11:02 PM - DEAR "Chauvinistically challenged in Chicago"
Dear Olivia,
I have a friend who is a religious fundamentalist. Surprised? Anyway, after a few drinks and a puff of the peace pipe he took me aside and and revealed what he thought was a great truth. "Women urinate from their assholes and not their vagina, as commonly thought. " He pronounced vagina as 'Vah Geena'
I resisted the impulse to laugh in his face and warn him not to tell anyone else. It even occurred to me to suggest he get a girlfriend and look for himself. My friends are of every ethnicity, religion and sexual preference, but lately these people seem to try my patience the most.
Should I tell him the truth and risk traumatic damage of an unknown magnitude ... or shall I allow him to dwell in the ignorant bliss that he seems to be so accustomed to?
Chauvinistically challenged in Chicago
Dear Chauvinistically challenged in Chicago:
You present a whopper of a question. Do we stir up a hornet's nest if it's not in attack mode but present and buzzing in our personal space?
This is a great question and one I wish you'd pose to your multi-ethnic and diverse female friendships. I'm very interested in what women really think about men's drastically misinformed belief systems about how our bodies work.
I suppose you could get a diagram from a book or even a video and challenge him to watch it, at least suggest he sit through it for his benefit in future relationships with women. I doubt either suggestion would cause this man to focus his wrath upon you. You are merely being a good Samaritan, sharing the wealth of knowledge. He certainly seems intent to educate others what he considers to be the real reality. Definitely begging to be discerned... that's what I think this dude secretly desires.
Very foreign to your being, I must tell you (although you clearly know this), there are men on this planet that need from a woman only that she is available and happy, willing to serve and provide what he needs when he needs it. If she has any drama around her emotional state, he doesn't want to hear about it and will either belittle her or attack her outright, instead of listen and care about her concerns.
Next time you sit and smoke with this man, do the manly bonding thing without making it apparent that is what you are doing. Subtely, quietly, ask him about his relationship(s)? Is he satisfied? Does she (do they) confuse him, confound him, infuriate him? Most people like to talk about themselves and their dramas when asked simply to keep explaining and are not under an interrogation lamp with their hands tied behind their back.
In thinking about this further, I think there is a reason this man is displaying this part of himself to you when the inhibitions are lowered. The way you quoted his comment sounds like he's either trying to start a conversation on the subject, or he's genuinely confused. Did you ask him where he got his information? Did he have sisters? Could he talk with them? Was his relationship with his mother one in which he could ask her questions about the feminine half of the population?
CCinC: you are an evolved man. This sounds to me like you've been placed in the darkness to shed some light. How to do it so you don't get burned in the process is the key concern.
I think this man is reaching out to you. Somehow, in some way, you've made exposing his curiosity or concern about women safe. I know your reflex (as would mine be in person with such a neanderthal) is to humor him or write him off...
Who in his circle could he express these deeper concerns to? Who do macho men talk to when insecure about women? I don't know if this man just met you at a supermarket, but if you sat down and knocked a few back with him, me thinks you know him more than a regular stranger sitting at the bar.
Again, if I had a couple of thousand dollars to play with right now, I'd buy every one of David Deida's books and dvds and then sign up and go to a live event of his. This guy understands the male female dance in a way I'd love to see shared throughout humanity, all over the world. Ever heard of him?
Please let me know how this progresses and what you uncover in your next interaction with this man.
Hope this helps and at least opens passageways in your brain with regards to this situation.
1:03 AM - Does true love only exist in unrequited situations?
My folks and I went to see NIGHTS IN RODANTHE today. Mom and I saw the coming attraction months ago and immediately looked at each other and said simultaneously, "I want to see that." Thus it was finally opening day, so Dad joined us for the long-awaited event.
When walking out of the Regal 26 multi-theater my Dad said, "That was one of the best kind of love-stories. The way they were years ago."
My Dad goes with us to chick-flicks but much prefers usually watching with tubs of popcorn the big action thrillers that keep him engrossed throughout.
"What was it about this one that made it rate with the old movies you loved so much from years past?" I asked.
"Because this was honest writing."
This is a story about a man and woman who come together each in the midst of a huge conflict currently happening in their own lives. Each is both emotionally depleted and overwhelmed. In a short amount of time the environment, the weather and that precise weekend in each of their lives lead these two people to share deeply of themselves. At first I was wondering if they could get together, they were both so wounded and fragile in their own way. Yet together they did get, and then fate yanked them apart, almost just as quickly.
That's my question. Why does it seem that in the best of love affairs (screen gems) the two find something that doesn't last, can't last, is cut short? A couple of years ago I took a night class at UCLA put on by their creative writing program. The class was called THE PARADOX OF EROS. The teacher wasn't a writing teacher but a therapist who wanted to explore with students this specialized subject matter and how it is reflected in cinema and literature.
One night she said that the best love stories are always unrequited. Why does that perfect bond arrive only to disappear so quickly? Is it because people don't know how to truly engage in that deepest of emotional connections when reality and mortgages and children are a part of the mix? Is it because subconsciously we are too frightened to be that vulnerable with the one who can make us sing?
The teacher said that in literature and cinema there is little interest in the story unless there is conflict. There must be conflict and resolution of conflict for people to feel they've gotten something out of their effort and time to read or watch the piece of art.
But what about in our relationships? Do many of us choose situations we can control because we know we'll be less vulnerable?
Driving away from the theater today I had fresh appreciation for my relationship with RAD. I've known the man since 1986 and been intimate with him since 1996. As the years have progressed the depth has increased, the ability to communicate expanded. We've both betrayed each other and yet something in our togetherness makes us continue on, trying to trust, putting up with difficulties, strategizing for ways to save what is intimate and true between us.
Even though I've never wanted to own him, I have wanted more. When this man focuses his attention on me, the rest of the world gets very quiet and inconsequential. I can complain that we don't see enough movies together or I don't get societal approval for having snagged such an intelligent accomplished man. Yet, I've had something Diane Lane's character Adrienne Willis didn't get with her beloved. I've had time. Time over the years to deepen our ways of dancing together. Time to see develop in our hearts our creative wishes. Time to be supportive and many many situations in which it was incredibly difficult to be truthful.
What I got out of my moments in the theater today is that I have reason to be very grateful for the lessons in loving I've learned. How to experience jealousy without letting it consume me, how to appreciate the moment without devastating it by wishing I had eternity, how to appreciate the postive while actively transforming the negative.
I might not have that happy ever after, but I've had those moments of cherries on my Sunday sundaes, and lollipops after shots in the doctor's office... week after week, and month after month, year after year with this man. I've seen his wrinkles deepen and he's seen my hair start to gray.
I'd love to hear from anyone reading this if they have any thoughts about true love... if they've experienced it, if it lasted or if it was snatched away too soon. If you care to share, I'd be ever so grateful.
Just what does a 56 year-old woman have to offer in terms of a primary relationship? I know all the usuals ~ companionship, intellect, wisdom ~ but I've lost so much drive and ambition lately and sex is non-existent. I'm in a relationship that feels like we're siblings, rivals at times. Should I just chuck the relationship and hope to attain a more fulfilling one?
Yours truly ~
Stuck in Salem"
Dear "Stuck in Salem":
My Daddy said early on, "Everybody uses everybody. Just make sure you get yours." In this situation you briefly describe I highly doubt you are "getting yours."I always thought my Father's belief system about this was kind of crude, or maybe cold even. Yet, as my years have stacked up and I've had the ability to look back on not only my own relationships but those of past lovers and good friends, I've seen that when people get their needs met, they are ever more encouraged and desirous of meeting their beloved's needs... and if it's not a beloved, then it's a partner they work together with in relationship to accomplish certain goals.
If sex is non-existent and that is something you desire, that's a strong vote for the 'chuck-it' category. If this 'relationship' feels more like a brother and often a rival, then where can you possibly be getting yours? In our love relationships there must be a give and take. If it is all give and no take, we quickly get used up and feel blah, listless, and ambivalent. As women we feel we should support others. We feel if we love enough, then we'll get what we need.
It doesn't work that way. The more we give without assertively requesting that our needs be met in return, the more quickly 'users' determine we're soft and they can score. Then it becomes a game of their giving just enough to shut up our 'whining' but never a heart felt desire to get us juicy, excited, and reveling in our depth. When a man and woman have proper balance with each other, there is a polarity that works. When it is out of sync, the relationship drains one or the other or both. To learn more about this concept find DAVID DEIDA'S writing. When a man is strong enough with himself to truly give to a woman, then there is nothing she can't do. I know this sounds like an absolute, but the yin yang concept is powerful, potent and very real when truly experienced.
Of course there is the fear of being alone... of recognizing mortality, aging, blah blah blah. Yet what women forget, is that when we turn our resources for giving to others towards ourselves, when we give to ourselves what we need from another, we are reborn. When we get back to ourselves, when we heal our own pain and can again tap into our own joy and creative spirit, we attract that level of health in another. If we stay with what drags us down, we spend our time wondering what we should do, being confused or angry or resentful. With that focus going on internally, we just attract more of the same to show us the mirror over and over again until we finally see it accurately.
We know what we need. We just rarely ask for it. We know in our heart of hearts what we crave, what we fantasize about, what tickles us and makes us inhale deeply, connecting to and loving life. Whether it's a long bubble-bath, a day at the beach, a long walk around a lake, hours alone and quiet in the comfy chair on the third floor at Border's; we know which moments make our cells come alive.
Ask yourself for it, now, today. Don't wait. I don't watch Dr. Phil anymore, but I did like his concept that stated: "We teach people how to treat us." There are many places we can go to help us find our delight. It doesn't have to cost much, or involve others, or for that matter be done alone. Read EAT, PRAY, LOVE for one example of a woman learning that there is more than unconscious and uncomfortable questiong of "Is this all there is?"
Stand up for your soul, your needs, your femininity and womanhood, your rights as well as your delights.
If this relationship doesn't serve you, stop serving it! If he is incapable because of disabilities or a temporary state then put these facts into the equation. If you feel you must stay in a situation which doesn't bring out the best in you, I would suggest you look into Byron Katie's work called THE WORK. She's great for helping us accept what is and stop wasting our energy fighting what we can't change. But if you've known this man awhile and determined his MO is take care of himself at your expense, SHUCK IT!
Then you'll have the mental and physical energy return, you'll reawaken to your power to protect yourself, and you'll start feeling worthy and aware of just what miraculous gifts you have to offer to a deserving soul just waiting around the bend for your availability! I don't mean to sound too cheer-leaderish without offering tools for grounded transformation. I hope some of this second edit offers more thorough thoughts about what can be done to lift you up and help you decide what is best for you at this time.
Olivia
Hope this helps!
P.S. As my maternal great-grandmother said, "You don't ask, you don't get."
For anyone who has read me from the beginning, you know I was afraid to put myself out there... Then I slowly tested the waters and found that I didn't drown. In fact, the piece I was most afraid to reveal was a piece that garnered two marriage proposals and a handful of supportive comments.
Hence, why my continued fear which manifested in recent months by only posting New York Times Columns and quips?
When I was on vacation up in Seattle, a right wing republican commented and instead of taking on the attack, I just encouraged him to read his own party's line and blocked him from further entry into my own.
Chicken-shit.
Right. In my life I've been in positions of leadership. I was the one looked to for answers, delegation of authority and activity. I found that what I enjoyed most out of the process was being available to those wanting to be inspired. I was good at listening and hearing the jist of their internal confusion. I was subtle at bringing this to their attention. They walked out with a calm plan and I felt my moments of interaction were well-spent.
I've known political battles, one side pitted against the other. Recently in my condo there was one of those interactions that was based on a committee choosing the new paint to swath our external and interior corridors. Because the president of our board is to lazy to lift a finger, he allowed the committee of three to decide what the majority wants without actually taking into consideration what the majority was requesting. The new paint will go up without even allowing the owners to have a formal and accountable vote among valid options. Sound familiar? Sound like what is going on in Washington this week? Indeed.
With a little sexual abuse tied into the process, I'm back into gear and almost ready to really start writing again. I've been hiding. In between gathering the few scheckles I need to survive at the most simple and basic level, therapy to heal my heart and soul, exercise to unit my body and mind, and a bit of love-making and dyad interaction, I've been reading what the best and brightest are saying as our country dwindles in broad daylight.
I'm changing my page's title... to ASK OLIVIA. If you have questions about the dance you do between the sexes or your worth as a human being, please submit. When I was young I asked my elders questions all the time, seeking answers to life's probing questions. I was always told, "You'll have to make your own mistakes." I've made plenty of mistakes... and now I'd like to try and answer the questions I previously wanted answered.
Anyone?
Currently
listening
:
Shine
By
Joni Mitchell
Release date: 2007-09-25
If I were Obama, I'd put it this way: "Senator McCain, the world you claim to understand is the world of yesterday. A new century demands new thinking. Our country cannot be made fundamentally secure by a man who thought our economy was fundamentally sound."
11:17 PM - Putting our money where our mouth is
Current mood: Everyone knows the Captain lies... thanks Leonard
Category: Everyone knows the Captain lies... thanks Leonard News and Politics
I just made a donation, and it gave me great pleasure!
Dear Friends: We may have thought we wanted a woman on a national political ticket, but the joke has really been on us, hasn't it? Are you as sick in your stomach as I am at the thought of Sarah Palin as Vice President of the United States? None of you can be happy with Palin's selection, especially with her positions on women's issues. So, may I suggest the following fiendishly brilliant idea? Make a donation to Planned Parenthood. In Sarah Palin's name. And here's the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here's the link to the Planned Parenthood website: www.plannedparenthood.org/ Go to donate, then honorary gifts. You'll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the "in Sarah Palin's honor" card. I suggest you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is: McPainfor President 1235 S. Clark Street 1st Floor Arlington , VA 22202
I swear I will soon return to my own internal work (which is being done privately), which this summer has been a surprising turn around in the love life department but which is starting to turn yet again... but I can't stop reading about what is happening in our country and when I see Paul Krugman's NYT column this morning I'm shocked at what a farce this whole charade is...
"But Mr. Paulson insists that he wants a "clean" plan. "Clean," in this context, means a taxpayer-financed bailout with no strings attached — no quid pro quo on the part of those being bailed out. Why is that a good thing? Add to this the fact that Mr. Paulson is also demanding dictatorial authority, plus immunity from review "by any court of law or any administrative agency," and this adds up to an unacceptable proposal.
I'm aware that Congress is under enormous pressure to agree to the Paulson plan in the next few days, with at most a few modifications that make it slightly less bad. Basically, after having spent a year and a half telling everyone that things were under control, the Bush administration says that the sky is falling, and that to save the world we have to do exactly what it says now now now."
Published: September 18, 2008 (in the NEW YORK TIMES)
LAST month, the Bush administration launched the latest salvo in its eight-year campaign to undermine women's rights and women's health by placing ideology ahead of science: a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that would govern family planning. It would require that any health care entity that receives federal financing — whether it's a physician in private practice, a hospital or a state government — certify in writing that none of its employees are required to assist in any way with medical services they find objectionable.
Laws that have been on the books for some 30 years already allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions. The new rule would go further, ensuring that all employees and volunteers for health care entities can refuse to aid in providing any treatment they object to, which could include not only abortion and sterilization but also contraception.
Health and Human Services estimates that the rule, which would affect nearly 600,000 hospitals, clinics and other health care providers, would cost $44.5 million a year to administer. Astonishingly, the department does not even address the real cost to patients who might be refused access to these critical services. Women patients, who look to their health care providers as an unbiased source of medical information, might not even know they were being deprived of advice about their options or denied access to care.
The definition of abortion in the proposed rule is left open to interpretation. An earlier draft included a medically inaccurate definition that included commonly prescribed forms of contraception like birth control pills, IUD's and emergency contraception. That language has been removed, but because the current version includes no definition at all, individual health care providers could decide on their own that birth control is the same as abortion.
The rule would also allow providers to refuse to participate in unspecified "other medical procedures" that contradict their religious beliefs or moral convictions. This, too, could be interpreted as a free pass to deny access to contraception.
Many circumstances unrelated to reproductive health could also fall under the umbrella of "other medical procedures." Could physicians object to helping patients whose sexual orientation they find objectionable? Could a receptionist refuse to book an appointment for an H.I.V. test? What about an emergency room doctor who wishes to deny emergency contraception to a rape victim? Or a pharmacist who prefers not to refill a birth control prescription?
The Bush administration argues that the rule is designed to protect a provider's conscience. But where are the protections for patients?
The 30-day comment period on the proposed rule runs until Sept. 25. Everyone who believes that women should have full access to medical care should make their voices heard. Basic, quality care for millions of women is at stake.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic senator from New York. Cecile Richards is the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Obama and The Palin Effect From: Deepak Chopra | Posted: Friday, September 5th, 2008
Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.
She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are not wanting to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.)
I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.
Look at what she stands for - symbolically and literally:
--Small town values -- a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
--Ignorance of world affairs -- a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.
--Family values -- a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be heeded.
--Rigid stands on guns and abortion -- a scornful repudiation that these issues can ever be negotiated.
--Patriotism -- the usual fallback in a failed war.
--"Reform" -- an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.
Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from "us" pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of "I'm all right, Jack," and "Why change? Everything's OK as it is." The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.
Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow -- we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.
If this offends anyone, I apologize... but I can't stand by and do nothing when a person (male or female) holding the beliefs that Sarah Palin does, is placed on a Presidential ticket.
Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,
We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.
Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.
We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and all together devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and that we've so demonstrably benefited from.
First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.
with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.
Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.
We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin," which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your reply at your earliest convenience; the greater the volume of responses we receive, the stronger our message will be.
**PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! If you send this to 20 women in the next hour, you could be blessed with a country that takes your concerns seriously. Stranger things have happened
Empress says that this site gets redirected... It worked for me and got me to see this:
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
I haven't looked to see whether my comment made it on there... but I was incredibly impressed with what I saw.
Currently
listening
:
4 Minutes
By
Madonna
Release date: 2008-04-29
6:37 PM - The famous Vagigi woman speaks - Eve Ensler
Current mood: scared
Category: News and Politics
Drill, Drill, Drill I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists. But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war. I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity. Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not. She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has t ried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States . She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air. Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S. , but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain. Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
scared
