Speak Out For Change

Voting with our Dollars

2012-02-20T07:20:00.007-07:00

I was part of a fascinating conversation at lunch one day last week. This conversation took place at work, which means a bunch of well-educated nonprofit professionals gathered around the board room table eating brown-bag lunches (because, hey, we work at a nonprofit). The topic of capitalism came up and I shared a portion of the lecture I delivered earlier in the week about the link between imperialism and capitalism as proof that capitalism is inherently evil. Someone said that a strength of capitalism is the ability to vote with our dollars, and someone (wish it was me) said "too bad we can't select what our tax dollars go to pay for".

Wait a minute, back up!

What if we could designate how our tax dollars were spent? Not necessarily how much we pay, but imagine one more section on each iteration of the 1040 that lists broad budget categories and asks us to fill in a percentage of our tax dollars for each program area. It might look something like this:

Please enter below in whole numbers (no decimals or fractions) the percentage of your tax dollars that you choose to allocate to each of the following program areas. (Social Security and Medicare are not listed because these are funded through a different tax stream.) Your entries must total 100%.
1. Education (pre-K - 20)
2. Health care and public health
3. Defense
4. War (expenses related to declared wars or ongoing conflicts)
5. Environmental Protection
6. Consumer protection agencies (FDA,USDA, etc)
7. National Endowment for the Arts
8. Overhead and operating expenses
9. Foreign aid (not including military aid)
10. Paying down the national debt
11. Law enforcement and prisons (FBI, Homeland Security, federal prisons, etc)

Now take this one step further: imagine that all our combined responses become the basis for the federal budget. Yes, that's right, if we collectively feel that the war effort is worth $x billion, while education funding should be $y billion, then those are the amounts that legislators will have to work with to fund these programs for the coming fiscal year. They can wrangle all they want about how dollars are allocated within each category, but they wouldn't be able to move funds between categories.

Wouldn't it be fascinating to find out how the American people would distribute their tax dollars if given the chance? Maybe someone needs to create a Facebook quiz to gather data on that... or to start a movement.

Lobbyists, go away! The role of lobbyists would be limited at best under this system, since funds would be partially allocated before Congress even got a first look at them. Of course, since we are an adaptive lot, the lobbyists may become more specialized and focus on programs within a given area of funding. I'd actually like to see someone out there lobbying to increase allocations for public school funding or ways to reduce the cost of tuition at state universities.

What would your choices look like?

And since this would be done as part of the income tax return, participation would be mandatory - not like voting, in which some of the most marginalized individuals in our society are disenfranchised through gerrymandering or voter identification laws, or by circumstance. If you're juggling multiple jobs you likely don't have time to pay much attention to politics or might not be able to get to the polls. But income tax returns? We all gotta do them.

Talk about government of the people, by the people and for the people! Somehow I think the founding fathers might approve.

Peace,
AuntieM

Okay, I just can't be silent anymore...

2012-02-12T11:46:00.005-07:00

I've been reluctantly following the early events of the new political silly-season, and each time I think it can't get any weirder, it does.

Santorum? Really, Colorado? The guy who wants to return women to the era when birth control was a wire coathanger? Turnout for the Republican caucus must have been really low to let a handful of reactionaries take the day. Pop by next month for the Democratic caucus and we'll show you how it's done.

It's amazing to look back through history and note how conservatism has evolved from its primary concern with fiscal responsibility to obsessing over personal behaviours and choices. Yesterday's conservatives look like today's progressives, and today's conservatives look like yesterday's fascists.

Yes, fascists.

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com, fascism is "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."

And by the way, since when did "liberal" become a dirty word, so tainted that we have to use the euphemism "progressive"? I'm liberal and I'm damn proud of it!

Is there anything above that isn't being played out right now by the sideshow slate of characters vying for the Republican nomination? Particularly "forcible suppression of opposition", speaking from my time with the #Occupy movement.

Hey, Occupy Denver, where have you gotten off to? It's sad when an active supporter can't keep track of your activities (or lack thereof) anymore. Like I told you a couple of months ago, you need to keep up with your Saturday marches in order to maintain a public image as a cohesive and functional movement. Instead, you've deteriorated into a camp for homeless and dopers. Yes, they are also part of the 99%, but you're not going to get much support from mainstream citizens if your primary issue is legalizing pot. Which I also told you a couple of months ago. I'm really glad there are still viable Occupy groups elsewhere in the country, and I hope that Occupy Denver can pull itself back together.

But I digress.

I did our taxes this morning. Maybe that's what has me on a rant, or at least represents the final straw. Now I'm seething over Rich Guy Mitt's low tax rate, while we barely scraped by and, incidentally, paid a higher rate than he reported. So not right, since when should people who are barely hanging on have to pay more to support a government than those who have become wealthy in its service?

And whoever decided that Colorado unemployment benefits are taxable income is a truly heartless person. Hubby was unemployed or underemployed for a good portion of 2011, so those benefits were vital to us. I'm still at my nonprofit and teaching, but it's mighty hard to make up for another whole income. (On the bright side, Hubby is doing so well in his auto mechanics program - he's 3/4 of the way through and has a 4.0 GPA! He's working part-time while going to school, which really is about all that's feasible.)

Not to ignore the other Republican also-rans, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Newt dear, I'd rather use you in a spell than think of you as president. Ron Paul is simply scary in his desire to dismantle everything, and he strangely reminds me of Ross Perot, the uber-rich guy who ran in 1992 as an independent and split the conservative vote. But at least Perot was funny and could laugh at himself. Ron Paul believes in the garbage he's spouting and takes both himself and his chances at the Presidency way too seriously.

Another rant-worthy topic: our health insurance premium (group coverage through my nonprofit) went up by 20%. Will someone PLEASE explain to me why the fascists/Republicans/Tea Partiers are so hot to dismantle the health care reforms that Obama signed into law, and why they think we don't need health care reform and a single-payer national health system? I had to move to a deductible so high that I just hope and pray we don't need to use our coverage, because anything short of a critical illness requiring hospitalization will come out of our pockets, which as you might have guessed from the previous paragraphs aren't that deep. And that was to keep my portion of the premium down to 25% of my take-home pay. Elizabeth Warren is right, rising health care costs are what's eroding the middle class. Don't believe me? Check out her lecture on YouTube. It's nearly an hour long but well worth investing your time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Uk-DwUvJw

My biggest source of hope right now? It's the belief that one day people will wake up and see just how badly they've been used by the fascist conservatives, and then they will revolt against their oppressors. That is, if they can tear themselves away from American Idol and TMZ, clear their minds of the weapons of mass distraction being pushed to the forefront of the collective American consciousness by the conservative-controlled media giants, and think for themselves instead of mindlessly sopping up the slanted and inflammatory fodder presented by Faux News.

Yes, one day this will happen. It has to. The alternative is too grim to consider.

AuntieM

Centennial post

2011-06-07T08:35:00.003-06:00

Hi folks, I'm back...

Yes, after a long hiatus (roughly grad-school length) I've resurfaced in the blogosphere. Now that I'm not a student anymore I've been trying to figure out how I used to spend my time and my poor neglected blog came to mind, thanks in large part to a comment to one of my older posts that showed up in my e-mail yesterday evening. So I thought I'd do a quick check-in just to see if I remembered how to do this thing.

Wish I had something relevant to say - this is sort of a milestone post, number 100, it should be something substantial. Unfortunately the most substantial thing on my mind right now is getting another cup of coffee and getting ready for work. I'm still at the same nonprofit, but my duties have expanded with my education and skill-set. I've traded the role of student for that of teacher and am working to spread the gospel of Sociology to a new group of eager open minds each semester. Funny, as an uber-introvert I'm surprised by how much I enjoy teaching, especially in person in the classroom as opposed to teaching online. It's insanely fun watching students experience the "aha" moments that come from developing an understanding of sociology.

The ongoing economic woes have not left us untouched: Hubby was laid off 15 months ago and is still struggling to find work. He's gone back to school (I'm so proud of him!) and is pursuing his passion of working in the automotive field, ideally restoring old cars. In the meantime he's working part-time, getting only a few hours a week at a really crappy job, and is searching for something better. I know it's all beginning to turn around, just wish it would hurry a bit.

The cats are still great, they brighten our days and make us laugh while ruling the roost.

So what can I say of consequence to close this rambling update? Only that despite the cumulative exhaustion that comes from completing three degrees in five years while holding down multiple jobs, I'm still committed to the goals that I set forth in my earliest posts. As I re-engage with the world I hope to post observations, begin conversations, rabblerouse and generally get people to think about the tough issues we face as a society. Maybe reaffirming that commitment itself is consequential enough for a milestone post.

In the meantime,
Peace (and more coffee please),
Auntie M

Comment on comments

2010-07-24T09:03:00.003-06:00

Hi folks,

I have to admit to having a very wide streak of naivete. Part of my worldview includes the assumption that people are honest and good until proven otherwise. As a result of that, I have not paid sufficient attention to the content of comments posted to this blog and approved by yours truly. The specific content in question is the hidden links contained in a line of periods. Seems innocuous, right? I thought so too, and it never occurred to me that these dots contained links to other websites until I happened to stumble across them and was horrified and disgusted by what I found. So this morning I did some housecleaning of my blog, going back through and permanently deleting any posts containing hidden website links. While I would be very happy if my blog attracted an audience and functioned as the starting point for enlightened discussion, it is not my intention to provide free advertising space for websites so off-color that they must be disguised. Consider this a warning: attempting to place these ads on my blog will be futile, so save your time and energy and go elsewhere. I would rather have zero readers and let this blog be an open online diary, than allow my own reputation to be tarnished by association.

Okay, this has obviously hit a nerve with me. Perhaps my actions seem a bit hypocritical since I have advocated for freedom of speech right here on this blog, and now I'm censoring comments. Here's my rationale: It's my blog, and as such I am responsible for any content - posts or comments - that this blog contains. I am not willing to assume responsibility for promoting websites with content so questionable that they have to be presented in hidden form. And yes, most of them were porn sites, but I'm not even getting into my philosophical objections to pornography as a form of exploitation and marginalization of women. This is about my responsibilities as the author of this blog. And from now on I will be paying much closer attention to better fulfil those responsibilities.

AuntieM

Two Broke College Students

2010-06-20T09:45:00.005-06:00

I never imagined the above phrase would describe Hubby and myself, but there it is: we're both in school, money is tight, but we're both pursuing dreams and the air here in AuntieM-land is filled with hope. And debt. But in the grand scheme of things it will be well worth the investment.

How often do you invest in yourself? That's what education is, an investment in yourself, a financial expression of your belief in yourself (or someone else) and your (their) ability to create a better, happier, more secure future centered on passion instead of obligation.

Hubby is enrolled in school. He found a program he really likes, an Associate of Applied Sciences program in Automotive Service Technology through a local community college. He is now working on his general education electives while he is wait-listed to go into the hands-on portion of the program. Things should time out well, he should finish his general ed electives just in time to begin the hands-on portion no later than January 2011. Right now he's learning to cope with online classes (his choice) and to juggle the demands of being a student again. In order to understand the magnitude of this shift, you need to know that the last time Hubby too a class was as a high-school student in 1969. Yes. Wow. I'm so proud of him for making this gigantic leap of faith and boldly entering an alien environment in search of his passion!

Summer session is in full swing for me as well. I am taking two classes, but let me tell you - two graduate-level summer classes are as much work as 4 undergrad summer classes! And this I know from experience as that was the load I typically took in the summer as an undergrad. The extraordinarily good news: this will be my last summer session, unless my plans change drastically and I decide to Pile it Higher and Deeper, or worse yet, go to law school. Either option would be enjoyable, but I'm at the point where the fun of school needs to yield to the reality of needing to take my pricey education out into the working world and get a job with a salary commensurate to my education and experience. Such a job would be difficult to combine with student status. However I'm not ruling out additional studies at some point, going to school is just too darn much fun! I'm hoping that my upcoming teaching gig will fill some of that desire and let me still have fun in the educational arena but get paid for it instead of paying for the privilege.

Yes, graduation is once again looming, Spring 2011 is my goal to complete my Master of Public Administration program, and for all of my desires to keep things low-key when I finished my undergrad, this time I want to have a total blowout celebration! Hubby and I will each have a significant event to celebrate next May, because within a few days of my graduation he will have a milestone birthday, so we're talking about having a Gigantic Combined Woo-Hoo celebration for both of us and inviting family and friends from all over the country. Not sure exactly what the celebration will consist of - probably attend my commencement and then throw a huge cookout/barbecue/pig-pickin'. In the past I have downplayed my accomplishments and not wanted much done in the way of celebrating them, but this time is different: I'm doing something huge and I want a great big party, damnit!!!

Feline family members are doing well too. GirlCat is happily napping upstairs, probably curled up in a drawer. A long time ago she figured out how to open drawers and make room for a nap by dragging clothing out and leaving it all over the floor. This got old for a while because we kept finding clothes strewn all over the place but we finally reached a compromise: we let her use one drawer for a nap, and she doesn't mess with other drawers. Guess she has us well-trained. The little Snowshoe kitten we adopted last year has grown into a fine cat. Gotta figure out a pseudonym for him but can't use BoyCat, still too painful - there will never be another BoyCat. At any rate, SnowshoeBoy is a talkative bundle of energy who makes us laugh all day with his antics, some of which I keep meaning to film and post on YouTube. He's that funny.

Guess I've procrastinated long enough, time to go write a paper, but this has been a good warm-up to get my creative energy flowing.

Peace and good grades,

AuntieM

Hanging in there

2010-04-08T18:36:00.005-06:00

Hi all,

Life continues to be interesting, in the way of the proverbial Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times", although somehow it still feels like there are blessings to be found within the curses too. Hubby is job-hunting as I write this, he is working to master the intricacies of online job search sites. They can be great tools once you learn how to use them, but it takes much patience to get all the way up the learning curve.

He is enthusiastic about finding a source of job training, and has been actively pursuing training in the auto repair field. If anyone has suggestions about good programs in the Denver/Boulder area of Colorado I sure would like to hear about them. We found some promising certificate programs available at community colleges, one in particular he really likes. I am much more willing to trust in the quality of eduction from a state-supported community college than I am a private training school like the ones that advertise on late-night TV. Those are simply scary, no guarantee at all that you will come away with anything other than a mountain of debt! He is also working his way through the unemployment system and finding out what services are available to him. So far it seems to have been a positive experience for him, although he says he'll be glad when he either gets a job or gets into some classes, because he's tired of hanging around the house all day.

I, on the other hand, have been so busy I hardly know my own name. Good thing I write this under a nom de plume! Three graduate school classes and working 3/4 time make for a tremendous load. On top of that I've been trying really hard to take care of myself, which includes visiting the gym twice a week for a rigorous workout. This is something I really need to do, both to preserve the weight loss I achieved over the last five months (26 pounds lost, yay for Weight Watchers!) and to keep my stress level in check because these workouts have become critical for my mental health. I feel that I'm asking so much of myself right now that in order to maintain this level of performance I've got to prioritize taking care of myself in some fashion. Five more weeks of this crazy semester, I can keep going, I know I can... It will be sooooooooo nice to carry a lighter class load after this semester and summer session are past.

Too tired to get on much of a rant today, and way too behind on my studies to devote much time or energy to it either. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of things in this world going wrong - human rights abuses, environmental damage, endless political wrangling from the sour-grapes right wing which during the midterm elections will then try to claim that Obama has accomplished nothing - but I laughed myself breathless when I saw a commercial last night about a brand of toilet paper that will always unroll over the roll, ending the "great over or under debate" forever. This is almost symbolic of our society, and certainly indicative of the direction in which we are heading - right down the toilet - unless we WAKE UP, PEOPLE!!!!!!!! Or are we one of the last generations of a great but dying society? In its dying days Rome had bread and circuses; will our equivalent be the McDonald's dollar menu and reality TV? Is this how America will be remembered a few centuries from now, as a society that grew so entrenched in its comforts that it could not be bothered to recognize the warning signs leading to its own demise? Nero fiddled while Rome burned; I suppose we as a people will just watch American Idol instead, being passively entertained and anesthetized into oblivion.

Cheery thoughts. I told you I was tired, and when I'm tired I get really negative, but there it is for the world to see. Now that it's out there, what can we do about it? That's a question each and every one of us must face and must answer to our own satisfaction, if we can create the mental headspace between video games, celebrity scandals, and "Survivor". Sigh. I'm about to commit an act which has become revolutionary in our society and may ultimately be considered deviant: I'm going to go read a book. I urge you to do the same.

Peace,
AuntieM

Updates from AuntieM-land

2010-03-21T08:21:00.005-06:00

Hi all,

I wanted to follow up on a couple of things. First, regarding my pledge to spend more time blogging on behalf of Organizing for America, that fell through pretty quickly when I found out that they only wanted people to do certain things like phone banking. Sorry folks, I still believe in your cause and support your efforts, but I just don't have time for anything else. I could have fit blogging on their behalf fit into my schedule because I enjoy writing this blog and can do it from home at my convenience, but I can't carve out a block of time to go somewhere and volunteer right now.

There was a big change in AuntieM-land this week when Hubby was laid off from his job Tuesday, with no warning whatsoever, and of course no severance package. It's a tough adjustment, one that far too many people have been forced to make. A couple of days ago Hubby went out to get the mail, bumped into a neighbor and told him about the layoff. The neighbor's response was "join the club" - he was laid off last fall and still hasn't found work. While I have no doubt that Hubby will do whatever he can to find a job, there just aren't that many jobs out there right now so it's a tough market. Hubby is interested in using this opportunity to make a career change by getting some training (funded by unemployment - yay!) in a new field. He's considering auto mechanics or solar technology like building/installing solar panels. I'm really proud of him for seeking out the opportunities hidden within the challenges.

I was also very happy when he said he was ready to leave the gaming industry, that it was fun for a while but had gotten old. He's definitely mourning the loss of his job and the connections to people, both colleagues and favorite customers, but he's working through it and starting to map out his next steps. He's filed for unemployment, and in the coming week is going to visit the unemployment office to find out what sort of training/education assistance he would be eligible to receive. He's also updated his resume and has established a facebook page, which was a tremendous step for him. He had the nicest call yesterday from one of the shift managers at his old casino, just checking in as a friend to see that he was doing all right. He's a real class act and an all-around good guy. This call brought some of the emotional impact of the layoff to the surface, and that was a good thing because once it's out in the open it can be acknowledged and dealt with, instead of remaining buried.

I'm delighted that Hubby wants to leave the gaming industry and look for a job closer to home. When I was working in gaming as well I was cavalier about the risks - driving up an icy canyon in a snowstorm so a bunch of idiots could play cards was just part of the deal - but since I've been out I've worried each time he set out on a day like that. It will be a relief for him not to do that anymore. I've also become much more aware of the need for a job that provides fulfullment, not just income, and I hope Hubby finds something that is personally fulfilling, rewarding, and enjoyable - the whole "do what you love and the money will follow" concept.

In all of that happening last week my studies kind of fell by the wayside. I tried to study but couldn't focus on one single thing for longer than about 12 seconds. So now I'm playing catch up and hoping my grades don't suffer too much as a result. Next week is spring break, so I've got a bit of time to catch my breath and get caught up without new assignments being piled on. As far as continuing my studies, I figured out that we'll be better off financially if I stay in school and complete my degree, which will allow me to keep my student loans deferred and keep receiving the student loan overages that have helped us out so far. At least that's one area of my life that isn't getting massively changed as a result, there's some comfort to be found there.

So, yes, life threw us a curve ball this week, but you know what? It seems to me that struggle has been the norm over most of human history, and the prosperity and comfort the American culture of capitalism and consumption preaches as our due is really just a brief interlude. Maybe this is the the takehome lesson for America as a society: time to stop expecting things to come to you just because you think you deserve them, start working toward goals again, and accept setbacks as part of the process of moving forward. Life doesn't hand you a ribbon just for showing up, contrary to the culture in which many of today's young adults grew up. I'm still working on fleshing out these thoughts, because I think there is much more beneath the surface. What I know right now is, sometimes the obstacles placed in your way are not negatives, they are there to help guide you to a different path, the one that is right for you. Creating opportunity from challenge, that's what it's all about.

Peace,
AuntieM

Oh Canada!

2010-02-28T16:30:00.005-07:00

I just watched the wonderful gold medal hockey game between the US and Canada, and I couldn't resist commenting on how poetically beautiful the outcome was! The victory by Canada, in this dream matchup of teams, winning gold on their home ice and closing out the 2010 Winter Olympics was the perfect result. Even though theoretically I should be bummed since the US lost, I can't see any losers in this situation. I went through several tissues between the overtime sudden-death score by Team Canada and the conclusion of the Canadian national anthem, simply because I was so touched by the symmetry and meaning of it all. I'm sure the joy and pride of Canadian citizens right now is immeasurable, first because they have done a fantastic job of hosting the world in their country, and because hockey is such a big thing for Canadians.

Way to go Team Canada!!!

There's something about the Olympics that touches a soft spot in my heart, because it is an opportunity for nations to put aside their differences, to build relationships and friendships on the foundation of sport, to put nationalism aside in favor of sportsmanship. To me the Olympics are a peacemaking activity, and my only wish is that the spirit the Olympics engenders may last beyond the extinguishing of the Olympic flame.

The only negative note is the NHL's proclaimation that its players will not be allowed to compete in the 2014 Winter Games in Russia, due to the disruption the Olympics presents to the NHL's schedule. I think that if the NHL carries out this threat, hockey fans should boycott all NHL games held during the 2014 Winter Olympics. Can these shortsighted fools not see that exposing NHL players and hockey in general on the world stage will help bring more fans into the game, increasing TV ratings and ticket sales? They're too focused on the loss of immediate revenue to see the long-term potential, and to recognize the opportunity cost of grabbing for today's dollars while throwing tomorrow's dollars out the window. Come on NHL, where's your spirit? Why deprive your players of the chance to represent their countries, something that a fair number of them have undoubtedly dreamt about since childhood? That's just mean.

Peace (and anticipation of the 2012 Summer Games in London),

AuntieM

Proof we're on the right path, even though we still have a ways to go

2010-02-18T09:13:00.009-07:00

Hi all,

Sometimes a picture (or in this case a chart) is worth a thousand words. That is why I am replicating the e-mail below from Obama for America. Hopefully they won't mind since I'm hopefully helping their message reach a wider audience.

"Wondering what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- President Obama's stimulus bill -- has accomplished? Look at this:

One year ago tomorrow, after tens of thousands of you shared stories and called your representatives, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.And while this anniversary isn't a cause for celebration, there is reason to be optimistic. This chart makes it clear: We're on the road to recovery.Still, we know there is a long way to go. Many Americans are still struggling, and creating jobs remains President Obama's top priority.Click here to learn more about the President's record on the economy, what we're doing to put more Americans back to work, and get easy-to-share information you can pass on to friends and family:http://www.blogger.com/ Thanks for making change happen."

I don't know about you but I'm really tired of hearing Republicans complaining about the perceived lack of progress, particularly when obstructionist Republicans in Congress have been responsible for throwing sand into the machinery of reform at every opportunity. The chart above shows just hwo deeply we as a country were in the weeds by the end of the Bush II administration, and how much progress has been made to reverse job losses since Obama took office. I'm sharing this because it's hard to dispute factual evidence, and this is proof that under Obama's guidance our economy has started to turn around. Yes, lots of people are still out of work and I certainly feel for them and wish something could be done about this overnight, but it took us years to get into this mess and it's going to take us a while to dig ourselves out. But now at least we're on the right path, and we've got to stick with it.

Peace,

AuntieM

Blogging to fulfill a pledge

2010-02-13T16:50:00.004-07:00

Hi all,

I don't know if you've heard about this (probably not unless you're already on board with Organzing for Obama) but they're running a campaign to mobilize volunteers to help spread the word, i.e. truth, about the reforms proposed by the Obama administration and to help combat Republican scare tactics and outright lies about what reform will do. After about 12 seconds of consideration I agreed to pledge time each week to this cause, partially because you can choose your own activity and decide where you can make the most difference. My activity to fulfill that pledge is this blog, which I really want to resurrect despite all my other commitments. I hope that enough people read this and pass it along to their networks for it to make a difference, because the midterm elections are going to be a referendum on the Obama administration's entire plan to turn this country around, and we can't afford for the Republican naysayers who want to maintain the failed status quo of the past to come out on top.

Hope you will check into this opportunity to make a difference and will join me and about a million other people in working to give Obama's reform strategy a fighting chance.

Thanks for reading.

Peace,
AuntieM

I forgot, what's a blog again?

2010-01-30T09:34:00.002-07:00

Holy cow, I didn't realize it's been nearly a YEAR since I posted! I'm afraid that life has been way too crazy for me to keep up with everything, and unfortunately this blog fell by the wayside. Never fear though, I'm still out there working to create change, just haven't been able to write about it for a long while.

In the past year, I've finished my Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and begun working on a Masters of Public Administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management. That alone has really kepy me off the streets. I'm also working more hours at my nonprofit, and trying to have some sort of a life with Hubby and friends. The second job I referenced in one of my last posts didn't go on for long, only about 3 months, until I was able to get more hours at my nonprofit. It was an interesting and educational experience, I have to say, but I'm glad I didn't have to stay there for an extended time. It got us through a tight financial spot though, so it served its purpose.

We have a new feline family member too, LittleOne. He's a Snowshoe, which is a mix of American Tabby and Standard Siamese. It's a recognized breed except by Cat Fancier's Association - come on CFA, get with the game! Never fear though, we adopted him from a shelter, we didn't buy him from a breeder. He's a bright-eyed, inquisitive, and very energetic little boy who likes to climb any vertical surface he can, including walls on occasion.

I also have an opportunity on the horizon which has me quite excited: this fall I will be adjunct faculty at the community college I once attended, teaching Sociology! This is one of the things i wanted to do with my life, and to have this opportunity present itself, especially at the school where I got my start, is an amazing gift. I feel that I benefitted tremendously from the assistance provided by this school, and this is an opportunity for me to pay some of that forward and hopefully help other students navigate their paths.

Okay, on to the main event: Did you watch the State of the Union address? I did, and was glued to it for its entirety. I've been a bit disconnected from politics lately because I've been so wrapped up in what's going on in my own life, and it was good to open my eyes and look around, even though I knew I wouldn't like a lot of what I saw, particularly after the appalling Republican victory in Massachusets. I thought Obama did a masterful job of calling out the obstructionist Republicans - there's no way they can claim to want bipartisanship when their standard tactic is to automatically oppose every new initiative presented by the Obama administration.

To the Republican politicians who have fought tooth and nail against health care reform: Why do you not want your constituents to have what you have, namely decent health coverage provided by the Federal government? Do you somehow think they don't deserve it, or that you're better than them? How can you, with any degree of conscience, ask your constituents to vote for you while denying them access to a basic need that you yourself are fortunate enough to have, courtesy of their tax dollars?

I did get quite excited when Obama talked about forgiving all student loans for those students who spend 10 years in public service - OMG, huge woohoo if that goes through!!! Hubby and I regularly discuss my mounting student loan debt and he has begun to express concerns over his upcoming retirement in light of that debt. Personally I had already resigned myself to paying student loans until the day I die, but if Obama's proposal goes through, then this could be an incredibly positive change that would go a long way toward helping us provide a stable and secure retirement for ourselves.

Obama is right though - it's not fair for people to amass massive loans so they can go into fields serving others, and then have to struggle to pay off those loans because the pay in public service-type jobs is traditionally lower than in other sectors. My nonprofit hosts interns from numerous universities, including some from the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, and I frequently hear about their tuition bills and debt loads. It's sad to think that these students are borrowing more to pay for one year of their education than I will have borrowed for my entire collegiate course of study, bachelors and masters combined. These hard-working students are paying $40K a year in tuition, and then frequently have to borrow more on top of that to cover living expenses because the internship requirements of their program make it not very feasible to hold down a paying job while in school. That all might be reasonable if they could look forward to six-figure salaries upon graduation, but entry-level jobs for MSW's tend to pay in the mid-$30's, at least around here. I have a lot of respect for these students because they go into this field with eyes open, knowing they won't ever be wealthy in monetary terms but eager and dedicated to helping others nonetheless.

All right, this turned into a long ramble when I originally just intended it to be a short note. At any rate, Auntie M is alive and well! My own course of study for my MPA is taking me on a fascinating intellectual journey, and is also opening doors at my own nonprofit because each course (and sometimes each chapter) clarifies and explains more about how my organization functions. This semester I'm taking Organizational Management and Change, Economics and Financial Management, and Information and Analysis Methods. Yes, the course titles sound dry, but I assure you they are actually quite riveting, and I am having the time of my life!

I have decided there is one more skillset I wish to acquire after my MPA, and that's accounting: I want to get my CPA. I am finding that I have tremendous interest in the financial side of nonprofits, I can't seem to get enough of the finance and economics classes, so this seems to be a natural addition. I broke this news to Hubby, who had long since declared that I need to be done with school after my MPA (and at the time I agreed), and his reaction (surprisingly) was "makes sense, go for it." It certainly helped that when I proposed this additional step it was with the caveat that I will take that one course at a time and pay for it as I go, no more student loan debt! (Even if it may be forgiven, no need to push it.)

Peace,
AuntieM

McToxic

2009-02-28T17:40:00.004-07:00

I made a major tactical error yesterday, one I'm still paying for today. I was getting ready to go to my second job and I realized that I'd need a snack around break time but didn't want to get chips from the vending machine. I had no time to prepare anything, so I went through a McDonalds drive-thru and got a fish sandwich, fries and a diet Coke. I took that to work with me and ate it at break time. So far so good. A couple of hours later I was already off work and at the grocery store, doing late-night shopping so I could stay home today, when the effects of my McMeal began to make themselves felt. Within a few minutes I was utterly miserable, suffering from a wide variety of symptoms ranging from gastric upset to a complete lack of energy. Have you ever felt so drained that lying on the couch was too much of an effort, but so was getting up to go to bed? That's how my McMeal made me feel: there's something McToxic about McDonald's food. I don't know what it is, I don't know if it's only certain items that are bad for me, and I don't know if I'm affected while others aren't or if they just don't connect feeling McCrappy after eating McFood.

This morning when I woke up (two hours later than my usual time and still feeling exhausted) I was much hungrier than usual, as if my body had been starved of something. Like maybe nutritious food. I'm on the mend now, I think because I've focused on healthy, basic, unprocessed foods today, and my energy is beginning to return to normal. I think my fast food McHangover is finally subsiding, but for me the residual effect is to write this post as a warning to others.

If you eat McFood regularly my question is: how can you stand it? Or are you just so used to feeling bad that it's your norm? I used to incorporate quite a bit of fast food into my diet but in the last couple of years my body has begun to say "No more." Now I rely on fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, cheese, hormone-free milk, soy protein and a little meat to make up my diet. It's amazing what getting real energy from real food feels like. You should try it sometime.

Here's a typical day's menu for me:
Breakfast: bran cereal w/milk, banana, orange juice, tea or coffee
Lunch (on workdays): a low-fat entree with lots of veggies, maybe with tofu as the protein, from one of the wonderful neighborhood restaurants near my office. The closest I ever come to fast food at lunch is Subway or Quiznos. When I'm not working I cook breakfast for Hubby in the early afternoon so for me it's breakfast for lunch, usually eggs, cereal and fruit.
Dinner: something home-cooked and wholesome, with whole grains and veggies. If Hubby is home the meal will usually contain meat; if I'm alone then beans and rice with salad or other veggies is a likely choice.
Snacks: Not many, although I do bake regularly and sometimes I indulge in a slice of cake or a brownie, but I know what's not in them: High Fructose Corn Syrup, transfats, preservatives.

Notice what's missing: soda, candy, burgers, fries, fake food of various descriptions. Seems almost un-American, doesn't it? After all, our culture runs on convenience and immediate gratification, which is why McFood has become so prevalent in our country. However, if you actually give it a try it's amazing how much you can improve your diet, and your energy level, without significantly increasing the cost and time invovled in food preparation.

Here's a quick and easy recipe for a satisfying cold salad:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kernel corn, drained
2 Tbsp. finely chopped onion
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 tomato, diced
Italian salad dressing or vinaigrette dressing
Throw everything together in a bowl, mix well and let sit overnight in the fridge. Pack some of this in a container for a fast and nutritious lunch that will keep you fueled up without weighing you down, and just see if you don't feel better than when you succumb to the lure of McFood.

I guess my whole rant boils down to "you are what you eat." So don't eat McCrap.

Peace,
AuntieM

I'm doing my part

2009-02-25T09:46:00.003-07:00

Did you watch President Obama’s address to Congress last night? I hope you did because it was epic, it was Kennedy-esque, and it was beautiful. Hubby and I watched it and several times we both had tears running down our cheeks. I know we’re in a jam right now with the economy tanking, but Obama’s speech was full of hope and optimism for the future, a future that we can get reach if we work together. I liked that the financial part of Obama’s speech was straightforward and focused on the problems, not who caused them. Early on in his speech Obama passed up a golden opportunity to slam the policies of the Bush administration as the reason we’re in this mess, but Obama is too much of a class act to stoop to those measures, while I would have done it for a cheap laugh. Guess that’s why I’m not President. He also very correctly stated that the root of our financial mess lies in decisions made nearly three decades ago (hello Reagan administration) and one of the things that started this mess was Reagan’s wholesale deregulation of giant swaths of the private sector. Without government oversight it was only a matter of time before the endless drive for profits led to the economic house of cards that is coming down around our ears today.

So where’s hope in all of this, you may wonder. Hope is in the steps we can take today to build a better tomorrow. Hope is in using our ingenuity and creativity to rebuild our country in a sustainable 21st century model that will run on alternative and environmentally-friendly fuels. Hope is in reminding the parents of this country, as Obama did so eloquently, that they are ultimately responsible for their kids’ education – turn off the television, unplug the video games, make sure the kids do their homework, go to those parent-teacher conferences, set a good example and make sure your kids understand that education is their key to a better future. In the same vein, Obama called on each and every one of us to embrace the idea that education is the future for us all and strive toward making the US the best-educated nation on the planet by committing to at least 1 year of higher education or continued education during his first term as President. “I’m doing my part!” should be the mantra of every student, whether it’s a child who goes to school instead of ditching or cutting class, or an adult who pulls those long nights to attend classes after a full day’s work. Yes, it’s tough to hang in there and complete a course of study, and it requires postponement of gratification. Sure, I’d love to be vegging in front of a “House” marathon instead of writing an essay exam for a class (which is what I was doing before I broke off to write this post) but there will be lots more “House” marathons after I finish my exam, while going to school is an opportunity I didn’t think I would have again so I’m making the most of it this time.

This leads me right into the tax credit Obama announced for paying tuition, a $2500 tax credit that made me sit straight up on the couch and go WooHoo! That’s an improvement over the existing educational tax credits, and one that I hope will also be good for grad school, not just undergraduate work. You know the difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit, right? Okay, here it is in a nutshell: a tax deduction reduces your taxable income, so it lowers the amount of taxes you have to pay. A tax credit is much more valuable because it is like extra money that goes toward paying your taxes, and each dollar of a tax credit has the same value as each dollar you paid in taxes from your paychecks over the course of the year. So if you paid $3,000 in taxes but your total tax bill is $4,000, without any tax credits you owe $1,000. But if you have a tax credit, say Obama’s $2,500 educational tax credit, then it’s like you’ve actually paid a total of $5,500 against a tax bill of $4,000 so you get a $1,500 refund. It’s just that simple and that sweet.

After watching Obama’s speech I felt proud that I’m already working to improve my education, proud that I already work in the nonprofit sector and am helping people improve their lives, humbled by the faith and trust that Obama places in each and every one of us to work with him to make our country a better place, eager to get started with the work that lies ahead, and hopeful that we can all create a better, brighter future. Optimism, what a wonderful feeling. Now let’s get to work.

Peace,
AuntieM

I'm baaaaack...

2009-02-21T15:31:00.004-07:00

Hi all,
No you're not seeing things, here's a new post from AuntieM! I didn't fall off the edge of the earth, and I didn't pay an involuntary visit to Gitmo, I've just been crazy scary busy for the last four months. It's not that I didn't think about this blog, I just didn't have the time or energy. The election wore me out but it was a fantastic kind of tired. I spent lots of my free time working on the Obama campaign, then after the election it was exams, then the dreaded few weeks of holiday hell. Included in that was taking my GRE and getting into grad school, finding a second job, taking care of a sick cat that we eventually had to have put down (a moment of silence in memory of BoyCat, please. Thank you.), and trying to maintain some semblance of a life with Hubby, GirlCat and friends.

All in all it's been a wild four months but I'm starting to get my feet under me again and things are beginning to stabilize. I'm still getting my act together in regards to juggling two jobs and a full-time course load, so I have dedicated this weekend to catching up on school work. One of the items I had to complete was a post for my Global Issues class, in which my professor posted some questions that were so interesting that I wanted to preserve my response for posterity. Here we go:

The questions: Do you think that defending national security means having to give up some personal freedoms? Would you mind if government officials read your emails or listened in on your telephone conversations to be sure you were not planning to engage in terrorism? Why or why not? Explain your position.

My answer: Benjamin Franklin said “Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.” I do not believe that the way to defend our essential liberties is to forfeit them in exchange for a false sense of security. Defending the security of this nation should include preserving the personal freedoms that characterize this country, not giving them up the moment the threat level goes to ‘orange’. Surrendering our freedoms means living in a police state instead of a democracy.

Government surveillance of individuals doesn’t increase our security; on the contrary, it makes us all suspects. Our legal system is based on the premise of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, but in the case of government surveillance, the reverse is true for each and every citizen. I would object strenuously to any form of government surveillance on a private citizen without probable cause and a court order. (And I’ve often wondered just who in Washington is reading my blog. First Amendment rights, baby, use them or lose them.) I can hear echoes of a phrase used in movies: “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.” But we should fear plenty when our government starts snooping in our private lives and personal correspondence. We should fear being detained indefinitely without due process. We should fear being questioned and having to justify our actions on seemingly innocent matters. We should fear having to watch our speech and wonder who is listening. We should fear when our own country, which has long claimed the moral high ground on human rights and condemned countries that utilize torture, uses “intensive interrogation” or whatever euphemism they use to put a happy face on waterboarding and other means of torture. If we have to give up our personal liberties, then we might as well surrender because we’ve already lost ourselves and our country.

It feels sooooo good to rant and rabblerouse again! I'll be back again soon, but now I must return to the homework marathon. Two classes done so far today, two more to go by tomorrow night. Repeat after me: I can do anything for one semester.

Later,
AuntieM

Local politics, part deux

2008-10-24T09:20:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know I took my sweet time getting back to this, but I have a one-word excuse: midterms. Anyway, I’ll resume where I left off in my analysis of Colorado’s proposed amendments and referenda.

Amendment 54 is the third and final union-weakening measure on the Colorado ballot. In a nutshell, this amendment prohibits labor unions from participating in the political process if their companies hold contracts with the state. It keeps labor unions from being able to participate in the political process or contribute to a political party, organization or candidate. The time frame of this restriction extends two years past the end of the contract. The best way I can explain it is through analogy: you work for a company that makes widgets, and your company is a union shop. You make the best widgets around, and the state gives you a contract to supply them with widgets for the next five years. Under Amendment 54 because your company accepted this state contract, your union is forbidden from participating in the political process in any way for the next seven years. Amendment 54 silences the voice of organized labor, and is a very bad idea.
AuntieM’s vote: NO on 54.

Amendment 55 – Wow, what happened? An amendment that’s actually pro-worker rights made it onto the ballot? What is this state coming to? Seriously, Amendment 55 restricts the reasons that employers can fire employees, albeit to a pretty broad list, but all of the items on the list are legitimate misconduct-type offenses that, in my opinion, would warrant termination. Under Amendment 55 an employer may fire an employee for any of the following reasons:
· Incompetence
· Substandard performance or neglect of job duties
· Repeated violations of an employer’s written policies and procedures related to job performance
· Gross insubordination or willful misconduct that affects job performance
· Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude
· Employer bankruptcy
· Documented adverse economic circumstances that directly affect the employer.
These reasons are considered “just causes” under Amendment 55. Under current Colorado law, an employer may fire an employee for any reason or no reason whatsoever, and the employee has no recourse because Colorado is an at-will employment state. That’s a tricky way of saying you’re on your own when it comes to employment issues, unless you are protected by a union. Amendment 55 will go a long way to rectify that. This amendment also makes it possible for an employee who believes he or she was fired or suspended for an invalid reason to sue the employer, presumably for back wages, emotional distress, damage to reputation, etc. This measure will help provide job security and protection for Colorado workers.
AuntieM’s vote: YES on 55.

Amendment 56 requires employers to provide health insurance for employees and dependents, either through a private plan or through a plan to be set up by the state, and places percentage caps on how much an employee may be required to contribute toward the cost of this coverage. In all honesty, I wrestled with this decision for quite a while, and Hubby and I spent some time talking this one over. I was on the fence about requiring small employers to purchase health insurance because I know just how painfully expensive it can be to cover a small group – when a group is too small to establish a decent-sized risk pool, the premiums are simply obscene. Then I thought about this state plan and realized that it would most likely present an affordable option, and even if it’s simply a way to buy into Medicaid, that’s better coverage than thousands of Coloradans have today, namely none. Plus, reducing the number of uninsured is the best way to curb increases in health care and bring health insurance premiums down into a reasonable range. When hospitals and doctors aren’t having to increase their rates to cover the unpaid bills of the uninsured, because insurance is now affordable, then everyone wins. After I worked through all of this, my choice was clear: Amendment 56 will benefit all Coloradans, either directly or indirectly, and the creation of a state-established health plan will give employers an affordable choice.
AuntieM’s vote: YES on 56.

Amendment 57 is another amendment that will help improve conditions for working Coloradans by stiffening the standards of workplace safety and health with which employers must comply. Under Amendment 57 an employee will also have the right to sue an employer if the employer fails to maintain a safe and healthy working environment and the employee is injured or sickened as a result. We all deserve safe and healthy workplaces, and until we all have unions to fight for them on our behalf, we need legislation to mandate them, as well as a penalty (in the form of the lawsuit portion of this amendment) for employers who choose not to comply.
AuntieM’s vote: YES on 57.

Amendment 58 ends a tax credit for energy-producing companies, which was enacted way back when as a means to encourage energy exploration (mining, drilling) in Colorado. We don’t need to spend tax dollars to subsidize energy companies that are making record profits while we struggle to fill our gas tanks and pay our heating bills. Opponents of this measure have tried to use scare tactics that predict skyrocketing energy bills due to energy companies trying to recoup the lost subsidies through rate increases. We may indeed see increases in our energy bills, but that’s all part of the wonder that is capitalism. (Please note sarcasm.) The loss of these tax credits will increase the amount of severance tax these companies pay, which goes to support education, scholarships, wildlife, clean energy, and open spaces. I’d rather take my chances on a higher energy bill and know that my tax dollars are no longer helping to line the pockets of energy company executives.
AuntieM’s vote: YES on 58.

Amendment 59 permanently funnels excess funds into a newly-created education savings account, to be used specifically for preschool-12th grade education. Under TABOR any excess funds collected by the state must be refunded to the taxpayers. Amendment 59 does away with these TABOR refunds permanently. Funds from the education savings account may be spent at the discretion of the legislature with a 2/3 majority vote, unless the state experienced less than 6% growth (as it will in many years), and then only a simple majority is required. This is another amendment I wrestled with before making a decision, because on the one hand education needs funding, but on the other hand this amendment may not actually increase education funding – if the state is able to draw from this savings account to cover education expenses, they are likely to funnel existing education dollars from the budget into other projects such as roads. So Amendment 59 is actually smoke and mirrors, a way for the state to utilize TABOR funds in perpetuity without actually committing to using those funds for any specific purpose. Yes, education needs funding but this isn’t the way to do it.
AuntieM’s vote: NO on 59.

Referendum L lowers the minimum age for serving in the state legislature from 25 to 21. According to the Blue Book, “All 50 states have age requirements for members of their state legislatures, ranging from 18 to 30 years old.” Also, “Twenty-six states, including Colorado, require that members of the senate be at least 25 years old, with seven of those states having an even higher age requirement.” I wonder just how many 21-24 year olds would run for office if given the chance? I think that requiring a few years’ experience as an adult is a good thing for a publicly elected official, because there’s no denying that age does bring perspective. While I do believe anything that encourages younger people to participate in the political process is a good thing, there are entry-level local offices open to people under age 25. It’s not like they’re completely barred from running for office, and the period between 21 and 24 is a vitally important opportunity for these precocious politicos to get some much-needed experience. I think that Referendum L is unnecessary and unwise.
AuntieM’s vote: NO on Referendum L.

Referendum M eliminates a no longer needed tax incentive for planting orchards by not taxing the increase in land value that the orchards created. This measure was put into place in 1876. This is an attempt to clean up unneeded legislation that is cluttering Colorado’s constitution. This measure is no longer viable because another section of the constitution defines allowable tax exemptions, so this item is simply clutter that needs to be removed.
AuntieM’s vote: YES on Referendum M.

Referendum N removes another obsolete constitutional measure that set standards of purity and regulation for alcoholic beverages, functions that have since been taken over by the federal government. Since this measure no longer serves a viable purpose, it should be removed from Colorado’s constitution.
AuntieM’s vote: YES on Referendum N.

Referendum O changes the process of putting amendments and referenda on the Colorado ballot. It increases the number of signatures required for a constitutional amendment and specifies that a certain percentage of signatures must come from each congressional district, indicating statewide support for an amendment. The exact number of signatures required varies from year to year, and will continue to vary – currently to get anything on the ballot you have to collect 5% of the number of votes cast for Secretary of State, or 76,047 signatures to get an amendment or referendum on the 2008 ballot. Referendum O will increase that number to 6 percent of votes cast for governor, which would have equaled 93,497 signatures in 2008, and of these signatures 8 percent would have to come from each of Colorado’s congressional districts. Referendum O actually makes it easier to get a referendum on the ballot by reducing the number of signatures required to 4 percent of the number of votes for governor, or 62,331 signatures for 2008, with no requirement of demonstrated statewide support. In my opinion Referendum O seeks to reduce the number of frivolous amendments (hello Amendment 48!) pushed onto the ballot by small but vocal minorities) and amendments that seek to benefit only specific geographic areas or persons within those areas (hello Amendment 50 – did you know that almost all of the petition signatures were gathered in Black Hawk from visitors to the casinos? True.) I like Referendum O because it may well work to prevent massively long ballots such as the one we’re facing this year, and allow us to spend our time considering better thought-out legislative changes.
AuntieM’s vote: YES on Referendum O.

Local politics matter too

2008-10-10T07:37:00.008-06:00

National politics have kept me pretty busy lately, you betcha! Especially with the debates being so entertaining (wink, wink). But in the midst of all of that, we mustn't forget about our local political scene and the issues that, if passed, can have a direct impact on our lives. It's easy to let local politics slide, especially in the middle of a hotly contested, and, let's face it, highly amusing national election cycle, but right now I want to change my focus. Today I'm taking a short break from national politics to focus on state-level issues.

Here in Colorado we've got a longer ballot than we've had in the last 100 years, due to 14 different constitutional amendments and 4 different referenda, not even considering city and county-level issues. It's confusing to the point that I've started compiling a cheat-sheet to take with me to the polls, because I don't want to try to figure out important issues on the fly. Yes, I could get a mail-in ballot like all of the campaigns encourage, but call me stubborn, I like showing up at the polls on election day, that's kind of a ritual for Hubby and me. Our polling place is just a short walk from our house so we grab jackets and head on over after breakfast, enjoying the fall weather and discussing the issues and our hopes for the future. It's nice and I don't want to give that up, even for the convenience of voting from my couch.

Anyway, I've reviewed the first seven amendments to the Colorado Constitution, and here is what I've found so far: Not a single one of them is worthy of a yes-vote, either because I disagree with the basic reasoning behind the amendment, or because the amendment is procedurally flawed. Let's take them in order:

Amendment 46, in essence, revokes Affirmative Action, stopping short of reversing any federally-mandated programs. I'm kind of conflicted on this because on the one hand I don't want the legal system working from the position that I need special treatment because I'm female (like I can't compete with men on a level playing field), but on the other hand we haven't exactly achieved parity for women and minorities in employment and education, so I think some level of legal protection is still needed. In the end I chose a No vote because the amendment as written fails to define certain specific terminology that, in today's litigious society, would certainly result in numerous lawsuits. Once true racial, ethnic and gender equality is achieved, affirmative action legislation will no longer be needed, but it's too early to force such a sea change, our society just isn't ready.
AuntieM's vote - NO on 46.

Amendment 47 allows workers to work in a union shop without having to join the union. Hubby and I have had some intense conversations on this one because he's not a fan of unions while I am. He buys into the whole "right to work" line that proponents of this amendment are trumpeting, while I see this amendment as a potential union-busting tool that employers can (and will) use to weaken the power of collective bargaining. The labor laws of the past century are directly attributable to those union members who put their futures and sometimes their lives on the line to improve working conditions for all Americans, and legal tools such as Amendment 47 will work to undo their efforts, and invalidate their sacrifices. This is a rare occasion in which Hubby and I had to agree to disagree, but I'm firm in my resolve: Amendment 47 would be bad for all Colorado workers.
AuntieM's vote - NO on 47.

Amendment 48 is the most onerous amendment in this entire massive ballot. It decrees that personhood begins at the moment of conception, and if passed, will instantly outlaw all abortions, regardless of the reason. This amendment will eventually be used to overturn Roe v. Wade. It also potentially can prohibit certain forms of birth control, and will open up doctors to murder charges if they treat pregnant women and the treatment causes harm to the fetus. It may also open up pregnant women to child abuse charges if they don't live squeaky-clean lives while they are pregnant. Oh you had a drink? Child abuse! You smoked a cigarette? Child abuse! Amendment 48 will turn back the clock for the women of Colorado to a time before reliable birth control and safe and legal abortions, when we were completely at the mercy of our biology and had no legal protection or recourse. Do we really want to go back to back-alley coathanger abortions, and let the state tell us what we can and can't do with our bodies? NO!
AuntieM's vote - NO on 48.

Amendment 49 is another union-busting measure in disguise. It prohibits employers from taking payroll deductions for certain expenses and is being presented as a worker protection measure, but when you read the fine print the only deductions being prohibited are union dues. Proponents of this measure claim that those who want to pay union dues can arrange for automatic drafts from their own banks, but don't want employers to be able to take those deductions directly from paychecks. This measure simply creates more hassle for those who wish to belong to unions by making them take extra steps to pay their dues. It's a ridiculous measure that has no business being included in the Colorado Constitution.
AuntieM's vote - NO on 49.

Amendment 50 is another one that Hubby and I have discussed in great detail, but on this one we are in agreement. Amendment 50 seeks to allow residents in the three gaming towns to vote to increase the betting limits in Colorado casinos to $100, allow casinos to stay open 24 hours, and let them add games such as craps and roulette. Currently the limit on a single bet is $5, casinos must close between 2am and 8am, and they may only offer slots, video poker, blackjack and blackjack-type games, and live poker. This amendment is near and dear to both our hearts because I worked in Colorado casinos for 11 years, and Hubby still works in the casinos and has recently begun his 13th year in the gaming industry. So Amendment 50 is very pertinent for us. In addition, this amendment specifies that 78% of the increase in gaming revenues will go toward Colorado's community colleges, institutions that are near and dear to my heart because I graduated from one and hope to return to that very school as a remedial English instructor once I have my BA. Hubby and I both have a very personal stake in this one. So you'd think we are unified in our support of this amendment, but that's not the case. We're both quite opposed to it, for a variety of reasons. Hubby is concerned that if the above changes are in the hands of gaming town residents, the largest gaming town (Black Hawk) will immediately implement all the changes proposed and will drive Central City (where he works) out of business becaues Central City isn't as well positioned to take advantage of those changes. Black Hawk has spent the last decade building up its infrastructure to support just such a change (incidentally, in violation of current Colorado Gaming laws, though nothing has been done about that) while Central City has been hamstrung by a building moratorium that was passed by its residents in about 1994, severely restricting construction of new casinos in order to remain in compliance with gaming laws and to preserve the small-town character of their city. This is Hubby's biggest reason for not supporting this measure.
Corruption is also a significant issue in Black Hawk, and we both feel that this will present the Black Hawk powers-that-be with a brand new opportunity to line their pockets at taxpayers (and students) expense. I don't have much faith that the casinos would willingly funnel the full 78% of increased revenues to the community colleges, and so far I have not been able to determine adequately how those increases in revenues will be calculated. Without that information I am unwilling to support this measure. Plus, while I was in gaming, I always swore that the day they put in these changes would be the day I handed in my notice. The gaming industry is a real pressure-cooker of a work environment, and you wouldn't believe how high the burnout rates are. None of the casinos are unionized, so the workers are at the mercy of the casinos and must comply with some pretty draconian rules. If this measure passes, casinos will put even more pressure on their employees to work longer hours with shorter turnarounds between shifts, to avoid hiring additional staff, or to cope with the immediate growth created by such an amendment. Without union protection, employees who stand up against unreasonable demands will be subject to termination without recourse. It has happened before, it will happen again.
AuntieM's vote - NO on 50.

Amendment 51 is for a 0.2% sales tax increase, with the proceeds to go towards services for people with developmental disabilities. While this is a noble goal and a population in need, right now our economy is in such sorry shape that I don't think we need to jack up the sales tax rate right now. Sometimes I wonder about including stuff like this as a constitutional amendment; is it really appropriate? Do we want to mandate specific sales taxes in our constitution, or should it be considered at some other legislative level? Too many questions make it impossible for me to support this amendment.
AuntieM's vote - NO on 51.

Amendment 52 proposes that a chunk of state severance taxes (the tax the state receives for coal, oil and natural gas extracted) be funneled toward roads. Right now they fund water projects, wildlife conservation, low-income energy assistance, varous wildlife conservation, renewable energy, state parks and environmental programs, and regulatory needs. All of those programs are necessary, but they all lack vocal advocacy groups, while in every single election there is at least one initiative to increase road funding. I'm opposed to changing this funding structure because in recent years we've allocated millions upon millions toward roads, and at some point we simply have to say "enough, there are other worthy projects out there that should also be funded."
AuntieM's vote - NO on 52.

Amendment 53 deals with ethics in business, and creates criminal penalties for corporate executives, officers, directors, managing partners or proprietors of for-profit or nonprofit entities if their specific entity fails to perform duties that are required by law. On its face it sounds reasonable, but the fine print reveals that there's a loophole big enough to drive a corporate jet through: an executive can avoid any criminal liability by disclosing his company's activities to the attorney general at any time before criminal charges are filed. This measure won't improve corporate ethics, it will simply allow crooked executives to write their own get-out-of-jail-free card in the form of a letter to the AG, and as long as their lawyers are fast enough to get it delivered before charges are filed, the executive walks away scot-free. It may snare a few careless small businessmen, but the ones who commit theft and fraud on a gigantic scale will always be able to skate.
AuntieM's vote - NO on 53.

This weekend I hope to review the rest of the amendments, as well as the referenda, and will write about them in a subsequent post. In the meantime, I hope that each one of you is doing what I'm doing, finding unbiased information on political issues, learning about both sides, considering that information against your own beliefs and making rational choices. Only with that level of involvelement and dedication by citizens can a representative democracy truly function as such. Anything less and the elected politicians simply become shills for the loudest voices and deepest pockets.

Peace,
AuntieM

Another letter

2008-09-26T11:46:00.004-06:00

Okay, I'm at it again. I just wrote another letter to various newspapers and, once again, it sounded so good that I wanted to preserve it for posterity. By the way, my last letter, the one about Palin's selection as VP and McCain pandering to women was published in the Rocky Mountain News yesterday, 9/25/08. Woo Hoo!

Here's what I wrote this time, on McCain's published statement that he was a strong supporter of banking deregulation and wanted to do the same thing to health care:

What's bad for banking is bad for healthcare

In the midst of the biggest financial crisis most of us have seen in our lifetimes, a crisis precipitated by the rampant deregulation of the banking industry, John McCain wants to repeat this unsuccessful strategy with the U.S. healthcare system. He proposed precisely this in the Sept./Oct. 2008 issue of Contingencies Magazine, and stated how much he supported the deregulation of the banking industry. No wonder McCain tried to put his campaign on hold to go work on fixing the financial crisis - he was instrumental in creating that crisis.

McCain, Bush and their cronies have already put our financial futures and security at risk by eliminating much of the oversight of the financial industry. We can't let McCain go on to put our health and healthcare at risk by doing the same thing in the health care sector.

We can't continue to let our elected leaders do the same things over and over, hoping that maybe this time they'll work. We can't afford John McCain and four more years of failed Bush policies presented as McCain's own happy thoughts. We can't afford a Vice Presidential candidate who is woefully unprepared on every single issue she would face as President if the unthinkable happened. We simply can't afford to elect McCain and Palin.

Peace,
AuntieM

She Who Must Not Be Named

2008-09-26T10:47:00.004-06:00

“Should she become president, Palin seems capable of enacting policies so detached from the common interests of humanity, and from empirical reality, as to unite the entire world against us.” - Sam Harris, “When Atheists Attack”, Newsweek, Sept. 29, 2008 http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080/output/print

Reasons why people may be fooled into voting for Sarah Palin, and why we shouldn’t let ourselves be fooled into believing the Republican hype.

1. “She’s a mom, and she knows what it’s like to be a mom.” So she can (and has) spawned, big deal. So can (and has) the skunk that visits my backyard. That doesn’t qualify the skunk to be Vice President, and neither does it qualify Sarah Palin. The ability to reproduce has no bearing on whether or not she could lead this country. By using motherhood as a rationale, no President or Vice President in the history of the United States has been qualified to serve. If this rationale was to be applied, would that mean those who are infertile or childless by choice would automatically be disqualified from high political office?

2. “Sarah Palin is an ordinary person.” Absolutely correct, there’s absolutely nothing in her background that qualifies as an outstanding achievement that is relevant to being one heartbeat away from the Presidency. Why do Americans treasure mediocrity? Does it make them feel better about themselves? Since when is being accomplished and educated a drawback in the eyes of the American people? We go into serious debt to send our kids and ourselves to college, so that shows we place high value on education. So why, when a well-educated person like Barack Obama runs for high office, is he suddenly characterized as elitist and “uppity.” Careful folks, I may have to bring the “r” word into play.

3. “The media is mean to her!” Waaahhh. You mean that Palin, unlike any other politician since the advent of mass communication, should be exempt from the same level of scrutiny to which all other candidates are subjected? Don’t tell me it’s because she’s a woman, because it would be completely sexist to assume either that she shouldn’t have to explain herself, her actions and her views, or that she can’t handle the pressure. If (Goddess forbid!) McCain is elected and kicks the bucket – four melanomas will do that to a person, pretty quickly – and Know-Nothing Palin winds up in the Oval Office, she’d have to handle tremendous pressure. Unless, that is, she plans to let her husband run the show… and the country.

4. “She’s qualified.” How? What in her moose-eating, wolf-killing, abstinence-teaching life has even remotely qualified her to be VP, and possibly President? Just in the last day or two, Palin once again demonstrated her complete ignorance of foreign policy by calling Henry Kissinger “naïve” and claiming he didn’t know how to negotiate effectively. Excuse me? The only thing she’s negotiated is the money-losing sale of that plane in Alaska, maybe her kid’s bedtimes and allowances, and the upcoming marriage of her underage pregnant daughter. Palin’s ignorance is the truly dangerous, arrogant type that causes her not to realize how ignorant she really is, and to stick by her guns (pun intended) until the rest of the world comes around to her way of thinking. Palin’s ignorance doesn’t leave room for new information and new perspectives. Palin’s ignorance is the kind that, at the very least, will make the US an even bigger laughingstock with the international community, and at worst, may kill millions of people, soldiers and civilians, through her arrogance.

5. “Palin is a good Christian.” How’s that again? Please define “good” so we’re all talking about the same thing. According to Sam Harris' "When Atheists Attack" (Newsweek 9/29/08),

“In the churches where Palin has worshiped for decades, parishioners enjoy "baptism in the Holy Spirit," "miraculous healings" and "the gift of tongues." Invariably, they offer astonishingly irrational accounts of this behavior and of its significance for the entire cosmos. Palin's spiritual colleagues describe themselves as part of "the final generation," engaged in "spiritual warfare" to purge the earth of "demonic strongholds." Palin has spent her entire adult life immersed in this apocalyptic hysteria. Ask yourself: Is it a good idea to place the most powerful military on earth at her disposal? Do we actually want our leaders thinking about the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy when it comes time to say to the Iranians, or to the North Koreans, or to the Pakistanis, or to the Russians or to the Chinese: "All options remain on the table"?

Personally this scares the crap out of me. I look at the Presidential election process as an extended job interview, during which I assess the qualifications of the candidates and choose the one that I think will do the best job of leading the country. Religion plays no part in my choice, although it may with some. However, Palin’s believe that we’re already in some sort of Biblical “end times” has the capacity to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. What if Palin (again, Goddess forbid!) winds up being in charge of the infamous “button” when a conflict with another nation becomes heated, and she chooses to press the button because God told her that whatever nation she wants to bomb is a “demonic stronghold”? Do we really want to go back into the dark ages and let religion control the actions of politicians and governments? That’s what Palin brings to the table.

Peace,
AuntieM

White privilege

2008-09-19T08:15:00.006-06:00

This article is reproduced word-for-word from an e-mail I received yesterday. The author of this piece, as cited below, is Tim Wise, and I was so impressed by the accuracy of his observations that I just had to post his article on my blog. As I told a colleague yesterday, this makes me want to resign my skin color because I don't want to be tainted by "white privilege".

Anyway, enjoy, reflect and share.
Peace,
AuntieM

This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
9/13/08

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "f***in' redneck,"like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their f***in' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S.Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough forthe founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added untilthe 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto is "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college and the fact that she lives close to Russia--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because suddenly your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still beviewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose "next door neighbor" qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you're a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them.

White privilege is being able to give a 36 minute speech in which you talk about lipstick and make fun of your opponent, while laying out no substantive policy positions on any issue at all, and still manage to be considered a legitimate candidate, while a black person who gives an hour speech the week before, in which he lays out specific policy proposals on several issues, is still criticized for being too vague about what he would do if elected.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department ofDefense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked bya reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to go to a prestigious prep school, then to Yale and then Harvard Business school, and yet, still be seen as just an average guy (George W. Bush) while being black, going to a prestigious prep school, then Occidental College, then Columbia, and then to Harvard Law, makes you "uppity," and a snob who probably looks down on regular folks.

White privilege is being able to graduate near the bottom of your college class (McCain), or graduate with a C average from Yale (W.)and that's OK, and you're cut out to be president, but if you're black and you graduate near the top of your class from Harvard Law, you can't be trusted to make good decisions in office.

White privilege is being able to dump your first wife after she's disfigured in a car crash so you can take up with a multi-millionaire beauty queen (who you go on to call the c-word in public) and still be thought of as a man of strong family values, while if you're black and married for nearly twenty years to the same woman, your family is viewed as un-American and your gestures of affection for each other are called "terrorist fist bumps."

White privilege is being able to sing a song about bombing Iran and still be viewed as a sober and rational statesman, with the maturity to be president, while being black and suggesting that the U.S. should speak with other nations, even when we have disagreements with them, makes you "dangerously naive and immature."

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism and an absent father is apparently among the "lesser adversities" faced by other politicians, as Sarah Palin explained in her convention speech.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing.

Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain. White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Source: http://www.blogger.com/.

A very different convention

2008-09-05T08:21:00.006-06:00

Life’s been kind of busy this week in AuntieM-land. So much has happened that I wanted to document but this is the first time since early in the week that I’ve had more than 10 minutes at my computer. So here are my impressions of the RNC (the Really Nasty Convention) and assorted other timely items.

Yes, I sat glued to the RNC for three whole evenings, watching the expanded coverage on cable news, not the paltry hour-long network coverage. It took a lot of self-control to watch as much as I did, because my temper kept rising at all the mean-spirited insults being hurled at Obama. I did it though, because it is important to me to listen to opposing viewpoints instead of proceeding blindly down my own path, which it itself would be an exercise in prejudice. It is vital to listen to many perspectives before forming your own, and then to continue to listen to other perspectives with an open mind. You'll either gain new ideas and information which may cause you to reasses your positions, or at the very least you'll be better informed as to the arguements posed by those who oppose your views.

Hubby and I watched the first two nights together and kept each other amused with our running commentary. On Thursday Hubby had to work, and my friend M and her son K invited me to their house to watch the show and eat cheesy pizza in honor of a cheesy speech from McCain. We had a wonderful time. I brought some munchies designed specifically for the occasion: wrinkly dried fruits for dried-up old McCain and a can of mixed nuts to represent the rest of the convention. I’m now calling that particular mix SnarkySnax.

For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’m afraid I do have a bit of a potty mouth. That’s one reason Hubby and I don’t have a parrot – we don’t know which words a parrot would pick up. I’m pretty good about controlling myself in professional situations and around kids, and I believe using profanity in written communication weakens the effectiveness of your message, but last night sent me right over the edge. After a while I simply had to stop saying “****… sorry K” over and over, because it was wearing thin. I doubt he heard anything from me that he hasn’t heard before. We had a wonderful time watching the speeches, commenting on what was being said and exchanging terrorist fist jabs.

How DARE Giuliani and Palin criticize Obama for working as a Community Organizer? Do they even know what a Community Organizer does? Let me tell you, Community Organizers deserve tremendous respect because they earn a pittance for going out into dicey areas to reach out to people who need help but may not know that help is available or where to get it. Working as a Community organizer is physically and emotionally demanding and draining that involves placing oneself in possible danger, all for the sake of contacting people in need one-on-one and seeing that they get the help they need. This job requires a serious dedication to and concern for the welfare of others, and requires one to place the welfare of others ahead of one’s own. Community organizers have my deepest respect and admiration, and I’d bet just about anything that neither Giuliani nor Palin could make it through one single shift of that job! They’d chicken out and run away screaming.

Gee, if I put on some lipstick and start spewing nasty, mean-spirited stuff about those who are way more qualified than me, can I be a hockey mom too??? Pit bull with lipstick, that’s a great image for Palin since she’s ready to be McCain’s lap dog and do his bidding.

Giuliani 9/11 spoke 9/11 for 9/11 way 9/11 too 9/11 long 9/11 and 9/11 all 9/11 that 9/11 he 9/11 said 9/11 came 9/11 right 9/11 back 9/11 to 9/11 the 9/11 same 9/11 topic 9/11: (I’m not going to continue doing that, you get my point) Fearmongering over terrorism and references to 9/11, trying to scare folks into supporting a truly fearsome ticket. That’s all they’ve got, the Republican cabinet is bare otherwise.

Did you notice the chants that went up during Giuliani’s speech when he mentioned opening up the ANWR and protected offshore areas for oil drilling? The crowd started chanting “Drill baby, drill!” I thought I was going to be sick. Yeah, let’s go ahead and trash this planet because by the time our actions come back to us we’ll be dead and gone to our heavenly reward, let future generations figure out what to do to clean up our messes. Or maybe they think the world is going to end soon anyway so why bother conserving any natural resources or protecting the planet for the future? If that’s their take, then it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy, but it will be carried out at the hands of mankind, not by God.

How can any reasonably intelligent person continue to deny the existence and effects of global warming? Oh, wait, I’m not sure that Palin or McCain fall into the category of reasonably intelligent. Never mind, strike that question.

Ground noise and static: those were the new names M and I took last night, straight out of McCain’s speech. He said something about the audience being distracted by “ground noise and static”, meaning the five separate times his speech was interrupted by protesters. How they got past security I’ll never know but my hat’s off to them for their ingenuity and determination. I’m sure they all got arrested, we saw the security guards swoop in, confiscate their signs and usher them out of the arena. I was so pleased that the station we were watching (PBS) aired these scenes, don’t know if the commercial networks did. I’m sure Faux News didn’t. McCain was thrown off his stride so badly that he practically yielded the floor to them. He might as well have walked off the stage and gone back to the green room for a snack and a nap. His speech was as good as over, because the protesters stole the show.

What’s wrong with Cindy McCain’s right hand? Did you notice during her speech as she was holding the microphone that her hand was purple and immobile? And at the end of the festivities when she and John were shaking hands with the crowd she used her left hand instead of her right. A few days ago my manager said she noticed that Cindy McCain was wearing a pink cast on her right wrist and forearm, and asked me if I knew what happened to her. She said her first, instinctive reaction was to ask if it was a domestic violence injury, because she used to work domestic violence cases. I haven’t had a chance to research this question, but if anyone knows anything I’d appreciate if you’d pass on your info. Personally I thought Cindy McCain looked a little stoned last night, as if she was on some heavy painkillers or something. Her speech had a rambling, disjointed quality about it. Yes, she read from the teleprompter all right, but she might as well have been reading a bedtime story instead of a political speech. Face it, she’s McCain’s trophy wife and she’s only there for show, she’s not intended to perform any significant function.

The RNC itself was pretty pathetic, when compared with the DNC. Here in Denver we could have easily filled both the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field 20 times over with all of the folks who wanted to attend. The Republicans, in contrast, had so many empty seats that it was simply embarassing for them. Hopefully that's indicative of how few people actually want to align themselves with the Republican brand of hatred and intolerance. We can only hope.

I don’t know about you but I’m getting completely sick and tired of McCain’s self-proclaimed “maverick” stuff. What does he mean by that anyway? I know he’s intending it to be a positive characteristic, but calling himself a maverick without clarifying his interpretation of the term is meaningless. The Encarta Dictionary definition of “maverick” is: 1) independent person, an independent thinker who refuses to conform to the accepted views on a subject; 2) unbranded animal, especially a calf that has become separated from its mother and herd. By convention, it can become the property of whoever finds it and brands it.” So are we to assume that McCain is using the first definition and trying to stress his independence and refusal to conform to accepted views of his party? Not likely, considering McCain himself admits that he has voted in accordance with Bush’s views more than 90% of the time. Maybe he’s using the second definition of “maverick” and telling us that he is the property of the GOP because he’s certainly displaying their brand, philosophically if not physically. Language can be a slippery thing, and it’s important to clarify terms to make sure we’re all talking about the same thing.

Continual repetition of a term or concept (like McCain as a maverick) is actually a form of brainwashing. I think the theory is that if people hear it enough times they begin to believe it's true, regardless of how much sense it actually makes or whether it has any meaning. So if I start a nationwide media campaign calling myself a supermodel and repeat that message so many times that people just can't stand it anymore, does that make me a real supermodel? Not hardly. Even if a bunch of brainwashed people respond involuntarily to the name AuntieM by saying "she's a supermodel", that still doesn't make it true, it's reminiscent of Pavlov's dogs salivating whenever a bell was rung. Simple behavioral conditioning, nothing more. And I'm pretty offended by a candidate and a campaign that attempts to condition me like a dog.

Did you know that Palin tried to get certain books banned from libraries in Alaska because a librarian found that they contained offensive language. Don’t know which books she had a problem with, or what sort of “offensive language” was involved, but it’s all a sign of fascism, and we sure don’t need to put a fascist in office.

We especially don’t need a vice president with fascist beliefs in the #2 spot for the oldest newly-inaugurated president in history, which McCain will be if (goddess forfend!) he’s elected. McCain’s health record is scary – he had malignant skin cancer (melanoma) which has recurred twice. Those of you who have read this blog for a while know that this is the type of cancer that killed my mom, and you may remember the long post I wrote about just what melanoma does and how quickly it moves. If McCain was diagnosed with a recurrence today, odds are that he would not have long to live. When a melanoma recurs and is anywhere past the very earliest stages, the mean survival time is 6 months.

I know I shouldn’t throw this in because I agree that families should be off-limits, but when a candidate presents herself as such a sanctimoniously perfect mom, and incontrovertable evidence points to the fact that her beliefs and tactics are dismal failures, they should be dragged out into the light. I’m talking about Palin’s opposition to teaching sex ed in schools and her complete reliance on “abstinence-only” programs and education. Look how well that approach worked for her daughter Bristol… another casualty of the abstinence-only movement.

Achieving peace through war is an oxymoron. This boggled my mind until, in a brilliant flash of insight (if I do say so myself) I figured out McCain’s plan for peace: if we go to war with and conquer every other nation on the planet, then there will be peace. Funny, I think that was Hitler’s strategy too.

M and K told me something that left my jaw dragging on the floor. Apparently the Palin folks have already settled the procedural question of what title to give the husband of a female VP: “First Dude”. I think I’m going to hurl.

Overall, after comparing the speeches of Obama and Biden to those of McCain and Palin, I am now ready to present the following comparison:

McCain and Palin’s speeches focused primarily on the past, with Palin telling her family history and McCain returning again and again and again to his time in Viet Nam. These personal stories don’t give us any indication of how well they’d perform the duties of President and Vice President, they only attempt to play on our emotions and bury our crucial questions and critical opinions in schmaltz.
Obama and Biden’s speeches focused primarily on the future as they laid out the problems they see in this country and discussed how they will address them and work to improve this country. They tackled specific, tough issues without fear, reservation or dissembling, and they invited participation by people of all political beliefs because they understand that it is possible to find common ground and a common goal to work toward.
McCain and Palin traded on fear and the spectre of future terrorist attacks, because they don’t have anything else in their arsenal. They want to continue the “more of the same” policies of the failed Bush presidency because they don’t have any other ideas, or their handlers have an agenda that these detrimental policies serve.
Obama and Biden present a hopeful view of the future, one in which we can utilize both existing and new energy sources, not just to break our dependence on foreign oil, but to break our dependence on oil, period. They understand that we cannot build a 21st century society on the framework of the 19th century technology of internal combustion. They present a future in which US innovation in clean energy will create good jobs for Americans, jobs that will rebuild our country in a green model and provide a secure future for subsequent generations because we’re going to stop trashing our planet. They present a peaceful outlook for our country, between withdrawing US troops from Iraq and opening up negotiations to improve the US’s standing in the international community. Other countries have got to be getting sick and tired of our bullying, and Obama and Biden know it’s got to stop now. They present a future in which health care and higher education will be available to all, not just the privileged. A future worth working toward.

Peace,
AuntieM

Dirty old man for President!

2008-09-02T18:44:00.004-06:00

Geez, I take a long weekend and all hell breaks loose on the political front. Yesterday Hubby and I got a rare chance to enjoy one of Denver’s annual street fairs, the Taste of Colorado. It’s a huge, four-day event held every Labor Day weekend, a food festival like none I’ve ever seen before. The way it works is there are dozens of restaurants that set up booths and offer limited menus of some of their best dishes. You can get either a full portion or a taste. The proportions are like this – if the food in question is chicken nuggets, six would be a full serving, one would be a taste. Food is purchased using tickets that you buy at booths scattered around the park, so there’s no worry about correct change at the vendor stands. Entry to the event is free. You can graze your way around Civic Center Park for four whole days if you want. You can drink your way around the park too – lots of beer and wine stands. There are also vendors of every type you can imagine, a carnival ride area for kids, and culinary demonstrations by area chefs. Oh yeah, a good time was definitely had by all.

Even in the middle of tens of thousands of people, political controversy was drawn to me like a moth to a flame. Yes, I was wearing an Obama t-shirt, as was Hubby. That was part of the fun – wear partisan political attire to a very crowded event and judge the reaction. The result of our extremely unofficial poll: Obama should win by a landslide.

Anyway, in the middle of this a guy I’d never seen before rushed up to me to tell me about Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy. There’s so much I could say about it, there’s so much I want to say about it. But since Barack Obama has stated the families should be off-limits, I’ll confine my comments to Sarah and not her daughter Bristol, except to express my deepest sorrow that this girl has either been brainwashed into thinking this pregnancy is a good thing, or has been forced by her ultra-conservative mother to “pay for her sins” or some such crap. Bristol looks so sad. I feel sorry for her. Her life is over before it even begins, the only questions is does she realize it yet?

Instead of lambasting Bristol’s character and behavior, which, let’s face it, aren’t all that unusual in our society today, I’ll keep the remainder of my criticisms focused squarely on Sarah Palin. What kind of mother could actually believe that once her pregnant 17 year old daughter is married, everything will be fine? According to Sarah Palin, she says she expects her daughter and the father of the baby to have a good life together. How? That’s certainly not the norm for pregnant teens, assuming the father is of similar age.

The ultra-conservative right-to-lifers are beside themselves with excitement over Bristol’s pregnancy. They’re scary. Let’s face it, so’s Sarah. Doesn’t she remind you of a Stepford wife?
Here’s something Sarah Palin can’t hide behind a black dress and a baby- Troopergate. I guess it’s officially a scandal now that it has its own title. She tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired for divorcing her sister, a sadly petty abuse of her power as governor. Is this the type of person we want one step away from the Oval Office? Especially with McCain being 72 years old now? I’d hate to take the chance that he falls and breaks a hip and dies, and leaves know-nothing Palin in charge. That’s really scary.

I guess Sarah Palin had to break the news about her daughter because it was becoming painfully obvious. That black dress didn’t hide much, and using the baby as camouflage only made Bristol look even more pregnant by drawing the viewer’s attention to her midsection.

Another politically-charged encounter confirmed something Hubby and I noticed the day McCain presented Palin as his VP. Right there on the podium, in front of thousands of supporters and who knows how many news cameras, just as McCain ushered Palin to the microphone, he CHECKED OUT HER BUTT! I kid you not, he leered and stared at her rear for about 10 seconds. Here’s the link to the news footage, see for yourself. http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=98668&catid=139 Yeah, let’s elect the adulterous, dirty old man for president, he’s such a wonderful representative of the “family values party”.

We also had a great conversation with a former Hillary supporter who’s backing Obama. This gentleman was 70-ish, Caucasian, a veteran – in short, he could have been the poster boy for McCain’s prime demographic. He also said in no uncertain terms that the future of our country depends on McCain being defeated. He’s still pretty angry that Hillary wasn’t the nominee, and said with great conviction that Obama should have picked Hillary as his running mate. However, in his mind what’s done is done, and now it’s time to back the party. I could have hugged him.

So much to say, so little time...

The Republican National Convention is now in full swing after being paused due to Hurricane Gustav. Interesting now that things are settled, Bush isn't going to appear in person. The news says he'll speak via satellite, but this is the first time in decades that a sitting president hasn't attended his party's own convention. Wonder who finally figured out that Bu--sh-- is toxic to the campaign? I heard speculation that McCain is trying to distance himself from Bush to minimize the appearance that his administration will be Bush III. That's like one Siamese (okay, conjoined) twin saying to the other "I never want to see you again!"

Must go now, textbooks and the RNC are calling me. Studying is essential, and so is being familiar with the ways of one's enemy, so that's my agenda for this evening.

Peace,
AuntieM

McCain's blatant pandering to women

2008-08-30T08:35:00.007-06:00

Are you as offended by McCain's VP choice as I am? Right after I wrote yesterday's post, Hubby got up and we watched the news, which of course included all of McCain's headline-grabbing hoopla. In the first commercial break there was a new McCain ad, specifically aimed at Hillary supporters. It featured a 30-ish woman holding a Hillary rally sign and talking about how much Hillary's candidacy meant to her. Then she smiles really wide and says she's found a new alternative, and her rally sign morphs from Hillary to McCain. It was an open invitation for disenfranchised Hillary supporters to join McCain's camp, and it made my blood boil to realize that McCain thinks the women of this country can be swayed so easily, that we don't make rational choices but instead we choose based on emotion and gender. Now McCain REALLY deserves to lose.

This morning I got up with a mission - I wrote letters to the two main newspapers in my area expressing my outrage at McCain's pandering. Hopefully they'll get printed, but if not, here they are (yes I cheated and sent the same letter twice - why reinvent the wheel?)

To the editors:
I’m highly offended by the blatant pandering John McCain attempted in his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. It was pathetically obvious that this move was an attempt to win over disenfranchised Hillary Clinton supporters. This selection is proof that McCain really does live in another world if he thinks Palin could even begin to fill Hillary Clinton’s shoes. Palin’s lack of experience is appalling, especially after all of McCain’s attack ads against Obama that question his experience. The only qualification I can see in Palin is two x-chromosomes.
McCain presented Palin as if to say “Look, here’s a woman you can vote for!” As if that would be enough to sway my opinion, or those of any of the women I know. I fervently hope that the women of America are far too smart to fall for this obvious and pathetic attempt to sway their votes by appealing to gender.

Mr. McCain, you have insulted my intelligence once again by even considering for a moment that I would cast my vote strictly along gender lines. Before, I disliked you for your political stance and your continued alliance with failed Bush policies, even though I respected you for your military service. You have now lost all respect in my eyes. You deserve to lose, and lose big, and I will work to see that happens in November.

While Hubby and I were watching McCain present Palin to the cheering crowd, we both noticed something that caused us to run back the program and watch it again (thank you TIVO!): McCain checked out Palin as they were both standing before the crowd. I thought I was seeing things until Hubby said "what was that?". When we ran it back and watched again it was right there - for between five and ten seconds McCain's eyes dropped to the level of Palin's butt and stayed glued there while his smile turned into much more of a leer. He looked like a caricature of a dirty old man in a raincoat saying "Want some candy, little girl?" Ewwwww........ and he's running for president? Creepy.

Here's more creepy stuff. This is on McCain's current trophy wife Cindy, and how McCain tossed away the woman who waited for him to return from Viet Nam. Guess this is why we don't hear "family values" associated with McCain...

"Cindy McCain is John McCain's second wife. His infidelities put strain on his marriage, and he was divorced from Carol McCain, his wife of 15 years, in 1980. (Carol McCain not only waited 5.5 years for her husband to return from Viet Nam, but she also endured a horrific automobile accident during that period which broke both her legs and one arm and ruptured her spleen. She nearly lost her left leg, and surgeries left her four inches shorter than she was before the accident. The woman he returned to was far different in appearance than the beautiful former model he left behind.)

Cindy Lou Hensley and John McCain began dating in 1979. While the Wall Street Journal article used as the source for the e-mail's information states 'At the time Senator McCain was separated from his first wife', numerous other sources assert he was still living with Carol McCain when he began seeing his future wife, Cindy. John and Cindy wed in 1980, one month after his divorce from Carol became final."
(the above information is courtesy of http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/cindy.asp)

Funny how the foibles of Democratic candidates and their spouses are broadcast far and wide by the GOP (or should it be the GrOPe?) but the same problems are neatly concealed and everyone pretends they didn't happen. McCain tossed aside his first wife, who was no longer model-gorgeous, for trophy wife Cindy. Incidentally, the same website referenced above also said that Cindy got herself into some trouble with drugs - an addiction to Vicodin that led her to forge prescriptions and steal drugs from the medical charity she ran at the time. She was arrested but avoided prosecution by doing community service, joining Narcotics Anonymous and closing the medical charity. It's a shame this deprived people overseas of badly needed medical resources because Cindy McCain had a jones for pills. Meanwhile back in 1992 the Republicans gave Bill Clinton hell over a little pot, and then later they tried to impeach him over Monica Lewinsky. Hey Republicans, you should be familiar with the Bible verse about "he who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones."

Okay, I guess I'm done being snarky for one day, but I want to close with something I'd been meaning to post for a few days now: Hubby is brilliant, even if he doesn’t realize it himself. A McCain ad came on and I could see his temper rising as he watched it. It was the one that starts “Washington is broken”, and Hubby immediately started fuming, “Yeah, he knows it’s broken because he helped break it!” At the beginning of our marriage Hubby actively did not care about politics and was unwilling to vote, let alone get involved. Now he’s become politically aware and wouldn’t miss an election. He’s not quite ready to volunteer to work on a campaign, but there’s hope. He thinks about the issues, forms his own opinions, selects the candidates that best represent his views, and is not afraid to share his views with others. We're going to the Taste of Colorado on Labor Day, and Hubby was thrilled when our Obama t-shirts arrived in the mail yesterday so we can wear them on Monday. He’s come to realize that participating in democracy is necessary and beneficial, that a few individuals can make a difference, that change has to start from somewhere, and that doing nothing but complaining won’t solve anything.

I watched the most amazing movie recently, an older film called “Mindwalk”. It deals with philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology and systems theory. This movie poses so many questions and has so many “aha!” moments that I found myself a bit overwhelmed. I’ll definitely go back and watch it again. This movie was required for one of my classes this semester, an Engineering class (yes, you read that right) called International Dimensions of Technology and Culture. I was apprehensive about taking an Engineering class, but so far we’ve only discussed Philosophy. I can handle that. Anyway, here’s the link to that movie: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9107401959308808776&q=mindwalk One of the quotes I noted down from this movie is “American voters want their leaders to be dumber than they are. They figure they’ll do less harm that way.” Brilliant!

“When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.” - Sartre

Peace,
AuntieM

DNC wrap-up, and McCain's political gamesmanship

2008-08-29T09:41:00.005-06:00

I was planning to write a long catch-up post about all of the events of the DNC, including a rave review of Obama's speech last night. It was reminiscent of both Kennedy and King, and it was beautiful and moving. When Obama stated his intent to free America from its dependence on foreign oil within 10 years, I got goose bumps. It reminded me of Kennedy's promise to put a man on the moon in 10 years, and he did it in 9. I watched Obama's speech with my friend M and her son K, and afterwards we sat around talking about it. One thing that impressed all of us was the efforts Obama made to include those who may hold differing political views, emphasizing that we all have to come together to create meaningful, lasting change. Obama is all about relationship-building and collaborative effort, which is precisely what we need to heal the red-blue divide and move forward as one nation. It's like taking a restorative approach to politics, which is groundbreaking in itself.

Biden's speech on Wednesday night was also quite thrilling and emotional. I knew Biden has been a loyal Democrat for decades but I didn't know anything about his personal history. I had no idea that he was a widower and raised his kids as a single father for so many years. This gives him a much better perspective on the challenges single parents face, because he doesn't have to imagine - he's been there. One of Biden's sons is about to ship out to Iraq, so this tells me that Biden has a very personal stake in ending the Iraq war as soon as possible and getting US soldiers home safely, because his own kid is one of those soldiers.

This morning, in a blatant attempt to take some of the post-convention wind out of Obama's sails, McCain named his own VP pick: Sarah Palin, current 1st term govenor of Alaska. Here's the lowdown on Palin so far:

Extremely conservative (duh)
Staunch right-to-life supporter
Elected Govenor of Alaska in 2006, prior to that she was mayor of some small town and unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Govenor in 2002.
Got into some hot water over allegations of abusing her authority as Govenor to have her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper. Claims she did nothing wrong.
Has 5 kids, the youngest was born with Downs Syndrome.
Enthusiastic supporter of drilling in ANWR, authorized building a massive pipeline to carry natural gas to Canada.
Strong supporter of capital punishment.
Was recently quoted as saying "I'm not sure what a Vice President does, anyway." (Seriously.)
Supports federal vouchers for private/religious schools.
44 years old, 3 years younger than Obama, 28 years younger than McCain.

At first glance it looks like Palin is a female figurehead, selected to appease disgruntled Hillary supporters who may still be nursing a bad case of sour grapes and may consider the ultimate in political spiteful acts - voting for McCain. It's pandering, pure and simple. She's a face, an image, a powerless image that McCain hopes to use to draw voters to his camp by parading her out like some sort of arm candy.

So now we know the players in this race. Obama and Biden, a powerhouse of a team combining Obama's energy, hope and creativity with Biden's experience and foreign policy expertise. Obama and Biden compliment each other well, and both have an everyman quality about them that says they're not so far removed from real America that they can't understand and relate to what ordinary citizens are going through.

On the other hand we have McCain and Palin, a Bush clone and his Genie, ready to say "Yes, Master". McCain has repeatedly criticized Obama for lacking experience, yet McCain selects a running mate with far less experience. Palin's political experience is about two steps up from student body president. She's had zero experience with national level politics and foreign policy. So what qualified her to be VP? Two x-chromosomes and an extremely conservative political record. That's it. Fini.

I hope the few remaining disenfranchised Hillary supporters are not fooled by this blatant attempt to win their votes by parading a complacent, tractable female candidate before them like she's a contestant in the Miss America pageant. Come on, folks - Hillary herself asked if the choice of candidates was about the issues or about her, and urged her supporters to get behind Obama's campaign. She was beautifully eloquent in her speech on Tuesday night, and I can only hope that her supporters will take her words to heart and come together in a show of party unity, to vote for change instead of more of the same failed Bush policies, to take our country forward into the 21st century with new technologies and fuels instead of continuing to pollute our environment and bankrupt our citizens by continuing our reliance on fossil fuels, to provide health care for all instead of for the few, to bring our proud soldiers home instead of asking more of them to lay down their lives for Bush/McCain's pet war.

Peace,

Auntie M

Which America Does McCain Live In?

2008-08-24T17:27:00.004-06:00

Here is a copy of a letter I sent to the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post. It came out so nicely that I thought I would preserve it here for posterity.

Peace,
AuntieM

Which America Does McCain Live In?

Evidently there are two different Americas, and McCain and I don't live in the same country. In McCain's America he says "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." That stands in stark contrast to the rapidly increasing prices of gas and groceries in my America, as well as the skyrocketing foreclosure rate. Of course the foreclosure rate probably isn't even on the radar in McCain's America, where he owns so many houses (seven) that he can't keep track of them all. In my America, millions of homeowners are struggling to cover the mortgage payment on one house, and far too many American citizens are facing the very real prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure.

Income standards must be very different in McCain's America. McCain said he considers a $5 million annual income to be the threshold of "rich". Does that mean an income of $4 million a year is middle class? That's a far cry from the incomes most people earn in my America, where many citizens go without health insurance because they can't afford the premiums. In my America citizens are engaged in a constant struggle to pay their bills, send their kids to college and maybe even put away a little for retirement. In my America far too many citizens are living one paycheck away from homelessness.

McCain's comments are proof, straight from the horse's mouth, of just how out of touch with real America McCain really is. Real America can't afford to continue with the same economic policies that have failed us so badly for the last eight years. Real America can't afford a president who thinks that multi-millionaires are members of the middle class, or one who believes that tax breaks for oil companies making record profits are somehow beneficial and necessary. Real America can't afford John McCain.

Another must-read article

2008-08-21T19:02:00.003-06:00

Once again McCain has gone out of his way to prove just how distorted his views of real life in America really are. In the midst of the subprime mortgage meltdown, skyrocketing foreclosures, severely declining home sales and prices, and sharply reduced credit availability that has both home buyers and students scrambling, McCain doesn't know how many houses he owns? Gee, I feel lucky to say Hubby and I own one, along with the bank. Lucky because a lot of homeowners can't say that anymore, those who have had their homes taken away by foreclosure after being drawn into risky loans they couldn't actually afford.

I feel lucky to be able to work part time at a wonderful nonprofit while going to school full time. Hubby and I live very simply, but we manage to make ends meet. Many American families can't say that. Wages are either flat or declining, while prices on everything from milk to bread to gas to school supplies are sharply up. Each month gets a little tighter, till some families get caught in the squeeze and fall behind, and then what? Well bankruptcy isn't nearly as much of an option as it used to be, thanks to Bu--sh-- letting the banking industry rewrite the bankruptcy laws. Whoops, sorry, this rant was supposed to be about McCain but sometimes it's hard to keep the two separate. Anyway, millions of American families are scrounging to make it from month to month, while McCain says that his definition of "rich" is making over $5 million a year.

One more point: when American families are struggling to fill their gas tanks and fridges and buy back-to-school clothes, McCain is running around campaigning in $500 shoes. I don't think every pair of shoes in my closet added together cost that much. I'd be embarassed to pay that much for something like shoes, and even more embarassed to have others know that's what I did. Those shoes cost more than we spend in a month on groceries! Wonder how many pairs he has?

Wait a minute, there's a McCain ad on tv right now, claiming McCain is "the original maverick". What does that mean, anyway? I'd like to pin him down to explain that. Sure it sounds impressive, but what does it mean? As far as McCain being "ready to lead", he's only ready to lead the people of this country, lemming-like, over a cliff. The problem is that too many people are swallowing his propaganda. Wake up, people! Ask questions, demand answers, and don't settle for flag-waving and slick rhetoric!

All right, enough of my rant. Here's the article I promised, excerpted from the Huffington Post. Enjoy. Get mad. Demand change.

Peace,
AuntieM

Nico Pitney
pitney@huffingtonpost.com HuffPost Reporting From DC
McCain Doesn't Remember How Many Houses He Owns
August 21, 2008 09:32 AM

"John McCain said in an interview with Politico on Wednesday "that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own."
"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain said. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."
The answer, according to the group Progressive Accountability, is an even 10 homes, ranches, condos, and lofts, together worth a combined estimated $13,823,269.
John and Cindy McCain own a plethora of houses spread throughout the United States, including: two beachfront condos in Coronado, California, condo in La Jolla, California, a two-unit condominium complex in Phoenix, Arizona, three ranch houses located outside of Sedona, Arizona, a high-rise condo in Arlington, Virginia, a rental loft, and, according to GQ, a loft they bought for their daughter, Meghan.
As Politico notes, McCain's comments are a serious potential gaffe, as they dovetail with an increasingly aggressive effort to paint the GOP nominee as wildly out of touch on economic issues.
In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle -- a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Pro-Obama labor groups have sent out mailers highlighting McCain's wealth, and prominent Democrats have included references to it in comments to reporters.
Twice in the past two weeks, those Democrats have focused on McCain's houses.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico's Ben Smith that it was McCain "who wears $500 shoes, has six houses and comes from one of the richest families in his state."
And David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, referred in an interview with Adam Nagourney of The New York Times to an imagined meeting of McCain strategists "on the portico of the McCain estate in Sedona -- or maybe in one of his six other houses."

McCain's comments came four days after he initially told Pastor Rick Warren during a faith forum on Sunday his threshold for considering someone rich is $5 million -- a careless comment he quickly corrected.”

(Don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself. Here’s the link to this article and to the videos so you can see exactly what McCain said. )
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/mccain-doesnt-know-how-ma_n_120322.html

Let the games begin

2008-08-08T19:17:00.006-06:00

I'm watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics as I write this. Okay, I'm a sucker for pageantry and I do have a tissue within reach because stuff like this gets me all choked up. Still, as I watch this spectacle, this introduction of a "new" China to the world stage, a few thoughts occurred that I wanted to record.

First off, the slogan of these Olympics: One world, one dream. Too bad that dream doesn't include Tibet and Darfur. Guess the folks in those countries don't count.

A few days ago I thought I heard something about Bush being critical of China's human rights record. Yes, there's a lot to be critical about, but come on, isn't that a bit hypocritical? As long as the US holds prisoners at Guantanimo Bay, as long as the US keeps conducting its imperialistic war for oil in Iraq, as long as the Patriot Act allows our government to violate the civil rights of its citizens, then Bush has no room to try and claim the high road on this issue. How hypocritical can you get?

Bush...aargh. Of course he's at the opening ceremonies. It's his last chance to play an international bigwig, he's not going to miss this. January 20, 2009, baby, the date we can finally be rid of him once and for all, as long as this country doesn't condemn itself to four more years of Bush policies by electing McBush.

I never thought I would actually approve of anything Paris Hilton ever did, but her response to McCain's 'celebrity' attack ad against Obama was priceless. She posted a response on YouTube thanking the "old white haired dude" for endorsing her for President and thanking him for acknowledging that she was indeed qualified to hold office. Beautiful!

I thought it was interesting that the Chinese chose a little girl to sing their anthem, while a pretty well gender-balanced group of kids carried in the flag, dressed in ethnic garb. This caught my attention because of China's one child policy. The little girl who sang was charming and talented, but my first thought was "she was lucky to have lived." There is hope in that area though, because the Chinese have begun to realize just what a mess they've created for themselves. The ratio of men to women in China is now 120 males to 100 females. That means there are millions of Chinese men who cannot find spouses. These men are called "barren branches" in Chinese culture because they will not be able to marry and sire children, so their family lines will end. China is now trying to correct their cultural notion of male supremacy by emphasizing the value of female children. At least that's what I read for an Anthropology paper about a year ago. Maybe selecting this little girl to sing was part of that campaign.

After the kids carried in the Chinese flag, it was taken by a group of goose-stepping Chinese soldiers, which created an almost surreal juxtaposition: from children to cannon fodder. Nuff said. For any country, including the land of the formerly free and the home of the perpetually terrified. This is off-topic, but I want to mention something Hubby said this morning. A McCain ad came on, slamming Obama as usual, and Hubby said, "You know if McCain gets elected he's going to bring back the draft because he'll start more wars and need more soldiers to fight them." And he's right. We've got a clear choice here: McCain=your kids as cannon fodder. Not his, oh no, just yours.

You'd think the networks would be able to get this amazing spectacle right. The audio cut out for about 15 minutes, and it just came back on. But it is beautiful, and the precision with which these thousands of people are pulling off the show is amazing.

As much as I enjoy shows like this, the commercials really get all over my last nerve. I think I'll TIVO the rest so I can skip the commercials.

The cultural education tidbits included in the ceremony are fascinating. It makes me wonder why we in America are taught virtually nothing about the history and traditions of other cultures and countries. Maybe that's our national arrogance and ethnocentrism at work, but we've got to learn to be citizerns of the world, not just our own insular country. Learning about these far-off cultures has been one of my greatest joys of being in college, but it makes me realize that kids need a better cultural introduction in their formative years that was provided when I went through school. Hopefully things have changed somewhat since then.

Peace,
AuntieM

Sky Pilot

2008-08-02T09:05:00.005-06:00

I heard a song this morning just as I woke up, and it made me think. The song was from 1968 and was called “Sky Pilot”. I laid there and listened as it talked about religion, war and killing. The song questioned killing in war and the church’s sanction of that action, and asked how can killing in war be reconciled with “thou shalt not kill”? The song caused me to reflect on the absurd notion that killing as a part of war could possibly be sanctioned by God. As if I’d want anything to do with a god that would take sides in a political conflict!

This song also made me think of the principle of Manifest Destiny, under which the American west was settled and the Native Americans were slaughtered. The conceit and hubris of those who came up with that idea continues to gall me – Why would a just and loving God, as Christian religions have taught us to believe in, endorse the slaughter of one population so the other population can take their land?

I saw a great bumper sticker some time ago and have been on the lookout for one to purchase ever since. It read "Jesus called. He wants his religion back."

There is no such thing as a “holy war”; wars are declared by governments and fought by citizens for political or economic reasons, for territory or resources. Governments may issue propaganda claiming higher principles, but if you look underneath, the root causes of war come back to resources and territory. Material gain, nothing more. What sort of God would actually endorse violence for material gain? You might as well claim to rob a bank “in the name of God”, that makes about as much sense. Governments that claim to wage war “in the name of God” are trying to pull a fast one on their citizens. Take Bush’s pet war in Iraq as an example: allegedly we had to go to war to protect ourselves from terrorism and from Muslim extremists who want to wage a jihad upon us. We are effectively fighting an undeclared holy war, Muslims v. Christians. But what are we really fighting for? Oil. Resources. Territory. Bragging rights on Bush’s part – he wanted to be a wartime president, so he started a war. There’s nothing noble about the war in Iraq, it’s a war of imperialist aggression started by the United States in the name of creating record profits for oil companies. That’s why our soldiers are fighting and dying right now: for the glory of Exxon et al.

And let’s not forget McCain in all of this. He’s trying to position himself as the heir apparent to all of the failed Bush policies, the candidate who will continue this ridiculous war for oil, the military candidate who would rather rattle his saber than negotiate a peaceful solution.

Food for thought on a Saturday morning.

“Everything is interdependent. Therefore destruction of your neighbor, destruction of your so-called enemy, is actually destruction of yourself.” - The Dalai Lama

“One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace,
AuntieM

McCain and racism - his latest strategy

2008-08-01T11:52:00.003-06:00

Apparently McCain is showing his true color, and it happens to be white. The article below was printed in yesterday's Huffington Post and discusses McCain's attempt to juxtapose Obama with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Maybe I missed something but how are media-created "stars" (and I use that word very lightly) who made themselves famous for drugs, child neglect and running around sans underwear even remotely comparable to the best Presidential candidate we've seen in the last decade? This is a pathetic attempt to play on the gullibility of those who can't distinguish between legitimate news and propaganda.

John McCain Plays the Race Card
Posted July 31, 2008 09:33 AM (EST)
document.write("huffington_post:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-press/john-mccain-plays-the-rac_b_116042.html");

"I have great admiration and respect for Senator Obama."
If so, McCain has a funny way of showing it. All we've seen and heard from him for the last month is a string of personal attacks, culminating in yesterday's ad smearing Obama as "the biggest celebrity in the world." He's just another famous, pretty face, in other words, and not ready for the presidency.

True? No. Childish? Yes. But that's not all. This ad is also deliberately and deceptively racist.
Of all the famous celebrities they could have compared Obama to, why not Tom Cruise? Or Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Donald Trump, or Oprah Winfrey? Why Britney Spears and Paris Hilton? Why two white blond bimbos?

Only one reason. It's a somewhat tamer version of the white bimbo ad used so successfully against Harold Ford in Tennessee. In juxtaposing Barack Obama with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, the McCain campaign is simply trying to plant the old racist seed of black man hitting on young white woman. Not directly, but subliminally and disgracefully.

One thing for sure. This isn't the John McCain we first saw in 2000, running a campaign on the issues. And this isn't the positive McCain campaign he himself promised us for 2008. This is a campaign that, from the beginning, is nothing but negative, personal, dirty and, yes, racist.

Maybe we need to speak out not only in support of Obama and the honorable and above-board manner in which he has dealt with McCain's mudslinging, but also against McCain and his pathetic attempts to play on ignorance. Maybe we should start e-mailing the McCain campaign and demanding that he stop the unfounded personal attacks on Obama and focus on the issues. Maybe one e-mail wouldn't make much of an impact, but I'll bet 100,000 would . Wonder how we can get the ball rolling on this? Here's a link to send messages to the McCain campaign:
http://www.johnmccain.com/Contact/
also phone # (703) 418-2008
If I find better contact info I'll post it on this blog.

A colleague relayed a comment Obama made that was so profound I've been pondering it for a whole day. Obama said something like "We are the people we've been waiting for", as in if we want change, we're only waiting till we get off of our collective asses and work for it ourselves.

Peace,
AuntieM

Lies, damned lies and the McBush ... excuse me, McCain campaign

2008-07-26T08:45:00.006-06:00

I don't know about any of you but I'm sick and tired of the mainstream media assuming I'm a complete moron who can't remember the past and will swallow without question whatever fiction they decide to create in order to smear Obama and make McCain look good.

I'm tired of being fed blatant propaganda under the guise of "news". I'm tired of being lied to by politicians who think they can do whatever they want, follow whatever hidden agenda drives them, as long as they wrap themselves in the flag and sound all patriotic.

I get so angry when I see McCain's campaign ads, they get right all over my last nerve. The one touting his military service is laughable considering his recent screwup on the facts of the surge in Iraq (which CBS, translation 'See B.S.' kindly edited out to make McCain look better). Seriously, check it out, actual videos are up on YouTube. Nobody is questioning McCain's military record, but my questions is: McCain served in an unjust war in Viet Nam conducted only for political and financial gain, so how does that justify him forcing a new generation to do the same in Iraq? If McCain had truly learned anything from his experience, he would be working to stop this trumped-up war, not keep it running with no end in sight.

Another McCain campaign ad that really pisses me off is the one that advocates drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This ad claims Obama is directly responsible for the high gas prices we now have. What a blatant and outright lie on the part of the McCain camp, but none of the mainstream media is willing to call him on it. That ad claims we need to "end our dependence on foreign oil", which is only partly correct. What we need is to end our dependence on oil, period. Obama is the only candidate who will work toward developing alternative and renewable energy sources. McBush/McCain will only keep funneling money into the pockets of the oil companies and Bush's cronies while he continues the failed policies that have landed us in the mess we're in today.

It occurs to me that for a technologically advanced 21st century nation, we're far too reliant on 19th century technology. Internal combustion has seen its day, now we need to move on and develop new forms of energy that will carry our world ahead without damaging our own future with pollution. If you haven't watched "Who Killed the Electric Car?" yet I suggest you do so at your earliest opportunity. This documentary proves that we have the technology to make a tremendous dent in the oil hunger of this nation TODAY - we're not looking for a technological breakthrough, we had the necessary technology back in about 2004 but the auto companies and the oil companies conspired to take it away from us, to make sure we had no alternative but to continue burning fossil fuels and spewing hydrocarbons into our environment. For a great double-feature, follow that film with "An Inconvenient Truth". It'll really make your blood boil to consider how the greedy and short-sighted actions of a few extremely rich men who just want to get richer have the potential to doom the entire planet.

The mainstream media's love affair with McCain would be enough to drive lesser candidates to negative campaigning, but I'm proud to say that Obama hasn't stooped to McCain's level. McCain's puppet masters, the Republican National Committee, are operating from their standard playbook which says to simultaneously slander and pander. Slander in the form of the outright lies being aired in campaign ads, and pander to the media by cozying up to their decision-makers (like the barbecue McCain held for about a hundred of his closest friends from the press corps). Then get those friends to join in the slander the way Fox has since practically day one, with nasty insinuations about Obama having terrorist ties (terrorist fist jab, my ass!) and simple cattiness like referring to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby mama" and pretending to confuse Obama's name with Osama bin Laden. The mainstream media must really think we're idiots if they believe we're going to fall for that sort of garbage, or they think that has a chance of influencing our votes.

The mainstream media is engaged in a campaign of mass distraction. Remember the song "Dirty Laundry" from back in the late 1980's? It's just like that. "We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing, and when it's said and done we haven't told you a thing." That's exactly it, mainstream news broadcasts today consist of innuendo, slander, sensationalism and outright lies, with no time left over for factual, informative news.

Wow, looks like I came back with a vengeance! Yes, this is my first substantial post in about eight weeks. My summer session ended yesterday (YAY! I made it through! 12 credits closer to my degree!) and it feels good to sharpen my claws on the scratching post of politics once again.
Now I'm back to rabblerousing and agitating, I've missed it so.

Peace,
AuntieM

McCain is at it again, and again, and again...

2008-07-11T23:04:00.004-06:00

This is just a brief post, something I came across that was simply too good not to share. I'll write something original soon, right now I'm in the middle of shredding Section 215 of the Patriot Act in a paper for my Political Science class. Feels good to sharpen my claws.

You just can't make this stuff up. And this guy is seriously running for President? Scary...
This is courtesy of the Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/the-week-that-should-have_b_111983.html This paper is making it their mission to track McCain's activities and call him on his inconsistencies, inaccuracies, fabrications and just plain lies. So far they haven't had to work too hard - McCain's given them a lot to work with.

The Week That Should Have Ended McCain's Presidential Hopes

Posted July 10, 2008 04:39 PM (EST)

This is the week that should have effectively ended John McCain's efforts to become the next president of the United States. But you wouldn't know it if you watched any of the mainstream media outlets or followed political reporting in the major newspapers.

During this past week: McCain called the most important entitlement program in the U.S. a disgrace, his top economic adviser called the American people whiners, McCain released an economic plan that no one thought was serious, he flip flopped on Iraq, joked about the deaths of Iranian citizens, and denied making comments that he clearly made -- TWICE. All this and it is not even Friday! Yet watching and reading the mainstream press you would think McCain was having a pretty decent political week, I mean at least Jesse Jackson didn't say anything about him.

But let's unpack McCain's week in a little more detail.

1. McCain unambiguously called Social Security "an absolute disgrace." This is not a quote taken out of context. John McCain called one of the most successful and popular government programs, which uses the tax revenues of current workers to support retirement benefits for the elderly "an absolute disgrace." This is shocking - and if uttered from Obama's mouth would dominate the news coverage and the Sunday shows, as pundits would speculate about the massive damage the statement would cause him among retirees in Florida.

2. McCain's top economic policy adviser calls Americans a bunch of "whiners" for being worried about the slumping economy. Words cannot fully explain how devastating this statement should be from Phil Gramm. You would think it would be enough to sink McCain's campaign. Of course McCain only thinks that the economic problems are psychological.

3. Iraqi leaders call for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, McCain gets caught in a bizarre denial and flip flop. The Iraqis now want us to begin planning our withdrawal - McCain however wants to stay foooorrreeevvveerrrr. So what does McCain say - First, he refuses to accept Maliki's statement as being true. Then he concedes that it was an accurate statement, but was probably just a political ploy to curry favor with his own people and WOULD NOT influence his determination to keep US troops in Iraq indefinitely. Yet, McCain in 2004 at the Council on Foreign Relations said that if the Iraqis asked us to leave, we would have to go. No matter what. But that was apparently a younger and less experienced John McCain.
But let's just look at his comment that Maliki's statement is "just politics." If that is true, then it must also be true that the American military presence in Iraq is so unpopular with Iraqis that the government is forced to push for a timetable in order to survive at the ballot box. That's a reason to stay for 100 years.

4. McCain's economic plan to cut the deficit has no details and is simply not believable. There are so many things here. McCain pledges he would eliminate the deficit by the end of his first term (the campaign latter flip flop flipped about whether it was four years or eight years), but does not provide any details about how he would do it. Economists on both sides of the political aisle said that this was simply not believable, especially given McCain's other proposals to a) cut individual and corporate taxes even further, b) extend the Bush tax cuts and c) massively increase defense spending on manpower (200,000 more troops) and d) maintain a long-term sizable military presence in Iraq.

5. McCain's deficit plan includes bringing the troops home represents a major Iraq flip-flop. Speaking of the long-term military presence - a story that has gotten absolutely no attention is that McCain now believes the war will be over soon. The economic forecasts made by his crack team of economists predict that there will be significant savings during McCain's first term because we will have achieved "victory" in Iraq and Afghanistan. The savings from victory (ie the savings from not having our troops there) will then be used to pay down the deficit. The only way this could have any impact on the deficit in McCain's first time is if troop withdrawals start very soon. So McCain believes victory is in our grasps and we can begin withdraw troops from Iraq pretty much right away -- doesn't sound that different from Obama's plan does it. Someone should at least ask McCain HOW HE DEFINES VICTORY - and why he thinks we will achieve it in the next couple of years.

6. McCain campaign misled about economists support. In the major press release the McCain campaign issued to tout its Jobs for America economic plan that would balance the budget in 4 years, it included the signatures of more than 300 economists who the campaign claimed to support the plan. Only problem is that the economists were actually asked to sign up to SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Um, hello?

7. McCain makes a joke about killing Iranians. Haha... that's just McCain being McCain. I am sure that is exactly how it is being reported in Tehran. This guy is running for President not to become a talk radio pundit. Yet accoding to the AP this was just a humanizing moment between candidate and spouse - I am not sure when joking about the deaths of civilians became humanizing. (AuntieM: The comment in question did make the national media. McCain said that shipping American cigarettes to Iran was our way of killing them. The media played it like, oops, he put his foot in his mouth, how amusing.)

8. McCain denies, flatly, that he ever said that he is not an expert in economics. Are you kidding?

9). McCain distorts his record on veterans benefits in response to a question from Vietnam Veteran, who then proceeds to call McCain out on it.

10.) McCain demonstrates he knows nothing about Afghanistan and Pakistan. McCain said "I think if there is some good news, I think that there is a glimmer of improving relationship between Karzai and the Pakistanis." Pat Barry notes how crazy this comment is..."Just what "glimmer" is McCain talking about?? Maybe he's referring to President Karzai's remarks last month, which threatened military action in Pakistan if cross-border attacks persisted? Or maybe McCain is talking about Afghanistan's allegations that Pakistan's ISI was involved in a recent assassination attempt on Karzai? Maybe in McCain's world you could call that a silver-lining, but in reality-land I'd call it something else."

Peace,
AuntieM

McCain and his notion of "truth"

2008-07-04T08:12:00.005-06:00

The following is exerpted from the electronic newsletter "McCain Watch" published by the Huntington Post and distributed by MoveOn.org. I read this and realized it needed to be widely disseminated, since it is unlikely that mainstream news sources, which so far appear to be pretty fond of McCain (especially Fox, but that's another topic...) will share this sort of information.

McCain Uses Swift Boat Vet Bud Day To Rebut Wesley Clark
June 30, 2008 06:05:31 AM EST
The Huffington Post News Team

Sen. John McCain's campaign on Monday launched the McCain "Truth Squad" - a group of political and Vietnam contemporaries who would counter attacks on the Senator's military record.

In hopes of nipping any criticism in the bud, the campaign brought on board a man quite familiar with how these types of attacks gain legs: Bud Day, a fellow POW who was part of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that worked so hard to defame Sen. John Kerry's own Vietnam record.

On the conference call, Day - in addition to the other participants - decried comments made by Gen. Wesley Clark over the weekend, in which he questioned whether McCain's war experience really qualified him to be commander-in-chief. Defending McCain's service, Day was quick to personalize his remarks, attacking Clark's military record in the process.

"Things were very difficult for [McCain]," he said. "He was horribly wounded in his extremities, and it was questionable if he would survive his experience. He set a high standard for himself because the Vietnamese tried to release him and he showed courage by refusing that to come about. We had an opportunity to watch a president in office, a Democrat who was extremely ineffective during those years. [McCain] learned an awful lot from that... General Clark spent a month in Vietnam, got badly wounded and was evacuated, that was his experience. I say let's hold the two of them up and compare them.

"That Day would politicize Vietnam in his defense of McCain is not surprising. During the 2004 campaign, he said of Kerry: "My view is he basically will go down in history sometime as the Benedict Arnold of 1971." And after appearing in a national advertisement for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign, Day formed the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, an extension of the Swift Boat effort.

Asked to compare the attacks he helped launched against Kerry in 2004 to those being waged at McCain today, Day said the defining issue was truthfulness. "The Swift Boat attacks were simply a revelation of the truth, the similarity does not exist here. What the Swift Boat campaign was about was to lay out John Kerry's record. John Kerry has never produced any evidence to deny that. We are producing the evidence of these attacks right now to show that those remarks were completely inaccurate."

The irony of it all is that McCain publicly deplored the Swift Boat ads back in 2004, saying they were reminiscent of the smear campaigns launched against him during his initial White House run in 2000. "It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," said the Senator.

Not willing to let the irony go unnoticed, Kerry lashed out at McCain, on Monday, for using the same smear merchant he once decried."Colonel Day's comments today only further highlight the McCain campaign's disregard for a new kind of politics," said Kerry. "John McCain condemned these kinds of attacks in 2004 when he called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 'dishonest and dishonorable.' Senator McCain should condemn these remarks and cut ties with the Colonel and anyone else connected to SBVT. Day's comments only serve to disparage all those who served on swift boats in Vietnam."

Even prior to then, however, Obama had taken steps to distance himself from Clark's remarks. In a statement, spokesman Bill Burton, wrote: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark."

So apparently this is the sort of candidate we're being asked to accept and elect - one who will use any dirty trick he needs to in order to get what he wants. But then, we've had that kind of leadership for eight years now, maybe they don't think we'll notice the change.

I had an interesting conversation with a couple of colleagues over lunch yesterday. One of my colleagues is from Venezuela and is still getting used to the way things work in the US. She expressed the opinion that it was hard to believe that Bush lied so purposely about WMD's in order to start a war in Iraq that only benefits Halliburton, Blackwater and his oil buddies. We told her, stick around a few years and you'll be amazed at what you see - politicians of Bush's ilk will do anything to advance their own agendas and line their own pockets. (Okay, I used a rather snarky scenario involving Bush's grandmother, but you get the picture.)

After this conversation I started thinking, does the game of politics work differently in other countries? Are politics elsewhere somehow cleaner and more honest, so much so that they encourage a sense of trust in elected leaders? Or is it just the dark period that we've been immersed in under the reign of Bush II that's coloring all of my perceptions? It is my fervent hope that electing Barack Obama will bring light, hope and trust back to our own political process. It's really bad when you have to explain to an immigrant just how corrupt and twisted the leadership of our government really is. I'll be very happy once I can speak of how President Obama set right all of these wrongs and put us on a positive and hopeful course toward the future.

Peace,
AuntieM

Same-sex Marriage in California - Right On!

2008-06-16T21:28:00.003-06:00

Not much time to write so let's take the usual apologies and excuses for my extended absence from this blog as written. Next time I decide to take four classes during a short summer session I hope someone talks some sense into me. Nah, that'll never happen...

Today at 5pm the law legalizing same-sex marriage went into effect. Maybe it was my imagination but I felt a release of tension, as if a wrong had begun to be righted. I wanted to write a quick post in support of this law, which I hope will soon be replicated across the United States. I've never understood the resistance against same-sex marriage - what's wrong, is there simply too much love in the world already that we must ration how it may be legitimized? Gimme a break. What about the near-hysterical claims that same-sex marriage will weaken the institution of marriage? My marriage feels just as strong as it did yesterday. And let's face it, hetero couples don't exactly have a stellar track record on marital success - maybe we can take a few pointers from those who have had to fight so long for their right to marry.

To close, let me say "Congratulations, pass me some rice to toss and don't even THINK about throwing me the bouquet!"

Peace,
AuntieM

Memorial Day by the numbers

2008-05-25T19:14:00.006-06:00

This is Memorial Day Weekend, the time for Americans to get out and enjoy the beginning of summer, to take a three-day holiday from work for a quick getaway, to break out the grill and open a cold one. Sometimes the meaning of this holiday becomes obscured by the above activites. Memorial Day also inspires knee-jerk flag-waving and rote expressions of patriotism. But what should we really remember? Here are a few items we should not let slip our minds this weekend, or any time.

4082. That's how many US servicemen and women have died in Bush's pet war in Iraq as of today, 5/25/08. Bush's pointless, imperialistic war for oil. The War to Enrich Shell, Exxon, Halliburton and Blackwater. 4082 dead, for the glory of Bush and Halliburton.

0. Number of connections between Iraq and 9/11. Bush lied, now soldiers keep dying.

30329. That's how many US servicemen and women have been injured as of today, 5/25/08, in the First War for Oil. I think that's how this one should go down in history. It saddens me to write 'First' but until we change our energy-guzzling ways and develop and implement alternative, renewable sources of energy, I fear that this country will repeat its action of bullying smaller and weaker nations out of their natural resources.

0. Number of plans Bush has for getting us out of Iraq.

100. How many years McCain thinks the war in Iraq will go on. At least that's what he said at first. I later heard that he changed this figure to predict we'd be out of Iraq by 2013. Funny, that's just long enough for him to get elected (goddess forbid!), serve one term and leave the White House. Then it's his successor's problem.

239. That's how many more days we've got to put up with Bush. January 20, 2009, baby. We've got to hang in till then, and work for change in the meantime.

$135. That was the price of a barrel of oil on Friday.

$3.79. That's what I paid for a gallon of gas yesterday.

$4.69. That's what the guy on the next pump paid for a gallon of diesel. He was fueling both his huge pickup truck and the boat he was towing. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for him because between the two he was going to pay a fortune, or to hee-haw like Nelson on the Simpsons and ask did he not stop to think about either the crappy mileage of the truck or the sheer wastefulness of power boating.

7459. That's how many foreclosures there were in the seven-county Denver metro area in the first quarter of 2008, according to the Rocky Mountain News. That's a 16% increase over last year's record high.

800,000. That's how many people are homeless in the United States. That number alone is a national disgrace. In a nation as wealthy as ours, how can we let 800,000 of our own citizens go without stable housing? We should be ashamed.

40%. That's the percentage of the homeless population made up of families. If you do the math that's 320,000 families with children who do not have stable housing. Again, a national disgrace.

??? How much longer the international community will let the US get away with bullying other nations, attempting to impose our will and morality on them, disregarding the harm that we are doing to the environment, and consuming a far larger share of the world's resources per capita than any other nation. If our nation doesn't change its ways and become a responsible member of the international community, the rest of the countries of this world are going to bitch-slap us on a national level, and I'm sure that some flag-waving citizens of this land of the formerly free and the home of the perpetually terrified will have the nerve to be surprised!

Karma comes around. Hopefully it's not too late to stop it. We need change, and we need it fast. And we've all got to be ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work to create it. I'm on board with that, are you?

Wait, you say. How do we do that? What do we do? The answer is simple: whatever you think is appropriate, as long as it contributes to positive change. Maybe you want to organize a protest, or volunteer at a homeless shelter. Maybe start biking to work, or install solar collectors to reduce your individual carbon footprint. Whatever you want to do, because there's more than enough work to go around! Just pick something and get started.

The most important thing for us to remember this Memorial Day weekend is that we, individually and collectively, have the power to change the world. We must always remember that we are not powerless rabble; we are the strength of this nation, and together we can make our country a place to be proud of once again, instead of a national disgrace. It's all up to us. We can still choose the path our nation will take. I just hope we choose the right one.

Peace,
AuntieM

Pain at the pump, and steps we can take now to reduce it

2008-05-20T18:52:00.004-06:00

All right, this is really getting old. Each day on my way home from work I make a point to look at gas prices, and I'm tired of wondering where the ceiling is, or if it even exists. Today the local noon news said that oil briefly topped $129/barrel which sent the stock markets into turmoil. Yesterday I saw a couple of gas stations that were charging $3.79/gallon for regular. The talking heads on the news say that gas will hit $4/gallon by summer. At this rate we may see $5/gallon byLabor Day.

It really hit home the first time I filled up my tank and had to pay over (you're going to hate me) $30. The vehicle on the other side of the pump was a gigantic pickup with mileage somewhere in the single digits, and the driver had just paid a c-note to fill his tank, so I couldn't even whine about my $30 tab. My car is a 4-year old Saturn Ion, not a hybrid or anything. It's a little 4-banger with a manual transmission, and my mileage is in the 30's depending on what kind of driving I'm doing. Nonetheless I think I can do better, and so can the rest of us.

I've been trying all of the conventional gas-saving measures, such as combining all of my errands instead of making multiple short trips, and I've begun to think "Do I really need to go wherever" instead of just hopping in the car. I've also become very conscious of the distances from point A (where I am) to point B (where I'm thinking of going) and asking "Do I really want to spend the gas to get there?" Before long we all may have to start thinking like that. I'm even pondering taking my bike to the store for small trips. It's only a couple of miles away, but Hubby would freak.

Recently I heard about a driving style called 'hypermiling' which is a set of techniques people can use to dramatically increase their gas mileage. Google "hypermiling" and you'll get a laundry list of websites, some better than others. I'm in the process of weeding through the piles of information, but here is some of the info I've gathered so far:

1. Know your gas mileage and track it every time you fill up using your trip odometer. http://www.hypermiling.com/ recommends keeping a written record of your gas mileage for each fillup.

2. Braking is wasted energy. Energy comes from burning gas. Therefore braking is wasted gas, and we should do it as little as possible. No, it doesn't mean plowing over that Boy Scout troop in the crosswalk. It means we need to anticipate situations in which we'll need to slow down and respond earlier by letting off the gas and coasting, effectively getting a few hundred yards for almost free, before gently applying brakes to stop completely. This requires conscious thought but also makes a lot of sense.

3. Study the timing of traffic lights to observe their patterns and see how you may be able to utilize this knowledge to avoid frequent stops. Alternately, try different routes. A route which is a mile or two longer but has fewer stops may actually produce better mileage.

4. Fast acceleration wastes fuel, while gently accelerating to your desired speed is more efficient. No jackrabbit starts, and don't play road games. This is commuting, not a drag race.

5. Speeding is right out. The roads are full of lead-footed drivers, myself included, and this is proving to be one of the hardest habits for me to break. My problem is I simply enjoy driving! I almost missed my exit going to work the other day because I was having so much fun on the drive. (And anyone who thinks that Denver metro traffic is a nightmare should try either I-40 through Research Triangle Park or the Washington DC Beltway at rush hour, and then talk to me.) The websites I've looked at so far all recommend using your cruise control to prevent speed-creep.

6. Drafting - none of the sites I've seen recommend this practice because of the danger involved, which can be considerable. If you've spent any time watching NASCAR you'll know what I mean by drafting - following a vehicle WAY too closely in order to take advantage of the reduced air friction produced by the lead vehicle's wake. It is very dangerous because as you enter or leave the lead vehicle's wake you get tossed around pretty badly by turbulence, which can even be strong enough to cause you to lose control of your vehicle.

I'll post more info as I learn it, but one thing has become clear: for the sake of both the planet and our own wallets, we've got to reduce our consumption of oil and gas. If you're able to buy a hybrid now, more power to you. If not, the hypermiling websites I've seen so far say that you can get up to 30% better mileage by following their techniques.

By the way, I watched a documentary today called "Everything's Cool" which was about global warming. It was worth watching, informative and entertaining. At the beginning they sought to show the lack of public awareness about global warming in 2004, and they got one lady on camera saying "we don't need to worry about that because as long as we accept Jesus Christ as our saviour we'll be in his arms soon." That was priceless - it echoed Marx's thought that religion is the opiate of the masses because promises of salvation in the next life were apparently all that lady needed to overlook the way we're trashing our planet in this life! Sigh. Anyway, it was a good film.

Peace,
AuntieM

Blogging for human rights awareness

2008-05-15T05:32:00.003-06:00

Blog Catalog has set aside today as a day to raise awareness about human rights, and has asked bloggers to participate by blogging on this topic today. I am happy to be a part of this campaign because this is a topic which is of tremendous importance to me.

I was just going to let myself go off on a rant about the Patriot Act, but then I watched "10 Questions for the Dalai Lama" and since then have been thinking about the struggles of Tibet and the continued efforts of the Dalai Lama to improve the condition of the people of Tibet through peaceful dialogue, even though for decades now China has not been willing to listen. You have to respect a person who lives by his principles and walks his own talk. When asked in this film if the political situation could ever become bad enough to justify a violent response, the Dalai Lama said "Everything is interdependent. Therefore destruciton of your neighbor, destruction of yoru so-called enemy, is actually destruction of yourself." Brilliant and profound, and oh so true.

“Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

Prior to watching this film I didn't know much about the situation between Tibet and China. Now I understand what all the uproar over the Olympics is about, and why people want the US to boycott the Olympics. Sorry, I wish it would happen but I know it won't. The US government really doesn't care about human rights anymore, especially since we became a nation that tortures and illegally detains prisoners, since we turned our backs on the Geneva Convention, since we desecrated our own Bill of Rights in the name of false security... I knew I couldn't stay away from dumping all over the Patriot Act. Way too tempting.

“One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

Back to the Dalai Lama: even though he lives in a very isolated, rural area, the best way to contact the Dalai Lama is by e-mail. We truly do live in a global society. And no, I don't have his e-mail address, wish I did, sorry.

The more I learn about the Dalai Lama, the more annoyed I am at myself for passing up a chance to see him speak a couple of years ago. He was in Denver for PeaceJam, and at the time I was still working full-time and there was some really rational reason I couldn't go, but I wish I'd thrown rationality to the wind and gone with my intuition to go see him. Would've been great. You better believe I won't pass that up if the opportunity arises again.

Peace,
AuntieM

Yes, I'm procrastinating again

2008-05-09T10:13:00.003-06:00

Before I buckle down and work on my last assignments of the semester, I wanted to share a couple of things. First, here's a way for each and every one of us to do good without even budging from our computers. Go to http://freerice.com/index.php and play the word game that comes up. For each correct answer the sponsors will donate 20 grains of rice to fight world hunger. The donations are paid for by ads on the site, they don't ask for monetary donations. So far something like 50,000 tons of rice have been donated as a result of people taking a few minutes and getting involved. Plus it's pretty fun too, especially if you're a word wonk like me.

Laugh for the day (something I read recently): I tripped on an escalator and fell down the stairs for an hour and a half.

Now I REALLY have to get on to writing that paper for school!

One last thought: some time back I recommended visiting a blog located at www.marmitetoasty.blogspot.com. Well, the wonderfully funny lady who writes this blog recently underwent knee replacement surgery, and she has documented it all in her inimitable fashion. If you have time and want a few laughs, pop on over to her site, read her blog and wish her a speedy recovery.

Peace,
AuntieM

Home stretch

2008-05-08T22:05:00.004-06:00

I'm in the home stretch of my semester, two courses completed, two to go. So far so good. My weekend will be dedicated to writing a Philosophy paper and taking my Urban Sociology final exam. Must be disciplined and use my time wisely. Guess that means I'll have to let TIVO catch Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Who for me. Sigh... By Sunday night I should be done and ready for a three-week break before summer session begins.

Looks like Obama is also in the home stretch. Once he wins I hope former Hillary supporters will be able to get behind his campaign, instead of voting for McCain out of spite. MoveOn.org has a bumper sticker available that reads "McCain: Bush's 3rd term", and there's far too much truth in that statement for comfort.

Something really ticked me off this evening. I went to Wal-Mart (yes I know, but I needed interfacing for a sewing project and no other store has a fabric section) and as I left I noticed this wild-eyed freakazoid in front of the store trying to get people to sign a petition for some sort of right to life initiative. He was really pestering a woman who had already signed his petition, asking her to take a copy of his petition to her church. She looked like she was trying to get away but he wouldn't leave her alone. I know that people are allowed to solicit signatures on petitions as customers leave stores, but this guy seemed borderline-dangerous, like he needed to change his meds or something. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, but some people take it way too far, and he was one of them. If I had been in that woman's place I would have felt a little threatened; that's why I stopped and distracted him by acting like I wanted to sign his detestable petition so the other woman could get away from him. Of course I didn't sign, I said something about the importance of reproductive rights and a woman's right to choose, and walked away while he was trying to figure out what happened.

Sad to say, I've been so busy that the above description is the closest I've come to any rabblerousing lately. I'll have three weeks between spring semester and summer session in which to catch up, and then it will be 'all hands on deck' because I'm taking one hell of a course load this summer. I really want to graduate in May 2009, and this is the best way I can figure out to accomplish that goal. Keep your fingers crossed for me, it's going to be a wild ride!

Later,
AuntieM

Following up on previous posts

2008-05-02T08:22:00.004-06:00

Using free money from the government to do good: Yesterday I was doing some online research at work and was stunned to discover a mainstream site that serves nonprofits is encouraging readers to put 10% of your economic stimulus check to work doing good. This was the idea I proposed a couple of months ago. I was floored when I read this and thought, hey, maybe this idea will spread even further!

Walking my own talk: So AuntieM, how are you going to use a portion of your stimulus check to do good? Well, so far I have made a contribution to my preferred political candidate, I have purchased reusable bags to use for grocery shopping to reduce the number of plastic bags used and thrown away, and I will use the remainder to pay for the new dishwasher and high-efficiency washer necessitated by my appliance woes of a couple of months ago. Hey AuntieM, isn't that sort of a cop-out, using the money to pay for appliances you already bought and claiming it's a way of walking your own talk? On the surface it may look like a cop-out, but part of what I wanted to do with the economic stimulus money is find ways to make my home greener and more eco-friendly. If we hadn't already switched to compact fluorescent bulbs I would have done that, it's a great way to spend $30-$60. A programmable thermostat can be had for $45-$75 and would also be a great thing to do, but we did that a couple of years ago. By the way, don't be afraid of those, they're surprisingly easy to install. The new washer will have long-lasting environmental benefits such as using only 10 gallons of water to wash a whole load, so while using stimulus money to pay for this washer may seem like a cop-out, the long-term environmental benefits justify it in my mind. After all, I could have spent half the money and bought a standard top-loader that uses triple the water, and banked the difference, but I chose to spend extra to get a more environmentally friendly machine, so no, I don't feel that it is a cop-out to claim using the stimulus money to pay for it as a way to use free money from the government to do good.

More on the washer: I also had to switch detergents because you have to use high-efficiency detergent that is very low-sudsing, or it's like putting dishwashing liquid in a dishwasher - explosion of suds! In the process I discovered that most national brands of detergent are made from petroleum products - that's right, oil - but I found a couple of different natural brands of high-efficiency detergent that are plant based and have switched to one of those. My clothes are just as clean and I'm happier knowing that my detergent is made from renewable materials. The brand I switched to is called Seventh Generation, and uses plant-based surfactants and enzymes instead of petroleum-based chemicals. It costs about the same as the national brand detergents, but I feel a lot better about using it. I have a lot of detergent allergies and this stuff comes in a no dyes, no perfumes formula that has worked well for me. Out here in Colorado the air is so dry that during the winter everyone suffers from dry skin. Since getting the new washer and switching to this detergent I've had significantly less dry skin and my clothes feel much softer too.

Speaking of Colorado, Wednesday (April 30) was gorgeous and warm. We cracked the 80 degree mark. I wore capris and Crocs to work (I love my job!). After I got home Hubby and I went to the big-box home improvement store and browsed the garden area, enjoying the sunshine while pricing out materials for landscaping projects. Yesterday (Thursday) was May Day, and it was more of a "m'aidez!" with temps barely above freezing and heavy snow all morning and into the afternoon. My commute to work was a slow one becaues of near-whiteout conditions on I-70. I think the highs went to the upper 30's, so we had about a 45-degree swing in temperatures from one day to the next. This morning there's still a little snow on the ground, but the weather folks say we'll be back into the 70's by Monday. Life in Colorado.

A shout out for Hubby: Wednesday before we went to the big-box home improvement store, I started some beef stew in the crock pot for Hubby's dinners this week. After being in the gaming industry for a while, casino food is simply disgusting. It's nearly impossible to get a healthy meal as a casino employee, especially if one's casino prohibits employees from visiting the buffet where salads and fish may be had quickly. So long before I left the gaming industry, Hubby and I established a routine: on the last day of our weekend I would cook a large batch of something tasty and reasonably healthy for us to take for lunches in the coming week. Even though I'm no longer in that industry, the routine hasn't changed: on Wednesdays I cook something for lunches for the coming week. This week it was a crock pot full of beef stew, which turned out amazingly well if I do say so myself. I did hit a snag but Hubby took care of it like a champion: I shoved the carrot peels and celery ends into the disposal, ran the thing and it clogged up. Hubby saw what the problem was - a clogged drain line - took the pipes apart and presto, there was the clog. Apparently I tried to dispose of too much at one time, and the peels formed a solid mass. He cleared the clog, put the pipes back together, and the problem was solved! I was ready to call a plumber which would have cost us a chunk of change, but he fixed it in about 15 minutes. The really stunning part was, he hasn't done much plumbing at all and he's not exactly familiar with plumbing issues, he just looked at it and figured it out. My hero!

My absences from this blog seem to be growing longer and longer. I assure you that I'm not losing interest or losing focus on discussions to create positive social change. I'm just way busy right now, as in I should be writing a paper this very minute instead of blogging, but sometimes you just gotta. I'm still totally loving my job, sometimes I wish I could spend more time there. I have started a new project, a manuscript inspired by a conversation with my friends M and S. This one is nonfiction and has to do with communication between siblings in nontraditional families. I'll say more about it later, right now it's still in the very beginning stages but it's starting to develop into something.

My semester will end in a couple of weeks, and then I'll have about two weeks to catch my breath before diving into summer session. You think I've been scarce the last few weeks? Wait till summer session, I'm taking a crazy-heavy load, 12 credit hours. No I haven't gone mental, I had a brilliant idea. Taking a massive course load this summer will enable me to graduate with my BA in May 2009. And I can do anything for eight weeks (my new mantra). This timing means I should be able to start grad school in Fall 2009, and hopefully graduate with my Master's in May 2011, which has been my goal for a while. The reason behind this is in May 2011, Hubby will have a milestone birthday. We tend to go all-out for milestone birthdays, and combining a milestone birthday with a graduation would be gigantic combined woo-hoo to which we will invite friends and family from all over the country. Plus it would simply be cool.

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." - Douglas Adams

Peace,
AuntieM

Website to visit

2008-04-22T18:09:00.003-06:00

Just a brief post because I'm dreadfully behind on my studying, hope none of my professors read this! However, I wanted to take just a moment and tell you about a great website to visit.
The link below goes to a website for Barack Obama and contains 30-second ads made up by average people as part of a contest they sponsored last month. It's interesting to see what normal citizens came up with when asked to create a positive message in support of Barack Obama. They're holding voting on these ads now and the winners will be used as national campaign spots. It's really worth your while to check out some of these ads, but I'll warn you - if you watch one, you'll watch 20 - they're addictive! And some are quite touching as well in their sincere desire for change. Some of them even brought tears to my eyes. Anyway, click the link below to get there, and enjoy!

http://www.obamain30seconds.org/vote/?t=3&id=12485-8890007-RE8aIm

Peace,
AuntieM

Melanoma - the gritty, graphic truth

2008-04-20T09:39:00.006-06:00

Friday morning I woke up to a news snippet on the radio about an entertainer who had died. The cause of his death was melanoma, malignant skin cancer. After some investigation I discovered the entertainer in questions was Danny Federici, keyboard player in Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band. He was 58.

I didn't know him personally. I couldn't have told you his name before this. But this news struck a nerve with me because on April 3, 2006, my Mom died, also of melanoma. I don't think that melanoma is taken nearly as seriously as it should be. There are so many types of cancer we've learned to fear, but somehow skin cancer, as preventable as it is, often doesn't make the list. Lung cancer? Sure. Breast cancer? Of course. Prostate cancer? Yeah guys, a good reason to get those physicals. Cervical cancer? Pap smears are lifesavers. But how many of us actually do skin self-exams or visit a dermatologist for regular skin exams? Not many. Not nearly enough.

I don't have any photos to show the exact damage my Mom suffered, which is a shame - during the later stages of her illness she lamented that there weren't photos of advanced melanoma available so people could see just what they were risking every time they tanned. I do have a photo of Mom taken in the early 1960's, in which she was laying out in the backyard sunbathing. Many years later, she wrote on the back of that photo in a very shaky hand, "This is why I got melanoma!"

Don't let that time span fool you: it's not the sunburn you got last week that causes skin cancer, it's the sunburn you got 20 years ago. Back when I was a kid we weren't as aware of the risks as we are now, yet today a tan is still regarded as "a healthy glow" when it really should say "I'm flirting with a really hideous premature death". An interesting conversation happened at work a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, and some of the interns chose to enjoy lunch outside. Afterward they came into the kitchen where I was chatting with a volunteer. The interns were comparing how much sun they'd gotten - one was already showing signs of a burn. The volunteer told me that she didn't try to tan anymore since she had a basal cell carcinoma (benign skin cancer) taken off her nose. I told her that I had also had a basal cell removed near my ear (truth, and I hope that's the only skin cancer diagnosis I ever receive), but that my Mom died of melanoma and I never want to see anything like that again. The interns left, but after they got out into the hall I heard one of them scoff about our skin cancer conversation. Must be nice to be young and bulletproof.

This post isn't for the faint of heart: I want to provide a description of exactly what my Mom went through, from the time that her melanoma was diagnosed until she died, six months later. The progression of her illness was very typical for the stage and location of her tumor, according to my copious research. I did a lot of investigation during this period; six months was par for the course, and the spread of her cancer followed the typical pattern. A tumor located on the torso usually spreads as follows: lymph nodes, lungs, liver, brain, other internal organs.

I wasn't too clear on the function of the lymphatic system and getting a good understanding of it took some effort, so here's a quick summary: the lymphatic system takes waste away from the organs and transports it to the liver for filtration and removal. Everything that lives must eat, and that includes our organs. Everything that eats, generates waste, and that's what the lymphatic system removes from our bodies. That's why the lymph nodes are the gateway for tumor metastasis - because they channel waste from all over the body. In case you ever wondered why they remove lymph nodes when someone has a tumor, that's why. They can tell by examining the lymph nodes if the cancer has spread by the presence or absence of cancer cells, and removing those nodes puts up a roadblock in the path of metastasis, making it harder for a cancer to spread.

Mom's melanoma was actually a recurrance of one she had in 1985. The original tumor was located on the outside of her left arm, midway between the shoulder and elbow. They removed the tumor (with a 2-inch margin to get any stray cells - excising 2 inches of tissue all the way around the tumor and down to the bone, she had one hell of a scar) and they also removed the lymph nodes under her arm, both to see if it had spread and to make further spread more difficult. She enrolled in a clinical trial being conducted by Duke Medical Center, and it worked: it gave her another 20 years.

Fast-forward to October 2005. Mom had a bump under her left arm that just wouldn't heal. I think she suspected there was something really wrong, but she had a lot of mental things working at the time, including continued grief for Daddy, who died in 2000. She delayed getting that bump checked out until it formed a blister and broke, bleeding profusely. By then it was far too late; the bloodstream is a tremendously effective way for cancer cells to spread throughout the body. Her dermatologist immediately recognized the bump for what it was - advanced melanoma - and sent her to Duke Medical Center. They removed the tumor, which was under her arm, a very hard place to heal after surgery even if there's no cancer involved. With cancer, forget about it - her incision never did heal fully. For the rest of her life she lived with an oozing surgical wound under her left arm. Believe it or not, that was one of the better features of her illness.

Her left arm began to swell, a condition called cellulitis. It became greatly enlarged, about the same diameter as a man's thigh. Between the unhealed surgical incision and the cellulitis she was unable to lower her arm to her side, and it became a useless appendage she had to keep propped up 24/7. Her arm became rock-hard because of the fluid buildup, and was cold to the touch because of impaired circulation. She was on and off of antibiotics and other meds to treat the cellulitis for the rest of her life.

In late January or early February she began to develop additional lesions on her arm. These lesions followed the same progression as the first: a bump, then a blister, then they burst and bled. After that they wouldn't heal. Instead they just oozed a really nasty smelling bloody discharge. Think fish lying in the sun, three days dead. It was the smell of rotting tissue. Eventually these lesions sloughed off (essentially melted and rotted away) and left a layer of black tissue underneath. Totally black, dead tissue. At this point she had also begun to cough up blood, an indicator that her cancer had metastasized to her lungs.

In early February she had a PET scan which showed multiple hot spots on her lungs and at least one on her liver, indicating metastases. A PET scan is actually pretty cool - Positron Emission Tomography. Tumors are greedy little buggers, they consume a higher level of glucose and nutrients than healthy tissue. So in a PET scan they inject glucose tagged with a radioactive isotope, then do a series of radiographic studies to see if there are areas in the body that are consuming this glucose at a higher rate than normal. These spots light up on the scan and usually indicate cancer cells.

Mom lived in North Carolina, where Hubby and I are from. I made two trips from Colorado to NC during her illness. The first was in mid-February and lasted five days. During that time I helped to take care of Mom, and we hung out together and had a good time. I met her home health care nurse and additional members of her medical team. This was the next-to-last time Mom knew who I was. When I returned on my second visit in late March, Mom looked at me, asked who I was and demanded that I leave her house or she would call the cops. (In the hospital she had a brief period of lucidity, which is fairly typical for one who is near death. More on that later.)

My first visit to NC was pleasant; my second was a surreal nightmare. My sisters were physically and emotionally exhausted from trying to take care of Mom at home. Mom wouldn't allow hospice to come in, first out of denial, then she wasn't in her right mind and couldn't see that my sisters were overwhelmed. Home health care was no longer adequate. The scattered lesions I had observed on her left arm during my visit the previous month had merged into one giant oozing black sore that was larger than my outstretched hand. The lesions had spread to her chest and back as well, so there were hundreds of individual oozing bumps that wept a bloody, reeking discharge. Her dressings had to be changed every three hours or so, around the clock. Her arm was so large that normal pajamas wouldn't fit, no matter the size. On my February visit I bought her half a dozen pair of pajamas and additional fabric that I used to enlarge the left arm of each PJ top. Those pajamas were the only thing she was able to wear for the rest of her life. The smell from that discharge permeated every room, every soft surface of the house. If it couldn't be cleaned it had to be disposed of, including her mattresses and her recliner. I had read that some people are simply more susceptible to that smell than others, and apparently I am one of them. The only way I was able to cope was to keep some Vicks smeared under my nose like they do in morgues.

Within 18 hours of my arrival in NC (and after a mostly-sleepless night, between bandage changes, and Mom alternately threatening to have us arrested if we didn't leave her house and begging us to kill her) I was having my Mom admitted to Duke Medical Center against her will. This actually took some doing. Fortunately her Home Health care nurse came by early that morning and saw just how badly Mom had deteriorated in just a few days, and started arranging the admission with Mom's doctor. The only way to get her to the hospital was by ambulance, because of her left arm - she couldn't fit into a car. I had to convince the paramedics to take her against her will, because despite her condition she still tried to act like everything was fine, and without a medical power of attorney to back me up, I had to depend on the paramedics to see the problem and do the right thing, which they did. The ER doctor who first examined Mom was horrified by her condition and told us that if we hadn't brought her to the hospital when we did, she likely would have died within 24 hours and it would have been gruesome. All the while she was demanding to be released and taken home, but fortunately the ER doc saw that her mental status was severely altered (as a result of the tumors that had spread to her brain) and once he consulted with Mom's oncologist he admitted her over her objections.

There were some other factors in play as well. It turned out that Mom was also developing pneumonia, and her cellulitis was worse as well. She was also dehydrated because she was losing a lot of fluid to the discharge and we couldn't get her to drink enough - in her mental state she thought we were trying to poison her. She was also in intense pain which we couldn't control at home -Fentanyl didn't even come close, and in the hospital morphine wouldn't touch it; she wound up on Demerol. I can't say enough good things about the nurses at Duke Medical Center, they took incredible care of her. She stayed in the hospital until she died five days later, but during those five days she received the care that my sisters and I didn't have the training to provide, and I believe this enabled Mom to reach some level of acceptance regarding her impending death.

My sisters and I worked out sort of a routine of visiting so one of use was there most of the time. As the family night-owl I usually went to the hospital in the evening and stayed until the wee hours of the morning, often 1 or 2am. Then I'd go back to Mom's house and sleep till late morning. On the third day of her hospitalization Mom had a few hours of lucidity in which she knew who everyone was, knew where she was and why, and was more like her old self than she had been since Daddy died in 2000. My sister called me from the hospital and I rushed over to find Mom sitting up in bed, awake and aware. It was amazing to see. This period only lasted a few hours, but it was like one final gift. There was a booklet from Hospice that detailed things that typically happen during the dying process, and this period of lucidity was listed as often happening a few days before death. By that evening her period of lucidity was over and she lapsed into unconsciousness again. She did rally briefly that night, enough to say she was hungry. I fed her some chocolate pudding which she enjoyed tremendously. After just a few bites she'd had enough and said she was going to sleep. Those were the last words I heard her speak, and the last time I know of that she was conscious. That was Saturday night. That same evening her kidneys began to shut down, and by Sunday night her urine output was near zero. By Monday they'd shut down altogether.

I arrived at the hospital on Monday night and immediately knew there was something wrong. As I approached her room I could hear her struggling to breathe from half a dozen doors away. Her breathing had fallen into a pattern called Cheyne-Stokes, which usually happens when death is imminent. The patient's rate of respiration slows drastically, maybe 3 breaths per minute, and the breathing is loud and labored. I found Mom's nurse who told me she'd only come on duty a couple of hours before but Mom had been doing that when her shift started. The nurse advised me to go ahead and call other family members, with the caveat that it could be minutes, hours or days. So within 10 minutes of arriving I was on the phone, calling my sisters to come to the hospital. It was a little after 9pm. Two of my three sisters arrived by 10pm or a little after (the third was en route) and Mom died at 11:20pm. Nothing dramatic at the end; she took one breath and simply didn't take another. She was 71.

Copies of the Hospice booklet on dying were readily available at Duke, and I found myself picking up copies and giving them away to friends or family on their request and needing to get another copy for myself. Our society discourages discussions on death and dying, and the majority of people in our society know very little about the dying process. Those booklets were the only source of information that many had ever seen, so of course they were snatched up quickly. I did manage to bring home a copy for myself. I hope I won't need that info again for a long, long while.

Now you can see why this news item caught my attention so firmly. This also explains my year-round pallor, fondness for sunhats and the bottle of sunblock stored in my desk drawer (in case I want to go walking at lunch). I hope this story helps folks take skin cancer and sun exposure risks more seriously. There aren't many effective treatment options for melanoma that's advanced past stage 2 - that's why the survival rate is so slim for advanced melanoma. Mom knew that her diagnosis was most likely a death sentence. That's one reason to place heavy emphasis on prevention - by the time you get around to having that bump checked out, it may be too late. So be sun-smart and prevent the damage.

This is a story that I wanted to share. I hope this causes a few folks to reassess their own choices, go ahead and get that spot checked, or make sure to use sunblock! You may very well save your own life.

I'll get back to my usual rabblerousing and muckracking in my next post. I've got some great material to work with - there was a documentary on PBS' Frontline which compared medical care in different countries with US medical care and looks to see how we can fix our broken healthcare system. It's available in its entirety online at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld Hubby also found a fascinating-sounding documentary for us to watch in the next few days which examines the war in Iraq and asks the questions 'who really profits?' and 'where does all the money from the war really go?' I think the answers to those questions will be quite infuriating.

Later,
AuntieM

Fast food hangover

2008-04-16T10:50:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I attended a half-day workshop for work (which was wonderful), and on the way home I picked up some fast food for lunch for both Hubby and myself. That was a really bad decision on my part. I didn't realize that since I've been making a conscious effort to eat healthier, my tolerance for fast food has declined dramatically. I felt sooooo lousy after I ate lunch that it basically ruined the rest of my day. I couldn't do anything, and I mean that literally - I could not force myself off the couch to do more than throw clothes in the washer, and I wound up taking a nap just to escape how bad I felt. Today I woke up surprisingly hungry, when normally I need to be up for at least an hour before I even look at food. I think it all relates back to the fake food I ate for lunch, because I've become accustomed to real food with real nutrients, and suddenly I had assaulted my system with fats, sugars and chemicals that had become foreign to me. My body couldn't cope and everything just shut down.

I was such a slug that if a book or project wasn't within arm's reach, then I really didn't need it badly enough to get up and fetch it. Fortunately I did have an amusing book nearby that I curled up with, called "Don't Eat This Book" by Morgan Spurlock. He's the guy who did "Supersize Me", the one who subjected himself to 30 days of nothing but McFood at great risk to his health. I was feeling so rotten that I was pretty receptive to his anti-fast-food message, but still, wow... Here's statistic that stuck with me: did you know that the average American consumes 1/3 of a POUND of sugar each day, for an extra 600 calories added to his or her diet? That horrified me, as did the list of foods that one wouldn't suspect contain added sugar: cold cuts, sausage, french fries, spaghetti sauce, tomato juice, breads... and those are just the ones I can remember offhand. It's not just the sweetened cereals and sugary sodas that get us. And High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is simply scary. Food manufacturers love it because it is both sweeter and cheaper than sugar, and has uses beyond sweetening (makes baked goods softer, keeps frozen veg from losing their color) so it's used in way more products than sugar ever could be. HFCS is such an artificial compound that our bodies don't really know how to deal with it. Sugar is bad enough for us, but when our bodies encounter HFCS they respond by dumping way more insulin into our bloodstreams to deal with the sudden influx of calories (which over the course of time can lead to first hypoglycemia, then Type II diabetes as your pancreas simply wears out), while at the same time packing away a higher number of calories as fat.

By the way, Spurlock calculated that during his 30-day McFood diet he consumed about a pound of sugar each day. No wonder he felt like crap.

Here's another one: the more sugar or sweetened foods you consume, the less you are able to taste sugar so you need more and more sugar or other sweeteners to get the same effect. This even applies to artificial sweeteners. Several years ago Hubby and I kicked the soda habit and went back to our Southern roots of drinking tea as our primary beverage, except now we don't add sugar. I do add a bit of Sweet'n'Low, but Hubby takes his straight. We have recently begun keeping a few diet sodas on hand, but we only drink those rarely. Since we made this change I have noticed that my ability to taste naturally-occurring sweetness in foods has increased tremendously. I marvel at the inherent sweetness of corn and raw carrots, and some varieties of grapes and apples are simply too sweet for my taste. Milk is amazingly sweet all on its own. But I couldn't taste any of this when we drank sugary sodas regularly. Spurlock is right, use of sugar leads to increased use of sugar - it's a nasty, addictive cycle.

Here's something else that stuck with me: the US population comprises 4.6% of the world's population, yet we consume 20% of the meat produced and slaughtered worldwide. That's just sick, and I mean nauseating, sickening, disgusting. Unfortunately Hubby is on board with this - he's such a meat-and-potatoes person that it's hard to believe we can come up with meals that satisfy both of us. Fortunately he's also open to trying new things, including vegetarian. I made a vegetarian entree for dinner Monday night and he totally loved it. If a dish is flavorful enough, the absence of meat isn't noticeable, even for him. The book also discussed the conditions in which animals live before they are slaughtered for food, and the contamination rates for ground meats. And I'm supposed to make a meat loaf for Hubby's lunches this coming week? REALLY bad timing.

Here's my detox plan for the next few days: nothing but low-fat and high fiber, lots of whole grains, fruits and veggies, an emphasis on vegetarian entrees, and exercise. I want to stop feeling like this as quickly as possible, and will try very hard to remember this lesson: fast food leads to a sluggish and good-for-nothing body, and that's not what I want or need to carry me through life.

Peace (and hummus and veggies),
AuntieM

The joy of thought

2008-04-13T18:37:00.007-06:00

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who perpetrates it." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The above thought was too meaningful to pass up, so when it appeared on my desktop I knew I needed to preserve it on this blog. Lately life has kept me pretty busy, but even though I've been away from my blog I've not been away from agitating, speaking out and generally rabblerousing. I've had a good time.

My philosophy class is truly fertile ground for all of the activities mentioned above, and there are so many young minds that need to be exposed to the joy of free thought! So far my message of thinking, of looking at society to see what's broken, and of finding ways to fix it is finding fertile ground. A discussion held by a group of well-read and well-spoken individuals who are not afraid to speak their minds has to be one of the great pleasures in life. I think Robert Heinlein called this sort of discussion something like "the most fun you can have with your clothes on." Must go back and re-read my Heinlein, it's time for me to ground and center again. I hope I'll be able to work more Philosophy classes into my plan, they're so much fun!

In the past two weeks we've had very lively discussions on the Protestant/Calvinist work ethic, and the impact of race/gender on the current Presidential race. Such wonderful arguments! So many of the ills of our society (stress, workaholism, overconsumption, crushing debt levels, environmental pollution, destruction of natural habitats and open space, overscheduled children with ADHD, depression, et cetera ad nauseum) can be traced back to the notion that working ever harder and denying oneself the simple pleasures in life can buy a spot in heaven. Sick, sick, sick. Remember the 1980's saying "He who dies with the most toys, wins"? The 21st century version of the Protestant/Calvinist Work Ethic pretty much reads "He who dies with the most toys, wins a place in heaven." If that's what it takes, count me out. And if that's the sort of people who will inhabit Heaven, it sounds more like Hell to me. This would certainly prove Sartre right when he said "Hell is other people".

School has been keeping me busy, but I'm still having a wonderful time at it! Each semester Hubby has expressed concern that I'm piling on too much at once and tells me "If I see you're starting to get overwhelmed I'm going to make you cut back on something." He's so sweet, but so far he hasn't had reason to worry. Okay, that one semester when I was still full-time at the casino and took a full-time course load was pretty rough, but I only needed to do that once to graduate when I did, and besides, my feeling is that you can do anything for sixteen weeks if you want it badly enough. Yes, I carry a full-time course load as a matter of routine now, but working only part-time makes that a whole lot easier. I may have a semester of hell coming up - if I try to graduate in May 2009 I'll have to take 15 hours for one semester. My alternative is to stick with my current course load and graduate in August 2009. Decisions, decisions. Either way I can start grad school in Fall 2009 (I think).

It's hard to believe we're starting to wrap things up for the semester, but it is getting to be about that time. So far this semester has gone pretty well, I think my grades are going to be solid. For the first couple of months I was sure that I was doing something wrong in all of my classes, certain that I had missed some crucial element, because they were too easy. I expected to work even harder once I started taking upper-division university level classes in my major. I finally said something about it to a group of colleagues, and they told me that's just the way it is. Apparently mastering the concepts and vocabulary of each subject is the really hard part, and that's the part you do in your lower division or core classes. Upper division classes are mostly devoted to utilizing those concepts. If that's truly the case (and I guess I can't truly relax until my grades this semester are final) then apparently the preparation I received at Red Rocks CC was even better than I thought it was!

I'll admit that I've had my nose so firmly against the grindstone that I've largely ignored the news, and therefore have had little to get pissed off about lately. Hubby is certainly helping to pick up my slack though. The other night we were watching TV and there was a news blurb on BBCAmerica which featured Our Fearless Leader claiming that war in Iraq had led to peace. Hubby turned to me and said "He picked the wrong 'P'. War didn't lead to 'peace', it led to 'profits'." See why I love this guy?!?

I did manage some downtime this week, and had a wonderful time with my friends M and S over wonderful food and cheap Box-O-Wine (my contribution to the party and it was quite well received, thank you). That evening took me right back to the discussion of the Protestant/Calvinist work ethic because that was just the sort of life-enriching experience that a good Protestant/Calvinist was supposed to forgo in his/her quest for salvation. Salvation from what? A life void of fun and friendship is already hell. We didn't solve all the problems of the world in one evening though - we had to leave some for the next gathering. This also takes me to the Margaret Wheatley book, because one section of this book says that (I'm paraphrasing here) overstressed, overscheduled people are likely to resort to strongly entrenched beliefs and behaviors simply because they don't have time or take time to think. They fail to consider their options or engage in dialogue. Instead they resort to reflexive, knee-jerk reactions programmed into them by schools, churches, families and society. This results in support for the status quo and the powers-that-be. What we need is for more and more people to stop, breathe and think. Such a simple action, when done by many, can change the world. Maybe we need to set aside a day for thought, meditation and reflection. Hmmm, something to propose at our next gathering!

Peace,
AuntieM

Playing catch-up

2008-04-07T21:39:00.008-06:00

I've been way behind in lots of things, so lately I've devoted time to catching up on what I've missed. Unfortunately that has meant taking time away from other activites, such as this blog. Although I've not written in a while, it hasn't been far from my mind. So now it's time for me to play catch up on this blog.

An article on the Opinion page of the Rocky Mountain News dated 3/29/08 caught my attention to the point that I saved the article till I had time to write about it. The article was written by Jason Salzman and is titled "Bloggers, reveal yourselves". It criticizes the anonymity of blogs and bloggers, and calls for bloggers to reveal information about themselves and the motives behind their writings. The author asks "Who's behind the blog? What's the purpose? Does the blogger have a political bias? Is the blogger trying to practice journalism? If so, what are his or her standards?" When you get down to where the rubber meet the road, every living person has a political bias, whether they choose to share it with other or keep it private. Bloggers may be a little more forthcoming (!!!) than the average person when it comes to sharing their opinions, but we're not a special breed. And "practice journalism"? Am I simply being dense here? The author makes it sound like you need a special license to write, as if he's trying to make writing comparable to practing medicine or law. He also states "If the blog is anonymous or allows anonymous postings, it should explain why anonymity is allowed." It seems that Mr. Salzman is trying to hold bloggers to a higher standard than print journalists, who repeatedly get away with citing "an unnamed White House source" and take pride in going to jail instead of revealing their sources.

There are a lot of reasons why many bloggers, yours truly included, prefer to remain anonymous. My personal reason for writing under a nom de plume is at the time I started writing this blog I was also job-hunting. Since it is now quite common for employers to search the internet for the names of potential new employees, I didn't want to limit my chances of employment should I wind up applying to an employer that does not share my political views. Since then I've simply gotten used to it. I believe there are many bloggers out there who write anonymously for equally valid reasons, and Mr. Salzman should take that into consideration. Not all of us get paid to write, some of us do it as a labor of love.

However, in the interest of disclosure and blog transparency, I will make Jason Salzman and any other reader of this blog a very special offer: the chance to meet the one and only AuntieM live and in person. This momentous event will take place at the commencement ceremony for Red Rocks Community College, to be held on Saturday May 17 at 10am. Red Rocks CC is located on 6th Ave in Lakewood, Colorado and I'll be there come hell or high water, so anyone who wishes to come and introduce themselves is welcome to do so. I'll be the one in the red cap and gown.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. - Voltaire

Lately school has been keeping me pretty busy, but I have managed to find time for a few simple pleasures. High up on my personal list has been the run-up to the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. In the mornings when I'm not awake enough to sing I find myself trying to use logic to determine the identity of the final Cylon model. Then I wake up and realize that's like using a hammer to pick a lock - logic is so not the right tool for me! Have you ever taken a personality test (I did, it was negative - ha ha) such as the Jung Typology test? They're interesting and informative. The test I took measured four different indicators: Logic vs. Intuition, Introvert vs. Extrovert, Thinking vs. Feeling and Judging vs. Perceiving. I had to take one for a Psych class a couple of semesters ago, and the test revealed that Logic and I are not even on speaking terms, but Intuition will never lead me astray. The results of that test made me reflect on past decisions and I have to say, each time I've made a decision based on logic I've lived to regret it, while every decision I've made based on intuition, no matter how half-assed it seemed at the time, has worked out very well. The test is available at http://www.humanmetrics.com/
and is quite fun. The only caveat I'll offer is that this test is like everything else - you get out of it what you put into it, so give each question the time and thought it deserves, don't just dash off whatever answer suits the moment. So what does any of this have to do with BSG? Not a frakking thing, but it was an interesting segue.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Funny, when I read this I thought of our dear president, who I just learned my best friend's son calls Shrub. I knew I liked that kid, even when he pissed his diaper while I was holding him all those years ago. She said she gave him a lecture on respecting the office even if the person in office doesn't deserve respect. Good thing she's the mom - I probably would have high-fived him and raised his allowance.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. - Voltaire
Nuff said. I've never understood how "thou shalt not kill" is waived in times of war. Killing is a sin, but killing because your government gave you a uniform and rifle and told you to shoot someone is an act of heroism? I totally don't get that.

"Challenge your preconceptions, or they will challenge you." - Vulcan saying
There's a lot of truth behind this one. It's your prejudices and preconcieved notions about others that will trip you up unless you search them out and examine them ahead of time.

History is a pack of lies we play on the dead. - Voltaire
And history is also written by the winners. It is crucial to keep this in mind when studying history, because it will always be slanted to put the victors in the best light. I have repeatedly been astonished by what I didn't learn in history classes in public school but have since learned in college. For instance, did you know that in the 1920's and 1930's the US had its own eugenics program which involved mandatory sterilization of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled? No wonder the US took so long to enter in to WWII - it was hard for them to rationalize going to war against Hitler's Master Race when groups in the US were also working to "improve" the human race by getting rid of "defectives". Of course, the corporations already had a serious hold on many politicians, and too many companies were making way too much money in Germany for the US to go to war. Example: did you know that IBM built a computer and sent its people to Germany to install, operate and maintain it? Not so damning if that were the end of it, but this computer was specifically designed to track people sent to concentration camps. And IBM made a serious chunk of change for this project. Sigh.

When the rich wage war it's the poor who die. - Sartre
And that never changes, until we change it.

Peace,
AuntieM

The economics of obesity

2008-03-30T22:43:00.005-06:00

According to the authors of "Food Fight" one of the reasons for higher rates of obesity in lower-income populations is that it simply costs more to eat a healthy diet. This fact was brought home to me in a powerful way yesterday when I made my usual weekly trip to the grocery store. As I walked through the produce section, an area which I normally hit pretty heavily, I was horrified to see how much prices have risen in just a few weeks. Prices on year-round produce like bananas and onions have gone up 15-20%. I kid you not. Seasonal produce is even worse. Early strawberries are in and I was surprised they weren't offering financing on the spot. And there are these little tomatoes that I'm totally crazy over but I wasn't willing to pay $6 for two packages (on sale). Let me be clear on this too - I wasn't at some upscale organic yuppie market in a wealthy part of town, I was at the King Soopers (a supermarket chain owned by Kroger) not far from my house (a quiet area that's fairly blue-collar in character).

Next I visited the meat department. I say visited because it's hard to say I shopped there. I spent a few minutes being horrified over the prices, and then walked out with a package of chicken thighs, one of the few affordable items I saw. I'm not sure when we had steak last, but at $8.49/lb (for a not-terribly-special New York Strip) it's going to be a while before we have it again. Boneless skinless chicken breasts were $7.00/lb. They had some special cuts of beef and lamb left over from Easter, and at the prices they charged I didn't wonder why they hadn't sold - a really nice roast for $42.

I left the store with a head of cabbage, a few cans of various types of beans, the aforementioned chicken thighs, a can of soup, and a complete sense of despair. We're not talking poverty and food insecurity here, it's not that bad for us, but we're definitely feeling the pinch. The despair I felt came from my sympathy for those who were already having a tough time making ends meet, as I wondered just what they were doing. Our grocery bill has skyrocketed over the last few months. I'm a careful shopper - sales, coupons, loyalty cards, the works. And don't give me any nonsense about tracking my purchases, they can do that whether or not I use a card, and I really don't care if they look to see what brand of tuna or laundry detergent I buy if it will save me $5-10/trip. At the same time, we're cutting back on things. I'm resurrecting some dishes that I haven't cooked since Hubby and I were newlyweds and watching every single dime. During that time (mid/late 1980's) our grocery budget was quite small. We never went hungry but I learned to be creative about cooking meals that were nutritious, flavorful and economical. That was good training for now, when what goes on our table and in our lunch bags is once again determined by what's on sale.

Getting back to "Food Fight", the authors say that there are fewer full-fledged supermarkets in lower income neighborhoods, and smaller neighborhood markets carry less inventory of produce and charge more for it, which makes it harder for lower income residents to obtain healthy foods on a regular basis. They also discuss the price disparity between healthy foods (such as fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats) and less-than-healthy foods (fattier meats, cold cuts, hot dogs, chips/cookies/snack foods). Sometimes it's a matter of dollars and cents - a mother can feed her kids fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and lean meats for two weeks, or she can feed them hot dogs, chips, sugary cereals and soft drinks for a month - no real choice there. This also identifies a real problem in our society, culture and economy if only those who are well-off can afford to eat a healthy diet. The authors speculated about, but didn't take a position on, a potential tax on junk food and sugary drinks. I have to admit there was one potential use of revenues from such a tax that I found appealing and beneficial to all - these tax revenues could be used to subsidize the prices of produce and other healthier foods. If the prices of carrots and apples were subsidized, then the hypothetical mother described above would be able to purchase apples (currently $1.99-2.49/lb) for the price of cheese puffs (on sale, $1.25/bag).

In the meantime, I'm just grateful that Hubby is willing to try some of the vegetarian dishes I've come across lately. Tonight I made a wonderful dish of black beans, canned tomatoes, corn and rice with a sprinkling of shredded cheese and some spices. Inexpensive and delicious! I'm also grateful that he doesn't mind the simple meals I've resurrected from the early days of our marriage. He appears to be enjoying the walk down memory lane.

This is the worst spike in prices I've seen in a very long time. It reminds me of the bad old days back in the late 1970's/early 1980's, the time when conservative voters put Reagan into office and the government spent billions of dollars fighting communism while people here in the US were paying 13% interest on their mortgages. I kid you now. I don't want us to revisit those times with the only differences being substitute McCain for Reagan and terrorism for communism. This is a crucial election cycle, one in which the people of this country will be able to choose between hope and fear, between progress and regression, between environmental destruction and preservation, between peace and war, between violence and understanding. The choice we make will reverberate throughout the history of our country, and our planet, for decades. Choose wisely.

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."
Mahatma Gandhi

Peace,
AuntieM

Out of my mind, back in 10 minutes

2008-03-28T10:44:00.006-06:00

Hi, you've reached AuntieM. I've mentally checked out for a while, please leave me a message and I'll get back to you when I return to sanity (or whatever passes for sanity around here). BEEP.

This mental vacation I've been taking for the last few days has done me a world of good. In the vein of not really being here - I'm not here, I'm a fig newton of your imagination - here are some random thoughts and things that have made me laugh:

Passage from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in which Ford Prefect descrbes spending a year out of his mind, pretending he's a lemon slice and the lake he's jumping into is a gigantic gin and tonic. Hmmm... sounds refreshing.

More Hitchhikers: The key to learning how to fly is to aim yourself at the ground and miss.

Jeff Foxworthy describing a woman with a large rear end: looks like a poodle riding a Hippity-Hop.

“Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Snore, and you sleep alone.” - Yakov Smirnoff

Talking cat: Yes, I'm serious. Boycat has a pretty impressive vocabulary that he uses quite effectively. Last night I cooked a tuna dish for dinner so of course both Boycat and Girlcat were underfoot. Boycat was running out of patience so he stood up tall, looked me in the eye and said very clearly "Me now?" A sentence. Clearly enunciated. It was impressive. Normally his best word is "No!", and I hear it frequently when I give him his shots. Unfortunately Girlcat isn't nearly as verbally expressive - she thinks everything can be summed up in one sound: Prrrruuu? That's okay though, she's smart when it comes to mechanical things. This is a mixed blessing because she has learned how to open drawers and now likes to nap in a drawer of thermal underwear. I kid you not. She can also open the doors to the crawlspace,which has necessitated the installation of a child lock on those doors. She's fascinated by how things work. I may regret this later, but I'm in the process of teaching her how to work the snooze alarm. so she can go hit the button for me when I don't want to get up just yet.

Oral hygiene for cats: I've started the cats on an oral hygiene regimen which they actually enjoy. Remember the tuna? Cats love tuna juice almost as much as they love tuna itself. Cats also need help keeping their teeth clean. Here's the chocolate/peanut butter moment: Cats will chew on a toothbrush dipped in tuna juice and brush their own teeth! Boycat and Girlcat now have their own toothbrushes, the smallest child-size brushes I could find. Whenever we open a can of tuna I drain the juice into a bowl instead of down the drain, and the cats get to brush their teeth. I had to get Hubby to help me with that last night because I can only brush one cat's teeth at the time, and those cats will nearly fight to be first! Try it yourself, it's pretty amusing.

“There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” - Douglas Adams

Something that has amused and entertained me greatly over the last few weeks is a TV series called "Breaking Bad" which is an origial production of AMC-TV. This series is about a high school chemistry teacher (played by Bryan Cranston, a favorite actor of mine) who discovers he has inoperable lung cancer. He is faced with a very poor prognosis and the knowledge that his family will suffer severe financial hardship after his death. At the same time he is introduced to the world of crystal meth by his brother in law, a DEA agent who invites him on a ride-along to watch them bust a meth lab, and he gets the idea that he can score lots of cash quickly by cooking meth with the help of a former student who has the sales connections. After all, he knows the chemistry and is able to produce a chemically pure product that soon becomes extremely popular on the street. This description doesn't even begin to do the show justice, however - it is a darkly written story with some really twisted humor that is made even more intense by the seriousness of the plotline. This one is so worth checking out!

One project I'm going to tackle this weekend is making a dress to wear at commencement in mid-May. I picked up my cap and gown this week. It's interesting that some people are simply more formal than others, generally due to age and upbringing. In some respects I'm kind of formal about things - wearing a dress with my gown instead of shorts, that sort of thing. But I decided to defy convention with my choice of footwear. Ordinarily I'd wear a nice pump with a dress, but not this time. The commencement ceremony will be held outdoors, in the morning, so at the very least the grass will be dewy. Heels are never a good idea when walking on grass. I've been searching for weeks now for the perfect shoe to wear to commencement, and I've kept on coming back to the same ones, even though I never thought I'd own a pair, much less wear them with a dress, and to a ceremony at that! But I'm going to. I bought a pair of Crocs in a pink that will go well with my dress, and now I'm all set. I seriously doubt I'll be the only person wearing them; out here they're ridiculously popular. Besides, it seems like such a college graduate thing to do... wait till I get my BA, maybe I'll go with shorts and flip-flops.

Later,
AuntieM

Think

2008-03-23T11:10:00.006-06:00

"Time to think is an essential political act." - Margaret Wheatley

Let's take a moment and reflect on the above quote.

Taking the time to think about what's going on in our world may seem like a rare indulgence in our busy lives. Stopping to think may possibly be one of the most dangerous political acts we can commit. I believe our government would likely see it as such because a population that thinks is a population that questions, and the last thing our current administration wants is to be faced with a bunch of questions they don't want to answer. So instead they try to program us with patriotic slogans and empty rhetoric designed to distract us from thinking, questioning and searching for the truth.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being told what to think and how to believe. I get especially militant on major religious holidays because not subscribing to the culture's dominant religious belief does tend to leave one out in the cold on days such as today. This morning I thought I would get out and run some errands - grocery store, etc - and now I wonder what's open and what sort of difficulties I'll run into as I try to do what I need to do. Hubby is working tonight, and I'm bouncing between schoolwork and housework - it's a normal Sunday for us. Outside our oasis of calm the rest of the world is in holiday mode, so nothing is normal.

Tomorrow my Spring Break begins, and this time I feel like I really need it! It's not that I'm overstressed or there's anything unusual going on with me. It's that I've recently realized that I don't have to be working ALL THE TIME, that sometimes I deserve a little down-time. It's all a part of maintaining healthy boundaries in your life. We stress that in my workplace, and those lessons are beginning to filter over into my personal life as well. A couple of weeks ago I was totally exhausted, asleep-on-my-feet tired, and was trying to figure out what to do. I had both housework and studying that were competing for my attention and I was becoming frustrated with myself (because of course I saw my tiredness as a personal failing - I had stuff to do!). Then it suddenly hit me: it's okay for me just to bail out occasionally. It's more than okay, it's healthy. I saw just how unhealthy it was to continue to push myself beyond my limits, and realized that laying down my burdens for a few hours was not an act of surrender, it was an act of kindness to myself. I acknowledged my needs and chose to honor those needs. So I took a nap, and it was great! And the stars didn't fall from the sky, the world kept turning on its axis, Hubby still loved me, my GPA stayed high, and I was able to tackle my studying and housework much refreshed as a result.

So what am I doing for Spring break? As much as I wish I could say I'm going to go lie on a beach and relax, that's just not in the cards. Sigh... I need some beach time. I'm going to take some time to rest, to breathe, and to think (a la the Margaret Wheatley quote). I'm also going to give the house a mid-semester cleaning and do some sewing. The cleaning needs to be done, and I'm only talking about a few hours worth, not days. The sewing is fun, relaxing and meditative for me, and besides, I need a new dress for commencement and would much rather sew than shop. I have a backlog of sewing projects like you wouldn't believe, and am at the point at which I must re-prioritize them to fit the upcoming warmer weather. Need to put the heavy fabrics aside for a few months and focus on lighter-weight clothing.

Maybe it doesn't really matter where we are, a beach or home. Maybe what matters is that we silence the voices that mute our own thoughts, disconnect from the sources that try to tell us what we "should" think and "should" believe, and simply THINK, of anything or nothing at all. That way lies inner truth and self-discovery that can't be found in any church. Perhaps an appropriate subject for thought is "what is truly important to me?" As I just re-read this paragraph I realize that meditation may well be the answer, as well as allowing ourselves time to experience meditative thought, to enter a mental state in which our minds are free to go where they may while we tag along for the ride. Maybe we all need to take a mental spring break.

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought." -Buddha.

Peace,
AuntieM

Fox News = Faux news

2008-03-21T20:51:00.006-06:00

I just saw something that made me so angry that I had to blog about it. I watched a video which exposed the extremely negative slant that Fox News has taken on Barack Obama and his campaign. Now I know that different media outlets slant their news according to their institutional views and/or the beliefs of their corporate masters. I also know that we all have the right to express our own opinions, or at least we did pre-Patriot Act. But this time they've gone too far. Here are some of the highly distorted views of Obama that Faux News has been handing out as their idea of 'fact':

One of their anchors repeatedly refered to Obama as being a "Half-rican", talking about his mixed heritage. The very idea that she should be able to take racial potshots at him is completely offensive to me. I thought that sort of name-calling went out of favor in the early 1960s when segregation ended.
They questioned his patriotism repeatedly because he committed the grave offense of not wearing an American flag pin on his lapel, and apparently was seen not placing his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. So Faux News began to spread stories that implied Obama isn't enough of a patriot to be president. Apparently they qualify candidates by who waves the biggest flag...
Repeated emphasis of Obama's middle name, Hussein, to imply close ties with the Middle East. Guess if his middle name was Ivan they'd try to portray him as a Communist left over from the Cold War.
The anchors at Faux News try to create an association with liberalism and anti-American sentiment by implying that liberals who work to change this country for the better are somehow trying to destroy this country. It's a good think that the founding fathers didn't think that way, otherwise we'd still be singing "God Save the Queen". The framers of our constitution didn't think that change for the better was a threat, so why should Faux News? Oh yeah, I forgot - they're heavily invested in protecting the status quo.
The anchors at Faux News actually stated "Obama is not Jesus." Glad they got that one figured out, I didn't know there was ever any confusion between the two.
They actually said that Obama sounded like Hitler. Like Hitler! They also said they didn't know why people get all excited when Obama speaks, and speculated that it was some sort of mass hysteria like that which happened when Hitler spoke. Funny, when the ideas go against their beliefs it's hysteria. Bet if there was such a massive outpouring of support for a conservative Republican candidate they wouldn't question the reasons why.

Here's some news that got swept under the rug in the midst of all of Faux News' Obama-bashing: McCain received an endorsement from televangelist Rick Paisley, whom he considers to be his spiritual advisor. Paisley was quoted as saying, "I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed..." Let's hope that McCain doesn't share the misguided belief that America's raison d'etre is the destruction of Islam.

And then there's Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain was "honored" and "proud" to receive. Hagee says Katrina was God's punishment for homosexuality, Jews are to blame for anti-Semitism, and Catholicism is the "Whore of Babylon" and "a cult." Nice, huh? That sort of bigoted perspective is just what I want in a Commander in Chief.

If you wish to see these reports for yourself and make up your own mind about the biased reporting provided by Fox News, go to http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3495&id=12363-8890007-Q3dTV_&t=455 There is also a petition that MoveOn.org is going to distribute to the major news outlets asking them to stop parroting Fox News broadcasts and spreading Faux lies.

“You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.” - Malcolm X

Peace,

AuntieM

5 years later...

2008-03-21T09:25:00.005-06:00

Wednesday was the fifth anniversary of Bush's imperialistic invasion of Iraq which supposedly was going to protect us against terrorist attacks by securing as many oil interests as possible for his oil buddies in Texas and by creating billions of dollars worth of business for Cheney's Halliburton.

Oops, I don't sound bitter, do I?

A few weeks after the invasion, Bush stood in front of a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished". Guess that means he'd accomplished his mission of creating a quagmire of military conflict that would take years to resolve, cost billions of dollars and thousands of American soldiers' lives, while enriching the oil companies and the military-industrial complex beyond their wildest dreams. If that was what he meant, then yeah, Mission Accomplished.

But something on the local news warmed my heart: there were about half a dozen candlelight vigils and protests against our continued presence in Iraq. Peaceful demonstrations organized by folks just like you and me, who have had enough and are ready to make their voices heard. These people gave up an evening to make a statment, to speak out for change, to demand peace, and apparently enough of them did so to warrant a litttle media coverage of their own (which has been really rare lately). What they did was such a wonderful start, and we need to keep it going. We need to make our voices heard clear to Washington and around the world, to call for an end to the US occupation of Iraq and withdrawal of US troops as quickly as possible.

Please be clear about this right up front: I am not advocating violence. Sometimes I worry that in my passion my words may be mistaken for a call to arms, instead of a call to action. The only way to create peace is through peaceful means. I am advocating peaceful protest, opportunities in which average folks can come together and unite their voices in a call for peace and for change.

In a conversation with a colleague yesterday I was reminded that there are so many people out there who are dissatisfied with the course that our country is taking, and who would like to work together for change, but just don't know where to start. I think many of us are struggling with the same questions, namely "What can I do to make a difference? How can I get involved?" I include myself in that number because I don't have the answers either. I use this blog as a tool, a sounding board on which I post thoughts and await reactions, positive or negative. Let me give you one idea of a place to start: get signed up with MoveOn.org and get on their e-mail list for local events, because most of the protests on Wednesday that made the news were organized by MoveOn.org members. This will let you find out about upcoming events in your area that you can help with, or you can even organize your own events and publicize them locally through MoveOn.org.

On the subject of ending the war in Iraq, I must point out that Barack Obama has proposed a plan to get US troops out of Iraq within the first 16 months of his presidency. This isn't some pie-in-the-sky claim, he gave details on exactly how he intends to do this. It is too long to reproduce here, but complete text of his speech may be found on his website, www.barackobama.com, or on www.moveon.org I urge everyone to go and check it out. This is the first reasonable exit strategy I've heard anyone present, and it certainly beats McCain's ideas of perpetual war, and Hillary's any-way-the-wind-blows support of ending the war. Also check out Obama's five-point plan for restoring America as a center of growth, advancement, positive change and international respect. I cannot do justice by paraphrasing, so I have reproduced a summary of Obama's plan below (emphases are mine).

"First, in addressing global terror and violent extremism, we need the kind of comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy I called for last August. We need to strengthen security partnerships to take out terrorist networks, while investing in education and opportunity. We need to give our national security agencies the tools they need, while restoring the adherence to rule of law that helps us win the battle for hearts and minds. This means closing Guantanamo, restoring habeas corpus, and respecting civil liberties. And we need to support the forces of moderation in the Islamic world, so that alliances of convenience mature into friendships of conviction.

Second, the threat of nuclear proliferation must serve as a call to action. I have worked across the aisle with Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel in the Senate to secure dangerous weapons and loose nuclear materials. And as President, I will secure all loose nuclear materials around the world in my first term, seek deep cuts in global nuclear arsenals, strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and once more seek a world without nuclear weapons.

Third, the danger of weak and failed states risks spreading poverty and refugees; genocide and disease. Now is the time to meet the goal of cutting extreme poverty in half, in part by doubling our foreign assistance while demanding more from those who receive it. And now is the time to build the capacity of regional partners in conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and the reconstruction of ravaged societies.

Fourth, the catastrophic consequences of the global climate crisis are matched by the promise of collective action. Now is the time for America to lead, because if we take action, others will act as well. Through our own cap and trade system and investments in new sources of energy, we can end our dependence on foreign oil and gas, and free ourselves from the tyranny of oil-rich states from Saudi Arabia to Russia to Venezuela. We can create millions of new jobs here in America. And we can secure our planet for our children and grandchildren.

And fifth, America's sluggish economy risks ceding our economic prominence to a rising China. Competition has always been a catalyst for American innovation, and now should be no different. We must invest in the education of our children, renew our leadership in science, and advance trade that is not just free, but fair for our workers. We must ensure that America is the economic engine in the 21st century just as we were in the 20th."

It is time for us to reclaim our country, to make it once again a government by the people, of the people and for the people. It's time for us to restore democracy, take back our civil rights, end prisoner abuses and torture at Guantanimo Bay, and demand the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. It's time for liberty and justice for ALL, not for some. We are at a pivotal crossroads in history, and the choices we make now will have lasting repercussions on the type of world our descendants inherit. It's time for change.

"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours." - Barack Obama

Peace,
AuntieM

Too strange not to be true

2008-03-16T22:06:00.004-06:00

I just heard something on our local news that was far too strange not to record for posterity. We've got a fairly sizeable snowstorm moving into our area tonight so I decided to catch the weather forecast to see just how bad my morning commute will be tomorrow, and I heard about something that makes dealing with snow on the roads seem like a picnic. On a highway in California a tractor-trailer overturned and lost its load, releasing approximately 8 million bees in the area. The truck was filled with beehives, and the bees went everywhere. The news report said that residents were advised to keep their windows closed (DUH!). At least we can shovel the snow away, salt the icy spots and go about our business. Could you imagine calling in to work because your yard is full of bees and you can't get to your car without being stung?

I'm reading a fascinating book right now (okay, I'm reading about 5 fascinating books right now but this is the one I want to write about.) It's called Food Fight by Kelly D. Brownell, PhD and Katherine Battle Horgen, PhD, and it's about the obesity epidemic in this country, factors that fuel this epidemic, and what we can do about it personally and as a nation. One huge factor discussed is the explosion of serving sizes, particularly in restaurants (both fast-food and sit-down restaurants). It's completely horrifying how serving sizes have exploded, and how we've bought into them so thoroughly. When I was little, soft drinks came in returnable glass bottles, and we would buy 8oz Cokes or 10 oz. Pepsi's. That was sufficient, and we didn't drink soda all day, we actually drank tea or water or juice too. According to Food Fight, 20 oz soft drinks are becoming the new norm. Burgers have also grown tremendously; in 1957 the average hamburger contained 1oz of beef and 210 calories, today it's 6oz beef and 618 calories (p182). And for many, that's a snack!

What made me think about this book is a commercial I just saw for a really disgusting pizza with five different meats layered between two crusts. Come on now, what is that anyway? Does it come with a free angioplasty? And I really can't stand watching Burger King commercials, I believe that BK has set a corporate goal of marketing the unhealthiest, most disgusting burgers it can concoct. Maybe I'm getting a little mental about healthy eating, but I'm about to the point that a lot of those extreme items are just revolting. I'll take a vegetarian pizza, thin crust, extra sauce and easy on the cheese, please. YUM! Other than that, my fast food intake is now limited to Subway's heart-healthy options, or Wendy's for chili, baked potato and side salad.

This book also contains some discussion on the pros and cons of taxing unhealthy foods. I'm not going to take a stand on this issue one way or another, but if it ever happens I hope that some of the tax proceeds will go toward subsidizing healthy foods to lower their prices and make healthy eating more affordable. I spend a fortune each week just in the produce section, and it is clear to me that larger familes on limited incomes must resort to less expensive, carbohydrate- and fat-laden foods just to make ends meet. I myself have resurrected some of the dishes I used to cook back when Hubby and I first got together and money was really tight. Let's face it, for all of my jokes about being a poor college student and Hubby's jokes about being the husband of a poor college student, we're not joking - things are getting tight and getting tighter due to the drastic rise in prices on everything from apples to gas to bread and beef. Time to get creative with tuna and mac/cheese again, and to dust off my vegetarian cookbook ($8/lb for steak, or $0.50 for a pound of lentils - you do the math). Beans and brown rice and cheese, with a can of diced tomatoes, some onions and peppers, that's a wonderful meal right there.

"Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Peace,
AuntieM

Frustration and the political process

2008-03-15T15:51:00.004-06:00

This morning I went to my county Democratic convention/assembly as an alternate delegate for Obama. I was all excited about taking part in this process for the first time, especially to represent a candidate in whom I truly believe. So I was pretty excited to get up before the sun and show up at the Colorado School of Mines around 7:30am. I got even more excited when I saw the traffic jam leading onto campus and the tremendous number of people who had also turned out early on a Saturday morning to make their voices heard. I knew going in that since I was an alternate, there was no guarantee that I would get to participate in the convention/assembly. I was prepared to be philosophical about it, to be turned away after a couple of hours instead of being seated as a delegate and take the attitude of "at least I tried". Funny how things just don't go anywhere near the way you imagine.

First off, according to Jeffco Dems they are used to dealing with around 500 delegates and alternates. Today they had 4000 delegates and 1500 alternates. The process broke down under the sheer weight of numbers. At the beginning we were told we should know by midmorning whether or not we alternates would be seated as delegates. Midmorning came and went. Around 11am they told us they were still trying to sort things out and it was likely that anyone who registered after 7:30 would not get seated, but they should know around 12:30. Since my registration time was so close (8am) I decided to stick around and try my luck. Around 1pm they came out again and said they would need lots more alternates than they thought and the majority of us would be seated as delegates. Yay, we all cheered, we haven't wasted a pretty Saturday sitting in an auditorium for nothing.

We all had to register when we arrived, and turn in a preference poll card that indicated our binding vote for the Democratic presidential nomination. Once we checked in, there was nothing to do but find a semi-comfy seat and hang out. I took textbooks and tried to study. During all this time the Jeffco Dems did all they could to keep us entertained - we listened to lots of speeches, some of which were pretty interesting, and the mistress of ceremonies did a heck of a job trying to do standup comedy and keep well over 1000 sleepy, Starbucks-deprived and politically-opinionated people placated.

Anyway, around 2pm they announced that they woudl begin seating alternates, but the method which they proposed to use drew official protests from both campaigns, because they were going to seat alternates according to time of check-in instead of replacing one Obama or Clinton delegate with a corresponding Obama or Clinton alternate. They finally came to a decision that I found rather upsetting considering the events of the day - they decided not to seat any alternates, period. Thanks for coming in and giving up your Saturday, drive carefully, please leave now. I felt pretty used and abused.

You know those preference cards I mentioned that we turned in during the registration process? What they're going to do is match up which candidates' delegates did not show up and insert the appropriate number of alternate votes for the same candidate. So I'll never ever even know if my vote today counted or not! I find that incredibly frustrating. If I could just know that my vote meant something, then I wouldn't feel like I'd wasted my day, especially in a rather busy week in which I've hardly even been able to see Hubby. I did manage to race home in time to see him for 10 whole minutes before he left for work.

Yes, yes I know, participating in our political process is never a waste of time. It's a privilege which we should value and perform with pride and honor. It was just really frustrating. At the same time I had some interesting conversations, got lots of exercise wandering all over the CSM campus, and picked up some cool bumper stickers (I even found one that was irreverent enough to float Hubby's boat, which is a rarity because he normally disdains stickers on his vehicle.) I would be willing to do this again, but I have to say that next time I'll only go as a delegate, not an alternate.

On a lighter note, I'm meeting my friends M and S for dinner tonight, girls evening out! I can't wait! We start out talking about what's going on in our lives but we always work our way around to figuring out ways to change the world. Like the Margaret Wheatley book I wrote about a few weeks ago, changing the world starts with a few friends sitting around talking. Can't wait to see what kind of world-changing ideas we come up with tonight!

“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

I'm off to dinner with great minds!

Peace,
AuntieM

Bad appliance karma

2008-03-10T18:31:00.004-06:00

And you thought you were done reading about my domestic difficulties.

I couldn't believe this happened, and spent quite a few minutes trying to wish it away. Of course that didn't work; if it had, then Bush would have vanished into thin air years and years ago. After all of Saturday's tribulations of the washer - cleaning up the flood, wringing out soaking wet clothes by hand, spending way more than I'd planned for the new washer (which I'm still lookinjg forward to, it's really nice), and having to spend Saturday evening in a laundromat listening to Poker Scum talk incessantly while I was trying to study, I thought that my appliance issues had been settled. I got up early on Sunday and finished my homework, and then I had a very pleasant afternoon visiting with a friend who came by for coffee. Later that evening I heated up some homemade spaghetti (damn, I can cook!) and after dinner I started to pop the dishes into the dishwasher. That's when the dishwasher committed suicide in a fairly spectacular manner - when I opened the door there was a loud POP and SPARKS FLEW OUT OF THE DAMNED THING!!! I didn't know dishwashers could shoot sparks. They went everywhere, I thought my pants were going to catch fire. I think the whole thing shorted out. Then the smell of scorched wiring began to permeate the kitchen. I quit worrying about my pants and started worrying about the whole house catching fire instead. Fortunately the smell and slight bit of smoke cleared and there was no more trouble. Of course there was also no more life to the dishwasher.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered to bid farewell to the GE Adora II dishwasher, predeceased by its warranty six months ago. Of course.

So now Hubby and I must buy a new dishwasher. That's pretty much going to take care of the rest of our tax rebate. D'oh!

What makes this really bad is, this whole thing may be my fault because I made a smart-assed joke when I saw Hubby off to work on Sunday afternoon. I smiled and told him "I'll do my very best not to kill another major appliance today." I should have known better. I really should have known better. Late last night before I went to bed (Hubby wasn't home from work yet and I had an early meeting today) I wrote him a note warning him not to do anything with the dishwasher and telling him what happened. When he got home he woke me to let me know he was home safe (that's our routine, always has been) and was laughing over my note. Thank heaven Hubby's got a good sense of humor about things that can't be controlled. Even when they involve the untimely and fairly spectacular deaths of two major appliances in two days.

"I don't pretend to be an ordinary housewife." - Elizabeth Taylor

Later,
AuntieM, domestic disaster

Extra, extra!

2008-03-09T19:19:00.004-06:00

No, you're not hallucinating, I'm actually writing twice today. I was doing my Philosophy homework, i.e. writing on on the discussion board, and the post I wrote was so pertinent for this blog that I decided it must be shared.

This was my discussion board post: "I caught a brief news blurb earlier this week about this wall they're building to seal our border with Mexico against illegal immigrants. It seems that this oh-so-wonderful wall will cross over land owned by some pretty wealthy and influential people in Texas, who have complained that they don't want this to happen. Our government has responded in typical fashion and given in to the desires of the wealthy and powerful. Now the wall will have planned gaps to avoid infringing on the property of the wealthy. (Not terribly secure, if you ask me, and I thought the propaganda was supposed to convince us that all illegal immigrants are criminals and terrorists. Guess that doesn't apply to the ones who cross over in the better neighborhoods.) Everyone else whose land is impacted will just have to deal with it. Reminds me of when they put up the Berlin wall... which didn't work out so well in the end either."

We've already lost our country. We lost it the day we allowed our government to take away our constitutional rights. We lost it the day we traded our freedoms for a false sense of security and became the land of the formerly free and the home of the perpetually terrified. We lost it the day we learned that our government is using torture and we did nothing to stop it. We lose it every day we fail to protest our soldiers dying in Bush's war for oil. The only way we'll ever be able to regain our country, our constitutional rights and our collective self-respect is to work toward creating peace, attempting to remedy the harm we've allowed to happen, and by learning from those mistakes and making an honest record of those mistakes available for future generations to learn from so they won't let it happen again. It's time for the Bush administration to eat some crow, admit they made a mistake by invading Iraq, and get the hell out of there. It's time for us to march in protest of the Patriot Act, flood our legislators with demands to repeal the Patriot Act, deluge them with petitions, tie up their phone lines and fill their e-mail boxes with our pleas until they listen and take action. It's time for the torture to end and for the US to own up to its violations of the Geneva convention. It's time for change. It's time for hope to be restored. It's time for this country to begin acting like a responsible member of the world community once more. It's time for peace, and justice, and understanding. It's time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work rebuilding a country we can be proud of.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.” - Gandhi

Peace,
AuntieM

Follow-up on the washer saga

2008-03-09T10:53:00.004-06:00

Here's the rest of the story: The repair tech said the switch on our machine was fried and a new switch (including labor & trip charge for today) would cost us $280. That's to fix a 5+year old machine for which we paid either $299 or $350 (can't remember which). The life span of a washer is 5 years. I had a feeling the machine would cost more to repair than it was worth, so while the tech was working on the machine I was comparison-shopping for new machines. By the time he gave me the above news I had already selected my first choice for a replacement machine. Since the tech was still here I got his opinion on the replacement machine too, and he was impressed and said I'd picked a good quality machine that would last for years.

So once he left I ran off to my favorite big-box home improvement store and purchased our new washer! I got a front-loading, energy efficient washer that will be much more cost-effective than our old one, so hopefully it will begin to pay for itself on day one. It uses 60% less water, half the detergent, its super-quiet and will cut our drying time in half. It cost a bit more than I expected because I also got the base that raises the machine to a much more user-friendly height, as well as the service plan (I was vulnerable and the plan provides full coverage for repair or replacement with a new machine, less than $100 for 4 years). I think I did well. So did Hubby, once he got over the initial sticker shock. I think it's going to be a purchase we'll be happy with for a long time.

I think I know what we'll spend our refund/rebate check on in May - paying off the fancy-schmancy washer! I'm still planning to walk my own talk and use a portion of that money to create positive change. Haven't figured out what I'll do yet, but will let you know when I do. All I know is we shouldn't pass up the opportunity to use the government's money to do some good for a change. One thing I never really found out about these upcoming checks is: is this like the ones we got in 2001 which were just an advance on our refunds, or is this money completely separate? I'd really like to know that, it would have a significant impact on how we spend our check (or it would have, pre-washer!)

After all that my work was not yet done. I still had a basket of extremely wet laundry, as well as a backlog of laundry, that all needed to be washed. So I wound up spending a couple of hours at a local laundromat, trying to study while our clothes washed and dried. Not a bad atmosphere for studying actually, except for this oddly familiar woman who kept on talking to me. I chatted with her because I'm too polite for my own good, and because I was trying to figure out where I knew her from. Why didn't I ask her? She had a really strange vibe that raised caution flags for me, to the point that I never told her my name or anything about myself. After I got home I remembered where I knew her from and was very grateful I listened to my intuition - she used to play poker in the casino where I worked, and she was one of our "problem children". She was "poker scum". She just didn't know how to behave in public and frequently started disputes with other players that I had to mediate. On one occasion I even had to eject her from the poker room. Fortunately my appearance has changed somewhat (for the better) since I left the gaming industry, it's hard to recognize acquaintances when you see them out of their normal context, and she was so self-absorbed I don't think she could see past the tip of her own nose anyway, so I'm not surprised she didn't recognize me. But I was very pleased that she didn't, because all of that is in the past and not worth my time and energy.

Anyway, that was my day - too damn busy with domestic issues to even think about rabblerousing and agitating, what a day! The most fun I had all day was taking my Philosophy exam on Marx, truly a man after my own heart! Worthwhile reading is what he wrote on alienation of labor and how valuing the products of labor more than the laborer himself leads to dehumanization of the worker and idolatry of the products of labor. Heavy, beautiful and so true. One misconception about Marx really gets under my skin: when Marx wrote in opposition of private property, he didn't mean what we think of as private property, i.e. houses, cars, etc. He meant the product of alienated labor. He believed that property and the wealth derived from it by the factory owners, which resulted from the alienation and dehumanization of the workers, was wrong and needed to be abolished. He opposed the spiritual disconnect that occurs when a worker is treated as less-than-human, like an animal or a machine, and believed that each worker puts a portion of his spirit and humanity into the products of his labor, that sharing of the worker's spirit and humanity should be honored, and that the products of labor shouldn't be valued more than the laborer who contributes his spirit and humanity to their existence.

Peace,
AuntieM

Washday blues

2008-03-08T14:43:00.004-07:00

It's relatively early on a Saturday afternoon and I'm already worn out! The source of my exhaustion is our washer, which decided to overflow this morning. I caught it just a couple of minutes after it started, but you wouldn't believe how far the water had already gone! I had a minor flood in my house and it was a grand mess to clean up. Apparently the washer forgot to spin before adding rinse water, and presto - an indoor waterfall! I had to unplug it to make the water stop flowing - glad I didn't get shocked in the process.

I've never had to deal with this sort of problem and didn't really have anyone to call for advice so I had to make it up as I went along. I first attacked the standing water with a mop, then dragged out the carpet shampooer to extract water from the carpet, and finished up by bailing the water out of the washer and wringing out the clothes by hand. During this whole process Boycat danced around nervously because part of the flooded area was his bathroom and HE HAD TO GO!

Fortunately Hubby slept through all of this. I worried about waking him, since he works nights, but there was no way I could let any of that cleanup wait till afternoon. Fortunately he slept right through it though he says he does remember hearing something like a vacuum cleaner. And no, I was actually all right with doing the cleanup myself because the actual flooded area was fairly small, only big enough for one person to work in, and we have one mop and one carpet shampooer. Besides, he would give me the same courtesy if there was a minor emergency during my sleep cycle and he was awake to deal with it.

So now I'm sitting here waiting for a repair technician to come by and tell us if our washer can be saved, or if it will simply cost too much. Hubby and I decided that if the repair will be more than $200, then today I'll be buying a new washer. I really don't want to spend a chunk of change on a major appliance right now, but if I do then at least it will give me the chance to get something a little more energy-efficient. Wish I could spring for a front-loader, but they tend to be more expensive and I don't think I can justify the extra cost.

Oh, and now I have a basket full of very wet clothes sitting in the foyer, and unless the repair person can breathe life into our machine, I'll also have to visit a laundromat this evening. If that's the case I'm going to grab the rest of the laundry and strip the beds too - might as well make the trip worth my while. I actually like laundromats - gigantic triple load washers and dryers that make short work out of anything. I can study well at laundromats too - there's something about the steady hum of laundry machines that just puts me right into a great mental zone for learning or writing. I wrote most of my novel to the sounds of our laundry machines.

I guess it's strange to see my domestic side, since I primarily show my activist/rabblerouser side on this blog. Just so you know, I've been a housewife (working, but a housewife at the same time) for almost 22 years. It still doesn't come easily to me. In a way I envy those who can tell company to come on over without giving notice - I need three days minimum to make the house presentable. I quit striving for "House Beautiful" a long time ago; my goal is House Comfortable and Reasonably Sanitary. I manage that most of the time. Anything more just seems like a waste of effort.

My friend M paid me the highest compliment last week when I went to her house for coffee: She welcomed me in and said it was wonderful knowing she didn't have to clean because I was coming over. That's a comfortable friendship, and I plan to return the compliment when she comes for coffee tomorrow! It's so nice being able to welcome a friend to your home without worrying what they'll think because (gasp, horrors!) your house isn't pristine and perfect.

"My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint." - Erma Bomeck

I still have the iron Hubby and I got as a wedding gift. It still looks pretty new, and works quite well despite being over 20 years old. Guess that's because I haven't put a lot of mileage on the thing. My theory on ironing is, if it comes out of the dryer wrinkled it's because God wants it that way, and I'm not going to mess with a plan.

A lot of years ago a fellow dealer commented on my domestic abilities - he called me "Martha Stewart on crack". So appropriate, I love that title!

Well, the repair tech should be here any minute to tell me whether I will be washing clothes or buying a new washer this evening. Will let you know what happens.

A sad anniversary

2008-03-06T15:09:00.003-07:00

March 19 will be the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. Funny, when this whole thing started I don't recall any predictions of our winding up in such a quagmire 5 years later. All I remember hearing was patriotic rhetoric and government propaganda which threatened all of us with the terrorist boogeyman if we didn't send our loved ones off to fight and die for the glory of Halliburton and Blackwater.

My, it feels good to sharpen my claws after a few days off...

Now here we are, almost 5 years into Bush's pet war, and what have we got to show for it? Let's make a list:
1) We're not any safer. If anything, our world is a much more dangerous place than it was before the Iraq war, because we've made so many enemies across the globe. There are very few nations who would come to our aid right now if we had a serious problem. Some nations would even snicker and say "serves them right", and we'd deserve that.
2) We're poorer as a nation because we surrendered the civil rights that our forefathers fought and died to give us, simply because the government waved the terrorist boogeyman in our faces until we were too scared and confused to oppose the Patriot Act, and then we woke up the next day to warrantless wiretaps, detention without due process and severely curtailed freedom of speech. Oh yeah, we're a lot poorer today.
3) As of 3/4/08 there have been 29,320 US soldiers wounded and 3974 killed in the Iraq war (data from http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/), so we're poorer as a nation for the suffering and death this imperialistic war has brought to our soldiers.
4) We're so divided as a nation, and the war in Iraq is one of the big reasons behind this division. It's going to take a lot of work and commitment for us to come together as one nation or one people again.
5) Oil companies are making record profits while ordinary citizens are having trouble filling their gas tanks. Rumor has it that gas may hit $4.00/gallon by summer, and that's going to put increased strain on families that are barely getting by now as it is. Everything else will become more expensive too, because it takes fuel to transport products to our neighborhood stores.
6) We're poorer as a nation because we've surrendered our principles in our quest for a feeling of safety that, in all reality, we'll never have again. (More on that later.) We've become a nation that uses torture instead of opposing it, and this has cost us much respect, from both the international community and ourselves.

I think we all need to realize that our golden age of security ended on 9/11/2001. We're never again going to be free from the threat of terrorism, so we might as well just suck it up and get on with our lives. Learn to deal with the uncertainty of the future and enjoy the present. Tune out the fearmongering government propaganda. Listen to that small voice inside you and ask it, "What can I do to make this world a better place?" I seriously doubt that voice is going to tell you to stock up on antibiotics and bottled water in case of another terrorist attack. Instead, that voice may tell you to reach out to a neighbor, to work for a worthy cause, to participate in a rally or protest, to make your voice heard somehow above the din of war-drums, to speak out and demand change, and to work to create change.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." - Alexander Hamilton

Peace,
AuntieM

Obama = Real Change

2008-03-02T08:59:00.006-07:00

Okay, today I'm being political. I'm getting fired up for this afternoon, when I am scheduled to attend a house party in support of Barack Obama. The focus of this party is to make calls to Texas and Ohio residents to encourage them to vote for Obama in their primary on Tuesday. Free weekend long distance on cell phones being put to good use. The original goal of this phone campaign was 1 million calls by Tuesday, but they've already exceeded this level so now the goal is 1.5 million calls by Tuesday. This is the same sort of phone-work I did the weekend before the Colorado primary, so I know it's fun and easy. I'm grateful that people all over the country are willing to open their homes to host these house parties. I thought about doing that but let's face it - my house is a disaster during the semester, and there was no way I could clean and prepare even a basic refreshment spread while keeping up with my studies. And as much as I want to work to support Obama, classes come first. However, I do have most of my studying done - just a bit more to read for Philosophy, I love Marx! - so I can go have fun this afternoon with a clear conscience.

"If each and every one of you makes a decision to invest a little bit of time during this small window, just a few months, to try to move this country forward, I am absolutely confident that it's going to happen. And we're not just going to win an election; we are going to transform the country." – Barack Obama

Here's the really political part of this post. I was checking out Obama's website and found lots of good information there which I blatantly ripped off to reproduce here - don't think they'll mind since, A: I'm attributing all of it; B: It is being used to show Obama in a positive light; and C: Any additional exposure for Obama's words is a good thing! As I read these items I knew there was no way I could do them justice by attempting to paraphrase, so here they are:

"We are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. Those things are not contradictory. We have to have stronger border security, but that has to be done intelligently. We need stronger border patrols and electronic surveillance. We have to crack down on employers who are hiring undocumented workers purposely because they don't want to pay U.S. workers decent wages. We need to give illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship. This way, they will no longer be undercutting U.S. workers because they will be following the same laws." – Barack Obama

Thank you, Mr. Obama! It's high time that the powers-that-be recognized that the best way to deal with high numbers of illegal immigrants is to help them become legal citizens! We need an amnesty and an expedited citizenship procedure for those undocumented immigrants who are already in this country, are gainfully employed and have clean criminal records. I believe the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are here simply to work for and hope for a better life, and it is to the advantage of the entire country to help them become legal residents and taxpaying citizens.

"Real change isn’t calling NAFTA a victory and saying how good it was for America until you decide to run for President, like Senator Clinton did. I won’t stand here and tell you that we can stop every job from disappearing because of trade, but I will tell you that when I am President, we will end the tax breaks for corporations who ship our jobs overseas and give them to companies who create good jobs right here in America. That’s real change." - Barack Obama

Right on! One thing I like about Obama is although he's dedicated to producing change, he is also realistic about what sort of changes can be accomplished. There's no way we can stop unethical companies from shipping jobs overseas in order to escape paying livable wages or to avoid pollution laws, but there's no reason we should support these companies by giving them tax breaks to do it!

"Real change isn’t saying that you’ll stand up to lobbyists and special interests when you’ve taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any Democrat or Republican running for President, like my opponent has. I’m the only one in this race who’s actually passed laws to take power away from lobbyists, they haven’t funded my campaign, and they will not drown out the voices of working Americans when I am President. That’s real change." - Barack Obama

Nothing to add here, this says it all.

"Real change isn’t voting for a bankruptcy bill that makes it harder for working families to climb out of debt and then saying that you’re glad it didn’t pass once you start running for President. One of the first things I did when I got to the Senate was fight against the credit card industry’s bankruptcy bill, and when I am President, we’ll reform our bankruptcy laws so that CEOs can’t dump your pension with one hand while collecting their bonus with another. That’s real change." - Barack Obama

Did you know that the bankruptcy reform laws that went into effect under Bush's administration were drafted by a group of executives from the financial sector? The very people who have since made out like bandits as a result of this legislation? (This is according to the documentary "Maxed Out" which examines the credit crisis in the US; you need to watch this one at your earliest opportunity.) Where did W get the bright idea that letting the foxes guard the henhouse would produce good results? I'm so glad that this issue is on Obama's radar and that he's going to make changing these laws a priority of his administration. We've just gotta get him elected first.

"And real change isn’t voting for George Bush’s war in Iraq and then telling the American people it was actually a vote for more diplomacy when you start running for President. The title of the bill was “A Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq.” What else were you voting for? I knew what it was, and that’s why I opposed this war from the start, and why I will bring our troops home when I am President. That’s real change." - Barack Obama

This has become my top issue, and it warms my heart to see Obama's declaration of intent to bring our troops home. Bush's imperialistic war must end.

I want to close this post with some quotes from supporters of Obama. Each writer states the reasons behind this choice in her own words, and their words are so thought-provoking that I am reproducing them here without comment, because there is nothing I can add to enhance them.

Dear Senator Obama,
This letter represents a first for me--a public endorsement of a Presidential candidate. I feel driven to let you know why I am writing it. One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril. I will not rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of one thing I am certain: this opportunity for a national evolution (even revolution) will not come again soon, and I am convinced you are the person to capture it. – Toni Morrison

"A President Like My Father"
Over the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama. – Caroline Kennedy

"Why I'm Backing Obama"
…The biggest barrier to rolling up our sleeves and preparing for a better future is our own apathy, fear or immobility. We have been living in a zero-sum political environment where all heads have been lowered to avert being lopped off by angry, noisy extremists. I am convinced that Barack Obama is the one presidential candidate today who can encourage ordinary Americans to stand straight again; he is a man who can salve our national wounds and both inspire and pursue genuine bipartisan cooperation. Just as important, Obama can assure the world and Americans that this great nation's impulses are still free, open, fair and broad-minded. – Susan Eisenhower, The Washington Post

Another member of the Kennedy pantheon is now behind Barack Obama. Ethel Kennedy, widow of Bobby Kennedy, announced her support for Obama today, comparing the Illinois senator to her late husband. “Barack is so like Bobby, who struggled for the rights of the poor in the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia, traveled to California to stand in solidarity with Cesar Chavez and farm workers, and fought to end another war that cost so many lives," Kennedy said in a statement released by the Obama campaign. “Over these past few years, I’ve watched Senator Obama inspire Americans from all walks of life to believe in real change and a new sense of hope and possibility. He’s a magnetic force, drawing the nation together for the common good and galvanizing us all to help shape our country’s future," Kennedy added.

Peace,
AuntieM

My woefully neglected blog...

2008-03-01T11:25:00.004-07:00

Oops, what can I say? It's been a busy week, but a good one as well. I finished writing two large grant applications at work this week - what a relief! I also had three exams this week, just finished the last one so now I can relax. My week culminated with coffee at a friend's house - what a wonderful way to enjoy a Friday, I'd been looking forward to that all week! Now for my weekend I can actually pry my nose out of my textbooks, have a go at a bit of housework, finish sewing a jacket I've been working on since before the semester started, and ... write on this blog! Yay!!!

One thing I'm starting to wrestle with in my personal life is choosing a path for grad school. I know that I need to have a decision made by fall so I can start applying to different programs to start the following fall. Right now I'm looking at different opportunities, and I think I've found a really good one - a Masters of Public Administration program through the University of Colorado at Denver, that I can complete entirely online, with a concentration in Nonprofit Management. This is my current front-runner, even ahead of the Master of Social Sciences program at CU-Denver. In an effort to be thorough and to explore all of my options I do plan to investigate other schools, primarily CU-Boulder, Regis University and the University of Denver. Honestly though, I'm just too egalitarian to really go for DU (expensive private school and you really pay for their name and reputation - $31K a year for undergrad, don't know how much grad school is) or Regis ($25K a year for undergrad, a Jesuit school with a strong reputation for scholarship). I think state-sponsored schools are much more my cup of tea. In contrast, this MPAd program at CU-Denver will run me around 18K FOR THE WHOLE PROGRAM, not just for one year, and will help prepare me to do what I want to do - work to create positive social change at either the nonprofit or government level. I can also use my electives to get enough graduate-level credits in one specific discipline of the social sciences to qualify me to teach at the community college level with this degree.

The problem I've always had with making up my mind about educational and career paths has always been my perspective that making these choices narrows down my path in life, and I expressed this last night to my friend over coffee. She has also been wrestling with these choices, and referred to an e-mail I sent her a few weeks ago, which I am exerpting here:

"Hey, I just had a mind-blowing thought. I was talking with Hubby and words jumped out of my mouth that took me by surprise, so much so that I had to send you a quick e-mail. I told Hubby (in answer to my own question of why didn't I go back to school a long time ago) that back then I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up but now I know I don't have to restrict myself to just one thing - I can be a teacher and work for a nonprofit and be a writer and a political activist and rabblerouser. This was my epiphany - and that's what has really freed me from stressing over what to major in and what path to take. In my head it was all about making THE RIGHT CHOICE, like once I chose a path I was irrevocably locked into it for life, and that really stressed me out like you wouldn't believe. Once it became clear that I could use a very broad education to prepare for multiple roles simultaneously, I started to see that selecting a path of study doesn't really narrow down my choices nearly as much as I thought. Yes, my path of study is a crappy one if I want to be an astrophysicist, but it will be great for any of the areas I want to be involved in - I don't have to choose just one! And even after I get my BA, and my Masters, I still don't have to choose just one - I may wind up doing Fund Development part time, teaching part time, writing books of social commentary a la Noam Chomsky and working on various liberal political causes in my spare time.

"The reason it felt so important to share this with you ASAP is because I know you've stressed a lot as well over the path you want to take with your education, and I thought this notion might be helpful for you as well. At this point in college I don't think it's about narrowing choices down to one specific field and position within that field, it's about selecting a few broad areas that really speak to you and learning as much as you can about them. The rest will come."

By reminding of me of my own words my friend made me realize that I was falling right back into my old trap and looking at the choice of a Master's program as restricting my choices rather than opening them up. Thanks to her I now realize that whichever program I choose will create more choices for me than I currently have, and no choice is irrevocable. Thank you, M!

I also had an interesting conversation with a brilliant coworker this week on acceptance, childhood incidents and perfectionism. His insights always help me learn more about myself and gain a better understanding of my own actions and how they are motivated by childhood experiences and long-held beliefs. I was trying to finish the aforementioned two large grants and was frustrated because I thought I'd omitted a fairly major piece of required information. I was starting to freak out a little bit as a result, and I think he could see that. The story he related helped me see that my own quest for perfection and my perfectionist traits stem from a quest for acceptance from my family. I won't go into major details here but I always felt like an outsider in my own family, and I think on some deep-down level I thought if I could only be perfect then they'd have to accept me. That's a heavy load to carry, and it certainly doesn't teach you how to deal with the inevitable screw-ups that are just simply bound to happen. If you're perfect and never let yourself fall, you never learn how to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and try again. You never learn to say "Oops." Learning how to say Oops, clean it up and go on without self-recrimination is crucial. Like I said, he's brilliant.

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.” - Gandhi

Or, perhaps, denying themselves of the precious right to err.

Peace,
AuntieM

Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction

2008-02-26T18:28:00.006-07:00

Hubby and I had a nice afternoon planned. After a leisurely breakfast (at around 1pm courtesy of Hubby's nighttime schedule) we were going to visit the community college from which I just earned my Associate of Arts degree to inquire about a guitar-making class that Hubby wants to take. Then we were going to pay a visit to a newly-discovered Mexican restaurant. We didn't even get past breakfast. We were talking in the kitchen while I cooked breakfast, Hubby sneezed, and out flew one of his crowns! It hit the sliding glass door with such force that I was surprised neither one chipped or shattered. I grabbed the phone and called our dentist, and when I told them what had happened they thought I was crank-calling them. (Momentarily channeling "The Simpsons": Moe the bartender calling "Anita Mann!". Okay, done now.) Once they realized I was serious they told him to come in right away, and they were able to re-seat the crown with no problems. And they used lots of really strong glue so hopefully that won't happen again.

Go ahead and laugh, it's all right. We laughed over it plenty ourselves, both at home and at the dentist's. And it was pretty damn funny. When the dental assistant (an extremely short woman wearing green scrubs) came out to take Hubby back to the treatment room he dangled the sandwich bag containing his crown as he approached her, and she exclaimed "Present you brought!" I thought I was hallucinating Yoda as a dental assistant.

Before you jump to the conclusion that I am an uncaring female dog and start sending Hubby recommendations for divorce lawyers, let me clarify something: Hubby didn't feel a thing. He was in absolutely no pain because he'd had a root canal on that tooth many years back so the nerve was already gone. I knew this and I still asked him if he felt anything (my second question, between "What happened?" and "Did you sneeze out anything else?") Hubby was also making jokes about it, especially on the way to the dentist. He kept flashing me this Jack-o-lantern grin featuring the gap where his crown normally resides, in an effort to crack me up (while I was driving, no less!) Under the circumstances I didn't feel too badly about laughing.

That was about it for our day, we couldn't top all that so we just came back home. I think the above episode illustrates why we've managed to stay together for 21 years and counting: flexibility, caring and a good sense of humor on both our parts.

“He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh.” - Koran

Peace (and laughs!),
AuntieM

Memo to Mr. Nader

2008-02-25T23:38:00.004-07:00

Date: 2/25/08
Subject: Your declaration of candidacy

Dear Ralph:
Are you out of your freaking mind? Just what do you think you're doing by declaring your candidacy for the Presidential race? The least you could have done was waited a few weeks and then followed up on your announcement with a cry of "April Fools!" We all know that either of my cats has a better chance being elected President than you do, or they would if either of them was 35 years old. We also all know that each vote you receive will most likely be at the expense of the Democratic candidate, and this is something we really don't need. Unless your ulterior motive is to play spoiler once again, the way you did in 2000, I truly can't fathom any reasonable explanation for your actions today.

I understand you think that there is a silent group of voters who feels disenfranchised and is waiting for you to stand up and be their voice. But haven't you expressed that same sentiment in every Presidential election in which you've presented yourself as a candidate? The sum total of your votes from every single one of those elections still wouldn't combine to make you a viable candidate today. I feel embarassed for you, I truly do. At the same time I think someone needs to tell you the honest truth, the way a true friend will tell you that you have spinach in your teeth before, not after, that important interview.

Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for your consumer-advocacy efforts. I simply think that you should stick with your strengths and leave the Presidential race alone. This is one area in which you may very easily do more harm than good.

Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Peace,
AuntieM

Quick post

2008-02-24T22:34:00.005-07:00

I've been utterly swamped with schoolwork today, but wanted to post this one quick thought: If anyone out there hasn't read Marx's Communist Manifesto for himself or herself, please do so at your earliest opportunity! This is one of the most misunderstood documents ever written. For far too long it has been slandered and a bastardized version has been used for propaganda purposes, by our own government, to show us just how "bad" and "evil" socialism are and why we should continue to support the capitalist status quo that has enriched the powers-that-be. See for yourself what all the uproar is about, don't take anyone's word for it, including mine. Complete copies are available online at no cost, I think it can be found on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, just google either that name or Communist Manifesto. You're going to be surprised when you read it, this will really open your eyes.

By the way, I've already had someone in one of my classes respond to one of my posts with the phrase "America - love it or leave it". I wrote back that I'll take option #3 - change it.

“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.” - Bertrand Russell

Peace,
AuntieM

Some infuriating statistics

2008-02-22T10:52:00.005-07:00

I want to pass on some statistics about the war in Iraq that completely pissed me off.

As of today, we've spent over $495 billion in Iraq. The war is costing Americans more than $338 million a day. Americans are having trouble paying their mortgages, food and gas are much more expensive (in Colorado the average cost of a gallon of gas is $3.00, last year this time it was $2.24 - AAA statistics courtesy of 9News), health insurance is out of reach for far too many Americans, but we're paying $338 million each day for Bush's pet war to benefit the military-industrial complex and his oil-buddy cronies? Nearly half a trillion dollars, and counting...

Economic forecasts are going to continue to be grim as long as we continue to dump billions into a reckless war that has no end in sight. The ongoing occupation in Iraq is sucking up the resources we need to make our economy work again. There is no exit strategy from the quagmire in Iraq. Maybe that means we shouldn't have gone in there in the first place if we had no idea how we were going to get out.

The U. S. has to borrow almost all of the money it spends on the Iraq war, which means our national debt is skyrocketing. Our grandchildren will be stuck with paying the tab on Bush's imperialistic war, and for what? To line the pockets of arms-makers and oil company executives? Because Halliburton and Blackwater desperately needed another hundred billion in their corporate coffers? We're mortgaging our children's and grandchildren's tomorrows to pay for the damage done by Bush's ego today.

And all the while we're being exhorted through government propaganda to be patriotic and support our troops, thereby tacitly supporting the war. Let's get this straight right now: the best way to support our troops is to BRING THEM HOME! Are we supposed to keep on sending soldiers to die for the glory of oil company profits? And by the way, it's not the sons and daughters of corporate executives and politicians who are dying in Iraq; it's the children of the middle and lower-classes - our kids. The rich are getting richer off the blood sacrifice of our children. This must end. Now.

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?” - Gandhi

Peace,
AuntieM

The Sound of Change

2008-02-20T22:12:00.004-07:00

I can't explain why I chose to do this, but today's blog is actually a song. The tune is familiar to many - it's a song from "The Sound of Music" called My Favorite Things. If you don't know the song, just google it. The lyrics, for good or ill, are all mine. Yes this piece is absolute doggrel but, hey, it amused me. It may not be a work of art, but the sentiment is right. Let's call this one:

The Sound of Change.

Bush and his cronies gone from Washington
A new president (who won the election)
We survived W, now it’s a new day!
These are a few things that would make my day.

U.S. occupation of Iraq ends
Muslims and Christians can now become friends
Peace is restored and it’s here to stay
These are a few things that would make my day.

Protests and marches and peace demonstrations
Voices united demand change from nations
Changes are coming and peace is the way
These are a few things that would make my day.

Funding for schools
No more homeless
Strong economy
I think about problems that we can all solve
To help all humanity

Our First Amendment rights must be restored
Repeal the Patriot Act, we implore!
Our civil liberties it took away
These are a few things that would make my day.

A national health plan to treat all our ills
Seniors don’t choose between food and pills
Medical care for which we all can pay
These are a few things that would make my day.

For greener energy we should all toil
Cleaner air means we must use much less oil
Fight global warming now, we can’t delay
These are a few things that would make my day.

A new day dawns
Hope is rising
We just need a plan
I think about problems that we can all solve
And I say that “Yes we can!”

Peace,

AuntieM

Conversation: the key to change

2008-02-19T10:23:00.003-07:00

I read part of the most amazing book yesterday at lunch. It was called "Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future" by Margaret J. Wheatley. This book was mind-blowing because it says a lot of things that I've written here or thought about writing, but Wheatley writes so eloquently her book made me think "yeah, THAT'S what I was trying to say, but the way she put it sounds so much better!" I wanted to e-mail myself some selected quotes from her book for use in this blog, but it quickly became apparent that I might as well just scan in the whole book instead, there was so much there worth remembering. I think a copy of this is going to go on my wishlist for Hubby next Christmas, unless I get impulsive before then.

Here are a few points from the book that stood out to me:

According to Wheatley, every great idea that wound up earning its creator a Nobel Peace Prize most likely started with a few friends sitting around talking and one of them says "How about this?". They bat around the idea and then it grows and takes on a life of its own, and this idea that got tossed out during a conversation becomes a world-changing concept. All because of a few friends talking.

Change doesn't happen on its own; we must work to create it.

It takes courage to start a conversation; it's hard to approach a stranger and talk. At the same time, we are all starved for conversation; our world has become so technologically sophisticated that we have the means to stay connected to the outside world 24/7. Yet we are more isolated than ever. My own thought about this is that we turn to electronic devices and methods as a substitute for human companionship and conversation because there is no fear of rejection by a computer or Blackberry, plus the anonymity provided by electronic media helps us to create a facade we think others will find acceptable, instead of just getting out there face to face and saying "this is me". I'm quite guilty of this. I thoroughly enjoy my online classes for practical reasons, but I also like the anonymity of being a name on a screen. I guess I'm still a little age-conscious about being in school with a bunch of kids, and just being a name on a screen doesn't give the kids in my classes the opportunity to prejudge me ("why is that old lady here?") - they have to get to know me through my work first. This blog is even a good example: I write under a pseudonym and my real name isn't listed in my profile. In my defense I was still job-hunting when I started this blog and I didn't want potential employers to find my blog using a simple Google search and decide not to hire me because they didn't like my politics.

Peace will not happen without change. Conversation is the key to change. Courage is necessary to start conversation. To me all of these things mean that if we want to create change, bring about peace and make this world a better place, we must summon our courage and start talking. Talk to each other, talk to friends, acquaintainces, strangers, anyone. Okay, I guess we shouldn't turn into raving lunatics standing on street corners yelling at passers-by, but anything short of that is good if it gets people talking. I had the greatest conversation a couple of weeks ago when I learned that an acquaintance is actually more like a neighbor and we share the same political views. As we talked about the problems of the world and what needs to be done it was like we validated each other, we confirmed that we're not crazy or alone or perhaps even in the minority. He said something that still resonates with me: he said he thinks a lot of people are ready for change, desperately want change, but just don't know where to start in order to work toward or create change. I think he's right, and perhaps Wheatley's book appeared at precisely the right time to provide an answer: start talking. (But don't forget to listen!)

As I read more of Wheatley's book I'm sure that more of her wisdom will find its way onto this blog. The book I'm reading belongs to a friend at work and I didn't dare bring it home because I know I'd neglect my schoolwork in favor of this book - it's that good!

"I want freedom for the full expression of my personality." - Gandhi

Peace,
AuntieM

What am I going to be when I grow up?

2008-02-17T12:01:00.004-07:00

That is a question I have struggled with for most of my adult life. I've tried different paths and discovered they just didn't fit me. I tried going the business route when I worked for a health insurance company for nine years. I was pretty successful there but it wasn't a passion, it was drudgery. I enjoyed what I did for a long time, but after I had worked my way up into management I discovered there were some serious ethical problems in the company I had worked to grow for all those years. At the same time the opportunity arose to move to Colorado, and Hubby and I jumped on it.

Then I tried adopting an approach that worked very well for a friend, which was to go for the most dollars in the least hours, which led me into the gaming industry for eleven years. I will admit that the leisure time this approach afforded was nice, that's why I stayed in it for so long. I did a lot of things during that time - I wrote a novel, studied many subjects on my own, became an accomplished seamstress, worked with Hubby to remodel our house, read a lot of books and did a lot of cooking, And where's the downside, you may ask? Well, I wasn't just any casino employee, I was one of the elite - I was a poker dealer. (There is a definite hierarchy in the gaming world, and poker dealers are at the top.) It's an incredibly high-stress job because poker players are overwhelmingly predatory and negative, and the dealer was always a prime target for hostility and abuse. Poker players could smell weakness in anyone, so in order to maintain control of a game the dealer had to be the toughest one at the table. That's not my nature, I had to psych myself up to play that role each day. Remember in the movie "All That Jazz" when Roy Scheider's character would face each day (after shower, cigarettes and amphetamines) by looking at himself in the mirror and saying "It's showtime"? That's what I had to do, except substitute coffee for amphetamines. I had to put on a show each day. After a while I started to feel like I was losing myself, that I no longer knew who I was. No amount of money was sufficient compensation for that.

Now I'm getting back to my roots. I did a lot of soul-searching and introspection, which was motivated by my mother's death almost two years ago - it's been a rapid change process for me, this whole evolution has happened quickly. There is nothing like the death of your second parent to let you know that your time in this life is limited and finite, to make you think about what you've accomplished thus far and what you still want to do in the time you have left, and make you get off your ass and get started! As part of this process I set aside practical considerations (like how fast could I get a new job and what would it pay?) and asked myself what I wanted from life, what sort of legacy I wanted to leave behind, what I wanted my time on this earth to stand for. I have always been politically aware and wished I could work to support liberal causes of many different types. I want to leave this world a better place than I found it. I also believe I have a perspective that needs to be shared with others, by both the pen and the lectern.

So what am I going to be when I grow up? A lot of different things, if I'm lucky. I want to keep working in the nonprofit field, hopefully in positions of increasing responsibility as my education advances. My job now is so incredibly rewarding because I am able to use my skills to further a cause I believe in, working with a group of committed individuals to make positive change in our community. It's humbling to be a part of that, and each day is filled with positive energy as a result.

I want to teach in the social science disciplines at the community college level, because I enjoy teaching (there's nothing like seeing the light of comprehension dawn in a student's eyes as he or she masters a new concept). For me teaching is a way to pay forward the gifts I have received from various teachers throughout my life. The reason I want to teach specifically at the CC level is because I believe that community colleges accomplish tremendous things for students who need a second chance or may otherwise be unable to get an education. I like the inclusive philosophy of CC's, they'll admit anyone who wants to learn and work to bring them up to college-level. Community colleges deliver life-changing educations to people who are committed to making positive changes in their lives.

I also want to write both fiction and nonfiction (probably philosophy and social commentary) because I think I have some valuable ideas that deserve to be spread beyond the classroom. I also want to devote time to political causes that are near and dear to my heart, because rabblerousing is just so darn much fun and is so necessary if we want to make the powers-that-be hear our voices.

It's taken me 42 years to figure out all of this, and I have a feeling I'm not done yet. At least I hope I'm not! My best friend commented recently about the way I reinvent myself every few years, and she's right, I do. I try on different roles, play them for as long as they work for me, and discard them without looking back when they no provide what I need. Each time I do this I learn much about myself, and I think each evolution brings me closer to the real me. I think I'm pretty close now, and I like what I see! Incidentally my spirit animal is the phoenix, which is reborn from the ashes of its own destruction. Apropos.

Huh?

2008-02-15T23:15:00.003-07:00

I am at a loss for something to write tonight. It's not that there aren't problems out there that are in dire need of attention. It's not that I don't have that fire, that passion for social change. It's because I'm kind of fried right now. I took two exams tonight for my online courses, and am now working on the assignments for my other two classes. The cherry on top of this textbook-laden sundae is that my sinuses are acting up and I'm doing all this while on decongestants that leave me pretty stoned. Like right now I wouldn't dare to drive. But I'm taking exams, go figure. At least the drugs somehow don't seem to hinder my academic performance - I got 100 on one exam and 96 on the other. The bright side is I'm actually in better shape as far as my schoolwork goes than I was last week, and may be able to take off at least a few hours on Sunday.

I've got a movie I'm just dying to watch but am waiting till Hubby's weekend comes around so we can watch it together. It's a mockumentary that I was surprised that I could get through Netflix called "Death of a President", it's a fictional account in documentary style of the assasination of George Bush. When I first heard about this film months ago I figured that it wouldn't be available in this country, that somehow it would be suppressed in the name of Homeland Security or something. Will post a report on this film when we're able to watch it.

The move from my previous job to the non-profit industry involved a radical change in my working hours and days. For 11 years I worked in the gaming industry with Hubby, but now I'm a 9-5er again while he still works nights and weekends. Fortunately this isn't the first time our schedules have been massively out-of-sync, so we know how to handle this - it's actually kind of second-nature to us now. We make a point to spend time together whenever possible, and we each have our individual pursuits and interests to follow in our alone time. I try to get most of my schoolwork done while Hubby is at work or in the mornings while he's asleep, plus whatever housework I can fit in so we don't have to spend our time off together doing too many chores. Hubby does the same thing - he's learning to play the guitar but uses time I'm working or am asleep (and I sleep very soundly, no worries of waking me up!) to practice and do light housework. When the weather gets warm again he'll resume working on his project car too. Sometimes I think that different schedules strengthen a relationship because they encourage each person to be independent while at the same time they emphasize the need to treasure time spent together. We had drastically different work schedules for the first two years of our marriage and sometimes it seemed we would go for days without more than seeing each other in passing. We used to keep a big thick notebook and write messages to each other. Sometimes the notes were practical - "I dropped off the rent check" or "next time you go to the store, pick up _____" - and sometimes they were more sentimental, but all the same they are a record of our early married life that became a treasured keepsake. We still have it tucked away somewhere, waiting to be found again.

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." - Douglas Adams

Later,
AuntieM

Procrastination, it's an art form

2008-02-13T19:56:00.004-07:00

Last night I started thinking about the subject of procrastination. This occurred during an particular sequence of events: I started to study for a class, but then I realized I should put a load of laundry in the washer first. I went into the bathroom to change out the towels so I could wash them and noticed the trash needed to be emptied. In the process of emptying the trash I wound up going through the medicine cabinet to get rid of all the expired stuff. Once I retraced this sequence of events I was severely impressed with myself for setting up this pyramid of procrastination, because each task was productive and needed to be done. I wasn't really wasting time, but at the same time I wasn't studying, which was what I needed to be doing at that moment. It made me think I needed to write an article on this blog about procrastination (blogging, another great way to procrastinate), but then I said "I'll do it tomorrow."

Breaking news: Obama has taken the delegate count lead! According to the news source I just checked, after yesterday's round of primaries Obama had 1078 delegates to Clinton's 969. Yay! Of course this is only the warm-up, the real battle for change will begin once both parties have selected their candidates and the presidential campaigning begins in earnest. It looks like McCain is building a substantial lead over Huckabee and most likely will win the Republican nomination easily. Huckabee is a joke. McCain, however, is a threat because his brand of flag-waving will be attractive to conservative Christians and those who are too blinded by patriotism to see the mess Bush and Cheney have gotten us into in Iraq. This is why we've got to get the strongest Democratic candidate (Obama) and the most likely candidate to bring about significant change (Obama) nominated, and then elected.

"The future belongs to those who prepare for it today." - Malcolm X

Peace,
AuntieM

One quick thought

2008-02-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

I've been positively buried under schoolwork this weekend because I still haven't gotten myself onto a study schedule since getting my new job. As a result I've had to hit the books pretty hard these last couple of days and hadn't been able to write anything for this blog. However, I wanted to take five minutes and post one quick thought: what constitutes a terrorist nation? I propose that a terrorist nation is one that uses fear to intimidate, control or otherwise direct the beliefs and actions of its citizens, a nation that frightens people into supporting its goals through threats (whether overt or implied). Is this a reasonable definition? If so, then by this definition the United States is a terrorist nation. The US has used propaganda and scare tactics against its own citizens to get us to go along with their trumped-up war-for-oil, and so we'd quietly stand aside as our own government robbed us of the civil liberties that the founders of this country fought and died to give us. I floated this theory in one of my classes and it was quite well accepted, which gives me hope that the next generation may be brave enough to take up the banner and fight to restore our liberties. But we cannot leave the fight to them; we must do our part, we must walk our talk, otherwise we don't deserve liberty. If we don't participate in the struggle to regain the rights that were granted to us in the Constitution, then we deserve to keep wearing the shackles of fear that we willingly put on when we accept propaganda as truth.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but we must never fail to protest it." Elie Wiesel

Later,
AuntieM

Negative e-mail, and a cat going blind

2008-02-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

I think I may have offended Hubby's sister, my sister-in-law. Last night I received another one of those hate-filled e-mails that slam Democrats. This one made reference to Chappaquiddick (I know I misspelled that one!) and Ted Kennedy's unfortunate auto accident back in about 1968. It's amazing how Republicans just can't let anything go. Anyway, she was the one who sent the e-mail, and for some reason last night I had Had Enough. You already know that I hold Senator Kennedy in very high esteem, and that e-mail was the last straw. I did manage not to send back anything hostile, and after a couple of false starts I finally managed to compose an e-mail which described my campaign to reduce hate on the net by countering negative e-mails with positive ones. I closed with a beautiful quote from Gandhi, and wished her peace. Doesn't sound too bad to me, but I have this feeling that she may not take it in the spirit in which it was intended. I hope I haven't irrepairably damaged our relationship, but I couldn't take it any more - I had to stand up for my beliefs. Silence is implied consent, and by remaining silent on all the other e-mails that have made my blood boil, I have tacitly agreed with that point of view. No longer. Up until now I have been betraying my principles for the sake of maintaining family harmony, but I can't do it anymore. I buried my principles for far too many years; now that I have found them again, I cannot bear to set them aside anymore. As family, I hope that she will respect this.

I'm worried about BoyCat's vision. I think his eyesight is failing as a result of his diabetes. Twice now I've seen him do the oddest thing. He'll approach the top of the stairs, pause and feel around with one forepaw to find the edge of the stair before starting down. Both times it has been pretty dark in the hallway; I haven't seen him do this in daylight or when lights are on in the hall. But it still worries me, and it simply breaks my heart to think that those beautiful gold eyes of his may not be showing him the world the way they should. He's also taken to wandering the perimeter of rooms while sniffing at furniture. I don't know whether he's doing this to help find his way around, or if he knows there's something up and he's trying to memorize the layouts. I wouldn't put that second possibility past him - he's so smart it's scary. Two factors that will help him out though: he doesn't go outside at all, he stays inside where he's safe; and I'm not fond of rearranging furniture, most everything is where we put it when we moved in, so he won't have to constantly re-learn new arrangements. Does anyone have any experience in dealing with blindness in cats? Any helpful suggestions would be welcome.

Classes and work are keeping me busy, but I'm having lots of fun at both! I've been able to get in a little rabblerousing in a couple of my classes and have found a few fellow travelers as well. It's good to see that some of my classmates are also longing for change; the trick is to channel the energy we use to complain into action for change. And of course to figure out which cabinet to rip from the wall!

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Peace,
AuntieM

Apathy and jury duty

2008-02-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

A story on the evening news caught my attention. It was about jurors not showing up for jury duty in Weld County, Colorado. So what, that happens all the time, right? Not to this extent. Of 200 people summoned, 161 were no-shows. Apparently the courts were hurting for jurors so badly that officials went out onto the streets and grabbed passers-by for jury service. Needless to say this created quite a stir. Those 161 who ignored their jury duty notices were summoned again today to be lectured by the judge and then assigned a brand new date to report again for jury service. Know how many showed up? 58. There were still over 100 who ignored their second summons. Now the Weld County officials are saying those people could be subject to arrest and fines. Wouldn't it be poetic justice if they had to go to trial and their cases kept getting dragged out because not enough people showed up for jury duty?

Maybe I've watched too much Law & Order, but I think it would be interesting to serve on a jury. I can't believe that in my entire adult life I've never been summoned for jury duty. Hubby gets summoned pretty regularly, every few years. Me? I think someone put a note in my file saying "Danger: politically aware. Do not let her serve." I did get to testify in a trial a few years ago, regarding a traffic accident I witnessed. That was pretty cool. Not Law & Order cool, but it was interesting.

Now I have a strong desire to watch the movie 12 Angry Men. What a great film! Even though it reflects the bad old days when only white men could serve on juries.

"It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Peace,
AuntieM

Caucus is done, and the wraps are coming off!

2008-02-06T10:45:00.001-07:00

Last night I attended my first caucus, and from the news reports I've seen since then I wasn't along by any means. Turnout for Colorado's caucuses was massive, far more than anyone ever expected. My precinct captain, a 30-year veteran of caucuses and primaries in Colorado, was totally flustered and told us she'd never seen this many people come to caucus. She told us that typically there were about 4 from our individual precinct; last night there were 35. It was standing room only in the high school cafeteria where we all gathered to register and hear brief speeches before dividing into our individual precincts to caucus. There had to be at least 500 people there just for the Democratic side; don't know how many were there on the Republican side. Here's an indicator though: as we entered the school there was a sign directing the Republicans upstairs, and there were people there on the Democratic side doing crowd control and directing us to the cafeteria.

(I found out this morning from a local news outlet that 119,000 Democrats in Colorado participated in caucuses last night, and on the Republican side there were 55,000. Sounds like there are a LOT of dissatisfied Democrats out there ready and willing to work for change!)

The procedures for the caucus were interesting and entertaining. Once we were divided by precinct and began the actual caucus process, the first thing we did was take a preference poll, a binding vote to see what percentage of people present supported which presidential candidate. That turned out to be the only poll we took because an overwhelming 80% of those present voted for Obama. The Clinton supporters looked a little defiant, and isolated, on the other side of the room. (Okay, I just tipped my hand - I'm supporting Obama. I even signed up to be an alternate delegate for Obama to the county convention, and did phone work for MoveOn.org to support Obama last weekend. There, no more secrets.)

After that, we considered various resolutions that, if passed, would be forwarded on to the county convention next month, and may ultimately wind up as part of the Democratic Party platform. The resolutions were a lot more time consuming because many of the members of my precinct were trying very hard to be informed voters (that warms my heart!) and had lots of questions, which led to interesting discussions on the merits and drawbacks of each resolution. I was sad that my particular precinct didn't pass a resolution calling for impeachment hearings for Bush and Cheney. The rationale of those opposing this resolution was that it was a pointless gesture that would just tie up Congress from doing more important work. That is a valid point, but at the same time I would like for history to record that the people realized that Bush and Cheney committed crimes against the US government and the people of the United States, and we at least attempted to call them on their actions. I hope that enough of the other precincts passed this resolution so it can move to the next level.

I did manage to get in there and do some personal rabblerousing (and wow, it was fun!) on one resolution calling for the establishment of universal health care and a single-payer health care system. Being a veteran of the health insurance industry as well as a documentary fiend and student of the human condition, I was well-equipped to speak in favor of this resolution. It was amazing to hear conservative propaganda against socialized medicine being repeated almost verbatim (scare stories about Canada's health system) by otherwise well-informed liberal democrats. It was even more amazing to be able to counter this propaganda with fact and directly make a difference in the outcome of the vote. Not meaning to brag, but I managed to convince enough people in that room to change their opinions, and therefore change the outcome of our precinct's vote, and as a direct result of my grass-roots rabblerousing my precinct approved this resolution. I'm going to feel good about that for a while!

My overwhelming sense of last night was one of awe and wonder, joy at seeing so many people come out on an icy-cold Tuesday night to participate in the political process. It was humbling and awe-inspiring. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched over by the spirits of the founding fathers, the suffragettes and the civil rights workers, all of whom risked "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honors" so that we the people of today could make our voices heard as a part of the democratic process. And they were smiling proudly. It was beautiful.

Okay, since I outed myself a couple of paragraphs ago, let me just confirm: I have decided to support Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Up until just over a week ago I was an Edwards supporter, but when he dropped out of the race I had to do some quick reassessment. This was a painful choice for me because as a lifelong feminist I want to elect a female president so badly that I can taste it! At the same time I believe the time is right to elect an African-American president. But do you know the problem with both of those beliefs? Neither one leads to choosing the best-qualified candidate; they simply rationalize using prejudice as a decision-making tool. In order to make up my mind I had to set aside gender and race, and examine each candidate's stand on the issues I believe are most important (the decision-making process I outlined in an earlier post - I walked my own talk). By this measure it wasn't hard to choose Obama over Clinton, and the issue that made the difference for me was the war in Iraq. Now Senator Clinton says we need to get out of there, but just a few weeks ago she was advocating a "stay the course" policy. Senator Obama, on the other hand, has always opposed the war in Iraq. I prefer a candidate who isn't going to change his stand on such a crucial issue simply to conform to the prevailing winds of opinion. I also believe that Obama is more likely to create a national health-care system that will produce affordable health care for all US citizens, while Clinton will be more inclined to create aid programs to help the poorest citizens but the middle class will be largely excluded. I also don't like something I heard Clinton say about working with health insurers to create a plan - haven't we had enough cases of the foxes controlling the henhouses under Bush? We need something different, not same-old, same-old, politics as usual. To me that's what Clinton represents, while Obama represents hope, change and sorely-needed unity for the people of this country.

Here is something I saw this morning that I was simply dying to pass on to anyone and everyone that I could. This video is simply beautiful in its message of hope. It's an independently-produced video that popped up on YouTube about 4 days ago in support of Obama, and its message brought tears to my eyes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY
Click on the above link, the video lasts about 4.5 minutes, and it's time very well spent! Nearly 2 million views already, this thing is flying around the net.

"Yes we can." - Barack Obama

For the record, I don't intend to let this blog become a running commercial for Obama, but since this blog is my platform for my views, from time to time I will discuss matters related to the campaign. My reason for writing is not to shill for any candidate. The main purpose of this blog, as I stated in my very first entry, is to advocate for positive social change. This blog will continue well past the end of the presidential campaign, because the battle will not be over on election day. There will be times that I choose to make the case that Obama is the candidate who is most likely to produce positive social changes, and there will likely be times that I disagree with his actions or proposals and give voice to those opinions as well.

Peace,
AuntieM