Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
When real life becomes a cartoon
Tell me this isn't the same broad!
It's funny when it's on The Simpsons, but in real life it makes me want to slap somebody!
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Online rally to overturn Prop 8
Overturn 8: Online Rally Supporting the Prop 8 Legal Challenge
THIS EVENT RUNS ALL MONTH LONG FROM FEBRUARY 3-MARCH 5. BECAUSE THIS IS AN ONLINE RALLY, YOU CAN JOIN US FROM ANYWHERE ACROSS THE GLOBE!
The goal: As lead counsel in the Prop 8 legal challenge, NCLR is working to educate people about the importance of overturning Prop 8—a radical and unprecedented change to the California Constitution that puts all Californians at risk. Oral argument is scheduled for March 5, 2009.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights
OUR MISSION AND GOALS:As lead counsel in the Prop 8 legal challenge, we have a simple but powerful idea: create ONLINE support for our Prop 8 legal challenge by spreading our important message on Facebook. The goal is to find new ways to be visible and educate Americans about how Prop 8 puts all Californians at risk. This is the first time the initiative process has successfully been used to change the California Constitution to take away a fundamental freedom from a particular group and to mandate government discrimination against a minority. As lead counsel in this challenge, we are doing everything we can to make sure that Prop 8 is overturned, but we need your help.
LEARN MORE AT:http://www.nclrights.org/overturn8
HELP US -- DONATE TODAY:The National Center for Lesbian Rights is lead counsel in the legal challenge seeking to overturn Prop 8. Please help by donating at http://www.nclrights.org/overturn8.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Dreams fulfilled
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and in memory of my grandfather and my mother who are smiling today wherever they are, from our writer-in-chief Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father:
"I rose from the couch and opened my front door, the pent-up smoke trailing me out of the room like a spirit. Up above, the moon had slipped out of sight, only its glow still visible along the rim of high clouds. The sky had begun to lighten; the air tasted of dew.
Look at yourself before you pass judgment. Don't make someone else clean up your mess. It's not about you. They were such simple points, homilies I had heard a thousand times before, in all their variations, from TV sitcoms and philosophy books, from my grandparents and from my mother. I had stopped listening at a certain point. I now realized, so wrapped up had I been in my own perceived injuries so eager was I to escape the imagined traps that white authority had set for me. To that white world, I had been willing to cede the values of my childhood, as if those values were somehow irreversibly soiled by the endless falsehoods that white spoke about black.
Except now I was hearing the same thing from black people I respected, people with more excuses for bitterness than I might ever claim for myself. Who told you that being honest was a white thing? they asked me. Who sold you this bill of goods, that your situation exempted you from being thoughtful or diligent or kind, or that morality had a color? You've lost your way, brother. Your ideas about yourself--about who you are who you might become--have grown stunted and narrow and small.
I sat down on the doorstep and rubbed the knot in the back of my neck. How had that happened? I started to ask myself, but before the question had even formed in my mind, I already knew the answer. Fear. The same fear that had caused me to push Coretta away back in grammar school. The same fear that had caused me to ridicule Tim in front of Marcus and Reggie. The constant, crippling fear that I didn't belong somehow, that unless I dodged and hid and pretended to be something I wasn't I would forever remain an outsider, with the rest of the world, black and white, always standing in judgment.
So Regina was right; it had been just about me. My fear. My needs. And now? I imagined Regina's grandmother somewhere, her back bent, the flesh of her arms shaking as she scrubbed an endless floor. Slowly, the old woman lifted her head to look straight at me, and in her sagging face I saw that what bound us together went beyond anger or despair or pity.
What was she asking of me, then? Determination, mostly. The determination to push against whatever power kept her stooped instead of standing straight. The determination to resist the easy or the expedient. You might be locked into a world not of your own making, her eyes said, but you still have a claim on how it is shaped. You still have responsibilities.
The old woman's face dissolved from my mind, only to be replaced by a series of others. The copper-skinned face of the Mexican maid, straining as she carries out the garbage. The face of Lolo's mother drawn with grief as she watches the Dutch burn down her house. The tight-lipped, chalk-colored face of Toot as she boards the six-thirty a.m. bus that will take her to work. Only a lack of imagination, a failure of nerve, had made me think that I had to choose between them. They all asked the same thing of me, these grandmothers of mine.
My identity might begin with the face of my race, but it didn't, couldn't, end there.
At least that's what I would choose to believe.
For a few minutes more I sat still in my doorway, watching the sun glide into place, thinking about the call to Regina I'd be making that day. Behind me, Billie was on her last song. I picked up the refrain, humming a few bars. Her voice sounded different to me now. Beneath the layers of hurt, beneath the ragged laughter, I heard a willingness to endure. Endure--and make music that wasn't there before."
And, check out this poem, written by David J. Rothman for President Obama.
"I rose from the couch and opened my front door, the pent-up smoke trailing me out of the room like a spirit. Up above, the moon had slipped out of sight, only its glow still visible along the rim of high clouds. The sky had begun to lighten; the air tasted of dew.
Look at yourself before you pass judgment. Don't make someone else clean up your mess. It's not about you. They were such simple points, homilies I had heard a thousand times before, in all their variations, from TV sitcoms and philosophy books, from my grandparents and from my mother. I had stopped listening at a certain point. I now realized, so wrapped up had I been in my own perceived injuries so eager was I to escape the imagined traps that white authority had set for me. To that white world, I had been willing to cede the values of my childhood, as if those values were somehow irreversibly soiled by the endless falsehoods that white spoke about black.
Except now I was hearing the same thing from black people I respected, people with more excuses for bitterness than I might ever claim for myself. Who told you that being honest was a white thing? they asked me. Who sold you this bill of goods, that your situation exempted you from being thoughtful or diligent or kind, or that morality had a color? You've lost your way, brother. Your ideas about yourself--about who you are who you might become--have grown stunted and narrow and small.
I sat down on the doorstep and rubbed the knot in the back of my neck. How had that happened? I started to ask myself, but before the question had even formed in my mind, I already knew the answer. Fear. The same fear that had caused me to push Coretta away back in grammar school. The same fear that had caused me to ridicule Tim in front of Marcus and Reggie. The constant, crippling fear that I didn't belong somehow, that unless I dodged and hid and pretended to be something I wasn't I would forever remain an outsider, with the rest of the world, black and white, always standing in judgment.
So Regina was right; it had been just about me. My fear. My needs. And now? I imagined Regina's grandmother somewhere, her back bent, the flesh of her arms shaking as she scrubbed an endless floor. Slowly, the old woman lifted her head to look straight at me, and in her sagging face I saw that what bound us together went beyond anger or despair or pity.
What was she asking of me, then? Determination, mostly. The determination to push against whatever power kept her stooped instead of standing straight. The determination to resist the easy or the expedient. You might be locked into a world not of your own making, her eyes said, but you still have a claim on how it is shaped. You still have responsibilities.
The old woman's face dissolved from my mind, only to be replaced by a series of others. The copper-skinned face of the Mexican maid, straining as she carries out the garbage. The face of Lolo's mother drawn with grief as she watches the Dutch burn down her house. The tight-lipped, chalk-colored face of Toot as she boards the six-thirty a.m. bus that will take her to work. Only a lack of imagination, a failure of nerve, had made me think that I had to choose between them. They all asked the same thing of me, these grandmothers of mine.
My identity might begin with the face of my race, but it didn't, couldn't, end there.
At least that's what I would choose to believe.
For a few minutes more I sat still in my doorway, watching the sun glide into place, thinking about the call to Regina I'd be making that day. Behind me, Billie was on her last song. I picked up the refrain, humming a few bars. Her voice sounded different to me now. Beneath the layers of hurt, beneath the ragged laughter, I heard a willingness to endure. Endure--and make music that wasn't there before."
And, check out this poem, written by David J. Rothman for President Obama.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Denver rally for Obama stimulus package
Ok, Obamamaniacs, are we ready? Here's our chance to support our guy now that he's (almost) in office. ACORN is sponsoring a rally here in Denver on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 12 Noon in support of President-elect Obama's stimulus package. From Move On.org:
I'll be there. Denverites, will you join me?
President-elect Obama's first goal is to fix the economy. He's calling on
Congress to pass an economic recovery plan that invests in green jobs, health
care, clean energy, and tax cuts for working families. Obama's plan is a
rejection of decades of failed economic ideology from Reagan to Bush. But the
old guard in Congress is already kicking and screaming. Now, we have a choice:
we can help pressure Congress to do what's right, or we can sit idly by.
Our friends at ACORN are organizing a rally in Denver to support
Obama's economic recovery plan. Can you come help Obama win his first big
fight?
What: Rally to support Obama's economic recovery plan
Where: State Capitol (in Denver)
When: Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009, at 12:00 PM
I'll be there. Denverites, will you join me?
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
My 101-year-old great aunt the Obama Mama!
Like Obama's mama, my mother's family is from Kansas. They were "colored farmers." Neva is my maternal great-grandmother's sister. Here she is being interviewed in the Topeka Capital-Journal about voting for Obama.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Where women really stand
My friend Marion did a little research to see how women are standing in this country. Here are the statistics she found and resources she used.
1. MONEY: Women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. Wage equality has not been achieved 45 years after the Equal Pay Act.
2. WORK: Women are 47% of the labor force.
3. EDUCATION: Women were NOT allowed to attend college until 1833. While women now outnumber men in college, they earn less in the workplace.
4. HEALTH INSURANCE: From 1980 to 2005 health insurance coverage has fallen for both men and women. By 2007, 43 Million Americans had no health insurance.
5. HEALTH: Not until 1973 did women have their own reproductive rights. Before 1991, many prescription drugs were not widely tested on women.
6. CREDIT: Until 1974, a woman had no right to credit in her own name. A woman could not borrow for a car, home or other property without the signature of a man.
7. RETIREMENT: Women’s median Social Security is 70% of men’s. The overall value of women’s pensions is 50% that of men’s.
8. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Nearly 5.3 Million intimate partner victimizations occur yearly among women 18 and older. Violence results in nearly 2 Million injuries and 1,300 deaths.
9. RIGHT TO VOTE: For 219 years White Men have been granted the vote -- Women for the past 88 years. [Voting Rights: White men: 1789. Black men: 1870. Women: 1920. Native Americans: 1924.]
FACTS: 1. U. S. Census, 2007; Equal Pay Act 1963; 2. U. S. Department of Labor, 2007; 3. Oberlin College became coeducational in 1833; U. S. Department of Labor 2005; 4. U. S. Census 2005; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007; 5. U. S. Supreme Court, Roe v Wade; National Institutes of Health; 6. Equal Credit Opportunity Act, U. S. Department of Justice; 7. U. S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); 8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Center for Disease Control and Prevention; 10. U.S. Constitution.
America and American women have come far.
We need to keep moving forward.
A vote for Democrats is a vote for women and men.
1. MONEY: Women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. Wage equality has not been achieved 45 years after the Equal Pay Act.
2. WORK: Women are 47% of the labor force.
3. EDUCATION: Women were NOT allowed to attend college until 1833. While women now outnumber men in college, they earn less in the workplace.
4. HEALTH INSURANCE: From 1980 to 2005 health insurance coverage has fallen for both men and women. By 2007, 43 Million Americans had no health insurance.
5. HEALTH: Not until 1973 did women have their own reproductive rights. Before 1991, many prescription drugs were not widely tested on women.
6. CREDIT: Until 1974, a woman had no right to credit in her own name. A woman could not borrow for a car, home or other property without the signature of a man.
7. RETIREMENT: Women’s median Social Security is 70% of men’s. The overall value of women’s pensions is 50% that of men’s.
8. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Nearly 5.3 Million intimate partner victimizations occur yearly among women 18 and older. Violence results in nearly 2 Million injuries and 1,300 deaths.
9. RIGHT TO VOTE: For 219 years White Men have been granted the vote -- Women for the past 88 years. [Voting Rights: White men: 1789. Black men: 1870. Women: 1920. Native Americans: 1924.]
FACTS: 1. U. S. Census, 2007; Equal Pay Act 1963; 2. U. S. Department of Labor, 2007; 3. Oberlin College became coeducational in 1833; U. S. Department of Labor 2005; 4. U. S. Census 2005; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007; 5. U. S. Supreme Court, Roe v Wade; National Institutes of Health; 6. Equal Credit Opportunity Act, U. S. Department of Justice; 7. U. S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); 8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Center for Disease Control and Prevention; 10. U.S. Constitution.
America and American women have come far.
We need to keep moving forward.
A vote for Democrats is a vote for women and men.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Whoo hoo! I voted!!!!
Though it went better for me than it did for Homer, it was still a pain. Our polling place ran out of ballots for our precinct on the morning of the 1st day of early voting! Let me repeat that: they ran out of paper ballots within hours. And a guy from the county clerk's office announced it happened at every early polling place in the city! Way to be prepared, Denver!
We waited about a half of hour and were then told we could come back (after more ballots were printed, whenever that might be!) or we could vote on electronic voting machines. We voted using the machines, and I'm hoping that the decertification and recertification of our electronic voting machines means they worked correctly.
via videosift.com
On the upside, after we worked up an appetite exercising our constitutional rights, we went across the street to a taqueria and had tacos and Mexican Coke (Did you know that Coca Cola made in Mexico tastes better and is probably healthier?). Viva la democracia!
We waited about a half of hour and were then told we could come back (after more ballots were printed, whenever that might be!) or we could vote on electronic voting machines. We voted using the machines, and I'm hoping that the decertification and recertification of our electronic voting machines means they worked correctly.
via videosift.com
On the upside, after we worked up an appetite exercising our constitutional rights, we went across the street to a taqueria and had tacos and Mexican Coke (Did you know that Coca Cola made in Mexico tastes better and is probably healthier?). Viva la democracia!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The jack o'lantern speaks!
Got into the holiday spirit yesterday and carved 2 pumpkins. Hope McCain fans don't find that one too scary!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Denver dogs go Dem!
Lucky wears a "Bark for Barack" kerchief. Leslie, Lucky's person, got it at his daycare. She said the owner was also selling ones with a McCain slogan, but the "Bark for Barack" ones was outselling it 40 to 1.
(That's a Barackellini on the table--they were yum!)
Friday, August 29, 2008
Pale imitation
Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton. She's not even Hillary-light, like McCain is Bush-light. And Democratic women are smart enough to see the difference. The Pale Imitation seems not to be Dan Quayle either. I mean, so far I'd bet she could correctly spell potatoes. And more power to a United States in which selecting a woman VP could actually help your party. Luckily for Dems this isn't a woman in the same league as Hillary. A candidate with a uterus and mammary glands is a start, but not enough to impress me.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but had to say it. Anybody feel differently?
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but had to say it. Anybody feel differently?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Barack the Vote!
Ok, I was going to stay home and watch the speech on TV by myself, but my friend Leslie invited me for an Obamajama Party. She's taking care of the food. I'm bringing the drinks. Barackellinis:
2 ounces peach nectar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 ounce peach schnapps
4 ounces sparkling wine
crushed ice
Put it all in the blender (for 1 drink). Now that's change I can believe in! What are y'all doing tonight?
2 ounces peach nectar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 ounce peach schnapps
4 ounces sparkling wine
crushed ice
Put it all in the blender (for 1 drink). Now that's change I can believe in! What are y'all doing tonight?
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Ain't she a woman?
Thank God for Michelle Obama! Seriously, how many of us could do what she had to do last night? Gently, eloquently, sweetly...prove that she's just as human and normal as any white person. That her family has values. That they care about their kids and God and telling the truth. That she's not at all scary.
I couldn't do it. I'd be too full of righteous anger at the need at this late date to make such a case. Look at Sojourner Truth's Ain't I a Woman speech and tell me if much has changed. But then I couldn't have baked cookies like they forced Hillary to do when Bill first ran either. (Remember that? When she said "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies" and the media treated it like being a career woman was the same as shoveling babies into stoves? So she had to serve up chocolate chip cookies on the campaign trail to prove that she wasn't scary.)
So, truly, I thank God for Michelle. What a woman! Someone who can keep her eyes on the prize enough to not let the petty b.s. get her down and look damn good doing it. Talk about grace under pressure. These Obamas are as strong, tough and smart as they have to be. Last night, again, Michelle showed they will do this country proud!
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Congratulations Hillary
Hillary Clinton made it official today. Many of us wanted her to give in much sooner, but a tough competitor, she fought beyond the bitter end. I didn't agree with that action, but I do have to give respect to a woman who was facing what she faced. Throughout the campaign, I was sickened by the misogynist comments about her "nagging" voice and "cackling" laughter. I hope she did put a big dent in the glass ceiling for women and I hope that one day (soon!) we'll have a woman in the White House.
And think about this: How many of us have had to throw our support behind a competitor for a job we REALLY wanted? Imagine interviewing and wooing an employer and finding out not only that they didn't pick you, but you have to publically say how cool the guy who beat you is? That can't be easy to do.
So come on Dems, let's join together, get behind our candidate (Yay Obama!) and make this thing happen. We can't afford another 4 more years (or 100 more) of what we've had the last 8.
So what do y'all think, should Hillary be VP? I myself would never want to pick for my #2 a person so determined to be #1. However, candidates don't always get to choose.
And think about this: How many of us have had to throw our support behind a competitor for a job we REALLY wanted? Imagine interviewing and wooing an employer and finding out not only that they didn't pick you, but you have to publically say how cool the guy who beat you is? That can't be easy to do.
So come on Dems, let's join together, get behind our candidate (Yay Obama!) and make this thing happen. We can't afford another 4 more years (or 100 more) of what we've had the last 8.
So what do y'all think, should Hillary be VP? I myself would never want to pick for my #2 a person so determined to be #1. However, candidates don't always get to choose.
Friday, May 16, 2008
10 Questions
Time Magazine has a great feature online. It's called 10 Questions. They allow readers to ask a question of someone like Toni Morrison and then ask her 10 of the questions on camera and post the interview. You have to watch a commercial first, but it was well worth the 6 minutes of time with Morrison! She talks about writing and why she endorsed Obama.
David Sedaris is up next. You can post a question for him here.
Monday, April 21, 2008
A little East Coast swing
Philly was fun. Actually, my signing was in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philly. On Friday, my cousins and I planned to go to Media to see a friend of mine and then drive down to a botanic garden. You know, me being "the pajama gardener" and all. Well, Shirley got VIP tix to go to a rally in Center City for Obama. Garden schmarden. Whatev. We went to see Obama! (Leslie and Kieran don't hate.)
What a wonderful turnout and discussion we had! Thank you, ladies!!
Some members of the Exchanges Book Club, which has been meeting for more than 20 years!
Now if Obama looks a little flat and two dimensional here it's NOT because he's made of cardboard. They've been campaigning hard in PA and the man was a little tired.
Okay, so this isn't the real Obama. They had cardboard cut-outs of Hillary, Barack and McCain at a store in the 30th Street Train Station. Guess who everybody (except one little girl) wanted their picture with?
VIP tix gave us access to the same block where he was speaking. The rally was on Independence Mall, which is about 3 blocks long. It was packed. The estimate in the paper the next day was 35,000 people. I swear I got tears in my eyes at the sight of a black man who could actually be president speaking between the buildings where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written.
He spoke about 20 minutes and knocked it out of the park as far as we Obamaniacs were concerned. (I'm a proud member!) The best part, though, was after the official rally when all 35,000 of us were leaving we continued the party. We chanted "Obama!" and "Yes we can!" and waved and screamed and folks honked their horns as we marched up Broad Street to City Hall. There was so much energy and enthusiasm and, yes, hope in the crowd of all colors, ages, classes, abilities, genders, you name it. As one woman next to me said, "We drank the Kool-Aid. And oh it comes in so many diverse flavors." I piped in that it certainly was refreshing. Then his motorcade went by and he rolled down his window and waved at us. Folks really lost their minds! I started to worry for the man as people chased his car.
On Saturday, I had the pleasure and honor of speaking to the Expressions and Exchanges Book Clubs. My cousins put together this event for their book clubs and friends, sorority sisters and relatives. These sisters are readers and it was so satisfying to know that people were actually getting what I was trying to say.
What a wonderful turnout and discussion we had! Thank you, ladies!!Some members of the Exchanges Book Club, which has been meeting for more than 20 years!
Some members of the Expressions Book Club, which has been meeting 14 years. I was the first author they had at one of their meetings when Walk Tall came out.
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