Help! (please!)

KibbutzAmiad

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Sunday September 18, 2011 · 8:26 AM PDT

2011/09/18 · 08:26

I need some help - got a little to give? 'Cause I'm starting to fear...

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday September 10, 2011 · 5:00 PM PDT

2011/09/10 · 17:00

A shocking confession: I've never been known for my sunny, "glass half full" outlook. My daughter refers to me as "Daria", the cartoon character of gloom, angst, and bleakness. But even by my grim standards, the past year has been remarkably miserable, and it's taken a strange, and cumulative toll.

WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 03, 2011 · 3:05 PM PDT

2011/08/03 · 15:05

The sun was settin' the rocks on fire
The fields blisterin' with the heat
When the militia came marchin' through our town
Knockin' sparks off the little streets
The priest watched them from his front door
The sweat sparklin' on his skin
When they burned his little chapel down
He grabbed his missal and his gun
I must go down to Wexford town
Where the lightnin cracks the air
And the people sing of freedom
They've banished all despair
The coward dies a million times
The freeman dies just once
So here's to you revolution
May your flame keep burnin' 'til
We meet our Armageddon
Up high on Vinegar Hill

KibbutzAmiad for KosAbility

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday May 08, 2011 · 2:00 PM PDT

2011/05/08 · 14:00

"Delayed"
"Cognitively impaired"
Special / Retarded / Feeble minded / Moron / Simpleton / Imbecile / Cretin
Idiot / Challenged

Pick your category.

These are only some of the labels, past and present, describing people – human beings – who have or are perceived to have, learning abilities and skills that are considered, by various arbitrary measuring sticks, sub-par.
.

KosAbility is a community diary series posted at 5 PM ET every Sunday and Wednesday by volunteer diarists. This is a gathering place for people who are living with disabilities, who love someone with a disability, or who want to know more about the issues surrounding this topic. There are two parts to each diary. First, a volunteer diarist will offer their specific knowledge and insight about a topic they know intimately. Then, readers are invited to comment on what they've read and or ask general questions about disabilities, share something they've learned, tell bad jokes, post photos, or rage about the unfairness of their situation. Our only rule is to be kind; trolls will be spayed or neutered.

Disclaimer: Not every person so labeled faces all the discrimination, isolation, and segregation I describe below. I know there are many good people working hard in special education to change some of what I describe. And there are individuals who thrive despite the bigotry and obstancles. But many suffer profoundly - I would say "most" do - and once the individual ages out of the school system, the real misery can just be starting.... Read More

We don't all call dinosaurs Jesus ponies: The tale of a progressive homeschooler

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 20, 2011 · 11:13 AM PDT

2011/04/20 · 11:13

Yes, I know the stereotype. Say, "Homeschooler" and this is what you think of :

The Blue Jumper of Oppression.

Poll

392 votes Show Results

Homeschoolers believe:

392 votes Vote Now!

Homeschoolers believe:

Jesus rode dinosaurs

26 votes

the earth is 6000 years old

26 votes

Jesus was a supply sider

31 votes

All kinds of things - just like other citizens....

309 votes

My Dinner with Kyle, or the loneliness of the religious progressive

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 18, 2011 · 10:57 AM PDT

2011/04/18 · 10:57

Is there anything lonelier than a progressive with spiritual - let alone mystical -inclinations? I was once the only non-fundamentalist Christian in a homeschool support group, and that was pretty grim. (At one curriculum meeting I got cornered by three women in Tammy Faye Bakker makeup wanting to "lay hands on me") But it's paled in comparison to my experiences as a person of faith - albeit a pretty non-traditional rendering of faith - on the left.

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 17, 2011 · 7:47 AM PDT

2011/04/17 · 07:47

George Bernard Shaw is the author of the quote on "hate" that entitles this diary. It came to mind when I was reading, in some awe, of Donald Trump's curious rise to the top of the GOP's popular candidate list. I was baffled by Bush, shocked by Sarah, and horrified by Huckabee.

But - Trump? He of the relentless self-promotion, the ridiculous combover, the dumb t.v. show? I didn't see that one coming.

Poll

175 votes Show Results

I know a "Birther" in real life

175 votes Vote Now!

I know a "Birther" in real life

yes

97 votes

53 votes

if I did, I wouldn't admit it

25 votes

"Feel so Near...." - pagan music 911

KibbutzAmiad for Pagan and Wiccan Kossacks

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday March 28, 2011 · 6:50 PM PDT

2011/03/28 · 18:50

It's universal, transcends culture and language and class and for me, at least, is a lifesaver.

For the past six months, I've felt little but anger and grief. I've tried to pray, to meditate, to light candles, to read, to connect with nature, but the all-consuming nature of this level of grief is an effective trip wire to all the usual practices that brought me comfort.

Only music has succeeded in making me feel connected, again, even temporarily, to this place that I'm not entirely sure I want to be right now - life - and beyond that, to the universal, to others, to God/Goddess. I'd always taken music for granted, but now, even on days that I forget to eat, I cannot forget music, because otherwise, I don't find the energy to do whatever it is that needs done to function. Not poetic, but raw: I never realized that it is a necessity, not a luxury; that music, perhaps as much as love, is essential to being human.

I'm from a Jewish background and still embrace many Jewish traditions, but really, my beliefs are reflected better in my altar and my bookcase. I practice an earth based Goddess embracing faith, and the music I have found most sustaining recently are songs that evoke, for me at least, those beliefs.

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 26, 2011 · 3:23 PM PDT

2011/03/26 · 15:23

Good news for the shareholders in the mega pharmaceutical company, Bristol Myers Squibb: the FDA just approved the drug ipilimumab, also know as "Yervoy", for use in metastatic melanoma.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co shares rose 3.2 percent to close at $27.29 after the Food and Drug Administration approved its drug under the brand name Yervoy for patients in the late stages of the disease. Analysts see sales reaching $820 million in 2015, according to Thomson Reuters.

KibbutzAmiad for Chicago Suburban Progressives

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Friday March 25, 2011 · 12:29 PM PDT

2011/03/25 · 12:29

　“I can do without your money,” she cried. “I’m making money out of Johnnie Gallegher’s mill, plenty of it, now that I don’t use free darkies and I have some money out on mortgages and we are coining cash at the store from the darky trade.”
　 “Yes, so I heard. How clever of you to rook the helpless and the widow and the orphan and the ignorant! But if you must steal, Scarlett, why not steal from the rich and strong instead of the poor and weak? From Robin Hood on down to now, that’s been considered highly moral.”
　“Because,” said Scarlett shortly, “it’s a sight easier and safer to steal—as you call it—from the poor.”
　He laughed silently, his shoulders shaking.
　“You’re a fine honest rogue, Scarlett!”

You could pretty easily envision most of our elected officials, after a few bourbons, being as honest as Scarlett, and with few edits to her words.

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 12, 2011 · 3:40 PM PST

2011/03/12 · 15:40

This one's bigger than an elephant and a lot more dangerous.

It's spectre is invoked in the run up to elections, but is rarely spoken of otherwise.

The power of the word used to be seriously discussed by the media, as it was considered the most vital part of the food chain.

No more, though. It is the truth that dares not speak it's name, or more precisely, the truth who's name no politician dares to speak.

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

So what are you willing to risk?

KibbutzAmiad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 11, 2011 · 4:17 PM PST

2011/03/11 · 16:17

Do you know the origins of the celebration of May 1, May Day, as a worker's holiday? (everywhere but the US, of course, where the origins of the day lie....) It is derived from the events surrounding the Haymarket riots, of course. Haymarket riots

In Chicago, you can visit Waldheim Cemetery and the graves of many who struggled for social and economic justice, including the Haymarket martyrs.

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

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Help! (please!)

WYFP: Doom & Despair edition

The Lessons of Vinegar Hill, or why we can prevail

KosAbility: The Special, the Challenged, & The "R" Word

We don't all call dinosaurs Jesus ponies: The tale of a progressive homeschooler

My Dinner with Kyle, or the loneliness of the religious progressive

“Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated”

"Feel so Near...." - pagan music 911

Profitable are the sick, for they shall be exploited

The Scarlett O'Hara School of Politics

The velociraptor in the room

So what are you willing to risk?