Sunday, February 22, 2004
The courage of women.
The courage of these women is equal to the cowardice of whomever decided to use cluster bombs in this, and any war:
AJI BAI NAZAR, Afghanistan — Two women in this poor farming village have emerged as heroines after they witnessed the horror of two small boys being killed as they played with little cluster bombs from an American jet. The two cleared dozens of the bombs with their bare hands and detonated them, protecting the village.
AJI BAI NAZAR, Afghanistan — Two women in this poor farming village have emerged as heroines after they witnessed the horror of two small boys being killed as they played with little cluster bombs from an American jet. The two cleared dozens of the bombs with their bare hands and detonated them, protecting the village.
# posted by scorpiorising : 10:37 AM |
Monday, February 09, 2004
Restaurant workers reclassified as industrial.
From Notes on the Atrocities. Be forewarned: there is no obvious attempt at irony on the part of the administration, in its reclassification of restaurant workers:
The Labor Department today announced a change in the way jobs will be classified. The Department called it an effort to reflect changes in the workforce over the past twenty years. The last time jobs were reclassified was in 1978, before computing altered the workforce.
The largest change will affect the manufacturing sector. Under the new rules, restaurant employees are being recategorized as industrial workers. "Most restaurant workers today are emplyed in the fast food industry," explained Roland Grimes, economic undersecretary. "These employees work on an assembly line and manufacture a product, pretty much just like Henry Ford's old factory workers, so we felt this made a lot of sense."
Employment figures released today show that industrial and manufacturing jobs were up 347% over last month. President Bush praised the figures and hailed the increase as further evidence that his tax cuts were spurring job growth.
The Labor Department today announced a change in the way jobs will be classified. The Department called it an effort to reflect changes in the workforce over the past twenty years. The last time jobs were reclassified was in 1978, before computing altered the workforce.
The largest change will affect the manufacturing sector. Under the new rules, restaurant employees are being recategorized as industrial workers. "Most restaurant workers today are emplyed in the fast food industry," explained Roland Grimes, economic undersecretary. "These employees work on an assembly line and manufacture a product, pretty much just like Henry Ford's old factory workers, so we felt this made a lot of sense."
Employment figures released today show that industrial and manufacturing jobs were up 347% over last month. President Bush praised the figures and hailed the increase as further evidence that his tax cuts were spurring job growth.
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:38 AM |
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Crackdown on Dissent
This, from the DailyKos:
Yesterday, February 3, Detective Jeff Warford of the Polk County Sheriff's Office-FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force came to Catholic Peace Ministry's office here in Des Moines with a subpoena for me to testify before a Federal Grand Jury next Tuesday, February 10. Mr. Warford also served papers on Elton Davis at the Catholic Worker House and Patti McKee, who was coordinator of Iowa Peace Network until last month. The Grand Jury process is shrouded in secrecy. We do not know who or what the object of this investigation may be, beyond "possible violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Iowa."
The proceeding will be behind closed doors. We may not have an attorney present. We have the right to plead the Fifth Amendment, refusing the answer questions that might incriminate us. The government, then, can offer us immunity from prosecution, in which case we will obliged to answer under threat of contempt of court and could be imprisoned for the length of the Grand Jury session, 18 months, should we continue to refuse to answer. This immunity would be limited to our own testimony and anything any of us say could be used against the others.
Whatever is going on, this is definitely an escalation on the part of the government's war on dissent and clamp down on civil liberties. The fact that anything that we three and the peacemaking communities we represent could possibly attract the notice of a "Terrorism Task Force" is reprehensible. Please spread the word, express concerns you have with Federal and Polk County authorities. Keep us in mind and prayer.
Brian Terrell
Executive Director
Catholic Peace Ministry
And from the Des Moines Register:
Judge's gag order silences Drake campus
By MADELAINE JEROUSEK
Register Staff Writer
02/07/2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Much of the Drake University campus was silent Friday about a federal investigation into an anti-war group meeting held on campus last fall.
Sources say a sealed court order issued Thursday prohibits Drake University employees from talking about a subpoena calling for all university records of the Drake group sponsoring the meeting.
President David Maxwell said he couldn't comment.
Chief of Security Hans Hanson referred calls to the university's marketing office. Several Drake Law School faculty said the dean's office was handling calls, while a secretary said the dean was out of the office.
"Good luck finding anyone who's going to talk," said Robert Rigg, a law professor.
Across campus, some faculty members were talking. They expressed outrage about the investigation, saying it appeared to infringe on free-speech rights. The subpoena asks for all records relating to the Nov. 15 anti-war conference on campus hosted by the Drake chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The request calls for information about leaders of the group, security reports reflecting observations about the meeting and any annual reports since 2002.
"It's a very disturbing development," said Kathleen Richardson, a Drake professor and executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. "A university atmosphere should encourage intelligent discussion and debate about the important issues of our day."
Journalism professor Herb Strentz said some faculty members were considering how to take a stand opposing the request for university documents.
"Does this mean the university can't hold conferences that deal with political issues?" he said. "This is certainly a stark contrast to the notion of a university being a place for the wide open exchange of ideas and debate."
Other employees and students had not heard about the inquiry.
Law student Nicholas Cooper, president of Drake's Student Bar Association, said he'd heard little discussion about the investigation. "Students don't know what's going on," he said.
A couple of other articles dealing with the story:
Group fights anti-war inquiry
Lawyers move to block subpoenas
By JEFF ECKHOFF and MARK SIEBERT
02/07/2004
And:
Judge's gag order silences Drake campus
By MADELAINE JEROUSEK
Register Staff Writer
02/07/2004
Yesterday, February 3, Detective Jeff Warford of the Polk County Sheriff's Office-FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force came to Catholic Peace Ministry's office here in Des Moines with a subpoena for me to testify before a Federal Grand Jury next Tuesday, February 10. Mr. Warford also served papers on Elton Davis at the Catholic Worker House and Patti McKee, who was coordinator of Iowa Peace Network until last month. The Grand Jury process is shrouded in secrecy. We do not know who or what the object of this investigation may be, beyond "possible violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Iowa."
The proceeding will be behind closed doors. We may not have an attorney present. We have the right to plead the Fifth Amendment, refusing the answer questions that might incriminate us. The government, then, can offer us immunity from prosecution, in which case we will obliged to answer under threat of contempt of court and could be imprisoned for the length of the Grand Jury session, 18 months, should we continue to refuse to answer. This immunity would be limited to our own testimony and anything any of us say could be used against the others.
Whatever is going on, this is definitely an escalation on the part of the government's war on dissent and clamp down on civil liberties. The fact that anything that we three and the peacemaking communities we represent could possibly attract the notice of a "Terrorism Task Force" is reprehensible. Please spread the word, express concerns you have with Federal and Polk County authorities. Keep us in mind and prayer.
Brian Terrell
Executive Director
Catholic Peace Ministry
And from the Des Moines Register:
Judge's gag order silences Drake campus
By MADELAINE JEROUSEK
Register Staff Writer
02/07/2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Much of the Drake University campus was silent Friday about a federal investigation into an anti-war group meeting held on campus last fall.
Sources say a sealed court order issued Thursday prohibits Drake University employees from talking about a subpoena calling for all university records of the Drake group sponsoring the meeting.
President David Maxwell said he couldn't comment.
Chief of Security Hans Hanson referred calls to the university's marketing office. Several Drake Law School faculty said the dean's office was handling calls, while a secretary said the dean was out of the office.
"Good luck finding anyone who's going to talk," said Robert Rigg, a law professor.
Across campus, some faculty members were talking. They expressed outrage about the investigation, saying it appeared to infringe on free-speech rights. The subpoena asks for all records relating to the Nov. 15 anti-war conference on campus hosted by the Drake chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The request calls for information about leaders of the group, security reports reflecting observations about the meeting and any annual reports since 2002.
"It's a very disturbing development," said Kathleen Richardson, a Drake professor and executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. "A university atmosphere should encourage intelligent discussion and debate about the important issues of our day."
Journalism professor Herb Strentz said some faculty members were considering how to take a stand opposing the request for university documents.
"Does this mean the university can't hold conferences that deal with political issues?" he said. "This is certainly a stark contrast to the notion of a university being a place for the wide open exchange of ideas and debate."
Other employees and students had not heard about the inquiry.
Law student Nicholas Cooper, president of Drake's Student Bar Association, said he'd heard little discussion about the investigation. "Students don't know what's going on," he said.
A couple of other articles dealing with the story:
Group fights anti-war inquiry
Lawyers move to block subpoenas
By JEFF ECKHOFF and MARK SIEBERT
02/07/2004
And:
Judge's gag order silences Drake campus
By MADELAINE JEROUSEK
Register Staff Writer
02/07/2004
# posted by scorpiorising : 2:51 PM |
Janet Jackson's breast.
Just for the record, I don't have a problem with Janet Jackson baring her breast. I don't see it as obscene, or indecent. Breasts are beautiful, and anyone complaining about their display is prudish and repressive. What I do see as obscene, is the continued defense of a war that murdered or maimed thousands of innocents. What is indecent of the federal deficit that our children will be paying off (interesting the Move On.org ad that shows children, working to pay off the deficit, the children are all working at low wage jobs. A subconscious hint of our future?)
By the way, I am sometimes funny, but Margaret Chou is a lot funnier, especially on the issue of the baring of Janet Jackson's breast.
By the way, I am sometimes funny, but Margaret Chou is a lot funnier, especially on the issue of the baring of Janet Jackson's breast.
# posted by scorpiorising : 9:55 AM |
Bush knew, Cheney knew, they all knew.
Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, relegated to page 17, as atrios points out, gives us the lowdown on who knew what, and when:
In its fall 2002 campaign to win congressional support for a war against Iraq, President Bush and his top advisers ignored many of the caveats and qualifiers included in the classified report on Saddam Hussein's weapons that CIA Director George J. Tenet defended Thursday.
In fact, they made some of their most unequivocal assertions about unconventional weapons before the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was completed.
Iraq "is a grave and gathering danger," Bush told the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002. At the White House two weeks later -- after referring to a British government report that Iraq could launch "a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order" is given -- he went on to say, "Each passing day could be the one on which the Iraqi regime gives anthrax or VX -- nerve gas -- or someday a nuclear weapon to a terrorist ally."
Three weeks later, on the day the NIE was delivered to Congress, Bush told lawmakers in the White House Rose Garden that Iraq's current course was "a threat of unique urgency."
On Thursday, summarizing the NIE's conclusions, Tenet said: "They never said Iraq was an imminent threat."
In its fall 2002 campaign to win congressional support for a war against Iraq, President Bush and his top advisers ignored many of the caveats and qualifiers included in the classified report on Saddam Hussein's weapons that CIA Director George J. Tenet defended Thursday.
In fact, they made some of their most unequivocal assertions about unconventional weapons before the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was completed.
Iraq "is a grave and gathering danger," Bush told the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002. At the White House two weeks later -- after referring to a British government report that Iraq could launch "a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order" is given -- he went on to say, "Each passing day could be the one on which the Iraqi regime gives anthrax or VX -- nerve gas -- or someday a nuclear weapon to a terrorist ally."
Three weeks later, on the day the NIE was delivered to Congress, Bush told lawmakers in the White House Rose Garden that Iraq's current course was "a threat of unique urgency."
On Thursday, summarizing the NIE's conclusions, Tenet said: "They never said Iraq was an imminent threat."
# posted by scorpiorising : 9:47 AM |
Saturday, February 07, 2004
The Quashing of Dissent
Somehow, I knew this was inevitable, but reading the story sent cold chills down my spine nonetheless. From the Associated Press (through the TimesUnion.com):
DES MOINES, Iowa -- In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists.
In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were served this past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand jury Tuesday, the protesters said.
Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas.
In addition to records about who attended the forum, the subpoena orders the university to divulge all records relating to the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal activist organization that sponsored the forum.
The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the 1950s, announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the subpoena on Monday.
"The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate protected political activities or to intimidate protesters exceeds its authority," guild President Michael Ayers said in a statement.
Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union said they had not heard of such a subpoena being served on any U.S. university in decades.
Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who visited Iraq in 2002.
They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent.
"This is exactly what people feared would happen," said Brian Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those subpoenaed. "The civil liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to happen in this country from now on."
DES MOINES, Iowa -- In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists.
In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were served this past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand jury Tuesday, the protesters said.
Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas.
In addition to records about who attended the forum, the subpoena orders the university to divulge all records relating to the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal activist organization that sponsored the forum.
The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the 1950s, announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the subpoena on Monday.
"The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate protected political activities or to intimidate protesters exceeds its authority," guild President Michael Ayers said in a statement.
Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union said they had not heard of such a subpoena being served on any U.S. university in decades.
Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who visited Iraq in 2002.
They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent.
"This is exactly what people feared would happen," said Brian Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those subpoenaed. "The civil liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to happen in this country from now on."
# posted by scorpiorising : 2:19 PM |
The Moral Develpment of America: Redux
My, possibly final, letter on the issue to my friend, David:
David,
I don't think my championing of a few social causes is going to affect this election, one way or the other. I would be so arrogant to assume my influence on others. What I am doing right now is a form of research on issues that are important to me. I agree with you, that we should all unite to oust Bush, but as I stated, I believe that this president and his dangerous minions, did not develop in a vacuum. I am very much interested in the psyche of Americans, that would allow the development of such inequality in this country, so that we have children and working parents going homeless and hungry. You have provided me a few clues in your response.
You said:
>>>Our disconnect arises from what we believe government's role
should be in the lives of citizens and how much responsibility
individuals have for the conditions of their lives. I favor freedom as a
value over security, and I believe in minimal government that protects
individual privacy, rights and autonomy. It appears that you value
security over freedom and want a maternal government that takes care of
the basic physical needs of all of its citizens. So we disagree.<<<
Apparently, homelessness among working families is not your problem. I don't mean to be blunt, but I see so many distancing themselves from the extreme financial difficulties millions of Americans are facing, clinging to the notion of "minimal government", when in fact we have government manipulating our economy to favor the wealthy. I do believe these issues ought to be addressed by the democratic candidates. That doesn't mean they will be.
As far as the desire for a maternal form of government, that sounds fine to me, in the sense that the government is a reflection of the people, and if the government were "maternal", as you describe it, then that would mean its citizens cared more for those who are hungry, and homeless, and that it would be a high priority to help these people, rather than the high priority of extending stock options to ceos.
As for as hurting my feelings when you don't disagree with me, that is not the case at all. (I wonder now if there is a little projection there). When you print, though, just parts of what I have written to you, and respond to selected sentences, and send that to your audience, I feel slightly misrepresented. I can't tell you how to conduct this "forum", but I just wanted to share my opinions.
elizabeth
David,
I don't think my championing of a few social causes is going to affect this election, one way or the other. I would be so arrogant to assume my influence on others. What I am doing right now is a form of research on issues that are important to me. I agree with you, that we should all unite to oust Bush, but as I stated, I believe that this president and his dangerous minions, did not develop in a vacuum. I am very much interested in the psyche of Americans, that would allow the development of such inequality in this country, so that we have children and working parents going homeless and hungry. You have provided me a few clues in your response.
You said:
>>>Our disconnect arises from what we believe government's role
should be in the lives of citizens and how much responsibility
individuals have for the conditions of their lives. I favor freedom as a
value over security, and I believe in minimal government that protects
individual privacy, rights and autonomy. It appears that you value
security over freedom and want a maternal government that takes care of
the basic physical needs of all of its citizens. So we disagree.<<<
Apparently, homelessness among working families is not your problem. I don't mean to be blunt, but I see so many distancing themselves from the extreme financial difficulties millions of Americans are facing, clinging to the notion of "minimal government", when in fact we have government manipulating our economy to favor the wealthy. I do believe these issues ought to be addressed by the democratic candidates. That doesn't mean they will be.
As far as the desire for a maternal form of government, that sounds fine to me, in the sense that the government is a reflection of the people, and if the government were "maternal", as you describe it, then that would mean its citizens cared more for those who are hungry, and homeless, and that it would be a high priority to help these people, rather than the high priority of extending stock options to ceos.
As for as hurting my feelings when you don't disagree with me, that is not the case at all. (I wonder now if there is a little projection there). When you print, though, just parts of what I have written to you, and respond to selected sentences, and send that to your audience, I feel slightly misrepresented. I can't tell you how to conduct this "forum", but I just wanted to share my opinions.
elizabeth
# posted by scorpiorising : 5:08 AM |
Friday, February 06, 2004
The Moral Development of George Bush continues.
I'm not sure how many conversations like the ones I will share with you are going on right now in these United of States, but it certainly is a testament to how strong feelings are running. I think it important, if possible, to keep the lines of communication open with as many as possible, wether they share your views or not.
David,
I sensed a lot of pain in Evan's diatribe against "liberals". When
> you look
> at how campaigns are funded, it can be difficult to see a difference
> between
> republicans and democrats. I find myself not expecting that Kerry,
> if he
> were elected president, to make many "structural" changes that would
> help
> the working poor. The working poor grew huge in numbers during
> Clinton's
> so-called years of prosperity. What I hope for, if Kerry were
> elected, is
> that at least he wouldn't waste our money, and lives, in an
> unnecessary war.
> Lowered expectations? I seem to live with them everyday, in relation
> to our
> government.
>
> elizabeth
elizabeth,
Beware. I'm going to take the chance again of offending you with
too much honesty.
Have you ever heard the expression, "Politics is the art of the
possible"? I'm afraid that as long as you dream and wish for an American
government that provides for all of its citizens and works constructively
with the rest of the world for peace and the common good instead of
bullying it into submission, you'll be suffering from the disappointment
of lowered expectations. Positive change happens in small increments.
We have a campaign financing system that makes it impossible for
an unknown without money to be a viable candidate for national office.
Short of violent revolution, the Democratic candidates have no choice but
to play by the rules of the system. That doesn't mean there's no
difference between Republicans and Democrats -- it just means the system
is fucked up. In my opinion, McCain-Feingold made it even worse, and I
thought so at the time -- stricter limits were put on the type of
"hard-money" fundraising Democrats were best at, leaving Republicans to
go ahead and raise their record sums of corporate "soft money" as they
sail back to reelection.
I see a lot more pain in your complaints about Democrats than I
do in Paul's against liberals. I think you're projecting again.
Greg Palast is still unimpressive to me for the same reasons I
told you before. He seems to be missing the forest for the trees, and so
do you.
The military/industrial complex has risen up and seized the
executive branch of this country, and it's strangling democracy to death.
This is no time to be sniping at Democrats for their lack of idealistic
social initiatives that would make your life easier. Democrats are
fighting to preserve the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; they're
fighting for survival. You and Greg Palast are yipping and nipping at
their heels. You're not helping.
David
David,
You didn't comment on this letter, which was an expansion of the comments concerning my "lowered expectations". By the way, you can't offend me. If I am offended, it is my choice.
Regarding pain, I fully admit to the pain I feel in regard to the inadequacies of our government. Instead of projecting, I am seeing and feeling the pain in Paul's attack on Ted Kennedy, because I feel it also, in the sense of disillusionment with our leaders. However, while Paul choses to fixate his anger and pain on liberals, I have chosen a different route, an attempt at understanding how the overall climate of our country could have produced such a man as George Bush as president. As Hitler didn't come to power in a vacuum, neither did Bush. Fascism has to take root in the hearts of Americans before the leader is elected, not after. If we oust Bush, the work we have to do has just begun, in my view. There is also the danger that if the roots of fascism are not addressed, this could happen, and quickly, all over again. My search is for the beliefs that circulate like planets in this solar system that we call America, the beliefs that structure our overall experience. My search, is, of course, through the prism of my own beliefs. I full acknowledge that, and even savor it, because I am on my own, self-appointed mission, if you will, as sleuth and detective, to hunt down and bring to light the poison that started all of this.
.
I recently read "Nickel and Dimed", and I'm going to quote something from her book. It is well worth reading, by the way, and very funny, as she is able to, with humor and compassion, expose the belly of the beast of capitalism:
"The preaching goes on, interrupted with dutiful "amens". It would be nice if someone would read this sad-eyed crowd the Sermon on the Mount, accompanied by a rousing commentary on income inequality and the need for a hike in the minimum wage. But Jesus makes his appearance here only as a corpse; the living man, the wine-guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist, is never once mentioned, nor anything he ever had to say. Christ crucified rules, and it may be that the true business of modern Christianity is to crucify him again and again so that he can never get a word out of his mouth."
By the way, it is true that universal health care would make my life easier, as it would for millions of Americans, as well as a hike in the minimum wage. I have it relatively easy, because I am living at home (which will end this summer). Perhaps that was the one thing you said to me where I felt a twinge of hey, he's not giving me much credit here:
>>>This is no time to be sniping at Democrats for their lack of idealistic
social initiatives that would make your life easier.<<<
There are working people going hungry in this country. I also have personal experience with the young people that I manage at the coffeeshop. I am concerned, very concerned, for the direction of the soul of our country, which, in my view, worsened while the so-called prosperity of the '90's was taking place. So in closing Jeremy, as I said, this is my choice to try to understand why people are going hungry in America, working people, and homeless...You need not understand, nor even engage in discussion with me on it. I was merely trying to share my views with you.
elizabeth
Elizabeth,
I was commenting on both your letter to Carol Norris and your comments surrounding the Greg Palast article, including your reaction to Evan. It's unfortunate, because you're my friend and I love you and I don't want to hurt your feelings, but it seems to hurt your feelings when I don't share your views, as though that means I disrespect you, which I don't. I just disagree, and in this case, I feel that your expressions of pain and anger at the failure of Democrats to advance social programs you believe in is undermining a cause I feel passionate about, which is the emergency need to rescue our democracy from the fast-rising tide of corporate fascism.
Our disconnect arises from what we believe government's role should be in the lives of citizens and how much responsibility individuals have for the conditions of their lives. I favor freedom as a value over security, and I believe in minimal government that protects individual privacy, rights and autonomy. It appears that you value security over freedom and want a maternal government that takes care of the basic physical needs of all of its citizens. So we disagree.
I'm worried by our disagreement, because I believe that in this political emergency, in which a small but powerful group of military/industrial fascists have seized control of all three branches of American government, those of us who believe in democracy need to work together as a team to oppose them, to take back our government and return it to the rule of the people.
You're arguing for social programs that Democrats should be championing at a time when they've essentially been ousted from power and are in danger of becoming irrelevent. I want you to focus on the immediate problem, which is the need to reassert democratic power in America. We can do that this year if we pull together, but if we waste our energy squabbling among ourselves about what the Democratic party should be doing if and when ever it gets the Presidency or the Congress or the Judiciary back, we'll never get it back.
All I'm saying is, first things first. Let's unite in our desire to return traditional democratic values to preeminence in America and take back the executive branch of our government, and then we can argue about what we want that government to do.
Respectfully,
David
David and Elizabeth,
What is it with all you "Move On" morons that keep equating George W with Hitler. They will never be morally equivalent. You were raised in just, if not a more affluent family than mine..You are poor now because you chose to be . I chose to work hard and make something of my gifts and education. I feel no pain or anger towards liberals, but their hypocrisy and naivety make them seem foolish.
As a physician, I am not at all against universal health care. I do not want the government to run it. My ideas is a stepped system based on personal responsibly. I you keep your weight under control, don't smoke, drink in moderation you would have different levels of covered care. It is imperative that serious tort reform is included. Caring quality healthcare for all is more important than perfect care for a few. We (physician) practice too much defensive medicine and waist too many recourses on the elderly and dying and the hopeless. I am all for people being kept comfortable when they get old and sick but it is not uncommon to spend hundreds of thousand of dollars on some one with no chance to return to a productive happy pain-free life.
A hike in the minimal wage puts more people out of work and is inflationary. It, like many liberal ideas sounds good on paper but in reality it hurts those that need help most.
Evan
Evan,
>
> While I know at times I can be blind to certain "realities", because
> of my
> beliefs, I think I deserve a little more respect than "moron". Your
> anger
> and hostility are apparent, and frankly Paul, I believe there is a
> great
> deal of pain beneath that anger.
>
> I equate Bush with Hitler, because, like Hitler, he is willing to
> push the
> world towards the brink of world war because of his beliefs. We can
> quarrel
> as to what his beliefs are...but I fail to see the value of war as a
> means
> of solving problems. That might sound terribly naive to you. So be
> it.
>
> I'm glad to hear that you at least support a form of universal
> health care.
> Perhaps this will come to pass in the next few years.
>
> As for the minimum wage, working people are not surviving on the
> minimum, or
> current low wages most earn in the service industry. Many are going
> hungry
> and homeless. This disturbs me, and frankly, I am surprised it
> doesn't
> disturb more people. But that is what I want to understand; why more
> aren't
> bothered by the dire straits of our brothers and sisters in this
> country. I
> see much welfare for corporations, yet helping a hungry, working
> person
> seems to be against the beliefs of so many. The book, Nickel and
> Dimed, is a
> good place to start to begin to understand this problem, and she
> cites many
> statistics.
>
> Take care,
> elizabeth
Elizabeth and David,
Evan said:
>>> A hike in the minimal wage puts more people out of work and is inflationary. It, like many liberal ideas sounds good on paper but in reality it hurts those that need help most.<<<
"Cheap Labor" is the single most important tenet of the Republican right. If Americans won't work for slave wages, then send the jobs to someone who will.
And give the CEO a 75 million dollar bonus for thinking of it.
Bill
Elizabeth,
Dr. Evan is securely wrapped in many layers of virgin Idaho wool,
seeing nothing and hearing nothing. I assure you he's not disillusioned
with our leaders and he's feeling no pain (although he might be a little
overheated, scratchy and irritable). What you take for hostility is just
good old-fashioned superior snootiness. He honestly believes he earns
twenty times as much as you because he works twenty times as hard as you.
He has no idea how much more privileged his childhood was than yours.
(Mine and his were comparable, but I'm not complaining about my
circumstances and I wouldn't want his life.)
As for his plan for universal health care, you should note that
he makes no mention of how to pay for it (except that it shouldn't
involve the government) and his only provisions are how to limit care to
those who can truly benefit (which are people other than the elderly and
the dying) and those who act "responsibly" (don't smoke, aren't fat and
drink moderately). In other words, he's proposing the present system
without the "waist" on the hopeless and the undeserving.
David
David,
I have to agree with this genius. I too hate to "waist too many recourses on the elderly and dying". Are you & Sandra Krewe de Vieuxing this weekend?
Leslie
Leslie,
Evan can be wittily Lennonesque. Thankfully he's made the most of his gifts and education. He is The Doctor!
Sandra has gone to Baton Rouge til late tomorrow afternoon for a tourism convention. I expect she'll want to go Krewe de Vieuxing. Shall we go as a pack to Frenchmen St.? Maybe we could unofficially join the parade as the Krewe of Movin' On Morons. I'll wear an aviator flight suit with an Alfred E. Neuman mask and a Hitler mustache. Sieg heil! What me worry? Mission accomplished!
Happy carnival,
David
Elizabeth,
> I'm not sure if you've ever met Evan, but there's some things you
>need to understand about him. Evan grew up the son of a doctor in a
>Kansas City suburb where the only black in our high school was a funny,
>chubby little guy we made the class president. He went to college with
>me in Lawrence, Kansas and medical school in Kansas City. His grittiest
>brush with social reality came during his internship in Las Vegas -- I
>remember he told me at the time that they took to writing ebonics on the
>case sheet in the emergency room, things like, "He be shot". Then he set
>up practice in the most homogeneous place in America, Twin Falls, Idaho,
>where he's been comfortably encased in another upscale suburb ever since,
>making a quarter-million or more a year. When Clinton was elected, he
>wore a black armband signifying the end of the golden age for doctors.
>There's nothing wrong with any of this, except the fanciful notion he has
>that he's an experienced man of the world who knows what going on.
>Evan's experience is a blend of privilege, insulation, medical doctor
>hubris and Fox TV reality. His idea of he-man manliness is shooting elk.
> He just doesn't know any better. Believe me, he's not in pain. If he
>was, he's got plenty of painkillers all around him. The only thing he's
>ever had to be angry about is the high tax rates at his income level, and
>the Bushies have taken care of that.
>
>David
David,
I sensed a lot of pain in Evan's diatribe against "liberals". When
> you look
> at how campaigns are funded, it can be difficult to see a difference
> between
> republicans and democrats. I find myself not expecting that Kerry,
> if he
> were elected president, to make many "structural" changes that would
> help
> the working poor. The working poor grew huge in numbers during
> Clinton's
> so-called years of prosperity. What I hope for, if Kerry were
> elected, is
> that at least he wouldn't waste our money, and lives, in an
> unnecessary war.
> Lowered expectations? I seem to live with them everyday, in relation
> to our
> government.
>
> elizabeth
elizabeth,
Beware. I'm going to take the chance again of offending you with
too much honesty.
Have you ever heard the expression, "Politics is the art of the
possible"? I'm afraid that as long as you dream and wish for an American
government that provides for all of its citizens and works constructively
with the rest of the world for peace and the common good instead of
bullying it into submission, you'll be suffering from the disappointment
of lowered expectations. Positive change happens in small increments.
We have a campaign financing system that makes it impossible for
an unknown without money to be a viable candidate for national office.
Short of violent revolution, the Democratic candidates have no choice but
to play by the rules of the system. That doesn't mean there's no
difference between Republicans and Democrats -- it just means the system
is fucked up. In my opinion, McCain-Feingold made it even worse, and I
thought so at the time -- stricter limits were put on the type of
"hard-money" fundraising Democrats were best at, leaving Republicans to
go ahead and raise their record sums of corporate "soft money" as they
sail back to reelection.
I see a lot more pain in your complaints about Democrats than I
do in Paul's against liberals. I think you're projecting again.
Greg Palast is still unimpressive to me for the same reasons I
told you before. He seems to be missing the forest for the trees, and so
do you.
The military/industrial complex has risen up and seized the
executive branch of this country, and it's strangling democracy to death.
This is no time to be sniping at Democrats for their lack of idealistic
social initiatives that would make your life easier. Democrats are
fighting to preserve the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; they're
fighting for survival. You and Greg Palast are yipping and nipping at
their heels. You're not helping.
David
David,
You didn't comment on this letter, which was an expansion of the comments concerning my "lowered expectations". By the way, you can't offend me. If I am offended, it is my choice.
Regarding pain, I fully admit to the pain I feel in regard to the inadequacies of our government. Instead of projecting, I am seeing and feeling the pain in Paul's attack on Ted Kennedy, because I feel it also, in the sense of disillusionment with our leaders. However, while Paul choses to fixate his anger and pain on liberals, I have chosen a different route, an attempt at understanding how the overall climate of our country could have produced such a man as George Bush as president. As Hitler didn't come to power in a vacuum, neither did Bush. Fascism has to take root in the hearts of Americans before the leader is elected, not after. If we oust Bush, the work we have to do has just begun, in my view. There is also the danger that if the roots of fascism are not addressed, this could happen, and quickly, all over again. My search is for the beliefs that circulate like planets in this solar system that we call America, the beliefs that structure our overall experience. My search, is, of course, through the prism of my own beliefs. I full acknowledge that, and even savor it, because I am on my own, self-appointed mission, if you will, as sleuth and detective, to hunt down and bring to light the poison that started all of this.
.
I recently read "Nickel and Dimed", and I'm going to quote something from her book. It is well worth reading, by the way, and very funny, as she is able to, with humor and compassion, expose the belly of the beast of capitalism:
"The preaching goes on, interrupted with dutiful "amens". It would be nice if someone would read this sad-eyed crowd the Sermon on the Mount, accompanied by a rousing commentary on income inequality and the need for a hike in the minimum wage. But Jesus makes his appearance here only as a corpse; the living man, the wine-guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist, is never once mentioned, nor anything he ever had to say. Christ crucified rules, and it may be that the true business of modern Christianity is to crucify him again and again so that he can never get a word out of his mouth."
By the way, it is true that universal health care would make my life easier, as it would for millions of Americans, as well as a hike in the minimum wage. I have it relatively easy, because I am living at home (which will end this summer). Perhaps that was the one thing you said to me where I felt a twinge of hey, he's not giving me much credit here:
>>>This is no time to be sniping at Democrats for their lack of idealistic
social initiatives that would make your life easier.<<<
There are working people going hungry in this country. I also have personal experience with the young people that I manage at the coffeeshop. I am concerned, very concerned, for the direction of the soul of our country, which, in my view, worsened while the so-called prosperity of the '90's was taking place. So in closing Jeremy, as I said, this is my choice to try to understand why people are going hungry in America, working people, and homeless...You need not understand, nor even engage in discussion with me on it. I was merely trying to share my views with you.
elizabeth
Elizabeth,
I was commenting on both your letter to Carol Norris and your comments surrounding the Greg Palast article, including your reaction to Evan. It's unfortunate, because you're my friend and I love you and I don't want to hurt your feelings, but it seems to hurt your feelings when I don't share your views, as though that means I disrespect you, which I don't. I just disagree, and in this case, I feel that your expressions of pain and anger at the failure of Democrats to advance social programs you believe in is undermining a cause I feel passionate about, which is the emergency need to rescue our democracy from the fast-rising tide of corporate fascism.
Our disconnect arises from what we believe government's role should be in the lives of citizens and how much responsibility individuals have for the conditions of their lives. I favor freedom as a value over security, and I believe in minimal government that protects individual privacy, rights and autonomy. It appears that you value security over freedom and want a maternal government that takes care of the basic physical needs of all of its citizens. So we disagree.
I'm worried by our disagreement, because I believe that in this political emergency, in which a small but powerful group of military/industrial fascists have seized control of all three branches of American government, those of us who believe in democracy need to work together as a team to oppose them, to take back our government and return it to the rule of the people.
You're arguing for social programs that Democrats should be championing at a time when they've essentially been ousted from power and are in danger of becoming irrelevent. I want you to focus on the immediate problem, which is the need to reassert democratic power in America. We can do that this year if we pull together, but if we waste our energy squabbling among ourselves about what the Democratic party should be doing if and when ever it gets the Presidency or the Congress or the Judiciary back, we'll never get it back.
All I'm saying is, first things first. Let's unite in our desire to return traditional democratic values to preeminence in America and take back the executive branch of our government, and then we can argue about what we want that government to do.
Respectfully,
David
David and Elizabeth,
What is it with all you "Move On" morons that keep equating George W with Hitler. They will never be morally equivalent. You were raised in just, if not a more affluent family than mine..You are poor now because you chose to be . I chose to work hard and make something of my gifts and education. I feel no pain or anger towards liberals, but their hypocrisy and naivety make them seem foolish.
As a physician, I am not at all against universal health care. I do not want the government to run it. My ideas is a stepped system based on personal responsibly. I you keep your weight under control, don't smoke, drink in moderation you would have different levels of covered care. It is imperative that serious tort reform is included. Caring quality healthcare for all is more important than perfect care for a few. We (physician) practice too much defensive medicine and waist too many recourses on the elderly and dying and the hopeless. I am all for people being kept comfortable when they get old and sick but it is not uncommon to spend hundreds of thousand of dollars on some one with no chance to return to a productive happy pain-free life.
A hike in the minimal wage puts more people out of work and is inflationary. It, like many liberal ideas sounds good on paper but in reality it hurts those that need help most.
Evan
Evan,
>
> While I know at times I can be blind to certain "realities", because
> of my
> beliefs, I think I deserve a little more respect than "moron". Your
> anger
> and hostility are apparent, and frankly Paul, I believe there is a
> great
> deal of pain beneath that anger.
>
> I equate Bush with Hitler, because, like Hitler, he is willing to
> push the
> world towards the brink of world war because of his beliefs. We can
> quarrel
> as to what his beliefs are...but I fail to see the value of war as a
> means
> of solving problems. That might sound terribly naive to you. So be
> it.
>
> I'm glad to hear that you at least support a form of universal
> health care.
> Perhaps this will come to pass in the next few years.
>
> As for the minimum wage, working people are not surviving on the
> minimum, or
> current low wages most earn in the service industry. Many are going
> hungry
> and homeless. This disturbs me, and frankly, I am surprised it
> doesn't
> disturb more people. But that is what I want to understand; why more
> aren't
> bothered by the dire straits of our brothers and sisters in this
> country. I
> see much welfare for corporations, yet helping a hungry, working
> person
> seems to be against the beliefs of so many. The book, Nickel and
> Dimed, is a
> good place to start to begin to understand this problem, and she
> cites many
> statistics.
>
> Take care,
> elizabeth
Elizabeth and David,
Evan said:
>>> A hike in the minimal wage puts more people out of work and is inflationary. It, like many liberal ideas sounds good on paper but in reality it hurts those that need help most.<<<
"Cheap Labor" is the single most important tenet of the Republican right. If Americans won't work for slave wages, then send the jobs to someone who will.
And give the CEO a 75 million dollar bonus for thinking of it.
Bill
Elizabeth,
Dr. Evan is securely wrapped in many layers of virgin Idaho wool,
seeing nothing and hearing nothing. I assure you he's not disillusioned
with our leaders and he's feeling no pain (although he might be a little
overheated, scratchy and irritable). What you take for hostility is just
good old-fashioned superior snootiness. He honestly believes he earns
twenty times as much as you because he works twenty times as hard as you.
He has no idea how much more privileged his childhood was than yours.
(Mine and his were comparable, but I'm not complaining about my
circumstances and I wouldn't want his life.)
As for his plan for universal health care, you should note that
he makes no mention of how to pay for it (except that it shouldn't
involve the government) and his only provisions are how to limit care to
those who can truly benefit (which are people other than the elderly and
the dying) and those who act "responsibly" (don't smoke, aren't fat and
drink moderately). In other words, he's proposing the present system
without the "waist" on the hopeless and the undeserving.
David
David,
I have to agree with this genius. I too hate to "waist too many recourses on the elderly and dying". Are you & Sandra Krewe de Vieuxing this weekend?
Leslie
Leslie,
Evan can be wittily Lennonesque. Thankfully he's made the most of his gifts and education. He is The Doctor!
Sandra has gone to Baton Rouge til late tomorrow afternoon for a tourism convention. I expect she'll want to go Krewe de Vieuxing. Shall we go as a pack to Frenchmen St.? Maybe we could unofficially join the parade as the Krewe of Movin' On Morons. I'll wear an aviator flight suit with an Alfred E. Neuman mask and a Hitler mustache. Sieg heil! What me worry? Mission accomplished!
Happy carnival,
David
Elizabeth,
> I'm not sure if you've ever met Evan, but there's some things you
>need to understand about him. Evan grew up the son of a doctor in a
>Kansas City suburb where the only black in our high school was a funny,
>chubby little guy we made the class president. He went to college with
>me in Lawrence, Kansas and medical school in Kansas City. His grittiest
>brush with social reality came during his internship in Las Vegas -- I
>remember he told me at the time that they took to writing ebonics on the
>case sheet in the emergency room, things like, "He be shot". Then he set
>up practice in the most homogeneous place in America, Twin Falls, Idaho,
>where he's been comfortably encased in another upscale suburb ever since,
>making a quarter-million or more a year. When Clinton was elected, he
>wore a black armband signifying the end of the golden age for doctors.
>There's nothing wrong with any of this, except the fanciful notion he has
>that he's an experienced man of the world who knows what going on.
>Evan's experience is a blend of privilege, insulation, medical doctor
>hubris and Fox TV reality. His idea of he-man manliness is shooting elk.
> He just doesn't know any better. Believe me, he's not in pain. If he
>was, he's got plenty of painkillers all around him. The only thing he's
>ever had to be angry about is the high tax rates at his income level, and
>the Bushies have taken care of that.
>
>David
# posted by scorpiorising : 2:24 PM |
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
The moral development of America.
Here is my letter to Carol Norris, who wrote "The Moral Development of George Bush" for Counterpunch:
Ms. Carol Norris,
I very much enjoyed your treatise on the psychology of George Bush. While I agree with your conclusions on the man who is our president, I wish to take your observations a step further, and say that George Bush did not grow up in a vacuum.
He grew up privileged, yes, in the United States of America, in a country where anyone can be president. Just look at William Jefferson Clinton, the president who altered the decades old welfare program, and created a whole new underclass of working poor. Clinton was once poor, but this didn't seem to morally collide with his efforts to eliminate the rolls of welfare.
I'm not saying Clinton is a "bad man", he just ain't no progressive.
You probably already knew that. While thousands in this country prospered from the tech boom of the 90's, millions more fell further into the ranks of the working poor, with homelessness as their daily threat, as well as hunger. Yes, hunger. I recently read "Nickel and Dimed", by Barbara Ehrenreich, and the book is a masterpiece of undercover reporting.
Barbara never pretends to lose her upperclass origin of viewpoint, by the way; I don't find that she proselytizes, or preaches. Her conclusions seem to arise naturally, out of the experiences she has in low wage jobs. You have to read the book for yourself to understand what I mean. Perhaps you have already read the book.
What I am having trouble grasping right now is the morally incomprehensible realization that most Americans choose to ignore the plight of the working poor, homeless and hungry in this country. This is the type of over-all environment that George Bush grew up in, and I believe, why he came to power.
In other words, there is a relationship between George Bush, and the people he represents, as well as the people who claim to hate him and despise him. We are all purveyors of the system of broken dreams and lost promises.
By the way, I earn 8.50 per hour as a manager of a coffeeshop in New Orleans, plus about 25 dollars average in tips per shift. When I work as a manager, and am not working a shift, I don't earn the tips. My co-workers earn on average $5.75 per hour, plus the tips. They, we, work very hard during any given shift. We have no medical insurance. I am asked, as manager, to be on call seven days a week, though I am not paid to be on call. I have a college degree. Many of the people working under me have college degrees. What is wrong with this picture?
Believe me when I say I am fully aware I have chosen my path. I never cared for the idea of a desk job pushing paper with the focus on money as the bottom line. I am a cynical idealist at heart, who loves to write, poetry and essays. My passion is the expression of the human heart through words.
Right now I see a world in trouble because we have forgotten how to care for each other. We have forgotten to look in the mirror of the self, in each other. And yes, I am talking about the $5.15 per hour hamburger pusher in McDonald's, who lives in a two or three family home because he or she can't afford her own place, and we look the other way for the privilege of buying cheap fast food. Make no mistake, nothing, really is cheap. There is human sweat and labor on the other side of every cheap article of clothing we buy at Wal Mart. There is nothing cheap about it to the person on the other end of the chain, working low wages so that we can buy cheaply.
George Bush grew up in a world of privilege, but it seems many of us have forgotten the origin of the privilege we enjoy, on a daily basis, due to the "sacrifice" of the low wages of workers everywhere. Some of us are only now waking up to this because in the corporate drive to keep up profits, jobs are fleeing to lower wage workers overseas, and we are left with the "privilege" of serving each other "cheap" hamburgers and coffee.
I don't know the answer here, except to say that not only is the ousting of George Bush needed, but perhaps a fundamental shift in what we term as truly valuable. The wealthy are living on the sweat and labor of the working poor, who are barely making it, and it seems the value we place on money far outweighs the value we place on people. There is something, fundamentally wrong here. Like I said, George Bush didn't grow up in a vacuum.
elizabeth cook
Ms. Carol Norris,
I very much enjoyed your treatise on the psychology of George Bush. While I agree with your conclusions on the man who is our president, I wish to take your observations a step further, and say that George Bush did not grow up in a vacuum.
He grew up privileged, yes, in the United States of America, in a country where anyone can be president. Just look at William Jefferson Clinton, the president who altered the decades old welfare program, and created a whole new underclass of working poor. Clinton was once poor, but this didn't seem to morally collide with his efforts to eliminate the rolls of welfare.
I'm not saying Clinton is a "bad man", he just ain't no progressive.
You probably already knew that. While thousands in this country prospered from the tech boom of the 90's, millions more fell further into the ranks of the working poor, with homelessness as their daily threat, as well as hunger. Yes, hunger. I recently read "Nickel and Dimed", by Barbara Ehrenreich, and the book is a masterpiece of undercover reporting.
Barbara never pretends to lose her upperclass origin of viewpoint, by the way; I don't find that she proselytizes, or preaches. Her conclusions seem to arise naturally, out of the experiences she has in low wage jobs. You have to read the book for yourself to understand what I mean. Perhaps you have already read the book.
What I am having trouble grasping right now is the morally incomprehensible realization that most Americans choose to ignore the plight of the working poor, homeless and hungry in this country. This is the type of over-all environment that George Bush grew up in, and I believe, why he came to power.
In other words, there is a relationship between George Bush, and the people he represents, as well as the people who claim to hate him and despise him. We are all purveyors of the system of broken dreams and lost promises.
By the way, I earn 8.50 per hour as a manager of a coffeeshop in New Orleans, plus about 25 dollars average in tips per shift. When I work as a manager, and am not working a shift, I don't earn the tips. My co-workers earn on average $5.75 per hour, plus the tips. They, we, work very hard during any given shift. We have no medical insurance. I am asked, as manager, to be on call seven days a week, though I am not paid to be on call. I have a college degree. Many of the people working under me have college degrees. What is wrong with this picture?
Believe me when I say I am fully aware I have chosen my path. I never cared for the idea of a desk job pushing paper with the focus on money as the bottom line. I am a cynical idealist at heart, who loves to write, poetry and essays. My passion is the expression of the human heart through words.
Right now I see a world in trouble because we have forgotten how to care for each other. We have forgotten to look in the mirror of the self, in each other. And yes, I am talking about the $5.15 per hour hamburger pusher in McDonald's, who lives in a two or three family home because he or she can't afford her own place, and we look the other way for the privilege of buying cheap fast food. Make no mistake, nothing, really is cheap. There is human sweat and labor on the other side of every cheap article of clothing we buy at Wal Mart. There is nothing cheap about it to the person on the other end of the chain, working low wages so that we can buy cheaply.
George Bush grew up in a world of privilege, but it seems many of us have forgotten the origin of the privilege we enjoy, on a daily basis, due to the "sacrifice" of the low wages of workers everywhere. Some of us are only now waking up to this because in the corporate drive to keep up profits, jobs are fleeing to lower wage workers overseas, and we are left with the "privilege" of serving each other "cheap" hamburgers and coffee.
I don't know the answer here, except to say that not only is the ousting of George Bush needed, but perhaps a fundamental shift in what we term as truly valuable. The wealthy are living on the sweat and labor of the working poor, who are barely making it, and it seems the value we place on money far outweighs the value we place on people. There is something, fundamentally wrong here. Like I said, George Bush didn't grow up in a vacuum.
elizabeth cook
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:50 AM |
Monday, February 02, 2004
How I Spent My Super Bowl.
I'm full of beasts, who died at sea.
It's a Wonderful life, a wonderful life.
sparklehorse
I had decided to venture into the Bywater on the day of the Stupor Bowl, with two goals in mind: to avoid football, and to see my racous, impassioned friend, a storyteller, an artist, whom I know to not care less about football. I also had in mind that I wanted to try to save her from herself; I dreamt recently that she was dying from alcoholism. I had decided to confront her, at least, on her obvious ill-health. I was prepared for everything, including her probable hostility, that she might even kick me out of her home, etc. I also fully admitted to myself there may be a selfish twist to my endeavor: I was having a hard time imagining a world without Laurie. A planet without the impish, wise-cracking, speak before you think (refreshing to me in this world of pre-canned speech), smart, very funny friend, was an intolerable outcome to me. Yet I also wondered, does she really want to be on the planet any longer? I didn't fully know, but I had some clues, what had driven her to a state of purposeful, self-ignorance of her own, dire condition of health. I set out, on this grey, cold day, with intention to discover in mind.
Laurie led me into the darkened room that had become her lair, and we rolled a few cigarettes; she had her perpetually opened, half-full bottle of Heineken by her perpetually, half-full glass of beer. I chose not to drink, although I have partaken of the spirits with her previously.
Since her inheritance, she could afford Heineken, as opposed to the cheap American beer she used to guzzle. She wakes up with Heineken, she goes to bed with Heineken. Her little, daily trips to the corner store are timed to coincide with her need for Heineken (or cigarettes). Every day revolves around her drinking, with that Heineken bottle serving as the center of her world, the black-hole around which her solar system revolves.
I have my work cut out for me.
In all honesty, I don't remember everything we spoke about, what with the happiness we freely indulged in. But I do remember gently and determinedly steering her to the subject of her health, over and over. Her rationalizations, as the day coursed, began taking ever more extravagant generalizations; I know her fragile ego felt, if not under attack, threatened. Finally, she asked me to lay it on the line.
"When you look at me, what do you see? What is my aura? What is my phyical body as it presents itself to you?"
"Laurie, I see someone pallid, weak, with no energy, as you've expressed it to me. I am concerned. I am worried. The truth is, I'm a bit selfish about this. I'm having a hard time with the thought of being on this planet without you on it."
This made her smile. But the rest of the day and evening revolved around my belief that she is sick. She sat up and grew more animated in her expression. "Do I look sick now?" she bellowed at me sarcastically at one point. For the rest of the evening, whenever the thought struck her, she aimed her considerable talent with sarcasm at me, "Do I look sick now?".
I was tempted to answer each time, "Yes, nothing has changed in my judgement of your health, although my perception of your mental health is sharpening", as she stubbornly stuck to her rationalizations, which grew even more elaborate as the day wore on, so that even she would sometimes lose track with her train of thought. I would tend to drift off into daydream while she was into her long-winded explanations and treatises; just what was I going to do with the rest of my life...my love life (or the lack thereof), needs attention, particularly after an emotionally draining collision with someone on the personals...and so on, I was able to do some planning while she talked, and not miss a beat in the overall tone of her speeches. She was determined to prove me wrong, yet despite herself and her worn state, seemed to welcome my candid approach to the subject. The day wore on for hours into stupor bowl time, and she still had not asked me to leave, and in fact, I felt her clinging to me somewhat.
She had several calls from a friend around the corner, inviting us over for drinks, food and the annual ritual of the viewing of men clashing gladiator style in front of the entire world. She put him off as long as she could, "I have to finish this session," she spat at him over the phone. We had broken out her astrology books and she read to me her current Saturn position, and my own. Both positions seemed to involve loss, and my Saturn moving into the eighth house even mentioned the possible death of someone close to me. This gave her pause, and she quickly looked up something in her emphemeris. Whatever she discovered, if anything, she kept to herself.
We made our way over to the home of her friend, David around the corner. There another friend, Michael, had cooked a huge meal, plenty of drinks to go around, as we all sat in a tiny kitchen with a TV on and the sound mercifully turned down. It was hard enough keeping up with the several conversations revolving around the room. Laurie occasionally seemed to converse with herself, imagining others were listening. I kept getting distracted by a conversation here, Michael pressing me to consume food, drink. The little kitchen was claustraphobically filled with 5 gay men, one lesbian, and one heterosexual female balancing precariously on her last bit of energy of the day, with a glass of wine in her hand.
When the bad spinster jokes issued from the mouth of one of the older men there, coupled with jokes on the smell of women's vaginas, I nearly lost it. This was the same man I heard talking about his most recent tricks he hired...this was fuel for my fire.
"Spinsters are spinsters because they don't want to pay for tricks", I said, the "joke" seeming to sale over the head of everyone there, including the purveyor of spinster jokes. Our host in the food and drink department, Michael, heard me, however, and reached over, touching my arm, and with near panic flashing in his eyes, said, "Everyone here is a dear friend of mine, and you are the only one I don't know well. You and I are going to have to get to know each other better, " he said.
I nodded in assent, all the while knowing this is it, Michael. This is who I am.
Laurie continued with her, "Do I look sick" mode, while the owner of the home, David, an older gay man with apparently not a clue about football (in response to my making small talk question, "Who's winning", he responded "I have no ideas who's playing. Is it one, or two teams?).
David was endearing in his stubborn refusal to bend his reality to those around him; at one point he completely won me over when he defended women. He punched the air with completely unexpected diatribes on the state of his desires; he talked of stopping someone dead in the street and asking them if they felt like "fucking a sissy". He finally announced to the purveyor of spinster jokes that he was indeed going to play with himself while watching the dirty movies he had brought for him.
Laurie and I fell out laughing; the truth is I appreciate honesty in all of its modes. It was probably the last laugh Laurie and I would share together, as she became more caustic with me as she settled into a drunken, half-stupor. I left a small bite of chocolate ice cream in a bowl and she castigated me for "wasting it", so much so, that Michael came to my defense, saying the last bite looked like a "nut with a wart on it", a funny reference to a very serious, personal problem Laurie is having with her boyfriend. This comment defused that potentially explosive subject of the chocolate ice cream , and jarred me into realizing just how much Laurie had obsessed on food that day, constantly accusing others of trying to force her to eat, even when we were just being polite.
Laurie, in her extreme thiness akin to a holacoust survivor, constantly went back to the subject of food, how much she had eaten that day, what she had eaten, and what effort it took to eat anything, so really, we should all lay-off. She made a comment that her mother had always plopped food on her plate with the declaration of "that's enough for you," and I was beginning to put together more of the pieces of at least some, root causes of her current "illness".
Those last few bites of ice cream and banana she took from my bowl seemed to ply her towards an undeniable sleep. "I need to go to bed, " she said. "Okay, let's go to bed," I said, and realized Laurie and the others thought I had just invited her to bed, when in fact, I had designated myself as her personal slave that day, determined to do the right thing for her, and in this instance, get her to bed.
"She looks like she would be cuddly," Laurie said, "but I prefer to go to bed alone right now." This wasn't enough, and she went on, "I'm tired of legs everywhere where they're not supposed to be, and arms twisted up, and feet in your face..." On and on with a litany of complaints of the pains of sleeping with someone.
Michael said sympathetically, "After you drop her off, you can come back over here and have some real fun." I knew though I would head for home, and I did just that after hugging Laurie, and urging her to call me tomorrow, which I also fully expected her to not do. Truth is, I would like her to call me every day until she gets through this, but I don't know if I am even welcome anymore, for exposing at least the butt of the elephant under the rug.
It's a Wonderful life, a wonderful life.
sparklehorse
I had decided to venture into the Bywater on the day of the Stupor Bowl, with two goals in mind: to avoid football, and to see my racous, impassioned friend, a storyteller, an artist, whom I know to not care less about football. I also had in mind that I wanted to try to save her from herself; I dreamt recently that she was dying from alcoholism. I had decided to confront her, at least, on her obvious ill-health. I was prepared for everything, including her probable hostility, that she might even kick me out of her home, etc. I also fully admitted to myself there may be a selfish twist to my endeavor: I was having a hard time imagining a world without Laurie. A planet without the impish, wise-cracking, speak before you think (refreshing to me in this world of pre-canned speech), smart, very funny friend, was an intolerable outcome to me. Yet I also wondered, does she really want to be on the planet any longer? I didn't fully know, but I had some clues, what had driven her to a state of purposeful, self-ignorance of her own, dire condition of health. I set out, on this grey, cold day, with intention to discover in mind.
Laurie led me into the darkened room that had become her lair, and we rolled a few cigarettes; she had her perpetually opened, half-full bottle of Heineken by her perpetually, half-full glass of beer. I chose not to drink, although I have partaken of the spirits with her previously.
Since her inheritance, she could afford Heineken, as opposed to the cheap American beer she used to guzzle. She wakes up with Heineken, she goes to bed with Heineken. Her little, daily trips to the corner store are timed to coincide with her need for Heineken (or cigarettes). Every day revolves around her drinking, with that Heineken bottle serving as the center of her world, the black-hole around which her solar system revolves.
I have my work cut out for me.
In all honesty, I don't remember everything we spoke about, what with the happiness we freely indulged in. But I do remember gently and determinedly steering her to the subject of her health, over and over. Her rationalizations, as the day coursed, began taking ever more extravagant generalizations; I know her fragile ego felt, if not under attack, threatened. Finally, she asked me to lay it on the line.
"When you look at me, what do you see? What is my aura? What is my phyical body as it presents itself to you?"
"Laurie, I see someone pallid, weak, with no energy, as you've expressed it to me. I am concerned. I am worried. The truth is, I'm a bit selfish about this. I'm having a hard time with the thought of being on this planet without you on it."
This made her smile. But the rest of the day and evening revolved around my belief that she is sick. She sat up and grew more animated in her expression. "Do I look sick now?" she bellowed at me sarcastically at one point. For the rest of the evening, whenever the thought struck her, she aimed her considerable talent with sarcasm at me, "Do I look sick now?".
I was tempted to answer each time, "Yes, nothing has changed in my judgement of your health, although my perception of your mental health is sharpening", as she stubbornly stuck to her rationalizations, which grew even more elaborate as the day wore on, so that even she would sometimes lose track with her train of thought. I would tend to drift off into daydream while she was into her long-winded explanations and treatises; just what was I going to do with the rest of my life...my love life (or the lack thereof), needs attention, particularly after an emotionally draining collision with someone on the personals...and so on, I was able to do some planning while she talked, and not miss a beat in the overall tone of her speeches. She was determined to prove me wrong, yet despite herself and her worn state, seemed to welcome my candid approach to the subject. The day wore on for hours into stupor bowl time, and she still had not asked me to leave, and in fact, I felt her clinging to me somewhat.
She had several calls from a friend around the corner, inviting us over for drinks, food and the annual ritual of the viewing of men clashing gladiator style in front of the entire world. She put him off as long as she could, "I have to finish this session," she spat at him over the phone. We had broken out her astrology books and she read to me her current Saturn position, and my own. Both positions seemed to involve loss, and my Saturn moving into the eighth house even mentioned the possible death of someone close to me. This gave her pause, and she quickly looked up something in her emphemeris. Whatever she discovered, if anything, she kept to herself.
We made our way over to the home of her friend, David around the corner. There another friend, Michael, had cooked a huge meal, plenty of drinks to go around, as we all sat in a tiny kitchen with a TV on and the sound mercifully turned down. It was hard enough keeping up with the several conversations revolving around the room. Laurie occasionally seemed to converse with herself, imagining others were listening. I kept getting distracted by a conversation here, Michael pressing me to consume food, drink. The little kitchen was claustraphobically filled with 5 gay men, one lesbian, and one heterosexual female balancing precariously on her last bit of energy of the day, with a glass of wine in her hand.
When the bad spinster jokes issued from the mouth of one of the older men there, coupled with jokes on the smell of women's vaginas, I nearly lost it. This was the same man I heard talking about his most recent tricks he hired...this was fuel for my fire.
"Spinsters are spinsters because they don't want to pay for tricks", I said, the "joke" seeming to sale over the head of everyone there, including the purveyor of spinster jokes. Our host in the food and drink department, Michael, heard me, however, and reached over, touching my arm, and with near panic flashing in his eyes, said, "Everyone here is a dear friend of mine, and you are the only one I don't know well. You and I are going to have to get to know each other better, " he said.
I nodded in assent, all the while knowing this is it, Michael. This is who I am.
Laurie continued with her, "Do I look sick" mode, while the owner of the home, David, an older gay man with apparently not a clue about football (in response to my making small talk question, "Who's winning", he responded "I have no ideas who's playing. Is it one, or two teams?).
David was endearing in his stubborn refusal to bend his reality to those around him; at one point he completely won me over when he defended women. He punched the air with completely unexpected diatribes on the state of his desires; he talked of stopping someone dead in the street and asking them if they felt like "fucking a sissy". He finally announced to the purveyor of spinster jokes that he was indeed going to play with himself while watching the dirty movies he had brought for him.
Laurie and I fell out laughing; the truth is I appreciate honesty in all of its modes. It was probably the last laugh Laurie and I would share together, as she became more caustic with me as she settled into a drunken, half-stupor. I left a small bite of chocolate ice cream in a bowl and she castigated me for "wasting it", so much so, that Michael came to my defense, saying the last bite looked like a "nut with a wart on it", a funny reference to a very serious, personal problem Laurie is having with her boyfriend. This comment defused that potentially explosive subject of the chocolate ice cream , and jarred me into realizing just how much Laurie had obsessed on food that day, constantly accusing others of trying to force her to eat, even when we were just being polite.
Laurie, in her extreme thiness akin to a holacoust survivor, constantly went back to the subject of food, how much she had eaten that day, what she had eaten, and what effort it took to eat anything, so really, we should all lay-off. She made a comment that her mother had always plopped food on her plate with the declaration of "that's enough for you," and I was beginning to put together more of the pieces of at least some, root causes of her current "illness".
Those last few bites of ice cream and banana she took from my bowl seemed to ply her towards an undeniable sleep. "I need to go to bed, " she said. "Okay, let's go to bed," I said, and realized Laurie and the others thought I had just invited her to bed, when in fact, I had designated myself as her personal slave that day, determined to do the right thing for her, and in this instance, get her to bed.
"She looks like she would be cuddly," Laurie said, "but I prefer to go to bed alone right now." This wasn't enough, and she went on, "I'm tired of legs everywhere where they're not supposed to be, and arms twisted up, and feet in your face..." On and on with a litany of complaints of the pains of sleeping with someone.
Michael said sympathetically, "After you drop her off, you can come back over here and have some real fun." I knew though I would head for home, and I did just that after hugging Laurie, and urging her to call me tomorrow, which I also fully expected her to not do. Truth is, I would like her to call me every day until she gets through this, but I don't know if I am even welcome anymore, for exposing at least the butt of the elephant under the rug.
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:56 AM |
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