I am pro-Choice.  That means I am the decider when it comes to issues of personal health, personal happiness, and personal wealth…and with that, the distribution of such wealth.  Today, I have made the personal choice to strike the Susan G. Komen Foundation from my list of annual giving.  I choose to put people above politics, to fund local centers directly, and to get my green out of the pink so to speak.  In light of the Foundation’s recent decision to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, I will no longer race for the organization, bike for the organization, walk three days for the organization, or snowshoe for the organization.  Yes, I said snowshoe.

Now, the Komen foundation denies that it caved to political pressure from the right wing when it threw Planned Parenthood and thousands of poor women under the anti-abortion bus.  Personally, I believe the somewhat rose-colored organization is showing it’s true colors…yellow.  Komen sites the ongoing federal investigation into tax-payer funding of Planned Parenthood as the impetus behind revoking the funding.  Komen conveniently ignores the pink pachyderm in the room in that this investigation hinges on an ideologically based report by the anti-abortion organization, Americans United for Life.  This investigation smacks of Congressional over-reach by Rep Cliff Stearns (R-FL), and let’s face it, the ACORN doesn’t fall far from the tree.  To the Komen foundation, I say fine, investigate, but what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

This is what really stinks.  All tied up in a nice, pink, bow is the Komen Foundation’s new Vice President of Public Policy, Karen Handel.  Supported by Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, and Fox News pundit, Sarah Palin, Ms. Handel made it perfectly clear in her primary bid for Georgia governor last year that she planned to eliminate grants for Planned Parenthood.  In a statement on her campaign blog dated July, 2010:  “During my time as Chairman of Fulton County, there were federal and state pass-through grants that were awarded to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screening, as well as a ‘Healthy Babies Initiative’…Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate them as your next Governor.”  The Komen VP may have failed in her bid for governor of the Peach State, but not in her pledge to defund Planned Parenthood.

Handel also posted, July, 2010: “I am staunchly and unequivocally pro-life. I believe in the sanctity and inherent dignity of human life, and I will be a pro-life governor who will work tirelessly to promote a culture of life in Georgia…. I believe that each and every unborn child has inherent dignity, that every abortion is a tragedy, and that government has a role, along with the faith community, in encouraging women to choose life in even the most difficult of circumstances…. since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood.”

Come on, Ms. Handel.  Abortion makes up about 3% of what Planned Parenthood provides as services.  In the last five years, aided with funds from the Komen Foundation, Planned Parenthood provided 170,000 breast exams and 6,400 mammogram referrals to low income women, who otherwise, in the United Stated of America, would have been left out of the healthcare system.

In this political climate, it’s pretty easy to play political football with the lives of the poor.  It makes for a good sound bite to say you are a person of faith, but let’s face it, doesn’t it seem that you are a little too heavenly minded at times to do much earthly good?  I am pro-choice, but I am also pro-life.  My working definition, however, is not that life begins at conception and ends at birth.  Life lasts, well, a lifetime.  And for the needy and the least among us, that lifetime could be pretty short with no early cancer detection and no screening.

On the charity’s website, Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of the Susan G. Komen Foundation asks at the end of her statement expressing her sister’s story, “Could one person really make a difference?”  Yes, Ms. Brinker, I certainly think so…it’s your choice what kind of difference you intend to make.  Perhaps the race for the cure you should be worried about is blind ideology.  It, too, is a cancer that should be cut out.

As regular readers of the ‘Schmootz blog can attest, I don’t write about myself very often…at least outside of my political ponderings or entertainment selections that I deem personally worthy (or unworthy) of a viewer’s time.  I tend to observe the world from thirty thousand feet looking down, instead of from ground level looking up and out.  I know, it’s safer that way, and I don’t pretend it as anything else.  I’m not above a few Freudian defense mechanisms of my own.  Lately, though, I have been writing from the deep, personal trenches, and whether the results will ever see the light of day, it remains to be seen.  What I do know is that this reflective experience, coupled with a few curves life has thrown at my family as of late, has compelled me to reflect upon my good fortunes and to appreciate more the plentitude of which I am graced.

In a couple of days, I’ll sit down to the American holiday of Thanksgiving, where pepper spray seems to be this year’s condiment of choice.  As I occupy my thoughts, I surmise that I am certainly not one of the richest of Americans when comparing bank accounts, though let me say here, I am extremely relieved and much obliged that I have a good job that provides an ample surplus for my actual needs.  Where I do find an obscene abundance of wealth, however, is in the indices where monetary estimations are difficult to apply.  It is here that I find myself in the fortunate 1% of love, family, and friends.  As a result, I feel that I should be liberally taxed to expound upon my thankfulness in proportion to my earnings.

My partner and I, though legally unwed and filing separately, have been together for quite a few years.  I believe in a Kardashian matrimonial timeline, we have been in power-of-attorney bliss something synonymous to the Pleistocene era.  I often refer to her as my better three-quarters because I believe a realistic relationship it is never 50-50.  Just like the Dow Jones, there are emotional ups and downs, mostly due to speculation, but there has never been an extended period that I didn’t receive a special dividend like hearing the garage door go up after a long day and knowing she will walk through the door at any minute; like waking in the middle of the night to a head on my shoulder and an arm across my chest; like her mother’s difficult chicken soup recipe when I have a cold (the only time she ever cooks); like that extra vote of confidence to push me over the top and that honest shot of humility to pull me back from the edge.  For that, I am eternally thankful.

Over the years, I have made quite the capital gain in friends, and I can honestly say that  we anxiously rely on common shares of each other’s company.  From technical advice, to new grilling techniques, to obscure pop culture trivia, our investments in these mutual corporations of real personhoods have certainly paid off.  What might have started from some obscure individual fund, now matures as virtual writing advice over mutual morning coffee or hours long Skype exchanges half the world away.  There is a saying that you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.  As far as I’m concerned, no statement has ever been more true, but speculation has served me quite well over the years, and I have a few friends who are more of a family asset and thankfully come with a lifetime guarantee…one in particular, an inheritance over several lifetimes.

So, yes, I am a one-percenter.  I am blessed with a wealth of intangible assets that have been created by a loving work effort yet defy physical measurement.  I say tax me more so that that there is such a thing as an equal share of a grateful, giving heart.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone…it is my sincere hope that you add goodwill and kindness to your balance sheet.

Reiterating without repose the sad commonality that corporations are people, Republican presidential frontrunner, Rick Perry (R-TX), compared the GOP fight for lower corporate taxes to the Civil Rights Movement.  I’m not making this up.  Yesterday, on the day the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was opened in Washington, DC, Governor Perry was speaking to a group in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  Yes, South Carolina, where the first shots of successful southern succession were fired.  When asked if he cared to comment on the state’s place in Civil Rights history, Perry began to correlate the need of freedom from over-taxation, over-litigation, and over-regulation to the struggle of civil freedoms in our nation’s history.  Watch.

Well, yeah, now that you mention it, Governor, why should CEO billionaires be forced to sit in the back of the limo?  Where is the justice?!  Perhaps we could all get behind a new Corporate Civil Rights Act that will ban discrimination based on bank accounts.  Anyone?

Please, Governor, don’t mess with my intelligence.  To compare your fight to increase the wealth of your campaign donors to the struggle of African Americans in a 1960’s segregated South is a travesty.  How in the hell can you include in the same breath tax loopholes for millionaires, tort reform to protect millionaires, and lax oil and gas rules applied to billion dollar big oil to the beatings, burning, and bigotry of an entire race of human beings?

Governor Perry didn’t you learn anything about the Freedom Rides of 1961?  How about the Little Rock Nine?  The dogs and the water cannon in Birmingham, Alabama?  Surely you have heard of the Ku Klux Klan?  Perhaps you could name an important Supreme Court Decision…like Brown vs. Board of Education?

I guess we know now why the State of Texas is revising all the history text books.

Last week I posted my displeasure at General Mills and RE/MAX for pulling their advertising dollars from ABC Family’s drama, Pretty Little Liars, in response to pressure from the Florida Family Association regarding the lesbian character on the teen-focused programming.  Rather than rehashing the erroneous and deprecating depiction from the socially conservative Florida-based group, take a look here.

In response to the backlash, General Mills released a statement on their website, and representatives from the corporation also responded personally to me, and I am sure other bloggers across the web.  In an attempt to clarify what General Mills feels is a misinterpretation of their position, Jeff Hagen, Director of Consumer services for General Mills, and whose initial correspondence was posted on the FFA website, emailed me with this response:

Thank you for your email, and for giving us the opportunity to respond.

As you have read, General Mills is not a sponsor of the television program Pretty Little Liars.  Last week, we received an inquiry from an organization to advertisers on that program – and we responded that the program is not one that we sponsor.  That organization posted our response online, under the headline: “General Mills says NO to Pretty Little Liars Lesbian Content.”

That is and was incorrect.  That was not what we said.

General Mills does not make advertising placement decisions based on the sexual orientation of characters.  Our decision relative to this program was based on audience demographics and program content, which has evolved into areas such as stalking and student-teacher relationships.  The sexual orientation of characters was not a factor.  Nor was our decision the result of external pressure from any group.

Your reaction is understandable.  Our response created the opportunity for misinterpretation, because we did not explain our reasoning.

But the sexual orientation of characters was not a factor in our decision.  That is the truth.
Again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to explain.

Regards,
Jeff Hagen
Director, Consumer Services
General Mills

I appreciate Mr, Hagen, and thus General Mills, for responding to me personally.  I also appreciate General Mills’ desire to clarify their position regarding the Florida Family Association’s claim that the corporation pulled advertising dollars from ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars due to the sexual orientation of one of the characters and the other ludicrous accusations from the director of the Florida based, anti-gay group.

Yes, the posting of Mr. Hagen’s email on the FFA website left many of us confused as to why General Mills, listed by the Human Rights Campaign as one of the most diverse and amiable companies for LGBT employment, would base its advertising commitments on what is obviously an inflammatory depiction of ABC Family’s drama by a group historically non-accepting of gays and other marginal groups in our society.

I completely understand General Mills’ target demographic because I am the bulls eye in their marketing research.  I make a well informed consumer choice every time I walk through the doors of Safeway.  I am a true believer in family dinner, and as many corporations vying for our consumer dollars should know, families in America, and around the world for that matter, come in as many different appearances as there are General Mills cereal brands.  The face of my family around the Saturday morning breakfast table with a big bowl of Cascadian Farm granola is me, my partner of over a decade, and our daughter.

In the current political climate, families of LGBT origin are often demonized by such groups as the Florida Family Association, and their parent organizations, that seem to have a very narrow and bastardized definition of family.  For that reason, these organizations are continually on my radar as should their rhetoric be on the radar of companies such as General Mills.  You (General Mills) caution in your statement that “things may not be what they appear”, but by allowing these borderline hate groups to speak, uncontested, for General Mills, you are opening yourself up to unwarranted publicity and its monetary consequences.  Quite frankly, we as a group may be limited in our Constitutional rights, but our collective buying power numbers in the millions, and we exercise those rights with solidarity.

Again, I thank you for your statement.  I invite my readers to make up their own minds as to how they will proceed with the new information.  In the interim, it is my sincere hope that continued dialogue between General Mills and the LGBT community will continue.  True change may come slowly, but it always begins with a conversation.

For I, too, have a dream…that one day, even in the state in Florida (Mississippi or Indiana or Colorado), I will see representation of my family depicted in a Cheerios commercial.

It was brought to my attention on several social networking sites that a couple of  corporate giants have succumbed to pressure from an obscure anti-gay, anti-Muslim, pro focus-on-the-family values, advocacy group, The Florida Family Association.  The socially conservative FFA, and its thousands of members, launched a highly inaccurate campaign demonizing ABC’s drama, Pretty Little Liars, as growing lesbian lead characters and promoting lesbianism to young children.

The ramblings were so over the top and ludicrous, who would have believed such rhetoric?  Well, RE/MAX, for one.  I have to say, David Liniger, founder and owner, is an extremely philanthropic individual.  That being said though, the Colorado Conservative was tenaciously courted by the Colorado GOP (tar-baby and Tancredo) to run for governor this past election cycle.  That in itself gives me enough pause that I am not surprised that in an email to FFA RE/MAX issued this statement regarding PLL by Margaret Kelly, the company’s CEO:

“We have looked into this situation and discovered that while we purchase advertising on this cable station, we do not purchase advertising on that particular show,” Kelly wrote. “We have informed our media company to be sure to reference our list of shows that we do not want to advertise on …this show is on the list. This should not happen again.”

On the other hand I am a bit surprised at General Mills, a 2011 Human Rights Campaign selectee for one of the top businesses that support equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, released this statement to David Canton, founder of FFA:  “We have investigated this matter and confirmed that our advertising did air as you have reported.  We have informed ABC Family Channel and our agencies that Pretty Little Liars is not a program that we will sponsor.  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.” – Jell Hagen, Director, Consumer Services, General Mills.

Now, the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizen’s United makes it perfectly clear that corporations, as people, can exercise their First Amendment Rights with their dollars.  That being said, so can I.  It seems like every time I turn on the television, General Mills is always after me lucky charms.  Though I am one of those immoral homosexuals, my money seems to be magically delicious.  Well, not any more as I am saying cheerio to General Mills brands and hello to Kellogg’s…they’re GRRREAT!

Ms. Kelly and RE/MAX, you blew it.  Watch my closing costs, commissions and agent fees go up, up, and away.  Your hot air just cost you my business as I am actually looking to invest in the down market.  I was speaking to one of your realtors just a few days ago…but as you said to David Canton and the Florida Family Association, “this should not happen again.”

My DNA predetermines many, many things in my life, but my purchasing power and my consumer choice is not one of them.  This citizen, and I hope many more united behind me, will make a conscious decision to avoid products marketed to us by RE/MAX and General Mills.  There are so many other selections out there, and remember, I’m pro choice.

Here is a list of General Mills brands to consider when making your choice.

Please consider adding the hashtag, #PLLAdPull when encouraging others to do the same.

I have to hand it to my Conservative friends.  You did it again, and I don’t blame you for dancing in the streets.  I’m sure at this moment, Capital Hill is sporting many more Republican Boners at its head than merely the House of Representatives.  Once again, you put in your closer in the bottom of the 9th, with bases loaded, and my President up to bat.  And whiff.  Funny thing, though, this game is nothing but a field of dreams.  Yes, build an imaginary debt crisis, and they will come.

The American debt ceiling has been raised dozens of times in recent history, many during Republican administrations, with hardly any pang of heartburn at all.  During the Bush administration the ceiling was raised no less than seven times without blinking an eye or binding its hands to budget cuts.  Watch.

If you haven’t read Naomi Klein’s, The Shock Doctrine, I recommend it highly.  Ms. Klein’s message conveys that in the media frenzy of war, disastrous acts of nature, or economic instability (if you can’t find one that is occurring at the time, make one up) legislation can be passed by agenda-led politicians that would never make it through the scrutiny of common sense during so-called normal times.  The Patriot Act is an example tied to the War(?) on Terror, and now there is this debt deal in response to some manufactured debt crisis that began its rumblings shortly after the new Tea Party members of Congress were sworn in.

The stock market, unlike the bond market (indicator of true government debt), began fluctuating, sure, but the stock market is about as fickle as a teenage girl’s affection.  If you think the stock market of today is an adequate indicator of our country’s economic stability, think again.  Savvy politicians know it’s more a measure of our collective neuroses.  When my therapist asks how much anxiety do I feel today, I say I don’t know, let me check the Dow Jones.  The more scared the investor of impending world doom, the more jumpy the markets become.  Thank you, 24/7 news cycles.

We can argue economic ideology until Michele Bachmann has an intelligent thought, but it’s no great secret that I’m a demand girl.  I believe spending creates demand, and in an unprecedented time where the private sector either can’t…or won’t, then the government has to.  Cut government spending programs like food stamps right now, and where will WalMart or Safeway make up the difference in sales?

A myriad of independent economists, the Simpson-Bowles Commission, even that loathsome Gang of 6(66), recommended increased taxes and decreased tax loopholes, along with spending cuts, if there absolutely has to be a budget deal as ransom for the debt ceiling raise.  I would have yelled my opposition to cuts in education, the interior, Pell Grants, and yes, health care, but I would have swallowed it with a shot of something strong knowing that with increased revenues there would be a truly shared sacrifice.

What the hell happened?  All tax revenues are off the table?  I can hear it now, “But ‘Schmootz, there are Republican-prized defense cuts in the package.”  Oh, well I’m sorry, I feel much better knowing that the Republicans got only 98% of what they wanted!  Oh, and then you say, “But ‘Schmootz, the Bush tax cuts are set to expire in 2012.”  Baaahahahahaha!  Watch.

I used to lament the fact that my President is weak in the face of Republican strategy.  I used to say that he is at heart a community organizer, and therefore a bad negotiator, as he always begins his bidding from the middle.  Now I’m beginning to think my President is less a victim of this train wreck and more a driver of the locomotive.  First a watered-down healthcare bill with no public option, second, a complete cave-in on cutting the Bush tax cuts, and now what could be called a possible evisceration of the defining ideals of the Democratic party over the last 40 years.  I don’t know what else to call it any more.  I need to see some kind of strength in leadership.

Now some “O”-bots might call me a whiner and a complainer, and that I should support the Democratic ass no matter what.  Well, that’s not going to happen.  Starting today, I reached my own economic ceiling.  This is to let all those who are sending me emails and mailing me forms of intent, just stop.  My maximum private contribution is going instead to my local food bank and my local school; the shelter for the working poor and the elderly center; Project Angel Heart and Meals on Wheels…and if I forgo a few shopping trips, there is extra for Planned Parenthood and a few others.  I’m putting down a few in-town grass roots.

Mr. President, can I really break away from the political process and redirect my own discretionary funds in a way to help those who are actually hurting out there?  Yes, I can.

Politics is so bad in Washington DC, even I quit watching.  If I wanted to see a bunch of pandering, poor actors pretending to be potential bedfellows, I would tune-in to Rizzoli and Isles.

I turned off C-SPAN and CNN and was turned on by Sy-Fy (Warehouse 13) and web streaming.  I prefer the drama and childish bickering of Project Runway over that of the Beltway, because at least in Runway, something is sewn up at the end.  Over on So You Think You Can Dance, when you’re kicked in the teeth by a sidestep, you see it coming.  And on All My Children, I know for certain that the real Erica Kane has been kidnapped, locked away in an asylum, and replaced by an inadequate poser.  As for my President?  I have know idea.

I will admit, however, that just as a good same-sex soap storyline piques my once dormant interest, a rare moment of political clarity can capture my less than undivided attention.  Recently, in the fog of the debt ceiling uncivil war, there emerged from the soup a surprising, “mavericky” make-sense, lone voice.  Watch.

Now, frequent readers of this blog know that I tend to meander to the political Left, and I have been hard on John McCain from time to time.  At one point, I had a great deal of respect for the once moderate man, but now, I just can’t help but think of him as the one who turned the media spotlight on that small-headed, primitive pest from Alaska allowing it to scurry from its containment in the northern tier.

Well, I say, better late than never, Senator McCain.  And don’t you worry, better people than Eric Cantor have called you a troll…one of those is probably me.  Tea Baggers steeped in stupidity like Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell should be called out with bi-partisan support.  But just between you and me, had those half-wit Hobbits been better candidates, the Dems would have never kept the Senate.  Michele Bachmann, keep talking.

So, as our Republic goes back to the maturity level of summer camp color wars, I’m going back to my regularly scheduled programming.  Let me know if the 14th Amendment of the Constitution is invoked…I have a few things to say about that, too.

Can you tell I’m a little angry?  Hell yes.  Not because Anthony Weiner sent questionable photos over the internet to another adult; there is nothing illegal about that.  I emailed and instant messaged “art” photos of my partner and me to friends and family all over the country.  Big fucking deal.  I am angry that Representative Weiner was such a prick to try and cover it up in such a lame-ass way that gives that hack Breitbart his pseudo-credibility back and more distraction on the 24/7 news cycle.

Anthony Weiner is not a hypocrite, he’s just an idiot.  Have you seen his wife?

Unlike Senators Vitter, Craig, and Ensign; Representatives Foley, Souder, and Lee; and Governors Sanford and Schwarzenegger, Congressman Weiner never legislated against anyone’s civil rights, questioned my family values, or measured himself (no pun intended) against the morality of another.

Personally, I believe there is nothing that Anthony Weiner has done on the internet that discredits his work in Congress, but I am not a resident of the 9th District of the State of New York, so my opinion regarding his tenure doesn’t matter.  I will say, being stupid is not a crime, and if it is, perhaps we should be talking about Paul Revere.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t do it, but I did.  I made a pact with me, all in the name of preserving my somewhat stable mental health, that I would NEVER again look at the results of the average American taking the citizenship test.  I failed, not because I am some kind of masochist, but because I am an eternal optimist when it comes to my fellow man…and woman.

Newsweek conducted a poll of 1,000 citizens of the United States, yes, REAL citizens, and asked them to take a mock citizenship test.  Now, the REAL citizenship test is much more involved, but this was a good attempt to give the participants an idea of what REAL Americans should know about our history and our government.  After looking at some of the answers, I am more convinced than ever that we live in an idiocracy!

Ok, because I am a glutton for punishment, let’s go over some of the answers.  A whopping 73% couldn’t answer correctly why we fought the cold war.  The answer is Communism, and it seems somewhat ludicrous in light of our now pandering relationship with China.  I would like to know, though, if anyone answered “global warming” to the “why we fought the cold war” question.

When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?  Well, 33% of those polled didn’t know it was July 4, 1776, but more disturbing, 6% of a thousand US citizens couldn’t circle Independence Day on a calendar…though they did enjoy the movie.

Sadly, 81% could not name a power of the Federal government.  Though I can see where some of my brothers and sisters would answer, “x-ray vision into our personal lives”, that is not a super power of the Fed.  There are several answers, print money, make treaties, declare war, etc.  I’m not too surprised the majority of people missed that whole declare war thing…seems like we are always zoning off to war without declaring much of anything.

Seventy (70) percent of REAL Americans don’t know the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.  And not surprising, 63% have no idea how many Supreme Court justices are on the bench interpreting it.  That’s a Citizens United decision of a more frightening sort.

On a positive note, however, because as I said, I am an optimist of my fellow American, 71% of the people do know that Joe Biden is our Vice President.  One can only surmise that he could have reached the 90th percentile mark had he shot one of his friends in the face.

I can think of a couple of reasons why Europeans and other world countries continue to kick our collective asses on history and government tests such as this.  One, Schoolhouse Rock is no longer a Saturday morning viewing staple between mind-numbing adolescent programming, and two, I will suggest, is the overwhelming have/have not disparity in the American school system that is not seen in most other industrialized nations.  A state budget balanced on the backs of our nation’s children is not the answer to closing this learning chasm.  As a science professional, I would like to impress upon our politicians that there is a whole other decidedly deciduous forest out there…if they will only look farther then their own privileged family trees.

Yes, I am a Left-leaner, a Liberal, a socialist, a pinko commie (though most Americans don’t know what that is), or possibly a Progressive…you apply the moniker, I don’t care.  What I do care about is this land that I love, our hesitance to have an honest discussion about funding our future, and the path we are Jay-walking down as a nation.