The glass ceiling: and the screaming silence on the web and TV news.

There is something very wrong. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I am waiting for someone to start saying something. We are afraid. The glass ceiling….it might crack and maim the person who says the things that need to be said. What is wrong with this picture?

Let’s look at Hillary. Hillary was an active mother. She had one child. I don’t know why she thought to have just one; maybe she couldn’t have anymore? But one, you can keep track of if you have a career. I had four. The youngest was 2 before I began to get political. I ran for an office, knowing I wouldn’t win, but I got something done with the running. I then went back to school, at 40 to get my degree in physics at 41, so I could teach. I remember the toll it took on me and the family. My kids were healthy. But studying physics was time consuming and I missed a lot of stuff. My daughter-in-law decided that one child was enough. She liked to work outside the home a couple of days a week, and she thought she could devote enough time to one, but maybe not any more.

I know that after having one child that the thought of ending a pregnancy is mostly out of the question. Even if you know that the child will need special care, more care than other children. Mother’s know how to do that, and mothers can adjust their perspective to take on the most incredulous tasks, out of love, out of duty…

Special needs child….what does that mean? It means a lot of one-on-one care. It means hours of repetitive teaching. It requires multi-tasking to be able to keep the family together, healthy, and loving. Other children might get resentful of the extra time needed for the special needs child…it takes painstaking juggling of time, smiles, hugs, and patience.

If you have a special needs child at age 44, say, when the child is 21 you will be 65. That’s ok…almost done…Not quite. When the child is 31 you will be 75….almost done? I know that my 25 year old just left home and I still worry…

So when someone who lets say has a special needs child at age 44, that someone is going to need a plan for way in the future….like social plans and group homes and things run by the government. The care of the child from 4 months to 4 years the developmental years is paramount. That time of development the most important if the child will have independence later.

But you know, that is not the point I am trying to make here…although I think someone should. My point is, that if I had a political job that took me away from my kids a lot, but my kids are doing ok because I have the community and relatives to help keep them in balance….my question is why in the world would a person like that not plan. Why would a person like that not have the foresight to know that more children would mean less time per individual child….more children would mean either less time at the job, or less time with the kids.

My point is that there seems to be a judgment problem here. This judgment problem looks a lot like starting a war without having a post attack plan…and then taking on more.

There is also another point that needs to be made. Anyone who would choose a green person, or a purple person, or a man, or a woman, with so little experience…who you didn’t know very well, is playing a psychological game with the public. It is not for the betterment of our country…it is not kind to that mother…it is using her and that lovely family to play a game. I find that despicable.

We have some pretty important problems ahead of us. They begin with Sustainability which means population, air, water, energy, atmosphere, and temperature to name a few. The other social problems are distrust, unfair economic favoritism, a planet that is ready to fight in about 5 different places and a war of our very own.

I am afraid that we need to refocus and remember what needs to be done here or we may not need to worry about elections in 40 years. This is not a game…We need people with good judgment, honor, and the energy needed to start us in the right direction.

Please someone start talking.

Reply

The glass ceiling: and the screaming silence on the web and TV news.

There is something very wrong. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I am waiting for someone to start saying something. We are afraid. The glass ceiling….it might crack and maim the person who says the things that need to be said. What is wrong with this picture?

Let’s look at Hillary. Hillary was an active mother. She had one child. I don’t know why she thought to have just one; maybe she couldn’t have anymore? But one, you can keep track of if you have a career. I had four. The youngest was 2 before I began to get political. I ran for an office, knowing I wouldn’t win, but I got something done with the running. I then went back to school, at 40 to get my degree in physics at 41, so I could teach. I remember the toll it took on me and the family. My kids were healthy. But studying physics was time consuming and I missed a lot of stuff. My daughter-in-law decided that one child was enough. She liked to work outside the home a couple of days a week, and she thought she could devote enough time to one, but maybe not any more.

I know that after having one child that the thought of ending a pregnancy is mostly out of the question. Even if you know that the child will need special care, more care than other children. Mother’s know how to do that, and mothers can adjust their perspective to take on the most incredulous tasks, out of love, out of duty…

Special needs child….what does that mean? It means a lot of one-on-one care. It means hours of repetitive teaching. It requires multi-tasking to be able to keep the family together, healthy, and loving. Other children might get resentful of the extra time needed for the special needs child…it takes painstaking juggling of time, smiles, hugs, and patience.

If you have a special needs child at age 44, say, when the child is 21 you will be 65. That’s ok…almost done…Not quite. When the child is 31 you will be 75….almost done? I know that my 25 year old just left home and I still worry…

So when someone who lets say has a special needs child at age 44, that someone is going to need a plan for way in the future….like social plans and group homes and things run by the government. The care of the child from 4 months to 4 years the developmental years is paramount. That time of development the most important if the child will have independence later.

But you know, that is not the point I am trying to make here…although I think someone should. My point is, that if I had a political job that took me away from my kids a lot, but my kids are doing ok because I have the community and relatives to help keep them in balance….my question is why in the world would a person like that not plan. Why would a person like that not have the foresight to know that more children would mean less time per individual child….more children would mean either less time at the job, or less time with the kids.

My point is that there seems to be a judgment problem here. This judgment problem looks a lot like starting a war without having a post attack plan…and then taking on more.

There is also another point that needs to be made. Anyone who would choose a green person, or a purple person, or a man, or a woman, with so little experience…who you didn’t know very well, is playing a psychological game with the public. It is not for the betterment of our country…it is not kind to that mother…it is using her and that lovely family to play a game. I find that despicable.

We have some pretty important problems ahead of us. They begin with Sustainability which means population, air, water, energy, atmosphere, and temperature to name a few. The other social problems are distrust, unfair economic favoritism, a planet that is ready to fight in about 5 different places and a war of our very own.

I am afraid that we need to refocus and remember what needs to be done here or we may not need to worry about elections in 40 years. This is not a game…We need people with good judgment, honor, and the energy needed to start us in the right direction.

Please someone start talking.

Reply

Two things:
1 - good point about the raising of children. Perhaps what she's doing is achievable in Alaska, where community support might in an old-fashioned way help offset and extend parental influence and control, but DC isn't Alaska, even without the time demands of leadership.
2 - an argument about experience is vacuous when the relevant comparison is the other party's candidate for President.

Reply

Yes, I agree that raising children is important. Having a special needs child is too. It should not matter to anyone of how she raises her children. She has done well as we all can see and hear.

No Alaska is not DC but she has many more qualifications, more than others. Look at our now chief whom does not really solve anything and makes a mess of things.

The far left, all they can do is be critical in hoping people will see their side. They have nothing to stand on much less one leg and Palin is very qualified.

I believe that because she is a woman with smarts people against her is just that, being a female. They think no woman can be as smart as she. She and her husband have both raised their family. It's not all her so take that into consideration.

Reply

Where in the world do people get that Tina Fay looks like Sarah Palin? The glasses? WRONG. Maybe a hint in the eyes but that is it. Sarah is much prettier too.

Reply

Jeannie, I couldn't agree with you more.

If one of my teenagers had used drugs and the other drank (both underage) and was pregnant and getting married to a high school dropout--I'd cancel social engagements to supervise and sort out what was causing their problems. I wouldn't desert them by running for the second highest office in the land. In fact, I turned down a high-paying job in a stocker brokerage company to be with my special needs son, to care for my special needs child--I didn't think it was right to have someone else take on my responsibilities.

But then I'm a Democrat this election, I believe in personal responsibility. I also believe in an equal playing field and prefer not to rely on the benevolence of the 5% who control our nation's wealth and hope it "trickles down" to me. I prefer that if certain companies go bankrupt, that my tax dollars and our country's budget don't bail them out.

McCain thinks voters are stupid and I resent him for that--even if he is right. He's actually now getting away with being the "reform" candidate when he's been at Bush's side during the last 8 years and supported almost everything that got us into this position.

Republicans are accepting his words and looking no deeper---why? Because 35 years ago he was a POW? Many vets came back in wheelchairs and they didn't have a family with money to support them, or connections to high-paying jobs and heiresses--and they returned to their wives and kids and worked through the problems. Not McCain--look what he did to his first wife---he'll do it to the country...He was luckier than most to have survived and he's not entitled to be president because he suffered--in fact, he appears to have early dementia--irritability, forgetfulness, not keeping up with technology--he didn't even notice his own wife was stealing/taking 50 vicodan a day.

I blame the voters of the USA. Everyone who voted for Bush is responsible for the deficit we now have. For the homeless families who are on the street due to physical and mental health problems while HMO CEO's didn't create more long-lasting jobs--they just became multi-millionaires--even if it meant some people were denied life-saving treatment. Like Pope Benedict said, we worship money now, it's become our god and it doesn't matter how someone earned it. Or even if they earned it.

I'm pro-life, too. And that means being supportive of children, adults and seniors who are alive now. Pro-life isn't just about saving babies. I served two lovely, elderly women today at a homeless shelter. They live under a bridge because they can't afford housing....is McCain pro-life about them?

Reply

it amazes me that people are even thinking about voting for sarah palin...ask anyone three weeks ago if they'd ever heard of her and you all know the answer...to think that the idea that anyone who supported hillary would support sarah is absurd

why is she refusing to answer the questions we all have about troopergate..what does she have to hide ???

here's what sarah stands for...no more roe vs. wade... shooting animals from planes...taking money from the government and using it for personal gain...buying a tanning bed for her home...charging the gov't for staying in her own home...hiring her high school cronies for key gov't jobs and firing those who dare to disagree with her...

also parading her pregnant teenager and newborn son for all to see and then insisting that her family is " off limits"...don't forget..sarah was also pregnant when she married...guess that's a family tradition..!!!

how can americans be so stupid...vote sarah and mccain and the U S will continue on its downward spiral.....

Reply

Unfortunately, people don't care about politics because they feel this is just a silly sitcom that comes over the media and it really can't be "real." Other people are so overwhelmed by work and just trying to get by that they don't have time to even think about it much less try to understand that the world is in what Paul McCarthy wrote the ever present past. Yes, we are still in the ever present past. We are still slaves to the Kings, Dictators, etc.
only now they are called corporations.

If you are lucky enough to enjoy this good for you, if not, I suggest you wake up America.

Reply