The Sanitized News

I started to do this in a comment but it deserves its own post. The horrors Worried American has been writing about should be shoved in the faces of America.

They need to be shown and often. They need to be banner headlines in the papers complete with photos and broadcast uncut on FOX news (never happen - they might upset someone). We need to be appalled.

We need to remind ourselves as well and I'm glad WA and several bloggers are doing it. I had made a comment that I hadn't looked at the photos here. I'm already convinced, I had seen them on other blogs, and I think Worried American should go right on posting them.

What has this country become and how did we allow it to happen? (We in the general sense, not we talking to each other).

Keep on writing, keep on posting, and, while we're busy writing, let's direct some of the rant at the sheep in Washington and the mainstream media. They need to hear from us.

We are so spoiled and sheltered over here. We change the channel to American Idol or the other "reality" shows when the reality in front of our noses becomes unpleasant. We shield our kids from the news, such as it is.

I'm rambling now but our avoidance of reality cuts right across the board. We, as a country, don't want to see unpleasantness.

One of the more recent squabbles here involved opening a methadone clinic downtown. We're at the heart of the methamphetamine traffic and, for the size of this city, have a huge drug problem with the attendant crime stats and gang activity. Letters were sent to the local paper bemoaning the damage to our downtown the clinic would cause. It was on a side street, away from most of the foot traffic, the businesses next door were fine with it. The complaints came from people who probably never would have known it was there.

Addicts had to travel 45 miles to the nearest clinic - most on public transportation. The critics claimed that, if they had money for drugs, bus fare shouldn't be a problem. People, they stole the money for drugs or sold themselves. Do we want them to steal bus fare and hang out on street corners looking for tricks? Do we want them unable to work because the bus trip takes up most of the day? The clinic would take a few minutes of their time and they could spend the rest of the day on recovery and even perhaps earning a living.

Of course it won't work for everyone and neither do drug outpatient programs but we have to start somewhere.

The newspaper, to its credit, supported the clinic and it opened. I've never heard of any problems.

Once again it's an example of the NIMBY syndrome. Another controversy involved the opening of an after school program a little too close to home for some. My God. A little noise of kids playing? Get a grip. My kids used to go to an after school program sponsored by Parks and Recreation. It ran until 6:00 p.m. and, while it wasn't day care, it was a godsend to poor working families. It cost about $40/month for all three girls and a little less when Elcie aged out with middle school. Most families could afford it, it paid for the snacks, etc. No one was turned away for lack of funds. The girls loved it, it kept them from playing stickball in the street, or making bad choices (not that I would allow it but I can't be everywhere) and they learned a lot. The Girl Scout troop met there as well and adapted their program to fit kids living in poverty and ESL The regular Scouting dues were waived in most cases. Of course, the funding for recreation centers was cut and they started charging. The girls stopped going. It would have cost over $200/month and I certainly didn't have it. At lease I was home with them. For the working poor, it was another story. Their children went right back to being latch key kids. A person making minimum wage (a rant for another time) will quite often let the older kids fend for themselves after school rather than pay half of their salary out for day care. Another unpleasant reality we don't want to think about.

Enough already. Our priorities as a country are so screwed up. I realize that our treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo and our abuse of innocent Iraqis is criminal. This administration has much to answer for and I'm not downplaying the importance of these issues.

But - it starts with individuals and the communities. If we don't care about our kids and our own citizens locally, if we're unwilling to get out and work for change in the small ways we can, we're not going to pay too much attention to "foreigners" thousands of miles away. It's just too unpleasant. Or they're just (name your own racist expression). Or we don't believe it. Our country wouldn't behave that way. Yeah, right.

Not everyone can be out in the trenches of course. I can't travel to San Francisco or Sacramento to participate in the larger protests. I do some hands on work through my activist church and support what I can but the girls and my husband take up a lot of time. (I'm brainwashing the girls which may be a contribution to society.) Some, like Worried American, have physical problems that limit their hands on involvement but they can and do write beautifully.

We can all do something.

Ann