Critical Path's Open Salon Blog

Time to Throw the Boner Pill Users Under the Bus

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:12:13 -0500

I would just like to say that I would personally endorse the Crapfest known as the "Senate HCR Bill" if it included a provision to permanently ban any and all boner pill advertising in any and all formats.

If there is a living man in America who does not know that there are boner pills for him to use, then he doesn't need them.

Further, perhaps a little pressure in the boner pill department might, just might, get the "esteemed" Senators such as Ben Nelson (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little) to rethink their positions WRT throwing women's reproductive health under the bus. Average age in the Senate? somewhere around 62. Prime targets for both boner pills and boner pill campaign contributions from their makers. It seems very obvious to me that these folks need a little personally directed education to modify their 16th century views of women's health and their role in it. I think boner pills are a great place to start, since it should be very personal to them for the above-noted reasons. Appeals to reason and settled case law obviously haven't worked, so it's time to go Shock and Awe.

Who's with me on this?

Tired of the endless rounds of boner pill advertisements with their awful puns and double entendres?
Sick of seeing those horrible soft-focus shots of middle aged folks cavorting through fields or sitting in bathtubs?
Tired of explaining to your five year old what ED is?
Had enough of those awkward moments when the family is trying to enjoy a television show with out of town relatives, all the conversation having been shut down due to political differences?

Come on, people. WE CAN DO THIS.

And, yes, abortion is part of healthcare. No matter what the bumpersticker I saw this past Saturday says.

Thanksgiving with William Burroughs

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:11:03 -0500

Audio Link:

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/modlang/carasi/thanksgivingprayer.mp3

"To John Dillinger and hope he is still alive.
Thanksgiving Day November 28 1986"

Thanks for the wild turkey and
the passenger pigeons, destined
to be shat out through wholesome
American guts.

Thanks for a continent to despoil
and poison.

Thanks for Indians to provide a
modicum of challenge and
danger.

Thanks for vast herds of bison to
kill and skin leaving the
carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves
and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream,
To vulgarize and to falsify until
the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin' lawmen,
feelin' their notches.

For decent church-goin' women,
with their mean, pinched, bitter,
evil faces.

Thanks for "Kill a Queer for
Christ" stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and the
war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where
nobody's allowed to mind the
own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the
memories-- all right let's see
your arms!

You always were a headache and
you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest
betrayal of the last and greatest
of human dreams.

Town Hall in the PNW

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:08:22 -0400

Recently I attended a Town Hall meeting with a local Congressman, Rep. Adam Smith and about 2,500 of his constituents, or, as in my case, indirect constituents. (I live just one district over.) Here are my thoughts on the experience, plus some photos.

1. I'm proud of the educational system here in WA State. Nobody spelled "moron" wrong, and there were no "Pubic Options" anywhere. Good show, folks!

This lady gets extra points for spelling "Czar" correctly:

Here's some more cleverness on display:

2. The Meeting started early. Good job, Representative!

3. The lecture from the Rep. was good, short, and to the point. He talked about the uninsured, how much we pay for substandard care, that we pay too much for administrative costs, and that there is too much reimbursement for extra procedures and tests. This last point is a central tenet in Rep. Smith's platform on health care reform, and, he says, the key to real cost containment.

4. First Ironic Moment of the Evening: The retired lady next to me said, in response to my inquiry as to why she was here, "Well, I want health care reform, but not all this socialism." I asked her if she was on Medicare. She said "Yes, but it's not that great." I looked right at her and said, "If I could sign up for Medicare tomorrow, I would. I have a family to support, and health insurance is really expensive. If I lose my job, I have nothing." She had no response to that, but I'm really hoping she thinks about it some more. She did mention several times that there is "a lot of fraud" in Medicare and "they need to clean it up."

5. I'd say the split on For/Agin was about 60/40:

Somehow, I managed to sit in the Agin section. Lots of nice, middle class folks. The couple in front of me could have been photoshopped from 1965: he was wearing a short sleeved white shirt and a tie, she a skirt and flats. Which brings me to another point:

6. Middle class non-politically active folks have a hard time getting riled up. Sure, there were some boos from "our" side, and a raucous back and forth with "the other" side at one point: "Health Care NOW!" followed by "NO" from "our" side....but by and large, these folks stayed seated, didn't cause a ruckus, and were well behaved. I say, use this against them next time.

7. Talking Points Memo: I stayed for 12 questions from the audience. Of that, four were TPM questions or statements. The first guy asked about "Death Pamphlets" at the VA, (and, to be fair, about our role in Afghanistan. ) Kudos to this group for groaning OUT LOUD when the questioner said the "Death Pamphlets" had been revealed to him ON FOX NEWS. Another guy mentioned something I'm sure I've heard circulating around the RWosphere about how the Indian Health Services was doing a crappy job on the Reservations, so "If Government can't fix IHS, how can they run Health Care?!" Which brings me to the Second Ironic Moment of the Evening:

8. The group I was sitting in got to their feet and hooted loudly at the assertions of the failures of the IHS articulated by the questioner above. I looked around at all of them and could not see a single one of them who appeared to be Native in any way, so I can only assume that their concern for our Native brothers and sisters emerged at that very moment. Oh, and in the context of Hatin' the Gubmint.

9. The only time things got nasty and the Rep. had to threaten to have someone removed by the Po-lice was when someone asked about abortion and there was some kind of shoving match that I couldn't see on the other side of the venue. That, plus the few silent anti-abortion goofs with their DISGUSTING signs were the only people that got the stink eye, that I could see. People were, by and large, pretty respectful, but boisterous. Even the "tea partiers" (who wore very smart red tee shirts, all matching) were not disruptive or out of line-- perhaps because they were outnumbered by the Health Care Now/Planned Parenthood/Pro Reform folks. Far outnumbered. (Someone should really tell them that red was co-opted by the Commies about 100 years ago as a symbol of resistance. Or maybe they're trying to emulate the Redcoats....Tories, all.)

10. Most Important Takeaway:

Health Care Reform is a complicated issue and most Americans aren't quite sure about what should be done, or how. Case in point: When asked DIRECTLY if he would vote for HR 3200, Rep. Smith said No. LOUD CHEERS. Then, IMMEDIATELY AFTER, he said, "That's because the bill would be difficult to vote on in this form and bring to the floor." THEN he said, "I am a big Public Option Fan". LOUD BOOS AND ALSO LOTS OF CHEERS. Get the picture? People are afraid of change, but they want change. They want the government to do something, but they don't want to know all the details. Washington D.C. is very, very far away from most people's daily lives, which is how they want it to stay. (Unless something goes wrong, of course, like contaminated food.) They don't trust the government, but they like their local Rep. Kind of like how most Americans think Public Schools suck, except for the ones THEIR kids go to, which are great.

11. Heroes of the Evening for Bringing It All Home:

The two women shown in the second picture below.

These ladies apparently work at Wal-Mart and cannot afford insurance for themselves or their kids, despite working 40-plus hours a week. The one gal pointed out to another woman who challenged her, "I have kids, too. And I want to be able to take them to the hospital if I need to. But I can't, because I can't afford it. There is no decision for me. Health Care should be for all Americans."

People who are working full time SHOULD have access to health care. Really. It shouldn't be a gold star or awarded after college graduation. I hope at least a few folks there thought about that afterward.

M I L

Sun, 10 May 2009 14:05:07 -0400

Today is Mother's Day. I've already called my mom and chatted and said thanks for the card. I tried to call Grandma, but she's out, so will have to call her later to thank her for the flowers. I will call my stepmother and her mother later on - I imagine my brother is treating them to a nice brunch.

I'm not terribly sentimental about Mother's Day - I recall reading in college that the Nazis popularized the holiday, and I have worked in the flower business. Mother's Day is the biggest flower holiday of the year, seconded by Valentine's Day. And working in a shop during either of those two holidays will turn you off the whole idea for a good long while. Valentine's Day because of all the claptrap; Mother's Day due to the sheer volume of work and the frenetic pace.

Now I'm thinking about my mother-in-law, who passed away five years ago. My husband is probably thinking about her, too, but does not want to bring it up.

Millie was a wonderfully giving and loving mom - a "mom's mom" - ready with advice and long on life experience. Example: even when her oldest son was in his 40s, she still felt it necessary to remind him to turn the sprinklers away from the foundation of the house so they wouldn't ruin the stucco. "It's important, you know. You've got to take care of things." She always told my husband and I to put our money someplace safe, with a return that's gar-anteed.

She grew up in poverty during the Great Depression and left home at 13 to marry a man thirty years her senior who was a widower with a toddler at home. People don't do things like that anymore, but then, those were times such as we've never seen since, current headlines notwithstanding. I think of what a clueless nitwit I was at 13, and how this woman got married and became a mother overnight.

I called on Mom's memory to give me strength when I got panicky earlier this year about the Economic Collapse. I reminded myself that she lived in places with dirt floors. That she raised seven kids she gave birth to, and another that she didn't, on a meagre education and lots and lots of very hard work. That she compulsively saved and shopped at dollar and thrift stores until the day she died, and was able to bequeath a not inconsiderable sum to each of her surviving seven kids. That she always reminded us to take care of each other.

Having a relationship with someone else's mother can be a particular gift. There is no baggage of childhood disappointments or regrets for past disagreements to color the friendship. We could be mother and daughter without the mother/daughter dynamic.

What I miss the most is sharing novels and stories with her. She loved to read and she was a sucker for a good story, especially if it focused on family relationships. She and I talked for hours about books by the likes of Willa Cather, John Steinbeck, and Toni Morrison. We both read Mildred Pierce more than once and loved it every time. When I recently read The Remains of the Day, I immediately thought, "mom would love this." And was immediately disappointed that we wouldn't be discussing it.

Although I am not religious, Mom was. In her honor, following is a quote from the Book of Ruth, verse 16:

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God...

Like Old Friends

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:02:45 -0500

I share the difficulty of picking just one - it's too much like lining up friends in order of affection. Yet I don't consider myself a "movie person." I rarely go and I just can't stand most of the big blockbuster stuff out there... Favorite movie from when I was a teenager, aching for love and life and to be a grownup? "A Room with A View". No film was more awakening, more alive, more beautiful, or more heady than that one. I can still recall running to the theater to catch the show, alone, in the afternoon, when my mother was at work. It must have been summer, because I wasn't in school. Then there was this marvelous, romantic, unfolding which kept me mesmerized. (Didn't hurt that the story was tastefullly lusty with gorgeous young actors.) The music and the scenery were deep, deep, delights. As rich as chocolate. Or brocade. Of course, then there were "films" when I was in my twenties. Kurosawa's "Ran" blew my head off, even in subtitles. The whole David Lynch oeuvre was fascinating and wonderful in its weird, weird way*. "Hannah and Her Sisters" - others have noted the cool Woody Allen stuff. This was one of them, although imagining Woody Allen as a sex symbol was at the time almost impossible for me. (Still is.) I saw "Mississippi Burning" with a French friend and was ashamed to be an American. "The Killing Fields" made me ashamed to be a human being. Since then, I've seen "Fargo" more times than a person should and I don't think I moved from my seat for the entire show while watching "No Country for Old Men", which was unbelievably violent, yet hugely powerful. And I can't wait to take my daughter to see "Fantasia" or show her "The Secret Garden" or "The Black Stallion" or any of the other great movies I went to see as a kid that are now just part of my consciousness. *(If you're interested in the music of David Lynch's films, look up Angelo Badalamenti. The absolute coolest documentary I EVER saw was on the Donner Party, and featured music by him. It was on PBS, and is probably available on DVD.)