Thank You, Washington, DC

Someone that I love recently noted that DC has now, under the Obama administration, which won't even bother to put a "No taxation w/o representation" plate on its cars, been able to do some of the things that it wants to do. One of those things has been to, in the face of large objections from the patriarchs at Catholic Charities, allow people who are in love to get married. That's a v good thing. It's v good.

I live on the Potomac watershed, in the larger-than-life shadow cast by Columbia, atop the Capitol Buiding. I am quite glad that DC is now, also, a place where people who love each other can get married, even if the patriarchy has shit fits.

My New Name For A Blog

What NTodd Said:

I know not everybody can be in their Congressmembers' faces every day like a K-Streeter. However, we all can build up some level of relationship with our elected employees by making regular contact with them (e.g., through electronic means) and following up with more individual and/or collective actions on a less frequent basis (e.g., meeting with Reps and Senators during "district work periods").

More here.

Spocko

I count myself in nothing else so fortunate as in a soul, remembering my good friends.

~Wm. Shakespeare

I have to say that I consider myself quite fortunate to call Spocko my friend. Some lovely Chinese health balls that Spocko gave to me sit on my altar and I use them whenever a ritual calls for making a lot of noise. I was present at Eschaton II where Spocko got one of the longest standing ovations that I (an aficionado of the ballet where prolonged standing ovations are common) have ever seen, for his work taking out talk radio hate hosts. Spocko often works years and years for a single "win," usually considering, experimenting with, and modifying multiple strategies. He's a true patriot, an American hero, and someone I'm honored to call "friend."

You inspire me, friend.

In Short Words, Without Too Many Syllables.

NTodd does, as is often the case, a better job of making the point that I was trying to make in last night's post about Senator Coburn (R - Soulless) telling a sobbing woman that she should look to her neighbors to provide skilled nursing home care for her very ill husband and just SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP about expecting any help from her insurance company or from its wholly-owned subsidiary, the United States Congress.

I'm a lawyer and, we lawyers, we're big believers in reading the actual words in the actual law. The actual Constitution of the actual United States of America begins with these actual words: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

"Promote the general welfare." The snarky, bitchy side of me wants to say: "The defense rests," and call it a blog post. But I'll spell it out anyway, since about 20% of our population doesn't get it.

There's a reason why people form governments and it isn't, recent evidence to the contrary, to make Haliburton and Blackwater rich, to engage in immoral wars against people who never attacked us, or to conduct the sort of sick, vomit-inducing, soul-destroying torture that has recently been the calling card of the United States of America. As our Founders explained, we create governments to, inter alia, insure domestic Tranquility and to promote the general Welfare.

I know from neighbors helping neighbors.

I think the notion of neighbors helping neighbors is charming. Recently, a friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer and I was honored to take off work in order to accompany her to her biopsy on one day and her appointment with a surgeon on another day, to buy her lunch and some over the counter meds, to take her for her surgery and sit with her until some other friends came to get her through the night, to meet with a group of her friends and set up a website to coordinate help for her, to buy books that she wanted to read concerning her condition. Others helped her to care for her pets, rehab her home, deal with her own mother's death. This summer, when I underwent surgery, a dear friend showed up to help me to do laundry, to pick my lavender, to cheer me up. The other day, I baked some lemon bars for a neighbor up the street who had a baby. I regularly read Tarot for strangers who want a reading. One of my dear neighbors organizes every year's block party for which I bake a big, special cake; I take herbs from my garden to all of the folks who live around me. I know from neighbors helping neighbors.

That's all beside the point.

We, as neighbors, citizens, fellow travelers, what have you, band together and form governments so that these matters can be taken care of in an efficient and fair manner. Let's talk about efficient. None of us could have given my friend the chemo treatments that she needed. My dear friend couldn't have done my laundry on a permanent basis. When I had breast cancer, no friends could have done for me what the visiting nurses did: advise about dressings and medications. That poor sobbing woman's neighbors can't give her husband, no matter how well-intentioned they may be, the care that he could get in a nursing home from trained professionals. And, yet, we, not only as neighbors who want to see our sisters taken care of, but as people who know that we, ourselves, will benefit from the care that others receive, that we, ourselves, will benefit from domestic Tranquility, have ways of "promoting the general Welfare."

We do that by paying taxes and having our government provide services for everyone. Here, in my county, we pay taxes that provide a Fire Department. They buy v expensive fire trucks and ambulances, they train people in emergency medicine, they install fire hydrants all through the neighborhoods. As a result, if my neighbors' house catches fire, they won't have to hope that I'm home and can run over with water from my rain barrel. And my own home won't be in danger. I pay taxes so that when Katrina hits New Orleans, or fire hits Southern California, or a toxic waste site makes people sick anywhere in the country, the government can show up and insure domestic Tranquility. Kali Fuck, is this too difficult for Republicans to understand?

Of course, it isn't. They understand it. They just don't like it.

I believe that there are two reasons why they just don't like it. The first is that they don't want to care for their neighbors, and Coburn is just a lying sack of shit about this. They believed Gordon Gekko that "Greed is good," they think, "I've got mine; fuck everyone else," and they aren't capable of realizing that other people with Swine Flu can infect them, that a woman whose husband gets no care will impact their own bottom lines, that their neighbor's flaming house may turn their own into cinders.

And, the second is that they'd willingly see their own homes burn to the ground, see that woman's stress levels give her breast cancer even if she works for them, see those illegal immigrants who can't get shots infect their own children with Swine Flu before they'd ever see "the other" get some help. Patriarchy. They're soaking in it.

All of the talk about government inefficiency, about high taxes, about liberty and not allowing the gov't to "interfere" in "private" lives (unless it's a brain-dead woman or a woman who wants an abortion or a liberal who doesn't want Bush/Cheney to read their emails) is, IMHO, complete bullshit. They're willing to run deficits to make Blackwater and Enron rich, but not to pay for nursing home care for that woman's husband. They care about liberty to carry guns, but not for a woman to control her own body. They're all about the Second Amendment, but happy to confine people trying to exercise their right to assemble peacefully to First Amendment zones. The only constant principles motivating their actions are patriarchy, pissing off liberals, and nastiness.

Let's talk about fair. I'll just add, that domestic Tranquillity and Justice involve providing services to everyone, not just the neighbors we know or like. That's something else that our Constitution does. People who live in big cities (currently, most Americans) and don't even know their neighbors, or the Muslim, lesbian, Wiccan, or black neighbors who move in, but aren't yet well-beloved by the people who live around them, may not get help from their neighbors. But they can get it from the government that we all fund and for which we all provide. And that contributes to Justice and the General Welfare.

I call upon Republicans to stop shitting on the entire notion of government. I call upon and invoke America's founders to aid Republicans to see what this country and this government is all about. And if the Founders can't turn their hearts, then I call upon the Founders to turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping. Coburn, I'm looking at you.

Photo by the author; please link back.

Most Americans Want Health Care Reform

First, let me just say that there's a reason why I've lived, on and off, in Virginia ever since I was five years old and have never been to Reston. And that reason is because Reston is way the hell out in the middle of no damn where. I mean, there should be signs that say: "Heading for Reston. Here be dragons." And why you have to pay a toll to get on the road to Reston and a toll to get off the road to Reston (no, honest, dudes, I'd have paid the whole $1.25 up front, no problem) is beyond me. So, in spite of leaving downtown D.C. at 4:30, it was 5:30 by the time we got out to Reston for Jim Moran's town hall meeting with Howard Dean. The entire school parking lot was full; I knew we were in trouble when we saw crowds walking from the shopping mall 3/4 of a mile away.

We pulled in and gave a thumbs up to a lovely lady holding a sign that said: "77% of Americans want a public option." An invocation to the mighty Goddess Asphaltia later, we snuck into a parking space only about 1/4 mile from the school. I'm not going to tell you exactly what magic we did, but I will say that we had some powerful supplies and invoked some interesting help. The line was already between 3 and 4 thousand people long and it was evident we weren't going to get into the auditorium. We walked all along the line, though, doing, well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to turn you into a newt, so let's just say, doing what we came to do. It worked. You watch.

There's, IMHO, a huge advantage to doing magic week after week, month after month, year after year, with the same group of women. You know each other's energy, you know that you can completely let go and trust them, you know how it feels when your magic works. You can cast a circle in a moving car, you can call the Quarters in real time. You can ground when the energy's vibrating 3 miles away.

The crowd was pretty overwhelmingly white, middle aged, and, based on our totally unscientific observation of signs, probably 5 to 1 in favor of health care reform and a public option. Not too surprising in blue Northern VA. The folks opposing reform were spread throughout the entire crowd and, although the press was definitely more interested in talking to them than to the thousands of people there supporting health care reforms, not particularly effective nor, I don't quite know how to say this, but not too enthused. They expect to ultimately lose, of that I have no doubt. I'm good at sensing energy and there was nothing threatening about this crowd, although I could see how, crowded into an auditorium, the energy could become more intense. I didn't see any guns and, if they were there, they weren't being flaunted. There were deluded young people who were generally libertarian. There were older people generally angry that the president is a black man. There were senseless signs: "ObamaCare. If Congress doesn't want it for themselves, why should we?" And there were the inevitable LaRouchies, doing their best to get attention. They were the only people I saw with pictures of Obama defaced to look like Hitler.

I hope the FiredogLake people got in. I'll follow up tomorrow w Jim Moran to ask him to sign a pledge to only vote for a plan that includes a public option. Then, I'll keep following up with him.

Finally, I want to thank the v numerous folks who supported us energetically in our magical working this evening. I imagine you could feel me drawing hard on the energy that you sent. And, I hope that all magic workers can experience, at least once in their lives, the amazing support that I got this morning from the universe. I draw a huge amount of my energy, magical and otherwise, from the beautiful Potomac River. This morning was, maybe, the most perfect late-Summer morning EVER, and the universe conspired in at least 3 different ways to ensure that I'd get to spend some extra time with La Potomac. What a lovely Goddess of a river.

May it be so for you.

Show Up

Some people think that if they show up and vote, they've done their job as citizens. Those people are wrong. Democracy is a participation event.

Here in northern Virginia, Congressman Moran is holding a town hall meeting on Health Care Reform. The guest speaker will be Dr. Howard Dean. Tuesday, Aug. 25th, 7:00 pm at South Lakes High School, 11400 South Lakes Dr., Reston. Open to the public. Limited seating. Doors open at 6:00 pm.

If you live in or near northern Virginia, come take a seat away from the batshit insane crazies who've been showing up to intimidate members of Congress.


PIcture found here.

Freeway Blogger Rocks II

That Is All.

My Pipple

These are real local Pagans, cleaning the Bush Bad Vibes out of DC.

Jason has more here.

My New Name For A Blog

What they said. Read the whole thing.

Picture found here.

Support Our Troops!

I went down to the National Gallery of Art early on this rainy Saturday morning to see the Oceans, Rivers, and Skies exhibit. Parked near the National Archives building and was amazed to see a huge banner that said, Defend Our Constitution Arrest Bush and Cheney War Criminals. Sadly, I had only my iPhone camera, so the pictures really don't do the banner justice.

Closer inspection revealed a number of folks up on the scaffolding and a group of men on the ground holding a flag that said, Veterans for Peace. The guys on the ground were really friendly, pointing out each of their comrades up on the scaffolding (who'd climbed up in the rain and fog to hang the banner) and noting in which war each had fought. While we were chatting, a guy walked by with his dog and asked, "How'd you get a permit to hang that?" One of the vets told him, "Oh, we've got a piece of paper that says we can hang it. It's inside and you can go see it when they open up. It's called the Constitution of the United States."

I asked them what they planned to do when they were ordered to take the banner down. They smiled and noted how slippery and wet the scaffolding was and said that they doubted any DC policemen would be willing to climb up there to cut it down. I noted a guard at the DoJ standing and smiling. Soon, the guard from inside the Archives came out, put up a sign about the exhibits inside, and walked away without a word. As I was leaving, a motorcade, including an ambulance, drove past. I sure do hope it was Cheney's.

The Veterans for Peace literature that they gave me says:

Members of Veterans for Peace (VFP) chose the Archives for their nonviolent protest because it is symbolic of their military oath th "defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." In September they occupied the Archives for 24 hours and plan to stay longer this time.

. . .

The veterans are demanding [that the] Bush administration be tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace; asking the media to clearly inform the public of the administrations crimes, and encouraging citizens to take similar nonviolent actions

Here are the patriots who, once again, put their bodies on the line for the rule of law:


On the scaffold:

Elliott Adams, 61, former Army paratrooper, Viet Nam
Ellen Barfield, 52, former Army Sgt.
Kim Carlyle, 61, former Army Spec 5
Doug Zachary, 58, former USMC Lance Cpl.
Tarak Kauff, 67, former PFC, Army Airborne
Will Covert, 63, former E4 Navy
Elaine Brower, 54, mother of USMC Sgt. James Brower, on his third tour in Iraq
Matthis Chiroux, 24, Army Sergant, Served in Afghanistan, refused deployment to Iraq

Providing support on the ground:

Mike Ferner, 57, former Navy corpsman
Michelle White, 24, wife of Iraq war vet currently serving in Afghanistan
Michael Marceau, 58 former Army, Viet Nam
Bruce Berry, 62, former SPC 4 Army, Viet Nam
Fred Nagel, 65, former SPC 4 Army
Jay Wenk, 82, former rifleman, 90th Infantry Div. WWII
Anthony Teolis, 42, US Army Field Artillery, Gulf War

Founded in 1985, Veterans for Peace has 120 chapters throughout the country and has actively protested the Afghanistan and Iraq wars since their inception Membership includes men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations, spanning the Spanish Civil War, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. VFP is an official Non Governmental Organization (NGO) represented at the UN. [More here.]

Military Families Speak Out is an organization of people opposed to the war in Iraq who have relatives or loved ones currently in the military or in the military since the fall of 2002.

Thank you, guys.

Cut Off Is Monday In Virginia

Hat tip: Sia

Register in Virginia.

J'accuse

Vote Like You Mean It

I don't want to hear that you're not voting.

I don't want to hear that you're throwing your vote away.

Register. Vote. Vote like you mean it. Vote like women whose mothers were jailed and beaten and force fed so that you could vote. Because that is who you are.





/Hat tip to my beloved friend, N.

Palin: Toxic Mimic

Derrick Jensen talks a lot about toxic mimics. Rape, for example, is a toxic mimic of love and/or pleasurable, consensual sex. Identification with Diane Sawyer and Britney Spears is a toxic mimic of belonging to a community. You get the idea.

I've been thinking about the Republican Party's embrace of Sarah Palin, working mother, and I keep thinking "toxic mimic." The Democrats run Hillary Clinton, a woman, wife, mother, experienced lawyer and stateswoman. The Republicans show up at her speeches carrying banners that say: Iron My Shirts. They complain about everything from her "whine" to her "cackle" to her "cleavage" to her tearing up when emotional. They say she only won her Senate seat because Americans felt sorry that her husband cheated on her. (OK, Matthews said that. He's a Republican in my book.)

And then McCain gets a wild hair up his ass over being told "NO" by his staff when he wants to pick Joe Lieberman, a toxic mimic of a Democrat, and, all unvetted, selects Palin for his VP candidate. And all of a sudden, the Republicans scream sexism over and over and over again when legitimate questions are raised about Palin's experience, history, preparation.

One thing a toxic mimic can do, absent great care, is to cheapen and destroy the original archetype, concept, thing. It's a large part of their purpose. Thus, someone who's been raped may never again experience uninhibited love and/or sex. Sitting in your living room, watching tv, and feeling a connection with Diane Sawyer, brought to you by GE, keeps you from getting out into your real community and making bonds with real people. People for whom you'd stand up. Running Palin, who has taken advantage of the opportunities provided by feminism while deliberately trying to destroy it, may seriously undermine the progress of feminism.

Of course, we live in a culture soaked in patriarchy. So the "good" choice is to vote for Barack Obama, who thinks women shouldn't be "entitled" to abortions for "mere" mental health reasons, who picks Joe Biden, who shit all over Anita Hill, for his VP, even though a v large group of Democrats were obviously hungry for a female VP. The "good" choice is to vote for the Democrats, who picked Harry Pro-Coat-Hanger Reid for speaker, the same Reid who called Palin's speech "shrill."

But that doesn't change the toxic mimic nature of Palin's candidacy. She wanted to ban books in the library of her small Alaska town. She's pro-coat-hanger. She's anti-science. She's against teaching science in schools. She belongs to a church that wants to "convert" gays. She's a walking, talking, living, breathing, breeding toxic mimic of feminism.

What are you going to do between now and November to keep her from being one 75-year-old melanoma away from the White House? Do it for Hillary Clinton. Do it for your daughter, niece, friend. Do it for feminism. I love this movement too much to surrender it to its toxic mimic.

Seriously

Go listen to Sinfonian. Do it now. I mean it. Really. I mean it. Go listen to Sinfonian. Do it.


(I have that Hermes scarf in black. It's much more amazing in black.)