Momentous

May marks the one-year anniversary of this blog. Not that, you know, that's such a huge deal, but I thought it warranted a mention. What is a huge deal is that today, I got to cast my vote for a woman for President of the United States. I know that Hillary's chances look slim, but I can't tell you how much I appreciate her staying in the race long enough for me to have the opportunity to vote for her. A lot of people say she's hurting the party by remaining in the race. Let me tell you something: If the democratic process hurts the party, then it isn't much of a party to begin with. Politics is changing, and the old farts and the media need to accept that. I think the country is better for having had a real, honest-to-goodness primary race. No matter how you voted, if you live in Kentucky and voted today, then your vote was a momentous one. Well, if you're a Democrat anyway. If you're a Republican, then congratulations, you got to vote for another old white guy. Don't you feel just grand?
Kentuckians almost never get a say in Presidential nominees, but voting in this primary was particularly gratifying. Actually, I am always gratified by getting to vote. I am a blind woman. For most of this country's history, I would have been denied the right to vote, but not anymore. Today, I went to my polling place, chatted with the nice poll workers, and was shown to a talking voting booth that I could use independently. Independently! There is much wrong with our country, much that I hope our next President will work to fix, but today, I voted. Independently! Even ten years ago, that was not a possibility. It's proof that things can change. Think about this: A blind woman voted at a talking voting machine and had the option to cast her ballot for a woman or for an African American. How can you read that sentence and not feel a sense of national pride? It isn't often that I feel optimistic about the United States, but I absolutely did this morning.
If you live in Kentucky, please get out and vote today. And no matter where you live, if your reason for not voting has to do with your registration or some such technicality, please make it a point to rectify the situation by November. We have all heard time and time again that people fought and died for our right to vote. I think we hear it so much it's a cliché, meaningless. But I know the meaning. Today, I voted independently, and it meant a hell of a lot to me.

Happy Earth Day!

I'm sure everyone has big Earth Day celebrations planned for the day. No? I'm shocked. No, not really. Thanks to news stories, most people will probably at least here that today is earth day though, which is more than can be said of years past. That makes me wonder if we are reaching a dangerous saturation point where "green" and "environmental" messages are concerned.
I remember years ago when bottled water first started appearing on shelves. Remember? Before Coca-Cola and Pepsi even got in on the action with Dasani and Aquafina? I heard a lot of people making fun of us bottled water drinkers. After all, water was free right from the tap. What kind of moron would go to the store and pay for water? Now, just ten years or so later, how many people don't buy bottled water? I'm sure there are a few people who still step up to the faucet with a glass in hand and drink straight from the tap, but I can't think it's very many people. Even people who do drink tap water probably have a filter pitcher or a filtration system on the refrigerator. What happened? Did we just get used to questioning the safety of our water supply rather than demanding cleaner water?
The same kind of thing is true for sun block. I can remember when I was little, my mom and her sisters used "tanning oil" and in the absence of store-bought tanning oil, they'd just use baby oil. Then we started hearing that maybe the sun wasn't the warm happy ball in the sky we thought it was, and we started seeing sunscreen popping up on store shelves. Even then, most people only used sunscreen if they were fair skinned or tended to get sunburned noses or shoulders. And a few hours playing in the yard? Well that was no reason for protection from the sun. Now, I'm not sure you can even find sunscreen, it's all sun block, and almost nobody goes out for a day in the sun without it. For that matter, many people limit their outdoor activities to the early morning and evening hours to decrease their exposure to the sun's harmful rays.
These changes in our behavior and our thinking seemed to have happened gradually, but the evolution was complete in under a decade. We just take bottled water and sun block for granted, and I have to tell you, that concerns me. I heard a news story recently that spoke of global climate change as if it was an inevitability, something that could be wrestled to the ground and defeated with the right ideas and investment. I believe global climate change is an inevitability, eventually. But I do think the rate of change is directly proportionate to humankind's impact on the earth. Rather than give us more stuff to buy in response to the problem, I would rather we be encouraged to help slow, if not prevent, the problem. I'm not saying air conditioning or swimming pools should be banned, heavens no, but there are things that individuals, businesses, and governments can all do. It is unfortunate that for the most part, businesses and governments (at least American ones) have chosen to ignore and deny the problem, and now I fear their strategy is just to pretend that global climate change is an unavoidable steamroller heading right for us, so why alter our lifestyles? What's next? We passively accept it when we all have to wear oxygen masks because of poor air quality?
I realize this post is something of a rant, and I'd say I'm sorry except that I'm not. So let me just offer my thanks for the things, big and small, that individuals are doing to at least keep the spirit of Earth Day in mind. In the comments, I'd love it if people would let me know what those things are. Sharing ideas is an important weapon in this fight for our planet. For my part, we use reusable grocery bags, reduce our consumption, drive a low-emission vehicle, buy organic most of the time, buy locally when we can, and make use of our local Goodwill store rather than contributing to crowded landfills. See, it's small stuff, but it's something. So what about you?

Idiots

I have long believed that America is suffering from a plague of stupidity, and last week proved it to me. Although whether it's a plague of stupidity or self centeredness is hard to determine. First let's start close to home. Kentucky, my beloved yet perplexing state, is in the throws of a major budget crisis, not unlike many states right now. If state government is having a budget shortfall, it stands to reason that citizens of that state are also feeling the pinch, right? Kentucky also has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the country. Not surprisingly, we also have one of the highest rates of smoking. I don't think it takes a genius to take a passing glance at this situation and say, "Ah-hah! Let's raise the cigarette tax to offset the budget shortfall." I mean, the absolute worst thing that could happen is that people would quit smoking. Oh, what a shame. I realize that if you increase the cigarette tax to such a degree that people can't afford to smoke, then your revenue will suffer, but the cost savings in terms of public health would make up any loss. That's assuming that people actually would stop smoking if the cost of cigarettes got too high, something I'm not entirely convinced of. I have an aunt who has asthma and no health insurance, and she smokes two packs a day. Here's an idea: Stop smoking and you could breathe AND afford health insurance!
Let me say again that Kentucky has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the country. If I were a legislator in Frankfort, I think the way to proceed in these lean budget times would be a no brainer. But enter the tobacco lobby. Legislators in Kentucky did not choose to increase revenue in the form of a cigarette tax, noooo. They opted to doll out severe funding cuts to education and health and human services. Now there's some fine long-term thinking for ya. Let's make it harder for people to get an education, thereby increasing their earning potential, and let's take away their much needed services at a time when they are most likely to be down on their luck and need them. Frankfort legislators, you're bringing down the curve for the rest of us.
In other idiocy news, Chelsea Clinton was giving a speech on behalf of her mother's candidacy in North Carolina when a student asked a question about her father's affair with Monica Lewinsky. It always irritates me to see college-age students acting like children, probably because I have such faith in their potential. I was once a politically active student, so I know the energy that group has and can create and the force for change they can be. I remember cringing when during Bill Clinton's run for President, someone on MTV asked him the critical question, "Boxers or briefs?" Come on people! You can't spit right now without hitting an issue of critical national or international importance, and this is what are youth choose to ask about? Sex and underwear? Really, I thought better of you. This student in North Carolina, he had to be, what, 10 years old, maybe 12 when the Monica scandal broke? I hardly think it's an issue that has been keeping him up nights. He simply wanted to show off and get attention, which he did. Our national media does love it when people behave badly or in poor taste. The national media, now there's some idiocy for you. I think the student who asked that question of Chelsea needs to go back to high school until he gets this juvenile behavior out of his system. Go put gum in the teacher's seat or a kick me sign on her back if you want that kind of attention.
The last item on Kimberly's Idiot Report is our U.S. Congress, which once again called oil executives on the carpet to account for their obscene profits during this time of skyrocketing fuel prices for average Americans. In theory, this is a good idea, but we all see it for the dog and pony show it is, just a way to prove to the American people that they are aware and are doing something about the problem while really doing nothing and probably passing notes scheduling appointments between Congressional campaign fund raisers and the big oil lobbyists. I would very much like to come back in a few weeks or months and apologize for slamming our Congress in light of them actually doing something about this instance of corporate gluttony, but the thought of being wrong on this isn't something that's got me worried.
so, you handful of faithful readers of my blog, go forth and feel smugly superior in your intellect today, secure in the knowledge that you are far smarter than many, especially those in power.

James Carville You Are Not

As usual, Michael and I were listening to NPR's Morning Edition on the way to work. They were doing a story about Bill Clinton campaigning for Hillary, acting like it was some big deal. Duh! The big deal would be if he wasn't campaigning for her. Spouses always campaign for their candidate spouses. This is not news. But I get it-- anything that features Bill Clinton in a clip gets attention. I don't blame you. Hell, as far as I'm concerned you can devote half the show to Bill Clinton. Fine by me. And fine by a lot of people I suspect. Bill Clinton's approval ratings have skyrocketed since he left office, which is why I found the next part of the NPR segment puzzling if not outright ridiculous. The host was getting comments from Donna Brazile, head of Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign, on the Hillary Clinton campaign. She said that (I'm paraphrasing) there is a downside to having Bill Clinton campaigning for Hillary because it makes people think of the past, and people vote based on the future, not the past.
I have long believe that Donna Brazile has the political instincts of toast, and this morning she confirmed my suspicion. People don't vote based on the past? Where have you been? At least half of the time, people are voting against something, rather than for it. That's called voting based on the past. It is an ages-old ploy of politicians to get people thinking about a former, better, simpler time-- the implication being that the politician in question will bring back those former, better, simpler times. That's called voting based on the past. I'm not advocating it, just pointing out that it happens and the strategy is effective. Donna Brazile, I encourage you to watch the last fifteen minutes of The American President. Listen carefully to Michael Douglas's speech. I believe this might help you to more clearly understand why people vote based on the past. Another suggestion that I have for you is to go rub up against James Carville, or maybe just ride in an elevator with him and hope breathing the same air as him might help you improve your game. If, as it seems, you are going to continue to be considered a strategist for the Democratic Party, you really do need to work on those instincts. In 2000, you advised Al Gore to distance himself from Bill Clinton. That was a fatal mistake in that campaign, and now it appears you are saying that Hillary should follow the same strategy that I believe cost your man the Presidency. Will you never learn?
Here's the link to the American President speech. Enjoy.