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?
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They suck so much they think that abortion is bad when I bet she wanted her child to get an abortion. If they get in office the next 4 years will be the beginning of the end of America. Not as if America is doing well now, alot of poverty, terrible health care, and people acting like they are going to do any thing even though that everything is just talk. Just talk in america barely and doing.
I think we as women need to stand strong and united about the upcoming election.
My biggest fear is that women will vote for Palin because she is a woman. Please reconsider.
Know the real facts. Know what she really stands for.
I personally have problems with her sarcasm when it is about other candidates and issues. I am sorry about I have a problem with women who hunt. It's just me, but we bring life into the world. Killing an innocent animals. Yes, we have gone into land they have lived in for years and made no provisions for them. I have a real problem with shooting animals from a plane. it is barbaric and cowardly.
Let us not make the mistake of voting for a woman who does not stand for our beliefs.
We will be defeating ourselves.
Suggesting that women will vote for Palin just because she is a woman is as stupid as suggesting that African Americans will vote for Obama just because he's black. I'm voting for McCain and Palin because they are fiscally conservative and have skin in the game.
"I'm voting for McCain and Palin because they are fiscally conservative and have skin in the game."
did you mean to say "white skin in the game." ????
I think its commendable that you have selected your candidate based on the principles you consider a priority. Alas, I have read so many comments on this site, as well as several others, that are clearly not as thought out. So yes, I have seen comments from women who claim they are voting for McCain/Palin because they want to support this historic run.
I do not deny that having the republicans finally see fit to put a woman on their ticket is a wonderful step. I just happen to feel that there are other conservative women out there that might have been stronger candidates for the VP job.
If she were a man with the same qualifications, do you think he would have chosen . . . him? Be honest, Elizabeth.
Could you please verify, provide substantiated backup for your statements:
1. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip.
2. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
These accusations when not verified to be accurate within the context of your blog, can cast a misleading veil upon your entire blog.
read this: http://www
Sorry Eve...your problem with Sara is that she is a real woman with real down to earth ideas just like the majority of women in America.
Down to Earth?? She's further 'out there' than McSame is! Don't count ME in that majority group of women, she represents NOTHING about me at all.
And you have a firm grasp on the ideas of the women of America? You can confirm that all women want to take and plunder? All women want is a "plundered" earth for their children to inherit? All women drink Kool-Aid? Sorry. Like comment above yours, prove substantiated back-up for your statements.
wow - where do you meet women? book burning clubs?
Pro life rallies? stepford?
She's a puppet in a skirt
Down to earth ideas? You oughta take something for that fever.
I honestly think.. after reading most of the comments expressed here.. that this kind of discussion was intended by those who chose Palin to go with McCain in the first place.
Either side you decide to choose, either you are with Palin (then you are a stupid feminist for some), or either you are against her (then you are a stupid mysogynist).
That's the point of it all. The worst part? No one wins. The only losers are the Dems since they are not getting all the attention they should so that their proposals get discussed and heared.
Rant on whether you Americans (I'm a foreigner) want the same policies you've had for 8 years or not. Rant on whether you want your country to be more world-friendly or not.
Rant on whether you want justice, fair prices and a government for and by the people.
Not on whether it is or not a woman running for the VP chair.
The world has its eyes on you, because of the great economic, social and cultural influence you have on the western world. Choose wisely.
FYI - McCain and Bush were diametrically opposed in the 2000 campaign. They are far from on the same team.
Yes, and since that time, he has come around to Bush's side on every issue - from torture to taxes - they are on exactly the same team in 2008.
If she were a man with the same qualifications and "values," I would equally terrified. It has nothing to do with the fact that she's a woman, other than the fact that a female misogynist is a little more repugnant.
I agree with Ms. Ensler with one exception. I do not have a problem with raging against women. If someone is "outrageous" it is our duty to rage against them whether they are women or not! I thought that was the whole point of feminism, total equality. If we say we are equal to the fight, then we must fight and be fought! Hillary knew that and to her credit did not fall back on her gender when the going got tough. In time, that will provide her with a greater legacy than Palin will ever achieve.
Despite her beauty and superficial "family" image, Palin is not a "sweetheart" by any means. She is a predator of the highest order and to treat her with kid gloves would not only be a mistake, but would also deny the proposition that women can compete equally.
There is now an "L" in the middle of pain. From your mouth to God's ears that it does not come to pass in November.
women - be very careful what you ask for.
I agree with most of what you say. BUT (don't mean to shout, it's just a very big but) I am tired of the way women are still being treated by the good old boys in the political world and in our society in general. I sacrified too much for equality, begining in the early 60's and during most of my life. I would have preferred Clinton but that is not to be. She was by far better qualified than Obama. It seems the media forgot (conveniently) her accomplishments outside of being elected senator and serving us well and dared to say she had little qualifications to be President. Why? Because we are still treated as if our place is still in the home baking pies and cleaning toilets. Maybe Palin still believes most of those things but she still has aspirations, like most of us did, that go beyond what our society thinks is proper for women. Is she a good role model? No. But the Democratic Party has, once again, ignored and insulted the majority of its supporters-the women. Is Palin my choice? No, but I am voting for her because maybe that way the Democratic Party will realize that we are as good as the men and will finally takes us seriously. Let Obama stay home with his young children as many have said Palin should do. I bet it's not the Republicans saying it, after all they support her.
I understand your anger and frustration, I have felt many of the burdens of womanhood myself, but please in the name of all that is fair and just stop and think what you are doing when you vote for someone like Palin.
First of all, you are doing just what the Republicans were hoping you would do: vote gender. Surely, you must know that Sara Palin is just the kind of Stepford wife the republicans want us all to be. Oh sure, they've given her permission to vomit out someone elses speeches, and God forbid someone let her carry a gun but she is just being used by the largely male, Republican elite to lure women away from voting in their own and their children's own best interests.
Just because a woman defends another woman does not mean 1) that they are going to vote for her 2) does not mean they would only vote gender. I'd been waiting years for Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for President because she is an extraordinarily strong, determined, persistant, highly intelligent, knowledgible, hard working and yes woman who doesn't give up. And I thought all of those qualities would be SO perfect for this time in our history. However, when I began to defend her in these blogs AGAINST the severe abuse of the media - a condition in this society that affects ALL women, I suddenly became "the woman" who was NOW VOTING ONLY because Hillary was a woman! No.
I don't think Palin should stay home because she is a woman, but I think there is a legitimate question there. Yes, the question should be asked of Obama, but he has two daughters, neither an infant - Palin has 5, one is pregnant and presumably could use some extra assistance and one's a special needs infant. Maybe the answer is her husband will pick up the slack. That would be a fine answer, but she hasn't said that. It is a legitmate question to ask of any candidate that brings her (his) infant to work, describes herself (or himself) as the primary care giver, and touts herself as an example of family values. Is the treatment equal, NO, but I hope that the same question WOULD be asked of a male candidate IF they had 5 children including a special needs infant.
Obama addressed the tendency to assume that both partners will sacrafice, but it is the woman who is expected to sacrafice more in his book. We need to work on that assumption, but that shouldn't stop us from being concerned about a candidate who won't answer questions.
I am more concerned about her history trying to ban books from the public library, using her positions to fire those who don't agree with her or against whom she has a personal grudge, her denial of evolution and her disbelief in human causation of global climate change than whether she'll be sleep deprived when the phone rings at 2
The book burning story was proved false. Suggest reading www.factch
In terms of questioning who is staying home with the kids, GIVE ME A BREAK. Another sexist comment to add to the list. What a joke.
You shouldn't vote for Palin just because she is a woman. You shouldn't vote for her because she is woefully qualified to lead the free world. This is not about the old boy network. Woman have made incredible strides in politics. There isn't enough room here to name all of them. If you feel so strongly about woman then don't respect every woman who has worked hard to get where they are in politics or anywhere else by giving Sarah Palen a pass. You are disrespecting everyone, man and woman who has worked hard to get where they are.
I am a man, but voted for Clinton in the primaries, not because she was a woman, but because I thought she was the best qualified candidate, which is what I thought equality was all about. She is strong, capable, and would make an amazing president. Disregard gender and focus on who would be the best leader of this country. For you to vote for Palin simply because she is woman is extremely dangerous given the amount of information that is coming out regarding her stand on so many important issues. She may be a woman in a powerful position, but she is going to set back all of the progress made thus far by women.
SHAME ON YOU for voting for Palin just because you were a Hillary supporter. Voting for Palin just to try to make a point to "the democrats" ???? When you say she's not your choice and she's not a good role model??? I supported Hillary too. NOT because she was a woman, but because her basic principals about our nation, our globe, economy, enviroment, healthcare, foreign policy, human rights, gun control, social programs, right to choose are similar to mine. And now I'm voting for Obama because he comes in very close to her and her stances. This has NOTHING to do with man or woman or black or white. I don't care that she wears a skirt and lipstick and bares babies (like I do) - Palin is a monster - take a good look at her, her governing by way of "God", her principals, et al. The Republican ticket will set this country back 40 years and moreover, further alienate us from our neighbors! Perhaps you're too young to know what it was like not to be able to choose or being forced to have to say a Catholic prayer in school every morning when you were of another creed. This is a very dangerous and arcane rational for voting for Palin!
Palin is a "monster"? Based on what, exactly?!
Where are the facts, figures, and statistics?
Thank you, thank you, thank you for getting expressing MY thoughts! It WILL be a LIVING nightmare if "they" get elected. The Bush admin will seem like a happy memory! I see nothing ahead but war, death, loss of freedom, poverty, and pollution. The stupid and selfish greatly outnumber the smart and selfless. Is there a country where the latter may seek asylum?
FOR INTELLIGENT INFORMATION ABOUT 'what is TRUE and NOT TRUE about Sarah Palin:
http://www
If you don't want to look! You don't care about Truth!
If you don't care - then YOU are willing to let another woman get denigrated in the Press for the advancement of Partisan POLITICS!
I looked and I also read about all her convention speech lies. Nice, her first appearance so looked in the the eyes of 38 million Americans and lied through her teeth. I got this "intelligent information" from Factcheck.
Here's the rest of it.
http://www
Put "Palin" in the search field. The page you show is only one of 12 pages about her. The other 11 reveal her lies and distortions.
Reading these comments has forced me, trance-like, to log-in and comment for the first time in my life.
Really? Really people? I mean, guns and god and polar bears and evolution and foreign relations and reproductive rights aside- (i know, they should never be aside and they ARE the election, but stay with me) - We have millions of hard-working community organizers and well-educated, well-traveled peace-makers in our country and yet, somehow, some way, the bar has been so drastically lowered by the likes of George Bush, that Sarah Palin is considered qualified and inspiring. This county needs to be re-awakened. Her one speech she keeps spitting out is all she can give us? If they are elected I will hang my head and wonder how she was the best we could come up with to run our free world. This country once fought hard to stand for something specific. Now, we all complacently sit down to allow for anything safe and easy, even when it stands in stark contrast to what all our fore-people envisioned.
UNIONSTREET - Were you so inspired to take action when you saw these men with NO experience?
Jessie Ventura - Wrestler turned Governor Minnesota
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Actor turned Governor
Ronald Reagan - Actor turned Governor
Al Franken - comedienne - now nominated Governor Minnesota?
And the list of MEN goes on that NO ONE CARED about - no panic - no viral sexist video's and photographs! NO panicky! But suddenly a woman who has more qualifications than ALL of these MEN had when they ran - activated YOU?
Of course I have been activated/
We are not taking about then right now. The world is not talking about them right now. The news media isn't focusing on Ventura, Regan, Arnold, or even McCain right now.
They are shining a light on Sarah Palin. So I am trying to dim that light. We all should be trying to dim that light. And any light on anyone like her...Male or Female.
The topic is clear and you can't divert it that easily. And stop shouting at me.
are you kidding? I hope you are being sarcastic.
lack of experience isnt the only issue which she does indeed lack, she is so to the right she's a scary extremist.
She is lying about her bridge to nowhere stand.
She accused Hillary of whining and she cant take the heat herself. This isnt a beauty pageant, its the friggin' vp of the free world.
dont get me started.
Al Franken has been writing political books for many years. He had a political radio program on Air America. He's not a newcomer to politics. He's also not a comedienne.
Well said. I'm not a politically oriented person. But when I saw Palin was selected as McCain's running mate, and I started to learn about her it scared the living blank out of me. She is so completely contrary to what I believe in and find just, that I had to do my part to sound the alarm. I honestly think that if she if elected VP it will be one of the saddest and darkest days this country has seen. It will be the beginning of religion based decision making in government. I thought we're supposed to move forwards and advance in this great country, not move backwards and retreat.
If there is one good thing to come out of this it's that we are now aware of how totally out of touch Alaska is from the rest of the nation, and Sarah Palin is a big part of that. Their treatment of wolves is barbaric. Their denial of the fact that global warming is influenced by humans or that polar bears may soon become endangered shows just how backwards they are in their thinking. They have a kind of nature's paradise up there and they don't even realize it. They're even ok with letting it get drilled full of holes. Alaska is in a world of it's own, stuck in a time warp.
Eve has beautifully described my own nightmares and feelings. All I think about now is what country I'll have to escape to if McPalin wins the election, the polar bears, who will pay for the wars (I haven't had an income since January and will soon have to sell my house, in which case I'll probably join the Peace Corps as 58-year-old), the high cost of her energy prescription (there's not enough oil up there!), and how far we (Americans) will be set back as a society. If they get elected the world will be laughing at what fools we are to allow more of these people in the Whitehouse after 8 disastrous years with Bush. With Obama, the world will sit up and take notice that we are something to contend with, that there is still intelligence here, that we are not a racist country after all, that the bar is not lowering, and we are progressive thinkers. We need that respect again, and Obama/Biden can do that. We MUST elect them. The choice is crystal clear. THINK, THINK, THINK!
As a woman I find it so hypocritical, that because a woman has different social stands then you, they are deemed dangerous. WHY? Her stand on abortion is strong as is yours. Does that scare you - a diffrerent point of view? This is her belief - Roe vs. Wade will never be overturned - Bush was here for 8 yrs. and what happened? Please stop the b.s. about abortion!! ENERGY we all need it to survive and Ms. Palin is an expert in this field. Her home state is HER backyard and she is far more knowledgable in that area than you or me. TRY to get your facts straight (though we all know spreading untruths is what you bloggers do best) banning books is the most laughable lie out there - due SOME homework at least! She's a hunter -WHOA- shes a fisher(wo)man - yeah to put food in her freezer and feed the planet!~!!!! Polar bears she wants off the endangered list - so she's against polar bears???? She believes iin global warming, and so many scientists out there it is not mankind doing the harm it is EVOLUTION!!! Earth has seen the ICE AGE and then the extreme opposite - tell me how many cars were around when the dinosaurs roamed???? I for one say HOORAY FOR MS. PALIN she is 10 footsteps for womankind!!! Like it or not she was destined to be heard and LEAD!!!!!!
Is it just me, or are there an inordinate number of trolls on HP since the RNC?
Then again, this could be a comment from the majority of sleepwalking yahoos that may try to steal the election..
Stand up people!
Stand up Obama/Biden!
'Earth has seen the ICE AGE and then the extreme opposite'
Both of those hot/cold ages took MILLIONS of years to happen (PROVEN by science), yet it has taken only 130 years for humans to bring the Earth to the brink of disaster. I recommend watching the 10 minutes that I got to see of 'An Inconvenient Truth' that showed physical scientific proof that we have done more damage to the planet in the past 130 years (since we started using these resources so much more during the Industrial Revolution) than the Earth had seen in millions of years (w/o humans). B.S. that we are not causing it - that 10 minutes of video presentation alone convinced me.
Palin banning books is a LIE? Check YOUR facts! The entire town will tell you she did, including the librarian she tried to have fired.
We will NOT stop our talking about abortion - it IS scary that our next President will nominate 2 Supreme Court Justices who could easily tip the court to overturn Roe v. Wade. You may not think it's important, but outlawing abortion sure is DANGEROUS to me when I think of all the back-alley abortions that will kill the women who need one. Her biggest danger to me is not believing in abortion for women who have been raped - if you got raped and got pregnant as a result, you would actually carry that child to term for 9 months? SICK.
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