Simple Decency
John Mc Ginley on Huffington Post says what should have been the first word, but in the political mudfight we call our national debate, simple decency got lost.
Don’t open this at work, because he lists some of the names we should stop calling people. I’ll just quote this excerpt…
People with Special Needs — and their families — do not need any help to make their lives “a little more challenging.” They already have plenty on their plate, thank you very much. And the last thing that any Special Needs family wants is to be assaulted with the R-word. It is already an uphill battle!
Dignity is inherent to the human condition. An individual’s dignity is not only an entitlement. It is a fundamental quality that distinguishes each of us and lends an informed significance to everything that we do. And any time a person’s dignity is stomped on, it is wrong! The R-word robs people with Special Needs of their dignity. And it is time to stop.
I think he might be a Unitarian, or at least might have been hanging out at coffee hour.
And here I want to thank Trig Palin, who though still in his infancy has served his country well. During the presidential campaign, when his mother was taking him out to huge noisy gatherings, exposing him to people who might have had colds, keeping irregular hours and traveling constantly– I feared he might get sick. We usually try to keep newborns away from those conditions.
After the first few weeks, Sarah Palin was emerging as more of a liability than an asset to John McCain. It’s a commonplace for politicians to use ‘time with the family’ as a way of getting out of untenable situations. I really worried for Trig. I thought the October Surprise might be a switch from Sarah Palin to Condoleeza Rice. I think it might have worked.
Anyway, the most recent photo I saw shows the little guy looking very healthy and rosy-cheeked. I hope he has a good, long and happy life. And I’d extend that wish to all America’s children, because how we treat our children is a measure of our worth as a nation.
And John Mc Ginley’s post about the ‘worth and dignity of every human being’ is a discussion we should continue.
Valuing Himself
If the name ‘Levi Johnston’ rings a bell with you, you might be guilty of reading the ‘tabs’ when you’re stuck in line at the supermarket.
Unlike the women in the ‘spas’, he is not risking arrest for selling sex, because it’s ‘Playgirl’ magazine. Rumors are it’s the Full Monty. It’s art. Or literature. Or gender-studies research. Or a political manifesto. Or a triumph of marketing. God bless America. Enjoy your fifteen minutes Levi, eventually you are going to have to get a job.
A Valuable Family
Politician’s children are in the public eye whether they want to be or not. It’s not fair, of course, that a teenage mother and father can’t work out their lives in privacy. On the other hand, Bristol Palin and Levi Johnson are likely to start their new lives with at least $100,000 from whichever magazine wins the bidding war for the baby pictures.
They’re going to need it — neither one has completed high school. This would normally be an obstacle to any kind of decent job. Kids in that situation are usually lucky to be serving french fries or washing floors. Along Branch Avenue you may see people walking with young children and their groceries–no car and the public transportation doesn’t run often enough.
So yes, I’m hard on Sarah Palin, the candidate of family values, self-sufficiency, religion and tax cuts. Especially when it looks like her family gets special privileges while others in the same situation struggle to survive and are disparaged for being poor. This is from Alaska’s newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News…
Have you noticed how our governor seems to have convinced herself only some of the rules apply to her?
This attitude was really at the heart of Troopergate. It also allows her to do things like take cash from the state for spending more than 300 nights in her own home in Wasilla.
Now it appears the governor may have found a new way to skirt the rules. How is it possible that the governor’s soon-to-be son-in-law, Levi Johnston, is working as an apprentice on the North Slope?
The governor, in trying to dispel rumors the father of her grandchild is a high school dropout, released this statement this past week,
“Levi is continuing his online high school work in addition to working as an electrical apprentice on the North Slope.”
But federal regulations require all members of apprentice programs, union or otherwise, to first obtain a high school diploma, something the governor’s soon-to-be son-in- law does not have.
The article goes on to say that a similar apprenticeship program has a waiting list of 100 applicants. None of them, I’m guessing, have the right connections to jump the line.
There’s nothing unusual about teenage parents, and being pro-choice I respect Bristol’s decision to have and raise her baby. It’s natural that her mother would do anything possible to help her. But ordinary teenagers are living in a completely different world than the Palins. Sarah Palin is cutting the safety net from under the ordinary people, who have to take the consequences of their decisions, and play by the rules.
Moveon.org Advocacy Training in Cranston
A friend and fellow mental health professional, Susan Wright, will be facilitating a training for all of us interested in learning how to advocate for the causes we believe in. Here are the details:
When: Sunday, January 11, 2009, 2:00 to 3:30 pm
Where: Church of the Ascension, 390 Pontiac Avenue, Cranston
What: MoveOn.org is providing the training materials and we will all learn to effectively advocate with our legislators for causes that we are passionate about.
You can RSVP to this event on Facebook by clicking here.
This will be a great opportunity to meet neighbors and members of the community who want to move our state and country in a healthier direction. I am planning to attend and hope to see you there.
Pace to Seal Labor Deal Quickens in Cranston
With Mayor Napolitano about to exit office in three weeks, the Projo reports that he will be signing a major labor contract before he is done. This contract for the Laborers, of which there are 75 employed by the city, provides no raise for this year but 2.9% and 3% raises for year two and three of the contract. From the Projo:
Those raises are expected to cost $269,820, but Fung says he is more concerned with the timing of the deal and the fiscal uncertainties the city is facing. The approval would come just three weeks before he is sworn in, and Cranston — like many other communities — is bracing for cuts in non-school state aid and possibly other areas, including state aid to schools. At the same time, Cranston’s School Department is projecting a deficit as high as $10.8 million.
“We need to get more solid numbers before we ratify this agreement,� Fung said of the proposed pact with Local 1322 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. “I’d like the opportunity when I get into office to negotiate this contract, and all other contracts, with the financial health of the city in mind.�
[...]
Fung also objected to language that provides four hours of compensation, rather than the current three, for employees called in for overtime from Dec. 31 through March 1, and language that would leave employees hired before July 1, 1995, paying 12 percent of their health insurance premiums. Laborers hired after July 1, 1995, pay 20 percent. [full text]
While I’m pro-labor, I have to say that it seems the fairest thing to do right now is to let Allan Fung negotiate this contract. As our country and state face times of extreme financial uncertainty, we should be super-scrutinizing every possible promise of a raise. With the cuts from state and federal funding, the loss in tax revenue from lack of business and housing foreclosures, and the massive debt already incurred by our schools, it seems to me that the best we can probably do is to try not to lay people off over the next two to three years. The more raises we give, the likelier it is that more city workers will face lay-offs. People will lose their jobs. Services will be reduced. It’s that simple.
Tom Coderre Takes Big Role in State Senate
If you didn’t see the news in the Projo or at RI Future, Tom Coderre has been appointed chief-of-staff for incoming Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed. Tom is a fellow board member with me for the Rhode Island Center for Law and Public Policy and a tremendous advocate for recovery and improved mental health services for those struggling with addiction.
I look forward to continuing to work with Tom and wish him Godspeed as he takes the reins in his role as chief-of-staff. We are a state in some serious trouble, but with careful planning and research, and by valuing quality-of-life issues for working families, I believe we can get things headed in the right direction. Tom will be playing a big part in this exciting time of change.
Good Stress
I’m still adjusting. You get used to snarking from the outside and playing defense. I’m happy, I’m starting to feel hope, but it’s not quite real yet. And I’m very tired. On the stress scale, good events can cause stress as you adjust your life to accommodate change.
It feels like the poles of the universe have shifted, or just my assumptions of what is possible.
I’m speechless, so I’d like to post some good words from Mr. Green. Follow the link to the Liberty Elm diner on election night, courtesy of ProJo.com.
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