The Comfort Zone

We are going up to the Grand Canyon today, taking the train from Williams. Should be fun, and it was pretty cheap for a vacation. Also, for anyone not updated, we still don’t know where we are going to end up with Chris’ job. We could end up staying here and with Chris unemployed. Or we could end up in Denver. Outside possibility that we could end up in Phoenix, with Chris still with the company, if they approve moving the job he applied for from Denver to Phoenix. It seems unlikely to me, but he will try to make it happen.

So, anyone living in or around Denver, I sure could use any info you have on where to live and where to send the kids to school, since I am looking at possibly moving there with very little notice.

I realize that Krugman’s talking about the insurance market not individual incentives, but I do think that when you drill down to the essence of what the free market conservatives are saying, it’s that people who don’t have the money to pay for good insurance deserve to die. It’s really just an outgrowth of their belief in social Darwinism and Randian exceptionalism — good people have money, bad people are parasites — and those who can’t afford to keep up are lacking in moral fiber and work ethic. It’s how they see the world — until they too are caught in the web, at which point they blame women and minorities.

I simply cannot tell you how often I see this sort of shit on my job….. people who you just KNOW were the biggest conservative dicks in the universe, who you just KNOW feel entitled to their wealth, their position and their power and feel that people who are losers in life deserve to be at the bottom because they just aren’t as good as they themselves are. And then they get sick. You should see the mental contortions people will make to avoid having to admit that getting sick was not their fault….and therefore other people, poor people or minorities, who get sick probably are not individually at fault for it either.

Read this, and then see if you can continue to convince yourself that the conservative establishment’s opposition to abortion is all about saving babies and a “culture of life”. What horseshit. It is about controlling women. Always has been, always will be.

Many abortion rights advocates and some Democrats who want to dial down the culture wars want the White House to package the two parts of the plan together, as a single piece of legislation. The plan would seek to reduce unwanted pregnancies by funding comprehensive sex education and contraception and to reduce the need for abortion by bolstering federal support for pregnant women. Supporters of the approach say it would force senators and members of Congress on both sides of the abortion battle to compromise their traditional positions, creating true common ground that mirrors what President Obama has called for.

But more conservative religious groups working with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships say they would be forced to oppose such a plan—even though they support the abortion reduction part—because they oppose federal dollars for contraception and comprehensive sex education. This camp, which includes such formidable organizations as the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention, is pressuring the White House to decouple the two parts of the plan into separate bills. One bill would focus entirely on preventing unwanted pregnancy, while the other would focus on supporting pregnant women.

Another gem:

For the White House, the decision about which tack to take is largely a question of whom it feels more comfortable alienating: religious groups like the Catholic bishops, which it has been trying hard to win over, or abortion rights groups, a key part of the Democratic base that it doesn’t want to lose.

Yeah, let’s just see which side the administration feels more comfortable alienating…it’s a real fucking mystery considering that Obama has already felt completely comfortable alienating the gay rights coalition and appears poised to compromise on a public option for health care, thus alienating a huge progressive coalition to reform health care. He doesn’t seem to have any problem with the risk of alienating his “base”, after all, where the fuck else are we going to go? But it sure does piss me off…he can take his “common ground” and shove it.

-link via Atrios.

Via Feministing, this article is just absolutely a must-read. I readily admit my ignorance and tendency to stereotype and judge Muslim people, both men and women. I readily admit to just not understanding the whole “cover your head or your whole body” thing, and while I accept the premise that many people more educated than I on the subject routinely state, that many Muslim women choose to wear head coverings or burqas out of cultural pride and not so much out of oppression and that further, the relationships between Muslim women and the head covering and burqas is much more complex than people like me tend to assume, I still have a hard time with it…I just cannot help it. So, when I read about what Sarkosky was proposing, I couldn’t bring myself to completely disagree with his premise, even though I really do believe that nothing good can come from any government telling women what they can wear or not wear. So, at any rate, a very interesting article which you should definitely read if only as a good reminder that when controversies like this appear, one of the things to do is actually listen to the people who are being discussed and not just to the (generally speaking) white men who are doing the discussing. The comments are also really good.

I’ve been busy these last couple of days having somewhat of a nervous breakdown such that I had to call in sick to work yesterday and spend the day cleaning out my garage, re-arranging boxes and getting rid of all manner of things, all in preparation for what I believe will be having to put this goddamn house on the market. So, what with pending unemployment and/or a move to a different state, I’ve been rather uneasy.

So, this afternoon, after ditching work early to go to my third dentist appointment in a month (which is a whole other Oprah on why dentists are no better than car dealers or realtors in my book), I came home and was doing more sorting and getting rid of all manner of things, when I came across a CD that my friend Christa had made for me back in October when I was in Boston. I asked her to give me some music and she also put on there all the pictures she had taken during the trip, since I had forgotten my camera.

Anyways, all of this is to say that I saw this picture and was peaceful, for just a bit. I love the way the water sparkles and the shadows and sun play on the leaves. It was a Walden Pond this was taken. Anyways, I liked it and it made me think of Christa and Boston and made me happy.

If you are not regularly perusing this site, you should be.

I just submitted this picture.

Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.

Via Feministing, this eye-opening article is one you should really read.

You know those signs posted all over the gym asking people to refrain from using their cell phones in the work out areas? Let’s go ahead and pretend that those apply to any and all conversations, shall we? Because let me tell you, the last thing I need during the few times I have to myself during the week without people yakking at me is to have to hear you yak to each other about your grandchild’s first poo or your latest brilliant low-carb smoothie recipe. If you want to chat, save it for the goddamn senior square dance, okay? When you are in the work out area, SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.

Sincerely and with all due respect,

M

“Pro-life” does not refer to a moral objection to abortion or an unwillingness to choose it for oneself. It refers to the belief that the law should prevent other women from getting the abortions they do want, and that people like Dr. Tiller should be rotting in prison. Or in the ground. It doesn’t mean legal in the first trimester. It doesn’t mean legal up to a certain phase of fetal development. It doesn’t mean legal with restrictions. It doesn’t mean safe, legal, and rare. It doesn’t mean legal but shameful or legal but less necessary. It means a broad prohibition on elective abortion.

I once had a fantastically awful argument with some family members regarding this very thing culminating in a fabulous storm-out. The gist of my argument at the time (god only knows why I would decide that discussing this issue with family would do any of us one single bit of good) was that it doesn’t matter what “you” would do, it doesn’t matter that “you” would never “personally” have an abortion, it only matters what is LEGAL and what is not. It drives me insane when people describe themselves as “pro-life” but then go on to say that really nobody should be able to force anyone to carry a pregnancy to term, because, as Piny so very eloquently states above, this means you are actually “pro-choice”. Just because I personally advise a friend against abortion does not make me “pro-life” as it is defined in America today. It drives me equally insane to hear people argue against abortion stating that anyone has access to birth control and if they don’t use it then they should have to accept the consequences of that. As if the anti-choice crowd in this country actually believes that anyone should have access to birth control. I’ve even had people reference Planned Parenthood in this argument, stating that women can easily go there to get free or reduced cost birth control. And while this is, I suppose, true in some cases, the mind reels at the dissonance.

I have been trying for quite some time to figure out some of the things I used to do on this blog that I am now forced to do differently due to the new computer. But luckily, Christa came to my rescue and showed me how to do it. So, without further ado, the post about the graduation of my niece, Jessica, which should have been posted two weeks ago.

Here she is as a baby….awwwww…..

Here she is right after her Salutatorian speech. That’s right, she made a speech! And it kicked ASS all over the Valedictorian speech. (I would put in the video of the speech itself but I am being told by Wordpress that it is too big, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it rocked).

Here she is getting her diploma.

And here she is looking pretty with her Mom.

Hopefully this all works, because I am sick and tired of fussing with it.

At the end of each school year I send a card with the kids to give to their teachers. Contained therein is a hand written letter describing how the particular child has grown and what that child has learned throughout the year and what accomplishments I feel that child has achieved due in no small part to that teacher (for example, this year I told David’s teacher how not only has his reading improved, but he seems to be enjoying what he reads so much more this year, in part because of the excellent reading choices she makes for the kids in her classroom). Enclosed is also a gift card of significant value.

My goal with these cards is to impart my appreciation of their efforts and also to make them cry, if I can, since causing the recipient of a card to weep is clearly the best sign you can have that it was a good card. Anyways, so this year DW’s teacher (after telling me in person thank you and letting me know that the card made her cry) sent home a card with David which, first of all, was a fabulous card, and second of all she had written me a thank you letter that made me cry, it was so good (well played, DW’s teacher, well played). My point being, that she sent the card home with DW, but the card was meant FOR ME. To say thank you for the card and money that I had given her.

RL’s teacher, both this year and last year, has sent RL a card. Addressed specifically to her and thanking HER for the gift card and letter. This irritates me no end. Because lady, let me tell you…. RL is a sweet kid, but she was not saving up her allowance all year in order to purchase you a $50 dollar Target gift card. Nor did she write the card, that was all me.

I suppose I am being petty and stupid. I mean, the point is that the teacher feels appreciated and gets a little bonus for doing right by my kid. It shouldn’t matter that I don’t get thanked properly. But it still makes me irritable.