Friday, February 26, 2016

Hey, Blondie!

Thursday - Visitors today from Brazil, Australia, and Poland. I "get" Australia (Mark's birthday wishes were probably picked up by a few of his Aussie friends) and I might be able to explain Poland in light of my annoyance with Bernie Sanders. Here's the deal - I Facebook-linked to a New York Times article regarding Bernie Sanders' not-so-subtle description of his father as "Polish" rather than "Polish Jewish." Bernie, knowing full well and good that anti-semitism runs rampant in the good old USA, has been downplaying that part of his heritage, which I find so offensive I could smack him silly. And emphasizing his Polish roots is even worse, as there were few groups as rabidly anti-semitic as the Poles. So maybe a few Polish nationals found their way to my blog. Perhaps they were offended. I certainly hope so. My Canadian friend is taking the day off, but she'll be back. I love playing with the stats.

As you may have guessed, my brain is all over the place today. My daily plans involved phone calls and emails and online research and scheduling and filling out forms and jotting down notes - all stuff that used to come easy to me but not so much anymore. Still, I pushed through, spending several hours on my feet (an intensely bad idea) and I bathed Chelsea, and I feel accomplished, but profoundly battered. There's still laundry and Project Zero upstairs, but not today, oh no. I'm in pain and I have Tai Chi class tonight. Only 5 1/2 hours to recover. Time for Advil, Baclofen, knitting, and hopefully a nap.

Friday - legs are all wibbly-wobbly today and my back hurts. I need a nap desperately but I have an appointment to have a  nail fill and a pedicure, and the light massage that goes with the pedicure will, does, and has helped tame my leg muscles. Doing a few house chores over the last few days has knocked the crap out of me. Imagine if I also had to work full time. No really, imagine. I'd be catching naps in the middle of a trial. Maybe I would just lie down in my car during lunch break and forget to come back. (Yes, that has happened.) Maybe the Court would send a deputy out to get me (And that has happened too.)

I think I can do a little more laundry - maybe hang up a few blouses. Then I'll take a nap.

Well, I think it is time to address those Gen X and Millennial women who think they don't have to vote for Hillary because they got this feminism thing in the bag, so to speak. Who think it is okay to vote for Bernie Sanders, a 73 year old socialist who has promised them the sun, the moon, and a free college education. You don't feel a connection with Hillary, but you do with an old white guy who is going to raise your taxes like Scandanavia and Australia, but is too chicken to present himself as who he really is - a Jewish kid from Brooklyn - you know, like Mel Brooks.

You think this "woman for President" thing is a done deal, if not this election cycle, then the next, because the fight was fought and won. Well, you foolish little girls - Put on your big girl panties and grow the hell up - women like Hillary have been fighting the fight for almost 50 years and are still getting stuck at that damn glass ceiling.

Why is it that you would fight endlessly for the right to abort a viable fetus, but ignore the most important opportunity we will ever have to see a woman become President of the United States? Think about that and then go to today's Orlando Sentinel and read this article, published today, about how workplace gender bias still exists among Florida' young female attorneys.

And then, stop thinking about your personal needs, and look at the bigger picture - we female baby boomers fought for ourselves, certainly, but we also fought for you, the next generations of women to take their rightful places at the top of commerce and industry and every kind of business and government, specifically the highest office in the United States, and you are willing to throw it away. Hillary doesn't "deserve" the office "just" because she's a woman, you prattle.

Hillary Clinton is a symbol for all the women who fought (or are still fighting) gender bias in the workplace, and so yes, she does deserve that office. Only then will we finish the job we set out to accomplish 50 years ago. If you fail Hillary, you fail the generation of your mothers and grandmothers. You fail me. And you will fail your daughters and nieces and granddaughters. The moment is now, yet you are willing to let it pass.


A vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary, or (Heaven help us) in the General Election is a vote for Donald Trump. There is a tiny, born-in-NewYork part of me that thinks that would be utterly delightful, but my responsibility as an American woman is to help Hillary Clinton become the first female President.

And that is my opinion, nothing more, nothing less.

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