Does every family have their own embarrassing Sarah Palin in the closet?

Is "de-friended" a word or not? Either way, I have de-friended my sister on Facebook. This feels terrific. She had not spoken to me for a couple of years after my parents' estate was settled, but called about a year ago to inform me that she was in poor health with a heart condition. She wrote: "My heart mussel is very week. It is just barley pumping out the blood." She has no health insurance, but vehemently opposes a national health care system based on the advice of her friends at Fox News.

I feel a little bad about shutting her out, but her posts to me had begun to take on a snarky, offensive tone that brought back the pain of her abusiveness in childhood and on into adulthood. Her personal invective is much like that which she relentlessly delivered throughout the painful months (actually, years, all told) it took to settle my parents' estate, though she admitted to me last year, to my amazement, that she had not then, nor since, bothered to read the Will or Trust or settlement documents which she was arguing about. She and my other sister think that I act like I know more than they do, that I rely too much on things I read in books rather than "common sense" (which they apparently possess, in their estimation, unencumbered by study or reading, including legal documents which they are signing).

So I am, once again, moving on. I hope that the health care thing works out for her down there in Texas, where she has plenty of like-minded compatriots for her anti-immigrant ravings, and she can join in on some tea-parties and Sarah Palin 2012 rallies. She's right at home there, and I have nothing to offer her. We both drive each other crazy.

Actually, I like to think I'm not crazy yet, but I'm not willing to tempt fate by perpetuating the relationship.

Crackpots and local politics

If you've ever attended a local public governmental board meeting, this will look familiar. It's funnier when it isn't your town. . .

This makes me feel crazy

Here is a recent exchange with my sister, Denise, on Facebook. Her comment was in response to an online Facebook poll about universal health care, to which I posted my affirmative vote. Here we go:

Denise: The Government run health care system will kill me! I can't wait months to see a doctor. The doctors say my heart is very very weak. Will the government think I am too sick or too old at 55 for treatment? Scary thought!

Donna: That would be a scary thought if it were true. According to the World Health Organization, Canada, Netherlands, France, all with universal health care, have better outcomes (fewer deaths) for heart disease. You're arguing political talking points, not actual data. The "waiting in line" scenario is not accurate except perhaps for elective, non-urgent procedures. I don't know what health insurance you have, but it's only available to you as long as you are employed. When you're too sick to work in America, and you don't qualify for Medicare (which is a nationalized health care system) you're out of luck. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea-health-heart-disease-deaths

Denise: I would feel better if Obama and his family would receive the same health coverage that he wants to force on us. It took him 6 months to decide on a puppy, yet he wants congress to approve something in just a few days that no one has fully read including him! Sounds crazy to me!!

Donna: Don't worry; your governor in Texas (where 25% of the population is uninsured--highest percentage in the nation) is claiming he's going to opt out of federal health care.

Denise: That's right! He's got the right idea. Now we just have to get rid of all the illegals! Gov. Perry is a great guy with great ideas! Texas is a great state!!! What other state can you go out for pizza and watch Fox News on the giant flat screen?


Okay, so Denise's last post says it all; she gets her information from Fox News, apparently while eating pizza. I was going to comment further, but it makes me feel so crazy that I can't. I was raised by a pack of wild bigots, and I'm running for my life.

John Yoo gets punked

I hope John Yoo is extradited to the Hague for a war crimes trial. I don't want my daughter to have to be on the same campus as this man (a law professor at UC Berkeley), who is either unspeakably evil or deranged or . . . what?? He can't be that stupid. But in the meantime, here he is getting punked in his classroom by an Australian comedian, dressed to evoke the well-known image of the hooded & tortured Abu Ghraib prisoner (click on the title to view in full screen mode).

Oleg Sharov on accordion

This is how I wanted to play when I was 11 and started taking accordion lessons.

We are apes, after all.

This interesting lecture about power, reconciliation, dominance relationships, and fairness in ape communities illuminates something about human politics.

@ Yahoo! Video

I like crows

Palin resigns as governor of Alaska

"We know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time on another scale and actually make a difference for our priorities." --Sarah Palin

?????????????

I was hungry, and you said "Get a job"

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