Monday, September 28, 2009

A Good Thing - Sisters keep doing it for themselves and their fellows



Recently I sent you, my dear reader Red Tara, and my family an email blast in praise of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's insistance that a public option was mandatory. Alas, like most of my deep thoughts it dropped like a stone into the well that is your collective psyche and made not a ripple. But there is, surely, no way you can ignore the transcendent beauty and courage of the subject of this morning's rant, I mean email, which reads,

"...how about this one...burned at the stake for having a vagina and being slightly crazy just like Joan of Arc, the divine Ms. Martha Stewart, patron Saint of home keeping and quality crafting, today hosted that pariah of American culture, who wants us all to wind up Cuban communists, Michael Moore (bless his soul-he won an academy award remember???LOVE you Michael!)."

Watch it here.

Martha asked the big questions and let that dangerous, seditious Michael talk all about the economy, health care reality and reform, and his new film Capitalism, a love story (I bet Mr. Geithner has screened it). She even permitted him to interact with audience members. One of them was British and that gave Michael an opening to compare and contrast health security in civilized vs. un-civilized nations (like England vs. America). On housefrau TV time!

Martha, like Joan and so many other sisters before her, has experience enough to know there is reason to be afraid. Yet she remains unbowed and willing to offend. I love that in a woman! I believe it has always been an essential and ever so elusive character trait. One that tends to be screamed, beaten, shot, burned, or hung out of us with a sad regularity.

Thank goodness I'd clicked over from my new telenovela, which I can not figure out except that there is a hot futbol player enamorado con this angelic madre who make tortillas in a mercado with her mother and sister and has a young son who is in love with a gangster's daughter......I think it's Venezulan, my favorite.

The tangent problem rears its ugly head again.

Martha is a big old capitalist who understands that she is her brother and her sister's keeper....where's that Blow-hard Bloomberg or Mr. Gates or even Opie Wimpy who is spending waaaay too much time on her show with junkies like Mackenzie Phillips? Nowhere near this discussion so far.

Martha has hosted some of my favorite craft artists like Emily from Inside a Black Apple. She apparently has multiple boyfriends. Always an intelligent strategy. Works out every day so she can kick butt. Likes a stiff drink. Eats butter. Martha is a woman of a "certain age" - that age being 68--who is still large and in-charge and getting some and working it.

Exhibit A, her ad for the Dairyfarmers:


I am proud to send Martha and Nancy (who had been a fixture of my shit list) and all my sisters who make noise when they would be safer keeping quiet a shout out!!!Way to go ladies...drag those boys into a new millennium.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

What's up with the lap dog? Or why Ron Wyden owes Oregon a lap dance.

I may have mentioned that I no longer speak to, endorse, support financially, or would dine with Sen. Ron Wyden. At one time I would have given the man a kidney. Alas, no more. Blue dog, lap dog, old dog whatever...he needs to stand down. Now. As I have mentioned in my many letters to him, he is woefully out of touch with the interests and desires of his constituents. Unless of course, he has decided to come clean about the fact that his constituents are health insurance companies and big pharmaceutical corporations. Wtf Ron?

When Sen. Wyden's office stopped answering their phones (the day he signed with a bunch of republiwhatevers for a "slow down" on health reform) I spoke to someone in Sen. Jeff Merkley's office. I asked them wtf was up with Ron? They were as mystified as the rest of us. I asked the staffer to run down the hall or up the stairs or whatever and check to see if a pod had been placed under Ron's desk. We had a brief laugh and then much weeping ensued.

"Sage politicos" who wonk out regularly tell me that this is nothing new. How naive of me to think a good democrat is a democrat who gives a rat's ass about people. The pansification of my party is a fact. I am having a very difficult time getting over this particular grief. Heaven help us when all the good liberals start pocketing blood money from the evil empire. As that NRA bad boy told us, "Soylent Green is People!"

Who do I vote for now? Politicians with the strength of character to make things happen (which is why I voted for Hillary-she has the ovaries to take on the tough challlenges) have left the building. Apparently, the idiots, "consensus-builders" and criminals stayed behind to run the show in Washington. My kingdom for an FDR or an LBJ right now. I'd even endorse Elizabeth Tudor. At this point a monarch might be an improvement.

I am completely disenfranchised.

Thanks to the SF Chronicle you too can use this handy tool to see how sticky your lap dogs fingers are.

Here's how Oregon breaks down:


State Party Chamber Member of Congress TotalDescending
Oregon Democrat Senate Sen. Ron Wyden $261,550
Oregon Democrat House Rep. Earl Blumenauer $44,500
Oregon Republican House Rep. Greg Walden $42,150
Oregon Democrat House Rep. Kurt Schrader $27,651
Oregon Democrat Senate Sen. Jeff Merkley $19,000
Oregon Democrat House Rep. David Wu $7,000
Oregon Democrat House Rep. Peter DeFazio $3,000


Seriously Senator Wyden? $261,550.00 in 2009 with a whole fiscal quarter left to report?

And Earl check yourself! More than the republicat! Dude, so not good.

"Dear k", you may ask, "Why do you torture yourself over health care reform and the fact that all politicians are corrupt? You are so boring. Is it because you don't have insurance?"

No, dear reader. After several years without, I now have a policy. But my son does not. And one in four people I meet do not. We are all (but the lucky few) underinsured. And it is a financial stress and prominent nightmare for almost all Americans.

Take a moment to imagine what health security would feel like.


Doesn't that feel amazing?


What space would be freed in your psyche? In your wallet?


"Fascism wants Baptism coast to coast," according to Ken Kesey.

Death panels! Rationing!Unplugging Granny!Waiting forever for tests! No boob jobs on demand! Teeth like the English! (that one is just plain mean, most of my imaginary friends are English, and I think dentists contributed more to humankind when they also cut hair). How barbaric!

These fallacies have been brought to you by the same people who invented the fun summer pastime "Tea Bagging".

For the love of dog, if you can't google the name you pick for your latest great idea for political action you shouldn't be allowed to carry weapons and assemble. Do you hear me Dick?

I was so impressed when Heather Spohr, Maddie's mother, wrote about her insurance experiences and COBRA. She felt it was more important to tell the truth than to worry she might offend someone. That is an impressive ethic for a mommy blogger. And I don't mean to dismiss other mommy bloggers in any way. I am aware of the fact that many blogs are carefully edited to offend the fewest number of visitors. My strengths lie elsewhere.

This is not a political blog any more than it is a cooking blog, a yarn blog, or a blog all about how much I wish Maddie was still alive and I do so wish that. It's just that these things make up my day and fill my head and I believe they should be considered. I need to mark the point at which my political party broke my heart - right here and right now over health security for all.

Henceforth, dear reader, I am all about term limits and campaign finance reform and a socialist party wouldn't hurt us one little bit. I am great at sharing and I bet you are too. But I'll try to spare you that crap and write a little about my trip to the beach with my gorgeous Mum or my obsession with bias knit wash cloths.

9/24/09 Updated to add: Whoa! Anyone else notice the hits from Washington, District of Columbia in my little feedjit widget? And, the President sent me an email on an address I NEVER use for correspondence with the government. He hasn't written in such a long time. Wow! How cool is that? Or maybe it's scary? No, definitely cool.