What a country II continued

I guess I spoke too soon about the student response to the Taser event. There have been marches and protests. It makes me feel a bit better, but not much.

An e-mail went out this morning to Democratic organizers in our congressional district exhorting us to work on the congressional campaign and saying that Bill Clinton will be in Lowell campaigning on behalf of the female candidate...right. We all know the only reason he will be here is because of his wife. As I said before, I highly doubt that a Republican has a snow ball's chance of winning. The only thing here for Bill is garnering votes for Hillary. Side note: I had lunch with a friend yesterday and when I asked him who he supported now for President, he said none. He too is tired of holding his nose at the polling booth. Here's a highly intelligent, educated guy who sees no point in voting. He's my latest recruit to my "if you don't like the candidates, go to the polls to show you care, and turn in an unmarked ballot" plan.

Re Bill (and by association, Hillary): I have Clinton fatigue, although every time I see him or hear him speak on television I do get a rush, but it is the kind you have if you see an old badboy boyfriend. If you are sane you realize it is just nostalgia and fantasy, not reality. Reality is that he slept with your best friend, has since left her, and is with the new flavor of the month. Who need's Mr. Baskin Robbins?

What a country II

In the last couple of days there have been three news stories that have made me think that from the bottom to the top we have lost our bearings.

Story 1: A 70 year old woman in Orem, Utah was hand-cuffed and arrested because she didn't tell police who were on her property who she was and resisted arrest for..........................................
NOT WATERING HER LAWN! C'mon, arrested for having a brown lawn? What were these people thinking? And I want to know why she had any duty at all to answer any questions? Uh, maybe they had an arrest warrant already? A well-known attorney is now representing the lady. This should be on Court TV.

Story 2: Security guards at a college event where our Senator, John Kerry, was speaking, found it necessary to TASER a young man who wouldn't give up the microphone fast enough. They tasered him after about 4 security guards had him on the ground and he was crying out, "Bro', don't Taser me, don't Taser me." No one in the audience seemed the least bit outraged by this. Kerry didn't move and said (prior to the Taser jolt), something like, "I'll answer his question. It's ok." Gee, how forceful, what clout. This whole fiasco made my heart hurt. It seems this young man has pulled "pranks" before, but so what? There has to be a better way of dealing with someone like this than inflicting an electrical shock. If college students don't react to this, I know we are now a nation of sheep. Educated sheep, perhaps, but sheep all the same. It wasn't Kent State to be sure, but back then the student body as a whole had conviction and passion and were willing to stand up for something. Apparently not any more....baaaaa

Story 3: When did we come to be ho-hum about our country out-sourcing our military? Blackwater is a private "security" company working, in among other hot spots, Iraq. Or at least they were until yesterday when the Iraqi government banned them after a firefight that killed 8 civilians. I always knew Blackwater was there, but I thought they were protecting the private contractors (not that I thought that was a good idea). Boy, was I jolted to read that Blackwater was protecting our Ambassador. I thought that was the job of the Marines and the Diplomatic Security Services. Those are the guys and gals I would trust with my life, not the folks from Blackwater who could be from any country in the world. It is completely shocking to me that we can't even provide protection for our own diplomats. If anything would send a signal showing weakness, this would be it. Soldiers of fortune types have always been linked to thug dictators in my mind. Just when I thought things couldn't get much worse, I now guess George Bush can be added to the list...

What are we voting for?

We just had a primary election to fill the seat of our Congressman who stepped down to take a job in the public sector. There were 5 Democrats to choose from and 2 Republicans. The candidate I was supporting was the only true progressive, the only candidate who has always been against the war, and the only candidate who supports single payer health insurance AND the only Clean Elections candidate ever elected to the House of Representatives in Massachusetts. He lost and in true Democratic unity style he was out campaigning for the victor the next day. Not me.

I am disgusted that only 20% of the electorate bothered to vote. I'm disgusted that lots of people didn't even know there was an election. I'm disgusted that money and family name recognition trumps all. I am ready to start a campaign for all those people who say they don't like any of the candidates, for all those who are tired of voting while holding their noses. Here it is: If you want to send a real message follow these steps -

1. Register to vote
2. If you don't like any of the candidates go to the polls anyway
and pull a ballot, but don't vote for anyone.

The records will show that you cared enough to go to vote, but you didn't want to vote for the lesser of two evils or to hold your nose. If we keep being "good Democrats" (or Republicans) and voting for whomever our Party's candidate is no matter what, we get what we deserve as much as the people who don't vote get what they deserve.

Sammy Kahn (I think) wrote a song that applies to my feelings about my beloved Democratic Party after this election:

"I'm through with love
I'll never fall again.
Said adieu to love
Don't ever call again.
For I must have you or no one
And so I'm through with love..."

Christopher Scott Brumfield's Art is Alive in New Orleans

Christopher Scott Brumfield's newest exhibition opened in New Orleans during White Linen Nights and I wish everyone could see it. His ceramic work is sometimes kitchy, sometimes romantic, sometimes disturbing and sometimes all of those things at once. He should be an exhibitor at the Venice Biennale. His website is:

www.christopherscottbrumfield.com

Here are some links to recent reviews:

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/current/art_rev.php

http://www.nola.com/lagniappe/t-p/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1188541353239140.xml&coll=1

http://blog.nola.com/dougmaccash/2007/08/white_linen_night_success.html#more

Labor Day

Just a quick note to recognize Labor Day. My hunch is that most young people are clueless about Labor Day. Most of them are the beneficiaries of the hard work of labor unions, but they aren't members of any union themselves. My favorite bumper sticker says, "Labor Unions, the people who brought you the weekend". It is easy to be dismissive of unions if you have never suffered the hardships of working without them. My grandfather began his life in the United States just as unions were growing. He knew what it was like to work 7 days a week with no benefits of any kind. I come from a strong union family and I am proud of that. Both grandfathers, my paternal grandmother and my father worked for U.S. Steel in Pittsburg, California. I thank God for the union that fought for pensions, healthcare, a safe work place, and lots more. We all owe a debt to them for making life better for all of us.

Matsui's 2nd Birthday!

Yesterday was my Welsh Pembroke Corgi Matsui's 2nd birthday. Unfortunately we couldn't celebrate with any special treats because he has developed allergies and now is on a single protein diet. I feel terrible for him because he can't even have a chewy bone. It is very frustrating to try to figure out what is causing his itching. Considering he could easily live at least 15 more years, it wouldn't be a pleasant thing to have to endure allergies needlessly. I thought the steroids he is taking were stopping the itching, but today he has weepy red eyes. Coincidentally, I have allergy symptoms starting up again too. There must be something in the air...but what? He can't be a bubble-dog.

Matsui is my second Corgi. My husband really didn't want to get another dog after Tristan died, but I sort of begged and started looking for a puppy, sending him photos of puppies I had found, etc. and the next thing he knew we were driving to Connecticut to pick up our pup. He was 11 weeks old when he came home with us, so we didn't really have very much real puppy time. If you are wondering about the name, his mother's name is Sushi (I didn't make these names up) and so the breeders gave all the pups Japanese names. Yes, I know that Matsui is the name of a Yankee, but really, baseball players get traded all the time. What if his name had been Damon or Nomar?

Matsui is a black headed tri and a very handsome character. He "talks" a lot more than my beloved Tristan did and I like that. It isn't barking; he makes little throaty growly (not growling) sounds when he want to communicate with me. If only I could speak Corgi. If I could have any wish (besides Pageant wishes like "world peace" or happiness for my children, that sort of thing), I would love for my dog to be able to talk to me. Guess that's not really going to happen, but it would be a wonderous thing!

Now out to enjoy a beautiful Labor Day Sunday. Maybe we will take a walk.

Chow!

P.S. Go here to see the best Corgi website ever: http://www.zippyweb.com/

What a Country

Hurricane season is back and if Katrina is dim in your mind, just watch this video clip from the http://www.whenthesaints.org/ website and sign the petition to Congress. I don't know how to express how angry I am. The houses are, for the most part, still standing. The devastation was as a result of the water, so for God's sake Bush and Congress, fix the levees and start a massive rebuilding program. I don't care whether my tax dollar is used to give these poor people homes. The damn FEMA trailers cost something like 100K each and now they are giving off toxic fumes. It is just unfathomable that in TWO YEARS we couldn't have built actual homes for people for that kind of money. I repeat FIX THE LEVEES and BUILD HOMES. If we weren't spending all of my future grandchildren's money on a criminal war, we would readily have the money for rebuilding New Orleans. From my view point New Orleans is going to be our version of Rio de Janeiro with its horrific favelas if we don't take care of this now. Where are all those "compassionate conservatives"? Hmmm...let's see, planning on building a great big wall around the Garden District?? And to think that a couple of posts ago I was talking about Greece being almost like the Third World...