Pushback Pam (Push 'em back, push 'em back, waaaaayyyyy back)

About Me

You go girl!

Jordan's Queen Rania is doing a lot to break down stupid stereotypes across cultural boundaries. She has a new YouTube channel. She is one of many Muslim women who are pushing back in their own way against their own issues of ignorance and the other weaknesses our human species is heir to. God bless, and success to you, sister!!

Schools and Jails
Recent troubling statistics remind us of how many minority youth are enmeshed in the correctional system, and how many drop out of school. I am ALL about personal responsibility and the value of intact families, so that is a factor in how a person does in life. Having said that, the mandatory nature of school attendance over the formative early years of life, and the poor quality of much of the education creates a dismal situation. We force these kids to interface with a failed system, so even those who have the personal responsibility and intact family factors in their favor are still fighting fearsome odds. Like some reformers say (I hate the term 'activist'): "First we fail them, then we jail them". The problem is localized in poor neighborhoods, and the crime victims are residents of the poor neighborhoods, so we don't usually have to think about it, but Lord, what a waste and how frightening it must be to live there.

Courting the Idiot Vote
This troubling observation from Josh Marshall seems all too likely to be on the mark, but trends are not that evident yet. He talks about how the GOP will probably use fear of Muslims (and of course, Obama is NOT a Muslim, and Muslims are NOT automatically enemies, for heaven's sake, but dummies vote), and other retrograde strategies to bring out the worst in people.

Now, I am not slamming the GOP proper, as there are a lot of good people in that party, but the greasy disgusting political and campaign operatives in that party have a long sorry track record (Lee Atwater, for example). McCain has not endorsed these racist, ignorant pronouncements, but plausible deniability is a long-proven strategy, and being able to rationalize is a natural trait of us humans.

What I find dispiriting in general is how many people are lazy about information. For example, someone says that the "Don't taze me bro" student was suppressed for asking questions of Senator Kerry, when in fact that is not what caused his heavy-handed handling by the local cops. But, the story line fits in with prejudices on the Left about government, free speech and the police. Similarly, Michelle Obama said that she had never been "really proud" of our country until this campaign season, where it looked as if the country was finally leaving behind its racist past. This is NOT the same as saying she had never been proud, but again, the talk show hosts and their dittohead followers just jump on the thing they want to hear.

I think that, with the power of Google, and the big time acceptance of such features on the internet, the younger generation will be able to push back if they half-way want to, or someone in their circle can tell them the whole truth.

Holistic Moms

The Engine of the World Economy
That's what the US has been for a long time. But what that equates to is largely US consumers buying stuff. I think that finally that is coming to an end. I have, at times out of conviction, at times out of necessity, lived a fairly modest lifestyle. Getting older, for example, I have stopped worrying what others thought of my appearance, a woman's liberation of its own kind, I suppose. Anyway, living a less materialistic lifestyle makes sense in a lot of areas, and there are hundreds of millions of avid new consumers in Asia who can certainly take up the slack of 'customers to the world'. Let somebody else drive that engine (or at least take turns).

Autism and Thimoserol
The government regulators and big Pharma lost my confidence a long time ago. Doctors have suffered too. Every time I hear the phrase 'ask your doctor' in a drug ad, I almost nasalize my coffee (or whatever I'm drinking). Did those big execs let THEIR kids get those innoculations? (Maybe I've been listening to too much Gary Null on WNYE lately). I think we have to take the responsibility for our family's health into our own (yes I know, very tired and probably aching) hands.

I'm proud of Iowa
The victory by Obama, with a 97% white citizenry, is a turning point of some not insignificant power. I hasten to remind people of Shirley Chisholm, however, who is one of the pioneers of African-American women politicians; she ran for President in the 1970's.

Flexpetz-Not sure how I feel about this
I saw a writeup on this pet-sharing concept in Business 2.0; it seems to be a good idea. They only offer rescued or rehomed dogs. Obviously, the ability of the dogs to handle the novelty of a new 'owner' every now and then is key to the success. Dogs have a 'home base' and stay with others a percentage of the time.

Naomi Wolf's fears are shared by many, but not by me.
Ms. Wolf has written a book which has gotten a lot of exposure, and I hope will spur conversation. It covers the steps that historically have been taken by regimes that wish to impose dictatorship on their countries. She offers the information as a cautionary discussion. While I know that fascism is a strain in this country, and there are people who would be willing to go that way, I think we do not need to fear this possibility for these reasons:

1.) There are a lot of people like Naomi Wolf, and some strongly-entrenched civil rights organizations, which are providing a lot of vigilance and effective strikes at remediation and resolution; the Southern Poverty Law Center comes to mind, and how it has sued several hate organizations out of solvency and therefore out of potency.

2.) The new Internet, connected world, with phone cameras, blogs, IM and a citizenry that will never countenance any significant change in their civil liberties.

3.) There are so many new Americans who have come from many countries, who appreciate their civil liberties.

4.) There are so many Americans who understand the need to push back.

Here are the ten steps Naomi Wolf cites, with my comments in italics:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
This has proven very effective time after time; invoke vs. acknowledge is another matter. The degree of danger is a key metric here, imho.
2. Create a gulag
I don't think they could repurpose the federal prison system to that end; our huge prison population, partly fed by overly punitive drug laws, such as those promulgated by Gov. Rockefeller in his attempt to 'man up' for more general GOP acceptance in his try for the WHite House.
3. Develop a thug caste
I don't see this.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
I know this is not only possible, but prevalent, as it takes the line of least resistance
5. Harrass citizens' groups
I don't see this, except in implementation by certain city police forces. This does happen, however, and is to be condemned
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
I see this.
7. Target key individuals
Somebody is targeting someone pretty much all the time in the world of politics, which extends beyond the formal electoral and legistlative realm, and goes into general human behavior, as with corporate spying, predatory lawsuits, frivolous lawsuits.
8. Control the press
Control of the press, if ever attained, woulc be a private, not government concentation of media ownership. This trend has been largely confined to 'traditional' media, has not yet dealt with Internet, so freedom and diversity is actually (shall we say 'still') moving in the right direction
9. Dissent equals treason
This is a given, because it's such an easy, lazy call, so even a mediocre political operative will resor to this, unfortunately. It's disgusting.
10. Suspend the rule of law
Again, we've been elastic so far with this one as a country, retracting, then restoring, rights to groups in our society.. It would take a societal collapse and a societal consensus to ever suspend the rule of law.

I am watching coverage of the most recent GOP candidate debate, and I've got news for you, Family Research Council: We are ALL 'values voters'.

I am fuming about something, and wish I could sternly SHOUT this through the wires and your computer screen: I cannot BELIEVE we are actually debating about torture in this country.   What is there to debate? Now, as I have been described, I AM a 'Security Mom', and I frankly think that this country has, at least in part, been spared another attack because we did snatch up a lot of people in the aftermath of 9/11, stepping on some civil liberties in the process. I think it's probable that some of these people were innocent, but life is like a crap shoot sometimes---wrong place, wrong time. It happens. I'm not OK with it, but I understand that's how life is on this planet. Think of the Japanese Americans and their internment in WWII. I'm saying that to set up this important argument, so you don't think I'm 'soft' on the approach we have taken to our current threat.

So here's what I'm saying: Torture is ANTITHETICAL to this country's very character. People have always looked to the US to be different. And I'm not innocent to the fact that, historically, we have had incidents of torture; hundreds of thousands of fallible human beings under duress and in combat have had their failures of humanity; it's just in the odds, but it was not ever discussed in the halls of power in detail, as far as I know. What is equally important is that TORTURE DOES NOT WORK. How many professional interrogators (and yes, it IS a formal discipline, with standards, training, lessons learned, etc.) must repeat that it does not work? What the hell is going on here?

Bush and his minions have defined torture as 'not causing organ failure'. Subjecting someone to stress so that they suffer personality breakdown, freezing temperatures, high volume sounds of rabbits being tortured for HOURS, making prisoners scream and gasp for breath, that's OK with these limited, shortsighted men. So you ask this 'leader' about torture, and he calmly says 'we do not torture'. I want to scream. This is really getting my blood boiling typing it, but I have to get this out. Maybe I can help change this; I hope to God I can.

This brutal approach to interrogation, in my opinion, is based on fear and the kind of 'hard' outlook on life that reflects an ignorance of the big picture and the long view.  OK, I've said it. Wish I felt better.

Democrats and Gays
Historically, the Democrats have been on the side of GLBT people; well, at least most of them. That is commendable. I don't know if you read a lot of blogs; I go through periods of reading a lot of them. I remember some of the chatter around the Mark Foley scandal last year, and it reminded me of some of the chatter surrounding the AMAZING Larry Craig. What a sad situation for his wife. Anyway, there is definitely a strain of Republican-bashing that has an anti-gay taint to it, in my opinion. The GOP is not the only party that has people with that mindset. Too bad, but not surprising, given the Democrats' Big Tent.

Cell Phones on the Bus
I absotively HATE it when I see people on the phone while they hurtle down the highway. I have mixed feelings about their usage on the street, even in food places. On the bus or train, however, I actually don't see the problem. Here's what I mean:  You hear someone talking a couple of rows behind you. They are talking to their seat mate. Problem? Not really. Now extend that to a conversational mate elsewhere. See what I mean? (Or, 'hear', I guess I should say). Maybe if they are right next to you, it might be annoying, but friends, I am not looking for reasons to get irritated. For that, I have my family (ONLY KIDDING).

Go ahead, waste your time
I admit that it's kind of fun to spend idle minutes traipsing through the stupid news (or is it 'newz') about the 'celebutards' or 'debutarts', or 'dumbutards' who people our world, a guilty pleasure. Some days I just want to grab people who live in and visit that world by their damned throats and yell 'wake the hell up', and recognize the real world, but finally I realize that they ARE part of the world, and I guess play a role in the ecology of our reality. (Wow, pure poetry). A glass of wine helps.

The "Mommy Makeover" craze
It's interesting how increasing affluence, and the constant drumbeat of the advertisements help 'discover' new 'problems'. (I think increasing lifespans contribute, too.)

Anyway, there's a lot of buzz about cosmetic surgery following childbirth lately .  This is certainly one way to handle post-partum depression, I suppose.  I can understand the pull of this quick fix, but thank God my spouse doesn't seem to think there is anything 'wrong' with me. Or at least, like a wise partner, he just keeps that kind of criticism to himself. Look in the mirror after all, people---gravity does win in the end (and in other locations).

One of my Pushback Heroes is Bill Barnwell
Perhaps the most dangerous trend in America in recent years has been the growth of dispensationalism and pretribulationalism. President Reagan was supposedly a believer in the End Times prophecies, and these views continue to hold sway among some Republicans and money people. A madman named Hagee is the biggest proponent of this movement at present. What makes these people so aggravating and ridiculous is that they profess to be Christian, yet are all wrapped around the axle of fear and complete pessimism that things can turn out all right. To these fearful , death-obsessed people, there not only will be an Armageddon, but there MUST be. Hagee supports Israel, to the point of agitating for war with Iran, but the support of his ilk for Israel lies in this sordid fact: According to the views of these rabid so-called Christians, Israel must be attacked, and the Jews nearly wiped out, because that is a checklist item on the way to their salvation through the Second Coming of Christ. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Bill Barnwell takes on these people on their own terms, using the same common theological background. He is a voice of reason (and religion). Go Bill!!

Opportunity, not Charity
That's the slogan of FINCA, for village banking. Loaning to women to start businesses helps self-reliance. This is one of several sites that does this. Google 'microlending' and 'microfinance' if you want a one-to-one relationship with small enterprises world-wide. It feels good.

TV viewing is a no-win activity, according to Winn
If you have never read Marie Winn's "The Plug-in Drug", you should. The main point she makes is that the passivity and attention problems derived from viewing the tube are created regardless of the content. Even Sesame Street is 'bad' in one sense, because of the physiological effect that the screen produces. I suggest you read it.

As an example of how things are always changing, notice statistics of how TV viewing is going down, as people interact through the Internet. (Guess I'd better read up on how this 'tube' compares to the TV; yikes). At least, with the computer, you are 'driving', and controlling the pacing and content.