Sarah Palin, gone rogue
Just read the press release announcing the November release of Sarah Palin’s memoir, titled “Going Rogue: An American Life.”
I don’t care that she has written a memoir, won’t read her memoir, and am stunned that Harper has commissioned a first printing of 1.5 million copies.
However, what is really bothering me is the use of the word “rogue” in the title. Rogue is not a flattering word. Seeing it in the title drove me to the dictionary.
I opened my worn, thin-paper copy (“THIN PAPER” is actually printed above the title) of “Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary,” copyright 1959, by G. & C. Merriam Co., and looked up “rogue.” The definitions follow.
1. A vagrant; an idle sturdy beggar; a tramp.
2. A knave; cheat.
3. Scamp; rascal.
4. A rogue elephant.
5. Biol. A chance variation:--usually applied to inferior or nontypical plants.
Following this we find “rogue elephant” defined.
Rogue elephant: A vicious elephant which separates from the herd and roams alone.
Then we find “rogue’s gallery,” defined as “A collection of portraits of persons arrested as criminals, for the use of the police.” And “rogue’s march,” “Derisive music for a person driven away under popular indignation or official sentence, as when a soldier is drummed out of a regiment.
After reading the definitions I’m making the elitist assumption that neither Ms. Palin nor her collaborator, Lynn Vincent, have a feeling for the subtlety of language. Did they check a dictionary? Did they think “rogue” is a synonym for “maverick?”
Ms Palin supposedly spent several days in New York working around the clock with editors at Harper after she and Vincent finished their work. Didn’t any of those editors look up the word “rogue?”
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Questions
If individuals or families cannot afford to buy health insurance, how can they afford to pay the fines that will be levied upon them if they don't buy insurance?
I ask this after reading an Associated Press article that states that the latest plan from Montana Sen. Max Baucus would levy fines for not having health insurance, starting at $750 for an individual and $1,500 for families.
Does this mean that more people will die because if they show up at ER without an insurance card they will be fined? And turned away? And how will anyone know if all 50 million or so of the currently uninsured individuals buy a health insurance policy? Won't this be a bureaucratic nightmare? A whole new police agency? Wouldn't it be cheaper to offer a government funded health insurance option?
I often wonder lately, is there is anyone in Congress besides Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders who has courage and sanity?
I ask this after reading an Associated Press article that states that the latest plan from Montana Sen. Max Baucus would levy fines for not having health insurance, starting at $750 for an individual and $1,500 for families.
Does this mean that more people will die because if they show up at ER without an insurance card they will be fined? And turned away? And how will anyone know if all 50 million or so of the currently uninsured individuals buy a health insurance policy? Won't this be a bureaucratic nightmare? A whole new police agency? Wouldn't it be cheaper to offer a government funded health insurance option?
I often wonder lately, is there is anyone in Congress besides Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders who has courage and sanity?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
I just read that the White House is ready to drop the "public option" in order to get a health care bill passed. Without a public option there is no health care reform. Why would the private insurance industry change if it isn't forced to? And how would health care become affordable or accountable if left to the private insurers discretion? Why would we expect sociopaths to become responsible human beings if not forced into that behavior?
Why are we giving in to Republican senators who have exhibited behavior verging on the criminal? Baucus, Grassley, the whole pack, are unethical, immoral and disgusting. You only have to look at their lists of big money donors to know how scummy they are.
So we shall continue to allow people to suffer and die so private insurers can enjoy huge profits. I call that murder by omission and in the case of the Congress people, murder by lies.
The only consolation in any of this is that all the leading Republican senators claim to be Christians (although they exhibit little of what I thought was Christian behavior) and that means that for all eternity these creeps will be roasting and broiling. And the Blue Dog Dems will be right there with them. And Sarah, too!
Why are we giving in to Republican senators who have exhibited behavior verging on the criminal? Baucus, Grassley, the whole pack, are unethical, immoral and disgusting. You only have to look at their lists of big money donors to know how scummy they are.
So we shall continue to allow people to suffer and die so private insurers can enjoy huge profits. I call that murder by omission and in the case of the Congress people, murder by lies.
The only consolation in any of this is that all the leading Republican senators claim to be Christians (although they exhibit little of what I thought was Christian behavior) and that means that for all eternity these creeps will be roasting and broiling. And the Blue Dog Dems will be right there with them. And Sarah, too!
Monday, August 10, 2009
The John Tree
Sunday morning I heard a toddler whooping in excitement somewhere in the neighborhood. Looking out a south-facing window I saw a child in a swing, being pushed by an adult.
The swing hangs in what my mother called "The John Tree." She and my stepfather, both dead now, once owned the house in front of my current house, as well as a very small house next door. Sadly, the small house has veen demolished and replaced by a modest starter mansion (only 2600 sf).
When I returned to Nevada in 1977 I moved into the small house and eventually acquired roommates. One of them, John, observed my mother digging up a small elm tree and volunteered to help.
He dug up the tree, then transplanted it in front of her east-facing bedroom window. Thirty some years later it stands 20 feet tall, shading that part of the house and holding a small child's swing.
Life is good.
The swing hangs in what my mother called "The John Tree." She and my stepfather, both dead now, once owned the house in front of my current house, as well as a very small house next door. Sadly, the small house has veen demolished and replaced by a modest starter mansion (only 2600 sf).
When I returned to Nevada in 1977 I moved into the small house and eventually acquired roommates. One of them, John, observed my mother digging up a small elm tree and volunteered to help.
He dug up the tree, then transplanted it in front of her east-facing bedroom window. Thirty some years later it stands 20 feet tall, shading that part of the house and holding a small child's swing.
Life is good.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Senate Republicans are just plain nasty
I just read the first few paragraphs of an AP story discussing the probable Senate health care bill and am furious. No public option and no requirement that businesses offer health plans. Just read an update and it gets worse. The whole shebang to go through the insurance companies. You know, those creeps that have turned health insurance into an orgy of profit with little or no benefit to the people paying the premiums. Oh, yes, I exaggerate but only a little. I have friends that go through hell to get insurance, then pay such exorbitant premiums that it hardly benefits them to have the coverage. Then, every time they turn in a claim they have to re-submit at least three times to get it paid.
What happens to people when they go to Washington? Suddenly it's all about re-election and forget the people who elected you. The lobbying scum crawls out of the K Street sewers and gives them lots of money for re-election and suddenly they know so much better than any little old citizen back home what's best for this country.
Rather than turn health care over to the insurance people we should outlaw for-profit insurance and send all the current insurance execs to jail for life, preferably to one of the real nasty ones such as the Nevada State Prison.
The members of Congress have shown that they are not going to do any of the obviously smart things to provide health care insurance for all the people in this country. They aren't going to rein in the insurance people or the drug folks. They aren't going to jettison the phony Medicare enhancement policies or the horrible Medicare drug plan. Of course not. The lobbyists would cut off their election funds. So they will come up with a phony piece of excrement rewarding all the wrong people and they'll probably figure out a way to raise taxes on the strangled middle class to do it.
It's time for the citizens of this country to rise up, get our pitchforks, our vats of tar and loads of feathers, then take a trip to Washington. Start with the lobbyists--drag them into the street, dress them up in tar and feathers then march them over to Congress so they can watch the same thing happen to all their best friends in the House and Senate. Then put them all on a train and send them to Camp Baucus, except for the Blue Dog Dems and we'll send them to a no-kill shelter for re-training. I'll send word ahead to Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders. There may be others worth saving but those are the only two I know about.
What happens to people when they go to Washington? Suddenly it's all about re-election and forget the people who elected you. The lobbying scum crawls out of the K Street sewers and gives them lots of money for re-election and suddenly they know so much better than any little old citizen back home what's best for this country.
Rather than turn health care over to the insurance people we should outlaw for-profit insurance and send all the current insurance execs to jail for life, preferably to one of the real nasty ones such as the Nevada State Prison.
The members of Congress have shown that they are not going to do any of the obviously smart things to provide health care insurance for all the people in this country. They aren't going to rein in the insurance people or the drug folks. They aren't going to jettison the phony Medicare enhancement policies or the horrible Medicare drug plan. Of course not. The lobbyists would cut off their election funds. So they will come up with a phony piece of excrement rewarding all the wrong people and they'll probably figure out a way to raise taxes on the strangled middle class to do it.
It's time for the citizens of this country to rise up, get our pitchforks, our vats of tar and loads of feathers, then take a trip to Washington. Start with the lobbyists--drag them into the street, dress them up in tar and feathers then march them over to Congress so they can watch the same thing happen to all their best friends in the House and Senate. Then put them all on a train and send them to Camp Baucus, except for the Blue Dog Dems and we'll send them to a no-kill shelter for re-training. I'll send word ahead to Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders. There may be others worth saving but those are the only two I know about.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Entertainment, politics and life after Madoff
Just watched "Enemy of the State." During the first 45 minutes I realized I was angry, spit at the screen angry. The National Security Agency people in the movie are loathsome vermin. What hurt is that I believe these people do all the nasty, horrible things they did to Will Smith's character in the movie. I deep down believe that they frame people, murder people, ruin lives to serve their own purposes, read our emails and snail mail, listen to our phone calls, mess with our bank accounts, spy on our families for their own purposes, and worse, do all these same things to people in other countries.
I had a talk with myself, a serious get-a-grip talk about how I believe in government, I believe in the good, it's only a movie and still, I believe these creeps do all those disgusting things. This ugly belief system of mine started back in the Nixon Times, accelerated during the Reagan Times and solidified during the Bush-Cheney Times. All the awful things done during those administrations are stored in my brain, cellular memories creating a strong belief system.
I'm very sad about this. I voted for Barack Obama, I truly believe he is a Renaissance man, I think he has integrity, I like what he is doing. And at the same time I think parts of the government are totally out of our control, managed by sociopaths whose budgets are secret, names are secret, rules are non-existent. When the chips are down, I suspect some agency will do its worst and we have nothing to say about it.
What would it take for our government to clean itself up and can there ever be enough transparency?
And on to another group of Americans, the folks who lost everything to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Vanity Fair had a sad story about Madoff victims, including women who have lost everything now trying to sell their jewels for enough money to pay their $100,000 American Express bills. What will become of these women, will they have to work, cleaning houses or taking orders at McDonalds? At least one woman is, at age 70, now cleaning houses, while a man in his 90s is a greeter in a supermarket.
Omigod. I start to feel sorry for them and then I remember, I’ll be 70 my next birthday. Vanity Fair won’t cover the tragedy if I lose my pension and the right wingers (the majority, unfortunately) in the community would probably say it serves me right for voting for Democrats. I would simply have to sell off everything and go to work for whatever fast food restaurant would hire me. And thank God the Republicans weren’t able to give Social Security to the brokers to invest in stocks on Wall Street.
Then I remember all the widows and orphans in Iraq, and wonder how many 70-year-old women in that country are left with nothing as a direct result of my country’s decision, in a storm of lies and manipulation, to overthrow the Iraqi government in order to secure a stranglehold on that country’s oil? I mean, speaking of vile things done by my government.
So I feel compassion for the Madoff victims, the Wall Street victims, the Iraqi widows and orphans. I feel compassion for us all. As my dear friend says: It's difficult being human.
I had a talk with myself, a serious get-a-grip talk about how I believe in government, I believe in the good, it's only a movie and still, I believe these creeps do all those disgusting things. This ugly belief system of mine started back in the Nixon Times, accelerated during the Reagan Times and solidified during the Bush-Cheney Times. All the awful things done during those administrations are stored in my brain, cellular memories creating a strong belief system.
I'm very sad about this. I voted for Barack Obama, I truly believe he is a Renaissance man, I think he has integrity, I like what he is doing. And at the same time I think parts of the government are totally out of our control, managed by sociopaths whose budgets are secret, names are secret, rules are non-existent. When the chips are down, I suspect some agency will do its worst and we have nothing to say about it.
What would it take for our government to clean itself up and can there ever be enough transparency?
And on to another group of Americans, the folks who lost everything to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Vanity Fair had a sad story about Madoff victims, including women who have lost everything now trying to sell their jewels for enough money to pay their $100,000 American Express bills. What will become of these women, will they have to work, cleaning houses or taking orders at McDonalds? At least one woman is, at age 70, now cleaning houses, while a man in his 90s is a greeter in a supermarket.
Omigod. I start to feel sorry for them and then I remember, I’ll be 70 my next birthday. Vanity Fair won’t cover the tragedy if I lose my pension and the right wingers (the majority, unfortunately) in the community would probably say it serves me right for voting for Democrats. I would simply have to sell off everything and go to work for whatever fast food restaurant would hire me. And thank God the Republicans weren’t able to give Social Security to the brokers to invest in stocks on Wall Street.
Then I remember all the widows and orphans in Iraq, and wonder how many 70-year-old women in that country are left with nothing as a direct result of my country’s decision, in a storm of lies and manipulation, to overthrow the Iraqi government in order to secure a stranglehold on that country’s oil? I mean, speaking of vile things done by my government.
So I feel compassion for the Madoff victims, the Wall Street victims, the Iraqi widows and orphans. I feel compassion for us all. As my dear friend says: It's difficult being human.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Turquoise Eye Shadow is For the Young
I attended a dress-up dinner party last night and decided to wear makeup. That probably doesn’t seem like such a big deal but there is a story here. About three years ago I wore makeup to a party. When I got home that night I looked in the mirror and had one of those awful moments of clarity where I saw that I was an aging woman who still made up her face as though she were 30 years old. Too much turquoise eye shadow, black circles around the eyes and just ridiculous.
I had that embarrassed, shameful, blush all over feeling and decided everyone at the party had spent all evening snickering behind my back, etc., etc. I did come to my senses and remembered that they all had lives, that my makeup and I were the least important things in their lives and I really could go out in public again. I also threw away all my makeup and decided I never needed to wear any again.
Last fall I was visiting friends in Grass Valley and we decided to go shopping. After an hour or so we found ourselves in front of the Oberon skin products store. We drifted inside and the owner suggested we try out the products, Oberon and Dr. Hauschka being the only two brands she sold. Dr. Hauschka skin care products have been used by the wealthy and the beautiful since 1967.
Next thing I knew I was in the chair, explaining that I no longer knew how to apply makeup and was turning myself over to her for a makeover. Well, she patted tinted moisturizer into my skin, lightly brushed subtle shades of taupe and vanilla on my eyelids, stroked white cover-up on the blue bruised looking patches between the inside corner of my eyes and my nose. Finally she applied a subtle red lipstick that was really a lip moisturizer. Eight hours later my lips were still soft and moist—a miracle. I usually use lip gloss at least twice an hour.
All the women exclaimed over the new, beautiful me then took their turns in the chair for a similar magical experience. I watched carefully, thinking I’d remember all this. I walked out of the store the proud owner of $136 worth of tinted moisturizer, Dr. Hauschka mascara (I think it’s very dark blue in deference to my age and naturally silver hair), three subtle shades of nearly no-color powdered eye shadow, a white pencil for covering up blue spots, a brush to apply something (what? It’s been six months) and several sponges for removing everything. I forgot to buy the lipstick. Darn!
When I arrived home I lined up all my new goodies in the bathroom and proceeded not to open any of them for six months until the fancy dress-up dinner party. Fortunately I allowed plenty of time for this operation. It took half an hour to get everything on my face and around my eyes. It took the store owner about 10 minutes. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at how subtly lovely I looked to myself. All the shame of my last makeup job was erased.
However, underneath that lovely face sits my neck, the skin on which is the definition of crepe. I cannot think of any cure for that neck but surgery, a life-threatening procedure I would never consider because of the cost. I admit I’ve caught myself thinking, “What the hell, a neck job wouldn’t be so awful if I had a disposable $20,000.” I mean, this is not the first time I’ve noticed my neck. But it just ain’t gonna happen. Even before the crash of the worldwide financial system there wasn’t even a remote possibility there would ever be that much disposable income in my life. Since the crash, the cats and I flip a coin to see who buys food each week.
So I’ll just wear makeup every once in awhile and pretend like I don’t notice my neck. And maybe it’s time to read Nora Ephron’s book, “I Feel Bad About My Neck.”
If you’re interested, here is the website for the rich and beautiful http://www.drhauschka.com .
I had that embarrassed, shameful, blush all over feeling and decided everyone at the party had spent all evening snickering behind my back, etc., etc. I did come to my senses and remembered that they all had lives, that my makeup and I were the least important things in their lives and I really could go out in public again. I also threw away all my makeup and decided I never needed to wear any again.
Last fall I was visiting friends in Grass Valley and we decided to go shopping. After an hour or so we found ourselves in front of the Oberon skin products store. We drifted inside and the owner suggested we try out the products, Oberon and Dr. Hauschka being the only two brands she sold. Dr. Hauschka skin care products have been used by the wealthy and the beautiful since 1967.
Next thing I knew I was in the chair, explaining that I no longer knew how to apply makeup and was turning myself over to her for a makeover. Well, she patted tinted moisturizer into my skin, lightly brushed subtle shades of taupe and vanilla on my eyelids, stroked white cover-up on the blue bruised looking patches between the inside corner of my eyes and my nose. Finally she applied a subtle red lipstick that was really a lip moisturizer. Eight hours later my lips were still soft and moist—a miracle. I usually use lip gloss at least twice an hour.
All the women exclaimed over the new, beautiful me then took their turns in the chair for a similar magical experience. I watched carefully, thinking I’d remember all this. I walked out of the store the proud owner of $136 worth of tinted moisturizer, Dr. Hauschka mascara (I think it’s very dark blue in deference to my age and naturally silver hair), three subtle shades of nearly no-color powdered eye shadow, a white pencil for covering up blue spots, a brush to apply something (what? It’s been six months) and several sponges for removing everything. I forgot to buy the lipstick. Darn!
When I arrived home I lined up all my new goodies in the bathroom and proceeded not to open any of them for six months until the fancy dress-up dinner party. Fortunately I allowed plenty of time for this operation. It took half an hour to get everything on my face and around my eyes. It took the store owner about 10 minutes. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at how subtly lovely I looked to myself. All the shame of my last makeup job was erased.
However, underneath that lovely face sits my neck, the skin on which is the definition of crepe. I cannot think of any cure for that neck but surgery, a life-threatening procedure I would never consider because of the cost. I admit I’ve caught myself thinking, “What the hell, a neck job wouldn’t be so awful if I had a disposable $20,000.” I mean, this is not the first time I’ve noticed my neck. But it just ain’t gonna happen. Even before the crash of the worldwide financial system there wasn’t even a remote possibility there would ever be that much disposable income in my life. Since the crash, the cats and I flip a coin to see who buys food each week.
So I’ll just wear makeup every once in awhile and pretend like I don’t notice my neck. And maybe it’s time to read Nora Ephron’s book, “I Feel Bad About My Neck.”
If you’re interested, here is the website for the rich and beautiful http://www.drhauschka.com .
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