Marti's Mouth

Reagan Reverence

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 05:29:00 +0000

Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, is revered amongst the current Republican Party. His name is spoken in worshipful tones. He was their star achiever, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral votes. He is a saint in many eyes.

So why they be dissin’ him, homey?

OK, no one is actually dissing him. But they are ignoring what made him popular.

We’re less than a month out from the 2012 Presidential election. The Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, lost. Now the Republican Party is throwing him under the bus as a “bad candidate.”

OK, he didn’t have the charisma Reagan had. He didn’t have a positive “Morning In America” message like Reagan did. He made that dumb remark about the 47%. But what he really didn’t have was Reagan’s common sense on social issues.

Ignore them.

What was Reagan know for? Reaganomics. Not abortion. Not gays (he actually was quite moderate on gay rights). During the presidential campaign, questions were raised by reporters on Reagan's stance on the Briggs Initiative, also known as Proposition 6, a ballot initiative in Reagan's home state of California where he was governor, which would have banned gays, lesbians, and supporters of LGBT rights from working in public schools in California. His opposition to the initiative was instrumental in its landslide defeat by Californian voters. Reagan published an editorial in which he stated "homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles..." and that prevailing scientific opinion was that a child's sexual orientation cannot be influenced by someone else.

The demographics are against being a party of old, white men. The younger, darker and ovary-enabled population is growing and voting. If the Republican Party wants to survive, they are going to have to remember what their beloved Ronald Reagan stood for…and what he didn’t.

Dear Republicans

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:08:00 +0000

Last night was pretty rough, huh? I know, I've been there. Losing hurts, no doubt about it.

You're probably not in the mood for advice, but perhaps before long, when you are looking for answers as to what went wrong, you'll consider my words.

You need to break up with Social Issues.

Now I know, it seemed like a good idea at the time. There was a certain niche that that thought you two were great together. You probably gave their opinion way too much weight. But you're in a a losing relationship. Social Issues is no good for you. Social Issues is...honestly...a selfish bitch. All that, "My way or the highway" drama - who needs THAT? Look at the trouble it caused you in the last few weeks. At least two Senate seats went down the tubes for you because of Social Issues shooting off its mouth.

Afraid you'll be all alone and lonely?

Take a look at your old yearbook. Remember your first love, Fiscal Responsibility?

Pull out that old prom picture of the two of you. You were great together. Fiscal responsibility is popular. You used to love Fiscal Responsibility. I like Fiscal Responsibility. A LOT of people like Fiscal Responsibility. Now sure, it might seem kind of shallow to just go with popular, but hey, everyone likes popular and wants to hang out with popular. Popular can get stuff done!

So dump Social Issues. Break up and don't look back. Delete their number so you're not tempted to dial them if you feel desperate. Find Fiscal Responsibility's number, give them a call and start a conversation.

It will do you good.

Why Obama Could Lose

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 07:09:00 +0000

We are now barely a week before the Presidential election and polls are showing the race pretty evenly divided between President Obama and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. Why are things so close?

*The economy has not recovered as well as many had hoped.

*Unemployment is still high.

*Although many had hoped electing a black man would resolve some of the racial issues in the US, in many ways it has only increased them.

*The youth vote that helped push Obama over the top in 2008 is not as engaged as they were 4 years ago.

*Many whites who voted for Obama out of "white guilt" no longer feel obligated to show how open and unbiased they are. This year the "prove you are not bigoted" vote could swing toward Romney due to his Mormon religion.

*The attack on the consulate at Benghazi, Libya, which was initially reported as a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Muslim video, has now been shown to be a coordinated terrorist attack that killed 4 Americans, including the ambassador. It makes the Obama administration look weak and confused.

I Support Ike Skelton

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 05:47:00 +0000

U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton is in the political fight of his life.

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, new forecasts are calling Skelton’s re-election race a toss-up in one of the most Republican districts in the country now held by a Democrat.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/21/2341490/skelton-vs-hartzler-is-a-fight.html#ixzz139s7Icmu

I support Ike. He's been good for Missouri and good for the United States. He supports veterans (like my husband) and he has brought a lot of jobs to Missouri. I sincerely hope he wins.

I like Ike!

RIP Walter Cronkite

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:56:00 +0000

I lived through the Vietnam War - saw boys I went to school with worrying about the draft. Many of those who were unlucky enough to be sent to the Vietnam War, died or were injured.

When I was a freshman in college, I attended anti-war protests. I believed then, as I do now, that the war was a mistake. It was a troubling time in the United States and the Vietnam War divided our country between those who saw the war as a mistake (mostly young people) and those who believed that our leaders were defendi8ng freedom and democracy (mostly the older generation). That was "the way it was" until that fateful day in 1968 when Walter Cronkite essentially told Americans that the war was a farce and we had no hope of winning.

My family watched Walter Cronkite that night, along with millions of Americans of all ages. His words changed hearts and minds, and even disamed President Lyndon Johnson. Some of Lyndon Johnson's aides have recalled that the president watched the broadcast and declared that he knew at that moment he would have to change course. A month later Johnson declined to run for reelection and announced that he was seeking a way out of the war; David Halberstam has written that "it was the first time in American history a war had been declared over by an anchorman."

WALTER CRONKITE'S "WE ARE MIRED IN STALEMATE" BROADCAST, FEBRUARY 27, 1968

"Tonight, back in more familiar surroundings in New York, we'd like to sum up our findings in Vietnam, an analysis that must be speculative, personal, subjective. Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I'm not sure. The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw.
Another standoff may be coming in the big battles expected south of the Demilitarized Zone. Khesanh could well fall, with a terrible loss in American lives, prestige and morale, and this is a tragedy of our stubbornness there; but the bastion no longer is a key to the rest of the northern regions, and it is doubtful that the American forces can be defeated across the breadth of the DMZ with any substantial loss of ground. Another standoff. On the political front, past performance gives no confidence that the Vietnamese government can cope with its problems, now compounded by the attack on the cities. It may not fall, it may hold on, but it probably won't show the dynamic qualities demanded of this young nation. Another standoff."
"We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that -- negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster."
"To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."
"This is Walter Cronkite. Good night."

Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil-rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.

For his exhaustive and enthusiastic coverage of NASA, Mr. Cronkite was sometimes called “the eighth astronaut.” During the first moon landing in 1969, Mr. Cronkite “was on the air for 27 of the 30 hours that Apollo 11 took to complete its mission,” the Museum of Broadcast Communications notes. Monday will mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.

Obama Pulls Ahead in Missouri

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:38:00 +0000

From latest TIME/CNN state polls:

FLORIDA: Obama 51, McCain 47
MINNESOTA: Obama 54, McCain 43
MISSOURI: Obama 49, McCain 48
NEVADA: Obama 51, McCain 47
VIRGINIA: Obama 53, McCain 44

Dates conducted: Sept. 28-30. Error margin: Ranges from 3.5 to 4 points.

Amorphous Alarm

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:47:00 +0000

I...am confused.

It seems that with the shambles that the Bush administration has made of America; our economy in collapse, our reputation sullied around the globe, our military bogged down in an unnecessary war, and the civil liberties of our citizenry being trampled, that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party should be so far ahead that the dust would have settled behind them, and yet here, a month and a half before the election, the polls still show the race to be a dead heat.

How can this be?

Many blame racism, and I certainly think that there is a percentage of the population who simply will NOT vote for a black man. And for every one who admits openly to racist views, there are probably two who, when confronted with the choice in the privacy of the voting booth, may not be able to pull the lever for Obama.

But I think there is more to it. I think that many people are afraid of the changes they see in "their" America.

Since this country was founded, power has been held in the hands of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPS) {referring to being of European descent}.

Businesses, corporations and our government were controlled by WASPS, despite America being known as "the melting pot". Yes, many people from many nations came to the shores of this great land and many achieved "success". They started businesses, raised families and amassed wealth. BUT...they did not hold the reins of power. The largest corporations and for most of our nation's history, our government, has largely been run by white men. White people were the majority race in America so nobody saw this as a bad thing or even an inappropriate thing.

But the times, they are a-changin'. Data suggests that within a few generations, white people will no longer BE the majority. And I think it is THIS fear that hides itself in the subconscious of many white Americans. It isn't necessarily racism, but the uncomfortable sensation of losing the lead, no longer having the preponderance of numbers on their side, of in some sense, falling behind, being overtaken.

And Barack Obama personifies this shift.

The historical implications of electing a non-white as President of the United States are clear. But the emotional implications are more difficult to define, and are blanketed in fear amd denial. Many Americans who in no way consider themselves racist, are still probably feeling this uneasiness, this vague not-quite-able-to-put-their-finger-on-it anxiety. It isn't that they don't like Barack Obama, or don't think he is capable of being President, it is that he represents this sea-change shift. He puts a face to the wave that is coming. And the wave is scary.

It's a big change and change is frightening. Even when the place we are at stinks, the idea of changing is terrifying, especially when there is that subconscious concern that the tidal wave will drown you. That when things change, your life, or your children's lives, may be different in a not-so-pleasant way.

Now of course there is nothing to suggest that minorities are going to make life miserable for white folks when there are more of them than us. But it the uncertainly of that new world that is scary.

I don't justify this response, I'm just trying to wrap my head around why things are the way they are. I'm planning on voting for Obama because I believe in the future. Plus I've always been a risk-taker, so the uncertainty doesn't spook me as bad as it does others.

But I fear that the incertitude may cause many otherwise logical voters to pull the lever for the white guy, thinking perhaps, that it may be their last chance at maintaining the illusion that things are really not going to change.

Please....be brave, be bold, and vote for Barack Obama.

Wail Street

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:29:00 +0000

It's been a real roller-coaster on Wall Street this week, with the Dow having historic drops and recoveries on the news of the federal government having to bail out some of the oldest and largest American financial institutions.

Many are wailing in despair, wondering what will happen next. Politicians are all making promises, most of which are overly optimistic, and some of which are either outright lies or more signs that McCain "just doesn't get it".

John McCain (who has co-opted Obama's "change" message) said on Thursday that a top Bush administration official should be fired for failing to regulate Wall Street and allowing markets to be used as a casino. McCain's blunt call for the firing of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox allowed him to try to separate himself further from President George W. Bush at a time when Democrats want to portray McCain as a clone of the unpopular Republican leader.

It was also a bid to seize the initiative on the top issue for voters after Democratic rival Barack Obama accused McCain of being out of touch when he said this week the fundamentals of the reeling U.S. economy are strong.

"The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president and in my view has betrayed the public's trust," McCain said. "If I were president today, I would fire him."

Problem is, Presidents do not have the authority to fire the SEC chairman.

The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys And The Shrub

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:57:00 +0000

I spent the last hour reading the words of a dead man.

It was a very moving experience.

The author was David Foster Wallace, who took his own life on Friday. What a tragedy, because this man really had a way with words.

The piece I read was written eight and a half years ago, as David followed John McCain during the 2000 election primaries. Despite the age of the piece, many of the points made about "going negative" in a campaign, and how voters are torn when trying to determine a candidate's authenticity, could have been written today.

The piece is so well written, that I was awed by his prowess with words and doubly saddened that this voice is now forever silent. And it made me wonder what has happened to the straight-talking man McCain was back then. Or if he even was, or was merely a good actor, putting on a show. And how applicable the lessons of that campaign are to 2008. How Americans say they hate negative advertising and yet are swayed by it. How dirty your opponent can get and lie their way out of. How complicit the media can be in giving us Spin.

So I ask you to please take the time to read this article, which was written for Rolling Stone. It won't make you vote one way or the other, but it will ask you to examine the way politics and the press are trying to manipulate you. Despite the positive way McCain is portrayed in the piece, I still plan to vote for Barack Obama, because I'm not sure McCain was ever that "authentic" and I certainly don't feel like he is now. I just enjoyed the magnificent writing so much, I wanted to share it with you.

PS, there's a glossary at the end explaining some of the abbreviations used in the piece.

The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys And The Shrub

Must Read

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:44:00 +0000

WHEELS COME OFF STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS?

For a candidate who prides himself in "straight talk" -- and whose political image in part is based on that truth-telling reputation -- Saturday proved to be a brutal day for John McCain and his campaign.

Fight Fire with Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:56:00 +0000

There are several McCain/Palin commercials running now that are out and out lies. Barack Obama's team has sufficient resources to fight these lies.

His ad team should look at every ad put out by McCain's team and air a rebuttal. It's the only way to keep this stuff from sticking.

Double Standard

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:58:00 +0000

Since Sarah Palin's nomination as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, every attack against her has been labeled as "sexist"

Yet the same Republican party said that it was possible to disagree with Barack Obama without it being "racist".

I don't agree with Sarah Palin and it has nothing to do with sexism. I just don't like her policies.

What's That You Say, Joe Traitor-io?

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Our nation turned its lonely eyes to you.

Then they laughed.

The Dems laughed at you for being a puppet of the Republicans. At least the ones who didn't want you shot for treason laughed.

And the Republicans? They're laughing at you too, Mr. Lieberman. Think they embraced you? Think again. If they pulled you to their bosom and put their arms around you, it was to make it easier to stick a knife in your back. They don't like you, they are just using you and you're too dumb to know it. They're not going to support you, they're not going to vote for you. You made a fool of yourself with your appearance at the Republican Convention. You betrayed the Democrats...and for what? Think McCain is gonna do you any favors? Don't hold your breath.

Little Known Facts About Sarah Palin

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Please note that this is all done in jest. Seriously...not serious.

The Internet has been abuzz ever since John McCain's announcement of Sarah Palin, current governor of Alaska, to be his running mate.

People on Twitter quickly started a meme, making up wild and outrageous "Little Known Facts About Sarah Palin".

This was right up my alley as a humorist, so I jumped in. I probably drove those in my Twitter stream a little crazy with my entries...I hope I didn't lose any friends.

Regardless of your political leanings, I hope you'll find these amusing

:)

Some of mine were:

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin invented Vista

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin is the monster on "Lost"

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin taught the free credit report guy to play guitar

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin was dressed as Chewbacca at ComicCon

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin gave Seth Godin the idea for Squidoo

Little known fact: Sarah Palin knows what happened to Jimmy Hoffa

Little known fact: Sarah Palin is cousins with the Geico caveman

Little known fact: Sarah Palin invented the term "cowabunga"

Little Known Fact -Sarah Palin knows the KFC secret herbs and spices

Little Known Fact -Sarah Palin invented Crocs

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin unraveled The DaVinci Code first

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin is Kaiser Soze

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin is adopting Brad and Angelina

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin found Al Capone's real secret vault

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin braids Whoopi Goldberg's hair

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin knows what The Sopranos ending meant

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin taught Brittney Spears how to dance

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin scares Gordon Ramsey

Little known fact: Sarah Palin was on the other set of skis when the Fonz jumped the shark (much as I fear this meme is about to do - LOL)
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If you would like to see the current stream of entries, you can check here

Please feel free to add your own in the comments!

Back after hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:18:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a year since I wrote anything here. Death and destruction does that to me.

I have cried a lot in the last year.

My father-in-law passed away in February 2007. That's when my life went to hell in a handbasket, because I had to start taking care of my mother-in-law, who has Parkinson's. Spending every day with her seriously exhausts me and destroys my efforts at promoting my books and T-shirts. Revenue plummeted.

Then in May 2008, my husband had a stroke. His entire left side was paralyzed and he spent three weeks in the hospital trying to recover. He still has a lot of weakness on his left side. I visited him every day with a smile on my face. When I got home, I wept.

He has returned to work, although his left arm hangs limply by his side and he has to walk with a cane. But for him to return to work, it is necessary for me to drive him there.

So I get up at 3 AM. I get myself ready, then help husband out of bed. This requires phenomenal upper body strength, something I didn't know I had until this happened. Then it's off to the bathroom. I help him with cleaning and personal hygiene issues. Then I help him dress. This routine takes an hour.

Around 4:30 AM we get in the car and head for his office. We leave so early in the morning because the 55 mile commute takes us through the heart of the city and this is the only way to navigate the traffic and road construction without long, gas-guzzling delays.

When we arrive, I help him out of the car, and carefully place his computer bag on his shoulder, across his chest. It's important to get it positioned just right so it doesn't unbalance him and cause a fall. He needs assistance into the building because the double set of doors don't both open when pushing the handicap button, only the first set does. It's hard to open a door that pulls toward you when you use a cane with your one good arm.

Once he's inside safely, I get back in the car, and fight the urge to cry. Suck it up, start the car and drive 55 miles back home. The day has only begun.

Soon I have to go to grandma's. She will tell me all the things I am doing wrong in my life. I love her and she is family, but some days I don't like her very much. But I've had to ask her for money, so she pretty much owns me. We will go grocery shopping, or to a doctor appointment. We visit a lot of doctors.

I will spend most of the day with her, running errands and doing chores, then I will get in the car and drive to husband's office to pick him up. He will need some help getting into the car. We will drive back home and I will do my best not to bitch about his mother.

We'll go inside and I'll help him go to the bathroom. Then he usually goes in to take a nap. I use this free time to visit with daughter, check e-mail, visit Twitter and blog buddies. Then it's time to make dinner. Before serving his, I need to cut everything up into bite-size pieces. After dinner I clean up the kitchen, tidy up the house, check the bank balance, pick which bills get paid this month (it won't be all of them) do laundry and all the other things that it takes to keep a household going. Some days we go to the park for a walk. We walked every day before he returned to work, but neither of us has the strength for that now.

In the evening, I return to the internet, watch a little TV, take a bath. Attempt to make light of the situation to friends and family. Struggle to remember the importance of a sense of humor. Try to turn in early but can't sleep....too hot, too worried - can't get brain to shut up. The bills, prescriptions, doctors & therapists, the extra gasoline for all the driving, the worry of how complete his recovery will be...all fighting for attention. I want to cry, but not upset him, so I go to the bathroom and muffle the sound with a towel over my mouth.

The alarm clock goes off at 3 AM, and it all starts again.

I don't mean to sound like I'm whining. I realize there are millions of people who have bigger problems than mine. I just needed to get this out, hoping that by writing the words down, I can release some of the pressure.

Save the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:18:00 +0000

I live out in the sticks - a rural area not served by any high-speed Internet access. Nonetheless, I have been on the Internet for ten years, and have enjoyed the freedom of being able to view anything that is posted on the World Wide Web. I have posted webpages and blogs, and met people from all around the world. I do not want to lose this ability.

The Internet has always been free, and should remain so.

Net Neutrality is essential to free speech, equal opportunity and economic innovation in America. Since the FCC removed this basic protection in 2005, the top executives of phone and cable companies have stated their intention to become the Internet's gatekeepers and to discriminate against Web sites that don't pay their added tolls.

This fundamental change would end the open Internet as we know it. It would damage my ability to connect with others, share information and participate in our 21st century democracy and economy. The FCC must ensure that broadband providers do not block, interfere with or discriminate against any lawful Internet traffic based on its ownership, source or destination.

I encourage everyone who enjoys the freedom of the Internet to support this cause.

Bravo Elizabeth Edwards

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:30:00 +0000

Foul-mouthed Ann Coulter is at it again, spewing her venom. Her latest hate-filled message was that she wishes John Edwards would be killed by a terrorist. How Christian of you, Ms. Coulter!

Then, following her disgusting comment, during an appearance on the MSNBC program Hardball, with commentator Chris Mathews, Elizabeth Edwards called in to politely request that Ms. Coulter keep a civil tongue in her head.

Might as well ask your bowels to stop moving.

Ann Coulter was as rude as ever, interrupting and re-interpreting everything Elizabeth Edwards said. She said that the wife of a Presidential candidate was telling her to shut up. No, the wife of a Presidential candidate was asking you to behave decently.

Stopping the shit ain’t gonna happen. Bravo to Elizabeth Edwards for calling the bitch out!

If You Want a Better America

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:22:00 +0000

Stop worrying about strangers having sex. Homosexuals are no threat to you, your family or your children. Celebrities don’t know or care about you. Who they are having sex with should be at the bottom of your list of concerns. If you want to worry about sex, consider the needs of your spouse or significant other.

Build secure borders and ports. This is not a rant against Mexicans. If anyone can slip into our country undetected, and shipments of goods are not thoroughly inspected, our country is not safe.

Talk to your kids. Even the youngest children have opinions. If they are old enough to talk, they are old enough to listen to. Don’t just preach to them, have discussions.

Give politics the degree of attention it deserves. More people can name the winner of American Idol than their senator. Which one do you think has a greater effect on your life?

Paris is Burning?

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:21:00 +0000

Paris Hilton was released from jail for "medical reasons". They say she has a rash *coughherpescough*

It's all over the news.

Far more important than the death toll of American soldiers killed in Iraq passing 3,500.

And so it goes

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:54:00 +0000

Rosie has left The View.

Whatever your opinion of Rosie O’Donnell was, (and she does seem to bring out extreme opinions - people either love or hate her) I find it so sad that the only program on all of television that allowed an all-woman panel to discuss politics and current events, will no longer be the same.

I don’t know what the plans are for The View in the future. I would like to think that the panel will continue to discuss political topics. The show was so much more exciting and fun to watch.

Any more, I can get celebrity gossip everywhere. Mainstream media and network news have lowered their standards to being little more than glorified versions of Entertainment Tonight. It was wonderful for a news junkie like myself, to find women discussing the war and the doings of our government.

Al Gore had it so right. Gore criticized the "trivialities and nonsense" of celebrity gossip in the media and called on people to focus instead on issues like Iraq and climate change. Gore, who is promoting his new book "The Assault on Reason," made the comments at a book signing in New York, where he was treated to a rock star reception by more than 1,300 cheering and screaming fans.

"What is it about our collective decision-making process that has led us to this state of affairs where we spend much more time in the public forum talking about -- or receiving information about -- Britney Spears shaving her head or Paris Hilton going to jail?” Gore asked.

He lamented what he described as the "destruction of the boundary between news and entertainment" and said the United States was "vulnerable as a democracy to mass and continuing distraction."

And now we have one less voice, one who had the courage to speak out.

Jimmy Carter should not apologize

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:15:00 +0000

Jimmy Carter originally said that the Bush administration was the worst in history and that pre-emptive strikes against potential threats was bad policy.

He shouldn’t have backed down or apologized for speaking the truth.

Rosie Leaving The View

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:13:00 +0000

Rosie O’Donnell announced that she is leaving the daytime television show, The View.

I didn’t always agree with the things she said, but by God, she had the guts to say them. She started many “celebrity feuds” perhaps the most famous with Donald Trump (who deserved the verbal bitch-slapping she gave him). She pounded the Bush administration hard about the war in Iraq (also well-deserved).

She is a big, outspoken woman who isn’t afraid of controversy. She says things that men who trade in contentious speech have been shouting about on television and talk radio for years.

She is a “bad girl” in a good way, because her reputation is not earned from appearing drunk in public or flashing her genitals at photographers, but because she addresses current events with well-informed opinions.

I will miss her.

Supreme Court Abortion Ruling

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 19:03:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A closely divided U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the first nationwide ban on a specific abortion procedure, restricting abortion rights in a ruling on one of the nation's most divisive and politically charged issues.

By a 5-4 vote, the high court rejected two challenges to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that
President George W. Bush signed into law in 2003 after its approval by the Republican-led U.S. Congress.

The decision marked the first time the nation's high court has upheld a federal law banning a specific abortion procedure since its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973 that women have a basic constitutional right to abortion.

In a defeat for abortion rights advocates, the court's conservative majority with two Bush appointees upheld the law adopted after nine years of hearings and debate. The law has never been enforced because of court challenges.

The majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected arguments the law must be struck down because it imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to abortion, it is too vague or too broad and fails to provide an exception for abortions to protect the health of a pregnant woman.

The court's four most liberal members -- Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens,
David Souter and Stephen Breyer -- dissented.

Ginsburg, who called the decision alarming, took the rare step of reading parts of her dissent from the bench.

"In candor, the Partial Birth Abortion Act and the court's defense of it cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this court -- and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives," she said.

The upheld law makes it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion when the "entire fetal head" or "any part of the fetal trunk past the navel" is outside the woman's uterus.

The procedure, which often occurs in the second trimester of pregnancy, is known medically as intact dilation and extraction.

The two cases, widely viewed as the most important of the court's 2006-07 term, had been closely watched as tests of whether Bush's two conservative appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, would restrict abortion rights. Both voted to uphold the law.

Roberts and Alito as U.S. Justice Department lawyers in the 1980s and early 1990s opposed the 1973 abortion ruling. Abortion was a central issue in their Senate confirmation hearings, when neither Roberts nor Alito would divulge how he would vote on abortion cases.

Abortion rights advocates who challenged the law denounced the ruling.

"This ruling flies in the face of 30 years of Supreme Court precedent and the best interest of women's health and safety," said Eve Gartner of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

"Today the court took away an important option for doctors who seek to provide the best and safest care to their patients. This ruling tells women that politicians, not doctors, will make their health care decisions for them," she said.

The Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote in 2000 struck down a similar Nebraska law for failing to provide an exception to protect a pregnant woman's health.

But moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who cast the decisive vote in 2000, has retired and was replaced by the more conservative Alito.

SOURCE

My feelings are mixed. The procedure sounds horrible. I am sure the decision to have the procedure is horrible as well. But knowing that the conservative movement pushed for this ban, I fear it could be a first step to outlawing abortions altogether. This would be a very bad move.

Outlawing abortion doesn’t stop it from happening. It just makes it more difficult. Especially for low income women. Wealthy women have always had access to abortions. They could travel to a location where doctors do perform abortions. Or they could persuade *coughbribecough* a doctor that the “health of the mother” clause (which has always been a part of abortion ban law) included their “mental health”. Or they lie and say they were raped.

No, outlawing abortion doesn’t end it, it just puts an additional burden on the poor, who may end up reviving horrible "back-alley abortions" performed with a wire coat hanger, in unsanitary conditions by someone who is not a physician.

Hardly a step forward.

Free Speech

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:40:00 +0000

How far does free speech go? When radio shock jock Don Imus, described the Rutgers women's basketball team, on the April 4 Imus in the Morning, as "nappy-headed hos," he packed so many layers of offense into the statement that it was like a perfect little diamond of insult. There was a racial element, a gender element and even a class element (the joke implied that the Scarlet Knights were thuggish and ghetto compared with the Tennessee Lady Vols).

Imus was a famous, rich, old white man picking on a bunch of young, mostly black college women. So it seemed pretty cut-and-dried that his bosses at CBS Radio would suspend his show—half frat party, half political salon for the Beltway elite—for two weeks, and that MSNBC would cancel the TV simulcast. And that Imus would plan to meet with the students he offended. Case closed, justice served, lesson—possibly—learned. Move on.

So where do we draw the line?

To read complete article go here

Bush is so full of it

noreply@blogger.com (Marti) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:01:00 +0000

After a long day of deliberately losing at bingo, standing in long pharmacy lines, going to the library and running a dozen other errands with mom-in-law, I come home......to hear George Bush.

"There is no indication that anybody did anything improper," the president said.

This from the man who told us "Mission Accomplished" years ago.

He is so full of it, he should be dressed like this.

LOL

And on hard-hitting Fox News tonight, are Hannity and Colmes discussing the THREE THOUSAND e-mails released by the White House? Or anything political?

No.

They’re interviewing Tara Conner about the hardships of being beautiful.

In late 2006, Miss USA 2006. Tara Conner became the center of a public scandal when news reports claim she had been drinking underage, tested positive for the use of cocaine, and kissed Miss Teen USA Katie Blair in public, among other things. She was allowed to retain her title and entered a drug rehabilitation program.
Wikipedia

They have to, ‘cause Anna Nicole’s still dead. (This joke is only meaningful to those old enough to remember Chevy Chase’s SNL Weekend Update reports that Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead)

Gawd, I need a drink.