Inspired to activism

As I sit and watch the Republican National Convention and listen to the high nasally whine issuing from a modern bee-hived Anti-choice, gun totting momma who thinks being on the PTA is qualifications for vice-presidency, I feel a semi-truck tire slowly inflating inside my head and spinning trying to grind its way through my temples. The weight of the tire presses on my neck and puts pressure in my shoulders and my jaws clench.

Being part of the PTO only shows some qualifications, that a parent is involved, not necessarily qualified to lead. All I have to do is think of our own PTO at our school. "Meth Mom" comes to school quite often and stays involved, even if she isn't allowed to chaperone field trips. "Cat Lady" comes every morning to the morning assembly where we say the pledge of allegiance, have a moment of silence, and listen to the announcements before going on to class. The reek of alcohol usually only comes off of "Cat Lady" just before or just after the weekends. Wednesdays seem to be good for a no alcohol smell, since the stench from the weekend has been washed off and the new bender hasn't started yet, since the paycheck doesn't come til Friday. Rumor has it our own PTO president didn't pass the police background check and isn't allowed in the school until the children are gone. Yeah, PTO isn't necessarily where someone really hones their leadership skills.

I had been a Hillary girl, but had wavered since I had met and learned about Obama back when I was teaching at Western Illinois University for a summer. Obama was just a name and a hand shaker in a crowd where I knew I would be returning to Florida to try to out Katherine Harris as my representative. The more I heard Hillary the more I liked what I heard, but Obama I knew would win the national nomination. I didn't really think voting for Hillary would hurt. I could show my support but know in the end I would vote for Obama and the Democratic Party. I also thought that McCain I could live with; he couldn't possibly be as bad as W.

That was before McCain named his vice-presidential pick. Palin and her ANTI-choice complete me scares me. As a teenage mother I know how much support/money/energy I received from others to make it to where I am now. If I wouldn't have had parents who were willing to give up weekends and evenings to baby-sit, I wouldn't have been able to work to afford Vincent. If I didn't have a dad and even Tommy's family to baby-sit while I was taking classes I never would have been able to start, let alone finish, college. I had more money, support, and schooling than most single, seventeen year-olds. Vincent was MY choice because I had the ability. The government didn't say that he was my only choice when I got pregnant. I watch Bristol with empathy and nod, yes, her mom as governor or vice-president could probably help out financially, but what about the legal decisions Palin will try to force down the people of America's throats. What about those women who didn't have a choice about pregnancy? schooling? What about those women raped? What about medical emergencies? What about the right to keep the government from controlling my body?

I go to school every day and pray to God (yes, Democrats do believe) that my children's parents don't have guns, especially "Meth Mom", "Cat Lady", and "Library Dad". "Library Dad" actually did have a gun and pistol whipped his wife during a weekend bender and threatened to kidnap their daughter. We had a school lock-down for a week and police stationed at the front doors during the morning assembly and afternoon dismissal. I can think of better use of police hours than to keep someone who shouldn't have been able to get a gun (legally, I might add) in the first place. I read about the teachers in Texas who lobbied and received the right to take guns to school with them and I shudder. Do those teachers know the danger they are putting themselves in? Guns aren't the answer. Take it from a girl whose grandfather went moose hunting in Canada before Alaska was a state and whose father owns the very hunting rifles used to shoot those Canadian moose. Those guns will never be in my house.

The high buzzing whine last night jibed the media for raising questions about her qualifications and decisions, but then toots her own horn for saying she didn't take the bridge to nowhere. Several of those agencies she jibed did some research. I was able to actually listen to her as governor or mayor on the radio, I'm not sure which, talk to the people of Ketchikan telling them how she supported the bridge. The Ketchikan people would be able to use the airport (200,000 people use per year) without taking a ferry. She may have said "thanks, but no thanks" but she still took the $23 million for Alaska.

I feel a knot in my stomach grow as I think about what four years of the McCain-Palin tyranny may produce for the schools. Wasn't No Child Left Behind (Every Child Left Behind) enough? Teaching creationism in schools, Ms. Palin? I'm all for religious freedom, but when a cat hides its head in a corner thinking it can't be seen, it still is seen. Creationism just is a fallacy. Abstinence? Did it work teaching it in your own family, Ms. Palin? Global warming, not man made? Did the polar bears you didn't put on the endangered species list cause it? I won't even talk about the war. . . "God's task"?

My head throbs, knots in my stomach grow, my shoulders stiffen until I realized...hey! I was OK with McCain winning before all this came out. I would have voted for Obama and let the cards fall as they may. Now, I don't think that can happen. I've been inspired. Perry and I will be volunteering for the southern Indiana Obama campaign (Hillary territory in the primary but projected Republican...not if I can help it). If a Democrat needs a ride to the polls, I'll take the day off from teaching (McCain may want to help me find another job because of that) to drive them there.

I'm not even going to touch vindictive-gate. Having had to go through a nasty custody battle myself (Bristol beware...custody battles can be a result of teenage pregnancies), I can understand the frustration of the court system, but you still can't use your influence to make it go differently. I know, I used to dream of being an IRS auditor. I would have loved to audit some of those people who most irritated me.

Few people have made me feel like retching like Palin has. It is a short list...W. (of course), Lisa Robechek (see "Blast from the..." who has a striking similarity with Palin), Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Rosie, Tommy, and - since I was young - Columb0 and the "Rockford Files."

McCain I might have a beer with, maybe even buy him the beer. Palin I'm afraid I might spit in her beer before I gave it to her.

- - Stephanie