Livingston, I Presume

How now, low bow?

Apparently while I was celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, our president was busily signing over our country to the Japanese emperor. Because that's what it means when one world leader shows another world figure the appropriate cultural respect, right?

I cannot honestly believe that people are trying to make this into some gesture of submission or using it as a dogwhistle for a bunch of unrepentant racists. Exhibit A, taken from a column in the conservative Washington Times:

...He established a new precedent for how American presidents should pay obeisance to kings, emperors, monarchs, sovereigns and assorted other authentic man-made masters of the universe. He stopped just this side of the full grovel to the emperor of Japan, risking a painful genuflection if his forehead had hit the floor with a nasty bump, which it almost did. No president before him so abused custom, traditions, protocol (and the country he represents).

[...]

It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of "the 57 states" is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.

(Excuse me, but did he just say "sired"? Like a racehorse or something? And "Born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World?" I'm pretty sure that's code for her being fond of something that I can't say on this family blog, and it's not nice to talk about people's mothers, in any case.)

He was bowing. In Japan. Which is a country where people bow to greet one another and show respect. I guess President Obama was supposed to clap him on the shoulder and say, "Howdy!" instead?

Of all the disgraceful presidential acts that have taken place of late, I'm thinking this one doesn't even hit the radar. Let us remember George W. Bush surprising German Chancelor Angela Merkel with a clearly unwanted and thoroughly creepy backrub:

 

Oh, and here's a quotation I hadn't heard before, also from young Bush: "At the White House on April 15, 2008, President Bush remarked to Pope Benedict after his sermon: "Thank you, your Holiness. Awesome speech."

Awesome.

Of course, none of this comes close to George Bush, senior, who famously vomited into the lap of the Japanese prime minister:

Between bowing and vomiting, I think I know what most people would prefer.

Roll over! Fetch! Play dead!

I was, as Dieter used to say, as happy as a little girl yesterday when I discovered that a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago had been named the BlogHer of the Week. The post was on healthcare and our elected representatives and how the two don't work well together unless you're actually an elected representative yourself. I even got to use the word vagina (twice!).

I stand by what I wrote and in my focus on primarily Republican opponents of the public option, even as I am sick with shame about how my party--the only party I've ever called home in my entire political life--has rolled over at every step of the healthcare reform process. The Stupak amendment was really just the last, worst step. Kate Harding on Salon:

"...This is not our party. We've known that for too long, and yet the Democrats have known too well that they could bank on our money and our votes as long as the GOP remained even more not our party. But something's changed. 64 Democrats voted to block women's access to legal medical services. That may not be quite as repulsive as some Republican shenanigans, but the difference is only one of degree. If the point of women voting for "moderate" Democrats is to avoid a majority that's actively hostile to women, then those who voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment just proved that there's no point at all. And progressive women have finally had enough. We are ready to go there. Are Democrats ready to try getting elected without us?"

Yup.

I don't know where that leaves me. I've been holding my nose throughout this entire healthcare reform process--the process largely put together by the senior senator from MY OWN STATE--and I'm starting to think that the other side has won. Because what's emerged improves things, marginally and perhaps, but when I think about what needs to be in the bills under consideration and isn't, well, I just lose hope. 

People are dying. Not because of imaginary government death panels but because of real-life insurance company profit-mongering. People are suffering. People are going bankrupt. And an appalling percentage of our elected officials think that's just fine, so long as we don't in any possible way allow anything even vaguely resembling socialism--or compassion--to creep into our system. Oh, and so long as they get to say that they TOTALLY PWNED our president. Too bad we can't pay for a new healthcare system with a tax on hot air and broken promises.

Open letter

Dear Republican senators Charles E. Grassley, Orrin Hatch, Richard Shelby and your 52 other colleagues in the Senate and House of Representatives who steadfastly and on principal oppose a public option, despite being on Medicare:

Must be nice.

Not only do you have access to what has to be considered the Rolls Royce of Cadillac health plans, you are also eligible for and take advantage of America's original public option, Medicare. In fact, according to New York Representative Anthony Weiner, a total of 150 of you lawmakers in Washington "currently receive government-funded, government-administered single-payer health care", also known as Medicare.

But you know what? I don't have a beef with the other 95 of your colleagues. It's you 55 I'm interested in.

That's because you're doing your level best to deny me access to anything resembling the health care that you enjoy on my dime. I'm not asking for your Rolls Royce plan--although it must be suh-weet!, especially when it's coupled with the Office of the Attending Physician, which provides you with round-the-clock access to America's best healthcare for just $503 per year. (No, really! "Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care, sources said, is subsidized by taxpayers," ABC News helpfully explains.)

Worried about the war

How much NPR/CNN/other news do you parent-readers let your kids access? I ask because we're having an issue in our house with what I think might be TMI for Connery.

We listen to NPR a lot. It's the first thing we turn on after the coffee maker in the morning and one of the last things we turn off before we go to bed. One of the reasons we love NPR is its in-depth news coverage and reporting about all kinds of interesting subjects. However, I think that Connery is really internalizing some of these stories, and I'm not sure it's necessarily healthy for a 3-year-old. He asked me the other day, out of the blue, if there is a war where soldiers are being killed. When I said that there was, he asked more questions. Where is the war? Why are people being hurt? Who's being hurt? I tried to explain things as simply and honestly as I could without detouring into propaganda or really scary shit. He mulled all of this over and then said, "I'd like to go stop the war with my sword."

We talked more about how swords might not be the best way to stop a war, and his next question to me was, "How *do* you stop a war?"

Wow. Good question, my son.

I tried to explain--again as simply as possible--that wars are often started by governments and governments have to stop them. He wanted to know who could stop a war. I told him that presidents can stop wars.

"Could President Bush stop the war?" he asked. When I told him he probably could, he said he wanted to write a letter to President Bush asking him to stop the war. This is what he asked me to write for him:

Dear President Bush:

Can you stop the war? War scares me. You have to stop it. In war, people have swords that can hurt people. It's not good to hurt people.

Thank you for reading my letter.

Then he asked me if Jon Tester could stop the war.

Some of you probably think I'm making this up or using my son as a rhetorical device, but I can assure you that's not the case. We're also making every attempt not to use him as a political instrument. He's been to protest rallies and delivered campaign literature, but I don't want to brainwash him. To Chip and me--secular humanists from way back--going to a women's rights march or attending a political rally is kind of like going to church. It's a way to teach our moral code outside of our home with a community of like-minded individuals. Maybe that will sound like blasphemy to religious readers.

Frankly, overall, I'm not sure how to feel about this nascent political awakening. I'm proud that he can recognize bad in the world, but I'm worried that he is too young to be fretting about war and politics. How young is too young to hear about war and other worldly problems?

Should we turn off the NPR?

Looking for a good charity?

I understand from the media that many people like to donate to charity before the year's end. The media tells me that this is because many people like tax deductions, in addition to the good feeling that comes from giving. What the media almost never tells you is how to choose a good charity. Well, the wait is over. Here at this tiny blogging arm of the media, I would be glad to tell you about one good charity that deserves your support--tax deduction or no.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation consistently ranks among the top charities for amount of money that goes toward research rather than administrative or overhead costs. Founded in 1955, the work the foundation has done has helped raise life expectancies for children with cystic fibrosis to 35--before the foundation was established, most children with CF died before they even entered school.

What is cystic fibrosis? The CFF website explains it this way:

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease affecting approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States. A defective gene causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections. These thick secretions also obstruct the pancreas, preventing digestive enzymes from reaching the intestines to help break down and absorb food. The mucus also can block the bile duct in the liver, eventually causing permanent liver damage in approximately six percent of people with CF.

More than 10 million Americans are unknowing, symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene. An individual must inherit two defective CF genes—one from each parent—to have CF. Each time two carriers conceive, there is a 25 percent chance that their child will have CF; a 50 percent chance that the child will be a carrier of the CF gene; and a 25 percent chance that the child will be a non-carrier.

I first became more aware of CF in 2001 when two friends of ours, Matt and Jen, went into preterm labor at 29 weeks after an otherwise uneventful pregnancy. After several harrowing weeks, they found out that their son, Ashton, had CF. They had no idea that they were carriers. Ashton is a gorgeous little boy who has endured so much already in his young life, and Matt and Jen have become very active in the search for a cure. That search intensified when they got pregnant again this year and found out early on in the pregnancy that their baby girl was also suffering from CF. That baby girl was born on December 20th.

Now, I know what a total wimp I am about dealing with Connery when he is sick or in pain. My whole world is upside down until he is well again. I can only marvel at Matt and Jen's strength throughout their trials.

I know it's the holidays and most of us need smaller Christmas credit card bills more than we need tax deductions, but giving to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a holiday gift that keeps on giving. If you can't afford it now, consider finding a Great Strides walk to support this spring--or organize one yourself! You can even support Ashton's parents in their Wichita walk. It's always a huge success.

Happy holidays to you and yours.