Back to Health Care--What Moyers Thinks

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=6CF29607-18FE-70B2-A81F4C1852C7AC81

We can't give up and allow this spinelessness to go unremarked. It's not too late.

More on Ted Kennedy

Sarah Vowell's opinion column, in today's NYTimes, talks about the effect Ted Kennedy's work in the Senate has had on her.

I like this excerpt especially:

I paid my way through Montana State University with student loans, a minimum-wage job making sandwiches at a joint called the Pickle Barrel, and — here come the waterworks — Pell Grants. Thanks to Pell Grants, I had to work only 30 hours a week up to my elbows in ham instead of 40.

Ten extra hours a week might sound negligible, but do you know what a determined, junior-Hillary type of hick with a full course load and onion-scented hands can do with the gift of 10 whole hours per week? Not flunk geology, that’s what. Take German every day at 8 a.m. — for fun! Wander into the office of the school paper on a whim and find a calling. I’m convinced that those 10 extra hours a week are the reason I graduated magna cum laude, which I think is Latin for “worst girlfriend in town.”

Twenty years after my first financial aid package came through, I have paid off my college and graduate school loans and I have paid back the federal government in income taxes what it doled out to me in Pell Grants so many, many, many, many times over it’s a wonder I’m not a Republican.

But I would like to point out that my perfectly ordinary education, received in public schools and a land grant university, is not merely the foundation on which I make a living. My education made my life. In a sometimes ugly world, my schooling opened a trap door to a bottomless pit of beauty — to Walt Whitman and Louis Armstrong and Frank Lloyd Wright, to the old movies and old masters that have been my constant companions in my unalienable pursuit of happiness.

I’m a New Yorker now. Every now and then when I have time to kill in Midtown, I duck into the Museum of Modern Art to stare at Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” I love looking at the picture, but I also love looking back on when and where and how I first saw it — on a slide in a first-year art history course in which some of my fellow students were ranchers’ sons who wore actual cowboy hats to class. It was a course I paid for, in part, with a Pell Grant, a program always and as ever championed by “my senator,” Ted Kennedy, a program so dear to Barack Obama’s heart that increasing the maximum amount of Pell Grants for needy students was the first bill he introduced upon arrival in the United States Senate.

Pell Grants are named after the 6-term Democratic senator from Rhode Island, Claiborne Pell, but Ted Kennedy worked alongside Pell to establish the original bill, called the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, in 1972. Subsequently, Kennedy's own website notes that he was a key supporter for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Direct Lending program in 1993. These have allowed so many, including Xtreme English and her children, to get an education.

Living in the District of Columbia means we don't have a voting representative or senator in Congress. I relied on Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts to represent my concerns, and he did so admirably. I'm happy to have contributed whatever small funds, if any, I had at the time whenever I received an email from Senator Kennedy pointing out a person or group with a particular need.

Senator Kennedy came from a wealthy, illustrious, close-knit family, whose support he was able to take for granted all his life. He was given much, and in return he gave unstintingly to others to the end. He would be the first to admit that his actions have not always been those of a perfect human being. But to his everlasting credit, he did not allow his failings to drive him from public life or stop his work on behalf of those who need the help of a community.

Today's Writers Almanac notes that it's the birthday of Molly Ivins (rest in peace, too, Molly). WA cites a biographical blurb she wrote about herself that says "Molly Ivins is a nationally syndicated political columnist who remains cheerful despite...politics. She emphasizes the more hilarious aspects of both state and national government, and consequently never has to write fiction."

addendum: Photo of Funeral procession from US Capitol to Arlington Cemetery.

The Lion Sleeps

May he rest in peace.

a great and necessary conversation

Please read this conversation that was posted last weekend by Cosa Nostradamus. I agree with what he says: the level of discourse has sunk so low in recent weeks that it's time the grownups in our government (if there are any) put a stop to it.

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY

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POLITICS MAKE BEDFELLOWS STRANGE

OUR POLITICAL MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE IS FALLING APART

Republicans Are Guilty Of Fostering Irreconcilable Differences

Another great post from Ms. Willpen, formerly of the Borough of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and Junior's, now the budding conscience of the Left. While it might not bother some of us to crack some Nazi heads, there are many here among us who feel that life is too precious to pollute or endanger with bloodshed, even in a worthy cause. So, nu, we wrestled with the better angels of our nature and this is how it all came out. As Honest Abe, our second Jewish President (Madison was "passing;" named after a street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan --His wife: Dolly, HELLO!!!) put it,

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

The post that launched a thousand megapixels:

WILLPEN'S WORLD
"Pay it forward…"
The beginning of the post that started this conversation.

' I have been feeling so depressed and upset and tense lately regarding all the craziness that has been going on in this country. We are at each others necks ready to strike the first blow for what we believe in. Instead of fighting against each other, we should be reminding each other how much we all love this country regardless of our political leanings. We should not be at war with our fellow Americans. So I thought that it would be a nice thing to pay it forward. Watch this video and pass it on. Post it on your blogs. Pass it on to someone you love and someone who bugs the crap out of you. Pay it forward until it has reached around the country and reminded each and every one of us that we are all fighting for the same things. '


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MY RESPONSE:
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I’d have to disagree on this one. We are not all fighting for the same things. We are all fighting each other over the same things.

Moderates, liberals, progressives and democratic socialists all believe in human rights, equal justice under the law, a strong social safety net, limiting the use of force and violence in general, a truly democratic government of the people and not of the corporations.

“Centrists” (Blue Dogs), libertarians, conservatives, corporatists and Fascists believe in the opposite of all that. They are who and what we are opposing. They have made it very clear that there can be no compromise, no middle ground, no accommodation. All of our efforts to achieve consensus with them have simply led to nothing being done on healthcare, climate change, equal rights, control of corporations, fair trade, etc. Not only have they held us, the majority, back for many many years, they have trashed this country just to fill their own pockets and empty their own bile sacs.

All this is out in the open, now. There are no more “moderate” Republicans. They are all in the thrall of the extreme right-wing. Even silver-haired millionaire old-money Senators talk like crazed illiterate thugs about our government and our polity. This is no time for compromise. You cannot show weakness to bullies. That’s what happened to the Weimar Republic. If you think I’m being hyperbolic here, folks, go to the library and read up on it. It’s not just that there are parallels between the early Nazi Party and what the Republicans are trying to do today. They are actually using the Nazi playbook as a day-by-day guide to strategy & tactics right now in America.

Not that the Right hasn’t always done this. But there has rarely ever been this level of hatred, violence and hysteria among ordinary citizens, without a word from anyone in the media or government. Those who have forgotten the days of mass rallies of the Bund in NYC’s Madison Square Garden (1930’s) and KKK political assassinations in broad daylight (1970’s & 80’s) will perhaps recall the era when John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were all assassinated without any satisfactory investigations into who was behind it all. The net result was Nixon, and forty years of corrupt, incompetent conservative Republican & DINO rule, a disaster for the American middle class.

So go ahead and make nice with the Nazi’s if you want to, folks. They will never respect you for it. You’ll just be making it easier for them to stab you in the back. After all, they’re the minority; they can’t win fairly in a democracy.

(continued)
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WILLPEN'S WORLD
"willpen August 12, 2009 at 2:32 pm"
Comment in response to mine, above.

' Now we are having a dialogue.

While I wholly respect and understand where you are coming from, I have to say that I have been doing a lot of thinking about this lately. After the stuff that has been going on here for the last few days, with some crazed and pent up person using me as their whipping post, I have been observing the behavior on both sides.

I suppose that I am trying to be the devil’s advocate here, trying to push everyone just a bit in order to open up a conversation. I really think that is what is missing.

I read a very interesting article at the Huff Post this morning: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-leo-rangell/understanding-conversatio_b_257037.html
It talks about what I have been trying to say here.

People do not speak to each other but past each other, do not absorb and process what others say but pick and choose that which serves their own inner purposes. This 24/7 phenomenon, which plays a ubiquitous part in human life from Wars to broken friendships, was discussed in depth at a Round Table on “The Closed Mind” held at that Congress.

I too am angered to the point of frustration. I know deep in my heart that when the tables were turned I may have been angry and upset, but I never reverted to the tactics that are being used now against the duly elected establishment. But I also know that we cannot continue this way. There has to be someone who just yells "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE". Someone that has to start to try and turn things around. I see us slipping back in history and I fear a racial undercurrent simmering below the surface, such as the Rosa Parks poster that was torn out of a woman's hand at a Claire McCaskill town hall meeting. We have to be the cooler heads that prevail. I must follow the same instincts that I follow in business, which is the road to success is best paved by a slow and steady march.

I know that there will be times when my head will want to explode again, but I am trying to get the better of my demons to stop and think before it does. '


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MY RESPONSE:
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Agreed.

The thing is, they have NOTHING to fear from us. We’re not Stalinists. We’re barely liberals by any objective measure of international politics. And we’re mostly pacifists; all of us are certainly against unnecessary violence.

We have a great deal to fear from them, as recent history and current events show. This isn’t a conversation any more. It’s a battle, by their own definition, and they started it. And now they’re getting violent. You can’t reason with violent, armed lunatics who won’t even talk to you.

As to hearing what they have to say, how can I avoid it? They own the media. I’ve had them screaming in my ear all my life. It’s the progressive majority that has no voice, that isn’t being heard. It’s the Right who will not listen, who mischaracterizes everything we say.

In business, you can always walk away from a bad deal. Usually. There’s always another deal. Usually. In our civic life, not so much. You can’t just walk away from under-funded schools, non-existent healthcare, brutal police, an empire-building military, and a rising corporate medieval State. And they have no reason to “hondle” with us, the majority. They hold all the cards. Except one. We’re the majority. It’s time we started acting like it, while we still can.

Yes, it may not be all that pleasant or warm and fuzzy. Wars rarely are. But brutal occupations aren’t, either. That’s what we’ve had for forty years. That’s our choice: A short painful non-violent political fight, or an endless painful accommodation with these violent Nazi-wannabees.

We really do not have a third choice. That’s their doing, not ours. We are the reasonable ones, always. But often in life, it’s the least reasonable people who win. They know that. Hence these tactics. We cannot allow them to succeed. This is only the beginning of their insanity. Have we forgotten what happened over the previous eight years? How many died? How our good name was lost? How our rights were trampled on? Look where they’re STARTING this time! Does it take much vision to see where they’re headed?

Never again.
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WILLPEN'S WORLD
"willpen August 12, 2009 at 5:10 pm"
Comment in response to mine, above.

' Cosa,

I agree with you 150% but I also feel like I have been losing my sanity. I feel a rage inside of me that I don’t like. I have visions of blowing some of these people’s brains out while smiling about it. My life has been turned upside down financially because of what has been done to this country for the last 8 years and then sometime before that.

I am trying to rationalize this all like a RATIONAL person, not a screaming banshee. I don’t know what more to do, so trying the approach of offering an olive branch is what I need to try now, because if I don’t, I don’t know how I can continue reading and watching what is going on in this country without wanting to blow my own brains out.

I am frankly scared shitless that this is all gonna end in some kind of tragedy. Something that we can’t take back. Something that is more than words.

I need to add something else here. I hate having to be filled with hate and rage. I despise the feelings that these people are making me feel. I spent most of my formative years protesting against the Vietnam War and government abuse. I may have gotten rowdy at times and boisterous, but I was young and passionate and I learned from it. I learned that hating is a bad thing and it was so difficult for me to have to deal with Bush for 8 years. I could never even bring myself to listen to anything that he had to say. I hated the sound of his voice, but I kept it to myself because it was what was needed to do. So I understand the rage that you and so many others are feeling now. '


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MY RESPONSE:
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Don't let them get to you. You exist at a higher level of consciousness, and represent a higher moral standard. Nothing they can do will ever change that, Willpen, and if there were such a thing as a Judgment Day, I think we all know who could stand without fear and who should be trembling.

Personally, I don't think there is a Judgment Day, except for the one every day here on Earth. I think that all decent people of any faith or no faith try to live their lives in as just and righteous a manner as they can, and treat one another with respect and generosity of spirit Those who do not are simply not decent human beings.

I really do not feel rage toward them, just outrage. I don't care how they live their own lives, though I feel sorry for the people around them, especially their kids. But people with such warped and twisted values as those militating loudest on the Right these days simply cannot be allowed to prevail or predominate in our public discourse. They are blindly or deliberately in the wrong and doing wrongs that are not excusable or ignorable. They are like out-of-control adolescents who will just keep pushing until somebody gets hurt. We have no choice but to be the adults and stop them before that happens.

That's why I say we simply have to say "ENOUGH!" right now, before there is another great historical tragedy and derailing of our polity. The assassinations of the 1960's seemed to come out of nowhere, though there was plenty of general turmoil at the time. The constant ratcheting up of the threat level by very visible figures on the Right today is an obvious warning that we cannot help but perceive. It does not require that we respond in kind or engage in some extra-legal measures. We just have to demand firmly but peaceably that our government put a stop to this before it becomes any more violent.

It's not your job or mine to physically oppose these thugs. All we need to do is let our government know that we support any reasonable action that will stop the escalation of violence before it becomes any more physical. Call it "reading the riot act." Give them fair warning right now that they have already crossed almost every line ever drawn on political conduct in this country. Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt all took action against sedition and potential violence well before there were any major tragedies. It's time for Obama to do the same. Not in the name of partisan politics, but in the name of public safety and defense of our democracy.

I would recommend that everyone who feels strongly about this write the White House and maybe their representatives in Congress, and demand that they take action against the worst of these thugs now. That includes the Fox News and Clear Channel networks. Johnson and Nixon never hesitated to let the broadcast Net's know when they had crossed a line. Hints were even dropped as to possible suspensions of FCC licenses, for mere trivialities compared to the violent craziness being broadcast now. The 'Nets backed down rather than risk losing their sweetheart licenses. Something similar could be done now. I think it is time for that. Let's ask for it now.

The thing about bullies and their toadies is, they're cowards. Like dogs, if you stand your ground they will withdraw. If you show fear, or turn and run, they'll tear you apart. Limbaugh, Beck, and the rest of them need a rolled-up newspaper across the snout, right now. I'd like to see it come from some unassailable American hero, maybe even a conservative. I'd like to see a Mr. Welch stand up in Congress and say, "At long last, have you no sense of decency?" It's time.

So write that email to your candidate for Voice of Reason. And keep the pressure on. But don't let these dweebs get to you. They're pathetic, at best. Take comfort in knowing that decent folk outnumber them, and are universally appalled by them. It's only a matter of weeks at most until the backlash takes them down. All the conservatards are really doing right now is digging their own grave. It's going to be a LOVELY symbolic funeral! See you there!

Remember, you're not alone, folks. You're not losing this battle, they are. We're going to continue winning and making this world a better place. We're unstoppable. All we have to do is stick together and persevere in being decent human beings. You're doing a great job at that, Willpen. Take comfort in that, and in the vast community of like-minded people who are all together in this.


TO BE CONTINUED...
(Further dialogue with any civilized person is welcome.)


(cross-posted at blog me no blogs by cosanostradamus)

If you liked school, you'll LOVE work....

I'm still thinking on how my life has changed since retirement--the question put forth by Time Goes By last week. Once again, the whole idea has tossed me back to my childhood, when I more or less hated school for years. Many. Years. I didn't begin to like school AT ALL until my first year in college. I thought, "Where have they been hiding THIS??"

Anyway, why am I thinking about skool dayz? Well, one of the things you're supposed to do when you retire is keep your mind busy, and lots of retirees take classes. No problem. My mind is plenty busy--most of the time occupied with negative, discouraged, pissed-off thoughts about Republicans (not to mention my own Plains States' Congresspeople--Grassley and the so-called Blue Dogs Nelson, Baucus, and *gag* Conrad) and the outrageous crap they're pulling now.

I also think a lot about what I'm going to EAT next--or rather, what I want to cook. The current movie "Julie & Julia" has driven me to the bookstore and my laptop to look up recipes. And it's brought me a whole new favorite BREAKFAST FOOD: toast fried in oil & butter with chopped fresh tomatoes and basil chiffonade on top. OMG that's good! Not only does this keep my furnace stoked until mid-afternoon, but it makes me HAPPY for that long, too. Granted, in the movie this was one of Julie's creations that she seemed to come up with apart from Julia, but who cares?

Anyway anyway, school had its moments--I LOVED second grade, even though I made a hash of my first BIG assignment. The teacher asked me to do a book report on "Doctor Dolittle," so I got up early and MEMORIZED the book. About halfway into the second page or so, my classmates started groaning and complaining, so the teacher said "We just wanted a summary, M.E." "But there's lots more," I said, and started to continue. The teacher, Miss Elofson, held up her hands. "That's fine, M.E., you can stop now." "Yeah, gee...." said the other kids.

Work was kind of the same as skool: Long hours, bossy people, no room for creativity at all. I was very happy to retire. My sleep cycle recovered, I could wear what I doggone pleased, and I didn't HAVE TO do anything but what I wanted.

Everyone says this is all wrong, of course. You're supposed to DO THINGS. Significant, socially redeeming things. The questions started: "How is retirement? Are you going to travel? How are you spending your time? Any volunteering?" Etc. Etc. To me, the time to travel is when you've got a job and can pay for it! It's good to get away when there's lots you need to get away from. And I volunteered A LOT when I was younger and had a car and the stamina to do all of that.

Last week, I got an email from the University of Pennsylvania's (note to Ben: the University of Pencilvainya!!) College of Liberal and Professional Studies. They are offering a noncredit online course this fall called Foundations of Positive Psychology. It's about HAPPINESS and stuff like that. That sounds like something I could a) benefit from and b) possibly enjoy. So I signed up. I will have lectures and assignments to fill my thoughts in place of the sound track from Faux News Hell i've got going now.

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, actually. I'm actually going to be DOING SOMETHING the AARP and that ilk recommend. It may cut into my bike riding and naps, but it'll fit perfectly with my visits to the WIFI watering holes. And get this...many of the assignments will be to BLOG something to share with the faculty, admin., and other students! Is this gonna be a piece of cake (mmm...yellow cake with chocolate icing and orange filling) or what?

"How Would You Fix the Economy?"

Usually my friends send me forwarded jokes, never-fail prayers (IF you send them on to X number of people within X minutes of receiving the forward), and cutesy-poo pictures of puppies, kittens, babies, et al. Today I got this from one of my better sources:

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg, FL Times newspaper
on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How
Would You Fix The Economy?" I think this guy nailed it!
*********************************************************************

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America's economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will
squander the money on lavish parties & unearned bonuses, use the
following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the
following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings. Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars
ordered. Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. Housing
Crisis fixed.


It can't get any easier than that! If more money is needed, have
all members of Congress & their constituents pay their taxes.


If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know.

If not, please disregard. Then shoot yourself. One job opening.

I think that last one is harsh. We're just assuming the person who is disregarding this message is EMPLOYED. And also, How about including the folks who are already retired--with the stipulation that they MUST pay for their own health care, wherever they can find it?

For those who don't WANT to buy a car, they MUST contribute the equivalent of the cost of a car plus two years' worth of insurance and gas to their local transit agency.

life changes

I wrote this comment on another blog, Time Goes By, which a few of you probly will never see...so here it is. the topic is how our routines have changed since retirement:

"I seem to have gone back to childhood since I retired. When I was a kid, I used to count--1000andone, 1000andtwo--to time myself in the summer to see how fast I could get dressed and out of the house in the morning. I didn't like breakfast, so unless my mother caught me and made me eat, I could be up, dressed, and out of the house in TWO minutes!

I'm not that speedy now, but I generally bathe at night--I read somewhere that the Jewish day begins the night before, and that was a revelation. Looking at it that way, the first part of the day belongs to you and not to some effing job. I wake up with the sun (haven't used an alarm clock for almost 20 years--always hated it, so I trained myself to wake up on my own), take my drops (weird remedy that keeps my arteries clear) in 2 oz of fruit juice, and most of the time go back to bed for another 40 winks or so. Then I get up, make a green smoothie--fresh fruit, lettuce or kale, flax oil, packet of EmergenC, scoop of soy powder (though when that's gone, i'm going back to whey powder...like it better). I haul a big glass of this out to the living room and read news, blogs, e-mail. I skip the meditation and yoga I did for years. I feel bad, but the major stumbling block that I don't quite understand is that I just don't like to do it any more.

About 8:30 or 9, I call my BFF to plan our day. Sometimes I go with her when she takes her dog for an off-leash run in the cemetery, sometimes we meet at a Wifi spot to work (she corrects papers or writes, I write or edit or read), sometimes she comes here to work, sometimes I go there. Most days we either walk or ride our bikes for several hours.

As Rachel Maddow describes her wardrobe, I go for the "kindergarten look": shorts or jeans, T-shirt, sneakers. No makeup other than carrot cream to smooth the rough spots.

This present time seems like a transition from working in a difficult, mostly unrewarding (other than monetarily) environment to a very different, unpressured, spontaneous kind of life.

Today we rode our bikes along the river and along the mall to see "Julie and Julia." On the way back, I felt filled with joy that we live in such a beautiful place. When we stopped for a drink of water, I said, choking a bit in surprising emotion, "This is our Paris."

This getting choked up embarrasses me, but it's happening lots. My heart and eyes just spill over. A Monarch butterfly flew beside me today for quite a ways, and I said, "Hi, there" and got choked up again.

At a red light, I waited next to a pedicab driver, and I asked him how he liked his job--was it fun or was it gruelling and hard? The light changed, and as he pushed off up the hill on Constitution Ave, he said, "I love every single thing about it."

R.I.P. Les Paul

Les Paul died yesterday. He was 94. When I was in high school in the 50s, "Waiting for the Sunrise," by Les Paul and his wife, Mary Ford, was one of our favorite tunes on the radio. Paul invented the solid body electric guitar, which according to Wikipedia "made the sound of rock and roll possible."

Who can forget this?

Did you miss this one??

Wonderful as always, John Stewart on Glenn Beck & health care:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

I Write Letters....

DC Crime Bill 18-151 was just passed by the City Council. One of its provisions is upping the penalty for a third conviction for prostitution to a FELONY. There is so much wrong with this, the organization 51st State NOW sent out the following email, which arrived this morning, and I quote:

Sex trafficking is a horrific crime whereby a person is forced or coerced to take part in sexual acts in exchange for something of value. In Washington D.C. such abuse of women and children is not uncommon. Unfortunately, in many cases a person who is sex trafficked is treated as a criminal rather than a victim who is unable to escape the physical abuse and psychological coercion to which she is subjected. Now, the D.C. Council is poised to vote on legislation, entitled the Omnibus Crime Bill 18-151, which includes a provision that will make a third arrest of a prostituted person a felony level crime. These penalties are far too stiff for the prostituted person, will do little to address the instances of prostitution or sex trafficking in D.C., and may cause further damage to trafficking victims.

In many of these cases the victim, who has been forced or coerced into prostitution, even at the age of just 18, will have a litany of arrests or convictions for prostitution both in DC and other jurisdictions. This demonstrates the transient nature of the pimps’ operations. Arresting the prostituted person does little to deter the trafficker/pimp or provide relief or rescue for the prostituted person. In fact, if enacted, this provision may cause further victimization as well as present increased obstacles as a woman with a felony conviction attempts to rebuild her shattered life.

Sex traffickers and pimps are motivated only by money, and the people they prostitute are easily movable, disposable and replaceable. Therefore we urge you to join with us and ask the D.C. Council to oppose the overreaching penalties for prostituted persons, and consider focusing their attention on the pimps and purchasers of sex or "johns".

51st State NOW strongly supports the increased penalties for johns proposed in this bill. Johns exercise meaningful choice when they engage in commercial sex transactions, so efforts to deter their activity will have a greater impact in reducing prostitution and sex trafficking, which are inextricably intertwined.

I agree, so I sent the following letter to our mayor:

Dear Mayor Fenty:

Please send this crime bill back to the council so they can remove the excessive criminal penalties for persons arrested for prostitution.

I don't know what's going on in DC, but for a community of sinners, we are being very hard on the women involved in one of the oldest professions.

Perhaps it's because we don't want to arrest the MEN involved or charge them with a felony for their third conviction. If we did that, my goodness...half of Congress, not to mention the City Council, would be in jail.

Whatever the twisted reasoning, it makes no sense at all to charge women, who often are coerced into prostitution, with a felony for this "crime."

I would also suggest you encourage the Council members to get over themselves.

Sincerely yours,

NAME,
ex-nun, mother, grandmother, and soon-to-be [well, within the next 5 years, I suspect] greatgrandmother

Peace in the World

The news/bafflegab has seemed too crazy today: commentators on national media calling our president a Nazi, senior citizens receiving Medicare railing against government programs (aka, in their case, Medicare), the former governor of Alaska claiming the president's health care program will kill her Down's Syndrome child....it goes on and gets worse by the hour, it seems.

My respite has been to read the marvelous blog Esther Garvi aka Ishtar News. Today she posts about seven Rhodesian Ridgeback pups who were born back home in Niger during her trip to Sweden. She took a photo of each pup today to celebrate their turning 4 months old. Each pup has a name and a personality to match.

The previous post shows a 7 month old filly, one of the many creatures gracing Garvi's Eden Foundation in Niger.

And the post before that shows her marvelous photos of the weather and climate in Niger, and the challenge of drought and starvation her family established the Eden Foundation to meet--and the miraculous trees they've planted to provide cover and sustenance to the families in their region.

Garvi lives a simple life in Niger, physically a desperate place. Despite the starkness of the life, it seems so peaceful there--no hateful commentators on radio or TV egging on totally misguided citizenry being manipulated by corporate greed. The dust storms seem beautiful and welcome by comparison.

t r u t h o u t | Thirteen in Congress Control Health Care Debate

t r u t h o u t | Thirteen in Congress Control Health Care Debate

Shared via AddThis

Here we go...don't blame President Obama if health care goes wrong. Blame the obstructionists in Congress who are in thrall to the health insurance companies. We fought the good fight to elect nonwingers in 2008. We can't rest on our laurels now. What's to be done about this?

The Kettles go to the Four Seasons....

This weekend, BFF and I went to the Four Seasons to recoup from a long bike ride on the Capitol Crescent Trail. The bike path ends a few short blocks from the Four Seasons, which makes it a very convenient collapsing point. Until this weekend, the Four Seasons in Philadelphia had been my favorite hotel in the US of A, but I didn't know the Four Seasons franchise had extended to DC--specifically, Georgetown. Actually, the bus stops right in front of the place, but I'd never paid attention to it in all the many times I hung around there waiting for the Georgetown Shuttle or the Circulator (with bike rack in front). "Be Here Now" may be my favorite mantra, but it's clear I have a ways to go before I get the hang of it.

Anyway, we get there and walk to the Concierge Desk to sign in. So wrong. The Concierge kindly points us to the Reservations Desk, which is identically unmarked but close enough to hit with a paper clip if the Concierge wanted to toss one. Heh. You try not to act like a bumpkin in the Four Seasons, but that's my normal m.o.: bumpkin. We share a quiet laugh about "The Kettles Go to the Four Seasons." Some of you will remember Ma & Pa Kettle from the early days of TV. Ma was played by Marjorie Main, one of my mother's favorite actresses.

Of course, BFF should not be identified as a "Kettle." It's me who's the country mouse here, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Country mice are pretty, sleek, and smart, and they only come inside when the weather drives away their food supply. They can mix metaphors, too!

After dinner, we walk back to the room, where the TV is on, displaying the evening's program schedule. BFF asks, "Where's the remote?" I look around and find something on the shelf under the (big, flat-faced) TV. It seems pretty HUGE for a remote, but it has a big POWER button on it. (It's a keyboard for the laptop also under the TV.) (Kettles and laptops and mice, oh my!!)
BFF finds the remote under her newspaper and shuts off the TV.

I am too tired from the ride to undress, so I kick off my shoes and crawl under the covers. I realize the light is shining in my eyes. I can't move and ask BFF if she would pretty please turn it off. "I don't see a switch," she says, and I don't, either. "Just smash the bulb with the remote," I say and fall sound asleep.

When we wake up to broad daylight, we go down to the spa for a swim. Philadelphia's Four Seasons spa has a bigger pool and is all on one level. But here, the multiple staircases--two flights down to the spa, another flight down to the pool, and in another direction, a flight up to the women's locker room--form their own fitness challenge. But the brunch was amazing. There was one whole table filled with tiny little plates offering a whole slew of amuse-bouche made out of watermelon! My favorite was the wee glasses of watermelon gazpacho, but the salad of tiny cubes of goat cheese, black olive, and watermelon was good, too. Although I can't say I like goat cheese at all, apart from the wonderful aged stuff on Capri. It reminds me too much of goats. There are some downsides to being a country bumpkin.