78uuu lumière des étoiles

Dusty:Starlight:Culture



You Heard It Here First
2004-10-14   4:21 p.m.

Oh John, you had me at hello.

The night after I was discussing women and work with several classes, noting the oft-quoted statistic "A woman makes seventy-five cents for every dollar a man makes", which so aptly explains the economic disparity between women and men and the way women have been pushed into undervalued jobs, John Kerry mentions this very same stat when talking about jobs and economy during this last debate. Now that's timing.

I was beside myself with glee. I had never heard a male presidential candidate ever mention that stat before. It's usually treated as such a "peripheral issue" - something that we'll only have time to discuss after we fix the "real" problems. What a guy, huh? I could almost forgive him for dropping that "Cheney has a lesbian daughter! Cheney has a lesbian daughter!" card again.

And speaking of - ask me again how we almost totally choked on our drinks when Schieffer asked "Is homosexuality a choice?" Those are some cojones he's got there. That was a great question.

And despite dragging poor Mary Cheney back into the discussion, I think Kerry finally took a bit of a stand with that and several other issues - explaining that while he's a devout and serious Catholic, that he feels he's got no right to force his religion onto others by creating faith-based policies in an otherwise free country, that he's ardently pro-choice as a result of his strict adherence to the constitution, and that he virulently disagrees with lifting the assault weapons ban.

Well they did say that at the end of it all, Kerry usually comes through with clarity. I hope I hope I hope Ih op e that this is enough to see voters through.

Speaking of which - you did hear it here first: a couple of months ago, I wrote about some discussions I'd been having with some folks after it was "announced" that we should "be aware" of potential terror attacks on election day. I seemed to sense a general consensus among my own friends, family and co-workers that this was a shoddy and transparent political strategy meant to keep people away from the polls and away from voting - particularly those in the north, particularly those in urban areas (hmmm, where most vote liberal?). I recall saying on here "Next thing you know, they'll tell us that there are plans to attack your local voting station - because the bombing of elementary schools, town halls, and church basements is just so likely to happen".

Wouldn't you just know it, my mother told me a few weeks ago, news agencies reported that discs containing "school and district information" had been found in Iraq. She went on to say that the news report detailed that "photographs and evacuation plans" were included on these discs, and that the FBI was "investigating".

"I don't think I believe them," she said after she finished telling me what she'd heard, "and I hate that."

I'm with her. I long for a time when I can trust what I'm hearing, trust my own government to tell me the truth rather than anticipate or exploit my weakness and fear, and trust journalism. Was there ever such a time? Will there ever be one?

It was reported days later - or I should say underreported, since we had to search for follow up information - that these discs probably were not at the heart of some terrorist threat or action - that they in fact contained "school codes of conduct, and information on creating a learning environment", and that they were linked with a "a specific individual in Iraq" who had no known ties to any terrorist groups, but who did "have a connection to civic groups doing planning for schools in Iraq".

So looks like our terrorist and terror plot turned out to be nothing more than an administrator doing some research. But the damage is done - and if this story gets revitalized, watch as your friends and neighbors sadly barricade themselves in on election day, afraid to take a stroll down to the junior high since they believe anthrax may be released in the old gym.

My mom's a sharp one, indeed. She went to a Peace action meeting that I could unfortunately not attend last night, since I have this new class and all. I think I'll go with her to the luncheon though at the end of the month.

Now tonight: to Social D or not to Social D?

Social Distortion is playing at the Roseland, and we have the opportunity to take two tickets, get our butts into Manhattan, and see them.

But we've over-expended our concert budget for the month, me-thinks, and would still like very much to see Bad Religion in a few weeks. So what to do? For now, we're going to have some Sabra humus and tea.

Maybe that will help us make up our minds.

xo