serendipity

just can't get enough

 

Cover of this week's New Yorker

Couric: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It's funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don't know, you know … reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

Opting in

I know that some people are finding it hard to decide who to vote for in November. I'm not sure why, since the choices seem so clear to me, but I hear and see the hesitancy around me and I've heard too many people say that they are just going to sit this election out.

Please don't.

Even if you don't vote for Obama, which I wish you would even if it is just to keep someone like Palin out of our highest office. But even if you don't support Obama, please register and please vote.

Your vote matters, today more than ever.

A product of the California public school system (which doesn't suck everywhere but sucked a lot in my district) I grew up ignorant and apathetic about my civic rights and responsibilities. I thought my vote didn't matter and even if it did, the system (even 26 years ago) was so screwed up that I believed nothing I did would change anything. I registered to vote when I was 18 but didn't actually vote until I was in my 20s. My voting record since hasn't been perfect but has been stereotypically American: I show up for the big stuff and skip the smaller elections. I'm not proud of this. I should be more involved especially now that I understand how much it can make a difference.

This is a big election, maybe the biggest ever. And there are two groups of people I would like to send a message to: young people and white women (I answer to the latter).

Kids (and please forgive me for calling you that): three days ago our government saddled you and me and everyone we know with a debt unlike any we have seen before. Why? Because 20 years of deregulation and cronyism have finally come home to roost and in order to save the financial system they had to send us the bill. You should be pretty pissed since you will be paying off this debt for a long time and the savings your parents were counting on to get them through their retirement and to get you through college are now seriously at risk. These are the same geniuses who started the war in Iraq, who doubt the scientific realities of global warming and are allowing their corporate buddies to rape the planet for profit. They don't personally worry about global warming because a) they will probably be dead before it really starts to matter and b) if they're not dead, the underground bunker they'll be moving into will have chandeliers and an indoor swimming pool.

Go here and here and here and here and here to learn more about how and why and where to vote.

Watch the video below to get an only-somewhat humorous-because-it's-so-freaking-scary explanation of what happened last week.

Bill Maher and Paul Krugman "We Need Better Government"

My fellow "white women:" They keep reporting that we are sitting this election out because we wanted Hillary to be VP and are pissed off because we "don't like how she was treated." Is that true? I was and am a Hillary fan. I think she's smart and committed and has the country's best interests at heart. Is she part of the political machine? Perhaps, but I had hoped that she was just picking up the skills she would need to work the government system to our advantage. 

At the end of the day I was very torn between her and Obama and when he beat her I was glad for him and sad for her. But I don't hold it against him for not picking her as his VP. At the time most of the political world was saying that picking her would have been a terrible mistake. Now of course, Fox is pretending to love her because it raises Palin up if you can favorably compare her to Clinton (which you can't).

But Obama and Clinton had too much negative friction. Picking her would have appeared politically motivated without actually attracting significantly different voting audiences. Or so I thought. If white women are opting out, or switching to vote for a woman who is as anti-choice, anti-Hillary and xenophobic as they come, maybe not picking Hillary was a mistake.

Regardless,Sarah Palin is a slap in the face. It is their way of saying "you wanted a women, here you got one." Not the right person or the smartest person. Not even the best woman they could find for the job. Just someone with ovaries who was available and willing, someone who would read the script and focus on her primary role which is to look like one of us. Someone we can identify with because she's a working hockey mom. She's pretty (but not too much), well spoken (if you don't actually listen to the message) and approachable. Last night author Naomi Klein characterized her as "Bush in drag." I'm not sure Palin is as smart as Bush, I think it's more like Quayle in drag.

Okay. I did not really mean to digress into another rant about Palin although clearly I could rant about her all day. She makes me mad and she frightens me. Frankly if McCain wanted to manipulate women he should have picked Condaleeaza Rice. She also scares the shit out of me and I don't like her very much, but I can't say that she's not smart enough to be president or experienced enough in foreign policy.

But back to my point. I do have one and it goes beyond Palin:

Regardless of who you support, think you like, or even slightly lean toward voting for, whether or not you agree with anything I've said. Please vote. I can take losing if everyone in America votes. I will be devastated at the loss but at least I will know this is the will of my fellow citizens.

What I can't take is losing because we were too jaded, too pissed off or just plain apathetic to do something about it.

Please allow me introduce you to a great nonpartisan site called Smartvoter.org. Plug in your zip code and they will show you great information about what's on your ballot, what the different opinions are and where to vote.

Your vote counts. Please vote.

Attack of the shiny object

I often use the term "shiny object" to describe situations in which I willingly - sometimes gratefully - allow myself to be distracted from the thing I'm supposed to be thinking about but don't  because it’s too hard, too serious or too important to contemplate. I never know enough about the subject in question and I rarely have the time to learn what I should.

The shiny object can be my salvation. It relieves stress, provides entertainment and since everyone else is talking about it, I fit right in with the collective. With so many of us playing with the shiny object I don’t have to feel bad about not paying attention to whatever it was I was supposed to be paying attention to.

I think the shrinks call this codependency. As long as I have someone (or in this case, lots of someones) to be bad with I’m not so bad. As long as nobody else is thinking about the big issues, I don’t have to either.

A good shiny object involves high levels of emotion and low levels of reasoning. It's better if the shiny object involves a topic that's easy to understand, something one can form an opinion about simply by gleaning half the facts and listening to our gut. The best ones are those that are just plain none of our business. (Salacious is ideal.)

Critical thinking and reasoned arguments are usually not necessary (or welcome), because we just know.

You can’t live in Shiny Object Land, the amount of change that occurs there makes it impossible to settle down anywhere. One can only visit for short periods of time. But it’s fun to go there, it’s so exciting. Bright lights, no challenges, lots of spin and comfortably numb.

Sarah Palin is the quintessential shiny object. As long as she is in the room we don't have to talk about McCain, his record, his plan for the future, the war in Iraq, the state of our union or anything else that matters. Because what we really need to talk about is whether or not that 5th baby is hers. And we need to talk about how hypocritical it is to preach against sex education when one has a pregnant 17 year old daughter planning a shot gun wedding to a guy who says "fuck" a lot on his MySpace page. We need to talk about whether or not she's a good shot, and a good mother.

As long as we do this we don't have to dissect the truth about government pork (she kept the money). The allegations of abuse of power. That she may have wanted to ban books in her town library. That she would rather not separate church and state. That she would like to outlaw abortion in every circumstance unless the mother is actually going to die. 

But who cares about that, let's talk about whether she should be at home with her children.

No one likes a shiny object more than me, but with the future of my country at stake I am working harder to stay focused and engaged. Every minute we spend discussing Palin is time we don't spend comparing McCain to Obama and talking about the issues that matter. Can we make judgments about whether or not she's a good mother? Sure. But is being a good mother relevant to being an effective (vice) president? I don’t think so. Has anyone ever voted against a man because they thought he wasn't a good father?

Just as I don't think that being a war hero is enough criteria to be president, neither do I think being a good or bad mother is relevant to this critical conversation about our future. By letting it seep in, we allow it to take our eyes off the ball. And with McCain ahead in the polls, I worry if we have enough balls left to win.

The good news about shiny objects is that they never last. Our collective ADD will provide us with a new shiny object before you know it and there will be pictures and blog posts and links galore – providing us with everything we need to keep our minds off our troubles.

The question for me is, will this shiny object last long enough for them to win the presidency? They popped this genie out of the bottle only 60 days before the election. Only time will tell if we, the collective, will get bored of her before we go to the polls, in time to do something about our future, or if we will wait until later, when it will be too late.

55 shopping days left

I tend not to write about politics for a number of reasons, one because I never feel as informed about the subject as I wish I was and two, I think that arguments about politics are similar to arguments about religion: heated, emotional and full of pseudo facts, which once fully aired don't change anyone's opinion.

I talked to my sister on the phone the other day and she tentatively asked me who I was voting for. I was surprised she might doubt my support for Obama but the truth is that I've never said anything either way to her. This time I made it clear: I will vote for him. Obama gives me something I've been missing for many years now: a reason to hope. A reason for my jaded heart to believe in a better future.

I could write an entire post on how important it is to have a sense of hope and what it's like to live without it, but I bet there are at least a few of you who could write that post for me. I personally have been living without hope for my country ever since we elected George W and then stupidly started the war in Iraq. Until Obama I had no reason to believe that anything would change. Politics was totally ruined for me. All of the politicians looked and sounded the same. Hungry for power. Lacking a moral compass. Those few who were decent people lacked either common sense or a spine. I still vote (mostly) but I've been gradually checking out of the political process because nothing ever seems to change for the better.

But now I see: change is definitely coming.

For me it's a choice between change for the better and change for the worse. That's right, I don't actually buy the whole "more of the same" argument about the McCain/Palin ticket. I think if McCain wins it will get worse.

For the record I don't dislike McCain and I don't doubt his reputation as a war hero. Fighting and dying for our country is serious shit, no matter how stupid the cause we send our soldiers to confront, and the men and women who do this for us deserve our respect.

But I don't vote for war heroes as such. When it comes to running my country, I have other ideas about what makes a person qualified to lead and make decisions on our behalf. Being captured, tortured and held in prison is not even remotely one of them.

What matters to me? I want the person who leads our country to be smart. I want to feel confident that he/she is paying attention to and taking care of the right things, and not focusing on (and funneling money to) things that don't make a positive difference for the country. What's a positive difference? How about reducing our 9 trillion dollar debt. Or doing something about our 6% unemployment rate (and hey, perhaps we can deal with the rest of the economy while we're at it). Being protective and realistic about energy and the environment (please stop telling me that the answer is to Drill Drill Drill. I don't believe a word of it).   

I want a president who knows right from wrong. Someone who isn't afraid to say the word "genocide" when faced with obvious evidence of it.

I want a president who truly cares about people. Not in an abstract "I love the people" kind of way but in the way of tangible, pragmatic, let's get our people educated and fed and provided with decent health care. 

I want a president who behaves like a citizen of the world, not the boss of it.

I don't trust a member of the Keating Five, no matter how contrite, to make good decisions about where to allocate our money. I don’t trust the man who has no idea how much it costs to buy a gallon of milk. A man who would sell his soul to the evangelists just to become president.  And I certainly can't trust a war hero who, despite five years of evidence to the contrary, feels we can win in Iraq and that it's okay to send the army to live there for the next 100 years.

I'm tired of my country being led by rich old men who lie and cheat without batting an eye, all the while claiming to care about the future. Actions speak louder than words. It's time for something dramatically different. Before it's too late.

I want to be proud of my country again. I want to travel around the world and feel welcome. I want us to be heroes. Not because we can kick everyone else's ass ('cause you know, it's getting a lot harder for us to do that these days), but because we are the people who do the right thing.

Xav and I were married in France almost 24 years ago. At our wedding his grandparents presented my grandfather with a special coin to thank him for his role as an engineer (actually a pretty dangerous job) in World War II. That week, every single person in the village treated him like a hero. Their sense of gratitude and appreciation was so heartfelt and genuine. It made me even more proud of him  - and of my country.

I want to feel proud like that again.

I want to be one of the good guys.

I believe Obama can do that.