It's Time For Mike Huckabee to Retire

So have you seen this story yet? Mike Huckabee gets philosophical about gay marriage. I'm impressed with the profundity of his comments: Children aren't puppies. Wow. Impressive Mike. Let's all think about that one for a minute... Yeah I know, it's a ridiculous statement and doesn't need much reflection at all. So lets move on to other statements he made. Last week he was in Ewing N.J. at The College of New Jersey, speaking to the Student Government Association. He also gave an interview to campus news magazine The Perspective, for a Friday article. So this isn't new news, and further, his opinions aren't news - he's been saying this stuff for a while. What that tells me is that Huckabee has had time to attempt to apply a little spin to his comments, but I'm not seeing any backpedaling: Huckabee really is just a genuine bigot I'm afraid. He labeled the gay lifestyle "outside the ideal" and compared it to incest, polygamy and even bestiality! Wow am I offended! And the jaw-dropping ignorance doesn't end there...

"I don't have to prove that marriage is a man and a woman in a relationship for life," he said. "They have to prove that two men can have an equally definable relationship called marriage, and somehow that that can mean the same thing."

I can't believe he thinks homosexual couples haven't already proved the success of their relationships! I can tell you this: homo and hetero are not so different at all! The "committed relationships" we enter into can be just as successful between two men or two women who are equally committed to that relationship. Further, having worked in the club scene for many many years, I can tell you the heterosexual dating scene has just as much promiscuity and desperation as any other. There are successful and failed relationships on both sides. I think it's time to stop making sides and start celebrating our common humanity!
Toward the end of the article I've linked to at the top, there is a Huckabee quote regarding AIDS patients and I'm not going to repeat the fear filled hateful comments he made but let me just say it brought WWII concentration camps to my mind and I nearly cried. I'm horrified this man is thinking he should run for President in 2012 and I hope you all know the kind of man he really is.

Some things I found online about Huckabee and his political platform:
He does NOT support gay marriage obviously
He doe NOT support a woman's right to choose abortion
He does NOT support the Kyoto protocol (environmental treaty)
He does NOT support an assault weapons ban
He supports the Patriot Act
He supports an immigration border fence on the US/Mexican border
He supports the war in Iraq

What If You Weren't Invited To Your Own Prom?

Do you remember Constance McMillen? She made the news a couple months ago when she was told she wouldn't be allowed to bring a female date to her high school prom in Mississippi. When she tried to sue the school they simply canceled the prom. The school essentially told the entire world they would rather their kids are deprived of any good times at their Senior Prom than allow them to share the dance floor with a lesbian couple. Well the ACLU was as offended as we were and immediately stepped in with a new lawsuit on behalf of Constance: put on a prom for these kids - all of them. So a group of parents came to the game and announced they would host a private prom for the kids. They implied this would solve Constance' problem of being unable to bring a same-sex date to the public school event. They implied this was a solution for her. They didn't tell the court this was really a solution for them.
Constance was given the run around, told the event was canceled, and finally told the school-sponsored prom was back on and she could bring her date. But who was at this "school sponsored" prom? Seven misfit students. The parent organized event was still on and they made sure Constance and her girlfriend weren't invited and kept in the dark.
We have a couple of questions: What are they hoping to accomplish? And what message are they trying to send to the world? Because we're hearing hate. Lots of hate and discrimination. And we're wondering how on earth any of those parents think this was okay.
We're so sorry you were deprived of your prom Constance!

-Flora

Liberty And Justice For All?

I originally planned to post a note about a 'Technology Sabbath'. I am strongly considering participating. It would be interesting to see how I respond to a day away from so much technology. I might get more work done in the garden. I might connect to people on a real level as opposed to electronically. Ideally the trend spreads and is observed by many. I feel like participating in large positive group events/movements, sends out a very powerful positive intention and energy. I like being a part of that. I guess because it feels empowering.

But after reading the latest news about Lieutenant Dan Choi, we all felt we should write something about his situation.
Lt. Choi was discharged from the military one year ago for coming out as being gay after serving honorably under Don't Ask Don't Tell for ten years. Yesterday he handcuffed himself to the fence in front of The White House in peaceful protest. Today he's being held under arrest with Jim Pietrangelo and until recently, 5 others as well. A good place to get quick updates on developments in the case is the getEQUAL facebook page. Their latest post says:

GetEQUAL Breaking!! Offered $100 fine, Dan & Jim plead NOT GUILTY and demand a jury trial. We do not plead guilty for equality. Trial set for April. More to come.

This morning over coffee, all three of us called both our US Senators and submitted our comments to the White House contact page We would urge you to voice your concerns over the treatment of Lt. Choi as well.
This is how we feel. We're appalled that the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy exists to begin with. How degrading and insulting to expect an entire arm of the organization to pretend to be something else and hide their reality from their peers, denying them the full self expression and equality of choice afforded everyone else in this country! We're appalled that people are being treated this way. Men and women who've served us and protected our country and our freedom, are being ostracized, dismissed and worse. That makes us wonder what century we're in. And to see Lt. Choi arrested & mistreated because he staged a peaceful protest on the sidewalk just makes us shake our heads! Why is this even an issue?! Why does this man have to handcuff himself to the fence and get attention and be noticed? Our country has had one group or another fighting for equality since it's birth! And equality always wins! Make no mistake, equality will win in this case too. Those who oppose equal rights for LGBT people are on the wrong side of history and soon, time will catch up with them. Just as it did for those against the lowly colonists first, then those against the slaves gaining equality, and those against the rights of women... That's how we feel.
So why did Lt. Choi handcuff himself to the fence one year after his discharge? If I were guessing, I would guess his answer might be something like this: Because people can only affect change when they know a problem exists. Well hello everyone, Dan Choi is asking for your attention for just a moment. He would like to tell you this is a problem. He would like his equal rights now please. Just like we've been proclaiming since Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence! Are we really a nation still refusing to recognize that hypocrisy? These discriminatory policies may not have been instituted by us, but as a nation, these policies stand in our name and reflect on us as a group. Since I'm a part of that group, I'd like these policies changed! Don't Ask Don't Tell is a specific example with a clear answer: Repeal. But it's not the only issue of equality the LGBT community faces. Issues like California's Proposition 8 abound all over the nation and these are more examples of things that need to change!
We hope you'll write to the white house about repealing DADT, as well as about fair treatment for Lt. Choi. We also hope you'll take a moment to call your representatives. It's so easy. This morning we called and said we were constituents of the senator etc, we heard of the Lt Choi arrest and didn't think this was just, also we wanted to urge the Senator to work toward repealing DADT immediately etc. It's a very quick phone call to a sweet-voiced young lady taking messages. To get the number to call your Senators, click here. To find a number for your US House Representative click here, enter your zip+4 in a box near the top left and you will get a link to your Representative. Mine had his contact numbers and addresses listed at the bottom of his page - I called the Washington DC office number. And I did all of it while I sipped my coffee. I don't think that's too much to do to further the cause of equality in a country which claims that as one of it's founding principles.

-Flora

Flora's Birthday!

Our Flora has a birthday today!

This gives us the perfect excuse to get together for fancy coffee brunch with lots of great friends!

And we actually took a day off from controversial debate (gasp)! Mostly we talked about the food, the coffee and the mimosas!

Coffee With T

Our friend T joined us for coffee this morning. She's a local massage therapist, mom and all around awesome woman. Massage therapy is a passion for her but she does run into issues from time to time. The problem is this: There are clients that still see massage therapists looking for more than a rub-down.

Flora: How often would you say you get propositioned at work?
T: I'd say 80% of my male clients say something.
Flora: And how do they ask?
T: They'll call and ask if we use draping (cover them with a sheet), or if we give a sensual massage.
Flora: So how do you respond when they ask?
T: Well we have to clarify what they mean because sometimes even women will ask if we give a sensual massage and they may just be thinking of a Swedish - some people call those sensual. And honestly, we will use a drape as small as a towel sometimes, but we have to just tell them, yes we drape.
And we post our pictures in our advertisements so they'll call asking for specific therapists - "I want the girl with the blond hair" etc. That's a dead giveaway.
Flora: Wow.
T: Twice I've had a client laying naked and face up when I came into the room. Once I just put a towel over him and went on with the massage. The other time I said "I'm sorry I think you got the wrong idea. I'm going to leave the room and when I come back I need you to be face down, under the blanket. But I hear a lot of stuff like "What's the matter, aren't you comfortable with nudity?" I just say I have no problem with it but the law says they need to be covered. It's sad though that I have to blame it on the laws because really I just wouldn't do that. But you don't want to risk offending someone and losing a client.
Merriweather: I'd really like to know what makes people think it's ok to go to a legitimate place of business and make a request like that.
T: Well it's insulting because it's an actual career and you need to attend a lot of schooling to be qualified and licensed but some clients act like you are only there to fulfill their sexual fantasies. In fact I even told one guy that maybe he should call an escort service. He told me that it was too expensive to pay the $100 an hour PLUS get a room, pay for any extras and a tip. It was just easier to get a massage and pay an extra 20 bucks!
Flora: So now that you own your own massage business, how do you handle the issue?
T: We've actually done a few things. We ask them to pay in advance and they sign a waiver acknowledging that there is no illegal activity and that if we ask them to leave for any reason, they will not get a refund. It may not stop the questions every time but at least we don't lose income anymore. It's sad though because really it's a few women who've ruined it for the rest of us because they're willing to do that. I went into massage to help people but some women have made it out to be something different.

Maybe hearing straight from a therapist will make people think twice.

Resource Consumption

Reading some of the comments on the recent recycling post made us think more about consuming resources and our habits as a society.

It scares me a little the way we consume resources and generate waste. ... Science is telling us we’re facing dwindling resources, especially if we continue to consume at the rate we are. Not a pretty picture it paints of the future...

Currently the United States makes up approximately 4.5% of the world population but consumes nearly a quarter of all energy resources. And China with their 1.3 billion people make up almost 20% of the worlds population. China puts a half million new cars on the road every day. They want the consumer lifestyle of cars and toys and things. So now lets do some very rough math. If China consumes at the rate we Americans seem to think is acceptable, this will require we use 110% of the worlds resources to maintain that. It's pretty staggering when you think about it. Now consider this. India wants the live that same consumer lifestyle as their country progresses too! Why not? And their population is around 1.15 billion or another 16%. Very roughly, that is a need of near 200% of the worlds resources! Now I know that with politics and budget spending the way it is these days, we might think consuming 200% is a viable option. But let me remind you we're not talking about paper money and deficits here, we're talking about real, physical, finite resources. When they're gone, they're gone - there's no option for us to just go into debt. And because we're happy to go on doing what we've always done and we refuse to see what gasoline engines are doing to our environment, we're killing the planet. Plain and simple. And at the very least we're facing the gas lines of the 70's all over again. I don't want a hybrid, I want a solar/wind powered car! Or one that runs on saltwater! Develop an engine that runs on saltwater! That would be awesome. It's time to stop thinking like we did 100 years ago. We know so many things we had no idea of 100 years ago and it's time to take those things into consideration and pull our heads out of the sand!
-Flora

Healthcare - Oh Boy, We Said The H-Word

Healthcare is such a huge issue right now and everyone has a different opinion. Political issues usually tend to divide down party lines but people are all over the place on this one. There are just so many variables. National healthcare sounds great, but then you think of the cost of new government agencies and offices, tax money going to things groups object to such as abortions, loopholes for third party lawsuits, the public option, co-ops, filibusters, objections on individual points of order... it's not surprising that a lot of people we know just want someone else to figure it out. Of course that sort of apathy scares the people who do want to participate. That attitude also prompts politicians to make decisions for us despite clear opposition from their constituents. The whole thing is a huge mess. Healthcare reform is in trouble before it has even begun.
And despite having the "best healthcare in the world" we're still in trouble because of the high costs. There are several reasons costs are so inflated. We hear about the ludicrous itemized costs associated with any hospital stay and it makes me wonder why hospitals have to nickle and dime patients for every little thing when costs are already so high? Then there is the issue of doctor fees. We can't deny that a doctor has been to an extreme amount of schooling and training and can command a fairly high rate. Nevertheless, the fact that there are fewer and fewer doctors in practice (likely due to high malpractice insurance rates - again with the insurance!) and thus no need for competitive pricing, further inflates costs. Another reason for high costs are all the uninsured people who wait till things are really bad, then go to an ER and receive treatment they can't pay for. Later, those costs may have to be absorbed by the hospital. Getting back to insurance issues - my dentist has a private practice with no partners. He has two dental assistants and four office staff. One dentist and two assistants need four people just to handle all the paperwork between their office and the insurance companies! A friend of ours is constantly calling her insurance company to question charges on her daughters doctor bills. Almost every time she calls they tell her the partial coverage was "a mistake", they easily "re-review the claim" and everything goes through. This seems fishy to me. This seems like Aetna is hoping that instead of calling to argue, she'll just take the easy way and pay the bills herself.
With all the objections regarding the current bill on the table, one thing keeps coming back to me. Why should this plan not be the employer provided plan available to all of congress? Is this plan they're trying to pass, somehow sub-par? I can see a lot of problems with this and still I'm told I don't understand all the ins and outs of the bill (probably true). But don't try to first tell me that you know better/more about it and it's fine, but then second, turn around and refuse to participate yourself. I'm not stupid and that's a huge red flag.
-Flora

The real crisis with healthcare stems from the fact that people are looking to the government to step in and take over, but this is a huge conflict of interest. One of our biggest money making industries in this country is the pharmaceutical industry - an industry in the business of treating illness, not curing it. The lobbyists for these companies are pulling strings in Washington, make no mistake. So we need to be honest with ourselves and ask the question - is the government really the right entity to reform healthcare? Especially when you take into consideration what has happened with any entity the government has bailed out in the past. Because that is basically what this would be: a huge bailout of the insurance companies. There's no question that healthcare is an issue and that reform is a must, but as long as we're waiting for someone outside ourselves to step in and take over, we're giving up our rights, and it will never be what we needs because these are our bodies and we are the ones concerned with them.I'm not going to pretend to know all the answers here, but one thing I do know is that it's time to start being responsible for our own health and well-being, as far as that's possible. Especially when it is in the interest of government and big business to maintain sickness rather than wellness. It's time to get creative and start looking for our own answers. All I can do is speak for myself, but what I've done is found a chiropractor/naturopath who maintains our structural health - which has made a huge difference, I treat myself and my family with herbs & homeopathy - significantly cheaper than pharmaceuticals, I focus on nutrition, education, and preventive care. I also search for answers online - in this age of information, it's all at our fingertips. I do acknowledge this doesn't work for everyone, and there are times when medical intervention is necessary. However I do believe that individually, through education, we can and should find a balance between self-directed care and doctor-directed care. Really instead of waiting for someone else to come save us, we need to be responsible for our own health.
-Merriweather