Hookey

I'm totally supposed to be writing a real article about NYC politics. But instead I'm watching two different tv shows (Hulu and my big old box tv), eating pasta and licorice and basically just letting my brain melt into a big puddle. Not actually productive.  Unless zombies are around who need a little brain soup (yum!).

However, this whole brain puddle thing makes me think of that scene in Eat Pray Love where the Italian dude lectures Julia Roberts about how Americans basically don't know how to relax or live the good life. We all just work work work until we collapse mindlessly in front of a tv, too exhausted to enjoy the fruits of our labors. I was all hahaha stupid Americans when I saw that (I tend to choose which nationality I relate to most depending on fluctuating but scientific factors at any given moment) but you know what? I'm totally falling prey. I've been writing the associated content articles, working my regular job and also catering most weekends and my brain is just a little bit fried.  I clocked at 75 hours one week, which I'm sure some fieldworker in Guatemala will scoff at (while doing their daily required read of my blog) but dude, that's a lot for me.

This means that I'm kind of blowing off an article assignment because I don't want to deal with it. My Catholic guilt (it must be a genetic thing - I don't even go to church) will certainly kick in and I'll at least start on it tonight, but ...not...just...yet.  There's tv to watch.

We should be ashamed

I just came across this story on Yahoo! News, and it is so so sad and embarrassing that in this day and age a judge has apparently been getting away with this for YEARS.  In case you haven't heard yet, a judge in Louisiana is refusing to marry mixed race couples. Refusing. Illegally. A judge. Once that's sunk in, what is almost more alarming is that he has apparently been completely open about this, has been doing this for many years, and it is only now that a couple has actually stepped forward and complained.  I feel so ashamed as an American that we would keep a judge in office and pay him taxpayer money when he is breaking the law so blatantly. Especially when the manner in which he is breaking that law is flat out racist.  He should be fired, his cases should be reviewed, and the couples he insulted in this way should be apologized to. If we could get back the money we payed him that would be great too. Seriously.

No News is Good News, Which Means...

...that, conversely, all news is bad news.  At least today it seems that way. I've been reading the headlines (and the stories connected to them if they interest me) and they are doing nothing but pissing me off.

There's this gem :

Filmmakers demand Polanski's release  

I guess if you're a talented enough film maker/singer/artist you're allowed to drug and rape children. Huh. I didn't realize that.  I mean, people even have "Free Polanski" buttons! Are you kidding me? He is in jail because he committed, and pled guilty to, a very serious awful crime against a child.  Then again, I guess Woody Allen got away with having an affair with his underage step-daughter, Chris Brown got away with beating a woman (community service is getting away with it), and R.Kelly got away with (allegedly) peeing on some girl. And Michael Jackson may or may not have gotten away with molesting some kids, but I bet being famous didn't hurt him in the trial.  Because entertainers are our gods I guess, and while we like to see them fall, we don't want them to fall so far that we can't get to them.

And then of course the health care overhaul is just going swimmingly:

Senate panel rejects gov't-run insurance option

This makes me wish we lived in a dictatorship run by me, so I could just PASS THE DAMN PUBLIC OPTION ALREADY and then hand back power to the people afterwards. Like, come on! An option for health care run by the government, just like we have an option for education, postal service, and probably a bunch of other stuff that they run that make it possible for middle class people to, you know, live decent lives. Imagine if there was only private schools? Do you really think everyone would send their kids? UGH. Where would our country be then?  I do not get the fear of having a cheaper health care option offered by the government! We already give it to the elderly, to government workers, to the very very poor, to the army - they're all managing to avoid the ravenous death squads lurking in the bushes. It may not be perfect, but it definitely beats not being able to have any, or having to have pointless repetitive arguments with a ridiculous "customer service" rep at the wonderful private insurances about how that ambulance you had to take, that the 911 rep sent, is not covered by them because it's not "in network" and you owe hundreds of dollars for a five minute uneventful ride (TRUE. STORY.).  By the way, apparently most ambulances are not "in network." Good to know. Thanks expensive private insurance.

Oh, and P.P.S., the private health care system is so so so so much more likely to have "death squads" and to cut off coverage to those not deemed worthy than any government plan ever is.  

Those are actually probably the main stories that are offending my sense of what is right.  No doctors for the poor and child rapists treated as heroes. Yep. 




Edited to add: And here is a link to a story about a missing, pregnant, 12 year old girl that is on the front page of CNN. Too sad for words. 

Thoughts on Obama's Health Care Speech

I'm watching Obama's speech now and just hoping, hoping so much, that it will make the difference.

8:24 - I like that he went for emotions first, then went on to state the numbers and the facts.

8:26 - Now addressing the fears of radical change and shift - radical left or right would cause that (though I feel the right's "plan" would just result in way more without healthcare)... We are only 20% away from some kind of compromise. Our leaders need to get it together!

8:28 - It seems like he's really throwing the gauntlet here. The time for games has indeed passed.  Now to debunk some myths.

8:35 - I'm nervous about the requirement to carry health insurance...unless it is really really affordable, there are some people who just can't afford it.  He just got a laugh when he said there are still difference to iron out - and I don't think he meant to.

8:45 - Family emergency. Missed a few minutes of speech.

8:46 - Hmmm. I don't know how this is going to happen without adding "one dime to the deficit."

8:52 - Wow, the malpractice insurance reform point really got people riled up.

8:53 - Sad that health care costs less than tax cuts for the wealthy passed by Bush, and yet people don't want to pay it.

8:57 - Kennedy's widow looks about to cry. I'm glad Obama is referencing him. He's been fighting this battle far longer than any of us.  I'm also glad he's calling out Republicans who have worked with him, reminding them of what Kennedy was fighting for and why.

9:02 - I hope he's not getting too touchy feely. I think people want facts, as many as possible.

9:03 - And it's over. Let's see what happens.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Duggars and the Quiverfull movement

I recently read that Michelle Duggar, of "18 Kid And Counting," is pregnant with number 19.  She didn't even realize at first that she was pregnant (did she think she was going through menopause?) but is reported to be excited about it. I wonder if deep down there was just a bit of regret when she found out, if she was maybe in a little denial, since she more than anyone should recognize the signs of pregnancy.

I don't say that to judge her, or the Duggars in general. If she is truly happy then that's wonderful.  I admire her patience.  Their show is certainly a guilty pleasure of mine, and I love how organized, frugal and polite the family is.  I disagree with them in just about every possible way in terms of ideology, but I do like them.  They seem like great parents, but the more I read about their beliefs, the more worried I am.  And that's where the "guilty" part of the guilty pleasure comes in for me - because as sweet as they may be individually, the values they are trying to peddle scare me.

I worry about any family that raises daughters to be "submissive." I worry about this is ultra conservative countries, such as Iraq, and I worry about them in in ultra conservative families.   This comparison might seem inflammatory, but in terms of what they expect of women - modesty, obedience, fertility - they aren't all that different.  The Quiverful followers and the Taliban would probably agree on what a woman's place is, even if they disagree on many or all others points.

I worry because if these girls decide that maybe their husbands' decisions are really stupid and they can make better ones, well too bad. He's the boss, whether or not he's really more capable.  God apparently says so.  Even though God did not actually write the bible, men who lived in very different, very conservative times did, apparently everything in it must be straight from "his" mouth.

I worry because if their parents counsel them to behave a certain way, after they reach the age of 18, and they refuse, will they be cast out entirely? Is there room for dissent?  If the girls decide to wear pants and use birth control, will they still be welcome in the family? Will they still be allowed contact with their siblings and will they still receive the financial support that a non-dissenter would?  If they decide that they do want to kiss boys, and put off marriage and child birth for a career, even a serving one such as a doctor, will their parents have "failed?"

I ask because I believe in choice. I believe that if a woman chooses to stay at home and raise kids, great. If she chooses to be a working mom, great. If she decides to limit the number of kids she has, or if she doesn't, fine, that's up to her.  I'm on the liberal end of the spectrum when it comes to family planning. I believe if you don't find Mr. Right and you can financially and emotionally support a child yourself, go for it.  I believe in choices.  And that's why I worry about the Duggar girls. Because I wonder if those choices are there.

Every parent tries to raise their kids to share their values. I don't fault the Duggars for that, though I DO believe in evolution, birth control, the rights of women to choose whether to keep a pregnancy and so forth.  I disagree with them, but hey, they disagree with me.  The thing is, if I had a daughter who decided to get married young and have twenty kids, and who always "obeyed" her husband I would still love and support her.  She would still be in my life.  I would be very disappointed in myself for not raising her to feel that it is ok to be equal to her husband, and wonder how she had turned out that way, but if that was her choice, so be it.

Do the Duggar girls have that choice? Do they understand that they can do everything their brothers can, that their judgement is just as good, they are just as capable, and that there is no reason they should "submit" to a man?  That they don't need marriage and children to be worthy? That men and women might be different physically, and maybe even mentally and emotionally, but not in any kind of way that makes women subservient, submissive, or sub anything else either.

And that is the crux of my dilemma with the Duggars, and watching them.  There is a lot to be admired in their lifestyle, but the only reason they can have 19 kids is because some families out there are having 1. They can live the way they live precisely because other people choose to live differently.  If everyone had 19 we would in just a few generations be bursting at seams. China didn't institute its one child policies because it hates babies.  Who hates babies? It had to, because they ran out of room and resources. And I think it's awful and there is nothing more contrary to democracy than having the government tell you how many kids you can have, but if everyone was having 19 they probably would eventually have to step in here too.

There is a yin and yang here, a balance, and it is important for it to be maintained. Conservative religious people who want to have large families, who believe in accepting what life throws at you as a challenge and blessing from god, who want to keep things as they are or revert things to how they were, well good for them. But good for us liberals too.  Good for us for civil liberties,  for religious freedom, for embracing the rainbow, for seeing that different is not lesser and for always pursuing change.  This valuing of the past and the future are complementary in a way.  If everyone was super conservative or super liberal the world would be a worse place.  None of us are right all the time.

That's kind of where I'm willing to fight though.  I'm not telling them what to do. But they, namely the Quiverful movement and other ultra conservatives, are trying to tell ME what to do, and that's where I have a problem. Don't tell me to be submissive. Don't tell me that birth control is a sin. Don't tell me how I should live my life if I want to get to heaven, because that's both a bribe and a threat, and I don't appreciate that.  I'm not a donkey - I don't need a carrot on one end and a whip on the other.  You live your life, I'll live mine.

I'll even watch your show and grow to like you.  But I truly hope, that when these children get old enough to choose, that they have a choice to make.  I hope that Anna Duggar is as happy as a second generation Quiverful follower as Michelle is as a first generation one, who got to wear short skirts and go to public school and choose.

Midsummer Night's Dream

As I mentioned previously, I attended a health care rally on Saturday. Though I wasn't able to stay through the whole thing I was so proud to be there at all, and be marching for something so important. It was really inspiring that so many other people showed up too! Hopefully the ball really starts to roll on that issue, in a positive direction, and something can finally get done. I felt a little silly chanting, but I got over it.

Enthusiastic rally leader : "What do we want!!??"

Me : "Health care."

Rally leader: "When do we want it!!?"

Me : "Now?"

I wasn't quite that bad, but a public speaker (or shouter) I am not.

Saturday was kind of filled with important events, since that's also the day I handed over my security deposit for the studio I'm moving into (please work out!!). In between those two important events though I spent a really nice afternoon watching A Midsummer Night's Dream over on Governor's Island. It was great. The cast was wonderful (and I'm not just saying that because I know one of the actors!) and though my boyfriend is more of a theatre buff then me, I do always have fun when I go.

We were able to explore the island a little too, which, by the way, I cannot believe there are all those beautiful buildings and houses just SITTING there, wasted. I wish I had a camera, since it didn't even feel like I was in the city. One thing I am discovering about New York City is that there are all these little pockets in the city, where you feel like you're somewhere else entirely.

Governor's Island kind of feels like a post-apocalypse English countryside, in the nicest possible way. There's a little fort, and lots of cute little white painted houses, and stately brick buildings. There's also an abandoned stone hospital and a library with paint slowly peeling off the clapboards, which I think would make an great horror movie set.

I didn't realize there was a place like that just a seven minute ferry ride from NYC, and hopefully one day the city will be able to put it to some use. I think it would make a great self contained university campus, and my bf pointed out its Renaissance Fair potential (yes, I do have a dress I wear to those, I'm a little embarrassed to admit). If I ever get the chance to go to one here, I'll post some pictures for you all.

Health Care (yes, again)

Tomorrow I'm marching for health care. I don't remember ever attending a rally before but this is definitely a cause worth showing up for. Being a dual citizen I have had a taste of what government health care can be in my other country. I liked that taste. I had the flu and was able to see a doctor, be prescribed medicine and pick that medicine up all totally for free.

I love America, without reserve. But you don't get that here. Even if you have private health care there's always a co-pay and who wants to pay $40 for a visit and some medicine for just the flu? So we (well I, but I bet I'm not the only one) struggle on, sick longer than we have to be, costing our workplaces money by not being able to work. It makes no sense to me. If we have public libraries, public schools, public roads, etc. why is public health care so different? Because it's more expensive? If people could afford better early care less people would get sick enough to need the really expensive stuff.

And if it's too expensive for the government, for a community as a whole, to be able to cover it, imagine what a drain on an individual household it is. Especially if you can't work due to your illness. Private insurance is so so so expensive. Too expensive unless you work for a business big enough to pay for it for you - which by the way, does cost you, because if your boss wasn't paying hundreds of dollars a month for your health care maybe they could give you that raise you want so bad. And talk about death panels, they turn people down all the time. Have you ever heard of a compassionate caring insurance company? Please.

I did some research. I'm young and healthy and it would cost almost $200 a month for me to get the most basic catastrophe insurance. I would still have deductibles to meet, still have co-pays, still have potentially thousands of dollars of out of pocket expense for an illness or accident. And it would cost me more than food does a month for something that could still bankrupt me and that I hope I would not ever use.

I would rather pay slightly higher taxes (yeah I said it) and know that I was covered, because those taxes could never possibly add up to what it would cost me to pay for private health care myself, or cost me as much as it would if I ever got sick while on that private plan. Not everyone can work for a big company and be covered. Lots of people work for small businesses or want to start them. Lots of people freelance. Lots of people, especially right now, are in between jobs and many artists/actors/entertainers may never have jobs that are covered. Do we not count?

So I'm marching tomorrow. I hope I'm not alone. And I really hope our Senators, and Obama, and Hillary and everyone else who has the power to make a change follows through and we finally, FINALLY, have what most other first world countries take for granted.

Health Care

I just wrote to both of my state's senators to express my views on the current health care crisis. I don't know if anyone will ever read it but I feel good that I've done something to try to influence our representatives to fix the system. It is not enough but maybe if enough people write in praising the attempt to fix and change health care instead of screaming in fear against it, some progress will finally be made. Health care in this country is clearly broken and something needs to be done. Please, if you have something to say on this issue, please add your voice and write to your own representatives.

Health Care Addendum

I just read an article on MSN about medical tourism and it is just embarrassing that someone who needs, for example, a heart valve transplant can get it for almost 20 times less somewhere else. Yeah, we're a first world country and there is some peace of mind that comes with that but $160,000 vs $9,000? Where the hell is all that money going? It's absolutely shameful and is a big reason why we need a total health care overhaul in this country. I've wrote a post not too long ago about my stance on public healthcare and this article just reinforces that opinion.

Ding Dong the Witch is - wait, what?

Yay! She's giving up some power! It does make me a little nervous as to what she's got planned though. You know it's not that she suddenly realized she's not qualified or capable.

Health Insurance Rant

I believe we should have a state/government run health insurance program for EVERYONE in this country. This is what I believe, though I know many people are horrified at the thought.

When the show I worked on went on haitus a few months ago I was briefly left without health insurance, as I could not afford to pay for Cobra. When the stimulus plan kicked in suddenly it became affordable for me, though still my biggest expense other than rent and student loan bills. It was really scary not being covered, because I knew that one minor illness or accident, one hospital or even maybe a doctor's visit, would leave me in debt for years. I don't make a lot of money right now. Hopefully one day I will, but right now I am getting by by budgeting carefully and hoping that nothing goes wrong. Many people are.

I had a family member pass away from cancer a few years ago. It's a devestating disease. Due to the fact he lived in Europe his family was not left with crippling debt or bankruptcy on top of the loss of their loved one. When people get very sick here, they better be covered and they better stay covered because otherwise not only will they be in debt for the rest of their lives, they risk running out of money to even get treated at all, or they get subpar treatment.

And if they recover, if they then lose their coverage for whatever reason good luck ever getting covered again- insurance companies don't want to touch people with a history of serious illness with a ten foot stick. You'd better hope you stay healthy forever!

Add this to the fact that though public education is free (which it should be, by the way) but that if you are sick you're on your own and the system seems really fucked up. One day, down the line, if I have kids, I can teach them to read and teach them history, etc, if I have to. There are books out there to teach ME what I need to teach them. People homeschool all the time.

I cannot learn to administer chemo from a book if someone I love gets sick. I cannot learn to do a triple bypass or how to create antibiotics in my kitchen.

As much as I think free public education is important, I think free healthcare (well, not free, but public since nothing in this world is free) is more important by far. If I had to choose for my family, I would choose health care every time. If you are well enough off your kids probably go to private schools and have private healthcare anyway. If you are not rich, the state should provide both. But you can't fix dead. You can teach someone to read or whatever at any point but you can't bring them back if they die from lack of care.

So why does everyone basically agree that education is a divine right in this country but healthcare isn't? Why are some conservatives horrified at the thought of a government run program? I'm not saying education is not important. I think it's critical. I think without it we would collapse back into the dark ages. I would fight for it to the end. But do people not feel the same way about health care? Why is that somehow our own problem?

I was just at a website that has a lot more facts and data than I do, and it is worth reading about, but do we really need a ton of statistics to understand this? Isn't it common sense?

Feminism

I was just on Momversation and they had a post up about Feminism, asking whether we considered ourselves feminists. I definitely do.

I am a proud feminist.

Contrary to the stereotype I don't see it as trying to be better than men or fighting them,but just demanding to be seen as equal. Equal pay, equal protection, equal responsibilities. Makes sense right? Paying a woman less than a man, or denying a woman a job because of her gender are and definitely should be illegal, but I know it still happens. On the other hand, I don't think ex-wives getting huge alimony payments for the rest of their lives to be particular feminist (but then I don't think it's fair when it goes the other way either [Kevin Federline!]).

If there's ever a draft again I think women should be drafted under the same criteria as men, unless they have a very young child that they are still nursing. Probably parents of young children should be exempt in general actually. When child custody is decided each parent should get equal time unless there is a valid reason. I think adults should have to take care of themselves. I think women are just as capable as men and I truly don't understand how it can be argued otherwise. That's my take on feminism. We don't need to be coddled, but neither should we be targeted because of our sex.

Anyway, there's a whole intersting discussion going on at Momversation but I had enough to say that I wanted to post it here.