Hail Madame Secretary!

The election is over. And Hillary won, in more ways than one. Today she has been officially announced as Obama's choice for Secretary of State. As much as I dislike the idea of losing her as my Senator from New York, my love of country and faith in her superior ability to serve allow me to be grateful for this change. There is no one, except possibly former President Clinton, who could do as well, especially in these troubled times. If there is anyone who can help to heal our nation and repair our reputation in the eyes of the world it is Hillary. Whatever she does, she does extremely well, putting her heart, soul and considerable mind into it with complete dedication and commitment to doing her very best. We can ask no more, and she will do no less.

Once again, she has shown us how to win no matter what hand she is dealt, and how to do it with utter grace, restraint, and foresight. She has refused to let anyone get her down--not the thugs from Chicago, the low lying media or the misogynists. She has truly risen, flying far above the crowds, showing the way as always with dignity, humility and faith in her own abilities.

There is no better way to end this piece than to quote her very own words:

"Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you're knocked down, get right back up. And NEVER listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on...for everyone who's been ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out, for everyone who has stumbled but stood right back up, and for everyone who works hard and never gives up -- this one is for you! --hrc

Hope Floats...and Dreams DO Come True!

From FOX News, Nov. 18: Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor.

The indictment returned Monday has not yet been signed by the presiding judge, and no action can be taken until that happens.http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/18/cheney-gonale-indicted/

Although no action has yet been taken, it is a significant step forward into holding Messrs. Cheney and Gonzalez accountable. Few administrations save those of Grant and Nixon have been as rife with criminal indictments as the Bush administration and the worst of those have as yet gone unaddressed despite myriad calls for arrest, indictment and conviction. Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment, so well contstructed, got little attention except for House Speaker Pelosi's condemnation.

However, the most noteworthy and most disturbing issue here is that mainstream media has yet to give any of this it the attention it deserves. Like the 17 cases now pending against Obama, not one of which has made the news, the Cheney case lies in wait, hidden, for the most part unreported, along with all the rest of his indictable offenses. Worse yet, and even more frightening, is that the cases against Obama primarily involve his ineligibility to hold the office of POTUS because he has offered no proof that he meets the full criteria to run--namely, that he is required to be a natural born American citizen--an issue which has never before in our two century history been at issue!

Ironically, I seem to have made frequent use of the phrase, "one can only hope" during the course of this election cycle. The words which I have come to suspect and loathe, and which were the unfortunate buzz words of the Obama campaign, have come to mean nothing concrete, as has the candidate they buoyed: everything is relative, and MY idea of hopey changey may not be HIS. However, the spirit of that four letter word simply cannot seem to die within any of us: try as I might, I cannot extinguish the hope within that flickers ever so perilously amidst the tsunami of what many of us fear about ObamaChange. Because whatever our hopes may be, we all must admit that hope floats; hope springs eternal; and hope is what keeps us all coming back to fight another day. And so, today, as Hillary accepts her appointment to Secretary of State, and Cheney and Gonzalez are indicted, it continues to be my hope that some good things will continue to happen: Hillary will get the chance to redeem our country in the eyes of the world; she will be given free rein to rise and soar above the fray and accomplish great things for her country; and that, perhaps one day, the criminals in our government will be called to task.

Rise, Hillary Rise!

A long time poly-sci junkie, nothing surprises me much anymore except the expected. That being said, present day politics has become a wilder ride than ever. Who could imagine that Hillary’s most virulent foes–much less Kennedy, Obama and Reid–would suddenly do a 180 in less than 10 days [after Mr. Kennedy so mean spiritedly refused her request to head a health care committee] and, after trying to rid their envious, misogynistic selves of her for years, are now vying for her favors?! It is testimony to their perfidy–and to her ability to endure and prevail triumphantly in the face of even the worst scoundrels. I have long said and long believed, like Maya Angelou, that Hillary will indeed continue to Rise, far above that madding crowd of scrabbling, shapeshifting politicians.

As for where she will finally land–-only the Universe--and perhaps, she herself--knows. It is left to the rest of us to worry and watch, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst, and fighting for the rest.

SOS: Picking up the Pieces and Moving Forward

Many of us have suffered the wrath of friends and family who blindly supported the most corrupt, childish, unintelligent and, yes, evil party in the history of our country. The jeopardy in which our country and its people have found themselves has interested none of these people one whit. The bias, lies, cheating, thuggery, intimidation tactics and blatantly illegal acts interested almost no one save the PUMAs.

We have stepped back from some relationships, realizing that they are not of the type that will withstand the test of time and differing opinion. It has saddened me, but much more saddening and frightening have been the realization that we, at least for the moment, have lost our system of democracy through DNC collusion, illegal acts, voting fraud, and media bias.

What has heartened me and helped me continue my work in the Movement of Reform has been the incredibly high number of wonderfully committed, hard working, brilliant people who share our mutual concern and love for our country, its people and our Constitution. It was an SOS of another kind that brought us all together and continued to help us sustain one another in the frazzled, frantic months of the campaign. So, one door closes...another one opens...a few go out that first door...and many many more enter the second. It is with those kindred spirits that I have now cast my lot. My thanks to all who have entered and my sympathy for all who have left.

And so, another SOS: Hillary Clinton has been offered, and, purportedly accepted the cabinet position of Secretary of State. Much has been said about this issue; there are many opinions. Some say that Hillary should not be accountable to Obama, that she should let him sink in his own stew and stay in the Senate. Being a New Yorker, I would be only too happy to have her continue to represent me in Washington, but in view of Reid, Pelosi and their minions, who openly loathe her and with whom she must try to work, she would be far better served [and so would the American people] to serve as Secretary of State where she would outrank them and be able to put her vast diplomatic currency to work to repair our faltering image in the eyes of the world. Say what you will about the Clintons, but the World loves them for their humanity, their service and caring and their love of humankind.

There are those who would prefer to see her in Congress because the joint efforts of the nonpartisan, moderate Clinton- McCain team would form a formidable and productive force. There are those who felt she should have given them all the back of her hand and refused to work for the Democratic party at all. But Hillary is a grown up in every sense of the word: she knows how to put personal differences aside; she knows how to scale obstacles, take the long view and bide her time. She has information that few, if any of us have about the big picture, and she is one of the most politically astute people of her time, if not in our entire history.

Ultimately, Hillary Clinton is the only one with sufficient information and insight to be able to make an educated decision about whether to accept the post of Secretary of State. She is over 21 and perfectly capable of making that decision without our help. If she wanted it, she would ask for it. Until that time, we must accept the fact that this is her call, and trust in her to make the best decision for all of us, for she is, above all, a brilliant and dedicated public servant.

Character and The Courage of Resolve

Veterans' Day 2008. November skies of gunmetal gray opened today over a nation in transition. Noted with special poignance on this hallowed day is the passing of Ed Freeman, who, in the firestorm of the Ia Drang valley in November 1965, flew a Huey into that hot zone some 13 times under heavy fire to rescue 30 wounded after the medevacs had been ordered not to land.

This is the kind of character and courage that makes humankind great, regardless of the sovreignty from which they hail. It is the same kind of courage and compassion that made my father, whose B-17 was shot into the English Channel in 1944, insist that, as an Officer, he be the last man out of the sinking plane and then, treading February waters, held up two men who couldn't swim until they were rescued because the life raft was gone. It is the dedication and love for his country and his fellow Marines that made my stepfather fight his way up the middle of Iwo Jima for 32 days, an inch at a time, and the patriotism of my friend Rod, born in England after the Second World War of an another American patriot and an English beauty, that took him to the jungles of Viet Nam. It is my friend Dean, another whom I greatly admire, on his way back to Iraq for his 4th tour with the Marines, who once said that compassion was for those who can afford it. I disagreed; I reminded him that of all people, as a Marine, his code of honor and dedication was based in the most compassionate of principles: never to leave a comrade behind. The briefest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his face for an instant before he grudgingly agreed. The humility of the Great never fails to humble me as my admiration for their courage and character grows.

We who are fighting for women's rights and to regain and reform our democracy and a free press can gain strength and take comfort in the reminder that Courage and Character abound, now and always, in all places, despite indications to the contrary during the recent campaign.

And so, while the current president-designee readies himself to "rule"--this particular, peculiarly inappropriate-for-a-democracy word straight from aide Valerie Jarrett--we find ourselves barreling blindly toward a plethora of unknowns as we learn that nowhere in his To Do List do we see anything to indicate any desire to put competent women in government, eradicate sexism, or even utilize the considerable talents of Hillary Rodham Clinton, most certainly our nation's hardest working, most informed authority on health care.

So much for the "Progressive" Left. One would have to question groups like NOW and NARAL, who blindly endorsed this ticket, which at no time gave any indication that women's rights were of any concern. The president-designee--and I say designee because he is not yet the president-elect--[that appellation only applies AFTER the Electors of the College have voted--but then...he has always presumed a great deal too much, too fast] never once spoke out against the barrage of sexism and misogyny that pervaded the campaign; he has never once indicated that he is anything but a patronizing misogynist. What is so difficult to understand is that the early feminists of NOW have designated themselves dinosaurs by virtue of their blind subservience to someone like this, simply because--can it possibly be??--this individual champions abortion rights to the exclusion of all others. Robin Morgan's outrageously out of touch, patronizing piece from October 31 labeled her forever as one whose "liberal feminism" extends solely to those who see things HER way: everyone else--Republican women, women who choose NOT to have abortions, deserves little more than the back of her hand. No one whose opinion or lifestyle differs from hers is worth her time, her respect or her empathy. She apparently forgets that people fought and died to protect EVERYONE'S rights, not just hers.

We are at the beginning of the next phase of our Movement and of the long journey back to regaining the democracy we have long cherished and now lost. While it is a frightening process to watch our rights fall away, it is an exhilarating one to witness the formation of a new army of people who care about everyone's rights, and who clearly see that the simple pandering to a single issue is nothing more than an attempt to mollify, manipulate and subjugate 52% of our population. We join together to support The New Agenda, WomenCountpac, Together4Us, and the Just Say No Deal coalition, all of whom share in the resolve to restore our country to its once-great status as a champion of human and women's rights, democracy and fair elections, and fair and balanced media. WE CAN DO THIS. IT HAS ALREADY STARTED!

Our heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us.

The Continued Cry for Truth: Main Stream Media-- Business As Usual

IN March of this year, during the primaries, I became so outraged at the depths to which Main Stream Media had plunged into bias and misogyny that, in addition to campaigning for Hillary Clinton, I began to work actively on media reform. Tired of the endless stream of "babble from Babel", of the outright lies, half truths, ommissions, innuendo, lewd, sexist remarks and sometimes even violent references to and about Hillary [and thus ALL women] perpetrated by news readers of BOTH genders--note, I do not characterize these offenders as journalists--many of us began to push back at these outrages, contacting network heads, producers, perpetrators and advertisers, and boycotting same. It got to the point where FOX, the network once most maligned for Republican bias, was the only place one could hope to obtain even a scintilla of balanced reportage.

IN the months since, we have seen incremental change in response to our outcry: a few random wrist slaps for some of the most blatant offenders, coupled with an apology here and there [if they do it and apologize, does that make it all right to continue to offend??], and, finally, this week, word that BOTH Olberman and Matthews have been demoted from anchor posts to mere commentary slots for fall election coverage. A step in the right direction, to be sure, but a more complete demotion would have been more to my liking, given the frequency and outrageousness of their offenses.

AND THEN came Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin: Regardless of whether one agrees with a candidate's ideology, one cannot have an informed electorate unless media is willing to report truthfully and objectively. Call me crazy--I have always supported the view that in order to HAVE a Democracy [even if it is only a representational democracy] an informed electorate, accorded human rights, is the imperative. However, objectivity be damned, Charlie sat, leaning slightly forward, above Governor Palin, glasses perched low on nose as he peered, frowning menacingly down through them at her. It was disconcertingly clear that this was more an inquisition than an interview, but still I thought that perhaps we would get some real information from Governor Palin.

NOW mind you, I am a lifelong Democrat, [or at least I was until the DNC and the Obama camp used caucus, voter and delegate fraud and intimidation to select the candidate who LOST the primary] and, as such, disagree with much of Governor Palin's ideology. However, when I read the ENTIRE transcript http://marklevinshow.com/gibson-interview/
of that Gibson interview, including the PARTS EDITED OUT, I was once again reminded that we, the American people who are trying to learn about our candidates, continue to be deprived of the truth in reporting that our Democracy requires to function. During the primaries, as now, the American public has been denied their right not only to free speech, but their right to be informed. Countless incidents of caucus fraud, voter fraud and delegate intimidation went unreported, and, indeed, even the assassination of Arkansas State Democratic Chair Bob Gwatney went virtually unnoticed. Most people to whom I mentioned it were shocked to learn that it had happened, so unreported was that heinous crime.

AND SO IT GOES. The trauma of the Denver convention is passed, though definitely not forgotten; the DNC has rejected its most popular candidate in favor of one selected by a few of its waning leaders, one who is LEAST likely to win in November; and the Republican candidate has chosen a women to run as his VP. Never mind whether you agree with their ideology; Obama changes positions [and perhaps vp choices, if one accords any credence to rumors??!] with abandon, so we really do not know WHAT he stands for...McCain the Maverick [castigated by the Republican Far Right] has at least stepped up to the plate for equality with his choice. And all that remains now is to continue to expose media bias and try as best we can to educate the public on the facts about both candidates in the hope that they will have a vote that counts.

Turning Left To Go Right--The World Turned Upside Down

Upon hearing the news that Sarah Palin had been chosen as John McCain's running mate and learning of the spate of vicious sexist attacks upon her, Thelma, Louise and Princess Laia veered suddenly left and north to head to the Republican Convention in Minneapolis. In our last episode, we had arrived safely thereon and were making plans to be interviewed and attend Governor Palin's speech scheduled for Wednesday, September 3.

Today finds us mulling over the events of last night, and all the permutations therein. It was a first for this writer: attending a Republican convention was the last thing I ever thought I would be doing. Amidst frantic phone calls from family asking whether I had lost my mind, I marched forth with my stalwart sisters to make our stand for feminism, women's rights, and human rights.

Irrespective of candidates' ideologies, it is our position that sexist smears, comments and accusations cannot be tolerated, at any time or any place. To continue to allow this kind of thing to perpetuate is to keep all people enslaved. As Hillary says, "Women's Rights Are Human Rights."

We were met at the skybox most graciously by two lovely RNC officials and were immediately struck by the contrast between the two conventions. Just having come from Denver, we had experienced and witnessed a great deal of unpleasantness--delegate intimidation, aggressive Obamabots, hostile and arrogant DNC officials were the rule rather than the exception, and at times the only friends we felt present were the Denver police, the foreign press and the residents, all of whom were terrific.

On the other hand, the officials and attendees here in St. Paul have been nothing but open, welcoming and enthusiastic about our presence. Regardless of whether one agrees with Sarah Palin's policies, one has to respect her right to voice them without fear of her family or herself being maligned.

The utter disrespect and sexism that has emerged, once again, toward a woman running for office in the United States is unacceptable. When Joe Biden lost a wife and child in a car crash years ago, no one suggested to him that he quit his job to stay home and take care of his children; no one has suggested that he is a poor parent because his daughter was arrested for obstructing justice--in fact, no one even REPORTED the incident, which occurred years ago, until NOW!

And so it goes. It will not stop until we MAKE it stop. Call us what you will--we will not stop until equality is a reality, not just something Democrats feel they can apply only to themselves or those of whom they approve. Equality is for EVERYone...all races, religions, creeds, genders, and yes...even political parties. Even Republicans have the right to be free from sexist, personal assaults upon themselves and their families. If one is maligned, we are all vulnerable.

The Winds of Change

Another glorious day in Downtown Denver brought a plethora of special activities and programs in celebration of both the 2008 Convention and the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage. Would that there had been time enough to attend them all. The day started early with the Women's Caucus in the Four Seasons Ballroom at the Convention Center, followed by a moving Sufragettes' March to commemorate the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment in Tennessee. The months leading up to that historical moment have been called "The War of the Roses", because those who were against giving women the right to vote wore red roses and those who supported it wore yellow. The vote was carried by a surprise shift of the voter upon whom the result would depend: a young man of 24 who had worn the red rose of resistance to women's suffrage received a letter from his mother the morning of the vote, in which she admonished him to "be a good boy and do the right thing." That afternoon, he placed the deciding vote for women's suffrage, saying, "I have always found it wise to listen to one's mother."

Today's march, with a large contingent of women wearing white dresses and suffrage banners, was a moving reminder of the hard fought, years long battle [1848 - 1920] for women's right to vote. The coup de grace was a luncheon on a large, multileveled piazza, where Hillary spoke as Chelsea stood by, and men and women of all ages shared the incredible good fortune of sharing the commemmoration of women's voting rights with Hillary RodhamClinton, the first woman to run for the presidency of the United States.

The day ended with an inspiring reception hosted by the incredible Heidi Li Feldman of The Denver Group, and author of Heidi Li's Potpourri blog, at which we shared our thoughts on our plans going forward with respect to our continued initiatives of media and political reform. Heidi, like Hillary, is another of our most inspiring leaders in the fight for fair, equitable and lawful election procedures.

At the end of the day, many returned from the day's mardching to gather at the PUMA den to watch Hillary's speech. Tears flowed as we watched Bill watching Hillary as she spoke, and recommitted ourselves to our shared ideals of PUMA unity in our work ahead.

As the winds of change continue to blow across civilization's timeline, bringing women's right to vote and the civil rights act, so they continue to blow life into the new movement for political and media reform.