AliThinks

I Wish I Had A Snappy Title For This Post

Today a Facebook friend from high school posted an AP photo of President Obama. She said "This picture was actually attached to an AP article entitled Many Obama 2008 supporters defecting to GOP....is it just me, or do I detect a little craziness in his eye? maybe its just the full moon...."

I thought of commenting that the media often uses unflattering photos of personalities. Then I thought better of it, so I said nothing.

Then I saw that another guy who was in our high school class said this about the photo: "He's a liberal...of course he's nuts."

I took the bait.

I replied, "Gee, based on that logic, I must be nuts too."

To which the guy said "That would be correct."

I replied back, "Wow. Have a great Sunday. See ya!" 

I just didn't want to get into a political argument with someone I wasn't even friends with back in high school.

My friend who'd posted the link called him out on the name calling (he'd also spewed some other stuff about liberals, then said "You can't fix stupid. LOL"), and I have to commend her for that. It was also her space that was being used, so I don't blame her. 

I addressed her, and agreed with what she had said regarding politics. She is more conservative than I am, I am pretty sure, but she seems to be open to other points of view, and doesn't label people.

The point here is two threefold: No matter our political beliefs, those who are on the other side of the spectrum are not crazy or stupid. And yes, it took a lot for me to write that. But being labeled "nuts" and "stupid" by someone whose beliefs are more conservative than my own made me realize that we tend to operate in generalities.

The other second point is that we can always learn something from the other side.

The third is that it's important to vote.

And there's another thing I thought about all afternoon: I'm proud of who I am, of my principles and beliefs. That might be another blog entry, although as my t-shirt rightly states, I never finish anyth

Well, Yes, Indeed...

...I was feeling down when I posted my last entry. Thank you for your kind comments.

In the meantime, I've been distracted by the political goings-on in my adopted state of Kentucky. And while I have never blogged much about politics, I may have to make an exception during the next six months.

First, we're going to have a close mayoral race here in Lexington. The primary this past Tuesday has left us with the choice of the incumbent or the vice-mayor. I'm not going to talk about this race right now.

Second, Kentucky has a retiring senator, and so his seat in Congress is wide open. If you're in the States, you're probably aware that the Republican candidate who's aligned with the Tea Party, Rand Paul, handily won the primary on Tuesday. Paul beat Trey Grayson, Kentucky's Secretary of State, who was endorsed by longtime Kentucky Republican Senator and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

Less talked about was the race for the Democratic primary. The two major candidates, Jack Conway and Daniel Mongiardo, were neck and neck during ballot counting on Tuesday night. Jack Conway won by a very small margin. I'm glad he won, because Jack Conway is pro-choice and Dan Mongiardo is not. And I'm a woman who believes that women should have the right to control their health, and that includes the right to have an abortion should circumstances* warrant it. 

*Rape, incest, the condom broke, you forgot to take your pill, whatever, I don't care.

(Hey, guess what? I don't want to get into a debate on abortion on this particular blog entry. If you don't agree with me, please save your rage. And I hate that I feel like I have to add that disclaimer. What the fuck? Also, I have been pro-choice since I was old enough to understand what that meant; I am a mother; I will support pro-choice organizations and candidates until the day I die.)

And now Kentucky finds itself in the spotlight. We have Rand Paul (Tea Party Darling) versus Jack Conway (Pretty Liberal Democrat For Kentucky). 

I'm not going to get into the controversy currently surrounding Rand Paul. I'll direct you to my friend Joe's blog for that. Start here if you are reading this long after I post it. 

What I will say is that I'm going to help Jack Conway win the November election.

Angry

So last night history was made when the House of Representatives passed a Health Care Reform bill, 220-215.

Not to get all über-feminist on you, but it is truly HIStory. In this health care bill, women get the shaft. Pun intended. Let's all bend over, ladies.

I'd be elated that we are on the way to health care reform in this country if it weren't for a little thing called the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which will make it illegal for even private insurers to cover abortion costs. Planned Parenthood has a great explanation:

The Stupak/Pitts amendment violates the spirit of health care reform, which is meant to guarantee quality, affordable health care coverage for all. In fact, this amendment would create a two-tiered system that would punish women, particularly those with low and middle incomes, the very people this bill is intended to assist. The majority of private health insurance plans currently offer abortion coverage, and the Stupak/Pitts amendment would result in the elimination of private abortion coverage in the ‘exchange,’ the new insurance market created under health care reform, as well as in the public option, if one is created.

I'm angry, because although I'm lucky enough to be able to afford birth control (and an abortion, if I ever needed one), this amendment means that so many other women will not have access to such care.

Abortion is a legal procedure that has helped millions of women stay on course with the lives they want to lead. Nobody wants to have an abortion. But sometimes the condom breaks. Your antibiotic interferes with your Pill. Or, worse, you're the victim of rape and you get pregnant. 

It's unconscionable that health care coverage for a legal procedure is being tampered with, especially on the private level. (There's been no public funding for abortions, except in certain cases, since 1977.) 

This post is not meant to spark a moral debate on abortion. I am firmly pro-choice; I always have been and I always will be. If you think abortion is wrong, that's your prerogative. But as it's a legal (yes, I said it again. LEGAL.) medical procedure in this country, the debate needs to lie with whether the government has any right to legislate the private insurers' coverage of it.

I know, how ironic. I'm rooting for the private insurers on this one, but only because I'm rooting for women and their rights. And the Stupak-Pitt amendment relegates us to second-class citizen status.

On Health Care

Several weeks ago, in a comment to a ranty post about SUVs, a reader (Salut, Jean!) challenged me to write about the health care issue from the point of view of someone who's experienced a different system. 

Here, then, is How I See It:

• Health care should not be a privilege that only some can afford.
• Barack Obama is not a Marxist, or even a Socialist.
• I'm willing to pay taxes for roads, schools, police and fire protection, and libraries. I'm also willing to pay taxes for health insurance.
• My French example for Americans: I gave birth to two children over there. They were normal births, yet I stayed in the maternity ward for five days each time. The only charge was for the telephone line (I didn't have a cell phone at the time). Why such a long stay? To make sure both the babies and I were healthy. Preventive care, it's sometimes called.
• I had 200 € ($295) withheld from my last French paycheck for health care costs. 150 went into the national pool, 50 went to my mutuelle, or complementary insurance. That's a lot of money, but I never worried about what would happen to me financially if I had an accident or got really ill. Oh, and that was a monthly paycheck.
• We're all in this together.
• Healthy citizens make for a healthy country.
• If there is no public option in this health care reform, then it's not reform.
• Medicare and the VA system are socialist ideas that (mostly) work for different sections of the population. We need a system for everybody.

There's more, of course, but that's just a short list of top-of-my-head thoughts. I read a great blog entry by comic strip author Dan Piraro yesterday, and I encourage you to read it too. Here's a select quote: 

People opposing health care are afraid the government will control their lives. Right now, huge corporations control our lives by controlling our health care and virtually every other aspect of our lives. At least I can vote against a government. I have no recourse against CEOs.

I encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments. I'd love for some of my American bloggers in France to pipe up. If you disagree with me, pipe up. Oh, and I will answer comments with comments, rather than a personal email.

On Tea Parties

I'd heard about the Tea Party thing, because there was one in Lexington a couple of weeks ago, and the Tea Partiers were upset that our local paper didn't cover their event. I thought that the Herald-Leader probably didn't have enough reporters, seeing as how they'd just laid off a bunch of staff.

This past Saturday, Allan and I were walking around Pittsburgh's North Side Shore Side Shore, when we happened upon a Tea Party. Alan Keyes was the keynote speaker, and while we didn't stick around to hear his speech, we did get to see him dump tea (or some facsimile thereof) into the Allegheny River.

I took a few photos, which you can see here. We did hear some words from the man who organized this particular Tea Party. I didn't catch his name, but he did say that Congress passed the stimulus bill without even reading it. The crowd cheered, and I said "What about the PATRIOT Act?" No one heard me except Allan and maybe the woman with the Sarah Palin button on her hat; we were on the Roberto Clemente bridge, and the speakers were on Allegheny Landing.

And then the man said, "There are laws, laws we have to obey. Can you imagine that I had to get a permit to exercise my First Amendment rights?" The crowd cheered, and I said "Maybe because it's a question of public safety, and no one is infringing on your First Amendment rights?" He went on to say that the government was above the law. I'd say it is, because no one challenged George W. Bush's decimation of our Constitution.

I can't say I didn't understand some of the sentiments I witnessed on Saturday. I did. But most of the signs the folks were holding had me saying "Really?" à la Kyle (or Stan — I can't remember which one said it, in which episode, but it was a high-pitched, head-tilted question) from South Park.

I also can't say I'm happy about the whole stimulus thing, but I'd like to know what the opposition has in mind, and I want them to spell out how it will be better than what the Obama administration has done so far.

Let Me Just, You Know, Mark The Occasion

Woo-hoo!

It's been a long eight years.

PS: There's so much being said out there that I wanted to keep it short. :)

A Salute

I've been silent because my laptop couldn't connect to the wifi where we were staying. No matter, I was in France to be with my kids, not be on the internet.

So we did it. I cried when I turned on Sky News early Wednesday morning; they were tears of joy and pride and my kids didn't quite understand my reaction.

We did it. Yes, we did.

But despite our historic choice of president, despite overcoming deep-seated prejudice to elect an African-American man to the highest office, we still have a long way to go in the quest of equality for all.

Unless you've been under a rock the past couple of days, you'll know that Prop 8, which bans gay marriage in California, has passed. The margin was slim, 52 to 48%, I believe. Similar bans were passed in Florida and Arizona.

But those of us who believe that marriage = love, that sexual orientation doesn't and shouldn't matter, are saying "enough." I got the idea for this from AndreAnna, who got it from Swistle, who got it from Allen.

So here's what this newly-married heterosexual mother thinks about Prop 8:

Update: Catheroo has a better explanation and a better photo than I do!

Finally!

Today I get to vote!

That's all I have to say about that.

EDIT: I know Hillary Clinton is going to trounce Barack Obama in Kentucky. I am interested in seeing the geographical breakdown of the votes, though.

RE-EDIT: No surprise. Clinton takes Appalachia; Obama takes the metro areas.

Liveblogging The Super Tuesday Returns

I'm here at our local meeting of Drinking Liberally, where fifteen of us (so far) have gathered to watch the returns and have some food and drink.

Before I start blogging about this (which will be sporadic, since my view of the TV screen is obscured by a large plant, and I also plan to talk to people instead of just typing on my keyboard), let me state a few opinions about our political process:

• The electoral college really needs to go.
• All fifty states should hold the primary on the same day, so that all the candidates get a fair shot.
• It'd be great if the other political parties in the country stood a chance.

Okay, so that's not very elaborate, but there's a lot of noise and conversation here.

Just after we arrived here, CNN announced that Obama had taken Georgia.

7:41 pm: Don't know how much I'll be able to do. The connection is pretty spotty, since Lexington for Obama is also at this restaurant. The wireless network is taking a serious hit.

8:51 pm: So I ate a delicious burger with teriyaki sauce and swiss cheese. Yum. The returns so far have not been a surprise.

9:04 pm: Obama takes Delaware. I totally nailed that one.

9:10 pm: Gah! Nowhere to plug in the laptop!

9:40 pm: We are home now; the DL event was fun and loud and there were a ton of people. With the wi-fi going in and out I wasn't able to comment as things were happening. Ah well. Other people are better-suited for political commentary anyway.

10:25 pm: Huckabee is really doing this well? I fear for our country and its constitution. I mean, I didn't expect him to get any delegates.

11:22 pm: Gritting my teeth about the California returns. Edge of my seat.