Dan Choi, an exceptional military man, West Point graduate, fluent and very adept as an Arabic translator, came out as gay on television. He was kicked out of the military this week. In Belkin’s article, he lays out several options that President Obama has (yes, has), to protect and accept gays in the military. Now. Without congressional action.
Watch Rachel Maddow’s interview with Lt Choi:
Major world democracies have gays in the military. Israel has gays in the military. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” asks people to lie by default, by their silence. How is lying an honorable action? For anyone? Especially for our military.
I am hoping, hoping, hoping that Obama will do something immediately to end this horrible policy. More than 12,000 veterans have lost their careers in the last 15 years under this disgusting policy.
Newsweek’s done it. I haven’t slept in two days because of the time difference, staying up all night watching the results, and then immediately heading off to work trembling on a high of adrenaline and a triple espresso. But I couldn’t stop reading this article. It’s 11 pm, I should mention. Honestly, no sleep being had here.
Intimate details about all the campaigns, how they formed, the inner bickerings, squabbles. The Kennedy connection. The vision. Obama’s X-factor. The real genius of Obama. Also his distance, his cool demeanor — such a contrast from the Clintons. And the chaos of Hillary’s campaign. Goodness. It’s only part one of a seven chapter book, (part one entitled, “How He Did It“).
It’s not a short read by any means…but this ridiculously tired soul made it through. I am so excited for our future. For a summary of the series (and lots of juicy tidbits about the McCain-Palin rift), click here.
Thanks to the Huffington Post, a really contemporary, sometimes visionary, addictive way to get the news. Great Newsweek read.
Caffein? Work woes? My drug rollercoaster? Being away, being away, being away from America for the first time in my life (!) for a presidential election? I’m in a cafe, just finished chowing down on a very satisfying shakshuka I’d been craving, and I’m almost shaking, almost crying. I want this day to be over, and I want this day to last forever. I feel so strongly about this election, about Obama, about him being so right, so right, so right on, right now. I feel like I know him, his family, his politics, his education, his background. And I used to care so much. Before the 2000 debaucle. And I’ve been so complacent, so depressed, so self-loathing about being American these last 8 years. I just want the day to pass smoothly. I wish I had done more. Always. But in the most fundamental way – my vote, my personal relationships, my talking about Obama to strangers in Israel, I may have made a small difference.
I’ll be going to Mike’s Place tonight. It will undoubtedly be mobbed. I wonder if I should call for a reservation (a reservation!, geez, what am I thinking, it’s a dive expat bar!).
Good luck getting through the day, all. Get out the vote. Much love.
It’s here! It’s finally here! Let’s make it a good one, America!
I’m so excited, and today I really feel homesick. Nobody really gets it here. Or else, I don’t have too many American friends. And some Americans I know here are Republicans.
I have nowhere to go tonight yet. I don’t know where (a bar, a club?) will have good coverage. I don’t know which place will have a nice crowd of folks like me. I really want to be out among friends tonight, and it’s really hitting me how few strong, interesting, intelligent, very liberal, American people I know around here. Oh pooh, at times like this, I just miss Chicago. The 2000 election. I miss Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap, and renting a giant donkey costume, and going to the Gore rally, and feeling optimism and hope–old style, like Clinton could never lose, and who on earth didn’t just love him, and the Reynolds Club on election night, the entire student body screaming at the TV, and running back and forth between the theater lounge where we had internet and the cafe where the TVs were set up. I miss paad thai and The West Wing and confidence and beautiful possible future. Before the ground caved in beneath us.
So, if anyone knows where there’s a good place to hang out in Tel Aviv tonight, please let me know.
And all youse guys in America – GO VOTE! NOW! Because who knows how long you’ll have to wait in line! And remember to not leave until you’ve voted! No matter what they say. And as we say in Chicago, “Vote early, vote often.”
I am the millionth blogger out there praising the man, but I don’t care. Barack Obama is a visionary leader and an exceptionally good person. It’s extraordinary to think we are living in a time of such substantial political, economic, ecological, and military crises. It’s saddening and worrying that it has come to this. But we have Obama to look forward to. Here are some videos that moved me to tears, if you haven’t seen them yet. Please go vote.
I received my voter registration card in the mail today. My Israeli voter registration card, that is. Interesting fact: I never registered to vote. Not something that happens here. If you’re a citizen of age, and you’ve lived here long enough, you can vote. If you have this card, I suppose. And I am so excited. My first time participating in this, doing my civic duty, executing my right. I have had Israeli citizenship from birth. But this is the first time I’ve lived here for more than 6 months. Which is the time threshold.
Municipal elections are coming up in a couple weeks. Here, we vote for mayor, and the separately, we vote on a list – a group or a party – for the city council. And Israelis – get this – don’t consider local elections political. They don’t think it’s politics. The national parties don’t figure into the equation at all. Mayors are just people that run for office. Usually, without belonging to a specific party. And the lists can be a random old group of people who create a platform. Usually, they do have some party connection or existing group affiliation. This time around, there is a “Life” party, which fends for the rights of animals. And they have a very decent shot! The Greens, I’m told have a good chance, too. It’s amazing. There’s hardly any hoopla about this at all! Which makes sense…as most of the power is with the national government…and that’s about to fall apart into elections this winter…ay gevult!
At least next week I have an easier decision to make than Meretz, Labour, Likud, Kadima, etc, etc. In the comfort of the local high school, I get to choose between The Animal Rights Party and The Green Party for city hall! Yah! Booyah! Go Tel Aviv! The liberal enclave I call home.
I voted! Yes, siree Bob, I voted! It was a total off-the-wall chance that I learned about the polling place at all (The Dancing Camel Brewery in an industrial area of Tel Aviv), it took me ages to find it (after I had been sure I knew where I was going…gotta love second-guessing yourself, wearing the worst shoes, and walking about 2 kilometers the wrong way and having to back track). And then I got half-off beer for voting. And, boy, what a beer. A unique, sweet, tangy, lovely pomegranite beer. Ah, moral center, moral center, when I do the right thing, it’s so funny to be so quickly and directly rewarded. Beautiful beer. Dear, dear, Barack Obama, one (unfortunately, pretty solitary) vote coming atcha from all the way in Israel…
Micro Brew from the Holy Land
(Note: The Americans here in Israel are predominantly religious [not ultra-orthodox all, like the ones you picture in movies...no, these are ordinary folks who wear the ordinary little hat, and that's all]…and I find them to be annoyingly closed minded…folks who only vote with Israel in mind and will not sway from their belief that a Republican will always be a better friend and protector to Israel and in opposition to Arabs…how an intelligent Jew can reasonably and conscientiously vote for a ticket with Sarah Palin on it, is completely beyond me…but then again, if you only vote with one issue in mind – lord knows, if the candidate advocated dumping garbage into the oceans, starting wars in every corner of the globe, and slashing civil liberties, but still was a “friend to Israel,” I bet these yahoos would still vote for him or her…)
Iran. A friend in the States asked me for some insight on Iran because she couldn’t quite wrap her head around why it was an important campaign issue for Jews and in relation to Israel. Are they really such a huge threat. Well, she really liked my email response, and she thought I should send it to American blogs in a more developed form. Let me know what you think about this, too. I’m all ears. So, without further ado, a secular American-Israeli’s 2-minute explanation of what she sees as the situation with Iran (taken verbatim from the email):
Today, I saw an article on Yahoo to this effect: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081027/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_arms;_ylt=Ah7GNGG2H3PouYITvC25vqhvaA8F. Iran is widely thought to be one of the biggest threat to Israel right now. They not only provide weapons and funding to the terrorists who reside most closely to us (Hezbollah), but their nuclear program, you can imagine should it come into fruition, would have one very easy, very close target. Their rhetoric is disgusting. Ahmadinijad hosted conferences about denying the holocaust, which brought together revisionist historians and neo-nazis from all over the world, claiming evidence that it never happened. I heard of anti-Israel, anti-holocaust political cartoon contests. The works. It’s scary. It’s a lot of what Israelis think about when it comes to foreign threats. The funny thing, in my view, is that I have nothing against the Iranian people. They are Persians, ethnically. They aren’t Arabs. Yes, the Islam that they practice is Shiite, a much more radical (and mystical) variety. But a huge percentage of the population are secular. And they’ve been suffering for decades under this dictatorial theocratic rule. We know plenty of Persians in the US, and several are close friends of my family. It’s the weirdest thing in the world to me, as the country is so hateful a presence, but I have always found the people to be ridiculously nice and peaceful and welcoming. Another funny thing, Ahmadinijad himself has said he has nothing against the Jews. Only against Israel. Which…sucks…as it pins Jew against Jew in the world. And ultimately, he’s being a sneaky fox indeed. Because tons of Jews come from Persia. Most had to flee in the recent decades because of how hard it is to be a Jew in Muslim countries. After 1948, Jewish communities in Arab countries were ritualistically attacked, thousands murdered, as retribution for Israel having been declared a state. So…they fled to Israel…which is why there are so few Jews in Muslim countries. There used to be. Tons. We have huge Iraqi, Irani, Yemeni, Moroccan, and Egyptian communities here. Jewish communities. Where the first language used to be Arabic.
The new psychiatrist gave me more Xanax to deal with the Lamictal withdrawal. Yipee! What a world, right? Throwing medicine at a problem caused by medicine you are trying to get off of. I try not to think about it too much. I like Xanax. A lot. It helped me quit smoking. How, you ask? When the pain got bad, the jonesing for a cigarette, I took a Xanax, and then drank a glass of wine. An extraordinary feeling. And I’m told extremely dangerous (don’t do that at home…). But lord knows, I’m grateful. I haven’t picked up a cigarette since January 17, 2002. And I’m told they’re not addictive. I’ve only ever been given a small handful for emergencies…so having so many on me is a very weird luxury. I am going to try to take them only when I really need them.
My cat(s), don’t know which one, chewed through an Apple cable. Thankfully not an important one. Actually, the least important one. A spare USB port extension. But geez, I don’t know what to do now…move my computer to the only other room I have, the bedroom? Uh uh. But how do you discipline a cat? And I’m pretty sure it was a sign or else retribution for something. They’re getting picky about having their litter box being ultra clean. I mean, I do clean it. I don’t leave it for more than 2 days. But come on, they wake me up at 5 am, and the only thing I can think that they want is a clean litter box. What else, when they have plenty of food, plenty of clean water, tons of toys, and lots of room to play, and soft areas to sleep? What else? Will my technology survive? Can I hide every single cord and cable? Do I need to?
One of my favorite Disney films… Watch Haley Mills kibbitz with the FBI…
Welcome!
This is my countdown to my 30th birthday. Thanks for stopping by.
This life I’m on often feels like a great adventure, and it is my pleasure to share it with anyone who is interested.
I am a writer and chef. I am an American woman living in Tel Aviv, editing my ... Continue reading »
