Only Cardboard …

Posted: December 9, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Human Rights, president teleprompter jesus, The Media SUCKS, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Here’s James Carville in one of his worst moments.

Here’s my response:

What if it were a cardboard cut out of Obama and a noose instead of a bottle of beer?

What if it were a cardboard cut out of Joe Lieberman and some one was putting say, a felt star on him, or a tatoo’d number on his arm instead of groping him  or say they were doing the same thing and were wearing swastikas instead of Obama team tshirts?

What would your reaction be?

What would the reaction be of black civil rights leaders or leaders of the antisemitic leagues?  Being plied with alcohol and groped is strong symbolism for women.  We know that most men can out wrestle us and we are one moment of trust away from brutalization.  Many fratboy antics are in fact sexual assault.

AND Symbols matter. 

Would these two cardboard ‘fratboy antics’ I discribed above be taken as trivial or would they be considered hate crimes?  After all,  a small town in Louisiana became a symbol of lingering racism with the hanging of a noose in a tree by a couple of idiot high school  boys.   Why didn’t folks consdier that to be  just highschool boy antics?  What about the University of Kentucky students that had an effigy to hang of Barrack  Obama who were treated way worse than those guys in California’ responsible for the hanging of Sarah Palin in effigy in a Halloween display?  The guys in California only experienced a little neighborly humiliation.  Not so the kids at at U of K.

And you know what?  None of these citizens put words in the president’s mouth and yet there was tremendous outrage in each circumstance.  In several cases, these were adolescent boys and not 27 year olds on the way to be a Director in the White House for a President of the United States.  This is the jerk responsible for “Yes we Can” and “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”.   Obama rode those two banal slogans into Washington.

The only time symbolic brutality is sanctioned these days is if its victims are women, GLBT, and possibly the homeless mentally ill people.   This has got to stop.   A symbol is powerful.  If this were not true, people would not be upset by swastikas, confederate flags, and nooses.  We need to stay upset about this until this jerk is told to resign.

In Pursuit of Gross National Happiness

Posted: November 25, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Human Rights | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

Whenever I teach my undergraduates the meaning of measuring the economic development of nations, I always mention the one country that does it differently.  This is the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan.  I know that you all think I’m biased here, because I am a Buddhist in the tradition of the Himalayan region.  (My Guru is a Tserpa Lama from Nepal and my lineage’s monastery is from a mountain vally of Mt. Everest.)  However, I’m always pleased when Bhutan lives up to and beyond my expectations. Both Nepal and Bhutan are among the world’s newest democracies.  Nepal has had many struggles (some violent) to achieve its new form of government.  I’m pleased to say my Lama’s wife, Ang Dawa is now sitting in its newly formed parliament.  I’m even more pleased to hear the words of Bhutan’s first elected prime minister.  Among these is that he is still measuring the country’s progress by not only the Gross National Product, but by its Gross National Happiness.  This was something the  last monarch held in esteem.   My Lama is always trying to convince me to come to Nepal to live and teach; something I will most certainly do in the future when the last daughter is firmly planted in her life.  However, if I could choose a country to work with, it would be Bhutan.

thinleyJigmi Y. Thinley is now Bhutan’s first democratically elected prime minister.  He sees his first job is to prove to his constituents that democracy is worthwhile.  He was elected in a very uneventful campaign between two highly similar parties.  He was recently interviewed by the WSJ (see above link) in New York City.  I found this quote inspiring.

Mr. Thinley outlines his idea of good governance: “We have to ensure that in the first five years of our governance we act completely within the confines of the constitution . . . that the rule of law prevails under any circumstance. . . . We will respect and ensure the absolute separation of the three branches of government, that’s the judiciary, executive and the legislature.”

He describes the process of drafting the constitution — there was a committee that referred to the constitutions of the world. Mr. Thinley says the U.S. constitution “defined the conceptual framework within which all other constitutions have been drafted. And so the United States Constitution was certainly a major document that inspired and that was referred to by the constitution committee.”

It is refreshing to hear that new democracies realize what our recently ‘elected’ leaders have forgotten.  It is all about the rule of law.  It is about the Constitution above all.  When you consider that Bhutan has provided refuge to many Tibetans fleeing religious and economic persecution by the Han Chinese,  it is wonderful to hear an elected official that gets it.

Democracy, according to Mr. Thinley, boils down to “the empowerment of the people, the freedom of the voter. . . . giving the capacity to the individual citizen to determine his or her own destiny,” he says. “Now if these are what democracy provides, then I would say that regardless of what culture you belong to, democracy is essential.”

Prime Minister Thinley is not giving up on the idea of promoting Gross National Happiness–something that it seems only a benign monarch could grant to his beloved peoples.  This is probably most telling about a leader who believes he was elected to serve the people; not have the people serve his ego.

Mr. Thinley will continue to implement the government policy of GNH. Happiness is not hedonistic, “it is not the kind of fleeting pleasures that we seek.” It has to do with “being able to balance material needs of the body and the spiritual needs of the mind.”

He says the conditions for the pursuit of happiness have four pillars: Equitable and sustainable socioeconomic growth; conservation of the fragile Himalayan economy and environment; cultural preservation and promotion — and good governance.

Mr. Thinley admits that there’s a limit to what the government can deliver. It can try to create the right conditions, but “the individual himself and herself must pursue happiness.”

I wish Mr. Thinley and the people of Bhutan nothing but continued growth in both GNP and GNH.

Never Surrender the Pink!

Posted: November 24, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Human Rights, PUMA, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

I was driving across the bayous today listening to NPR on my way to campuspink-sari-gangwhen the most empowering and delightful story happened.  It was about the “Gulabi Gang”  or the Pink Sari Ladies that have decided to take on the corrupt and ineffective men running Northern India.  They wear bright pink saris and carry sticks.  These gangs of empowered women not only go after corrupt officials but men who abandon or beat their wives.

My thought is we’re seeing the Indian equivalent of PUMAs.  They have no political party affiliation and even refuse to work with NGOS.  Leader Sampt Pal Devi refuses to to deal with them because ” they are always looking for kickbacks when they offer to fund us.”

The movement is about two years old and has gained ground to the point sampatthat Ms. Devi can push to the front of a line of local men to complain to officials about lack of electricity or corruption in the distribution of grain to the poor.  They even stormed a police station to free an untouchable man that they felt was being held only for purposes of getting money for his release.

Another interesting pink lady movement in India is the pink cabs in Bombay driven by women for women.  This has started an entire movement of entrepreneurial women.

“This is an unmet need,” Renuka Chowdhary, the Minister of Women and Children in India, said as the service started yesterday. “We have had a higher reporting of crime against women passengers. This is also a non-traditional job for women, so they are breaking out and becoming earning members for their families. We are confident it will catch on.”

Many of the women overcame the disapproval of friends and neighbours who thought that they should stay at home to look after their husbands and children.

Shweta Shinde, 42, applied for the job with the backing of her family and said that it had fulfilled her ambition to learn to drive. “For so many years, I wanted to have a car,” she said.

In the scheme, each woman puts down a 19,000 rupee (£232) deposit on a 369,000 rupee air-conditioned car, subsidised by Tata, the Indian conglomerate.

By paying off the balance on the low-interest loans, the women will own their taxis. They are expected to earn about 25,000 rupees a month, nearly three times the salary of a chauffeur and five times the pay of a domestic maid.

Read both the links up top to learn more about the pink ladies of India seeking to empower themselves and other women. I think it will make you smile and know that there is a worldwide sisterhood of pumas out there.

The Press, Wall Street, Politicans, the DNC, Banks: ALL MIA

Posted: November 16, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Human Rights, New Orleans, president teleprompter jesus, U.S. Economy | Tags: | 5 Comments

Riverdaughter assigned all PUMAs and Confluencians a project:  figure out where to go from here so we can continue forward as a movement with relevancy.  Being a scientist, I always look for the roots of the problem.  I check for the problem and the catalysts.  You can get frustrated by the symptoms but you never solve the actual problem without checking out the primal event.  So when you saw MIA did you think Missing in Action?  When You think PUMA do you think People United Means Action?  Let’s just switch out the word action for a moment so that it reads ACCOUNTABILITY because there seems to be a lot of that missing recently.

I give my bank my money.  I expect them not to lose my deposits and make bad loans. I expect them to answer the phone and attend to my needs.  I expect after years of giving them money and seeing them happily deposit my checks that they should have no problem knowing that will continue so I deserve a loan.  I give the government my taxes.  I expect the roads to be fixed.  When I dial 911 and I’m in true need, I expect the police to show up.  I expect the levees they built with my tax dollars to provide the level of protection as promised.  When politicians swears to uphold the constitution, I expect just that.  When the electric company says it will use part of my bill to ensure the system is upgraded, I expect them to do as promised to me and to their regulator. 

I’m not quite sure when it started, but none of these things happen any more and no one takes responsibility, apologises and fixes it.  Worse than that, I have very few ways to make them accountable any  more.  The Army Corps of Engineers still refuses to be held accountable for the levee failure here in New Orleans.  GM management does not want to be held responsible for making bad decisions and worse cars.  The Press still hasn’t dealt with its drumbeat to the Iraq war, it’s skewering of both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin,  and its biased coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign.  When President Elect Obama falls flat on his face on challenges that will be well above his experience and education level, they will undoubtedly go “who US?”

I try to call my bank and my electric company.  If I’m lucky I can get pass the computer to hear some one try to help me that barely speaks my language and can’t solve any problems even if they had a phd. in it.  If it’s not something in the manual of the top ten stupid questions, they are lost.  I have been promised all kinds of things by service reps, only to find no one has a record of it, and I have no recourse.

There has to be a way to hold all these monsters accountable.  Everything now is so big, so impersonal, and so screwed up that they can turn you off or send you off to jail if you don’t just send the monthly payment, but you can’t get from them ANYTHING they’ve promised.  So, every windy or rainy day now, my electricity shuts off for hours, even though I pay nearly $300 a month now for electricity.  I can’t make any bad decisions because the student loan is still due, the mortgage is still out there, and the IRS is brutal.  You can’t leave or enter the country now with just your birth certificate.  You have to have a passport and any government agency with an axe to grind with you can stop you from getting it.  Oh, and thanks to President Elect Obama, those agencies can listen in on your phone conversations, read your mail, and search your computer activity.  Can you hold them similarly responsible when they screw up counting your votes?  I didn’t think so.

I always try to be thoughtful in my blog threads.  I think long and hard and try to gather data and information and other ideas before I present them to you.  Today, I’m just going to share my rant.  When was the last time you felt you could hold any of these bad boys accountable for the way they behave?

So, Riverdaughter and my PUMA friends… I’d like the DNC to be held accountable for taking votes from Michigan and Florida when they really mattered, for stacking primaries and caucuses with a weighting system that was easily gamed by a Chicago mobster, and all that misogyny and sexism and race-baiting.  How about it?  Why don’t we figure out some strategies in the future to hold them all to accountable?

Reframe, Reform, Regroup

Posted: November 12, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Human Rights, PUMA, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

j-miller-we-can-do-it-rosie-the-riveterThere is a general consensus out there in the Pumasphere that we need to regroup and continue to voice our issues.  I have found that it is much easier, at this point, for me to list the issues that made me a Puma.  It’s much harder for me to suggest a blueprint for the regrouping.

Our political process needs reform.  Both parties have now won elections by perpetrating ugliness, fraud, and lies. Tactics used by Democrats this year were the source of much frustration and anger in the past when used by Republicans.  How can you claim higher ground while stooping to conquer?  We have to find a way to stop the parties from using the deep pockets of special interest constituencies to game an election.  I’ve been amazed at how the same blogs that howled at Rovian tricks have borrowed some of the same plays and chortled in glee when these nasty strategies work in their favor.

One of the nasty strategies is the hyperpartisanship that allows candidate surrogates to demonize opponents and their supporters.  This year’s Judas goat appeared to be women candidates and women in general.  I was horrified at the level of misogyny given a pass by the DNC.  I was even more horrified that much of this was done by women.  I now have a list of women’s groups and women’s activists whom I no longer consider feminist.  This includes NARAL, Emily’s List, Gloria Steinham, and many others.  We cannot allow the parties to use us to beat up on women who disagree with us on an issue or so.  The progress of women depends on not allowing any one to define the weakest ones in the herd so that the predators can weed them out for destruction.  My guess is that women’s rights as well as GLBT rights will not achieve anything with the new congress and the new president.  We will be used once more to place the usual suspects in power so they can enrich themselves and further legislation that has nothing to do with anything we value.  Yes, I will be happy to see all those nasty, birth control phobic executive orders go away.  I doubt we will see legislation, however, demanding insurance providers cover all forms of women’s reproductive care let alone laws enabling federal funding.  So how much are marginal differences worth to us?

 To further the Obama cause, we will see more Prop 8s.  As long as it advances Obama’s status, they will support laws that winnow out the least powerful among us.  We need to reframe what it means to be “for” us and “against” us.  Lip service and proxy misspeaks should not be so easily forgiven or forgotten.  We need to reframe them so that folks see them for what they are–nonsupportive of women’s rights and a disservice to our self-esteems and our causes.

So, can we reform either party?  Will the Republicans give up their love of controlling women’s bodies while curbing corporations that run amok?  I don’t think so.  Now that the Democratic Party has learned they can fool enough of the people enough of the time, will they show some respect to those of us that loathe this new process and their new flunkies?  Dream on.  We can choose to be a segment that can select a few kings or we can try to coordinate with others to forge a new independent way that could possibly lead to a third party.  I’m still drawn to the latter as a long term strategy.  I think Bloomberg may take a run at the presidency in 4 years and he’ll need some voting blocs.  We should keep all of our options open because I have no doubt we will be in exhile for some time.

It is likely for election reform we will have to work state by state.  If we want more women’s voices in the process, we will have to run or put women candidates into office.  The blogosphere continues to be our best weapon.  We can connect, reframe the issues, demand reform where we can, and look for the best possible structure to regroup.  I think that’s all I can offer up for debate at this point.  I will say that I am willing to stick it out and work for it because the problem is at the very heart of all that is the promise of democracy.

NOTE:  This is my contribution to the The Confluence’s The Way Forward Series: Pondering our future as P.U.M.A.s.  If you follow this link and look in the upper right hand comment, you will find the ideas of others in the PUMA movement.

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