February 6, 2011 · 12:26 pm

The Siege of Planned Parenthood – NYTimes.com

Great article by Gail Collins in the NY Times…

Here is a brief excerpt.  I encourage you to click the link to the full post:

As if we didn’t have enough wars, the House of Representatives has declared one against Planned Parenthood.

Maybe it’s all part of a grand theme. Last month, they voted to repeal the health care law. This month, they’re going after an organization that provides millions of women with both family-planning services and basic health medical care, like pap smears and screening for diabetes, breast cancer, cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.

AND:

Planned Parenthood doesn’t use government money to provide abortions; Congress already prohibits that, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. (Another anti-abortion bill that’s coming up for hearing originally proposed changing the wording to “forcible rape,” presumably under the theory that there was a problem with volunteer rape victims. On that matter at least, cooler heads prevailed.)

Planned Parenthood does pay for its own abortion services, though, and that’s what makes them a target. Pence has 154 co-sponsors for his bill. He was helped this week by an anti-abortion group called Live Action, which conducted a sting operation at 12 Planned Parenthood clinics in six states, in an effort to connect the clinic staff to child prostitution.

“Planned Parenthood aids and abets the sexual abuse and prostitution of minors,” announced Lila Rose, the beautiful anti-abortion activist who led the project. The right wing is currently chock-full of stunning women who want to end their gender’s right to control their own bodies. Homely middle-aged men are just going to have to find another sex to push around.

via The Siege of Planned Parenthood – NYTimes.com.

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February 6, 2011 · 10:36 am

Bush’s Swiss visit off after complaints on torture | Reuters

This man is a war criminal. I would love to see someone hold him accountable-for the first time in his privileged life.

It sure won’t happen here…

(Reuters) – Former President George W. Bush has canceled a visit to Switzerland, where he was to address a Jewish charity gala, due to the risk of legal action against him for alleged torture, rights groups said on Saturday.

Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod’s annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say.

Human rights groups said they had intended to submit a 2,500-page case against Bush in the Swiss city on Monday for alleged mistreatment of suspected militants at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba where captives from Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts in the so-called War on Terror were interned.

Leftist groups had also called for a protest on the day of his visit next Saturday, leading Keren Hayesod’s organizers to announce that they were cancelling Bush’s participation on security grounds — not because of the criminal complaints.

But groups including the New York-based Human Rights Watch and International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) said the cancellation was linked to growing moves to hold Bush accountable for torture, including waterboarding. He has admitted in his memoirs and television interviews to ordering use of the interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

“He’s avoiding the handcuffs,” Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.

via Bush’s Swiss visit off after complaints on torture | Reuters.

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February 6, 2011 · 12:26 am

South of the Border, Down Mexico Way…

It’s been an interesting week…

I left last Sunday for Mexico City- with a great deal of trepidation.  I’ve been to Mexico twice before this trip and, no matter how careful I was, I became deathly ill both times.

This time I survived with my health intact and that gave me a better chance to focus and process Mexico City.

I stayed at the W Hotel.  I’ve never seen a hotel anywhere work so hard to be hip.  It was all done in a very modern design in all black, white  and red.  Mostly Black and Red. The hallways were all black.  Walls, floor, ceiling.  All Black.  With a thin line of red neon like a chair rail.  The room numbers were spray painted on the floor in front of your room in white.  German techno music blasting everywhere.  It was not conducive to  peaceful slumber.  I felt like I was trapped in a horror whorehouse when I got off the elevator on my floor…

The bathroom was the real trip.  It was gigantic.  It took up about a third of the room.  It had one of those showers that were like rain from above and two other jets shooting at you mid body and face level.  You couldn’t turn them off.  Most inconvenient in a city where you can’t drink the water or get it in your mouth while showering…

And the bathroom had a hammock in it.  Yes, a hammock.  I’m still trying to figure that one out….

But I must say the service was fabulous.  They never missed my wake up call and gladly followed up with a second call 15 minutes later.  By a real person.  As soon as I hung up the phone from the second call, the waiter always knocked at my door with my English Breakfast Tea and fresh, hot croissant.  Free of charge.  Try getting that kind of punctual, free, gracious service at an American hotel.  The first night back in the States in Phoenix, they lost my room service order and it took over an hour to get my meal.  That would never have happened in Mexico.  Or probably anywhere else.

One of the things that struck me was how friendly and nice everyone was.  And warm.  Everywhere we went, the service was impeccable.  And this was in a poor country under siege by drug wars.

At the office I heard people speaking of robbery, kidnapping and murder as just an everyday fact of life.  But they didn’t want pity or let it interfere with going on with their lives.  It was just a part of their lives they had adjusted to….

What struck me most was the gap between the rich and the poor.  We were definitely in the best part of town.  There was a Hugo Boss store right across from the hotel.  And a Porsche dealership.  But there were armed guards and gates everywhere.  They always have at least one guard with a submachine gun at our office there.  Other armed guards patrolled both the office and the hotel.

We had our own van transportation as the cabs and public transportation aren’t safe in Mexico City.  Especially for foreigners.  Too much chance of getting kidnapped and held for ransom or being robbed.

I guess my thought- and fear- was how long before this comes to the USA?  This fear is not based on fear of immigration.  I welcome immigrants.

My fear is that it will be driven by the growing divide between the Rich and the Poor.  I can see it happening here.

When a few have so much, but most have so little, no one is really safe.

That’s the thought I brought back from Mexico this time….

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Filed under History, Politics, Scott's Commentary, Travel

February 5, 2011 · 11:51 pm

Wallflowers at the Revolution

Another insightful column by Frank Rich in the Sunday New York Times:

Unable to watch Al Jazeera English, and ravenous for comprehensive and sophisticated 24/7 television coverage of the Middle East otherwise unavailable on television, millions of Americans last week tracked down the network’s Internet stream on their computers. Such was the work-around required by the censorship practiced by America’s corporate gatekeepers. You’d almost think these news-starved Americans were Iron Curtain citizens clandestinely trying to pull in the jammed Voice of America signal in the 1950s — or Egyptians desperately seeking Al Jazeera after Mubarak disrupted its signal last week.

The consequence of a decade’s worth of indiscriminate demonization of Arabs in America — and of the low quotient of comprehensive adult news coverage that might have helped counter it — is the steady rise in Islamophobia. The “Ground Zero” mosque melee has given way to battles over mosques as far removed from Lower Manhattan as California. Soon to come is a national witch hunt — Congressional hearings called by Representative Peter King of New York — into the “radicalization of the American Muslim community.” Given the disconnect between America and the Arab world, it’s no wonder that Americans are invested in the fights for freedom in Egypt and its neighboring dictatorships only up to a point. We’ve been inculcated to assume that whoever comes out on top is ipso facto a jihadist.

This week brings the release of Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir. The eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is to follow. As we took in last week’s fiery video from Cairo — mesmerizing and yet populated by mostly anonymous extras we don’t understand and don’t know — it was hard not to flash back to those glory days of “Shock and Awe.” Those bombardments too were spectacular to watch from a safe distance — no Iraqi faces, voices or bodies cluttered up the shots. We lulled ourselves into believing that democracy and other good things were soon to come. It took months, even years, for us to learn the hard way that in truth we really had no idea what was going on.

More: Wallflowers at the Revolution – NYTimes.com.

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February 5, 2011 · 11:06 pm

I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me By a Young Lady from Rwanda

 

Just a reminder, my partner Steve Willis returns to the stage as an actor this week in “I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me By a Young Lady from Rwanda.”

I say this play in Chapel Hill and would recommend it even without the special connection.

Details below:

 

 

 

Time
Thursday, February 10 at 7:30pm – February 13 at 3:00pm
Location The Little Theatre, Bennett College for Women
More Info
The Bennett Players present the Triad premiere of I HAVE BEFORE ME A REMARKABLE DOCUMENT GIVEN TO ME BY A YOUNG LADY FROM RWANDA, a play by Sonja Linden, Thursday through Saturday, February 10-12, at 7:30pm; and Sunday, February 13, at 3pm.

Advance reservatrions are not required. Tickets will be sold at the door: $10 (Adults), $5 (Bennett employees, alumnae, and non-Bennett students), and $2 (Bennett students).

The play is directed by Beth Ritson, Assistant Professor of Theatre and Speech at Bennett and features senior Theatre major, Tarshai Peterson (from Washington, DC), and Steve Willis, Associate Professor of Theatre and Speech and Chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Bennett.

Simon, a British poet (played by Willis) meets a young Rwandan woman, Juliette, (played by Peterson) who has survived the 1994 genocide. As Juliette struggles to write a first-hand account of her tragic experience, the play becomes a story about the healing power of writing and friendship that crosses cultural barriers.

 

 

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January 30, 2011 · 9:21 am

Off to Mexico…

I’m off to Mexico City today on business and won’t be back until Friday.

Due to Customs restrictions limiting me to one laptop- and I have to take my business laptop that blocks access to everything personal and fun- I won’t be posting again until Friday at the earliest.  I also read that iPad’s are counted as computers and not mobile devices, so I’m going to have to go through internet withdrawal cold-turkey.

I’ll definitely be back on-line by Saturday.

Thanks for you patience and have a great week!

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January 30, 2011 · 12:12 am

Don’t Know Much About History – NYTimes.com

Great Op-ed from Gail Collins in the New York Times…

I’m afraid the media is about to make Michelle Bachmann a Super Star.

They know Sarah Palin’s days are limited- and that she sold well to the Tea Party crowd.  Michelle Bachmann is the sequel…

And do we really need a new Sarah Palin? Shouldn’t the first one be made to go away before we start considering replacements?

Bachmann, the superconservative member of Congress from Minnesota, made a big splash on Tuesday night with her Tea Party response to the State of the Union address. True, the placement of the cameras made her look as if she was talking to an invisible friend, and her eye makeup had a peculiar zombie aspect to it. But the next day all the attention was on her and not the official Republican response by Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman.

And the Republicans were afraid to complain! One congressman from Utah told Politico that he thought “to try to upend Paul Ryan was just wrong.” Hours later he issued a retraction — through Bachmann’s office.

AND:

Bushes aside, Bachmann is a much more serious person than Palin, whose response to the State of the Union address was to focus on the title, “Winning the Future.” (“There were a lot of W.T.F. moments throughout that speech.”) If Palin and Bachmann were your co-workers, Palin would be the one sneaking out early to go bowling, while Bachmann would stay late to reorganize the office seating chart to reflect her own personal opinion of who most deserves to be near the water cooler.

Finally:

Bachmann is not a zealous fact-checker, as we learned when she claimed the president’s trip to India would cost the taxpayers $200 million a day, based on an Indian newspaper report quoting an unnamed provincial official. In the real world, many founders, like Thomas Jefferson, expressed reservations about slavery but still kept hundreds of slaves, who were the basis of their personal wealth. Others, like John Adams, never owned slaves and opposed the institution but compromised on the matter of all men actually being created equal in order to bring the southern states into the union. And not a single one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence envisioned in any way, shape or form a democracy in which people of Michele Bachmann’s gender would sit in the halls of Congress.

But Bachmann was speaking to the lore of the far right, which strips the founding fathers of their raw, fallible humanity and ignores the fact that, in some ways, we’re wiser.

Maybe she’ll make Sarah Palin look good.

via Don’t Know Much About History – NYTimes.com.

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January 29, 2011 · 11:31 pm

What do ‘pajama jeans’ say about Americans?

I just heard about these things, but didn’t believe it until I looked it up on the web.

There are no words to adequately  express my horror….

From sweatpants to the Snuggie to footed pajamas, does America really need another piece of clothing to keep it warm while lazing around the house?

Yes, according to the makers of PajamaJeans, which almost seems like a hoax Saturday Night Live commercial on its Web site. A pajama seller calls them “Pajamas to live in. Jeans to sleep in.”

The recession must make people willing to spend $40 on a blanket or pair of sweats with pockets to lounge around in, and now these soft blue jeans make going outside in public a comfortable alternative.

I guess if you’re unemployed and heading out for a quick stop at the grocery store for some milk for your dinner of cereal, then I can see how going to the trouble of putting on some pants can be asking too much.

But do we really need sweatpants that look like jeans but are really pajamas? Is America that lazy? Or stupid enough to spend $40 on them?

via What do ‘pajama jeans’ say about Americans?.

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January 29, 2011 · 11:20 pm

A Chicken Chain’s Corporate Ethos Is Questioned by Gay Rights Advocates – NYTimes.com

I haven’t been comfortable with these people for a long time…

I don’t eat there anymore.  Not just because our politics clash, but because the sandwiches are greasy and gross…

Instead, if I’m going to sin, give me a Chicken Biscuit from Mrs. Winner’s any day….

Nicknamed “Jesus chicken” by jaded secular fans and embraced by Evangelical Christians, Chick-fil-A is among only a handful of large American companies with conservative religion built into its corporate ethos. But recently its ethos has run smack into the gay rights movement. A Pennsylvania outlet’s sponsorship of a February marriage seminar by one of that state’s most outspoken groups against homosexuality lit up gay blogs around the country. Students at some universities have also begun trying to get the chain removed from campuses.

“If you’re eating Chick-fil-A, you’re eating anti-gay,” one headline read. The issue spread into Christian media circles, too.

The outcry moved the company’s president, Dan T. Cathy, to post a video on the company’s Facebook fan page to “communicate from the heart that we serve and value all people and treat everyone with honor, dignity and respect,” said a company spokesman, Don Perry.

Providing sandwiches and brownies for a local seminar is not an endorsement or a political stance, Mr. Cathy says in the video. But he adds that marriage has long been a focus of the chain, which S. Truett Cathy, his deeply religious father, began in 1967.

The donation has some fans cheering and others forcing themselves to balance their food desires against their personal beliefs.

via A Chicken Chain’s Corporate Ethos Is Questioned by Gay Rights Advocates – NYTimes.com.

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January 29, 2011 · 11:12 pm

Paper Lantern Theatre presents “End Days”

I really enjoyed tonight’s sold-out performance of “End Days” as presented by The Paper Lantern Theatre Company at Triad Stage’s Upstage Cabaret here in Greensboro.

The production is beautifully acted and directed.  The play itself has some problems.  It’s over-written, a little repetitive, in places, and I think would play better if cut to a 90 minute play with no-intermission.  Also, it has the episodic/skit structure that is so popular with younger playwrights who were raised watching television.  However, it still makes for a very enjoyable evening in the theatre.

It’s the extremely talented cast and artful direction that really make it work.

If it’s not sold out for the last performances,  I would recommend you see it.

I also applaud Paper Lantern for doing so many new plays here in the Triad.  They are a great addition to our  theatrical community.  Paper Lantern consistently provides people here with a chance to see plays that made some noise off-Broadway, but would not normally have been done here in the past.  And they do them all very well…

I wish them a long and successful life!

More info from GoTriad.com:

Triad Stage presents Paper Lantern Theatre Co’s production of End Days by Deborah Zoe Laufer, January 19-30 at Triad Stage’s UpStage Cabaret, 232 South Elm St, Greensboro.

End Days marks Paper Lantern Theatre Company’s two-year anniversary. In this rapturously funny play, Deborah Zoe Laufer addresses the question, If the rapture was indeed on its way this Wednesday, which of your close ones would be saved…truly saved? Variety describes End Days as “…a satirical dark comedy with a moral edge.”

Sixteen year old Rachel Stein (played by Cheryl Koski) is having a bad year. Her father (played by Lee Spencer) hasn’t changed out of his pajamas since 9/11. Her mother (played by Amy daLuz) has begun a close, personal relationship with Jesus (played by Matt Palmer). Her new neighbor, a sixteen-year-old Elvis impersonator (played by Chris Raddatz), has fallen for her hard. And the Apocalypse is coming on Wednesday. Her only hope is that Stephen Hawking (played by Matt Palmer) will save them all.

via Paper Lantern Theatre presents End Days by Deborah Zoe Laufer | Paper Lantern Theatre | Triad Stage–Upstage Cabaret | PERFORMING ARTS | Gotriadscene.com.

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