War -- the Exception to American Exceptionalism: This is a response I sent to a relative who has a blog. It was a blog in which she stated our values must change so national health care can be a reality and so money is not wasted on our huge military. It was a very good blog. I sent the following response to her. It is not as well written as I would have liked but it gets, I think, the point across.:
What you say has truth and validity. I THOUGHT I was getting that with our president. I thought I was getting VALUES, human values and not just platitudes or speeches well delivered. I THOUGHT I was getting health reform and that the public option was imperative; couldn’t be health care without it. That’s what I thought I was getting.
The word on the street is that our president is committing 36 thousand more troops to Afghanistan. No shock he said Afghanistan was so much more important than Iraq. It was. Emphasis on WAS. Will that be enough? No OF COURSE NOT.. so then it will be 20 more thousand troops, will that be enough of COURSE NOT then it’s 40 thousand more troops until he hands off to the next administration if he does not win 2012 (which he may, in fact, not win unless Republicans stay divided as we hope they do) an Afghanistan of probably well over 100,000 troops. Sound eerily Vietnamish familiar? You BETCHA it does. How much will this cost until it stops IF it stops? Answer: TRILLIONS. If you ask an “average” American what he/she would want more health care or WINNING war I am so certain that the popular answer would be WINNING war IF honesty prevailed.
This country LOVES to win war. They don’t like to lose war or sustain casualties or look at flag draped caskets or look at the slaughter of innocents from our bunker busting bombs but they LOVE WINNING WAR. As long as the powers that be (Obama included) tell them that war is winnable, a light at the tunnel can be seen and it is oh so necessary and cannot be done ANY other way … NO PROBLEM here’s more money for more troops and more war. Congress worries about being labeled unpatriotic don’tcha know. Face it despite the shining city on the hill BS that we are fed from birth, despite the bull pucky of American exceptionalism, the true reason we go to war is why? Because we like it!
How many wars since WWII have we been involved? When you know this you will know why a public option will NEVER pass. We love war MORE MUCH MORE than we love healing our sick and our poor. It’s really as simple as that. Values? What values? At the risk of vulgarity: Values other than the value of more war is a load of horse sh*% . Here are the numbers of wars our country has been in since WWII:
Second World War (1941-1945)
Korean War (1950-1953)
Lebanon crisis (1958)
Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
Dominican Intervention (1965)
Vietnam War (1957-1975)
Operation Eagle Claw (1980)
Grenada Conflict (1983)
Beirut Confict (1982-1984)
Panama Invaison (1989)
Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)
Somolia: Operation Restore Hope (1992-1993)
Kosovo War (1996-1999)
Yugoslavia Conflict (1999)
War on Terrorism (2001–present)
War in Afghanistan (2001-present)
Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines (2002)
Liberia peacekeeping (2003)
Iraq War (2003-present)
The list prior to WWII is too huge to post here but you can go to the link below to find the answer to that. It MAY… I say MAY astound you. Change our values? What are you smoking?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080930181743AApFxbL
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
I wrote to Neil Swidey in response to his article in the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine entitled "Where's the poetry, Mr. President?"
I have VERY mixed emotions about Obama so far. The glow has gone out of his presidency, in my opinion. I do NOT like what I am seeing and I am sorely disappointed on many fronts. Time will tell as to how inspiring his presidency will be and how historians will view it. It is surely better than the alternative but, sadly, I think I will never see what I have always wanted to see and what my parents did see -- an FDR (flaws and all). Here is what I wrote.
Mr. Swidey: I agree with your article in the Sunday, Nov. 22 Globe Magazine. I have been an ardent Obama supporter. I have been moved to tears by some of his speeches especially the ones to which you refered. His win after Iowa made me become an ecstatic supporter and what I felt I wrote in a letter to the NYT which was printed.
Throughout the year, however, almost from his inauguration which held some disappointments such as the invitation to Rick Warren to speak, I have been feeling that something is missing. Something seems not quite right. Your article seemed to hit the proverbial nail on the head. The poetry has gone out of his speeches and a dull prose has taken its place. I worry that he is not what I thought he was. What happened? What went wrong? Why am I feeling this way? Since the inauguration my response when people ask my opinion about him is I simply do not know. People say he is so bright, people say he is so deliberative and yet he is doing things that the Barack Obama I knew and loved I thought he would never do.
I take issue with his economic team, I take issue with his possible escalation of war, I take issue with his anemic support of those who were his most ardent supporters. Moreover, I have not seen him run strongly with the public option ball. As a matter of fact he downright waffled on what he said was the most important aspect of health care. Where is the dynamism, where are the speeches that left me breathless? Where was the FDR for whom I yearned in contemporary time. I was thrilled and inspired when at Grant Park after his victory the earth seemed to move. It seemed a new America was born; an America I knew and an America I loved. It seemed the long dark Bush nightmare was over and we had America back again. And then, it stopped. The Wall Street economic team was chosen, transparency took a back seat, no accountability for the most egregious Bush illegal acts occurred. To the contrary holdovers from the Bush administration were selected for cabinet posts, hands reached out to Republicans who would not reach back. We heard birthers, death panels and the most vicious white racism with wingnuts carrying GUNS to where a president was speaking. It all went unaddressed by the man to whom those vicious slurs were addressed. Barack Obama seemed to go silent just when our liberal causes needed him to be the most vociferous. Where is he? I don't know.
Maybe he works behind the scenes, maybe there is more to it then my eye far away from Washington can see. The light that was Barack Obama for me has dimmed. You are right to ask where is the poetry? I would love to know if you find the answer to that. Globe Magazine article below.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/11/22/wheres_the_poetry_mr_president/
I have VERY mixed emotions about Obama so far. The glow has gone out of his presidency, in my opinion. I do NOT like what I am seeing and I am sorely disappointed on many fronts. Time will tell as to how inspiring his presidency will be and how historians will view it. It is surely better than the alternative but, sadly, I think I will never see what I have always wanted to see and what my parents did see -- an FDR (flaws and all). Here is what I wrote.
Mr. Swidey: I agree with your article in the Sunday, Nov. 22 Globe Magazine. I have been an ardent Obama supporter. I have been moved to tears by some of his speeches especially the ones to which you refered. His win after Iowa made me become an ecstatic supporter and what I felt I wrote in a letter to the NYT which was printed.
Throughout the year, however, almost from his inauguration which held some disappointments such as the invitation to Rick Warren to speak, I have been feeling that something is missing. Something seems not quite right. Your article seemed to hit the proverbial nail on the head. The poetry has gone out of his speeches and a dull prose has taken its place. I worry that he is not what I thought he was. What happened? What went wrong? Why am I feeling this way? Since the inauguration my response when people ask my opinion about him is I simply do not know. People say he is so bright, people say he is so deliberative and yet he is doing things that the Barack Obama I knew and loved I thought he would never do.
I take issue with his economic team, I take issue with his possible escalation of war, I take issue with his anemic support of those who were his most ardent supporters. Moreover, I have not seen him run strongly with the public option ball. As a matter of fact he downright waffled on what he said was the most important aspect of health care. Where is the dynamism, where are the speeches that left me breathless? Where was the FDR for whom I yearned in contemporary time. I was thrilled and inspired when at Grant Park after his victory the earth seemed to move. It seemed a new America was born; an America I knew and an America I loved. It seemed the long dark Bush nightmare was over and we had America back again. And then, it stopped. The Wall Street economic team was chosen, transparency took a back seat, no accountability for the most egregious Bush illegal acts occurred. To the contrary holdovers from the Bush administration were selected for cabinet posts, hands reached out to Republicans who would not reach back. We heard birthers, death panels and the most vicious white racism with wingnuts carrying GUNS to where a president was speaking. It all went unaddressed by the man to whom those vicious slurs were addressed. Barack Obama seemed to go silent just when our liberal causes needed him to be the most vociferous. Where is he? I don't know.
Maybe he works behind the scenes, maybe there is more to it then my eye far away from Washington can see. The light that was Barack Obama for me has dimmed. You are right to ask where is the poetry? I would love to know if you find the answer to that. Globe Magazine article below.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/11/22/wheres_the_poetry_mr_president/
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Deja vu all over again: If you have not already done so I suggest viewing PBS Bill Moyers Journal and the LBJ tapes as LBJ agonizingly wrestles with the decision whether or not to send more troops to Vietnam. The similarities of Vietnam to Afghanistan are staggering complete with other powers losing in that murderous terrain long before we arrived on the scene. The generals and the Pentagon thinkers do their thinking, the grunts do the dirty work and come back in coffins. Usually it is NOT the policy makers whose sons end up horrifically disabled or dead.
It is, in my opinion, a question of CHANGING once and for all the national psyche from a nation which, in its geographical isolation, loves war and loves winning war to a country that will declare war and wage war ONLY when absolutely existentially necessary. Our country from afar sees war like a football game but does not want to see the blood and guts hanging out of its soldiers during war or experience what it means to lose a war and what it does to the national will.
Our country is falling apart at home. We simply cannot afford more war. We have no money and no more national will to fight it. Our soldiers we do have are whipped serving sometimes four and five tours of duty which is bone crushing. We do not even have enough troops if we were, God forbid, threatened anywhere else including at home. If President Obama will not pull our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and send NO more I believe we are among the doomed. We will be in a state of perpetual endless war forever. We can never sustain that.
The man who should have been president, John Kerry, was 100% correct. Terrorism should be fought as a police action with intelligence and particular strikes with special forces at the right time and right place but NOT with thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground 7000 miles away in an alien place with no end in sight. The Iraq War was nothing short of devastating to our military at best and illegal at worst. Yet again, the American people fail to learn history, fail to understand the polices that emanate from the leaders it elects who never have to bear the burden physically or monetarily.
We won OUR own revolution because the British could not keep up a force across the sea fighting a group who knew the terrain and had the WILL behind their existential cause. It matters whether a fighting force has conviction or not. A draft would mean drafting men (and now women too) in a country which would never countenance that. It will NEVER be done, over time, successfully with simply a volunteer army ... EVER.
I only wish Bill Moyers could have convinced LBJ, within whose administration he worked, of the folly that was Vietnam and now I hope someone shows this segment to President Obama so history does not eerily repeat itself all over again!
It is, in my opinion, a question of CHANGING once and for all the national psyche from a nation which, in its geographical isolation, loves war and loves winning war to a country that will declare war and wage war ONLY when absolutely existentially necessary. Our country from afar sees war like a football game but does not want to see the blood and guts hanging out of its soldiers during war or experience what it means to lose a war and what it does to the national will.
Our country is falling apart at home. We simply cannot afford more war. We have no money and no more national will to fight it. Our soldiers we do have are whipped serving sometimes four and five tours of duty which is bone crushing. We do not even have enough troops if we were, God forbid, threatened anywhere else including at home. If President Obama will not pull our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and send NO more I believe we are among the doomed. We will be in a state of perpetual endless war forever. We can never sustain that.
The man who should have been president, John Kerry, was 100% correct. Terrorism should be fought as a police action with intelligence and particular strikes with special forces at the right time and right place but NOT with thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground 7000 miles away in an alien place with no end in sight. The Iraq War was nothing short of devastating to our military at best and illegal at worst. Yet again, the American people fail to learn history, fail to understand the polices that emanate from the leaders it elects who never have to bear the burden physically or monetarily.
We won OUR own revolution because the British could not keep up a force across the sea fighting a group who knew the terrain and had the WILL behind their existential cause. It matters whether a fighting force has conviction or not. A draft would mean drafting men (and now women too) in a country which would never countenance that. It will NEVER be done, over time, successfully with simply a volunteer army ... EVER.
I only wish Bill Moyers could have convinced LBJ, within whose administration he worked, of the folly that was Vietnam and now I hope someone shows this segment to President Obama so history does not eerily repeat itself all over again!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Obama's Afghanistan Objective: In my opinion, the main US objective for Afghanistan has absolutely nothing to do with Hamid Karzai. I do not give a whit about the Karzai regime or ANY regime that the tyrannical, corrupt and opium driven Afghanistan power structure can invent. I do not care about turning a tradition, steeped in thousands of years of tribal warfare, into a Jeffersonian democracy. That is an impossible task. I do not care about oil, I do not care about a balance of fragmented Middle East power, and I do not even care about the inhumanities inflicted on the Afghans by their own people including 1/2 of their population, women. I do not care about these things not because I am inhumane but because this country simply CANNOT do it all.
What I DO care about is the safety and security of the American people and that is the ONLY thing about which I have ever cared. If Obama were president on 9/11 his main effort would have been devoted to striking those who struck us, getting Bin Laden, which he would probably have done, and wiping out bases from whence the attack was nurtured and honed. It would not have been war with Iraq.
It is impossible now because of the wasted time in Iraq to wipe out the tidal wave of Taliban in Afghanistan, ensure the stability of a corrupt Karzai regime or to eliminate the opium trade that sustains the Afghan economy. None of that is worth ONE more American life. What is worth life is keeping a laser-like eye on the wells from whence Bin Laden or those like him could spring to launch another attack. This is true NOT only for Afghanistan but it is true all over the world. Committing thousands more American troops to Afghanistan or anywhere else will do nothing but erode our military even more than it is today and risk subjecting our country to endless, intractable, and permanent war which could propel us to ruin.
We need to regroup, use what we have now in our technological and intelligence arsenal, invent NEW technologies, secure our borders and stay out of visual presence in the Muslim world. We need to wage a smart war, removed from Muslim populations by using technologies and intelligence which can, already do and, in the future, will keep us safe without returning to another Vietnamesque quagmire with all of its collateral damage inflicted on innocents.
This nation cannot afford more war -- not in troops, certainly not in treasure, and not in the hearts and minds of our OWN people much less in the hearts and minds of most of the Islamic world.
What I DO care about is the safety and security of the American people and that is the ONLY thing about which I have ever cared. If Obama were president on 9/11 his main effort would have been devoted to striking those who struck us, getting Bin Laden, which he would probably have done, and wiping out bases from whence the attack was nurtured and honed. It would not have been war with Iraq.
It is impossible now because of the wasted time in Iraq to wipe out the tidal wave of Taliban in Afghanistan, ensure the stability of a corrupt Karzai regime or to eliminate the opium trade that sustains the Afghan economy. None of that is worth ONE more American life. What is worth life is keeping a laser-like eye on the wells from whence Bin Laden or those like him could spring to launch another attack. This is true NOT only for Afghanistan but it is true all over the world. Committing thousands more American troops to Afghanistan or anywhere else will do nothing but erode our military even more than it is today and risk subjecting our country to endless, intractable, and permanent war which could propel us to ruin.
We need to regroup, use what we have now in our technological and intelligence arsenal, invent NEW technologies, secure our borders and stay out of visual presence in the Muslim world. We need to wage a smart war, removed from Muslim populations by using technologies and intelligence which can, already do and, in the future, will keep us safe without returning to another Vietnamesque quagmire with all of its collateral damage inflicted on innocents.
This nation cannot afford more war -- not in troops, certainly not in treasure, and not in the hearts and minds of our OWN people much less in the hearts and minds of most of the Islamic world.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Lost in the Wilderness: Concerning MDN November 14 editorial response "Letter: GOP not lost in the wilderness." I submit both parties are "lost in the wilderness." It is not an anti-Republican party nor an anti-Democratic party but an anti INCUMBENT party which is catching on. Independents, some Democrats and many Republicans loath the way Washington runs its sluggish digestive system. It gets little done and is reduced to constant tugs of war between the culture warriors and earmark warriors with the stalemate of the archaic tyrannical FILIBUSTER in their arsenal. The stew has been thick with argument and indolence. There MUST be a better way to collect and spend the people's money so it is not subject to the waste, fraud, abuse and stalemate that has been Congress's legacy for decades.
There must be STRICT meaningful campaign finance reform taking the corporate pigs out of the trough swallowing our money whole and buying the entire congress with few exceptions. I want to know how come the bank CEO'S who put us into this mess got bonuses, did swimmingly and are now vacationing on yachts in Tahiti doing, according to Golman's CEO, God's work? I want to know why the president put Goldman Sachs graduates Geithner, Summers, and others -- the penultimate foxes who ate our chickens -- guarding the next chicken coup. How did Geithner who did not pay his taxes get to lord over TRILLIONS of our tax dollars? How come necessary strict investment bank regulation is pilloried by some and shot with loopholes in favor of, naturally, the banks? Until the congressional pigs are not bought off and in bed with the corporate swine making babies, the American public will continue to swap economically one similar party for the other.
Moreover, why are some of the most middle class and vulnerable people DUPED into thinking the Republican Party is about them? It's NOT. It is about representing billionaires and its driving force includes mean, nearly all white, exclusionary, irrational religious fanatics who are taking it to the brink of demise. It is choked by social conservative mostly religious view points which have been a controlling albatross around a Republican party's neck exterminating moderates within that party who have credible conservative viewpoints, including church/state separation based on rational thought, fact and not a dizzying array of mythological fantasy.
Both parties need to rid themselves of those forces holding the rest of middle America, blue collar America and jobless America down, and truly create a government FOR the people not against them!
There must be STRICT meaningful campaign finance reform taking the corporate pigs out of the trough swallowing our money whole and buying the entire congress with few exceptions. I want to know how come the bank CEO'S who put us into this mess got bonuses, did swimmingly and are now vacationing on yachts in Tahiti doing, according to Golman's CEO, God's work? I want to know why the president put Goldman Sachs graduates Geithner, Summers, and others -- the penultimate foxes who ate our chickens -- guarding the next chicken coup. How did Geithner who did not pay his taxes get to lord over TRILLIONS of our tax dollars? How come necessary strict investment bank regulation is pilloried by some and shot with loopholes in favor of, naturally, the banks? Until the congressional pigs are not bought off and in bed with the corporate swine making babies, the American public will continue to swap economically one similar party for the other.
Moreover, why are some of the most middle class and vulnerable people DUPED into thinking the Republican Party is about them? It's NOT. It is about representing billionaires and its driving force includes mean, nearly all white, exclusionary, irrational religious fanatics who are taking it to the brink of demise. It is choked by social conservative mostly religious view points which have been a controlling albatross around a Republican party's neck exterminating moderates within that party who have credible conservative viewpoints, including church/state separation based on rational thought, fact and not a dizzying array of mythological fantasy.
Both parties need to rid themselves of those forces holding the rest of middle America, blue collar America and jobless America down, and truly create a government FOR the people not against them!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
I think I just fainted: Okay it's not marriage I know but still who would have thought the below link involving the Mormon church coming out (so to speak) against discrimination of homosexuals in employment and housing would ever happen? I had to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if I was dreaming.
Victor Hugo: "Nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5giJCBVPLX6vCUGeogYt0B5Wz7UNgD9BTL4EG0
Victor Hugo: "Nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5giJCBVPLX6vCUGeogYt0B5Wz7UNgD9BTL4EG0
Saturday, November 07, 2009
I wrote this in response to the November 7, 2009 Boston Globe editorial.
A Speech Impediment: I am an unequivocal Obama supporter. Having said that the editorial in the November 7, 2009 Globe "Obama's delayed empathy" had credence. I watched as the events of Ft. Hood unfolded and waited impatiently for the president's response and words of comfort about it. I, too, was disappointed at the president's slow-to-issue remarks and surprised as the Globe editorial noticed the same thing. The moment I waited for, as he stepped to the podium of the Tribal Nations Conference, I thought, fell extraordinarily short. I, too, could not believe how long it took the president to speak directly to the grave Ft. Hood events.
In his defense, perhaps, the president thought he did not want to short change those attending a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs by making an American military issue more important than their own. It has happened that the American government has done just that and worse to native Americans throughout its history.
However, he is our president and I too picked up on what I thought was this gaping flaw in the president's speech. Barack, we hardly know ye. At times it seems I don't know you at all.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/11/07/obamas_delayed_empathy/
A Speech Impediment: I am an unequivocal Obama supporter. Having said that the editorial in the November 7, 2009 Globe "Obama's delayed empathy" had credence. I watched as the events of Ft. Hood unfolded and waited impatiently for the president's response and words of comfort about it. I, too, was disappointed at the president's slow-to-issue remarks and surprised as the Globe editorial noticed the same thing. The moment I waited for, as he stepped to the podium of the Tribal Nations Conference, I thought, fell extraordinarily short. I, too, could not believe how long it took the president to speak directly to the grave Ft. Hood events.
In his defense, perhaps, the president thought he did not want to short change those attending a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs by making an American military issue more important than their own. It has happened that the American government has done just that and worse to native Americans throughout its history.
However, he is our president and I too picked up on what I thought was this gaping flaw in the president's speech. Barack, we hardly know ye. At times it seems I don't know you at all.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/11/07/obamas_delayed_empathy/
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Response to Jeff Jacoby the Globe resident "conservative" about his column today on health care.
So Jeff, perusing your wonderfully humane article "An option of public: less government more choice," I had the stomach to read, one bold paragraph caught my eye: "De-link health insurance from employment."
You know for a second that sounded pretty good as I have always thought what a pain in the rear it is that I am stuck to a job just because they offer health insurance so your paragraph on first line read SOUNDS rather, well, cheery. It was a PHEW moment. Thank God I won't be stuck in THAT job for my health care. Then I begin to think. Dangerous thing thinking don't you think? My first question is what if you are not working and the income stops with which you pay for your own health insurance? What happens then? Where is the safety net for those who have no job which applies to so many in the Bush whacked economy right? Tearing down the state-to-state barriers is great BUT if you don't have a job it doesn't matter what state-select insurance barrier you jump! Hey that's a great name for it "State Select!" Just thought of that. I digress. From where will the money to pay for health care come? What do people do if they are out of a job and get sick? How can they pay for it? I know, Alan Grayson had the BEST IDEA...DON'T GET SICK and if you do get sick DIE quickly! Now THAT's a selection that captures my own heart. I think HE is on to something!
So Jeff, perusing your wonderfully humane article "An option of public: less government more choice," I had the stomach to read, one bold paragraph caught my eye: "De-link health insurance from employment."
You know for a second that sounded pretty good as I have always thought what a pain in the rear it is that I am stuck to a job just because they offer health insurance so your paragraph on first line read SOUNDS rather, well, cheery. It was a PHEW moment. Thank God I won't be stuck in THAT job for my health care. Then I begin to think. Dangerous thing thinking don't you think? My first question is what if you are not working and the income stops with which you pay for your own health insurance? What happens then? Where is the safety net for those who have no job which applies to so many in the Bush whacked economy right? Tearing down the state-to-state barriers is great BUT if you don't have a job it doesn't matter what state-select insurance barrier you jump! Hey that's a great name for it "State Select!" Just thought of that. I digress. From where will the money to pay for health care come? What do people do if they are out of a job and get sick? How can they pay for it? I know, Alan Grayson had the BEST IDEA...DON'T GET SICK and if you do get sick DIE quickly! Now THAT's a selection that captures my own heart. I think HE is on to something!
A better written letter than the last sent to various sources:
I URGE gay civil rights workers NOT to make a concession speech in Maine or anywhere else to this hateful group of mean spirited ugly anti gay civil rights activists as homosexuals attempt to gain their rights to equality. To make a concession speech you would be doing so to the Fundamentalist and other hypocritical churches, which should be the main object of the fury, because they have been the main financial force behind foiling human civil rights and often just barely. You should say, rather, you are really not giving a concession speech but making a pledge that the next time will be fought even harder. It was close in Maine and better each time gays try in certain areas of the country.
It is the religious fanatics who are the barbed wire imprisoning all of us. We need to stand tall and like black people in the 60's keep forging on. We MUST make sure to elect senators and house members who are Democrats to ensure that they do not do this again.
Maine, you put up a GREAT contest. When I went to bed the no vote was ahead. The country is split right down the middle like it is in every other way. This is what it has been about since the late 60's. Everyone who wants civil rights has to claw and scratch their way to the top whether it's civil rights for blacks, women's rights or gay rights. Some day at some perfect time at some perfect hour justice will prevail as it did for others. It took years and, for many, centuries. Maybe it won't be in my lifetime but it is significantly better than it was 35 years ago. It's just not perfect .. not yet.
I URGE gay civil rights workers NOT to make a concession speech in Maine or anywhere else to this hateful group of mean spirited ugly anti gay civil rights activists as homosexuals attempt to gain their rights to equality. To make a concession speech you would be doing so to the Fundamentalist and other hypocritical churches, which should be the main object of the fury, because they have been the main financial force behind foiling human civil rights and often just barely. You should say, rather, you are really not giving a concession speech but making a pledge that the next time will be fought even harder. It was close in Maine and better each time gays try in certain areas of the country.
It is the religious fanatics who are the barbed wire imprisoning all of us. We need to stand tall and like black people in the 60's keep forging on. We MUST make sure to elect senators and house members who are Democrats to ensure that they do not do this again.
Maine, you put up a GREAT contest. When I went to bed the no vote was ahead. The country is split right down the middle like it is in every other way. This is what it has been about since the late 60's. Everyone who wants civil rights has to claw and scratch their way to the top whether it's civil rights for blacks, women's rights or gay rights. Some day at some perfect time at some perfect hour justice will prevail as it did for others. It took years and, for many, centuries. Maybe it won't be in my lifetime but it is significantly better than it was 35 years ago. It's just not perfect .. not yet.
I sent this to the No on Maine marriage referendum which was razor close. It is not well written because it's too early and I wanted to get my feelings out to them. This is what I sent and this is how I feel:
It's so early in the a.m. consequently I do not know if you made a concession speech but one of the gay newspapers online says you haven't. I URGE you NOT to make a concession speech to this hateful hateful group of mean spirited nasty excuses for human beings. To make a concession speech you would be doing so to the Fundamentalist and other hypocritical churches which should be the MAIN object of the fury because they have been the main financial force behind foiling human civil rights often just barely. You COULD say you are really not giving a concession speech but making a pledge that the next time will be fought even harder. It was close and better each time gays try in certain areas of the country.
It is the religious fanatics who are the barbed wire imprisoning all of us. We need to stand tall and like black people in the 60's keep forging on. We MUST makes sure to elect senators and house members who are Democrats to ensure in the more liberal states that they do not do this again.
Maine, you put up a GREAT contest. When I went to bed the no vote was ahead. The country is split right down the middle like it is
in every other way. This is what it has been about since the late 60's. Everyone who wants civil rights has to claw and scratch their way
to the top whether it's civil rights for blacks, women's rights or gay rights. Some day at some perfect time at some perfect hour we will win as our compatriots did. It took years and, for them, centuries. Maybe it won't be in my lifetime but my goodness it is a hell of a lot better than it was 35 years ago. It's just not perfect .. not yet.
You did a GREAT job. DO NOT concede anything! Just my opinion.
It's so early in the a.m. consequently I do not know if you made a concession speech but one of the gay newspapers online says you haven't. I URGE you NOT to make a concession speech to this hateful hateful group of mean spirited nasty excuses for human beings. To make a concession speech you would be doing so to the Fundamentalist and other hypocritical churches which should be the MAIN object of the fury because they have been the main financial force behind foiling human civil rights often just barely. You COULD say you are really not giving a concession speech but making a pledge that the next time will be fought even harder. It was close and better each time gays try in certain areas of the country.
It is the religious fanatics who are the barbed wire imprisoning all of us. We need to stand tall and like black people in the 60's keep forging on. We MUST makes sure to elect senators and house members who are Democrats to ensure in the more liberal states that they do not do this again.
Maine, you put up a GREAT contest. When I went to bed the no vote was ahead. The country is split right down the middle like it is
in every other way. This is what it has been about since the late 60's. Everyone who wants civil rights has to claw and scratch their way
to the top whether it's civil rights for blacks, women's rights or gay rights. Some day at some perfect time at some perfect hour we will win as our compatriots did. It took years and, for them, centuries. Maybe it won't be in my lifetime but my goodness it is a hell of a lot better than it was 35 years ago. It's just not perfect .. not yet.
You did a GREAT job. DO NOT concede anything! Just my opinion.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Health Care -- A Glass Half Full/Empty: If this country can find a way to ruin things it surely will. I am a glass half empty person. I have a malady called by me Patriapessimistic phobia. (Patria is the Latin word for country.) The way I see it, since the end of WWII our immersion into nearly everything has been more often a disaster than not. Why should health care or anything else be an exception?
Yes, we have a good health care bill (not the best of course, not the best which COULD save the most money but, okay, a semi-good bill which could help.) If there is a way this country can find to ruin something even semi-good I bet it will. If this passes I will get rip roaring inebriated. Since I am not a drinker and probably would get sick you can see I am betting this country kicks itself in its posterior once again.
If you think I'm bad on this topic of health care I won't ruin anyone's day talking about US foreign policy or our economic catastrophe because this blog needs to stay on topic.
Suffice it to say, post World War II we have been on the losing side of most everything. Even Obama with his anemic administration is one of the biggest disappointments I have experienced so far since when he ran initially I caved in and hopped on gleefully to the Obama wagon only now to have one foot off. Well, today, (and just today) I'm leaving the glass half full and letting myself have the audacity of hope! Here's hoping ... but while I'm seeing the glass half full today I know a thirst for water is just around the corner.
Yes, we have a good health care bill (not the best of course, not the best which COULD save the most money but, okay, a semi-good bill which could help.) If there is a way this country can find to ruin something even semi-good I bet it will. If this passes I will get rip roaring inebriated. Since I am not a drinker and probably would get sick you can see I am betting this country kicks itself in its posterior once again.
If you think I'm bad on this topic of health care I won't ruin anyone's day talking about US foreign policy or our economic catastrophe because this blog needs to stay on topic.
Suffice it to say, post World War II we have been on the losing side of most everything. Even Obama with his anemic administration is one of the biggest disappointments I have experienced so far since when he ran initially I caved in and hopped on gleefully to the Obama wagon only now to have one foot off. Well, today, (and just today) I'm leaving the glass half full and letting myself have the audacity of hope! Here's hoping ... but while I'm seeing the glass half full today I know a thirst for water is just around the corner.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Go Goshay: Ms. Goshay's October 27, 2009 editorial in the MDN entitled "Between Dissent and Hatred" link at the bottom, is WONDERFUL. I appreciate when one writes well, succinctly and most importantly correctly on issues. Her editorial was one of the best I have ever read in the Metro West News. She touched every base on this issue.
I have had many of my letters printed and spend hours trying to compose my thoughts in a grammatically precise fashion making sure I am syntactically correct. It is MOST distressing to me to take time to fashion a coherent opinion only to have the mildest comments eviscerated by mostly those on the right who take hatred to a new level. It is astounding to me how mean, often vulgar and insensitive so many are. Some have been so bad that I decided not to write any more only to reverse my once adamant position because I simply cannot suffer right wing politics in silence.
The subject matter on which Ms. Goshay wrote was SO precise and her thoughts so on point that I secretly wished I had written it myself. The insults that our president has suffered, often, I believe, racist in nature, are astounding. Even the most benign thing the president does is harshly reprimanded by some often by stating blatant untruths. It is true that I was often vociferously angry at George W. Bush and still am BUT the issues were more than his taking more vacation than any other president especially in a time of war but included much well deserved criticism of a war he did not need to wage that has taken more lives than were taken on 9/11, lasted longer than World War II, AND a policy that was based on fabrications to boot.
If Obama had been guilty of even one half the number of things George Bush was he would have been pilloried, impeached and, I believe, convicted handily. Thank you, Ms. Goshay, for your wonderful editorial. I hope to be reading more of what you write and often
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x566154462/Goshay-Between-dissent-and-hatred
I have had many of my letters printed and spend hours trying to compose my thoughts in a grammatically precise fashion making sure I am syntactically correct. It is MOST distressing to me to take time to fashion a coherent opinion only to have the mildest comments eviscerated by mostly those on the right who take hatred to a new level. It is astounding to me how mean, often vulgar and insensitive so many are. Some have been so bad that I decided not to write any more only to reverse my once adamant position because I simply cannot suffer right wing politics in silence.
The subject matter on which Ms. Goshay wrote was SO precise and her thoughts so on point that I secretly wished I had written it myself. The insults that our president has suffered, often, I believe, racist in nature, are astounding. Even the most benign thing the president does is harshly reprimanded by some often by stating blatant untruths. It is true that I was often vociferously angry at George W. Bush and still am BUT the issues were more than his taking more vacation than any other president especially in a time of war but included much well deserved criticism of a war he did not need to wage that has taken more lives than were taken on 9/11, lasted longer than World War II, AND a policy that was based on fabrications to boot.
If Obama had been guilty of even one half the number of things George Bush was he would have been pilloried, impeached and, I believe, convicted handily. Thank you, Ms. Goshay, for your wonderful editorial. I hope to be reading more of what you write and often
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x566154462/Goshay-Between-dissent-and-hatred
The Road Not Taken
There are times in everyone's life when a road was not taken or a turn was missed. One looks back and thinks, well, maybe I can do such and such and this will make it better but in reality a certain road not taken or a certain turn missed will permanently affect one's life. It cannot be changed and one either has to live with the consequences or, well, I don't know what.
The US is in such a bind in Afghanistan. The road not taken was the Bush administration's EGREGIOUS lack of focus on the real problem after 9/11 which, of course, was NOT Iraq but getting Bin Laden whom we almost killed in Tora Bora near the Afghan/Pakistan border to try then to ensure Af-Pak (a nuclear armed Pakistan) security. I believe the order NOT to kill Bin Laden came from the highest echelons of the Bush White House despite the fact that, as testimony indicates, the US had Bin Laden in its cross-hairs. Bush/Cheney chose not to get Bin Laden for a reason. Killing Bin Laden would have made Bush's coveted Iraq War unnecessary. So this treasonous and poisonous policy brings us to our present moment as that administration did what it did and now WE, certainly not the cerebrally inept George W. Bush, have to live with its consequences. The US death toll in Afghanistan mounts and there is a reemergence of an insurgency in Iraq which our invasion of it produced.
Iraq and Afghanistan are LOST. Face it, they are LOST because the road was not taken to secure Afghanistan FIRST and not to throw blood, money and time into an Iraq war based on lies. It is amazing how this nation of 300,000,000 consistently elects incompetents to do the most important job -- to protect 300 million people of this nation.
Now, what to do? Good luck, President Obama, no matter WHAT you do failure is at the end of this road because the country MISSED a vital turn eight years ago!
There are times in everyone's life when a road was not taken or a turn was missed. One looks back and thinks, well, maybe I can do such and such and this will make it better but in reality a certain road not taken or a certain turn missed will permanently affect one's life. It cannot be changed and one either has to live with the consequences or, well, I don't know what.
The US is in such a bind in Afghanistan. The road not taken was the Bush administration's EGREGIOUS lack of focus on the real problem after 9/11 which, of course, was NOT Iraq but getting Bin Laden whom we almost killed in Tora Bora near the Afghan/Pakistan border to try then to ensure Af-Pak (a nuclear armed Pakistan) security. I believe the order NOT to kill Bin Laden came from the highest echelons of the Bush White House despite the fact that, as testimony indicates, the US had Bin Laden in its cross-hairs. Bush/Cheney chose not to get Bin Laden for a reason. Killing Bin Laden would have made Bush's coveted Iraq War unnecessary. So this treasonous and poisonous policy brings us to our present moment as that administration did what it did and now WE, certainly not the cerebrally inept George W. Bush, have to live with its consequences. The US death toll in Afghanistan mounts and there is a reemergence of an insurgency in Iraq which our invasion of it produced.
Iraq and Afghanistan are LOST. Face it, they are LOST because the road was not taken to secure Afghanistan FIRST and not to throw blood, money and time into an Iraq war based on lies. It is amazing how this nation of 300,000,000 consistently elects incompetents to do the most important job -- to protect 300 million people of this nation.
Now, what to do? Good luck, President Obama, no matter WHAT you do failure is at the end of this road because the country MISSED a vital turn eight years ago!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Check out the Sunday Ideas Section K of the Globe. Link below: The Heading: "Islam's Darwin Problem In the Muslim world, creationism is on the rise." Link below.
This article makes STEAM blow out of my ears. If there is anything that is my STRONGEST held belief it is academic excellence and the progression of science. There are some things that are simply SCIENTIFIC FACT that cannot be denied like the earth is round, like it orbits the sun, like gravity exists, like DNA exists and like DNA EVOLUTIONARILY MORPHS OVER TIME. It is NOT hypothetical supposition but it is FACT that humans like all other mammals changed over time and evolved out of Africa from APES our closest DNA mammalian relative. There is NO doubt about it. It is FACT.
This is exactly why orthodox, fundamentalist religions of ANY stripe are an anathema to me because they DENY fundamental truths of science if it does not fit into their fairy tale totally impossible to prove myths of sky gods, angels, and Red Sea splits or life beginning a mere 5000 years ago. If you deny the truth of science then mankind cannot progress in his quest to understand our beginnings and in his efforts against disease to ensure his OWN survival. That is what it is about ... SURVIVAL. This is exactly why the ideas of the west are light years, with all of the west's frailties, better than any other place on earth. The west MUST prevail because any other possibility is out of the question and will mean the demise of homo sapiens which DID, as proven, evolve over 100,000 years ago. The evidence for that mounts every day.
This article makes the top of my head blow off. I wonder if it does to anyone else!!!
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/10/25/in_the_muslim_world_creationism_is_on_the_rise/
This article makes STEAM blow out of my ears. If there is anything that is my STRONGEST held belief it is academic excellence and the progression of science. There are some things that are simply SCIENTIFIC FACT that cannot be denied like the earth is round, like it orbits the sun, like gravity exists, like DNA exists and like DNA EVOLUTIONARILY MORPHS OVER TIME. It is NOT hypothetical supposition but it is FACT that humans like all other mammals changed over time and evolved out of Africa from APES our closest DNA mammalian relative. There is NO doubt about it. It is FACT.
This is exactly why orthodox, fundamentalist religions of ANY stripe are an anathema to me because they DENY fundamental truths of science if it does not fit into their fairy tale totally impossible to prove myths of sky gods, angels, and Red Sea splits or life beginning a mere 5000 years ago. If you deny the truth of science then mankind cannot progress in his quest to understand our beginnings and in his efforts against disease to ensure his OWN survival. That is what it is about ... SURVIVAL. This is exactly why the ideas of the west are light years, with all of the west's frailties, better than any other place on earth. The west MUST prevail because any other possibility is out of the question and will mean the demise of homo sapiens which DID, as proven, evolve over 100,000 years ago. The evidence for that mounts every day.
This article makes the top of my head blow off. I wonder if it does to anyone else!!!
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/10/25/in_the_muslim_world_creationism_is_on_the_rise/
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Say it ain't so: I, a Boston Red Sox fan from birth, watched the Yankee/Angels championship games off and on growling every time those damn Yankees made a great play or hit in the clutch. I watched as Johnny Damon stood in left field, made great outfield plays and know he can be counted on for his solid hitting. I know this because once Damon was a part of the Red Sox miracle 2004 World Series win when children visited their parents’ graves to tell their dearly departed that the Red Sox FINALLY won the World Series! My father waited all of his life for it but to no avail.
I notice Johnny Damon’s former Red Sox long locks are shorn into a Steinbrenner fascist like cut. Could this be the same Johnny Damon who was part of the self proclaimed “Idiots” who miraculously broke the Babe Ruth curse, won the greatest play off game ever against the hated Yankees by impossibly sweeping the last four games and miraculously went on to win the 2004 World Series? Was this the same Johnny Damon who hit two home runs (including a grand slam), to lead the Red Sox to that victory over the Yankees? In the World Series he also hit a home run as Boston swept the St. Louis Cardinals. No it cannot be he can it? With his compadres Varitek, Nixon, Millar and others they made up the band of “idiots” whom Red Sox Nation adored … NO worshiped. On December 20, 2005, Damon signed a 4 year, $52 million contract with the New York Yankees as the Red Sox refused to compete with the all-about-the-money pinstripes.
So what’s my point? The nation here in Boston was furious at Damon. How could he betray us? We LOVED him so and could not understand why love did not trump all. We as humans yearn for things to be not ALWAYS about the money. Alas, I am afraid money is what it is all about. It’s true in sports, finance, health care and politics. It’s true in nearly everything. It’s almost never about love or the little guy who makes the big guy run. Money is the bottom line and I suspect we who help them make that money wish so often it were sometimes just about us!
I notice Johnny Damon’s former Red Sox long locks are shorn into a Steinbrenner fascist like cut. Could this be the same Johnny Damon who was part of the self proclaimed “Idiots” who miraculously broke the Babe Ruth curse, won the greatest play off game ever against the hated Yankees by impossibly sweeping the last four games and miraculously went on to win the 2004 World Series? Was this the same Johnny Damon who hit two home runs (including a grand slam), to lead the Red Sox to that victory over the Yankees? In the World Series he also hit a home run as Boston swept the St. Louis Cardinals. No it cannot be he can it? With his compadres Varitek, Nixon, Millar and others they made up the band of “idiots” whom Red Sox Nation adored … NO worshiped. On December 20, 2005, Damon signed a 4 year, $52 million contract with the New York Yankees as the Red Sox refused to compete with the all-about-the-money pinstripes.
So what’s my point? The nation here in Boston was furious at Damon. How could he betray us? We LOVED him so and could not understand why love did not trump all. We as humans yearn for things to be not ALWAYS about the money. Alas, I am afraid money is what it is all about. It’s true in sports, finance, health care and politics. It’s true in nearly everything. It’s almost never about love or the little guy who makes the big guy run. Money is the bottom line and I suspect we who help them make that money wish so often it were sometimes just about us!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Beauty through the noise: I found a video with an Eva Cassidy song entitled "You Take My Breath Away" put on Utube by mnnorthcountrygirl1. Ms. Cassidy died from cancer at a very young age. She was a wonderful song writer more of whose talent we had not enough time to enjoy.
With the din and the cacophony of so many different strongly held opinions (mine included), as the person posting the Utube says, "it will give you a taste of the beauty to be found during even the harshest of seasons." I think that is a metaphor for the times we have been cast into for decades.
The song is gorgeous and makes one, I think, stop to listen to the music, appreciate the life we have been born into and try to still our anger, give pause and think about what we say, how we say it and what we can do to make it better. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxQT5awPnsQ
With the din and the cacophony of so many different strongly held opinions (mine included), as the person posting the Utube says, "it will give you a taste of the beauty to be found during even the harshest of seasons." I think that is a metaphor for the times we have been cast into for decades.
The song is gorgeous and makes one, I think, stop to listen to the music, appreciate the life we have been born into and try to still our anger, give pause and think about what we say, how we say it and what we can do to make it better. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxQT5awPnsQ
This is a stream of conscious not well written but some thought I had when I first woke up to see some news. Through the fogginess of post sleep I post the following:
This story simply makes me completely not understand about people in the west going to Pakistan and Afghanistan to train. Maybe some are Muslims in Europe but some are not and a few from the US are not Muslim. I don't know I am changing my opinion slightly. Maybe the drone attacks are really seriously cutting into them and this will in fact be a never ending war extending into infinity if this country should last that long certainly beyond our lives. Maybe it truly is east against west.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33375399/ns/world_news-washington_post/
I wrote a post just off the top of my head to respond to this nuttiness. Who can ever understand why some here would go to terrorist camps and to train with them?:
People will take a good thing like the freedom one has in the US and the west and go and seek out something that will create horrors, discord, killing and ANYTHING but freedom. I do NOT get it. People will do things that will end up killing them and us for nothing absolutely nothing. Are they insane? What do they think will happen? They will become all powerful and there will be Nirvana on earth? No there never will be Nirvana on earth.
Life is so short. You must take the best of what we have here in the US and in the west and run with it and make it work the best you can. It won't be perfect but it will be a heck of a lot better than the radicalism left OR right that they are seeking. It's just plain crazy. I simply do not understand it.
Franklin said we have a Republic if you can keep it. He knew how humans have behaved over millennia. This is the last best hope of mankind to work within a peaceful. free system and avoid chaos and death. Why would someone give this up or not try to work within it for tyranny, and constant war? I have no idea!
I am 61 today.....my hope and idealism are fading fast...or maybe they already faded. God I used to be SO hopeful and so inspired...waaht happened?
This story simply makes me completely not understand about people in the west going to Pakistan and Afghanistan to train. Maybe some are Muslims in Europe but some are not and a few from the US are not Muslim. I don't know I am changing my opinion slightly. Maybe the drone attacks are really seriously cutting into them and this will in fact be a never ending war extending into infinity if this country should last that long certainly beyond our lives. Maybe it truly is east against west.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33375399/ns/world_news-washington_post/
I wrote a post just off the top of my head to respond to this nuttiness. Who can ever understand why some here would go to terrorist camps and to train with them?:
People will take a good thing like the freedom one has in the US and the west and go and seek out something that will create horrors, discord, killing and ANYTHING but freedom. I do NOT get it. People will do things that will end up killing them and us for nothing absolutely nothing. Are they insane? What do they think will happen? They will become all powerful and there will be Nirvana on earth? No there never will be Nirvana on earth.
Life is so short. You must take the best of what we have here in the US and in the west and run with it and make it work the best you can. It won't be perfect but it will be a heck of a lot better than the radicalism left OR right that they are seeking. It's just plain crazy. I simply do not understand it.
Franklin said we have a Republic if you can keep it. He knew how humans have behaved over millennia. This is the last best hope of mankind to work within a peaceful. free system and avoid chaos and death. Why would someone give this up or not try to work within it for tyranny, and constant war? I have no idea!
I am 61 today.....my hope and idealism are fading fast...or maybe they already faded. God I used to be SO hopeful and so inspired...waaht happened?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Exceptional Editorial: Kudos to Neal Gabler for his October 13, 2009 op ed "One nation, under illusion." (See following link for Gabler's editorial http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/13-1). It was brilliantly thought out and beautifully written. The sooner this nation expels its ridiculous notion of American exceptionalism the sooner, perhaps, our nation can really do the exceptional and stop its perpetual wars levied against innocents, provide health care to all its citizens and afford to do other humanitarian things such as help advance educational excellence. All these things truly make a nation great.
This country has a lot to learn from other advanced nations. We think we are exceptional? As our income gap becomes wider, as Wall Street criminals get away with all the fraud they have perpetrated, our health deteriorates because of insurance scams and lack of affordability, as our soldiers die in wars without end and our planet melts, think again!
This country has a lot to learn from other advanced nations. We think we are exceptional? As our income gap becomes wider, as Wall Street criminals get away with all the fraud they have perpetrated, our health deteriorates because of insurance scams and lack of affordability, as our soldiers die in wars without end and our planet melts, think again!
Monday, October 12, 2009
I emailed the writer of an editorial on the series "Mad Men" and David Letterman in Sunday's Globe entitled "Letterman demonstrates 'Mad Men' isn't history." Link to her article below and my short response below that.
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2009/10/11/why_david_letterman_is_just_another_one_of_the_mad_men/
Dear Ms. Weiss: I loved your editorial on the series "Mad Men" and the realities of the David Lettermen sexual saga. There are so many sagas involving the rich and famous much too numerous to mention. I have been immersed in "Mad Men" since I am a lover of the 1960's -- pre 1963 and post. I experienced both those tumultuous and contradicting eras. The late 60's was the happiest time of my life bar none but I have politically changed and re-changed and changed again since that controversial period. A discussion, however, I once had at that time with my seventyish aunt (long since deceased), who loved talking about current events with me, lingers. When we talked about the "sexual revolution" of the late 60's which loosened up sexual morality so dramatically she said: "Ah, we had the same thing going on in my day but we just did not talk about it."
I am riveted by "Mad Men" because I think about the early sixties and am thankful for the changes which ensued later. My aunt was perhaps right though. It seems often things have not changed all that much because in 2009 we are STILL talking about it and talking about it and talking and talking .... which brings a reminder of another conversation I had with a rather radical student friend of mine in the LATE 1960's. The discussion was entitled: "Do your gonads rule your head or does your head rule your gonads?" I took the position that your head rules your gonads and that we had control over our biological impulses. He said I was consummately wrong and that gonads trump all. I suspect he was correct. We are STILL talking about it and, in fact, are doing it whether by societal proscription or not. I suspect it has been so since the symbolic Adam shared his tent with Eve and I think we always will. Both my aunt and my friend were right. Our gonads do rule and it is nothing new.
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2009/10/11/why_david_letterman_is_just_another_one_of_the_mad_men/
Dear Ms. Weiss: I loved your editorial on the series "Mad Men" and the realities of the David Lettermen sexual saga. There are so many sagas involving the rich and famous much too numerous to mention. I have been immersed in "Mad Men" since I am a lover of the 1960's -- pre 1963 and post. I experienced both those tumultuous and contradicting eras. The late 60's was the happiest time of my life bar none but I have politically changed and re-changed and changed again since that controversial period. A discussion, however, I once had at that time with my seventyish aunt (long since deceased), who loved talking about current events with me, lingers. When we talked about the "sexual revolution" of the late 60's which loosened up sexual morality so dramatically she said: "Ah, we had the same thing going on in my day but we just did not talk about it."
I am riveted by "Mad Men" because I think about the early sixties and am thankful for the changes which ensued later. My aunt was perhaps right though. It seems often things have not changed all that much because in 2009 we are STILL talking about it and talking about it and talking and talking .... which brings a reminder of another conversation I had with a rather radical student friend of mine in the LATE 1960's. The discussion was entitled: "Do your gonads rule your head or does your head rule your gonads?" I took the position that your head rules your gonads and that we had control over our biological impulses. He said I was consummately wrong and that gonads trump all. I suspect he was correct. We are STILL talking about it and, in fact, are doing it whether by societal proscription or not. I suspect it has been so since the symbolic Adam shared his tent with Eve and I think we always will. Both my aunt and my friend were right. Our gonads do rule and it is nothing new.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Noble Obama and the Nobel Prize: Obama has an 80% approval rating in Europe. They like his calm and rational intellectual style. We should be thankful since half of the US is anti-intellectual and has the collective intelligence of an incurious 13 year old with an attention span of about 12 minutes. It is why this country has the highest gun violence of any in the industrialized world. Part of this country not only is anti-intellectual but combines that low intellectual sophistication with a love of guns and a belligerence unmatched in modern western culture. It spells out a horribly violent society where VA Tech killings happen with stunning frequency. We are, or at least half of us are, a very violent and stupid nation where little attention is paid to those who win a spelling bee much less to those who are able to write a grammatically correct sentence.
Many who obtain higher education here leave because they do not think the astounding divisions and hatred they encounter would make for a safe place to establish their career. It is to our detriment that we have such a cerebrally diminished and explosive society. I did not grow up thinking this country was anti-intellectual. I grew up thinking it was unbelievably wonderful that I could challenge anything. I was incredulous when my black friend said she could never be secretary of our high school class because she was not white. It took years in college before I learned she was right. She, in that era, would not have been allowed to become secretary of our high school class because she simply did not look like the rest of us. I was too naive then to know what I learned after my college experience, how, indeed, correct she was.
It is Obama's refreshing intellectual refinement, his intelligent curiosity and his rejecting of unilateral cowboy diplomacy so characteristic of the Bush years that the Europeans welcome. In addition, they welcome him as the first half African American president of a country whose founding was enmeshed with the submission of an entire people because they were born with dark skin. For all these reasons it is why I think he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Admittedly, the President’s accomplishments of peace after only nine months in office are thin but it is the essence of his potential and America’s change for the better that, I think, the Europeans laud. They need this country NOT as it was for the past eight years but as it can be for the ensuing years. Europeans know Europe's fate is linked to our own and they hope President Obama can help ensure it.
Many who obtain higher education here leave because they do not think the astounding divisions and hatred they encounter would make for a safe place to establish their career. It is to our detriment that we have such a cerebrally diminished and explosive society. I did not grow up thinking this country was anti-intellectual. I grew up thinking it was unbelievably wonderful that I could challenge anything. I was incredulous when my black friend said she could never be secretary of our high school class because she was not white. It took years in college before I learned she was right. She, in that era, would not have been allowed to become secretary of our high school class because she simply did not look like the rest of us. I was too naive then to know what I learned after my college experience, how, indeed, correct she was.
It is Obama's refreshing intellectual refinement, his intelligent curiosity and his rejecting of unilateral cowboy diplomacy so characteristic of the Bush years that the Europeans welcome. In addition, they welcome him as the first half African American president of a country whose founding was enmeshed with the submission of an entire people because they were born with dark skin. For all these reasons it is why I think he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Admittedly, the President’s accomplishments of peace after only nine months in office are thin but it is the essence of his potential and America’s change for the better that, I think, the Europeans laud. They need this country NOT as it was for the past eight years but as it can be for the ensuing years. Europeans know Europe's fate is linked to our own and they hope President Obama can help ensure it.
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