Archive for 'politics'
Posted on 13 March '09 by Jenny Wilde, under environment, politics. No Comments.
Celebrate Buy Nothing Day!
You know, the big day? The Friday after Thanksgiving?
Ok, well maybe you think of it as Black Friday, but maybe you should start thinking about it as Buy Nothing Day.
According to many economists, we can’t buy our way out of this recession/depression thing we’re in, so you’re better off saving your dough and focusing on the three Rs (no, not reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic).
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle…and the greatest of these is Reduce.
The Three Rs
Local, sustainable, and/or homemade gifts, or maybe just the gifts of time and energy. Won’t those be especially appreciated?
Don’t believe the hype: consumerism isn’t the answer folks; time, love, and low-impact living (even during the holidays) are.
For more info on the whole “can’t spend our way out of this one” dilemma, check out the New Dream blog here and here.
I’m just sayin’.
P.S. Bartering is really cool, too.
Posted on 20 November '08 by Jenny Wilde, under economy, environment, politics. 2 Comments.
Such a mixed bag
Yes, almost every single thing I wanted to happen with this election happened:
President-Elect Obama
Yes on 1A (high-speed rail)
Yes on 2 (humane treatment of farm animals)
No on 4 (forcible parental notification and waiting period for teen abortion)
No on 7 and 10 (poorly conceived and manipulative “energy-reform” propositions)
Yes on WW (restoration of state parks)
BUT (and it’s a BIG one),
Proposition 8 passed.
It passed.
I’d like to wail and wonder, “How could this happen?,” but, sadly, I know far too well how this could happen. Of course, it was soundly rejected by my home base, the Bay Area, and pretty much all up and down the California coast.
There are plenty of conservative, religious zealots in the Central Valley, though, and they think everyone should be forced to conform to their religious beliefs.
What about freedom of religion, you ask? Pshaw! Who needs it!
How about the separation of church and state? Sacrilege!
Why, don’t we live in a god-fearing christian country? Didn’t we add “under god” to our pledge of allegiance in the 1950s? Doesn’t it say “in god we trust” on our money? Don’t we still have a born-again christian for president for 3 more months?
I feel so, ugh, I don’t know…elated grim hopeful disgusted joyful depressed.
Some very dear friends of mine have been told they don’t count as much as Mark and I do because of their private, personal, completely loving and non-harmful to anyone, love lives.
Parents at Duncan’s school who volunteer in the PTA and act as room parents and willingly perform their civic duty have been told they are not deserving of the same rights that I have.
Friends, relatives, classmates, and many more people I don’t know, have been told they aren’t good enough to marry the ones they love.
Mark wisely pointed out that civil rights aren’t won in elections, they’re won in court.
That’s true, and lawsuits have already been filed.
Those couples who were married before the ban passed have been assured they would be “grandfathered in” and their marriages will still count.
The folks at No on Prop 8 have said that all the votes still haven’t been counted yet and there’s still hope. I want to believe them, but I fear it’s wishful thinking on their part. I guess time will tell.
So there you have it. The people have both renewed my faith and let me down.
That is, my peeps here in the Bay haven’t let me down, but narrow-minded people in other parts of the state and their fear and intolerance have betrayed us all.
When you start taking away civil rights, by constitutional revision no less, you head down a very slippery slope. Where does it end?
Let’s hope it’ll end very soon in the California Supreme Court.
But, YAY! Obama, still, you know?
There is still hope.
Posted on 5 November '08 by Jenny Wilde, under politics, reflection. No Comments.