Democratic Diva

I have spent the last two weeks absolutely sick to my stomach reading and listening to the news of Israel’s attack and invasion of Gaza.  I’ve never heard a rational explanation of the United States carte blanche approval of any move Israel makes, regardless of how it affects other countries in the region and the world.  I also can’t seem to figure out why the vast majority of American media outlets are painting such a favorable picture of Israel and such a terrible picture of Hamas.

America says we want to spread democracy.  But the problem with democracy (and the wonderful thing about democracy) is that the people don’t always vote how you want them to.  Hamas, regardless of how we feel about them, is a democratically elected political party.  How would we as Americans feel if the European Union said “we don’t like democrats, and therefore since the people of the US have elected democrats to run the government, we will no longer recognize America as a sovereign nation?”  In effect, this is what America and Israel have done with Gaza.  “We don’t like that you elected Hamas, and therefore we no longer recognize your government’s right to rule.”  The fact of the matter is that the Palestinian people have spoken, and if we really do believe in democracy, we need to accept Hamas as the ruling party, at least until the next election.  That’s how it works.

For the past 2 years, Israel has violated the cease fire agreement with Hamas.  They have shot farmers while tending their lands.  They have strangled the area to the point where even humanitarian aid can hardly make it to the citizens.   Citizens of Gaza (not necessarily members of Hamas) fought back.  Israel has used their retaliation as an excuse to go to war.  And because of it, people are dying.

Israel is acting like a schoolyard bully.  Except instead of a bloody nose and stolen lunch money, children are being murdered in their homes and losing limbs in the streets.  Morgues are so full they can no long accept dead bodies.  By last count, 9 Israelis have died in this “incident”.  500 Palestinians have died, many of them innocent civilians.  Israel’s response is on par with calling out the swat team with automatic weapons to stop the kid next door from throwing rocks over the fence.

Israel’s justifications would be laughable if the outcome weren’t dead children.  Israel says “Hamas is using human shields.”  Translation: Hamas officials are cohabitating with their spouses and children, and when their houses are bombed, the innocents die with them.  Israel says “we gave warning to the innocent civilians that we were going to bomb and they should flee the area, but they stayed behind.”  But then they blocked off the borders so the civilians had nowhere to run.  Why not tell the fish in your tank that you are planning to start fishing and they should flee.  How will they escape?

I’m not saying Hamas is blameless.  I’m just saying that Israel’s response is absolutely inappropriate.  It is a human rights violation to every single citizen of Gaza.  It’s time to talk diplomacy.  War is not the answer.  It wasn’t the answer for Iraq.  It certainly hasn’t solved any problems in Afghanistan.  And it isn’t and won’t solve any problems between Israel and Palestine.  If Israel thinks that killing civilians is going to do anything other than breed a new generation of Palestinians who think Israel should be put down, they are dreaming.  Just as America has created more terrorists than we have stopped by our invasions and occupations in the Middle East, so Israel is creating more “terrorists” who hate Israel by this incursion in Gaza.

It is time for a cease fire agreement that BOTH parties stick to (I’m looking at you, Israel).

Here’s a couple of articles that paint a pretty bleak picture:

•  Foreign Policy Journal
• Press TV
• World Socialist Web Site
• USA Today
• USA Today
• USA Today

Cooling my heels at the gorgeous Rancho La Puerta Spa in Baja California, Mexico.  My generous older sis is springing for 3 days.  I’ve never been to a luxury spa before and they honest-to-God put cucumbers on my eyes while I got an herbal wrap.  It’s only the second day and I’ve been massaged and poked and prodded and Pilate-d and yoga-d until I can barely move. 

I’m sure this all for the best but I’m really missing my Diet Pepsi, wine, and smokes.  Especially the smokes.  They don’t allow smoking anywhere on the premises, the fascists.  I don’t smoke that much, like 3 to 4 a day but there’s something about being kept from the occasion of sin that makes a Diva wanna sin so badly, ya know?   I am SO plotting to nip off for an illicit Marlboro but the problem is that the very friendly and solicitous staff members watch us like hawks.  And there’s like a brazillion of them.  Just stand there for a second looking like you don’t quite know where you are and some unctious little khaki clad spa minion will be beside him/herself to escort you to your destination.  Plus, I’m sure they look at me and just know I’m up to no good.   Nerts. 

Oh well, tomorrow I will hike, take a cooking lesson, and get an aromatherapy pedicure, while continuing to hatch my AWOL smoking scheme.    I’ll keep the Worldwide Web posted on my progress. 

Speaking of which, Fred Barlam, the pere of Web design whiz Adam who advertises on this here site, has a new blog of his very own.  Fred’s a fellow Ahwatukee-an and his pithy LTTEs and columns are frequently found in East Valley newspapers.  His expertise is education and he’s definitely schooled the Dems of LD20 about it.  As you can see, he’s already got some great stuff up so give him some love over at DemocraticDad.com

Hasta la noche, muchachas y muchachos!

Who’s going to D.C. for the inauguration?

We’ve been catching up with friends and family in England and a lot of our discussions turn towards our next trip in a couple of weeks - to D.C. for Obama’s inauguration. We didn’t get around to buying tickets for a ball, but we’re hoping to get tickets to the inauguration from our newest elected Dem - Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (*fingers crossed*).

I’m a little apprehensive about the D.C. temperatures, especially after having experienced Paris and London at freezing temps. I’m sure it’ll all be worth it, though.

I know a few dems who are going to the inauguration - what are your plans?

Happy New Year, y’all!

A friend sent me this Pew Political IQ Quiz today. You can see how you stack up against 1000 Americans Pew queried in a scientific survey back in early December. Of course I got 100% because I’m a Divalicious dork who rabidly keeps abreast of current events. It’s pretty basic stuff, like what party controls, and who wields the gavel in the House of Representatives. I’m sure most readers of this blog will have no trouble getting a high score.

When you’re done with the quiz, take a gander at the Pew report on the official poll. I was pleasantly surprised to see that 87% of respondents correctly ID’d Senator Hillary Clinton as the Sec’y of State nominee. However, I was disheartened to note that less than half knew where the Dow stands or how many US troops have been killed in Iraq. And while I’d normally be inclined to give them a pass on the Hungarian-surnamed President of France, he IS married to a supermodel who has appeared on Letterman so I don’t understand what happened there (only 38% correctly identified Sarkozy).

Overall, I think randomly selected Americans did better than I expected, considering the deplorably low bar set for basic civics knowledge in this country. I should also point out that knowing names and numbers is not the same as understanding the underlying concepts of domestic, foreign, and economic policies. At the same time, it’s a safe bet that a person who doesn’t know what Nancy Pelosi does (28% don’t), probably couldn’t explain the role of Congress or the separation of powers either. Still, knowledge of current affairs seems to have increased (at least in my observation) and I attribute it to an historic election season and this unheralded financial crisis. Seriously, on a recent visit to Big O tires to get a flat replaced, the conversation in the waiting room was about deregulation and credit default swaps!

But don’t think we activists don’t have work to do. The stats that really bummed me out were that women did worse than men and that young people did poorly overall. A lot more men than women knew where the Dow was and 18-29 year olds answered fewer than half the questions right, on average. That’s alaming, and indicative of a dearth of outreach to some pretty important Dem constituencies. Obviously, too many of the people most vulnerable to the excesses of conservative government and laissez faire economics don’t feel that knowing what’s going on is important to them.

It was “The Power of Yes”.  That was the slogan of WaMu a few years ago, when they were going gangbusters writing sketchy mortgages to unqualified borrowers.  The sordid saga is related in this NYT article, but some conservatives will still not let go of the blame-Democrats-and-poor-people fable they’ve constructed to explain how this mess cannot be the fault of Trickle Down bubblenomics, rampant deregulation, and greedheads looking to make a quick buck. 

Whatever.

During Mr. Killinger’s tenure, WaMu pressed sales agents to pump out loans while disregarding borrowers’ incomes and assets, according to former employees. The bank set up what insiders described as a system of dubious legality that enabled real estate agents to collect fees of more than $10,000 for bringing in borrowers, sometimes making the agents more beholden to WaMu than they were to their clients.

WaMu gave mortgage brokers handsome commissions for selling the riskiest loans, which carried higher fees, bolstering profits and ultimately the compensation of the bank’s executives. WaMu pressured appraisers to provide inflated property values that made loans appear less risky, enabling Wall Street to bundle them more easily for sale to investors.

Imagine that. I’m sure we’ll soon learn that Democratic legislators, aided and abetted by ACORN, under the auspices of the Community Reinvestment Act, coerced WaMu to engage in those risky loans.  Any minute now. 

Sorry for the light posting recently. I rode the light rail on Saturday and will post pictures and more about the experience when I figure out how to download from my new camera and have a little more time. Hope everyone is having happy holidays. If I didn’t already invite you on facebook, come join me for my first annual 39th birthday party at Switch at 6:30 tonight.

Hello folks, just wanted to drop a quick line to say happy holidays. My husband and I are visiting family in London and are heading to Rome tomorrow. Internet access for Krista has been a little shabby and not the highest on her list of priorities. However, I’m taking notes from my father-in-law on his volunteering for Democrats Abroad here in England and will try to tell you all about it when I have a bit more time. The ex-pats in England were working their darndest to send votes Obama’s way in November, and it’s been interesting to hear about. Obama is still on the minds of the British - we met up with one of my friends yesterday, and he had a lot of questions and comments about the election. Then, when we went to Carols by Candlelight at the Royal Albert Hall last night, the conductor brought up all the change over the last year, including our new President. The entire hall was cheering about that. It’s a lot different from our last visit, when Brits were bombarding us with commentary about how horrible Bush was and how could Americans have voted for him. I’d say we’re in a good place. Enjoy your holiday, and everyone enjoy shopping tomorrow.