Support our troops!
According to NPR (and I forget what study they were citing) there are approximately 1,500 homeless veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now living homeless on the streets of America. Last year, on any given night, there were 96,000 total veterans sleeping on our streets. The wealthiest country in the world and we allow our leaders to spend our money on bombs and death and racial hatred? How about we support our troops by bringing them home safely and diverting the immoral war chest to programs that truly respect and honor our veterans?
Moral high ground?
Water boarding. Water boarding. Water boarding. You'd think it was his bloody glove or her little blue dress the way the media is harping on the term. I'm not bothered by the fact that this practice is in the news; in fact, I wish more of America's shameful policies would grace the front page as a catalyst to force our leaders to clean up their act. What bothers me is the debate that has ensued. Is it torture? Is it only "simulated drowning" and so it's almost but not quite torture. The history of water boarding, the definition, the specific techniques, and the roster of world leaders and governments that have used it over the centuries is well documented. I'm not going to redundantly make those points, I will, however, make the point that this false notion of "American moral high ground" has to stop. Are you kidding me?I love this country. America is a beautiful idea and a revolutionary experiment in free will and democratic populism, but she is not standing piously alone atop this mythical high ground. She never did. Forget water boarding and the abhorrent way we treat our brothers and sisters in the name of the symantic "war on terror," do I even need to remind everyone of the massacre of Native tribes, African slaves, white flight and urban gentrification, rendition, Katrina, Guantanamo, the stalled civil rights and gender equality movements...? It is because I love this country and because I know we can be so much better than we are that I am so indignant at the false claim that we are just now, with water boarding finally breaking through to mainstream news media, loosing our moral high ground. We are human and struggling to figure it out and making it up as we go just like everyone else. The moral high ground is not ours to loose...it is ours to gain if we can view the world through the eyes of dialogue and respect.
Feminists have more fun...
From a published research Rutgers research study: "Psychologists Laurie Rudman and Julie Phelan carried out a laboratory survey of 242 Rutgers undergraduates and conducted an online survey of 289 older adults who had an average age of 26 and typically had been in their current relationship about four years." As it turns out: "...women who perceived their male partners as feminists reported greater relationship health and sexual satisfaction. [And...] men with feminist partners said they had more stable relationships and greater sexual satisfaction. Overall, feminism and romance do go hand in hand, the scientists say."
Duh. In the words of a powerful feminist archetype, "I love my country, by which I mean I am indebted joyfully to all the people throughout its history who have fought the government to make right. Where so many cunning sons and daughters, our foremothers and forefathers came singing through slaughter, came through hell and high water so that we could stand here, and behold breathlessly the sight; how a raging river of tears cut a grand canyon of light. Why can't all decent men and women call themselves feminists, out of respect for those that fought for this?" (Ani DiFranco)If you are secure in who you are and confident that you deserve the world and then some...and then your parter shares that confidence and security...and then the two of you respect that power and energy in each other...of course your relationship and sex life will rock. Doesn't seem like rocket science to me, but thanks anyway to Rutgers for the data (and to my brother, a budding feminist, for emailing the article to me).
