ATTENTION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS AND SINNERS AND PREACHERS: THE FOLLOWING REPRESENTS MY FANTASY SOLUTION TO A CRISIS OF CARING, MORAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ITS HUMAN PRICE, THE NOTION THAT TORTURE AND LACK OF INFORMATION ARE NOT COST-EFFECTIVE AND REPRESENT A SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EMERGENCY....
It's not particularly strange to hear from Democrats these days, that the Iraq war is costing way too much, and that with all the money going there we could be fighting global warming and building new schools., and on and on. Of course it't not right, soldiers are being killed and maimed and ....on and on again.
And just wait till the Republicans start with their Marlboro Man image so thick it's sickening, going on about their patriotism and the chickens and traitors who dare insinuate there should be freedom of speech and a right to information. Preposterous, they will say, what's this nonsense about free speech and a free country, stop your whining, ya hear...and anyway shut up and vote for the lady, none of this torture talk, it's not good for our reputation....
What is the cost analysis on that one? How much does rehabilitation of knowing what freedom is and about rights to information, cost exactly? And what would happened if we started, like now?
OKAY, THEN, LET'S GET STARTED WITH THIS CAMPAIGN!
Do you think if our government is denying us the truth, hyping us up with fear
and wild tales about who has weapons and who doesn't and where the Taliban has gone now, that perhaps they are the ones bullying us, perhaps being disloyal to the principle of free speech based on facts ?
If this is the case and I think it is, they are in really bad need of a therapeutic endeavor fused with team mentoring. The cost of the mentoring can be cut down if it is performed and run by kids, students and nonstudents alike. It would probably work better that way since most kids have at least some of their spunk and curiosity in tact; besides they often love to put bullying adults in their place and don't get the chance often enough.
Sorry to say this mentoring program will cost a lot of money but it may be worth it if truth becomes more popular. In the meantime remember these guys (you know, our present "leaders") have some serious problems; they've been lying a lot for a long time and they probably have a guilty conscience even if they act tough.
SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER:
If they bully you, you don't have to anser back; better leave them hanging in their own worries so they start to feel something.
It's very important in any dealings with bullies to remember: they are bullies. Just because a bully talks louder and faster than you and acts big and bad, you know...like a bully, doesn't mean he/she's right.
These guys may say you're a traitor for wanting the truth. Remember: they are traitors and sinners for lying and trying to keep the truth away from you.
You can always tell them you have the right to the facts, to free speech, and you can always remind them that this is a free country. Remind them you're in America.
After all the lying they've done, they are very very confused. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT PEOPLE WHO LIE FOR LENGTHS OF TIME WITHOUT STOPPING, ARE KNOWN AS LIARS. You don't have to call them liars because at first they might get defensive. They tend to be tough on the outside and mush on the inside. GOOD LUCK!
IMPORTANT ADVICE FOR COLLEGE APPLICANTS: REHABILITATION OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO ARE CAUGHT IN WEBS OF LIES AND OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE BY DEPRIVING THE PUBLIC OF THE TRUTH, ARE CONCEIVABLY PUNISHABLE BY LAW. SINCE THAT HASN'T BEEN IN VOGUE, WE ARE GIVING YOU A CHANCE TO GET SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTIONS ON YOUR COLLEGE FEES OR ANY TRAINING OF YOUR CHOICE SHOULD YOU PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROGRAM.
GOOD LUCK, PATRIOTS!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thank you, Bill Maher, for your "REAL" ity re: John Edwards
Happy Early Morning Labor Day, time to be-LABOR a crucial point. I already wrote a personal communication on the blog a couple of spaces down, but I'd like to thank Bill Maher whose comments on John Edwards revealed more political sanity than I've heard ANYWHERE for a long time.
Bill Maher said it's a pity that because John Edwards did the popular thing in Washington and had an affair and then the unpopular thing by getting caught, Senator Edwards and the country have been sadly and pathetically punished by his non-presence at the Democratic Convention.
John Edwards was in fact my favorite candidate because, as I've stated before, he seemed the only one among members of any party, to appreciate issues of really poor people whether or not they had jobs or kids on their way to college. Bill Maher said he was the first politician since Bobby Kennedy to exhibit such passionate concern; I would agree. I hope I'm quoting him correctly and assume he wouldn't find fault with a minor error. He (Bill Maher that is) said: "THE DEMOCRATS ARE SO FRIGHTENED OF BEING THE ADULTERY PARTY, THAT THEY MISSED YET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO BE THE ADULT PARTY."
Bill, Sir! Thanks for the smart humor, and sensitivity.... Please moderate a debate...if they're not to scared to invite you.
PS I know there are people criticizing you for talking out of both sides of your mouth, supporting the Democratic ticket and then criticizing them, wanting more from them. But they are wrong...It's your job, as it is ours, to want more. And there is time left, at least conceivable, for our voices to be heard....I said "conceivably........"
Bill Maher said it's a pity that because John Edwards did the popular thing in Washington and had an affair and then the unpopular thing by getting caught, Senator Edwards and the country have been sadly and pathetically punished by his non-presence at the Democratic Convention.
John Edwards was in fact my favorite candidate because, as I've stated before, he seemed the only one among members of any party, to appreciate issues of really poor people whether or not they had jobs or kids on their way to college. Bill Maher said he was the first politician since Bobby Kennedy to exhibit such passionate concern; I would agree. I hope I'm quoting him correctly and assume he wouldn't find fault with a minor error. He (Bill Maher that is) said: "THE DEMOCRATS ARE SO FRIGHTENED OF BEING THE ADULTERY PARTY, THAT THEY MISSED YET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO BE THE ADULT PARTY."
Bill, Sir! Thanks for the smart humor, and sensitivity.... Please moderate a debate...if they're not to scared to invite you.
PS I know there are people criticizing you for talking out of both sides of your mouth, supporting the Democratic ticket and then criticizing them, wanting more from them. But they are wrong...It's your job, as it is ours, to want more. And there is time left, at least conceivable, for our voices to be heard....I said "conceivably........"
So Many Reasons to Tell the Truth
There are so many reasons we need the truth--to save the beauty to which we are exposed when we are lucky, to romp in the nature that can at times be our friend, to refresh our spirits that are more tired of the lies than we know
We need the truth as we do oxygen, as the plants need water and the climate needs protection.
We need a climate in which the truth is safe
In which the truth can be made safe since we
Will be able to create the structures we need
Because there is so much that we know
And so much we can learn
From science, from our hearts, from the beatings of the hearts, of nature and each other...
We need the truth as we do oxygen, as the plants need water and the climate needs protection.
We need a climate in which the truth is safe
In which the truth can be made safe since we
Will be able to create the structures we need
Because there is so much that we know
And so much we can learn
From science, from our hearts, from the beatings of the hearts, of nature and each other...
DEAR JOHN EDWARDS, CAN WE TALK?
Good Morning, Sir.
I come to speak to you in a public forum as a clinical practioner of psychotherapy and as a person, you know a human being with flaws like all of us.
I hate (am I breaking a Commandment already?) the political forces that have driven you into shame and hiding for their own selfish and personal whims, no doubt. I also hate the fact that you and so many others have belonged to the belief that all of a politician's life should or could be put on a table for dissection. In the same vein of hate, I also hate the hyper -religiously framed hypocricy by which Christianity in particular is used as a spear to maim the chances of people like yourself who have had something so special to offer.
I started my career doing strictly social work and I cherished your being the first candidate in so very long to talk about class inequality and "One America". We needed you then and still do.
I hope you resolve your issues with your wife and understand that perhaps in an atmosphere where human flaws are hidden, there is little room for the honesty that might stop a dependency on sneaking. But I know nothing and don't judge. Whatever you did is not part of the grounds for crucifiction or excommunication from the human community.
You had to stay away from the Convention in which the pledge of allegiance to the white bread--very stale may I add--of moral self-righteousness hits the ceiling and beyond.
I hope I have not offended you. I know you have claimed to be a deeply religious man. I hope that you deal with your issues with self-respect and not merely through a repentence and self-loathing that almost guarantee another escapade. Unless of course the lady is the one you love, but I know too much about love addiction to think that is the case in the light of day.
I wish you luck, and hope to see your face and hear your words soon enough. Pleases learn from Chelsea Clinton, and repeat slowly with head held high,
" IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS" You may be surprised to find a group of grateful supporters who defend privacy as being as sacred as anything else. YOU DIDN'T COMMIT TREASON: YOU EMBARRASSED YOUR PARTY IN ONE OF THE MOST BRUTALLY HYPER-MORALISTIC HYPOCRITICAL TIMES IN HISTORY.
I wish you and your wife and all your supporters and friends well. I hope that if you have lost yourself respect you quickly regain it. It goes something like this, right: "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone". That was Jesus, yes? I hope these words give you comfort.
I come to speak to you in a public forum as a clinical practioner of psychotherapy and as a person, you know a human being with flaws like all of us.
I hate (am I breaking a Commandment already?) the political forces that have driven you into shame and hiding for their own selfish and personal whims, no doubt. I also hate the fact that you and so many others have belonged to the belief that all of a politician's life should or could be put on a table for dissection. In the same vein of hate, I also hate the hyper -religiously framed hypocricy by which Christianity in particular is used as a spear to maim the chances of people like yourself who have had something so special to offer.
I started my career doing strictly social work and I cherished your being the first candidate in so very long to talk about class inequality and "One America". We needed you then and still do.
I hope you resolve your issues with your wife and understand that perhaps in an atmosphere where human flaws are hidden, there is little room for the honesty that might stop a dependency on sneaking. But I know nothing and don't judge. Whatever you did is not part of the grounds for crucifiction or excommunication from the human community.
You had to stay away from the Convention in which the pledge of allegiance to the white bread--very stale may I add--of moral self-righteousness hits the ceiling and beyond.
I hope I have not offended you. I know you have claimed to be a deeply religious man. I hope that you deal with your issues with self-respect and not merely through a repentence and self-loathing that almost guarantee another escapade. Unless of course the lady is the one you love, but I know too much about love addiction to think that is the case in the light of day.
I wish you luck, and hope to see your face and hear your words soon enough. Pleases learn from Chelsea Clinton, and repeat slowly with head held high,
" IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS" You may be surprised to find a group of grateful supporters who defend privacy as being as sacred as anything else. YOU DIDN'T COMMIT TREASON: YOU EMBARRASSED YOUR PARTY IN ONE OF THE MOST BRUTALLY HYPER-MORALISTIC HYPOCRITICAL TIMES IN HISTORY.
I wish you and your wife and all your supporters and friends well. I hope that if you have lost yourself respect you quickly regain it. It goes something like this, right: "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone". That was Jesus, yes? I hope these words give you comfort.
Dear Hillary, why I miss you...
Dear Hillary,
I am writing to tell you how I am missing you and that I'm sorry I never got to know you. I think you made some serious errors and I need to mention them first. You campaigned on more experience and on being the safer bet in case of an emergency. And of course NOW took up your candidacy like a hammer and evoked the resentment of women like me whom they said would be traitors if we didn't vote for you. You know that kind of thing can incite oppositionalism even in the best of us.
You said he didn't have the experience and you did. But the human part didn't come through enough, only the competetive part. You didn't show us the clips of you in the years you made deep personal contact with those for whom you fought. I apologize for my own distractin--exactly the theme on which I am writing--and for my being sucked in to the hole into which you were placed, and from which it was hard for you to emerge.
You brought one specific thing to the campaign which perhaps would not be your favorite subject but added in any case, to your being less than avidly excessive in your moral/religious superiority. You, as your daughter Chelsea, as well as your husband, President Bill Clinton, had been through a personal tragedy in the arena of sex and the city and sex and the President. While most of us now know that JFK (whom many of us will never stop idealizing), ran a constant stream of flesh back and forth to the White House, the press wasn't of that mind then, to persecute a President for anything other than lies or acts of treason. Helen Thomas, the acclaimed journalist and member of the White House Press Corps for 40 years, talked, when she did her HBO documentary (and her wonderful 2006 book Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and how it has Failed the Public) about this change of climate from which you and your family suffered.
But you, unlike many others, did learn to tell people when it's none of their business, and you helped your daughter do the same or perhaps she helped you or perhaps you helped each other. You set an invaluable example regarding the dignity of our personal lives, histories and actions. You do and did us a favor with your integrity at a time when candidates answer to anything and the words "It's none of your business" are usually considered impossibly politically correct. Witness the cruel annihilation of reputation of John Edwards, about whom I'll speak shortly.
Best of luck and hope to meet you in person, and to see and feel your strength and presence on the political scene and horizon. We need you, we need your spunk. We need to be refreshed--not by the self-mockery that late night hosts and Maureen Dowd have been craving--but of simple forthrightness, even when it's a one word answer that you give.
Thank you and Happy Labor Day Weekend.
I am writing to tell you how I am missing you and that I'm sorry I never got to know you. I think you made some serious errors and I need to mention them first. You campaigned on more experience and on being the safer bet in case of an emergency. And of course NOW took up your candidacy like a hammer and evoked the resentment of women like me whom they said would be traitors if we didn't vote for you. You know that kind of thing can incite oppositionalism even in the best of us.
You said he didn't have the experience and you did. But the human part didn't come through enough, only the competetive part. You didn't show us the clips of you in the years you made deep personal contact with those for whom you fought. I apologize for my own distractin--exactly the theme on which I am writing--and for my being sucked in to the hole into which you were placed, and from which it was hard for you to emerge.
You brought one specific thing to the campaign which perhaps would not be your favorite subject but added in any case, to your being less than avidly excessive in your moral/religious superiority. You, as your daughter Chelsea, as well as your husband, President Bill Clinton, had been through a personal tragedy in the arena of sex and the city and sex and the President. While most of us now know that JFK (whom many of us will never stop idealizing), ran a constant stream of flesh back and forth to the White House, the press wasn't of that mind then, to persecute a President for anything other than lies or acts of treason. Helen Thomas, the acclaimed journalist and member of the White House Press Corps for 40 years, talked, when she did her HBO documentary (and her wonderful 2006 book Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and how it has Failed the Public) about this change of climate from which you and your family suffered.
But you, unlike many others, did learn to tell people when it's none of their business, and you helped your daughter do the same or perhaps she helped you or perhaps you helped each other. You set an invaluable example regarding the dignity of our personal lives, histories and actions. You do and did us a favor with your integrity at a time when candidates answer to anything and the words "It's none of your business" are usually considered impossibly politically correct. Witness the cruel annihilation of reputation of John Edwards, about whom I'll speak shortly.
Best of luck and hope to meet you in person, and to see and feel your strength and presence on the political scene and horizon. We need you, we need your spunk. We need to be refreshed--not by the self-mockery that late night hosts and Maureen Dowd have been craving--but of simple forthrightness, even when it's a one word answer that you give.
Thank you and Happy Labor Day Weekend.
MUSH OVER MATTER AND PERFORMING MONKEYS
I'm just sharing the fantasy of running for President. Hey...you never know.
I'm just saying...I wouldn't make anyone wait to announce my Vice Presidential candidate; I would do so immediately. Suspense is not necessary here, so let me be perfectly clear that I would choose Chelsea Clinton as Vice President, because I feel she has real integrity and in additon she has had the capability to utter the precious words: "It's none of your business".
Y'all may like these speeches in which every fact of a personal tragedy or the benediction of the perfect American life as well as a perfect history ("perfect" has to include hardships, some poverty, some OVERCOMING to prove one's character). It's "mush over matter", culminated by perfect background music while the sentimental reaches the level of my own inner screams but the apparent luxuriating in tears for most in the audience.
Don't get me wrong, my vote is with Obama, and it has been almost all along. However I feel nostalgia for Hillary Clinton, and I'll let you know why soon.
For now let me just see that this is not editing out the freedom of speech. It's rather making speeches more factual and open to question, and it's about quitting the moral superiority refrain. I would like to see an atheist or at least an agnostic who stops talking about God, as if He/She exists, and as if there is only one, and as if we are not witnessing the heating up of the globe and the Apocalypse fans right here at home let alone abroad.
I'm using this as my personal political Craig's List: I am available for editing but flowers are not my specialty. There's a lot to cry about other than the prolonged personal tragedies of one man's life. And DAMMIT, WHAT ABOUT THOSE POOR KIDS???? CAN YOU IMAGINE IF ONE OF THEM MESSES UP AND THE WOULD BE PRESIDENT CAN'T SAY, " LOOKEE HERE NOW, LOOK AT THIS SPECIMEN I PRODUCED" INSTEAD OF "Well my kid's on crack but we're doing the best we can, after all folks there but for fortune go...you know you and I".
And just what about biology and luck? Not everyone is born equal either...Setting up kids to be performing monkeys so they can be shown off perennially by parents who need them to function magnificently is an abuse of a chid's privacy and right to develop in his own time/rhythms. We are not making space for kids who are cranky or gawky or even autistic--one never knows. These kids are not poster children, or wait...they are...
I'm just saying...I wouldn't make anyone wait to announce my Vice Presidential candidate; I would do so immediately. Suspense is not necessary here, so let me be perfectly clear that I would choose Chelsea Clinton as Vice President, because I feel she has real integrity and in additon she has had the capability to utter the precious words: "It's none of your business".
Y'all may like these speeches in which every fact of a personal tragedy or the benediction of the perfect American life as well as a perfect history ("perfect" has to include hardships, some poverty, some OVERCOMING to prove one's character). It's "mush over matter", culminated by perfect background music while the sentimental reaches the level of my own inner screams but the apparent luxuriating in tears for most in the audience.
Don't get me wrong, my vote is with Obama, and it has been almost all along. However I feel nostalgia for Hillary Clinton, and I'll let you know why soon.
For now let me just see that this is not editing out the freedom of speech. It's rather making speeches more factual and open to question, and it's about quitting the moral superiority refrain. I would like to see an atheist or at least an agnostic who stops talking about God, as if He/She exists, and as if there is only one, and as if we are not witnessing the heating up of the globe and the Apocalypse fans right here at home let alone abroad.
I'm using this as my personal political Craig's List: I am available for editing but flowers are not my specialty. There's a lot to cry about other than the prolonged personal tragedies of one man's life. And DAMMIT, WHAT ABOUT THOSE POOR KIDS???? CAN YOU IMAGINE IF ONE OF THEM MESSES UP AND THE WOULD BE PRESIDENT CAN'T SAY, " LOOKEE HERE NOW, LOOK AT THIS SPECIMEN I PRODUCED" INSTEAD OF "Well my kid's on crack but we're doing the best we can, after all folks there but for fortune go...you know you and I".
And just what about biology and luck? Not everyone is born equal either...Setting up kids to be performing monkeys so they can be shown off perennially by parents who need them to function magnificently is an abuse of a chid's privacy and right to develop in his own time/rhythms. We are not making space for kids who are cranky or gawky or even autistic--one never knows. These kids are not poster children, or wait...they are...
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Sanity of the Next President
THE SANITY OF THE NEXT PRESIDENT, WHAT A CONCEPT....
What follows is a concern made even greater by the upcoming extravaganzas of the Democratic and GOP Conventions, where spectacle, adrenalin and showmanship (showpersonship?) may become too distracting for consideration of the issue of sanity of the next President, and perhaps too distracting for words. Here goes:
It is not news for anyone to express concerns about the mental stability of Senator John McCain. I confess sharing this worry, a worry made greater by the awareness of how many Americans perceive him to be the more reliable candidate in terms of national safety and defense. I was spurred to write this now after reading the provocative front page piece in August 10th’s Sunday’s New York Times, by Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg, entitled “Embracing a Free-Form Style, McCain Leads a Camp Divided”.
Nagourney and Rutenberg begin their article with the words: “Senator John McCain is so quick to pick up his gold-colored cellphone to solicit advice—from senators, campaign consultants, even the stray former deputy press secretary—that aides, concerned about his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has, have tried to cut back on the time he has to make calls.” Consider, please, whether the last sentence might be more than a bit frightening.
Since I have devoted this blog to including the stuff between the lines that often goes unsaid, I am putting some imaginings together about a possible future President that needs his aides to hold back a cell phone from him. Hum, let’s see, can you imagine “President” McCain on one of the very big life or death phone calls from a foreign chief of state in one of those global life or death decisions? As he keeps his options open while consulting with present and former aides, his current most intimate assistants are counting the seconds of the call. They might even have to resort to a double, not double talking, but an impersonator in voice only. How about that for bizarre?
While many of us have seen President George W. Bush as surrounded in his own bubble by insidious liars and other officials who have seduced him into believing the sanity of his adventures, misadventures, torture and alienation of much of the world in his very own romp in Iraq and elsewhere, we now have a candidate who is purposefully duping us. He is parading as the soundest and most experienced, the safer of the two candidates, in peace or war. He is touting his heroism as one who was tortured while he undoubtedly agrees with the present Administration that Iraqi soldiers who have been torture victims have not been tortured but rather abused and that they are not soldiers but rather detainees. Someone should ask him soon about his take on this, while he still has a cell phone.
McCain poses a national (and international) threat, not because he changes his mind. Actually thinking about something and having a change of heart or waiting seconds rather than issuing a pat answer, would be most refreshing if one’s finger is not on a nuclear reactor’s button. Besides we could use flexibility of opinion after years of hearing the predictable twists of the predictable responses calculated to arouse fear and terror in our hearts and minds (if it gets that far) after more and more military engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and oops Georgia! However the shift would need to imply and require something akin to thought as opposed to mere impulse.
McCain is the bad ass who embraced more torture than he had to endure and he is capitalizing on the patriotic frenzy during which many Americans have had to display flags to remember where they live, and to announce to all their undying (and perhaps dying) love for their country. As a non-Christian (I swear I pray to Jesus anyway!) I too have heard the phrase “Love thy Neighbor as Thyself”, also attributed to the great Jewish philosopher Hillel. Whoever spoke it first, it’s common enough in our lexicon to arouse at least peripheral attention. And while there are egotists enough to fill many countries, there seem to be few people in the fight for victory of the Presidency who understand self-love as including self-protection and care.
I for one, would prefer that the world stays viable for awhile, that global warming be attended to immediately, that we not jump into wars anywhere because something heinous was committed by people not in the country we “invade” (sorry of the use of invasion rather than liberation, but it had to be done). I don’t think that jumping into burning flames and inflaming hatred deserves ribbons or medals, Olympic or otherwise, or elevation to even greater misuse of power.
As someone I love very much might say at this point: It’s still a free country isn’t it? It’s still okay to express the freedom of speech, right?
I’m exercising the right. I am worried; and I feel we all should be. This is not partisanship, it’s caring about ourselves and our lives and our children’s lives so we can care for others. It’s caring enough that the actions our country takes are based not on the gain of a few translated into jingoistic language that is contagious.
It’s caring that “peace is in danger of become a dirty word. And it’s caring about embracing the notion of evil as existing in all of us. Whether it’s “original sin” or the aggression that we watch on television or our fervor and vigor with which we hope to dash and defeat our opponents, it has to be known to be fought, known so it can be integrated.
McCain is dangerous precisely because he admits no weakness, no frailty and as such no humanity.
What follows is a concern made even greater by the upcoming extravaganzas of the Democratic and GOP Conventions, where spectacle, adrenalin and showmanship (showpersonship?) may become too distracting for consideration of the issue of sanity of the next President, and perhaps too distracting for words. Here goes:
It is not news for anyone to express concerns about the mental stability of Senator John McCain. I confess sharing this worry, a worry made greater by the awareness of how many Americans perceive him to be the more reliable candidate in terms of national safety and defense. I was spurred to write this now after reading the provocative front page piece in August 10th’s Sunday’s New York Times, by Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg, entitled “Embracing a Free-Form Style, McCain Leads a Camp Divided”.
Nagourney and Rutenberg begin their article with the words: “Senator John McCain is so quick to pick up his gold-colored cellphone to solicit advice—from senators, campaign consultants, even the stray former deputy press secretary—that aides, concerned about his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has, have tried to cut back on the time he has to make calls.” Consider, please, whether the last sentence might be more than a bit frightening.
Since I have devoted this blog to including the stuff between the lines that often goes unsaid, I am putting some imaginings together about a possible future President that needs his aides to hold back a cell phone from him. Hum, let’s see, can you imagine “President” McCain on one of the very big life or death phone calls from a foreign chief of state in one of those global life or death decisions? As he keeps his options open while consulting with present and former aides, his current most intimate assistants are counting the seconds of the call. They might even have to resort to a double, not double talking, but an impersonator in voice only. How about that for bizarre?
While many of us have seen President George W. Bush as surrounded in his own bubble by insidious liars and other officials who have seduced him into believing the sanity of his adventures, misadventures, torture and alienation of much of the world in his very own romp in Iraq and elsewhere, we now have a candidate who is purposefully duping us. He is parading as the soundest and most experienced, the safer of the two candidates, in peace or war. He is touting his heroism as one who was tortured while he undoubtedly agrees with the present Administration that Iraqi soldiers who have been torture victims have not been tortured but rather abused and that they are not soldiers but rather detainees. Someone should ask him soon about his take on this, while he still has a cell phone.
McCain poses a national (and international) threat, not because he changes his mind. Actually thinking about something and having a change of heart or waiting seconds rather than issuing a pat answer, would be most refreshing if one’s finger is not on a nuclear reactor’s button. Besides we could use flexibility of opinion after years of hearing the predictable twists of the predictable responses calculated to arouse fear and terror in our hearts and minds (if it gets that far) after more and more military engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and oops Georgia! However the shift would need to imply and require something akin to thought as opposed to mere impulse.
McCain is the bad ass who embraced more torture than he had to endure and he is capitalizing on the patriotic frenzy during which many Americans have had to display flags to remember where they live, and to announce to all their undying (and perhaps dying) love for their country. As a non-Christian (I swear I pray to Jesus anyway!) I too have heard the phrase “Love thy Neighbor as Thyself”, also attributed to the great Jewish philosopher Hillel. Whoever spoke it first, it’s common enough in our lexicon to arouse at least peripheral attention. And while there are egotists enough to fill many countries, there seem to be few people in the fight for victory of the Presidency who understand self-love as including self-protection and care.
I for one, would prefer that the world stays viable for awhile, that global warming be attended to immediately, that we not jump into wars anywhere because something heinous was committed by people not in the country we “invade” (sorry of the use of invasion rather than liberation, but it had to be done). I don’t think that jumping into burning flames and inflaming hatred deserves ribbons or medals, Olympic or otherwise, or elevation to even greater misuse of power.
As someone I love very much might say at this point: It’s still a free country isn’t it? It’s still okay to express the freedom of speech, right?
I’m exercising the right. I am worried; and I feel we all should be. This is not partisanship, it’s caring about ourselves and our lives and our children’s lives so we can care for others. It’s caring enough that the actions our country takes are based not on the gain of a few translated into jingoistic language that is contagious.
It’s caring that “peace is in danger of become a dirty word. And it’s caring about embracing the notion of evil as existing in all of us. Whether it’s “original sin” or the aggression that we watch on television or our fervor and vigor with which we hope to dash and defeat our opponents, it has to be known to be fought, known so it can be integrated.
McCain is dangerous precisely because he admits no weakness, no frailty and as such no humanity.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
We think it is time for ???? to regain the regard of the rest of the world
Like the optimist in the last entry, I know it's not easy to be optimistic and in fact my writing on distraction is teaching me so much about the nuances of unconscious motivations that keep us far away from the complex textures of a more complete reality about our insides and about the world outside.
But it is too hard to be so realistic all the time. And I take a break to scream, if only quietly since the same soothing and meaningful (to me) music is still playing.
DO WE SERIOUSLY THINK WE CAN TELL ANOTHER COUNTRY THEY'D BETTER REGAIN THE TRUST OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Talk about distraction and phantom configurations. Just today another person said the same thing. As representative of a Jewish organization he said we should all take a stand against Iran and put pressure on them so they can feel a responsibility to the international community. This seems to be a fashionable sentence structure because it's being used a lot by a lot of people.
So President Bush (he really is President, isn't he?) is telling Russia to leave Georgia alone, and I--the naive part of me under the sophistication, clinical and worldly knowledge--still can't believe this is happening. It's too surreal.
We are wanting to rescue poor Georgia from the Russians and I think:Wat would happen if they sent their Condolezza Rice to Iraq and started sending insurgents weapons, and told us we should try to gain the respect of the international community? Why is no one in America standing up and saying that we have little right to judge hardly anything since we are committing so much violence in Iraq, and more????? How is a candidate electable without these principles. And yes I will vote for the saner without being pleased that no one is daring to notice difficult truths out loud. Wait, I can send them "The Emperor's New Clothes". Maybe not such a good idea...I don't think they would get the connection between our heads of state and the Emperor.
A question: If President is naked and no one sees it, is he still naked? If we are collectively naked and we all stop noticing, hmmm....quieting the nerves....
Freud said that if we don't work through our history we will repeat it. He was a pretty smart guy, at least about some things...I think this was one of them....
We should be talking about this stuff more......
But it is too hard to be so realistic all the time. And I take a break to scream, if only quietly since the same soothing and meaningful (to me) music is still playing.
DO WE SERIOUSLY THINK WE CAN TELL ANOTHER COUNTRY THEY'D BETTER REGAIN THE TRUST OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Talk about distraction and phantom configurations. Just today another person said the same thing. As representative of a Jewish organization he said we should all take a stand against Iran and put pressure on them so they can feel a responsibility to the international community. This seems to be a fashionable sentence structure because it's being used a lot by a lot of people.
So President Bush (he really is President, isn't he?) is telling Russia to leave Georgia alone, and I--the naive part of me under the sophistication, clinical and worldly knowledge--still can't believe this is happening. It's too surreal.
We are wanting to rescue poor Georgia from the Russians and I think:Wat would happen if they sent their Condolezza Rice to Iraq and started sending insurgents weapons, and told us we should try to gain the respect of the international community? Why is no one in America standing up and saying that we have little right to judge hardly anything since we are committing so much violence in Iraq, and more????? How is a candidate electable without these principles. And yes I will vote for the saner without being pleased that no one is daring to notice difficult truths out loud. Wait, I can send them "The Emperor's New Clothes". Maybe not such a good idea...I don't think they would get the connection between our heads of state and the Emperor.
A question: If President is naked and no one sees it, is he still naked? If we are collectively naked and we all stop noticing, hmmm....quieting the nerves....
Freud said that if we don't work through our history we will repeat it. He was a pretty smart guy, at least about some things...I think this was one of them....
We should be talking about this stuff more......
I Pledge Allegiance to the Fantasy of America
I pledge allegiance to my integrity, when my mind is not clogged.
I pledge allegiance to love my children with all the integrity I can muster. My devotion to them, thank the heavens, surpasses my selfish needs and desires and jealousies and the more anxious needs to have them near. I know they have to fly and in ways they are not that far away.
I pledge allegiance to listening to the people most important to me who have stopped wanting to pledge absolute allegiance to anything or anyone, because one must have the right and even obligation to make judgments according to the truth of what is or what seems to be.
I hope there is a movement in this country that moves us towards more freedom of mind and spirit and the willingness to accept our connection to all manner of feelings, all shades and nuances of love and hate and indifference. I hope that we will accept the less than pretty sides of ourselves a bit at a time, so we don't have to be blind and closed and deaf when we confront the people who shall lead or be important in our lives--so we can see the whole of them and not just the parts that appeal or that scare us.
I hope that some people in the coming election will look for harder facts and softer hearts.
The music in the background is piano by Enaudi, an Italian composer and it is without the harsh edges that cover our political atmosphere of distraction and the appearance of pledging when there is not enough integrity with which to pledge.
I hope we are in time and I end this one with a quote from a familiar Jewish joke.."Three men sit at a cafe in Tel Aviv and one declares: 'I'm a pessimist.' The second seconds the emotion and the third declares:'I'm an optimist'. One of the other avowed pessimists asks, 'So tell me if you're an optimist why do you look so worried?' The man answers:
'YOU THINK IT'S EASY TO BE AN OPTIMIST???????????'"
I pledge allegiance to love my children with all the integrity I can muster. My devotion to them, thank the heavens, surpasses my selfish needs and desires and jealousies and the more anxious needs to have them near. I know they have to fly and in ways they are not that far away.
I pledge allegiance to listening to the people most important to me who have stopped wanting to pledge absolute allegiance to anything or anyone, because one must have the right and even obligation to make judgments according to the truth of what is or what seems to be.
I hope there is a movement in this country that moves us towards more freedom of mind and spirit and the willingness to accept our connection to all manner of feelings, all shades and nuances of love and hate and indifference. I hope that we will accept the less than pretty sides of ourselves a bit at a time, so we don't have to be blind and closed and deaf when we confront the people who shall lead or be important in our lives--so we can see the whole of them and not just the parts that appeal or that scare us.
I hope that some people in the coming election will look for harder facts and softer hearts.
The music in the background is piano by Enaudi, an Italian composer and it is without the harsh edges that cover our political atmosphere of distraction and the appearance of pledging when there is not enough integrity with which to pledge.
I hope we are in time and I end this one with a quote from a familiar Jewish joke.."Three men sit at a cafe in Tel Aviv and one declares: 'I'm a pessimist.' The second seconds the emotion and the third declares:'I'm an optimist'. One of the other avowed pessimists asks, 'So tell me if you're an optimist why do you look so worried?' The man answers:
'YOU THINK IT'S EASY TO BE AN OPTIMIST???????????'"
Monday, August 11, 2008
Torture by Psychologists
True, some of has have felt tortured by bad therapists, at times by psychologists, you know like in hard or in very bad psychotherapy.
This is a different kind of torture, the physical and the mental put together by a field which has sworn to help people. The American Psycholical Association is meeting this weekend in Boston and Stephen Soldz is forging the effort to have a rally. He (himself a psychologist and psychoanalyst) presented to the organization to try to get them to vote to disallow psychologists from participating in torture, with the military in particular but not only. The resolution did not pass. Questions, anyone?
In a day where it is more chic to talk about polar bears than people in some headquarters, and when we have the most brilliant and inspiring of conferences, it doesn't seem okay to me to ignore the fact that not only is there torture going on in the world, but we/we/we-- the American military, psychologists and all of us ignoring this-- (directly or indirectly) are committing torture. We are part of it.
I get into arguments about Darfur, not because I don't think it's important. I just think too many of us are too colonial in spirit and enjoy giving when it feels exotic.
When we are engaged in American acts of torture which are being given fairly little press, and being ignored for the most part, who are we to think of monitoring the world philanthropical causes? Just who do we think we are? It's okay to attend to Darfur, but not to ignore the aspects of Darfur which stain our own hands with the same kind of blood. Atrocity is atrocity, no?
This is a different kind of torture, the physical and the mental put together by a field which has sworn to help people. The American Psycholical Association is meeting this weekend in Boston and Stephen Soldz is forging the effort to have a rally. He (himself a psychologist and psychoanalyst) presented to the organization to try to get them to vote to disallow psychologists from participating in torture, with the military in particular but not only. The resolution did not pass. Questions, anyone?
In a day where it is more chic to talk about polar bears than people in some headquarters, and when we have the most brilliant and inspiring of conferences, it doesn't seem okay to me to ignore the fact that not only is there torture going on in the world, but we/we/we-- the American military, psychologists and all of us ignoring this-- (directly or indirectly) are committing torture. We are part of it.
I get into arguments about Darfur, not because I don't think it's important. I just think too many of us are too colonial in spirit and enjoy giving when it feels exotic.
When we are engaged in American acts of torture which are being given fairly little press, and being ignored for the most part, who are we to think of monitoring the world philanthropical causes? Just who do we think we are? It's okay to attend to Darfur, but not to ignore the aspects of Darfur which stain our own hands with the same kind of blood. Atrocity is atrocity, no?
Strolling through the Park one day....
Somehow the music of "Strolling through the Park" seems to fit the McCain campaign. It has a whimsy and a lack of seriousness or consequence to it. It is an old fashioned meandering, dallying kind of a tune, with words like "the merry, merry month of May" in it.
It's like the inmates have taken over the institution and nobody notices. Or is it that he is the one inmate supposedly with enough experience of being tortured that he gets to change his time, his staff, his language and all over again till he is apologizing once a minute and his stuff is muffling his calls, and appparently trying to muzzle him.
This is not so good. Is anyone concerned that his manner is more like the song than like the Presidency? Ya know, besides the Obama people...
It's like the inmates have taken over the institution and nobody notices. Or is it that he is the one inmate supposedly with enough experience of being tortured that he gets to change his time, his staff, his language and all over again till he is apologizing once a minute and his stuff is muffling his calls, and appparently trying to muzzle him.
This is not so good. Is anyone concerned that his manner is more like the song than like the Presidency? Ya know, besides the Obama people...
ADHD, Michael Phelps, and that which we all can offer
So here is a typical story about a boy who fidgeted, couldn't concentrate or sit still and didn't do well in his studies. He was thought to be not very interesting by his teachers, it seems. His mother wanted to know what he could do, if he was bored. She was not only a teacher but a perseverer and she found some good people to help. It turns out that Michael, with his tall body and dangling arms, had a gift, and it was swimming.
I who have a softer kind of ADHD began swimming for the first time this summer in my seventh decade; ouch. I realized for the first time that I could keep my mouth closed until I was ready to open it to breathe, and that I didn't have to scramble for air as the air came out of my nose and mouth and not in. I respect the ease and concentration Michael must have had for so long, along with good coaching.
I'm happy for him, happy for anyone who takes away from this-- not the idea of a gold medal-- but of a potential symbolic medal of belonging to the human race with dignity, and potentially inventing a new thing, having a real gift, and having the space to contribute to the rest of us.
And of course we need so many more people willing to listen/to perceive without so much bias,people willing to look for the creative instead of closing doors to a real live person and all who care for that person.
Man, 2 gold medals, already!
I who have a softer kind of ADHD began swimming for the first time this summer in my seventh decade; ouch. I realized for the first time that I could keep my mouth closed until I was ready to open it to breathe, and that I didn't have to scramble for air as the air came out of my nose and mouth and not in. I respect the ease and concentration Michael must have had for so long, along with good coaching.
I'm happy for him, happy for anyone who takes away from this-- not the idea of a gold medal-- but of a potential symbolic medal of belonging to the human race with dignity, and potentially inventing a new thing, having a real gift, and having the space to contribute to the rest of us.
And of course we need so many more people willing to listen/to perceive without so much bias,people willing to look for the creative instead of closing doors to a real live person and all who care for that person.
Man, 2 gold medals, already!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
GETTING A PEDICURE AND THINKING ABOUT CHINA
Okay, it was also a manicure, quite delicious...
And the people--the women--were from Shanghai. And I spoke about the government in China. And one of them said something like "You'd be surprised. It's very hard there to have a free country. We have so many people, it's hard to organize things."
She made it clear that she wasn't all that interested in politics. And then I said something about here, how it's hard to have freedom since it takes work. She looked at me curiously but seemed to get it when I said people really need to think about things to make decisions. She seemed to understand the word "think". Hmmmm.....I'm thinking that you can't think if you can't reflect....Hmmm again...
And the people--the women--were from Shanghai. And I spoke about the government in China. And one of them said something like "You'd be surprised. It's very hard there to have a free country. We have so many people, it's hard to organize things."
She made it clear that she wasn't all that interested in politics. And then I said something about here, how it's hard to have freedom since it takes work. She looked at me curiously but seemed to get it when I said people really need to think about things to make decisions. She seemed to understand the word "think". Hmmmm.....I'm thinking that you can't think if you can't reflect....Hmmm again...
"You Cheated, You lied...." And don't we all....
So two things come to mind as the Sunday weather turns to clouds. Coming back from Italy, I was meandering in the chic organic supermarket nearby, with a headline that took me by surprise (not enough for me to buy the paper, yes!) The cover read, "I lied to you and I cheated", or was it "I cheated and I lied to you". The latter makes more sense since it drove my brain into the words and melody of the oldy but goody, "You cheated, You lied, you said that you loved me, You cheated, you lied, you said that you want me...Oh what can I do, etc" It's time for a comeback for the song, that seems a sure hit. Check it out...
And then there is our country, it's sexual hype mixed with all the prudity and prissiness, and how sad. John Edwards was my favorite candidate in the beginning of the race, though the sugar in the stories about the mines or farms and about how hard Daddy worked and all that, had started to get on my nerves.
But really is it not sad that an affair is not only everyone's business, but could ruin a man's candidacy. And not that lying is great, even though it's sometimes necessary, but the question is more: What kind of society are we in, that no one admits defeat, vulnerability, slips, ambivalence, lapses, great experiences on pot and more, and all kinds of juicy and lustful and mean thoughts, etc.
So how's about we're all taught to lie, in really big ways. The "great" American, who can admit no flaws, has to be a liar; even the people passing for honest can't possibly stand the impossible standards.
George Carlin, whom I miss, surprisingly for me, would have done the best routine on this one. My imagination tells me that he would do a great job of making fun of our hypocricy. He would have reminded us that these standards would take all the fun out of life: what with no wickedness of thought or deed, we would be so bored. He might have set us straight. But that's a dream too; we are among oh so many people who are so very precious and pure in their own minds and who stay full of themselves.
Back to the song, however--it's a great one, a least it seemed that way back then. As for John Edwards, I am going to talk directly to him for a moment: I wish, John, that you didn't have to work so hard to prove your purity, and even now that you have been humiliated by someone hired to do a job on you and the Democrats. I wish you could find the guy or woman and point to who really should be apologizing.
Spin doctors, you are all cheating, and have all cheated. And even if you stayed within the closets of your grandiosity, you are cheating us all by doing this creepy stuff of breaking a person's life, marriage, and all the chances of a life. And yo' this is so sick, that even the best of candidates have to say that they pray and to whom and how happy and perfect they are.
Okay, no preaching...I mean no more...later...
And then there is our country, it's sexual hype mixed with all the prudity and prissiness, and how sad. John Edwards was my favorite candidate in the beginning of the race, though the sugar in the stories about the mines or farms and about how hard Daddy worked and all that, had started to get on my nerves.
But really is it not sad that an affair is not only everyone's business, but could ruin a man's candidacy. And not that lying is great, even though it's sometimes necessary, but the question is more: What kind of society are we in, that no one admits defeat, vulnerability, slips, ambivalence, lapses, great experiences on pot and more, and all kinds of juicy and lustful and mean thoughts, etc.
So how's about we're all taught to lie, in really big ways. The "great" American, who can admit no flaws, has to be a liar; even the people passing for honest can't possibly stand the impossible standards.
George Carlin, whom I miss, surprisingly for me, would have done the best routine on this one. My imagination tells me that he would do a great job of making fun of our hypocricy. He would have reminded us that these standards would take all the fun out of life: what with no wickedness of thought or deed, we would be so bored. He might have set us straight. But that's a dream too; we are among oh so many people who are so very precious and pure in their own minds and who stay full of themselves.
Back to the song, however--it's a great one, a least it seemed that way back then. As for John Edwards, I am going to talk directly to him for a moment: I wish, John, that you didn't have to work so hard to prove your purity, and even now that you have been humiliated by someone hired to do a job on you and the Democrats. I wish you could find the guy or woman and point to who really should be apologizing.
Spin doctors, you are all cheating, and have all cheated. And even if you stayed within the closets of your grandiosity, you are cheating us all by doing this creepy stuff of breaking a person's life, marriage, and all the chances of a life. And yo' this is so sick, that even the best of candidates have to say that they pray and to whom and how happy and perfect they are.
Okay, no preaching...I mean no more...later...
Saturday, August 2, 2008
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE OR WHEN YOU KNEW IT WASN'T
Just when you thought it was safe or knew it wasn't
All vacations are just that, vacations. So I have been thinking about coming back to the blog as an active decision. I have been writing madly and vacationing in Italy and dealing with issues of age and kids and separation, all stuff of life.
However, or within it all, there is a premise here that needs to be stated out loud. The blogs I have written have tended to be politically oriented. On my other site, www.growingreal.com the essays have more of a general flavor; however
TO MY MIND THIS IS A SERIOUS QUESTION FOR ALL OF US AND FOR PSYCHOTHERAPISTS AS WELL. I FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THE POLITICAL NATURE OF LIFE, AND THAT WHETHER WE ARE INVOLVED IN THE POLITICAL ARENA OR NOT, WE ARE INVOLVED: THERE IS NO WAY OUT.
NOT TO DECIDE IS TO DECIDE. So I am saying that if this blog is to be authentic it has to include the connection between the personal and political.
From time to time there will be op ed pieces, either designed for right here or originally aimed at the higher powers of big newspapers such as the New York Times. I welcome your input since I have come to feel dialogue is crucial for small or bigger amounts of progress anywhere. It is only dialogue if it doesn't come with character assassination for then it is assault only.
It will come as no surprise that the major focal point will involve the subject of distraction, which I have come to see as the most insidious and creepy and impossibly dangerous plague of our time. I have never claimed to have discovered it or that it is new or even all bad: in fact some of it is the grander work of creation and play which often come as oxygen. It is just that as of now, what with global warming, nuclear weapons, terrorists (within and without) etc, attention away from information towards manipulation of our senses as well as our own avoidance, have become too dangerous.
Parents often want immediate results rather than the cozy developmental orientation of trial and error, empathy and learning from experience and connection. There is peer pressure everwhere, so that it becomes hard to examine whether education bores or inspires, and we have been so overwhelmed in our own lives that there is not that much thought to major institutions such as education.
So onward....and as I have learned "Without laughter it would all be unbearable". It is just that I feel as in "Turn, turn, turn" that laughter when in the midst of tragedy is a tad distracting, if it turns our attention away from saving our lives on the planet.
And if attention comes in the form of humor, so be it. A friend in Italy said yesterday something like "You know, there are so many lies and so much of what we all say are lies, because it is all so subjective. However maybe it's good to look for the pieces of truth within the lies. We might learn alot".
So this is a blog in the spirit of taking the bits of flavor or sense or life that make sense, rather than to carelessly dismiss a potential addition. I've said this before, but I'd love to have comments from younger people whose outlook--angry or not--is often fresh and less tarnished by accomodation.
Ciao...for now, Carol
All vacations are just that, vacations. So I have been thinking about coming back to the blog as an active decision. I have been writing madly and vacationing in Italy and dealing with issues of age and kids and separation, all stuff of life.
However, or within it all, there is a premise here that needs to be stated out loud. The blogs I have written have tended to be politically oriented. On my other site, www.growingreal.com the essays have more of a general flavor; however
TO MY MIND THIS IS A SERIOUS QUESTION FOR ALL OF US AND FOR PSYCHOTHERAPISTS AS WELL. I FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THE POLITICAL NATURE OF LIFE, AND THAT WHETHER WE ARE INVOLVED IN THE POLITICAL ARENA OR NOT, WE ARE INVOLVED: THERE IS NO WAY OUT.
NOT TO DECIDE IS TO DECIDE. So I am saying that if this blog is to be authentic it has to include the connection between the personal and political.
From time to time there will be op ed pieces, either designed for right here or originally aimed at the higher powers of big newspapers such as the New York Times. I welcome your input since I have come to feel dialogue is crucial for small or bigger amounts of progress anywhere. It is only dialogue if it doesn't come with character assassination for then it is assault only.
It will come as no surprise that the major focal point will involve the subject of distraction, which I have come to see as the most insidious and creepy and impossibly dangerous plague of our time. I have never claimed to have discovered it or that it is new or even all bad: in fact some of it is the grander work of creation and play which often come as oxygen. It is just that as of now, what with global warming, nuclear weapons, terrorists (within and without) etc, attention away from information towards manipulation of our senses as well as our own avoidance, have become too dangerous.
Parents often want immediate results rather than the cozy developmental orientation of trial and error, empathy and learning from experience and connection. There is peer pressure everwhere, so that it becomes hard to examine whether education bores or inspires, and we have been so overwhelmed in our own lives that there is not that much thought to major institutions such as education.
So onward....and as I have learned "Without laughter it would all be unbearable". It is just that I feel as in "Turn, turn, turn" that laughter when in the midst of tragedy is a tad distracting, if it turns our attention away from saving our lives on the planet.
And if attention comes in the form of humor, so be it. A friend in Italy said yesterday something like "You know, there are so many lies and so much of what we all say are lies, because it is all so subjective. However maybe it's good to look for the pieces of truth within the lies. We might learn alot".
So this is a blog in the spirit of taking the bits of flavor or sense or life that make sense, rather than to carelessly dismiss a potential addition. I've said this before, but I'd love to have comments from younger people whose outlook--angry or not--is often fresh and less tarnished by accomodation.
Ciao...for now, Carol
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