Shades of gray…

The racial politics of this presidential race are truly distressing. When I hear about the racial epithets hurled at McCain/Palin rallies toward Obama and the prejudiced comments of the people who attend those rallies, it really upsets me.

Here’s my question. Why can’t people see through color and look at a person for who he or she is? Sure, Obama looks black, but he’s actually biracial — the product of a white mother and an African father. I can’t think of a better person to best represent the ethnic diversity that is part and parcel of the American experience. In his book Dreams of My Father, Obama explores what his background and upbringing have meant to him. This book, written long before he became a US Senator, is an honest and poetic look at feelings about identity.

When I look at Obama I don’t see color. I see an intelligent man who is willing to take on one of the hardest jobs in the world to make this a better place for us all.

While Obama has openly explored his identity, his opponent, John McCain hasn’t. McCain’s family owned slaves. He has black relatives. Every year the McCain family has an interracial family reunion in Teoc, Mississippi which McCain’s own brother, Joe attends.

Why then, allow race to enter into his campaign? Is McCain so afraid of where he’s come from? Why can’t he own his background?

There’s no debating…

Obama won hands down. His final remarks were about the American people not a ‘woe is me’ I’ve served for my country stump speech.

Even Fox News called the debate in favor of Obama.

For those of you with time on your hands, here’s a fun website (and hopefully something that will never ever ever become reality)… Run your mouse over the different things in the office…

Palinaspresident.com

Freudian Slip….

The other day while traveling, I saw a McCain/Palin sign. When I pointed it out to Doug, I accidentally said,

“Oh look, there’s a McAilin sign guess we must be back in conservative territory.“

Even though it was a freudian slip. my gaff sure made a lot of sense to both of us. Our now new name for the conservative duo kinda reminds me of an old happy meal that makes you sick to your stomach.

It’d be funny if it weren’t so damn scary….

Yes, these days I’ve taken the few minutes I have to blog to write about political things. This whole campaign from the Obama-Clinton race to now has been steeped with nothing but the best drama one can get for free. Since I don’t have a TV, this has been my entertainment.

Political manueuverings aside, it appears that McCain has already won the debate that he may supposedly attend tonight. Yep, that’s right. He already has an ad prepared that has gotten out in the blogosphere. (Unfortunately I don’t have the time to post it here right now…) Either way he looks really foolish calling the debate off and then calling it back on again. That level of decisiveness is something  I definitely want in a leader (<-sarcasm…)

I also love how McCain claims to be helping in Washington when it is his job as Senator! Hmmm. He missed 90% of his votes before but now sees it as imperative to get in on the action? It’s also strange that even though he missed so many votes in DC, according to People Magazine he wasn’t in Arizona much either. Where were you, then John???

I won’t even go into how living in a state next to Canada and across the Bering Strait from Russia is enough to qualify someone for VP. If this is all it takes, then I’d be a shoe-in because I’ve actually lived in both countries not to mention a few others.

What is the most amusing or scary thing about our political world for you right now????

Getting the word out there….

Check out this blog, Women Against Sarah Palin….

Vote….

PBS is doing an unofficial poll regarding whether or not Palin could be VP.

Two people have forwarded this to me in the past 24 hours.

It’s a small and easy way to get out there and show how awful Palin is.

Vote.

I couldn’t have said it better…

A friend just sent me this piece called Drill, Drill, Drill by Eve Ensler author of the Vagina Monologues. While my musings about Palin tend to be somewhat cynical and/or tongue in cheek, Ensler writes poignantly about Palin’s beliefs and what they could mean for our country.

Please click on the link and pass this along to all those you know! There are those of us who disliked Palin from the moment we heard her but there are a lot of people out there who are undecided or apathetic. Those are the people we most need to reach!

Caribou, Crabs & Bears oh my!

(This is a seriously abridged list of why I can’t stand Sarah Palin…)

5. Her interior design sense is seriously lacking. I mean can you imagine her entertaining heads of state in the VP mansion with caribou heads, dungeness crab & bear carcasses everywhere? (Photo from Huffington Post.)

4. I happen to like and see a need for natural history museums (where the carcasses of aforementioned animals would seem more appropriate) because I think dinosaurs did exist.

3. Can you imagine what anyone who feels threatened enough to issue a formal statement in response to a comment made by Matt Damon would do if a world leader looked at her crossed-eyed?

2. For Palin, travel abroad means going to the continental US.

1. I don’t trust anyone who thinks that they have an ‘in’ on what God’s will is. In some circles this is called delusional thinking.

From one mother to another…

Sarah Palin,

I can’t get over how you claim to be such a great mother yet you do things that a mother who really respected her kids never would do.

If I had a special needs infant, the last thing I would do is parade him around like a poster boy for family values. Putting your child in the spotlight in this way is crude. It doesn’t take his needs into account at all — it is simply a tool for your own gain.

Getting into a truck without putting your child in a car seat is also a no-no. I mean, you’d think that after having 4 kids you’d know the safety laws by now. Or, maybe you think you’re above the law?

Oh, and your abstinence training so obviously worked. At least you didn’t kick your daughter out of the house, but wouldn’t it have been better to teach her about safe and protected sex? I mean, can you imagine if her partner had had an STD? Condoms would not only have prevented her pregnancy (and becoming a target for the media, since, once again, you have placed your family in the spotlight) but they would also have ensured that whatever she was doing was safe. If you spent more time reading and less time lobbying for earmarked funds and hunting, you might realize that AIDS is a disease that is currently hitting the teenage population hard.

From one mother to another, I think you really need to walk the walk first before touting that you are for family values.

(I usually don’t post about political things in this blog overtly, but I feel that I have to. If McCain wins, there is a real chance that Palin will become President. The thought of this is enough for me to seriously consider moving to another country. The media is not really painting a realistic portrait of McCain’s running mate, mostly because it is owned by 4 major conservative-leaning corporations. The only way to really get the word out about the potential disaster that will happen if McCain and Co. wins is for each and every one of us to start openly expressing our views and exposing the half-truths and cover-ups that have come out as fact since the RNC.)

Metabo

I just read this article about the Japanese government setting guidelines for what is an appropriate waistline measurement and what is not.

Apparently, in an effort to decrease obesity-related diseases, or me-ta-bo for short, the government is making waist measurements mandatory. Fining companies that have employees that don’t comply.

Even though I think it’s great to have people think more carefully about their weight as it pertains to their health, it seems to be going a bit to far to have such strict rules about what is obese and what isn’t. I could totally see this turning into a nation-wide push for thinness that may lead to a greater amount of cases of anorexia. All too often my super thin Japanese students would tell me how overweight they were.

Also, what about people who are just naturally a little heavier and/or who have medical conditions that warrant the use of steroids/medications that are known to cause weight gain? I had several young students who were just naturally curvy. Who has the right to say that they have to lose weight? It all seems so unfair.

I’d love to hear how you weigh in on this issue.

Prices of things…

We’re apartment hunting and I can’t get over just how expensive things are in LA. Two bedroom apartments that look terrible are going for over $1300 per month. Gas prices have skyrocketed in the past 2 weeks from $3.79/gallon to $4.50/gallon. And, of course, the public transportation system is so iffy here that we have to drive almost everywhere (one of the things I really miss about the westside, in fact).

What price woes matter to you these days???

Bless & Curse

To the nice African-American lady (who has had 8 kids) that I met in the CVS pharmacy the other day:

Bless you! Thank you so much for affirming that my howling child is not being abused. Is not sick. Is not injured. Yes, she was just throwing a tantrum the likes of which many parents probably have never seen.

I want to hug you.

To the pharmacist who also has a 3 month old & kept saying that something was wrong:

You are lucky your kid doesn’t scream. But that’s not my child. She’s loud. She has a strong personality. She hates being in the stroller. Stop judging me.

I so wish I could bitch-slap you.

Get a load of this…(Breastfeeding at 8)

So, the other day I was looking up something about getting babies to sleep better and came across this video on Youtube.

What’s this kid gonna do when she hits puberty? I mean, is she going to nurse at mom’s breast every time a boy breaks up with her?

What do you all think about this????

Memory & Politics

Ok. As my pregnancy progresses to the point where kiddo could come any day now, I have found that I forget almost everything…

Last week I left my wallet in a restaurant. Something I have never ever done.

This week I mixed up my job schedule and got a call asking why I wasn’t working. I had written down the wrong date. Again something I have never done before.

But oddly enough, my political memory is still largely intact.

See, there are just some things I can’t forget about.

I remember, for example, when the vote to give Bush authority to go into Iraq was going on. I spent a few weeks emailing every single Senator and quite a few representatives asking them not to enter into the war.

That’s just one thing I remember.

And I also remember the few (barely handful) of politicos who stood up to the administration. Who actually had enough guts to either vote with their conscience or at least speak up honestly even if they were not part of our national legislature.

For me, this election is not about race, it’s not about gender.

It’s about remembering.

(And, as a memory refresher, check out this great op-ed from Colbert I. King of the Washington Post.)

Weighty Matters

It all began with my dad calling me plump and juicy when I was little. Until I hit puberty, I was chubby (unlike most of the other girls who seemed to lose their baby fat once they hit third grade). Then, the opposite happened – at age 13 all those curves melted away (except for my hips) and I was the short, flat-chested girl with straight lines. Then, instead of saying how nice I looked my dad would say “You look like a boy. You’re not supposed to see ribs on a girl!”

These conflicting messages ensured that I would probably never be comfortable inside of my own body. How I longed for the day when I thought things would change and that I would feel happy to be whatever shape I was.

This has yet to happen.

Even pregnant, the body image issues I have battled all my life seem to magically rear their ugly heads (or in my case, hips!). I always thought that it would be so wonderful to have a socially-approved-of-belly and that I wouldn’t have to worry about how much I weighed or how big I was.

This still has yet to happen.

Maybe it is because I got pregnant just before getting married and my fears of showing in my dress (which I of course, did – I was showing quite early). Maybe it was because we wanted to wait to tell people we were expecting until after the wedding. Whatever it was for the first 3 months of my pregnancy I felt heavy, fat and bloated.

Something inside of me, though, told me that my issues would probably pass once I hit the second trimester. Showing would be wonderful. This would’ve been the case if I hadn’t of had gestational diabetes and had to go see the dietician (who just so happens to be a very small middle-aged Chinese lady with a slight build).

Our conversation went something like this:

Her: Oh, you are overweight.

Me: I know I’ve gained weight in the past few years because of stress, but I’m well within the parameters for my height.

Her (checking off the Overweight box on my intake form): Oh no. You are overweight. I am the same height, and even though I have smaller bones, you should weigh 120 lbs. pre-pregnancy.

Me: I have weighed that much before. I was anorexic and size 3 clothes hung on me. I’m not genetically wired to weigh that little.

Her (ignoring my comment about an eating disorder): That is your ideal weight.

This is a medical professional? Every time I go into this office to have my glucose levels evaluated, it’s a similar conversation. I’m almost in my sixth month, and have only gained about 5-6 pounds so far. How on earth — if all my pregnancy books say I should have gained about 11 — can that be too much?

I also love the fact that her scale magically reads my weight as being 2 lbs. heavier than my OBGYN’s. I had an appointment with both of them the same day – the dietician being right after the doctor. I asked her how I could’ve gained 2 lbs. in the course of an hour. Part of me wonders if their scale is off just to be able to lord their non-pregnant, genetically-predispositioned-to-be-thin figures over me and make their patients feel bad.

There is little positive about these visits.

Trying to ignore this does take some energy and hard work, though.

In truth, I unless I have an appointment with these nurses, I feel happy with my belly and size. I am eating well and exercising. I know that I’m carrying high and that my belly will show a little more than some other women.

And that’s just the way it is.

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