ahh.  finally someone articulates what it is that i’m feeling.  and they do so much better than i’m able to.  i am frustrated with politics, but unlike someone recently suggested to me—“yes, it’s frustrating when you just can’t get the idiots to like your candidate”—there is much, much more to it.  it isn’t a matter of these two candidates: obama and clinton.  the larger picture is still askew and it saddens me. 

The sorrow of which I speak flows not from the fact that liberation has not yet been achieved but from a fear that the possibility of liberation may be lost forever, that our world may have passed the point of no return, psychologically and ecologically. Such fears are not grounds for abandoning politics, however. If you believe there is something to what I’ve said, it suggests only that we should think more carefully about where we put our political energies. I believe that the last place we should be sinking our energy is into presidential politics. When the political leaders vying for our votes make it clear they are committed to systems and institutions that keep us locked in the death trajectory, why should we offer them anything that is precious to us?

The most common response I get to that challenge is the claim that these candidates actually have a more radical agenda but realize that they must keep it under wraps in order to get elected. Just wait, I’m told, until after an election victory. That is likely to be a long wait, for there is no historical precedent for such a development, and nothing in the biography of either candidate that suggests a break with history. This observation typically is dismissed as cynicism, but I am not cynical. I am simply trying to deal with reality.

If only a center/right candidate who p lays to the greed and delusional self-indulgence of the United States can win, that is more evidence that this empire cannot be transformed into a decent society in the time available and that it is time to say of conventional politics, simply, “game over.” If that is the case—and I believe it’s a reasonable account of our society—more than ever the work is not to turn over our time, energy, and resources to any political candidate but to build alternatives on the ground. That is a political response to a political problem. It isn’t a question of hope v. no hope. It’s a question of reality v. delusion. To believe that an unsustainable system can be sustained indefinitely—and to support political candidates who believe that—is a sign not of hope but of desperation and defeat. To be realistic and hopeful, one must be radical.

read the entire article: The sorrows of race and gender in the 2008 presidential election by Robert Jensen.

there is no equality.  there never was.

it’s an illusion to keep the plebs happy.  our pedestrian tastes.  our pop culture reverence. 

we are the dregs.  they are the elites.

and now?  we fight for them. 

we have the audacity to declare that ~elitism~ is something to be admired.  something to strive for.  ~be the beautiful people~.  nevermind the outcasts, the riffraff.  be above them. 

read on...

quote for the day: “as a girl, you see the world like a giant candy store, filled with sweet candy and such...but one day you look around and see a prison...and you’re on death row."--the good girl

somewhere out there is a society where racism and bigotry aren’t mainstream.  somewhere out there is a society that realizes that all people are created equal.  that humans are not independent of one another, but must rely on one another.  that for a society to function properly, everyone must be treated fairly.  that a society is only as successful as it’s lowest denominator.  that it is made up of people, not policies.  that while structure and rules are necessary, there are exceptions.  that knowledge is essential for all.  that greed isn’t something to be commended.  that the society itself deserves to be invested in more than bombs and other means of war.  that the loss of hope is catastrophic, psychologically, emotionally, monetarily. 

somewhere.

just not here.

not ever.

we lack the will.  we’re too greedy.  people are a commodity.  just another item on the shelf.  we are valued not for who ~we~ are, but for our ability to be swayed.  to be marketed, to be marketed to.  and we let it happen.  over and over again.

and i’m tired.

i’m tired of seeing people close to me (7 now) commit suicide because they never received adequate mental health care.  i’m tired of seeing women dying at horrific rates from breast cancer.  i’m tired of friends losing their health coverage because they’ve used their health coverage.  i’m tired of seeing people trying to improve their lives be hampered by the thought of losing medicaid which provides them the medications necessary TO improve their lives.

and to john, i’m sorry.  i’m sorry that society failed you.  i’m sorry that we, your friends, failed you.  much love to you and your family.  the bonham wouldn’t have been the same without you.

from abc’s new eli stone show:

“it would have been easier to go through the naturalization process, instead they doused themselves with water so they wouldn’t dehydrate when they were crammed into a hidden compartment of a pick up truck… and they didn’t do it, so they could come and pick strawberries, they did it because they believed in america. 

in russia, iraq, afghanistan, we’re seeing, first hand, the seeds of democracy… they don’t grow on every patch of earth.  the freedom we have here is unique, it’s special.  they were willing to risk their lives for it.  i’m not saying that citizenship should be a prize for making it over the border.  i’m not saying that immigration isn’t a major issue facing this country.  but they’re not a policy, they’re people… and if this truly is the home of the brave, then they’re just as american as anyone in this country.”

recent article in the chronicle, who gets abortions? the answer might surprise you.

Half of the roughly 1.2 million U.S. women who have abortions each year are 25 or older.
Only about 17 percent are teens. About 60 percent have given birth to least one child prior to getting an abortion.
A disproportionately high number are minorities.
And regardless of ethnicity, high abortion rates are linked to hard times.

...

In recent years, the number of abortions has fallen; the 1.2 million tallied for 2005 was down 8 percent from 2000, and the per-capita abortion rate was the lowest since 1974.

...

That’s down from a peak of 1.6 million in 1990 but still represents more than 20 percent of all pregnancies.

that figure is disturbing to me.  1/5th of all pregnancies ends in abortion?  that’s terrible.

don’t get me wrong.  i’m not against abortion.  in fact, i believe it to be the moral choice: kids that are not wanted should not be brought into this world.  too many unloved children as it is.  ideally, however, the number of abortions should be zero.  access to and availability of birth control means are imperative. 

He [Stanley Henshaw] believes the most effective countermeasure would be wider availability of contraceptives such as intrauterine device, or IUDs, that don’t require attention as frequently as condoms or birth-control pills.

that would be a help, possibly, though affordability is a major concern.  affordability, access to, availability of.