You may have been seeing more of Jenny Sanford, Governor Mark “Appalachian Trail” Sanford’s soon-to-be-ex wife, because she’s doing a lot of publicity in promotion of her new memoir, Staying True. As I’ve written before, I like Jenny Sanford. I respect the way she has handled herself, for the most part, with grace and dignity. However, with the release of this book and a seeming rush to capitalize on her family’s breakup, she’s beginning to lose me as a fan. She was on The Daily Show last night, and it wasn’t just Jon Stewart who was uncomfortable (If anyone can tell me how to embed video from TDS on my WordPress blog, let me know. Copying and pasting the embed code doesn’t work). Stewart is a divorced kid, like me, and his joke about how after his parents’ divorce, his mom “only said bad things about my dad on the radio, not national TV” rang true for me. Continue reading “Jon Stewart and I are both uncomfortable”
Brown’s got me down, let them eat cake
So a Republican won Teddy Kennedy’s seat in the Senate last night. This kills the Democrats’ 60 seat super majority, though it’s worth reminding people that they still have a majority, and only 51 votes are needed to pass legislation– I saw a few people claiming on Twitter last night that the Republicans now “control” the Senate, which is completely untrue. They’re just now able to filibuster more easily, meaning it will be easier for them to waste everyone’s time keeping the Senate from voting on things. I’d like to remind the 59 remaining Democrats that Bush got more done with less of a majority than they have now, so I expect them to get shit done anyway, even without Coakley. Of course, knowing what spineless wretches the Democrats, particularly the Blue Dogs, are, I don’t have a whole lot of hope. Which brings me to a wonderful post by Ezra Klein on what Teddy Kennedy would say to the Democrats. Ezra writes:
For now, it’s worth observing that a Democratic Party that would abandon their central initiative this quickly isn’t a Democratic Party that deserves to hold power. If they don’t believe in the importance of their policies, why should anyone who’s skeptical change their mind? If they’re not interested in actually passing their agenda, why should voters who agree with Democrats on the issues work to elect them? A commitment provisional on Ted Kennedy not dying and Martha Coakley not running a terrible campaign is not much of a commitment at all.
Exactly. Continue reading “Brown’s got me down, let them eat cake”
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Pat Robertson: bad, Frederick Douglass: good
So, something terrible happened in Haiti and supposed Christian Pat Robertson did what he always does in the case of a terrible tragedy. He blamed the victims and suggested that God was punishing them for their sins (or their blackness, which may or may not be a sin to Pat Robertson, though I’m leaning towards “may”). I would be all up in arms about how Pat Robertson is ruining my religion, except it should be pretty obvious that Pat Robertson and I don’t love and serve the same God. Because the God I love and serve? That God is on the side of the Haitians. Even the ones who practice voodoo. Maybe even especially the ones who practice voodoo, though I wouldn’t be so bold as to make that kind of statement. Unlike ol Pat, I still have a healthy fear about making claims about what God says or whose side God is on. Anyway, the God I love and serve is the God who hears the cry of the oppressed, who listens to those who suffer, who comforts those who mourn. So that’s why I’m pretty sure there’s no way Pat and I refer to the same person when we’re talking about God.
But in reading about Pat Robertson’s latest bout of hate speech, I came across this post by Adam Serwer of The American Prospect. And I loved this quote he included by Frederick Douglass so much that I knew I had to include it here:
Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest, possible difference–so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.
It kind of reminds me of what Ghandi said about loving Christ but not so much Christians. It’s people like Pat Robertson that give Frederick Douglass and Ghandi reasons to say things like that.
Today, Jon and I made a donation to World Vision, through whom we sponsor two children, to go toward Haitian earthquake relief (friends not comfortable making a donation to such an expressly Christian organization might consider Partners in Health instead). Today I am praying for everyone affected by the earthquake. Today I am sorry that anyone would dare use the name of God to cause even further hurt to hurting people.
Updated to include: there is actually plenty of evidence that the “deal with the devil” Pat Robertson was referring to didn’t even happen. Or at least, it wasn’t a deal with the devil at all.
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on breakdowns and “being vigilant”
In the past 11 days, I have received 3 campus safety alerts about women being assaulted on the streets of the campus where I work. This news article from the local paper mentions two of them. Women, walking down the street, attacked from behind.
Now, maybe I’m a little jumpier than some people because I have been a victim before, but it was with this news in my mind that I had to walk alone, in the dark, after my class last night. Jon had taken the car to work yesterday morning, because it was pouring rain. The hospital is three quarters of a mile from my office, and I walk there at least once a week after work to volunteer, so we figured it would be no big deal for me to get the car after class last night. I hadn’t anticipated how much darker it is at 7 pm than 5.
Things running through my mind as I walked that .7 mi: walk fast, look around you, make sure your cell phone is in an outer pocket in case you need it, bag closed so as not to tempt robbers, don’t stop, stay out of the shadows, maybe you should hold your keys in case you need to use them as a weapon, why oh why don’t you have some pepper spray.
I was so relieved to reach the hospital and the brightly lit garage. Thankfully Jon had parked very close to the elevator. I got into the car, heart still pounding, and locked the doors. I am supposed to get free parking because I’m a hospital volunteer, but my badge is expired. The volunteer office told me not to worry about it, because no one ever really looks at our badges anyway. Unfortunately, the parking attendant was on some sort of a power trip, and was concerned I might be a med student, using an out of date badge in order to park for free. She decided to charge me $20, and she didn’t care that I showed her my work ID, to prove I was not a med student. I started crying. She told me to stop, sarcastically asked if I needed a hug. I tearfully tried to come up with an explanation, told her it had been a long day. I felt stupid for crying over $20, it’s not like it was a speeding ticket.
Later I realized why I got so upset over the $20 parking fee. Because I thought I had reached the safe zone, only to be treated badly, and this triggered all my anxiety and anger and fear to just come rolling out in tears. It took me a while after I got home to calm down.
And what, according to that news article, am I supposed to be doing with the news of these attacks? “We’re telling everyone to be aware of their surroundings and to be vigilant.”
It’s enough to make me want to cry all over again.
Not only does this comment suggest that somehow, those two women who were attacked were victimized because they were somehow not “vigilant,” it completely ignores the reality of being female in public. When am I not effing vigilant? Society has done a great job of teaching me that just by being a woman, I’m at risk, there are places I can’t go, times I shouldn’t be out, things I shouldn’t wear, zones where I am not safe, reasons for me to be constantly looking over my shoulder. I’m vigilant all the time, and it gets to be exhausting. I can’t afford not to be vigilant, but even when I am, and something happens to me, you can bet your sweet bippy that someone’s going to say I should have been vigilant.
Public safety says they’ve expanded their patrols and offer on campus escorts, but the escort wouldn’t do me much good when I’m walking to somewhere off campus. My boss, who teaches the night I have class and the night I volunteer, told me that from now on if I need to get to the hospital, he will drive me. I really appreciate the offer, and will probably take him up on it, but at the same time, I’m so frustrated to need a man with me in order to be safe.
So I’m going to buy some pepper spray. And I’m going to ask campus safety if, in light of these attacks, they could maybe offer a self defense course. And if they can’t, I’ll probably take one elsewhere. And yeah, I’ll be vigilant, just like always. Damn lot of good that will do me though.
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Was Fort Hood Massacre a Terrorist Act?
In the wake of what everyone agrees was a horrible tragedy at Fort Hood, there has been sort of a battle of interpretation going on between those who were quick to label it an act of terrorism because the perpetrator is a Muslim and those who urged caution, seeing it as a horrific act of workplace violence which may or may not have a religious or terroristic motivation. The juxtaposition of the treatment of the Fort Hood story, in which the perpetrator had an Arabic name, and the Orlando office shooting, in which the perpetrator did not stand out ethnically or religiously, was striking. We are more than OK assuming the Orlando shooter was just a guy who snapped in hard times, but we were less willing to believe that a Muslim American could “snap” without any additional religious or political motivation. In particular, I would recommend this piece by Eboo Patel, a Muslim American active in interfaith causes. I agree with Patel’s idea that murder is not a value in any major religion. Murderers are not Muslims or Christians, they are murderers.
However, now that more information is coming to light, the “terrorism” debate is heating up. It is being reported that Hasan had tried to contact Al Qaeda and the CIA may have known about this months ago, which raises some serious questions about whether or not they reported this info to the military, and what actions could have been taken to prevent this tragedy. Though I have seen at least one blogger at The New Republic call the reporter who broke the Al Qaeda story’s credibility into question, so I’m not quite ready to accept this as total fact yet. There was much speculation and misinformation when the story initially broke, and the speculation and misinformation continues in the aftermath. There is, however, some indication that Hasan was affiliated with more radical views of Islam.
Still, even if Hasan were a religious extremist, is the Fort Hood Massacre terrorism? Continue reading “Was Fort Hood Massacre a Terrorist Act?”
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Dear Jim DeMint
I just read that one of my senators was the only one to oppose legislation to extend unemployment benefits. I wrote him a letter immediately. Here’s what I said:
Sen. DeMint,
I am deeply disappointed to read that you were the only Senator to vote against extending unemployment benefits. I recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of being laid off from my job in the real estate industry. Though I was only out of work for three months, I count myself among the blessed and lucky few who were able to obtain a new job so quickly. Many South Carolinians are not so lucky. In my time in the unemployment office, I saw people from all walks of life who were out of work and desperate. Unemployment is still very high, and if you are really working for South Carolinians, you would support our unemployment benefits, especially when our state has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
I can assure you, the benefits are not so cushy as to keep anyone from seeking a job. It was a fraction of what I made when I was employed, and I would not have been able to survive had I not had a spouse who was still employed. My unemployment wouldn’t have even covered COBRA for my health insurance which I lost when I lost my job.
I’m deeply disappointed and can’t help but feel that you took this terrible stand to get attention. Please don’t seek attention at the expense of out-of-work people in our state. Please be an advocate for the people who need you, particularly the unemployed who have been hit so hard by this economic downturn, especially as the holidays approach.
Here’s hoping he actually reads it, but at least I feel better knowing I tried to tell my representative how I feel.
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something on my chest
My friend Deb tweeted at me today: 
What was she referring to?
Here’s the backstory. Last night I was sitting on my couch in a black tank top and a pair of sweat pants, laptop on my lap, surfing the net when Yoono (my Firefox add on social networking client) alerted me to some unread Tweets. Meghan McCain, whom I follow because sometimes she has interesting things to say about politics, and because, despite the fact that I sometimes wish I didn’t, I like her, had posted a new twit-pic about staying in on a Wednesday to read a book about Andy Warhol. This was the twit-pic:
I admit my first thought was “whoa, girlie’s got the GIRLS out.”
But then my inner feminist began to chastise me. What do you MEAN she’s got the girls out? You two are wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT! You betta check yourself before you wreck yourself, lil Miss Feminist! Continue reading “something on my chest”
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common ground on abortion?
President Obama has drawn both praise and criticism for meeting with groups on both sides of the abortion issue and attempting to find “common ground.” One of the things I like about Obama, that I think many people like about him, is that he seems the type to listen to people with whom he both agrees and disagrees, and then try to come to a thoughtful conclusion.
The one problem with all this common ground on abortion stuff?
People who think that making abortion illegal will end or even put a dent in the number of abortions performed annually are wrong.
Yep. A new report from the Guttmacher (I always see this word and think gut-muncher for some reason) Institute found that
While the incidence of abortion is closely related to that of unintended pregnancy, it does not correlate with abortion’s legal status. Indeed, abortion occurs at roughly equal rates in regions where it is broadly legal and in regions where it is highly restricted.
Making abortion illegal does not change the number of abortions. Period. We should look at people who want to overturn Roe v. Wade about the same way as we look at people who supported Prohibition. Continue reading “common ground on abortion?”
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wholeness
I haven’t done a post on the whole Roman Polanski thing, and I probably won’t be doing any sort of in-depth post on the subject, namely because so many other great writers have already said it better, and because, if you follow me on Twitter, then you already know how I feel on the subject, which is basically that: 13 year olds can’t legally consent to sex with adults, ever. People who are intoxicated or under the influence of drugs cannot consent to sex. If you tell someone NO and beg them to stop, you are not consenting to sex. And whether the victim had been 13 or 30, she was under the influence, and she begged him to stop. He PLED GUILTY. And then he committed the additional crime of fleeing the country. He got what’s coming to him and I hope he receives a just sentence, and I am disgusted by his defenders.
ANYWAY. The entire jist of this is to highlight Kate Harding’s latest post on the subject, in which she ties in another rape controversy involving an adolescent girl: the filming of the movie “Hound Dog” starring then 13 year old Dakota Fanning, who appeared (fully clothed) in a rape scene. Harding interviewed the film’s director, who ended the interview with this:
“When you rape a girl, the problem is not that you’re taking away her purity — which is what gets religious right up in arms — it’s that you’re taking away her wholeness. And trying to keep her ‘pure,’ repressing her sexuality, silencing her voice, also takes away wholeness. It’s two sides of the same coin.
“I don’t want my daughter to grow up pure,” she said. “I want her to grow up whole.”
I’ve always been rather uncomfortable with the way “we” in a societal sense talk to kids about sex, particularly those of “us” (societally speaking) who support “just say no” abstinence-only messages. Kampmeier’s quote sums up how I feel about most experiences, sexual or otherwise. Does it make you feel more whole? More power to ya, I will cheer you on. Does it make you or others involved in the experience feel less whole? That’s not something I support.
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germ theory
I work at a public university, and if there’s anything possibly spreading faster than swine flu around here, it’s swine flu HYSTERIA. I receive at least one email memo per day about H1N1. Hand sanitizer dispensers have popped up on campus everywhere I turn. Signs are posted in the bathrooms warning us to wash our hands and not touch our faces and stay home if we feel sick. Academic Affairs has been flipping out about revising the attendance policies because of the rash of H1N1 sufferers. The student paper seems to be doing an ongoing series wherein they update us with the total number of confirmed cases in large font headline on the front page each week.
And as the toll of the infected climbs higher and higher, I can’t help but feel like we’re postponing the inevitable. It’s like I’m just sitting here in my office, waiting for a typhoid Mary to come in and deliver the sickness.
And it got me to thinking… maybe they should just lock us all, sick or not, in the gym until everyone is sick. Then they could close campus for a week, let everyone get it over with, and then we could all get on with our lives.
Now, this plan might be entirely insane, and I am NOT a medical professional or epidemiologist or anything of the sort. But to me it makes a certain amount of sense– I am more and more convinced that by the time our doses of the vaccine arrive, half the campus will already be sick.
In the meantime, I use the sanitizer whenever I walk past it, and I’m planning to get the vaccine if I can.
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