The Redistricting Game

Now here is a fun way to waste a few minutes of your life on the internet. Its called The Redistricting Game. Its an amusing cartoony version of how our political process works. Go ahead and try it. Its almost as fun as computer solitare, but you actually learn something in the process!

The Redistricting Game

That's My Boy!

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.
Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.
Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,--
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town
And the moonlight flowing over all.
Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,--
A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.
A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.
It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.
It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, black and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.
It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadow brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket ball.
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,---
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere;=
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.



The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882
Written April 19, 1860; first published in 1863 as part of "Tales of a Wayside Inn"

The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering

Inspired by the book, The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering, a group of women from Ohio State University have organized a world wide gathering, which will take place on Mothers day, this Sunday at 1pm, (your local time.)

They are asking people to gather in parks, or gardens, or quiet areas of contemplation, and simply stand in silence for five short minutes of Prayer or Meditation.

I will serve as hostess for the gathering at Highbanks Metro Park, in Delaware County, Ohio. You are invited, and welcome to bring your friends. This event is open to all.

The idea is threefold:

1) To inspire people to believe they can actually help shape their world.

2) To meet others and begin taking action.

(Remember my old adage: Action Plus Intent Equals Miracles...AIM!)

3) To tell those who make public Policy that they should stop seeing themselves as politicians and instead act as guardians for our children, our grandchildren, and the seven generations beyond.

Here is the press Release from the organizers at StandingWomen.org:

Women Take Stand for Better World
Group Urges Women to Rise in Global Silence at 1 p.m., May 13


Mother’s Day is fast approaching and as we prepare to celebrate the mothers in our lives we often neglect to recognize the most important mother of all: Mother Earth. On Sunday, May 13 at 1 p.m., thousands of people around the globe will stand together in silence for five minutes in local parks, schools, churches and other gathering places to promote a better world for future generations. The result will be a 24-hour wave of standing to motivate and invigorate others to realize the dream of a better world for all.


The event was conceived by a group of women associated with The Ohio State University. Through their individual travels, they learned that many women have similar concerns about the direction the world is moving in. Inspired by a story written by Sharon Mehdi of Ashland, Oregon, The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering, collectively they decided that it was time to take a stand to make a difference. “We will be standing for the world’s children, grandchildren, and the seven generations beyond them,” says Deb Ballam, one of the event’s originators. “We dream of a better future for all of the world’s children.”


Mehdi, who will be standing with her townsfolk in Ashland, said “It was the women of Ashland who made sure the Grandmother Story got out to the world, and it is the women of Ohio who are bringing it to life. I am filled with gratitude, hope, and awe.”

Jean Shinoda Bolen, a best-selling author shared the Grandmother Story with the Ohio women during a visit to Columbus last fall, and will be standing in the San Francisco Bay area. “Standing in silence with others with the intention of making a difference,” says Bolen, “creates a feeling of peace inside that silently ripples out.”


The event is not limited only to women, however, and many men have expressed excitement in participating. For the last three weeks, Julian Koss of Sarasota, Florida has actively promoted the event in his state. “We’re all obligated to leave for our children and the ‘seven generations to follow’ a better world,” says Koss.


By standing for a moment of silence, participants will recognize the importance for all of the children of the world of issues such as safe drinking water, clean air, food for all to eat, access to basic education, adequate health care and safety from violence.


While the event originated in Ohio, it has become international in scope. The event’s website and promotional materials have been translated into 20 languages to attract participation in this global event. To further promote international participation, thousand of postcards promoting the event were recently distributed at the United Nations’ annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Standing sites in all 50 U.S. states and around the globe are listed on the website and range from large-scale groups of a thousand or more to individual standings. Participants have the option of attending one of the gatherings listed or starting their own. More information on the event including standing sites, promotional materials and registration can be found at http://www.standingwomen.org/index.html

Why the Dogs Got Steaks for Dinner:

6am
Up and at 'em
Pet care
Read Op-Eds
Check headlines
Get kids up and off to school

9-12
Calling for dollars:
(The one activity that makes all candidates feel like a dog being dragged into the vet for a rectal exam.)
"Hi remember me (from some obscure somewhere about twenty years ago?) Why am I calling? Well, funny you would ask...Could you write me a check for $500.00? Oh, I see. Well, how about twenty?"

1pm
My third trip to the doc this month. The tubes in my ears have collapsed. Prognosis: meds aren't working. The magic eight ball says surgery is in my future. ugggh.

2pm
Grocery. Found two nice juicy steaks for the grill. Yummmmm.

3pm
Babysit the after school crowd while writing thank you notes to donors and working on campaign.

5pm
Door to door campaigning.

6:30
Daughter in crisis: yesterdays sore throat has turned into full blown flu, and tweenkin is locked in the bathroom at the school dance, blowing chunks and writhing with embarrassment while all her school mates gossip and watch.
Super mom to the rescue!

7pm
Third grade son is having slumber party. Two overnight guests are planned, but ten neighborhood boys are in our back woods wearing full military gear,doing "night maneuvers" with their pop guns. One falls into a barbed wire fence on the neighbors property and slices open his chest from collar bone to belly button.

7:15
Urgent Care

7:30
Rambo comes home, and digs on the purple heart status among his peers.
(I have to brag here a little bit: The urgent care did not charge for the visit because my first aid work was so good, they did not have to do anything.) Everybody is good at something, and this is one of my talents. Trust me on this; if you ever fall off a cliff in the wilderness, I'm the girl you want on the other end of that rope.

8pm
I finally start to cook those steaks... and. the. grill. runs. out. of. gas.

8:10
Off to the propane store, but first, all three boys reveal multiple day old boo-boos and want band aids. Then of course my daughter wakes up and starts puking on cue.

9pm
Dinner is served, but no one is hungry, so the dogs lucked out and got steak.

A big day at the Statehouse

This energetic group trained all morning and, armed with the facts, lobbied for the Ohio Prevention First Act.

All this happened right after the Statehouse was evacuated because of a small fire. People were all over the place. It was bizzare. While we were waiting for everything to return to normal, I sat on the statehouse steps just a few feet behind the podium shown in this picture.

I was just a chit chattin away with my home girl about who knows what, when some stranger came up to me all bug eyed and informed me the microphone was on, and our conversation was broadcasting all over the Statehouse lawn.

EEE-GADS! Now the world knows all my secrets! LOL

Anyway, when the fireworks ended, we rallied with Senator Sue Morano, Rep. John Peterson, and Rep. Tyrone Yates who have all worked very hard on the Prevention First bill.

This bill will improve access to family-planning services and honest, comprehensive sex education, so that Ohioans have the resources and knowledge they need to prevent unintended pregnancies.

(When it comes to "Family Values", it just seems to me that education and prevention make a whole lot more sense than criminalization and social ridicule.)

______________________________________
Note to those of you who like to play Where's Waldo:
I'm in the second row on the right, next to the lady in red.

Here's a question for your health insurance company:

How come Viagra is covered under most health insurance plans, but women's contraceptives are not?

On Imus I must say...

Sure, we need to protect free speech in America, but that does not mean Lenny Bruce was ever entitled to a prime time network sit-com. His act belonged in the smokey side street clubs, and Imus belongs there too.

We have different levels of decorum for different venues, and I for one am very glad to see the American people finally stand up and demand an end to shock jock shout show dramatics.

Our airways are infested with a whole stable of professional hatemongers (mostly from the right) who are making millions of dollars, poking sticks at every little bee's nest they can find.

Our nightly news has degraded into a sound-byte city of snarky wordsmiths who have no regard for the true art of debate.

Our talk shows have devolved from places of public discourse and reason, to a name calling, big time wrestling exposition of closed minded bullies. The more outrageous you are, the more press you get.

If the trend continues, pretty soon our networks will be anchored by the street corner schizophrenics. (Oh well, I guess that's one way to help the homeless, but it definitely would not be my solution of choice.)

I feel bad for the fall of poor old Imus, but he will land on his feet. He wont make as much money now, or wield as much power, but he still has an audience, and he will find a another station willing to put a few thousand watts behind his rusty barbed wire tongue; of that you can be sure. Shock Jocks are like car accidents. They sadden and disgust us, but we just can't seem to look away.

My hope is that free market capitalism will solve the problem through public pressure. If people refuse to listen, refuse to watch, speak out for justice and use their buying power to influence advertisers, it will regulate the hate mongers to a smaller market share, and in doing so, reward the voices of reason with prime time shows and premium pay.

I am not about to advocate taking away any ones right to free speech. I just hope we are smart enough to prevent these people from getting rich while doing it.

Women in the workforce

Women do not need anything else to feel guilty about. Guilt is a driving force for most women. Mothers feel guilty when they stay at home with their kids, because they are not earning an income. They feel guilty when they depend on their husbands for support. They feel guilty when the take that full time job because they end up too tired to put their full energy into their kids, their husbands, and their homes.

Women worry all the time about looking their best, not so much for themselves, but for others. They want to be gourmet chefs, choosing healthy fresh organic foods to put on the table in style, but generally, then find themselves heating up some frozen concoction they found on sale in the grocery store. Either that or they grab a McMeal to eat in the car while playing the role of soccer-mom-taxi-driver.

Women feel guilt more times per day than adolescent boys think about sex, and folks, that’s a lot!

So it is not surprising that Leslie Bennett’s new book “The Feminine Mistake” is creating a roar of controversy with devoted stay at home moms. But before they dismiss her as the devils advocate, they would be wise to take a relaxing Calgon bath, and curl up with this remarkable eye opening book.

Bennett’s point is not to condemn the stay at home mom for her choice to nurture her children. Rather, it is a book of research and facts on the economics of motherhood which lets these women know exactly what they are in for.

The research compiled for The Feminine Mistake makes it clear that women who opt out of the workforce to stay at home with their children are making a definitive and quantifiable economic choice with long term ramifications.

A press release from Hyperion publishing states:

THE FEMINIST MISTAKE explains how when women give up careers, the loss in income has a cascading impact on medical benefits, retirement funds and other long-time financial needs. And sadly, Bennetts exposes how the much-vaunted concept of the on-ramp -- the track for talented women to rejoin the workforce following some years at home-- does not exist. Women are finding out too late that motherhood and community service too often still does not translate in HR departments as viable skills.

There is a solution to this problem that will make women stand up and cheer; One that has been sitting right under our noses for over two decades.

Twenty five years ago, colleges and universities around the country predicted new trends of work from home, job sharing, flex time and telecommuting would be the wave of the future as personal computers and technology integrated into our lives.

Sadly, that shift has not occurred. In order to be competitive in the workplace and secure opportunities for advancement, dedicated employees are expected to work forty to sixty hours per week, and make personal sacrifices for the good of the company. This puts women with children at a severe disadvantage in the workplace.

In the United States, we think of our nation as a family. We say our children are our future, yet again and again, we undervalue this concept, in every economic and social policy we create. Our schools are under funded, our teachers underpaid, our daycare facilities for working mothers are abysmal, and the very structure of our work model handicaps families and limits their ability to put the devotion they desire into the very areas we claim to cherish.

Since the beginning of time, women have worked along side their husbands while simultaneously caring for their children. From the Hunter gathering period of pre history thru the agricultural age, women provided food, wove baskets, made pottery, created clothing, tended livestock, built homes, and reaped the harvest, right along side their spouses.

The modern industrial ages represents a short blip in the long timeline of history. And this is the core of our modern dilemma. Women can no longer contribute to the workforce as they always have when the modern structure of society separates work from home.

What is needed is a reintegration. Technology makes this possible. Women know this instinctively. They realize modern corporate structure is damaging to their families, because in spite of statistics, they KNOW as mothers and wives, the love and caring they provide for their families is in fact important. So, they leave the corporate world and either opt out to stay home, or become entrepreneurs. They become freelance consultants, small business owners, part time employees, or seek jobs in the school system that will allow them to share schedules in sync with their children.

While you can tell a woman this is an economic mistake, it will do no good to poke a stick at a mother bear willing to sacrifice her very life to protect the cubs in her den. Forcing a bear to abandon her cubs to join the circus with the promise of free food and treats is no solution. We must find a better way.

Women represent half of our national workforce. If our country is to remain vibrant and strong we must address the issues of working mothers and create opportunities for women to be competitive without sacrificing their role as the primary caregiver of their families.

A few simple and long overdue changes will dramatically improve the net worth of American families, and have a positive effect on our nation’s children.

If we provide incentives for corporations to implement family friendly models including work from home, telecommuting, flex time, job sharing, and on site daycare services, we will provide working parents opportunities to remain in thriving careers commensurate with their abilities, while devoting larger portions of time to the needs of their families. We can also use the legislature to encourage policies which reward parents for community service and mentorship in the public schools.

If we create small business incubators through local government programs to increase the success rate of entrepreneur ventures, this too will provide opportunities for devoted hard working parents, who agonize over the choice between career and family and look for opportunities for flex time scheduling.

If these new models become widely available to both men and women, the balance between work and home will not fall exclusively to women, but will become a partnership of childrearing within the marriage, (and provide significant advantages for single parents too.)

When parents can remain viable and active in the workforce, in career positions commensurate with their skill levels and abilities, offering higher wages and better health coverage, the overall economic outlook for our country will see the positive effects of the increased spending power of the middle class. Children will recieve the attention they need, communities will thrive socially as well as economically, and corporations will reap the benefits of a thriving growing economy.

Please, Show your Support!

Hey Gang,

Please show your support and follow this Link to a grassroots Internet group for my campaign.

No commitment or anything, just add your name to the list as an act of support for this effort to encourage women to run for office.

As the list grows, it will increase my credibility, and sway large donor groups to fund the campaign.

Please sign up, and get your friends to sign up too!

I can't do it alone, but together, we can ensure progressive women's voices are heard in our government!


Thanks,

Kelbell

3...2...1...LAUNCH!

Ya-all know me as Kelley Bell. People have called me that since I was a baby. Especially my brother, who adopted the more elaborate Smelly Kelley with Jelly in her Belly.

But that's not my legal married name.

In certain careers, an alias is acceptable, even common, but for the endeavor I embark upon today, that is not the case.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce myself, (and expose myself) formally, with The Launch of my Political Campaign!!!!

After you check it out, I hope you will all join up and pitch in as I work with my dear friend and co-patriot The Fat Lady Sings to use the blog world as a means to encourage women from all over this great country of ours to find the inner strength and confidence to run for office.

What happens in The House has a direct effect on what happens in our homes. Therefore, we need womens voices on the floor of every house of government across this nation, from the school boards, to the local zoning commissions, to the state house, and beyond.

If you believe, then give a holler and donate a dollar, or better yet, sign up to volunteer. We have lots of things for bloggers to do, and honey, it's gonna be one H*ll of a Ride!

Six, Five, Four...

Almost ready for the big reveal...

In the mean time, Here is a Link to a Great Gathering of Women who will be holding space, and saving the world, on May 13th in a park near you.



I hope you will join us and be the change you wish for in the world!

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven...

The countdown to my announcement draws nigh dear ones. One more day, or two at most.

But in the mean time, here is a link I love. Planned Parenthood has created The Pill Patrol, a way for women to ensure emergency contraception is available at their local pharmacy.