Politics » mamapundit

Thank God! I can still go fishing!

Nov 032010

I was so happy to wake up this morning to learn that the Godless liberals who had been working so hard to launch their nefarious anti-fishing agenda in my state of Tennessee have been effectively stopped in their communist tracks via the amendment to the state constitution that we voters approved yesterday.

Next, I hope we can get our state’s most important guiding document marked up to protect my right to go to the circus at will, as well as my God-given right to collect and display 1982 World’s Fair memorabilia.

Dear Democratic National Committee…

Oct 142010

Dear DNC:

Let me get right to the point: you need a better marketing-communications strategist. Whomever you have handling your email marketing campaign is really, really bad at his/her job.

You see, I am a Democrat. I am your base. I am also someone who is very comfortable with email and other types of digital outreach made directly to me. I should be your holy grail target for your email campaigning. Yet, your email outreach is so clumsy and spammy that I find myself increasingly irritated every time one of your missives shows up in my inbox (which is far too often, period, even if the content were more strategic and smart).

Where did you get the idea that it’s okay to flood supporters’ inboxes with email after patronizing email written to sound as if people like James Carville and Nancy Pelosi are writing directly to me? Is the person who handles this area of marketing for you so behind the times that he/she doesn’t realize that the “wow” factor of mass emails that manage to address recipients by their first names peaked during Howard Dean’s presidential campaign?

Just because you know my first name and are able to program your email database to address me directly doesn’t mean I am going to get excited by your ridiculous subject lines suggesting things like “Bill Clinton Wants To Eat Dinner With You This Week!” or “Paul Begala Wants To Give You One Million Dollars!” Whom do you have writing this ridiculous marketing copy for you? Did you hire some out of work Nigerian email experts, perhaps?

The worst ones are the emails I get from you with “RE:” in the email subject line, as in “RE: your conversation with Speaker Pelosi last week.” Wow, that’s really clever! Maybe if you make it look like I’ve simply FORGOTTEN that I have some kind of ongoing email correspondence with Nancy Pelosi, I’ll be curious enough to open the email and read it.

Seriously DNC, when you have Generation X, yellow dog Democrats like me hitting delete every time one of your (far too frequent) emails lands in my inbox, you’ve got a serious communications problem. Truly, truly I say unto you, y’all need some help in this area ASAP.

As it happens, this is what I do for a living, and I’d be happy to give you some ideas for smarter email campaigns, as well as show you how you could be using social media platforms a lot more effectively to raise money, get your base excited and get out the vote.

But even if you don’t call me to ask for my advice on how to improve in this area, I do hope you will ask President Clinton, Speaker Pelosi and the rest of the gang to quit emailing me so damn often.

Thanks.

Your pal in Tennessee,

Katie

Palin’s “Going Rogue” vs. Kennedy’s “True Compass”

Oct 042010

I just finished reading Sarah Palin’s tome, Going Rogue – the whole thing. I’ve picked it up a few times before, but this weekend I actually read the entire book for the first time.

Given that I disagree with Governor Palin quite strongly on a wide variety of social and political issues, I tried very hard to read the book with an open mind. After all, there are plenty of people – both in politics and out – with whom I strongly disagree on the issues but whom I admire otherwise because they are wildly clever or very sincere – or even because they’re just damn funny. So I figured that perhaps in reading Palin’s own telling of her own story – unfiltered through the liberal, elitist, atheist press she so disdains – I would find some of these admirable qualities in Governor Palin.

Ummmmm….no.

While I have little doubt after reading the book that Palin and her husband would make fun drinking buddies, I didn’t come away from the book with my general opinion of her intellect or capacity for public service much improved. In fact, I’d say I feel even less inclined to be comfortable with the idea of seeing her serve in national political office than I did before I read her book. It probably didn’t help that the last humongous political autobiography I’d finished was Teddy Kennedy’s True Compass.

It doesn’t matter what you think of Teddy Kennedy’s politics, there’s no way you could read his memoir without coming away impressed with the thoughtful, deliberative, self-reflective approach he took in recounting his own life experiences. He owns his mistakes – and there were many – and he continually strives to better understand his own failings. He never claims to hold the absolute truth on any matter, but always seeks to create a thoughtful, American-style dialogue in which the best ideas rise to the top because they work. And while Kennedy’s politics were always liberal, he was also a master statesman, bringing all kinds of stakeholders together to craft legislation that could actually get passed, and making good friends from both sides of the aisle along the way.

But Palin’s book is the polar opposite of Kennedy’s. She seems to blame everyone but herself for any screw-ups she’s experienced; among those she says have caused her problems in her exceedingly brief national career thus far have been political opponents, the media, cunning McCain campaign aides who are out to get her, and a large number of Americans whom she repeatedly describes as elitists who aren’t REALLY Americans in the true sense of the word. In the book, Palin never truly owns any of her missteps, and she seems to believe that her aw-shucks, downhome lifestyle back in Alaska offers the same value to a national electorate as being highly experienced and well-educated in complex domestic policy issues and international affairs.

Last, while I can certainly appreciate the value of a strong spiritual faith in offering decision-making guidance to those serving in public office, I don’t think it should be substituted for contemplative thinking or deliberative process. While Kennedy is a devout Catholic, his faith seemed to compel him to think more deeply and to consider issues in a fuller, more complex way before coming to his conclusions. In Palin’s case, however, she seems to use her evangelical Christian worldview as a fixed template that she lays atop all issues and questions that come before her. She seems perversely proud of the fact that because her Christian faith is so solid and immutable, she already knows what her position will be on any issue with which she’s faced before she even informs herself of the details.

The book was modestly entertaining. She’s clearly devoted to her husband and kids, and her tales of modern family life in Alaska were occasionally humorous. But overall, the book left me more concerned about the (still remote) possibility of a Sarah Palin White House than I was before I read it. Even if I might enjoy grilling out with Todd, Sarah and the kids, I can’t muster the same enthusiasm for the idea of this woman ever having access to the nuclear football.

Why the healthcare reform debate is deja vu all over again

Aug 022009

It’s deja vu all over again. Obama’s health care reform plan is in trouble for many of the same reasons Clinton’s went down in flames back in the day.

The president’s plan is far too messy-yet-watered-down for the significant minority of Americans who want some form of universal health care, a la Canada, France, England, etc. So none of those folks or their advocacy organizations are out there working with any real passion or energy to support the plan. That means the loudest voices on the issue are the ones from the smaller minority of Americans who oppose pretty much any government involvement in healthcare, and their highly partisan voices are being greatly amplified by the advertising and lobbying dollars of powerful special interest groups who want to maintain the lucrative healthcare marketplace in which they currently operate.

And then there is the biggest group of Americans by far, the ones in the middle. This group is comprised of the vast majority of peoplewho DO, in general, want better access to more affordable care, but who don’t have the foggiest clue what it is Obama is currently proposing. Because they don’t understand Obama’s plan even a little bit, these folks are either completely apathetic about the whole thing or they have decided to err on the side of caution and oppose the plan. Either way, Obama loses.

Obama has done a very poor job communicating his vision for what he, as president, would like America’s health care system to look like. And he seems very personally detached from the plan to which he’s attached his name. His support seems lukewarm, half-hearted. He should have kicked off this whole health care reform campaign with a Great Big Speech that truly inspired Americans to look past our differences and envision a sort of shining health care city on the hill. He should have laid out this inspiring vision of what could be before turning the debate over to special interests, extreme partisans and policy wonks, who have now taken it so far into the weeds that no one can really figure out what’s even being proposed, or what it would actually mean for their own families. He should have shown some real leadership on this, but he didn’t.

But I think it’s too late now. Nothing substantive is going to come out of the current debate. We are going to end up with a great big nothing of a plan that pleases no one. It will be comprised of 60 gazillion pages of new regulations that will only serve to irritate doctors and hospitals because this “reform” will simply mean lots more red tape and paperwork for them, without any truly meaningful changes that will have any significant impact on how most Americans access or afford health care.

You know you lead a wildly exciting life when…

May 292009

…you are spending your Friday night sitting at home, finishing up a powerpoint presentation on Web 2.0 political campaign fundamentals. The saddest part is that I am loving it. Yes, I am a political junkie, as well as a big geek. And I am speaking at this neat-o event at UT’s Baker Center in the morning. After that, I plan to do nothing remotely productive for the rest of the weekend. (However, I will have a fun story to tell at the end of the weekend. That’s all I can say for now. But stay tuned.)

GOP women turn on each other

Mar 162009

That’s what I’m blogging about over the the KNS today…

My blood. It boils.

Feb 192009

I present for your horrified review, legislation actually being proposed here in Tennessee:

SB 1065 by Marrero B (HB 0890 by Hackworth)

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, relative to testing for certain substances in pregnant women.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1.Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 5, is amended by adding Section 2 of this act as a new part thereto.

SECTION 2.
(a) The general assembly declares that, as a matter of public policy of this state and in
the interest of public health, pregnant women who abuse alcohol and drugs pose a risk to their unborn children. Pregnant women who meet certain criteria, as determined by the department, through rules and regulations duly promulgated in accordance with the provisions of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, shall be tested for alcohol and drugs in order to encourage them to seek immediate treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem.

(b) If the department levies a fee or charge for the cost of testing, it shall use the same billing and collection methods normally used by independent private laboratories. Any fee shall be waived for patients who are unable to pay.

(c) The department, in promulgating rules to implement this act, shall consider the following as indications of the necessity for alcohol or drug testing:
(1) No prenatal care;
(2) Late prenatal care after twenty-four (24) weeks gestation;
(3) Incomplete prenatal care;
(4) Abruptio placentae;
(5) Intrauterine fetal death;
(6) Preterm labor of no obvious cause;
(7) Intrauterine growth retardation of no obvious cause;
(8) Previously known alcohol or drug abuse; or
(9) Unexplained congenital anomalies.

(d) The commissioner of health is authorized to adopt rules, using criteria established by the United States department of health and human services as guidelines for modeling the drug and alcohol testing program pursuant to this act, concerning, but not limited to:
(1) Standards for licensing drug and alcohol testing laboratories and suspension and revocation of the licenses;
(2) Body specimens and minimum specimen amounts that are appropriate for drug or alcohol testing;
(3) Methods of analysis and procedures to ensure reliable drug or alcohol testing results, including the use of breathalyzers and standards for initial tests and confirmation tests;
(4) Minimum cut-off detection levels for alcohol, each drug or metabolites of the drug for the purposes of determining a positive test result;
(5) Chain-of-custody procedures to ensure proper identification, labeling and handling of specimens tested; and
(6) Retention, storage and transportation procedures to ensure reliable results on confirmation tests and retests.

(e) Prior to acting on the proposed rules to implement this chapter, the commissioner shall submit the proposed rules to the house health and human resources and the senate general welfare committees of the general assembly for their review and comment. The committees shall have forty-five (45) days to review the proposed rules and transmit any comment it may have to the commissioner.

(f) Any woman who tests positive for alcohol or drugs on a test administered pursuant to this chapter shall be referred to treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem. Every physician, surgeon or other person permitted by law to attend a pregnant woman during gestation shall report each woman who refuses to seek treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem or who misses two (2) or more appointments to the department of children’s services. Such reports shall be in a manner specified by the department, either by contacting a local representative of the department or by utilizing the department’s centralized intake procedure, where applicable.

(g) A health care provider who makes a report of alcohol or drug abuse, as required by subsection (f), shall not be liable in any civil or criminal action that is based solely upon such report.

(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer any immunity upon a health care provider for a criminal or civil action arising out of the treatment of a woman about whom the report of alcohol or drug abuse was made.

(i) All information, interviews, reports, statements, memoranda and drug or alcohol test results, written or otherwise, received by the covered employer through a drug or alcohol testing program are confidential communications and may not be used or received in evidence, obtained in discovery or disclosed in any public or private proceedings, except in accordance with this section.

(j) Laboratories, medical review officers, employee assistance programs, drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs and their agents who receive or have access to information concerning drug or alcohol test results shall keep all information confidential. Release of the information under any other circumstance is authorized solely pursuant to a written consent form signed voluntarily by the person tested, unless the release is compelled by a hearing officer or a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to an appeal taken under this section, relevant to a legal claim asserted by the employee or is deemed appropriate by a professional or occupational licensing board in a related disciplinary proceeding. The consent form must contain, at a minimum:
(1) The name of the person who is authorized to obtain the information;
(2) The purpose of the disclosure;
(3) The precise information to be disclosed;
(4) The duration of the consent; and
(5) The signature of the person authorizing release of the information.

(k) Information on drug or alcohol test results for tests administered pursuant to this act shall not be released or used in any criminal proceeding against the woman who was subject to the test. Information released contrary to this section is inadmissible as evidence in the criminal proceeding.

SECTION 3. For the purpose of promulgating rules and regulations, this act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. For all other purposes this act shall take effect January 1, 2010, the public welfare requiring it.

Oh. My. GAWD.

So if this law is enacted, it means that any woman who suffers a miscarriage, stillbirth, or other serious pregnancy complications, or who gives birth to a disabled child, will face state-mandated drug testing.

I really can’t frame my own response to this vile legislation any better than fellow Tennessee blogger Aunt B already did, so I’ll just quote her here:

But here’s the best part. If your pregnancy just isn’t going right–the placenta comes open or the fetus dies or you go into labor early for no discernible reason, or the fetus isn’t growing fast enough, or the fetus has congenital anomalies–and let me remind you these are all things that just happen during pregnancies; things go wrong, for no reason, all the time–the State wants to drug test you.

And let’s say that they do. Let’s say that you start to miscarry. You have spotting and cramping and it’s pretty obvious and inevitable what’s going on. Maybe you have a bottle of wine to help you through. You’ve just done into labor early for no discernible reason and your fetus is dead for no discernible reason and when they drug test you, they’re going to find that you’ve been drinking.

What do you think is going to come of that?

This is what I mean when I say that the reproductive rights fight is going to be had on the bodies of women who miscarry. And these legislators, Hackworth and Marrero are Democrats. These are the folks who are supposed to be on the side of women and they want to give the State the right to start sniffing around if your pregnancy doesn’t go right?

This bill opens the door to the State blaming women who miscarry for those miscarriages. Shoot, it doesn’t just open the door. It opens the door and escorts the State right in.

They cannot make it illegal, still, thank god, for you to be pregnant in your own way. They cannot legally require you to go to the doctor. They cannot hold you legally responsible for the death of your fetus.

But they want to. And so this is an end run around that. If you won’t do what they want you to do, they will drug test you and force you into treatment if they don’t like what they’ve found. In other words, you will be punished for, in the case of imbibing alcohol, something that is perfectly legal. Something most doctors will tell you is fine on occassion when you are pregnant.

In other words, the precident they’re setting is that, once you are pregnant, your body is not your own. You no longer know what’s best for you. Your doctor no longer knows what’s best for you. You are not allowed to not realize you’re pregnant. You’re not allowed to be afraid. You’re not allowed to be too poor to go to the doctor. You have to do what the State tells you to do while you’re pregant, because, while you’re pregnant, your body is not your own.

And here’s the other thing. Can we just not beat around the bush about the subtext here? It’s no coincidence that Memphis has an infant mortality rate so depressingly high that it might as well be a hundred years ago over there and that Marrero is bringing the bill. You cannot be a human being with a soul and look at what’s going on in Memphis, or shoot, in neighborhoods here in Nashville, and not have your heart come right out sobbing into your hands.

But treating women like, once they’re pregnant, the State needs to control them is vile. It just is. There’s no way around it and wanting to protect babies doesn’t make it okay to assume that the problem lies solely with the mothers.

If Marrero makes a medical decision I don’t like, should I have the right to force her to take a drug test, make sure she hasn’t been drinking too much?

The sad truth is that pregnancies end for all kinds of reasons. Some women can go their whole pregancies not even knowing they’re pregnant, drinking and drugging it up, and their kids come out with no ill-effects. Many, many women in this State try their hardest to do the right thing every step of the way–doctor visits, vitamins, no alcohol use, etc.–and they still lose their pregnancies. They still have babies who are too sick to make it through the year. It’s not anyone’s fault. It just happens. And I know my fair share of women in that situation and they all blame themselves at some level. Adding to their suffering by having the state step in and act like they’re to blame is cruel.