fear of flying

Two events of note in aviation this week.

First, the big JetBlue scare at LAX. There I was in the kitchen, folding laundry and watching Martha Stewart torture a handful of would-be apprentices and talking on the phone to Shelly (I am a big multi-tasker), when Andrew called up from his basement office, suggesting that I put on CNN. He gave me a quick rundown of what was happening. I turned the channel for about 20 seconds, seriously thought that I was going to throw up from the sudden surge of anxiety, and went back to Martha. I figured that Andrew could let me know how the story ended.

See, the thing is, I am a pretty white-knuckled flyer. Not so much in the middle of the flight, when I am busy keeping my children from kicking the seats of the people in front of them, but takeoff and landing are pretty hard for me. I always make sure there's a Xanax in my bag, just in case. It's about the only time I pray, and the prayer goes more or less like this, over and over:

please god if you're there please don't let this thing drop like a rock
and if it's going to please let it be really quick please please please

I can trace my fear of flying to one very specific incident: watching the footage of a DC-10 crashing in Sioux City, Iowa in 1989. I was 24. The pilots knew that the plane's hydraulics were shot, and that they'd be bringing the plane in on its belly. The media knew, too, and news crews were at the airport waiting to see the plane come in. Video of the plane hitting the ground, bursting into flames, rolling, and splitting in two were shown over and over for days. Survivors, burned, scarred, and disfigured, appeared on talk shows for years. I thought about those people, those who knew they might die, those who did die, and those who lived, every time on got on a plane for years afterward. Eventually, the thoughts left, but the terror remained.

Then, 9/11. And the people who knew what was going to happen to them. Who rode in those planes, calling their husbands, wives, children, lovers, fully aware that a fiery end was coming for them.

So, no, I didn't sit glued to my tv, waiting to see if the people on the JetBlue flight would live or die. It was too overwhelming. I saw the footage the next morning, and watched the video taken inside the plane. I watched people holding hands, heard people crying, thought about what it would have been like to get off that plane and thank the pilot for my life and my children's lives, and I cried.

My fear of flying continues unabated.

* * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, last night at Bradley, a man missed his boarding call. His luggage, however, did not, and was put on the plane. He was pissed, and he asked, I believe rhetorically, "What if there were a bomb in my luggage?" I think the point was to inquire about the foolish and unsafe policy of loading luggage for a passenger who may have deliberately chosen not to get on a plane. It would make terrorism plenty easy, no? But, apparently, the gate agent heard something different in the question. Police were summoned and the man was arrested.

I can't help but wonder, however, if the situation may have been handled differently if the man's name had been something other than Mahmoud Abouelleil.

I'll bet Mr. Abouelleil's fear of flying wasn't assuaged much this week, either.

compare and contrast

Near the end of August, there was a stampede in Iraq. Approximately 1,000 people, many of them women and children, were trampled to death during a religious pilgrimage when rumor of a suicide bomber spread through the crowd. In response, the Iraqi Prime Minister declared a national period of mourning.

Also near the end of August, as we all know, there was a disaster here in the United States. A hurricane killed a still-uncounted number of people, most of them poor and Black. In response, during a speech on hurricane relief, the President, leader both of the free world and, ostensibly, of a country in which citizens are free to worship as they believe, even if that means not to worship at all, called for a national day of prayer.

Throughout our history in times of testing, Americans have come together in prayer to heal and ask for strength for the tasks ahead. So I've declared Friday, September the 16th, as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. I ask that we pray -- as Americans have always prayed in times of trial -- with confidence in His purpose, with hope for a brighter future, and with the humility to ask God to keep us strong so that we can better serve our brothers and sisters in need.

One of these countries is governed by a bunch of small-minded theocrats. I leave it to you to decide which one.

i listened and i learned

Me being me, my first foray into podcasts has been the fabulous opportunity to listen to NPR at my convenience. Even if you're not going to be podcasting, don't miss this scathing piece by Daniel Schorr. Real Player or Windows Media.

it just gets better and better

No links up yet, but CNN is reporting the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

So now, not only do I have to get used to people living in the Astrodome, but to the words Chief Justice Scalia?

you've got the power

I feel totally overwhelmed when I think about what's happening in the South. It's worse than how I felt after 9/11, in a way. It's all just so unthinkable. People are living in football stadiums. Shitting on the floor. Dying in the streets. Old people. Children. Diabetics. No way out, at least for the foreseeable future. Want to know how bad it is? Take a look at the Geraldo Rivera video at crooksandliars.com. Scroll down a bit.

What is the government doing? Nothing. Or nearly nothing. The National Guard is in Iraq. The Department of Homeland Secuirty failed to involve FEMA and to mobilize troops before things got out of control. And they knew this was coming! They knew that there were tens of thousands of people with nowhere to go and no way to get out. Why did they let it happen instead of preventing it?

And what about the next time? What if it's an attack, and they don't know it's coming? Then what? Everyone moves to DisneyWorld for a while?

And every question only leads to more questions. Nothing to do except to send money and think about how lucky we are, as we sit on the beach sipping our cokes. No answers.

Except one.

Please, look in your heart. Ask yourself if you really think that this is the nation you want to live in. Ask yourself if you think that our priorities are in order. Ask yourself if you think that this would have gotten this bad if someone else were in charge. Ask yourself if this would have happened if the hurricane had been headed for Palm Beach.

And, if you don't like the answers in your heart, the next time you get a chance, please, please, please...

Vote.

it's a gas, gas, gas

I've been with my kids, that's where I've been. We went to Rhode Island for a few days of fun with Karen and her family, and I am still way too tan. Someone said to me today, "a little color is good!" but we were on the phone when she said it, and I had to try to explain the I have crossed way over that line. I'm well on my way to the land of "she looks like a leather sofa."

But enough of that. Really, there's only one thing on my mind today, and yesterday, and the day before that. The hurricane. The people in the stadiums. The kids.

There is so much to say, but none of it new, I guess. It's horrifying. It's tragic. It's disgusting. It's the worst thing I've seen in this country in my lifetime. People who had so little now have nothing. Of course, of course, of course, I hope that this is the undoing of George Bush. Only he could still manage that smirk in the middle of all of this. I hope that, as more people die, and gas prices go up, someone stands up and says "This is HIS fault. Now vote for me."

Gas prices: It cost me $3.05 a gallon to fill up yesterday and, honestly, I wish that someone could explain to me, like I were I six year old, a stupid six year old, why. I know the hurricane is what drove it up from $2.75, but why was it $2.75 in the first place, when the President is sucking every Saudi dick that gets waved in his direction? If you know, and you can tell me in a real, and not glib, way, please do. I'd appreciate it.

Meanwhile, do you want to help? Do you want to do something real and tangible? I spoke this morning to a woman who is CEO of the Baton Rouge Girl Scout Council. She's helping me steer my troop's efforts int he right direction. Her brother, sister in law, and 2 year old nephew are from New Orleans, where she grew up, and are now moving from relative to relative in Baton Rouge. Their home was completely destroyed, along with everything in it. I'm packing up a box of clothes and toys for the baby, and shipping them South. If you want to send something to little Jonathan, who, in a sea of desolate faces, is the only one I knwo that has a name, let me know and I will email you with a mailing address. I'm sure that anything from Matchbox cars to a batch of homemade cookies would be appreciated. It's all nothing, I know but, to these folks, every nothing is something.

shout it from the rooftops

I've been absent too much, I know. Sorry. I don't know, summer and all that.

I've stopped blogging at DotMoms so I took it out of the sidebar this morning. I still think it's a terrific site, and I'll keep reading it, but it was getting harder and harder to make deadlines with everything else that's going on.

I finished making a groovy imovie for a big Council-wide Girl Scout event that's coming next week. I'm pretty sure that the room will be blown away. Honestly, I don't think these women know that there is life after PowerPoint.

Lisa has lost a lot of weight by going to Weight Watchers this spring and summer. As I have found a lot of weight lately, I'm thinking about following suit. But I'm all bummed out because I searched their site for meetings, looking for one a town or two over so I could be more or less anonymous, and the only meeting that fits my schedule is right smack in the middle of my town. So now, not only do I have to endure the humiliation of joining the fat chicks club, but I have to join the local chapter and get greeted like fucking Norm every time I walk in.

Despite Iraq and everything else, it's this story in recent news that's on my mind. I figure Mark Downs is headed for a future career coaching in Hell.

In happier news, this. As I posted on echo when I first read the story, it's tales like this that make and keep me liberal. I think it is entirely right and good for a government to spend nearly two million dollars on a merry go round.

* * * * * * * *

Speaking of being a liberal, an interesting experience recently. A woman I've known since Emily was in preschool is running for the town Board of Selectmen. As a Republican. She's not a great friend, but we've had dinner at their house, and they at ours, and I like her well enough. So we talked in the parking lot at school one day and, of course, she urged me to, you know, vote the person, not the party and all that. And I thought about it. I really did. Ordinarily, I like to support my friends and acquaintances in their various endeavors, and, well, could I support her in this? Could I vote for her, or even put a sign on my lawn?

Nope.

I thought about it. I really did. But I stand where I've stood all along. I will not "vote the person, not the party." The person is part of the party. Water flows downhill. I believe that people higher up in the party seek to influence the actions and policies of people further down the chain of command. The President believes in God and a so-called "Culture of Life," and, next thing you know, local Republicans are pushing for things like Intelligent Design in classrooms and abstinence-based sex education programs.

This, then, is the Digital Hausfrau Political Manifesto:

Until the national leadership of the Republican Party chooses to get out of bed with the Christian Right, until the party ceases to function as the political arm of the Fundamentalist movement in this country, not one vote for a Republican candidate.

true lies

Remember that day? The flight suit, the aircraft carrier, the cheers? Do you realize that it was two years ago this week?

I wonder how many parents have buried their children since the President announced "the end of major combat." And how many more have to die before it's the truth?

And where, by the way, is Osama bin Laden? Remember, the guy who convinced a bunch of lunatics to turn jet airliners into weapons of mass destruction? What ever happened to him?

734 days ago. More than two years.

Today, a bomb exploded in Iraq, killing at least 23 people. Do you think that their families think that it was "minor combat"?

What a mess. Sharpen your voting pencils, everyone. And, if you're friendly with Hillary Clinton, please tell her that, as much as I love her, and as much as I'd love to a woman running the country in my lifetime, and as much as I am desperate for the Democrats to regain control, I hope she sits out in 2008. She may well be the right woman for the job, but she's wrong right now.

daylight and dead guys

An interesting point in a recent issue of the New Yorker. Get this:

...if each of every state's two senators is taken to represent half of that state's population, then the Senate's 55 Republicans represent 131 million people, while its 44 Democrats represent 161 million.

It's like a friend on echo said after the recent election...we don't really have red states and blue states, we have islands of blue, we'll call them "cities," surrounded by seas of red.

Finally, our Republican Congress is up to something that I really feel like I can get behind. I haven't been able to find a bill number, but, apparently, there is legislation under consideration that would extend daylight savings time by a month on each end. I am just totally and completely in favor of this, as I find the short days to be depressing and bad for my booty-shrinking efforts. Plus, let's not forget the very credible theory that it would reduce overall national energy consumption. I've called my senators and representative to say, "yes, please." You may want to do the same. When Senator Lieberman's office asked if I wanted to leave my name and address, I did. I thought, well, if I'm going to exercise my freedom to call, I'm going to bloody well stand up be counted. I love this country.

The Pope-a-palooza continues. It's like Woodstock over there. The whole process is so far from my tradition and interests, yet it continues to fascinate me. This morning on NPR, I heard an interview with a woman who had flown spontaneously from Dallas to Rome to see the Pope's body. She just went to the airport and "put it in God's hands," and was able to get a seat and fly over. Do you think that on-the-spot tickets to Rome come cheap? It amazes me. She broke open her piggy bank -- I'l bet she went into credit card debt -- because she believed that getting a look at a dead person would somehow inspire her. I hope it does.

Point of clarification, for those who may not know this: Jews do not have open caskets. I have never seen anyone I loved after death. The only dead person I have ever seen was a guy to whom I gave CPR when I was 19. It's a weird story. I was on my way to work (as a telemarkerter for a Bally's gym, but that's another story), and there was a big hulllaballoo on the side of the road. I pulled over to see if anyone needed help. Someone looked right at me and said This guy needs CPR!. Since I'd been trained at camp a few years before, I jumped right in. The paramedics relieved me when they arrived, then took him away. Hours later, we found out that he had jumped from a van while his wife was driving (!!) in an effort to kill himself. Also some time later, it became apparent to me that the reason that they had asked me to help, rather than any other bystander was that, in the fashion of the day, I was wearing a surgical scrub shirt! They thought I was a neurosurgeon, or a nurse, or a dental hygeinist, or I don't know what. In the end, it didn't matter what I was, as the guy has turned his brains into instant oatmeal on the road, and he'd succeeded in his efforts toward self-destruction. I never learned his name.

life in the united states of jesus

This week, the Supreme Court is hearing two important cases involving questions about monuments depicting the Ten Commandments and their placement on government property. Shockingly, I am not on the same side of the argument as the one that I fear most of the Justices are on.

When it comes to Bill of Rights issues, I am usually, also shockingly, on the side of a more literal interpretation of the text. In essence, if it comes to a choice between your rights and the govenment's, I'll pick yours.

So imagine my disgust when the following quote was sent my way. It is directly from the transcript of the arguments in one of this week's cases:

The Commandments, Scalia told Chemerinsky [lawyer for the petitioner], are "a symbol that government authority comes from God, and that's appropriate." When Chemerinsky objected that "it is a profoundly religious message," Scalia responded: "It is a profoundly religious message, but it's shared by the vast majority of the people. . . . It seems to me the minority has to be tolerant of the majority's view."

The minority has to be tolerant of the majority's point of view?!? Not unless I woke up this morning in motherfucking MOSCOW it doesn't.

I was under the impression that, in fact, the exact opposite was true. That, in these wonderful and free United States, everyone has an equal right to have their beliefs honored and respected. That, in these wonderful and free United States, no point of view achieves supremacy simply by virtue of widespread acceptance. That, in these wonderful and free United States, our representational democracy may, by default, result in legislation by popularity contest, but that the Supreme Court stood above such high school nonsene and interpreted the Constitution in a clear, abstract, and unemotional manner.

Apparently not any more.

* * * * * * * *

Typos, etc. above? Be kind to me today, people. I spent last night "sleeping" on the wooden floor of our local Nature Center, surrounded by 12 little girls.

We had a pizza party, went on a night time astronomy hike in the snow, made tabletop s'mores, did an experiment with vinegar, baking soda, and empty bottles (insert your own douching joke here, please. I'm too tired), made slime, and played with colored cellophane and flashlights.

I'm wiped.

do the math

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953

The President, super-smart money manager that he is, has proposed an increase in death benefits to the families of soldiers killed in combat zones. According to this plan, the benefit paid to surviving family members would jump to $100,000 from the current figure of $12,240.

This is such a complicated question.

See, on one hand, family members should get a lot of money from the government if their loved on is killed in action. Their son/daughter/husband/wife/mother/father just died in service of his or her country. That family will never be whole again.

But! On the other hand!

That son/daughter/husband/wife/mother/father volunteered for military duty, and just maybe getting killed while you serve isn't like a secret risk or anything.

But! On the third hand!

A volunteer army by necessity preys on the low-income and under-educated, offering them a means by which to improve their lives...opportunities which these young volunteers can rarely access in the public or private sectors. So, is everyone in the military really a free and willing volunteer?

And! On the fourth hand! The most important hand!

The war in Iraq, which, as an aside, is unnecessary and immoral and shouldn't be costing any family its son/daughter/husband/wife/mother/father currently costs $6 billion dollars per month. Say it together, boys and girls: six billion-with-a-b dollars per month. By the end of January 2005, the expenses of the war will top $152 billion. And the President wants to increase death benefits almost tenfold.

Where the motherfucking fuck is all that money coming from??? If I can't afford a new front walk and an exterior paint job in the same year, how can President Bush afford a war, increased death benefits, a cure for AIDS, and a $40 million inauguration?

All I can think is that, if the question of the death benefit increase is a complicated one for me, imagine how the budget vote is going to feel to some poor bastard freshman congressperson who is up for reelection in less than two years and would like to maybe return and do some good for his or her community. The Congressional record will record the vote, but it's going to go down in the court of public opinion as a vote for or against widows and children, not for or against the budget.

How did the President ever come up with such a brilliant budget-passing maneuver, I wonder? It must have been Karl Rove.

pat the bunny

Our President's nominee for Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, was recently confirmed by congress. The publicly anti-SpongeBob Spellings took office only Monday, and she's already busy at work making America a safe place for young minds. One of her first acts was to write a strongly worded letter to Pat Mitchell, President of PBS, condemning an upcoming episode of "Postcards from Buster."

This particular episode of the show, in which an animated bunny goes from place to place, introducing us to the people and customs thereof, has Buster visiting a lesbian couple and their daughter in Vermont. Apparently, they all go (gasp!) maple sugaring together. Although news reports have not specified, I feel fairly confident in assuming that there is no actual on-screen cunnilingus. Said Secretary Spellings:

Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode. Congress’ and the Department’s purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television.

This. kind. of. subject. matter.

Exactly which kind of subject matter does she mean, I wonder? The "gay people are people" kind? The "gay people have children and love them" kind? The "not everyone is straight, white, and Christian" kind?

Although it remains up to each local affiliate whether or not to air the episode, Spellings wants PBS to return the taxpayer dollars that were used to produce it. If that happens, I will happily write a check to WGBH, the Boston station that creates "Postcards from Buster," representing my share. And then some.

freedom to squander

Forty million dollars will be spent on this week's inaugural festivities and, frankly, I'd like someone to tell me why. Didn't we have a revolution to overthrow a monarchy? So why is it that my money is being spent on a coronation?

And, for the record, I'm not asking this just because the President is dumb as a bag of hammers, or because I believe he is a dangerous man who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices, or because his policies on abortion put my daughter's life at risk, or because he has returned this country to seemingly contrary positions of war-mongering and isolationism not seen in nearly a hundred years. I'd say the same thing if they were swearing in John Kerry today.

It's a waste. It's sickening. Soldiers will die today. People will go to bed hungry. Children will lie ill because their parents can't afford to get them prompt and conprehensive heath care. Students will enter schools through metal detectors, and receive no education in music or art. African American teens will begin lives in prisions instead of universities. Senior citizens will choose between groceries and medication. That's the country we live in, and 40 million dollars is a lot of money.

It should be spent on something else. Swear him in, give him a pat on the back and a nice cake, and get him to work.

today i will wear black

And not as a fashion statement.

I think that this is the saddest story to come out of Iraq yet. I don't have it in me to wrote a whole piece about it, because the tragedy is too great to get all pithy about. I feel ill when I think about it too hard.

Major combat operations in Iraq have NOT ended. RIP, Margaret Hassan, a decent woman who tried to make the world a better place and died a slow and unimaginable death for her efforts.

in mourning this morning

It's all too depressing and overwhelming to contemplate, and my optimism factor is down to about a 1.1.

But, you know, obladi oblada. Speech therapy, girl scouts, sheetrockers, people coming to measure for carpet.

I'll post later if I can summon the fortitude.

election day news

Now I really have heard it all. True story:

A man came to my house this moring to give me a quote on painting the basement. As he was leaving, I said Go vote! in the same way that I would say Have a nice day!. To make a long story short, the guy then went on to tell me that HE HAD NEVER VOTED IN HIS LIFE.

What the fuck is that???

I mean, I know that not everyone votes the way that I do, but what's up with just not voting? I mean, why not just put a bumper sticker on your car that says Count me out because I don't give a shit what happens to my tax rate, the environment, or the rest of my daughter's life.

My head is still spinning.

When I got back from Bizzaroworld, I got in the car, took Jonah to nursery school and Slick to the vet and then Emily and I went to the school to vote. I picked her up so she could reach the levers. Then we took our cans to the grocery store and turned them in so she could donate the money to the scout troop and went to the library for the morning. I was reminded again that I find the library to be a little miracle on Main Street.

In entirely other news, Andrew and I watched SNL this weekend and it was pretty funny. But we definitely saw Eminem cheat! Microphone at hip, mouth closed, words still coming out. Apparently we weren't the only ones:

Slim Shady Eminem's handlers insist he wasn't lip- synching on "Saturday Night Live" last weekend, seven days after Ashlee Simpson's fakery on the same stage.

Slim Shady rep Dennis Dennehy tells us "he was rapping live" over "a backing track of his own vocals. It's hip hop. Artists sample their own voices all time."

All the same, some say "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels, whose cast lampooned Simpson's gaffe repeatedly, was mortified the audience heard Eminem's voice when his lips weren't moving.

Fort he record, I saw it with my own eyes. He's not just a homophobe, but a lying son of a bitch.

Bought a bottle of wine to drink with the election returns.

God bless us, everyone.

the big day

I'll say only this for now, borrowing from the best political sign in my neighborhood and one of the prophets of our times...IMAGINE.

Now please log off and go vote.

my favorite campaign ad so far

This could be me.

Seriously.

more campaign advertising

Here's equal opportunity proof that even Democrats can be assholes.

But usually they we are funny assholes, and that's a big difference. Lisa points us here for proof. Andrew and I cracked up.

rnc rule number two: no poofters

According to the latest Zogby poll, the Presidential race is pretty much a tie, with about 10% of the voters mystifyingly remaining undecided. Three debates down, three weeks to go, the candidates have put it all on the table, and 1 in 10 people still haven't made up their minds. I'm not sure what those folks are waiting to hear, but maybe this is it.

Look at this. I mean really, really look at it. Think about what it says.

The Republican National Committee recently mailed that flyer to homes in the state of Arkansas. As if the administration's fearmongering about terrorism wasn't enough to keep people awake at night and voting for George "I'm Your Daddy" Bush on November 2nd, now they're making sure that the godfearing people of Arkansas know that a vote for John Kerry is a vote to take a match the bible and let a couple of think-they're-as-good-as-we-are homos move in next door. The horror!

So, I'm just asking you to ask yourself this: Deep in your heart, are whatever promises you've been made about jobs or medicine or homeland safety enough to convince you to cast your vote in favor of bigotry and divisiveness?

Because no tax cut on earth could get me to stand up and be counted in favor of hate.

I believe them

I am not one of those Oprah acolytes. Really. But I am home a lot, and I do like my television, and, at 4:00 it's pretty much a wasteland out there. Anyway, she once said something that really struck a chord with me. She said, "When someone tells you who they really are, believe them." I thought of this today as I perused the 2004 Republican Platform. You can google it for yourself. It's an easily downloadable .pdf file.

I started to load this post with all kids of snark, but I think it's best to let the Republicans speak for themselves. Note these excerpts:

We oppose federal licensing of law-abiding gun owners and national gun registration as a violation of the Second Amendment and an invasion of privacy of honest citizens.

We commend the President for his steadfast support of people and institutions of faith, and we urge the Congress to act on legislative proposals to enhance private-sector works of charity and compassion. We also affirm that the hiring rights of religious organizations must be maintained so that religious charities do not have to abandon their religious character in order to provide publicly funded services.

Because we are opposed to discrimination, we reject preferences, quotas, and set-asides based on skin color, ethnicity, or gender,which perpetuate divisions and can lead people to question the accomplishments of successful minorities and women.

In the federal courts, scores of judges with activist backgrounds in the hard-left now have lifetime tenure. Recent events have made it clear that these judges threaten America’s dearest institutions and our very way of life. In some states, activist judges are redefining the institution of marriage. The Pledge of Allegiance has already been invalidated by the courts once, and the Supreme Court’s ruling has left the Pledge in danger of being struck down again – not because the American people have rejected it and the values that it embodies, but because a handful of activist judges threaten to overturn common sense and tradition. And while the vast majority of Americans support a ban on partial birth abortion, this brutal and violent practice will likely continue by judicial fiat. We believe that the self-proclaimed supremacy of these judicial activists is antithetical to the democratic ideals on which our nation was founded. President Bush has established a solid record of nominating only judges who have demonstrated respect for the Constitution and the democratic processes of our republic, and Republicans in the Senate have strongly supported those nominees. We call upon obstructionist Democrats in the Senate to abandon their unprecedented and highly irresponsible filibuster of President Bush’s highly qualified judicial nominees, and to allow the Republican Party to restore respect for the law to America’s courts.The sound principle of judicial review has turned into an intolerable presumption of judicial supremacy. A Republican Congress, working with a Republican president, will restore the separation of powers and re-establish a government of law. There are different ways to achieve that goal, such as using Article III of the Constitution to limit federal court jurisdiction; for example, in instances where judges are abusing their power by banning the use of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance or prohibiting depictions of the Ten Commandments, and potential actions invalidating the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Additionally, we condemn judicial activists and their unwarranted and unconstitutional restrictions on the free exercise of religion in the public square.

We support doubling abstinence education funding. We oppose school-based clinics that provide referrals, counseling, and related services for contraception and abortion.

We strongly support President Bush’s call for a Constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage, and we believe that neither federal nor state judges nor bureaucrats should force states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage. We believe, and the social science confirms, that the well-being of children is best accomplished in the environment of the home, nurtured by their mother and father anchored by the bonds of marriage. We further believe that legal recognition and the accompanying benefits afforded couples should be preserved for that unique and special union of one man and one woman which has historically been called marriage. After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence, and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization, the union of a man and a woman in marriage. Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country, and anything less than a Constitutional amendment, passed by the Congress and ratified by the states, is vulnerable to being overturned by activist judges. On a matter of such importance, the voice of the people must be heard. The Constitutional amendment process guarantees that the final decision will rest with the American people and their elected representatives. President Bush will also vigorously defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which was supported by both parties and passed by 85 votes in the Senate. This common sense law reaffirms the right of states not to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states. President Bush said, “We will not stand for judges who undermine democracy by legislating from the bench and try to remake America by court order.” The Republican House of Representatives has responded to this challenge by passing H.R. 3313, a bill to withdraw jurisdiction from the federal courts over the Defense of Marriage Act. We urge Congress to use its Article III power to enact this into law, so that activist federal judges cannot force 49 other states to approve and recognize Massachusetts’ attempt to redefine marriage.

As a country, we must keep our pledge to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence. That is why we say the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation to make it clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions. We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.

The GOP would like for us to believe that they are a party of inclusion. That there is room for dissent. Yet these quotes are, word for word, from the platform that their delegates passed at their recent convention in New York.

They have told us who they are, and I believe them. I also believe that gravity is an inescapable law of nature and that water flows downhill. I believe that the President puts pressure on National leadership, which then pressures State officials, who then pressure local Republicans. Given that, I will be voting in a straight line again this year, and every year until the Republican party chooses to sever its relationship with the Christian right, and to move this country away from, rather than toward, the theocracy that a small but powerful minority would like for it to become.

Make your own choice, but make it an informed one and, either way, go vote.

memento mori

Riding the Elevator Into the Sky
by Anne Sexton (1975)

As the fireman said:
Don't book a room over the fifth floor
in any hotel in New York.
They have ladders that will reach further
but no one will climb them.
As the New York Times said:
The elevator always seeks out
the floor of the fire
and automatically opens
and won't shut.
These are the warnings
that you must forget
if you're climbing out of yourself.
If you're going to smash into the sky.

Many times I've gone past
the fifth floor,
cranking toward,
but only once
have I gone all the way up.
Sixtieth floor: small plants and swans bending
into their grave.
Floor two hundred:
mountains with the patience of a cat,
silence wearing its sneakers.
Floor five hundred:
messages and letters centuries old,
birds to drink,
a kitchen of clouds.
Floor six thousand:
the stars,
skeletons on fire,
their arms singing.
And a key,
a very large key,
that opens something
some useful door
somewhere
up there.

a light at the end of the tunnel

Awesome site. Thanks for the post. Faceplates and more

it's the stupid economy

CINCINNATI - Indicators measure the nation's unemployment rate, consumer spending and other economic milestones, but Vice President Dick Cheney says it misses the hundreds of thousands who make money selling on eBay.

"That's a source that didn't even exist 10 years ago," Cheney told an audience in Cincinnati on Thursday. "Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay."

San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc. is an Internet auction site where anyone can sell just about anything, including clothing, cell phones, jewelry, memorabilia, trinkets and automobiles.

Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards responded that Cheney's comments show how "out of touch" he and President Bush are with the economy.

"If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking," Edwards said in a statement.

What next? We count babysitting money in the GDP?

two sides of the same coin

It's interesting how two people can have the very same thought, yet it can lead them to diametrically opposed conclusions.

Last night on the phone, I asked Karen, who lived only blocks from the World Trade Center in 2001, and who delivered her twins in an empty New York Hospital on September 12, whether she believed that we would see another catastrophic terrorist attack on the United States in our lifetimes. She said that, although she had not previously considered the possibility, and although it made her nauseated to contemplate, she did. As do I.

Apparently, Dick Cheney is afraid of the very same thing. Yesterday, doing his part to continue the Republicans' fear-mongering theme of "you'd better vote for us if you know what's good for you," he said:

It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States.

I think he's right, more or less, yet I am reasonably certain that we would take two very different paths toward the same end.

In another example of this process, I was talking to my friend R. tonight after book club. The conversation turned political and, at one point, R. said This whole gay marriage thing is ridiculous!

For a minute there, me being me, I assumed that ridiculous in the same sentence as gay marriage meant ridiculous that anyone would fight against equal rights for all Americans, or even ridiculous that this nation is about to re-elect a mediocre President who wants to legislate hate and discrimination into the Constitution of the United States. But it didn't. I finally realized that what she actually meant was ridiculous for gay people to want to get married, as opposed to settling for separate-but-equal civil unions.

I like to think of myself as smart and sophisticated. (ed: any snarky comments about that sentence will be deleted with extreme prejudice.) But, when it comes to the spectrum of political values actually presenting itself to me live and in person, I am sometimes so naive, and I hate that. It's as if I know that there are people who feel very very differently about things than I do. I'm just always suprised to find out that I actually know some of them.

how many is one thousand?

It's been all over the news today and, no doubt, you've heard it. We the People have passed a mark of sorts. More than 1,000 people have died in Iraq, many more since the President spent our tax dollars to fly onto the deck of an aircraft carrier and announce the "end" of the war than before.

1,000. One thousand. How many is one thousand? It's:

• 3 people for every person in my high school graduating class.


• 143 minivans full of young men and women.


• 6 times as many people as were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.


• 100 soldiers for every one of Jonah's toes.


• 17 people for every stuffed animal on Emily's bed.


• 62.5 men and women for each ounce of coffee I drank this morning.


• 21 children, each belonging to someone else, for every cookie I'll bake with mine this afternoon, happy and warm in my kitchen.

It's also the number of reasons that this guy thinks are good ones not to re-elect the President.

Think about what 1,000 means to you. 1,000 minutes. 1,000 dollars. 1,000 opportunities to kiss your babies good night.

Then think about the 1,000 families who won't kiss their babies again. Think about the 1,000 men and women who have died awful deaths. Think about 1,000 coffins, coming home filled with body parts and Presidential lies.

And, then, after you've done all that, think about who you want to vote for on November 2.

electioneering

The Republicans are getting really nervous about the upcoming election. They're running scared, and they are resorting to deperate measures.

They will stop at NOTHING.

I have proof.

a bit drafty in here

Some guy has an online petition happening, trying to get Bruce Springsteen to play Giants Stadium on one of the nights of the Republican convention. I don't really think it'll happen, but it just might just be the best idea ever, politically speaking.

Thanks to Howard for the pointer.

the harsh reality of war

A beautiful, eloquent, tragic commentary today from Michael Berg, father of murdered American Nick Berg.

George Bush never looked into my son's eyes. George Bush doesn't know my son, and he is the worse for it. George Bush, though a father himself, cannot feel my pain, or that of my family, or of the world that grieves for Nick, because he is a policymaker, and he doesn't have to bear the consequences of his acts. George Bush can see neither the heart of Nick nor that of the American people, let alone that of the Iraqi people his policies are killing daily.

Donald Rumsfeld said that he took responsibility for the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners. How could he take that responsibility when there was no consequence? Nick took the consequences.

Even more than those murderers who took my son's life, I can't stand those who sit and make policies to end lives and break the lives of the still living.

Wonderful statements not only about the loss of his son, but about the reality of war.

is this thing on?

Yet another politician to vote out of office...Note these remarks from a recent radio interview given by Maryland Governor Robert L. Erlich, Jr.:

I reject the idea of multiculturalism. Once you get into this multicultural crap, this bunk, that some folks are teaching in our college campuses and other places, you run into a problem.

This was, apparently, in support of a fellow politican who had vowed to stop eating at McDonald's after being frustrated by a conversation with a cashier with insufficient ability to communicate in English. A cashier who, likely, was working too many hours to go to night school and gain the language skills that she would need to qualify for a job that would vault her above the poverty line, while simultaneously earning too little to feed her family properly or afford health care.

The governor then goes on to desribe multiculturalism as "damaging to society." Not so surprisingly, I would beg to differ, and to suggest to this stuffed suit that it is archaic, head-in-the-sand, the-center-must-hold attitudes like his that are damaging to our ever-evolving society, rather than the continued creation of a climate of compassion, respect, tolerance, and diversity.

This. Muticultural. Crap. Can you believe that?

Lisa, Adam, Carolynn, Rachael -- you guys need to start doing some voting-finger aerobics.

an assault on my brain

Funny, isn't it, how important it becomes in any war to create a culture of "us" and "them"?

In my lifetime, the chronology of propaganda begins with General William Westmoreland offering up the comforting thought that "the Oriental doesn't value life in the same way as a Westerner." Apparently, it was as important to get the soliders to believe that as it was to teach them how to operate their weapons.

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped on to the soapbox. Here's what he had to say, according to the Associated Press:

Two days after US Marines destroyed a minaret on a mosque in Fallujah, Rumsfeld also showed reporters an undated picture of what he said was a mosque in Najaf with men holding weapons.

"You can see they have all kinds of religious instruments -- called rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s," he said after briefing members of Congress. ''That's what they do in their mosques."

Note the use of "they" twice in two sentences. Clearly, he'd like us to compare and contrast with what "we" do in our churches. (Forget what we do in our synagogues. God only knows. Human sacrifice, probably.) Seems a bit dodgy, that kind of open racism, but it is important to the war machine, and the re-election campaign, to periodically remind the nation that the Iraqis are, if not subhuman, at least sub-White and sub-Christian.

Last week, in another war entirely, Karen Hughes threw out this little barb:

I think after September 11th the American people are valuing life more...and I think those are the kind of policies the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy, and really the fundamental difference between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life.

Who wrote that? Westmoreland? And the administration certainly does seem to have a bad habit of invoking 9/11 when it suits them, don't you think?

If you've got a spare minute today, how about using it to tell the folks in charge that there is a difference between pro-choice Americans exercising their freedom of speech and terrorism? They may not listen, but they'll hear.