Civil Senate Women

Left to right: Standing: Murkowski, Lincoln, McCaskill, Stabenow, Cantwell, Gillibrand, Hutchison, Mikulski, Murray, Landrieu, Boxer, Snowe Seated: Hagan, Feinstein, Shaheen, Collins, Klobuchar

Out of 100 senators, there are just 17 women, of whom five are Republicans and 12 are Democrats.  A regular, bipartisan dinner meeting has helped create a spirit that transcends party lines.  For female senators, there’s more to politics than scoring points.

Among the 17 female senators, it amounts to an informal nonaggression pact. In the male-dominated, tradition-bound Senate chamber, their desire to recapture a long lost sense of civility trumps the constant pressure to score partisan points. It’s a bond forged by their common experience as women in the highest level of American politics, reinforced during a regular dinner meeting led by the longest-serving female senator, Barbara Mikulski (D-Md).  Mikulski set the rules for the dinner group when she launched it years ago: no staff, no memos, no leaks and no men.  Many of the regular diners are at polar opposite ends of the political spectrum, yet it’s unheard of for the female senators to publicly criticize one another.

Would this bipartisanship work for the other 83 Senators?  Would constituents accept bipartisanship and teaming up on key legislation, or do they expect Senators to not compromise and hold the ‘party’ line?

I TOLD HER SHE IS NOW OFFICIALLY A MOTOR CYCLIST.

The surprise I got for my wife was a scooter, we had seen it at a garage sale and she loved it.

But I also knew she would not get it for herself, one thing that many men would love to be able to say about their wives. Mine is not prone to spending money or wanting things that are expensive that is just for being able to say they have it.  For years she has denied herself many things she wanted but would not get because of it cost money.  When it comes to spending money she makes me look like a Bush conservative.

So after going to the bank to discuss the matter with our loan officer which seems that height of arrogant considering the situation we are in. I was able to add to the existing loan with no increase in what we were already paying a month.

She loves the scooter riding it to work everyday and taking to just going for a ride to enjoy the day.

Gee sounds kind of familiar somehow?

Well she told me after I got back of an incident that happened, one that is so familiar that I myself have lost count as to how many times it has happened to me! I have a couple of pieces of advise to those who decided to ride a motor cycle on the streets. You ride like you are invisible because that is exactly the way it is.  There is a reason that it is a old saying and one that came about since motor cycles became common place.

“Honestly Officer…. I did not see the motor cycle!”.

Another is simple logic and can save your life, what is the first thing on the car setting at a stop you should be watching? It’s the wheels, if the car is going to move the first thing that will move is the wheels.  If the wheels start to roll the car is going to pull out in front of you!

She told me it happened that she was approaching a side street where a car was waiting to pull into traffic, suddenly the car pulled out right in front of her! The woman driver seem to have been watching the traffic and waiting but then just pulled out.  I replied, “And she seem to be looking you right in the eyes didn’t she?”.  My wife said, “Yes she seem to be!”.  Again this kind of thing has happened to me so many times I can not tell you how many times.

She said my advise which I had given her just before I had left gave her the time to be prepared and stop in time. As she approached the corner she started watching the wheels and when they started moving she was ready.

My wife is now officially a motor cyclist, all that is left is to dump the scooter either through hitting loose sand or because of not noticing a bump or pot hole in the road. Then the test will be does she get back up and on or say this is not worth it! Of course to my thinking it is worth it and she is getting to that point.

I wonder how long it will be before she starts talking about wanting something bigger?

“Cries From The Gulf” by Lea Morris

This is the description from YouTube:  Written and narrated by Gulf Coast native Lea Morris, this open letter captures the raw heartbreak of the millions impacted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Gulf Coast native Lea Morris wrote and narrated this angry open letter to Sarah Palin. Raw heartbreak or a politically-laden attack?

Female Marines

Forty female Marines have arrived in Afghanistan with a mission impossible for their male counterparts: connecting with the war-torn country’s women. In groups of twos and threes, they’ve been sent throughout the country, into homes, where over cups of tea they dispense medical help and encourage women to become involved with Afghan society. “We know we can make a difference,” Capt. Emily Naslund told The New York Times. The female marines are not just running into the country’s cultural barriers but also those of the military as male commanders prove reluctant to send the women on some dangerous patrols. However, the men know the impact having women soldiers in their midst can have on the Afghan population. Without them, one said, “It’s just a bunch of guys with rockets and machine guns trying to hand out a bear to a kid, and he starts to cry.”

Midgets, Molly, Men and Bit of Fun

“The only difference between men and boys is the size of their shoes and the price of their toys.” – Anonymous.

The world has been a bit crazy of late. Wars, famine, destruction, earthquakes and oil gushing in the Gulf. In North Korea, we have a deranged midget rattlin’ sabers and in Iran, another midget that is just a doofus.  Right here at home, Tea Baggers are runnin’ ’round acting like they are the only true patriots, and we have a bunch of political critters that have obviously missed their “grown up” pills for quite some time.

“I still believe in Hope – mostly because there’s no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.” – Molly Ivins.

The above doesn’t add anything to the story, I just like Molly Ivins.

So, rather than discuss the weighty issues of the world today, let’s just have some fun and talk about a subject near and dear to me  – toys.

The opening quote of this column is a commentary on men, but the same applies to women, as well. Don’t try to kid yourself.

Feel free to talk about shoes if that is the subject near and dear to you!

Well, for me, I wear a size nine and I have expensive tastes in toys. As I bang this column out, I am surrounded by mega-bucks worth of photographic gear in my office.  I pretend that I am going to make a good living with it one of these days, but that doesn’t explain why I periodically just pick up my camera and hold it, stroking my hands over it like it was a magic lamp and a genie is going to pop out and grant me three wishes.

In the past, my toys were quite expensive and slightly dangerous – Harley Davidson motorcycles. You can’t just “buy” a Harley. Once you own one, you have to spend beau coup bucks for chrome doodads, performance parts, custom paint and all that.

So, my demented blogging friends, what are your toys and why?

One more for the road………………………………..

“In Texas, we do not hold high expectations for the [governor’s] office; it’s mostly been occupied by crooks, dorks and the comatose.” – Molly Ivins.

Talking about whether we should be talking about Kagan’s sexual orientation

The suggestion that someone is gay is usually taken as a direct accusation of homosexuality. Only being gay is not automatically a disqualification for office anymore. Indeed, many places have laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, and there are an increasing number of gay and lesbian officeholders at all levels of elected government. So why do we still think it’s bad to call someone a lesbian?  Linda Hirshman, who admits to knowing nothing about the sexual orientation of Kagan, wraps up her interesting op-ed piece by saying:

Finally, and here’s a real dirty little secret, President Obama appointing an openly gay candidate for the Supreme Court would be political genius. Think about the prospect of watching the married Senator Ensign—who is under investigation for allegedly seeking lobbying work for the husband of his mistress—arguing that the high court nominee is “sinful” or “lacking in personal morality,” as the Focus on the Family suggests. The polls are clear: Regardless of their views on same sex marriage, most Americans do not think gays and lesbians should be discriminated against, and the numbers for gays on all issues are sky high among young voters. The Republicans don’t want to be caught in a Pat Buchanan-style culture war just as the mid-term elections loom, just like enough of them wanted to avoid the anti-Hispanic trap to confirm Justice Sotomayor. It’s a no-lose nomination.

There is nothing wrong with being gay (or lesbian). What hurts is the assumption that it hurts.

International Women’s Day

The world marks International Women’s Day today, an annual celebration that highlights the economic, political and social achievements of women.

“International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men,” the United Nations says.

The day was marked for the first time in the early 1900s. More than one million women and men attended rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in 1911.  They demanded the right to vote and hold public office, and for an end to job discrimination.

‘It is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women’s rights,” the United Nations says.

Female Republican Politicians

The Republican caucus is already all white, and is mostly all men, with only four females.

When Palin surfaced on the national scene in 2008, conservatives who had never shown the slightest interest in women immediately began touting her as the new face of female politics.  Before her campaign went south, even liberals like MSNBC commentator Donny Deutsch called Palin the new “feminist ideal.” Effusing about her gorgeous appearance in her signature tight skirts, he opined, “Women want to be her, men want to mate with her. It’s as simple as that… If women live up to that feminist ideal, “men can take in” and “women can celebrate” a “woman in power.”

But Republicans are popping out Palin variations all over the place. Women are making impressive showings in at least four Republican primaries where the GOP stands a reasonable chance of taking the Senate seat in the general.

More here.

Where were the women?

“Lots of men in the room, nothing accomplished.  Where were the women at the Health-Care Summit? Dan Rather on the need to get more females in positions of power in America and around the world.

To be sure, some were in the room, most notably Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, and Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the House. The Republicans had one female attendee, Rep. Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, and the Democrats had three others: Nancy-Ann DeParle, the White House health-care adviser, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, and New York Rep. Louise Slaughter. That’s it. Six women out of 42 attendees on a piece of legislation that deals with health care, an issue that affects all Americans.

If you were to rank countries by the percentage of women in their national legislatures, the U.S. would be somewhere around 75th, on par with places like Turkmenistan and Albania.”

What difference do you think women might make?

Hillary Clinton — Advocating for the women of the world

In September of 1994, 179 countries adopted The Cairo Programme of Action, that declares reproductive rights to be universal.

“There’s a direct connection between a woman’s ability to plan her family, space her pregnancies and give birth safely, and her ability to get an education, work outside the home, support her family and participate fully in the life of her community,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday in a speech she made at the State Department, to an audience full of international women’s health advocates.

Over the last few decades, American elections have had an even more profound effect on reproductive rights outside the United States than inside it.  In fact, perhaps nowhere else is the difference between recent Democratic and Republican administrations quite so stark. Yesterday, after years in which the United States spread its anti-abortion ideology worldwide, Clinton declared that the United States will once again become a leader in promoting reproductive rights globally.  Struggles over abortion and contraception are being waged all over the world, and it matters a lot where the United States comes down.  A great many women’s lives are at stake.   One woman dies every minute of every day in pregnancy or childbirth, and for every woman who dies, another 20 suffer from injury, infection or disease each minute of every day.

Palin-Beck 2012?

The end of the world as we know it? In an interview with Newsmax, Palin says that she’d consider Glenn Beck as a running mate if she ran for president in 2012. “I can envision a couple of different combinations, if ever I were to be in a position to really even seriously consider running for anything in the future, and I’m not there yet,” Palin says. “But Glenn Beck I have great respect for. He’s a hoot. He gets his message across in such a clever way. And he’s so bold—I have to respect that. He calls it like he sees it, and he’s very, very, very effective.”

She has no brains!  She sets back the goal of women being respected as equal.  She embarrasses women with critical thinking skills.

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Joan-one of my favorite people of all time.

Hilberta Elizabeth (Joan) Dahlin, forever 49, of Marina del Rey, California died peacefully on August 9, 2009, with her family gathered by her side.

She was born September 26, 1924 in Tarkio, Missouri to Gertrude Leoline Kaufman and Lyman Henry Sommer.

Hilberta and her younger sister, MaryAnn, traveled the world with their parents. The Sommer girls attended boarding school in Wichita, Kansas and graduated from Holy Family High School in Glendale, California.

After graduation, with the news of Pearl Harbor, Hilberta joined the Women’s Ambulance and Defense Corps of America. She was one of the first women to become a fulltime State Guard member. Hilberta subsequently received her bachelor and her master degrees from Northwestern University in Illinois.

Hilberta met her future husband, Carl Roy Dahlin, a US Marine, at a USO dance in Santa Barbara. They married in February 1945, and settled in Santa Monica, California until they took up residence on Harding Avenue in Venice, which the family occupied for the next 50 years. Here they raised their ever-expanding family, a great source of her pride and joy.

Mrs. D, as she was known by her students, was a beloved teacher. When the youngest of her eight children entered kindergarten, Mrs. D began her long and storied career in the classroom. She touched generations of families as a 6^th grade teacher at St. Mark’s Catholic School in Venice and then as a teacher and librarian at St. Monica Elementary School in Santa Monica where she remained until her retirement. Mrs. D received numerous awards and accolades for her achievements, including Outstanding Elementary School Teacher and Teacher of the Year as well as being honored for serving 54 years in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Joan will be remembered for her strong Catholic faith, her adventurous spirit, her love of traveling (both home and abroad), her sharp sense of humor and sense of fun, her selflessness and generosity of spirit, her preservation (insistence) of correct grammatical use in the English language and the positive impact she had on the lives of countless people. She will be sorely missed and fondly remembered by all who knew and loved her.

Joan was preceded in death by her husband, Carl Roy Dahlin, her sister, Mary Ann Sommer and her granddaughter, Jennifer Dahlin.

Joan is survived by her children Roy Anthony, Karl Hilbert (Janet), Jon Kristin (Theresa), George Kurtis (Irma), Erick Joseph, Mary Leolyn Carl (Bradford), Mark Thomas (Kerry), Karin Marie Dahlin, Lisa Ann Reid (Steve), David Dahlin Glover (Vanessa), Bob Fuhrmann, 24 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.

Joan visited my mom ,when I was taking care of her in Joplin, Mo, twice.  Both times were outrageous fun. I would take them both for rides to various parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. I had to make both ride in the back seat because of the noise generated as both talked at the same time. How they ever understood each other is still a mystery to me, and one science would do well to investigate.

Joan, my mom, and two nuns toured Europe decades ago for two months. They bought a mini-van and drove it all over. I should get with my sister and write down some of their adventures, as there were many. For instance, while in Holland, they got lost, drove down the wrong road, which happened to be an exclusive bike road. They got stopped by the local gendarme, who politely escorted them to the correct road, called ahead and had the local hotel ready for them when they arrived there. Try having that done over here.

I will seriously miss her charm and sense of humor. May you rest in peace, Joan, and say hi to mom.

Dialectics and Our Path out of our Current Craziness

Marsha Linehan, PhD from the University of Washington, has provided the nearly impossible.  She has led the way in treating patients with a very disabling disorder known as Borderline Personality Disorder.  Dr. Linehan, though she might deny it, is a committed Zen Budhist.  Dealing with the difficult balances that impinge upon us all daily,  is the very  foundation of her expertise.  Those imbalances are especially difficult for her patients, but I, and others contend, the same is true for most of the rest of us.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, aka DBT, was developed in the late 1970’s by Dr. Linehan and colleagues when they discovered that cognitive behavioral therapy alone did not work as well as expected in patients with borderline personality disorder.  Dr. Linehan and her team added additional techniques and developed a treatment which would meet the unique needs of these patients.

DBT was developed to help people who have trouble in the realms of “thinking, relationships, emotions, and coping” – sounds like most of us, no?

A core component of DBT is “mindfulness” – gaining control of your mind, rather than letting it control you.”

Another component is “interpersonal effectiveness” – which involves, a) getting your objectives met in a situation, b)get/keep good relationships, c) keep/improve self respect and liking of one’s self.

A third component is “emotion regulation” which involves 1) understanding emotions one experiences, 2) reducing emotional vulnerability, and 3) decreasing emotional suffering.

In case I was not clear, I have always thought that these skills could be used by most of us, me included.

What do you bloggers think?

iggy donnelly

Please. Let. Them. Run. Together. In. 2012.

Michele Bachmann is evoking the name of another female Republican wingnut in a blatant ‘begging for money’ pitch. “Don’t let them Palinize me!” Bachmann writes in the subject line. “With Governor Palin taking a well-deserved step out of the spotlight, it appears that I may be absorbing even more of the liberals’ scorn.” She goes on to complain that, like Palin, the press is now attacking her children. Bachmann is referring to an article that commends her son for enlisting in AmeriCorps, which Bachmann has called a “re-education camp.”

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PATRICK J. BUCHANAN ARGUES WHITE MEN ARE IMPORTANT TOO!

Watching Buchanan on the Rachel show last night I sat there a gasp listening to him.

Citing it was white men who ratified the Constitution and white men who died fighting for the freedom of the country and its people, that white men fought at Gettysburg and throughout the Civil War — it was white men who formed this country into the greatest nation in the world.  That indeed white men are due the credit and are entitled to the consideration.  He sounded more like what you might hear at a Klan meeting  justifying the stance of white superiority.

He all but denied the contributions of women and minorities who also fought and died, those who struggled in the same efforts to form this nation. When Rachel pointed out that all but a select few of the Supreme Court were white men throughout the history of the United States, Buchanan stated that is as it should be since it was white men who created the country.

Buchanan stated his objection to Sotomayor was she is a affirmative action selection and nothing more.  He contends President Obama passed over many others who were better qualified, that her selection was based solely on the facts she is a woman and a minority. Buchanan thinks her selection is sexism and racism in action.   His opinions aren’t, her selection is!  I disagree with him as she is well qualified due to her experience and education.

I will agree with him that yes, there have been times where better qualified white men have been passed over for less qualified minorities and women. It is the fatal aspect of the way that affirmative action has been enacted — placing the real value of the person on the color of their skin or their gender.  This is not different then the way that affirmative action was meant to correct.  In the case of Sotomayor it was a win-win in my opinion, she is more than a brown store mannequin.

But I have seen the worst possible outcomes in other cases. In those cases it would have been better to have just paid them to stay at home and still be able to claim them as one of the category that was to be filled. There was no difference by having them come to work.

Buchanan was stating his truths but he was wrong in how he was citing his facts. Minorities and women have been a valuable asset to this country. Not just adding color or babies to the building of this nation.

The color of ones skin is only the outer aspect of a person and the real fault or value it what is maintained within. The gender of a person is not the deciding factor of one’s contribution or is more than window dressing.  My youngest son is a far better cook then my daughter but then again my daughter is the best at financial matters in the family. Gender does not limit or enhance a person’s natural abilities. The color of skin does not dictate one’s manner or actions.  In most cases it is the person that dictates their manner and action.

Racism and sexism are wrong no matter which way it goes, I do not see a minority or a woman as a threat to my future. Buchanan missed the point he was trying to make by the way he stated it.

tosmarttobegop