Takin' it to The Street

With its corruption, manipulation and reckless gambling, Wall Street has decimated Main Street.  People are hurting and the corporations who caused the devastation aren't sharing in the pain.  Stock prices are up. Wall Street bonuses are back, as outrageous as ever.

With America crumbling, corporations have only gotten bigger and  meaner.  The Upper 1% is completely detached from the destruction they've caused. The suffering takes place somewhere else, in decaying neighborhoods or blighted inner cities. The Captains of Wall Street, perched in the penthouses of their gleaming high rises, or relaxing behind the ivy-covered walls of their gated communities, don't even notice.

What if we took the fight to them?

What if we built tent cities on Wall Street's front door?  What if scores of people with foreclosed homes were living in the courtyard outside Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan's office window?  Would that put a damper on his boardroom meetings?  What if we set up a makeshift morgue in front of United Healthcare's world headquarters?  Their policies and abuses cause people to die everyday.  Would stepping over bodies wrapped in sheets be bad for business?

This could never happen, of course.  The cops would be sent in to clear out the tent cities and the morgues.  People may starve and people may die, but for God's sake, don't get in the way of commerce.  The world may fall to ashes around us, but the corporations must endure.

Two Kinds of People

On my walk today, I was thinking there are two kinds of people in this world.  Those who look up at the tree branches and marvel at the bright yellow flowers dancing among the leaves.

And those who only look down and grouse about the mess the petals make when they drop to ground.

 I guess there's also a third category:  People whose hearts soar at the sight of beauty and who don't mind bending their backs to clean up the mess when the blossoms wither and fall.

Dear ACLU: What were you thinking?

I am extremely disappointed to hear that the ACLU is supporting the disastrous Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case.  While I have always supported and applauded your efforts on behalf of free speech for all people, even those I find abhorrent, this is not the same thing and I cannot support your position in this case.  Money is not speech, corporations are not natural people.  The practical effect of this law will be the utter destruction of true democracy in America.  I do not believe this was your purpose in supporting this. 

This is not a liberal issue.  It's a matter of fairness and equality.  Money is the great un-equalizer.  To allow unlimited amounts of cash to flow throws the balance of power to entities that have no morals and no boundaries.  (more than it already is)  

I do not have the resources to buy commercials on television stations or ads in newspapers.  Does that mean my vote should be worth less?  The interests of the individual person are in direct opposition to the interests of huge corporations.  I hope you will reconsider your position and work to counteract this harmful, shameful ruling, either through legislation or by changing the constitution to give "personhood" only to natural persons.

Thanks for listening.

All That Populist Anger

The anger exploding all over this country isn't populism.  It's hate and fear masquerading as democracy. 

David Brooks's column in the New York Times today disputes this and calls the anti-Obama protests a populist movement.  David's right that there's always been struggle between the haves and the have nots in America.  But he's wrong when he says it's a conflict between "educated urban elites" against those hard working townie people.  The protesters have good reason to be upset but they're channeling their righteous anger in the wrong direction.  There is a huge problem in this country but it wasn't caused by President Obama.

It wasn't Barack Obama who fused the powers of Wall Street and the rich corporations with our government.  That happened a long, long time ago.  It got worse when Reagan called government the problem not the solution and then proceeded to weaken the unions, destroy social welfare programs and cut taxes for the rich.  And got even worse when Clinton and Bush deregulated Wall Street and gave even more tax cuts to the rich.

This is about rich people sucking the life out of poor people.  It's about insurance companies letting people die to make a profit.  It's about Wall Street investors making huge bonuses by playing Russian roulette with our economy.  It's about deregulation and globalization and free market conservatives sending our jobs overseas.  Being rude to the duly elected president of the United States and denying he's a citizen and dressing him as a witch doctor in a protest poster has nothing to do with populism.  It's racism.

These sycophants, like Brooks, and the screaming, scheming blowhards, like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Fox News, who are egging those people on, don't speak for ordinary, hardworking people.  They represent the very corporations and money interests destroying the middle class and turning America into a third world nation.

If this is a populist movement, I guess, this time, I'd rather not be one of the people.

Joe Wilson Already Receives Government Healthcare

I hate to give more publicity to the disrespectful moron who called the president a liar the other night, but I was outraged when I read this, although with people like this, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

As a retired National Guard colonel, Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina receives TRICARE, a government health care program provided to active and retired servicemen and women and their dependents and paid for by the Department of Defense.

Here's what good old Joe said according to Newsweek:

"As a 31-year Army Guard and Reserve veteran, I know the importance of TRICARE," he said in a press release. "The number of individuals who choose to enroll in TRICARE continues to rise because TRICARE is a low cost, comprehensive health plan that is portable and available in some form world-wide." He went on to call TRICARE "world class health care," concluding on a personal note. "I am grateful to have four sons now serving in the military, and I know that their families appreciate the availability of TRICARE," he said.

Government health care is fine for himself and his four sons but not for the rest of us.  I'm so sick of this kind of hypocrisy.

Obama's School Message Scrambles the Right Wing

The noise coming from the extreme nutball right over President Obama's message to school children really got on my nerves.  Is there no place these blowbag radio and TV talk show hosts won't go, no American institution they won't stoop to attack?

Using school kids like that?  Really?

Fox News reports that the Democrats did it too.  (The Democrats did it too!  Ha ha!)  It's true that when George H.W. Bush, the father, announced a similar speech, the Democrats accused him of using government money to play politics and improve his image.  The difference is that in 1991 there were no calls to keep kids out of school.  No overwrought parents calling the principal because they feared the president of the United States would use their precious darlings for some kind of zombie mind control.

Both sides are more than capable of following a political agenda.  What's unforgivable is when teachers and principals are suddenly thrust into a game of partisan tug a war over the kids. 

What kind of sick mixed message are these parents sending their kids?  The president wants to tell them to stay in school and they turn it into a skit from the Colbert Report.   What happened to respect for the office, if not for the man? 

Even former first lady, Laura Bush defended the president, which I thought was pretty classy, and kind of cool.  

If you missed the speech, because you were at recess or something, you can read the full text of it here.

Nutballs and Hope

The health care debate rages on. It seems that President Obama is getting ready to sell us down the river when he gives his health care speech next Wednesday. If he decides to jettison the Public Option, it will be a betrayal of the worst kind. I really believe that without some kind of government-backed plan, the reform we're hoping for will not happen.

How did all this get out of hand? The president started out so well, with support from Congress, public opinion far in his favor, and a fair wind blowing in his sails. Then the sweltering heat of August hit and it all seemed to go down the tubes.

I cringe watching these awful town hall meetings. When was America taken over by rude, ill-informed, mean-spirited, selfish people? How in the world are we going to take it back?

If President Obama turns against us and sides with the lobbyists, the corporations and the crazy nutballs screaming for him keep his government hands off their Medicare, I don't have a lot of hope for the rest of his presidency. And up until this point, hope was all we had.

Knockin' em Back at the "Table of Equality"

This New York Times picture of President Barack Obama sitting on the White House lawn, sipping beer and chatting about race relations with Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, the policeman who arrested him last week, made me think of another incident that involved an invitation to sit at the White House table.



On October 16, 1901 the newly-elected President Theodore Roosevelt invited black leader Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House. This simple act ignited a firestorm of resentment and bigotry. Outraged Southern newspapers maligned the president and questioned his wisdom and patriotism for "mingling the races." Hate mail and death threats came pouring in. South Carolina Senator Benjamin Tillman said, "The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that n****r will necessitate our killing a thousand n****rs in the South before they will learn their place again."




These two tables, a century apart, symbolize the progress America has made on its slog through the mire of race relations. We've come a long way and we still have far to go but at least we're talking.

Blame it on Jack Bauer

It scares me that U.S. interrogation policy during the Bush administration was more influenced by Jack Bauer from the TV show "24" than it was by the U.S. constitution.

The legal team that established U.S. policy, along with people like Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, thought they were setting a prudent, rational course for America when they cited the TV show in legal opinions and allowed military personnel to follow the example of the gung-ho, take-no-prisoners-and-follow-no-rules TV character in places like Guantanamo.

Slate Magazine's Dahlia Lithwick wrote that Jack Bauer was "the prime mover of American interrogation doctrine" and "the most influential legal thinker in the development of modern American interrogation policy."

Didn't these people realize the real world is not a prime time TV show and real people were suffering real consequences while they were busy playing super-spy?

Even the Supreme Court got into the act. In 2007, Justice Antonin Scalia defended Jack Bauer's torture of terrorists to save Los Angeles. "Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?" he asked at a judicial conference in Canada. “Say that criminal law is against him? ‘You have the right to a jury trial?’ Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer?”

A Supreme Court Justice using the plot of a TV show to justify torture?

Next stop, "The Twilight Zone."

Celebrating the Real Mother's Day

Did you know a day to celebrate motherhood was first proposed by social activist Julia Ward Howe, best remembered for writing the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic?

Howe, a writer, poet, playwright, abolitionist and feminist, was sickened by the horrible bloodshed during the American Civil War and by the Franco-Prussian War that devastated Europe in the 1870's.

In 1870, she issued a Mother's Day Proclamation urging women of all nations to call for an end to war as a means of settling national differences:

"Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, 'Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.'"

Beginning in 1872, Howe initiated a Mothers' Peace Day, "dedicated to the advocacy of peace doctrines," to be observed on the second Sunday in June. An invitation to the event said it was a day "to speak, sing and pray for those things that make for peace." Mothers' Peace Day was celebrated by Howe's friends and followers each year until her death in 1910.

Howe had campaigned unsuccessfully to have her concept of Mother's Day recognized as a national holiday. Instead, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday of May as Mothers' Day in the U.S, "a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." The holiday's pacifist origins were ignored, in favor of more sentimental considerations.

But if you think about it, a day calling for peace is much more in line with the true meaning of motherhood. Who suffers more in times of war than the mothers who are called on to sacrifice their children?

The greatest tribute we can give to the mothers of the world is to do everything in our power to work for just and lasting peace.

Happy International Workers Day!

On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers across the United States walked off their jobs to demand an 8-hour work day. Demonstrators paraded in the streets. The Chicago police tried to crack down on the protesters and the peaceful demonstrations erupted into the violence that became the Haymarket Massacre. Despite the brutality, the workers achieved their goal and the 8-hour work day came to be accepted.

Government, business leaders and the media, frightened at the prospect of an empowered citizenry demanding fair, safe working conditions and social justice, undermined the growing labor movement and characterized its leaders as foreign born, bomb-throwing radicals. The history and significance of May Day was subverted and buried.

Though, in the United States we no longer acknowledge the contributions of the strikers, International Workers Day is a national holiday in many other countries. Today hundreds of thousands of workers in Europe and Asia and throughout the world turned out to celebrate this day.

"When the prison, stake or scaffold can no longer silence the voice of the protesting minority, progress moves on a step, but not until then. "

Lucy Parsons, labor leader, social activist and anarchist

All for One and One For All

I knew we were in trouble back in 1996 when the conservatives ridiculed Hillary Clinton for saying, "It takes a village to raise a child."

Bob Dole and other Republicans scoffed at the idea. Following the lead of their exulted leader Ronald Reagan, they downplayed the importance of our social bonds and suggested that only the rights and responsibilities of the individual mattered. Instead of community, they promoted self interest. Welfare mothers, social programs, who needs them? We needed rugged individualism, tax cuts and that frontier spirit.

It's been down hill ever since. With our focus fixed on individual need and individual greed, we've blithely careened along this collision course to ruin.

We must come to our senses and realize that we need each other. People do better living in groups. That's what makes civilization possible and and what makes it preferable to living alone. We band together because, when the night is long and cold, it's a great comfort to have friends huddling with you around the campfire.

Hillary's point when she evoked the proverb in her book and at her speech at the 1996 Democratic Convention was that we need to pool our resources and our strengths, to accomplish communally that which would be near impossible alone.

It's time to rediscover this spirit. Today, we must come together to get ourselves out of this massive economic ditch we've landed in. President Obama's economic stimulus and mortgage rescue plans are heading in that direction. You bail out your neighbor today in the hopes that your neighbor will be around to bail you out when you hit a rough patch tomorrow.

America has always managed this crazy balance that pits the needs of the group against the needs of the individual. As a country, we're strongest when we foster both.

Nothing on My Hands But Time

Most mornings I lie in bed and try to convince myself there's a reason to get up. I trudge out of my bedroom dazed, blinking at the new day, wondering how in the world I got here.

If you've ever been unemployed, you know how scary and disorienting it can be. The activity that defined your life and gave you purpose has been ripped away and you must find something to fill the gap. You know you should remain motivated and positive. You know this small setback is really a great opportunity, a chance to move forward, to reach out and grab a brighter future with both hands--but you know, you just don't have the energy.

For the past six years, working at my former job, I've often wished I had more time to do the things I wanted--exercise, walk in the park, sit in a coffee shop and drink expensive coffee while watching other people with time on their hands do the things they want. Now that I have the time, I can't. I feel paralyzed. Numb.

I'm supposed to be job hunting, of course. But since there's a glut of folks in LA doing the same the thing, it's not easy. Thus far, the prospects haven't been great. I do what I can.

Meanwhile, I should take the time to smell the flowers and read the morning paper. Maybe I could take in a weekday matinee or browse a museum, or go down to the beach and look out at the ocean.

Maybe I'll sign up for an arts and crafts class. Then I could use the want ads to make an origami butterfly.

Just Another Day in Obama's America

The unemployment roles are growing. The banks are failing. The economists are predicting dire consequences.

Down at the Capitol, the Republicans are lying and protecting their own interests, the Democrats are jockeying for position and the voters are sick of it all.

According to the Republicans, we can't afford to fix our schools, or pave our streets or shore up our bridges and dams. We can't afford to feed the hungry or care for the sick. We can, however, always afford more bombs. And more torture devices. (They must be cheap.) We can afford more tax cuts for the wealthy because that unsteady breed always seems to need more and more of our tender care.

The man responsible for fixing it all is being underestimated and second-guessed by cut-rate pundits and newscasters grasping at anything that resembles controversy, just to fill up dead air.

On the jobs front, Mr. Obama still has openings for a Commerce Secretary and a Health and Human Services Secretary, if you still haven't sent in your resume.

The 2008 Election Follies

I'm looking forward to the first Presidential debates between Barack Obama and John McCain, which will start in just a few minutes. I get the feeling that much of the rest of the country is too.

I gotta say, the 2008 Presidential election has been more entertaining than last season's American Idol. Unpredictable, wacky, in the spirit of the best farce. My husband and I watch each day's events and wonder how things could ever get more ludicrous and, sure enough, the next day tops it.

It's been a sad election too. I've heard far too many people say that the America they knew, the one they grew up with, the one they were proud to be a part of, is gone. In a way, I suppose it is. The lies told and the cynicism shown by some of our leaders have left us feeling like a country of lost souls. The Bush years have ripped the heart out of America and I wonder how we will overcome that.

We can overcome it, of course. We've been through worse. But it's to the advantage of the dividers and the polarizers to make us believe we can't.

We need to pull together as a nation and as a people. Roger Cohen of the New York Times had a terrific column about that topic. You can view it here.

Okay, it's time. I'm off to watch the debate and I hope you are too.

Survival of the Stodgiest?

An article appeared in the New Times yesterday that talks about the source of morality being in our genes. (Link to article here)

The article presents the findings of psychologist Dr. Jonathon Haidt who says we are genetically programmed for morality. He identifies five basic components of morality that he believes are common to most cultures, two that favor the rights of the individual--do unto others and fairness--and three that favor the rights and needs of society-- loyalty, respect for authority and purity.

The controversial part of the article deals with how Dr. Haidt assigns political relevance to these two opposing interests. He says that liberals tend to emphasize the rights of individuals and to completely ignore those that affect society, while conservatives value all five areas, but give more importance to the rights of the group. He even goes so far as to say that liberals just don't get these conservative values of loyalty, respect for authority and purity.

"“It is at least possible,” he said, “that conservatives and traditional societies have some moral or sociological insights that secular liberals do not understand.”

Now I must take issue with that.

Liberals and progressives are very much concerned with the needs of the group. They tend to support social programs and laws that are more equitable and that give assistance to people who need it. Conservatives are concerned with traditional values that supposedly favor the group, but only as long as these values also support their need to maintain the status quo, i.e. their own wealth and position.

The problem comes in the way Dr. Haidt defines the "group." His assumptions work only if society is defined as its most socially and economically elite members. His conclusions virtually disregard the needs of the group members who are not as well-heeled or well connected.

His conclusion means that traditional conservative values that promote cohesion are by definition always better for the group and I don't think that's true at all. He completely ignores the fact that the interests and needs of groups are constantly changing. In the long run, supporting values that are different from the status quo might actually contribute to the health of the society.

Conservative values deplore homosexuality, but how does ostracizing and denouncing this segment of the population contribute to the society's overall well-being? Perhaps at one time it was an evolutionary imperative to encourage people to reproduce, but in these days of overpopulation, casting out a segment of the population because of its sexuality is harmful. Demonizing a segment of the population and encouraging bigotry generally has a negative effect on the morality of a society.

When America was first founded, slavery was good for it economically. Keeping fellow humans in bondage allowed the country to prosper at a time when free labor was in short supply. Therefore, every conservative entity rose to its defense. The clergy found passages in the Bible that proved that slavery was morally righteous and the scientific community rushed to show how slavery demonstrated "survival of the fittest." It wasn't until slavery became a drag on the economy that these same conservative entities saw the error of their ways and slavery was finally discarded once and for all.

Today, the New York Times ran an article about the genital cutting of little girls in Egypt, a practice which Dr. Haidt would no doubt define as an action designed to preserve the purity of the society. Is it really beneficial to this society to allow the mutilation of half of its citizens? Or would it be more beneficial to this group (not to mention its individual little girls) to discard its medieval value system, join the rest of the world community and adopt a more compassionate and liberal value system?

I don't believe the tension Dr. Haidt has recognized is really between traditional values that favor the group and progressive values that favor the individual. The tension he's recognized is between the elite of a society trying to maintain the status quo and the need of societies to discard traditional values that have become outdated and no longer viable. New or progressive values that favor the individual are not always better for a society, but neither are conservative ones.

Democratic societies at least, fare better when there is give and take between old and new ideas, between liberal and conservative, traditional and progressive, between the needs of the individual and the needs of the group. Only when we achieve some sort of balance between all these opposing forces can both individuals and societies thrive.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

It's hard to believe I haven't updated this crazy blog since May. The last time I wrote, it was Memorial Day and now we just had Labor Day. The entire summer has gone by.

Last time I wrote, I was recovering from surgery and off of work for 6 weeks. Since then I:

went to Las Vegas with my husband
worked freelance for the new David Duchovny show, Californication
got a new toilet
returned to my regular job
edited like crazy on Book 3 of my novel
spent the 4th of July in Tarzana with our friends
had my house painted, inside and out
wrote a poem
joined a bunch of on-line writing and reading forums that I don't have time for
wrote a short story and entered it in a contest at fantasy-writers.org
entered the TV show I'm working on in the Sundance Film Festival
read three and a half novels
bought a new battery, tires and radiator for my car
found out my dog, Shadow, might have cancer
spent Labor Day in Palos Verdes with our other friends

What I'm Reading Now

Here's a list of the books stacked on my nightstand. It's pretty eclectic...

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri -- I got this book for a college class and never got around to reading it. (I don't even remember which class any more. ) Now that I'm home recuperating, I finally have the time. It's about writing plays but the principles apply to any kind of storytelling.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton -- I'm trying to catch up on the classics. I'm also half way through Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. I'll get back to that one some day.

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King -- I've never read much Stephen King because I don't like horror but then I read his book on writing, On Writing and fell in love. I like his imagination and his down to earth style. If any guy knows how to tell a story, it's Stephen. This is book 2 of his huge fantasy series.

Dynamite on a China Plate by Jay Leeming -- This is a book of poetry with lots of great imagery. "A woman's lips are like dynamite, they can blow a house right off its foundations." I'm hoping some of the poet's craft will rub off on my writing.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin -- This is a great book about Lincoln and really makes you long for the day when politicians were expected to act in the public interest, not just their own.

55 Fiction

My 55-word fiction story, "The Broken Vase," was posted over the weekend on the 55Fiction.com. Check it out at http://55fiction.com.

Thanks, Cory.

Mining the Pain

My recovery after surgery is going pretty well. Yesterday I took a sponge bath and washed my hair in the kitchen sink, then my husband took me shopping, the first I'd left the house in two weeks. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with our friend Larry. I think I'll be back to normal very soon.

This is my first day here on my own. My mom was in town for the last few weeks taking care of me but she went over the weekend and the rest of my family went back to work and school today. I'm here all by myself with lots of time to waste or use as I see fit. Being home in the middle of the day is a novel experience for someone who normally works full time.

I spent the day writing a women's health article about my experiences. Heck, if you can't mine your pain for a story, what good is it?

The article's five pages long and needs more research and a little polish, but it's almost finished. I usually write fiction so I'm pretty pleased that I was able to get it down so quickly. Maybe it's the beginning of my freelance writing career. Non-fiction is more marketable than fiction.

My plan is to finish it and try to sell to a women's magazine. If that doesn't work, I'll try an on-line publisher and if that doesn't work, I'll publish it here. One way or another, my article will be published.