Progressive Politics

Aw, what’s a little pneumonia anyway?

/ momshieb / 8 Comments

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A New England Autumn

It’s funny. I was just sitting here, feeling the nice cool autumn breeze. So refreshing!

For some unfathomable reason, I started to think about that time a few years ago. I had been fighting asthma for a few weeks, and no matter what I did, it seemed to just keep getting worse. I was a fifth grade teacher at the time, and I had to talk all day. I had to talk over 25  happy ten year olds. I had to talk over the sound of the kids in the hallway and the kids in the cafeteria.

My throat was always sore and I was hoarse. And the asthma was making me short of breath and a little dizzy.

I remember that I was on two different inhalers, an antihistamine by day and a different one by night, a nose spray and some herbal things.

That cough just kept building up on me. But you know what? I was a typical working woman. I just kept plugging along. I didn’t miss one day of school.

Finally, though, I did break down and go the doctor. He told me that I had a fairly serious case of bronchitis and was “well on the way” to pneumonia.  He changed one of my inhalers, added prednisone and a strong antibiotic.

He suggested that I take a few days to recuperate.

But I was a fifth grade teacher, with 25 kids depending on me. Plus, it was the week of our annual three day camping adventure in the woods of New Hampshire. I tried to drink extra water and eat well. I went to bed early when I could.

I didn’t stay home, though. I didn’t go to bed.

Actually, I packed my bag and grabbed all my medicines. Then I got on the big yellow bus and took 75 fifth graders on a camping trip in the cold rain.

You know why?

Because I’m a woman. I just didn’t think a little pneumonia would be that big a deal.

Ya know?

 

“I’m Rubber, You’re Glue.”

/ momshieb / 10 Comments

If you’ve been watching or reading about the American presidential election for the past year or so, you will no doubt have noticed that one candidate is acting more like a child than a world leader.

Naturally, I mean no disrespect to children, but you know know what I mean.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made a name for himself by acting like every elementary school’s playground bully. He insults people, he swears in public, he threatens violence against everyone he dislikes.

He pretends to be more powerful than he really is, and expects everyone around him to grand him the same level of worship that he grants to himself.

Some of his quotes are beyond unbelievable. When asked by a journalist whether he honestly considered it proper to praise the dictator Vladimir Putin, Trump said:

“If he says great things about me, I’ll say great things about him.”

Just like a fourth grader. An immature fourth grader.

Now I think I have an explanation for Trump’s sudden fixation on Hillary Clinton’s health. He is playing the classic frustrated kid game of “I’m rubber and you’re glue. Everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”

You remember that, right? It was usually the response you got when you were trying to argue with the most annoying kid in the class because he won’t stop making fun of everyone.

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Think about it. “I’m rubber, you’re glue.”

Trump runs a completely fake foundation. The (ahem) Donald J. Trump Foundation has no employees other than the Trump kids. Trump uses the money donated by third parties to buy himself presents. The IRS has serious concerns about them falsifying records.

Ergo: Trump keeps demanding a federal probe of the Clinton Foundation, which is an actual world wide philanthropy.

Trump demonstrates symptoms and evidence of several disorders. There has been speculation that the man has a language disorder, an attentional disorder, a serious personality disorder and possible Alzheimer’s or dementia. He has steadfastly refused to release his medical records. He’s tried to get around the demands by releasing a ridiculous fake letter that was mocked by the whole world.

So what is Trump doing? He’s claiming that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has a brain injury, seizures, even a language disorder herself. Conservatives are going crazy trying to come up with some phony information about her health.

Seriously! It’s “I’m rubber and you’re glue.” What makes it so frustrating is that its working. I don’t hear anyone in the media talking about the Donald J. Trump phony Foundation. I don’t hear them speculating about why the man can’t finish a single sentence, or what the hell he’s trying to hide by trying to fake his medical records.

He’s rubber, she’s glue and it’s making me crazy.

Let me leave you with one thought, though.

Trump keeps repeating the insulting “Crooked Hillary” name for his opponent. He just loves to yell about her being a crook.

Yeah. We know exactly what that says about him.

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Too Many Guns. Period!

/ momshieb / 4 Comments

Did you know that in this country there are almost as many guns as humans?

Did you know that last year over 33,000 Americans died from guns?  They were accidents, suicides, and homicides. But they were all killed by guns.

Get this story.

A guy in Colorado got so mad at his daughter that he pulled out his gun, told her to get hers, and then challenged her to a duel.

With LOADED GUNS.

Read the story below. Then call your representatives and tell them that you won’t vote for them ever again unless they do something to stop the insanity with guns in every room of every house in every town. Guns just waiting for that extra beer, that teen aged heartbreak or that defiant teenager to give their owner the excuse for pulling the trigger.

Dad Challenges Daughter To Gun Battle.

NeverTrump, NeverHillary

/ momshieb / 5 Comments

Or “Neither.”  Or “None of the above.”

Why on earth would I want to cast my one precious vote for a person who is in the middle of a court case?

Donald Trump will be called to testify in November about the horrible scam that he called “Trump University.” Bad.

But at least he’s not being indicted for possible racketeering.

I know that I’m supposed to “Vote Blue No Matter Who!”   I understand the desire to defeat the dangerous bombastic narcissist of the GOP.

But I can NOT vote for a woman who is facing possible indictment for money laundering.

I can’t vote for someone who broke all of the rules of online security while she was entrusted with the most important and fragile of our nation’s secrets. I don’t believe that she did it for “convenience” or because she wasn’t smart enough or sophisticated enough to handle two different phones. Please. And we’re supposed to trust her with the nuclear codes?

The right to vote is precious. Many women struggled and were beaten and went to jail to make sure that I could cast my vote. I don’t take that lightly.

The responsibility to vote thoughtfully weighs on my mind. The future that I help to craft, in my tiny way, will be Ellie’s future.

I will NOT throw my vote away on someone I believe to be corrupt and self-serving. I will NOT vote for someone who is being investigated for breaking the law.

NeverHillary, NeverTrump

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Birds of a feather.

 

Hunger in America

/ momshieb / 3 Comments

Do you remember the event that was called “Hands Across America?”

I really don’t. I had my first baby in January of 1986, and the event happened on May 25th of that year.

It’s funny; I remember the scary things that year. Chernobyl, the bombing of Libya. I don’t remember when 6 million people held hands across the entire country, in a long line of hope, to raise awareness of hunger in America, and to raise money to alleviate it.

I wrote about that event on its 30th anniversary.  Please read the story, and please pass it on.

We need to think about the fact that more people in our country are hungry and homeless now than 30 years ago.

What does that say about us, I wonder?

“Why Did 6 Million People Join Hands Across America?”

If you want to help, VOTE CAREFULLY.

And check these links:

Project Bread

End Hunger Now