politics

Week 45/14 Review (plus blog care)

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Beginning on Monday, there is going to be a few extra posts as I set up my new index. I apologize for the extra notifications you will receive with these posts. I’m also going to revamp my Facebook Page.

Hopefully, this will make it easier for everyone to find their favorite pieces or search for ones they  might have missed.

Thanks for your patience.

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Prompt: What’s the best thing you do for yourself?

Photo: Recycling…

Quotation: By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands –your own. – Mark Victor Hansen

Rec: MediSafe App

Writing:

Reflection on Conversion (religion/spirituality)

Make Self-Care a Thing (self-care, health & well-being – mental)

The Discovery of America, Another Perspective (history)

The Republicans win the Senate (politics)

REPOST: When Life and Fiction Meet (and Greet) (fictional narrative)

Links:

MediSafe App

Prince Madoc

Prince Madoc and the Discovery of America

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

Mumford and Sons

Adele

Creative Memories

Netflix

Orange is the New Black

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Escape to Witch Mountain

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Constantine

The Republicans win the Senate

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The headline I woke up to was ‘seize’ the Senate, but really it was simply apathy that won the day. And before someone says it, two more Senators does not a mandate make.

Where would we be if every eligible voter votes and voted their conscience? I think Congress would have a completely different make-up.

For the most part, the Republicans I know personally all have good hearts, but the money disparity in the campaigns (thanks to Citizens United) can no longer be ignored. When “corporations are people, my friend” and women aren’t, there is a serious misconception (no pun intended) in what constitutes equality and fairness.

Does anyone who voted Republican truly think they’ve made a difference? Do they think that Republicans will turn this dwindling economy around? They won’t. They’ve had six years and have focused on social politics that get them money and votes, but not jobs when even registered Republicans have answered the polls negatively; have stated that the focus on marriage equality and reproductive rights/conception is their platform even when their constituents don’t want that.

They have had the power in the House to take care of the economy and help Americans but instead, they’ve provided gridlock worse than an L.A. freeway or the NJ Turnpike on Thanksgiving weekend and if humanly possible it will only get worse. They will concentrate on making their fortune while continuing to do nothing.

They’ve contributed to hate talk, fear-mongering, to fact-ignoring and in its place they’ve offered “if I say it, it must be true, no matter how ridiculous.”

We’ve become a nation of paradoxes:

a land of immigrants who are anti-immigration.

a land of GI Bill recipients and subsidized housing that wishes its disabled veterans would go away, preferably quietly.

a nation that promotes the porn industry in private and then blames the subjugated for how they are treated.

a nation of individuals unless your individuality is that of transgender youth wanting to use the bathroom without harassment.

a nation of equality unless you’re a woman exercising your reproductive rights or a black teenage boy walking down a street.

It’s hypocrisy at its worst, and it will only get worse.

I propose a solution to this lame duck Congress. Instead of wasting two years getting nothing done and paying for it, waiting for the next election and watching the blame game dance of pass the House & Senate, vetoed by the President, we banish them ALL and hold the election again.

We have seven weeks.

Everyone back to your corners, everyone given the same exact amount of campaign funds, no interest groups, no DNC, no RNC, and EVERY AMERICAN ELIGIBLE VOTES.

Let’s see where this country stands when push comes to shove because this – what we have now – is worse than 1775 and we know what happened then.

Instead of GOTV, how about GOYA!

Vote.

Serve jury duty.

Help your neighbor.

It’s not someone else’s problem; it’s everyone’s problem.

Where is the respect for a differing opinion? Buried under piles of interest group money.

It’s time to fix this system before it’s too late.

Beliefs: Faith and Social

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I’ve been thinking on this part of this ask for weeks now and the way my mind works this may or may not flow well. One thought led to another one and things expanded from there. This is the portion I’ve concentrated on:

“To be a member of the Roman Catholic church means that you accept that the Pope is infallible when he speaks on matter of faith, and is communicating the the true will of God. That also means that you accept that acting on homosexuality is sinful and disordered, separates one from Christ, and that gay people are called to celibacy, as the Pope has stated.”

 

I know a lot of religious people have opinions on social issues and politics based on their concept of their religious teachings, their interpretation of the Bible and their surroundings (the people they know, their experiences.) I’ve also never heard of homosexuality being ‘disordered’. I’ve also said before that priests were previously allowed to marry, and if not marry, there was an open secret that they had women and children who were acknowledged by the church officials.

I don’t know where along the way there was this mix-up between social, moral, civil lives and faith. I’ve always thought of religion separate from religion. That may be having grown up in the US with the Bill of Rights as my benchmark.

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Helen Thomas, 1920-2013

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Journalistic icon Helen Thomas died today at the age of 92, a month before her ninety-third birthday.

In my opinion, the freedom of the press is the most important piece of the Bill of Rights. Information is power and an honest, questioning press is what the public needs to make informed decisions and as an additional checks and balance on the government.

For me, Helen Thomas in particular will hold an important place in my writing heart alongside giants Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and fictional writers, Lou Grant’s staff and Jessica Fletcher. Growing up in the 70s at the height of Watergate, the Feminist/Equal Rights Movement, Civil Rights Movement and the Space Age, there is a special place for print newspapers and information dissemination.

For a political junkie like me, there was no mistaking her distinctive voice, her cadence, the way she asked her questions, covered in sugar until the question mark at the end dissolved all pretense that she was a pushover. The only woman for a long time in the White House Press Room she made her mark on nine presidencies, receiving surprised looks, some eye rolls and above all respect. We were reminded this morning that she was first – the first woman in the Press Corps, the first woman President of the White House Correspondents’ Association, the first woman member of the Gridiron Club.

I met Helen Thomas once, in the fall of 2001. She was the guest speaker at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon. I don’t know how I managed to get a ticket, although it was open to the public. I sat next to the city of Albany (our capital) Comptroller. It was very exciting and lunch was actually very good despite those types of things usually not very. The ticket price came with a copy of her book, Front Row at the White House and she would sign it, (but there was no guarantee of that) if you waited in line. At some point, they cut the line off; it was getting late and Ms. Thomas had other places to go, but I believe after waiting quite a while the woman in front of me was supposed to be the last autograph. I wouldn’t leave the line, though. I didn’t create a scene; I just ignored the handlers. For a writer, for me, this was one of those moments that if you walked away you would regret, and I ‘m glad I stuck it out as you can see form the photograph.

She was a small woman, shorter even than me, but her person was huge. She had a smile and manner as big as the room itself. I don’t remember what she said, but I do remember that she was warm and kind and encouraging to whatever I had expressed. It was one of the thrills of my life.

I haven’t mentioned the incident in 2010 and her retirement. I think that there are many times when we feel very strongly about a subject and we say things we shouldn’t and express things in a way that we shouldn’t. This doesn’t excuse anything; it just accepts that things can be very complicated.

I would prefer to remember Helen Thomas for all the barriers she broke, the firsts she was, and the truth seeking she did throughout her career keeping Presidents on their toes and the Public informed.

First Week of Summer Vacation

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First week of summer vacation.

We are disorganized, cluttered, unmotivated and all the bad things that come along with a summer with no direction for now.

Next week starts summer school for two of the kids, which will give child #2 some alone time and Mommy some quiet time either at the library or the coffee shop for an hour or so on the two days that I don’t have Mass.

This summer, we have 4-6 weeks of summer school, one week each of ‘camp’ and one week of vacation Bible school for the younger two.

I don’t think I mentioned it here, but about four weeks ago, my mother in law (who is 80) was hit by a car. It was, and remains very serious and she has already had multiple surgeries for her multiple broken bones and scrapes. She is doing very well, much better than anyone expected, but we know what a tough person she is, so we are grateful for her health up until this point.

We are trying to sort out some money to see if we can visit her this summer. She is still hospitalized. She is also having another surgery next week.

I’ll include the link here to our Go Fund Me page. We are grateful for any reblogs and prayers as well as those that can afford to help us monetarily.

Go Fund Me

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Tomorrow is the first ‘activity’ for the kids. The library is having a food program hosted by the local supermarket. I was able to sign both of them up early. We’re trying to set up a summer schedule for the two younger ones. Child #2 takes things very literally and likes to know what’s going on as well as being very organized. Child #3 can get more than a little rambunctious, and I think a little schedule on notecards will help her calm down a bit.

For me, I love calendars and schedules (I wonder where my son gets it from) so it’s nice to be able to have an answer when asked what are we doing tomorrow.

Some of our plans on a weekly basis are movie and popcorn day, bake bread, bake cookies, library time, walks outside if it’s not too humid (I have a lot of trouble in the sun, so my husband might be in charge of the outdoor activities), plus cleaning out closets and toy bins and getting rid of things that we don’t need.

We are typically very cluttered and that doesn’t even include the collections that we each have, and it’s time to downsize and simplify. Ha! I’ll let you know how it’s going. 😉

In addition to all of the family goings-on (which consist of too much TV time), I’ve had a resurgence of political feels. The Voting Rights Act, DOMA, Proposition 8, Sen. Wendy Davis of Texas. My Tumblr dash went absolutely crazy in all the best ways.

For my summer, I am going to try and keep my sanity as my main goal. I have three books to read and probably review. I have a fan fiction that I need to get back to, and some new Supernatural writings that I want to begin plus a few homework pieces for my memoir workshop that begins again in September, although we’re meeting for lunch in August.

I will probably try to reconnect with some friends in the next few weeks, most notably my college roommate who is more free in the summer than the rest of the year.

And then we’ll see what the fall brings as I try to keep my head above water.

Election Diary and Recovery, Part 1

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I’ve been quiet overnight and since the Election Results.

Obviously, if quietly, I am ecstatic that the President was re-elected. I truly believe that of all the candidates who stepped into the field this season that he was the best person to do this important job.

It is more than a job. Just like my position as a parent, there are things that the President must do for all of his citizens, whether he likes it or not, whether fair to everyone or what’s best to some at the moment, and this President has shown over and over again that he is willing to compromise and have people in his own party be against him to do what is right, and I hope the Republican politicians learn something from this.

It’s hard to say. I will say that Democrats tend to be more diverse, and less divisive, and that is one of the reasons that we discuss things more and argue and don’t always agree, but still remain together and open-minded. And that is probably the best thing about being a Democrat.

I can talk about my views on reproduction and mental health and marriage equality, and I can listen to your views on those issues whether you agree with me or not, and at the end of the day, we can logically discuss and even debate issues and still remain respectful and friends.

I’m not going to get into any issue here. I may write a longer piece about my specific views, but that is for my family (read: siblings), and if I post it here, I will just let you know so you can read or avoid.

 

In the middle of Mass I was hit in the head with ideas that I’ve been looking for for weeks for a new online thingy. I’m going to get that worked up today.

As for Nano, I’m not doing exactly 50,000 words for the month. For one thing, I started late. For another, it’s daunting and I’m ready for motivating and inspiring, but not daunting. I’m going to set a goal of at least 1000 words per day and to take the pressure off, I’m going to write them as scene vignettes of what needs to be in the story and then weave them together into a semblance of a continuing story.

Today, I do need to do my workshop submission for their journal first and start the cutting/pasting for the Cookbook.

 

Something I will leave you with that kind of illustrates some kind of electoral gap. While the returns were coming in, I was on the phone with Andy, and MSNBC had projected the President as being re-elected. As with the last election, I gave Andy the good news. The President had 274 electoral votes and Governor Romney had 203. It was over. My husband was dancing around the living room (and actually, not that dissimilar to four years ago), and in my ear, Andy was saying that it’s not over, there’s nothing official, the President’s Twitter, his Tumblr have nothing, don’t get too excited, it’s not over. What is your husband doing? Stop that. My son is yelling from his bedroom the exact same thing – it’s not over yet, stop cheering, it’s not over yet. There is no confirmation.

Andy observed that the two people ‘in the room’ who were under 30 were not convinced that the President was re-elected until the social media weighed in, insisting that we wait for confirmation.

I didn’t need confirmation – it was right there on my news channel in big, bold, red, white and blue. FOUR MORE YEARS.

After about a minute more of this discussion, Andy ‘confirmed’, as did my son that Twitter had finally made it ‘official’ and the President would have another term. And then Tumblr exploded.

Confirmed.

I think my response was that it was nice that the youngsters caught up with the old folks with our old fashioned news outlets and teletypes, but we had our President almost eight minutes earlier.

My plea to the masses, my begging of friends, please, please, friends, please, do not let social media drive and drag us apart. Use social media to bring our two sides together. It can be done with a little faith. 😉

*tongue in cheek* And now, I go have a chicken salad sandwich and begin to write.