Banality in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Two of the greatest philosophers of the 20th Century were born today: Jacques Derrida, and Walter Benjamin. Derrida's work on the Philosophy and Theory of Deconstruction, upends the Western metaphysical tradition.

Deconstruction is not synonymous with "destruction", however. It is in fact much closer to the original meaning of the word 'analysis' itself, which etymologically means "to undo" -- a virtual synonym for "to de-construct." ... If anything is destroyed in a deconstructive reading, it is not the text, but the claim to unequivocal domination of one mode of signifying over another. A deconstructive reading is a reading which analyses the specificity of a text's critical difference from itself.
The Critical Difference (1981), Barbara Johnson

Benjamin was a Marxist, and critic. His long essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, was extremely important to me when I was in art school - as was Derrida in general. Benjamin's piece was an effort to define a theory of art that would be "useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art". Benjamin talked about the "aura" of a work of art which, to him, meant traditional association with primitive, feudal, or bourgeois structures of power and its further association with magic and (religious or secular) ritual. In the age of mechanical reproduction (print, film, photography) where there is no actual "original", the experience of art would be freed from specific place and ritual and made available to the masses. He wrote: "For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual."

Ah, but we live in the age of "Low Information Voters." We live in an age where a philosophy that requires critical thought has been made banal by the age of mechanical reproduction - deconstruction meets mass media. Deconstruction no longer resides in philosophy, but "launches" fashion products, bathroom items, sports equipment, political attitudes. We have an irony deficit as the world becomes more and more banal.

Why does this matter? The New Yorker Cover that depicts Obama as a Muslim, fist bumping his wife who is clad as an afro-wearing, machine-gun toting militant in the oval office, portrait of Osama Bin Laden on the wall, while the American Flag burns in the fireplace, is why it matters. The New Yorker said the cover was illustrating an article called "The Politics of Fear", a satirical look at the scare tactics being used to derail Obama's campaign.

"The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover," a New Yorker spokesman said in a written statement.

I get it, I really understand what they think they've done and what they intended. But if you deconstruct the contradictions, you find that it did not work. The majority of people will not read the article, and will focus on the image. Mechanically reproduced images are fast, and say a lot. And the cover treads on very thin ice. It is offensive. It plays into the politics of fear. But it is charicature and it is satire and it is getting people talking.

More important: it was not censured.

I don't care for the cover at all. In my opinion, it fails in its intent because so few people actually will go to the deeper meaning. Each of the "symbols" present in the drawing refer to various attacks by the far right against Obama, and the cover's intent is a commentary on that type of politics of fear. But it plays too close to the actual fear - perhaps by not being absurd enough, perhaps because we've lived in a climate of fear for too many years now, perhaps because as a nation we have lost our soul. We certainly have lost our ability to think, to exercise critical thought and discourse.

But I would not cancel my subscription to the New Yorker. Nor would I demand they remove the cover nor would I demand an apology. I've thought this through, and I am now at a point where I applaud them for their big brass ones for risking so much ire. Yes, it is offensive. Maybe I am glad that somebody somewhere has decided to not be politically correct. Maybe we need to be offended more often. What do you think?

We Interrupt This Blog for the 2008 All-Star Game

I predict Chicago Cubs 8, American League 3. Why, Diva! Are you not going way out on a limb? And it's the National League vs. the American League after all.

Well, my friends and scoffers, the roster says otherwise. There were three Cubs named to the starting lineup: Geovany Soto, Kosuske Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano but he won't play, he's injured. Then, there are four Chicago Cubs on the pitching roster: the adorable Ryan Dempster; darling Carlos Marmol; be still, my heart, Carlos Zambrano; and the hunky Kerry Wood. And THEN rounding out the reserves: Aramis Ramirez (I love you, Aramis). So there. Chicago Cubs, 8, American League 3 - and I am being generous.

Obama has a plan

Obama has a plan for Iraq, which I read this morning. He begins by saying

The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

The term "phased redeployment" is, for me, troublesome, but I think I understand his logic. He talks about needing to protect our troops during the withdrawal, and he talks about a plan that would being the moment he takes office, a 16-month withdrawal that would have all US troops out of Iraq by summer, 2010.

Summer, 2010. More than seven years since the war began. Seven years, more than $1 Trillion wasted, too many deaths, too many wounded, and our nation at home in financial crisis. I'm torn by Obama's plan. Part of me says "Not soon enough!" and part of me realizes that what he proposes is a realistic plan to get us out of this horrific morass that Bush created.

A few days ago, I watched the DVD, Sir! No Sir!, a powerful film about the government-suppressed story about the GI movement to end the war in Viet Nam. I urge you all to rent or purchase the DVD, and to take a stand with Iraq Veterans Against The War. We MUST keep Obama accountable.

Which Superhero Are You?

I'm wondering what kind of Nun Mary Ellen really is. Found this test at her place.

My results:
You are Supergirl

Supergirl 92% Wonder Woman 92% The Flash 90% Superman 85% Green Lantern 80% Catwoman 75% Robin 67% Iron Man 60% Batman 50% Spider-Man 45% Hulk 35%

Lean, muscular and feminine. Honest and a defender of the innocent.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Help Desk Update

Normally, this is Granddaughter blogging day for me. However, I have spent the better part of three days trying to get some software downloaded and the fucking download kept timing out. Finally, yesterday, I tried again and it worked! So then I called the help desk because I needed more information for the installation. That all went well, until I went to sign in. There was a firewall, something preventing me from logging in, some license agreement bullshit. So I call the office, and they try to conference me with the help desk. But that kept disconnecting, as K. doesn't really know how to do the conference call thing. So she tells me she'll call me back. She talks to the same three people I talked to, and finally the one guy says, "You know, it would be a whole lot easier if she just uses 'GoToMyPC'."

Well, fuck me sideways. Where's my easy button?

Sub-Prime, anyone?

Do not pass Go. Do Not collect $200.

Game makers Parker have phased out the standard multi-coloured cash in a new version. Players will instead use a Visa mock debit card to keep track of how much they win or lose. It is inserted into an electronic machine where the banker taps in cardholders’ earnings and payments.

Parker said replacing of cash with plastic showed the game was moving with the times. Spokesman Chris Weatherhead said: “The new electronic Monopoly reflects the changing nature of society and the advancement of technology.”

Hat tip to Betmo for emailing me about this travesty in board games. I wonder if Phil Gramm is the default banker?

The G8 Dine and Dash

In 2005, at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, world leaders promised to increase global aid by £25billion a year by 2010 and raise aid to Africa, the world's poorest continent, by £12.5billion. But the bloc of rich nations is only 14 per cent of the way towards hitting its target. This year, in Hokkaido, Japan, they're dining on a variety of delicacies such as caviar, milkfed lamb, sea urchin and tuna, with champagne and wines flown in from Europe and the U.S., while they discuss the international food crisis, and try to forge out an agreement about climate change.

Conversation snippets:

George Bush: All y'all, I think this here crab bisket soup is a li'l bit hairy.

Gordon Brown: George, really, it's Hairy Crab Bisque, a real treat.

George Bush: An I thought it was a crisis in crabs. Hell, yes.

The menu is a tour-de-farce. Dominic Nutt, of the charity Save the Children, called the conference deeply hypocritical. I think that is an understatement at best, and typical of that British Reserve thing.

It is more than hypocritical to injest such a meal while wheat prices soar, and floods savage crops. It is more than hypocritical for a leader of a nation to call for "prudence and thrift in our kitchens", as Gordon Brown told the citizens of the United Kingdom, and then sit down to an 18-course banquet.


And while George Bush was hobnobing in Japan, Vice President Dick Cheney's office sought to prevent a federal official from publicly discussing the health consequences of global warming. I don't get it. I really, truly, cannot comprehend how people can be so callous, so deceitful. We all write about this, we all point out the abuses of power over and over and over again, and yet some part of me cannot comprehend how we can allow this to happen. I am overwhelmed by it all.

I admit that a lot of my clients are highly affluent people and I send them on lavish and elaborate trips. I am mindful of where they go, and my goal, my aim, is to expose them to other cultures so that their hearts are touched. But when I encounter the blatant, wanton excesses like this G8 conference, and the comments of Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the citizens of the UK, I am absolutely rendered dumbstruck. To say that I am enraged would not do the feelings I have justice. Someone, somewhere, help me to understand just how we allowed this to happen. Because I can't get it at all.

Really Shameless Self-Promotion

I've been quoted in Travel Agent on an article about Australia's Northern Territory!

AGENT ADVICE

Diva Jood of ______, CA-based Travel Agency, has been to the Northern Territory several times. “Whenever I leave the Northern Territory I weep like a baby,” she says. “It’s my spiritual home.”

If she had a client visiting the Northern Territory in search of an authentic experience, and cost wasn’t a factor, she’d begin with an outback camping trip led by experienced guides. She’d then book them into a stay at Bamurru Plains. Heading into the Central Plains, she’s a fan of Longitude 131°, a high-end property from Voyages Hotels & Resorts. South of Alice Springs, her clients would stay at Gunya Titjikala, an exclusive indigenous luxury tented camp resort within the traditional desert community of Titjikala. She’d wrap up her clients’ Northern Territory journey with a booking at Bullo River Station.

They got the order wrong, but still. I like to do a combination of Bamurru Plains with Bullo River - I like to send people camping with my friend Mike Keighley. But it's nice to be quoted.

Conversation with the Help Desk

I need to download a program onto my laptop for work. To do so, I had to call the Help Desk, which is not something I am accustomed to doing - asking for help, that is. After all, I am a Mother, and a Grandmother. I can do EVERYTHING. Not so much, but still. The illusion gets me through the day.

ME: Hello, help desk? I need help.

HELP DESK: Do you have Internet Explorer?

ME: Why, I think so. Is that the little page thingy with the e on it?

HD: (SIGHING) Yes, that's it. Go to this site: blahblahblah.blahblahblah.com

ME: (TYPING) blahblahblah.blahblahblah.com. Okay, I'm there.

HD: Click on blah.

ME: Okay, it's clicked.

HD: Now click on blah blah.

ME: Okay.

HD: Does it show the dancing bear? Click on the dancing bear.

ME: Okay, but he stops dancing.

HD: Good, that's good. He's supposed to stop dancing. Now save him to your desktop. It should take about an hour, so call back when it's done. It is a big file. Buh-bye.

ME: La, di, dah, la, di, dah. Oh, oh. It has timed out. (HITS REDIAL ON THE PHONE) Hello, help desk? It timed out.

HD: Oh, no. Not good. Some thingiemajigie or somesuch. I have to have someone from Hardware call you back. Buh-bye.

(I PASS THE TIME WAITING FOR HARDWARE MAN TO CALL BACK BY DRINKING MY MORNING CUPPA. PHONE RINGS.)

ME: Hello?

HARDWARE MAN: Is this Diva Jood?

ME: Uh-huh.

HARDWARE MAN: I am on vacation, but saw you needed help, so here I am to save the day. I have emailed you a link. Try the link.

ME: (TRYING THE LINK) It still times out.

HARDWARE MAN: Hmmm. I will have to call you tomorrow to install it. I will have to access your computer. There is a thingiemajigie or somesuch that prevents the downloading of files over a certain size. It's your ISP.

ME: Is that in English?

HARDWARE MAN: (LAUGHING) Yes it is. But it is a really big file, so I can save the day tomorrow when I am done vacating.

ME: Okedoke. Buh-bye.

END SCENE

This is a true tale, only the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. Changing companies is a bitch and one half when your new place does not have anyone who understands the IT aspects of the job. Not tonight, dear. I have a headache, and it's only 9 AM.

Let's Go Surfing

Ya'll watch YouTube, right? I know I log in and watch stuff. It's fun. All the kids do it.A federal judge has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom its records of which users watched which videos on YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far.

For every video on YouTube, the judge required Google to turn over to Viacom the login name of every user who had watched it, and the address of their computer, known as an I.P. or Internet protocol address.

Not that I am paranoid, but Big Brother can access everything from our dental records to what kind of hair color we might use. And the internets provide access to every keystroke.

Who do we email? Who do we chat with? What are we researching? What do we read? What do we purchase? What do we watch? Where do we go? Computers store this information forever, and it is quite easily subpoened. Time to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who have been at the forefront of Electronic Rights and our best line of defense. Because I don't want Viacom to have my information, for any reason.

The Birthday

Go Away, Already

Yes, it's true. The Cowardly Cowboy Of Crawfordsville was born July 6, 1946. I wonder what he's going to get for his birthday? Will Congress serve him with Articles of Impeachment? Not likely, since he's not been accused of screwing an intern. After all, sex with an intern is far more serious than destroying the US Economy, or lying to the nation to drag us into an illegal war, or condoning torture. No, Dubya will probably get a nice cake, and a few attaboys from his small circle of sycophants. Perhaps he'll get a war with Iran, served up cold.

I would like to serve him his walking papers and a trip to a cell in Gitmo, but I apparently don't have a say in the matter.

Two Random Snippets

1. Phone Conversation, starring Gramma, Beanie and Mommy

Beanie: (on speakerphone) Gramma I ate soap.
Gramma: Oh, baby, how did that happen?
Beanie: Yeah.
Mommy: (in background) Tell Gramma what you did!
Beanie: I spat out.
Gramma: That's good.
Beanie: Yeah.
Mommy: What else did you do?
Beanie: Rinse and spit. (starts making swishing noises, then spitting noises into the phone.)
Gramma: How did you get the soap in your mouth?
Beanie: Yeah. I got soap in my mouth.
Mommy: She thought it was a cookie.

2. At an AA Oldtimers Meeting

Speaker: I heard a guy say he started coming to AA meetings because he'd get a lot of sex. (She pauses, looks around.) Shit, I only ever got a jelly donut.

Friday Granddaughter Blogging: Happy Independence Day

"Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong." – James Bryce

So but you can pracite pactice holiday safety like this you can wear a hat and sunscreen and you can drink lotsa water so you don dewaterate and you can eat one hotdog stead of six so you don getta tummy ache. And when you talk on your cell phone you can use a blue tooth my teeth are white but you shud drive hands free with your cell phone I mean hands on the steering wheel. I have a Barbi Big Wheel and I can ride it all the time.

And my gramma read Pagan Sphinx today who said everybody shud read THIS post by Forks Off The Moment which tells us all to DO something. Which we try to do. I mean, how can we be really free when we allow the bad prezilnet to lie and cheat and torture and act like a dicktater?

Happy Independence Day. Maybe we will be independent of that bad Prezilnut Bush soon.

Adopt a Political Candidate

This morning, over at FranIAm's place, she brought up an important point. She says we MUST become invested in good local politicians. She then introduced us to Darcy Burner, Democrat for Congress in Washington's 8th District.

On July 2, her house burned to the ground. Her attitude: "We lost stuff. It's just stuff. The boy is fine. The husband is fine." She is in a tight race in the 8th Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, who narrowly won re-election in a 2006 contest with Burner.

In light of the fact that I am feeling sorry for myself, I have decided to do the next indicated thing to get out of my naval gazing. The Diva is adopting Darcy Burner. I am doing this for a number of reasons: first, Reichert, although a moderate Republican, supports Bush's Iraq war; second, Burner is part of a group of Congressional Candidates who, if elected, will call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq; third, I really like her attitude.

Plus, as FranIAm pointed out, she needs the fundraising assistance. So, go here and donate, let's elect Democrats.

I Am Deeply, Profoundly Homesick

Where's the Red Carpet? I'm Ready For My Closeup, Mr. DeMille

The charming and irrepressible Randal Graves has tapped me for another of these lovely Arte y Pico Awards. Two gowns, complete with wings. The rules remain the same as before, five blogs, yaddayaddayadda, link blahblahblah. It really is a fantastic way to intruduce people to other blogs, because this is how we get to know each other's voice. That's enough seriousness out of my mouth for the day.

1. The group at The Sirens Chronicles, lead by Dusty covers a range of topics with passion and flair. I'm not sure if it's kosher to award a community blog, but I'm gonna. Go now, read the Sirens.

2. Pedestrian is an Iranian blogger for peace. Not a prolific blogger, but quite eloquent.

3. Coffee Messiah presents a mix of history (oral, photographic), music, philosophy, and peace all over a steaming cup of joe. I love Coffee Messiah. He is a true gentleman.

4. Kvatch and Company at Ragebot because they are the bomb. Humor, politics, anger, politics. Love them all.

5. I've just started reading DGuzman, and even though she adopted Alan Rickman, I still like her blog.

1)Pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here: Arte y Pico.

A Musical Interlude

Shamelessly stolen from Padre Mickey's Dance Party

Dementia Concretia

Prairie Moon


Herman Rusch purchased the old Prairie Moon Dance Hall in Cochrane, Wisconsin, with the intent to stave away "old-age boredom" by turning it into a museum of oddities he'd collected. But in 1958, something in his interests shifted, and he began to make concrete and glass sculptures which included decorative arches and fences. So many "Outsider" and Naive artists begin late in life - as if they have finally shed the pressure of responsibilities and all this pent up light has to burst forth. When I first went to Prairie Moon, Rusch no longer lived on premises - he was in a nursing home nearby - and the residents refused to let people onto the grounds. If you lingered at the exterior walls too long, they would let the Dobermans out to scare you. But I recall being struck dumb by the golden cones, and the way the light danced off the glass. Prairie Moon is an exquisite example of dementia concretia, this impulse that takes over the elderly with this impulse to build, to make something iconic. And it is always from concrete, old bottles, and household junk. Detrius turned into beauty.

The Dickeyville Grotto
While most of the iconic examples are built by loners (Grandma Prisbey's Bottle Village in Simi Valley; Simon Rodia's Watts Towers), sometimes an entire community will come together. Such is the case with the Dickeyville Grotto. This exquisite Grotto was built by a community of immigrants in order to bring hope, and promise to them. Far from home, feeling uncomfortable and in unfamiliar ground, trying to assimilate, they built this ever expanding and complex religious structure from concrete, glass, and bits of pottery and religious icons they'd brought from home. It grounded them. When I saw this structure in 1983, I was overwhelmed with the intricacies of the mosaics. How could untrained eyes pull something together so beautifully? And in a group, no less. The energy of the place is oddly calming, despite how "busy" all the surfaces are.



The town of Phillips lies in the far northern reaches of Wisconsin. It is the home of Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park, out on Route 13. And this, this place, is without a doubt one of the two most impressive and moving examples of Outsider Art I've ever been to. The other one is Watts Towers.



Fred Smith was a lumberjack, who retired when he was in his 70s. That's when he began to build these statues - using chickenwire as an armature, he was more concerned with quantities than with workmanship. The entire park has been severely damaged twice by microbursts and rebuilt and restored. Fred built about 140 of these sculptures. Some are based on local people and incidents; others, like his version of the Chariot Race from the ORIGINAL, silent movie, Ben Hur, were based on popular culture. He kept building, and building, filling his acreage with objects. I can no longer find the photo I took of one grouping: it was four women, who reminded me so much of my grandmother and her three sisters - some aura about the grouping of Smith's silent women bespoke a strength of character that brooked no nonsense.

Their art matters to us. It matters to us because it is honest, without artifice, without a hidden agenda. It is the impulse that matters, the need to leave a lasting legacy. We recognize the purity of it, and, if we are blessed with eyes to see it, we recognize the beauty and grace of it as well.

I think about this work a lot - I think about it as I sit at my desk, in an office, with the air conditioner blowing and people just yammering away about nothing. I think about it because I ache to be making something myself and have not gotten back into it. The question I have danced around for the last twenty years is this: what has made me so afraid to paint and build objects that I stopped? What shut down? And how will it open up again, because it must open up. Art is in my heart, and I need to get it out into my hands again.

Diva Jood Has To Purchase A Gown

Yes, it's true. Border Explorer has awarded me the Arte y Pico Award. And the reason Diva Jood needs a new Gown is because the Gown the Award is wearing is too lovely for words.

So, there are rules. Rules. The Diva hates rules, but c'est la vie.

1)Pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here: Arte y Pico.

I must bestow the award on five other blogs, which is terribly difficult because a)there are so many I really love, and b)so many have already gotten the award. Not that it's cheap, it's not. It's just that there are a lot of very good reads out there.

But I will follow the rules to the best of my ability.

1. FranIAm is an amazing blogger. Her blog is a mix of politics, personal, and a deeply spiritual path. I love her journey and honor it with this award.

2. The Pagan Sphinx has already received this award from Betmo, but I have to award it again. This blog is another mixture of peace, art, life and spirituality, and plus I got a fantastic salad recipie off her.

3. DK of Redheaded Wisdom is a favorite of mine. She's hilarious, she's political, she's passionate, and she's a great writer. Love ya, sista!

4. Utah Savage is another repeater. However, in the time she's been blogging, she captures attention with a mixture of memoir, humor, photography, and rage that is all tempered with a language so colorful it defies description. Plus she explained what a Swamp Cooler is.

5. Torrance Stephens of Raw Dawg Buffalo is an amazing writer. He is an educator, a poet, an entrepeneur, a philosopher, a father, and a pet store owner. I love his blog.

Okay, I have followed the rules, now go read them and get excited.

Whatever it Takes

Lou Dobbs wants to add Rotten Tomatoes to articles of Impeachment against Bush.

You know, I have heard a lot of reasons over the years as to why George W. Bush should be impeached. But for them to leave the Food and Drug Administration in this state, its leadership in this sorry condition and to have no capacity apparently or will to protect the American consumer -– that is alone to me sufficient reason to impeach a president who has made this agency possible and has ripped its guts out in its ability to protect the American consumer.

Look, Lou, if it takes tainted vegetables to get this guy's ass out of office, I'm all for it. I mean, obviously torturing prisoners isn't enough; lying his way into an illegal war isn't enough. The meltdown after Katrina wasn't enough. Maybe it will be tomatoes.

The Operation Was A Success, But The Patient Died

Four million people were admitted to California hospitals last year. That's a lot of people. And of those 4M, 1,002 cases of serious medical harm were disclosed by California hospitals between July 2007 and May of this year.

Officially, these cases are called Adverse Events. They are also referred to as "never events," because they should never happen. In California, patients are being seriously injured at a rate of 100 per month.

Examples range from technicians placing a CT scan of one patient into the electronic file of another. The result: physicians removed the wrong person’s appendix; to nurses giving incorrect medications (unprescribed medications) causing death. The father of one of my co-workers went to have a fairly simple operation; during surgery, his kidney was perferated causing infection. The original operation was a success, but the patient died.

In California, Insurance Companies are considering not paying Hospitals for these accidents. Yet Hospitals are for-profit businesses; I wonder if we will be forced to pay extra for these non-services? Pay in advance and take it up with our insurance companies later (if we survive at all?)

Did the woman who died from the wrong medications have to pay a co-pay on those medications? Who covers her bill? On the wrong appendix, did he have to pay out of pocket for a surgery he didn't need? Because his insurance probably didn't cover him for this bit of cutting and sewing - it hadn't been pre-approved.

Our system is broken on so many levels, not the least of which is patient care, that I cannot begin to cover it all. I am mad as hell. Beyond angry, I am appalled at rising costs and sinking care.

This Is Why I Maintain Hope

Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the two IDF reservists abducted by Hezbollah two years ago in a raid that sparked the Second Lebanon War, are to be released in a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah approved by the cabinet yesterday. In exchange for the captive soldiers, Israel will release jailed Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, who murdered a Nahariya family in 1979, and four Hezbollah militants, the remains of Lebanese civilians and several dozen Palestinian prisoners.

The vote in the Israeli Cabinet wasn't close, 22 in favor and only 3 opposed. While many people believe Regev and Goldwasser to be dead, and information about Israeli Airman Ron Arad sketchy at best (his plane was shot down over Lebanon), it is still a significant step toward peace. The cabinet ministers were influenced by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who said: "I am the commander of all the soldiers ... of the living and the dead, and therefore I say to you the deal must be approved."

The deal will take place in four stages:

• first, the signing of the agreement, which should happen in the next two or three days
• next, Hezbollah will hand over a report on efforts to obtain information on missing airman Ron Arad, MIA in Lebanon since 1986. In exchange, Israel will give Hezbollah a report on the fate of four Iranian diplomats kidnapped and murdered during the Lebanon war in the 1980s.
• Stage three requires United Nations hostage negotiator and intelligence expert Gerhard Konrad's approval of the reports. If he approves, Hezbollah will return Goldwasser and Regev - or their remains if they are no longer alive, along with the remains of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon. Israel will return Kuntar to Hezbollah, along with four Hezbollah militants who were captured in the Second Lebanon War and the remains of a few dozen bodies
• Stage four will occur within a month of the exchange, as Israel releases a number of Palestinian prisoners of Israel's choosing.

It matters. It matters for any number of reasons, not the least of which is a step toward normalizing relationships and putting an end to hostilities. It matters, because sworn enemies are talking to each other. It matters, it matters.

Moshe Dayan said: If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

Splotchy, always one with a good cause

I just discovered Splotchy's blog - and he's got such a good cause going with Adopt an Actor. I mean, they might not eat otherwise, right?

At any rate, I really wanted to adopt the absolutely dishy Alan Rickman:


However, dguzman beat me to it. I mean, I am a year late, fer god's sake.

So instead, I have adopted the extremely talented Chris Cooper:



As long as he doesn't smoke in my house, we're fine.

Why Los Angeles Makes People Sick. Literally.

Why does basic health care cost so much? This question plagues me, and countless others in the USA. Over the last three years, the cost of medication and tests that I have undergone has put me on the edge of bankruptcy. So, yes, I have fibromyalgia - and there is fuck-all I can do about it - but it's all the rest of what I've undergone that is wiping me out. And that's when I read this tidbit: in 2007 the total U.S. health care bill came to $2.3 trillion—more than we spent last year on food.

And what do we get for all this money? Not much. Despite claims that we have the best health care in the world, when we shine the light of reality on that claim we find this simply is not true.

By every conceivable measure, the health of Americans lags behind the health of citizens in other developed countries. Our life expectancy is shorter than that of citizens in Canada, Japan, and all but one Western European country. We rank 43rd in the world in infant-mortality rates, behind Cuba, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. We are no less disabled by disease than citizens of most developed nations, and our medical care is, with few exceptions, no better at helping us survive specific diseases. For instance, the mortality rate from prostate cancer in the United Kingdom is virtually the same as it is in the United States, despite the fact that the disease is treated far less aggressively in the U.K.

But a huge factor in the rising costs is that we in the USA spend far too much on unnecessary tests. Of our total $2.3 trillion health care bill last year, a whopping $500 billion to $700 billion was spent on treatments, tests, and hospitalizations that did nothing to improve our health. And I have fallen into this trap.

And actually, that trap has a lot to do with the geography of health care. I live in Los Angeles, where everything does cost a bit more - we pay higher prices at the pump, we pay more for restaurants, we pay more for all kinds of things, including health care. Why? Because doctors and hospitals in Los Angeles tend to give their patients more tests, procedures, and surgeries, and their patients tend to spend more days in the hospital.

Now, when I don't feel well, and the doctor starts recommending and scheduling a variety of tests, I tend to become very blond and say, "uh-huh," and go along like a good girl. And then the bills start coming in. And coming in. And then I wake up and go, whoa, wait a minute. Did I really need to get tested for Vitamin D deficiency? Did I really need to get tested for a rare liver disorder that I may or may not actually have? Do I need to take those pills for this liver disorder that the expensive testing could not confirm or rule out?

Patients undergo back surgery for pain in the absence of evidence that the surgery works. They contract lethal infections while in the hospital for elective procedures. They suffer strokes when they undergo a surgery that, ironically, is intended to prevent stroke. And each year they undergo millions of tests—MRIs, CT scans, blood tests—that do little to help doctors diagnose disease.

Doctors put the blame on patients, of course, saying we demand every little pill we've seen advertised on television - and I think that is part of the issue. But in my own case, I'd been taking a lot of Tylenol for pain - this is before I was diagnosed with Fibro - and my gynecologist decided to do a ton of blood tests. She didn't ask, she just said I needed to have them all, including liver functions. No symptoms, just she decided. My liver functions were sort of whacked - she said I had numbers normally seen in a drinking alcoholic. I haven't had a drink since July 17th, 1988, so that was weird. So she started to do all kinds of research, and decided I had PBC, a rare, hereditary liver disorder and sent me to my Gastro doctor to have more tests. A liver biopsy (the 30 seconds of drug induced high were great) and the biopsy was inconclusive. And the horse pills, which are not covered by my insurance and were $100 a month.

Now, the simple answer: stop taking Tylenol, it messes up your liver.

The reality is that we have a badly broken system. This is pressing issue that will not be fixed overnight - and if McCain is elected, won't be fixed at all. But there are things we can do as individuals, and here is a checklist provided by AARP:

1. Find a doctor who communicates Most of us need a primary care doctor who can clearly explain what ails us and the possible ways to treat it. If you have a physician who does this, stick with him or her. If your current doctor tends to rush you or doesn’t explain things well, tell him or her you need more time.

2. Coordinate your own care Talk to your primary care doctor about making sure he or she sees copies of your medical records from all your various doctors. Somebody besides you needs to know what all your physicians are doing—including all procedures, tests, and drugs they’ve prescribed. This is especially important if you are on multiple drugs or have a chronic condition, such as diabetes or an autoimmune disorder, that requires visits to multiple specialists.

3. Get the right specialist If you or a loved one is facing a serious illness, find yourself a palliative-care doctor. Physicians trained in this specialty have a particular expertise in the control of pain. They are also trained to coordinate the care among your various doctors.

4. Find out what difference a test or procedure makes Ask your doctor what he or she expects to learn from the test and whether the results will make a difference in your treatment.

5. Weigh the benefits and risks If a physician recommends a surgical procedure, ask what will happen if you decide not to do it—or if there is a less-invasive treatment option.

Cross posted at The Sirens Chronicles

Friday Granddaughter Blogging

I'm playing with Molly LUCY who is a puppy and she's younger than me and I am in her bed outside which is an inside bed but I took it outside to play with and her toys too. I like little puppies and big dogs my dog is a big dog and she's not a puppy anymore. At school only two peoples in the bafroom two peoples only. I brush my own teeth.

Oh, Goody. Another planet for the Right Wing to trash

Yes, you can grow all kinds of things on Mars. I mean, they've found ice, which means water, and they've found nutrients in the soil.



So if you save your frequent flier miles, Sir Richard might let you save $20,000 on your flight to Mars. Yes, 200,000 miles will save you $20,000 of the cost of a Virgin Galactic flight. Real Estate is going to go quick, and I suspect that Halliburton has the no bid contracts, but what the hey.

Lung ta - "Wind Horse"

As the sun bleaches the images on the prayer flag, as the wind kisses each strand of cloth away into the universe, so life moves on and is replaced by new life.

• Blue is the sky, infinite space
  
• White is the air, white is the wind
  
• Red burns as fire
  
• Green is the rushing water
  
• Yellow is our mother earth

With these prayer flags, I hope for peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. I pray the wind carries these prayers out into the world, to spread peace and good will to all who walk this earth. May we learn to heal our wounds, to hold each other in high regard despite our differences. Let us find what makes us connected, rather than separate so that we can heal our earth together.

Thank you to everyone who sent such lovely healing energy my way the last couple of days. While fibro never goes away, it's back to being manageable. Namaste.

Wexler on Olbermann tonight

Well, Wexler was on fire, no doubt about it. He and Kuchinch could really bring Bush and Cheney to be held accountable, I have no doubt they've got the passion.

And, yes, Bush really did insult Phillipino Americans when he said that he know how talented they were every time he dined in the White House.

What an ass.

Update with the complete quote:

I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that -- in which there's a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House.

George W. Bush, referring to White House chef Cristeta Comerford while meeting with Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Washington, D.C., June 24, 2008

Having a Really Bad Day

I haven't typed about having Fibromyalgia in a while. Although I have been dealing with it for years, it was only fairly recently diagnosed and I still have trouble wrapping my head around the idea of having a condition that has no cure, no known cause, and hurts like a motherfucker. It's depressing, and at times I just want to cry from the constant, relentless pain. Most of the time, I am able to manage it well through exercise, rest, and eating right. Then there are days that nothing at all helps - and since I am unable to take Vicodin; Lyrica didn't help; and I won't take other addictive meds, when those bad days happen upon me, I am, in a word, fucked.

Yesterday was one of those days. Today is worse. My hands and wrists feel like they are on fire, my fingers feel like they are being given little electric shocks. Same with my feet, ankles and toes. My back feels like I'm being beaten with an iron pipe. My head throbs, not like a normal headache, not like a migraine, it's more like the reverberation from being beaten on the back with an iron pipe. I cannot tolerate odors, they make me nauseated today.

I hate this, because I feel helpless to do anything to make it stop. I hate this, because it makes me feel weak, vulnerable, and lost. On days like this, I think I should never have divorced my ex-husband, and that is absolutely untrue. On days like this, I believe the lies my mind tells me, the things that want me isolated and alone. On days like this, you could say I am in a really bad mood, but that would not quite be accurate. Today, I am having a really hard time of it. I don't feel well and it contains a mental and emotional component which I dislike. I know it will not always be this way, yet I am in the thick of it today.

I'm lucky. I am not one of those people with Fibro who is unable to get out of bed on bad days - I am always mobile, and I am always able to get up and keep moving. This is luck, I believe, and I think the years I spent as a long distance bicycle rider helps me a lot in my ability to manage the pain. But the emotional and mental component makes me NOT want to manage - on days like today I want to give up, and crawl into bed, and never get up.

This is not depression - it is pain. I have clinical depression, which is managed by Zoloft, and I know the difference. Zoloft is also used to help manage Fibro, which is interesting. When I get depressed, there is a physical symptom that is scary: I feel like my face is sliding off my cheeks - like my face is melting. I haven't had that symptom in years. Lucky me. Today, though, I am having a really bad day.

Our Exposed Nerve

"To me, Gaza embodies the entire saga of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it represents the central contradiction of the state of Israel—democracy for some, dispossession for others; it is our exposed nerve."

Amira Hass, Israeli journalist and author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land under Siege.

Shrub as a Young Republican

All that smokin and drinkin.

I love you, Aramis Ramirez

Home run, bottom of the 9th in a tie game wins it! Nothing like a man with a big bat.

Text of an email from Cong. Robert Wexler

Dear Diva Jood,

It has been a busy day in Congress today and while our movement for accountability for the Bush/Cheney White House just took a major leapforward with the testimony of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, we also unfortunately took a terrible step backwards with the tragic approval of new FISA legislation. I voted against this awful FISA law that degrades the privacy guarantees of our Constitution.

McClellan's Testimony

What we heard from Mr. McClellan was confirmation under oath of what we have long suspected: the President, Vice President, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and others purposefully conspired to mislead Americans for political gain and at the cost of the lives of our soldiers, the security of our nation, and the sanctity of our Constitution.

Today, Scott McClellan said that he considers it a likely possibility that Vice President Dick Cheney was the person who authorized the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert status. Mr. McClellan also said that he believes more White House officials should come before Congress and reveal the truth about this Administration's actions.

McClellan's testimony underscores a simple reality:

We must dig deeper. As I said today in the Judiciary Committee hearing, the facts we know now are more than enough to justify impeachment hearings for President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. You can read my entire testimony today below.

There is no higher agenda than protecting the Constitution. The Separation of Powers principle is being threatened, our Civil Rights are under attack, and must pursue accountability no matter what the political cost.

The FISA Vote

Today I voted against the so-called FISA "compromise" bill, as the only thing that is really being compromised is our civil rights.

In spite of the earnest, hard work of many Members of Congress, the President has continued to demand that Congress rubber-stamp his illegal wiretapping program.

Every American wants to protect our country from terrorists; but the President is not asking for tools to thwart terrorists. He is demanding unchecked power. He expects the Congress to throw out even the most modest, expedited court review on the absurd premise that a specially designed court with over 30 years of experience handling surveillance requests is suddenly going to bring our nation's intelligence operations to a standstill.

The rights of everyday Americans are at issue here, and full accountability needed. A court that is given full and appropriate review of the particular circumstances in each case is the only appropriate venue for making decisions about immunity for actions that may or may not have violated the civil liberties of some individuals.

In addition, while I am sympathetic to the difficult position telephone and Internet service providers, who may have thought they were doing their patriotic duty, the fact remains that I simply cannot support offering retroactive immunity. I have had the opportunity to view some of the documents in question, and I can say that my position on this subject is unchanged.

I will continue to support the March 14th House bill that preserves the appropriate court review of all surveillance of US citizens and gives judges the discretion to review all the necessary documents related to telecom lawsuits without offering blanket immunity.

Continue Our Fight for Accountability

I also want to thank the thousands of Americans who sent emails to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel defending my position in favor of impeachment. I can assure you I will not back down.

In fact, over the next week I will appearing on numerous television programs where I intend to raise these issues as often as I can. You can see me on the following television shows:

• Sunday, June 22nd at noon (EST) on CNN's Late Edition,
• Tuesday, June 24 at 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm (EST) on Hardball on MSNBC,
• Wednesday June 25 at 3:30 pm (EST) on CNN's the Situation Room,
•Thursday June 26 at 11:30 pm (EST) on Comedy Central's the Colbert Report
•Friday June 27 at 7:30 am (EST) on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

I am grateful for your continued support and advocacy.

Congressman Robert Wexler

Friday Granddaughter Blogging

Well, my gramma is uspet because the Chicago Cubs have lost three games in a row to Tampa and now they have to play the Chicago White socks at home and we don't like the white socks at all I like pink socks but they don't play baseball. But the Cubs and the white socks are both in first place and Carlos can't pitch cause his shoulder is sore so it is Ted Lilly and my gramma is neeresvos worried. I am learning how to catch a big beach ball its fun and I like water aboons more than blow up aboons. You can throw water aboons, but regaler aboons you have to tie on a string and they float.

Obama Opts Out of Public Financing

For the first time since 1976, a major party US Presidential candidate is opting out of Public Financing for the general election. Using John McCain's candidacy as the example of how the current public financing system is broken, Obama said

If we don’t stand together, the broken system we have now, a system where special interests drown out the voices of the American people will continue to erode our politics and prevent the possibility of real change.

McCain's campaign is beholden to Washington Lobbyists like his economic advisor, Phil Gramm, and special interest PACs.

Obama's decision is nothing short of refreshing, especially since the last 7 1/2 years have been driven by special interests and greed.

Greed and oil lust have driven the current administration. I am convinced that Bush's cronies have been deliberately manipulating the price of oil, raising the cost at the pump, just so he can railroad through the ban on offshore drilling. Bush faces opposition in Congress, but he really hopes to leverage the soaring pump prices to get Congress to cave in before election day. And when they start drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, I wonder who will get the no-bid contract?

But Barack Obama is not afraid of the big bad guys on the other side. He presents genuinely alternative points of view and ways of doing things, and he does not back down from a fight. Funding will come from people like you and me rather than the likes of UBS. Yes, we can.

Fruits of Endurance

Israel and Hamas agreed Tuesday to an Egyptian-brokered Gaza truce. While Hamas has observed previous unilateral truces and cease-fires with Israel in the past, all of which broke down within a short period of time, this truce is different for two significant reasons.

• First, the truce means Israel has given Hamas de facto recognition, acknowledging that the US-backed blockade has not worked.
• Second, although Hamas's charter calls for the destruction of Israel, with this truce Hamas showed a willingness to co-exist with Israel as Hamas's leaders have said they will pursue a long-term truce in order to build a Palestinian state.

Hamas has said that all militant groups in Gaza have promised to abide by the terms of the truce, which calls for Israel to ease restrictions on blockade against Gaza.

Skepticism abounds on both sides. However, both Israel and Hamas need this cease-fire. The Gaza strip has become an intolerable burden for both parties. Israel's economic blockade against Gaza has worsened a horrific humanitarian crisis. Israel has allowed only the most basic foodstuffs and medical equipment in, and virtually nobody out. Hamas is finally admitting the blockade is really hurting them.

What escapes notice is the people who live in Israel's border communities, who have also been suffering. Palestinian militants fire crude rockets into the border towns, killing and injuring Israelis, which then brings down massive retaliation from Israel's military. However, Israel has no effective defense against these rockets.

For Hamas, the lifting of the economic embargo and the subsequent improvement of daily life might persuade Gaza's leadership that negotiation is the best response. Why do I have hope it will last? Because of these words:

"We believe that what was agreed upon will last and the Palestinian people will see the fruits of their endurance," said Ismail Haniyeh, the senior Hamas political leader in Gaza.

It's a first step.

March 18, 2003 on Good Morning America

Babs and the modernized version of "Let them eat cake." This callous disregard for our military men and women, and their parents, bears remembering. It bears repeating. Barbara Bush lacks compassion, she lacks integrity, and she lacks a soul. For if her son can send these young men and women off to war, then she and her family should have the decency to honor them when they fall.

Cost of War in Iraq

I thought I would take a look at the local cost of the War in Iraq. The National Priorities Project has a page where you can get the costs as it pertains to your locality. Taxpayers in California's Congressional District 36 (Harman) will pay $1.3 billion for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following services could have been provided:

• 550,963 People with Health Care for One Year OR
  
• 2,385,106 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR
  
• 23,915 Public Safety Officers for One year OR
  
• 18,911 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
  
• 201,177 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
  
• 4,007 Affordable Housing Units OR
  
• 500,391 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
  
• 160,123 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
  
• 19,226 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
  
• 16,907 Port Container Inspectors for One year

I am rendered speechless. We need to bring all our resources home: our soldiers, who don't deserve the horrors they've been handed; and our tax dollars so we can repair the soul of our nation by providing the services we lose daily due to Bush's arrogance.

Father's Day 2008

My father died March 10, 1996, at the age of 85. He died after suffering five years with pulmonary fibrosis, a calcification of the lungs. Over the five years, his ability to breathe became more and more impossible, and eventually, he suffocated to death. It was not pretty. Twenty-five years earlier, he'd been treated for what was diagnosed as an incurable lung cancer and given six months to live. Dad was put on an experimental form of treatment which involved radiation, and then chemo. Two and one half years later, he was still alive, and cancer-free. Quite a miracle.

Dad was one of those hale-fellow well met kinds of guys: always quick with a joke, and quite charming. His friends loved him, and so did I. He was the one who encouraged me as an artist, although he could not understand why I didn't want to be a commercial artist. He was the one who I told when I decided to drop out of college and move to Israel. He was my dad, and I adored him.

His funeral was small, because he'd outlived all his friends and all but three of his sisters. Of those, one had become a recluse and we never saw her again. She died last month. Still, as small as the funeral was, my cousin's eulogy was telling - people loved my dad.

He used to let me sit on his lap and drink sips of his beer or scotch when I was a little girl. We'd sit at the kitchen table playing cards if he was in a good mood (beer nights) or me in his lap if he was in a bad mood (solitare and scotch.) He let me get away with everything (although he did want to take my bag of weed to the police to have it analyzed after my brother and I told him it was oregano.) He was kind, and he was liberal and he was intelligent, but he was also a mess.

One year, he decided he wanted to buy a turkey farm in Zion, Illinois. I was about seven years old. Here we were, a Jewish family who knew nothing about farming (I thought milk came from glass bottles) and he piled us into the car, drove us to Zion (a very fundamentalist Christian city) and went to look at the farm. My mother cried her eyes out. I was afraid of the turkeys and my brother (he was twelve) started to chase them around. We didn't get the farm. Instead, the week later, he bought my mother a pink and black Ford (she didn't know how to drive). It was hideous. It was her first car.

The night he died, we were sitting shiva at my brother's condo. A man came in, and sat with my brother and me to tell us a story. Years before, when this man was down and out, my father helped him out with a job. No one else would take a chance on this guy, but my father did. The young man became incredibly successful; he never forgot that my father helped him. He missed the funeral but he said he would never have forgiven himself had he not come to pay his respects. I still don't know the man's name, but I was moved beyond words.

Dad never had financial success. He was a business mess - he was just a mess, not another way to describe it. But he was kind, and loving, and charming, and I miss him. Happy Father's Day to my father, and to all the fathers whose children love them.

Tim Russert dead at 58

Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after being stricken at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.

This is shocking on so many levels, not the least of which is that 58 is a young man. Rest in peace, Mr. Russert. You will be missed.

Friday Granddaughter Blogging

Lake Delton, Wisconsin

Local resident Steve Zowin said the water drained like a bathtub. The Wisconsin Dells calls itself the "waterpark capital of the world," but on Monday, when torrential rains caused Lake Delton to tear through an embankment, ripping apart Highway A and draining into the Wisconsin River, that waterpark capital is now a disaster area. Resorts are seeing cancellations - Zowin said his business is down at least 75%, which is huge - and another resident said that fishing will be gone for at least the next five or six years from Lake Delton.
But there is more bad news for local residents. Yes, not only did they lose homes, not only are they losing business because of the empty lake. Yesterday they learned that Lake Delton is Not Covered by National Flood Insurance.

The homes would have been covered by the National Flood Insurance program since 1975, but the village didn't adopt a new floodplain map. The village lost its floodplain designation by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and its eligibility to participate in the National Flood Insurance program.

So even though Lake Delton is a disaster area, it's not a Federal Disaster Area, and won't receive funds from FEMA. FEMA suspended the village from eligibility in the program seven years ago after the village failed to formally adopt an updated floodplain map called a Flood Insurance Rate Map, or FIRM. Lake Delton's village clerk and engineer said the map was not adopted because of "gross inaccuracies" in how FEMA expanded the floodplain.

FEMA said the village had three years to appeal the map, but never did file such an appeal. There is no record of a formal map revision petition from the village; Lake Delton was suspended, making homeowners inelligiable for flood insurance. And in a classic case of government officials pointing fingers at each other, the people suffer. This flood is not a flood. This flood is a Catostrophic Event. Yet the people suffer.

As we look at weather events globally - I'm only talking about hurricanes, cyclones, torrential rains, all causing these catastrophic events - I have to wonder at how much we have contributed to weather gone wild. Even more, I am appalled at government's callous disregard for the citizens whose lives are devastated by these events. But when that disregard is further impaired by misjudgment, mismanagement, greed and just plain stupidity, I become angry.

There are solutions that the United States can implement. Frankly, with a serious recession upon us, we could look to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's example of programs put forth in The New Deal. I think we could specifically look at The CCC, or Civilian Conservation Corps, which put unskilled, unemployed young men to work building roads, levees, and repairing the infrastructure. Perhaps, if we stopped spending money we don't have on an illegal war in Iraq, we might get to spend some of it on our failing infrastructures at home.

We've got a clear choice between Barack Obama and John McCain. McCain is more of the "heckuva job, Brownie" school of disregard. Obama will get things done.

McCain: Bush Warmed Over

Opps. McCain voted twice against an amendment offered by Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2005 and 2006 to set up an independent commission to look into the government's actions regarding Katrina. McCain also told the reporter

I also voted against one of the bills that came down that was loaded with pork barrel projects that had nothing to do with New Orleans too. It had billions for projects and programs that had nothing to do with the recovery of the city of New Orleans.

This simply isn't true. The Clinton Amendment would have allocated $3M for the independent investigation, but no money for any other project.

Barack Obama's campaign sent an email to reporters in response to McCain's blatant falsehoods:

"Whether he simply wasn't aware of his voting record again or he was intentionally misleading the people of Louisiana, John McCain certainly isn't offering us 'leadership you can believe in.' "

The email quoted McCain, and gave the dates and Senate numbers of the votes. This email, along with Senator McCain's gaffes, put the McCain campaign on the defensive. Their tactic? Accuse the Obama campaign of "the same old negative attacks that the American people are so sick and tired of."

I don't know about you, but I am actually sick and tired of being lied to. The Bush Administration has managed to destroy everything I hold dear about my country through a policy of lying even when the truth would be easier, even when the truth would be in their own best interests. It seems to me that McCain is patterning himself on the Bush/Cheney method - lies, damn lies, and more damn lies.

Cross posted at The Sirens Chronicles

Strategic Voting

Steve Bates, The Yellow Doggerel Democrat, has a great post that needs reading. It really talks about the big picture. I applaud him.

He says:

When I was 25, I probably would have felt the same way. Voting was a personal thing, and my vote was for the candidate about whom I felt most strongly. Now, at the end of almost six decades of hard experience, I pursue voting as a strategic matter, and my vote is determined almost entirely by what I perceive to be the larger outcome, the consequences of the election in the broader context. If that vote happens to coincide with my personal preference for a candidate, that's nice... but my personal preference is not the determining factor in my vote. And I will argue that your personal preference should not be dispositive of your vote, either. Voting is, first and foremost, a civic duty, not a vehicle for personal satisfaction.

I cannot agree more. My first choice for a Democratic Candidate was Dennis Kuchinich. He dropped out, I moved on to John Edwards. He dropped out, and I moved on to Barack Obama. And if Hillary Clinton had become the nominee, I would have moved on to her. Voting is a resposibility, not a popularity contest. It is about a bigger picture. So to those people who say "Clinton lost, I'm not voting", I congratulate you in advance for helping hand the election to McCain. To those who intend to vote for a 3rd Party candidate, someone as unviable as Ralph Nadar or Ron Paul, again, this is a wasted vote. It is NOT making a statement. If you want to change the system, do it from within. It is possible.

Go read Steve Bates' full post. The Diva has spoken.

Oh, the horror!

Why did nobody make a fuss over THIS fist bump? Oh, I know. It's because he's a hateful White dude in a suit, who also would just as soon knock your door down and have you disappeared as look at you. So the Cheney Fist Bump gets a pass.

But, oh, the HORROR: The first Black Presidential Nominee in the US of A and his wife do a playful fist bump, and people get their knickers in a twist over it. I don't know what the issue is. My 3-year old granddaughter Beanie has been fist-bumping ever since her daddy cut down a golf club to her size.

Internet access has been restored

Wild weather and who knows what else - I've been out of touch since Thursday afternoon with only intermittent access. But it's back up now, and I will get caught up. In the meantime, I've missed all y'all.

Shameless Self Promotion

Friday Granddaughter Blogging

Gramma didn't have internet for two days. It made Gramma fortstated, because she couldn't work. She couldn't do much. Now it's fixed. I sit on her lap and look at slide show pictures of me. Now it's bedtime. Bye bye.