Am I the only person who thinks Gail Collins looks like Laura Bush but has great things to say anyway? This is about the Supreme Court and equal pay for women. When it comes to money, I can be called a feminist to the core. The most senior woman at a corp made less then the most junior man. McCain would–read the article. It did make me remember why I’m a Democrat
This article shook me to the core. I’m reprinting it here as it’s so unbelievable, yet so America in the millennium.
The PEN American Center, the literary organization committed to free expression, is honoring an American most people in this country have never read or even heard of: Laura Berg. She is a psychiatric nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital who was threatened with a sedition investigation after she wrote a letter to the editor denouncing the Bush administration’s bungling of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war.
That’s right, sedition: inciting rebellion against the government. We suppose nothing should surprise us in these days of government zealotry. But the horror and the shame of that witch hunt should shock everyone.
Ms. Berg identified herself as a V.A. nurse when, soon after Katrina’s horrors, she sent her impassioned letter to The Alibi, a paper in Albuquerque. “I am furious with the tragically misplaced priorities and criminal negligence of this government,” she wrote. “We need to wake up and get real here, and act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit.”
Her superiors at the hospital soon alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and impounded her office computer, where she keeps the case files of war-scarred veterans she treats. Then she received an official warning in which a Veterans Affairs investigator intoned that her letter “potentially represents sedition.”
It took civil rights litigators and Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico to “act forcefully” in reminding the government of the Constitution and her right to free speech. The Department of Veterans Affairs retreated then finally apologized to the shaken Ms. Berg.
Even then, she noted, one superior told her it was preferred that she not identify herself as a V.A. nurse in any future letter writing. “And so I am saying I am a V.A. nurse,” Ms. Berg soon boomed out in a radio broadcast. “And some of my fire in writing this about Katrina and Iraq is from my experience as a V.A. nurse.” Thus declared Ms. Berg, well chosen to receive the new PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award.
•••••••••••••••••••••••
We need a president who will begin to undo the horrors of the past seven years. It’s more than a recession, a wrong war, the bungling of Katrina, Iraq and I will add 9/11. It’s the consistent undermining of our Constitution and its Amendments–the foundation upon which this country was formed.
More people would listen to Laura Berg if she identified herself as a VA nurse than if she didn’t. As bloggers we pat ourselves on the back for saying such profound things as “f–k Bush.” We believe we’re incredible for stating the obvious without putting our lives and/our careers on the line.
I’m not participating in 3WW this week as I’m going to New York to see friends and family and eat too much food I wouldn’t usually eat as it’s Passover and my sister is a great cook.
I hope to have news about my apartment soon.
I will say that if Obama is an elitist, then I’m____. He said what many of us say and/or think including people of faith. I used to say I would give people the Second Amendment if they would give me The First Amendment but…..The First is being slowly and not so slowly tampered with while the Second remains intact.
Boston Legal was incredible tonight. Nantucket, the Island, wanted permission to make a nuclear bomb. To truly over simplify they wanted to show that because of the present admin, every country has permission to make one–which means the country can use one The Judge was really incensed as Pakistan probably has one and that’s the country Bin Laden is probably hiding in. Of course he couldn’t grant Nantucket permission. My personal favorite line was “who will save us? The Vineyard?” I guess I am a Northerner.
Meanwhile, Shirley’s (Candice Bergen) father has end stage dementia. She had to go to court to get an order to let him have a morphine drip. Again this is a bare outline. Alan (James Spader) did a brilliant summation and talked about his best friend Denny (William Shatner) who has the very early signs. Someday Alan will have to make decisions about Denny–who unknown to Alan was watching the summation.
I have worked with many people with all different stages of dementia. I have also worked with people who were about to die yet they couldn’t get hospice care which would have allowed them a morphine drip. I have screamed at nurses and doctors.
The nursing home argued that this would set a bad precedent as so many teens and middle aged people try to kill themselves. Alan said it should be done on a case by case basis.
I disagree. Every person who is considered “terminal” and is or might be in dire pain–they argued that Shirley’s father was too far gone to feel pain–she said his agitation showed that he feels pain–should be allowed to have morphine drips. If they become addicted, so? The slight fallacy with her argument is that people with mid dementia become agitated simply because they are so confused.
I cried watching Shirley. She talked about what a great man her father had been. Now he was a shell. I have always said the greatest gift my father gave our family was dying within five days of having a stroke.
He died over Passover, his favorite holiday. My father discovered religion when we went to a seder in Mobile, when I was fourteen.
Now I live in North Myrtle Beach only it feels so North. Everybody is from somewhere else. I spoke to a woman from the Jewish Center, who invited me for a seder though I’m not really a believer. I thought that was very nice. Especially since I told her so–but many Jews aren’t. It’s a cultural thing for me.
She told me that if I just go 20 minutes South from here I will be in the real South. Maybe, baby.
I think we are a country worth saving. But first we have to acknowledge that an entire race has been unfairly treated. This post isn’t by me. I put it in as it says so much
I don’t agree with every word. I do agree with most. I understand what it means to be “different.” I can’t imagine what it feels like to be a Black-American.
I have known Kenny’s family forever. His mother C is my “landlord” here. His aunt who I call Lucia has been my closest friend forever.
This is an article by Roger Cohen–Beyond America’s Original Sin that explains why still another White person understands where Wright and Obama are coming from.
A couple of days ago I found Pastor Wright’s explanation. I think it worth reading.
But first Kenny, who is part of a multi-color, brilliant family I feel so honored to be part of
Why is it that the “blacks” are expected to “transcend” race and racism?
Since when is the onus on the victim to transcend their victimization? Is
the abused expected to transcend abuse? The rape victim expected to
transcend the horror of rape? By this line of reasoning, we can reduce the
budget by dismissing all of the employees working for the criminal justice
system and require the victims of future crimes to simply “transcend” crime.
We can fix healthcare by transcending disease and illness.
Listen, like it or not, The African was kidnapped, enslaved, forced to watch
their parents, children and siblings sold away to distant plantations,
raped, lynched, subjected to inferior schools, Jim Crow laws and racial
profiling yet the expectation is on them to transcend racism?
Why is it that black Americans are forced to suffer quietly and not offend
their victimizer by voicing their anguish over the continued victimization?
Why is Barack wrong for not hating the victim and allowing the victim their
day in the sun? Isn’t the beauty of America that you can verbalize your pain
to your elected representative without jeopardizing their ability to serve
their community.
A lot has been made over Dr. Wright’s comments. He has been labeled a hate
monger and a racist. Since when is it wrong or racist to voice your anger over the treatment a black man certainly experienced during the Jim Crow era of American History? Why is a black preacher’s verbal attack on America racist in the first place? Unless white people truly believe that America is THEM and they alone are America.
Dr. Wright has been labeled and dismissed as a cook because of another
accusation. One that accuses the US Gov’t of creating AIDS and putting it
into the black community. If you are one who agrees that this point is
absurd, I have 2 words for you, “Tuskegee Experiment”. For forty years
between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) conducted an
experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. These men, for
the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in
Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its
seriousness. Informed that they were being treated for “bad blood,” their
doctors had no intention of curing them of syphilis at all. The data for the
experiment was to be collected from autopsies of the men, and they were thus
deliberately left to degenerate under the ravages of tertiary syphilis-which
can include tumors, heart disease, paralysis, blindness, insanity, and
death. “As I see it,” one of the doctors involved explained, “we have no
further interest in these patients until they die.” In 1997, President Bill
Clinton had this to say “The United States government did something that was
wrong-deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment
to integrity and equality for all our citizens. . . . clearly racist.”
Do we really not understand where the passion and pain with which an Al
Sharpton or a Louis Farrakhan speaks is born? Do we really not understand
why their perspective infused with the same passion that was exhibited by
Dr. Wright resonates with so many Black Americans? Might this also be the
reason that our “conservative” countrymen and women are so discomforted by
these truths being expressed? Are we to dismiss the truths of their
statements and sermons simply because it causes discomfort in the hearts of
the weak and wicked? Those who coincidentally, happen to have a lock on the
opinion shaping instruments of our time.
The blacks are America’s Bastard Children that, to her great chagrin,
cannot be gotten rid of; and the media’s stance on this painful issue makes
the point. For “conservatives” and “blue collar whites” this is
entertainment. It is an exercise in avoiding the real issue and impact of
America’s ugly past on her Black citizens, veterans, teachers, firefighters
and police officers; for blacks this is a promise that the caseeds that
spawned the hell that the American experience has been for their forefathers
is still alive in the children of their original oppressors.
For all of the problems that America faces, it is ultimately an unwise
decision to continue her practice of proactive disenfranchisement against
such a vital and significant percentage of her population.
Yes! We can.
Why is it that the “blacks” are expected to “transcend” race and racism?
Since when is the onus on the victim to transcend their victimization? Is
the abused expected to transcend abuse? The rape victim expected to
transcend the horror of rape? By this line of reasoning, we can reduce the
budget by dismissing all of the employees working for the criminal justice
system and require the victims of future crimes to simply “transcend” crime.
We can fix healthcare by transcending disease and illness.
Listen, like it or not, The African was kidnapped, enslaved, forced to watch
their parents, children and siblings sold away to distant plantations,
raped, lynched, subjected to inferior schools, Jim Crow laws and racial
profiling yet the expectation is on them to transcend racism?
Why is it that black Americans are forced to suffer quietly and not offend
their victimizer by voicing their anguish over the continued victimization?
Why is Barack wrong for not hating the victim and allowing the victim their
day in the sun? Isn’t the beauty of America that you can verbalize your pain
to your elected representative without jeopardizing their ability to serve
their community.
A lot has been made over Dr. Wright’s comments. He has been labeled a hate
monger and a racist. Since when is it wrong or racist to voice your anger over the treatment a black man certainly experienced during the Jim Crow era of American History? Why is a black preacher’s verbal attack on America racist in the first place? Unless white people truly believe that America is THEM and they alone are America.
Dr. Wright has been labeled and dismissed as a cook because of another
accusation. One that accuses the US Gov’t of creating AIDS and putting it
into the black community. If you are one who agrees that this point is
absurd, I have 2 words for you, “Tuskegee Experiment”. For forty years
between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) conducted an
experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. These men, for
the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in
Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its
seriousness. Informed that they were being treated for “bad blood,”1 their
doctors had no intention of curing them of syphilis at all. The data for the
experiment was to be collected from autopsies of the men, and they were thus
deliberately left to degenerate under the ravages of tertiary syphilis-which
can include tumors, heart disease, paralysis, blindness, insanity, and
death. “As I see it,” one of the doctors involved explained, “we have no
further interest in these patients until they die.” In 1997, President Bill
Clinton had this to say “The United States government did something that was
wrong-deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens. . . . clearly racist.”
Do we really not understand where the passion and pain with which an Al
Sharpton or a Louis Farrakhan speaks is born? Do we really not understand
why their perspective infused with the same passion that was exhibited by
Dr. Wright resonates with so many Black Americans? Might this also be the
reason that our “conservative” countrymen and women are so discomforted by
these truths being expressed? Are we to dismiss the truths of their
statements and sermons simply because it causes discomfort in the hearts of
the weak and wicked? Those who coincidentally, happen to have a lock on the
opinion shaping instruments of our time.
The blacks are America’s Bastard Children that, to her great chagrin,
cannot be gotten rid of; and the media’s stance on this painful issue makes
the point. For “conservatives” and “blue collar whites” this is
entertainment. It is an exercise in avoiding the real issue and impact of
America’s ugly past on her Black citizens, veterans, teachers, firefighters
and police officers; for blacks this is a promise that the caseeds that
spawned the hell that the American experience has been for their forefathers
is still alive in the children of their original oppressors.
For all of the problems that America faces, it is ultimately an unwise
decision to continue her practice of proactive disenfranchisement against
such a vital and significant percentage of her population.
i have to add that the first time I heard somebody speak about 9/11 as “payback” it wasn’t an “angry Black pastor,” but an adorable almost stereotypical suburban housewife–my mother. My sister and I learned from our parents that a society is only as great as the worst treated member.
March 19 Iraq War Blogswarm 3/19/03–3/19/08:
Here’s a Bush marking the five year anniversary slide show. I’ll save you the trouble, because who actually wants to look at him?. He said we’ll stay with the course while he acknowledged the cost has been much more than anticipated. Of course all the costs are much more. As I remember the war supposedly ended about six weeks after it began
Courting Destiny began as our way of protesting the RNC in New York in 2004. Our original url, freenynyfrombush.blogspot.com is one of our proudest partial lines. We didn’t know that some crazy radical rightists thought they ran the blogosphere, and yes we can admit it now, made us kind of cry. We wouldn’t back down then and we’re certainly not going to back down now.
Bush came into New York on Friday. If you haven’t read Gail Collins amazing article about his stupidity read it now. His statement reminded me of Karl Rove’s remarks when he came to New York, the city that was attacked, and said “liberals want therapy for terrorists.” Actually Bush is stupid and dangerous; Rove is pure danger–not in a good way. Wasn’t going to let the fifth anniversary go by without some Rove Rage. He might have resigned from the administration but his legacy lives on.
I am a New Yorker who can’t afford to live there. I’m a liberal who wanted nothing more than to see Bin Laden beheaded. I’m a Democrat solely because I won’t vote for a Republican now.
I wrote this story in my head while walking down some country roads. North Myrtle is the beach, burbs, country and city all in one. i didn’t want my fiction return to be dark, but 3/19 is a day for darkness It’s a 3WW. I added the words that Bone supplied. It’s a first very rough draft. Actually I don’t like this story. I want to write lighter more fun things. But today has never been one of my favorite days–began a long time before the war and I remember everything about today, five years ago.
Saw a screening of a 9/11 film with a friend in Times Square. It was too soon for me. Had to review it and have no idea if it was good or not.
Six weeks before my sister and I had to run around finding money to pay estate taxes on our mother’s estate. We wouldn’t have had to pay taxes two years later. It’s hard to feel good about paying a bit for an unnecessary war. Many people have paid much more in other ways.
America is so troubled. I almost think a person has to be disturbed to go into politics. Don’t think most parents want their children to grow up to be president anymore.
Two of the words were very easy. One was very difficult.
••••••••••••••••••••••
Allie could barely remember a time Jay hadn’t been in her life. Her older sister Suzie had taken him to Allie’s Sweet Sixteen, in 1970. Allie was jealous at her own party of her beautiful eighteen year old sister who was hanging onto the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Jay had long curly dark brown hair, and a look in his dark blue eyes that entranced Allie. He had recently returned from Viet Nam and was attending Suzie’s school.
Suzie soon moved into Jay’s apartment. Allie smoked her first joint there, and barely minded when she watched them shoot up. Suzie said all the hip kids at school did. Jay had moods where he would get real quiet and suddenly begin screaming and banging walls. Suzie said smack mellowed him.
The moods got worse and no drug helped him. Suzie and her friends brought him to the VA which immediately admitted him. His roommate was an 80 year old shell shocked World War One vet. Jay seemed to get even more moody but the VA said there was nothing they could do. Continue Reading »
Winter Soldier is Iraq Veterans against the war. Think every American is morally bound to help. My thanks to Wadena for showing me the way there. Continue Reading »
We’re having some problems getting this post to work. We don’t care.
My apartment’s going on sale today–the week that The New York Times officially called the Manhattan housing market not good. Some people, basically everybody we know, called us obsessive for renovating a perfectly nice apartment. Since the paper of record says you should renovate to sell, they call us foresighted.
Our host company had problems. We don’t know why the “iconic” pinup is gone. However….We have it back.
We’re too happy to have our archives to bear a grudge. It’s just that when we said we were going to shake up our life, we wanted our blog to be part of our new life.
We hadn’t realized Courting is our real home. As long as we have our blog we can live anywhere. Not true but it sounds good.
We lost some posts that talked about our very chaotic move. Briefly it took fourteen hours to get here. We arrived to a disaster. The townhouse next door had their water heater in the attic. It exploded. Our friend’s downstairs kitchen, dining room and living room floors had to be replaced.
Bobby our newest BFF the project manager said fixing this house was like “what’s that show?” “Extreme Home Makeover.” “Right, hon.”
Bobby accomplished in two days what took us four months to do to our apartment, and we didn’t have to constantly give him more money and tell him not to take out the recessed lighting in the kitchen as we like it and we wanted to focus on the things that bring in money–a reglazed bath tub, new paint, great sanded floors, new door knobs. We knew what to do and what not to do, but we only own the apartment.
Basically we spent four months being contractor to the contractor and totally appreciate professionals. We did bring in a professional but he too had his hand out constantly. We understand how high the cost of living is in New York and that people think if a person’s renovating to sell they will make millions. We know our apartment has limitations and won’t. Hence we wanted it to look as perfect as possible. We’re so happy to be out of the city of “gimme, gimme more.”
We did take our own furniture, rearrange and “staged” it amazingly, if we must say so ourselves. Our mother’s best friend, an interior designer, always told us we had the eye and whatever else is needed to be an interior designer. We didn’t think it intellectual enough and were scared of graphs. Now we could do the graphs on computer and think it a great occupation.
•••••••••••••••••••
We would like to remind people as it doesn’t seem to be talked about that in less than two weeks the US will have been in Iraq for five years. Five years too long.
I was just telling somebody a story about two guys I have known. One intimitely and forever though not forever intimitely, and the other just kind of forever. Both are rather well known in their fields which I will leave as pop culture.
Then I realized, not for the first time, I have had a whole incredible life that’s never been talked about here or will be in a memoir because while I will tell good friends stories about my life as it did happen, I don’t feel comfortable talking about my true personal life–even things that happened many years ago. Courting and hence Google presents a very distorted view of my life.
Sometimes I wish that I were a very different type of person. One who would really say anything rather than giving the illusion of saying too much.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I put my friend’s letter in about the super delegates because this is an election
unlike one I have ever seen. Here’s an oped on letting the people decide. hey even I’m too young to really remember Kennedy’s election.
I will vote Democratic as I personally believe it extremely important that a Democrat occupy the White House. I believe that Ralph Nader was the true reason Gore didn’t win.
In this current election I have seen people who were totally disenfranchised become involved. I have seen them begin to believe a bit in America as a true democracy. I find that wonderful.
Hillary is a machine candidate, (here’s Frank Rich on her) and here’s something more personal. New York made a remarkable recovery after 9/11 or did we?
Bloomberg who few people truly like but most people respect has moved as much money around as he can. I can’t afford to live in Manhattan anymore and will sell my apartment, shortly, to somebody who does have several million in “disposable” income, and access to much credit.
Is that what we want Manhattan to be? Anybody who has read this blog for any length of time knows that 9/11 changed my life and not in a good way. I don’t have warm and fuzzy feelings about how great the people were. I remember the people and I do speak in glittering generalities as being worn and not able to deal with my personal tragedy.
It was the first time in my adult life I felt out of place. Time heals and I have put my mother’s death into perspective. There should have been help for people like me. I am a licensed social worker who did offer to begin support groups for people who lost loved ones around the time of 9/11 but not in it.
The man who lives upstairs from me is a drunk, fortunately in recovery now. He had to move back to the building as he was deemed a security risk living in The Boat Basin. He fell not once but many times every night for months. I would incorporate his falls into my dreams. Every night I would dream of people falling from The Towers. They would have my mother’s face as she died from a fall. She lived in the city; I live in Manhattan.
Yet I wasn’t eligible for the free help that was given so readily to people who had a second cousin once removed die in the attacks. I can’t forget that. I can’t help but believe if we had an administration that gave a damn–and senators who cared it might have been different. Every person who lived in the city was affected yet we were the only city not to have rallies, not to have the little things that help people heal. It was everybody for herself.
Yes that began my dislike of Hillary. She could have done so much for the people of New York City. She chose not to. She should have been screaming for the promised aid to come to New York then not to Montana and finally to New York three years later.
I will vote for her if I have to but it will be reluctantly.
I’m sorry I’m playing the same old song. I don’t enjoy it. I had to totally remake myself after 9/11. It wasn’t easy and it took time. I did but the psychic scars remain.
I was born in the 50’s. I know what it’s like to make less money than a boy–because he needed more money to take a girl out–that was in 1970–most of us didn’t date but “hung.” I know what it’s like to be chased by a boss who, it turned out, hired me because I reminded him of his “underweight long haired no good hippie son.” I wasn’t underweight or a boy; this was a very respected publishing house. Still I was too ashamed to go back for my last paycheck. Continue Reading »
A good blogger to me is somebody who moderates comments, is constantly reading new blogs, and commenting. I just don’t have the time or mental energy for that. Not now. I need to write and to write I begin blogs. I have a few private ones and one not so secret one.
Courting isn’t going on hiatus. I will be writing and moderating comments but I won’t be commenting until I’m in a different space. I mean that physically. Actually I go through this every few months. I’m obsessed with blogging and admire bloggers who never tire of commenting. I’m not comment crazy and enjoy reading blogs without commenting often but then I’m called a lurker. I don’t understand why “reader” isn’t acceptable and people can’t be happy with people reading their blogs without commenting at times.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The three most exciting parts of the State of the Union address to me where:
3) Looking at men’s ties–and I don’t have a large TV or LCD or plasma
2) Watching Ted Kennedy sleep–for one of the few times in my life I agreed completely with David Brooks–on my birthday, or the next day in 1969, he knew he could never become President so he focused on becoming a great senator
1) Watching Nancy Pelosi try to find a proper facial expression–she went through every fake smile I know
CAN YOU SAY PORK BARREL? I ADMIT I KEPT FALLING ASLEEP BUT I WOULD WAKE TO HEAR BUSH TALK AGAIN AND AGAIN ABOUT ENDING OR DRASTICALLY REDUCING EAR MARKED RESOURCES.
YES WORLD, THE SAME MAN WHO SENT NEW YORK’S POST 9/11 AIDE TO WYOMING AS THEY NEEDED IT SO MUCH MORE. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I can no longer afford to live in New York a city that faces a huge deficit–a city that looks all sparkly on the outside but–if it weren’t for private conservatories, Wall Street, tourism and people like me who are paying huge moving taxes–New York would already be in worse shape than it was during the fabled bad days.
Yes we got the aide. Three years late. I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe America needed to be taken down a notch. To be humbled. But we deserved a president who gave a damn. The Hillary of the “misguided” health reform did. This Hillary, i’m not sure about. I am sure that Barack Obama does.
I didn’t do anything for Martin Luther King Day as he said it all. I was a little girl who hung onto his words. My grandmother had recently died. She was a Communist (and feminist, my mother always made me add) who worked for “Negro” causes. I didn’t have visions of us being together in DC together the day of his speech. I did want to be there, and never forgot the words, the eloquence, the power and fire in his voice. Cooper has articles of the many sides of a very complex man. You also get to see an item from her very youthful wardrobe, which is as good as a Cooper and the Queen of Twin Sets post–almost
One song, and one song only, played at one occasion by one man fits.
Don’t take a Democratic win for granted. Vote in your primary.
One more year; the true countdown to becoming a Democracy again begins now.
I'm Pia Savage. Just a writer with a blog title few people truly get. I suppose my destiny has taken me from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Myrtle Beach as I barely heard of it eleven months ago. My email is Pia(dot)talks@gmail(dot)com.
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