calimary
calimary's JournalSo do I, indeed.
Sometimes it's courage and sometimes it's sheer practicality.
In Angelina Jolie's case, it strikes me as a move that's just eminently practical and sensible as hell. She looked at her genetic disposition; her odds; the six children she loves who are depending on her; a partner she loves who's depending on her, with whom she'd probably like to grow old; ideas; projects; campaigns and missions using her fame to help change the world - AND a future wherein she plans to see those kids graduate, walk down the aisle, start businesses, whatever. My former sister-in-law made that decision in her own life, years ago. She'd had two kids, and she and my brother-in-law wanted to stop there. Her mother died of breast cancer while still relatively young. She didn't want to live with that kind of fear and dread, or meet that fate, and leave her kids without a mother too soon. So she had it done. Seemed to make perfect sense to me.
Besides, "boobs" are something we women have. NOT something we are.
Welcome to DU, MetasticTwine!
Glad you're here! I'm shocked, SHOCKED I say, too! NOT!
I would not put ANYTHING past them. They seem to be growing in desperation. The life they want - even the world they want - doesn't exist anymore. If it ever did, it was mostly in 1950's and '60's sitcoms. The demographics that still care are either old and dying out, or so stupid, gullible, and ill-informed that they're well-trained by now to vote against their own best interests. They're well-conditioned enough to swallow whole whatever crap is spewing out of RNC/Pox Noise. Without questioning. Or from their own bullies in the pulpit who seem more interested in building earthly empires for themselves than the Hereafter. They yearn for those "simple" times and "good ol' days" when Dad's paycheck MORE than covered the needs of a family of four. When houses were affordable for the middle class. When there WAS a viable middle class. When there weren't all these annoying other people who demanded the same equality and pay and voting rights and other rights and the same-size place at the table as Dad's. When the "little woman" was content to know her place - quiet, acquiescent, subservient, never speaking out of turn, securely in the home or low-paying pink-collar jobs only. You know, the kind that Jurassic-james inhofe is comfortable with. And everybody was white with blue eyes and blonde or light brown hair, and spoke English. Even Jesus!
Well, we don't have that kind of world. Not now! Not EVER! And I bet it'd rip them up inside if they ever contemplated how the physical Jesus probably resembled Osama bin Laden more than the sanitized version we see in all the Easter cards.
No amount of wishing can make it so. And in many cases, no amount of propaganda can make it so at the polls.
Which is why they cheat. They have to. They have to rig the game, tilt the playing field, bend the rules, defy the rules, or change the rules outright, in order to secure a win anymore. That's all they've got.
Their policies are so unpalatable, unreasonable, unrealistic, and unworkable that they're falling out of favor. Insisting what they still do will NOT win them more voters. Too many people know otherwise. INVARIABLY, when things are explained, the point always goes to OUR side. No wonder one of the many things these assholes want to do is defund education and disregard it as a concern worthy of Cabinet-level priority. Majorities are moving away from marriage prejudice. The young aren't embracing organized religion anymore. Single heads of households are no longer some rare oddity you only hear about but never see in your neighborhood. Majorities are shifting their views on marijuana. There's suddenly a strong and vigorous pushback against 2nd Amendment extremism where there once was NONE AT ALL. There is growing concern over environmental degradation and climate change, and more realism about it. There are more women winning elections. More Latinos too. There are more Latinos, PERIOD. The white majority is losing ground, rapidly, and soon won't be a numerical majority anywhere any longer. Many of us have just had TOO MUCH for TOO LONG.
Things are NO LONGER what they once seemed.
And the CONS don't like it. They want it back the old way. The way they THINK it was, in their own cloudy, addled, fantasy-filled nostalgia. That's what the whining middle-aged white woman standing in the back of the room during one of those town hall meeting videos a few years back sniveled, tearily: "I Want MY America BACK!" That America is GONE, honey. It really never was. You just assumed it was like what you saw on TV when you were growing up, and what your CONservative authorities tell you is how things should be. Hell, sometimes I think I want my wisdom teeth back, too, just in case I ever start losing some of the others. But it's not to be. Won't happen. Can't happen. They're long gone. I simply have to deal with what there is in reality. And nobody in this reality is trying to help republi-CONS and CONservatives in general - to see this. They're still fancying up their own realities in their own little bubble worlds, where everything is as "Fox and Friends" tell you it is, in the morning, and as limbaugh tells you it is in the middays, and as bill o'reilly tells you it is, come nightfall.
Welcome to DU, homegirl!
Glad you're here! I think it's a worthy pursuit - making DAMN SURE that all these "foundations" and "organizations" and "institutes" and "universities" are really on the level and not just covers for propaganda. TOTALLY religions should be taxed when they preach politics from the pulpit. Especially as overtly as they do. You can try speaking in parables and metaphors and illustrations but remember what He said: render unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's and to God those things that are God's. He didn't say make sure you render to both those together. Seems He was making a pretty deliberate and intentional distinction.
Religion has no place telling people how to vote or for whom to vote. I'm all for making religion relevant to our times. But NOT when it comes to meddling in people's politics. Funny how, too, when religion meddles in a positive way - as when JP2 told dubya "if you go into Iraq, you go without God" - then it's considered unworthy of heeding.
I think a lot of these teabagger groups are just trying to avoid having contributions taxed. Well, if it's not deductible to give to the RNC, then it shouldn't be deductible to give to Tea Party "Patriots." If they want to play politics, let them pay for the privilege like the rest of us civilians do. Religions as well.
Here. And Welcome to DU, Uzair
Glad you're here.
I use a mother's lens through which to see all this. If you abuse the privilege, it gets taken away from you. And since we need tests and formal government licensing to drive a car (which is the second thing gun proponents run to when arguing that one can kill someone without using a gun. First they cite knives. Then cars), why can't we impose licensing on gun ownership?
And why does the Second Amendment trump the First Amendment? Gun proponents have managed to silence free speech in a doctor's office, and free speech in studying and discussing the effects of gun violence on society. I think there's a reason why the First Amendment IS first. Obviously it was viewed as of primary importance. The Second Amendment is by its very name secondary in order of importance. If it was that damned important, the First Amendment would have been written about the "sanctity" of gun ownership.
I personally HATE guns, and the violence, sorrow, bloodshed, maiming, threats, and absolute utter BULLYING by the NRA and other fiends. They bully us by waving their guns in our faces. At least that's how it feels to me. They throw their weight and their money around, AND they're armed. And dangerous. AND LOONY. And they make all the rest of the "reasonable" gun owners look like shit.
And therein lies the rub. Who can really say who's a "reasonable" gun owner anymore? Besides, I'm sure the mother of the Sandy Hook mass murderer was "reasonable" and "law-abiding," and "sensible" about "safe" gun ownership too. How'd that one work out for everybody???
This is a very kind and thoughtful thread, dsc. VERY appropriate on a day like this.
Mothers are all about NOT us, but rather our kids. When I became a mom I finally got it - the BIG takeaway becomes: "It's not about you anymore."
It's very sweet and very motherly of you to put this out there, thinking of all those who can't celebrate today.
I think about the moms of Sandy Hook. This must be a pretty hard Mother's Day for them, too.
Much love, comfort, and solace to you all.
Very sorry to hear that. BEWILDERED to hear that - is more like it.
I look at these Neanderthals and think - "who the hell votes for cretins like these?" How on earth can they believe this stuff???????? Why on earth DO they believe this stuff????????????????????????
Welcome to DU, jlover70
Glad you're here! Makes you just want to scream sometimes, doesn't it?
I can't decide whether it's the 1950s to which they want us all to return -
or the 1850s -
or the 1350s -
or the Sixth Century -
or maybe all the way back to the Bronze Age or something...
Welcome to DU, TNNurse!
Glad you're here! And you're quite correct. We are on different planets, them and us. The world views are just that far apart.
Make sure you call your rep, Dem or republi-CON ('cause all they offer is a CON JOB!) and make sure he/she knows how you feel. They're quite ardent about pursuing this because they think they might finally smell blood. And the media seems hellbent on helping out as much as possible. The pressure's on. So we HAVE TO press back!
Note the handy TOLL FREE Capitol Hill switchboard numbers in my sig line below! I'd call even if you're stuck with a republi-CON. They REALLY need to be sat on and held down about this, or if they're determined, then they need to be given Hellfire and Brimstone for it.
Sweet!!! Happy Mother's Day, Rhythm, and Lyric too, plus your excellent son!
Sounds like he's been well brought up!
Thanks! It was a GREAT Mother's Day Treat!
Love the bunny in yer pocket! And the black-face-white-paws one! And the taco cat! And the albino turtle - FABULOUS! And the planted cats - LOL!!!
Glad you stayed! 
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