We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine . . .
And our friends are all on board,
Many more of them live next door
To those of you who care, I know that I have been lax in my blogging of late. It comes from being a teenager and passing along teenage angst and teenage idiocy to said teenagers’ mumsy. That I can still string sentences together on the approaching graduation of elder son and end of the year IB work of younger son speaks volumes of my ability to have courage under fire.
That being said, I decided that I would dedicate my afternoon to catching up on reading my blogrolls as I have been waiting eagerly for new posts on some of my favorite blogs and haven’t had time to peruse them. What’s wonderful about belonging to a blogging community is that you get the chance to stay on top of things all over the world. For example, my friend in Australia not only writes about her life, but she also shares political and social information. One blog is by a researcher in the UK who is a newly-published author, and the conversations that ensue on his blog are always enlightening and simultaneously hilarious.
Of course, a visit to Janson Jones’s Floridana Alaskiana made my day as he has been updating his blog with photographs of his recent trip to Florida. I plan to do a feature post on these beautiful images in a few days, but feel free to visit his blog and check out his masterful photographic skills.
Dropped by White Orchid where my lovely Australian friend has been updating everyone on the loss of her poor aunt and the travails of traveling to a funeral. Maureen’s writing is always so inviting that it’s as if we are sitting at the table together sharing a cup of tea.
And then I made the usual rounds to everyone else, but what really caught my interest today were the posts that I read on three of my favorite left-leaning political blogs: Willpen’s World, Zirgar’s Fresh New Brain Squeezin’s, and The Mudflats.
During the 08 election, I spent most of my time writing about political topics, especially the fractured logic that seems to rule the far right, but once Obama was elected and we took back the Senate, I have tried to go back to writing about various topics, from my dogs, to my kids, to photography, to poverty, with stops in between on important issues that I feel I must answer in some way. After reading several of today’s posts and articles, I decided that today was one of those days on which I needed to focus on issues that won’t go away and the people who continue to beat the carcass of the horse that has been on America’s front lawn for about three decades.
Perhaps the best theme for my post would be Ship of Fools, but I decided to use another one of my old favorites: The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”
And the band begins to play (cue horns)
Ultimately, I felt that I just had to do a Lola’s List of Brutally Honest Observations. Let the finger-pointing begin:
Let me not beat around the bush about this: Rush Limbaugh is a racist, sexist, anti-abortion, far-right conservative Republican. However, that does not qualify him for the Supreme Court, no matter how much he spouts off about Obama’s nominee. Rush needs a gentle reminder that one must have a law degree at the very minimum to sit on the highest court in the land, and unfortunately, or in this case, fortunately, Rush failed ballroom dancing.
Michele Bachmann (of the one l) is still running around the halls of the Capitol making outrageous claims about subjects of which she has absolutely no knowledge, or at least, not knowledge in the traditional sense (you know, book learning and knowing when to get out of the rain kind of knowledge). I’m not even going to touch the fallacies in her pronouncements about carbon dioxide being a natural product of the earth (even though I could go on for pages about natural products of the earth that, while they are natural, are also harmful and deadly, like arsenic). My suggestion to the Minnesota Congresswoman is that she go buy herself about 10 more truckloads of Mountain Dew so that she can keep C-Span electrified with her stand-up routine. What’s that? She’s serious? No really? Really . . . Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Sarah Palin’s running mate in 2012.
Bill O’Reilly . . . what can I say? For years the man carried on a personal war with Dr. George Tiller, the doctor who was recently murdered while serving as an usher at his church’s Sunday services, the doctor who was murdered by a fanatic, the likes of whom I will address my next remarks. But let’s get back to Bill, shall we? Over the years, O’Reilly has vilified Tiller with statements such as [Tiller] “destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000.”
O’Reilly has also compared Tiller of being guilty of “Nazi stuff” (June 8, 2005). The snarky pundit also said in June of 2007 that there was “No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands.” O’Reilly did not put the gun in Scott Roeder’s hands, but O’Reilly did mark George Tiller as “Tiller the Baby Killer” again and again and again. This self-serving spewer of vitriol bears the burden of placing a target on George Tiller’s chest.
To Sean “The Manatee” Hannity I offer the following advice: Please go to an ENT sooner rather than later so that you can get your hearing checked. It’s just becoming a drinking game now to see how many times you can misconstrue the words on a television clip featuring President Obama or any other liberal. For example, on June 3 of this year, you had the stones to claim that President Obama called the U.S. a Muslim nation when he addressed representatives of the Turkish government on April 6. Here is what President Obama actually said as compared to your interpretation:
President Obama: If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.
Sean Hannity: He honors the national day of prayer behind closed doors. Now, on his Middle East apology tour, the President calls the U.S. a “Muslim nation.”
President Obama: We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation, or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens, who are bound by ideals
Sean Hannity: The same president who insists the U.S. is not a Christian nation is now calling us a Muslim nation.
Really, it’s embarrassing just to mention your name any more, at least for me. I cannot do it without snorting my Pepsi up my nose and making a big mess all over my computer screen.
A word on Nat Turner. Who is Nat Turner you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked that because I didn’t know about this fine human being until Starshine, a commenter on WillPen’s blog left a link to a Daily KOS article on Turner. Seems that Turner, a self-avowed white nationalist and white supremacist from North Bergen, New Jersey has been arrested for “asking his audience to kill two elected officials and an official from a regulatory agency.” The article by Pavlov Dog reveals that Capitol police Chief Michael J. Fallon said that “Mr. Turner’s comments are above and beyond the threshold of free speech . . . He is inciting others through his website to commit acts of violence and has created fear and alarm. He should be held accountable for his conduct.” The offending comments? Get a load of this:
“It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally,” the blog stated. “These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die . . . If any state attorney, police department or court thinks they’re going to get uppity with us about this; I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down too.”
You don’t say? That just warms the cockles of my heart. Except for the whole killing and putting people down with bulletss part. Unless I’m much mistaken, those are the words a terrorist would use, and let’s not soften it with the modifier domestic. A terrorist is a terrorist, and adding the word domestic does not alter that fact, nor does it make the rhetoric less sinister. Mr. Turner is exactly where he deserves to be. Good one on Chief Fallon.
And to be fair, I must not forget the Governator (yes, I do realize that Governator is what most people call Arnold Schwarzenegger; however, I have been calling Palin this since the election; you see, not matter what, she’ll be back). No matter how much I may want to ignore the aspiring presidential candidate and former beauty queen, I must not, for it seems that some on the far right side of sanity still regard her as charismatic, charming, and a real contender for 2012 (oh yes, pleez……….). The Mudflats had a glorious article on the Governator that I must share with you: “‘Screw Political Correctness.” Sarah Palin In Her Own Words.” Trust me, you do not want to miss this wonderfully insightful piece.
Sky of blue, and sea if green, in our yellow submarine
And now, since I have spent the better part of the evening consorting with the other side, I will cleanse my palate with an aperitif of the eloquent Keith Olbermann, whose insights are always spot on, especially when it comes to Rupert Murdoch’s gang:
As always, there will be more later. Peace.
Hi, I read the whole thing. Rough issues and tough political views. I’m the air-head in the room.
Hi Lita,
Terrific post and commentary. Great to have you back!
Thanks for the mention too.
Hugs
Maureen
You’re welcome for the mention. Meant every single word.
Hugs,
Lita
Who was the teen girl??? I think you’d guess if I told you – I was there through it all and trust me……….it still haunts me to this day! There is physcial pain, emotional pain that never, ever, ever, goes away because, no matter what ANYONE SAYS…. an abortion takes away a piece of your heart.
Still love ya, but hey ! what are friends for if you can’t disagree???
Sarah
Love ya Kiddo but I must disagree on some of the pro choice stands. Late term abortion is a horrid wretched procedure. Few women have them becuase of life threatening issues. To have an abortion when you are more than 4 months pregnant is disgusting. Some of these babies live but are left for dead – how heartless! Rape- yes, incest, yes. Because you “can’t be bothered” no. It’s 2009 – there is no reason any young woman CANNOT prevent having one- birth control abounds.
I’ve had direct experience with this – my sister in law had a late term abortion and it has affected the very fiber of her being. And she’s 48. Now, by no means do I advocate killing abortion doctors but it’s not “a simple procedure”. It preys on your mind for years after having one. I knew a teen girl who was date-raped and got pregnant. Saw the baby on the ultrasound before she made her decision, 16 weeks,moving,baby girl. Still did it. She’s been an emotional wreck since. You cannot go in and come out the same. I just don’t buy it. We;ve got it skewed – people scream about the cruelty of the death penalty but what did an innocent child do to deserve termination? Not trying to be holier than thou – just thoughts and experiences. Joe is 56 – his girlfriend had an abortion at 16 – he still to this day says he wishes he would’ve never let her do it.
Who was the teen girl??? I think you’d guess if I told you- I was there through it all and trust me sweets – it
Sarah
Notice I didn’t mention anything about late term abortions in the post. That’s because while I am very pro-choice, I don’t believe in late term abortions unless the health of the mother is at risk. If a woman is raped, she usually get an abortion within the first trimester. Incest is trickier because the female is usually controlled by the relative.
Late term abortions are a very hard thing to deal with, especially for someone like me who remembers exactly when each of my children began to kick. I would imagine that for most women, any kind of abortion is not taken lightly and probably stays on the mind forever. Of course, there are those women who use abortion as birth control, and that really sticks in my craw. That’s just being irresponsible and stupid.
Personally, I would never be able to have an abortion, but I will always fight for a woman’s right to have one if she so chooses. I know too well about backroom abortions with coathangers and other horrible implements. I would never have us go back to that time in society.
I know of a couple of people who did have abortions, and I remember that it was horrible for them at the time and that it was always something that they regretted, even if they made the decision for the right reasons. Sure, I would promote adoption over abortion, but at the same time, I would hate for any girl or woman to have to carry a baby that she never wanted in the first place because of circumstances just so that she could have to go through the added stress of giving up that baby for adoption.
Abortion is a horribly tricky issue. I know that most pro-choice people have a hard time with late-term abortion. Four months, you can see that fetus, its nose, its fingernails, its toes. I can only imagine that any woman who has to have a late-term abortion is already wrestling with some heavy duty issues.
All of that being said, no one has a right to kill doctors who perform procedures just because they disagree with the procedures. Protest, okay. But kill? There is something very wrong there. This particular scenario was just so sad all the way around.
As far as birth control being available–thank god that it is available. But think of all of the people who turn a blind eye to birth control and preach abstinence instead. How realistic is that. Teenagers are nothing but a body full of hormones. Preaching abstinence as birth control is as effective as spitting into a hurricane. And, think of the girls/women who are prevented from getting birth control even if they want it.
Nothing is crystal clear. Abortion is one of those issues that is highly emotional, and very muddied. Yet a woman’s right to control her body is still something that must be protected, even though we may not agree with it.
As always, I want you to speak your mind. I wouldn’t have it any other way. As for the girl, I can think of one of two people.
Lit- Don’t get me wrong – I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with the nuts who kill abortion doctors -no way do I advocate that- they’ll be judged by a much higher court. Preaching abstinence – well, some listen, most don’t and you are completely correct in that! I guess the basis of my issue with it is – when you hear of young women who “get caught with their pants down” – no pun intended, then use it as birth control. Teen girls ( 14-18) I may give you – they’re not too bright! (GRIN) But 20+, hanging in bars, you may an”oops” -sorry, I can’t buy it. I don’t agree with it but if you MUST do it, please have the decency to do it asap!
Love ya,
Me