Lesser of Two "Truths"

Been a while since I've blogged.
Ah, how life gets in the way of how we want to ... live our lives.
While I was uplifted slightly by last Thursday's Presidential Debate.... strong, strong showing on Kerry's part and creepy, petulant showing on Bush's part ... tonight's Vice-Presidential Debate was a different story.
Both Kerry and Cheney stretched the truth.
I was impressed by Cheney's calm, compelling arguments - content almost didn't matter he was so smooth in his delivery.
However, I assume they debated sitting down due to Cheney's heart issues, which should disqualify him right off the bat.
They both seemed so intent on getting out their soundbites that they avoided ever solidly answering a single question.
Edwards came across stronger than he has in the past, but there were key things that made me wonder why he didn't stand up for the truth in a clearer way - I mean after Edwards said that 50% of African-Americans and 50% of Latinos are dropping out of high school - 50%!!!! - and then Cheney said again that test scores in minorities are getting "closer to the majority" I kept thinking that must be because they have LOST 50% of the students so of COURSE the test scores are going to get higher!
And at one point Cheney tried to use the scare tactic of people in our cities with nuclear bombs ready to use - and I thought if the administration in any way believes that's true then they sure as hell should be doing a better job at ports, airports, etc. As well as tracking down all the random bomb-building materials floating all over the world!

"Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."

Thanks to Bethany for spreading the word -

The history of voting as women- "The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive...

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and with their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on November 15, 1917 (only 87 years ago), when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why,exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining? Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie, "Iron Jawed Angels." It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient. My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn. "The right to vote," she said, had become valuable to her all over again.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."

This right was not given to us as it was to the men. Many courageous women had to fight and suffer in order for us to cast a vote. Let's honor them."

Refreshing Admissions

Ex-Lawmaker Says He Helped Bush With Guard
By BOBBY ROSS JR

DALLAS (AP) - Former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes said he is ``more ashamed at myself than I've ever been'' because he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas National Guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.

``I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it,'' Barnes, a Democrat, said in a video clip recorded May 27 before a group of John Kerry supporters in Austin.

Barnes, who was House speaker when Bush entered the Guard, later became lieutenant governor.

Bush joined the National Guard in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, and served until 1973. He has said he received no special treatment.

Barnes said he became ashamed after walking through the Vietnam Memorial and looking at the names of the dead.

``I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because it was the worst thing I did - help a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance get in the National Guard,'' he said. ``I'm very sorry of that and I'm very ashamed of it and I apologize to the voters of Texas for that.''

Tea Party

Brilliance from the Sandwich Monkey:

"It's the greatest thing when your bottle caps impart wisdom to you (and cite their sources).

Yesterday, the bottle cap on my iced tea said:

"There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Ghandi

This morning, one of mine said:

"A person is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." - John Barrymore

Food for thought from the drinks I got."

Will Ferrell as George Bush

Visit the ACT site for some good info and a great video by Will Ferrell as George Bush on his Crawford Texas Ranch.

Another day, another dollar, or penny as the case may be...

See a penny, pick it up...
And all day you'll have good luck

Leave the penny where it lays
Prepare all day to pay and pay


I should have picked that friggin' penny up yesterday morning, but I stepped right over and kept walking.
Although the day ended better with a Grove dinner and a cat named Gilmore.

:)

Be Cool

Had a great dinner with some lovely, funny, talented Gals tonight.
I definitely needed the laughs (and the blackberry margarita didn't hurt!)

Every now and then when I take the time to stop and look, I realize how lucky I am to know such smart, challenging people.. (You all know who are and if you don't, shame on me for not telling you more often.)

To this day I am always surprised that these people are my friends...
Yes I know, old issues of trust and cliques, etc.

I think I am still learning what being a friend means - it is so different in so many situations. It's just that over the years I became so good at building the walls and protecting myself; that is so much easier than learning how to break them down, you know?

Anyhoo, I will continue to see where life takes me and what service I may be to the guys and gals I am lucky enough to call my friends... And I will strive to follow the advice of a very wise woman...

Be cool.

9/11 Commission Report Confirms Key Fahrenheit 9/11 Facts

July 23rd, 2004 12:59 pm

The September 11 Commission's 567-page final report has confirmed key facts presented in Fahrenheit 9/11. These include:

Attorney General John Ashcroft told acting FBI director Thomas Pickard that he did not want to hear anything more about terrorist threats.  Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 265

After Bush was informed of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, he went ahead with his classroom event.  After Bush was informed that the nation was under attack after the second plane hit, Bush stayed in the classroom for nearly seven more minutes, continuing to read with the children. Confirmed, Commission Report at pp. 35, 38-39.

Bush failed to have even one meeting to discuss the threat of terrorism with his head of counterterrorism Richard Clarke.  Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 201.

Bush failed to react to the August 6, 2001 security briefing, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” Confirmed, Commission Report at pp. 260-262.

142 Saudis, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, were allowed to leave the country after September 13. Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 556, n. 25  [Note that Fahrenheit 9/11 understates the number of Saudis who left.]

Individuals were interviewed by the FBI before being allowed to leave (although the report confirms that most individuals on these flights were not interviewed.)  Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 557, n. 28.

White House former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke approved these flights. Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 329.

Single-Person Day & Together Day Celebrations!

My good friend, proud owner of the Hacieyenta, had a point about my earlier blog about smokers getting more breaks at work.

She said what about all the single folks in the work place? They get the short end of the party stick...

True, when you think about it there's all the baby showers, wedding showers, and often people have more than one of both!

Perhaps we should institute a yearly single folks day where they all get presents and cake and we celebrate their accomplishments and successes, which mean just as much as the chick in the next cubicle getting knocked up... :)

For myself then we would also have to institute the, not single, but Together Day, where us smart ones that avoided the white dress and the lot get just as much recognition for riding the relationship roller coaster as the people who spent 20,000 dollars on one day with unhappy/insane/distant relatives and co-workers of their fathers they have never met before in their lives...

Where's my Together Day Shower, huh?

Just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife. Excellent book! I'm sure if you wait it will show up in theatres in a few years with Kirsten Dunst and ... maybe Mark Ruffalo, but I think the flow of the story works better as a book - allows for the jumping all over in time and being in two places at once. Really heart wrenching moments and some great characters.

Well that's my review for today. Ciao.

For my Mom and for our Veterans

BUSH-CHENEY FACT CHECK: Support for Our Veterans


Response to the 8/2/04 “Open Letter to Iowa Veterans from Twenty-four Medal of Honor Recipients”


BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP: Funding for VA Health Care


CLAIM: “Since 2001, President Bush has increased veterans funding by over $20 billion, and funding for veterans' health care has increased by 40 percent since he took office. Funding for veterans has gone up twice as fast under President Bush as it did under President Clinton, and those who accuse the President of cutting funding are simply not being honest with veterans.”


THE RECORD: Bush Has Turned His Back on America’s Veterans & Has Allowed Waiting Lines & Costs to Grow on His Watch


Bush Failed to Fully Fund Veterans Health Care. Bush's 2005 budget falls more than $2.6 billion short of the amount needed to fully fund quality veterans' health care, according to The Independent Budget, an annual collective assessment by four veterans’ service organizations of the funding levels and policy changes needed at VA. [AMVETS Release, 2/3/04; VFW Release, 2/2/04]

Bush Administration Calls For Total Closure of Three Veterans Hospitals, Partial Closure of Eight Others. In May 2004, the Administration decided to push for the closure of hospitals in Brecksville, OH; Gulfport, MS; and, Highland Drive, PA. Eight VA hospitals will be partially closed. In most cases, inpatient care will move to larger hospitals, leaving behind an outpatient clinic or long-term-care beds. The Administration is planning partial closures in Knoxville, IA; Canandaigua, NY; Livermore, CA; Montrose, NY; Kerrville, TX; Saginaw, MI; Ft. Wayne, IN; and Butler, PA. In 2003, the Bush Administration proposed the closure of seven hospitals in its efforts to “restructure” the Department of Veterans Affairs. [USA Today, 5/7/04; AP, 8/4/03, 10/28/03, 12/16/03]


Spending on Prescription Drugs Has More than Doubled Over Five Years. The amount spent on prescription drugs has more than doubled over the past five years, from $87 billion in 1998 to $184 billion in 2003. Americans are spending more on prescription drugs today than ever before. [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditure Projections, Feb. 2004]


Bush Cut Waiting List By Eliminating Veterans. The Bush Administration boasts of cutting waitlists for VA health care, but they have done so by excluding nearly 500,000 veterans (Priority 7 and 8) from enrolling in VA health care. [Federal Register, Part 4 – CFR Part 17, 1/17/03]


Bush Tried to Impose New Costs on Middle-Income Vets. Bush’s 2005 budget will institute a new annual $250 enrollment fee and an increase in prescription drug co-pays from $7 to $15 for middle-income veterans. In 2003, The Bush Administration publicly opposed Senate efforts to block increases in health care costs for veterans, including a new $250 annual enrollment fee for VA medical care, a proposed increase in pharmaceutical co-pays, and the Senate's addition of $1.3 billion in emergency funding for medical benefits. And in December 2001, Bush more than tripled the prescription co-payments for nonservice-connected veterans from $2 to $7. [CQ, 2/2/04; Statement of Administrative Policy, 11/12/03; The Times Leader, 10/9/03]


Bush Refused to Help Out Veterans with Rising Health Care Costs. The Bush Administration publicly opposed Senate efforts to block increases in health care costs for veterans, including a new $250 annual enrollment fee for VA medical care, a proposed increase in pharmaceutical co-pays, and the Senate's addition of $1.3 billion in emergency funding for medical benefits. The letter is dated Nov. 12, less than 24 hours after Bush laid a wreath in Arlington. [Statement of Administrative Policy, 11/12/03]


Future Vets Cuts Planned: Recently a leaked OMB memo showed that the Bush Administration plans to cut veterans funding after the election. The secret memo showed that the VA should expect $900 million in cuts in FY2006.


BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP: Concurrent Receipt & Funding for Troops in Iraq & Afghanistan


CLAIM: “Meanwhile, John Kerry voted against a $1.3 billion increase in veterans health care, skipped votes on concurrent receipt and voted against funding for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.”


THE RECORD: John Kerry Is The Only Candidate Who Will Make VA Funding MANDATORY & Will FULLY FUND Concurrent Receipt to End the Disabled Veterans Tax


Bush Threatened to Veto $87 Billion for Troops in Iraq & Afghanistan.
“The White House threatened Tuesday to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress made reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement by Iraq. After declining to threaten a veto last week before the Senate voted to lend up to $10 billion to Iraq, the White House surprised many people on Capitol Hill with its warning…Last week, without using the word "veto," Mr. Bush called on a series of wavering lawmakers and made it clear that he would not appreciate a vote for a loan. The statement on Tuesday, after eight Republican senators defied him last week and helped form a majority in favor of a $10 billion loan, was the strongest threat to date. "If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders.” [Firestone, New York Times, 10/22/03]


Only John Kerry Will Ensure Mandatory Funding To Assure Quality Health Care.
“Over the last three years, whole classes of veterans have been locked out of the VA health care system. Decisions by the Bush administration will, at the current rate, exclude approximately 500,000 veterans by 2005. That's nothing more than rationed health care. As president, John Kerry will insist on mandatory funding for veterans' health care to ensure that no veteran's health need ever goes unmet.” [http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/veterans/served.html]


Only John Kerry Will Fully Eliminate The "Disabled Veterans" Tax.
Today, hundreds of thousands of disabled military retirees are being taxed on their disabilities. Under an 1891 law, retirees who receive both pensions and disability compensation must surrender one dollar from their military retirement pay for every dollar they receive in disability compensation - so their disability pay is actually being subtracted from their retirement fund. Military retirees with disabilities are the only category of Federal employees that lose some of their retirement simply because they are disabled. John Kerry thinks this policy needs to end. As president, he will enact "full concurrent receipt," a policy that would do away with the archaic 1891 law and allow veterans with disabilities to receive both the retirement they've earned and the disability payments they are due. [http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/veterans/served.html]


Bush Opposed Fixing The Disabled Veterans Tax. Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recommended that Bush veto the defense appropriations bill if it contained a fix to the concurrent receipt problem that penalizes military retirees who also receive disability assistance. The concurrent receipt ban stops a veteran who receives disability compensation from also receiving military retirement pay, effectively punishing disabled military retirees. Rumsfeld wrote that if the bill, “authorizes concurrent receipt of military retirement pay and veterans’ disability compensation benefits, or expands TRICARE, then I would join other senior advisors to the President in recommending that he veto the bill.” [Rumsfeld Letter to Rep. Duncan Hunter, 7/8/03]


John Kerry Has a Long History of Supporting Greater Funding for Veterans Health Care


John Kerry has a long history of supporting better veterans’ health and he has worked in the Senate to increase spending on veteran health care. In 2001, Kerry voted to increase funding for veterans health care by $1.7 billion. In 1999, Kerry also voted to increase medical care for Veterans Health Administration and to give another $1.3 billion for overall veterans’ health care. Kerry is continuing to work for veterans and, “in calling for greater access to health care for veterans, cited estimates of nearly 235,000 veterans on a waiting list for Veterans Administration services, with tens of thousands waiting to access their prescription drug benefit. Kerry is sponsoring legislation that would permit veterans already on the waiting list to fill a prescription written by a private physician at a VA hospital.” Kerry repeated his commitment to veterans’ health recently during a trip to Iowa: “Co-founder of the Vietnam Veterans of America and a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Kerry made frequent reference to his war service. Thousands of veterans are now being denied promised health care benefits, he said. "I'm particularly sensitive that we keep faith with those who have worn the uniform of their country." [Senate Roll Call Vote 1999, #285, #286; 2001, # 84; AP 5/30/03; The Hawk Eye, 6/1/03]


BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP: Support for ‘Old Glory’


CLAIM: “And while he talks a good game, Kerry's record shows he is out of the mainstream. The American Flag symbolizes our ideals, our history and our values. President Bush shares this belief and supports a Constitutional Amendment banning desecration of the Flag. John Kerry believes this is ‘an attack on free speech’.”


THE REALITY: John Kerry Fought For & Under ‘Old Glory’


John Kerry’s Statement About “Old Glory” From His Nomination Acceptance Speech: “You see that flag up there. We call her Old Glory. The stars and stripes forever. I fought under that flag, as did so many of you here and all across our country. That flag flew from the gun turret right behind my head. It was shot through and through and tattered, but it never ceased to wave in the wind. It draped the caskets of men I served with and friends I grew up with. For us, that flag is the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in. Our strength. Our diversity. Our love of country. All that makes America both great and good. That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any ideology and it doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people.” [http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2004_0729.html]


John Kerry’s Thoughts on Flag Burning: “As I've said before, if I saw someone burning the flag, I'd punch them in the mouth because I love the flag, but the Constitution that I fought for preserves the right of free expression.” – John Kerry [AP, 11/11/03]


John Kerry Shares View of Colin Powell & John Glenn on a Constitutional Amendment:
Colin Powell: Current Bush Secretary of State, Vietnam Veteran, Retired Four Star General, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: “We are rightfully outraged when anyone attacks or desecrates our flag. They may be destroying a piece of cloth, but they do no damage to our system of freedom which tolerates such desecration. I really don’t want to amend the Constitution to prosecute someone for foolishly desecrating their own property. We should condemn them and pity them instead. I understand the powerful sentiment in state legislatures for such an amendment. I feel the same sense of outrage. But I step back from amending the Constitution to relieve that outrage. The First Amendment exists to insure that freedom of speech and expression applies not just to that with which we agree or disagree, but also that which we find outrageous. I would not amend that great shield of democracy to hammer a few miscreants. Finally, I shudder to think of the legal morass we will create trying to implement the body of law that will emerge from such an amendment. I would not vote for the proposed amendment.” – (Ret.) General Colin Powell [Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, 5/18/99]


John Glenn: Former Marine Test Pilot, World War II & Korean War Veteran, Mercury Astronaut, First American to Orbit the Earth and Retired Ohio Senator: “For those who served in the armed services, we risked our lives because we believed it was our duty to defend our nation. I can tell you that in combat you do not start out thinking about the philosophy of our nation. When you start a run on a ground position from the air, through antiaircraft, or lead a patrol where people are getting shot, you do not think about those philosophical thoughts. It is the survival of the moment that holds your attention. Only later do you think about some of these great philosophical thoughts. But every last tiny fiber in our flag stands for someone who has given his or her life to defend what it stands for. Many of us here have as many friends in Arlington Cemetery, bearing silent witness to our flag, as we do bearing public witness to it in the world of the living. Maybe that is why I have so little patience, and even less sympathy, for those pathetic and insensitive few who would demean and defile our nation's greatest symbol of sacrifice. They deserve harsh censure. This amendment should be defeated. The dangers from it far outweigh the threat that we have to the flag. I simply do not believe that this is a major problem for this country requiring an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Our most revered symbol stands for freedom but is not freedom itself. We must not let those who revile our way of life trick us into diminishing our great gift or even take a chance of diminishing our freedoms. ”—John Glenn [Testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, 4/28/99]


BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP: Supporting Troops


CLAIM: “Please join us in setting the record straight and showing your support for President Bush -- a leader who has proven his support for those who have served, backs our troops defending our nation and shares our values.”


THE REALITY: Bush Sent Troops to Iraq Under-prepared for War


Bush’s Own Army Secretary Said They Were “Not Prepared” for Prolonged Involvement in Iraq: “When the Saddam Hussein government collapsed, U.S. troops in Iraq figured the war was over, except for some mopping up. But as the acting secretary of the Army, Les Brownlee, acknowledged to Congress last week, ‘we simply were not prepared’ for the insurgency that developed in early summer, prolonging the war and taking the lives of hundreds of American soldiers. One 3rd Infantry soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Eric Wright, put it this way in Iraq last June: ‘What was told to us was that we would fight and win and go home.’ It's not that simple.” [Associated Press, 3/13/04]

Bush Forcing Military to Face Back to Back Deployments: “The Army is spread so thin around the globe that when it needs fresh combat troops for Iraq this fall it will have little choice but to call on the same soldiers who led the charge into Baghdad last spring. The 3rd Infantry Division already has been given an official "warning order" to prepare to return to Iraq as soon as Thanksgiving. When those soldiers flew home from Iraq last summer to their bases in Georgia, few of them could have known they were, in effect, on a roundtrip ticket. They are not alone in facing back-to-back deployments to Iraq. Some of the same Marines who teamed up with the 3rd Infantry to topple Baghdad are already assembling again in Kuwait, only a matter of months after returning home, and more Marines will go next year.” [Associated Press, 3/13/04]


Bush Sent Troops to Iraq Without Body Armor: “But it's also true that as many as 40,000 US troops were sent to Iraq without the best-grade body armor. Frontline troops had the new vests, containing ceramic plates that can stop assault-rifle bullets, while others had only older designs that offered protection mainly against shrapnel and lower-velocity projectiles. At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing Sept. 24, 2003, Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of the U.S. Central Command, did not dispute the estimate that 40,000 troops were without the newer design, and said the $300 million was needed to buy more of the vests.” Abizaid: “Now, I can't answer for the record why we started this war with protective vests that were in short supply. But I can tell you that by November, every soldier that's serving in Iraq will have one. It's very important.” [www.FactCheck.org]

Kerry & Edwards Plan for America

Click on the header to download the full book "Our Plan for America"

Overview of the Plan:


Restore America's Respect in the World and Make us Independent of Mideast Oil


Today, we face four great challenges above all others - First, to win the global war against terror; Second, to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; Third, to promote democracy, freedom, and opportunity around the world, starting by winning the peace in Iraq; Fourth, end our dependence on Mideast oil. To meet these challenges, Kerry and Edwards will:

Launch and Lead A New Era Of Alliances.
The threat of terrorism demands alliances on a global scale - to utilize every available resource to get the terrorists before they can strike us. Kerry-Edwards will lead a coalition of the able - because no force on earth is more able than the United States and its Allies.

Modernize The World's Most Powerful Military To Meet New Threats.
Kerry-Edwards will ensure that our forces are fully prepared for the dangerous and vital missions they may face, and that America's military always remains second to none. We must extend our capabilities to better face new threats of terrorism, failed states and homeland defense.

Deploy All That Is In America's Arsenal.
The war on terror cannot be won by military might alone. Kerry - Edwards will deploy all the forces in America's arsenal - our diplomacy, our intelligence system, our economic power, and the appeal of our values and ideas - to make America more secure and prevent a new generation of terrorists from emerging.

Free America From Its Dangerous Dependence On Mideast Oil.
To secure our full independence and freedom, we must free America from its dangerous dependence on Mideast oil. By tapping American ingenuity, we can achieve that goal while growing our economy and protecting our environment. Kerry-Edwards will create a new energy and conservation trust fund to accelerate the development of innovative technologies, such as more efficient cars and trucks, the development of biofuels, and creating clean, secure, hydrogen-based energy. Kerry-Edwards will also expand the supply of natural gas, assure 20% of electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020, and make clean coal part of our energy solution.


Create New Jobs, Strengthen the Middle Class, and Ensure Educational Opportunity


Reward Companies that Create Jobs in America.
The Kerry-Edwards plan will end tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas and use the savings to reduce the corporate tax rate by 5 percent, cutting taxes for 99 percent of corporations. The Kerry-Edwards plan also includes a New Jobs Tax Credit for new hiring in manufacturing, other businesses affected by outsourcing, and small businesses.

Strengthen the Middle Class.
As incomes decline and costs rise, families are having a hard time paying their bills, let alone saving for tomorrow. Health care costs are up by nearly 50 percent, college tuition has increased by 35 percent, and gas prices have skyrocketed. A Kerry-Edwards administration will provide relief to middle class families by cutting taxes and investing in health care and education.

Invest in the Jobs of the Future.
To keep America competitive for the future, a Kerry-Edwards administration will invest in research and technology and provide tax credits to unleash innovation in broadband, energy and small business. They will also provide a tax credit on up to $4,000 for each of four years of college tuition. And they will work for responsible immigration laws that honor America's promise and strengthen America's economy and security.

Restore Fiscal Discipline to Washington.
Kerry and Edwards have a record of fiscal discipline that is absent in this administration, and they have promised to live within the budget principles that helped lead this nation to balance the budget. Their plan will cut the deficit in half in four years, increasing economic confidence and keep interest rates from rising.


Provide High-Quality Health Care, Improve Education, and Strengthen Families


Up to $1,000 of Health Care Premium Relief
The Kerry-Edwards plan will provide relief for employers who offer their employees quality health coverage by helping out with certain high cost health cases - saving families up to $1,000 per year.

A Health Plan for Every Child
The Kerry-Edwards plan will pick up the full cost of the more than 20 million children enrolled in Medicaid. In exchange, states will expand eligibility for children's health coverage and low-income adults and enroll every child automatically.

Manage Skyrocketing Health Care Costs
The Kerry-Edwards plan will improve health outcomes while reducing health care costs by cutting administrative costs, waste, fraud, and abuse; enhancing disease management efforts; and reforming malpractice insurance.

World Class Education
The Kerry-Edwards plan will support more resources and more reform in our schools. The plan will fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act so students have smaller classes and more textbooks. The plan will make reform work for our schools, supporting innovations in public schools like smaller schools, all-girls schools focused on math and science, and charter schools. And the plan will invest in afterschool programs so that 3.5 million children have a safe, quality place to go after school.

Every Classroom Has a Great Teacher
The Kerry-Edwards plan will raise teacher pay, especially in the schools and subjects where great teachers are in the shortest supply, and will improve teachers' professional development and training opportunities. At the same time, the plan will create rigorous new tests for new teachers; provide higher pay for teachers who have extra skills and excel in helping children learn; and ensure fast, fair procedures for improving or removing teachers who do not perform well on the job, while preserving protections from arbitrary dismissal.

Every Young Person Graduates
Today 3 in 10 young people do not finish high school, and half of Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans don't graduate. Kerry-Edwards will keep better track of graduation rates to hold schools accountable for raising them; will offer more tutoring and mentoring to at-risk youth; will make big high schools smaller when they are not working for their students; and will strengthen the high school curriculum so all students can graduate with a meaningful diploma.

Click to visit my Kerry site AND VOLUNTEER

A White Girl Like ME

I was disappointed by the dem. party's reaction to the Rev. Sharpton's speech.
I guess it was actually the reporter's at the convention that focused more on his running over his allotted time than on his content...or more importantly his passion (at least he HAS some...)

I understand this was not supposed to be a week of Bush bashing, but honestly the worst thing he said was his comment about Clarence Thomas...which although unable to be backed up by fact, is probably true...

The rest of the speech I think was fiery, emotional and full of heart. (Click the Header to SEE the actual speech.)

The kind of heart that Kerry is going to need to show more of if we are really going to win back the minds AND hearts of hard working, busy, disconnected Americans.

Speeches like this allow us to take back phrases like "family values" - Sharpton gave his story about his mother "family values" more real value than any Republican looking for a sound bite.

His comment about us needing to focus not on the bedroom, but getting food into the kitchen, is also a great down to earth look at our priorities and how quickly they get lost in ridiculous hot button topics like caring about sexual orientation...

I say to our current President, Mr. President, listen closely to speeches like Rev. Sharpton's, because within his rhetoric and his passion is the heartbeat of most African Americans and it is just as closely tied to the heart of a white girl like me and together that's about 60 -70% of America ... no matter what those polls are saying.

Those polls are spouting out numbers based on voters from 2000, but they aren't counting the people that Rev. Sharpton is talking to, the folks who haven't voted once in their lives, but (wehich Bush didn't count on) are smart enough to pick up on the impact to their civil rights, their pocketbooks and most of all their loved ones dying over seas!

A cut down version of Al Sharpton's speech, delivered at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, taken from e-Media, Inc.'s transcription:

"Last Friday, I had the experience in Detroit of hearing President George Bush make a speech. And in the speech, he asked certain questions. I hope he's watching tonight. I would like to answer your questions, Mr. President.

...We are here 228 years after right here in Boston we fought to establish the freedoms of America. The first person to die in the Revolutionary War is buried not far from here, a Black man from Barbados, named Crispus Attucks.

Forty years ago, in 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party stood at the Democratic convention in Atlantic City fighting to preserve voting rights for all America and all Democrats, regardless of race or gender.

Hamer's stand inspired Dr. King's march in Selma, which brought about the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

...Tonight, we stand with those freedoms at risk and our security as citizens in question.

I have come here tonight to say, that the only choice we have to preserve our freedoms at this point in history is to elect John Kerry the president of the United States.

...And let me quickly say, this is not just about winning an election. It's about preserving the principles on which this very nation was founded.

Look at the current view of our nation worldwide as a results of our unilateral foreign policy. We went from unprecedented international support and solidarity on September 12, 2001, to hostility and hatred as we stand here tonight. We can't survive in the world by ourselves.

I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in '54, Clarence Thomas would have never got to law school. (Whew!)

This is not about a party. This is about living up to the promise of America. The promise of America says we will guarantee quality education for all children and not spend more money on metal detectors than computers in our schools.

The promise of America guarantees health care for all of its citizens and doesn't force seniors to travel to Canada to buy prescription drugs they can't afford here at home.

We did it with a go-it-alone foreign policy based on flawed intelligence. We were told that we were going to Iraq because there were weapons of mass destruction. We've lost hundreds of soldiers. We've spent $200 billion dollars at a time when we had record state deficits. And when it became clear that there were no weapons, they changed the premise for the war and said: No, we went because of other reasons.

...The issue of government is not to determine who may sleep together in the bedroom, it's to help those that might not be eating in the kitchen.

The promise of America that we stand for human rights, whether it's fighting against slavery in the Sudan, where right now Joe Madison and others are fasting, around what is going on in the Sudan; AIDS in Lesotho; a police misconduct in this country.

The promise of America is one immigration policy for all who seek to enter our shores, whether they come from Mexico, Haiti or Canada, there must be one set of rules for everybody.

We cannot welcome those to come and then try and act as though any culture will not be respected or treated inferior. We cannot look at the Latino community and preach one language. No one gave them an English test before they sent them to Iraq to fight for America.

The promise of America is that every citizen vote is counted and protected, and election schemes do not decide the election.

It, to me, is a glaring contradiction that we would fight, and rightfully so, to get the right to vote for the people in the capital of Iraq in Baghdad, but still don't give the federal right to vote for the people in the capital of the United States, in Washington, D.C.

Mr. President, as I close, Mr. President, I heard you say Friday that you had questions for voters, particularly African- American voters. And you asked the question: Did the Democratic Party take us for granted?

... It is true that Mr. Lincoln (A Republican) signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule. ...We never got the 40 acres... We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us.

Mr. President, you said would we have more leverage if both parties got our votes, but we didn't come this far playing political games. It was those that earned our vote that got our vote. We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats.

...And we come with strong family values. Family values is not just those with two-car garages and a retirement plan. Retirement plans are good. But family values also are those who had to make nothing stretch into something happening, who had to make ends meet.

I was raised by a single mother who made a way for me. She used to scrub floors as a domestic worker, put a cleaning rag in her pocketbook and ride the subways in Brooklyn so I would have food on the table.

But she taught me as I walked her to the subway that life is about not where you start, but where you're going. That's family values.

And I wanted somebody in my community -- I wanted to show that example. As I ran for president, I hoped that one child would come out of the ghetto like I did, could look at me walk across the stage with governors and senators and know they didn't have to be a drug dealer, they didn't have to be a hoodlum, they didn't have to be a gangster, they could stand up from a broken home, on welfare, and they could run for president of the United States.

...But we believed if we kept on working, if we kept on marching, if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make America beautiful for everybody.

Starting in November, let's make America beautiful again."

California Workers Under Bush - REAL STATISTICS

Nationwide:  2.9 Million Private Sector Jobs Lost; Unemployment At 5.6 Percent—Up 33 Percent Since Bush Took Office.   [Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov]

California Fact: 284,900 Jobs Lost; Unemployment At 6.4 Percent—Up 36 Percent Since Bush Took Office.  [Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov]


Nationally, Workers’ Wages and Salaries Are Stagnant.  [Department of Commerce, 12/23/03; New York Times, 12/31/03]

California Fact: Under Bush, Over 1 Million Workers In California May Lose Critical Overtime Pay.  [New York Times, 7/1/03; Economic Policy Institute, July 2003]


Nationally, Nearly 2.8 Million Manufacturing Jobs Lost Under Bush, And Account For 95 Percent of All Job Loss. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov]

California Fact: 300,800 Manufacturing Jobs Have Been Lost Under Bush.  [Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov]


Nationally, 3.5 Million More Americans Have Fallen Into Poverty Under Bush — Poverty Rate Up To 12.1 Percent [Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2002, Table 4, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html]


California Poverty Rate At 12.8 Percent — Up From 12.6 Percent In 2000-2001. [Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2002, Table 4, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html]


Gas Costs Rising.  The cost of fuel in California has risen over the last year, and in the last month alone, it has increased 20 cents to $1.9 a gallon. [www.fuelguage.com]


6.4 Million California Residents (18.2 Percent) Have No Health Insurance. [Census Bureau, Historical Health Insurance Tables, Table HI06, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins.html]


Nationally, Many Seniors Worse Off Under Bush Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.  The Medicare bill that President Bush signed in November 2003 includes limited prescription drug coverage but protects the interests of drug companies by failing to include measures to bring down the cost of prescriptions. The bill has been described as a “big win” for the drug industry, and nationwide, many seniors are worse off under the plan. [Wall Street Journal, 11/17/03; Senate HELP Committee Minority Staff, “National and State Impacts of the Medicare Prescription Drug Conference Proposal,” 11/03, emphasis added]

California Fact: California Seniors Hurt By Bush Plan.  

244,860 California Medicare beneficiaries will lose their employer-based retiree health benefits. 

860,700 seniors will pay more for the prescription drugs they need. [Senate HELP Committee Minority Staff, “National and State Impacts of the Medicare Prescription Drug Conference Proposal,” 11/03] 


Bush’s 2004 Budget Cut $200 Million From Impact Aid Program, Denying Education Funds For Children In Military Families.  [New York Times, 8/22/00; House Appropriations Committee, Minority Staff, 6/17/03, 6/16/03; Washington Post, 6/17/03]

California Fact: Bush Cut $11.9 Million In Impact Aid Money For California in His 2004 Budget. [Department of Education]

California Fact: Over 2.4 Million Veterans In California Affected By Bush Policies.  [Department of Veterans Affairs]


California’s Economic Growth Slowed Under Bush.  From 2000-2001 California’s gross state product has only grown by $29 million, compared to the last years of the Clinton administration, where it grew by more than $100 million. [www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/gsp]

"What we need today is a Call to Intellect = A focused challenge that Americans can recognize!"

Familiar themes that we need to echo today -

- A call to intellect
- A choice given to the nation openly and not coated in lies and false information
- The entire country must support the challenge that lies before us
- A challenge that promises if not an answer to all that is wrong at least a future in which we can say we tried, and in trying we gained knowledge, which is never the least that we can attain.

"Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny...time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.

...For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last... But this is not merely a race. Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share.

...But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon--if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

...This gives promise of some day providing a means for even more exciting and ambitious exploration of space, perhaps beyond the moon, perhaps to the very end of the solar system itself.

...I believe we should go to the moon. But I think every citizen of this country as well as the Members of the Congress should consider the matter carefully in making their judgment, to which we have given attention over many weeks and months, because it is a heavy burden, and there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful. If we are not, we should decide today and this year.

This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and technical manpower, materiel and facilities, and the possibility of their diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel."

- John F. Kennedy May 25, 1961

Education = Jobs = Future for America

As China quickly leaves us in the dust educationally and technologically we need to wake up and realize that we are on the precipice of a new technology era for humans, not just Americans, but everyone.
Losing technology jobs to China, India, etc. does not affect one or two industries, but EVERY industry. In today's world every job is somehow affected by technology and the more we count on foreign influence and support to control our own technologies we will become the 2nd, 3rd, etc. most powerful nation in the world. And in the end it is less about power and more about what a nation does with that influence. While I have not always been proud of every decision America has imposed on the world at least they have all been made beneath a democratic flag that allowed, even demanded, the people have something to say about that decision = do you really see China sharing that kind of influence with its citizens... I thought not.
It seems we are completely bypassing the best use for Broadband and today's technology = education. We can now reach the smallest burg in the country with the best educaton available, all through broadband. There is no excuse for not being able to inspire our youth and show them a future full of knowledge and possibility.

We don't need 2 Republican parties....

America doesn't need a Democratic Party that says "yes but less" or "yes but slower" to Republican policies that take us backward. It doesn't need a Democratic Party that is satisfied with defending our past achievements from Republican attack without also pursuing high ambitions for the future. I say to you: America doesn't need two Republican parties. America needs a Democratic Party resolved to make this nation safer, stronger, and more secure. And you and I are going to build it. --John Kerry

Mustang Sally...

I saw this couple the other day, probably both in their late 70's possibly 80's.
In this town there aren't many places to hang outside and listen to live music.
This couple found a rare moment in a small park, a live band playing Mustang Sally, and time to dance with each other; completely unaware of the 100 other people standing around the park watching. Sure there were a few other people dancing, but they were all under 5.
The woman had a humpback and, if she stretched, was maybe 4'8".
The man was much taller at approximately 5'1".
They swung around and around, both hands held tightly together and I would swear he was supporting her as if she were a feather.
Most of the crowd smiled at the sight.
Grinning, but not really smiling, a teenager, 15?, raced to the center of the park and broke apart the couples grasp.
The woman seemed shocked and annoyed and did not welcome the boy's joining them.
The man, who, I think, has had a lifetime of accepting unwelcome events and learned to take them as they come, grabbed right onto the boy's hands and continued to dance with him.
The woman stepped aside upset.
The boy's friends snickered along the sidelines.
When he had had enough of his game the boy, his pants literally falling down past his thighs, raced away from the old man as fast as he could.
It was the running more than anything that cheapened his actions and revealed his intent to be petty, immature and damaging to a pure moment.
Looking around the crowd I could tell that he had changed the tone of the entire group and people broke apart from their joined experience and rapidly dissappeared to continue their busy lives.

I called in tired today...what doesn't that count?

Today was one of those days that I was sick and tired, or sick of being tired, or tired of being sick, so I went in at 7am and left at 11.
Everyone at work has been sick for the last 2 months, literally every day at least 4 people are out. Is it my fault that I have remained healthy and therefore ended up working the longest hours, don't I deserve a break?
It's kind of like the smoking thing... smoker's get smoking breaks, it's a pretty much understood thing, every few hours (or some people every hour) they take 10-15 minutes and smoke a cigarette. As a non-smoker if I were to go out on the porch once every few hours for 10 - 15 minutes I would be seen as a slacker. In fact that happened a few years ago. My boss saw me and some of my assistants on the porch and commented on the lack of work to someone else. It was during a crunch of working 7 - midnight or later for quite a few weeks in a row and was out first day break EVER. Now if we had had cigarettes in our hands would he have said anything to anyone else? I don't think so.
Today I took a long nap, watched some old West Wings and Law and Orders and avoided all depressing news channels for at least 12 hours. I sat out in the shade, discussed the direction of the breeze with some ants, we decided there was decidedly not enough breeze ... so I came back inside.
While online I did run into some blogs over run with links to news sites and I clicked out of them faster than you could say "The world is falling apart..."
I'll plug back into reality tomorrow, if not better off than maybe just better prepared.

Remember the Time

Am I so busy that I don't have time to followthrough on bills, letters, smog tests, RETURNING MY FAMILY's CALLS?!
OR Am I so oddly afraid of living a full complete life that I use work as a drug ...

Blog Cliques - Edited down

Went to the Improv last night. Worst night of comedy I ever experienced. Kindler was the MC and was disastrous.
There was a woman who was funny, more bizarre actually than funny and did good voices. She had good bits on office jobs and how everyone always tells you at the beginning of a new office job "It's going to be crazy here, we do things a little differently ... hold on for a wild ride!" And things are NEVER different OR WILD... how true. She ended with wouldn't it be great if just once you took a job and all that was true. Something like a bunny takes you on your tour around the office and tells you if you need anything you can find her in the 5th dimension on her lily pad and you should be at lunch at Noon, but there is a time gap or something so really just come back from lunch whenever you can... it was cute.

The last guy, Nick Swartzman (?) was hysterical, he saved the whole night. Great "Got Milk" bit. (We've got it already, don't they know!)

One guy was completely toasted and kept repeating jokes he'd already done. I think it might have been his schtick to be drunk and out of it, but it was NOT funny.

Saw Chris Farley's brother.

I'm so tired of killing spiders...