A Respite For Heavy Hearts

It just keeps coming.  The bad news, that is. 

The EU is in economic turmoil and threatens the US/World economy with bleak aftershocks.  The whisper of possible Israeli action against Iran holds the world on tender hooks. Domestically, we’re not faring much better.  Scandals abound with the recent accusations leveled at Herman Cain, a Republican presidential hopeful. Rick Perry’s debate meltdown on national television has gone viral and makes one wonder exactly ‘what’ the GOP was/is thinking. Penn State, one of the top three money-making football universities in the country, is the focal point of a sickening child-rape scenario, tainting the Legendary Joe Paterno and his entire coaching staff—who knew what, when?  Earthquakes in Oklahoma may be linked to increased natural gas exploration [fracking] and weird weather events hit the Northeast and slammed our Alaska coast with massive flooding.  Occupy Wall Street continues on with mixed reactions by local police authorities [who frankly look equipped for WWIII rather than civil disobedience]. Former NJ Governor Corzine’s involvement in and responsibility for MF Global’s recent downfall clearly indicates the financial casino games of the past are still in full play.  Home foreclosures and personal bankruptcies are up.  Unemployment has reached a dismal plateau and soul crushing poverty in America is the worst recorded in 35 years.

It would be easy and tempting to simply give a national sigh and shrug and say the hell with all of it!  But as most of us know, a goodly measure of the mess we see now is because we weren’t paying enough attention . . . before.

What to do?

I’d suggest a brief respite, maybe once a week.  A reminder of sorts that ‘the good,’ the creative,’ even ‘the laugh-out-loud silly’ still exists in the world.  Consider it a temporary antidote for heavy hearts, a thimble of sanity.

First up?  The extraordinary, startling photo above [hat tip to Gawker], which shows a helicopter lift in S. Africa, a rescue directed by the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project to transport and protect the black rhinoceros community from extinction.   Current estimates put the species count at 4200+, much of the demise the result of poaching and superstition [locals believe that Rhino horns have magical, curative powers].  The Expansion Project moves these animals to less populated S. African locales, where the likelihood of slaughter is minimized.

On the creative side?  OWS has inspired a good deal of controversy, criticism and spurious headlines [the  ‘cootie’ headline wins the prize, IMHO].  But the Movement has also spurred creative bursts.  I stumbled over the video below and think the effort earns a star for imaginative messaging.

Finally, in the ‘silly department’ is a video of The Fiendish, Stalking Turkey. The creature seems to have a grudge against the wailing newscaster, cameras rolling, action film style reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project.  Oddly enough, I read a headline last week of a woman being attacked by a wild turkey, ending up trapped in her own garage.  She called 9-1-1 for a police rescue.  Gobble-Gobble.  I probably wouldn’t be thrilled if a Turkey came a-running in my direction.  But then, I wouldn’t be thrilled if I were on the menu for Thanksgiving dinner either.  Another hat tip to Gawker, see page for video display, entitled How to Outrun a Wild Turkey.  The title alone makes me laugh. 

Laugh a little [good for the soul] and take a deep breath.  Then if you have kids or critters of your own, give them a hug.  Next week is sure to bring more surprises, some shocking and bewildering.  But don’t forget to check out examples of the good, creative and down right silly. 

Consider that triple run a useful Rx for heavy hearts.  Because tomorrow’s another day and the good fight never ends.

Dorothy Rodham (1919-2011)

Dorothy Rodham, flanked by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, at the latter's wedding on July 31, 2010.

It has been such a gift to witness three generations of Rodham women over the last two decades of American life. Just a little over a year after watching her granddaughter get married, on the heels of Hillary turning 64 years young, and after a week of rumors that Chelsea Clinton may be thinking of a congressional run of her own, Dorothy Rodham has passed away at the age of 92.

Here are some excerpts from her NYT obit–  Dorothy Rodham, Mother and Mentor of Hillary Clinton, Is Dead at 92:

As her daughter rose to prominence, Mrs. Rodham stayed mostly in the background, appearing only occasionally in public and rarely giving interviews. But Mrs. Clinton credited her mother with giving her a love of the higher learning that Mrs. Rodham never had, a curiosity about a larger world that Mrs. Rodham had not seen, and a will to persevere — about which Mrs. Rodham knew a great deal.

Her childhood had been Dickensian. She was abandoned by dysfunctional, divorced parents at the age of 8 in Chicago, sent unsupervised on a cross-country train with a younger sister to live with unwelcoming grandparents in California and, at 14, escaped into the adult world of the Depression as a $3-a-week nanny.

On her own, she attended high school and became a good student, though her job left little time for other activities. Her employers were kind to her, however, and she had two influential teachers. College proved to be out of the question, but she got a job as a secretary in Chicago, and after years of lonely toil she married a gruff traveling salesman and settled into a life of cooking, cleaning and raising three children.

In her autobiography, “Living History” (2003), Mrs. Clinton recalled her mother’s hardships. “I thought often of my own mother’s neglect and mistreatment at the hands of her parents and grandparents, and how other caring adults filled the emotional void to help her,” she wrote.

Mrs. Clinton portrayed her mother as a caring beacon of strength in the family, offering intellectual stimulation and teaching her children to be calm and resolute. “I’m still amazed at how my mother emerged from her lonely early life as such an affectionate and levelheaded woman,” she wrote.

These paragraphs give mention to Rodham’s sporadic appearances in public life:

In 1996, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Mrs. Rodham was featured in a film shown before Mr. Clinton made his acceptance speech as he began his bid for re-election. “Everybody knows,” she said, “there is only one person in the world who can really tell the truth about a man, and that’s his mother-in-law.”

Mrs. Rodham, who had done little traveling abroad, accompanied Chelsea on a trip to Jodhpur, India, in 2000. After Mrs. Clinton joined the Senate in 2001, Mrs. Rodham spent time at her Washington home. The Clintons bought her a condominium near their home in Chappaqua, N.Y., in 2003. After 2006, she lived mostly at Mrs. Clinton’s home in Washington.

She was in the Senate gallery when Mrs. Clinton took the oath for her second term in January 2007, and appeared in Iowa and New Hampshire early in Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. And when she quit the race in June 2008, Mrs. Clinton stood with her mother and her daughter at the National Building Museum in Washington, their hands raised together in a memorable three-generation tableau.

The story of Dorothy Rodham is the story of the ordinary American heroine. Rest in peace.

Chelsea, Hillary, and Dorothy in Pennsylvania 2008.

Saturday: She isn’t Fly, She is Levitation

Morning news junkies!

Story behind this Saturday’s post title, in a nutshell: I can’t get enough of “Fly,” the new Nicki Minaj track featuring Rihanna on the chorus.

Here’s a youtube of the song with the entire lyrics for anyone who’s interested, but for the purpose of this post I’ll just highlight a couple excerpts.

Rihanna’s chorus goes like this:

I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
To fly (x2)

The second verse of Nicki rapping starts off like this:

Everybody wanna try to box me in
Suffocating everytime it locks me in
Paint they own pictures then they crop me in
But I will remain where the top begins
Cause I am not a word, I am not a line
I am not a girl that can every be defined
I am not fly, I am levitation

Suffice it to say that “Fly” reminds me of sheroes everywhere…

…including our gal Hillary and the woman standing with her in the photo up top (taken yesterday at the State Department). That would be Yemeni Nobel Prize laureate Tawakkul Karman.

More photos here. If you click over, be sure to scroll all the way through to the last pic where Hillary and Tawakkul embrace each other. It’s worth it.

Speaking of ssheroes across the globe, if you haven’t checked out Vicki Markham’s report at RH Reality Check–the Significance of 7 Billion World Population for Women and the Environment–please make some time for it this weekend. Two quck snippets:

Women and girls are also disproportionately vulnerable to climate change-related natural disasters and face a significant risk of disaster-related fatalities. Following the 2004 Asian tsunami, three-quarters of the fatalities in eight Indonesian villages were women and girls. In the second most affected district in India, Cuddalore, the proportion of female fatalities was nearly 90 percent due to lack of preparedness which is focused more on men and boys.

I was shocked when I read these stats, even though I shouldn’t be by now.

On the flip side, women can also be powerful agents for leadership and change on these issues, not only in their own communities, but also in the international arena if given the opportunity.

• For example: Local grassroots women worldwide are implementing effective programs in their villages to address local environment and public health issues. Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka of Uganda does just that with the innovative NGO she founded, “Conservation Through Public Health”, where she integrates the needs of local villagers to co-exist successfully with the nearby native gorilla population. She helps villagers to not only protect the species and its habitat, but also realize the linked benefits of their own public and reproductive health, education, and livelihoods.

Here at home, Kirsten Gillibrand is showing elected Democrats how it’s Done. Via Good as You:

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) continues to show that backing equality is a great way to earn positive attention. Attention like this truly pro-family article from the New York Daily News:

New York’s junior senator is pushing federal legislation to lift the ban on gay couples and individuals adopting children.
Between New York’s same-sex marriage act and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, the momentum is there for the needed reform, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said.

“This legislation would open thousands of new foster and adoptive homes to children ensuring they are raised in loving families,” Gillibrand said of her “Every Child Deserves a Family Act.”
KEEP READING: Gillibrand: Open Adoption To Gays, Lesbians [NYDN]

Even closer to home for me is the “Great Mosquito Plague of 2011” that has been ravaging Houston. I’m still recovering from several bites myself, and I swear, you couldn’t go anywhere in this town without having a discussion about the darned mosquitoes last week.

Thankfully a cold front has settled in since yesterday and is bringing some relief. At least so far.

Anyhow, I mention the mosquitoes because I thought y’all might enjoy this bit of local coverage on Occupy Houston, via Culturemap — Occupy Houston endures the mosquitos, no-clapping rules and a slow-flow water fountain:

At the urging of Houston City Council Member Jolanda Jones, Occupy Houston protestors have begun to actively participate in local politics by attending Houston City Council meetings.

Occupiers made up most of the audience during one session this week. They chiefly addressed concerns about continuing their occupation of Tranquility Park in comfort, but also weighed in on prevalent, city-wide problems and hot-button issues on the council’s agenda — including the Kroger 380 Agreement.

Protestors made their voices heard in a nearly two-and-a-half hours long public speaking segment. Many council members were absent during the session. Most elected officials who were in attendance spouted platitudes that seemed geared toward reelection rather than action. The video is somewhat agonizing, but extremely entertaining.

Click over to Culturemap for some highlights of what was said.

Quote of the Week

“You can’t be a perfectly lubricated weather vane on the important issues of the day. Romney has been missing in action in terms of showing any kind of leadership.”

— Jon Huntsman, on CNN

This Week in Women’s History (October 23-29)

Happy Birthday Hillary Clinton! Hillary turned 64 on Wednesday:

We here at The Cable would like to send out our warmest birthday wishes to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is 64 years young today.

So how will the secretary be spending her special day? She did two interviews this morning on Iran: an interview on social media with BBC Persia and then an interview VOA Parazit, VOA’s Persian-language station. Clinton then met with Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and joined Deputy Secretary Tom Nides‘ meeting with Iraqi National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayyad.

“They don’t make hallmark cards for that,” one State Department official told us.

Seemingly in honor of Hillary’s birthday, Samantha Gowen at the OC Register did a slideshow on
“Powerful Women Worldwide”:

Who says it’s a man’s world anymore? Probably not Hillary Clinton, who turns 64 Wednesday, or any of the other women on our list of powerful women.

Today we celebrate Girl Power with a look at other powerful women in the world, from business to politics, news and entertainment.

From Gowen’s write-up on Hillary:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: In her 64 years, she has made remarkable strides, both for herself and women. The Wellesley College and Yale School of Law graduate was born in Chicago and got an early start in politics at age 13: Raised in a conservative household, she helped canvass in South Side Chicago looking for electoral fraud against presidential candidate Richard Nixon.
…
She married Bill Clinton in 1975 and was first lady of Arkansas during his 10-year stint as governor, then became the first first lady of the U.S. to hold a postgraduate degree. After her husband’s two terms in the White House, she wasn’t done with politics and ran for U.S. Senate in New York in 2000, another first for a first lady.
…
In 2008 she ran for president and despite a strong showing, fell second to Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. After he was elected, Obama asked Clinton to serve as his secretary of state. Rumors abound for the 2012 election year: Will she move into place as Obama’s vice presidential running mate?

I’ll close with this blurb via Passport magazine, in case you didn’t hear it through the grapewine already:

Could the child of former President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton be considering a run for Congress? Many are reporting that Chelsea has been approached by “the right people” from the New York Democratic Party this year and that the recently married 31-year-old is “actively considering” a run for Congress. Chelsea was involved in her mother’s campaign for President and won over key demographics with her winning personality and knowledge of the issues.

We think today would be a great time for her to announce her run, especially since it’s her mom’s birthday!

Is it too early to start chanting Chelsea 2016? A wonk can dream… *wink*

Well that’s it for me… what’s on your reading list this Saturday?