DC Metro Moms

The candidate's health care plans hit home

I watched the presidential debate last night, eager for information and ideas, and I came away with one stark realization.

Only one candidate proposes a plan that would ensure that I'm not dropped from my employer's health plan due to a pre-existing condition. 

Only one candidate would ensure that all children are adequately covered for the checkups, vaccinations, and (God forbid) treatment they need.

Only one candidate offers a plan whereby my husband and I will EVER be able to change jobs. 

The Change I Want

I had decided a while ago I don't want to turn my personal blog or the writing I do here to be very political.  Anyone who reads me regularly could guess which side I was on, and really, did it matter?  And then I changed my mind.  This election is way too important to be quiet.

I work in a building that houses most of the social welfare programs for my county. WIC, food stamps, energy assistance, you get my drift. And, I need to point out, I work for an incredibly rich county.  One day last week I pulled into my building at 9:15 am and the parking lot was full. The satellite lot next door was also full and I parked on the street. This has become a usual occurrence in the past few months.

When the elevator doors opened to the second floor, where the programs are located, the waiting room was packed and the line snaked around the room. These are people, in a rich county, who need help. Help to pay for food, help to pay their electrical bill, help to secure the down payment for an apartment or else be homeless. Help.

Mothers Voices Rising -- It's About Time

Why did it take the nomination of Sarah Palin to be John McCain's running mate to get the mainstream media talking to women bloggers about politics?

On the heels of McCain choosing the Alaska governor, networks were scrambling to talk to moms.  So what better place to find us, I suppose, than here in the blogosphere.  I was lucky to get called by a variety of news outlets to lend my punditry muscles to the discussion about whether Oprah should invite Sarah Palin on her show, whether Palin was being discussed in sexist terms, whether moms would vote for her because we're all moms (to that, I just said, WHAT??"), and all other things related in any way to she-who-can-field-dress-a-moose.

For a week, there was a flurry.  I have come to appreciate the luxury of sitting in the backseat of a comfy town-car to arrive at a TV studio calm and collected!   But I digress.

Blog for your life!

Science is finally catching up to something that some of us have suspected for quite some time now: blogging can help you feel happier, sleep better, and work out issues.  This month's issue of Scientific American features upcoming studies on how blogging helps people with serious illnesses cope.  (Something about how complaining acts as a placebo treatment for those in pain; I'm not sure I buy that part of it, but I'm no neuroscientist.)  The feedback mechanism (comments) is huge, of course; I wonder if the scientists fully recognize the power of comments and friendship, in any form, in healing.  I hope they do.  I know for me, that's been incredibly important, and I've been speaking out lately about the power of blogging to help heal.  There's an article this month in Health magazine, and I'll be speaking at BlogHer, with Laurie K and Flutter, about the power of blogging communities as a healing force. 

Of course, none of this is news to any of you.  You know what it means to blog.  You feel its power, its pull, and you come away from your computers more satisfied and fulfilled after a good blog writing and rerading session.  It connects us.  It heals.   

Where Will it End?

As an attorney who works in child abuse, I have tried to keep my mouth closed about the polygamist sect raid.  Considering I am intimately involved in taking people's children away, I felt my opinion was a little hypocritical.  But after reading this article in the Washington Post, I knew I had to speak.  (Or blog ).

I feel very strongly about child abuse.  I feel very strongly about taking children away from abusive situations.  But, you cannot remove children for "a way of life."  We used to do that, we stopped.

Forgetting, and remembering

My father has Alzheimers disease.  Over the last several years he has gone from forgetting who is President, to forgetting where he was, to forgetting where he lived, to forgetting who I am.  The last family event at which he was more-or-less himself was my wedding.  He has never known Bunny.  It has been an extremely painful journey for all of us, not the least for him.

One of the first signs I had that my father was losing his memory in a serious way was years ago when he couldn't produce the name of the Secretary of State.  For someone else, that may have seemed like a minor incident of forgetfulness.  Not for my extremely political, extremely partisan Dad.  That meant something was wrong.

I spend a lot of time these days wondering who Dad would support in this year's primary were he to be aware of it.  He would be so happy to see -- in his lifetime, although not his cognizant one -- that there

Washington, D.C. is Protesting Today

I generally like anniversaries, but not all anniversaries deserve a celebration.

In terms of days that will live in infamy, today is one of them -- the fifth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq.  We see our share of protests here in the nation's capital, but I was amazed when I saw this list of protests and marches going on today here in D.C.:

• "Blockade the IRS": A march to the IRS headquarters at 1111 Constitution Ave.
• "Disrupt the War Profiteers": Student groups and activists will converge upon the streets throughout the day to rally outside offices of large corporations such as ExxonMobil, Shell, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Bechtel and the IMF/World Bank.
• "Separate Oil and State": Participants will meet outside the American Petroleun institute.
• "Veterans March for Peace": The march will begin this morning at 7th St., NW on the National Mall between Madison and Jefferson streets.
• "Critical Mass":  Cyclists will travel through downtown possibly riding south onConnecticut        Ave., NWto the White House.
• "Granny Peace Brigade Knit-in": A sit-in is planned for noon outside the Veterans Affairs office.
• "Funk the War": similar to Disrupt the War Profiteers, student groups will converge on the K Streetcorridor.
• "March of the Dead": Dozens of activists will roam the city dressed in black representing those killed in the Iraq war.
• "The World Can't Wait: Anti-torture rally at 1:00 p.m. at Lafayette Square Park.
• "March on DNC": Participants will gather at 5:00 p.m. at the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall and march to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at 430 S. Capitol St., SE

For me, it's not just getting out of Iraq I'm worried about -- there's the whole Iran thing looming over our heads.  And after yesterday's Iran "slip" of the tongue by John McCain, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up.  In five years, I don't want to see us marching against another war.  But it's obviously on his mind.

Joanne is working on her political indignation over at her place, PunditMom. You can also find her at MOMocrats and BlogHer.

Original DC Metro Moms Blog post.

Some People Never Learn

I think Elliot Spitzer should resign, but not for the obvious reason.

I actually don't care that the Governor of New York solicited prostitutes. Yes, it's illegal, and I believe our elected officials should follow the law. But, I actually think prostitution should be legal. What two consenting adults do in their own time is their own business. And, if you legalize prostitution you have less problems with rape of prostitutes and you can control better for disease.

Pardon Me, I Apparently Forgot I'm Dumb and Fickle

For some reason, the Washington Post has decided that it's going to try to alienate its women subscribers.

I can't really think of another reason why its editors would decide to run two articles attacking women voters as dumb and fickle in its Sunday Outlook section. Between We Scream, We Swoon.  How Dumb Can We Get?  and For Hillary's Campaign, It's Been a Class Struggle, I found my self shaking my head and wondering, why do we do this to ourselves?

Even if you buy that each article might have  a legitimate point buried somewhere in those paragraphs, I don't see any men penning essays this campaign season suggesting that guys are acting against their political self-interest if they don't vote for the candidate of their gender or that men are somehow irrational in their electoral decisions if they display any emotion about the candidate of their choice.

This Whole Campaign Looks a Lot Different to an Eight-Year-Old

Trying to explain our electoral process to an eight-year-old is like trying to help your child make sense of why the boys who like you in the classroom pick on you during recess.

It's all a bit inscrutable.

What's even harder is trying to help a second-grader grasp that while the election coverage that mommy is addicted to has been going on since before she started this school year, that things won't be over until she's settled into next year's school routine.

"But WHY?" is PunditGirl's continual response when I try to explain why we don't have a new President yet.  We had this discussion after the New Hampshire primary:

PunditGirl: "But who won last night?"