One out of 3 women has no idea what her genitals look like.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
For Those with Vaginas
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
One out of 3 women has no idea what her genitals look like.
One out of 3 women has no idea what her genitals look like.
Feminist elite giving me orders?
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
> No, we don't. Economically exploited
> women need to be empowered, educated, organized and
> activated. Whoever this "we" is of whom you speak is
> disempowering economically exploited women, once again.
>
> Martinez is nothing; she's just a Barbie candidate of the
> Rove Tea Parody astroturf agitprop. Martinez means nothing
> in the long run.
>
> Exploited women must organize. I'm sick of affluent, white
> women bossing me around, telling me what to do and turning
> their noses up at me because I don't have their credit cards
> and alphabet soup behind my name.
>
> I tried to "friend" you on facebook, and you ignored me.
> So, I know, first hand, that you're part of the agenda to
> keep the power, keep the rest of us powerless and control
> the whole show. I don't trust you.
>
> And I did NOT give Elaine permission to tell you about my
> personal correspondence with her. She violated my trust, to
> make SURE I was given my marching orders by the white,
> liberal elite.
>
> You people are SO afraid of poor people. You're SO
> prejudiced and condescending toward us. You are SO invested
> in micromanaging every attempt the exploited make to get the
> hell out of this bucket YOU help keep us in!
>
> What needs to happen has NOTHING to do with Santa Fe right
> now; it has to do with mobilizing the very women who will be
> worst affected by this fascist double speak.
>
> And YOU should be a CHAMPION of such a movement: BY, FOR
> and ABOUT economically exploited women, instead of bossing
> me around like I scrub your toilets!
>
> YOUR BOOT IS STILL ON MY NECK!
>
> From: Susan Loubet
> Subject: Re: Commission on the Status of Women
> To: rriverstone
> Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 8:51 PM
>
> I just looked up the schedule and April 8th is the deadline
> for her to sign or veto. so we really need to get comments
> in to the Gov. not much time.
>
>
> From: Susan Loubet
> To: rriverstone
> Sent: Sat, March 26, 2011 8:46:19 PM
> Subject: Commission on the Status of Women
>
>
> Hi Rogi, Elaine said that you had inquired about the
> Commission story. I appreciate your sense of dismay-that is
> what I have also and I have been working on this issue ever
> since the interim reorganization committee's meetings this
> past summer. What we are trying to do now, is get people to
> contact the Governor and ask her to support the CSW. We are
> not suggesting that they say--don't veto it because that
> might just get her back up and we don't want people to say
> any sort of threat-like 'you will never get elected again',
> etc.-for the same reason. So just- "please support the
> commission-they deliver services around the state that can't
> be done by other agencies and they deliver services to poor
> women-or they have helped me----"--personal statements, not
> form letters. She has 18
> or 20 days from the end of the session, so we need to get
> letters, emails, calls in now. That is all that I know
> that can be done at this point. Another suggestion from a
> legislator is letters to the editor-I think, especially in
> the small town newspapers around the state. So, making
> your voice heard is what we need. Thanks, Susan Loubet
Share |
Gov. Martinez, astroturf, Tea Parody, Rove machine talking head, wants to pull all funding to the Commission on the Status of Women, which operates such things as domestic violence, transitional housing and other services, primarily for economically exploited women. Her excuse? Women shouldn't be treated "like victims."
Elaine Baumgartel, morning host during KUNM's broadcast of NPR news, broadcast a news report on the issue. I emailed her for more info. All she offered me was her recorded report, posted on KUNM's website. Nothing more.
However, without my permission, she told Susan Loubet I had contacted her. Loubet is associated with the Commission and is one of the 2-person cartel that holds total control over the broadcast of "Women's Focus" on KUNM. No other women are allowed to broadcast, except a tiny segment of women's news (none local) and women the 2 hosts decide are worthy of air time. They have total control over what is discussed as a "women's issue" in the state of New Mexico. They retain total control and do nothing to invite, encourage, empower other women in the state as journalists, broadcasters, editors, producers, reporters, etc.
I received my marching orders from Loubet tonight. This is the first time in history Loubet has voluntarily communicated with me. And she did it to make sure I was kept in line, told what to think and say, and told how to say it.
> From: Rogi Riverstone
> Subject: Re: Commission on the Status of Women
> To: "Susan Loubet"
> Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 9:11 PM
Gov. Martinez, astroturf, Tea Parody, Rove machine talking head, wants to pull all funding to the Commission on the Status of Women, which operates such things as domestic violence, transitional housing and other services, primarily for economically exploited women. Her excuse? Women shouldn't be treated "like victims."
Elaine Baumgartel, morning host during KUNM's broadcast of NPR news, broadcast a news report on the issue. I emailed her for more info. All she offered me was her recorded report, posted on KUNM's website. Nothing more.
However, without my permission, she told Susan Loubet I had contacted her. Loubet is associated with the Commission and is one of the 2-person cartel that holds total control over the broadcast of "Women's Focus" on KUNM. No other women are allowed to broadcast, except a tiny segment of women's news (none local) and women the 2 hosts decide are worthy of air time. They have total control over what is discussed as a "women's issue" in the state of New Mexico. They retain total control and do nothing to invite, encourage, empower other women in the state as journalists, broadcasters, editors, producers, reporters, etc.
I received my marching orders from Loubet tonight. This is the first time in history Loubet has voluntarily communicated with me. And she did it to make sure I was kept in line, told what to think and say, and told how to say it.
> From: Rogi Riverstone
> Subject: Re: Commission on the Status of Women
> To: "Susan Loubet"
> Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 9:11 PM
> No, we don't. Economically exploited
> women need to be empowered, educated, organized and
> activated. Whoever this "we" is of whom you speak is
> disempowering economically exploited women, once again.
>
> Martinez is nothing; she's just a Barbie candidate of the
> Rove Tea Parody astroturf agitprop. Martinez means nothing
> in the long run.
>
> Exploited women must organize. I'm sick of affluent, white
> women bossing me around, telling me what to do and turning
> their noses up at me because I don't have their credit cards
> and alphabet soup behind my name.
>
> I tried to "friend" you on facebook, and you ignored me.
> So, I know, first hand, that you're part of the agenda to
> keep the power, keep the rest of us powerless and control
> the whole show. I don't trust you.
>
> And I did NOT give Elaine permission to tell you about my
> personal correspondence with her. She violated my trust, to
> make SURE I was given my marching orders by the white,
> liberal elite.
>
> You people are SO afraid of poor people. You're SO
> prejudiced and condescending toward us. You are SO invested
> in micromanaging every attempt the exploited make to get the
> hell out of this bucket YOU help keep us in!
>
> What needs to happen has NOTHING to do with Santa Fe right
> now; it has to do with mobilizing the very women who will be
> worst affected by this fascist double speak.
>
> And YOU should be a CHAMPION of such a movement: BY, FOR
> and ABOUT economically exploited women, instead of bossing
> me around like I scrub your toilets!
>
> YOUR BOOT IS STILL ON MY NECK!
>
> From: Susan Loubet
> Subject: Re: Commission on the Status of Women
> To: rriverstone
> Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 8:51 PM
>
> I just looked up the schedule and April 8th is the deadline
> for her to sign or veto. so we really need to get comments
> in to the Gov. not much time.
>
>
> From: Susan Loubet
> To: rriverstone
> Sent: Sat, March 26, 2011 8:46:19 PM
> Subject: Commission on the Status of Women
>
>
> Hi Rogi, Elaine said that you had inquired about the
> Commission story. I appreciate your sense of dismay-that is
> what I have also and I have been working on this issue ever
> since the interim reorganization committee's meetings this
> past summer. What we are trying to do now, is get people to
> contact the Governor and ask her to support the CSW. We are
> not suggesting that they say--don't veto it because that
> might just get her back up and we don't want people to say
> any sort of threat-like 'you will never get elected again',
> etc.-for the same reason. So just- "please support the
> commission-they deliver services around the state that can't
> be done by other agencies and they deliver services to poor
> women-or they have helped me----"--personal statements, not
> form letters. She has 18
> or 20 days from the end of the session, so we need to get
> letters, emails, calls in now. That is all that I know
> that can be done at this point. Another suggestion from a
> legislator is letters to the editor-I think, especially in
> the small town newspapers around the state. So, making
> your voice heard is what we need. Thanks, Susan Loubet
Feminism is Evil
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
...........................................
It's all about civil rights. We all have a lot to learn. In the USA, however, the power structure is actively erasing and rewriting history. I heard a local Tea Parody provocateur (and I suspect he's paid to do it) is calling not just for the abolition of community broadcasting (the primary outlet left in the USA for solid journalism and information), but for the abolition of any college or university funded with tax money. He wants teachers' unions broken and teaching privatized. He espouses the belief that people with mental illnesses are just lazy and need jobs. And this week, he said the "most disgusting form of racism" is "playing the race card," and broadly dismissed ALL members of the NAACP and a whole list of civil rights and social justice organizations as opportunists, making money by crying discrimination.
The reactionary movement in the USA would disappear slavery, genocide, the treatment of women as chattel property and the hard-fought rights to equal treatment won by people with disabilities. They would erase a thousand years' academic studies in the physical sciences and replace them with fairy tales and preposterous claims of dinosaurs living with humans. They are systematically setting reality on its head and people are believing them, because they are desperate and angry, never understanding it's the very people they are believing who are stripping them of their dignity, humanity and right to earn a living.
It is my firm belief that this stuff is not a coincidence. It is a systematic operation, carefully strategized, in the planning stages for decades, of a calibre of a military operation, sweeping through our country on a state-by-state basis, pitting women against men, people of color against whites, Queer people against heterosexuals, the poor against the wealthy. They are stripping us of every progressive right we've ever won in the USA for four hundred years. We've been a nation for only 200.
The tactic is to repeat the lies so often people begin to accept them as, if not fact, a legitimate argument. That's why I never say Tea "Party." It's not a political party. It breaks all the rules of a political party. It can receive donations anonymously, without reporting them, as political parties must. It is an astroturf campaign, funded by corporate interests who are swallowing my country whole.
......................................................
Our Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations have a right to free speech, just like humans do. Now, with their immense wealth, they can buy every politician in this nation. And we can't do a thing to stop it. So, rouse the rabble to make sure things like unions, science, women's rights, Queer rights, disability rights, etc. are stripped. Erase civil rights from the history of my country. Preach religious fundamentalism in politics, media (including Fox News) and everywhere else to create a devoted following who will vote "God's" will.
Then, once they've truly gained the power, own the schools, own the politicians, own the media, own the military and police, etc., THEN shut down the rabble. Because angry people are dangerous to the goals of the corporations. BUt you see, they've already set in motion solutions for that: perpetual war for corporate profit and killing off surplus population, corporatly-run prison systems paid for by tax dollars and, for the remainder, the pharmaceutical companies have completely corrupted the medical industrial complex, so everybody can be diagnosed with some sort of "disorder" and be medicated. I give our country five more years before we're just a giant Walmart.
Share |
Feminism is Evil
our tea parody, first female governor of New Mexico is hell bent to stop funding for Commission on Status of women. Why? because it makes women "look like victims." The cuts will stop domestic violence shelters, rape crisis hotlines, low income housing, food assistance and other benefits to low income woman, the majority of whom are single moms, many of whom escaped murder by husbands. They want women helpless, dependent on men. There aren't enough jobs to go around, so men first. Why? Because men are stronger and because they'll comply with bad working conditions, if their wives and kids are held as hostages, completely dependent on men's meager salaries. It's an orchestrated part of the new machinery to bulldoze the USA for total corporate control.
this article was posted by a South African man I met in an atheist group. Some discussion followed and here are my replies. You can hear, from my replies, his stereotyped thinking about feminism.
...........................................
It's not an official, registered political party; it's astroturf, funded by corporate interests and GOP, to rouse the rabble, They're throwing them fundamentalist, xian bones to placate them. Feminism is the radical notion that women are people, too, with equal rights. I don't know what you've been TOLD to believe about feminism, but, in a world of ritual, female genital mutilation; child brides; sexual slavery; "honor" killings; wife beating; rape as a spoil of war and all the rest, I am a feminist.
Feminism is Evil
our tea parody, first female governor of New Mexico is hell bent to stop funding for Commission on Status of women. Why? because it makes women "look like victims." The cuts will stop domestic violence shelters, rape crisis hotlines, low income housing, food assistance and other benefits to low income woman, the majority of whom are single moms, many of whom escaped murder by husbands. They want women helpless, dependent on men. There aren't enough jobs to go around, so men first. Why? Because men are stronger and because they'll comply with bad working conditions, if their wives and kids are held as hostages, completely dependent on men's meager salaries. It's an orchestrated part of the new machinery to bulldoze the USA for total corporate control.
this article was posted by a South African man I met in an atheist group. Some discussion followed and here are my replies. You can hear, from my replies, his stereotyped thinking about feminism.
...........................................
It's not an official, registered political party; it's astroturf, funded by corporate interests and GOP, to rouse the rabble, They're throwing them fundamentalist, xian bones to placate them. Feminism is the radical notion that women are people, too, with equal rights. I don't know what you've been TOLD to believe about feminism, but, in a world of ritual, female genital mutilation; child brides; sexual slavery; "honor" killings; wife beating; rape as a spoil of war and all the rest, I am a feminist.
.......................................
Men have, through the brainwashing of white capitalism, been self centered and arrogant for thousands of years. It's institutionalized. There's nothing wrong with wanting a career or being a stay-at-home mom (which is the hardest job on the... planet). Feminism, too has been co-opted by white, western "middle class" values. It has lost its way and needs to be reminded that, just because a few of us have managed to gain what looks like "equality" with men, for the majority of the people on the planet, life is not fair and equal. When I see white western women embrace the struggles and real sufferings of women of color in the so-called "developing" world, I will be satisfied. Until then, I continue to work at knocking down EVERYBODY's stereotypes of everybody else. Most women on this planet have no voice, no choice even over their own bodies. As long as one white, middle class woman has privilege at the expense of a sister of color, we are not liberated as a gender. Check out an author named Alice Walker +womanist; it's a brilliant essay on this topic. And, if you have a chance, read an essay she wrote called "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens," as well. Feminism is a hell of a lot more than credit cards, designer clothes and bullshit. In fact, real feminism isn't about those things, at all. I don't want to be a success in a world that says you have to step on the neck of someone weaker than you to get ahead in the world............................................
It's all about civil rights. We all have a lot to learn. In the USA, however, the power structure is actively erasing and rewriting history. I heard a local Tea Parody provocateur (and I suspect he's paid to do it) is calling not just for the abolition of community broadcasting (the primary outlet left in the USA for solid journalism and information), but for the abolition of any college or university funded with tax money. He wants teachers' unions broken and teaching privatized. He espouses the belief that people with mental illnesses are just lazy and need jobs. And this week, he said the "most disgusting form of racism" is "playing the race card," and broadly dismissed ALL members of the NAACP and a whole list of civil rights and social justice organizations as opportunists, making money by crying discrimination.
The reactionary movement in the USA would disappear slavery, genocide, the treatment of women as chattel property and the hard-fought rights to equal treatment won by people with disabilities. They would erase a thousand years' academic studies in the physical sciences and replace them with fairy tales and preposterous claims of dinosaurs living with humans. They are systematically setting reality on its head and people are believing them, because they are desperate and angry, never understanding it's the very people they are believing who are stripping them of their dignity, humanity and right to earn a living.
It is my firm belief that this stuff is not a coincidence. It is a systematic operation, carefully strategized, in the planning stages for decades, of a calibre of a military operation, sweeping through our country on a state-by-state basis, pitting women against men, people of color against whites, Queer people against heterosexuals, the poor against the wealthy. They are stripping us of every progressive right we've ever won in the USA for four hundred years. We've been a nation for only 200.
The tactic is to repeat the lies so often people begin to accept them as, if not fact, a legitimate argument. That's why I never say Tea "Party." It's not a political party. It breaks all the rules of a political party. It can receive donations anonymously, without reporting them, as political parties must. It is an astroturf campaign, funded by corporate interests who are swallowing my country whole.
......................................................
Our Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations have a right to free speech, just like humans do. Now, with their immense wealth, they can buy every politician in this nation. And we can't do a thing to stop it. So, rouse the rabble to make sure things like unions, science, women's rights, Queer rights, disability rights, etc. are stripped. Erase civil rights from the history of my country. Preach religious fundamentalism in politics, media (including Fox News) and everywhere else to create a devoted following who will vote "God's" will.
Then, once they've truly gained the power, own the schools, own the politicians, own the media, own the military and police, etc., THEN shut down the rabble. Because angry people are dangerous to the goals of the corporations. BUt you see, they've already set in motion solutions for that: perpetual war for corporate profit and killing off surplus population, corporatly-run prison systems paid for by tax dollars and, for the remainder, the pharmaceutical companies have completely corrupted the medical industrial complex, so everybody can be diagnosed with some sort of "disorder" and be medicated. I give our country five more years before we're just a giant Walmart.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Nick Pitera and his one man DIsney movie
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
"Music from Disney films has made a huge impact on me, and has been the source of inspiration for many years. Since I was 5 I have dreamt of voicing a character myself, and this is me doing my best to pay homage to a few of my favorites. I had so much fun making this video and I hope you enjoy it!
"Thanks so much for watching!
"Sincerely
"Nick"
"Music from Disney films has made a huge impact on me, and has been the source of inspiration for many years. Since I was 5 I have dreamt of voicing a character myself, and this is me doing my best to pay homage to a few of my favorites. I had so much fun making this video and I hope you enjoy it!
"Thanks so much for watching!
"Sincerely
"Nick"
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Laura Bush: Pro-Choice, Pro-LGBTQI Marriage
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Just think: Laura Bush is more progressive than Barry Obama! I've fallen through the rabbit hole!
...and someone thought she was her own daughter, so I said...
Ms. Bush was First Lady of the United States. She would have made a great President, in my opinion. Why she doesn't strangle that ass hat husband of hers in his sleep, I will never know. It helps if one reads the link before commenting.
"Polled by Gallup as one of the most popular first ladies,[1] Laura Bush was involved in topics of both national and global concern during her tenure. She continued to advance her trademark interests of education and literacy by establishing the semi-annual National Book Festival in 2001 and encouraged education on a worldwide scale. She also advanced women's causes through The Heart Truth and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She represented the United States during her foreign trips, which tended to focus on HIV/AIDS and malaria awareness. In May 2010, Bush released her memoir, Spoken from the Heart, in conjunction with a national tour."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
Just think: Laura Bush is more progressive than Barry Obama! I've fallen through the rabbit hole!
...and someone thought she was her own daughter, so I said...
Ms. Bush was First Lady of the United States. She would have made a great President, in my opinion. Why she doesn't strangle that ass hat husband of hers in his sleep, I will never know. It helps if one reads the link before commenting.
"Polled by Gallup as one of the most popular first ladies,[1] Laura Bush was involved in topics of both national and global concern during her tenure. She continued to advance her trademark interests of education and literacy by establishing the semi-annual National Book Festival in 2001 and encouraged education on a worldwide scale. She also advanced women's causes through The Heart Truth and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She represented the United States during her foreign trips, which tended to focus on HIV/AIDS and malaria awareness. In May 2010, Bush released her memoir, Spoken from the Heart, in conjunction with a national tour."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
NPR asked a question this morning.
Here is my reply.
Video of the pattern of a woman's kimono, burned onto her back like a photograph. Mom and Dad met at Oakridge, TN. Fat Man and Little Boy were spoken of lovingly in our house, as though they were my older brothers who died in the war. So, when, in the late '60s we watched together a documentary on Hiroshima and Nagasaci, my father, who never showed emotion, began to cry. I said, "seeing that, if you could do it over, would you do it again?" He and mom went into a patriotic speech of affirmation. I didn't argue about civilian, rather than military targets or the fact that Japan was bankrupt and dying. I just shook my head and walked away.
NPR asked a question this morning.
Here is my reply.
Video of the pattern of a woman's kimono, burned onto her back like a photograph. Mom and Dad met at Oakridge, TN. Fat Man and Little Boy were spoken of lovingly in our house, as though they were my older brothers who died in the war. So, when, in the late '60s we watched together a documentary on Hiroshima and Nagasaci, my father, who never showed emotion, began to cry. I said, "seeing that, if you could do it over, would you do it again?" He and mom went into a patriotic speech of affirmation. I didn't argue about civilian, rather than military targets or the fact that Japan was bankrupt and dying. I just shook my head and walked away.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Hypatia day
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
Hi, I am an agnostic, Unitarian Universalist, atheist witch.
I'm agnostic cuz I don't know (puny, human brain here; can't conceive the mind of G*d, if there is one; has no idea what happened b4 the Big Bang or how life started on Earth).
I'm Unitarian Universalist because, oh, hell, go look it up, but I appreciate the respect for all/no faiths and the inherent worth and dignity of every human.
I'm atheist because I am without belief in a deity. I'm not saying there might not be one, or millions, but I don't believe it (refer back to puny, human brain), based on theologies with which I am familiar (refer back to Unitarian Universalist here).
I am a witch because that's what we're always called, when they come to rob us of our property, rape us, torture us and kill us, just because we don't fit the stereotypes, gender roles or social norms they dictate to us (even though they could never conform to their own demands, either) AND because, in my ethnic traditions (Cherokee, African American and British Isles: all escapes from slavery, servitude, etc), women held great power before the xians came, took our languages, our traditions, our land, our bodies, our health, our sanity, our faith, our medical practices, our oral and written histories, our liberty . . . .
HYPATIA DAY
You are Attending · public event
Like · 163 people like this.
| Time | Tuesday at 12:00am - Wednesday at 12:00am |
|---|---|
| Location | Wherever you are. |
| Created By | |
| More Info | A pagan, and probably an atheist, Hypatia of Alexandria was a woman of remarkable intellect who advanced mathematics and the science of astronomy in her time. Her death at the hands of a christian mob in March 415ce has been described as marking the end of classical antiquity. If pagans and atheists had saints she would be foremost among them and it is for this reason that it is only right that she is celebrated. As only the mont...h of her death is known, the date for this occasion has been placed at the mid point of the Ides of March (the 15th). According to one story she was flayed alive by monks using scallop shells, so to mark this day I am suggesting the wearing of a shell as jewellery. And as a sign of reconciliation, as she was also killed during Lent, the giving up of a luxury or even fasting for the day. Perhaps followed by a feast in her honour. In doing so we remember the tragedy of the Christian destruction of classical learning, from which it can be argued the West did not recover for 1000 years. It is a sobering reminder to always be prepared to look again at history before assuming that things could not have gone another way. In her own words, as attributed to her: "All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final." "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." |
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
Hi, I am an agnostic, Unitarian Universalist, atheist witch.
I'm agnostic cuz I don't know (puny, human brain here; can't conceive the mind of G*d, if there is one; has no idea what happened b4 the Big Bang or how life started on Earth).
I'm Unitarian Universalist because, oh, hell, go look it up, but I appreciate the respect for all/no faiths and the inherent worth and dignity of every human.
I'm atheist because I am without belief in a deity. I'm not saying there might not be one, or millions, but I don't believe it (refer back to puny, human brain), based on theologies with which I am familiar (refer back to Unitarian Universalist here).
I am a witch because that's what we're always called, when they come to rob us of our property, rape us, torture us and kill us, just because we don't fit the stereotypes, gender roles or social norms they dictate to us (even though they could never conform to their own demands, either) AND because, in my ethnic traditions (Cherokee, African American and British Isles: all escapes from slavery, servitude, etc), women held great power before the xians came, took our languages, our traditions, our land, our bodies, our health, our sanity, our faith, our medical practices, our oral and written histories, our liberty . . . .
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Heather Wilson: she's BAAAACK
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
I just can't take anymore bad news today. I won't watch this. Much as I dislike her, I have to say: She should be totally pissed @ GOP & Tea Parody for runnin Barbie Palin as a serious candidate, when Wilson has DECADES of serious work behind her. Palin is an insult to all GOP women who had to deal with SO MUCH sexism to achieve any rank at all! But the KKKarl Rove machine wanted pretty, docile puppet grrls for candidates, and Ms. Wilson isn't "cute" by popular standards, so she got left out in the cold. I'll bet she had too many opinions, too! NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT ALLOWED!
I just can't take anymore bad news today. I won't watch this. Much as I dislike her, I have to say: She should be totally pissed @ GOP & Tea Parody for runnin Barbie Palin as a serious candidate, when Wilson has DECADES of serious work behind her. Palin is an insult to all GOP women who had to deal with SO MUCH sexism to achieve any rank at all! But the KKKarl Rove machine wanted pretty, docile puppet grrls for candidates, and Ms. Wilson isn't "cute" by popular standards, so she got left out in the cold. I'll bet she had too many opinions, too! NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT ALLOWED!
Women of the Arabic revolutions
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
Older woman, holding flag, making fist: They say that we do not have weapons These are my weapons: I die for this, I live with this. And there they are, with bullets.
Younger woman at banner: "The suppress with bullets the Tunisian citizen who dies under fire of weapons in his country. Where is the justice? Where is the liberty? Where is the democracy?"
Happy International Women's Day! Wow, did I need this!Older woman, holding flag, making fist: They say that we do not have weapons These are my weapons: I die for this, I live with this. And there they are, with bullets.
Younger woman at banner: "The suppress with bullets the Tunisian citizen who dies under fire of weapons in his country. Where is the justice? Where is the liberty? Where is the democracy?"
2 moms on birth certificate?
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
In heterosexual marriage birth certificates: is the stepfather automatically included as a parent on the birth certificate, if the sperm donor isn't part of the family???? If not, would this be a discriminatory policy, or show preference to Gays and Lesbians? If the latter, are we not setting ourselves up as validating the argument that we have a social "agenda?" Won't reactionaries challenge this in court, and probably win?
In heterosexual marriage birth certificates: is the stepfather automatically included as a parent on the birth certificate, if the sperm donor isn't part of the family???? If not, would this be a discriminatory policy, or show preference to Gays and Lesbians? If the latter, are we not setting ourselves up as validating the argument that we have a social "agenda?" Won't reactionaries challenge this in court, and probably win?
Iowa should include both moms on birth certificate
Sunday, March 06, 2011
spring is coming.
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
Kate,
I was thinking: I don't know which is worse; oral surgeries, root canals and fillings or just having teeth decompose & pulling them myself. I think it's the former and not the latter. It's very traumatizing, invasive, alien, foreign and unnecessarily... I don't know .... hysterical, I guess. It's lots of drama, doing the dentist thing.
Letting them just fall apart happens gradually, so I have time to get used to the idea. Ok, so, for a few weeks, I can't chew on one side of my face, while a tooth socket rebels and starts to push out another one until I can loosen it and pull it out (that takes weeks of work, by the way. I just push it in different directions with a finger and finally whatever anchors it begins snapping. Then, it's not too different than baby teeth.) The ones that break are harder to cope with; they're sharp; they are open to the nerve, etc. I've learned aspirin is a very good friend: 3 at a time, every four hours. Also, I like doing things for myself, esp. with my own body. I've had too many invasions, I suppose.
I'm cranky, sad, intolerant of serious stuff people say online. I wish I had a house. I wish I could wash my hair every other day, as I used to. i wish I had a toilet.
i don't think I'm wrong for having boundaries and I don't think I'm rigid or unrealistic. I've had enough abuse to kill ten strong men, so I don't have any patience with it from folks online. I need to live in solutions, not problems, so people who insist on using epithets and the like get "unfriended" quickly. It takes me some time to work through that, and today was a challenging day.
My physical endurance is low these days. I don't have much strength, rest a lot and don't want to fight wind or cold to get things packed, built, etc. But I'm taking good care of myself, as best I can.
I made some very tasty tuna salad today and cats danced all over, cuz you know I shared. Tonight, I baked some pork "ribs." What passes for "ribs" these days is astoundingly ridiculous. Actual ribs have meat cut out BETWEEN BONES, so you're really only buying meat-flavored bones. The little scraps are mixed with sauces and sold as stew or other meat. So I don't buy ribs anymore. These "country style" ribs are actually just thick strips of pork shoulder. Baked slowly, they'll stay pretty tender, if kept moist. So, tonight I made about 2 pounds with incredible sauce: pineapple in its juice, minced onion, ginger powder, sesame seeds, black pepper, garlic, just a dusting of brown sugar, soy sauce, cardamom, savory, tarragon. When the ribs were done, I dumped in a can each of mushrooms and green beans, some frozen peas and carrots and sprinkled coconut on top. I got the coconut (shredded, sweetened) after xmas: 4 oz bags for twenty-five cents, brought them home and froze them. I feel very Hawaiian. i boiled some jasmine rice to go with. It smells like perfume in here. i have enough to last about a week at a meal a day.
I fixed up my 'fish pond,' which is a kids' wading pool. I still have the fountain Rachel bought me. it's imitation stone, with water lily mosaic in the bottom and a little fairy girl with a shell who's the fountain. I extended the pump hose, so the pump can be down in the pool and pump up to the fountain, into the fountain bowl, which is elevated on a milk crate. Fish like oxygen. And there's a little bowl with some batting in it, to use as a filter. It sounds very nice. Last time Rachel and I went shopping, I bought some "feeder" goldfish, to keep my big goldfish company. She was about an inch long last year and is nearly three inches now. As long as you keep ammonia out of their water, they'll keep growing! I also ordered some bog plants on ebay; they'll be coming soon: rushes, a primrose and something else that flowers...small plants, good for filtering fish poop.
I haven't put up the parachutes yet, as the winds have been hideous and I haven't been feeling very strong. The chutes will have to be raised and lowered, like boat sails; I don't want them in wind.
The landlord has not been back. It's been 3 months.
i think I'll take the risk of gardening, at least in my tubs. I'm even thinking of getting chickens in April. this place sat abandoned for three or four years. he's in no hurry to fix it. he'd have to take me to court to evict me. why leave, unless i can find some place right?
I'm becoming a lot more articulate. My thought processes are much more clear, complex, intricate, etc. I see things that seem to startle people. If they're not reactionary, don't immediately become defensive or take offense or dismiss me as rambling, they're really appreciative of what I'm saying and very enthusiastic. So, I'm saving a lot more of my comments from facebook onto my blogs, for safe storage. facebook is ephemeral: stuff just disappears. It's a constant feeding, rolling over. it's like there's no history; it's constantly NOW. I need history. of course, I also don't know how to type with my thumbs, either. A lot of people I know on facebook only use cell phones! amazing!
Egypt is moving right along; people are forming political parties. They wish there was more security. Mostly, everybody's ok there. There have been rumors of thugs and looting, but no actual news reports of much disruption. Libya and elsewhere break my heart. Arabia (I'm no longer calling it "Saudi"; that's like calling USA Washingtonian States or, worse, Reaganian States, and the people don't really want to be called Saudis, since it's like they're owned by the royal family) anyway Arabia is chugging along modestly but well: a few hundred here, forty there, out in the streets, protesting... which is against "Sharia law" and, therefore, Islam (yeah, sure...). It's going to happen. It will be very slow, and that's good; let people build some confidence. Arabs aren't allowed to gather, you know. It'll take a different kind of organizing to pull that one off, but it'll happen. Might take twenty years.... the young people are fed up.
The US saddens me more than any other time I can think of. I won't go into it; I'm sure you know. Progressives are just huffy and pointing fingers at the rabid, overtly prejudiced, outright sexist, racist, etc. elements. Everybody's calling everybody else Hitler, which I think is disrespectful of those who died, and survived, when he was alive. I don't involve myself in the rhetoric and chicken little stuff. I make cartoons out of news photos and post them. I try to keep people laughing, instead of screaming and thinking calmly, instead of throwing tantrums. I try to be the quiet, fun, funny, creative, inspiring place. I don't mean like I'm an inspiration; I just find positive stuff and share it. I'm sort of like aspirin: relieves fever, swelling and pain, thins the blood, doesn't cost much, isn't toxic, comes from a renewable resource. That's me: aspirin.
I don't recognize the USA now. I really don't. I'm a little disoriented. I do know there's a very efficient machine, well planned, extremely well executed, coming right at us like that tank in Tienanmen Square, and the US citizens are that guy standing in front of it. They never show what happened to that guy. I know people are TRYING to resist, but whatever that machine is, it was very well constructed. It's tearing up everything, all over the country. It has a beautifully, wickedly organized agenda, a real military operation, against us.
I will give you a link to one blog post about medical care I wrote. That Rio Grande foundation linked to an editorial in the Albuquerque Journal, "Health care is not a human right" by an emergency doctor, like an administrator or something. Here: http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com/2011/03/health-care-is-not-human-right.html warning: it has pictures of hurt kids. if you'd prefer, I can just send the text, so you don't have to see the pictures. but I had a very good reason for putting them there.
Well, this is probably a very long email. And I want to go nibble some pork & vegies before I go to sleep.
I'm sad. I'm lonely. I'm still hopeful and still working hard as I can. spring is coming, some day. BOOM! I just figured it out: this is March! March 21, vernal equinox, would have been Viri Diana's birthday. That's the problem. I always forget. It's not a conscious dread any more; it's just grief, longing and regret. She would have been fifteen this year.
http://rogiriverstone.com
Kate,
I was thinking: I don't know which is worse; oral surgeries, root canals and fillings or just having teeth decompose & pulling them myself. I think it's the former and not the latter. It's very traumatizing, invasive, alien, foreign and unnecessarily... I don't know .... hysterical, I guess. It's lots of drama, doing the dentist thing.
Letting them just fall apart happens gradually, so I have time to get used to the idea. Ok, so, for a few weeks, I can't chew on one side of my face, while a tooth socket rebels and starts to push out another one until I can loosen it and pull it out (that takes weeks of work, by the way. I just push it in different directions with a finger and finally whatever anchors it begins snapping. Then, it's not too different than baby teeth.) The ones that break are harder to cope with; they're sharp; they are open to the nerve, etc. I've learned aspirin is a very good friend: 3 at a time, every four hours. Also, I like doing things for myself, esp. with my own body. I've had too many invasions, I suppose.
I'm cranky, sad, intolerant of serious stuff people say online. I wish I had a house. I wish I could wash my hair every other day, as I used to. i wish I had a toilet.
i don't think I'm wrong for having boundaries and I don't think I'm rigid or unrealistic. I've had enough abuse to kill ten strong men, so I don't have any patience with it from folks online. I need to live in solutions, not problems, so people who insist on using epithets and the like get "unfriended" quickly. It takes me some time to work through that, and today was a challenging day.
My physical endurance is low these days. I don't have much strength, rest a lot and don't want to fight wind or cold to get things packed, built, etc. But I'm taking good care of myself, as best I can.
I made some very tasty tuna salad today and cats danced all over, cuz you know I shared. Tonight, I baked some pork "ribs." What passes for "ribs" these days is astoundingly ridiculous. Actual ribs have meat cut out BETWEEN BONES, so you're really only buying meat-flavored bones. The little scraps are mixed with sauces and sold as stew or other meat. So I don't buy ribs anymore. These "country style" ribs are actually just thick strips of pork shoulder. Baked slowly, they'll stay pretty tender, if kept moist. So, tonight I made about 2 pounds with incredible sauce: pineapple in its juice, minced onion, ginger powder, sesame seeds, black pepper, garlic, just a dusting of brown sugar, soy sauce, cardamom, savory, tarragon. When the ribs were done, I dumped in a can each of mushrooms and green beans, some frozen peas and carrots and sprinkled coconut on top. I got the coconut (shredded, sweetened) after xmas: 4 oz bags for twenty-five cents, brought them home and froze them. I feel very Hawaiian. i boiled some jasmine rice to go with. It smells like perfume in here. i have enough to last about a week at a meal a day.
I fixed up my 'fish pond,' which is a kids' wading pool. I still have the fountain Rachel bought me. it's imitation stone, with water lily mosaic in the bottom and a little fairy girl with a shell who's the fountain. I extended the pump hose, so the pump can be down in the pool and pump up to the fountain, into the fountain bowl, which is elevated on a milk crate. Fish like oxygen. And there's a little bowl with some batting in it, to use as a filter. It sounds very nice. Last time Rachel and I went shopping, I bought some "feeder" goldfish, to keep my big goldfish company. She was about an inch long last year and is nearly three inches now. As long as you keep ammonia out of their water, they'll keep growing! I also ordered some bog plants on ebay; they'll be coming soon: rushes, a primrose and something else that flowers...small plants, good for filtering fish poop.
I haven't put up the parachutes yet, as the winds have been hideous and I haven't been feeling very strong. The chutes will have to be raised and lowered, like boat sails; I don't want them in wind.
The landlord has not been back. It's been 3 months.
i think I'll take the risk of gardening, at least in my tubs. I'm even thinking of getting chickens in April. this place sat abandoned for three or four years. he's in no hurry to fix it. he'd have to take me to court to evict me. why leave, unless i can find some place right?
I'm becoming a lot more articulate. My thought processes are much more clear, complex, intricate, etc. I see things that seem to startle people. If they're not reactionary, don't immediately become defensive or take offense or dismiss me as rambling, they're really appreciative of what I'm saying and very enthusiastic. So, I'm saving a lot more of my comments from facebook onto my blogs, for safe storage. facebook is ephemeral: stuff just disappears. It's a constant feeding, rolling over. it's like there's no history; it's constantly NOW. I need history. of course, I also don't know how to type with my thumbs, either. A lot of people I know on facebook only use cell phones! amazing!
Egypt is moving right along; people are forming political parties. They wish there was more security. Mostly, everybody's ok there. There have been rumors of thugs and looting, but no actual news reports of much disruption. Libya and elsewhere break my heart. Arabia (I'm no longer calling it "Saudi"; that's like calling USA Washingtonian States or, worse, Reaganian States, and the people don't really want to be called Saudis, since it's like they're owned by the royal family) anyway Arabia is chugging along modestly but well: a few hundred here, forty there, out in the streets, protesting... which is against "Sharia law" and, therefore, Islam (yeah, sure...). It's going to happen. It will be very slow, and that's good; let people build some confidence. Arabs aren't allowed to gather, you know. It'll take a different kind of organizing to pull that one off, but it'll happen. Might take twenty years.... the young people are fed up.
The US saddens me more than any other time I can think of. I won't go into it; I'm sure you know. Progressives are just huffy and pointing fingers at the rabid, overtly prejudiced, outright sexist, racist, etc. elements. Everybody's calling everybody else Hitler, which I think is disrespectful of those who died, and survived, when he was alive. I don't involve myself in the rhetoric and chicken little stuff. I make cartoons out of news photos and post them. I try to keep people laughing, instead of screaming and thinking calmly, instead of throwing tantrums. I try to be the quiet, fun, funny, creative, inspiring place. I don't mean like I'm an inspiration; I just find positive stuff and share it. I'm sort of like aspirin: relieves fever, swelling and pain, thins the blood, doesn't cost much, isn't toxic, comes from a renewable resource. That's me: aspirin.
I don't recognize the USA now. I really don't. I'm a little disoriented. I do know there's a very efficient machine, well planned, extremely well executed, coming right at us like that tank in Tienanmen Square, and the US citizens are that guy standing in front of it. They never show what happened to that guy. I know people are TRYING to resist, but whatever that machine is, it was very well constructed. It's tearing up everything, all over the country. It has a beautifully, wickedly organized agenda, a real military operation, against us.
I will give you a link to one blog post about medical care I wrote. That Rio Grande foundation linked to an editorial in the Albuquerque Journal, "Health care is not a human right" by an emergency doctor, like an administrator or something. Here: http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com/2011/03/health-care-is-not-human-right.html warning: it has pictures of hurt kids. if you'd prefer, I can just send the text, so you don't have to see the pictures. but I had a very good reason for putting them there.
Well, this is probably a very long email. And I want to go nibble some pork & vegies before I go to sleep.
I'm sad. I'm lonely. I'm still hopeful and still working hard as I can. spring is coming, some day. BOOM! I just figured it out: this is March! March 21, vernal equinox, would have been Viri Diana's birthday. That's the problem. I always forget. It's not a conscious dread any more; it's just grief, longing and regret. She would have been fifteen this year.
http://rogiriverstone.com
Facebook feminism transforms Middle East
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Kate,
Ok, so you don't want links to outside sources, but only personal correspondence. I'm reading an opinion piece in Al Jazeera, "The Middle East feminist revolution Women are not merely joining protests to topple dictators, they are at the centre of demanding social change." by Naomi Wolf
I wasn't sure why what's going on it the ME an Northern Africa "feels" so different to me. Was it cultural? I mean, in Egypt, they cleaned the streets of litter as they protested. And the organization of Tahrir Square, from overhead shots, was fascinating: shops over here, bathrooms there, medical on this side; child care over there, space to pray here . . . etc.
Why did it appear leaderless? Why was it secular? How did it incorporate, as near as I can tell, almost every aspect and race of society? Why wasn't it violent? Where were the angry men with megaphones? How did it succeed so quickly, organically, like a sudden infection?
The answer is women. They weren't just making coffee and photocopying; they are intrinsic to the movement, on all levels. The movement was, organically, collective and leaderless, as a result. The movement reflects the priorities, skills and social preferences of WOMEN!
Education of women has made this happen. It's not just the data they absorb. It's the atmosphere of mixed-gender education, as well. of course, they learn critical thinking, public discourse, debate, expressing points of view. They also learn, and this is what is probably scariest to men in power, to challenge men in power!
But, with all that, one ingredient has been missing in prior social protest movements that has kept the influence of women from creating collective revolution, without heirarchy, without charismatic personality leadership. That's social media: twitter, facebook.
Kate,
Ok, so you don't want links to outside sources, but only personal correspondence. I'm reading an opinion piece in Al Jazeera, "The Middle East feminist revolution Women are not merely joining protests to topple dictators, they are at the centre of demanding social change." by Naomi Wolf
I wasn't sure why what's going on it the ME an Northern Africa "feels" so different to me. Was it cultural? I mean, in Egypt, they cleaned the streets of litter as they protested. And the organization of Tahrir Square, from overhead shots, was fascinating: shops over here, bathrooms there, medical on this side; child care over there, space to pray here . . . etc.
Why did it appear leaderless? Why was it secular? How did it incorporate, as near as I can tell, almost every aspect and race of society? Why wasn't it violent? Where were the angry men with megaphones? How did it succeed so quickly, organically, like a sudden infection?
The answer is women. They weren't just making coffee and photocopying; they are intrinsic to the movement, on all levels. The movement was, organically, collective and leaderless, as a result. The movement reflects the priorities, skills and social preferences of WOMEN!
"The role of women in the great upheaval in the Middle East has been woefully under-analyzed. Women in Egypt did not just "join" the protests – they were a leading force behind the cultural evolution that made the protests inevitable. And what is true for Egypt is true, to a greater and lesser extent, throughout the Arab world. When women change, everything changes - and women in the Muslim world are changing radically."
Education of women has made this happen. It's not just the data they absorb. It's the atmosphere of mixed-gender education, as well. of course, they learn critical thinking, public discourse, debate, expressing points of view. They also learn, and this is what is probably scariest to men in power, to challenge men in power!
"But, as Westerners should know from their own historical experience, once you educate women, democratic agitation is likely to accompany the massive cultural shift that follows."
But, with all that, one ingredient has been missing in prior social protest movements that has kept the influence of women from creating collective revolution, without heirarchy, without charismatic personality leadership. That's social media: twitter, facebook.
Share |
Facebook mimics, quite well, the small town. I can sit here in my little house trailer and communicate quite efficiently and effectively with my small communities of friends. And my influence, preference, analysis, argument, radiates outward, like ripples in a pond. I find thigs as I surf around the internet and post them on Facebook. And other people post things on their news feeds, and I share them, too. Links I post, people I quote, pictures I like come back to me, as my "friends" post them on their news feeds. Sometimes, weeks go by and I'll still see people, farther and farther from my center, post back things I received earlier.
The piece I wrote that NMPolitics.org published is influencing conversation. As I told you, I have made a blog post of it and have been spreading it through progressive media sites, such as Mother Jones, Utne Reader, Rachel Maddow. I've posted it to my Congressional representatives' and Barack Obama's facebook pages. And guess what has now happened? The conversation is beginning to shift toward my argument that union busting is actually a way for corporations to privatize the public sector at taxpayers' expense. A new Dennis Kusinich interview is peppered with my idea. NOBODY was talking this way before I published my article and spread it around!
Now, as a feminist, I absolutely know it's important to reclaim language and words. One word that has always bothered me is "gossip." Women gossip to share news, evaluate social situations, decide what to do about those who have violated cultural and social norms, etc. When we were illiterate, had no say in public policies, laws or law enforcement, gossip was the best, most efficient and most effective way we had to organize ourselves around issues impacting our larger community and do something about it.
Facebook is the logical extension of that! And it's better than gossip, because it doesn't turn into a game of "playing telephone." If I post a link to you, it doesn't change by the time a friend of a friend of a friend posts it to her friend. And my original comments about that link are often passed on, as well, depending how subsequent users post it. Ripples.
And I am not the center, nor are you, nor is anybody else, of the ripples, because there are millions of other people making their little ripples, too and they interconnect as they spread out: we are all influencing each other, even me, stranded in a house trailer in a drive way in frontier New Mexico, with no political clout, no influence, no car, no toilet.
I'm quoting now the summation of Ms. Wolf's article. I think she is right. I think it is a very exciting time to be a woman. I think the last barriers to female influence in culture are dissolving. Any literate woman who can get to an internet cafe or has wifi in whatever confinement she is sequestered now shapes the world. There's no going back. The Jinn, as they say, is out of the bottle!
"Projection of power
"In such contexts – with a stage, a spotlight, and a spokesperson – women often shy away from leadership roles. But social media, through the very nature of the technology, have changed what leadership looks and feels like today. Facebook mimics the way many women choose to experience social reality, with connections between people just as important as individual dominance or control, if not more so.
"You can be a powerful leader on Facebook just by creating a really big "us". Or you can stay the same size, conceptually, as everyone else on your page – you don't have to assert your dominance or authority. The structure of Facebook's interface creates what brick-and-mortar institutions - despite 30 years of feminist pressure - have failed to provide: a context in which women's ability to forge a powerful "us" and engage in a leadership of service can advance the cause of freedom and justice worldwide.
"Of course, Facebook cannot reduce the risks of protest. But, however violent the immediate future in the Middle East may be, the historical record of what happens when educated women participate in freedom movements suggests that those in the region who would like to maintain iron-fisted rule are finished.
"Just when France began its rebellion in 1789, Mary Wollstonecraft, who had been caught up in witnessing it, wrote her manifesto for women's liberation. After educated women in America helped fight for the abolition of slavery, they put female suffrage on the agenda. After they were told in the 1960s that "the position of women in the movement is prone", they generated "second wave" feminism – a movement born of women's new skills and old frustrations.
"Time and again, once women have fought the other battles for the freedom of their day, they have moved on to advocate for their own rights. And, since feminism is simply a logical extension of democracy, the Middle East's despots are facing a situation in which it will be almost impossible to force these awakened women to stop their fight for freedom – their own and that of their communities.
"Naomi Wolf is a political activist and social critic whose most recent book is Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries."
"The nature of social media, too, has helped turn women into protest leaders. Having taught leadership skills to women for more than a decade, I know how difficult it is to get them to stand up and speak out in a hierarchical organizational structure. Likewise, women tend to avoid the figurehead status that traditional protest has in the past imposed on certain activists – almost invariably a hotheaded young man with a megaphone."
Facebook mimics, quite well, the small town. I can sit here in my little house trailer and communicate quite efficiently and effectively with my small communities of friends. And my influence, preference, analysis, argument, radiates outward, like ripples in a pond. I find thigs as I surf around the internet and post them on Facebook. And other people post things on their news feeds, and I share them, too. Links I post, people I quote, pictures I like come back to me, as my "friends" post them on their news feeds. Sometimes, weeks go by and I'll still see people, farther and farther from my center, post back things I received earlier.
The piece I wrote that NMPolitics.org published is influencing conversation. As I told you, I have made a blog post of it and have been spreading it through progressive media sites, such as Mother Jones, Utne Reader, Rachel Maddow. I've posted it to my Congressional representatives' and Barack Obama's facebook pages. And guess what has now happened? The conversation is beginning to shift toward my argument that union busting is actually a way for corporations to privatize the public sector at taxpayers' expense. A new Dennis Kusinich interview is peppered with my idea. NOBODY was talking this way before I published my article and spread it around!
Now, as a feminist, I absolutely know it's important to reclaim language and words. One word that has always bothered me is "gossip." Women gossip to share news, evaluate social situations, decide what to do about those who have violated cultural and social norms, etc. When we were illiterate, had no say in public policies, laws or law enforcement, gossip was the best, most efficient and most effective way we had to organize ourselves around issues impacting our larger community and do something about it.
Facebook is the logical extension of that! And it's better than gossip, because it doesn't turn into a game of "playing telephone." If I post a link to you, it doesn't change by the time a friend of a friend of a friend posts it to her friend. And my original comments about that link are often passed on, as well, depending how subsequent users post it. Ripples.
And I am not the center, nor are you, nor is anybody else, of the ripples, because there are millions of other people making their little ripples, too and they interconnect as they spread out: we are all influencing each other, even me, stranded in a house trailer in a drive way in frontier New Mexico, with no political clout, no influence, no car, no toilet.
I'm quoting now the summation of Ms. Wolf's article. I think she is right. I think it is a very exciting time to be a woman. I think the last barriers to female influence in culture are dissolving. Any literate woman who can get to an internet cafe or has wifi in whatever confinement she is sequestered now shapes the world. There's no going back. The Jinn, as they say, is out of the bottle!
"Projection of power
"In such contexts – with a stage, a spotlight, and a spokesperson – women often shy away from leadership roles. But social media, through the very nature of the technology, have changed what leadership looks and feels like today. Facebook mimics the way many women choose to experience social reality, with connections between people just as important as individual dominance or control, if not more so.
"You can be a powerful leader on Facebook just by creating a really big "us". Or you can stay the same size, conceptually, as everyone else on your page – you don't have to assert your dominance or authority. The structure of Facebook's interface creates what brick-and-mortar institutions - despite 30 years of feminist pressure - have failed to provide: a context in which women's ability to forge a powerful "us" and engage in a leadership of service can advance the cause of freedom and justice worldwide.
"Of course, Facebook cannot reduce the risks of protest. But, however violent the immediate future in the Middle East may be, the historical record of what happens when educated women participate in freedom movements suggests that those in the region who would like to maintain iron-fisted rule are finished.
"Just when France began its rebellion in 1789, Mary Wollstonecraft, who had been caught up in witnessing it, wrote her manifesto for women's liberation. After educated women in America helped fight for the abolition of slavery, they put female suffrage on the agenda. After they were told in the 1960s that "the position of women in the movement is prone", they generated "second wave" feminism – a movement born of women's new skills and old frustrations.
"Time and again, once women have fought the other battles for the freedom of their day, they have moved on to advocate for their own rights. And, since feminism is simply a logical extension of democracy, the Middle East's despots are facing a situation in which it will be almost impossible to force these awakened women to stop their fight for freedom – their own and that of their communities.
"Naomi Wolf is a political activist and social critic whose most recent book is Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries."
Saturday, March 05, 2011
kiddy porn bought by Pentagon
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
I damn near froze to death, quite literally, this winter because there are no funds for Low Income Heating Assistance, they didn't warn me and my fire wood ran out. My electricity was nearly disconnected, because I couldn't afford a very modest heating bill.
I am a survivor of SEVERE childhood physical and sexual abuse. I have brain injuries, post traumatic stress and torn genitals to prove it.
And the Pentagon is buying child pornography?
When are the people of the United States going to walk like Egyptians???
I damn near froze to death, quite literally, this winter because there are no funds for Low Income Heating Assistance, they didn't warn me and my fire wood ran out. My electricity was nearly disconnected, because I couldn't afford a very modest heating bill.
I am a survivor of SEVERE childhood physical and sexual abuse. I have brain injuries, post traumatic stress and torn genitals to prove it.
And the Pentagon is buying child pornography?
When are the people of the United States going to walk like Egyptians???
Friday, March 04, 2011
We'll always have Brownies
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
I have supported you for many decades now, even though my dingbat troop leader slammed my ant farm in a large pickle jar down on a table and killed all my ants, thus causing me to take a hike.
I have, over the decades, bought close to a pick up truck load of cookies. Yes, most of them were Thin Mints, but I've noticed, in recent years, that I haven't found them as satisfying as i remember from previous decades.
So, this year, I bought a box of my second favorites: Lemon Chalet Creme, even though I noticed, with disappointment, that they're no longer "Cream," meaning they're probably lard or plastic or silicone caulk or something. They weren't very lemony; there wasn't very much "creme," which is probably just as well, when you think about it. I didn't bother to read the ingredients; I assume they were pretty poisonous, but that wasn't the point of my purchase, anyway.
And I would have bought more than one box, but they're very small for the new price of $3.50. So, who ever is baking your cookies is baking you, too, and me, as your supporter.
I realize you're risking arrest even selling these anymore. I read about the town cops somewhere that rousted your moms for not having a peddler's license! And I appreciate that there's a recession and that you have to buy your uniforms, badges and lots of other stuff from the Girl Scout Cartel, and that a lot of low income troops really struggle with this.
But I want you to know that, until and unless you decide to contract with a MUCH better baker, with MUCH better ingredients at more reasonable prices for junk food I could pick up for a third the cost at a dollar store, I won't be buying any more Girl Scout cookies in the future.
Thank you for teaching young women self-sufficiency and confidence. Thank you for not taking an anti-Lesbian policy, similar to those sissy Boy Scouts, who should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you for teaching me how to make s'mores, ride a horse, sew a badge on my sash and sing "A Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall."
And I forgive you for the ant farm. The ants do not.
I have, over the decades, bought close to a pick up truck load of cookies. Yes, most of them were Thin Mints, but I've noticed, in recent years, that I haven't found them as satisfying as i remember from previous decades.
So, this year, I bought a box of my second favorites: Lemon Chalet Creme, even though I noticed, with disappointment, that they're no longer "Cream," meaning they're probably lard or plastic or silicone caulk or something. They weren't very lemony; there wasn't very much "creme," which is probably just as well, when you think about it. I didn't bother to read the ingredients; I assume they were pretty poisonous, but that wasn't the point of my purchase, anyway.
And I would have bought more than one box, but they're very small for the new price of $3.50. So, who ever is baking your cookies is baking you, too, and me, as your supporter.
I realize you're risking arrest even selling these anymore. I read about the town cops somewhere that rousted your moms for not having a peddler's license! And I appreciate that there's a recession and that you have to buy your uniforms, badges and lots of other stuff from the Girl Scout Cartel, and that a lot of low income troops really struggle with this.
But I want you to know that, until and unless you decide to contract with a MUCH better baker, with MUCH better ingredients at more reasonable prices for junk food I could pick up for a third the cost at a dollar store, I won't be buying any more Girl Scout cookies in the future.
Thank you for teaching young women self-sufficiency and confidence. Thank you for not taking an anti-Lesbian policy, similar to those sissy Boy Scouts, who should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you for teaching me how to make s'mores, ride a horse, sew a badge on my sash and sing "A Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall."
And I forgive you for the ant farm. The ants do not.
French hell for Muslim women
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
They can't even wear scarves:
This is the same racist immigrant bashing as Arizona's anti-immigration crap, under the guise of "secularism!"
France doesn't give a DAMN about "liberating" Muslim women. They just want to provoke Muslim MEN, but disrespecting their women! Imagine, in this country, if women were ordered to go topless at the beach, under the guise of "liberating" us and FORCING us to be equal with men! Imagine your shame and embarrassment, the tears behind your eyes, if you were forced to remove your top in public!
Many Islamic women wear hijab out of cultural modesty. MANY wear it BECAUSE of this sort of religious persecution! I know women who went uncovered most of their adult lives who've begun wearing hijab as a progressive political statement: we will not be assimilated, we are as equal as you, we're just different and we have that right, it is our tradition, it is not a shame but a source of strength and pride.
If I were a French woman -- and especially if I were a French MAN -- I would BEGIN wearing hijab BECAUSE OF THIS LAW! How DARE Europe, ONE MORE TIME, impose its arrogant notion of cultural superiority on others??? It's PSYCHOLOGICAL COLONIALISM! They are FORCING the women, to show they have power over the men! Any woman caught veiled will be fined and SENT TO REEDUCATION CLASSES!
The Crusades are OVER! STOP imposing YOUR will on other traditions! This won't convince anybody; it will just alienate them and make them cling more desperately to what traditions they have left!
ANYBODY REMEMBER WHAT EUROPE DID TO JEWS FOR TWO THOUSAND YEARS?????
PS: I am an atheist! I DO NOT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT RELIGION!
Share |
This is harassment of a religious group. They're even trying to outlaw halal-only restaurants and won't serve halal menus in schools.
Full-face veils outlawed as France spells out controversial niqab ban
I'm an American, educated in US Constitutional rights. This violates freedom of religion. The President actually voices his prejudice against Islam in the article:Sarkozy, desperate to secure the far-right electorate in next year's presidential election, is under fire for deliberately stigmatising France's Muslim population to win votes. He has ordered a nationwide debate on Islam's place in secular France, briefing journalists he wants no halal food options in school canteens, no prayers outside and no minarets. He was defiant on Thursday, giving a speech lauding the "Christian heritage of France".
This is harassment of a religious group. They're even trying to outlaw halal-only restaurants and won't serve halal menus in schools.
Look at this taunting:
VERY FEW WOMEN IN FRANCE WEAR hijab:
One indication of the mood of unease in France is local authorities taking steps to ban proposed "pork and wine aperitifs" by rightwingers deliberately staged near Muslim places of worship, including a "rosé wine and porchetta" evening to be held near a Muslim place of prayer in Nice on Friday night.
VERY FEW WOMEN IN FRANCE WEAR hijab:
"A tiny minority of women in France wear full niqab, far fewer than in the UK: Muslim groups estimate only a few hundred out of France's more than 5 million Muslim population."
They can't even wear scarves:
A worker in a private creche went to court and lost after she claimed she was fired for refusing to take off her headscarf. The education minister insisted that mothers in headscarves should not be allowed to accompany children on school outings. One mother banned from escorting her son's primary school class for wearing a simple head-covering said: "I'm French, not a fanatic, I just want to be able to practise my religion without being ostracised."
This is the same racist immigrant bashing as Arizona's anti-immigration crap, under the guise of "secularism!"
France doesn't give a DAMN about "liberating" Muslim women. They just want to provoke Muslim MEN, but disrespecting their women! Imagine, in this country, if women were ordered to go topless at the beach, under the guise of "liberating" us and FORCING us to be equal with men! Imagine your shame and embarrassment, the tears behind your eyes, if you were forced to remove your top in public!
Many Islamic women wear hijab out of cultural modesty. MANY wear it BECAUSE of this sort of religious persecution! I know women who went uncovered most of their adult lives who've begun wearing hijab as a progressive political statement: we will not be assimilated, we are as equal as you, we're just different and we have that right, it is our tradition, it is not a shame but a source of strength and pride.
If I were a French woman -- and especially if I were a French MAN -- I would BEGIN wearing hijab BECAUSE OF THIS LAW! How DARE Europe, ONE MORE TIME, impose its arrogant notion of cultural superiority on others??? It's PSYCHOLOGICAL COLONIALISM! They are FORCING the women, to show they have power over the men! Any woman caught veiled will be fined and SENT TO REEDUCATION CLASSES!
The Crusades are OVER! STOP imposing YOUR will on other traditions! This won't convince anybody; it will just alienate them and make them cling more desperately to what traditions they have left!
ANYBODY REMEMBER WHAT EUROPE DID TO JEWS FOR TWO THOUSAND YEARS?????
PS: I am an atheist! I DO NOT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT RELIGION!
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
free speech won today
You are reading http://viridianariverstone.blogspot.com/.
Share |
"REALLY?"
my reply:
Absolutely. The right to freedom of speech is too difficult to get back when lost. Do I detest WBC? Of course. Do I wish they'd shut up? Of course. Do I want a law to enforce my wish? Absolutely not. Because an entire political, religious and social system wants to shut ME up, and I need the protection of the Constitution to keep them from doing it.
Can we bring down WBC? No. But the thing is, THEY are doing it to themselves! Folks who NEVER would have "sympathized" with LGBT rights in the past are seeing what WBC is doing and they're starting to hate them. Hell, even Anonymous, who are MUCH too busy with the pro-democracy movements in Northern Africa and the Middle East right now, not to mention Assange and Wikileaks, ANONYMOUS knocked ALL of WBC's domains off line! I haven't been able to access http://godhatesfags.com/ for DAYS now! And Anonymous absolutely defends freedom of speech, no censorship, etc.
Why, just tonight, I saw an article: Sarah Palin thinks the Supreme Court is WRONG for not silencing Westboro! I NEVER thought I'd be in a position to "defend" westoboro against PALIN! But that's not what I'm doing; I'm defending the Constitution against Palin and the theocrats!
Look, I'm old enough to remember the Civil Rights movements of the sixties and seventies. Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis were parading in the streets. It was HORRIBLE, the poison coming out of their mouths...JUST like Westboro.
But their hate doesn't change OUR TRUTH, and we need the Constitution of the United States to guarantee we get to SPEAK that truth!
That court decision is a victory for the citizens of the USA.
Westoboro wins NOTHING! They're just riding the backs of people who have suffered and DIED for a right that many people on the planet STILL don't have! I have Pakistani friends. Over there, the theocrats will KILL you if you "speak against Islam," the "blasphemy laws," and crowds will cheer the murderers in the streets! Sarah Palin comes from THAT sort of mentality.
Westboro is silencing itself. We don't have to do anything but ignore them, and it'll all be over.
U.S. Supreme Court in favor of anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church
Westboro wins NOTHING. The CONSTITUTION and FREEDOM OF SPEECH win EVERYTHING!"REALLY?"
my reply:
Absolutely. The right to freedom of speech is too difficult to get back when lost. Do I detest WBC? Of course. Do I wish they'd shut up? Of course. Do I want a law to enforce my wish? Absolutely not. Because an entire political, religious and social system wants to shut ME up, and I need the protection of the Constitution to keep them from doing it.
Can we bring down WBC? No. But the thing is, THEY are doing it to themselves! Folks who NEVER would have "sympathized" with LGBT rights in the past are seeing what WBC is doing and they're starting to hate them. Hell, even Anonymous, who are MUCH too busy with the pro-democracy movements in Northern Africa and the Middle East right now, not to mention Assange and Wikileaks, ANONYMOUS knocked ALL of WBC's domains off line! I haven't been able to access http://godhatesfags.com/ for DAYS now! And Anonymous absolutely defends freedom of speech, no censorship, etc.
Why, just tonight, I saw an article: Sarah Palin thinks the Supreme Court is WRONG for not silencing Westboro! I NEVER thought I'd be in a position to "defend" westoboro against PALIN! But that's not what I'm doing; I'm defending the Constitution against Palin and the theocrats!
Look, I'm old enough to remember the Civil Rights movements of the sixties and seventies. Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis were parading in the streets. It was HORRIBLE, the poison coming out of their mouths...JUST like Westboro.
But their hate doesn't change OUR TRUTH, and we need the Constitution of the United States to guarantee we get to SPEAK that truth!
That court decision is a victory for the citizens of the USA.
Westoboro wins NOTHING! They're just riding the backs of people who have suffered and DIED for a right that many people on the planet STILL don't have! I have Pakistani friends. Over there, the theocrats will KILL you if you "speak against Islam," the "blasphemy laws," and crowds will cheer the murderers in the streets! Sarah Palin comes from THAT sort of mentality.
Westboro is silencing itself. We don't have to do anything but ignore them, and it'll all be over.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)