MoveOn.Org : Vigils for Healthcare Reform (the good kind)

Are you American? Do want to  eulogize Ted Kennedy? Is one reason you mourn his loss to American politics because of his strong leadership on healthcare? Yup. Me too. I'm going to the closest vigil organized by MoveOn.org tomorrow night (in Amherst, Massachusetts, in fact. As well it should be - my favorite Happy Valley college town, home to my alma mater (such as she is) UMASS) to participate in a candlelight vigil. What are you doing tomorrow night?  :-)  I'd say join me if you're not doing anything, except only about one of you is a neighbor. I think it's just The Cunning Runt. Find some other people to go with or go alone to the vigil nearest you. If you can. For me it's a 20 minute drive and a convenient time to make it. The weather is very hopeful and so am I. Trying to be, anyway. Trying real hard to be hopeful on this issue...

Leave a comment, please. You'll be helping me be hopeful. And if you're not hopeful, then just tell me your truth, damn it!  :-)

Make love, not war Children (hee!)
Pagan Sphinx

Here is the information I received in email:

Dear MoveOn member,

Thanks so much for signing up for a "We Can't Afford to Wait" vigil in your community.

These vigils are happening at a key moment in the fight for real health care reform. And they are coming together beautifully. Over 25,000 people are now signed up for over 300 events!

Now, with just a day until the vigils, local organizers are making their final, most important preparations. To make sure each event is a positive and powerful experience, they'll need your help.

So you're invited to a special national webcast TONIGHT for vigil participants like you. It's very brief—less than 15 minutes. Please tune in at 9 p.m. Eastern / 8 p.m. Central / 7 p.m. Mountain / 6 p.m. Pacific to hear what to expect, get important political updates from our campaign team, and learn how to make sure your vigil is a success.

Here's the link for the webcast at 9 p.m. Eastern / 8 p.m. Central / 7 p.m. Mountain / 6 p.m. Pacific Time tonight:

http://www.moveon.org/augustrecess/vigils/call.html?id=17077-15346766-vmyOj2x&t=1

What's Goin' On: Another Update

Thank you again and again for your good wishes.

Changes at work with a new hire and with that, a bit of adjustment and stress. Just a touch. I'm trying hard not to let it get out of hand. Suffice it to say about work: I'm at times amazed by the things that people will say about each other. Completely subjective, arrogant, bigoted and otherwise insensitive. Ugh.

I'm also fighting hard not to become a total recluse. Blogging is good for me in the sense that I maintain contact with people, albeit not face-to-face, but at least it's a form of socialization and community. Even blogging lately has felt like a chore. I don't know if it's because I've taken on too many blogging "responsibilities", if you will. Or if it has something to do with having been sick. Or even if this lack of motivation is perhaps a life-cycle thing? Does it have to do with peri-menopause? I'm changing, I know that. None of if is freaking me out much so far. In fact, all I long for is a sort of peaceful bliss all the time. But meanwhile, I feel guilty because I'm not accomplishing enough, either in the real world or in blogging.

I face a graduate program stint in the not so distant future and I'm flaked out about it simply because I don't want to be a student. Actually, I'd love to be a student. An art history student, for example. Instead I will be enduring a year's worth of crap, most of which I already know because the state feels I need this credential. And perhaps I do but it would be nice if there was an easier, sort of more home-grown, local way to go about it. Oh and did I mention affordable? Oh, there's such a shortage of special education teachers! Oh, yeah? Then why the hell is there no financial help available to obtain the credential? It's going to cost $10,000 for me to obtain this credential. Another non-incentive.

I need the credential because it will mean a fair salary increase and perhaps even, going to another school where the classroom environment isn't so ambiguous. It's hard to explain without going into great detail, which I don't want to do publicly. Suffice it to say that the communication aspect of my classroom environment is a struggle for me. With the other adults, I mean. The children are the joy of it and the least of my concerns.

To recap: I'm seriously lacking motivation for anything yet I am not depressed. I feel at peace inside, for the most part and finding it remarkably easy to love and care for others. My weaknesses are still a lack of patience with people who convolute things too much. And a lack of patience with those who don't open up to whatever extent is necessary to work together more harmoniously. And I can be a pain in the ass sometimes, too. I interrupt when I need clarification on something, which bugs people sometimes but if I don't clarify, then by the time they're finished, I will have forgotten to ask; this being especially true when I'm dealing with a very long-winded person. Right? I really just want to get the whole story. And I can be very straightforward with people if I need to cut right to the chase, which takes some people aback. I choose my battles but when I have to fight one, I'm pretty assertive. And I can be contrary during this process. It is precisely because of this tendency, that I have learned (the hard way sometimes) to choose my battles.

A little bit more about me that you may not have expected to read. I hope it's okay...

Love and thanks,
Pagan Sphinx


This was the other Frida Khalo that is at the MoMA. It's not a good photo and so better off reduced in size as posted.

Israel's Invasion of Gaza

Graphic by Ben Heine

It doesn't take a political mastermind to see the lopsidedness of Israel's invasion and bombing of Gaza. A few crude rockets sent off by the sealed-off and starving people of Gaza are met with a ground invasion and shelling that have killed over 400 people, including children.

I went over to Betmo's first thing to see what sources she had gathered on the topic. As usual, I did not come up disappointed. The first linked article discusses how things are possibly changing through a new outlook on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by organizations both in Israel and the U.S.

J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement in the U.S. which is largely Jewish-American but has memberships of non-Jews as well. J Street is circulating a petition that calls for "strong U.S. leadership to bring about an immediate ceasefire". Consider going over there and learning more about their efforts

Am I just being naive or is Hamas a persecuted little bully who is ganged up on and pounded into the ground by a huge gang of thugs? Hamas talks tough about the total elimination of the state of Israel but they don't have the means. And in fact, this article from 2006 illustrates the position of Hamas on Israel's right to exist. Again, thank you, Betmo.

The Israeli government is perpetuating violence that will never end unless there is diplomacy toward a cease-fire and eventual lasting peace. What will this accomplish? Further violence and hatred and divisiveness.

Our government has suppored Israel militarily and politically for far too long. It's our duty as peace advocates to educate ourselves about how we can bring pressure on our government to support similar goals as J Street is advocating. The situation is complex but if we a have clear, well-defined position statement that we can use as reference when writing to our elected officials or taking our own positions on our blogs and in our other circles, we can make a difference in the way this decades-old warring between the Israeli government and Hamas.

Obama campaigned on a promise of renewed emphasis on this situation and reiterated that conviction during his new cabinet appointments. I don't mean to knock Clinton or Obama (why do I feel I even have to say that??) but it is my assumption that she is very sympathetic toward Isreael. I hope that this is not a hindrance in Obama's stated desire to bring U.S. diplomacy efforts to the region. And yet, MSNBC features this video news piece by Andrea Mitchell, touting Clinton as "credible in the Arab world". Let's hope so. Because as the video illustrates, the last time Clinton demonstrated some regard for the Arab world, the backlash was so strong in the U.S., that she went out of her way to embrace Israel, hookline and sinker.

Further, I wish that Obama would take a strong stand on the invasion of Gaza and not hide behind the "it's not my turn yet" facade. We know that Bush and Rice aren't going to do a damned thing differently.

And again, many thank yous to Betmo for helping me clarify my own ideas on this issue. She has sent me many links via email and provided much food for thought through the writing and links on her blog, Life's Journey. My dear friend, you are a tireless voice in the blogosphere, for peace and reason.

Thank you also to Ben Heine for allowing free distribution of the graphic above, for his own tireless voice on peace issues and justice and his immense talent as a cartoonist, artist and photographer.

UPDATE: A Million Doors for Peace

Update: I went out canvassing the neighborhood on behalf of Million Doors for Peace today. There were forty registered voters on my list. Out of those, I got the signatures of thirteen people, plus signatures from seven additional people who were not on my list but were home at the time I knocked, for a total of twenty signatures. One person on my list refused to sign, while another not on my list but has replaced the voter in that residence, also refused to sign.

Let me tell you a little about my neighborhood. It's mostly working class to lower middle-class,lots of elderly people and a smattering of middle-aged voters with young adults living at home. And there is the housing project, where rent-subsidized apartments are occupied mostly by new immigrants, the disabled and many children. It is a hard project to get into because it is largely quiet, clean and trouble-free. Here is a photo of a section of that housing project:


This is where I found the least people at home and where a lot of people no longer lived at the address I was given by the MDFP campaign. There were several people with Russian names and a couple were Asian. I wondered if so many people not at home meant they were at work. There are so many working poor people in this community who work service jobs that include weekends. I wondered how many of these people had health care benefits. Sigh.

One of the two people who refused to sign stated about the troops coming home:

"They'll come home when they come home."

A few comments from people who supported a date for troop withdrawal:

This is from the neighbor on my street who is a relatively young retiree:

"I was against it from the start. And I'm a veteran."

From a middle-aged woman who very enthusiastically took my clipboard:

"I'd be happy to sign your petition. I agree with you 100%." (she shook my hand)

A middle-aged man in the same building stated:

We should've gotten out years ago.

Most people didn't say anything but gladly signed. It was a beautiful day and I found many people not at home but I left a door hanger with information.

It was an interesting experience and one that made me feel like I was doing something.

Yours in peace,
Gina

Million Doors for Peace

I've been eleventh-hour about getting involved with this but I'm going to do it this weekend. Care to join me?