Oh my God!

This morning at about 05:00 Jude jerked awake, just like in the movies. "I've got to call my Mom," she said.

In her dream, she and her Mom were talking on the phone like they always do and, suddenly, Wilma said, "Oh my God!" and the phone went dead.

"I think she might be in trouble. People laugh at me but I've had this happen before."

I didn't laugh. Even though it's ridiculous.

"It sounded like maybe somebody had broken into her house. It might be happening right now." So, at 05:05, she called Wilma, who answered (which I'm surprised to report considering she doesn't wear her hearing aids to bed). Jude told her the dream and wandered out of the bedroom. I could hear her telling Wilma to check the locks and I could hear Jude checking our locks. They always talk for a long time. I went back to sleep.

Around 06:00, Jude came back in the bedroom and said, "Well, that's figured out!"

"We were talking about dreams in general and how, sometimes, people in your dreams actually represent other people, or a specific feeling or fear. And we were talking about recurring dreams and nightmares and I mentioned that one that I had for about fifteen years. She didn't know what I was talking about. I said, 'Well, I may never have told you because it involves Aunt Maxie and Mike [Jude's brother]. I probably didn't want to upset you.'"

"Tell it to me fast honey, the cell phone's beeping that my battery's dying."

"OK. I'm just a little girl. Mike and Aunt Max are babysitting me and I do something that makes them very angry. It's night time. They put me in the back seat of Mike's big old Ford and we drive out to this corn field. We get out of the car there in the dark and I can see there's a hole in the ground, already dug. They put me down into the hole, and they bury me alive."

"Oh my God!" Wilma said. And then the phone went dead.

Like, Urgent

We don’t trust the veterinary company where we've been taking Jackson. We signed him up for the annual cat care plan they sell you as if it’s insurance, though they steer well clear of that word. It’s about $300 a year, but oh! what you get. Thousands and thousands of dollars in savings for the tests and tune-ups he simply must have annually, quarterly, monthly; whatever the vets' fiscal calendar requires. The whole clinic is twenty-year-old girls who wear pajamas to work and speak with no punctuation. You pay that money, and they call and leave you messages: “This is Banfield Pet Hospital calling about Jackson it’s time for his physical and dental exam day after tomorrow all day we look forward to seeing Jackson.” So we take him in and, guess what? There’s something wrong with him. Every time. And it’s causing him pain. And we’d better jump right on it. Right now. Today. He’s in pain. Just like real estate agents, vets have a profit motive that is at cross purposes, I feel, strongly, with their oath.

This afternoon, after Jackson had been there a few hours, the receptionist called and she liked Jude that he, like, needed two teeth pulled. Like, right now. $147 (not $150). Jude said we can’t afford it. (We can – don’t worry, Mom.) So fifteen minutes later the actual vet called back and explained that Jackson is likely in great pain. Jude said we’ll get it handled as soon as possible. Then, two hours later, the same vet called again. Bad news. Jackson has diabetes, no doubt about it. He needs a special diet and insulin shots right away.

Like, suffering

So Lucy at work told me we should call her vet and get a second opinion. “Dr. Dillon’s wonderful,” she said. Dr. Dillon returned Jude’s call tonight at about 8:00 and they talked for 45 minutes. The second opinion will cost $200. OK, whatever – we really want to know if he’s at death’s door or not. Jude makes the appointment and they set up a new patient record in the vetabase.

“And what’s your kitty’s name?” Dr. Dillon asks.

“Jackson.”

“And does Jackson have the same last name as you?”

Jude takes the phone from her ear and looks at it, holding it the way Captain Kirk holds his communicator. “His last name is Bon Jovi,” she says into it.

Straight Talk

Straight up, I denounce this. Please forward the link to everybody you know so they can denounce it too. But they should keep in mind it is true. A bunch of reporters were there when John McCain called his wife a cunt.

It's Funny, But It's Not

This morning on the news I heard a guy say that the current bank failures we're experiencing are collateral damage from the all the people who’ve defaulted on their home loans.

PREMISE1: The bank lends money to the people, against the value of a house

PREMISE2: The people default on the loan

PREMISE3: Same time, the value of the house drops below the outstanding balance on the defaulted loan

CONCLUSION: The bank's failure is collateral damage

Get it? Get it?!

Call Your Senators About Spying and Retroactive Immunity

From Glenn Greenwald today:

Blue America has created -- and today unveils -- a superb new tool for contacting key Senators to urge them to vote against the FISA bill and/or to vote for pending amendments to improve the bill (if any of those amendments pass, a key benefit will be that the bill then must return to the House or be reconciled, rather than going straight to the White House for signing):

This first tool allows you to directly contact Senators to tell them to stand up for the rule of law and vote in favor of the Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment. (That's S.A.5064 to H.R. 6304 which will come up for a vote on July 8th, 2008.) Not only will this tool help you phone your Senators -- including connecting your call -- but it also gives us the ability to track positions on FISA given your input on what you ascertain during your conversations.

You can read about how to use it here.

The USA Is Not Just a Place

!
Every year around Independence Day I like to re-read the Declaration of Independence. It's pretty good! These last few years the name "George" has kind of jumped off the screen for me, but here's the passage that really grabbed me this time:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.




Most of the Declaration of Independence is a list of charges against King George. Jefferson and the other signers knew they had to make the case for independence from England, but I also think they knew they were laying down markers for future citizens. Since then, the geographic boundaries of the United States have expanded and the Constitution has been amended because Things Change. And, granted, from its inception the US has mistreated people and misbehaved. But if I ask you to sum up the United States in one word, what would you choose? Up until the Bush administration, and even now, most people around the world would choose a positive word. That's changing, though, and we'd better right our course or we'll be nothing but a piece of land.







Reading the Declaration of Independence during the Bush administration always causes me to sketch my own list of charges:

Ignoring pre-9/11 warnings;
Unjust, illegal war and occupation with inadequate troop protections and terrible planning;
Spying on Americans without warrants;
Negligence/incompetence;
Cronyism/corruption, including no-bid war contracts to the VP's own company and politicizing the judiciary;
Unprecedented secrecy in a government that should be of, by, and for the People;
Fiscal mayhem;
Tax cuts to the wealthiest during a time of war and record deficits;
US ports remain inadequately protected to this day;
Fascist blurring of Corporate, Religious and Government interests
Use of troops as political backdrops;
Forcing troops to be redeployed over and over rather than drafting the general public;
Blaming troops for institutionalized torture;
oh yeah: Torture;
Hiding prisoners from the Red Cross;
Lying;
Gutting of environmental protections (often by making them voluntary);
Claiming the right to unchecked Executive powers during times of war, combined with a no-exit, no-endgame, endless War on Terror with undefinable parameters.

Why, those bastards!

Anyway, Happy Fourth. Keep your thumbs off those cherry bombs!

Call Your Senators, Call Your Congresspeople

!
If you're not familiar with the FISA issue, this Glenn Greenwald post is a good place to start. It's actually a criticism of Keith Olbermann for failing to denounce Barrack Obama's new, mealy-mouthed position on the bill and, by extension, on the Fourth Amendment. For your convenience, here's the text of that Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


I've been writing every day to Senator "Change We Can Believe In" Obama, and to Senator "Ready to Lead on Day One" Clinton, and to my own reps in the House and Senate. I'm told emails are good, calls are better, letters and faxes (because they occupy physical space in their offices) are best. When I call, I always say:

1. My name and city/state. I'm calling to ask X's position on the heinous new FISA bill. (Remember, it's already passed the House -- the Senate is taking it up on July 8.)

2. I'm concerned that the bill retroactively immunizes telecom companies who may have assisted the Bush administration in illegally spying on me and other Americans.

Usually I'm told that the Senator/Congressperson hasn't reviewed the specifics of the bill because they're still being discussed. I answer: "Regardless of the specifics of the bill, what's her position generally on retroactive immunity? Is she against, generally, warrantless spying? Is she speaking out about it? Will she vote against any bill that contains these?"

Sometimes I'm told that the Senator/Congressperson hasn't released a position yet. So I ask: "Why not?"

And sometimes they'll throw out some distraction like, "I do know the Senator voted in favor of cloture ..." which only means he voted to stop debate; to block a fillibuster. If you follow that, fine -- pursue it. If you don't, go back to your point. "If he wants my vote, and my respect, he should go find a microphone and use his position to protect the Constitution. Where's he at on that?" etc., etc.

Sometimes I'll even ask the person who answers the phone what his/her position is on the matter. They're all policy wonks, so it's wicked hard for them to spit out, "I like illegal spying and retroactive immunity."

Obama said he'll support the heinous FISA bill, but that he'll try to stop the retroactive telecom immunity part of it. The trouble with that is that, at least when he said it last week, it was all for show. The Senate Majority Leader had crafted a doomed amendment just so Obama and others could say they tried to block the immunity. So the bottom line is the same: will the Senator vote against any bill containing retroactive telecom immunity, yes or no?


Here's a July 1 message from Senator Russ Feingold. He's kick-ass. He and Senator Chris Dodd have been leading the opposition to the current FISA bill:





Senator Chris Dodd also has a thing you can sign to become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Dodd/Feingold amendment to stop Retroactive Immunity.