Has Anyone Seen June Cleaver?

From October, 1957 to June, 1963 America was given a weekly vignette of wholesome, moral, secure, balanced suburban family life in a television situation comedy entitled “Leave it to Beaver.” This was a 30 minute chronicle of the life of the family of Ward and June Cleaver and their two sons, twelve year old Wallace (Wally) and seven year old Theodore (The Beaver) Cleaver. (This was their ages when the show started in 1957).

Ward Cleaver was a successful businessman who worked in an office at something that is not quite clear to the audience; whatever it was it was lucrative: Ward’s income took care of himself and three other people in middleclass suburban style. They lived in a big suburban house, drove nice family size sedans, and dressed well.

June Cleaver was always impeccably dressed, her hair well coiffured, and her string of pearls always around her neck. June Cleaver was in pearls and high heels, and wearing a party dress or a cocktail frock, even when gardening or doing the dishes. It seems that June woke up with her hair in place, already outfitted and ready to go to a cocktail party or be the hostess of one.

June was also impeccably behaved. June never disagreed with Ward Cleaver, for as we had already been told for a while by another television show, “Father Knows Best.” Ward never got on June’s nerves. He never acted in any way except the most noble and the most exemplary actions. June was never frustrated with Ward. She never felt like cussing Ward. June Cleaver was so content with Ward that she was probably the first “Stepford wife.”

Not only did June Cleaver never have any problems, she also never had any answers or solutions. Why should she need them? She was married to Ward Cleaver who did all the thinking and came up with all the solutions to any problems that might arise. June never lost her temper.

For June Cleaver there were no problems anywhere, or at least she did not talk about them when millions of Americans were hanging off her every word. No, there were no outside problems for June Cleaver because her world was Ward, Wally, and the Beaver. And there were no problems on Maple Street or Pine Street in Mapleton, USA.

In June Cleaver’s world there are no African-Americans, no Hispanics, no persons of Asian or Native American ancestry, no Moslems or Buddhists, no human beings whose sexual preference is not heterosexual, no persons who are physically or mentally challenged, and of course there are no poor people. June Cleaver never has to face challenges about abortion because there is no premarital sex in her “cookie cutter world.”

June Cleaver was never challenged by unemployment, job outsourcing, inflation, rebellious children, balancing home and careing for elderly and infirmed parents, personal healthcare bills that she is unsure how to pay, or any of the problems that face real woman in a real world, even in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

June Cleaver lived in an insulated world. June was on television for six seasons: from the Fall of 1957 to the late Spring of 1963. These were the years that served as the seed bed for the revolutions in thought and behavior that would change America, but you would never know it by listening to June Cleaver.

Between 1947 and 1961 Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin developed vaccines to eradicate polio. With her precious Beaver being in the target age-range for polio you’d think that June would be concerned about this medical miracle. June never mentioned the polio vaccine.

Three years before “Leave It to Beaver” went on television, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark Brown Vs. Board of Education decision against the Topeka, Kansas School Board, outlawing segregated schools in America. In six seasons on television, June Cleaver never once mentioned this historic decision.

About a year before “Leave It to Beaver” began its six year run Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Montgomery Improvement Association successfully broke the back of segregated public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama. June Cleaver never uttered a word about it.

In 1960 doctors and scientist seeking to give women control over their reproductive health introduced the “birth control pill.” This simple medical miracle revolutionized dating, sexual habits, and marriage in America and around the world. It was never mentioned by June Cleaver.

In 1960 John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic to become President of the United States. June Cleaver never noticed.

The question is “why?” The answer is that June Cleaver and the other characters of “Leave It to Beaver” are not real people. They are invented symbols of what some one wanted American life to be; they are not a reflection of what American life is or was, ever! June Cleaver and her family are “symbols” or better yet, “projections” of some one’s ideas of what America was in their minds or what America should be.

Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, the two white men who originated and wrote the “Leave It to Beaver” program were also writers of both the radio and television versions of “Amos N’ Andy” (from 1943 to 1960). (“Amos ‘N Andy” was originated by two other white men, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in 1928).

Connelly and Mosher were doing the same thing with the scripts for both programs: selling a message of what life in America ought to be. They had a central message for both shows: “This is who we are.” The “Amos ‘N Andy” program reinforced stereotypical bigotry while “Leave it to Beaver” reinforced a message of prosperity and greatness.

It made no difference to Connelly and Mosher that both messages were untrue; it was a message that helped sell products and solidify a nation. In other words Connelly and Mosher were using the media to shape a national consciousness. By their portrayals of ideal personalities, they invited people to either accept these roles, at the least, or aspire to them, at the most. Millions of Americans did both.

June Cleaver said, “Things are good. Your husband is your refuge. Your children are well behaved. There are no problems inside or outside of your home.” This was only true on Maple Street or Pine Street in Mapleton, USA, a make-believe house on a make-believe street in a make-believe town. In the real America people were catching hell everywhere. (During the six year run of the show, the Cleavers lived on Maple St. and Pine St.)

Sarah Palin is June Cleaver all over again. She tells us that all of America lives in Mapleton, and we are all married to Ward Cleaver. In her world there are no problems that a smile and wink can’t change. “There have been some mistakes with this war and with this administration,” says Palin during the debate, “as with all administrations,” never once admitting that the war in Iraq was wrong to begin with and that this administration has been eight long years of bumble and stumble, always going from bad to worse.

Sarah Palin, a.k.a., June Cleaver, wants the world to believe that all is well with Ward, Wally, and the Beaver. This is not true. Mapleton does not exist, not even in Wasilla, Alaska, a place more than two thousand miles from main stream America. Ward is a drunk, and June Cleaver has no idea what her children are doing or with whom they are doing it.

Sarah Palin and June Cleaver are a marketing package. Those who made the package have little or no concern for the content, because there is no content. The package is empty, but it makes no difference as long as it is pretty and makes people feel good. It’s the package that is being sold, not the content. People look at the package, the outer wrapping that is June Cleaver and Sarah Palin, and identify with them, want to be them or to be like them, not knowing that what they are seeing really doesn’t exist. Even the package is make-believe.

There is no June Cleaver. Connelly and Mosher made her up just like the Republican handlers made up Sarah Palin on Thursday night. Palin was as much make believe at the debate on Thursday night as June Cleaver was in her high hills and pearls doing her gardening. Any serious candidate for a national office would know at least one landmark Supreme Court case.

I see June Cleaver every time some slick politician tries to sway my vote by zeroing in on a candidate’s religion, church, or its leader, or sell a package that says “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction,” or tries to convince me that his screw-ups are really “a mission accomplished.”

I see June Cleaver every time I see someone inaugurated to high public office who is not qualified to be county dog catcher, and who won the office because his/her team of magicians were able to distract voters long enough to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

I see June Cleaver every time some “nickel slick, shinny dime” high priced Madison Avenue political advertising machine picks up someone who is as dumb as a box of rocks, stuffs them full of irrelevant facts and figures, and trots them out like a show horse before adoring fans.

It seems to me that the mess that has inundated this nation as a result of eight years of George Bush’s “June Cleaver-like leadership” would be enough to break America from this silly notion that “the person in the office doesn’t matter as long as he/she has the right ideology and the right people around him/her.

It does matter, stupid! June Cleaver doesn’t have enough sense to change from a cocktail frock and heels, into slacks and sneakers when she is doing her gardening. How do you think she can run a nation?

Has anyone seen June Cleaver? No! Even the people who thought they saw her were only seeing the “make-believe.”

Sarah Palin, Marionette

Webster's New World Dictionary defines a marionette as "a puppet or little jointed doll moved by strings or wires from above..." This is exctly what we saw tonight with Sarah Palin in the "debate" with Joe Biden. As a marionette, she performed well. I think Sarah Palin did exactly what she was hired to do: answer some questions, cloud over the facts and truths of the present Republican administration, and obscure the record of her running mate, John McCain. She did not make obvious gaffes and stumbles as was expected. This was good.

But the truth of the matter remains: Sarah Palin is not qualified to be “a heartbeat away from the presidency.” Governor Palin’s handlers prepped her well and she came out kind of sporty, and some may even say cocky, but in the end it was clear that she is not “the person for the job.”

The other day I heard John McCain talking about “got cha” journalism. Well, tonight Sarah Palin’s talking points were a lot of “got cha” moments. I think that she thought she was good, but what she showed me is plain and simple: she is not qualified.

Let’s put aside all partisan politics and come directly to the issue at hand: Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president in the occasion of John McCain being incapacitated or his unexpected death in office.

Sarah Palin is trying to find herself; she is not sure of whom she is. I think self-discovery is a great thing, but not at the expense of the American taxpayer and especially not at this critical time in our history.

It’s easy to look at her answers, compare these answers to answers that she gave to questions asked earlier by nationally known news commentators, and conclude that this woman is a black board that many people are writing on. She is not answering these questions; the handlers are.

There are plenty of Republican women who are qualified and who would do both their party and the nation good in the contest and in the White House: Jodi Rell of Connecticut and Kaye Bailey Hutchinson of Texas are among them.

There is something awfully sexist and patronizing about choosing a most unqualified woman for this job when there is a vast number of qualified women in business and politics in America from which to choose.

She did do well in the debate tonight. By this I mean there were no obvious gaffes or snafus. But it is possible to teach a dog to sing. I am not saying that Sarah Palin is a dog. I am saying that Sarah Palin is unqualified to be Vice President of the United States, and that her answers tonight before “omteen million voters” were answers designed to appeal to a certain demographic group, i.e. “Middle America,” or the American Middle Class.

This is the demographic group that we will have to thank and curse if John McCain and Sarah Palin win the election. It is frightening to conclude that a whole demographic group of people can be persuaded to vote against their own self-interest based on fear and ignorance. Sarah Palin’s task was not to answer questions about domestic or foreign policy, but to appear to be “like us,” the vast middle class.

At some point America will have to see that what we need in government is someone who is not like us, someone with a worldview broader and wider than our own. Xenophobia and myopic points of view only serve the small minds that conceive them. They never serve the greater good. The middle class must be taught to be unafraid of change, and unafraid of others.

I was particularly put off by her scapgoating of the leaders of the nations of Iran and Cuba. America must walk away from this xenophobic arrogance. What will change in the world if the American President talks with the President of Iran? How Will the ecosystem be altered if the President of the United States has a conversation with the leader of Cuba? Will time stand still? Will the sun stop shining, or grass refuse to grow, or will cattle world wide suddenly miscarry? Stop being stupid! This kind of thinking sounds like people who believe that girls get preganant from kissing.

Just this group of high school, sophomoric answers to important questions was enogh to make me want to gag. I don't think she understands that there is George Bush's "Mission Accomplished" world, where America sets the universal agenda, and people run, hop, and skip at the call of the United States, and then there is the real world, where other nation-states are as kean about seeking their own interests as we are about seeking ours.

And yet I don't believe that Sarah’s answers reflected what she actually believes. I say this primarily because I don't think that Sarah knows yet what she believes. Other than the right to life issue, it will probably take Sarah another five to seven years to develop a real theory of government and a genuine philosophy of public policy.

In the mean-time Sarah was supposed to obey her handlers, take care of her children, and draw her check from the State of Alaska. This would have made for a very comfortable life. Instead, John McCain, a very ambitious man, stepped in looking for an ambitious woman. I do not fault Sarah Palin for seeking office in Wassila, or in the Alaska State House, or even the Governor’s Mansion in Alaska. But she knew she was not qualified to be Vice-President and should have turned the offer down.

Let me make this simple and clear: When inept, unqualified people come to power “Nine-Eleven” happens, the Iraqi War happens, the disaster of Katrina happens, and the Wall Street melt down happens. When unintelligent, inept, unqualified people are given power destruction follows. Vast numbers of people suffer from their ineptness, and answering a few questions from talking points put together by savvy handlers will not mask that ignorance.

For the last eight years (under George Bush) we have not had policies, foreign or domstic, instead we have had stumblings. In short, the American policy has become whatever resulted from the bumblings of the "Idiot-in-Chief," and those around him. Can we afford this for another four years? I think not!

It appears that with Sarah Palin the puppet handler is moving the strings of a puppet. This has been the case with George Bush and Dick Chaney. It will be the case with John McCain and Sarah Palin, if they are elected, or in some other way come to power.

Bristol Palin's Baby's Father Speaks

While I am not in favor of supporting or not supporting political candidates based on their bedroom decisions or the sexual actions of those around them, I do hope the main stream media pursues the alledged paternity of Bristol Palin's baby as much as they pursued the Jeremiah Wright matter.

If Kevin, the African American young man on the video, is the baby's real father it should be known. Gov. Palin, her husband Todd, and Bristol should be asked why Levi Johnson was paraded on the world stage of the Republican National Convention as the baby's father, and not Kevin (if Kevin is the real father).

I was sent this video today and was told to check it out before it was pulled off the Internet.
Click here: Father of Bristol Palin's baby speaks - Related Indian Videos, Bollywood Videos - SmasHits.com http://utube.smashits.com/video/VELIG92GDXw/Father-of-Bristol-Palin-s-baby-speaks.html

"Let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream" Amos 5:24)

Nonsense

The speechifying, pontificating, and parading of the politicians and the punditry of the Republican National Convention has been over now for about five days. As expected John McCain and his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, have received a “bump” in the polls. In some polls McCain-Palin lead Obama-Biden by 5 to 10 points. McCain and Palin have unleashed new television ads proclaiming themselves as “mavericks.”

This is pure nonsense. How can anyone who has voted for foolishness 90% of the time be a maverick from the same foolishness? It seems that Sarah Palin may have been a maverick from her husband a couple of times, but that’s about as far as her maverick moves have gone.

The Republican Convention was nonsense. It claims to be the party of morality and “Christian values;” yet it paraded before the country a list of people with the worst moral records of anybody in politics. Rudy Giuliani was one of their main speakers. This is the man who declared war on African Americans in New York City by basically telling the police, “If he is black, shoot to kill.”

When the nation and the city of New York went on a natural cycle of decrease in crime (probably occasioned by fewer births 18 to 20 years prior), Giuliani said that his polices brought about the decline. In other words, there were fewer criminals in New York City because the police killed all the black suspects on the street.

Every time I think of Giuliani I think of Abner Louima, a man brutalized by Giulinai’s ploice; and Amadou Diallo an innocent man killed by the same highly praised “men in blue.”

Giuliani is also the guy who began dating Judith Nathan (his present wife) while he was still married to Donna Hanover. He filed for divorced from Donna while they were both still living in Gracie Mansion. I happened to be in New York City on the day when Donna Hanover heard that Rudy Giuliani had filed for divorce: she heard it on the news the same as the rest of the city.

Don’t be angry with Giuliani. He was just following the pattern set down by his mentors Newt Gingrich and John McCain: both divorced their wives to marry younger women. At least Donna Hanover was not on her sickbed when she discovered that her sanctimonious husband was breaking vows that he made to God and her to marry a hot young thing.

Remember this is the party that gave us Mark Foley whose reputation with young boys is as bad as any Catholic priest. They also gave us the pit bull dog Tom Delay who flaunted the Constitution and tried to ignore the courts until someone showed him that not everybody was stupid.

Corruption. Speakers: DeLay, Cunningham, Cheney
Incompetence. Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney
Hypocrisy. Bush, Cheney, Foley, Craig, McCain
Constitution trampling. Bush, Cheney, Gonzales
LMAO
(I copied the above from a www.politico.com).

There was a speech by George W. Bush, the “Idiot-In-Chief.” Every time I see or hear of this guy I wonder, “How is it that Clinton could get impeached for having sex and lying about it and this guy lied to lead the nation into an unnecessary war where billions of dollars are wasted and thousands of lives are destroyed and few people in Congress have even pronounced the word “impeachment.”

Congress will have to pay for this misjudgment. But I hope that Bush doesn’t think that getting by and getting away are the same thing. They are not! “There is a law of justice and of retribution at work in the world. The arch of the moral universe is long but it bends towards right.”

The biggest piece of nonsense offered by this party was Sarah Palin. John McCain must be an artist because he found a canvass with nothing on it. She has absolutely no experience of any note to do anything like lead a sizeable government. And like most moralist, her biggest failings seem to be in the one area that she champions most: fidelity and family life. The internet blogs and the tabloids are full of stories of her infidelities.

The mainstream media is beginning to check her on some of her outright lies, such as her supposed opposition to the so-called “bridge to no where.” Maybe by the time the media gets through investigating her lovers, lies, and the ongoing investigations about her abuse of power we will know if she is really a “pit bull” with lips stick or just another term for a female dog in the heat of ambition.

While Sarah Palin and Giuliana made fun of Obama’s work as a community organizer I was waiting to hear some one describe anything that she had done to bring about community or to organize anything. Sarah Palin is a rubber stamp for someone and we have to find the identity of that person.

At the Republican Party Convention the fat cats from Halliburton, Citibank, Exxon, Texaco, BP, Boeing, Countrywide, Texas Instruments, and a thousand other multinational corporations said to the majority of American voters, “We think that you are so stupid that we can nominate a ham sandwich and win the election as long as the sandwich is the right color and repeats the right catch phrases.”

Looks like there maybe some truth in the assertion.

“Let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

Kick the Government and the Media Out of Your Bedroom

By now you have heard about John McCain’s V.P. choice, Governor Sarah Palin, and her 17 year old daughter’s pregnancy. The first news I heard was that Governor Palin’s youngest son, Trig, is actually her daughter Bristol’s child.

The rumor went on to say that Governor Sarah covered her daughter’s pregnancy and pretended that daughter Bristol’s baby was actually the governor’s. Now the blogosphere, cable, and network news are a-wash in Hurricane Gustav and “whose pregnant” stories.

I am greatly relieved that the story about Governor Palin and her son, Trig, is not true, at least I hope that it is not. I am glad that this story is not true because had it been there is no doubt that the media would have focused our attention away from issues of substance to intricately investigate every fleck and speck of what is now being called “baby-gate.”

We will still be feted with unsolicited information about 17 year old Bristol and her soon to be husband Levi: who he is, where she got pregnant, how many times they had sex, did they use a condom?, etc, etc.,

My problem with this kind of information as it regards a presidential campaign is two-fold. First, I am sick and tired of bedroom issues defining who is and who is not qualified to lead or be a part of government.

What happens or doesn’t happen in a person’s bedroom life should not be the factor to determine his/her eligibility for public office. I would like to see politicians move away from building their careers on decisions about what goes on people’s bedrooms, either other people’s or their own.

Does anyone remember Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, and the fifty million dollars that Kenneth Star spent investigating the affair? President Clinton lied when asked about the affair and was then the subject of impeachment proceedings.

The most important matter that led up to the impeachment was whether or not the president lied about the affair. But for me that is not the most important matter. The most important matter is that the president should not have been asked if he was having an affair in the first place. Government has no business in the bedrooms of free people.

My only problem with the supposed arrangement concerning Governor Palin’s son, Trig, (when it was supposed that the baby was actually her daughter Bristol’s child), is the element of lying, deception, and hypocrisy. While I believe she should have the same privacy I would accord Bill Clinton, I think it would be wrong to pass off a baby as yours to conceal that your daughter has had a child.

This would be a deception not for privacy, but to buttress a certain image, and thereby to gain political advantage. But absent these factors, I see no problem with her adopting and raising her grandson, if he is her grandson.

My second problem with this story is why the media had to make Bristol’s pregnancy “news.” If the only news is that Governor Palin’s 17 year old daughter is pregnant, I do not see this as news at all, “except…!” It’s not news except that Governor Palin’s positions on sex education, use of condoms and other birth control measures, makes it news.

She opposes every measure that would give women and girls, especially poor woman and girls, a fighting chance at succeeding in life, without the struggle to raise unwanted children. If Governor Palin had supported measures that would have allowed her daughter and her boyfriend (and others) to get the proper information, Bristol might not be pregnant today. "An ounce of prevention is worth..." At least its worth not being pregnant and not having to consider abortion.

In my opinion Governor Palin is the quintessential “bedroom issue politician.” The crux of this kind of politics is this: “Don’t think about the senseless war, or the failing mortgage situation, inadequate healthcare, and the crumbling infrastructure.

Don’t put your mind on the ten billion dollars per month that we are wasting in Iraq, while Americans are loosing their standard of living and being put out of their homes; don’t think about failing schools and the fact that America has one of the highest dropout rates in the Western world---just keep your mind on this one important truth: “If you elect me, I will stop all this illicit sex!!!” That’s a key plank in the Republican platform.

I don’t care who had whose baby or who is having a baby for whom. When it comes to government I want to know, “How are we going to stop this senseless war that is draining our young people of life, limb, and sanity, our families of sons and daughters, and our pockets of much needed treasure?”

I want to know, “How are we going to stop the endless flow of jobs out of America, and when are we going to begin creating good jobs in America that will pay a living wage?” Forget who had a baby or who is going to have one.

I want to know when is government going to make the oil companies do what is right and responsible: stop price gouging the public with gas prices so steep that the average American can hardly afford to drive a car if they own one?

When is every American going to have adequate healthcare? When will sick people no longer have to choose between buying medicine or buying food?

When is government going to scrap the policy that if your elderly parents are sick and need nursing home care, they have to be broke and penniless before the government will help?

When will the American government use its considerable resources to train people who want to work and then put them to work rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure of our nation?

When will I be able to fly from Chicago to St. Louis without having to go to the airport two days before my flight leaves and then have to take off my clothes in public in order to board the flight?


Why does my government supply millions of dollars for students from foreign countries to go to college here but I have to mortgage my rear and my future to get a bachelor’s degree?


Not long ago in Minnesota a bridge spanning the Mississippi River collapsed. Many people died and many were injured. Here we are in the midst of a campaign to elect the person who will set the agenda for our nation and the priorities for our spending, and what’s in the news? Sarah Palin’s baby or Sarah Palin’s baby is having a baby! Give me a break!


Get out of people’s bedrooms and do the work the media was created to do: expose government so that it will do what it is supposed to do.

McCain’s Choice: Sarah Palin Compared to Barack Obama?

McCain’s Choice: Sarah Palin Compared to Barack Obama?


The Republican presumptive nominee, Senator John McCain, announced his choice for vice-presidential running mate on Friday, August 29, 2008. He chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Immediately, the McCain Campaign and the right wing media pundits began to spew out comparisons between Gov. Palin and Sen. Obama that highlighted Gov. Palin’s “executive experience.” Now let’s get this straight: they want the voters to compare the experience and background of Sarah Palin to that of Barack Obama.

There is no comparison. Sarah Palin has not lived as much, seen as much, felt as much, run as fast, reached as high, grasped as much, accomplished as much, or come as far as has Barack Obama. There is absolutely no comparison between the life of cookie cutter suburbia and a black man born of interracial parents, raised by a single white mother, schooled in various countries and cultures around the world, mentored by white grandparents, got a degree from Columbia and has a Harvard Law degree. A suburban soccer mom who became governor cannot be compared to a person who has struggled all his life to succeed and did so, choosing higher education and public service over drugs, prison, and failure.

Sarah Palin also fails the comparison test when it comes to experience in government. She fails because experience is not just about the position that you hold, but it is also about the quality of problems you have faced. The governor of an entire state with less than one fourth the population of the city of Chicago cannot encounter the same depth of problems and challenges as a State Senator from the Southside of Chicago (population of Alaska: 670,000; population of Chicago: 3 million).

Sarah Palin has been mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a suburb of Anchorage. Wasilla has a population of 8,500 whereas Hyde Park, the district that Senator Obama represented in the Illinois Senate, has a population of 29,920. This Chicago neighborhood is three and half times larger than the town of Wasilla. The point is that this nation and the world are now beset with the kind of problems that one is not prepared for by being a mayor in “soccer-mom suburbia” or the governor of a state with a population equal to that of Memphis, Tennessee.

John McCain did not choose Sarah Palin for her so called “experience,” but to try to capture the disaffected “Hillary Clinton voters.” This means women who wanted to break the glass ceiling of American politics by making Hillary Clinton the first female presidential nominee from a major party, and hopefully the first female president of the United States. What’s wrong with that?

The problem with the choice and the thinking behind it is that John McCain, and those around him, act as if any woman is the right woman. Hillary Clinton won the millions of votes that she did because, like Barack Obama, she has worked outside of “white bread America” and “soccer mom heaven” long enough to be acquainted with the problems that everyday Americans face. She has seen the face of America up close. She has seen the affects of racism and bigotry, sexism and the glass ceiling. She has witnessed the results of inadequate healthcare, and like Obama she has studied ways of solving these problems. There is no evidence that Sarah Palin even knows these problems exist.

Every person who believes in women’s rights should be up in arms over this selection because it makes a mockery of women’s progress and female leadership. This selection says the best person to be a heart beat away from the presidency is a woman who doesn’t believe in a woman’s right to choose,* has no established policy on healthcare, knows nothing about foreign policy, and has no known domestic policy. In other words she was chosen simply because she was a woman governor of relatively unknown background. It’s like replacing Thurgood Marshall with Clarence Thomas simply because Thomas is black. This is like replacing a roaring and majestic lion with a tabby cat simply because they are both of the feline family.

Any woman voting for John McCain because Sarah Palin is on the ticket is not thinking, and may even be siding with her own ideological enemy.

*The writer of this blog is not a proponent of abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or the mother’s life is in danger.

The most unfortunate fact about abortion is that it occurs whether legal or illegal. When abortions are illegal poor woman are butchered in back alleys, while rich woman are listed in hospital registrations as having appendectomies. The author believes that spiritual, governmental, and academic communities should promote programs that teach abstinence as well as safe sex and thereby reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. The author does not believe that teaching safe sex encourages sexual promiscuity, but that in many cases it prevents a person from being faced with a choice that includes abortion.