OnLine With Zoe

I taped it for you -

If you hear anything from me - it is tears and gasping.  Lets face it ~ it took way to long AND it is thrilling.

You Made This Happen

Please accept my personal thanks.  I am writing this note to you.  Today, the President of the United States is going to sign his first piece of legislation and place into law that it is illegal to pay people differently based on gender.  He, with the legislative branch of the US government are going to do what the US Supreme Court did not do.

But make no mistake, you and generations of people before you made this happen.  Most of you were hard at work before the President had begun grade school.  Maybe the editorial staff of MS Magazine thinks that President Obama is superman or that they even need superman but, for me, the Women’s Movement has been all about not needing superman.  Or, lets say, Lois Lane was paid 76 cents on the dollar earned by Clark Kent and that would not have changed if she hadn’t been insistent, honest, risked it all by taking it to court. 

I believe the cover should have been true Superwomen ~

• Generations of working women organizing to demand equal pay.

• Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg who sent a note to Congress asking them to right the error of the Supreme Court.

• Lilly Ledbetter, who gave us her life force to change the course of history for working women forever.  

You made this happen.  Yes, President Obama will sign it today but that piece of paper was milled on the backs of millions of women and their families.  I am proud to say – YOU ARE WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE.

Imagine If We Never Needed Abortion

I always sign up to BLOG FOR CHOICE to write about Reproductive Justice on January 22.  You would think that writing about the same thing for 36 years you would lose your ire, at least your plot.  Actually this year is a big exception

What the last 8 years did.  There is so much to undo.  Mr. Bush’s first day signature on the universal gag order, which robbed women reproductive intelligence and physical autonomy, awarded ownership of women’s bodies to ignorant and ruthless men.  Even lifting the gag order does not make an immediate dent in the imbalance of the genders world wide.  It is just a beginning of the work.

What the last 8 days did.  Mr. Bush was lethal and relentless in his dedication to rob women of owning their destiny.  One of his last orders was the Conscience Order.  This terrible law allows health care providers and their ancillary workers to deny services that might be in conflict with their conscience.  This means the drugstore cashier, the clinic administrative assistant, the taxi driver can refuse services to a person buying items or obtaining services which they hold objectionable.  There is every expectation that the new administration will reverse this but it will take time.

The parameters are far beyond abortion.  The anti-abortion people love to show a photo of a fetus sucking their thumb or a tiny foot pressing against a women’s skin from the inside.  These images are upsetting and representative of a very small percentage of the reach of this battle for women’s physical autonomy.  To really strike the point ~ can you imagine what it would take for women TO NEVER NEED AN ABORTION?  I could respect a “right-to-lifer” who took on that objective.  Free and available birth control information, products and support; the true application that NO MEANS NO; caring for the born child with fervor and dedication; and the end of rape as a weapon of ethnic wars ~ and that is just a start.

Expectation of backlash.  The door just blew open for the expansion of conscience and assuming individual responsibility.  President Obama may make it trendy to think, to examine, to be accountable but beware that as that evolution occurs, those who do not want to think deeply and stand on their decisions are going to push back.  They built that door, they installed that door, they like that door and its imposition of thoughtless limits.  Expect to see this with politicians, people of conservative religious views and people who do not want to think.

Temptation to relax.  We are all relieved that there is a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic Congress but leaving it in their hands is, at the least, irresponsible and, at the most, optimistic.  What is the distance of your reach in assuring reproductive liberty across the fifty states and across the globe?  I live in California and even in this state, there are regional differences in availability and cultural approval.

If you are in the neighborhood – please join us tonight at one of the oldest demonstration in the country Circle of Orange Demonstration.  Solidarity for choice, freedom and reproductive justice.
WHEN:   Thursday, January 22, 2009    Meet at  6:30 pm / March at 7:00 pm
WHERE: City of Orange ~  gather at the Olive Street parking lot between Chapman & Almond
BRING:  Friends, family, pro-choice signs, flashlights & peaceful hearts

Answer the Door ~ The New Repair Man is Here

Hey everybody, the new repair man is here.  Bring your best tools, roll up your sleeves, put on your thinking caps.  Hurry up and get in here, sit down, take out your lists.  This new handyman is smart.  He has a plan.  He has skills.  He has collected a support team and he is here to help us reach our goals. 

Mr. Obama, here is my family.  Each of us has done what we can to summon open hearts, empower able hands and invoke our best wishes.

The Catholic has been to Mass and said her prayers.  The Jewish child has lit a candle with noble intentions.  The Mormon boy has prayed for your success.  The Muslim has asked Allah to bless this new beginning.  The Native American has danced and drummed for your peaceful journey.  The Christian has called on Jesus to walk beside you.  The atheist and agnostic are dedicated to your hopeful vision.  The Buddhist has hung prayer flags and chanted while holding you in their hearts.  Each of us, in a private moment and in a public way, has offered you our very best.  
 
You look around my table, my thanks-giving table, and you may wonder why there is so little family resemblance.  We are very diverse; not by design, it just happened that way.  Some of them are biologically mine, some have immigrated and some are adopted; though I have long since forgotten which is which.  We are gay and straight.  We are married and single.  We all are able and we all are challenged.  We speak different languages and hold one thing in common, we all want to be happy.  We all want to be well and safe and free. 

Actually, if you ask us individually, there is no exception; we all want the same thing.  Where we stray, from time to time, is that we forget that our wellbeing is dependent on one another’s wellbeing.  We forget that we can only be as happy as we offer happiness to one another.  We forget that we are, in truth,  one another’s neighbor.

So please, Mr. Obama, take the chair at the head of the table.  We are so relieved that you are here.  We offer all our talent, all our tools, all our sacrifices, our hope for the future.  We shall do this together, starting now. 

Services at Saddleback Church

It takes a lot to get me to Church on a Sunday morning.  In this case, I had to go since there were only 22 RSVP's to the Warren protest.  Thankfully, many more were there, mostly from LA County and I, for one, am very grateful.  Whoa - you shoulda seen the horses!  What were they expecting?  It was a full dozen of mounted police, more on segways and a few on bicycles.  If only we were that dangerous.  And don't let them tell you we were brought refreshments - no doughnuts and water this time. 

   

Actually, I Fear You Ms. Etheridge.

Possibly you read Melissa’s Etheridge’s 2008 Christmas greeting to the gay community.  It is widely published on the web, on Huffpo in particular.  She met Rick Warren and she is moved by him and has asked gay people to do charity work to for HIV/AIDS (though I would suggest to work against HIV/AIDS) instead of protesting this coming week.  Her message is disturbing on so many levels that I can’t help but respond. 

Melissa Etheridge message includes ~ Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.   Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us. 

The mere assumption that we would be marching out of anger is just over the top.  Effective people march out of love.  Forgive me for pointing to the obvious; King, Gandhi, Chavez and, very likely, YOU.  We march out of love.  We march, keep vigil, fast.  We know that doing so out of love is the only way to make any inroads.  And is she "showing up?"  Her message says she, and her family, will be attending the inauguration.  Her wife and kids will be in D.C. 

Secondly, I had expected more from Ms. Etheridge until I saw her on Oprah,  Melissa’s partner is not a supporter of Marriage Equality.  How odd it was to see Melissa trying to interrupt her and cover. We all know this is a family that can afford an attorney to draw up papers for inheritance, estate planning, adoption.  My guess is that any ER or maternity ward would not deny either partner access in THIS FAMILY. 

The final thing, which hurts even more, is that Melissa is not taking into her heart all of the groups Pastor Warren speaks against.  We are more than gay.  We are human beings.  We are citizens of the world.
Rick Warren ~

• holds women in second class positions in marriage

• teaches that even abuse is no reason to divorce

• women who have had abortions are Nazis and their wombs are Auschwitz

I want to stand in front of M.E. and say, “I am a bi-sexual woman who is divorced and has had two abortions, exactly which parts of me should be ok with Pastor Rick?”  We are complex human beings and the march of love is inclusive.  We do not seek to dissect ourselves but honor all segments of who we are, our society and our world.  I am more than gay – I am a woman, who believes no one is free until all of us are free.  I will miss Melissa’s music lifting my heart. 

1st to Criticize and 1st to Praise

I have to celebrate when good news comes through CNN.  I believe that what you focus on expands so you can bet your bottom dollar I really stretch good news as far as it will go.  Today it has been reported that the Obama Team has invited Reverend Gene Robinson, openly gay bishop, to deliver a prayer at an inauguration event on Sunday and Reverend Sharon Watkins, general minister and president of the Disciples of Christ to give the invocation at the National Cathedral on Wednesday.  

This is good news.  This is very good news, however, if Rick Warren had not been asked to deliver the central invocation, it would not be news at all; it would just be another illustration, in a long list of illustrations, of inclusion in the Obama choices.  So why is it news?  Why is the Warren thing so BIG?  Actually with these two additions of Watkins and Robinson, its easier to see.  The issue is that Warren trades on exclusion, hate-language, judgment and identifying that there is an unacceptable “other.”

Let me use myself as an example of my thinking.  I am a Buddhist and I would never expect a Buddhist to give the invocation as it is a small minority in the US.  I expected a Christian.  The president-elect is Christian.  Most Americans are Christian.  Heck, some of my family and friends are Christian.  But never in a million years would I settle for a Christian speaker to call Buddhists, Nazis.  Never would it be ok for a Christian speaker to call Buddhists pedophiles.  To go even further on this line of thinking, it means they wouldn’t even be much of a Christian if they promoted anti-Buddhist talk and would not let Buddhists in their church. 

Why is this so position controversial?  Why is this even indefensible (Ms. Etheridge)?  It is obvious ~ Warren is all about exclusion, trades on hate, hands out name-calling like a Vegas blackjack dealer, made millions telling people that their lives are not enough.  Does he really represent Christianity to Obama?  JEZZZZUS. 

So don’t ring me up and ask me if the invitations to Revs Robinson and Watkins make this all ok.  This is not the time ~ anymore than thinking that Palin, being a woman, would make me happy when Hillary Clinton was not the presidential nominee. 

If you run for office talking about inclusion, than choosing an inclusionary person to give the central invocation is really an obvious choice.  President-elect Obama, you are so smart – there is no denying it – you get all this.  DO SOMETHING, proportional, as they say.

Choose me ~ it would be so ironic. We need some fun.

I really don’t know what to think ~ do you?  I really don’t know what to do ~ do you?  Shall I watch Philadelphia again or go see Milk again?  I lived through the Life and Times of Harvey Milk. When can we just breathe and call this place home?
 
I started this campaign season just being anti-Bush.  I made a button that said, “Vote Democratic.”  John Edwards seemed to really care about the poor, so do I.  Hillary Clinton’s Beijing 1997 speech was all I could hope from any woman who made it that far up the political ladder.  Biden, Kucinich, Richardson, Dodd ~ okay, okay.  Obama was interesting but too young, too unknown, no record in Illinois on my issues.  So I got on the Hillary train and was increasingly thrilled, day after day, imagining what it would mean to my life and the lives of every woman in the world for her to be POTUS. 

Obama won the nomination and, while the press pressed Hillary to concede, while past conquered nominees took weeks to step aside, it appeared that three days was too long for Hillary to concede in the minds of the media.  From my hindsight, I wish she had taken longer.  Three days was not enough to wash away the hopes and dreams of a Hillary Clinton Presidency.  I felt robbed.  Love being what it is, she asked and I supported Obama.  My younger friends were buoyant.  My centrist friends were smug.  My tried and true feminist friends were abandoned. 

So what could we do?  Lets wait and see.  Oh yes, wait and see, though during the campaign he was cautious and measured; he will be progressive, pro-minority, pro-diversity, pro-woman, pro-social justice and it will all take shape once elected.  Let me be really clear here: this was his electorate telling me this.  These are the people with Obama stickers on the car, buttons on lapels and poised for an historical celebration.  These are the prophets of change and predictors of massive global consciousness. 

What has happened so far?  Not much.  “He is not in office yet.” (I can hear you)  But actually, he has made dozens of decisions.  The cabinet is five women out of fifteen seats.  (fewer than Bill Clinton did 16 years ago)  He appointed Larry Summers to his economic advisory board.  This is the man who was fired from Harvard for saying that women may not have an aptitude for math and science.  Please note that you can find language about advancing women in math and science on both the Obama website (under women issues) and the Democratic Party Platform. 

Take a look at the “shovel-ready’  work and weigh it with three factors; 1) women are paid 77 cents on the dollar, when they have work, 2) most of these jobs are traditionally male and by a very large percentage are held by men and 3) many of the middle and lower class homes are headed by women.  Creating all of these jobs is great but, to be of use to the whole country, they must include a preponderance of work for women, the passage of the fair-pay act and balanced benefits for families such as paid sick leave, affordable health insurance, maternity leave, day care and family justice. 

The media may be having a hay day with the ridiculous circus surrounding Governor Blagojevich as it unfolds day to day but this is not the meat of the matter.  Widen the lens and note that this continuous cavalcade of unscrupulous idiots, who have been at the helm of Illinois for decades (Ryan, now in prison, was Speaker of the House in 1982)  have held up a federal amendment which would include women in the US Constitution.  Silly hair-dos, foul language, a wife who is in on the street talk – that is not the story.  Appointing Burris to be the Junior Senator for Illinois is not the story.  The overwhelming damage to the advancement of humanity, the parade of leaders who care nothing for social justice, the suffering of the citizens of Illinois and the US is the story.  JESUS CHRIST ~ SOMEBODY TELL THE STORY AND IMPEACH THIS GOVERNOR AND END HIS LINNEAGE.

So I entered the contest to be one of the ten people to attend the inauguration as Obama’s guest.  Now that simultaneously seemed ironic and proper.  Here is what I said,
I am 60, I am a Democrat and I voted for you.  I hope you choose me to attend the inauguration and celebrate your presidency.  If you do not choose me, I will be at the Saddleback Church with a sign protesting the appointment of Pastor Rick Warren to lead our country in prayer and to mark the beginning of your eight years in office.  He says that I am liken to a nazi and my womb is the comparable to Auschwitz, as I had an abortion many years ago.  He says that since I am bi-sexual, I am equivalent to a pedophile.  I suggest you ask Pastor Warren to hold a Parliament of Religion like the one held in Chicago 1923.  It is time for all of the religions of the earth to have a meeting. 

So either way – you know where to find me on the 20th.