IPOD
RADIO
Eve Ensler, award-winning playwright and author of The Vagina Monologues, wrote the following in response to the Republican Nomination and acceptance of Sarah Palin as candidate for Vice President of the United States. Her words echo the fear in my feminist heart. Please educate yourself before voting.
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the Polar Bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the Polar Bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
Let's End the HIV Travel Ban!
Help end discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS!
Urge your Representative in Congress to endorse a "Dear Colleague" letter from Members of Congress to the Bush Administration urging it to eliminate the discriminatory entry ban on non-U.S. citizens living with HIV and AIDS.
For over 20 years, the United States has included HIV on its list of "communicable diseases of public health significance," which automatically denies infected individuals entry to the United States. Congress originally passed this law at a time when we had a limited understanding of how HIV/AIDS was transmitted and homosexuality was still grounds for inadmissibility to the United States. Over the past 20 years, the ban has discriminated and stigmatized people living with HIV and AIDS (Gay Men's Health Crisis).
In late July, Congress took the first step towards eliminating this discriminatory ban by passing the legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. But this was only the first part of eliminating the policy. Now it is up to the Bush Administration to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING!
Urge your Representative to speak up against the discriminatory entry ban by endorsing the "Dear Colleague"letter that urges the Bush Administration to end the travel ban on non-U.S. citizens living with HIV and AIDS.
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In other news, this week has been emotionally eviscerating. I need a serious vacation away from here. As far away from here as I can get.
Help end discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS!
Urge your Representative in Congress to endorse a "Dear Colleague" letter from Members of Congress to the Bush Administration urging it to eliminate the discriminatory entry ban on non-U.S. citizens living with HIV and AIDS.
For over 20 years, the United States has included HIV on its list of "communicable diseases of public health significance," which automatically denies infected individuals entry to the United States. Congress originally passed this law at a time when we had a limited understanding of how HIV/AIDS was transmitted and homosexuality was still grounds for inadmissibility to the United States. Over the past 20 years, the ban has discriminated and stigmatized people living with HIV and AIDS (Gay Men's Health Crisis).
In late July, Congress took the first step towards eliminating this discriminatory ban by passing the legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. But this was only the first part of eliminating the policy. Now it is up to the Bush Administration to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING!
Urge your Representative to speak up against the discriminatory entry ban by endorsing the "Dear Colleague"letter that urges the Bush Administration to end the travel ban on non-U.S. citizens living with HIV and AIDS.
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In other news, this week has been emotionally eviscerating. I need a serious vacation away from here. As far away from here as I can get.
Send a Condom to the Republican Nation Convention!!!
Life is looking pretty sunny these days despite the whole being sick lately thing. I am working on cleaning the house this morning cause my parents and the dogs are coming for a visit this evening. We are going to BBQ and celebrate the weekend and mostly be lazy in the sunshine.
Mostly I am looking forward to these things:
Sept 13-19 my lovely is coming home to visit! I miss her so much while she is far away in Germany.
The Charles Schwab Cup
When it finally gets here, it means I can have GoWings back. And hopefully a little calmness in our lives and A LOT less stress in his! Plus family and friends are coming for that weekend so it will be fun!
November means family and homey goodness and so much fun. We are hoping to get to Spain and England for a weekend while we are there as well.
Oh and Birdie gets her stitches out this week. Which will make all of us happy since she won't be a cone head anymore!
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!
Holy. Mother. Of. God.
I can not wait.
PS- Thanks for all the good thoughts and love and stuff. I am still working on getting things sorted. MIA behavior may continue to ensue for a fair bit. But I'll be back...
I can not wait.
PS- Thanks for all the good thoughts and love and stuff. I am still working on getting things sorted. MIA behavior may continue to ensue for a fair bit. But I'll be back...
Could life get any better right now?
I am desperately in love with the most amazing partner I could ever have asked for.
As of next Saturday, we will be adding this little addition to our family (the one on the right):
I have the most brilliant, loving and supportive friends.
I am going to see Stevie Wonder tomorrow night.
And the next few months are bringing me a slew of movies I have been waiting for:
I am desperately in love with the most amazing partner I could ever have asked for.
As of next Saturday, we will be adding this little addition to our family (the one on the right):
I have the most brilliant, loving and supportive friends.
I am going to see Stevie Wonder tomorrow night.
And the next few months are bringing me a slew of movies I have been waiting for:
OCTOBER 2008
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