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!

“We are not as divided as our politics suggest. That we are one people, that we are one nation, and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: ‘Yes, we can.'”

— Barack Obama

(Also, there is talk of Mr. Obama this spring visiting my neighborhood’s very own Jefferson High School, here in Portland, Ore. If you’d like this to happen, please contact his campaign headquarters.)

“Clear Eyes! Full Hearts! Can’t Lose!”

OK, everyone else has weighed in, I guess I’d better, too. I do not like the politics so much, it makes me a little “headachey.” I alternate between hope and headache, as far as politics goes.

Then I’m cleaning the bathroom and there, staring up at me, is the Oct. ’07 Atlantic, with Bill Clinton’s shiny face on it. To the lower left of his ear there is an article promo’ed: “How To Be A Moral Investor.” And I’m thinking, that’s kinda funny. Cuz as we know, the man has the morals of an alley cat. So if he could learn how to invest in some morals I think that would be just dandy.

Everyone says no one died/when Bill lied but we know that’s bullshit. He was known to randomly, erratically, carelessly drop bombs on countries and kill who he could. And then there was the whole welfare-to-work thing, that killed people literally and spiritually.

Up top, the headline says: “Let’s Make A Deal: Bill Clinton Reinvents Charity — And Himself.” And I’m thinking, ha ha ha whoooo am I endorsing?

I do not know Mr. Obama, you know, personally. But he seems like an alright man.

Hillary? I did not appreciate it when she talked smack about my girl Tammy Wynette and was all, “I’m not one of those little stand by your man girls” and then… proceeded to be the worst kind of little “stand by your man” girls. Whereas Tammy Wynette, as far as I’m concerned, is country feminist hero.

And then there were the blowjobs. If you have a woman (or if you have a man) you give up your “random blowjobs from others” privilege. Now, if you partner, to quote the Allman Brothers (because… why not?) is off with one of your “good time buddies/they’re drinking in some cross-town bar” then, by all means, go grab a blowjob.

Really, life is too short for shenanigans like that.

Otherwise, do not pull some little tricks, then go on national television, all, “That woman,” “I did not sleep with that woman,” etc. And if you’re “and his wife,” and you get (or choose to be) set-up, then afterwards you had better say, “I had no idea and what the hell, the man is a dog and I am sorry I called you a slut — he’s the slut, you were just young and stoopid, so wise up, sister” or something. Just anything. But no, you are not allowed to say, “I’m staying with the creep and vote for me!”

Because that just confuses me.

I do not care for Hillary because she is anti-sister. (See above: bombs, no welfare checks, too many erratic blowjobs, the whole “that woman” thing.)

So Obama gets my vote because of… blowjobs. And bombs.

Ta-ta. Remember, vote early and vote often.

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

From e-mail I received from MomsRising. (Would you like to buy T-shirts from them and support the cause? Click here.)

Dear MomsRising Member,

Breaking News: Congress voted today (Oct. 18, 2007) on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), but didn’t gain the 2/3 majority needed to overturn the President’s veto. Now, we have another chance. In the coming weeks Congress will bring children’s health insurance to the President again — and they need our support.

With 1 in 8 children in our nation living without any heathcare coverage, we still have work to do. The good news is that your more than 60,000 emailed letters to Congress, along with the work of our partner organizations, helped build the support that made the vote close enough to try again.

TELL CONGRESS TO KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT: Sign our NEW petition to tell Congress: “Children’s health care is a top priority. Bring the expanded State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to the finish line. The members of Momsrising.org thank those in Congress who have led the way on this issue, and support their continued leadership. We also urge those who voted against the bill to rethink their positions.”

*Click here to add your name to our petition. This petition will be delivered directly to each and every member of Congress. The more signatures we get, the more powerful this petition will be.

ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO SIGN THE PETITION TOO: Petitions grow by one signature at a time, and every signature matters. Do you have a friend (or ten) who you shares your sense of outrage at the President’s veto and Congress’ inability to overrule it this time? This is the moment, right now, to forward this email to them.

*Don’t forget to sign the petition and pass it on.

We can do it! –Katie, Kristin, Mary, Ashley, Amy, and the MomsRising Team

P.S. In case you need some facts to inspire you, here are a few reasons the SCHIP program is so important (and great facts for your rally signs!):
*12% of American Children don’t have any insurance coverage at all
* The U.S. Ranks 37th in the world for infant mortality
* One-in-five U.S. jobs does not provide health insurance, a pension, or wages high enough to support a family
* For a family of 4, one year of health insurance costs an average of $11,000
* Over 1/2 of all bankruptcy filings in 2001 were a result of medical expenses

P.P.S. Here are a few articles about Congress’ vote.
CNN
NY Times

-Your donations make the work of MomsRising possible. To donate today on our new, secure website go here.

(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…)

Dear American Kids,
You’re SOL for health care, do you know what “SOL” means? Ask mommy! We have people to go blow up now, and big, shiny weapons to buy. I like shiny things, don’t you?

Love,
Dubya (more…)

Dear Reader,

I love MomsRising for many, many reasons, but mainly I love them because they make it so easy for me to do some political work while I’m still in my pajamas. Here’s an e-mail I got from them today. I highly recommend signing up on their e-mail list, and sending them a few bucks when you can spare it.

Yours in female power,

WM

Dear MomsRising Member,

Last Saturday we alerted you to the Fisher Price recall of preschool toys due to toxic lead in the paint (Check the end of this email for specific info on what’s being recalled.). (more…)