Desert Sage Woman Az

McCain scapegoating

By blaming the Arizona wildfires on undocumented workers, Sen. John McCain has cashed in his last credibility chip on the political crapshoot he has played ever since he ran for president in 2008.  And honestly — as a huge fan of our honorable fighting men and women in this country — I was crestfallen when I saw this war hero finger-point at a whole class of people without a single shred of evidence.

Sadly, we should have seen this coming. McCain has gone steadily downhill for years. It likely happened sometime early in 2008 when he started courting the Bush White House for support.  Still, I thought the delusion had peaked when he proclaimed that Sarah Palin would be a great vice president of the United States. No sane man could actually feel safe with the notion that he might die in office and leave the entire world in the hands of a woman who threw her own children to the hungry wolves in the press and the Democratic Party.

I don’t really know who horrified me more — Palin for accepting the nomination to run for VP as an abstinence-only candidate with a teenage pregnant-out-of-wedlock daughter or John McCain for not caring enough to choose another candidate so that Bristol would not become a political football tossed to angry opposing linebackers. Only a fool or a bad parent would put a child in the spotlight at such a delicate and vulnerable time in her life.

I’m willing to accept the premise that Palin’s a fool and I’ll use allegations of Paul Revere’s traitorous ride as exhibit A. But I’m going to have to go with bad parent for John McCain.

See, McCain making a flawed pick for his running mate has been explained by the fact that he didn’t do enough research and it appears the same excuse is used for his claims about undocumented workers setting Arizona wildfires.

Had he done a little research into Sarah Palin, the man who got pilloried by the Bush campaign team with false accusations that his adopted baby of color was actually an illegitimate offspring would have known that Bristol was in harm’s way.

But if he did research Palin’s private life and chose her anyway — well then he’s worse than a bad parent making ignorant choices that have negative consequences; he’s a bad man willfully putting others in harm’s way.

Ever since 2008, McCain has struggled to prove to a constituency of unreasonable “I got mine” racist voters that he can be as selfish and shortsighted as they are. Back in 2006, the reasonable earlier incarnation of this United States senator had actually — according to the ultra-right Washington Times , which pointed this out as a way to denigrate McCain — voted, “in favor of S. 2611, legislation that would reward between 10 and 11 million illegals with amnesty if they apply for legal status and pay a $2,000 fine.

Call Me Meg: Sonora Sage, Part 3

I was afraid Meg would pass out from the heat, since the summer is not Meg-friendly.  The wig is hot, There Are Undergarments that are made to hold my tummy in, not keep my tummy cool.  Silicone forms pressing against skin can be sweaty in the best of circumstances.  Foundation blocks your pores.  We saw a wolf acting very dog-like, lying down and panting.  I was thinking, "I understand and wish I could join you." Although the museum has yet to add gender identity and gender expression to its official employment policies, I think it's only a matter of time. The group sales staff were very willing to work with the IFGE organizing committee in 2008 to arrange a tour during that year's conference in Tucson. And just a few months ago, an internal memo informing us of the conversion of one of the restrooms to a gender neutral family facility specifically stated that the comfort of "our transgender and genderqueer guests" figured into the decision (although all guests are free to use the restroom they feel most comfortable in, this extra choice helps those who don't feel comfortable using male or female facilities). Finally, a couple of summers ago, one of our teen volunteers was a fifteen year old Two-Spirited person from a Grand Canyon area tribe. Displaying a mixed gender appearance (male name and business suit, with make up, nail polish and earrings) was not a hindrance to performing the job duties of mailing out membership materials! Finally, I am very pleased with your choice of how to give back to the museum, Meg. I have to say that although we are trying to move away from the practice of mailing out dead trees by switching to email for half of our quarterly newsletters, the switch has been delayed due to the very low percentage of members who have supplied their email address for us to do so. It seems many of our supporters are rather behind the times when it comes to technology matters!

Leslie Marmon Silko, A Literary Companion

The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Feature Films, 1931-1940

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Encyclopedia of women in the American West