Pssst. Do Something.

Bad Blogger

I've been a terrible blogger these last few months. I am so sorry.

Must See TV

I can't say how proud I am of the good folks up in Montana who have organized such a tremendous response. :)

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

-Emily Dickinson

Happy Feminist Birthday

Audre Lorde 1934-1992

"I am a Black Feminist. I mean I recognize that my power as well as my primary oppressions come as a result of my blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable."

This is Interesting.

0.0.0.0 [Label IP Address] 0 returning visit

Date Time WebPage

February 14th 2008 16:06:11 No referring link
February 14th 2008 18:19:46 No referring link
February 14th 2008 18:41:35 No referring link
February 14th 2008 18:43:14 No referring link
February 15th 2008 09:18:20 No referring link



Seems as though nobody's been looking at my blog.

Unbelievable

This comes from The Hill:

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) recently played a gag on Rep. Mike Simpson
(R-Idaho) on their Middle East congressional delegation trip last month.

Rehberg left an “Idaho Travel Package” on Simpson’s airplane
seat.

Contents included a stuffed sheep with gloves attached to it (draw your
own conclusions), a Village People CD, books on cross-dressing and sign language
and a T-shirt that reads, “My senator may not be gay, but my governor is
Butch.”

Rehberg is proud of the gift bag. “I spent a bit of time putting the
things together,” he boasted.

Simpson was amused but not surprised that Rehberg was the bearer of
such presents. “You can always find those materials in Montana,” he said,
laughing.

Mr. Rehberg, you disgust me. You are an embarrassment to your elected office and to your constituients, and you disgrace the public trust with your blatent disregard for the dignity and worth of all Montana's citizens.

(H/T Matt Singer at Left in the West)

Tears

Salty expressions

of emotion

shake the stability

of my world.

Wet confetti

with which I celebrate

the wonders

and the tragedies

of living.

Why do I vote pro-choice?

Because this is not a medical instrument.

Alka Seltzer Solution

The new word of the week is "economic stimulus package."

Everyone is for it.

The President wants it if only because he knows a worsening economic crisis will leave his Administration in deep doo-doo, the way it did his dads' back in '92. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, is all for it if only because all of his rate cuts and "injections" of money into the financial system have not turned the US economy around.

He told Congress Thursday: "put money into the hands of households and firms that would spend it in the near term." This is likely to take the form of tax rebates and direct assistance.

And all the candidates-well most of them---want it too. Or at least they want something upbeat that will stimulate voters. John McCain lost Michigan, it is said, because he was too negative. Mitt Romney won because he promised to wave a magic wand, repeal Globalization and make Detroit what it one was.

Dream on.

The stimulus idea is simple-give people some money to spend and, presto, our problems will disappear. This is the "Alka Seltzer solution." Take one tablet and when it fizzes, you're better in the morning.

The only problem is that the real world isn't so simple and simplistic solutions will not work.

We didn't get into this mess because one thing went wrong. Many things went wrong -and over a long time.

This crisis may seem brand new. It isn't. And please dump that word "recession" because it doesn't do justice to what we are talking about here. The highest inflation rate in 17 years and the biggest housing crisis in a quarter of a century didn't just happen. Major banks writing down billions of dollars practically every week is not normal. Wall Street going from boom to gloom almost overnight was not caused by somebody making a mistake.

The political causes of this are deep and long standing. Writer Robert Kuttner calls this "the most serious downturn since the Great Depression." He blames the rise of right-wing ideology, and "the domination of our politics by a financial elite, and the lack of a true opposition party."

You can't fix that with pathetic stimulus packages and minor tinkering.
This is a structural crisis that's been spawned by decades of shifting our economy from making things to buying things, from production to consumption. It has spawned "financialization' a well heeled credit and loan complex powered by legal and illegal shenanigans in an unregulated market-driven environment. Both parties have benefited from it and are complicit in its consequences. All of our biggest banks were part of the subprime/subcrime-led credit collapse which enriched so many before bringing so many down.

This crisis is still unfolding, rippling, and infecting more sectors of the economy. It is a "contagion" that has yet to be contained.

Writes the Mclatchey Newspapers: "The unwinding of debt is all-encompassing. It's from the little homeowner out there to the big corporation," said Larry Moss, senior vice president for the Raymond James investment firm in Birmingham, Mich.
The credit crunch overlaps with other negative trends, most noticeably the poor housing market and weakening consumer spending. The fear is that tighter credit and weaker spending will reinforce and amplify each other, creating a downward spiral leading to a recession.

"Once you get in that cycle, then it becomes really, really scary," said Amiyatosh Purnanandam, a professor of finance at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan who has studied tight-credit periods."

For starters we need some stimulus from a study of history to understand how greed and corruption of any and all ethical principles stimulates this type of frightening business cycle. We need to stimulate a deeper debate.

Writes Satyajit Das, author of Traders, Guns & Money, explains: "Recent history has been a period of 'too much' and 'too little' - too much liquidity, too much leverage, too much complex financial engineering, too little return for risk, too little understanding of the risk."

He told one of India's leading newspapers, The Hindu, "This will reduce economic growth (the US looks likely to slow down sharply) and asset prices (houses and shares) around the world. It is perhaps the most serious crisis that we have faced in a very long time."

Let's break this down: Lets say we give every household $1000 bucks ($800 is the number under discussion). What happens? What do will recipients do first? What will they/we stimulate?

Will they rush out to the mall and buy the latest and the greatest? Unlikely. Why? Because so many of us are already in hock beyond our ears. Millions are drowning in debt and barely hanging on to homes, cars or even student loans. We are groaning under the burden of higher interest, higher prices and higher fees, as a recent study by United for A Fair Economy explained:

"Increases in the cost of housing, education, and health care, paired with an increase in payroll taxes of 25%, and massively decreased government investment in affordable housing, employment, and job training, have left most of America cash poor. Americans found the liquidity needed to pay daily bills through debt: credit cards, refinancing, subprime loans. The American middle and working classes are maintaining their lifestyle on a foundation of quicksand (debt they cannot afford).

If current indicators are correct it is quite possible that the entire US economy will sink into the debt that the middle and working class have developed over the last twenty years."

This is not a very 'stimulating' environment. No wonder most Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction and have lost confidence in the economy. No wonder, crime is rising along with foreclosures. Let's not forget the wars that are also draining the economy, growing the deficit and pouring billions of dollars and so many lives into a rat hole without end.

So, please candidates, loose the cheery rhetoric of economic stimulus. Do nothing about the debt burden and you do nothing. We don't need stimulus; we need economic change, and economic justice. We need white-collar predators in jail. We need restructuring, not repossessions. We need mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth from the greedy to the needy. And just like the folks in Africa living under a crushing burden of debt we need genuine debt relief. We need to buck this system, not get a few bucks in the mail.

If we have any hope of getting out from under, we also need a media to tell the truth about how this crisis happened, and investigate those that profited on the destruction of our economy, the bankers and brokers that stole our treasure and future. We need movements to fight back and politicians that will stand up for economic fairness, especially on the day we honor Dr. Martin Luther King and the movements he led.

News Dissector Danny Schechter directed the film IN DEBT WE TRUST (http://www.indebtwetrust.com/) which forecast this crisis. He explores the roots of the problem in a new e-book SQUEEZED (Downloadable from Coldtype.net)

A Reversal of Questions

Homophobia: A Self-Assessment

1. What do you think caused your heterosexuality?


2. When and how did you first decide you were a heterosexual?


3. Is it possible your heterosexuality is just a phase you may grow out of?


4. Is it possible your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of people of the same sex?


5. Isn't it possible that all you need is a good, gay lover?


6. Heterosexuals have histories of failures in gay relationships. Do you think you may have turned to heterosexuality out of fear of rejection?


7. If you've never slept with a person of the same sex, how do you know you wouldn't prefer it?


8. If heterosexuality is normal, why are a disproportionate number of mental health consumers heterosexuals?


9. To whom have you disclosed your heterosexual tendencies?


10. Your heterosexuality doesn't offend me as long as you don't try to force it on me. Why do you feel compelled to seduce others into your sexual orientation?


11. If you choose to nurture children, would you want them to be heterosexual, knowing the problems they would face?


12. The great majority of child molesters are heterosexuals. Do you really consider it safe to expose your children to heterosexual teachers?


13. Why do you insist on being so obvious and making a public spectacle of your heterosexuality? Can't you just be what you are and keep it quiet?


14. How can you ever hope to become a whole person if you limit yourself to a compulsive, exclusive heterosexual object choice and remain unwilling to explore and develop your normal, God-given homosexual potential?

Google Has a Sense of Humor

Per my stat counter, today someone in Cape Coral, Florida, typed:

Love Poems for when ur in a Fight

into their Google search engine.

Not only did they find MY site...they found THIS post.

Wonder if it helped. :)

Happy Hero Birthday

January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

I have struggled for days to try and think of something, anything, to say that might somehow express how I feel about this man. Part of this reflection has involved rereading some of my favorite speeches, letters, and writings of Dr. King and placing them in their historical context. For me, this means exploring the sights, sounds, and smells of the moment or moments in which the words that inspire me were recorded. In this journey, I have also spent a great deal of time in a time warp...applying Dr. King's words to the sights, sounds, and smells of today.

I do not pretend that I am first or the only to suggest that half a century has done little to impact the relevancy of Dr. King's message. Other, more qualified authors have waxed eloquent on the truths of love, peace activism, non-violence resistance, and the promise of a more socially and economically just world.

So instead, in honor of one of my heroes, I publish three quotes, all on silence, that speak to me. They are what fuels my passion and inspire me to speak my mind, even if my voice shakes.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Find a way.

For what, you ask? Here's your answer. (h/t Quaker Agitator.)

Daily Dose of E-Activism

From the Human Rights Campaign:

Matthew Shepard Act in Serious Jeopardy

Right now, the fate of the Matthew Shepard Act depends on you.

House and Senate leaders could decide in the coming days to detach the bill from a larger Department of Defense bill, where it currently resides. The move would almost certainly eliminate its chances of becoming law, setting back our progress by months or years. We likely have less than a week to convince them.

We've spent a decade fighting tooth and nail for a Federal hate crimes bill – we cannot let last-minute political challenges defeat us now. It's time to make a ruckus. Write your lawmakers today, then spread the word.

Then, sign this petition. It doesn't matter if you don't live in Montana. Representative Rehberg needs to hear from people all over the country. Let's send him a clear message: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." So far, he's been silent on this very important matter, and we need his support to finally pass comprehensive, inclusive, hate crimes legislation in Montana.

Today is...

Adbusters has all kinds of great stuff up.

Participate by not participating.

Give Thanks

Aahhh, isn't this perfect?

Look at how those nice English colonists are
taking good care of those hungry, heathen, brown people.

Kara posted the real story over at her place last year.

She also has a wonderful post up THIS year.

(Buy the book here.)

I've always had a hard time with this holiday...mostly because I feel like if I participate in any celebrations then I am somehow also complicit in the mythology of the history of Thanksgiving. Pottersville provides us with brilliant, articulate commentary on Cowboys and Iranians. (h/t Undeniable Liberalism), and Here's a great list of things to be thankful for this year, courtesy of Think Progress.

Happy, peaceful day, everyone.

The Strike...A summary

Pencils Down means Pencils Down

United Hollywood

In Memoriam

Day Of Remembrance -S. Bear Bergman

I’m scrolling and scrolling,

names on my screen keep rolling,

more than I expected to see, hundreds,

too many to count quickly,

too many to die so early,

one day before they would have is

too early,

outrageous,

sentenced to death for being courageous,

living out loud in an age such as this,

where every border’s guarded and marked with gendered piss,

this here is only for us,

only for you,

what is it mommy?

not now honey, that’s rude — why is it rude?

that’s a bad attitude, that’s what you’ll do?

Parents, that’s unworthy of you,

if something’s unusual,

let children know what’s different,

buy him a tutu - let that be the end of it,

let them grow unencumbered by expectation,

there’s all kinds of situations,

gender, race, ethnic variations,

none of them cut or dried, no lie,

cause otherwise,

we get “boys don’t cry”,

we tell our boys not to cry,

they swallow the tears, the fears,

they erode every other feeling until it explodes,

looking like Gwen in a shallow grave by the road,

like Marsha being fished out whole,

looking like Brandon full of anger’s holes.

We won’t accept this, the idea is ludicrous,

you want to kill a kid because he wants to wear a dress?

Ridiculous.

We will not go gently, not into any night or memory,

we’re here today remember our family, taken too early,

I hope they come back to haunt their killers fully,

inhabit their uncertainty,

give them their own inescapable enemy,

and for those of us still alive,

stand up!

stand up and shout,

stand up and be what it’s about,

be the change you want to see in the world,

live like a flag unfurled,

be heard,

today we are here to remember,

today we are peaceful in honor,

today we are heard together,

but tomorrow this event’s a lesson to miscreants,

anyone with ill intent, our spirit unbreakable,

a lot at stake, our numbers unmistakable,

proclaiming, I’m here with my tribe,

this family’s my wealth, and

I would die with them before I would live by myself.

Today is the ninth anniversary of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgendered — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgendered people.

We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgendered people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgendered people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.

From http://www.gender.org/.

Thank You...

...to all our veterans, but especially to this one, my little brother:

Today's observance was intended not to glorify war, but as a solemn way to recognize its end. In that spirit, today I continue my commitment to advocate for a peaceful resolution to end the war in Iraq, and prevent war with Iran. We do not need more veterans. Instead, we need to honor those we have by fully funding services designed to meet the challenging and diverse needs of the men and women who have served in our military.

We can say 'thank you' with the immediate elimination of waiting lists for care and benefits.

We can say 'thank you' by ensuring that the mental health needs of returning soldiers are considered a medical priority and providing the adequately trained staff in sufficient numbers so as to guarantee that every solider receives the best standard of care possible.

We can say 'thank you' by the immediate elimination of pay and benefit inequities between U.S. military personnel and private paramilitary contractors who often perform the same work, in the same situations, for a fraction of the compensation. Those who wear our uniform deserve more pay, not less.

We can say 'thank you' by keeping our recruiting promises to help pay for college in a realistic and meaningful way that accurately compensates veterans for the true costs of higher education.

We can say 'thank you' by encouraging a real national conversation about the toll of war on the future of this country, not just in dollars and cents, but in the loss of production and innovation that will come as a direct result of the permanent disabilities of our wounded.

We can say 'thank you' by redefining what support means. Forget the rhetoric. It isn't about showing respect to the flag and it isn't about whether you wear a lapel pin. It isn't about a 99 cent magnet flung on the back of some car. This is what true support would look like: not one homeless veteran. Not one.

We can say 'thank you' by working as a nation to eliminate the stigma associated with PTSD, depression, and other identifiable and treatable mental health issues so as to eliminate this debilitating barrier to service provision.

We can say 'thank you' by finally ending the flawed 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. We must bring honor to all our veterans by allowing them the respect and dignity they deserve. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with patriotism or the ability to do one's job. Existing benefits and supportive services must be extended to the families of LGBT military personnel and they must be permitted to serve openly without fear of discrimination or harassment.

We can say 'thank you' by praying for peace.

Update: The web is full of wonderful, powerful Veteran's Day posts like this one, this one, and this one.