and the Hare

2009-02-20T11:09:00.006-05:00

While I am going through my stack o'magazines, here's a little ditty from this week's Newsweek about Canada of all things. We've heard about the financial crisis in Europe, Britain's better bailout plan, and Iceland's government meltdown, but what you ask is happening to the north of the US? Heh? Well it would appear that Canada has done showed us all up.

Yes, home prices are down in Canada too, but only half as much as they are in the US—they don't let people deduct mortgage interest on their taxes. Canadians are also still responsible for their mortgages if they go bankrupt, not the banks. But you say—it is is the American dream to own your home! Well, the Canucks got us beat on that too. Their rate of home ownership is 68.4 percent. Ours? Just 68 percent.

I could go on and Fareed Zakaria does (I am swiping his info for above). But I think you get where I am going. Sometimes I think we as Americans get too caught up in being the flashiest, having the latest and greatest, and we don't look at the big picture. From the sounds of things, these are not afflictions those in the Great White North suffer from to the same degree. Perhaps we should pay some more attention to Canada, and not just when it comes to hockey, actors or comedians . . .

Daydream Believer

2009-02-20T10:55:00.003-05:00

Apologies all around gentle readers for my lengthier than normal absence. I have excuses of course (aren't there always excuses?), but I won't load you down with them today.

Sitting on my chair for several weeks now has been an older copy of Rolling Stone (RS 1070), which features an imaginary exit interview with Dubya by Matt Taibbi. For any of you who have encountered Taibbi through his writing or his somewhat toned down election reports via Real Time with Bill Maher (who btw returns to HBO tonight—party at Broad's house, well if I could stay up that late, god bless the dvr), you will know that Taibbi is, shall we say, less than sacrosanct when it comes to his attitude toward politicians and their ilk.

But near the conclusion of the mock interview Taibbi has Bush say that his wife and dad have both given him looks "Like there's something they want to say to me, but won't." Taibbi responds "I think there are a lot of people who feel that way." Imaginary Bush asks what do they want to say and this is Taibbi's response:

OK, here it is. You're the child of two emotionally absent aristocrats who denied you any kind of love and affection from an early age. You grew up resentful and lacking completely in natural gifts or curiosity and by early adulthood found yourself desperate to fulfill the expectations your parents by then mostly had only for your much more competent brother, Jeb. You failed every test you ever faced as a young man and were unable to hold any job at all until the age of 45 or so, at which time you decided to try to win some self-respect by going into the family business. You were aided in this quest by a bunch of narrow-minded lackeys and holdovers from your father's administration who every step of the way manipulated your obvious Oedipal resentments to their advantage, enriching themselves and their friends. All you wanted was a pat on the back and a few accomplishments of your own to hang your hat on, but instead you're about to spend the rest of eternity pondering your now-official legacy as the worst and most pigheaded leader in the history of Western democracy, a man who almost single-handedly sank the mightiest nation on Earth by turning the presidency into a $50 trillion therapy session that ended in two disastrous wars, a financial crisis that threatens the entire system of international capitalism, and a legacy of corruption on a scale not seen since the Borgias or maybe Nero.

That about sums it up. I really do intend to move on from the "Blame Bush" bandwagon, but this was too good to pass up.

If your curiosity is sparked, you can read the whole thing here.

With Interest

2009-02-12T10:26:00.005-05:00

If you want something cheerful, I hope you skipped President Obama's first press conference on Monday night. He was informed and deliberate and thoughtful, and depressing as hell. But as serious as things are, I guess I would rather hear the truth than the lies that we have become so accustomed to over the previous eight years.

Things just seem to be unraveling all over (like the time the spawn pulled the needle out of my knitting . . .), but I might be projecting some other things on the political arena as well.

Back on topic. Maxine Waters is my new hero. At least for the moment. She gave the bankers a talking to yesterday that in my opinion is long overdue. First she expressed her disapproval of the bankers in general. Next she lined up her first shot, asking them to raise their hands if they had raised interest rates on credit cards since receiving their portions of last fall's $700 billion bailout. Hands were raised all around. She followed up, asking if they reduced people's line of credit for shopping at certain stores. No hands were raised on that. I wished if she had just asked if they had lowered the lines of credit. Because I know they have done that.

Olbermann did a nice bit on this whole thing last night, highlighting Barney Frank's question as to why these yeah-who's need bonuses and what they would do differently if they didn't get them. Waters is interviewed about half way into the interview.

Waters may be a bit of a nut, but Olbermann is right, she raised the issues that REAL Americans care about. Yes I hate these jack asses have private jets and desks worth tens of thousands of dollars, but what I hate more is that they are fucking with our lives everyday through our credit cards, our mortgages, our lending. And I want it to stop. And I want them to be charged interest.

'Atta Boy!

2009-02-06T14:09:00.003-05:00

Now this is what I am talking about:

[D]on't come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis.

President Obama, during a speech to House Democrats, where he admonished Republicans for their opposition to the stimulus bill.

Retreat and Retrench

2009-02-04T13:26:00.007-05:00

I am weeping copious tears today for the poor, beleaguered executives at Wells Fargo who are going to have to forgo their retreat to Sin City this year because we pesky middle class Americans are all up in arms at their lack of frugality. And woe is me! It is going to cost them. Something tells me that it is going to cost them way more than cash. I particularly love what Barney Frank had to say to the banking industry in general:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said banks were acting "stupid" and making it harder for lawmakers to defend them.

"People really hate you," he said, imploring banks to do everything possible to avoid offending people. "And they're starting to hate us just for hanging out with you."

Yeah I would say that pretty much pegs it. Meanwhile in other financial news, Obama's decision to cap CEO salaries at $500,000 for any company taking a future government bailout has been lauded by those on Wall Street as draconian. Are you freakin' kidding me? If that is draconian, maybe they should just give the CEO's a 10th of that, a salary that the average American would consider themselves damn blessed to have.

Meanwhile, the Senate Democrats can't seem to grow a pair and force the Republicans to actually filibuster Obama's proposed stimulus package. The Dems have 58 seats so it seems logical that they could come up with 50 votes to pass the thing. But no! They would rather lie down and roll over while the GOP forces them to meet the 60 vote threshold a filibuster demands without working for it. What is going on here? Is this some sort of bizarro version of battered spouse syndrome? The Democrats are so used to being whipped by the Republicans that they can't stand up and take charge, rather they continue to cower and submit? Today my party of choice is making me sick.

Adding to my general feeling of malaise is the fact that Cheney has decided to re-emerge. (Is this like the groundhog? A Cheney sighting means we will have eight more weeks of fear-mongering or some other Bush Administration-related bullshit?) And what tender morsel of glee does the Dark Lord have to convey to us today?

"When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry," Cheney said in an interview with Politico. He added that protecting the country is "a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business... These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek."

Right Dick. It is so much better that we inter people without cause or reason indefinitely. Cheney talked about the recidivism rate of the Gitmo detainees at 11%. Alrighty. But, maybe you ask, what is the recidivism rate of a normal U.S. prison? That would be 65%. Just go away Cheney, sane people do not care to buy the crazy that you are peddling.

You know, I don't know what the answer is to our current economic nightmare (aside from wishing this was an episode of Dallas and we will wake up and find out it was all a dream), but I do know that no one—meaning the politicians—seem to be talking about the credit card debt that faces most Americans. Only my boyfriend Jon Stewart seems to be pushing for this to be acknowledged. Twice in the last two weeks, he has questioned guests (newscaster, Gwen Ifill, and economist, Lawrence Lindsey) as to why the government can't give the American people a bailout to pay off their debts, thus giving the banks liquidity and giving the consumers cash to spend and/or save—preferably both. (Isn't it ironic that just last year everyone bitched about how Americans weren't saving and now they are bitching that we aren't spending? Make up your minds already.)

Admittedly I am no economist, but sounds like a fine idea to me. Maybe we all need to start contacting our Representatives and Senators asking why this idea isn't on the table?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Lawrence Lindsey

Daily Show Full Episodes
Funny Political Videos

Important Things With Demetri Martin
More Funny Videos

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Gwen Ifill

Daily Show Full Episodes
Funny Political Videos

Important Things With Demetri Martin
More Funny Videos

A Bed of Lilies

2009-01-29T14:31:00.002-05:00

Hot dang. Obama sure knows how to warm the cockles of this little feminist's heart. Today he signed his first official piece of legislation, making the Lily Ledbetter Bill a law. (I'm just a bill, only a bill, and I'm sitting here on Capital Hill. You know the words, sing along with me . . .)

While the bill doesn't go so far as to guarantee women be paid the same wage for the same job as a man (a pause as I wipe away a tear for the much maligned Equal Rights Amendment, what an amendment to the Constitution should be, something that GIVES people rights, rather than taking them away), it does give women and others who are discriminated against in their pay longer to take legal action.

Workers now have six months after receiving ANY discriminatory paycheck to bring a lawsuit against an employer. Prior to Ledbetter you only had six months from receiving your FIRST discriminatory paycheck.

Speak Right

2009-01-29T14:23:00.003-05:00

January 28

ashfault/asphalt

"Ashfault" is a common misspelling of "asphalt."

from Common Errors in English Usage

REALLY??? WTF????

And in other Common Errors, the correct phrase is "all of A sudden," not "all of THE sudden."

Now you know. Anyone missing my Bush Countdown Desk Calendar yet?

Critter Corner

2009-01-28T13:46:00.004-05:00

Yep, folks time to once again put on your Ranger Rick hat. We need to help the wolves. The Bushies did away with protection of wolves in Yellowstone and the Rockies. According to savethewolves.org, Obama has suspended Bush's suspension and now we just have to encourage the government to create a more responsible plan to allow our furry friends to live in harmony with us bipeds.

Strange Days

2009-01-28T08:42:00.003-05:00

Damn skippy the world is a strange, strange place. I had a craptastic evening like I expected and woke up to drizzle and a continuing foul mood, like a bad hangover that no amount of tylenol and greasy food will shake. I went off on a rant about the unsafe conditions at our local mall and how people just needed to be civilized. The spouse told me I was angry. Like his mother angry.

While I love me some good righteous indignation, I do not want to be bitter, old woman angry. I long for crotchitiness in my old age ala "I'm an old southern woman, we are supposed to grow things and wear funny hats," but not "I watch Cavutto at 4pm and rail against anyone that Bill O'Reilly casts his beady eye against."

So I vowed as I left the house to suck it up and be happy, even if I wasn't. To smile at people and force myself to be in a good mood. And then I read my horoscope at work a moment ago:

If you wake up in a blue mood, remember that you can turn things around just by willing them to be different. You can make yourself start feeling good as soon as you start thinking good thoughts! Toss out your worries, your fears, and your preoccupation with unconstructive things. It's important to feel your feelings and give yourself time to process them, but there comes a point when you just have to say 'no' to negative thinking. To help switch your emotional gears, watch a sitcom or visit with a funny friend.

Yes gentle readers, the world is a strange place, but methinks this is a slap in the face from the gods for me to straighten up and fly right. Now if I could just remember which closet I locked that damn pollyanna in . . .

It's the End of the World As We Know It . . .

2009-01-27T11:37:00.006-05:00

And I feel like shit. There I said it. Pollyanna is on vacay today and my mood is sour, sour, sour. It is raining. I am hungry. And I have a heinous meeting tonight that I have been dreading for weeks. Perhaps tomorrow I will hoist up my bra straps and get back on my happy horse, but not today folks.

Let's start with yesterday's layoffs. Anytime someone, anyone gets laid off it sucks. No matter what your back up plan, no matter how prepared you are, even if you know it is nothing personal or at all related to your job performance it sucks. It sucks financially, it sucks for your self-esteem, and it certainly doesn't make our economy any better. (Maybe I should have titled this post "It Sucks"—that seems to be my true theme here.)

How many got the axe yesterday when Microsoft, Caterpillar, Home Depot, Sprint and the merging Wyeth and Pfizer, among others, lowered the boom? According to AP about 40,000. Lovely. And in that 40,000 were three of my friends. They were three of 10 who got laid off at one of my previous employers. I have had friends laid off before, and while I know that three or 10 seems like chump change in comparison to 40,000, I knew most of these people and that makes it all different. Everything is relative gentle readers.

And what is best served with a delicious main course of "It Sucks?" Why a healthy spoonful of "We Know It Sucks," as consumer confidence declined again in January (wonder how much lower the numbers would be if the stats had come out after people knew about all the layoffs?) Did I mention I was hungry?

Meanwhile, the GOP bone heads in Congress are trying to rally support to block Obama's economic stimulus plan. Dang. I sure do hope John Boehner (or as I like to call him Boner) have some money socked away in their mattress's for a rainy day. I wonder how many of his (and the other Republicans) constituents have been hit by yesterday's layoffs and are desperately looking for something, anything to give them some hope or a way to keep their families feed and sheltered? I wonder if they will like that the GOP is trying to block the new administration's efforts to help? I wonder if they wouldn't like an explanation from the previous Congress and administration on where exactly that previous bailout money went? It isn't like the banks are giving loans to average folks like me these days. Hell no. They are too busy giving back door bonuses to their high dollar employees like Merrill Lynch did before their buyout by Bank of America went through. Classy, real classy folks.

Forgive my ranting, but it makes me angry and I don't know what to do with my anger. (If you can id the movie I stole that line from, I might just smile a little today. Maybe.)

Rush's Rant

2009-01-23T14:07:00.005-05:00

I do not and will never understand the appeal of Rush Limbaugh. To me, the man is vile and endemic of what is so wrong with conservatives. Rush had this to say the other day:

My hope, and please understand me when I say this. I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, 'Well, I hope he succeeds. We've got to give him a chance.' Why? They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated, the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year-and-a-half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed.

On one hand I am forced to agree with Rush. I did hope that Bush would fail. No let me rephrase that, I KNEW Bush would fail. His policies were not about looking out for the best interests of the majority, they were exclusionary and meant to divide rather than unite us as Americans. So Rush's basic premise is accurate, but there is a bit more going on here, obviously.

First, Obama and Bush are not only different men from different parties with different belief systems and different goals, but Obama is president during a time that is dramatically different than the one in which Bush became our commander in chief. Bush inherited from the Clinton Administration a country in really pretty good shape, both in terms of our economy and our perception in the world. Obama has not been gifted with either of these luxuries. America's reputation around the world is in shreds and our economy continues to spiral down. (Is it just me or does it remind you of those nightmares where you are falling and there is no bottom?)

What this means is Bush failing and Obama failing as president become two entirely different matters. Of course, Bush's failures have led us to this situation that somehow, someway, Obama must resolve. But if Obama fails, what does that mean for America and Americans?

And the bigger question here, in relation to Mr. Limbaugh, is how DARE he be so cavalier with the future of our country? I am sure I am not alone with any of you gentle readers in personally being affected by this seemingly, over night breakdown of our economy. I have my own woes, which are slight in comparison to the woe's of my friends who have been left without jobs, health care, etc. as a result of the greed of bankers, brokers and their ilk.

I am quite comfortable in apologizing for my part in creating this mess by wishing Bush would fail. But I can not abide the thought that someone would wish for Obama to fail, guaranteeing a further decline for our country. That is truly unamerican and Rush should be ashamed.

Sound Bytes

2009-01-21T13:14:00.002-05:00

A selection of my favorite comments, quotes, meanderings from yesterday's festivities:

"The challenges we face are real," he said. "They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America—they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

President Obama

"A farmer considers the changing sky/ A teacher says, 'Take out your pencils, begin.'"

Elizabeth Alexander, Inaugural Poet

"Later I asked Hughley why we're all so invested in the Obamas' relationship, our focus on their "first dance" like that at a wedding. "I know why I am – because I've seen that in my own life, and on the Cosby Show, but I've never seen it represented that way in public life." Confession: I am paraphrasing that, because he was actually interviewing me, and I didn't have a notebook. But that was his point, and I know he's right."

Joan Walsh, Salon Editor in Chief

"People watched the big screen and when Mrs. Obama appeared, there was a roar, and when the Current Occupant and Mr. Cheney came out of the Capitol, a low and heartfelt rumble of booing. Dignified booing. Old black ladies around me tried to shush them -- "Don't do that!" they hissed -- but it's a democracy, and how will those men know how we feel if we don't tell them?"

Garrison Keillor, writer

"Obama arrived in the Oval Office at 8:35 a.m., according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The president spent 10 minutes alone, reading a note left for him in the desk by outgoing President George W. Bush. The note had been placed in an envelope with a note saying: 'To: # 44, From: # 43.'"

CNN

So it begins.

Parting Shot

2009-01-21T13:10:00.002-05:00

From the last page of my George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown desk calendar:

"I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'"

—Beaverton, Oregon, 2004

Righteous Anger

2009-01-19T11:21:00.004-05:00

I have been trolling through some of the pre-Inauguration coverage and I have two vastly different points of view that I want to highlight for the moment.

First, over the weekend I happened to catch a snippet of FoxNews talking about the upcoming event and the anticipated crowd, and with that the possible security problems. I can't remember which Fox talking head said this, but this white male commented that during the Million Man March there was a large crowd and there were security issues. OHMYGOD—really? This jack-off had to go back 13 years to find a large event that had security problems in DC and it just happened to be an event with a majority of black people?

(An aside, CSPAN this morning was asking callers if MLK's dream/legacy had been fulfilled. Obviously for those at FoxNews the answer is a resounding no.)

The second thing that sparked my interest was something I read on Joan Walsh's blog at Salon: "When the openly gay [Eugene] Robinson called on God to "bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people," I knew we're not in Dick Cheney's America any more." Amen to that sister.

I agree that we should be angry that there is discrimination in our own country and around the world. All HUMANS are equal and my hope is that tomorrow takes us on the first step of a long overdue journey to realize that fact. For everyone.

Speak Right

2009-01-16T13:37:00.002-05:00

From January 12—

Degree Titles

When you are writing phrases like "bachelor's degree," "masters of arts degree," and "doctor of philosophy degree" use all lower-case spelling. Less formally, these are often abbreviated to "bachelor's," "master's," and "doctorate." The only time to capitalize the spelled-out forms of degree names is when you are specifying a particular degree's name: "Master of English Composition." However, abbreviations BA, MA, and PhD are all capitalized. In modern usage periods are not usually added.

From January 13–

Female vs. Woman

It may be inconsistent, but the pattern of referring to females as women performers, professionals, etc. is very traditional, dating back at least to the 14th century. People who do this cannot be accused of committing an error.

Hear That?

2009-01-16T11:21:00.003-05:00

It is the sound of my heart breaking . . .

Early this week, as part of Delurking Day, I implored you my gentle readers to let me know who you were. According to my blog numbers, there has been about 120 visitors this week and only two of you bothered to give me a shout out (and thank you for that, but I knew both CK and Sweet T were followers).

It's not to late to restore my faith in humanity. If you read and have never made yourself known before, just say hi. I would be ever so grateful.

No Vacancy

2009-01-15T14:18:00.005-05:00

This lovely locale is Blair House. It is across the street from the White House and is used as the guest house for the President and the White House. Traditionally the president-elect and his family stay in the house prior to the inauguration. The Obama's asked to start their stay several days earlier than usual to accommodate his daughter's and their new school schedule.

Alas, the house was already slated to be used by the former prime minister of Australia, as well as for several receptions. So the Obamas stayed at the Hays-Adams Hotel until Blair House became available for them today.

Obama's team said it was fine, yada yada, but I think this is a rather tacky snub on the part of the White House and the Republicans. Would it have been so bad to ask the FORMER prime minister to stay somewhere else?

Final Farewell

2009-01-15T13:41:00.006-05:00

For 2, 915 days I have been awaiting the time when I could bid George W. Bush a final adieu. With only five days in his presidency remaining, I have started waking up in a cold sweat, filled with fear that he will refuse to leave or something equally dastardly. (Ok, I am not really waking up in a cold sweat, but I put nothing past this man, or more specifically his puppet master, Cheney, but more on Lord Vader in a moment.)

Tonight, Bush will address the nation, part of this week's veritable pantheon of farewell addresses. For my own sanity, I may have to skip this one. I have long ago given up watching his State of the Union addresses and the like, simply because my weak and aged heart can not stand the driving, thrust of my increased blood pressure.

So I must confess I didn't see the entire final press conference that Bush gave on Monday, but the delightful snippets I have caught on the news and other venues have been enough to create a mild ventricular arrhythmia. Bush was at times defiant (to be expected and his favorite way of addressing the media), petulant (my personal fave in his emotional arsenal), and simply insane. Some highlights (per Yahoo News):

DEFIANT—He particularly became indignant when asked about America's bruised image overseas."I disagree with this assessment that, you know, that people view America in a dim light," he said. "It may be damaged amongst some of the elite. But people still understand America stands for freedom."
PETULANT—He went on to mock the way some describe the job."I believe the phrase 'burdens of the office' is overstated," he said. "You know, it's kind of like, `Why me? Oh, the burdens, you know. Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch?' It's just pathetic, isn't it, self-pity? And I don't believe that President-elect Obama will be full of self-pity."
INSANE—He also cited the abuses found to have been committed by members of the U.S. military at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as "a huge disappointment.""I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were — things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that way," Bush said.

Disappointment or disappointing seemed to be Bush's watchword for the entire affair. For analysis of that, I must bow to Jon Stewart's greater skill (this is about an 8 minute clip and the best part starts around 3.30 minutes in)

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Six Days Seven Nights

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

I think that Jon Stewart is right, Bush needs to redefine the word "disappointment." But then Bush has never understood nuance.

And now for a bit on Cheney. He too has been pounding the media pavement of late, tossing bon mots about the way he usually throws around buck shot and pace makers. The transcript from last night's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and some fun bits:

ON MISTAKES MADE—That is, we thought that the Iraqis would be able to bounce back fairly quickly, once Saddam was gone and their new government established, and step up to take major responsibilities for governing Iraq, building a military and so forth. And that took longer than I expected.
ON THE IRAQ WAR—(Question)But Mr. Vice President, getting from there to here, 4,500 Americans have died, at least 100,000 Iraqis have died. Has it been worth that? (Cheney) "I think so."

How many hours in five days . . .

Quote of the Day

2009-01-12T16:04:00.002-05:00

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Edmund Burke—author, orator, reformer—born in Dublin today in 1729.

Delurk Already

2009-01-12T15:57:00.005-05:00

Show yourselves already, ye of the 10,000 visitors. If you are brave enough that is . . . Just say hi, or tell me why you stopped by, what you would like to read about, why you think I am wrong, crazy, insane or idiotic (try to be polite please). Whatever, just say something.

Pretty please???? If I tell you my birthday is this week, does that give you any incentive? Consider it a present to me.

Cheap Equals Bad

2009-01-09T10:45:00.006-05:00

This will come as no surprise to regular readers, I am not ecstatic that gas and oil prices are dropping (see previous post here). But today I read something that only backed up my feelings of dread on this subject. Here are a few snippets from Michael Klare's article that appeared on Salon explaining the problems with cheap oil:

The Price of Oil Will Remain Low Until It Begins to Rise Again. I know, I know: This sounds totally inane. It's just that there's no other way to put it. The price of oil has essentially dropped through the floor because, in the past four months, demand collapsed due to the onset of a staggering global recession. It is not likely to approach the record levels of spring and summer 2008 again until demand picks up and/or the global oil supply is curbed dramatically. At this point, unfortunately, no crystal ball can predict just when either of those events will occur.
When Prices Do Rise Again, They Will Rise Sharply. At present, the world enjoys the (relatively) unfamiliar prospect of a global oil-production surplus, but there's a problematic aspect to this. As long as prices remain low, oil companies have no incentive to invest in costly new production ventures, which means no new capacity is being added to global inventories, while available capacity continues to be drained. Simply put, what this means is that, when demand begins to surge again, global output is likely to prove inadequate. As Ed Crooks of the Financial Times has suggested, "The plunging oil price is like a dangerously addictive painkiller: short-term relief is being provided at a cost of serious long-term harm."
Low Oil Prices Like High Ones Will Have Significant Worldwide Political Implications. The steady run-up in oil prices between 2003 and 2008 was the result of a sharp increase in global demand as well as a perception that the international energy industry was having difficulty bringing sufficient new sources of supply online. Many analysts spoke of the imminent arrival of "peak oil," the moment at which global output would commence an irreversible decline. All this fueled fierce efforts by major consuming nations to secure control over as many foreign sources of petroleum as they could, including frenzied attempts by U.S., European, and Chinese firms to gobble up oil concessions in Africa and the Caspian Sea basin.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

2009-01-09T10:18:00.004-05:00

I am almost mute with shock and fury over the stupidity (or ignorance—I mean you have to wonder, is it because people aren't intelligent or they just don't know any better) displayed in these two news stories I just read:

6-year-old brings loaded handgun to Calif.school

La. sitter charged with baby's death in dryer

In both I have to wonder, what the hell? For the former, this just further solidifies why I think that having guns in your home is a tragic, senseless, irresponsible decision—especially hand guns and anything loaded. If you have to have a gun or rifle or shotgun, keep it unloaded for pity's sake and the bullets far, far away from any little fingers. I have no objection to people having a rifle or shotgun for hunting, although I do not personally like it (disclaimer, the spouse does have a rifle for hunting and I grew up around this, so I am not a crazy, never seen a gun, yet despise them nut, I have seen them, touched them, shot them and still hate them). Having a loaded gun in your car or home is only asking for trouble.

The latter story just makes me weep. Dear lord, how stupid and clueless was this babysitter to think that was an okay thing? I want to ask if she was raised right or if she just isn't bright. That is simply unconsciousable behavior and if the claim is true, simply appalling. I feel for the family that lost the child and for the babysitter when she finally realizes the horror of what she has done, if she ever does.

Speak Right

2009-01-09T10:10:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's Common Error calendar page was one that I have in fact struggled with in the past—wile away/while away.

The traditional phrase is "While away the time." Some dictionaries accept the illogical "wile away," but it is distinctly less standard.

While I am all for being less standard in daily life, when it comes to language, I try (though often fail) to rise above the huddled masses. So go forth gentle readers and while away your Friday . . .

The Purpose Driven Lie

2009-01-08T12:07:00.006-05:00

With the holidays and all I sort of missed making much of a fuss over the whole Rick Warren-as-invocation-speaker-for-Obama's-inauguration thing. Part of this was laziness and part of it was not being entirely sure where I stand. My heart said that this was a dumbass move, one that not only showed disrespect to the gays and feminists who had supported Obama, but one that also disproportionately kowtowed to the religious right. But then my head (with a loud supporting chorus from the spouse) suggested laying off, it was only the invocation speaker, really not that big a deal and was merely representative of Obama's trying to reach across the so-called aisle, as politicians simply LOVE to say and occasionally actually do.

Then last night I read this week's Newsweek and its religious column by Jonathan Darman espousing the belief that Rick Warren is no Billy Graham (duh, a thousand times duh, not that Graham is totally without issues, either in my book) and that this was what made the decision ok. Or at least that is my takeaway. But then Darman said this:

With the Inaugural invitation, and the subsequent controversy, Obama has assured conservatives that he respects their point of view.

Which pretty much set me off again, down the road my heart had initially wanted me to take. Why, oh why, should anyone show respect to the views of uber conservatives? It isn't like they respect liberals' views on abortion or equal pay or gay marriage. Believe in any of those three and you are surely doomed to hell in their eyes. As I see it, aside from the pay equity thing, these issues really have no affect on conservatives. Abortions matter to the people getting abortions, gay marriage matters to the gays or lesbians entering into those unions, neither one affects my family, my lifestyle or my marriage. Then you have equal pay, something that could actually raise the standard of living for many Americans, both liberal and conservative, although it could admittedly cost companies and businesses more.

I know this opinion isn't very open minded of me, but I just have a hard time reconciling the idea of a man of God being so unforgiving as Warren is on the idea of gays. So many of the views that modern evangelicals take seem to be the antithesis of what Jesus himself taught—loving your neighbor, caring for those less fortunate than you, refusing to judge. God knows I am far from a Biblical scholar, but aren't these some of the basic tenets of Christianity??

Salon reported back in December about some changes to Warren's Saddleback Church's Web site. (Can we just take a moment gentle readers and discuss the ludicrousness of that name? All I can think about is Brokeback Mountain of which I am certain they do not want people to think of, or the cowboy-ish feel of the name and the fact that their is nothing about Orange County, California where the church is located that strikes me as particularly John Wayne-esque.)

The removed language? "Someone unwilling to repent of their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted at [sic] a member of Saddleback." The site also described homosexuality as "an enormous sin." Lovely showing of tolerance there folks, is that what Jesus would do?

Regardless, Warren will speak, feathers will get ruffled and most likely a day later it will all be forgotten, as our country and Obama gets down to the serious business of fixing what Bush has broken. And for that, Obama will most certainly need Jesus, God and the whole chorus of heavenly host, because the U.S. is in the most unholiest of messes—something my heart and head are in total agreement on.

And Baby Makes You Miss Prom

2009-01-08T11:28:00.005-05:00

Teen pregnancy seems to be getting quite the PR boost these days with former Republican VP candidate Palin's daughter giving birth to Root or Trapper Keeper or whatever she called her redneck-to-be spawn, as well as the birth last year of the next generation of Spears' ala Britney's little sister.

And today, the CDC has released the latest breakdown on the numbers for teen pregnancy. You may or may not remember that for the first time in 15 years teen pregnancy rates went up last year. Yeah abstinence only education! The latest info gives a state by state breakdown, showing that in 26 of our nation's 50 states, teen pregnancy rates were on the increase. Which youngin's are going at it hardest, and apparently without wearing their raincoat, you may ask? Yep, the South and Southwest. See we always told you the South would rise again, if through no other means than sheer numbers.

I don't give two hoots what your religious beliefs are, all kids, at some point, get curious about the horizontal mambo. Please, that is just human nature. What keeps them from potentially destroying their lives by this curiosity is twofold in my opinion: a family that is there for them and honest about the birds and bees; and real information, advice and instruction from their educational system.

God knows we load our teachers up with too many responsibilities in terms of parenting our children, but I don't think we need to start lightening that load by asking them to cut out sex ed. For some kids, those videos of Captain Condom and the horrifying demonstrations with a banana may be the only honest talk they here about sex and its ramifications. I just hope that our government and our educators start to see the light on this subject, before they are bemoaning a higher drop out rate as well, as these young people leave school for the "real world" of parenting and all the responsibilities that come with that.

UPDATE: Salon (via Amy Benfer) has remarked on this and the spate of news coverage saying teen pregnancy has been glamorized by the likes of Jamie Lynn Spears, the movie Juno, etc. That wasn't my point at all. I don't think the media has anything to do with this. I highly doubt some 15 year old in Oxford, Mississippi is saying to herself "Gosh if it is good enough for Jamie Lynn Spears, its good enough for me!" and going out and finding a willing boy to procreate with.

All Creatures Great and Small

2009-01-07T13:52:00.002-05:00

Today's news wire showed an interesting tidbit, apparently Bush managed to do ONE good thing for the environment during his eight-year tenure—protecting more ocean area than any other president.

Which dove tails nicely with the Writer's Almanac email I received for today that mentioned the following:

British zoologist and writer Gerald Durrell worked for a while collecting animals for zoos, but his methods clashed with the zoology ideas of the day — he wanted to get rare animals and increase their populations, not just get the showy animals that people would pay a lot of money to see.

Gerald Durrell wrote a letter to seal in a time capsule, and he said: "The world is to us what the Garden of Eden was supposed to be to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were banished, but we are banishing ourselves from our Eden. The difference is that Adam and Eve had somewhere else to go. We have nowhere else to go. We hope that by the time you read this you will have at least partially curtailed our reckless greed and stupidity. If we have not, at least some of us have tried. … All we can say is learn from what we have achieved, but above all learn from our mistakes, do not go on endlessly like a squirrel in a wheel committing the same errors hour by hour day by day year after year century after century as we have done up to now. We hope that there will be fireflies and glow-worms at night to guide you and butterflies in hedges and forests to greet you. We hope that there will still be the extraordinary varieties of creatures sharing the land of the planet with you to enchant you."

Obviously, Durrell was a wee bit optimistic in his hopes that his fellow humans would learn from their environmental mistakes. Heck, we can't seem to learn when it hits our pocketbooks, like it did last fall with gas (prices are rising and expected to go higher again and OPEC is threatening production cuts). So it is highly unlikely we have learned much about being kind to the lesser creatures on our planet.

Reign of Error

2009-01-05T14:11:00.003-05:00

Robin Williams has a point, Bush has been a boon to comedians, but I think they will survive.

15 Days and Still Counting

2009-01-05T13:55:00.004-05:00

While I technically have a new desk calendar (Common Errors in English Usage—yes it is time for Broad to spiff up the 'ole grammar credentials) there are still sheets left in the much loved George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown desk calendar.

And here is a doozy from Christmas Day to honor former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove on his 58th birthday:

As people do better, they start voting like Republicans—unless they have too much education and vote Democratic . . .

So here's hoping people actually do better and for more people with too much education in the New Year.

The Long Cold Wait

2009-01-05T13:44:00.004-05:00

I know that the posts of late have not been what you would call substantial, but that gentle readers is about to end.

Often, when on vacation, cut off from the "real world" I find myself thinking 'This is good. I could do this forever. No news, no current events, no gossip, no scandals, no tragedies.' And then in one night I have dreams that Ben Franklin is a pedophile and that I am trapped in the FOXNews headquarters (just as possible examples, mind you) and I realize that while my conscious thinks it can quit the real world, my subconscious knows better. So here is hoping that today's post brings a dreamless night of repose.

Which brings me to Bill Richardson's withdrawal as incoming Secretary of Commerce. Now I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but something smells fishy to me and it ain't exactly week old sushi. I liked Richardson for the most part, not for president mind you, but he seemed like a decent politician, as those sorts go, and the beard, frankly endeared him to me even more (yes I have a thing for facial hair, I blame Grizzly Adams). So what am I missing that he thinks this investigation, for which he claims to have done nothing wrong, would hamper his confirmation in a Congress that is, for all extents and purposes, ruled by fellow Dems? I mean I applaud selflessness, but I didn't think it was a quality most politicians had in abundance.

Something tells me we will be hearing more dirt about all of this before it is all over.

10,000

2008-12-31T17:08:00.003-05:00

Sometime between yesterday and today, the number of people who have checked out my blog in the last year crossed the 10,000 mark. Not too shabby gentle, readers, not too shabby. Thanks for reading and commenting and I hope that you will continue in the New Year.

Happy New Year everyone. I know I have been slack of late, I blame the eggnog, but have no fear—2009 will be an interesting ride, of that I have no doubt.

Holiday Hiatus

2008-12-24T10:51:00.005-05:00

My favorite Christmas Bible verse:
Luke 2:19
"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you who have been Broad Minded in the last year.

Now is certainly the time to ponder things in our hearts. I will be enjoying my respite from work and the news and the world in general, but I will rear my opinionated little head before too long, don't fret.

After all, the one-year anniversary of the blog is coming up, and festivities must ensue.

A Feminist Pause

2008-12-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute." Rebecca West

Dontcha Know?

2008-12-19T15:08:00.002-05:00

He's good enough, smart enough and apparently, gosh darn it people like him. Yup, it looks like after WEEKS of recounting and wrangling Al Franken will be the next Senator from Minnesota. The state that brought us Governor Ventura has done it again.

Let's all take a moment to reflect on this.

Nature vs. Nurture

2008-12-16T08:50:00.004-05:00

News items like the following make my day, especially because they shoot giant holes in the theories of fundamentalists and their ilk who are so opposed to things like gay marriage and gays being parents.

Two gay penguins in a zoo in China had been removed from the communal pen for stealing other penguins eggs and trying to hatch them. Visitors protested and the zoo keepers decided to give the pair eggs from an inexperienced penguin mother to hatch. Apparently the two male penguins have done a great job. For those of you who aren't aware, the male penguins are the ones in charge of caring for the eggs until they are hatched. Yeah for stay at home penguin dads!!

Now of course, I don't know how the zoo came to the conclusion the penguins were in fact gay, I can only assume it is because they weren't mingling with the ladies as they should be, wink, wink. Regardless, these two dudes still had the urge to follow their paternal duties though and guard a penguin egg.

But people choose to be gay, God didn't make them that way at all . . .

Shoe-capades

2008-12-15T14:05:00.007-05:00

In case you hadn't heard, an Iraqi reporter chucked his wing tips at Dubya. In Arab cultures this ain't exactly a form of friendly greeting. I get that the dude is pissed and has much to be upset about, it isn't like we have left his country in better shape.

I admit that I giggled, somewhat profusely, when I first heard of the shoe throwing. I mean come on, if anyone deserves a good bean on the head it is Bush. The problem comes when we consider what good such a display does. Most of us just want to forget that Bush is still "in charge" and move on to the next chapter. (According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 79% of us won't be missing Bush come January 21, 2009. Additionally, the same poll shows that people aren't even coping to voting for the man anymore. Welcome, gentle readers to a little bit of revisionist theatre.)

So dude with the size 10 dogs has reminded us that Bush is still in charge. Great, thanks and merry Christmas to you too. Second, he has actually created some sympathy for Dubya, something I can never quite cotton to. Although it does seem a bit late in the game to be staging petulant protests if you ask me. Seven years into the quagmire that has become Iraq, part of me would expect the Iraqis to simply be immune to it all at this point, but I suppose one never gets immune to occupation. Sadly, this was one time that Bush managed to not only not look like an idiot, but didn't sound like one entirely either. Now that doesn't make my morning oatmeal sit well at all.

Finally, I guess it all just seemed like an act of desperation, and unfortunately I think we as Americans need to be gearing up for a lot more of those in our future. My good friend and fellow blogger on life matters, Creative Kerfuffle, posted today about the general malaise that seems to be gripping us from sea to shining sea. I agree, things have been perkier. And with ugly incidents like what happened this morning in my hometown becoming more and more common as people's desperation and poverty collide, it is highly unlikely that people's moods are going to improve any time soon. And yet, the Pollyanna in me just won't die. (God knows I have tried to knife that snarky little bitch on

numerous occasions.)

So gentle reader, you may be asking, Broad how do you stay sunny side up? Well, I like to look to that paragon of rationality, Scarlett O'Hara in times like this, whose credo could be summed up as—you do what you have to do to survive and when it all gets to be too much you just say, "I'll think about that tomorrow, after all tomorrow is another day" and you pray that the next day dawns with a solution.

But you never, never throw your shoes.

Meet the New Boss

2008-12-12T11:01:00.002-05:00

Same as the old boss . . . well that remains to be seen I suppose. But NBC has finally announced that David Gregory will be filling the moderator shoes of the late Tim Russert for their Sunday morning political roundup, Meet the Press.

The 38-year-old journalist has jam packed some experience in his working years, so I don't doubt that he is up to the task. But change is a hard thing, something I personally don't always cotton to, and Russert's charm was as much is brains as his demeanor, tough with a gentile inner core. Gregory will have to develop his own style presumably, but from his tenure as a White House correspondent his style seems a tad more brash than Russert's, perhaps that was just due to the circumstances and the current administration's lack of respect for the press. Tune in and decide for yourself.

For My Non-Hetero Bretheren

2008-12-10T14:12:00.004-05:00

In solidarity with my gay and lesbian friends, here is a shout out for Day Without a Gay.

Today's event is meant to impress upon the nation the impact the gay community has on our lives, community and economy.

While I think this is a fabulous idea in principle, I am not sure how this sort of thing would play out in my neck of the woods. A larger urban area like Atlanta or San Francisco seems idea for this sort of event, a) because the impact would be greater and b) presumably anyone calling in "gay" would be less likely to be penalized for doing so.

Friend of the Blog, Wes made the valid point that certain companies who may not have an anti-discrimination clause, could technically fire someone if they so wished for hopping right out into the open and announcing their non-heteroness. (Btw, double kudos to Wes for bringing this event to my attention.) He went on to say he had heard the suggestion that another way to honor today was to support gay-owned businesses in your area.

So . . . wherever you live and however you choose to participate today, by all means make an effort to honor the gays or lesbians in your life, they'll love ya for it!