Drill, Drill, Drill

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Comments

[SailFree]

Antithetical to feminism? Not at all!

It IS feminism lived out. An ordinary woman and mother, albeit exceptionally intelligent and gifted at dealing with her fellow humans, works to better her family, her school, her town, and her state...and now her country. What's not "feminist" about that?

What you mean is that she is antithetical to left-wing Marxist feminist dogma. This merely proves that her grasp of REALITY is much more firm than the NOW crowd's.

[imfedup]

I take issue with exceptionally intelligent and gifted at dealing with her fellow humans. She does not play well with others, and you had only to watch a few minutes of the Gibson interview to see how bright she is.

[AAKAlan]

I agree with you.

I'm a man, but I've been a feminist since I was about 14 (many many years ago) in honor of my mother and a myriad of other powerful, smart, compassionate women whom I have loved and respected.

But sometimes I worry that women are essentially self-destructive. Today's numbers are a good example. Newsweek polling shows that 77% of Hillary supporters now support Obama (good), 16% support McCain (very bad)

That's almost 3 million Hillary supporters who have now decided to vote for McCain, probably mostly due to Palin. Other polls today show McCain pulling way ahead among women voters. This baffles me. These candidates represent the opposite of the basic self-interest of all women, and particularly of Feminist women. What are they thinking? They like the idea of rape victims being forced to give birth to their rape-conceived children? They support the idea of having no choice - of back-alley and coat-hanger abortions? They look favorably on continued and additional tax breaks for the rich and for huge corporations at the expense of their own families? They are OK with the idea of more wars, more death, more pollution, less protection for the environment and endangered species?

It saddens me that there are so many women who are willing to now throw Hillary, and everything she stands for, under the bus in a lemming-like rush to their own personal destruction and the destruction of their families and their nation.

[dharmamom]

.....and men too...

[TommyMcCarthy]

Like "AAKAlan",....I'm a man,....and I proudly identify myself as a lifelong Feminist.....


"AAKAlan" paints a pretty dark picture...­..........­.but to me, it seems, at least potentially, filled with light.


Stated simply, a feminist (like we civil rights advocates)
Believes in the empowerment of women to a status EQUAL to that of men.......­.culturall­y, and MOST importantly, UNDER THE LAW. I see that as a goal that we as a society have very nearly succeeded in achieving and view the Palin nomination as another significant ADVANCE to that end.



That the VAST majority of Americans who believe as I do....
Would not even CONSIDER voting for such a COMPLETLY UNQUALIFIED nominee,
Just BECAUSE she is a woman........
And instead will REJECT a nominee whose views are even MORE ABHORRENT than her running mate's
JUST AS THEY WOULD A MAN!!.............
Seems another significant milestone in the long struggle for FULL equality.!!!

I was a STRONG supporter of Sen. Clinton, not due to her gender, but because I believed her to be the best candidate for President in 2008!
I still do, ....while I see Obama as ALSO an excellent candidate.­....having exactly NOTHING to do with his race.

I believe these "Hillary" supporters now favoring McCain....were in fact AGAINST Obama.

Feminists, and those who truly support what the Clinton's have stood THEIR WHOLE LIVES FOR....
Will, like me, be PROUDLY voting for Barack Obama on Nov. 4th!
Regards
tm

[burnspau]

Thank you, Ms. Ensler, for being the voice of reason. The true beauty of being a feminist is knowing that we have the right to reject a woman for vice president. Just because Palin is a woman does not mean that it is in our best interest to elect her. Any woman who believes abortion is wrong, even in the case of rape or incest, and then requires women who have been raped to pay for their own rape examination kits is not a true feminist. She is a joke. I call on all true feminists to empower themselves by rejecting the McCain/Palin ticket! NOT voting for a woman is just as--if not more--powerful than voting FOR her.

[boing007]

She's just a mean-spirited and very scary person who needs to be sent home in November to the state who elected her. I am sorry for them, but we don't need them to share her with us, thanks! - J

Thanks, but no thanks. Sarah phone home. Sarah go home.

[SailFree]

Democrats, hit reset. Accept the fact that the race has changed utterly, that you're up against a ticket that has captured the public imagination. Now you must go out and recapture it.
[Miles to Go]
Martin Kozlowski

Out of the shirtsleeves, into the suit. Stop prowling the stage with what looks like Phil Donahue's old mic. No more scattered, listless riffs; back to the podium and the prepared—and focused—speech. Campaign as a duo, Obama-Biden, together again. Obama alone looks like he's part of nothing.

You must aim your fire at the top of the ticket, John McCain, and not at this beautiful girl, Sarah Palin, about whom you can do nothing.

You can never kill her now. Forget it. She can hurt herself, but in terms of Democratic attacks she is bulletproof. You made her that—she wasn't that way when she walked in.
--Peggy Noonan

[burnspau]

I certainly hope you aware of Peggy Noonan's real feelings about the Palin pick--what she said "off" camera in an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd: "It's over... [Is Palin] the most qualified? No! I think they went for this--excuse me--political bullshit about narratives...Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it."

[SailFree]

She is clearly one of the sweetest, most pleasant, friendliest people you could ever meet. People--sane people--love her.

[dannyS]

yep, just like George W. Bush, people would love to have a beer with her, or shoot a moose

[boing007]

I write to my sisters.

Hey Eve, don't forget your brothers. I support women's rights. Always have, always will.

[shill19079]

That's right! Palin needs to be put in her Hockey Mom place!
Real change with Real Men, Obama & Biden!

[waitforme]

I always read everything Eve Ensler has to say. In her books, she is excruciatingly honest in her expression of her emotions, her history, her outrage over injustice. Read Ensler. This article is a good example. She is a breath of fresh air. She is a model of what we all should be: speaking out against injustice, standing up for justice. Thank you, Eve Ensler.

[SailFree]

Oh, yes, she does the emotion bit very well. It's her facts and logic and grasp of reality that leave much to be desired, but Democrats don't care much about those things anyway, so she'll get by just fine.

[Imzadi]

Amen, and beautifully put, my sister - thank you so much for your wonderful article!

[Opsimath44]

Friedman:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14friedman.html?ref=opinion

Why would Republicans, the party of business, want to focus our country on breathing life into a 19th-century technology — fossil fuels — rather than giving birth to a 21st-century technology — renewable energy? As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewriters, baby, typewriters.”

[SailFree]

Answer to the rhetorical question: THEY DON'T! They are just fine with developing new technology--but exactly how long will that take, will the country's economy survive the wait?

It's like saying "We'll not give you this partially effective treatment that carries the risk of a few side effects now, Mr. Smith. We're going to await the development of a perfect 100% effective treatment with zero side effects."

To which Mr. Smith might reasonably ask, "Will I live long enough to benefit from that miraculous new cure, and when will it be available?"

To which the honest doctor would say, "We have no clue how long it's going to take to develop and you may well be dead before then."

And Mr. Smith would reply, I am sure, "Drill drill drill!"

[mergina]

Obama SO should have chosen a women for a mate. I love this article and your attitude my dear.

[FreeMeNow]

I am floored by women who want to save Polar bears and wolves - are against war so innocent people are not killed but have no problem with abortion? I guess It all depends on who is doing the killing huh? Look I am a democrat and I am a feminist - why don't you let this woem have her free choice just as you have yours - let her kill wolves and polar bears and vote down ticket for your precious democrats to allow you to kill unborn babies at will. What's the problem. Can't we all let anybody kill whoever we want? doen't sound so hit does it? Sounds fine to call it killing when you talk about hunting but not abortion to them it sounds fine to call it hunting and killing not choice. Let's stop the war of words and stop the partisan war and get back to what is really really important - the Constitution of the US and faiir elections.

Stop with sexism that is an all out assault on women's rights which is an attack on human rights without which there is no democracy.
Can't you see that voting a Dem in this year is condoning rigged elections? Can't you see attacking palin is giving the good old boys a mud wrestling entertainment that makes us untennable as candidates for another 24 years. Wake up they have us scratching each others eyes out while they hold us down and laugh behind our backs.

[mergina]

Oh she can have her free choice, JUST NOT A HEARTBEAT AWAY FROM THE PRESIDENCY. Look around you. THE VERY SURVIVAL OF US AS A SPECIES IS BEFORE US. There is no room for LIES anymore. Don't believe it? Then I suggest you move to the Gulf coast to see if this weeks DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE is going to destroy everything you have lived and worked so hard for.

[Danind]

War of words? How about the semantics of whether abortion is the same thing as shooting a baby with an Austrian hunting rifle? It's flawed logic, please think about it.

[momof5]

You seem ot be very right on. It is okay to kill our own babies but not fish and animals and where is Eve's info based on, one person who refused to give a name in Alaska?? We have been hunting and fishing to survive and as a sport for a very long time. There are rules and I am sure she follows these rules. It is time for woman to stop being uneducated, check the FACTS, and use their brains. Don't just read someone else's article, like Eve's, not sure of her education at all. Love all these actresses and screen people who could not even pass high school and then all of a sudden they are the world's authority on everything. I don't know what Eve's education is but i was appalled when i read her totally idiotic article. This is what has the Dem party looking terrible and people laughing at feminism. Smarten up, get educated, do the research. Woman are nto stupid or idiots, stop reading this garbage and taking it as the truth. MAke your own decisions AFTER you find the facts. Reading blogs and articles is not finding the facts.

[imfedup]

See that little BIO link under her photo, above? Click on it.

[waitforme]

I have never heard this theory: that Democrats are involved in rigged elections. Republicans had control of the voting machines (Diebold, the main machine maker, stated before the last election (or the one before) that he would 'do everything he could to get George Bush elected'. He had control over the software, the cards, the taking home of the cards, etc.

Republicans are documented as planning and currently implementing a plan to de-certify legal Black voters from voting; since most may be Democrats, this will remove a significant number of voters from the final tally. Republicans are doing this. Not Democrats.

AS FAR AS abortion rights is concerned, I often wonder if the people who would refuse (again) women having a right to make their own decisions about their OWN bodies, actually understand that we die. We all die. Everybody eventually dies. People, animals and leaves and flowers all die. Get it. Death exists. It is part of life. Accept death, the reality of death. Then get on with something that is creative, yourself. Do something for somebody. Stop trying to prevent people's rights, curtail their freedoms.

[Goodmom08]

Wow. I've never heard such a cavalier debate point about abortion. "Hey, we all die. Get over it."

Well how about this. Hey, we all die, even polar bears. They all eventually die. Get it. Polar bear death exists. It is a part of life. Accept the reality of polar bear death, then get on with something that is creative, yourself.

[sigh.]

[rzan1]

I am floored by women who do not see that abortion has been committed against Iraqi women by the Busn administration and will be again by the McCain/Palin administration. I wonder how many pregnant women have died in this ill-begotten war?

[justice08]

I love this article from Eve. I have sent it everyone I know.
I am having the same nightmare, ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT.
This ticket is the most frightening thing I have ever witnessed.
No thinking American could want either of them in charge. It is just TOO SCARY to think about and Eve said it all.
WHAT MUST WE DO?

[mergina]

Someone had sent it to me earlier in the week. I know of no one who has not expressed the same sentiment about it.

[Goodmom08]

You know of no one who differs with your opinion of this article? Well, I knew no one who voted for Bill Clinton the second time. I think we both need to get out more.

[SoCalTees]

Eve,

We could not agree more! We have created a line of Polar Bears for Obama T-shirts with a % of the profit going to the Obama campaign.

http://www.cafepress.com/socaltees/5773082

[thecanadian]

Re your tee shirts. There are three people with me here and when they looked over my shoulder at the display they all - screeched ----why are they using Palin tshirts!!!!! The Moose is going to promote Palin - Great work on the Polar Bear. Thx. I would remove the Moose!

[SoCalTees]

But the Moose are for Obama because they are tired of being shot by Palin. All of the Alaskan Animals are for Obama:

http://www.cafepress.com/socaltees/5954481

I'm confused by your post, why should we remove the Moose for Obama??

http://www.cafepress.com/socaltees/5954356

[mezz1962]

Man your a drama queen

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime

WTF

[mergina]

Man? Drama queen? Who the hell are you talking about?

[nothingtoadd]

It's all just political ticket positioning and lemming herding. If Hillary would have been chosen for the Dem ticket than McCain would have chosen a white guy and the world would once again have no idea who Sarah Palin was. It’s another example of how quickly white males can make choices about women when it benefits white males. Wake up ladies. Its still about them not you.

[mshazen]

So true if HIll had been picked Palin would not have been.

[rzan1]

I'm not so sure you are right. The Republicans despise Hillary and would have loved seeing a cat fight. The choice of Palin is just a cynical pick. Also, I am so very, very happy that Hillary was not the nominee. She would have lost handily as she continued her poorly managed campaign.