On the Dr. Ford's testimony against Kavanaugh

What really happened today...

White men of power:  "We believe her, but we don't care."

"If I were a younger man, I would be working for Kucinich."

“If I were a younger man, I would be working for Kucinich.”  - My father, 2003.

Long a fan of Dennis Kucinich, I stumbled across a recent article declaring him a man who has been ahead of his time for the majority of his political career.  They stopped short of declaring that his time has come, but this is something we may have some indication of when the Ohio Democratic Gubernatorial primary is held on May 8. 

 Here is a short list of reasons why I consider Kucinich worth voting for. 

·       Given an F rating by the NRA.  Supports an assault weapons ban.

·       Supports $15 minimum wage for Ohio.

·       Wants to end all fracking and drilling in Ohio.

·       Says he’ll turn the governor’s mansion into a homeless shelter.

·       Has two beagle mixes.  (Of course, I don’t vote for people because of their pets, but it is a plus.)

He also has a lifetime record of fighting for his principles.  The most notable of these was against the fight to privatize the city power utility when Kucinich was Mayor of Cleveland.  After struggling against powerful interests, including a hit placed on his life by a local mob boss, he eventually lost his reelection bid, but the city utility was not privatized.  In the 90’s Kucinich was cited by the City Council for his “courage”  which saved the people of Cleveland over $195 million dollars by keeping the utility in public hands. 

Returning to my father’s quote, early in 2003 my father declared his support for John Kerry.  Privately he made the above statement to me.  A political scientist and man who found great joy in the sport of politics, he had a long history of working for principled candidates who pushed issues forward but rarely had personal electoral success.   (See Gene McCarthy in 1976.  My father was on the ballot in Ohio as his running mate.)  Even so he had never been to a party convention, and he wanted to be a delegate.  Unbeknownst to me, he also knew that his mild cognitive decline was the beginning of something much larger and this would be one of his last campaigns.  Sadly, he was not chosen as a delegate, something he blamed on being just another white man. He poured his energies into the race, but at his core he saw the solutions to the problems of our society as being something that a candidate like Kerry, unlike Kucinich, would never address.

Shooting Arrows at a Castle…

Dear Westminster Friends and Friends of Westminster,

Like many of us, and especially those who live far away, I am in the dark about what is going on currently regarding the attempted sale of Westminster.   Lawsuits proceed at a slow pace, and Rider University releases only unspecific reassurances.  While I hope for the best of outcomes, I fear for what will be left of our beloved Westminster by the time the courts and other negotiations have finished. 

I know that many of you have been, and continue to work tirelessly in much more effective ways than I can suggest.  Thank you.  Here are a few paltry ideas of things to try to shine much needed light on what is going on.  If Rider’s efforts are actually for the best, some outside scrutiny should be nothing for anyone to fear.  What follows is a short list of things I think may be worth trying.  I welcome you to add your own.

                                                                       

NYT

tips@nytimes.com

metro@nytimes.com

thearts@mytimes.com

(I don’t believe the NYT has said one word about the current situation.)

PhillyNews.com

lakerb@phillynews.com

jurgo@phillynews.com

Contact Form:   http://www.philly.com/philly/about/feedback/

NJ.com

news@njtimes.com or call 609-989-5679

AP

info@ap.org

(The AP did run one story that was picked up by the Seattle Times a number of months ago.) 

Economic Update

The attempted sale of Westminster and the problems between the Rider Administration and the AAUP are exactly the type of things I would love to hear Richard Wolf talk about.  If the sale happens, Westminster will only be the harbinger of more to come.  Here is a link to my request for him to cover this.  You can either elevate this request or file your own.

http://www.rdwolff.com/sanderson/entire_college_faculty_given_pink_slips_by_university_before_sale_of_college_tavp3haxczx41ukvula23g?recruiter_id=97333

Democracy Now

Contact Form: 

https://www.democracynow.org/contact

Call:

(212) 431 – 9090

ELECTED OFFICIALS

Senator Corey Booker 

(202) 224-3224  Washington Office

(973) 639-8700   Newark Office 

(856) 338-8922    Camden Office

Senator Bob Menendez  

(202) 224-4744 Washington Office

(202) 224-4744   Barrington Office

(973) 645-3030    Newark Office

State Senator Christopher Bateman, district 16 (609) 526-3600

State Assembly Jack M. Ciattarelli  (908) 450 - 7064

State Assembly Andrew Zwicker  (609) 454 – 3147

Rider University Board of Trustees

-          The list of trustees is on the Rider site.  If you Google, you can find email addresses, street addresses and phone numbers for many of these people or their places of business online.  I am happy to privately share those email addresses that I have found. 

-          Since the sale has not gone through, and these people are the only ones with the direct power to reverse the prior decision.  I see nothing wrong in respectfully letting them know again and again what we think.

My picture of Hillary Clinton

I used to have a picture of Hillary Clinton on my wall.  In 1999, I was the accompanist for a middle school choir that sang at the White House at a Christmas Party for volunteers.  Towards the end of the performance Hilary came to greet us, and I shook her hand before she took a picture with the group.  The children stood on risers with Hilary on the right. My 24-year-old self was bunched in with the other adults on the left. The picture was strange; the photographer had achieved a perspective where Hillary looked like the tallest one in the frame.

I loved that picture, and I liked Hillary.  Other adults on the trip commented that she seemed cold when they met her.  I thought that she must shake a lot of hands, and I couldn’t imagine the personal energy and time it takes to be warm with every person she must meet.  I loved how smart she was, yet it mystified me that I knew a lot of people with whom I otherwise politically agreed who just didn’t like her at all.  In some cases, I recognized in their judgements the double standard towards women that I had always seen in my own life and lives of other strong women around me.  

Back in the Bill Clinton era, I was in undergraduate studies and then newly in the workforce.  I called myself a feminist openly and got so much push back that I called myself a “feminazi” to make light of it.  I often said that my definition of feminism was “the belief that a person’s opportunities or access to life should not be limited by their gender.”  When put like this, many more people claimed to agree with me. I was apparently known in my community as a “feminazi,” and not always in the good way.  When I met my now partner, he heard in serious tones from someone who knew someone I went to college with over 10 years before and on the opposite coast that I was “a feminazi.”

 

One of the few bright points in the otherwise dismal media coverage of the 2016 campaign is the attention payed to the rampant misogyny arrayed against Mrs. Clinton.  I would agree that yes, she has always played politically on a rigged field, as every woman in life plays on a rigged field.  I am glad that these things are finally news.  I am delighted that the word “mansplaining” has entered the common lexicon, and I am happy for the good that this growing awareness could do for women everywhere. 

My problem is that many legitimate criticisms are now being dismissed as sexist.  If I try to point out that it sends a bad message when someone claiming to be a champion of the poor wears a $12,000 coat as they talk about inequality, I am attacked for being sexist for criticizing what she wears.  If I try to say that her foreign policy record swings towards the hawkish, I am attacked saying that I wouldn’t make such a charge against a man with a similar record. Perhaps that is true for some of her critics, but that is not where I am coming from, and her record makes this a valid concern.  

As an American with left leaning political tendencies, I have been profoundly disappointed with her record.  From her blind support for Israel and vilification of the Palestinians to her promotion of fracking around the globe, from her vote for the war in Iraq to her on camera displays of arrogance and condescension towards Black Lives Matter protestors, I am heartbroken for what she might have been instead.  Regardless of gender or intellect, she has sadly become a candidate that I cannot believe in or actively support.* 

As for me, the picture with Hillary is no longer on my wall.  It's demise happened a number of years ago after I put my things into storage while preparing for a move overseas.  I was heartbroken when I finally opened what I thought was a safe time capsule to discover that water had permeated everything leaving a moldy inky ruin in its wake.  If I still had it, I might still keep it out.  In the dining room, I keep a picture of Richard Nixon in mid stride while bowling.  A large button proclaiming “I like Ike” was my Christmas tree topper a few years ago. I am a political animal, after all.  There is still time and hope for Hillary that she might do something to make her portrait again worthy of a place honor in my home. 

*And what about the orange-tinted menace who uses some of the most openly misogynistic language of any modern candidate?  Would I rather have him with that type of power or with the nuclear codes?  Of course not. The outcome of not voting for Hilary as portrayed in the media still feels so absurd that I almost feel as if I am being played in a giant show designed to create support for a predetermined outcome. But that would be an idea for another blog post. 

A Prayer for Election Season

In church on Sunday, one of our prayers asked God for help that in the midst of this divisive election season that we might refrain from demonizing the other side.  I was so struck by this!  

Demonization of everyone not like “us” is everywhere.  Clinton v. Trump v. Third Parties v. DNC and on and on, and the candidates are leading the charge to the bottom.  Oddly enough, after Hillary’s now infamous “basket of deplorables” comment, I came across a recent interview of Bill Clinton online where he was not demonizing Trump supporters.  He was talking about looking at the life circumstances of many of the people in the demographics that contain the strongest Trump supporters.  He was talking with Trevor Noah about looking at where these people were coming from.  I am no fan of many of the policies championed and enacted by Bill Clinton, but at least he offered some lip service to the need to look at things from the other side’s perspective. 

So much of the anger underlying this demonization online is misdirected anger. I would summarize my recent Facebook reads in the statement,“Dubya was the fault of all you Nader loving contrarians!” I would ask, where is the anger at the Supreme Court for stopping the count or for the State of Florida who purged 181,157 voters purged from the rolls in the lead up to the 2000 election?  Where is the outrage over the butterfly ballots in Palm Beach County where it is estimated that they took around 2,800 votes from Gore and gave them to Pat Buchanan (Palm Beach Post.)  Looking at 2016, where is the concern over our voting process itself?  Look at what happened in NY, Brooklyn, Arizona and California.  Where is the concern, the outrage over the probability that our democracy could be hacked in a million different ways, that our voting system is not secure?  There is so much that is wrong with our country that deserves our energy, attention and outrage!  

Creating hard feelings isn’t going to help us on Nov. 9.  No matter which candidate moves into the White House next, it is going to be a tough road for most of us.  If we have alienated each other, if we have broken the ties of friendship, if we have lost the ability to listen, if we continue to blame each other rather than acknowledging and looking honestly at the powerful forces that have set the stage what is for so many of us a horrible choice, then we will not be able to work together for a better world in the face of what is to come. 

 

The Ascendancy of the Easy Answer: My under-informed thoughts on the Brexit

With 95% of the total in, it looks as though the populace of Britain has voted to leave the EU. 

Who am I?  I have no qualifications to write on this.  Ten years ago next month I moved back to the US after two years as a graduate student in London, an illuminating and priceless experience.  And an experience that was, again, 10 years ago.  The people I am still acquainted with in England are either Eastern European friends or English people I sang with at a church in Fulham.  Everyone I know there thought this was a terrible idea and has been aghast at the entire proceeding. 

From this side of the Atlantic, it looks as if the Brexit was viewed by many as the easy answer.  If you think and read enough, you normally come to believe that easy answers do not exist.  Who do you blame for the economic challenges in your life?  Who do you blame for all that is wrong in your community and country?  It is much easier to blame Europe.  It is much easier to blame the people who don't look or speak like you, the people who weren't so numerous when you were younger and times were better.  It is much easier to let this be their fault. It is much easier to kill an MP than work to form a rational argument against what she has to say.

I fear that we are entering dark times as a species and as a planet.  So much is wrong and none of the answers are simple. 

My country is facing its own horrible choice in November.  I know what I won't do, but I haven't yet decided what I will do. 

Donald Drumpf appears to me as an American style Brexit in that he is an easy answer, albeit an easy answer with a bad hairdo.  Rather than facing the fact that our leaders have lied to us and sold us out with their neoliberal policies, elephant and donkey alike, many voters will look at the Other and blame them.  They will look at the Mexican immigrant who has a job, a job they would probably never take but a job none the less, and say that person took the job from someone like me.  They will look at the violence in their community, and rather than examining the closet of guns in their own house, they will blame the guy who worships at the mosque down the street.  Dare I say that this new demogogue says just enough that IS true to lend a sheer of legitimacy to all he says with no basis in reality.  Yet these lies are easy to accept because they do not require thought.  They do not require self-examination. 

God save us all from the tyranny of accepting the easy answer.

Hilary vs. Trump: The Oligarchical Dream Race

Hilary vs.Trump = Oligarchical win- win: A Trump win can be blamed on Bernie supporters and used to discredit progressive ideas for another decade or a more.  A Hilary win can be used to legitimize a continuance of neoliberal policies while ensuring the silence of most of her supporters over continued economic devastation, war and extra judicial killing.