Mirror Mirror On The Wall..Does It Matter Who’s The Prettiest of Us All? International Women’s day is March 8. A day to celebrate the power, strength and achievements of women all around the world. All sorts of women, short fat, tall, thin,  How important is it to be a beautiful woman, what does being beautiful mean to us and of our own body image — how important is that? If we think of ourselves as ‘good looking’ does it make a difference in our achievements?

Good looking people tend to be more popular; they are thought to be more intelligent and viewed as more trustworthy.  They have a tendency to do better in things like job interviews, and if you fancy a career in crime, try and be good looking – juries tend to acquit good looking people more than ‘ugly’ people, and have you noticed that politicians are getting  ‘better looking’ or are  more aware that how they look can have as big affect on their career as what they stand for?

Are you a carer? Do you ever feel sick to the back teeth telling people (social workers, psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists etc…) what exactly would help you and the person you care for? Have you read books and watched documentaries to find out as much as you possibly can about the particular disability until finally you don’t want to know any more for all the knowledge you have gathered hasn’t really helped anyway? Do you feel that your case is so well documented it probably has its own room in the social worker’s office?

Apparently many people who care for others are isolated because of the situation that they find themselves in. So they don’t know about the things monetary or otherwise that they may be entitled to. Social workers are there to make sure that these people don’t miss out.

A friend invited me to a protest meeting on Friday outside Ballynahinch’s Baptist Church. It was organised by SCOTT (Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce) in response to an international conference that claims that homosexual behaviour can be cured.

I did not attend because I was sitting with my sister in the hospital who has a very real illness as opposed to an imaginary illness invented by people who cannot accept the diversity of the human being and have closed their hearts and minds. These people believe they can ‘cure’ homosexuality. The total arrogance of them is almost unbelievable.

If life is all bewildering what is love? The thing that grinds us down and brings us to our knees; a metaphysical notion with all the power that an idea can wield or a concrete reality. – Perhaps all those things?

A part of life that is our weakness and our strength. They say with love you will find reserves of strength, compassion, hope and faith you never knew you had and because of love you will feel your heart crack and break many times over in the course of your life time.

“To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you’re getting this down.” – Woody Allen

Are we grist to its mill or could we live a life in the absence of love?

I would like to welcome our new Progressive Living Editor, Geraldine O’Hara. Geri comes to us from the Emerald Isle and I have enjoyed her blog Geri’s World from some time. Welcome to AWOP, Geri!

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All people must be free.  Sooner or later an oppressor somewhere will leave them no other option but to fight. It would almost be tragically romantic if the battle was only against the tyrant, but it’s not so simple as that. The fight is made even more painful because not everyone is ready for a revolution. The last generation of Iranians had one of their own and some will disavow their loved ones who refuse to suffer the Theocratic consequences in fearful silence with them.  We are witness to yet another instance of what the human spirit will endure in attempting to be self-directed.  This break from Theocratic suffocation is not just for Muslims and Christians it’s just what people do. Hopefully they will know when it’s time to stop fighting and begin the healing.

The situation

“The Government won’t let us say what we want”

Neda (Graphic video: This is your warning)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all these labels that are being bandied about: fringe left, lunatic liberals, those darn Progressives, etc.

I, like you, am an individual and I, like you, defy all labels.

That’s why I scratch my head when pundits and government representatives talk about issues as if they’re only about the labeled groups behind them. As if the issues are simply liberal or Progressive and the conversation stops there. It has become a way to neatly derail debate and dismiss issues before they can be addressed. It’s a tactic and it sucks.

What makes me a liberal and what makes me a Progressive? As I sit here in my apartment, with my comfy Afghan shoes and Target corduroys, with my cleanly shaved and washed body (finally!) and my Mac. Alone by choice. Straight by who knows what genetic mishap. I sit here aware of a greater force than me – within me and all around me and within all those I happen upon – that can enlighten me if I listen, yet I am also fervently against organized religions. All of these and much more define who I am. So, what am I? Simply a liberal? Simply a Progressive?

It’s never that simple. But it seems like everyone keeps trying to make it that simple, so they can make it or me or my issues go away.

What I want for myself and the world is pretty simple. I want individuals of all shapes and sizes, all orientations and backgrounds, all economic levels and abilities – to have a voice and most importantly, to have rights. I want people to be able to choose their own destiny, their own future, their own lovers, their own path. I want those who’ve lost their way to be given a hand, whether it be my own, some other individual or organization, or the government’s. I want the assault of women around the world to stop. I want children to be safe and protected. I want our governments to serve their people and at the same time, to serve the greater good of all nations and all people. I want conflict, at every level, to be resolved through words and laws and actions and concessions which have been fueled by the fire of righteousness and truth. I don’t want war to be the answer, ever. I want commerce to be driven by customer needs, not the greed of the self-serving. I want even the most “evil” of criminals or prisoners to be treated with respect, be given the right to a fair defense and trial, no matter what crime they have committed or have been accused of comitting. I don’t want torture or the death penalty to be practiced anywhere in the world, by anyone, at any time. There is no ticking bomb scenario that can convince me otherwise. I want government money to be spent to raise up its people, so that the country and the world will be a better place. I want countries like Haiti to be governed by people who won’t rape and plunder, who won’t keep the riches for themselves while their people live in squalor and ignorance. I want everyone to have the opportunity to be educated and make a life for themselves and their families and I have absolutely no problem with those who attain wealth. But I want all of us to share our wealth – of money, knowledge or experience – to make a better world.

I don’t see any of this as laughable. If there are snickers and derision, then I don’t know what kind of world those who snicker or deride can possibly want.

Haitians have been the victims of greedy dictators and opportunists, Gordon Gekkos of the Caribbean. I suppose there are people who think this is just fine, but now that an act of nature has leveled this already-bleeding country, these same people probably are angry that we are sending money and aid to Haiti.

If Haiti and her people had been nurtured and built up and given education, opportunity and sustenance, then when the earthquake hit, the world would not have had to come to its aid in such a massive way. We would be there, of course, yet the government of Haiti would not have hidden, cowering somewhere without communicating, without leading its people out of the darkness of destruction. The UN and President Clinton and the US Army and health care professionals and newscasters and rescue squads and cameramen and radio DJs and movie stars from all over the world wouldn’t have to fall into that vacuum of leadership and figure out how to steer the way.

I’m not just a liberal, not just a Progressive, not just a woman. I’m an individual human being and I want what’s best for me, my family, my friends, my enemies, all living things, my country of origin, the country I’m living in now, my planet and the universe, such as it is. I want to grow, change, evolve. I want to learn to live without fear, so that I can give more of myself.

Go ahead, label me now.

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Last week’s Supreme Court decision, effectively giving Monsanto and other megacorporations the power to buy our senators and representatives in Congress really threw me into a tailspin. I’ve seen this thing coming for months now, but I don’t think I ever really allowed myself to consider this outcome a possibility. After all, even my nine year old knows the difference between living things and those that aren’t. The whole fiasco was simply inconceivable until it actually happened.

The idiots who applauded this decision were quick to point out that labor unions were included in this ruling, but seriously, when was the last time organized labor actually stood on equal footing with big business? That’s like sending Pee Wee Herman into a boxing ring to fight Mike Tyson; no contest.

Earlier this week I got an email from an old friend of mine. It was one of those disgusting, ignorant things people forward whenever their fear chain gets pulled. This one purported to prove that all Muslims are under orders from Allah to kill the rest of us. Lock up the women and children! Fear the brown people! Be afraid, be very, very afraid!

The offending email even claimed to have been vetted through snopes.com, so I checked snopes myself and they call this piece of fundamentalist propaganda as a “mixture” of truth and lies.

This piece is so dead on about the truth of race in this country I felt it was imperative to share it with AWOP Readers. Please take the time to click through to OEN and read the entire article. It will make your understanding of this issue greater.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally acclaimed author and political analyst and this is exactly the kind of analysis we need now.

Reid Spoke the Awful Truth about Obama’s Racial Exceptionalism

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid apologized profusely for his unguarded quip that Obama’s light skin and non-Negro dialect stood him well with him and by implication other whites. President Obama graciously accepted his apology and applauded him as a supporter and friend. But the embattled leader spoke the awful truth that millions did give Obama a racial pass. The pass did not win the White House for him; money, timing, a skillful campaign, and most importantly Bush blunders and GOP disgrace ultimately tipped the White House his way. But Obama’s racial pass made a difference, maybe a crucial difference.