Well-Done, Tim

Hello there -- I'm on a mission here to inform my readers about the current political situation, as if you need my help. You're intelligent people, I know. But the more information and thoughts I can spread around, the better. This is a crucial time for us in America.

Beyond politics, I want to let you know that the new CD is only about 12 days away from being in my hands (and the hands of those who pre-purchased). I'm thrilled! If you want to hear samples, there are a couple of songs up on the website http://www.gleigh.com and on my myspace http://www.myspace.com/gingerleighband. If you have a profile, feel free to add the songs to your own profile. At least the music can help us escape some of this outrageous political time.

This is brilliant -- Spread this around. Well-said. So important to take time to THINK. So many people just blindly fall prey to the celebrity or the media clips...ugh. This is a tad long, but well-worth reading. - Ginger

http://www.timwise.org

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”


White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.


And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…


White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Added thoughts

I received a blog comment regarding my latest blog....So I have some more things to say about it.

A) I do NOT think that all Republican ideals are wrong.
B) I do NOT think that all Democratic ideals are right.
C) I do NOT think that ALL REPUBLICANS are bad people.
D) I do NOT think that ALL DEMOCRATS are good people.

We all have to keep in mind that the game of politics is slimy, no matter what party you align with. But, the point in my last blog was about how well the Republican party has manufactured its identity, using behind-the-scenes tactics, by involving itself with illegal activity or by allowing itself to be aligned with dictators or countries with major human rights abuses, but then turns around and tells the American public that it's the "Christian" party.

And ya know, this also happens in Decmocratic administrations. President Clinton really pushed for trade with China -- a country who breaks severe human rights codes and who does not give freedom to its people. And now that very country owns us!

But the propoganda in running a campaign is so incredibly transparent! I mean, McCain's speech the other day was full of it! For example, he said "My opponant will close trade opportunities. I will open more trade opportunities!" Well, that makes no sense: a) Obama has advisors on his staff who worked in the Clinton and Bush administrations who advise him on China Foreign Affairs policy...people who PUSHED TO OPEN THAT TRADE! and b) If the Republicans want to act like the only Christ followers and the "true American Patriots" in this political arena, then stop giving our jobs to foreign countries who do not have democratic freedoms, do not have freedom of religion, do not have laws in place to protect its citizens from executions and the such...Stop telling us that if we don't support the war, then we are bad Americans and bad Christians. People, we have to start thinking about this! THat makes ZERO sense, but that propoganda has worked for years! They purposefully infiltrated the church community in this country so that they could tap into a well-organized and large group of people. They strategically did that! Strategy for winning....now we have millions and millions of church-goers who believe that to be a good Christian is to be a Republican. Hello??

Back to "My opponant will close trade opporunities"...Obama wouldn't stop trade with China. We're so deeply involved with them, we owe them trillions of dollars, and they manufacture all of our goods now. But the vast majority of Americans just hear the words "I will open trade, my opponant will close it!" They don't dig deeper. And political campaign advisers KNOW that the poeple will not think about it. They KNOW that asking Palin to the be the VP would strike a chord with people begause she is so dynamic and beautiful! Hell she was a beauty queen in Alaska for goodness sake! I mean good for her and good for her that she is so well-spoken and intelligent! But if the ol' Pres (assuming he wins..god help us...), kicks the bucket, Palin would be running this country??? HEllo! I don't care about having a dynamic speaker...I want a president and VP who are well rounded human beings with a ton of experience (which, granted, McCain certainly does have), but who also want to help us here in the U.S., regular folks. I believe that McCain will tow the Bush line too closely and that just doesn't work for the vast majority of the people in this country. The top one percent have made a lot of money in this administration, and the rest of us are drowning. So, I just can't stomach a McCain/Palin presidency.

And in my last blog I said "If McCain wins, I'm off to France for free health care, etc..." In the comment by a person about this, she says that the health care in other countries is so bad and you have no choices and it's not as good as ours. In India, maybe. In Mexico, yes. But...

Have you watched Sicko by M. Moore? You should if you haven't. Of course anyone doing a documentary has a point to make, and he certainly makes it without showing the other side's defense, but I tend to believe what he shows in the film.

I have actually been in hospitals in other countries (in Europe and down in New Zealand) and the care was excellent, the hospitals are VERY clean, nice, modern, up-to-date, efficient, actually quite nicer than ours and it cost us about $30....and that included the E.R., an I.V., medicine, everything. We had to go in an ambulance in New Zealand to the ER and I think we paid $130...that's because we weren't citizens of the country. We would have paid NOTHING if we were citizens of New Zealand. But as a citizen of the US, without insurance, that would have been well over $2000 in our country. So...I think the idea that Canada and Europe or places with socialized medicine receive worse care and have no choices is just propoganda --- which makes my point about how little we know about what goes on behind the scenes (i.e Lobbying, Political Hit Men, Insurance Companies, and so on...and it happens in BOTH paries). This has been the norm for a long long time, and seems like it happens more under Repub administrations...It's run so privately and secretly. UGH!!!

Obama has a few former lobbyists in his campaign staff, but he is more-than-anything reaching out to people outside of Washington: acedemics, professionals, and the so forth. I hope that if he wins, he is able to function more in this capacity than being forced to function the way it has been all of these years...Anyway, I'm getting off the subject.

Anyway, back to health care outside of the US...

I am a US citizen, but almost always wait to have my annual check-ups and dental work until I'm working overseas. That way I can actually afford it and it's just as top-notch as here AND I had an entire phone book of doctors to choose from...

Now, I do have to say that the Italian service and facilities are a tad third-world, but a lot of their systems are. But that's ITALY specifically. Even still it wasn't too bad, just not as good as say Germany, Switzerland, US, etc. As a matter of fact, the hospital facilities in Italy were like going to a ghetto clinic on that "other side of town" here in the U.S., but the hospitals in Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, were like going to something like Grey's Anatomy minus the drama and the one in Switzerland was an awesome building, architecturally. The people were smart, helpful, knowledgable and they were REAL DOCTORS and NURSES. The propoganda we hear about how awful health care is in these countries is a riot! It's almost as if Oz behind the curtain up there on Capital Hill makes us imagine roaches roaming the halls, scattering at the feet of some Frankenstein-esque nim-wit so-called-doctor with one eye and fecal matter on his hands. Let me tell ya, there aren't many hospitals in this country that I would feel comfortable licking the floor (not as if I go around and lick floors on a regular basis), but the ones I've been to in other countries like Switzerland or New Zealand...well, if I had the urge to lick a floor, I'd do it there and not at many other places I've seen. I'm not dogging our system of hospitals, because we do have top-notch facilities and some of the best doctors in the world, for that I am so thankful! We really do -- as long as you can afford it.

Anyway, I wish more people could get sick in Europe and have to head to a hospital! Ha...no no, I don't wish illness on anyone! But take it from a person who travels a lot and trust me when I say...I KNOW THAT THE SYSTEM WORKS VERY WELL over there, as it is here. But these specific foreign systems take care of the people without burying them so deeply in debt that they can't really afford to live comfortably anymore. I don't know if we can ever change our health care system to make it more affordable for our citizens. And no I don't want it to lower in standards. But if you really know about the systems in Scandinavia, Europe, England...the standards aren't any lower than ours. The choices are actually there. And they do some great medical research. It's just silly for us to think that private equals better. That's not always the case. But lobbies and marketing firms, alongside some politicians have done a great job making us believe so.

I LOVE AMERICA so much and wish we could get back to a more honest approach to taking care of our citizens and I wish that we could shake off all of the slimy politicians (on both sides of the isle) and start to believe again in those who want to lead us. I happen to believe in Obama and I hope you do to.

Ciao - Ginger

Transparent McCain Chess Move

History and Future are having a wrestling match (or is it a waltz?) atop the mound of a freshly dug grave that houses America's Constitution and its bright and inspired founders. Oh how they must be turning in that grave, clinging to those hemp-papers, wondering what the hell happened to the leaders who are "leading" us so far estray.

I just read the most incredible article in August's Harpers Magazine which speaks about how militant the young Republicans were in the early 1980's. These buttoned-up smarties lead by Gordon Norquist and JACK ABROMOFF (A federal judge has sentenced disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to four years in prison. Associated Press Today) took an entrepreneurial approach to Republicanism/Conservatism which has been the downfall of that party and our entire political system at large. I mean, really...they got money from private donors to fund their organizations that were all set up to do things like defund Liberal organizations and programs, set up to back "leaders" (actually terrorists or dictators) like Jonas Savimbi in Africa (google him), and to organize themselves to obliterate (not hold hands across the isle) the left or any other opponent. There was the organization called International Freedom Foundation with joint leadership in South Africa - which held a conference in that country joined by Savimbi, Nicaraguan Contras, Afghan mujahedeen, and American tycoons. When the general public and Congress began questioning the relationship with a nation supporting Apartheid, rather than back away from that relationship, Abromoff and clan instead starting to tarnish the reputations of those who took issue with Apartheid (Nelson Mandela, Ted Kennedy for example). Another fine example of this is when the Iran-Contra scandal happened in 1983-84. If you don't recall what happened, it was basically that Reagan's CIA was waging a secret war on the Sandista Government in Nicaragua - claiming they were "commies". In 1983, the Democratically run U.S. Congress cut off funding to the CIA for this project. I mean, we were technically at peace with the country of Nicaragua, so secretly attacking their government wasn't really justified, nor ethical. Anyway, Oliver North didn't let that stop him, rather he sold arms to IRAN and used private donor money to send weapons to the Contras (a gorilla group against the Sandistas). Folks like Abromoff and another severe cut-throat slimy lobbyist named Spitz Channell hopped on the opportunity to make some serious coin! Channell himself became an incredibly wealthy man when he involved himself in raising these funds. I believe that out of $12,000,000 about $2.5 mil of that actually made it to the hands of the Contras. He became the top fund-raiser in Washington. His favorite targets were conservative, wealthy widows. He showed them a video about the Sandistas in Nicaragua made by Ollie North himself. Preying on their fears worked! And it still does! Even later, Abramoff made more money by selling the Ollie video tape to a large number of supporters. This was even after Oliver North got in so much trouble and all was exposed.

It's just slimy. And it's all for profit. And still is. But the strange thing is that all of these players called "The Sons of Reagan" are still in the game, many of them behind bars, some of them in highly appointed or elected positions, or some still lobbying and consulting Right-wing politicians who call themselves God-fearing Patriots. I wonder if anyone has noticed that scratchy wool rubbing on their eyeballs. I mean, how can you NOT?

McCain claims to be an outsider, anti-lobbyist, honest guy. Well, he might be a nice man with a beautiful and patriotic story, but that doesn't give him any distance at all from these Republican Operatives who still work the scene today. He claims to be anti-lobbyist but has 40 "former" lobbyists in his campaign staff. Obama, granted, has a couple as well. You pretty much cannot function in D.C. without them. But McCain pretends! He constantly pretends. I don't know about you, but it seems to me mighty clear that he is playing chess with this election. His sly move bringing in Palin as his V.P. nominee wasn't so sly to me. It was outrageously transparent. And the odd grin on his odd face at the announcement was almost that of a man visiting a strip club for the first time. He didn't look as proud as he looked mischievous.

And the media!! THE FREAKIN' MEDIA is eating it up! If I sided with Republicans, I would be heart-broken at this move. But I don't, so I'm not heart-broken, more annoyed, flabbergasted, dumfounded, floored, and down-right offended by his decision. She's probably a great person, but is a worthless choice for V.P.

Now, to give us all a little laugh and a little cry, watch this video:



Watch the commentators at work. And we the people of America have been falling for this crap for so long. When does it stop? When will it stop? If McCain/Palin take office, I'm heading to France. Wanna come get some excellent and free health-care anyone? Want to run and hide your face anyone? Nah, McCain can't win this thing...no chance in Hell...OH WAIT I forgot, many people on his campaign staff are from the Bush group. He might just be able to swindle this deal. We shall see.

Between now and November, we must peacefully revolt by speaking out. We also must honor our rights as Americans and vote for the finest person at the stump, Barack Obama. I'm not saying he or any other Democrat is perfect by any means, but just point out ONE Jack Abramoff, one Oliver North, one Karl Rove, one G.W. in the Democratic party that has been so instrumental in raping Americans of their integrity, privacy, wealth, education, jobs, health, sanity, and I will sit down and listen. Then I will study and educate myself, because I DO believe in personal responsibility. It is each of ours and collectively we have to take action.

God Bless America!
-Ginger