Montyland

Good piece on The Huffington Post by Rob Thomas regarding being a straight ally to the gay community vis Prop 8; I think he sums it up pretty well:

A civil union has to do with death. It’s essentially a document that gives you lower taxes and the right to let your faux spouse collect your insurance when you pass away. A marriage is about life. It’s about a commitment. And this argument is about allowing people to have the right to make that commitment, even if it doesn’t make sense to you. Anything else falls under the category of “separate but equal” and we know how that works out.

George Orwell would be proud [see: Animal Farm - "all animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others"]. As would John Hodgman: 

I have confidence that, in no short order, Prop 8 will be repealed, and the gay marriage debate will look as absurd at the miscegenation debates of the 20th century do now. I have confidence this will happen not because it is merely right, or because the electorate will suddenly love gayness, but because opposition to gay marriage has no logical foundation in a civil society that is premised on equality.

I seriously can’t quote that often enough; it is the fundamental bottom-line, and this silly Prop 8 would go away in a second if all the folks who claim to love this country and the freedoms it stands for were to suddenly awaken to their collective hypocrisy… anyway, read Thomas’ piece:

Rob Thomas: The Big Gay Chip on My Shoulder.

If you aren’t familiar with Seth Godin, his work relates to the shift in communication paradigms brought on by the world wide web, best summed up by his 2008 book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

Give yourself a treat and watch his 17 min. presentation at TED from this past February, embedded below.

Massachusetts Labor Leaders Write to Obama Urging Passage of HR 676 | Greater Southeastern Massachusetts Labor Council.

A very well written letter that I think appropriately critiques The Massachusetts Plan (for those of you not living there, from there, or unaware of the health insurance situation, MA implemented a mandatory health insurance law a couple of years ago) as ineffective. I applaud the labor leaders who collaborated to draft this letter, which I hope and trust that Obama will take quite seriously.

Full disclosure: my brother is one of the signatories, on behalf of the AEEF-CWA Local 1300. You go, Joe!

I’ve become a rabid fan of Paul Krugman in the last six months. What’s not to like: he’s an economist who knows what he’s talking about; he a liberal; he has a Nobel Prize.

He wrote a must-read open letter to incoming President Obama (can we drop that useless “elect” modifier yet?!) for Rolling Stone (the print version – an easier, one-page read is here: http://tinyurl.com/6t6uzf)

You might want to be sitting down when you read it….

I’m inclined to agree with Mr. Krugman: President Obama should first rescue the economy – by ensuring that banks which receive bailout money have a Federal mandate to lend that money to consumers and small businesses– and then he should usher in the era of a universal healthcare system.

I wish I could elaborate or expound upon these points, but I really can’t. First, I believe Mr. Krugman explains it better than I could, so I defer to his fine text (it’s not a short piece, but worth the read). Second, I haven’t the time – since, in the middle of my twentieth consecutive month of unemployment, I must prioritize my morning and get moving on job application #198 … (no kidding, I’ve been keeping count).

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for tweeting this post from Psychology Today (PT): “Women Have Better Things To Do Than Make Money (Part II).”

The author, Satoshi Kanazawa, wrote a two-part piece looking at discrepancies in salaries along gender lines from an evolutionary standpoint. Well written piece, even though I whole heartedly disagree with his premise. My response, just posted to the comments section on the PT blogs:

While it’s true that there are differences between genders, the vast majority of “difference” is largely attributed to a much out-dated value system that continues to view female attributes (or anything presumed to be feminine) as less-than, or of lesser value (either monetarily or inherently), than that which is masculine or male.
It is not that men seek achievement in their work, but rather that they live in a culture that continues to tell men that they should seek such achievement, and that such achievement is their means of having value (and gaining not only a salary but the attention of women); this is the same culture that perpetuates a billion-dollar pornography industry and continues to tell women that their only means of having value within the culture is through the use of their body and sexuality.
It is not, as Mr. Browne puts it, that “many jobs that pay higher wages require their occupants to work longer hours…or work in dangerous and unpleasant conditions” but rather that men are raised in a culture that teaches us not to complain about such conditions – lest we be labeled “wimps”, or worse: women.
And it is not that “women are unwilling to pay the price and make the necessary sacrifices” but rather that they’ve come to understand nobody should be treated in an inhumane way just because you’re providing a salary.
With no intended disrespect to Mr. Kanazawa, nor disregard to the field of evolutionary psychology (which has many good things to teach us), it seems a bit reckless to analyze the monetary realities of our current culture from an evolutionary perspective without putting in context or calling into question the cultural imperatives that continue to reinforce and exalt masculine identity at the expense of equality.

Only in America would the start of shopping season be a holiday; and only in America would the day result in death…

Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store – cnn.com:
http://tinyurl.com/6p2z6e

OMFG! What have we become, people? The death of a person would be tragic under a variety of conditions: disease, accident caused by someone else’s negligence, or domestic violence. But for a man to lose his life, at the age of 34, because of rabid, deal-crazed, shoppers?! That goes beyond tragic and into the pathetic and unconscionable.

O.k., now I was raised in this country, which means I was raised to be a consumer, and a capitalist. And sure, I’ve had things – material things – that I’ve wanted over the years (and certainly, with my own belt-strings being pulled tight this past year and a half due to the rotten employment situation, the “wants” list has grown longer). But never – ever – in my life can I remember, nor envision, there being something I needed or would want that would cause me to stampede to the extent that other people got injured, not to mention killed.

This is behavior that we expect from wild animals living in the open plain or forest when fire breaks out or there is a predator nearby; this is not behavior I expect from other members of my own race.

Shameful. My heart is very heavy with hurt tonight.

I’m re-posting here a link I put up on Tumblr earlier today, linking to AdBusters‘ page on Neil Boorman’s interesting video piece on “The Good Consumer.” His piece is stark, ironic, and haunting. He provides a good “big picture” analysis of the psychological underpinnings (and perhaps consequences) to our dependability on a consumer-driven world economy (and national/social identity).

Buy Nothing Day

Need I say  more?

Congressman Jim Marshall (D-GA), in a commentary on CNN today, says:

“Deep down, we all know that a financial rescue is necessary. I voted for the plan that was defeated today because, to paraphrase Rep. Spencer Bachus, I’m unwilling to play Russian roulette with the financial lives of my children and grandchildren. Although the bill was imperfect and wildly unpopular, I believed that those of us in Congress needed to suck it up, vote for it and let the chips fall where they may.”

This is what’s wrong with Congress at the moment, both Democrat and Republican; they say they don’t want to “play Russian roulette” and yet they’re willing to “vote for it and let the chips fall where they may?!”For goodness’ sake, show some leadership; sit down, roll up your sleeves, figure out a viable solution that doesn’t give tax breaks to the very people who have derided taxation and gov’t intervention for the last thirty years. Do your #$^&ing job in other words.

We are in this process of American roulette these days. We are victims of our own greed and lack of participation in the process of the very democracy that runs our lives. This is a real mess, it deserves a real solution, not just throwing money at the problem. 

How do you fix an engine while it’s still running? Do you fix a flat with the car still in motion? No, you pull over to the side of the road, turn off the engine, and go to work. This is what we need to do as a Nation. It means that some people will not reap tremendous profits for a few days, weeks, months. So be it; we always talk about sacrifice for our country in terms of losing one’s life in a war; it’s time to think of lower level (but still honorable) sacrifice to the tune of putting the needs of the Nation above those of ones individual financial or corporate profit.

Today has been a banner day for me in terms of integrity. I received a final judgement from the Wisconsin DWD (Department of Workforce Development) regarding a challenge they made to one of my weekly statements.

To the uninitiated, that is those who’ve never had the misfortune of losing a job and of collecting unemployment compensation from their state of residency, every week you’re required to file a claim. Among other things, you verify that you’ve actively looked for work, and that you have neither received compensation from any other source (a job, an employer, vacation pay, etc.) or have not refused and offer of work.

This past week, I was accused of the latter.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I take my integrity very seriously. They also know that I’m not one to lie, especially not on official documents or in matters where said integrity carries weight and the violation thereof carries great consequences. So, the State of Wisconsin telling me that I’d “lied” to them about not refusing an offer of work was no small matter to me; I was being called a liar under circumstances where I specifically go out of my way to dot all the “i”’s and cross all the “t”’s in order to make sure that what I submit represents the truth.

For a few days, it seemed that it came down to a matter of syntax; what had transpired between myself and an employment agency had, according to my understanding, constituted a job “lead” – something that could lead to an employer being interested in me, an interview, and an eventual job offer – not a job offer itself.

I’m happy to report that the final decision has come down, and the State agrees with me, saving me the hassle of having to appeal a “guilty” decision, as I surely would have; what else would I do if my integrity were so challenged.

But, I find this event in my life to be timed quite interestingly with the events transpiring on the national stage. Even today, on the Today Show, they ran a segment called “Silver Lining in Economic Woes”. The segment outlined ways that you can save and “even make money” during these hard economic times. In other words, how to profit from the misfortunes of others. Isn’t this exactly how we got into this mess in the first place?

Whether it’s the politicos pushing the pluses and minuses of the 700 billion buyout, or the dozens of talking heads on TV and the web decrying “how to survive these tough economic times”, it seems to me that we are missing the larger picture here; watching this country wrestle with the current economic crisis is like attending an AA meeting where everyone is drinking alcohol: we all know there’s a problem, but we can’t seem to give up getting a good buzz.

At the heart of this current economic crisis is the American character itself. Where and when did we go from a nation of like-minded citizens, concerned with representation, justice, and equality, to a hodgepodge mixture of individuals focused on looking out for #1 even if it means profiting financially by preying on the misfortune, naiveté, fear, or utter desperation of others? What is it about our daily lives that we stand by while the American experience is reduced to the lowest common denominator of how can you accumulate more than your neighbor, or win an election at all costs (even if it means misrepresenting the character of the opposition), or pursuing a doomed foreign policy to the brink of war and beyond (even if it means propagating faulty intelligence presented to your own nation even as it was reeling from the PTSD of 9/11)?

I was thinking about this today, as I pulled my car through the labyrinth of the UW Hospital parking ramp, on my way home from a job interview. As I proceeded across a straight-away, a car in front of me, coming from the intersecting down ramp, pulled right in – nearly hitting me, without signaling or acknowledging me at all.

I, of course, under the law had right of way. But right of way, or the law for that matter, doesn’t seem to matter much to most Americans these days.

I was doing some spring cleaning today, thinning down my book collection (as much as I hate to get rid of books, I really need more empty space in my life at the moment), and I pulled Elia Kazan’s biography off the shelf for the first time in years; I found the following passage highlighted on a page, in the chapter talking about the first production of Death Of A Salesman:

“The Christian faith of this God-fearing civilization says we should love our brother as ourselves. [Arthur] Miller’s story tells us that actually – as we have to live –we live by an opposite law, by which the purpose of life is to get the better of your brother, destroying him if necessary, yes, by in effect killing him.”

Since I highlighted it, clearly it resonated with me back in ‘93 during grad school, and sadly it resonates even more today, especially with the current economic crisis. When, one wonders, will this culture wake up to the poisonous nature of capitalism and what it does to our human nature? When will we be able to engender a true sense of cooperation amongst enough of us that the din of “get ahead”, “look out for #1″, “the one with the most toys wins” mentality will finally be drowned out I wonder…