I’m not happy about this one. IFCC is our neighborhood community meeting place-art gallery-theater space-children’s theater space and much more. They do great work and need our support.

wm

Post-a-vista No. 7: Our girl, RECOVERING STRAIGHT GIRL!!!

RSG, this is everyone. Everyone, this is the RSG! There! It’s done. Now we all know each other. (I highly recommend reading through her archives — so much “there” there. I love spying on people via their archives, don’t you?)

So, Post-a-vistas!!!

If the system makes you want to “tweak,” then maybe you need tweaking!!!

Time will tell!!!

In the meantime, RSG lives with her amazingly hott girlfriend (I’ve seen pictures so I know) and RSG’s three beautiful daughters in a suburb not so very far away from moi. She goes to a lot of soccer and softball games! She has people drop by specifically because they want to fix meals for her!!! She is politically savvy and also an English major! So let’s hear what SHE has to say!!!

1. Describe your family:

My family consists of my amazing partner in life, HG and my three daughter’s who are 9, almost 11, and 13.

2. Name one thing America is doing right for parents (I, personally, would find this question “challenging.” wm):

I think the Family Medical Leave Act of the early 90’s was a good start. I believe that Oregon has just expanded this to include some paid time off but I’m not certain of the particulars. I don’t know, that $400.00 Bush sent me in 2001 was nice . . . (please note heavy sarcasm here.) I was pleased with the recent law that requires employers to provide a spot for mothers to nurse or pump their milk for their babies (that is NOT a bathroom.)

3. Name one thing America is not doing right for parents:

Let me get my list.

First: Women need to have true and honest access to information about their birth options and should be able to exercise their birth options with support from their healthcare provider; women should be active participants in their birth experiences, this is the first act of parenting. Parents need paid time off for having babies, mother’s need to be supported to breastfeed at LEAST through the first year of their babies life and hopefully beyond. All children (and people) have a right to quality healthcare. Women need to have viable options in regards to working part-time/flex-time/work from home so that they can be there for their children. Parents should be able to send their children to college without mortgaging their homes or going into debt.

4. What’s one parenting issue that really “riles you up,” makes you ready to work for change:

The birth issue is probably my biggest issue. Women are so mis-treated during their birth experiences — most of the time they don’t even realize that they are being mis-treated. It’s abusive and wrong and women need to be given back their power to birth their children the way that they want to, not the way the medical establishment thinks that they should. It’s patronizing and archaic and depleting to a woman’s self-esteem. It’s her first lesson in advocating for her child, and our society strips this from her. (Hear, hear! wm)

5. Who’s gonna get your vote for President ’08 & why? (feel free to ignore this question):

I honestly have not decided. I’ve been torn from the beginning. The “girl power” thing is what keeps me from committing to Obama — but it hasn’t been enough for me to commit to Ms. Clinton.

6. Name one thing Post-a-Vistas could do to be a better place?:

Show more boob shots, definitely. (She promises to send a boob shot later. wm)

7. What’s your fave thing about parenting?:

I don’t really like anything about it; I don’t really like kids that much. Just kidding. I love snuggling with my girls and when they tell me how much they love me. I love teaching them things and seeing them experience different parts of life for the first time. Even my oldest at 13, learns things every single day, just like she did when she was three, only the lessons are way different.

8. Anything else you think we should know about you?:

I’m a pretty passionate person who gets heavily involved in whatever project is in front of me at the time. Right now I would say that my issue is equal rights and protections for all people because for the first time in my life I am being treated like a second class citizen based solely on who I love. This isn’t right and I’m not going to take it sitting down.

Thanks for playing, RSG!!! Keep coming back, it works!

Wait… she’s running for City Council, not President. I am endorsing Amanda Fritz, so you will please vote for her. She is rational, level-headed, and looking out for others. She is a sincere person. Sincerely. Thank you.

WM

from the Wacky Mailbox:

“On December 28th, a federal court issued an order preventing Oregon from implementing its new domestic partnership law until at least Feb. 1. The court’s decision was in response to a lawsuit brought by an out-of-state right wing interest group. This unnecessary delay has put hundreds of caring, committed couples in harm’s way. It’s up to us to ensure that Oregonians understand what’s at stake. Join Basic Rights Oregon at the Rally to Defend Equality on January 30.

Gay or straight – it’s time to stand up and be counted.

Support Oregon families by joining us at Wednesday’s Rally to Defend Equality. Bring your friends and family with you! (more…)

My political ally J just sent along this note:

Excerpt from “Letter from Birmingham Jail”:

“In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.”

Let us honor Dr. King’s memory by staying the course.

(And the story I referred to here came from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. )

Event: Rally and march to Shut Down Guantanamo Bay Prison
Date: Friday, January 11, 2008
Time: 5:00 PM
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Broadway & SW Yamhill, downtown Portland

Contacts:
PPRC (503) 344-5078 pprc at riseup.net

Peace and Justice Works (503) 236-3065 pjw at pjw.info

Portlanders to Rally and March to Shut Down Guantanamo Bay Prison Action in Solidarity with International Efforts Friday, January 11, 2008, 5 PM, Pioneer Courthouse Square

Local peace and justice groups are joining an international call to action to shut down the U.S. prison complex at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, this Friday, January 11, 2008. The local action will take place beginning at the SW corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Broadway and Yamhill, in downtown Portland, before a march begins at approximately 5:15 PM.

Over 300 people have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, most without access to legal help, and many exposed to harsh conditions that many consider torture. In February, 2006, the National Journal wrote an investigative piece that showed: “Some of … the terrorists, the trainers, the financiers, and the battlefield captures — are indeed at Guantanamo. But National Journal’s
detailed review of government files on 132 prisoners who have asked the courts for help, and a thorough reading of heavily censored transcripts from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals conducted in Guantanamo for 314 prisoners, didn’t turn up very many of them. Most of the ‘enemy combatants’ held at Guantanamo — for four years now — are simply not the worst of the worst of the terrorist world.

“Many of them are not accused of hostilities against the United States or its allies. Most, when captured, were innocent of any terrorist activity, were Taliban foot soldiers at worst, and were often far less than that. And some, perhaps many, are guilty only of being foreigners in Afghanistan or Pakistan at the wrong time. And much of the evidence — even the classified evidence —
gathered by the Defense Department against these men is flimsy, second-, third-, fourth- or 12th-hand. It’s based largely on admissions by the detainees themselves or on coerced, or worse, interrogations of their fellow inmates, some of whom have been proved to be liars.”-1

Witness Against Torture has declared January 11, the six years anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo, an International Day of Action to Shut Down Guantanamo. In Washington, DC, they will be holding a demonstration at the National Mall followed by a procession to the Supreme Court. Actions are currently planned in 30 cities, including New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami, London, Paris and elsewhere.

Local groups organizing the Friday rally include Peace and Justice Works (PJW), Portland Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC) and Women in Black. PJW and PPRC echo the national call for participants to wear orange t-shirts, armbands or other orange clothing on January 11th to mark the date.

Endorsers of the national action include Center for Constitutional Rights, Peace Action, United for Peace and Justice, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, War Resisters League and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Check here for up-to-date details on the international actions.

For local information call Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or Portland Peaceful Response Coalition at 503-344-5078.

1–“Empty Evidence” By Corine Hegland, National Journal Friday, Feb. 3, 2006

Do you think I should run for Mayor?

I do.

Our voters guide is now UP! Check it out.

(from an e-mail I just received. WM)

N.A.A.C.P. Portland Branch 1120 Responds to Racist Concert Organized by Hammerskin Nation

PORTLAND, OR – October 5, 2007 – Since opening our doors in 1914, the Portland NAACP Branch 1120 has steadfastly fought to win and protect the civil rights of African Americans and people of color. (more…)

“Persons appear to us according to the light we throw upon them from our own minds.” -Laura Ingalls Wilder, author (1867-1957)

Do you live in Portland? Would you like to sign a petition in favor of renaming Interstate Ave. “Chavez Boulevard”? If so, sign here. (more…)