politics

This in NO WAY exonerates him…

.. nor does it indicate that I am OK with his behavior, or feel that women were lying or making too big a deal of things, but for chrissakes, can we find something else to lose our minds over? Regarding Weinstein– I promise to never shut up if he ever attempts to run for elected office after the behavior that has come out. ( how many people couldn’t have pointed Weinstein out in a line up back on Monday night?)

It is morally reprehensible and unethical if not illegal.  His political persuasion has not a whit to do with anything.

WHERE is the outrage for the way Donald behaved? Why suddenly is there to be a moral equivalence between the Accidental Resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenues’ past behaviors (for which he had doubled down, as is his wont, that it wasn’t so bad, that other people have done worse) and what at this moment is a personnel issue at a private company? (and Weinstein’s “apology” has the stink of I got caught but is slightly more graceful than Donald could ever hope to be)

Why are the president’s surrogates all out there talking about how terrible Weinstein is, when their boss is equally as bad? What high horse do they get to ride in on, to intimate that all Democrats are complicit for having accepted monetary donations from a man who is just now publicly accused of sexual harassment? As if A has anything to do with B. As if the majority of the GOP electorate and elected officials alike haven’t just shrugged and looked the other way, hoping to be able to get their piece of the pie before Donald is carted away (via the 25th, impeachment, or my personal favorite option, Mueller.)

Instead, couldn’t we save all of our outrage for the NRA, which continues to try to buy our government, lock, stock and barrel? (bad pun, I couldn’t resist)

Or, what about we take some of that bloviating frustration out on those in the GOP responsible for not refunding CHIP? Or for those in government who have decided that not only should your employer get to decide if you can have birth control, but also that the resulting pregnancy caused by lack of BC is a preexisting condition and therefore not covered, and also that there is no right to maternity leave, nor is it illegal to discriminate against you when the OBGYN tells you not to lift anything heavy while pregnant and so you lose your job (and there goes your health insurance)

Still have room to fit Weinstein into your irritation bubble? Well, there is the matter that 3.5 million American citizens are suffering from Maria down in Puerto Rico, and that their president is more interested in pointing out that their hurricane may cause us to mess up the budget (read: negatively impact the huge tax breaks he is planning for his cronies and himself, while trying to con you into thinking he will throw you more than a bone)

How about the fact that Donald ran on “her emails” and yet,  his kids are doing THE EXACT SAME THING?

Or, plain old health care, or clean water for Detroit, or Mother Russia… or… I could find you things to worry about and grouse about and lose your mind over all day long.

Weinstein doesn’t even hit the Top Ten.

Hypocrazy

If I am following the latest outrage du jour properly, I am to understand that Ted Cruz allowed (used/permitted/agreed to/suggested/didn’t refuse) his young girls to mock our current government and other people running for president, in search of campaign contributions. This is an acceptable use of an actual minor child.

And then,  a political cartoonist inferred that his children were being used to collect money by performing, a la the organ grinder and his dancing monkeys. This is not an acceptable use of pen and ink, or pixels. (Do people understand the reference –that the organ grinder is out begging for money, using the monkeys to ‘entertain’ in exchange for cash?) or are they just offended because they were told to be offended?)

And THEN, he sent out the offensive cartoon to many, many more people who would have never otherwise seen it, and begged for the money himself.

Let’s leave all the kids out of it all, how about that? Politicians–Don’t parade them out for votes or for warm-fuzzies photos. Reporters and photographers–Don’t stalk them, or try to sneak photos, or use them in the news cycle. What they wear or where they vacation or had for dinner? Not part of the campaign.

 

So, how about that weather?

If you don’t get the irony in the following, well…

A customer comes to our frame shop to get a cross stitch of a verse framed. For whatever reason, she decides while colors are being chosen to lay into the myriad and obvious issues with the current POTUS. Not just politically, but you know, the same old same old, he’s the anti-Christ foreign-born socialist garbage.

The verse? proverbs 21:23. He who Guards his mouth and his tongue, Guards his soul from troubles.

So, really, What WOULD Jesus Do?

I was a child in the 70’s, living in a house with one black and white TV (perfectly typical for the time) a TV with channels 2,4,5,7,9,11, and 13, and a very limited window in which we were allowed to even turn the thing on. The news was not a thing force-fed from the dining room of every restaurant or doctors waiting room, indeed the news was not even a constant show. You needed to wait till 6, 10 or 11 pm to watch the news. My family got the news from the three newspapers we took in— The New York Times and The Daily News in the mornings, and the Staten Island Advance in the afternoon.

The papers didn’t have full color images. The TV didn’t offer full-color, real time opportunities to be bombarded with reality.

The first news event I recall was the landing on the moon; that I did see on TV in 1969. The next two news events of my life were in 1974— Patty Hearst, of which I understood little, but attempted to follow because her name was the same as mine. (That’s how kids minds work.) I remember where I was when it was announced that Nixon resigned; I was at Ben Becker’s Camp Nassau fishing with a counselor named Bridget.  I didn’t understand fully the significance of the hostages in ‘80 but we always watched the Presidential debates, States of the Union and of course, the World Series.

Today, children (and adults) are bombarded 24/7 with news. Every utterance or flicker of movement by whomever or whatever it is that has the media’s fancy at the moment is immortalized. We see and hear EVERYTHING. Little ears and eyes pick up information that they can’t possibly categorize or understand. They see things that they have no ability to separate from the fantasy of movies, TV shows or  video games.

Bin Laden’s death is just one more in a series of overwhelming pieces of information. The perfect parent monitors what their child watches. So many children have access to the remote control and a TV in their bedroom, and let’s be blunt, less than perfect parents. But even the perfect parent would be hard pressed to keep the notion of cheering when the bad guy takes a bullet in the eye as being acceptable. (Don’t we ask children to learn empathy?)  Do we need to possibly allow for them to SEE it, too?

Look, I am relieved to know that he is gone. I wish in a way it had been in a hail of bullets, that he was shooting first, (but had poor aim; I understand the other side, that of having it be justified in that fashion could have meant causalities for our SEALS and that is not at all what I am suggesting.) I also understand how utterly evil he was.

The people who are determined to not believe he is dead are not going to be shut up by photos. I can manipulate a photo, so can others. I am happy for the closure, however little it gives. I was there in New York, I watched the towers fall, (live in person)  I cried at funerals and smelled the smoky air for weeks. I get it.

Never discuss politics or religion, right? Isn’t that how it goes? So, how about that weather? Tsunamis and earthquakes and floods and tornadoes, videos of death and destruction day after day ..…More things to worry the small child, who can’t understand if they are safe. Who don’t know how to ask, but may wake with nightmares they can’t explain.

So, let’s all just accept that if we see Bin Laden with his eye blown out we can’t unsee it, let’s believe the man is dead; let’s believe the president didn’t become president by some major fluke but has the intelligence to do the job, let’s believe the hundreds of thousands of people will have a safe home and a warm blanket tonight. Reality sucks, and so many are hurting.

Now that we are about to become grandparents, the smaller and smaller window of innocence provided to children these days really kind of hits you, and it is truly sad.

Happy Mother’s Day to you if you have ever taken part in helping a child grow!