Protecting New Americans

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Saturday May 15, 2010 · 5:58 PM PDT

2010/05/15 · 17:58

It was a sunny Wednesday in Oakland. I was killing time between going hither and thither, and found myself reading the New York Times and drinking tea in a downtown Starbucks- not a usual activity of mine, but a pleasant change. I really should start reading the actual newspaper more. Anyway, I was reading about the attempted car bombing in NYC and the background story on Faisal Shahzad. I realize now that, as I was reading, I was sadly detached from it all, even apathetic. This sort of thing is rare, but to be expected. Depressing, but why dwell on it? I admit- after the post-election disappointment, the two failed/failing wars in the Mid-East, and the economic situation at home, I have pretty much withdrawn interest from politics and national news. I am not proud of it, but I have been trying to make a difference in my own small way, in my own small life without paying much attention to the increasingly grim big picture. Hence I read about Shahzad's life, his education, jobs, his citizenship ceremony, without much vigor or curiosity. Leaving my newspaper for the next customer, I stepped outside, ready to replace the whole thing with a more self-absorbed line of thought.

Ahimsa1

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Sunday October 05, 2008 · 8:28 PM PDT

2008/10/05 · 20:28

I will admit, I was never Hillary Clinton's biggest fan. But during the Democratic Convention, when she so eloquently pointed out that her mother was born before women could vote, and her daughter was able to vote for her, Hillary did for me what Obama had done throughout the primaries- she gave me a reason to be proud of my country again, and for the first time, I fully understood why so many women in her generation had such a hard time letting go of her nomination. Oh, the irony of what was to follow, for little did she or I know that a woman we had never heard of was about to crap all over the Presidential campaign and insult women in politics with the sheer stupidity of her presence.

I know many people who, in the pre-Palin era, claimed that feminism was obsolete, that equality had been achieved. Although I disagree with this for many reasons, their arguments had some rational basis. Not anymore. McCain’s strategic placement of Sarah Palin as the VP candidate has destroyed the strongest of those arguments, and I cannot think of a time in the past eight years that feminism has been more relevant or more important than it is now.

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Protecting New Americans

An Apology to Hillary Clinton, on behalf of the McPalin Campaign