The real division in America...

...is not Republican vs. Democrat, conservative vs. liberal.

The real division in this country is between those who think and value education, scholarship, reason and wisdom in our leaders, and those who think any old Joe the plumber or snarky Sarah can pontificate about foreign policy or lead the country.

Thinking Republicans and conservatives, for instance, even if they support McCain, have determined that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president. The latest is former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. While he still supports the Republican ticket, he says he prays Palin would not have to take over the presdidency. Colin Powell, who does not support McCain, also thinks she is a disaster. Other Republicans have come out for Obama, or expressed concern about Palin's knowledge and wisdom, and I imagine many more who say nothing will silently vote for Obama in the privacy of the voting booth.

Newspaper endorsements are going more than two to one for Obama, even in some right leaning papers. Educated people, by far, are supporting Obama. People in cities are supporting Obama. The demographic that appears to be the strongest for McCain is the rural, uneducated and "low information" voter. Of course, some are voting for McCain simply out of party loyalty, while others still maintain Republicans are better on cultural - religious issues.

But in this election year, after eight years of a low information president, a president who has clearly made a mess of everything, it seems the high information voters, the educated Americans, those who think as well as pray, want the most intelligent presidential candidate and the most qualified vice presidential candidate to run the country.

It's no longer good enough to let a good old boy ascend to the presidency. It's no longer okay to say you want a president you can have a beer with - at least to those who value expertise and intelligence.

The history books will say, should Obama win, that Sarah Palin was the final nail in McCain's presidential coffin. In a year when the high information voters (including all those young college students) outnumbered low information voters, Sarah Palin was an insult.

Her crazed supporters may love her because she is folksy and like them, but the rest of us find her presence on the ticket a slap in the face to Americans who have watched a dimwit run the country into the ground over the past eight years. With all the talented people that still remain in the Republican Party, it is astonishing that McCain would choose Sarah Palin and her dysfunctional family to appeal to the rural, uninformed and often racist voter.

John McCain insulted thinking Americans when he chose her, and with that one decision disqualified himself from being the chief decision maker in the country.

McCain is a slimeball

McCain is a slimeball.

McCain is a sleaze-bucket.

McCain has no honor.

Obama has never run any ad even remotely like these.

May McCain get everything he justly deserves for this disgusting attack on an honorable and decent man. And that goes double for Sarah Dolittle.

And may the Republican Party slink off and die a quick death. This is not the America I grew up loving - this is an America where one political opponent lies, cheats and slanders his opponent, not because he cares one whit about the country, but because his quest for power and glory cannot be thwarted.

Christian in name only

It amazes me how many self-described evangelical Christians are rabidly supportive of John McCain and Sarah Palin. How many commandments must McCain and Palin break before these Christian phonies finally reject them?

Let's see. How about the commandment about not bearing false witness, or not lying about someone else? McCain and Palin are outright lying about Obama. Obama is not a socialist. He has no desire for the government to control the means of production. He isn't for state sponsored universal health care, for example. He's for continuing the system of employer sponsored health insurance, with help offered to those who must buy their own policies. That isn't socialism.
Neither is giving tax breaks to the middle class or returning to a more progressive income tax, all policies which have been used for decades in our capitalist system.

So the accusation that Obama is a socialist is a lie, as is the accusation that Obama "pals around with terrorists." First of all Obama doesn't even pal around with one terrorist. He sat on a board with William Ayers, a radical from the sixties who turned himself in and was not convicted of anything. Ayers is now a college professor and a well known advocate for better education policy. If he was once considered a "terrorist," he is not now. (Most real Christians believe in redemption and forgiveness anyway, so why is this an issue?) And Obama has nothing to do with him today and hasn't for years. As for the plural "terrorists," this is even more of a lie. No one has been able to name any former radical other than Ayers or any current terrorist that Obama associates with. So Palin is lying.

How about the commandment to not steal? The republicans are trying desperately to steal the election, by knocking people off voting rolls illegally, by sending out notices that democrats must vote on November 5th, and by using voting machines that have no paper trail and are in some cases recording the votes wrongly.

The republicans in this election (and in the past two) lie, cheat and steal. They slander and whip up hatred in their rallies. Obama, by way of contrast, praises McCain's service, never attacks him for who he is, and tells his listeners not to boo, but just to vote. Obama's behavior is far more Christian than that of Sarah Palin.

I am sick of these "Christians." I am sick of their hatred for gay Americans and black Americans and Mexican Americans, all of whom are children of God. This is a violation of one of the two commandments Jesus gave: love your neighbor as you love yourself.

I am also sick of the gullibility of these Christians-in-name-only who still believe that the republican party will actually do anything to stop abortion. They have had thirty years to do something and they have done nothing. And they never will, because they know there will always be gullible self-righteous "Christians" whom they can deceive into believing that democrats have a "pro-abortion" agenda, which they most definitely do not.

Obama is not pro-abortion, in fact he intends to implement policies to reduce the number of abortions. Abortions generally are reduced in democratic administrations when poverty is reduced, but are increased in republican administrations when poverty levels rise. (70% of all abortions occur in the poor segments of society.) But republicans have decided their one political strategy is to elect "pro-life" candidates who promise to appoint supreme court justices who will overturn Roe V. Wade. There are three flaws with this argument:

1. Republican presidents probably won't nominate justices who will overturn Roe V. Wade because it will mean the end of Republican dominance of the presidency. Once you lose that issue, what else do you have? War and depression?

2. Even if Roe V. Wade is overturned, it won't limit abortions as many states will make abortion legal, and women in states where it is illegal will simply travel to another state, or find an illegal way to have an abortion.

3. Women always have and always will have abortions, legal or not. The legal strategy may change federal law, but it will not likely reduce abortions. Only persuasion and policies to help prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce poverty levels will do that, and Republicans are failures at all of those things.

Democrats reduce the number of abortions by addressing underlying reasons for abortion: lack of education about contraception, lack of access to contraception, poverty, violent sexual crimes against women. Republicans do just the opposite. They ignore or make worse every possible strategy that could help desperate and vulnerable women, but are all too willing to condemn them when they seek an abortion because someone rapes them, or molests them, or when they are too poor to raise another child but have no access to birth control to prevent pregnancy.

Republicans say abortion is murder. Perhaps so, perhaps not. But Roe V. Wade does not mandate abortion, it simply permits it within the law. On the other hand, war is state sponsored murder. Soldiers are mandated to kill both combatants and civilians. And war waged for false reasons is especially heinous, as is this Iraq War. Yet Republicans, including many "Christians," seem almost universally in favor of both war and capital punishment, two types of state sponsored killing. I find this the ultimate in hypocrisy.

Most democrats I know are morally opposed to abortion and would not have one themselves. But they simply do not think that in the first trimester the government should intervene in a decision a woman makes with her doctor. They also think a woman has a right to protect her life when pregnancy threatens it, and that rape and incest are special circumstances that a woman must be allowed to consider in deciding whether or not to continue a pregnancy. No one I know likes abortion. But democrats believe making abortion illegal is a violation of medical privacy, would be difficult to enforce, and would not likely make much of a dent in the number of abortions anyway. On the other hand, they believe the numbers of abortions can be reduced with the strategies listed above.

I'm tired of being preached to by Christians-in-name-only who slander others, lie about political opponents, try to steal elections, and cheer state sponsored killing. I'm tired of them using the Bible as a weapon. And I'm really tired of being attacked by "pro-life" people because I don't think abortion is the business of the state.

I'll take my chances with the version of Christianity I learned growing up. Love your enemies, be good to those that persecute you, don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, take care of the poor, and judge not lest you be judged.

And I'm voting for the man who best embodies those principles: Barack Obama.

A woman president

Two women have been on the national stage this presidential election.

Hillary Clinton, clearly among the most qualified candidates ever for the presidency - male or female - had the misfortune of competing in the primary against a brilliant candidate with a superior organization. Had it not been for Barack, she would have easily won the nomination and probably defeated John McCain. While she was a formidable opponent and one whose tactics I condemned repeatedly, once she was defeated she showed real class in throwing her support to Obama and in campaigning enthusiastically for the Democratic ticket.

The other candidate pales in comparison. Sarah Palin is clearly the least qualified candidate to ever run for the vice presidency. A radical right wing no-nothing, she has become a joke and an embarassment, not just to the McCain campaign, but to all the women of America who hoped for someone bright and experienced to represent them. No matter how much the Republicans claim she has experience, being governor of Alaska is like handling a state in the 1800's. It just doesn't qualify you to understand and be prepared to handle the enormously complex economic and foreign crises of the twenty-first century. And as the campaign realizes it is losing, possibly in a landslide, Palin is not remaining loyal to McCain. She is going her own way, speaking her own mind, rejecting the advice of her handlers and the presidential candidate, and causing dissension in the ranks. She cares only for her own repuation and her quest for power, even as she throws John McCain overboard.

Unless Palin consolidates power within the Party (and she is more likely to cause it to fracture) I doubt we will see a female Republican candidate at the top of the ticket for a long time. On the other hand, we may see Hillary or some other qualified Democrat in 2016. Hillary has conducted herself well and proven a woman can be a terrific candidate. Palin has conducted herself poorly and proven that a woman can also be merely an ornament, a well-dressed, well-coifed Barbie doll, with little intelligence but a lot of bitchiness.

Sarah Palin is not the kind of woman I want to be the first female president. Palin is the anti-feminist, someone who rejects feminism even as she has only gotten to where she is because of the feminist movement.

I want the first woman president to be a feminist, someone who understands how to be a strong woman without being a bitchy woman, someone who has intelligence and wisdom, grace and poise - not someone who simply has good looks.

And I want the first woman president to be a Democrat. If Hillary wants to run in 2016, that would be fine with me.

Sarah Palin must not just be defeated on November 4th - she must be permanently marginalized

Christopher Hitchens, writing in Slate, discusses Sarah Palin's anti-science and radical religious views, which remind me of the views of some other people I know.

He closes with this:

This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

I particularly like his reference to "theocratic bullies." These are people who knock on your door and try to sell you their god, or accost you on your way out of K-Mart with their propaganda. These are people who are so convinced of their own righteousness and the inerrancy of their literal interpretation of the Bible (which is the only thing they have ever studied), that they use scripture as a weapon in political arguments and want the entire nation to adhere to their fantasies of witchcraft and demons and end of days theology.

It isn't enough to defeat Sarah Palin at the polls in one week. She must be stopped from ever entering the national public arena again. She, and those like her who want to make America a theocracy, must be marginalized permanently.

People first!

John McCain's campaign slogan is "Country First."

I'm not exactly sure what that means, and suppose it is deliberately vague so you can read what you want into it. But it strikes me as typical Republican uber-patriotism - similar to "America right or wrong" and "You're either with us or against us."

It signifies all those things Republicans demand of leaders: wearing a flag pin, being for a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, insisting on victory in Iraq and anywhere else America fights, supporting the troops, never criticizing your country, never opposing war, etc.

None of these things - except supporting the troops who are being abused so terribly by this administration - are important to me. None of them help any of my fellow citizens solve their problems. In fact, some of them actually create problems for my fellow citizens. Demanding "victory" in Iraq, for instance, which is something McCain does, is simply an excuse to keep troops on endless rotations in that god-forsaken country, because no one has any idea what victory actually means. And I guess it is something different from "Mission Accomplished."

But then I'm a Democrat - a defeatist, a blame American first person, according to Republicans.

Actually, as a Democrat, rather than putting "Country First," I put people first.

This government we cherish does not exist to protect a configuration on a map or an ideal in the minds of Americans. It exists to protect the people of that land and to help solve their common problems. It exists to provide both safety and prosperity for all the people, or as the Preamble to the Constitution puts it so well: to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." To do those things, one must put people first.

So, while McCain's supporters wave signs saying "COUNTRY FIRST," Obama's supporters might legitimately carry signs saying "PEOPLE FIRST."

Because that's what the Democratic Party stands for: putting people first.

A less insular nation

Nate Silver's latest map is below. If this projection holds, it shows something very interesting.

We have long recognized that the two coasts are far more liberal and democratic than the South and the prarie states. But it now seems that, with the exception of the old Confederacy and the states heavily populated by Mormons, the rest of America may be becoming less conservative.

Western states that border Mexico are blue (were John McCain not running it is likely that Arizona would also be blue) and Northern states that border Canada are blue or pink (only leaning Republican). So all the states, again with the exception of the old Confederacy, that are on the border of oceans or other countries are moving in a more progressive and less conservative direction.

This has everything to do with being exposed to other cultures and new ideas and being less insular. In a global community, this is essential. It's hopeful to see it happening.

One thinks of Lincoln, on the verge of greatness

Obama in Colorado today.

The crowd exceded 100,000.

The nation is hungry for the hope he offers.

I am overwhelmed by this moment in history.

Republicans are killing my mother

My mother, who has leukemia and depends on visits to the hospital infusion center for blood transfusions, was told yesterday that the center is closing as of next Friday. The hospital recently expanded, adding a huge emergency room and maternity center, but they claim they can no longer afford to keep the infusion center open.

My mother has Medicare and a great supplemental insurance policy and her transfusions are paid for, but too many people without health insurance are coming to the emergency room, where they can't be turned away, and too many people are suffering from this terrible economy and cannot pay their hospital bills. And so, the hospital has decided to no longer pay for infusion nurses and is shutting down the center that not only provides blood tranfusions, but also chemotherapy to hundreds of patients.

To my knowledge, there is no other infusion center in this area.

So my mother, who cannot travel long distances and who must be close to my father who is disabled, will die sooner than she might have with proper care at an infusion center.

Thank you, Republicans. You are responsible for this.

You have been adamantly against health coverage for all, causing hospitals to lose money when they treat the uninsured. The moron in the White House said people without health insurance still have health care - all they have to do is go to the emergency room. What the moron didn't say is that these people often don't pay their emergency room bills, causing financial hardship to the hospitals who must pay for staff salaries and medical supplies regardless, which then causes them to cut back on other services or even close.

You have also been idiotic advocates of a failed economic policy which, rather than causing wealth to "trickle down," has caused a wasteland of poverty and job loss and bank failures and stock market collapse. This, too, affects a hospital's ability to remain financially solvent.

So, in addition to increasing poverty, enriching the top 1% of the population, depriving Americans of health insurance, waging immoral wars, and ruining the economy with an ideology that even Alan Greenspan now says was flawed (if you had listened to us you would have seen it coming, but you are such arrogant, ignorant lemmings that you refused to listen), you are also killing people.

Congratulations!

You have not even begun to see my rage.

Grief and hope

I just looked at the last time I posted (five days ago) and realize some of you may be wondering where I've been.

My father in law died last week and this Wednesday was the funeral. He would have loved the send-off. His six children and almost all of his grandchildren and many great grandchildren were there. A fire truck accompanied the funeral procession of this well loved retired Battalion Chief. The party afterwards was lovely, with many stories about him told with love and happy memories. My grandson Sean didn't attend the funeral, but came to the gathering afterwards and asked why everyone has a "party" when someone dies. "Did you expect that everyone would be crying and sad?" I asked. He said "yes." It was an opportunity to tell him that when someone dies, we cry, but we also get together to celebrate his life. He then went on to eat everything in sight and chase after some of his cousins.

The funeral was only the midpoint of a dreadful week. On Monday, my mother awoke with a terrible pain in her side that got progressively worse. I took her to her blood test and then on to her primary care doctor who did a number of tests and was wonderful to her. She even put her in a wheelchair and walked her out to the car herself when everyone else had gone out to lunch and there was no nurse to help us out. We went home with pain pills and antibiotics and then her oncologist called with her lab results and said he wanted us to come in the next day. My husband and I spent the night to watch over her and help her and my disabled dad, and got little sleep.

On Tuesday, we visited the oncologist in the morning, who told us my mom's chemo was no longer working and her leukemia cells were increasing. Her pain, he thought, could be her spleen, although by the time he saw us the pain was going away. It could have been a slight tear in the spleen, a bleed brought on by her low platelet count. She needed a platelet transfusion that day as well. In the evening, my two sons from Seattle came in and my San Diego son picked them up at the airport and brought them here, then we all talked for a while and got to bed late. I had arranged for a caregiver to spend the night and the next day with my parents so I could go to the funeral.

I left the funeral early to be with my parents, and wait for my husband and sons to finish visiting and join me there later. My Seattle sons had not seen their grandmother since January and they had a nice, though short, visit.

On Thursday, I took my mom to her blood test and then my husband and I took our sons to the airport, came home and collapsed. I awoke at 1:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.

On Friday, a hospice nurse came to see my mom, dad and I to talk about what they could provide. And then my mom went to the hospital for a transfusion and I came home for a much needed nap.

There is much more to say about what happened at the party after the funeral, in terms of political arguments that were started with my husband and one son because family members (conservative republican McCain supporters) saw our Obama bumper stickers and felt the need to challenge us. I wasn't there when it happened, but word got back to me. I will have much more to say about that tomorrow, after a night's sleep.

Don't give up on me or my blog. I'm going through a lot, but the one bright spot is that when I was up in the wee hours this morning, the news channels were showing clips from last night's Saturday Night Live special. Oh...and Barack Obama has a huge lead in the polls.

I can endure a lot if I know our country is finally going to be in the hands of a wise and gifted leader.

I am beginning to hope and while my husband and I are losing our parents, members of the "Greatest Generation" I see good things for the next generation, things I can't wait to write about.