Consciousness in the Age of Aquarius

Participating in the conference at Southwestern College in Santa Fe. Fascinating courses on iridology (studying the eye to diagnose emotional issues), "brainspotting (a very new science, less than five years old, which locates areas of trauma in the brain and relates these directly to emotional states held in the body in order to release them), and astrology. Course-taking is always a good way to keep a brain functioning, whether senior citizen or kindergartner.

The Importance of Keeping up with Friends

Isolation might be the single biggest potential problem new retirees face. My suggestion would be to make the effort to meet friends for lunch, or perhaps coffee or movie dates. Whatever you do, staying by yourself in front of the TV or computer for hours on end is a bad idea. Get out and mingle. Do what you once had no time for, i.e. take advantage of your new freedom to do things you always wished you could. Retirement is about doing it your way, but not necessarily about "leisure" or idleness.

The Family by Jeff Sharlet

This is a scary book, because it traces the origin of all these right-wing power-hungry, Jesus-plus-nothing politicians (Domenici, Sanford, Ensign, Ashcroft, Inhofe, and the list goes on) right back to their source at the founding of the country. Sharlet does not believe they are really a "fringe" element, but a major force in American government, even though many of them operate largely behind the scenes. They really believe they have been chosen by God to reign over the the rest of us. They use the true-believers who are always uneducated and very fearful as pawns to consolidate their power. (See shouting mobs, townhall meetings). Also check out The Authoritarians by a Canadian psychologist and professor, whose research and book are available online without charge.

Barney Frank Calls Out Right Wing Cuckoo Woman

At a town hall meeting this week, when some uninformed woman compared Obama to Hitler because he supports health care reform, Congressman Frank said he was reverting to "my ethnic heritage by answering a question with a question. What planet have you been living on?" Hooray for telling it like it is and not being afraid to confront racism and stupidity.

Julia and Julia: Story of A Cook and a Blogger

Just returned from seeing the new Meryl Streep/Amy Adams movie about Julia Child and the young woman (also named Julia) in Queens who started a blog about working her way through The Art of French Cooking and in the process became something of a star. I could totally relate to her early attempts to find an audience. She said when she first began it was something akin to "doing sit-ups" every day or maybe "like AA," which I assume means she took it one day at a time. Although I can barely boil water these days (I did once actually make the boef bourginon described in the movie a few times in the far distant past), I found the movie oddly touching and inspiring. It is really about finding your passion and doing that with gusto no matter what your detractors may say. The original Julia, who was not a cook at all in the beginning, eventually became a major TV star, and the young Julia in the movie ends up with a book contract and on the big screen (i.e. this movie!) So bon appetite, everybody, and keep on keeping on until you find your passion.

Let's March on Washington on September 13th

Robert Reich, a proponent of health care for all, is suggesting a march on Washington. It will be on 9-13-2009, Grandparents Day, a Sunday. We should all show up in force. We need to make our numbers and our determination clear! Obama just backed off his statement that a public option is only a "sliver" of his entire plan; actually he has NO PLAN. He is just waiting to see what Congress will do, which is "not much" if the Gang of Six, including my senator Jeff Bingaman, get their way in the Senate Finance Committee. Bingaman is spouting the Conrad nonsense about co-ops being a type of public option, which they clearly are not. We need to stand up for health care for all, a basic human right, and stop letting these Republicans and shouting mobs control everything. Kudos to my young Rep. Ben Lujan for signing onto HR676, Rep. Weiner's single payer bill in the House. And hooray for the progressive caucus in the House standing up to Obama and refusing to accept a bill without a public option. Courage All! We can still get this done. Don't let people tell you the public option is "dead." It's the old way of doing things which only kills people and enriches corporate fat cats that has to die out.

Rachel Maddow Goes Toe to Toe with Dick Armey

On Meet the Press this morning, Rachel bravely contradicted insurance company lobbyist Dick Armey (who helped kill health reform during the Clinton era) and did a good job of presenting the case for a public option. Tom Daschle was also pretty good. The other guy, some doctor-turned-Senator was just shilling for the industry. I was somewhat cheered to see this issue aired on a network news program. It is beginning to be covered quite well by Ed Schultz, Olberman, and Maddow on MSNBC, but it has to go mainstream before it can really get any traction.