I had someone call me a coward, because I will not support Jill Stein, and instead am supporting Hillary. Seriously? First, Jill Stein has zero chance of winning the election. Beyond which, while Hillary is no perfect progressive, neither is Stein.
My first choice for president would have been Elizabeth Warren, but she chose not to run. In her absence, my choice was Bernie Sanders, who I supported with both my money and my vote. Unfortunately, Sanders did not get the nomination. Yes, the DNC strongly favored Clinton, but what would you expect? Clinton has been a Democrat for over 30 years. Sanders was elected and serves as an independent, and only ran as a Democrat for this presidential nomination run.
The simple fact is that Sanders did not get enough support from black voters, latinx voters, and working class voters to win the nomination. While the DNC clearly favored Clinton, the primaries were NOT rigged. As it stands, Sanders and Warren are both supporting Clinton’s presidential bid and are both campaigning on her behalf. Absent any contraindications, that alone is enough to make me support Hillary.
Some folks claim that Stein supports a far more progressive platform. I see no evidence of that. I am on the left wing of the Democratic party, and based on political surveys rank as more liberal than the majority of liberal Democrats. I’ve gone down lists of positions on major issues in this campaign comparing candidates. I do not side noticeably more often with Stein than with Hillary.
Most right wingers and some hard core leftists claim that Hillary is dishonest. When Politifact checked all major party presidential candidates, Hillary and Sanders were two of the top three in honesty. Hillary had slightly more true, mostly true, and half true than Bernie, but Bernie had fewer pants on fire. Frankly, the far right has been accusing Clinton of all manner of things for many years, but has never proven anything of significance.
There is no fact checking scorecard on Jill Stein, but some things seem to be disturbing. She seemed very pro-Brexit, until that turned out to be of some disadvantage, then kind of shucked and jived. She has seemed to support anti-vaxxers, until that caused some stir, and has equivocated on vaccines since. She also appeared to claim that there were health hazards associated with wifi. Neither her vaccine nor wifi positions have any scientific support.
Some people point to Hillary’s changes in positions on issues as a reason to distrust her. To be sure, she shifted on marriage equality, as did Obama and as did many other Americans. She had been a supporter of TPP, then went silent, and eventually came out against it. Obama is still pushing TPP, and until the deal was finalized many people either supported or kept an open mind on it. While she supported a higher minimum wage, she changed her views on how much higher. She also came out more strongly for financial breaks for college students after pressure from Bernie. Only the most doctrinaire and close-minded people never change views on issues. My positions have evolved on issues, including some of the above.
What we find with Hillary, is someone who will shift her positions on issues when there is sufficient pressure to do so. With Sanders and Warren as prominent progressive senators, speaking out, raising awareness, and mobilizing support for progressive issues, there will indeed be pressure on Hillary to stay closer to a progressive line.
My duty is to make sure the agenda of the next president is as closely aligned to a progressive agenda as possible. If I vote for someone other than Hillary, I take a big chance that Trump will win and impose a very anti-progressive agenda. Based on that, I have no hesitations in voting for Hillary.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Depression and Exercise
Saw a post from someone railing against another person who suggested physical activity as an alternative to drugs as a cure for depression. They railed against that and compared it to telling asthma sufferers not to use a rescue inhaler and telling diabetics not to take insulin.
First, for some types of diabetes, watching one's diet and losing weight can lessen or even eliminate the need for insulin or other medical interventions. That is not true for all, by any means, but it is true for some. I am asthmatic and have found that regular aerobic exercise can improve my lung function and reduce my need for medication.
There is no doubt that severe and prolonged depression may require medical intervention. When it does, there is no shame in taking the medication needed to relieve one’s problem. There is also no doubt that physical activity is a mood elevator and can ease mild to moderate depression. The Mayo Clinic says, “Any physical activity that gets you off the couch and moving can help improve your mood.”
Some folks would reply that it is easy to talk about something when you don't suffer from it. I have suffered from depression though, and still have some mild depression. In my late 20s, I went through a very stressful period. I don’t want to get into the gory details, but will say I left a secure job for another job, which fell apart on me, taking all my savings and leaving me in debt. I found a new job, but less secure and not enough to easily cover my bills. I fell in love with someone who ultimately decided she cared for me, but didn’t love me, at least not that way.
I questioned myself very hard, and found I hated myself. I tried alcohol, mostly beer, but it didn’t really help, and I’m not inclined towards alcoholism. I tried pot, and it seemed to help for a while. The high would take the edge off the depression. I never smoked a lot – maybe the equivalent of a joint a day, when I came home from work.
After a while, I found that when I came off the high, the depression came back worse than before. I never before and never since felt the profound sense of self hatred, and self loathing that I did as I came off some of my highs. I remember lying on my bed, literally writhing in emotional agony, feeling a self hatred that I can’t even describe.
Any aspect of my being, I hated. I’ve always been fairly bright, if nerdy, and not at all athletic. I even questioned my own intelligence. Most people, when dealing with someone not too bright, will treat them kindly. I wondered if I was an intellectual imbecile who was merely being humored by the people around him. There was nothing about myself that I found of value. I even thought about how I might commit suicide – taking a car at very high speed and running flat into a concrete light pole or overpass support, with no one else around to be hurt.
I stopped smoking pot. I decided that the aftermath was so very much worse than the high was good, that it wasn’t worth it. I decided that I really was moderately bright – standardized test scores are not merely trying to be kind, and are quite impersonal. I decided that I needed to look at my life and see what I could change that would improve my self-image.
I was slightly over-weight – not grossly, but some, and very out of shape. I hated my body and my body image. I started doing sit-ups and push-ups every day in the evening before I ate dinner. I would not allow myself to eat dinner until I had done them. I started with very few, and for the first few weeks, even those were often uncomfortable. For the record, I still do sit-ups every night before I eat dinner, and it is many years later. I have only missed a very few nights from illness or injury in that time.
Eventually I got into racquetball and later running to improve my physical condition further. I reached the point, before injuring my foot, of being able to run over 9 miles without stopping. I had to quit for several years to let my foot heal and am now back to running 3 miles.
Exercise was a big part of helping me out of my depression. That is not to say it would work as well for everyone, and some folks might need medication to help them out of their depression. But everyone can get some benefit from such exercise, and to rudely dismiss exercise makes no more sense than to dismiss medication for those who cannot be fully helped without it.
First, for some types of diabetes, watching one's diet and losing weight can lessen or even eliminate the need for insulin or other medical interventions. That is not true for all, by any means, but it is true for some. I am asthmatic and have found that regular aerobic exercise can improve my lung function and reduce my need for medication.
There is no doubt that severe and prolonged depression may require medical intervention. When it does, there is no shame in taking the medication needed to relieve one’s problem. There is also no doubt that physical activity is a mood elevator and can ease mild to moderate depression. The Mayo Clinic says, “Any physical activity that gets you off the couch and moving can help improve your mood.”
Some folks would reply that it is easy to talk about something when you don't suffer from it. I have suffered from depression though, and still have some mild depression. In my late 20s, I went through a very stressful period. I don’t want to get into the gory details, but will say I left a secure job for another job, which fell apart on me, taking all my savings and leaving me in debt. I found a new job, but less secure and not enough to easily cover my bills. I fell in love with someone who ultimately decided she cared for me, but didn’t love me, at least not that way.
I questioned myself very hard, and found I hated myself. I tried alcohol, mostly beer, but it didn’t really help, and I’m not inclined towards alcoholism. I tried pot, and it seemed to help for a while. The high would take the edge off the depression. I never smoked a lot – maybe the equivalent of a joint a day, when I came home from work.
After a while, I found that when I came off the high, the depression came back worse than before. I never before and never since felt the profound sense of self hatred, and self loathing that I did as I came off some of my highs. I remember lying on my bed, literally writhing in emotional agony, feeling a self hatred that I can’t even describe.
Any aspect of my being, I hated. I’ve always been fairly bright, if nerdy, and not at all athletic. I even questioned my own intelligence. Most people, when dealing with someone not too bright, will treat them kindly. I wondered if I was an intellectual imbecile who was merely being humored by the people around him. There was nothing about myself that I found of value. I even thought about how I might commit suicide – taking a car at very high speed and running flat into a concrete light pole or overpass support, with no one else around to be hurt.
I stopped smoking pot. I decided that the aftermath was so very much worse than the high was good, that it wasn’t worth it. I decided that I really was moderately bright – standardized test scores are not merely trying to be kind, and are quite impersonal. I decided that I needed to look at my life and see what I could change that would improve my self-image.
I was slightly over-weight – not grossly, but some, and very out of shape. I hated my body and my body image. I started doing sit-ups and push-ups every day in the evening before I ate dinner. I would not allow myself to eat dinner until I had done them. I started with very few, and for the first few weeks, even those were often uncomfortable. For the record, I still do sit-ups every night before I eat dinner, and it is many years later. I have only missed a very few nights from illness or injury in that time.
Eventually I got into racquetball and later running to improve my physical condition further. I reached the point, before injuring my foot, of being able to run over 9 miles without stopping. I had to quit for several years to let my foot heal and am now back to running 3 miles.
Exercise was a big part of helping me out of my depression. That is not to say it would work as well for everyone, and some folks might need medication to help them out of their depression. But everyone can get some benefit from such exercise, and to rudely dismiss exercise makes no more sense than to dismiss medication for those who cannot be fully helped without it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Grab their pussy
Trump's comments revealed on Friday, take me back some years to an event in my own life.
Tom was a VP at the company where I worked and I was doing some work in an isolated area. He stopped and began talking to me, and I thought nothing of it. He said something about his wife being out of town, and I still thought nothing of it. Tom grabbed my crotch, which shocked me. I didn't like at all, but I didn't know what to do.
When Christy came by shortly after and began talking to Tom I got the hell out of there - quickly and did not return that day. I never properly thanked Christy, whom I have not seen in many years. I fully understand how women feel about unwanted touching.
I understand how unwanted attention can be frightening and enervating. I absolutely despise Donald Trump's comments and find them totally inexcusable.
Tom was a VP at the company where I worked and I was doing some work in an isolated area. He stopped and began talking to me, and I thought nothing of it. He said something about his wife being out of town, and I still thought nothing of it. Tom grabbed my crotch, which shocked me. I didn't like at all, but I didn't know what to do.
When Christy came by shortly after and began talking to Tom I got the hell out of there - quickly and did not return that day. I never properly thanked Christy, whom I have not seen in many years. I fully understand how women feel about unwanted touching.
I understand how unwanted attention can be frightening and enervating. I absolutely despise Donald Trump's comments and find them totally inexcusable.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Art versus Pornography
How do we draw the line and where do we draw the line between art and pornography? I consider myself to be a feminist, and oppose the exploitation of women. But is all nudity exploitive? Artists and sculptors have been portraying the nude body, both female and male for over two thousand years. Is the Venus De Milo exploitive? What about the Three Graces? Rodin’s Fallen Caryatid? Manet’s painting of Olympia? All include female nudity and all have been considered great art. What is the difference between Manet’s Olympia and a Playboy photograph of a woman in the same pose?
I think we can agree that a woman who was compelled or coerced into posing nude is being exploited. What if it is quite voluntary? What if the woman is decently compensated for posing voluntarily? To go a step further, is it exploitation to have a voluntary nude model for an art class?
I was on one feminist site which included feminists who were sex workers. I said that at its basis, sex work was exploitive, even when voluntary. I was banned from that site for that comment. At the same time, I’ve been on other feminist sites which excoriated pornography and those who consume pornography. How then do we distinguish artistic nudity and sexuality from exploitation?
And what about films? Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis have a simulated lesbian scene in Black Swan. Brokeback Mountain includes simulated straight sex and gay male sex. The biopic about Frida Kahlo includes female nudity and simulated sex. There are innumerable instances of nudity and simulated sex in mainstream films. Are these art or exploitation? What about Pretty Baby or Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet? Given that the young women were under age at the time, those movies could not even be made in the US today. One art photographer has been roundly denounced for shooting nude photos of her underage children. Have we overreacted?
Have we so conflated nudity with sex that any nudity is tantamount to sexuality? Perhaps we could say that real photographed or filmed sexual contact is pornographic. But even that may be open to discussion by some however. Is simulated sex also pornographic? Where is the line? How do you protect people from exploitation without unduly limiting their freedom? If an adult willingly consents to nudity or sex on camera, is that truly exploitation? How do you protect those who do not wish to be protected, and who see your protection as infringing on their liberty?
I think we can agree that a woman who was compelled or coerced into posing nude is being exploited. What if it is quite voluntary? What if the woman is decently compensated for posing voluntarily? To go a step further, is it exploitation to have a voluntary nude model for an art class?
I was on one feminist site which included feminists who were sex workers. I said that at its basis, sex work was exploitive, even when voluntary. I was banned from that site for that comment. At the same time, I’ve been on other feminist sites which excoriated pornography and those who consume pornography. How then do we distinguish artistic nudity and sexuality from exploitation?
And what about films? Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis have a simulated lesbian scene in Black Swan. Brokeback Mountain includes simulated straight sex and gay male sex. The biopic about Frida Kahlo includes female nudity and simulated sex. There are innumerable instances of nudity and simulated sex in mainstream films. Are these art or exploitation? What about Pretty Baby or Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet? Given that the young women were under age at the time, those movies could not even be made in the US today. One art photographer has been roundly denounced for shooting nude photos of her underage children. Have we overreacted?
Have we so conflated nudity with sex that any nudity is tantamount to sexuality? Perhaps we could say that real photographed or filmed sexual contact is pornographic. But even that may be open to discussion by some however. Is simulated sex also pornographic? Where is the line? How do you protect people from exploitation without unduly limiting their freedom? If an adult willingly consents to nudity or sex on camera, is that truly exploitation? How do you protect those who do not wish to be protected, and who see your protection as infringing on their liberty?
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