Happy Easter

Saving the Seas

Let's take a short breather from the fight to make Americans safer from gun violence and from our advocacy for marriage equality (but please don't stop calling and e-mailing members of Congress on both issues).  

 

 I just heard from my friend Goffinet McLaren, environmental advocate and amazing author of Sullie Saves the Seas.  Goffinet focuses a tremendous amount of energy on eradicating plastic pollution in our oceans.  Here's what she had to say in an e-mail today:

  

You may be one of the millions of folks who recently watched the global television reports about a seagull sitting on top of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, while waiting for the white smoke signal from inside.   We think that was actually Sullie, checking that no plastic was being used in the fireplace below.
 

And when he returned home, inspired by what he saw in Rome, Sullie decided to update his website to make it more user friendly, for both Adults and Kids. He also added a number of CDs that would allow folks like you to make a slide presentation to your friends about the damage caused by plastic litter in the oceans.

 

Goffinet's own story is as fascinating as Sullie's.   Growing up around the sea in Northern Ireland, her "ocean consciousness" was raised very early in life.  I'm guessing that Lucy Left visitors care about our environment, including the oceans  (of course you do).   If you'd like to help raise awareness of a major source of pollution affecting our oceans and the creatures who call it home,  Sullie offers opportunities for you to take action. 

 

  At the web site you'll learn more about Goffinet, her sidekick, Sullie the Seagull, and the effects of plastic in the oceans.    You can get a copy of Sullie Saves the Seas there, too.  It's a book for grownups disguised as a children's book.  I gave it to my granddaughter, The Bliss Bringer, not long ago.   Here's your ticket to Sullie's site:

http://www.sullietheseagull.com 

Yep.

Posted on Miss R•EVOLutionaries

Can I Get An Amen?

Thanks to Restoring Sanity Page/Facebook

Marriage Equality on the Line at SCOTUS

I bet Hell is fabulous!  That’s what the woman's sign said.  She was wearing a wonderfully outrageous costume to complement the sign.  Her counter to the hard-right’s threats of hellfire and damnation for non-straight humans got to me in a good way.  Gave me a good laugh.

The woman and her sign were part of a crowd—assorted patriots who have planted themselves outside the Supreme Court (SCOTUS, if you want to use the abbreviation that sounds like an intimate body part).  I heard that Rob Reiner (movie actor turned director) paid someone to hold his spot—the first in line to get into the courtroom this morning. It’s a big day, and watching the crowd makes me think:  This is what Democracy is supposed to look like.  People taking time to show up and express themselves in their own unique ways.  Some are creatively dressed in costume and using humor to get their serious points across.   Other earnest, more scholarly ones, are speaking from the cold marble steps.  They’re all in this together, there to witness a momentous day for marriage equality.   They’re in this together.  We’re all in this together.  Civil rights—our constitutional rights—apply to each and all of us.  When one group is discriminated against, we’re all discriminated against.  We all lose. We are one body, we Americans.  Hurt one part of a body and the whole body suffers.  Deny rights to one of us, and we're all limited.

Today the justices hear arguments on California’s Proposition 8; tomorrow it’s  DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act.  Given what I’ve read and heard—and based on my generally reliable common sense—it’s hard to imagine a ruling in either case that doesn’t honor marriage equality.  How it can be viewed as anything but a constitutional right is beyond me.  And that right should be a matter of Federal law, not to be decided by the States.   We don't VOTE on whether to "give" citizens their constitutional rights!   A right is not a personal-preference.  Mercy.

But it’s also beyond me how proponents of continuing marriage discrimination argue their point with words not remotely related to the facts, much less the truth.  Did you see Ralph Reid and Hilary Rosen’s exchange on “Meet the Press” Sunday?  It’s a good example of how the “Christian Right” ignores facts, polls and the opinion of the majority of Americans.  Here’s a link: 
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/25/christian-bigot-tells-lesbian-mom-shes-not-good-enough-to-raise-kids/

Even though it's hard to imagine a ruling that doesn't affirm equality,  we can't be sure of the ultimate decisions.  We can only share our truth in this and all things as best we can whenever we can—and surround the court with positive thoughts for a fair and just outcome.  Keep the faith, you with the big Liberal hearts.  And I will do the same.

On Gun Legislation: Courage Anyone?

I've been too heartsick to mention that two days ago the assault weapons ban wasn't included in the Senate gun control/regulation/safety (whatever sounds less threatening to the NRA?) bill.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said there weren't enough votes to pass the bill if it included the assault weapons provisions.  I've read and heard enough to feel confident that was the case, meaning not enough votes.   So, it will be an amendment to another bill.

 

Seems any attempts to ban rapid-fire magazines have little chance of passage either.  (Do NOT change the subject again, Wayne LaPierre, by saying gun control advocates need to become educated on terminology).   Assault weapons and multiple bullet magazines have figured prominently in nearly all the mass killings in this country over the past several years, the most recent big being Newtown.  I don't need to go into more detail than that.  Everybody knows what I'm talking about when I say Newtown and when I say rapid-fire or multiple-bullet cartridges for guns.  I don't want to become proficient in the vocabulary of gun violence.  

 

I am sad and angry—on so many levels.  Where are the public servants (members of Congress,  specifically)  willing to take the risk of losing the next election in order to DO THE RIGHT THING?  Anyone there who's in a "red" district (Dems included) willing to lose their seat in an effort to protect children and human beings of all ages from being murdered, massacred by guns?  Come on, people!

 

My father was a longtime state legislator.  He was a man with a moral compass—what I  would call a moral compass.  That doesn't mean he didn't have flaws; he was very human and made mistakes as we all do.  But when faced with a situation in his district where the county schools were condemned because of structurally dangerous buildings, where the valedictorian in one of them couldn't get into the state college with the lowest entrance requirements?  He knew very well how unpopular the idea—much less the reality—of school consolidation was.  Still, he couldn't have lived with himself if he had shrugged his shoulders and ignored it—or appointed some study group (the same as ignoring it, for a while at least).  He knew very well it was not only possible, but probable, that taking action to consolidate the county schools would  cost him the next election.  And it did.  

He had moved up in seniority and was in position to chair a major committee after the next election.  A really sweet temptation, I imagine.  But still he did the right thing.  I remember it as a sad night at our house.  As if someone had died.   I remember my boyfriend's father not allowing him to use the family car to drive to our house—he wasn't happy with my father's action.  But his son walked across town to hold my fourteen-year-old hand.  And many friends and neighbors also came to console and urge my father to run four years later.  

 

During the next campaign he'd say he was out of the Senate four years for health reasons:  "The voters got sick of me."  Lucy's papa had a great sense of humor up until the day he died four years ago.  I was proud of him for being courageous, for putting  children and their education before his own best interest. 

Understand,  I disagreed with him on some issues, mostly environmental.  He grew up during the Depression; his father literally lost the farm.  So he wasn't hard to convince that certain environmental regulations would put people out of work.  Seeing people employed and able to take care of their families trumped most everything with him.  It was a position I wasn't thrilled with, sometimes even was ashamed of—but I wasn't ashamed of him.  He had the courage to do the right thing when he knew for sure what the right thing WAS.

 

How could every member of the U. S. House and U. S. Senate NOT know what the right thing is when it comes to gun regulation?  How in the hell can they sleep at night?  I can't imagine.

 

I say all this to neutralize some of  my anger.  And to ask you to please call your senators and OTHER members of Congress, as many as you are willing to call.  Let them know they need to find the courage to "vote right"f or the children and teachers at Sandy Hook School and all the other people who have lost their lives to senseless gun violence.  

  (You can thank DEMANDACTION by going to their Facebook page and liking it.)

Call them, email them.  And you're allowed to do that every day until voting day.  (Just 'use the google' to find out when votes are scheduled.)  I hope enough of us call often enough to scare them into doing the right thing.  They're afraid of losing the next election?  Let's give them reason to be scared—of losing if they don't take positive action to protect us from the epidemic of gun violence that is killing us.  

 

Golden is Good

Thanks to Kentuckians Against the War on Women for posting this on Facebook.   

 

Ashley Judd could clean Mitch McConnell's clock, and we're all going to help her do it, right?  I'd even pitch a tent on the bluegrass if need be.   These golden women are changing our world for the better.   [If you didn't hear Senator Kirsten Gillibrand chastising a general about doing too little about rapes in the military.  Am sure you've heard Sen. Elizabeth Warren asking the unasked questions about why Wall Street bankers haven't been indicted?]

 

Gold is good, Mitch.   It's the metal and medal of champions!

Wolfowitz with Zakaria

Watching Fareed Zakaria interviewing Paul Wolfowiz on Iraq (CNN).  A real challenge to my inner peace.  Maybe sharing will help:  He just said that Sadam hadn't given up the hope of getting weapons of mass destruction—in his assortment of "justifications" for that war of choice.  I haven't given up hope of winning the lottery, but the odds are mega strong against it.  Jeeeez.  I need to stop now and eat something before I'm unable to digest.  Certainly can't digest any more of Wolfowitz today.

Tell It, Bill

In the linked video clip Bill Maher explains why the right wingers continue to make the same mistakes over and over again—deluding themselves about what Americans think about assorted issues and the policies they support. 

 

Remember the definition of insanity?  Doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results every time.  Looks like the learning curve is just too high for this crowd.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/egbertowillies/8561529816/

Legislative Alert! Contact Your Senators Today

Thanks to the American Holistitc Health Association  (http://www.ahha.org/AHHA_Issue_3-15-13.htm)  and the Alliance for Natural Health USA ( http://www.anh-usa.org/stop-monsanto-rider-in-senate/ ) for the following information and call to action. 

 

Please call your Senators and any other senators you're willing to call or e-mail.   The links provided will give you more info on the rider and the amendment to the rider offered by Senator Tester and others.

 

Text from ANH:

At this very moment, a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the big Appropriations funding bill (H.R. 933) is being debated in the Senate. It’s supposed to be about funding the government, but the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (who has always stood by our side in the past), has included a dangerous GMO rider that has no place in a funding bill.
 

Fortunately, Senator Tester, joined by Senators Boxer, Gillibrand, and Leahy, have introduced Amendment #74 to strike the dangerous rider from the CR. This is our one chance to ensure this heinous language does not become law. Tell your member of Congress to support the Tester amendment and dump the dangerous biotech rider.

The good news is that this amendment is our best opportunity to halt the GMO rider before the bill goes to conference committee, which will reconcile the House bill (which was passed without the GMO rider language) with this Senate bill. The bad news is that during the previous Congress, the House passed a bill with this exact same GMO language, so if we don’t stop the rider now, the House is unlikely to oppose it.
 

This is the same rider we’ve told you about before—the so-called Farmer Assurance Provision (Section 735)–that will strip federal courts of the authority to halt the sale and planting of illegal, potentially hazardous genetically engineered crops while USDA is performing an environmental impact statement . If this provision becomes law, it will be a huge blow to the justice system, completely overriding judicial safeguards that protect both farmers and the public, and rendering judges’ rulings irrelevant.
 

This Monsanto-driven rider is simply a biotech industry ploy to continue to plant GE crops even when a court of law has found they were approved illegally.

Friday Sharing

Did anybody follow yesterday's Assault Weapons Ban discussion in the Senate Judiciary Committee?  Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), sponsor of the legislation and twenty-year member of the Committee, received what amounted to a lecture (loaded with condescension, I thought) from freshman Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas).   She responded in what I considered to be a fair and appropriate manner to someone with no sense of Senate decorum.  And without much sense period, from my observations of Senator Cruz.   I haven't heard details, but did hear she later apologized for her response to Cruz.  I didn't think he deserved an apology. And I usually am in favor of willingness to apologize.  Just didn't think her response to him called for one.  What do you think?

 

 UPDATE on 3/16:  Just watched a compelling video clip—from the first segment of Rachel Maddow's Friday show (3/15).  The video is on her Facebook Fan Page and more than worth the 17 minutes to watch it.   Will tell you that hearing details of how the Sandy Hook killer went about the massacre that day was deeply disturbing.  It seemed important to hang in there and watch it all.  I didn't "need" to hear the details to be convinced of the need for the Feinstein bill.  But Republicans and some Democrats in the Senate do need to see it before casting their vote once the bill comes before the full Senate.

 

I left a comment on the Rachel Maddow Fan Page, suggesting that the video be submitted by a Senator to be entered into the official record when the bill is debated.  Better still, it would be a wise move to show the video during the debate.  OMG I hope someone will do that.  If you missed her show Friday night, do watch this brilliant piece of journalism.  I don't use the word "brilliant" often, but feel confident I'm using it appropriately here.  There aren't many real journalists in our midst today.   We are fortunate to have Rachel Maddow's sharp mind, stamina, determination, good common sense, and willingness to work herself half to death to air the truth on so many fronts.  I imagine her staff deserves credit, as well.

 

A big BRAVO and THANK YOU to Rachel and the staff for a job well done with every show.

 

**********************

 

QUOTE I CAN'T RESIST SHARING:

 

During a re-run of The Colbert Report, Colbert was talking with Julian Bond (NAACP President Emeritus) about voting rights.   At some point Bond says:  "Justice Scalia is the Rush Limbaugh of the Supreme Court."  Indeed! 

Contacting U. S. Senate Members

NOTE:  The Assault Weapons Ban passed the Judiciary Committee.  Hearing lots of doubts about its passage in the full Senate.  So, e-mail or call members of the Senate—your two and others—and ask for their support.  

 

Never has offering our opinions to the powers-that-be been easier, thanks to the internet and all the resources available here.  This morning someone posted a guide from momsdemandaction.org on Facebook.   It's a telephone list for U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee members.  This handy reference will be helpful in contacting them—about common-sense gun legislation and other issues in the future.

 

It's your first time making calls?  How exciting!  Your activism will be strengthened with each action taken, just as muscles we use repeatedly will grow stronger.   You won't be speaking to a senator when you call; you'll talk with a staffer.  Identify yourself and ask whether the person on the phone is the person you need to speak with to get a message to Senator So and So about whatever your issue might be.   For example, you could tell the person it's about gun legislation.  If you're calling your two senators, identify yourself by name as a voter from your senators' state.  Ask the Senator's position on gun safety legislation (or whatever the issue) -- and be specific as possible.  For instance:  The legislation expanding background checks that was just passed by the Judiciary Committee. 

 

  A tip from this former legislative staffer:  Even if you're angry about an issue, remember to be courteous to the person you're talking with.  First of all, the staffer doesn't get to vote, and, believe me, you don't want to trash their boss.  Not even if you're ready to boil him or her in oil for a recent vote or position on which you passionately disagree.   Same goes for the tone of any email or letter you send.   I recommend closing every communication with thanks for their service.  We can be strong in our positions and remain respectful—or at least civil!

 

In fact, a bill expanding background checks has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and now is headed for full Senate consideration.  So, the background check (and assault weapons ban) currently, or soon to be, before the Senate is what we'll be calling about today, tomorrow and possibly next week But do call, every day if you can, until it passes!   This phone list will make that easier.  Thanks, Moms!

 

Oh! And, budding activists, remember to speak your truth, even if your voice shakes!

Guns, Guns and Guns

The City Council of Nelson, Georgia, unanimously approved an ordinance mandating that the head of every household own a gun.  And get this:  The final vote on this “Family Protection Act” is scheduled for April 1.  Foolish, yes, but no joke.

So, all the people living in fear that the bad ole government is comin’ for their guns might want to see how this social experiment works out.  Infinite possibilities.

 

Here's a scenario:  Ms. Jones hears Mr. Smith yelling at Mrs. Smith, rapid-firing the F-word like it’s coming from one of those multi-bullet clips.   Should she intervene?  After all, she’s an armed citizen now, a surrogate officer of the law in a sense.  Is she expected to prevent domestic violence when she hears signs thereof coming through the window-screens so loud they’re scaring off the flies?  Then comes a big thud.  Okay. That’s it.  She takes out her Glock and feels a burning in her right wrist.  She makes a mental note to get herself back to the Christian fitness and praise group Saturday morning.  Gotta get stronger to be armed and dangerous. 

She can’t come up with a best-approach option.  Should she call out “Citizen’s arrest!” when she gets to the door?  Or maybe just knock real hard:   “Yoooo hooo, neighbors, y’all need to simmer down now.  Count to ten, Brother Smith.”

Ms. Jones realizes Mr. Smith, as head of that household, would have a gun of his own.  Maybe even a semi-automatic something or other.   She returns the gun to the old tin breadbox and decides to turn up the TV while she bakes them a pie.

                                                                           ***********

 

Here we’ve been in post 9/11 “protect America mode”— like not allowing a potentially dangerous full-size bottle of shampoo or baby formula on an airplane.  Yet elected American officials are now passing ordinances in city halls and laws in state legislatures allowing loaded firearms almost anywhere.  Almost everywhere.  How about guns in bars?  It’s  happening.  Now there’s a to-die-for night out.

Would you like to be seated at a bar, restaurant, concert, church, or anywhere near someone carrying a loaded gun?  Possibly someone with anger management issues?  Possibly with mental health challenges?  Possibly somebody who’s just a mean sumbitch?   Not me, Jack.  How about sitting next to an armed stranger in a crowded movie theater?  He reaches for a Milk Dud and his gun goes off.  Could happen.


                                                                       ************

 

Last night I heard Oregon State Senator Ginny Burdick talking about how pro-gun activists motivated her to cancel a meeting on gun safety laws. Apparently they’d given signs they’d be disruptive. 

When Senator Burdick arrived home that evening, members of this armed pro-gun group were there to videotape her arrival.  Much later, they were still there to film as she pushed her garbage cart to the curb.  Then these gun-totin’ citizens posted the video on the internet . . . So, anybody who’s interested can see exactly where this Senator who favors gun safety lives.  Creepy? Yep.
 

What do you think about two men walking around a residential area carrying big ole guns and saying, when asked, that they are “just educating people on their second amendment rights.”   No way that’s going to lead to anything but trouble.  Here's what TheDixieDove.com has to say about carrying guns in public: 
 

You may be a gun idiot if... you don't realize that, by carrying weapons in public, you require public law enforcement to focus on you and not the real criminals who may be in the area you are in. You are effectively nullifying law enforcement in that area. And what would you expect any police force to focus on more than someone carrying a gun in public? Are they supposed to think "Oh, since he's showing his rifle in public, he must be carrying it legally..." Like criminals can't figure that out!!!???.

Celebrate Women!

from Women's Rights News - March 8, 2013.

On International Women's Day

Human trafficking & sex trafficking is finally getting people's attention. It's great that these men used their fame to bring this national and worldwide problem into light.

                         
                                                                         * * * * * * *

 Happy News to celebrate the day:  ON CBS THIS MORNING: Caroline Kennedy announces Gabrielle Giffords is the winner of the 2013 JFK Profile in Courage Award.

WATCH: http://cbsn.ws/VPkECX                                    

 

                                                                   * * * * * * *

Not so long ago, the idea that women might rule the world seemed slightly ridiculous - like something out of science fiction. But in an essay to mark International Women's Day, political analyst and former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers argues it's now a topic that can be seriously discussed.  

 

In the BBC News Magazine Dee Dee Myers has an excellent piece (dated March 7 entitled Viewpoint: What If Women Ruled the World?   Forgive me for not giving you a link to this; my laptop is hiding the browser window.  I need technical remediation at the moment to find it.  However, knowing you're all intelligent AND smart, I believe you can find it online in an instant.   An excellent way to honor International Women's Day.  

 

If women ruled the world, we all know it would be a better place.  Here's to the women!

 

Welfare Queens

(from Citizens UnTied/Facebook).  Can I hear an Amen?

A Fine Formula for Changing the World

For more info: http://bit.ly/13CBzw6 — with Marc Lesser.

A Right, Not Entitlement

Thanks to the Rev. Al Sharpton and POLITICS NATION for this image.  Can I hear an AMEN?!

Seriously, Justice Scalia,  Rachel Maddow is right about you.