Fringe or Not?

When I was a protester against the Vietnam War, I didn't want to be lumped in with the violent leftest fringe AND I was proud to say so. Are there "Tea Party" members or supporters who speak out against these acts of "white privilege"? In other words, are these actions the fringe or center of the "Tea Party"?

http://politicalirony.com/2010/04/27/the-tea-party-is-racist/

Unversal Health Care and Conservatives

It's been a long while since I put a new entry on this blog and do so now because here's two topics I couldn't resist.

Universal Health Care - I can't even recall how long it's been that I've been checking off Universal Health Care as my top priority in various political opinion polls. And now near universal health care is LAW OF THE LAND!!! I still worry that even though 32 million will now have health insurance, that their deductibles and co-pays will still bankrupt them and I think that a public option would have been refreshing competition for the private insurers. But - wow - as Biden said - this is a big F***ing Deal!!

Conservatives - Nothing to add to this column as it says it all! http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/a/m/americandad/2010/03/an-open-letter-to-conservative.php?ref=recdc

Lastly, here's to family, friends, and good health!

Political Irony

Here's a good website for those of you who, like me, are liberalheart supporters of the current administration and who notice that Washington is full of irony.

http://politicalirony.com/

And here's a great post from that site to get your started:

Voting Rights - Yes!

This decision by the Supreme Court is even more touching now that we visited the Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Al. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906u/voting-rights-ruling

Well Said!

We heard Frank Schaeffer being interviewed on the XM POTUS08 channel today and he had a lot to say that I agree with:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/open-letter-to-the-republ_b_172822.html

Connecticut Stimulus

I wrote both our CT senators to thank them for their support of the stimulus package. In his response to me, Sen. Dodd provided the interesting list of CT's share of the stimulus. By the way, my thoughts on the stimulus are that I'm not economist to know if it will work or not...but I do think that those supported it are right that more is needed than just tax cuts.

Key Funding Provisions for Connecticut in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

· Approximately 277,766 Connecticut residents will receive additional Unemployment Insurance benefits.

· The Federal Emergency Unemployment Insurance program will be extended through the end of Dec. 2009, which will benefit approximately 44,580 Connecticut residents.

· States that modernize their Unemployment Insurance systems to make them more accessible to part time and low wage workers, will receive federal funding to cover the administrative cost of these improvements. Connecticut would be eligible for up to $84 million if they modernized their system.

WORKER RETRAINING

· Connecticut will receive $29 million in additional funding for worker retraining and employment services.

MAKING WORK PAY TAX CREDIT

· This credit will provide up to $400 per year to workers. Approximately 95 percent of working families are eligible for the tax credit.

INFRASTRUCTURE

• $487.5 million for Connecticut infrastructure projects.

• $302 million for rebuilding and improving Connecticut's roads and bridges.

• $137.5 million for Connecticut in transit formula funding.

• Nearly $36 million in public housing capital funds for Connecticut.

• $11 million in Community Development Block Grant (CBDG) funds for Connecticut.

• $19.7 million for Connecticut in Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and $48.8 million in Clean Water State Revolving Fund for clean water and waste water projects.

ENERGY

• $39 million in State Energy Program funding for Connecticut to address energy priorities and to adopt emerging renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

• $66 million to help Connecticut families reduce their energy bills through the Weatherization Assistance Program.

PUBLIC SAFETY

• Connecticut will have at least $80 million in stabilization funds that can be used to prevent fire fighter and police officer layoffs and other cuts to critical services

• $21 million in Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant funding for Connecticut to prevent, fight and prosecute crime

EDUCATION

• $5 million in Head Start funding to improve the school readiness of Connecticut's children and $14 million in Child Care and Development Block Grants to help hardworking families with childcare assistance

• $443.5 million in state stabilization that will, among other things, help communities in Connecticut prevent teacher layoffs, funding cuts to education and other services, and the modernization, renovation, and repairs of public school facilities and higher education institutions

• $12 million in Community Services Block Grant funds to assist with key services in Connecticut, including childcare, employment, education, emergency services, health care, housing, nutrition, transportation, youth development, and coordination of resources and community participation.

• Increases the maximum Pell Grant by $500, which will benefit nearly 52,000 low income Connecticut students

CHILD TAX CREDIT

• The families of an additional 96,000 children in Connecticut will be eligible to claim an expanded Child Tax Credit.
  

DCCC chief Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland congressman, released a statement declaring: “House Republicans are fast becoming party of No-bama. Americans will hold Republicans accountable for being the party of no – no to President Obama’s economic recovery, no to children’s health care, and no to equal pay for women doing equal work.”

A short time, ago, I saw a Republican House member using the excuse that they ALL voted against the recovery package because it had too much spending in it and because they hadn't seen it soon enough to review it. My response is the same as the Prez's - a stimulus package IS a spending package AND there were plenty of time to get details about the bill in the press so I'm sure the members of both parties had plenty of time to return the bill.

President Obama!!!

It's taken me a few days to post my thoughts on the inaugurations. Here's some of my thoughts.....

1) I love hearing hearing the phrase "President Obama" for two reasons - one is that it isn't "President Bush" and second because hearing it reminds me that I now have a president that "gets it" regarding so many values that we share!

2) I had thought the inauguration was going to be emotional but I was caught by surprise by the flood of tears when Aretha started to sing. Dick Cavett wrote a great column that captures many of my thoughts http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/im-not-weeping-its-an-allergy/

3) Shouldn't Justice Roberts have had a cheat sheet with the words since they are so important??

4) The one sad thing about the day was that my niece had tickets to the purple area and after more than four hours standing in a tunnel was turned away. I'm still proud of her for her intern service to a member of congress that earned her the ticket and proud of her wanting to brave the early hour and cold to try to see the historic event. I hope she gains some solace that even waiting in that tunnel with all those people that she was part of the history making event.

5) My 26 year old son that is barely old enough to remember back to the pre-Bush years, posted on inauguration day that he is feeling optimistic about the future. It's going to be a slow trek to undue the past administration's wrongs but I share his optimistic feeling to know we are now going in the right direction.

6) I thought THE speech was great and I intend to refer to it as a touchstone to remember the historic context for the direction our country will be taking during President Obama's first term.

7) I'm trying to think of how I can be part of President Obama's call for us to serve the country during this phase of my life. How interesting that Starbucks is also helping spread that call to action.

In closing, YAY for democracy and for liberal, patriotic, intelligent leadership! I love that President Obama is making it clear that liberals are also passionately liberal!

Where's the Bull-horn??

Kudos to Katherine for posting this link on Facebook with this introduction:
"I don’t think George W. Bush should be allowed to slip quietly out of town. There should be a loud, collective angry howl and demonstrations over the damage he’s done to this country. Where's my bull-horn?"

Thanks, Katherine. I couldn't have said it better myself....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30herbert.html?_r=1

Our Shared Destiny

Over the past few days, I've been reading the January issue of Essence Magazine. For those who don't know, Essence is targeted towards Black readers. The issue had a large section of photographs and articles on Obama's victory and a variety of responses from prominent Black Americans as well as from some young black students.

Reading the issue has left me with the feeling that the Black and White communities in our country now are really entwined into a shred destiny. That, up to now, we've been on parallel but different tracks. As so many in the nation look forward with hope, we are all so truly dependent upon Obama as the President of all of America - our futures are truly linked.

Victory Font Analysis

Here's a different perspective on the biggest story of 2008....analyzing the type fonts of the front page stories proclaiming Obama's victory: http://fontfeed.com/archives/newspaper-front-pages-proclaim-obama-victory/

If this is the non-partisan view....

In their own words (with my emphasis):

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy. We are committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the United States and around the world.

And this is the Center for Public Interest's list of the executive failures for the current administration http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/broken_government/

What additional failures would you add from your partisan point-of-view? Please comment.

Liberal Discounts with the Liberal Card

Here's a card that celebrates while offering a way to get discounts for being liberal. http://www.liberalcard.org/

2008 R Us - Not Singing So Much

Okay - well, I'm not singing quite as much right now. Yes - I'm still confident that the election of Barack Obama is going to be a very good thing for the USA. However, my singing has slowed since my last post because the 2008 financial crisis has come too close to our home, literally. Our home sale fell through in the past month because the buyer lost his Wall Street job within days of the scheduled closing. It's back on the market now.

While we're waiting for it to sell, I've obtained a seasonal job at a well-known local department store. I have my training on Sunday and look forward to making posts to this blog with my liberal-heart reactions to working retail this holiday season.

Til then - if you know somebody who wants a wonderful updated 3-bedroom home in CT, please let me know.

My Liberal Heart is Singing!

I feel somewhat speechless...just about all I can think to write is that my liberal heart is singing with joy that such an intelligent, thoughful, collaborative, open minded person is now president-elect of our country! OBAMA!!!

Like some of the other changes in my life this month, I have a feeling that we don't yet know how much good will come from this event.

NASCAR & Politics Don't Mix

As you may know, my DH is a huge NASCAR fan. Me - not so much. The predominate NASCAR political point-of-view is fairly conservative which might be why Sen. Biden had this trouble using NASCAR lingo (from http://election.swiftmob.com/content.html?page=1040&content=4228646&pageNum=1):

"We've got a big NASCAR track up in my state at Dover Downs. But here in Charlotte you know racing a lot better than anybody in the country. I know that. So I'll talk a little bit in terms of racing terms," he told the young crowd at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte.

"Right now, our campaigns are trading a little paint. But, uh, what worries me most is the McCain campaign seems to have gotten a little loose."

No response.

"Um, and, uh I can tell you - not a lot of NASCAR fans in here," Biden said.

That didn't stop him from keeping the metaphor going. "You know that term getting a little loose on the, you know, when you're out there going 185 miles an hour, getting a little loose? Well John's getting a little loose. He doesn't have much of a steady hand these days."

"And now, and now's the time, now's the time we most need a steady hand."

My Friend

I consider myself to be an peacenik and am saddened by the violence in the world. No violence has touched me as personally as the murder of my friend, Mary, and her daughter two years ago. Mary was a college friend of mine and one of the most loving, joy-filled, and giving persons who I have ever known. Her daughter, Susanna, was her first born and was born only six months before my first child. So, I remember Mary fondly giving me mothering advice.
We hadn't seen each other in years and it was even a few years since we had been in contact but I always knew that I would get back to Seattle, again, and that Mary and I and our friend, Sid, would all three pick up where we left off. That was, until, Sid called two years ago, with the news of Mary's and Susanna's murders.

And how did these two wonderful women get murdered? They were hiking - yes, that's right. They were hiking in the mountains in the outskirts of Seattle and were shot. Just like that - and the murders are not yet solved. A week does not go by that I don't think of Mary but this week I am writing about her and Susanna in my blog because somebody who saw my online photos of them contacted me. Through that contact, I learned about a new effort of Mary's wonderful husband to aid the investigation - I wanted to share this news story with you.

As you watch this, please multiply this tragic tale by the tens of thousands who are victims of gun violence in our country each year. http://www.nwcn.com/topstories/stories/NW_092908WAB_stodden_murder_documentary_TP.c62a554d.html

Sam Harris on Gov. Palin

Although, in my opinion, Sam Harris is a bit heavy handed in his comments regarding Sarah Palin's religion, he raises many good concerns regarding her candidacy in this Newsweek editorial: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080

Sleaziest, Most Dishonest?

My recollection of past campaign ads was that they insinuated untruths. This campaign, McCain and Palin ads have had total blatant lies in them. And now, it appears that Rove and I agree expect instead of calling it lying, he says the ads are beyond the "100 percent truth" test.

What I wonder is when the American voters are going to decide that eight years of having a president misleading them is enough.

Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads - CNN.com

Women Against Sarah Palin

Not too much for me to add to the many thoughts posted on this blog:
Women Against Sarah Palin