And Justice For...

Reblogged from ipledgeafallegiance:

The United States with only about 5% of the world's population has over 24% of the world's prisoners. One of the basic principles that our nation was founded on and what many of our founding fathers thought was the most fundamental principal necessary for a free and democratic society to function properly was the rule of law...but only if it were applied equally to everyone, with no one, not even kings or royals or presidents or wealthy citizens, exempt from the nations laws.

Read more… 226 more words

I just had to share this. Kort maar krachtig, is what we call that--brief and to the point.

None of Your Business!

image from nbclatino.com

In my last post I voiced my disgust with the liberties police take on a daily basis in regular, unthreatening situations, and I wrote that nobody seems to have a problem with it. Not enough to do anything about it, anyway. This, of course, is not completely true.

Reese and the Police

image from foxnews.com

So last week “America’s sweetheart” Reese Witherspoon’s husband was arrested because he was driving while drunk. Bad. Badbadbadbadbad. You get no argument from me there.

But Reese herself was arrested, as well. Why? She got out of her car. Not only that, but when the police officer told her to get back in the car, she drunkenly told him she had a right to stand on American soil. Gasp! The horror! How dare she!?!

Five Things I Can’t Stand

I’ve been feeling kind of truculent lately, so let’s see if a list of five things I can’t stand will get it out of my system.

Let me begin with drivers behind me–when I’m up front at a stoplight, waiting to turn left at an unprotected left turn–honking for me to go ahead and make the turn already.

Brigham Young and Infamous Legacies in General

Brigham Young
(image from biography.com)

Well, I’ll probably be banned from ever entering Utah for this, but here goes.

I just read The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. It tells the somewhat parallel stories of two nineteenth wives: Ann Eliza Webb, wife of Brigham Young, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints’  second leader in the 1870s,

The Grand American Canyon

(Image from sodahead.com)

It never ceases to amaze me how so many people in America can live in what has been called a “parallel universe”. A universe Fox News not only helps to create, but apparently believes in itself, as witnessed on election night, when its pundits were taken completely off guard by Obama’s victory.

Point in Case

(Image from media1.policymic.com)

Yesterday I wrote about Dickens’ experience in America in 1842. One of the things that shocked him was the pride Americans had about carrying weapons.

Martin Chuzzlewit in the U-nited States

(Image: charlesdickenspage.com}

Since I’ve been blogging about Victor Hugo’s stories, let me jump over to England and Charles Dickens.

This winter break I had the bad luck to get the flu. For days I could barely get out of bed. But every cloud has a silver lining, and this cloud’s lining was that I got to read Martin Chuzzlewit in a few days.

Load up, Boys, It’s the Asian Menace Again!

image from breitbart.com

Okay, finally I’m getting around to the post about Red Dawn.I think it’s no coincidence that it was remade around this time.

All Heil to the Good Guys

In my last post, I addressed the idea of giving teachers guns in the classroom. But the NRA wants more than that. They want everyone to have a gun, because, as they say, “The only thing more dangerous than a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”. Or something like that.

Dear Pro-Gun Folks

That signs like this are necessary outside schools is already ridiculous enough.

So you would like to see teachers walking around with assault weapons slung over their shoulders. Your focus is on the idea that those teachers would shoot the killer.

You’re overlooking several aspects of the issue.

Anything Helps 4: Mustache Man

(Image from:
members.virtualtourist.com

Sometimes a homeless man with a huge horseshoe mustache panhandles at one of the intersections in southwest Austin. I don’t talk with him much, because the timing is rarely right. He’s accompanied by a black Labrador, who usually sits under an umbrella stuck in the ground, a water bowl within reach.

Thanksgiving 3: Friends all Over

‘s up?

I am thankful for my friends. From my best friend since we were almost fifteen and my other Dutch friends, to my friends right next door here in Austin, and everyone in between. I don’t need to blog about my appreciation of them, because I connect with them in other ways. (But if you’re reading this: Hi. I love you.)

Here, I want to give thanks to the blogging friends I’ve made.

Anything Helps 3: There but for Luck Goes Your Child

(Image from tonic.com)

Disclaimer: I know most of my readers are compassionate people. So this is directed toward–well, you’ll know who you are.

From the first time I came to America with T, then my boyfriend, I have been shocked at the number of homeless here.

Anything Helps 2: A Woman With a Dog

(Image from andilit.com)
I know this is a man, but it’s a good picture, isn’t it?

In an earlier post I wrote about Steve, a homeless guy I see almost every day after dropping off the kids at school.

Another homeless person I’ve met, but only once, was a woman in her late thirties or early forties. It was a cold and rainy day, and I stopped at the traffic light she was at, beside an overpass, in between showers. When I gave her some money she thanked me and told me to stay dry.

Just Say No to Life Jackets

Okay, I’m shamelessly Facebooking on my blog with this, but concerning the whole contraceptives, rape and abortion controversy, this says it all!

Image: http://www.neatorama.com

 Let me explain this for Dutch readers who may not have been following the whole debate about all this closely.

The Great Divide: A Question of Color

Photo: redandwhitekop.com

For many years now, there has been a huge rift within our family, caused by traffic lights. T and I are in permanent disagreement and our son B is pretty firmly on my side. R is undecided, but I’m convinced she will see the light (I couldn’t resist)  in due time.

The Horror, the Horror! Really, I’m Serious

Photo: paulcurtis.livejournal.com

Ah! Only seven days and one to go to Halloween, my ravenous readers, so I feel compelled to warn you. I move as though invisible through the streets and alleys and I observe the good citizens of my subdivision decorating their trees and lawns with whimsically carved calabashes and synthetic spiderwebs, comfortably convinced that ghouls are merely a myth, a myth upheld for no other reason that to have a costume party.

Freedom vs Safety (No, This Is Not About the War on Terror)

Photo: tellurideinside.com

Every now and then I make myself unpopular with many of my neighbors. We have a Yahoo group, which is great, because with lightning speed we can get the word out about a lost dog or a scam artist in the neighborhood. But sometimes it can get contentious, and when it does, it seems that I’m often right in the middle of it. I have no idea why, because I’m just mild, non-confrontational, li’l ole me, right readers?

Your Friendly Neighborhood Politicians: Attack Ads in American and Dutch Elections

So do political parties in parties in multi-party systems use attack ads? This is another post in the series based on a Facebook conversation with my neighbor M that started here.

Party Platforms: Promises, Promises!

Photo: Harderwiek

Since Dutch-style party platforms are such an alien concept to Americans, I thought I’d show you how it works. Sure, both parties in America have their platforms, but they’re ultimately useless texts, because each individual representative will say as much as possible what all the voters in his/her constituency want to hear, and then mostly do what

Can Politicians Compromise?

Photo: willysford.com

Should the wing nuts (that’s right-wing nuts and left-wing nuts for you, Dutch readers) have less say in the elections? Or More? How does that work in the Dutch parliamentary system?

The other day my neighbor M and I had a Facebook conversation on American and Dutch political representation. My last post was the beginning of this conversation, with me shamelessly expanding on my Facebook comments. In this post my answer to his first follow-up question.

Who Can Represent the Whole Country?

Photo: jetmade

Are you wondering if it’s time to change politics? Wondering how it works in other countries? The other day my neighbor M, a few other people and I (but mostly my neighbor and I) were having a discussion on Facebook that I’d like to share, with some expansion on my comments. I’ll cut it up into several posts, to keep it readable.

My American Dream

This is what I dreamed last night.

I was in a school gym, remembering how we would be made to run laps around a gym just like that in high school in the Netherlands. And I remembered that I could. I’d be tired, and I’d be protesting loudly like any self-respecting un-sporty teenage girl should, but that’s all. And I resented–in this dream–that I can’t run for two minutes now without having a gimpy knee for the next two weeks (this is real; I ran for two minutes last weekend, and now it hurts when I walk down steps).

Aasif Mandvi and the Truth

Photo: asiansinthemedia.wordpress.com

I wrote a post about the anti-science attitude of many Republicans two days ago. This Daily Show video is going around Facebook, but it illustrates the ridiculousness of the anti-science folks so beautifully that I just have to share it here as well.

Religion vs Science

Photo: csmonitor.com

I have always respected most religious beliefs. Sure, I put my foot in my mouth occasionally, but I have no problem with religion in itself. I can see how there’s a human need for spirituality of one kind or another, and that some of us have a bigger need for it than others. However, there’s supposed to be a separation between church and state in this country, and when that idea is so blatantly trampled, when religion interferes with science, education, politics and human rights to the degree it does here, then the respect is clearly not mutual, and I don’t feel as obligated to be religiously correct.

Entitled

image: OccupyEducated.org

One of the definitions of “entitled” is having the right to something. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney uses the terms “entitled” and “entitlement” as dirty words. It’s clear from his speech at a fundraiser dinner that he feels people should not be entitled to food, health care or housing. Meaning that if people don’t have the money to pay for food, shelter or the doctor, they can’t expect the government to help them. To Europeans, that is pretty shocking.  In Europe we call entitlement programs parts of the social safety net.

The terminology illustrates the fundamental difference in attitudes toward people who need help.

Hey, It Wasn’t Me

For those of you who think I’m just a disgruntled anti-americanDutch immigrant who makes stuff up, click here for a great post by a fellow countryman.

A Little Rant About Bikes

There’s nothing quite as aggravating as buying a bike in this country when you’re Dutch. The kids needed new bikes and I kind of wanted a bike, too. I had bought one at Goodwill a few years ago, but it didn’t feel right.

The Kids on the Bus

It’s summer vacation again. Schools are closed for about three months. A quarter of the year. No, this is not a post about the ridiculous length of American school vacations.

Let’s Quash This Rich, Arsenic, Vaginal Sea Level Uprising

Two female democrat representatives for Michigan, Lisa Brown and Barb Byrum,  were barred from participating in a debate about abortion because Lisa Brown said the following in her statement: “I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but no means no.”

Someone Get This Woman a “Stupid” T-Shirt

Photo: spreadshirt.com

I have no patience with stupidity.

Ignorance I can tolerate to a certain degree. It comes from lack of education, and it doesn’t tend to occur to uneducated people to look things up. Especially because many uneducated people don’t realize they are. And so they can remain relatively ignorant the rest of their lives. I get that.

Let Me Spell It Out

Photo: zazzle.com

My mother-in-law got her first breakfast in bed when she was almost eighty years old. She was staying with us on Mother’s Day weekend, and when T and the kids made breakfast in bed for me, they also did it for T’s mom. She was very pleasantly surprised, and that’s when I learned this was a first for her.

I was shocked.

T will never hear the end of it, and

Colin Powell Republicans

Photo: facebook.com/ColinPowellRepublians

Phew! Okay, now for something completely different.

Are you reasonable, intelligent, informed? Do you want your children to learn science and to marry whom they love? But you insist on staying with the republican party? Despite that the Tea Party republicans seem to be taking over and you don’t identify with them?

Are you sure?

(Okay, democrats, you can’t say I didn’t try first.)

My neighbor has started a Facebook page called Colin Powell Republicans, and he hopes it will become a movement. Maybe you should check it out and like it.

The Gay Civil Rights Movement

photo: Seeingfaith.com

Okay America, here’s what I don’t get about the national gay marriage debate. (Apart from the fact that Obama could have said he was for it a few days earlier, to help the North Carolina LGTB community, that is.)

You’ve been here before.

Remember the Civil Rights Movement? Remember how

Sick Puppies

Rush Limbaugh, an extreme right-wing radio host here in America, is in the real news right now. At issue is the fact that Catholic institutions don’t want to give their employees health insurance that includes the contraceptive pill.

Damn!

In general service in America is much better than in the Netherlands. But there is one aspect of telephone service that really gets me.

I’m Dutch, Too!

Time for one of my pet peeves.

Scene in a restaurant:

Disposable Home

When I was young in the Netherlands, we lived in an old farmhouse in Eemnes, and by old I mean from 1607.

The Primaries: American Politics at Its Most Obvious

I’ve written about my views of American democracy vs. parliamentary democracy before. Now the Republican primaries are going on.

I’m Disappointed in You, Anderson!

I know that compared to western Europeans Americans are generally less concerned with privacy, and celebrities–regardless of what they’re famous for– are fair game, but the whole Courtney Stodden affair seems a really good case for at least protecting children’s privacy somehow, if only to protect children from themselves if they don’t have parents who look out for their best interests.

Fallen Gods

The other day I was talking with an elderly man while we were both waiting at the garage for our tires to be fixed. He told me his son is a football coach and a teacher—I don’t know what subject he teaches. He worked at a charter school for years until it went under recently. So a little while ago he worked as a substitute at a regular public school for a week. A public school here in Austin in what’s considered a good neighborhood, so it’s a reasonably well-rated school.

Glenn and Me

If I were to call Glenn Beck’s radio talk show, this is how I imagine it would go:

Glenn:  And let me go to Barbara in Texas, one of my favorite states. How are you doing, Barbara in Texas?

Me:        Hi Glenn, thanks for having me on your show. I’m so excited!

The Joplin Tornado

I’ve posted before on my frustration about above-ground power lines and how dangerous they are in a storm. And in certain footage of the tornado that ripped through Joplin, Missouri, two days ago, the first thing you see when the tornado touches down is a power line being snapped.

President For A Day

What would I do if I were president for a day? There are tremendous limits to what a president can do, let alone in one day. If I were president for a day, the most I could hope to get out of it would be really good room service from the White House chef, and shooting some hoops in the White House basketball court. Here’s a more useful question: What would I change if I were an absolute monarch for a day, and after that the country went back to being a democracy forever?

Hi There!

(For my Dutch-English translating and proofreading business, please go to D-E Translating. You can also go to my D-E Translating WordPress site. Thank you.)

Welcome to my blog.

I’m an energetic, slim, reasonably pretty thirty-year-old. However, I reside in a rather shocking, obese, aching, apathetic 52-year-old body. I love living in Austin but I’m chock-full of criticism of America in general. The Rockies bring me to tears, but so does the health care system. I’ve adopted Thanksgiving, but not the Pledge of Allegiance. If I seem elated and unbearably grouchy in sometimes schizophrenically quick succession, this is why.

I love the usual: my husband, my children, my friends and our pets. I hate heat, stupidity, shoulder spurs, spiders and walking, cycling and stair-stepping in place.

I collect raft books and I’m currently developing a weird obsession with the bottoms of bridges.

When I lived in the Netherlands, eighteen years ago, I loved hot tea, wild camping in Great Britain, gardening, reading for days on end, and I walked and cycled everywhere. Now that I live in a pretty darn hot part of the US, with kids that have to be driven everywhere by car, I love reminiscing about hot tea, wild camping in Great Britain, gardening, reading for days on end and walking and cycling everywhere…

My blog is a crazy—some might say completely unhinged–collection of posts about any of the above-mentioned issues and then some. Nothing is sacred. I blatantly ignore all American no-nos. Which means I talk politics, religion, I don’t idolize  teachers and I swear (but not that much).

As you read my posts you might laugh, seethe, weep or shrug your shoulders. If you like a post, great. Let me know. If you hate a post, great, let me know. It’s all good. I’d like to think I’m always right, but don’t let that stop you from telling me if you disagree. We Dutch love a good argument.

If you want to know more about how I ended up in America and an overview of how that’s been, visit my Reading Guide.

Otherwise, have at it!

(In my posts, I refer to my husband as T, my 16-year-old son as B, and my 13-year-old daughter as R.)