I AM My Sister’s Keeper

Tags

citizenship, editorial, humanity, poverty, the religious right, women's rights

As with so much with me, a number of widely disparate notions traverse my synaptic receptors before it dawns on me–the greater issue–that is.

Thus it starts with the insanely stupid Hobby Lobby decision, brought to us by five Catholic men who have probably long-since stopped depositing seed in the fertile womb of any woman married to or otherwise.

A perusal of but a few of the rags that pass for “right-wing” blather turns up gems such as “you want to have your fun and make me pay for it”, “keep your legs together or pay for it yourself”, or this upside-down logic, “if you can’t afford contraception, you can’t afford to have a baby anyway!”

Hey there brain-dead XY’er, umm, it seems that you fundamentally misunderstand some rather basic stuff. One,  if women are using contraception to “have fun” well guess who they are having fun with? Second, contraception coverage under an insurance plan is not a “gift”, it is a benefit owed to the employee in lieu of a bigger paycheck. Taxpayers have nothing to do with it bozo. Third, umm, under this theory why are you still getting your I-can’t-get-it-up-without-ya Viagra in your insurance plan? If you want to have fun, pay for it? And fourth, uh, contraception is the way you avoid a pregnancy you cannot afford stupid.

I am post-menopausal, yet this fight is my fight. For I am a woman. For I am a human being.

Some many years ago, when I still worked for a living, I had a work colleague. “B” as we shall call him was an African-American male and law schooled at U of M. “B” was inordinately proud of his U of M alumni status and wore a lapel pin announcing his alumni status virtually every day.

One day, “B” wandered into the law library (which contained a lunch room at one end) where a number of us (mostly women, Black and white) were discussing affirmative action and how we all were grateful for the opportunities it had given us as both women and women of color to advance in various professions. Added to that were the men and women before us who had labored on our behalf to ensure that we as young women had more opportunities than their generation.

“B” was asked if he too were grateful for the boost given him in his pursuit of a better life. He exploded in a vehement denial of being such a recipient. He got where he was, “by his own talents and abilities” and was beholden to no one for his success. We all were shocked, attempted to argue with him, but B left the room quickly in disgust at our suggestion.

I am retired and no longer work. Yet this fight to level the playing field is my fight.  For I am a woman. For I am a human being.

A friend just a day ago, talked about how she and her family had needed food stamps and other forms of public assistance to get by for a time in the past. All who know her, know she is a hard-working mom, a dedicated wife, a thoroughly responsible person. She puts a face on all “those” people that the Right so snidely likes to look down upon as “takers” and as developing a culture of expectation that the government will take care of them. She belies that picture assuredly.

I can echo that story by one of about my housekeeper who is struggling, working from sun-up to sun-down to raise six children all the while in the midst of a divorce from their father who continues to refuse to pay one penny toward their care as a way to punish her for putting him out for his drinking, drugging, and abusive ways. She receives what aid she can from where she can, and we struggle to find better ways to help her.

I am not receiving assistance, and if all goes as it seems to be, I never shall. But this fight is my fight. For I am a woman. For I am a human being.

How does this all tie together?

Only in one respect. Read Matthew 25.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 37Then the righteous^* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40ⁱ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41^{* j} Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42^k For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ 44^* Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’

There are many who say that we are genetically wired to care about each other. Certainly humans are not meant to be alone like the cheetah or polar bear. We have found camaraderie and safety in numbers. We have sacrificed some independence, some freedom for the protection of those numbers. Somewhere in that movement from tribe to village to town and city, we have learned to care about the needs of others, not just ourselves. Beyond our concerns for the progeny we bear, we care for the old, and for the disabled.

Recently remains of a Down’s Syndrome child was found among early human burial remains. The skeleton suggests that rather than kill or expose these disabled babies, they were cared for until their natural death. Similarly we find the remains of elderly who certainly could not have survived without help from others.

From this we learn that the desire to care for each other is ancient. We seek to serve each other,  either by genetics or at the very least by the call of the most perfect prophet the world has known–Jesus Christ.

Unlike our Right-wing evangelicals who twist scripture to reflect a Jesus who counsels against government assistance, eschews the minimum wage, and Paul who taken out of context tells us that those who will not work will not eat, we respond to what is in our hearts and/or in our DNA, called to reflect that what we do to others we inevitably do to ourselves.

When I hear the voices of hate-bearing sanctimonious condemnation, when I listen to their explanation that we are “coddling” and “creating a dependence culture”, I am not sure what comes first to me, the tears of grief that people can drape themselves in the flag while waving the bible in order to hide from the world their true self-centered motives, distorting Christ and his sermon of empathy and love, or the flashes of red-hot anger that wish to explode in slapping such people across the face as hard as I can, watching the self-satisfied holier-than-thou smugness fade as the cheek brightens into a red imprint.

We do what is right because it is right, quite simply. Women as poor as they may be deserve as good health care as the CEO of GM. Everybody gets to where they are in life due to the helping hands of untold dozens if not tens of dozens, and lack of means is no definition of worthiness or lack of it. Dr. Ben Carson has become the darling of the Right with his claims that government assistance to the poor, is akin in some measure to a return to slavery. Well Dr. Carson was the recipient of plenty of that assistance as a child and young adult, and that assistance gave him the opportunity to study hard and do all the things he had to do to achieve great success. He did not do it alone and he would be the first to be offended had his mother or he been treated as something less than the kids who grew up in better circumstances.  How soon we forget from whence we have come.

How soon we fall victim to our own greed for the “good life” and turn our backs on all those who are left behind. How soon we forget that but for the “grace of God, go I”. How soon we twist self-righteous religiosity into some sort of club with which to bludgeon all those who don’t do as we say, while we do as we wish, crying out to God when caught, that we too are sinners, but somehow still not sinners like those awful others. 

So we will gladly pay a little more if it means that everyone has a decent minimum. Everyone should have a home, clothing, medical care, quality education, and a job at a fair and living wage. We will do it because we don’t see the world as them and us, but as we.  It is the human thing to do quite simply. And you will never dissuade us otherwise, though you may win a battle here and there. You will not win in the end, because

WE ARE BETTER THAN YOU ENVISION US AND YOU TO BE.

 

 

Tales in Humility and Gratitude

Tags

poverty, Veterans

There is little that grows in Hope City. It is too hot and dry. There is a small “community garden” that sits adjacent with a few struggling plants pleading for moisture. A lonely and very tiny apple tree grows alongside, producing miniature fruit.

A wigwam sits in the center of this small community, encompassing no more than ten tents. We are told that four of the ten are veterans.

We have come to meet Bob and Mary, two residents. We read about them in our local paper and I soon realized that the location was behind the food pantry and soup kitchen.

We went to see how we could help. Bob and Mary, so it was reported, had a couple of pups and we hoped perhaps we could at least help with the dog food bills.

We were met with smiles and invitations to “come sit on the porch”, a small enclosure made with plastic, and bits of wood that supported a billowing covering against the slow drizzle that was falling. First real rain since last summer as we recall. The dogs were excited at seeing somebody new but soon went back to digging in the soft earth, smelling every few seconds.

Bob is the veteran, having served during the early 70’s. When he was denied a hardship transfer from Germany home to be with his dad who was ill, he turned in his papers and left the service. Mary had raised three kids in Kentucky, moved to Florida, and was happily employed at a good paying job and had a nice home when she met Bob.

They fell in love, married, and life seemed good until one of Mary’s daughters called and told her mom she needed help. Mary quit her job, sold the house, and they headed to Kentucky only to find upon arrival that the daughter had reunited with her abusive husband and their help was no longer needed.

As Mary put it, things just seemed to fall apart after that.

The ended up traveling to Las Cruces because of job offers. Those offers fell through when it was learned they had no car. The car they had? Well that was repossessed when Mary got ill and, although they had paid off a good two-thirds of the note, the car dealer wasn’t interested in giving them a bit more time. The car was repossessed.

So they found themselves in Hope City. Their tent was big enough for a nice air mattress and not much else. Three portable coolers kept their water and food. No cooking allowed, too much of a fire hazard. No electricity.

Even with all they endured they had found the compassion to seek out these two woeful looking mutts and give them some semblance of a home. The smaller of the two had been found in a ditch with all her legs broken and two ribs, a batch of still-born pups still within her. She was a happy tyke now, as was the other larger one. Both had elements of terrier and goodness knows what else in their lineage.

Mary was a full-time student at NMSU on a Pell grant. She has applied for disability SSI and they are hoping.

Bob is 63. He gets work as a day laborer whenever he can. Mary is a year younger.

We found out what the dogs liked to eat, what they might use most, and left with promises to return on Saturday.

We went to lunch at a fairly upscale Italian restaurant and then on to Lowe’s to pick up a new microwave, since ours had conked out earlier that day.

As we moved from lunch to shopping we discussed how best we might help these two and the others Hope City.

Later at home, the Contrarian walked in after some time and looked at me. “You know, we lived pretty tight for a lot of years in the meadow,” he said softly. “Yet, it wasn’t the same. We knew that we would sell the farm and reap a benefit, and live very well after that.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “When you know it’s not forever, it’s not so hard, and well we never lived like Bob and Mary. I would be terrible at living like that.”

His eyes, moist, he too nodded. “I can’t imagine being in their shoes.”

And we can’t truly.

But we looked at each other in those moments and I know we both felt the same thing. Utter humility. For they had “lived right” by anyone’s standards, making no more mistakes than we all do. We choose the wrong mate, the wrong job, the wrong career. Some mistakes we can fix, some we live with, some cause us pay heavy prices. But we don’t expect to end up living at the age of 63 in a damn tent.

Nobody deserves this.

Yet, Bob and Mary are often lumped into that group of lazy folks who just enjoy the “good life” on the government dole. One of the patrons at Camp Hope was in his 80’s. He too was a veteran. He finally agreed to go to a facility operated by the VA when he got to where he could no longer look after himself. That’s a hell of a way to end one’s final days.

We first thought to take dog food with us. Then we remembered that taking away choice is a mean thing to do to people who have nothing. I hear lots of anecdotal stories about how the “poor really don’t want food”. The story is always how they asked for a couple of bucks in lieu of the half eaten pizza so magnanimously offered. It’s always about seeing the poor buy things “they shouldn’t”. We know what they should eat after all. We aren’t poor are we?

We don’t bring soap either. The Contrarian becomes livid at that. People always want to give the poor soap. People don’t want to smell poorness. They don’t want to see the dirt of poverty. Clean up and I’ll feel a lot better about doling out the lunch I think you should eat! Keep back, don’t touch me. I don’t want lice!

If such a scene doesn’t make you feel small and mostly useless, I don’t know what will. If it doesn’t make you feel grateful for all the stuff you take for granted, than you have a heart of stone.

You really don’t have to do a lot. Most churches collect food for the poor. Every town larger than one thousand probably has some sort of food pantry or informal mechanism for helping those who need it. Just do something. A lot of small somethings make a big impact. It really does.

By the grace of God, fate, and any of one thousand choices we all make, go any one of us. And just because it hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it won’t.

I’m nobody special. I don’t do enough. I have too much. I live life well. I am not a saint, nor am I working at all hard to become one. I’m just exactly like you probably not as good. But I can’t live with myself and do nothing. And that makes me human. And being human is a good thing. We are all in this together.

 

Inside Every Tighty-Righty is an Ethel Merman

Tags

gay rights, GOP, Humor, life in the meadow, poverty, religion, science, social justice, Ted Haggard

This isn’t exactly new news. In fact it was alluded to in Max Blumenthal’s Republican Gomorrah. But a new study confirms the old, and well, frankly, confirms what we secretly always suspected.

The study done a research team from three universities shows that those who are most vocal in their denunciation of gay folks and their having normal rights, are, yeah, you guessed it, more like to be repressed homosexuals themselves.

They are most likely to have attraction for those of their own sex, especially where such feelings were severely restricted by authoritarian parents. Gays remind them of what they can’t bear to admit about themselves, as it were.

Our thanks to Juanita Jean for the heads up. And some whacked out group in Maine who is fighting against marriage equality, urges its members to refer to same-sex marriage as “sodomy based marriage.” Why some are so ugly I do not know. But then we do know don’t we?

¶

I hit the top of some search engine the other day, and posted visits of like nearly 1,000 on Saturday. It was a post from a year ago on Good Friday. No idea why it peaked any interest. The Internet is just plain weird.

¶

Here in the meadow, things are plugging along. I have pretty much finished with the packing of all but the necessities needed for the next few weeks. I’m fairly generous since I’ve already found I needed that jar of unopened olives that I’d already packed. The POD is ordered and will be here on Monday next. We are starting to look for a car to buy. We have a long list of little things to do, mostly calls to make and short visits like  to the bank (things get complicated with you have direct deposit, and with my SS starting in June). But I’m starting to see that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel now.

¶

A couple of weeks ago, Chris Hayes’ UP had a really great discussion about faith and science. Dawkins was on as well as Steve Pinker, both atheists, or agnostics as even Dawkins admits to. Susan Jacoby rounded out that side, with Robert Wright bringing up the more, I would say, nuanced side. Stanley Fish, in the NYTimes, Opinionator, has a really interesting two-part article discussing the issues, here and here. He makes a very thoughtful argument that, while it changes nothing in the determination of scientific reality versus religion, he sets the discussion on a more rational (I think) base.

¶

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this, and rather doubt it is accurate, but I nearly fell off my chair in laughter when I saw it.

It came from the Constant Weader.

It’s an interesting thought experiment.

Now some of you will spend more time in reverie on that possibility of the physical experience, and will miss the fine political statement.

And most of you who do will be men.

Women just have a finer sense of morality and decorum.

But then, I’m not telling you anything new there am I?

¶

Rick Warren never was a middle of the roader. He’s a thinly disguised righty, who harbors the usual right-wing belief system that supports all the Ryanesque harshness as Americanism at it’s best. This is what he said to Jake Tapper a few days ago:

Well certainly the Bible says we are to care about the poor….But there’s a fundamental question on the meaning of “fairness.” Does fairness mean everybody makes the same amount of money? Or does fairness mean everybody gets the opportunity to make the same amount of money? I do not believe in wealth redistribution, I believe in wealth creation.

The only way to get people out of poverty is J-O-B-S. Create jobs. To create wealth, not to subsidize wealth. When you subsidize people, you create the dependency. You— you rob them of dignity.

Sounds fairly tame? No. Not at all. First of all, Jesus never suggested that there were limits to “caring for the poor“. And what is fairness? Nobody on the left is suggesting that everyone “make the same amount of money”. We recognize that some are more ambitious, more talented, and more delay gratification in order to educate themselves to the level that will put them in a higher wage bracket.

What does fair opportunity mean? Arguably we have always had that, although the journey may be very arduous for some, extremely so, but there have always been rich people who bucked all the odds and succeeded. And frankly this is what Warren means. And most people can’t achieve under these circumstances. Fairness to us means that everybody pays their fair share without resort to fancy accounting practices that effectively reduce one’s taxes to zero, all the while that the average person is paying a painful amount.

While jobs are everyone’s goal, and frankly I cannot fathom a man who believes that receiving government assistance amounts to being “subsidized wealth”. Show me the wealth in SS benefits and we can talk.

Warren and the Right in general attempt to place the onus of poverty on the impoverished and to help the middle class feel victimized and threatened by efforts to redress the injustice. And they use the Bible to make the middle class the traditional poor that Jesus talked about.

How many times can we remind everyone that Projectionism is at work here.  

Related articles

• Helping the Poor is Now Apparently Anti-Bible (motherjones.com)

Flat-Heads Speak Up From Flatlandia

Tags

Election 2012, gay rights, GOP, Herman Cain, Humor, marriage equality, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, poverty, teabaggers

The land where syllogisms are upended and deductive reasoning is banned.

Flatheads abound in our country today. (This comes as news to those who have regarded the long extinct Neandertal flatheads.)

For instance, this gem of non-existent logic:

A new group, called the Center for Marriage Policy, can explain all this marriage equality demand quite simply. Led by none other than our dear anti-feminist, old hag Phyllis Schlafly, whose vagina has been locked down for four decades now, CMP alleges that the marriage equality fight is waged by feminists.

And the reason why? Because these lazy old beotches want to screw the day-lights out of men, while married to women, so as they can collect welfare from government, by forgetting their birth control and making them babies, and because they really hate men anyway, but love that love stick. Confused?  Then you have reached the state of Flatlandia!

♦

The way to sidle up to the African-American folk, according to Newt, it to offer them jobs. Newt, sees the problem: little black kids have zero role models when it comes to the work ethic. His solution? Putting them to work as early as age nine. And bonus: the GOP hates the minimum wage, so of course, they can be paid slave below minimum wage  too. Newt admits that  some of these poor kids do get some work ethic, but only from “illegal” jobs. Can’t wait to see Newt’s favorables skyrocket in the African-American community.

Newt has more advice for other poor folks. Besides his advice, (which no one can seriously argue with) to take a bath before going out to interview,  the salamander has come up with some more good advice. And that is: stop all this unemployment insurance. According to Newt, 20-40% of those who are denied extensions, go out and get a job. Newt of course is silent on the other 60-80%. This is Flatlandia! And this is red meat to Flat-Landers. This from the dude who charges $60,000 for an hour speech. We look pretty damn little from that high perch don’t we Grifter?

♦

Herm Cain says that the country is run by stupid people. In a round world, one might say, “it takes one to know one”, but in Flatlandia, what passes for sage GOP heads, nod in agreement.

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• Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

• She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up;

These are common pick-ups lines  in Flatlandia. (from 3quarksdaily)

♦

Alleluia! Here in Flatlandia, we have a new website: Women for Herman Cain. We start out by calling out those “husbandless” accusers of poor Mr. Cain. And then the testimonials, of all those women in America who Mr. Cain has not fondled or poked. Do not miss this one folks. Hours of viewing and reading pleasure. In Flatlandia, we take care of our own.

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In Flatlandia, Mittens is real. Because in Flatlandia, plastic is what everything is made out of.

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Michele Bachmann is starting to flesh out her Presidential team. Donald (he’s still THE HAIR here) Trump for Veep and Rick (still has a Google problem here) Santorum for AG. It is Flatlandia after all.

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Newt is heard to exclaim late at night by passers-by his hotel bedroom: “You’re riding the next President, BABY!” This is Flatlandia!

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Worries grow in Flatlandia, that recipients of food stamps might be using them to buy unhealthy fast foods. Flat-heads also believe that First Lady Michele Obama should stop trying to tell them what their children should eat in school cafeterias. This is called unnecessary governmental interference in personal lives. Flat-heads are proud of the fact that they can keep two diametrically opposed ideas in their head at the same time, and enunciate either at the drop of a hat, AND with a straight face. It’s a talent most flat-headers are required to accomplish before being allowed to graduate from high school.

♦

Megan McCain, a fine flat-header, has been around politics all her life. She knows a lot. She knows Sarah and she has now met Michele. She had a poor opinion of Michele, that is until she met her. And between the two? Well she had this to say:

“I think she’s — this is going to get me in trouble — but I actually I think she’s just more smarter.”

Yes, you ARE in Flatlandia! Megan, dear, you are more smarter than my dog, almost.

♦

There is a vote coming as to whether or not Mittens will be allowed to remain in Flatlandia. Plenty think he’s not flat enough. Flat-heads are fairly perceptive about such things. They can smell a fake. If they like the smell, they keep ’em, if not they throw them back. Mittens is like a used-car salesman who knows he’s a used-car salesman.

♦

Finally, in Flatlandia, words are important, and everyone must use good english. Here is a primer to help you negotiate the flatness of the land.

• Don’t say ‘capitalism.’
• Don’t say that the government ‘taxes the rich.’ Instead, tell them that the government ‘takes from the rich.’
• Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the ‘middle class.’ Call them ‘hardworking taxpayers.’
• Don’t say ‘government spending.’ Call it ‘waste.’
• Don’t ever say you’re willing to ‘compromise.’
• The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: ‘I get it.’
• Out: ‘Entrepreneur.’ In: ‘Job creator.’
• “Climate change” is less frightening than “global warming”
• Don’t ever ask anyone you want them to ‘sacrifice.’
• Always blame Washington.

Master wordman, Frank Luntz explains how those bad words are always “misinterpreted.”

♦

Hope you have enjoyed your stay. The next flight out to Round Earth, leaves in 20 minutes.

Warning: Those who choose to stay should NOT DRINK THE WATER!

He’s a Bungler!

Tags

African Americans, class warfare, corporate America, decision making, economy, GOP, John Kasich, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Obama, Ohio, political theory, poverty, psychology, racism, Rick Perry, taxes, teabaggers, unions

H/T to LOL GOD

Or what a difference a week makes. 

It was only a few days ago that I was sure the Ricky Perry was so capturing the goofballs known collectively as the TeaNutz® that he was a shoo-in to grab the GOP ball from boring old “I wanna be president” Mitt.

But, bungler that he apparently is, Ricky “No Lucy for you” is gummin’ up the works from the git-go. A series of duh moments has alerted even the know-nothin’ TeaNutz® leadership that they may have a real clunker here.

So, I’m not at all sure that Ricky will capture the brass ring, and that leaves us, ya know, the boring but ever willing to change his mind on ANYTHING, Mitty.

 And I was so hoping for more fun. Course it’s now about even money that the Neo-cons will travel five hundred miles on their knees to grovel at the throne of Chris (burp) Christie. Will Chrissy be like Caesar? No, NO, NO, oh if you insist!

Do stay tuned.

Meanwhile Newt is hot to trot in that bed of GOP voters, HA Why HE. Yeah, the grifter keeps getting a small cadre of really really really extra stupid wingnuts to give him money so he can live the high life.

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I don’t know if you saw The Daily Show the other night. Jon went on a super rant about the pundits on False Noise who continue, in true Randianesque form to whine that 51% of the people in the US don’t pay any taxes at all. They have dubbed this “class warfare” and now are arguing that the poor should “give some skin” before they ask the rich folk to ante up a dime.

What is simply stomach wrenching about this ugly claim of theirs is that they use Randian terms such as calling the poor “parasites”, “leeches”,  “takers” and frankly worse. The rich are portrayed as the true “makers” and “creators”. This is such unbridled hatred of a “class” that it’s a wonder they don’t choke on their own words.

Of course a HUGE portion of those who don’t pay any taxes, are those who, when the few tax deductions they are entitled to take are subtracted from their income,  have zero owing. Somehow this is their fault. “Stupid poor people who don’t make enough money!!”

And do you notice that calling the rich “creators” is a lot like calling them GOD? And that might be a suggestion that they are to be “trusted” as any Creator would be? Do ya think that is all just coincidence?

And of course let’s not forget that the poor pay most all of their income out in essential services, like utilities, rent, and food, all of which are taxed.

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When do you make decisions? Well, making a good decision depends on timing in part. So I would suggest that you follow the link and read all about how to make ’em good and stop screwing up! It’s a lengthy article from the NYTimes Magazine.

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There are two Michelle’s in Washington. One is in the White House, the other is on the campaign trail in the hopes of making it her home. Are they treated differently by the press? It would appear so. Read Sophia A. Nelson’s great article in The Grio.

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Professor Alexander Keyssar puts the GOP narrative into a historical perspective. Interestingly, I had used the same term to the Contrarian–they want a return to the Gilded Age of America where business had unfettered freedom to do as they wished. And that wish included, if you recall, child labor, unsafe working conditions, virtual slave wages, and long hours and no unions. Say Robber Barons. And of course, dismantle all social programs such as social security, medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, education grants. . .well go on and on. This is the world they envision.

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I’d suggest you pop over and read Chauncey de Vega’s really good post on racism in America. He distinguishes two kinds: a white racial frame, and symbolic racism. These distinctions are terribly important and de Vega really explains what the phrase “take back America” means to the Teabagger mentality.

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If you thought the Wisconsin recall votes were not all that important, think again. Similar crap was pushed through in Ohio by the now beleaguered Governor John Kasich, and now guess what? The governor is trying really hard to placate the left in his state.

Kasich had pushed through a “kill the unions” bill through his Rethuglian-controlled legislature. But 1.3 million Ohioans have voted to put that very bill back on the ballot where they can put in their two cents. Under a weird little law, Ohioans had ninety days to get a bit over 231,000 signatures, and got, ummm 1.3 MILLION.

Kasich is trying to get the progressives to come on in and discuss the “issue.” 🙂

Related articles

• The Daily Show Takes On Fox, Again – Update (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Andrew Sullivan on Rick Perry (via Seniors for a Democratic Society) (allianceforanidiotfreeamerica.wordpress.com)

Get out Your Scarlet Letters!

Tags

Aid, GOP, Individual Rights, Minnesota, poverty, religious right, welfare

Americans have a long history of trying to set people apart and identify them as transgressors. In other words, the majority seems to enjoy segregating the “others” in some identifiable way.

We started off this fine tradition in the early colonies when people who erred in some fashion were pilloried, put in stocks, or ridden out of town on a rail. “Tarring and feathering”, public execution, and the like exposed and humiliated in the most certain terms those who dared to speak or act outside accepted norms.

In the South, branding of humans was done, much as we brand cattle today to define whom they belong to. After the outlaw of slavery, race specific laws were enacted to do “define” (as if color weren’t good enough) the places where some members of the American community could go, eat, rest, live, and be buried.

We continued the practice when these “laws” were outlawed, but an invention called, “defacto”, which simply means that we all agree (nod, nod, wink, wink) to not sell homes in certain places to people not like us, to not serve them, to shun them in a sense.

We liked doing this so much we extended the practice to brown and yellow-skinned people at various times too. Of course, we had learned all about this segregating practice early on in our history as we had systematically pushed and cowered Native Peoples into small tracts of land, always worthless to us.

This is not to say that other countries haven’t done similar things. Germany under Adolph Hitler found it prudent to make the Jewish people in their land wear a sewn Star of David, to identify them to all the “Aryan” masses.

In virtually every town and city, there are the people who live on “the other side of the tracks”. We like to know where they are, and low-income housing is often kept in “communities” of similarly situated individuals. It’s a way of being able to tell “who is who” you know.

Children when they misbehave are put into the “corner” in a class room, and in some cases made to wear “dunces hats” to further identify them as malcontents. Bullying is a fine time-honored practice instituted by young children to publicly identify to each other, those who don’t “fit the bill.” I guess they learn it from cartoons or something.

Interesting this practice is so enjoyed by some, that they become bullying bosses, bullying husbands and wives, and bullying parents. It makes a person feel just grand to go to sleep at night knowing they’ve put those who by size, position, or temperament are victimizable.

One thing some Americans don’t like is welfare. Republicans and the religious right have been against it for years. Words like lazy, and no-account are used. Republicans don’t like it because they are blatant in their desire to keep every dang penny they have ever made. “Mine, mine, my pretty!” they disclaim.

The religious right is just about as greedy, but they slyly look for a better excuse, because they know that the bible says that money is just filthy lucre. So they twist them scriptures up real perdy, until it means that Jesus was no socialist, and God only wants justice. Justice is of course, that people who are hard up through no fault of their own, should get a helping hand, and the rest, well they should just sit on the curb until dead and the garbage man can cart them to the landfill.

The other thing that Republicans say a lot, is that they purely hate “guvtment interfering in our lives.” Why it’s an awful thing that  Michelle Obama is trying to tell parents how to feed their kids, by pushing for healthier food in our  school cafeterias and such. Pure socialistic parenting. It’s downright offensive.

But, now when it comes to those lazy no good welfare mamas, well, the guvment better damn well interfere. Those people are takin’ that money and using it for things they have no right to have. Why, they buy drugs, and cheap wine, and cigarettes. They buy CHEETOS! And that is OUR money they are spendin’ and we’ll have none of it.

MinneSO-TA has got this fine bill designed to do just that. While there is some dispute about the “criminality” aspect, it seeks to disallow any recipient of “aid” from either getting the money in cash, or having it deposited to their checking account. They are gonna get debit cards, which can be used only in “acceptable” establishments, and they can’t get more than $20 more than the purchase, ever.

So they have to work out something with the landlord (most of whom want cash only), and some way to pay electric and phone bills. That’s their problem.

Dammit, why can’t they just die or go away or something. Or better yet, maybe they should wear a scarlet P for Poor, so everybody knows who they are, and can just say NO for ’em when they try to act like human beings and buy what they want, but what we don’t think they deserve or need. Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket.

Crap, this country sucks sometimes.

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What Is a Weekend?

Tags

African American, Arizona, Beatification, Carlos Gonzales, Catholicism, culture, GOP, GOP Chairman Reince Priebus, John Paul II, lifestyle, poverty, Sarah Palin, sociology, Tucson memorial service

I must say, watching Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Theatre has its moments of levity.

During a luncheon in which Matthew Crawley, the new heir of the estate is meeting some of his “family” he mentions something about coming down on the weekend.

The Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith, arches an eye and inquires in all sincerity, “what is a weekend?”

Now that is sure to set you up. I mean who doesn’t know what a weekend is? Think about it. The Dowager, safely ensconced in her country estate, probably only recognized one day and that was the Sabbath when she motored or carriaged her way to the services.

But it got me to wondering. I suspect there are plenty of people still on this planet who would have no idea what the word weekend means. We live in our enclaves of worlds within worlds don’t we?

***

The Contrarian is busy outside. He’s pulled two huge trunks over to the splitter, and is loading another cart of wood. We are headed for some really LOW temperatures next week, and he’s hoping to spend as little time as possible outside for the four or so days in the zero and below range. He has tomorrow and Monday to get it all chumped up and split, ready for the great fall coming Monday night.

On the bright side–winter is half done. It’s all down hill starting tomorrow!

***

There is a truly thought-provoking piece over at the Boston Review that warrants your attention. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a report on “The Negro Family.” Basically it posited that cultural behaviors were the causation of systemic poverty within the black community. The backlash to this was so enormous that for some forty years, it is claimed, research steered clear of anything that might suggest that the victim caused their own problems.

Now, we are told that research is reopening that issue. Are these so-called culturalists, still confusing cause and effect? Stephen Steinberg writes a compelling piece arguing that they have in fact failed to make their case.

***

I had to laugh Pat Buchanan this morning on MSNBC. The topic was Sarah. And Pat is making the case that everybody is piling on her because they are “terrified” of her. And worse, the more you make her feel defensive, the more you encourage her to attack.

I guess Pat fails to see the idiocy of his remarks. First, nobody is “terrified” of her, since her poll numbers are so abysmal as to be a joke. And they keep getting worse, the more she plays the victim and lashes out. So um, might it be a pretty smart thing to keep attacking?

I mean the woman is an idiot. Her next big gig is to be the keynote speaker at a gun show in Nevada. GUNS and more GUNS, Grifter Girl!

***

As you may or may not know, one Reince Priebus is the new head of the GOP. Taking out all those pesky vowels, we get RNC PR BS or Republican National Committee Pure Bullshit.  HA! a H/T to Bluegal at Crooks and Liars! Priebus was elected on the 7th ballot, saying something I guess about how much unity there exists within the Grand Old Poops.

***

It appears that all is in order and quite soon John Paul II will be beatified. I am quite conflicted about this. He was a good pope in many ways, but he did his best to unravel Vatican II and install a college of Cardinals that for decades will pursue conservative policies, leaving women and gays marginalized within the Church. I won’t even start on the pedophilia issue. All in all, I think it a bad move at this time I think. Although goodness knows, no saint is expected or often is totally blameless. Still, this is moving too fast, almost as if it must be done quickly, before too much more negative stuff comes out.

***

If you watched the Memorial at Tucson on Wednesday, you saw the Benediction by Carlos Gonzales, faculty member at the University of Arizona, and of Mexican and Yaqui lineage. Brit Hume, (who famously advised Tiger Woods he should dump that Buddhist stuff and become Christian in the throes of his marital woes), said that he found the benediction “peculiar.” I guess that was one of the nicer comments from the Extreme Right. Others called his prayer “pagan”.

Things only got worse at The Blaze, Glenn Beck’s site. After referencing Hume’s “peculiar” statement, they  liked to an unnamed blogger (post apparently now removed) who bemoaned that Gonzales kept using the term “Creator” and not God. Apparently he doesn’t see the Creator as God. He went on to surmise that the victims “likely would have appreciated a pray more closely aligned with their religious beliefs.” The post concluded that Gonzales was “reportedly” a doctor and professor at the university.

A perusal of the comments vomited up what you might expect. Invective, ad hominem attack, and vicious vicious assumptions. Words like, Chief Loony Toons, Nappy Hair, injuns, idiot president, part-time employee at an Arizona casino, peppered the comments, and it was hard to think that any of them could be over the age of 12. Not one could cite to any Arizona paper, news show, or statement by any family member of actual Arizonan to back up the charge that the service was an affront to real Christian Americans everywhere.

So much for toning down the rhetoric.

Go Packers!

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• WATCH: Stewart Mocks Fox News For Critiquing Arizona Shooting Memorial (huffingtonpost.com)