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Country Over Party

Posted on August 24, 2024 | Leave a comment

It’s about time. The trains are at the stations, arriving regularly, and this is going to allow the people to fix our democracy so that we can have at least two functioning political parties again.

My solution since Trump came down that golden escalator has been for the people to get together and support a candidate that can fix the mess that he made in his disastrous tenure as president and Trump-proof our democracy for other such candidates hell-bent on destroying what we the people have built for nearly 250 years.

The placards tell the story. Do you want “USA” or “MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW?” Do you want a bright future for your kids? Or a dystopian wasteland? Do you really hate your kid’s best friend because she has Jewish/Catholic parents, gay parents, or even German/Swiss/British/French Canadian parents like mine? This is America in 2024, people.

Like Milwaukee, our streets are potholed but they can be fixed. Let’s get together behind Kamala and Tim and fix the potholes of dark money (launder it, make it visible) in politics, gerrymandering and the Electoral College. Ratify the ERA, finally! Go around the Suipreme Court’s disastrous immunity ruling and deny all future presidents unqualified immunity for criminal actions while in office.

As the people, let’s make sure Congress legislates, the Executive administers the laws and the courts only call balls and strikes. Equal powers under the law, not the Supreme Court ruling all under the watchful eyes of Harlan Crow and his rich cronys. Supreme Court ethics are a must, overseen by an incorruptible judicial panel, hear that Judge Luttig and esteemed legal scholar Laurence Tribe?

The Democratic Convention sealed the deal. If you vote Harris/Walz you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot. The people are showing how silly and inept and corrupt Congress is. Vote them out in November! I really don’t care how many clicks they have. They’re in Congress on our dime. Make them work for us, dammit! Preening for the cameras and raising money by saying awful things about people is not solving the people’s issues. Vote ’em out! If they voted not to certify the 2020 election, sweep the slate clean!

We can do it. We know Congress and the Courts won’t help us so in the end it’s all up to us to fix this mess.Even the playing field, count votes correctly, no shenanigans. Our vote is our voice and we can’t have election deniers breaking into machines or denying certifications because they don’t like what or who the people voted for.

We’ve done it for 250 years, we can’t let one despicable orange man gum up the works for good. He’s not Jesus, believe me. And he’s only working to solve his problems (like going to jail for doing a lot of bad stuff), not ours. Think about it. May common sense rule. Vote for the dems this time and you’ll have the opportunity to vote rep in the future. This year we need patriots so our country remains a democracy and we all prosper. Register and vote! Dee

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Project 2026?

Posted on August 23, 2024 | Leave a comment

Prooject 2025 is successfully underway. Yea! OK, let’s see what the “Christian” Nationalist Republican Party wants next. Forced births are a given, as is an anti-abortion czar who forces states to compile and send in all data on miscarriages and abortions.

The government is not smaller and is certainly not filled with experts in meteorological science or recombinant DNA or even high math skills to catch tax cheats because they’re all political hacks chosen by the Heritage Foundation. The abortion czar is also legally and forcibly tracking the menstrual cycle of every woman of childbearing age. Also, for the first time ever, American women are not allowed to cross STATE LINES without proof that they’re not pregnant and seeking an abortion. The new government employees serve at the pleasure of the President (“you’re fired”) and are skilled in grievance and making sure everyone in the USA does as they say, not as they do. Tough job but someone’s gotta do it and the offices are considerably nicer than our parents’ basements where we’ve been hiding for decades awaiting our Dear Leader.

Project 2025 is over, now and mefipristone has been banned through the Comstock Act, and there is a nationwide abortion ban signed into law by President Trump.

Now let’s get down to brass tacks. those pesky “undesirables” who are poisoning our blood. We already got rid of 11,000 “illegals” and now those camps are overflowing with dissidents who dislike the new regime. Sheesh, I wish we had more space, the country is crawling with ’em! But I digress.

We hate women but now finally have them under control and are working on revoking the 19th amendment so their husbands can vote for them, as God intended. We need the women for procreation and, well, sex. So we can’t incarcerate them all.

We really hate anyone who’s not white and Christian. So. In the book that our Dear Leader always keeps by his bedside, Mein Kampf, there’s a great solution. Forced sterilization. The Nazis only tried it for a while but now that we’ve got the camps and the women under our control, we’ll just require every Black, Asian, Latina, Jew, Muslim and anyone else we don’t like get sterilized at birth. Then they won’t overwhelm the welfare system we’ve already gotten rid of but now it’s a real mess because someone just asked me for money for food on my way to my cushy government job.

Forced birth for white Christians, forced sterilization for every other female. That’s the only way we can get what we want. Then we can just tear up the remainder of the Constitution, send the Statue of Liberty back to France (good riddance!) and ban all the poetry of Emma Lazarus.

Lots to do. Must get busy as there’s a whole lotta hatred to spew. Please register and VOTE! Dee

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Stop the Presses!

Posted on August 15, 2024 | Leave a comment

What is freedom and why do Americans cherish it so much?

For decades I’ve been mystified about the Republican infatuation about getting into our bedrooms to see who we choose to love, and now into our doctor’s exam rooms to control our status as reproducing humans. I just saw the reason, in a nutshell, today. They don’t want us to have affordable health insurance, just monitor and control our reproduction.

Kevin Roberts, who leads the Heritage Foundation, creator of the horrific Project 2025, has a new book that is too incendiary (pun intended, its original title was about burning it all down) to publish until AFTER the November election.

In this book Mr. Roberts says that having children should not be considered an optional individual choice.

Think about it. This is why MAGA saya that abortion is only the beginning. The purpose is not just to force every currently pregnant person to give birth (and then throw the newborn to the wolves with no social safety net), this is about forcing Americans to have kids, no matter their health or wishes.

No abortion, no fixing of ectopic or otherwise unviable pregnancies, no contraception, no IVF for hopeful parents-to-be. No no-fault divorce. No healthcare even for healthy pregnant women because doctors fear if a miscarriage happens naturally (it does, sometimes), they’ll be at fault and lose their licenses.

Should women be sent home from hospitals to bleed out in parking lots? I don’t know what God you pray to but mine would not approve. A woman is not merely a vessel in which to cultivate other humans. Which is why we also have brains.

If you believe in freedom, think about how you feel about marriage and starting a family and basing your personal decisions on whatever matters to you, not the government. Every family has health issues, economic issues, thoughts about how large a family they would like. These are highly personal decisions and the government shouldn’t be anywhere near them.

If there is a reason besides saving our democracy to vote Democratic down the line this November, let it be your personal freedom to live your life as you wish to live it. Register and VOTE! Dee

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MFEO

Posted on August 14, 2024 | 1 comment

I remember in Sleepless in Seattle when young friend Jessica, who knew how to book flights on her parents’ credit cards when only travel agents knew how to do that, spoke mainly in initials. Her parents didn’t have a clue but that didn’t stop Tom Hanks.

My husband and I first met a couple of weeks after 9/11 when the world was reeling and everyone had a story to tell. He’d been laid off (dot-bombed) and moved away for a few weeks only to get a new job in town. I found him a townhome about 1,000 feet from my condo and he had no furniture and absolutely nothing in the kitchen.

One day I walked 1/2 mile to the mall where there was a grocery store, a Trader Joe’s and a Pier One and I saw picardie glasses on sale. I picked one up and it was suitable for him, heavy and nearly indestructable. So I bought it, Eighteen glasses in three sizes for about $18. I started home and dang those glasses were heavy. I stopped every few hundred feet to rest, then decided I would leave them on his protected front porch and hoof it the rest of the way home without them.

Arriving home I got my messages and he’d called saying he was home sick and needed to take medicine and didn’t have a glass to drink from. “Look out on your front porch.” Voila! MFEO. Somehow I knew just what he needed and it was sitting right there for him to use. Perfect, made for each other. We married a year later.

Now, we’re moving again. I came across the box and even the inserts to put between glasses. Only about eight of the originals remain after all these years but it was fun remembering those early days together. Of course as a cook I had more than enough kitchen equipment for both places, and moved most of it over to his place because I had to cook there. I had a cat back then and he was so allergic he couldn’t even step inside my front door! Now I just have to wash the dog every two weeks to keep down the dander. No more cats, sadly.

Whatever happened, we rolled with the punches and came out of it better than when we started. Let’s hope this move works for us as well, because moving is a real pain! Take care, and remember to VOTE! Dee

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Heritage Head Hates Dogs

Posted on August 11, 2024 | Leave a comment

Way to go Donald Trump, for having the Heritage Foundation hang on every word during your presidency in order to craft you a 922 page document with your fantasy wish list to inflict on the US, and a secret companion document with all the political hacks in MAGA-dom to staff it.

I’ve been railing against the horrific anti-women and anti-family components in your plan, Mr. Ex-President, but yesterday I heard something new.

Kevin Rogers, your good buddy and head of the Heritage Foundation, has come out against dog parks! Why? They’re anti-family. Yes, anti-family.

The Trump/Vance campaign seems to be out to offend every sector of the public, save the MAGgots. They don’t want to increase their base or broaden their appeal, instead hoping to win the election afterwards during the counting. It’s called cheating, and he’s already done it once and not yet paid the price for the deaths and injuries he caused, not to mention the damage to our democracy, Constitution and rule of law.

There are 65.1 million households in the US that include a dog (Forbes, 2024). From 2009 – 2020 the number of dog parks increased by 42% to over 800. I was part of the movement that laid the groundwork for that spike back in the 90’s. It was a hard fight for my “piece of the park pie,” but well worth our time and efforts nationwide.

As a matter of reference, there are 429 Natonial Park Sites in the US, and many thousands of town, city, county and state parks and the vast majority of these do not allow dogs.

Dog owners pay for the tot lots, basketball courts, and rec centers that dot our land but we’re not allowed to play fetch with our dog without getting an expensive ticket. Here the fine is $250 per violation. Stiff, indeed.

Responsible dog owners help keep neighborohoods and parks safe, routinely clean up after their pets and allow for agreed-upon introductions to families by providing rules for kids meeting a dog for the first time. We keep our neighborhood parks free from litter, vandalism and other crimes and are often thanked by community members.

Project 2025 makes women second-class citizens. It will punish single people, including single parents, alternative family structures and many Americans of rights they are currently afforded by Constitution and law.

Dog-hating is not gonna get you any votes, guys. But that’s OK. Keep shooting yourselves in the foot and our nation and Constituon will be protected for the future. Vote! Dee

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Raising Kids

Posted on August 10, 2024 | Leave a comment

All families are unique, but I’ll just talk about mine, in the vein of “minding my own d*** business.” My parents had two families together. I was born 1 1/2 years before my sister and we grew up best friends/worst enemies (friends most of the time, enemies lasted about five minutes). My brother is seven years younger and the final sister, 11 years younger.

Born in 1958 and 1960, we were raised in my father’s type of strict German/Swiss style. It was a different world back then. I learned to read at five, and taught my sister so she would stop talking and let me read.

As we started school we got an allowance of $.50 per week for our daily/weekly chores. We had to make our beds immediately upon awakening and help set the table/do dishes every day, but every Saturday we took an equal number of slips of paper out of the “job jar” to tell whether we had to dust, vacuum, fold diapers for the little ones, things like that. The worst jobs were “ask Mom” and “ask Dad.” Then, they could make up anything, like help lay 3,000 bricks around the new pool.

The real worst one was when I pulled both “asks” until I learned how to play the game. One week Mom made me weed the garden. Then, sweaty, grimy and out of breath I asked Dad what he needed done. “Hand me that Phillips screwdriver. Now go play.” Whew!

One thing I remember vividly between school and extracurricular activities (violin, piano, ballet, choir) was that we were fined a nickel of that precious allowance every time we called each other a bad name. Names like stupid or idiot or crazy were fined (of course racist or sexist epithets were verboten and never uttered). We just learned other ways of speaking to each other and working together so we didn’t let our spat get to that point. I’m going to venture a guess that a certain ex-president never learned that lesson.

The second generation of kids in our family were born in the late 60’s in a much more laissez-faire environment. There was no job jar, no forced extracurricular activity and no fines for bad words.

One time I returned from college and heard Mom ask my little brother to set the table for dinner. He said “wrongo, Moose Breath!” And she laughed!!! I looked at my dear sister of my generation as we both wondered silently if we were in the right house.

Sadly, my husband and I married late and I was unable to bear children so we didn’t get to punish kids with our separate views on child-rearing. After all, he grew up on a dairy farm. When I asked what he did besides school as a kid all he said to me was “milk cows.” What fun we could have had, though! Just some thoughts early on a Saturday morning. Make sure you’re registered and VOTE! Dee

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Manly Men

Posted on August 8, 2024 | Leave a comment

I was an early bloomer when it came to books and education, and definitely late when it came to men. At 65, I now know that I needed to know myself before I could be attached at the hip to another. When we married nearly 23 years ago, we asked a Navy Captain (Ret.) to marry us and his wife of 52 years to bear witness to our civil union. It was only then that we heard their meet-cute story.

J & J met at Annapolis when he was a cadet. He asked her out twice and she already had other plans. He said he’d ask her out once more then move on. She said yes and they married, again at Annapolis, five weeks later. This couple went on to have three wonderful sons, who still call me “sis.” They were stationed in many places and he worked while she tended the boys and conducted the moves et al. I’m sure the Captain kept his fleet ship-shape with necessary discipline. But when I asked him to marry us, he took a moment outside his living room and when he returned, I believe he’d shed a tear.

When J said yes to us, he already had a condition, that he write the vows. Yes, we said. “Only if I can type them up for you,” said I. He was a very strong, self-assured, caring man who loved his wife and family to the end. We flew cross-country to Annapolis for his burial, where his widow accepted a challenge coin from the Secretary of the Navy.

It is said that girls look to marry their fathers. Perhaps that is somewhat the case. Even though things were quite different in the late 1950’s when I was born, Dad always said I could be an astronaut, or president, or anything I wanted to be. Everyone on our street played two-base softball and touch football every summer night, or Dad wouldn’t play. We even helped toddlers hold a bat and carried them to base!

My first “boyfriend” lasted two weeks, I was 16 1/2, until spring break when he came back with a cheerleader. He told me once that if we married I could work for a while, but only for “pin money,” whatever that is. We dated again after a couple of years, and in my senior year of college we got engaged, I called it off because I needed to get out and be on my own. I couldn’t in good conscience go from my father’s home to a college dorm to a forever life with a husband and never experience life on my own to really get to know me.

The recent spate of toxic masculinity that has erroneously been equated with strength is an anathema to me. When I look at men I respect there are certain qualities they all have in common. None need to denigrate others to show strength, hurt the weak or helpless, or judge others by their gender, race or religion. I consider myself incredibly lucky to hold my Dad, my father-in-law and my husband as exemplary in regard to strong, intelligent, caring men.

I am my husband’s business partner, editor, advisor, cheerleader, critic, person to hold hands with walking down the street, co-parent (to dogs). Retired to semi-tradwife, I am the chief cook and bottlewasher, and dog disciplinarian (and food wench). He’s a mathematical genius, nerd city, very analytical, high EQ capacity. When I was in a coma for a month, the nurses created a “bed” for him in my room so he could stay by my side, they even “nuked” a blanket for him at night. He’s a keeper, and he keeps me even when I’m a challenge. He even brought our old dog into the ICU to see me.

When it comes to life partners, it can’t be a zero sum game. Fifty percent of the population can’t be told they don’t deserve a seat at the table. Political leaders can’t stake their claim to sending women back to the 1850’s without a serious re-jiggering of society and I, for one, will never go back.

I believe that people are stronger together than apart. That goes for nations as well. Our melting pot nation has to get with the program and be in it for each other, not just ourselves. Toxic masculinity is just that, toxic to all. Onward and upward! VOTE! Dee

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An Old White Guy

Posted on August 6, 2024 | Leave a comment

is sometimes just the ticket. Or the right one for the ticket, the Democratic presidential ticket, that is.

I had my own Tim Walz back in the day. I was a mid- to late-thirties consultant to non-profit organizations and being a woman was not always easy. When I got really stuck, I had to bring out the big guns.

There was one time that I needed the Board of Trustees to go a certain way to enhance their ability to raise funds and benefit their organization. They didn’t get what I was proposing.

The big guns were in town for the board meeting. Yes, my Dad was a nationally known leader of non-profit organizations. I brought him to the meeting, he outlined the plan and the Board called it “brilliant.”

To his credit, after they signed on enthusiastically, Dad said, “it was all Dee’s idea.” Thanks, Dad.

Several months later that Board wanted to do something really dumb. I offered a counter-argument and way to replenish the funds from that budget item while giving an example of my college education including graduating year. They understood my point. After the meeting, the female Board chair called me aside and said “I didn’t know we graduated the same year!” Yep. My stock went up after that.

There are times it’s good to look young as a woman (like now at 65), and others where being on the same playing field is an advantage. Also, when bringing in the big guns is called for, it helps to sometimes have an old white guy around to hit it out of the park (and give credit where credit is due). After all, ladies, we’re all about getting the job done, taking care of business. Right? Think forward and Go, Harris/Walz! Dee

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Thanks, Olympics!

Posted on July 31, 2024 | Leave a comment

For giving us a brief break from politics here in the US of A.

Congratulazioni, Italia for winning silver in the Women’s Gymnastics All-Around Competition. This is their first team medal in the sport in 96 years.

See Alice D’Amato’s floor exercise routine, which was a graceful and beautiful performance.

Kudos to Italia as well for debuting at the Milwaukee Air and Water Show with Frecce Tricolori, the Italian Air Force’s three-colored arrows who graced our skies last weekend with their aerobatics and smoke trails echoing the red, white and green of the Italian Flag over Lake Michigan. Impressive, even though Sunday was cloudy and curtailed the show a bit.

Back to the Olympics, my kitchen is sporting a tea towel with the Eiffel Tower and J’aime Paris! Vive la France for hosting this year.

The summer Olympics are really more my thing, as I fell in love with Olga Korbut in 1972 and switched from ballet to gymnastics myself. Not that I could touch any of the tricks these athletes perform today. Simone Biles and Team America are truly GOATs!

I do look forward to seeing the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City once again. It’s always great to see the nations get together on a world stage and strut their stuff. What wonderful things our young people are capable of! Freedom! Arrivederci alla prossima! Dee

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We Won’t Go Back

Posted on July 27, 2024 | Leave a comment

My mother won a prize as a new high school grad in the mid-fifties. She was tied for best grades in the entire city of Montreal, Canada. Her reward was not college but a couple of years as a secretary before marrying my father and moving to the U.S. She kept her Green Card for over fifty years, never becoming a U.S. citizen.

At first, she told me that I could hopefully expect to end up as well as she did, married and with a family to raise. Then in the seventies she read Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem and went to community college to study to become a paralegal. My sister and I, in high school, took turns making dinner after school so Mom could go to class and study.

In contrast, Dad always went after what he wanted. He was the first in his family to attend college and was adamant that all four of his children would go to good colleges and graduate, which we did. Mom started her four-year higher education when I did, she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in accounting and aced her CPA exam first time out. I graduated deans’ list. Late bloomer?

Work seemed daunting at first but I was smart and could do it easily. It just required much time and effort and a lot of thinking outside the box to problem-solve thorny legal issues. The toughest thing for me was looking young, being a single female and being taken seriously in terms of subject matter, pay and figuring out how not to be hit on by wayward legislators every day.

Friends married, had kids. I was happy to be in the thick of policy/politics and still learning new things every day. So I kept it up, not seeing myself like the wives of my male colleagues, with whom I had less and less in common. We were good friends, but in a fashion limited by their routines.

So when did I become a dreaded childless cat lady? Or did I? Yes, I’m married nearly 22 years, childless at 65, and have had only two cats in my life, now passed. I was fighting for the rights of voters, gays and lesbians, and crime victims. I was making things better for all people of my state.

I had, and have, something to offer and I care about my country and its people of all colors, gender affiliations and faiths. I have a stake in the world around me and no-one can tell me otherwise. Not JD Vance, not anybody.

The next few months, after the Kamala honeymoon, will be brutal, and when she wins, it won’t be over. Trump is telling people they don’t need to vote (!) and that they can vote this time but in four years there will no longer be a need for Americans to vote because he will have taken care of things. That is hellishly frightening. Voter suppression will be rampant, along with chicanery, law-breaking, inane legal battles and perhaps even political violence.

Those of us who want to retain/return to the rights we fought for and deserve need to be in it for the long haul, because if the executive and SCOTUS have their way, there will be no Constitution, no United States of America as we know it. I PREFER FREEDOM!!! Dee

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