The Republic of T.

I know this seems like low hanging fruit. But Sarah Palin is back, and along with her mindless blather has returned the chorus of “do not under estimate Palin” and/or “Sarah must be taken seriously.”

Seriously? We’re supposed to take seriously someone who just days ago was spouting nonsense (in the words of a conservative blogger) about mammograms and death panels, and only weeks ago was seriously claiming a conspiracy to move “In God We Trust” off U.S. currency? We’re supposed to take seriously/placate/cower in fear of the mindlessly vehement incoherence of her followers?

We’re supposed to take seriously someone who bad mouthed her almost-son-in-law for being too busy being “in the media” and pushing his own potential book to see his own baby, while sitting across from (arguably) the “queen of all media” herself, and one of the biggest book promoters in the publishing world, spending an hour talking about her book and her own baby who has Down’s Syndrome and thus has special needs? We’re supposed to take seriously someone who implied that her daughter’s baby’s father was using his physical assets to promote himself, who did as much of the same as she could get away with in Runners’ World? We’re supposed to take seriously someone too stupid (Yeah, I said it.), to even recognize the hypocrisy, let alone the irony, of what she was saying?

Are we seriously supposed to overestimate thier importance as much as they do themselves?

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According to the new app I downloaded to my iphone, today is the birthday of Bill W.

Second Lieut. Bill Wilson didn’t think twice when the first butler he had ever seen offered him a drink. The 22-year-old soldier didn’t think about how alcohol had destroyed his family. He didn’t think about the Yankee temperance movement of his childhood or his loving fiance Lois Burnham or his emerging talent for leadership. He didn’t think about anything at all. “I had found the elixir of life,” he wrote. Wilson’s last drink, 17 years later, when alcohol had destroyed his health and his career, precipitated an epiphany that would change his life and the lives of millions of other alcoholics. Incarcerated for the fourth time at Manhattan’s Towns Hospital in 1934, Wilson had a spiritual awakening — a flash of white light, a liberating awareness of God — that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Wilson’s revolutionary 12-step program, the successful remedy for alcoholism. The 12 steps have also generated successful programs for eating disorders, gambling, narcotics, debting, sex addiction and people affected by others’ addictions. Aldous Huxley called him “the greatest social architect of our century.

It occurred to me, when I read the bio above, that back in July I somehow managed to reach 17 years of continuous sobriety. That I should read about Bill W. on Thanksgiving seems somehow appropriate, since my sobriety is one of the things I’m most thankful for. Without it, I most likely wouldn’t be here, and if I were I certainly wouldn’t have the life I have now or the family I have now. To some degree, I have Bill W. to thank for that — and just about every alcoholic who walked into an A.A. meeting and kept coming back often enough to keep it going long enough for someone like me to walk in the door.

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This fourth grader is about to give a report on where her dad is stationed in Iraq. Except he’s not there. Instead he walks into her classroom.

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Let’s have more like this, please. More dads, moms, sons, daughters, sisters and bothers coming home, please.

I now extend my request for Levi Johnston to these guys.

The Christian side hug, for the unaware, is the Christian version of the standard “full frontal hug,” which is a sinful abonimation and should be avoided until marriage (I am not actually making this up). The side-hug is preferable because it avoids crotch-touching, which Jesus hated. Apparently the standard hug is now mostly for Jews, Muslims, Socialists and probably Unitarians.

Also, did I hear that right? Do they say “You ain’t no Rabbi, you ain’t no Priest, so rise up off me like the [something] with no yeast”? And does that mean that if you were a Rabbi or Priest you could, uh, not rise up off me? I’m uncomfortable and confused.

I also remain unclear on why “Democratic shift in Congress!” is thrown in and why there’s a shout-out to buying babies, but I haven’t read my True Images Bible for Girls in a while so maybe I’m just forgetting that part of the New Testament.

And this guy.

Yet another right wing rapper has shown up on the scene at the tea parties. His name is Hi Caliber and he sucks as bad as all the previous ones.

“Patriotic people throw your hands in the air, and wave them around like you just don’t care.”

Seriously, is that the best he can do? I imagine it is.

Just stop. Please.

Unfortunately, ain’t no rap like right-wing rap ’cause right-wing rap don’t stop.

I’m gonna give ‘em this much. I think the free market will take of this trend. Soon, I hope.

One can only hope. I can’t see living their lives on television (while their parents’ live theirs in the tabloids) is good for the kids. And I’ll be thrilled if it means I no longer have to see Jon and/or Kate on the magazine covers at the grocery store checkout.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 22nd through November 25th:

• The Company We Keep –
• The Madness Returns –
• How Black Is Obama? The Politics of Perceiving Skin Color –
• 10 Tips for a Sustainable Thanksgiving –
• To Your Health—and Mine –
• How Black Is Obama? The Politics of Perceiving Skin Color –
• One in a Million, Split Second OMG’s –

We’d talked about it earlier in the week, but hadn’t really made a definite decision to go. Then, Sunday morning I came downstairs to find this Washington Post story on the computer monitor.

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6-year-old Heaven Skyler Wilson dragged herself off the school bus that dropped her in front of her home on a rural road in Jetersville, just south of Richmond. The little girl, who had never had so much as an ear infection in her life, was pale and feverish and complained of an upset stomach.

The next day, Heaven’s grandmother, Pat Sparrow, took her to a nearby clinic. Heaven, usually a bright, bubbly girl with blond pigtails, dimples and effusive energy, had a sore throat and a 103-degree temperature. The doctor swabbed her for the flu, and the test was positive.

It was just something going around, Sparrow said she was told. The doctor told Sparrow to take Heaven home, give her Tylenol and chicken broth, and let her rest.

By the next morning, Heaven couldn’t breathe. Sparrow called 911.

…Two weeks later, on Oct. 21, ravaged with double pneumonia and a staph infection that deprived her brain of oxygen, Heaven was disconnected from the respirator. She lived for four minutes.

At 11:18 p.m., Heaven died in the arms of her mother, Sara Wilson. “You never heard such an awful scream from someone who loved her child so much,” Sparrow said, her voice shaking.

He was already packing the kids lunches at that point. So I knew that after swimming lessons, we’d be headed to the H1N1 vaccine clinic held this Sunday in Montgomery County. The end of our H1N1 saga — that is, the saga of getting the kids vaccinated — was finally in sight. And, as my husband said when he asked if I saw the article, “You just want to know you’ve done everything you can to protect your children.”

But, until Sunday, there wasn’t much we could do.

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I just have one thing to say about this.

Forget WWJD. The new question is apparently What Would MLK Do? A coalition of politically and theologically conservative Christian leaders, including nine Roman Catholic bishops, who have just signed a declaration saying they will not comply with laws that could require them to recognize same-sex unions or allow their institutions to support abortions are arguing that the move is of a piece with King’s call for civil disobedience during the civil rights movement.

The declaration reads, in part: “We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other antilife act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent.”

Instead of debating whether these causes belong in the same category as providing equal rights and treatment to racial minorities, the better question may be: Why now?After all, most people agree with the first part of the statement and believe religious institutions and individuals should be protected by conscience provisions that protect them from being compelled to participate in acts like abortion that they believe are murder. And, in fact, they are.

Fine. But if you’re gonna talk that talk, you gotta walk that walk.
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The first time I heard it, I did a double-take, because I thought I heard it wrong. The second time I heard it, I rolled my eyes. The third time I heard Sarah Palin, in her interview with Oprah Winfrey, suggest that women who choose to terminate pregnancies are essentially “taking the easy way out.”

There is much — so much, really — that I object to here, but I’ll start with one really simple point.

I don’t know, and can’t know, what it’s like to decide whether or not to have an abortion. But I can listen — and have listened — to the voices and experiences of women who have. None of the women I’ve known who have faced that choice, based on what they told me, experienced it as an “easy” choice.

Such choices — the ones that have unknown and unknowable, long-term consequences for ourselves and our families — are almost never easy choices to make. As both Republicans and Democrats demonstrate, it’s the choices we make for other people — people who are not “us” — that are the easy choices.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 16th through November 18th:

• When Hope Meets Reality –
• Abstinence Only Epically Fails –
• Op-Ed Columnist: What the Future May Hold –
• Our Rogue Evita –
• 1 in 7 Americans Went Hungry in 2008 –
• The Pledge of Allegiance is un-American –
• Sarah Palin, plain boring –
• Uninsured Twice as Likely to Die in ER –
• The question of LGBT incrementalism (part 1- policy) –

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 16th through November 18th:

• When Hope Meets Reality –
• Abstinence Only Epically Fails –
• Op-Ed Columnist: What the Future May Hold –
• Our Rogue Evita –
• 1 in 7 Americans Went Hungry in 2008 –
• The Pledge of Allegiance is un-American –
• Sarah Palin, plain boring –
• Uninsured Twice as Likely to Die in ER –
• The question of LGBT incrementalism (part 1- policy) –

It’s birthday season in our family. (We’re all clustered at the end and beginning of the year.) And, as someone who grew up thinking he’d never be a parent, I get a little reflective when one of the kids’ birthdays rolls around. Today, Parker is seven years old.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 15th through November 16th:

• t r u t h o u t | Religion and Economics –
• Can You Say Depleted Uranium? –
• ECONOMY-US: “Green” Jobs Should Be Black and Brown Too –
• Vegetarianism is a major step for environmental change –
• Max Blumenthal: How Sarah Palin Made Herself Indispensable While Destroying the Republican Party –

If our family wasn’t already avoiding WalMart like the plague, this would be more than reason enough. I hope WalMart gets sued. Big time.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 14th through November 15th:

• The Democrats’ Dilemma: Their Own Trojan Horse Kicks Free –
• The missing GOP bill –
• Meat, Culture and Climate –
• Frank Rich: The Missing Link Between Fort Hood And The War In Afghanistan –
• Insurance Industry Expert Says Stupak Would Practically Mean No Abortion Coverage –
• Huge Rise in Birth Defects in Falluja –
• Memo to the Tea-Baggers: God and Country Aren’t with You –
• Op-Ed Columnist: The Passion of the Right –
• Op-Ed Columnist: A Recovery for Some –
• Return Receipt Required –

• Reading: "Can Happiness and Parenting Coexist?" Answer: Sometimes. http://www.flne.ws/21034636 on Fluent News #

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 11th through November 14th:

• That Old Republican Revival –
• Robert Creamer: 10 Reasons Why Democrats Who Opposed the Health Care Bill Made a Political Mistake –
• Cold-Hearted: Conservative Gov Blocks Same-Sex Partners from Making Funeral Arrangements for Loved Ones in RI –
• Why Republicans Should Be Really, Really Scared –
• Oops. Guess Whose Health Insurance Covers Abortion? –
• The Myth of Judicial Backlash –
• Op-Ed Contributors: Trading Women’s Rights for Political Power –
• What were the Republicans smoking? –
• How Majorities Die: Why Peter Beinart is Wrong About Stupak. –

Michelle Bachman’s “Superbowl of Freedom” (or “Bachmannalia”) was not the first protest with such attention grabbing signage, but merely the latest. September saw Glenn Beck’s 9/12 marchers descent upon Washington. Again, they brought their message-bearing signs and posters.

And their signs made their message and motivation clear. (more…)

I often say that there some people who just aren’t wort talking to when it comes to politics and social change, because they are never going to be on your side. But Shannon’s conversation with two right-wing protesters at Atlanta Pride has got me reconsidering that. [Via A World of Progress]

As I was leaving the park, I saw the two men again at the exit.  One was an angry, obese man and the other was a young guy who didn’t seem quite as hate-filled.  I’ll call them Angry and Young.  Angry was still shouting out to people, “You’re WICKED!” and I just decided to speak with them to see if I could get them to embrace their hypocrisy.

… Me: Do you honestly hope to draw anyone here to Jesus Christ with these tactics?  You both embrace the love of law more than you embrace the law of love.  Jesus never did anything like this.

Angry:  “Yes he did!  He went on an angry rampage!”

Me: He did go on an angry rampage at the temple because they had allowed it to become a money machine where people were selling goods for worship and price-gouging people who had to come from afar to pray and offer sacrifices.  He was disgusted by how the priests allowed it to become a business, not a house of worship and praise.  His anger was directed towards the church, and I have a sneaking suspicion he feels the same way about it today.”

Young: The Bible says that…

Me: The Bible says, in James, that true religion is this: to visit the widows and orphans in the time of their affliction.  When was the last time that either of you visited widows or orphans in the time of their affliction?  And be honest because God will hold you accountable for every word that you utter on judgment day.

Angry: (crickets)

Young: What do you mean?

Maybe it’s just a question of how you talk to them. I’m not sure I’d have been cool-headed enough to pull this off. Read the rest. It’s well worth it!

I’ve used this quote (attributed to Maya Angelou) before: “When people show you who they really are, believe them.” I guess in periods of tremendous change people really reveal who they really are. I’ll return to this in more detail post, but the news and debate leading up to and following the passage of health care reform in the House is at least worth a quick roundup, if only because how it all comes together in a clear context.

First, let me reiterate that I’ll be the first to say that the anger directed at the president, Congress, and the policy changes they’re trying to make are not entirely rooted in racism, but have deep roots in the economic consequences of the last few decades for the people in some of the reddest states. That said, it’s becoming impossible to ignore that a significant amount is also rooted in the racism and ethnocentrism conservatives have used to divert their constituents’ attention — and rage — towards more convevient targets.

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