December 30, 2007 archive

Dec 30 2007

“You cannot work after you turn 65”

As many of you know, I am currently on vacation in the Philippines — a working vacation of sorts, if you count life work, in that I have met for the first time my five stepchildren, two stepgrandchildren, father-in-law, the sole remaining sib of my wife’s whom I had not met in the States, and about 150 other relations whom my wife has absolved me of the need to keep straight.  (I’ll meet them when they visit — which I’m told they all will, if they can help it.)

I also met my wife’s friend, principal of the school that my stepkids attend, which is evidently (having been chosen because of how much my wife values education) among the best in Pampanga.  (That is the province containing Clark Air Base, which — until Mt. Pinatubo erupted after having waited until the Cold War was safely over — was along with Subic Bay the major U.S. base in the region.)  The friend is turning 60, so competent that the school’s owner has begged her to stay, but is going to emigrate to the U.S. instead.  After all, she said, you’re supposed to retire at 60.

Oh really, I said, and after some stupid blundering on my part it came out that you were supposed to retire by 60 but had to retire after 65.  “Had to” as in “cannot legally work.”  Cannot take jobs away from the younger people who need them.  I had lawyer’s questions about how truly true this was — what if you are self-employed, I don’t think I thought to ask, but there were others, and from both her and my wife the answer was firm.  Cannot work.  You lived on savings, on the support of your family, on the kindness of charity — or not at all.

Dec 30 2007

Brattleboro, VT activists seek to arrest Bush & Cheney

Brattleboro, Vermont is in the heart of the Vermont impeachment movement. Brattleboro was one of the first five towns to pass the popular impeachment resolution and now activists want to take it to another level… if you can call it that.

According to Dave Gram of AP:

A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda in March that would make Bush and Vice President Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont community.

“This petition is as radical as the Declaration of Independence, and it draws on that tradition in claiming a universal jurisdiction when governments fail to do what they’re supposed to do,” said Kurt Daims, 54, a retired machinist leading the drive

Huh?

The measure asks: “Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities?”

Daims has been circulating documents that claim the community acquires a “universal jurisdiction” to take such steps “when governments breach their highest duties.”

“We have the full power to issue indictments, conduct trials, incarcerate offenders and do all other acts which Independent jurisdictions may of right do,” the statement says.

OK. I’m an impeachment advocate (and I live outside Brattleboro for that matter) but somebody please tell me why this is legally invalid and completely moronic. Here’s a response I got from Kurt Daims, the author of the resolution

Kurt’s words state that it does not need to necessarily have current legal standing. The Declaration of Independence had no legal standing in its time, yet it was essential, and effective.

To read more of what Kurt Daims wrote click here. Better yet, chime in at iBrattleboro.

I can’t wait to hear what Armando, edger, and andgarden have to say about this!

Dec 30 2007

Iglesia ……………………………………… Episode 20

(Iglesia is a serialized novel, published on Tuesdays and Saturdays at midnight ET, you can read all of the episodes by clicking on the tag.)

Previous Episode

….and he hadn’t heard.

All he had heard was the pounding of his nearly exploding heart in his ears, all he had seen was the tunnel of red rage intense focused at the treatment of his beloved mother. It was not until he had killed the man….not until he heard the shot, not until he saw them dragging her away…

Dec 30 2007

Barack Obama will change the system

I have been interested in politics for two years at most. I have only become a political geek as of the last few months. Over that time I have become convinced that we need real progressive change to lift up this country and make it great again. I have also become convinced that to do that we need real, systematic change. That can mean a lot of things but in this case I am talking about changing the way the political process works. To make a progressive America we need full public financing of elections for all elections. We need media reform that will restore balance and reason to the political debate in our country. We need a transparent government so the people can hold the politicians accountable. We need election reform to insure all political voices have a say and that everyone who wants to vote can vote. We need to reign in the power of corporate lobbyists.

In short we need to close all the loopholes that allow the rich and powerful in this country to have a larger say in democracy then average people.  I believe that out of all the candidates running Barack Obama is the one who will do the most to implement these systematic reforms.

Dec 30 2007

Music of your Life

So hey, it’s time to do another one of these for your listening pleasure….

Tonight, I think we’ll take you from cradle to grave.

First things first:

whether you realize it or not……

it’s tough to be a baby!

Life continues below the fold……

Dec 30 2007

Saturday Night Bike Blogging: Anyone Get a Bike for Christmas?

Anyone get a Bike for Christmas?

Could it do this?

This is a Transport Cycling Open Thread: if you didn’t get a bike for Christmas, and don’t cycle in the winter, share what your first cycle trip of the new year is likely to be.

Dec 30 2007

Pony Party: Non-Binding, Non-Resolutionary, Non-Revolutionary um Goals

I am a little hesitant to make New Year’s resolutions. Can you tell? I am especially reluctant this year because it will likely be a tough year emotionally. Grandma is not doing well, my mother seems to think she is just basically running out of energy and has called me several times this year feeling at her wit’s end. I am planning on going home in January and my sense is that it won’t be a restful visit. My mother called today and said she thinks grandma is hanging on for my visit and after that she is very uncertain. Mom is not the overly dramatic type and interestingly, earlier this year she expressed to me that she was not ready for her to go and now she feels sad watching my grandma struggle so hard with fatigue and try so hard just to do routine things and is more ready to let her go. It doesn’t matter if your parents or grandparents are elderly and ill and running out of steam…. nobody entirely wants to let go. I am steeling myself for a sad visit.

A little sadness is good, I think. We spend so much time effort and energy into avoiding pain and sadness that when it hurts you perhaps it is more intense? Life is sad, that is the price we sometimes pay for living for being allowed to experience the wonders of the universe. Everything does not have a happy ending. Sometimes there are no clear cut resolutions and we don’t get that “closure” we seek probably because life and the universe is an endless wheel not a 30 minute sit com or an hour long family drama in which the main character just hug it out at the end. Packages are not always wrapped neatly in our world, we are not always as witty, articulate or as wise as we think we should be and loved ones who were once vibrant just lose that light. It is all at once so simple and very very complicated.

A few simple goals for myself this year. Get back on the exercise wagon, keep up with my housework in a more systemic way, learn to deal with my anger triggered by a few particular people at work who always seem to know how to get my inner goat, and accept that my grandma might just be ready to vacate the world soon whether we want her to or not.

What are your hopeful goals this year????

Remember…. hang out and chit chat but don’t rec pony party, when you are done here go read one of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.

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