A Dog with Two Bones

That would be me, of late, the first bone being Ann Coulter's use of the word retard and the discussion that cropped up around it, the second being the looming threat of a Romney win and his promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Some dogs chew more effectively on their bones, though, and my friend and fellow writer, Jeneva Stone is one of the big dogs. She re-posted one of her best this morning on Facebook, and I think it's not only required reading, it's imperative reading. I so wish the 24 people on my Facebook page who've checked LIKE on Mitt Romney's page would read Jeneva's essay. I wish many of my relatives would read Jeneva's essay. I hope that those of you indifferent to the Affordable Care Act will read Jeneva's essay and ponder on it a bit.

Here's an excerpt, but please read the entire, brilliant and impassioned plea.

A few years ago, I read most of T.R. Reid's book, The Healing of America, in which he suggests that universal healthcare arose in other countries through some sense of national commonality or other community sensibility: the Brits pulled together after WWII, the Germans rallied round the idea of the common German man (or person, I suppose), and I don't recall what drove the other countries' reasoning. Fairness, I suppose. Cost savings. Desire to improve quality of life. You know, all that reasonable stuff.
Well, not here. In his first chapter, Reid says, "Americans generally recognize now that our nation's health care system has become excessively expensive, ineffective, and unjust." Note that word "unjust." Read the status update above again. "Unjust" because, apparently, that's the way we like it. In his conclusion, Reid notes that "the American reliance on private, for-profit health insurance companies for the bulk of medical coverage is in accord with American values of capitalism and freedom."
As Americans, we value not only capitalism and freedom, we also value merit and "hard work." Because our health insurance system developed as a jobs benefit, we have become accustomed to associating access to health care with the ability to hold a job. People who can't hold jobs don't deserve "benefits" like health care. Because they are lazy, apparently.
Or at least that's the way Americans tend to think when we think at all. Most of the time we're too busy being independent pioneers and starting our own businesses and raising our children according each to her own individual belief that we really don't have time to think. Or when we have time to think we mostly think that Americans who whine about health care are lazy or have government jobs, otherwise known as "sucking on the government teat." Or some less polite spelling. I see that in comment threads all the time, which my husband constantly tells me to stop reading.

As my little sister says, I hear you barking, big dog.

One More Thing

Oliver, during No Name-Calling Week in 2010

I've been mulling over this Ann Coulter fiasco and feeling conflicted, still, on whether or not to keep making a fuss. I understand people's assertions that Ann Coulter is about making a fuss and that our outrage and disdain for her fuels her. I understand, too, and lean probably closer to the assertion that it's terrible to say nothing and that fueling her fire is perhaps the price to pay because silence is far, far worse. One of my favorite bloggers, Stephen Kuusisto of Planet of the Blind writes that Ann Coulter's name-calling has strayed glibly into fascist rhetoric. I'm not going to stop thinking about it or talking about it, either, no matter the initial "power" it lends Coulter.

Last night, after emailing a bit with another mother of a child with special needs, I thought about the publicity in general and how good it is in general. I thought about the huge numbers of people who have come to my blog over the past three days, when I've written about this. I thought about the many people I know that continue to use the word retard in conversation, casually, and while they might remember not to when I'm around, or quickly apologize if it slips out, they're still using it. A woman who performed in Expressing Motherhood, a warm and funny and beautiful person in every way, made a comment that she felt like a retard. I recently went to a lunch with a group of women, most of whom were my close friends, and one of them described herself as a big retard when she ran. Now, I know these people don't think anything of this word and perhaps don't even realize how hurtful -- even devastating -- it can be, to me, to Oliver, to Henry or The Husband. I'm not sure whether they realize that when they describe themselves as stupid or goofy, they're comparing themselves to Sophie. I'm thinking, though, that big splashes like the Ann Coulter one might imprint in otherwise wonderful, loving people and that they might, at last be educated. I'm hoping that they read some of the letters and emails and blog posts and Facebook updates that I've seen these past few days, have written myself, and really work harder on how they communicate.

And if they don't, I'm afraid I have to agree with many others that it's a reflection of their characters, and they are, basically, assholes -- no better than Ann Coulter.

What do you think?

An Antidote to Ann Coulter

An old high school friend of mine worked on this commercial for Disney. I'm not a princess sort of gal, and I'm certainly not a Disney sort, either, but thank god for people like Scott and the sentiments expressed in this commercial. It helped, too, that there are two children with disabilities in it.

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that Ann Coulter is decidedly not a princess, nor is she a model for any child, boy or girl. I'd venture to say, too, that the way she was parented is perhaps at the root of her vile behavior and seeming disregard for anything of worth in our culture.

Thank you, Scott, from the bottom of my strong, albeit hard heart!

Burning a Bonfire

You know? I'm just going to type it out here: a response to my own response to Ann Coulter's vile slur against not only the President of the United States but all the children I know and don't know with an intellectual disability, the children, like Sophie, formerly (not formally) known as retards -- 

I'm tired of the comments that claim Ann Coulter is a bitch who is more an entertainer than a journalist or even spokesperson for the Republican party and that any outrage expressed is fuel for her, that we should just turn our heads and not cry, Stop! but rather be silent, ignore her and move on.

I would rather build a bonfire.

Here's another remarkable essay by the writer Robert Rummel-Hudson who says just about everything that I'd say, sans bonfire, including this:

If Liberals excuse her remarks because we think she's a buffoon who is clearly desperate for attention, we become complicit. If Conservatives distance themselves from her and say "Well, she doesn't speak for me, so I have no duty to rebuke her," they are also complicit, because it's not a political issue. It might be a little different if she were abusing communities with any power or any privilege, groups that could push back.

Read the rest here.

My only nod to politics, this late in the game, or why I'm voting for "the retard."

Last night, Ann Coulter, one of the Republicans' top spokespeople tweeted the following:

I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.

Yeah, plenty of people who support Obama use the word retard, and I'd call each of them on it, if I heard it, but if someone's measuring the despicable shit that's been flung around on this election cycle, I feel certain the Republicans' vile combination of jingoism, family values, outright racism and condemnation of entire groups of people certainly tips the scale.

I don't want to live in an America that is populated by a majority of people who have voted for Romney, because I think their viewpoints on most social issues are repellent and not worthy of respect or tolerance.

I'm voting for Obama, or as the witty, patriotic, conservative Republican Ann Coulter said, the retard.

Enough said.