Friday Open Thread
G’morning, all.
Another week behind us, and for many, the weekend beckons. There’s supposed to be a king sized snow storm heading into Minnesota, and I can’t wait.
I miss the excitement of the old Minnestoa winters: the excitement and challenge of surviving waist high snowdrifts, 30 below temps, and the magnificent blizzards that would swoop , shutting down the world. It was a chance to prove how resiliant we were, and best of all, it brought us together. Neighbor helping neighbor dig cars out of drifts, those of us with snowmobiles transporting essential workers from home to work, delivering groceries to those closed in..rescuing those with medical emergencies. Authentic community in action.
(Enough reminiscing!)
Where are your heads on this Friday Morn?
Blew up at my coworker after one too many sexist remarks yesterday and scorched his ears with my thoughts on the subject. He apologized but don’t know if he learned anything. Gender binarianism is boring and sometimes fatal.
Going off to a poetry brunch on Sunday where we swap words and drink mimosas. Also tonight a fabulous date with a marimba teacher and bandleader-life’s looking good right now after living in the dark places so long.
Comment by 'soup — February 23, 2007 @ 10:25 am
There are a lot of ears that could stand scorching, aren’t there? Good for you. (If nothing else, this fella might choose to moderate his sexist chatter around YOU) Swapping words at a poetry brunch and a fabulous date sounds like just the antidote to that kind of poison!
Comment by scribe40 — February 23, 2007 @ 10:43 am
Well, although the Axis of Lobsters might be on the march, I’m pretty thrilled to see a bit of a trend in this week’s news: women getting the recognition they deserve. You might’ve heard about Wimbeldon putting their prize money for women’s tennis on par with the men’s competition, but there were a couple other stories that made the news, although not as prominently: Harvard elected their first female President, and the Association for Computing Machinery awarded their most prestigious award to a woman, for the first time in its 41 year history.
On a good day, I like to think that true progress - our evolution as a species in concert with all of creation, and not the phoney one the capitalists try to sell us - marches on inexorably, if slowly. These are the days when I can tell my pessimistic side to screw off and keep fighting!
Comment by cookting — February 23, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
I tried to post this yesterday, to no avail. I wanted to thank NL for talking to her rep about NCLB. I might have a chance to chat with David Bonior on Saturday, so I’ll do my part to trash NCLB with him.
Comment by Teacher Toni — February 23, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
A cogent question, where are your heads?
Mine is swimming as it has been all this week with the mountain of lies and counter-lies that are building up higher than the Rocky Mountains.
I have such little tolerance for lies, and those who wish to pat us on the head and say, “there, there Little girl/old woman, you just don’t understand how these government things work. It’s just too complicated for your poor little head. Let us old white men deal with the difficult stuff, go back to your knitting. We know what’s best for everyone.”
Veterans being screwed out of compensation and medical coverage, veterans being held in DC for 12,18,24 months when all they want to do is go home; media spinners and liars, Scooter Libby whiners, Iran is out to get us but we’re not provoking them, it’s okay if dems use the PAC loop hole for big expensive lobbyist funded golfing parties, Lieberman says he’ll turn repub if the dems try to manage the war funding, changing the deployment rules for NG troops. . .oops, we’re starting over, as far as the USgov is concerned, you’ve never been deployed before; hospitals dumping patients on the streets in California (still in their hospital gowns and unable to care for themselves), Global warming, we’ll get around to it, IF we can find a way to make billions from it, No minimum wage, just can’t do it, health insurance???? ah only if the only ones that benefit are the insurance companies, TV ads begging us to not mess with plan B drug program, sponsored by big pharma (I’m so surprised), We can’t live without massive quantities of oil (sponsored by Exxon), talking heads everywhere, the arrogant a**hole economist that said tough nuggies if the middle class has to cut back, just give up your second car, all but one of your TV’s, your big mortgaged house, your cell phones, your too many clothes, eating out. . .we don’t have poor in America we just live too well(this garbage via O’Rourk on PBS News Hour), Michael Crichton (MD and novelist) on Charlie Rose program tells us anyone who develops a drug for a specific disease not only patents the drug but the disease as well (WHAT??), so no one else can do research on the disease their drug is treating; gotta cap those damn punitive damages those librul lawyers are getting, it’s just unconstitutional to reward little people for corporate malfeasance, media will only cover dem candidates and tell us every suspect breath they have taken whether they actually did or not, create controversy and dissent where it does not exist; Anna Nicole Smith, repeat and repeat 100,000 times a day, do not rinse except for use of bald Britney Spears, no Habeus Corpus for Gitmo detainees, everything is dandy in Iraq. . .look. . .see. . .stay the surge is working, a severe head trauma or lack of two or more limbs is not grounds for medical retirement from the military, it is just a little old 20% disability, quitcher complaining and go get a job. Anything psychological that you are experiencing you had before you came into the service, move along nothing to see here; voting reform? well, we know what’s best for you, we’ll have the machines print out something but we aren’t having any of that “paper trail” stuff, get real. Eavesdropping? gotta do it, terra ists ya know, and we need to list all those anti Bush and anti war folks on there cuz we can’t be havin that stuff go on here; the democrats are making a terrible mistake, the democrats are making a terrible mistake, the American people don’t want us to pull our troops out, they want us to WIN, poor Scooter Libby, he just forgot, so we’ve lost 3million plus jobs. . .that’s the free market for ya, we can make these economic figures say whatever we want, just watch, more than 50% of people who live and work in Idaho earn beneath the poverty line???? What????? $20,000 a year or less???? the state legislature says let’s propose wonderful programs, then let’s not fund them, ok? Kewl.
I haven’t enough rage to go around any more. Just a sick, dead, hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. I hear nothing but lies from everyone in power, party affiliation has no corner on the market.
So that is why I go where I can resonate with an energy of truth and peace. That is why I work at increasing that energy and spreading it like peanut butter on everything in this world. That is why I still see hope even though it seems to have disappeared from the view of most here. I effect what I can from where I can, and I care for my own tender heart so it can live on to encompass those who are in more pain than I am.
So. . .not much going on here. How about you?
Hugs and blessings
Shirl
Comment by shirlstars — February 23, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
Best flippin rant I have read in ages Shirl!! Thanks for getting all that off my chest for me. Love and hugs woman!!
Comment by alohaleezy — February 23, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
Whoa SHIRL!!! STANDING OVATION FOR THE MOST MASTERFUL RANT I HAVE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO EVER READ!
I am so glad you have places to go that take you away from all of this, my friend. You are SO right. It is all lies and distortions and never ending mutilations of truth and reality. We have GOT to empower ourselves create places and ways, individually and together, to get away from it all on a regular basis, in order to survive these times with our minds and spirits intact.
Comment by scribe40 — February 23, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
cookting, enjoy ever single minute of whatever bits of brightness you can find! Savor the hell out of each one of them and suck them dry because they ARE real and they DO exist.
Comment by scribe40 — February 23, 2007 @ 1:42 pm
Thank you sisters, Leezy and Scribe. It has been boiling over inside of me for days now, I just had to dump it somewhere.
I am supposing it is a good thing that I can no longer hold on to the absolute rage for more than 15 minutes any more. It seems to just move into a place of steely determination and asking what it is that I can do that will help something, anything. I keep being lead to a higher view and an expanded understanding and a request to know what I know and BE who I AM. Since I am no good at swimming upstream, I go where I’m drawn.
Be empowered dear friends, be empowered. However that looks and feels to you each, just allow it to be that you are empowered. These unconscionable acts will not go unnoticed, the power for change is here and viable and formulating. . .it is coming.
Love you both
and hugs,
Shirl
Comment by shirlstars — February 23, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
Teacher Toni, for some reason your comments were getting stuck in the spam catcher. I released them and hopefully it won’t happen again. I’ll keep my eye out for you…
Comment by blueneck — February 23, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
That is why I work at increasing that energy and spreading it like peanut butter on everything in this world.
Ummm…I hate to break it to you but the peanut butter has salmonella.
(Run, duck and cover.)
Comment by liberalcatnip — February 23, 2007 @ 10:55 pm
This is for you Scribe. I was looking into an argentine composer (Gustavo Santaolalla) who won the Oscar for the music for Brokeback Mountain and thought it was appropiate.
Comment by cruzdelsur — February 23, 2007 @ 11:33 pm
I threw my mouse pad at ya catnip! LOL
Not that brand. Shirlstar’s metaphoric brand, straight from the star dust lands.
But maybe a good dose of diarrhea would get rid of some of that BS, lying load of crap being put out there just now.
Comment by shirlstars — February 23, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
lol shirl! You’ll get them one way or the other.
Comment by liberalcatnip — February 24, 2007 @ 1:24 am
That is my intention catnip, definitely my intention.
Comment by shirlstars — February 24, 2007 @ 2:16 am
cruz…really neat video! thank you!
Comment by scribe40 — February 24, 2007 @ 6:09 am