Pale on Palin

I've not said anything about the nomination of Barak Obama, mostly because words have failed me. There is no way I can adequately express what it means to my lifetime of activism to see a Black man nominated by my party for President of the United States. Honestly, although I was not a Hillary Clinton supporter, her nomination would have evoked many of the same feelings in me: a woman nominated by my party. I did not and still do not feel that she would have made the best choice for Vice President. I'm glad that Obama chose Joe Biden. One dose of history-making is enough for me. Additionally, I see Senator Rodham-Clinton as a very strong forceful person who would have been stifled and disenfranchised by the Vice Presidency. She can and will remain a strong and powerful force in the Senate.

All of this simply underlines the insult to women and women's rights that is the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican VP nominee. She's a woman. And that's where it stops. No other qualifications that count: but she's a woman. Now the Republicans can stand up and say, "see, you didn't choose a woman; we did."

Any women who are won over to John McCain because of the presence of Sarah Palin on the ticket are fools who had better pray hard for Mr. McCain's health. John McCain has been the most consistent opponent of Roe v. Wade in Congress for his entire term. Sarah Palin lives and breathes opposing Roe v. Wade. McCain will oppose legalized abortion and attempt to revoke choice for women in America; Palin regularly places herself in the martyr role, using her disabled child whom she chose to bear as "proof" of the evil of abortion.

If that were not enough, however, it is quite clear that these two will fight any attempts to equalize pay for women, raise the minimum wage, or address the serious and catastrophic issue of global warming. While McCain has voted again and again on the side of big oil and big coal, Palin has promoted exploitation of Alaska's pristine wilderness for oil. Palin will tell you that what she is fighting for is the transference from foreign oil to American oil. That is not the issue, and it should scare the pants off all of us that they do not recognize that the issue is not WHERE we get our oil, but that we continue to use oil and coal in such huge quantities without apparent regard for the destruction carbon-based fuels are causing.

The most potent argument against Sarah Palin, however, is a very sad one. John McCain has served his country with distinction. He is a proud, loyal, and patriotic American. And he is old. He is not in the best of health, no matter what anyone might say. The sad fact is that years of torture, and a serious bout with cancer, have taken their toll. And Sarah Palin, if they are elected, will be closer to that heartbeat away from the Presidency than any other Veep in our lifetime. That should give us serious pause. She has less than one term as governor of a state that is smaller than Chicago, and Obama -- who the republicans say is not ready to lead -- has several years in the Illinois legislature and four years in the Senate. What breath-taking hypocrisy to again and again attack Obama's lack of experience and then name a VP candidate whose resume is as thin as a spring onion skin.

I want the Democrats to bring out the political rottweilers for this election. I want the gloves to off, the wonks to either shut up or learn to talk in ways that move and inspire and inform, and I don't want anyone to let the Republicans go unanswered on a single issue. Palin must be exposed. She may represent a significant number of extreme right wing conservatives, and certainly she is not alone in bringing her religion to her political performance. Democrats must remind people over and over that one cannot serve two masters; and that religion and politics make really poor bedfellows. The trouble with people like Sarah Palin is not that they are believers: it is that they believe they know the right and only way, the one true way, and given the power to do so they will attempt to impose their beliefs on each and every one of us.

I said it in the beginning; I will repeat it. Any woman who votes for John McCain in this election because he has selected a woman as a running mate is a fool.

Don't Burn Out Already

It does seem like the 2008 Presidential Elections have been going on forever, doesn't it. Some of the pundits are talking about Obama burnout, suggesting that we have seen too much of the senator and are wearying of his face and words. I don't know if that is so. I rarely watch mainstream television, and the few commercials I've seen during the Olympics have been innocuous at worst, and fairly informative at best. I hadn't seen the Obama is the Anti-christ website until a few days ago. Although I found it laughable, it was also scary knowing how many people would swallow that horse pucky without question.

I have no doubt that this is the most important election of my lifetime, and perhaps in America's history. If the policies of the Bush regime are further cemented, and make no doubt that is what a John McCain Presidency will do, I fear we will never turn this country back to the land where people and their needs come first, where government is shaped by personal necessity rather than corporate greed, where diplomacy comes before warfare, where individual rights are protected with the diligence of a mother bear protecting her cubs.

I want to address the issue of individual rights, especially, because the Bush Administration is attempting to make a final end run around our rights before their occupancy ends. The United States Attorney General wants to make investigative requirements for the FBI standard for all investigations. Now on the surface, that sounds like a good thing. One common standard understood by all. In fact, it may be the single most serious threat to individual rights Americans have faced so far. What these "reform" proposals want to do is make it easier for the FBI to investigate anyone it chooses by making the requirements the ones now applied to national security threats from foreign sources on American soil. If the changes Mukasey has his way, the FBI will drop the need to demonstrate good cause for opening an investigation on anyone. There are hopeful signs this may not happen. Many of the old guard in the FBI do not want to become the nation's internal intelligence agency. They are happy being the nation's police force. Current standards require that agents show reasonable cause for opening an investigation, much like the police or district attorneys' offices must show just cause for the issuance of a search warrant. Lowering the requirements to the national security threat standards is a danger to us all. If anything should be changed at all, the requirements for national security investigations should be raised.

I encourage you to investigate further and if you agree that this proposed reform poses a serious threat to the individual rights and freedoms of all Americans, I encourage you to write to your Congress Critters and urge them to vote against this so-called reform.

Two Years? Nah.... YES

I saw the oncologist today. It's not been quite two years, we're just under a month short. But she gave me the two year all's clear anyway. Two years, cancer free. Wow! Now that makes everything else seem insignificant, doesn't it.

It's been a rocky ride, and I know there are still some shoals ahead of me, but for the most part I do believe I can start to breathe easier now. Two years. WOW WO WO WO WOW

I can't think of much else to say, except I need to go take a nap. Two years, nada nada nada, dah dah dah dah, yeah yeah, doop dee do.

What's Race Got To Do With It?

Just when I think that perhaps we are becoming more civilized, I read where the majority of white, working class voters in Pennsylvania have cited race as the primary reason they are not going to vote for Barak Obama for President. Granted, I've been an Obama supporter for some time now, but even I have my reservations. It's just that they have nothing to do with race.

I do think it is valid to be concerned about Mr. Obama's relative lack of experience as a national politician. Like it or not, it is necessary for POTUS to be able to manipulate the Washington political machine, and that takes experience. One can only hope that he will fill his staff positions with people experienced and capable in negotiating the rapids of Congressional politics. I do think it is valid to be concerned about Mr. Obama's foreign policy credentials. He has not served any long period of time on any committees dedicated to foreign policy, and again I think we can only hope that he will choose cabinet members and staff with experience in negotiating international mine fields. Neither candidate has an impressive economic background, but I do find Mr. Obama's statements on this issue to be more credible than Mr. McCain.

But what the heck does race have to do with any of this? I simply do not understand why and how people can continue to cling to the old cliches of prejudice in the face of role models like Condi Rice, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandella, Colin Powell, Oprah, and the thousands upon thousands of ordinary people of color who, like you and I, work and play at every level of our society.

That Black men disproportionately populate our prisons says more about the state of criminal injustice in our country than any proclivity toward crime in the Black community. Percentage wise, more young white males abuse drugs than black males, but black males are for more likely to be arrested and incarcerated. The economic, educational, and judicial disparities that exist in America between Caucasians and persons of color are indicators of how our society promotes and sustains inequalities. They are NOT due to any lack of desire or inherent defect in persons of color, and it is long past time for us to give up such notions and make some real steps toward equal opportunity for everyone.

Personally, I'm rather tired of old white men being President. And the young white guys weren't much better. I'm not saying that a young black man, or a white woman, or a hispanic, etc. ad nauseam, would automatically do better. I am saying it's a lousy criteria for choosing a President when your choice is the old white guy or the young black guy. And those who cling to prejudice over qualification will ultimately get what they ask for. Those white, blue collar workers in Pennsylvania need to think again, if they think they are going to get better treatment from the rich white guy than they will from a young, energetic politician who apparently cares a great deal about all Americans and their opportunities, not just the rich ones.

Pain

This has been a week of pain. Unrelenting, unyielding pain. Those of you who have fibro and arthritis will sympathize, because it has been both a fibro flare and a severe flareup of arthritis. Pain at this level just blurs everything else. You become the pain.

It is hard to think when pain hits this hard. I realize that the ability to feel pain is one of nature's great weapons for protecting us from serious injury. Something hurts; we stop doing it. If we are intelligent that is. You know how the old joke goes: "Doc, it hurts when I do this." "Well then don't do that."

But the pain of arthritis and fibro don't seem to me to serve any purpose other than remind me that I am getting old. And the accompanying fog of a fibro flare just makes it worse. You become convinced that you are dying, that the downhill slide has suddenly become slipperier and faster. And you don't remember that a few months ago you told your nearest and dearest the same thing, so now they all think you are simply crying wolf.

I had not realized how much pain had become a part of my life until I went back and read earlier parts of this blog. The first couple of years I see a clarity and passion and fire in my words. I was involved with the great out there, passionate in my fury and dismay with the Shrub. So many things inflamed my imagination: recycling, charity, politics, environmentalism. As I read along I saw how my increasing health problems began to suck my passion, quiet my voice, and most dismaying, turn my vision from the things that matter to MYSELF.

Pain and loss have brought me to a place of self-absorption that I find dismaying and disheartening. I feel a desire to apologize to my readers. I have descended into a world of reporting my latest angst, and have somehow lost way too much of my voice in the process. It has been difficult, that is true. But I would prefer to be a Randy Pausch in the face of all this, rather than Lady Misery.

How do YOU cope with pain? I cannot take most pain killers available. They don't make me loopy; they just make me plain old violently ill. If anyone has a magic fix for pain, please share it. In the meantime I'm going to make a huge and valiant effort to rise above my miasma of self-absorption and recapture some of my voice.

Wish me luck.