Kids Are Hard. Marriage After Kids is Harder.

My husband and I were brilliant communicators before we had children. I don’t just mean talking about mindless drivel over a pint or five. I mean discussing as in depth as was humanly possible about what our lives together would look like through every eventuality.

We discussed everything about making living together work, making the finances work, splitting up chores, making a marriage work, making everything fair. We even discussed what our divorce might look like. Just in case.

Young, carefree, childless and in love

As if we were following some cliché storyline, we fell pregnant; then came the biggest discussions of all. We covered everything we could possibly think of on how we would make it work; what our expectations were of each other as parents, what our expectations of ourselves would be as parents. We meticulously picked apart our childhoods to take the good and dump the bad. We were ready. We…

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Gentrification is a Social Cancer

http://io9.com/heres-what-happens-when-white-people-move-into-your-nei-1627658680

Here’s a great article about the negative effects of gentrification, and how an already disenfranchised segment of our population suffers from tolerating wealthier people.  As our city begins to run out of real estate, it is vital for our Mayor to lead the charge on leveling the playing field on behalf of the poor and lower middle-class. 

There’s nothing worse you can do than force native New Yorkers to live in New Jersey.  No one deserves that.  No one.

Ren

 

Time to Speak Up!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/tips-for-being-an-unarmed-black-teen,36697/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default

Tips for the next generation of future victims….

Enjoy!
R

What is INSTITUTIONAL RACISM?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/us/if-they-gunned-me-down-protest-on-twitter.html?ref=us

The Ferguson shooting has all the makings of an argument of how little has changed in our country, and the New York Times has covered an important angle of the story:  Which photo would a white-dominated media use to remember this young man, if he were shot dead?  History proves that the photo on the left is chosen most of the time.

The New York Times reports that the Ferguson, Missouri police officer involved in this recent bias-killing has yet to be identified, due to ‘death threats’.  If only they cared for their brown-skinned citizens as much.

The Rachel Maddow Show has a brief history of institutional racism in Missouri, if you care to learn what institutional racism is.  The only minus is you have see close ups of Rev. Al Sharpton.  His checkered past is a separate subject for another blog entry.  The link to her show is below; watch it today, while it’s easy to find!

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

She Throws 70 MPH at Age 13!

Philly’s best pitcher!

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

Philly’s best Little League pitcher has clinched HER teams’ shot at the World Series title, pitching a killer no-hitter for her team.  I’m sure my Philly friends are proud, but will they lobby for her to pitch in professional baseball?

What do you think?

Williams Death a Sobering Message for the 1%

R. I. P. Robin Williams

If one of the most successful entertainers in Hollywood would forgo his wealth and popularity, what does that say about the Republican  argument that wages should always be relatively low to keep the poor motivated and aspired for greater income?

Robin Williams was a great advocate for the poor, and his ‘Comic Relief’ work with Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal will remain one of the many monuments to his contribution to our great society.

It seems his death should, in part, represent a strong response to conservatives that feel the poor should remain motivated with low wages and minimal representation.  I submit to Republicans that the wealthy should be capped politically and taxed more, to help them stay motivated, as their riches only weigh down the potential long term contributions they can make to our country.  We 99% would hate to see you killing yourselves after so much success.

What do you think?

Power to the People!

Talk is cheap….

Shoot First, Think Later

Mr Wafer’s sincere testimony and trial has a hard bottom line:  It’s illegal to swing open your front door with guns blazing, and it’s unwise for members of minority groups to bang on the doors of strangers in the middle of the night. 

What should be most upsetting to Americans is that Mr. Wafer loaded his shotgun, “after vandals had paint-balled his vehicle” as the New York Times reports.  (Link to the NY Times article is below.)

Wanting to shoot punks for vandalizing your car is understandable, but logic should follow that desire.  What does one say to the police after the potential outcome, “I really didn’t want to have to clean my car again, Officer, so I killed them”?

Our country is loaded with people of all colors who are ready to shoot first and ask the important questions later.  Emotional over reaction is at the heart of many shootings like this one, and this writer argues that emotion is the number one reason to ban guns nationwide.  Humans are typically unable to think logically when under great stress, and adding a firearm to the formula does no one any good.
What do you think?

Justice Ginsburg Infers Supreme Court is Racist

Justice Ginsburg Talks with Katie Couric

If Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg states that the mostly male Supreme Court has a ‘blind spot’ on women’s issues, it does not take a great leap in logic to conclude that a mostly white Supreme Court has a blind spot on issues facing most US minority groups.

The Voting Rights Act being overturned should act as further evidence to most Americans that all three branches of our government, including the White House, are unwilling to take the bold steps required to make life better for Native, Latino, Asian and African Americans.  Presidential action alone can erase problems from the Washington R–skins controversy to Republican States disenfranchising pregnant women and big businesses like Comcast and AT&T monopolizing the internet.

Our President was one of a few presidents in our history to visit Native territory, but spending a few million dollars on MOLD REMOVAL is a far cry from what must be done as reparation to disenfranchised groups in our troubled nation.  President Obama is only partly to blame for the poor direction of our great country.  If we don’t unite the House and Senate against insensitive Caucasians, our country will be doomed to repeat the 1960’s and 70’s all over again, but without the great soundtrack this time!