Politics

Politically, I’m very liberal — about as far left as one can go without sliding into Libertarianism.

OTC Contraceptives Now Covered By Insurance in Washington

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Well, this is interesting:

As of January 1, 2019, all Washingtonians with state-regulated insurance can now pick up over-the-counter contraceptives for free at their in-network pharmacies, according to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Those contraceptives include “condoms, spermicides, emergency contraceptives, and sponges.”
 
So—if you’re not on Medicaid, and if you don’t work for a mega-company that self-insures—then you can just stroll into a Walgreens (or a Rite Aid, or whatever pharmacy is in your network), walk up to the pharmacy counter, and ask for some Plan B, some condoms, or whatever a “sponge” is, and they’ll give it to you for freeeeeee.
 
You can also get sterilized or get a vasectomy for free. No copays and no deductibles. You can just walk into your doctor’s office and get snipped!

I’m not a fan of the “whatever a ‘sponge’ is” bit (c’mon, Stranger, this is base-level contraceptive knowledge, and whether that was serious or snark, is a stupid line), and I’d bet that women would still have far more difficulties with sterilization procedures than “walk into your doctor’s office and get snipped” — for men, of course, it likely would be about that easy — but still. Good news!

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“Sen. Romney’s statement is not a profile in courage. Rather it is another example of the emptiness of the #nevertrump movement — all talk and no action.”

Thanksgiving 2018

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First off, and most importantly: Happy Thanksgiving to you if you celebrate; if you don’t, I hope you have a pleasant day doing whatever you do.

I’m increasingly of two minds of Thanksgiving.

On the one hand, we have a lot to be thankful of (a year and a half into being back in the Seattle area, both of our jobs are going well, we’re continuing to rebuild our social connections over here, we really like where we ended up, the midterms overall went in a promising direction, etc.), and we’re having a very pleasant day here at home resting and making and eating all sorts of tasty food.

On the other hand, I have a lot of friends from indigenous American heritage who rightly point out that this day isn’t so celebratory for them, especially at a time when our country is dealing with rampant nationalism and racism. For many people, especially anyone who is part of the many social groups who find themselves targets of oppression, it may be hard to find quite as much to celebrate on a day like today.

This year, more so than many, it seems particularly (and distressingly) apt to post William S. Burroughs’s cynical, but all too topical, even after all this time, Thanksgiving Prayer.

To John Dillinger; I hope he is still alive.
Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986.

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons,
destined to be shat out through wholesome American guts.
Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.

Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.
Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin,
leaving the carcasses to rot.
Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream,
to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.
For nigger-killin’ lawmen, feelin’ their notches.
For decent church-goin’ women,
with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.

Thanks for “Kill a Queer for Christ” stickers.
Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition,
and the war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where
nobody’s allowed to mind his own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the memories —
all right let’s see your arms!

You always were a headache,
and you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal
of the last and greatest
of human dreams.

The ERA May Have A Chance of Finally Being Ratified

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Landmark court rulings, laws and constitutional amendments have allowed women the right to vote, to make decisions about their reproductive health and to some degree, to receive equal pay for equal work. But women are not guaranteed equal rights under the United States Constitution. That’s why, for decades, women’s rights advocates across the country have supported an Equal Rights Amendment.

Nearly 50 years ago, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, barring sex discrimination. But thirty-eight states had to ratify it before it took effect. Earlier this year, Illinois became number 37 and a bipartisan group of lawmakers is campaigning to make Virginia the final, historic vote.

It’s not a given — there’s still pushback from conservatives in Virginia (grrr), and even if Virginia does become the 38th state to ratify the ERA, the deadline for ratification passed “decades ago”, but apparently there’s precedent for Congress extending or rescinding the deadline to allow an amendment to pass — but this is a long-overdue step, and this effort has bipartisan support. Good luck to Virginia, to the ERA, and to all the women in the country who could benefit from the ERA finally being ratified!

My local indigenous history

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A followup to yesterday’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day:

According to this map, I (along with many of my Seattle-area friends) live on Duwamish tribal land, part of the Puget Sound Coast Salish tribal group (is that the right term to use?). The closest village was “sawh-WAHWH-weh-wad (‘place of whistling’). Duwamish. On Cedar River about 2 miles above present-day town of Renton. This village was occupied by the riverine Duwamish or doo-AHBSH, after doo (‘inside’) referring to (present-day) Duwamish River, Black River and Cedar River, along all of which this group resided.”

Lushootseed (which has several dialects) was the language spoken in the area.

The land was part of Cession 347, taken by the United States in the Point Elliott Treaty in 1855, ratified and proclaimed in 1859 (19KB .pdf). The signatory for the Duwamish was Chief Si’ahl, namesake of the city of Seattle. For all the land taken by this treaty, the tribes were “paid” $150k (roughly $4.3 million in today’s dollars — or roughly 1.3% of the cost of Avengers: Infinity War), distributed over nineteen years not as direct funds, but “to be applied to the use and benefit” of the tribes as directed by the government.

Despite being the first signatory tribe of the Point Elliott Treaty and having cultural history and stories dating back to the last ice age, the Duwamish Tribe is still not recognized as an indigenous nation by the United States Government.