The Republican War On Children

Half the teachers at my kids' school got pink-slipped. 

You read that right. Half.

Some of those pink-slips MIGHT be rescinded, but they wouldn't have come at all if less than a handful of Republicans in the California State Assembly had allowed Gov. Brown to try to extend some tax increases that were due to expire, by holding a special election in June.  They offered him the kinds of "compromises" that nobody should take -- gutting environmental regulations in the state was one of them, and by the way, dirty water and dirty air hurt kids too, not just cuts to education.  The Gov. had already agreed to all sorts of cuts in programs that help the poor and the elderly, concessions to public employee unions, etc.  But no, the greedy bastards couldn't muster a few votes, and now it's pink-slip time at LAUSD.

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We Have Overcome

We kept the kids home to watch the swearing in.

We cried.

They were alternately interested, excited, bored and restless. But they watched as Barack Obama became the 44th President.

At four years of age, they may not remember this moment, though we can tell them they saw it happen. What really strikes me, though, is that Obama will be the first person they consciously know as President of the U.S.

That means the idea that someone can't be President because of the color of their skin will simply never occur to them.

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Yes We Did

Fair warning: Late Blooming Mom is happy about the election, and though this isn't generally a site for politics or partisanship, tonight I'm making an exception.

Here's how election night 2008 went down around here.

We set up the kids with the MARY POPPINS DVD in the living room, because they just couldn't get interested in election night returns. Much as I wanted them to be witnesses to history, I had to recognize that they're not quite four years old, and CNN coverage, even with its new-fangled holograms, couldn't hold their attention for long.

So in the family room, where the other TV is located, we camped out on the couch, riveted, leaving them to their jolly holiday with Mary.

We could see where the night was going, but after so many years of disappointment, the still-vivid memories of the 2000 recount and the 2004 map swinging from Kerry to Bush over the course of the evening, we didn't let ourselves believe it ...

But then, at 8pm Pacific Time, they called it. And something happened I don't think either of us expected.

We burst into tears.

It was at once the fulfillment of the dreamed-of America we'd been brought up to believe in, but had long become cynical about, and the cathartic release of the eight-year rule of a horrid administration that combined incompetence with arrogance and sometimes doses of downright evil (I'm paging you, Dick Cheney).

But the best was yet to come. Thing 1 had somehow found our Fourth-of-July American flags. In his bright blue snow men pajamas, he walked into the family room waving one of the flags, smiling, and saying, "It's election night!" Then he pointed to a photo on the laptop open on the table in front of the TV, where we'd also been checking updates, and said, "It's Barack Obama!" He was gleefully proud of himself for knowing this, and giddy with his flag-waving cheer.

Later I wound up kissing both kids -- so did daddy. And daddy added, "Barack's going to help us."

We remained in a happy daze of disbelief all night -- calling family and friends around the country, no matter how late in their time zones, and exchanging updates on Facebook. One dear friend, another late blooming mom, said it best: "Our friends are all beside themselves with joy."

A lot of my friends are members of one minority group or another -- Asian-American, Jewish, Latino, African-American, gay, etc. It can't even been put into words how incredible we all feel that a member of a minority has been chosen by the majority to lead us all. We grew up seeing mostly white guys rule, with the occasional woman getting a shot at power, but not at the biggest, most powerful job. We were told time and time again that you can be anything you want to be in America if you work hard at it, but on some level, we never quite fully believed.

Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech has always been political church to me, a religious experience every time I see or hear it, even though I'm too young to have seen it when it was originally delivered. To me there are like 3 great speeches: FDR's inaugural "Nothing to fear but fear itself," Lincoln's Gettysburg address, and King's. But Barack's 2004 Democratic Convention speech, and his speech on race this year, come pretty close. And with his election, I really do believe King's vision has been realized. It's not that this is the end of racism in America. But it shows that in today's America, more of us judge people on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

It also shows that democracy still works. After years of dirty tricks by Lee Atwater, Karl Rove and their ilk, I was really getting demoralized, thinking there was no way people could hear the truth unfiltered, and act on it, discounting the lies and distortions, or at least deciding an election for reasons that really matter, not fake wedge issues or personal attacks that weren't relevant to fixing the country. People took the power of the ballot in their hands and changed power, peacefully, and they did it despite the negativity and distortions. That's the way America is supposed to work.

But perhaps the best development of what happened election night is this: the first president my kids are going to be conscious of, the one they're going to spend a good deal of time growing up with, is a man of mixed race. Their image of who a president is will be shaped as much by his picture as the pictures they'll see in school of George Washington, Lincoln, FDR.

Only in America.

And when they're learning their country's history, they'll know they were around when this amazing thing happened.

Maybe it took the worst economy since the Depression to make this happen. That's one way of looking at it. But I prefer to see it this way: this time, at last, we voted for Hope.

Sarah Palin Is A Danger To My Kids -- And Maybe Yours Too

Tonight I can't sleep because I'm worried about a woman who is a danger to my children's future. So much so that I'm willing to temporarily shift the focus of my blog tonight -- usually a light-hearted look at raising children as a later-in-life mom -- and write, at least for this entry, about why you, if you're a mom, ought to be having a sleepless night too.

The dangerous woman I'm referring to is Republican V.P. nominee Sarah Palin. I saw her speak on TV tonight from the Republican Convention like millions of Americans, and what's keeping me up is what she DIDN'T say. She didn't say what she really stands for because it might scare off a lot of voters she's trying to attract. She didn't mention certain positions she holds that, if she's allowed to act on, could alter the future -- my kids' and your kids -- for the worse. So you and I have to look elsewhere, outside her big speech, to find out what they are.

I've looked, and I've found out. Here's why she's got me so frightened for my kids.

1.SARAH PALIN BELIEVES IN BANNING BOOKS.
According to Time Magazine, as mayor of her small town in Alaska, Sarah Palin sought to have books banned from the local library and threatened to fire the librarian who objected.

I want my kids to grow up in an America that believes in expanding people's minds, a place where the government doesn't legislate freedom of thought by banning books.

I know Sarah Palin is a devoutly religious woman, and I fear it's her faith that leads her to think banning books is a good, or even acceptable, idea. But, to paraphrase a line from the classic play and movie INHERIT THE WIND, "The Bible is a good book -- but it's not the ONLY book." For the sake of my kids, as well as yours, I'd like to keep it that way.

2.SARAH PALIN SUPPORTS ABSTINENCE-ONLY SEX EDUCATION.
She AND John McCain, like George W. Bush, believe students in public schools ought to be told to abstain from sex, but should NOT be told about condoms or birth control.

This from a woman whose own daughter is pregnant at seventeen. Don't you think Bristol Palin might've benefited from a real sex education class, not a muzzled one?

You can bet I'll be telling my kids about condoms and birth control, and I'll do it BEFORE I even suspect they're on the verge of becoming sexually active. But I also think it's vitally important that they and their future classmates get educated about these things in school too, sitting in a classroom with their peers. Sex education is not just about the importance of truly planned parenthood, so our children aren't saddled with the greatest responsibility a person can have before they're mature enough to handle that responsibility. It's about protecting their health and the health of others.

3.SARAH PALIN REFUSES TO SUPPORT A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO ABORT A PREGNANCY, EVEN IN CASES OF RAPE OR INCEST.
Nobody ever likes to have an abortion. But those who support a woman's right to choose know that there are times when it's medically necessary, and also that there are times when it's the right choice for other, equally valid reasons. Those who object on religious grounds don't have to have an abortion. They shouldn't have the right to dictate to those who don't share their view.

When my daughter comes of age, I want her to have the right to make reproductive decisions without government interference. But the very next administration is going to see the retirement of perhaps as many as three Supreme Court justices, and even a change of one vote on the court could mean abortion is no longer, in the words of Bill Clinton, "safe, legal, and rare."

4.SARAH PALIN BELIEVES HUMAN ACTIVITY IS NOT IN ANY WAY TO BLAME FOR CLIMATE CHANGE.
Incredible as it may seem, there are some yahoos out there -- and make no mistake, Sarah Palin is one such yahoo -- who still refuse to acknowledge that the world's industrial activity and the resulting pollution have nothing to do with the undeniable, scientifically verified fact that the world is getting hotter.

I want my kids to be able to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and eat a food supply that isn't irreparably poisoned ... and I don't want them to live in a world that's been destabilized because vast areas where crops used to grow have become desert, cities have been sunk in floods, and disease and hunger are even more rampant than they are now. But if the U.S. government is led by people who won't help the world to take steps to at least hold back the tide of climate change, let alone reverse it, it's going to get a helluva lot worse.

5.SARAH PALIN ADVOCATES THE TEACHING OF CREATIONISM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ALONGSIDE EVOLUTION.
There is not a shred of evidence for Creationism. Last time I checked, actual evidence shows men and apes are pretty closely related, and the earth is much older than a literal interpretation of the Bible would suggest. Furthermore, dictating that Creationism -- a religious dogma -- be taught in public schools in contradiction to science violates separation of church and state.

If Sarah Palin wants her kids to learn Creationism, she is free to teach it to them at home or send them to Sunday school. It has no place in the curriculum of tax-supported public schools. I don't want Creationism presented to my kids as the legitimate, other side of an argument about the origins of earth or man. I want my kids to learn actual science.

Sarah Palin didn't bring up any of these things in her speech to the Republican convention. But these are, in fact, her firmly held positions. If they scare you as much as they scare me, then tell every mom you know.

This is the real Sarah Palin. And she's the reason I'm having a sleepless night.

Sarah Palin wants you to see her as "EveryMom." Well, I'm a mom too -- and she's my nightmare.