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Friday, August 24, 2012
Liberal
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Saturday, August 11, 2012
The Wrong Direction
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The Newly Minted Ticket
Rapacious Mitt Romney has chosen the fanatical ideologue Paul Ryan to be his running mate.
It is not the gift to the sane people of this country it may seem to be.
It is, in fact, a call to action.
The alliterative Republican ticket will likely reassure the hidebound right-wingers that Romney’s term as governor of the “socialist” Commonwealth of Massachusetts was more like Dorothy’s Ozian dream and not simply more proof of the contortionist chameleon Romney really is. The deep right will see Romney’s choice of Ryan as Romney’s Come to Jesus moment and it may even allow them to overlook all the oddities of Mormonism which makes their evangelical blood run cold. (While evangelicals are not usually thrilled with Roman Catholics, in Ryan’s case the Vatican trumps the Temple.)
If you are not familiar with Congressman Paul Ryan, Ezra Klein has a quick overview here.
Paul Ryan Lowlights:
- Voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- Will end Medicare and turn it into a voucher system, thereby costing seniors thousands of dollars every year
- Will cut Pell Grants for education
- Voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- Will ban all abortions even in the case of rape or incest
- Cosponsored a bill to ban common forms of contraceptives including many birth control pills
- Will increase taxes on the middle class and further reduce taxes on millionaires
- Voted against Marriage Equality
- Will cut funding to Head Start and other early education programs
- Voted to end funding for Planned Parenthood
- Will dismantle the Affordable Care Act - AKA “Obamacare” and, ironically, “Romneycare"
- Will slash funding for infrastructure - roads, bridges and rail
- In his budget, 62 % of the cuts will be taken from low-income programs
- Will cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Stamps 18%
No matter how repellent Ryan’s ideology and intentions are, we must not forget that he is cool under fire in debates and interviews. He also states his “facts” in a compelling way - rather like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. We must take action so as to avoid an equally disastrous ending.
It is not the gift to the sane people of this country it may seem to be.
It is, in fact, a call to action.
The alliterative Republican ticket will likely reassure the hidebound right-wingers that Romney’s term as governor of the “socialist” Commonwealth of Massachusetts was more like Dorothy’s Ozian dream and not simply more proof of the contortionist chameleon Romney really is. The deep right will see Romney’s choice of Ryan as Romney’s Come to Jesus moment and it may even allow them to overlook all the oddities of Mormonism which makes their evangelical blood run cold. (While evangelicals are not usually thrilled with Roman Catholics, in Ryan’s case the Vatican trumps the Temple.)
If you are not familiar with Congressman Paul Ryan, Ezra Klein has a quick overview here.
Paul Ryan Lowlights:
- Voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- Will end Medicare and turn it into a voucher system, thereby costing seniors thousands of dollars every year
- Will cut Pell Grants for education
- Voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- Will ban all abortions even in the case of rape or incest
- Cosponsored a bill to ban common forms of contraceptives including many birth control pills
- Will increase taxes on the middle class and further reduce taxes on millionaires
- Voted against Marriage Equality
- Will cut funding to Head Start and other early education programs
- Voted to end funding for Planned Parenthood
- Will dismantle the Affordable Care Act - AKA “Obamacare” and, ironically, “Romneycare"
- Will slash funding for infrastructure - roads, bridges and rail
- In his budget, 62 % of the cuts will be taken from low-income programs
- Will cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Stamps 18%
No matter how repellent Ryan’s ideology and intentions are, we must not forget that he is cool under fire in debates and interviews. He also states his “facts” in a compelling way - rather like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. We must take action so as to avoid an equally disastrous ending.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
We Are Young
Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning, Chuck and I were on tenterhooks. Chuck had what can best be described as a health crisis. We drove to the Emergency Room and after more than three and a half hours and lots of tests, we left reassured and almost relieved. The very long ride to the ER was taut and tense but punctuated with nervous laughter. Laughter after all is not only the best medicine it’s how the two of us cope with what comes along labeled as “Life.” The ride home was heavy on genuine laughter with a whole lot of counting of blessings.
Arriving home after 5:00 a.m., with the sky lightening to that beautiful marine blue of dawn, we were delighted to be home. As we pulled into the driveway the song “We Are Young” by Fun came on the radio. I put the Subaru in park, turned the engine off, but left the key in the ignition and turned the radio up. We got out of the car, left the doors open and danced to the music with our arms up in the air. The only thing missing was lighters held up toward the stage.
Here’s Fun’s video of “We Are Young”. To my taste, the video is just O.K. But the song is fabulous. Maybe if Fun ever does a re-shoot they can capture two people, with 123 years of life experience between them, dancing in their driveway, having just dodged a bullet...
Arriving home after 5:00 a.m., with the sky lightening to that beautiful marine blue of dawn, we were delighted to be home. As we pulled into the driveway the song “We Are Young” by Fun came on the radio. I put the Subaru in park, turned the engine off, but left the key in the ignition and turned the radio up. We got out of the car, left the doors open and danced to the music with our arms up in the air. The only thing missing was lighters held up toward the stage.
Here’s Fun’s video of “We Are Young”. To my taste, the video is just O.K. But the song is fabulous. Maybe if Fun ever does a re-shoot they can capture two people, with 123 years of life experience between them, dancing in their driveway, having just dodged a bullet...
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Best Response To Chick-Fil-A & Huckabee
Mike Huckabee decided it was very, very important to support fast food chain Chick-Fil-A, specifically the Cathy family that owns the corporation. So former Governor Huckabee organized “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” for August 1, 2012. Huckabee stepped in because he was unhappy that the Cathy family and Chick-Fil-A were taking heat for being anti-gay.
It’s important to note that the Cathy family and Chick-Fil-A didn’t engender such ire because of just one single comment its president, Dan Cathy, made to The Baptist Press back in July. In the Huffington Post, David Badash spells out a long history (with many source links) of anti-gay and anti-marriage-equality positions plus discrimination lawsuits in “Chick-fil-A: 5 Reasons It Isn't What You Think”.
So thanks to Mike Huckabee devoting his energy, time, public profile and position of power to “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” the fast food restaurants were jammed yesterday. I hoped they wouldn’t show up. I knew they would. It was all just too easy a target with the bonus of a 440 calorie sandwich replete with 16grams of fat.
Enter Matthew Paul Turner. He’s apparently a very religious guy from Tennessee. Turns out he is a fine writer and he wrote the best response I have read to Huckabee and all those prideful Christians who came out in droves yesterday:
5 Reasons Why The Church Failed Yesterday by Matthew Paul Turner.
Many thanks to Tracy AKA Cascading Waters for her ReTweet of Mr. Turner’s response.
It’s important to note that the Cathy family and Chick-Fil-A didn’t engender such ire because of just one single comment its president, Dan Cathy, made to The Baptist Press back in July. In the Huffington Post, David Badash spells out a long history (with many source links) of anti-gay and anti-marriage-equality positions plus discrimination lawsuits in “Chick-fil-A: 5 Reasons It Isn't What You Think”.
So thanks to Mike Huckabee devoting his energy, time, public profile and position of power to “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” the fast food restaurants were jammed yesterday. I hoped they wouldn’t show up. I knew they would. It was all just too easy a target with the bonus of a 440 calorie sandwich replete with 16grams of fat.
Enter Matthew Paul Turner. He’s apparently a very religious guy from Tennessee. Turns out he is a fine writer and he wrote the best response I have read to Huckabee and all those prideful Christians who came out in droves yesterday:
5 Reasons Why The Church Failed Yesterday by Matthew Paul Turner.
Many thanks to Tracy AKA Cascading Waters for her ReTweet of Mr. Turner’s response.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Mitt Gets Worse
Many thanks to Julie Goodridge, Mitt Gets Worse and MoveOn.Org for shining a bright light on Mitt Romney.
Monday, July 9, 2012
50 Shades of Grey - The Musical
No worries! This little video send-up of the best selling trilogy is not BDSM set to music. (Christian and Anastasia already did that!) But this music video does begin to capture the debate around the book rather nicely.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
They Are Rising
I found an article in AlterNet by Sara Robinson fascinating. It was also deeply disturbing. What’s worse, I fear it is accurate. The title: “Conservative Southern Values Revived: How a Brutal Strain of American Aristocrats Have Come to Rule America”. And it has the subtitle: “America didn't used to be run like an old Southern slave plantation, but we're headed that way now. How did that happen?”
Ms. Robinson lays out how it happened in swift and staggering detail. What is left unclear is how we wrest control and bring our country back to its roots and its senses - not to mention the concept of and daily action toward the common good.
Ms. Robinson lays out how it happened in swift and staggering detail. What is left unclear is how we wrest control and bring our country back to its roots and its senses - not to mention the concept of and daily action toward the common good.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Henri, Le Chat
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Do It Right
Thanks Mae...
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Sunday, June 17, 2012
Vaginas, Grey, Hysteria, Vibrators, Sexuality, Misogyny, Orgasms & Politics
Remember the Brady Bunch episode with the exclamation: “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”?
O.K.
“Vagina, Vagina, Vagina!”
Why?
Well, in Michigan, a legislator named Lisa Brown used the word vagina in her remarks against several bills restricting abortion. The response of the Republicans who hold the majority was to block her from speaking. This happened just last week.
At the same time Representative Brown was being silenced for using the word vagina, the “Fifty Shades Trilogy: Fifty Shades of Grey; Fifty Shades Darker; Fifty Shades Freed” by E.L. James sold over 10 million copies in the United States in just six weeks.
I read all three books. Book One needed an editor. The sex scenes are titillating, but it feels repetitive - and not in a good way. Book Two still has all the sex and we get a better storyline with a dash of mystery. Book Three added more storyline, continued mystery and a surprising (to me anyway) ending. None of the three books are great literature. (But did anyone really expect them to be?) The Trilogy is very much in the vein of Harlequin Romances, but with lots of explicit sex.
Besides the writing which is passable, my biggest complaint with 50 Shades is actually with the sex scenes. No doubt, they are hot. But E.L. James (Erika Leonard) perpetuates the holy grail of orgasms: via intromission. Yes, Anastasia’s clitoris is mentioned and Christian certainly knows where it is and why it’s important. But Ana repeatedly achieves orgasm just through penetration. For 70% of women that just ain’t the norm. Instead of this trilogy leading to a little more fun in the bedroom (elevator, car, meadow or wherever) I worry that what it’s actually doing is getting a lot of women (and men) hot and bothered while simultaneously raising the expectations on them and their partners. There already seems to be a need for a little flashing neon sign that says “Clitoris” with an arrow to help some guys get the hang of it. Do we really need the bar set any higher thanks to 50 Shades?
Which leads me to the new movie “Hysteria”. (I have not yet seen it. Here is a review.) The film focuses on the medical treatment of hysteria, specifically during the 19th century. For centuries doctors had been massaging the genitals of women until they achieved “hysterical paroxysm” or orgasm, as a treatment for a wide variety of female maladies. But in the late 1800s the first vibrators were invented as a labor saving device for doctors. This is at the heart of the movie “Hysteria”.
In her book “The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction ”, Rachel P. Maines explains how for millennia male doctors decided how women should feel and behave around all things sexual. This included the belief that women should be completely satisfied through the act of male penetration. Or, conversely, good women should not enjoy intercourse at all. This was true even though doctors were routinely bringing their female patients to “hysterical paroxysms”. Maines also notes: “The first home appliance to be electrified was the sewing machine in 1889, followed in the next ten years by the fan, the teakettle, the toaster, and the vibrator. The last preceded the electric vacuum cleaner by some nine years, the electric iron by ten, and the electric frying pan by more than a decade, possibly reflecting consumer priorities.” Unfortunately, by the end of the Roaring Twenties, early pornographic films showed vibrators being used overtly for sexual pleasure rather than as a medical cure all. With that, vibrators began to disappear from the Sears Roebuck catalog and ads in popular ladies magazines. (Vibrator Timeline available here)
It took until 1952 for the American Psychological Association to finally delist “Hysteria” as a disease. But it wasn’t until 1973 that vibrators reemerged at a National Organization for Women’s conference and became part of the benefits package, if you will, of the feminist movement.
Yet even today in the state of Alabama, it is still illegal to sell a vibrator as a sex toy. You can buy fireworks in Alabama. It’s just that thanks to the misogynistic anti-vibrator law, the good ladies of Alabama don’t have a lot to celebrate with those perfectly legal fireworks.
So where can law abiding citizens in the other 49 states buy a vibrator? Sex shops are usually seedy, tawdry places. However, Good Vibrations has been operating at the opposite end of that spectrum since 1977. I first ordered from them in 1988 after seeing an ad for them in the Utne Reader. They’re on the web, (Good Vibrations ) and have shops in San Francisco, California and in Brookline, Massachusetts. Standing inside their Massachusetts shop it’s all pink and cheery. If you squint your eyes you would think you were in a cosmetics boutique or a party store. (Yes, a party store!) They have darn near anything you could want to try. Best of all, the website is full of user reviews - very, helpful and informative user reviews. If you visit either one of their brick and mortar shops you can also check out their vibrator museum. They even have a 1950s “Handy Hannah” on display!
Meanwhile, numerous states with Republican majorities are working hard legislating against women’s reproductive rights. Even the birth control pill has been a direct or tangential target of right wing legislators. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has promised “to get rid of” Planned Parenthood. And the United States Congress has had 61 bills in the last two years which pertain in some way to abortion.
Are all of these conflicting realities ironic and schizophrenic? Yes.
Which is why, at the age of 54, I continue to support both sides of Planned Parenthood - its health services and its action committee. I also make financial contributions to progressive politicians. And, of course, I vote. Voting has always been a political act; a civic responsibility. Now I find it completely congruous to add orgasms to that list of political acts! In this day and age, understanding history and recognizing the resurgence of the far right to attempt to rein in women, I see using vibrators and having orgasms (alone or with a partner) and even reading mediocre, yet wildly popular porn as political acts.
Seriously.
Who’s with me?
O.K.
“Vagina, Vagina, Vagina!”
Why?
Well, in Michigan, a legislator named Lisa Brown used the word vagina in her remarks against several bills restricting abortion. The response of the Republicans who hold the majority was to block her from speaking. This happened just last week.
At the same time Representative Brown was being silenced for using the word vagina, the “Fifty Shades Trilogy: Fifty Shades of Grey; Fifty Shades Darker; Fifty Shades Freed” by E.L. James sold over 10 million copies in the United States in just six weeks.
I read all three books. Book One needed an editor. The sex scenes are titillating, but it feels repetitive - and not in a good way. Book Two still has all the sex and we get a better storyline with a dash of mystery. Book Three added more storyline, continued mystery and a surprising (to me anyway) ending. None of the three books are great literature. (But did anyone really expect them to be?) The Trilogy is very much in the vein of Harlequin Romances, but with lots of explicit sex.
Besides the writing which is passable, my biggest complaint with 50 Shades is actually with the sex scenes. No doubt, they are hot. But E.L. James (Erika Leonard) perpetuates the holy grail of orgasms: via intromission. Yes, Anastasia’s clitoris is mentioned and Christian certainly knows where it is and why it’s important. But Ana repeatedly achieves orgasm just through penetration. For 70% of women that just ain’t the norm. Instead of this trilogy leading to a little more fun in the bedroom (elevator, car, meadow or wherever) I worry that what it’s actually doing is getting a lot of women (and men) hot and bothered while simultaneously raising the expectations on them and their partners. There already seems to be a need for a little flashing neon sign that says “Clitoris” with an arrow to help some guys get the hang of it. Do we really need the bar set any higher thanks to 50 Shades?
Which leads me to the new movie “Hysteria”. (I have not yet seen it. Here is a review.) The film focuses on the medical treatment of hysteria, specifically during the 19th century. For centuries doctors had been massaging the genitals of women until they achieved “hysterical paroxysm” or orgasm, as a treatment for a wide variety of female maladies. But in the late 1800s the first vibrators were invented as a labor saving device for doctors. This is at the heart of the movie “Hysteria”.
In her book “The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction ”, Rachel P. Maines explains how for millennia male doctors decided how women should feel and behave around all things sexual. This included the belief that women should be completely satisfied through the act of male penetration. Or, conversely, good women should not enjoy intercourse at all. This was true even though doctors were routinely bringing their female patients to “hysterical paroxysms”. Maines also notes: “The first home appliance to be electrified was the sewing machine in 1889, followed in the next ten years by the fan, the teakettle, the toaster, and the vibrator. The last preceded the electric vacuum cleaner by some nine years, the electric iron by ten, and the electric frying pan by more than a decade, possibly reflecting consumer priorities.” Unfortunately, by the end of the Roaring Twenties, early pornographic films showed vibrators being used overtly for sexual pleasure rather than as a medical cure all. With that, vibrators began to disappear from the Sears Roebuck catalog and ads in popular ladies magazines. (Vibrator Timeline available here)
It took until 1952 for the American Psychological Association to finally delist “Hysteria” as a disease. But it wasn’t until 1973 that vibrators reemerged at a National Organization for Women’s conference and became part of the benefits package, if you will, of the feminist movement.
Yet even today in the state of Alabama, it is still illegal to sell a vibrator as a sex toy. You can buy fireworks in Alabama. It’s just that thanks to the misogynistic anti-vibrator law, the good ladies of Alabama don’t have a lot to celebrate with those perfectly legal fireworks.
So where can law abiding citizens in the other 49 states buy a vibrator? Sex shops are usually seedy, tawdry places. However, Good Vibrations has been operating at the opposite end of that spectrum since 1977. I first ordered from them in 1988 after seeing an ad for them in the Utne Reader. They’re on the web, (Good Vibrations ) and have shops in San Francisco, California and in Brookline, Massachusetts. Standing inside their Massachusetts shop it’s all pink and cheery. If you squint your eyes you would think you were in a cosmetics boutique or a party store. (Yes, a party store!) They have darn near anything you could want to try. Best of all, the website is full of user reviews - very, helpful and informative user reviews. If you visit either one of their brick and mortar shops you can also check out their vibrator museum. They even have a 1950s “Handy Hannah” on display!
Meanwhile, numerous states with Republican majorities are working hard legislating against women’s reproductive rights. Even the birth control pill has been a direct or tangential target of right wing legislators. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has promised “to get rid of” Planned Parenthood. And the United States Congress has had 61 bills in the last two years which pertain in some way to abortion.
Are all of these conflicting realities ironic and schizophrenic? Yes.
Which is why, at the age of 54, I continue to support both sides of Planned Parenthood - its health services and its action committee. I also make financial contributions to progressive politicians. And, of course, I vote. Voting has always been a political act; a civic responsibility. Now I find it completely congruous to add orgasms to that list of political acts! In this day and age, understanding history and recognizing the resurgence of the far right to attempt to rein in women, I see using vibrators and having orgasms (alone or with a partner) and even reading mediocre, yet wildly popular porn as political acts.
Seriously.
Who’s with me?
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Happy Belated Anniversary!
Thursday was the eighth anniversary of the legalization of Same Sex Marriage in Massachusetts. I missed it. I'm embarrassed I forgot. But I am also reassured. I wasn't holding my breath until we crossed another annual milestone. No, life was pretty humdrum here in the Bay State.
Happily, despite repeated attacks, equal marriage has remained the law of the Commonwealth. All those specious arguments; all those dire predictions about how so called “traditional marriage” would be undermined, yet here we all are. The sky did not fall.
And, now, our President agrees.
Happily, despite repeated attacks, equal marriage has remained the law of the Commonwealth. All those specious arguments; all those dire predictions about how so called “traditional marriage” would be undermined, yet here we all are. The sky did not fall.
And, now, our President agrees.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Life’s Path
“March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.” - Kahlil Gibran
Today is Roo’s birthday. It’s also Jake’s birthday. Thursday is Sue’s (Jake’s Mom) birthday. Saturday is Wendy’s birthday. My birthday is Friday. I’ll be 54. And this year I am grateful for every minute; every new gray hair.
”Happy Birthday to us,
Happy Birthday to us,
Happy Birthday dear all of us
Happy Birthday to us -
and many more!
Wheeeeeee!!!”
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Time
It still seems impossible that my sister Karen is gone. I know that it has been little more than two weeks since she died. I know there will always be a empty place in my heart. But I keep thinking of her in the present. After we Skyped on Saturday with my sister Gail, I thought “I wonder if we could do this with Karen?”.
One friend told me: “Apparently time heals all wounds, but it sure doesn't feel like it at the time of the wounding”.
Another told me: “Time is a friend in dealing with loss. It doesn't hurt less as time goes on, but it does give us a chance to catch our breath and deal with the pain.”
Wise women both.
Kind as well.
I’ll try to be patient as I grieve and breathe...
One friend told me: “Apparently time heals all wounds, but it sure doesn't feel like it at the time of the wounding”.
Another told me: “Time is a friend in dealing with loss. It doesn't hurt less as time goes on, but it does give us a chance to catch our breath and deal with the pain.”
Wise women both.
Kind as well.
I’ll try to be patient as I grieve and breathe...
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Today...
Today would have been my sister Karen's 65th birthday.
Tonight, I stood in the town Karen called home for many years. This photo of the rising “Super” Full Moon (in perigee) is for her.
Tonight, I stood in the town Karen called home for many years. This photo of the rising “Super” Full Moon (in perigee) is for her.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Ralph’s Best Side
(By the way, Blogger has “updated” their platform leaving carriage returns and paragraph breaks non-functional. I’m looking forward to them sorting that out ASAP!)
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Aaahhhh....
(For those of you outside New England, “Maine ~ The Way Life Should Be” is posted on signs as you enter the state. As for the bottle in the photo, well, family and friends will appreciate that!)
Photo and layout by LMR/Pink Granite. Font: Hans Hand. Software: Apple iPhoto ’09 and Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Mac.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Welcome Back
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