Are we done with the primaries yet?

I love my RSS reader - I can't always read everything that comes across, but I generally skim everything to see if there is anything that catches my interested. I have separate sections for blogs of friends, fun stuff, geeky stuff, LGBT related blogs, lifestyle-specific blogs, news, politics, science, tech stuff, miscellaneous editorial commentary, blogs by writers/about writing, and a category for totally random stuff (like the imager.cc archive). I typically read 2 specific left-wing blogs for my daily dose of political commentary; AMERICAblog and Crooks & Liars.

I said "typically." For the last month or so, I've been largely skipping all posts from AMERICAblog on my RSS reader, and sticking entirely to C&L. Why? Because in recent weeks, AMERICAblog has become all about the Hillary Clinton hounding. I get that they love Obama, that's cool. He's a great candidate, and I will happily vote for him in the general election if he gets the dem nomination. I don't necessarily think he's better suited to the job of president than Hillary is, but they are so close on issues that I have no problem with pledging my vote to either one. I get that they are endorsing Obama, that's cool too. They are certainly entitled to endorse whomever they wish for the nomination.

That said, why do the authors of a left wing blog feel the need to get so hyped up, practically to the point of frothing at the mouth about Hillary, another left wing candidate? Has she, or people near her, said or done things that weren't completely politically correct? Yep. Has Obama or people near him said or done things that weren't completely politically correct? Yep again. It just seems to me that this is another tiresome instance of focusing on everything but the issues - you know, the things that matter. But then again, I suppose that when the candidates are so close on the issues, there isn't anything left to focus on but the extraneous bits.

Seriously, aren't there better things to report about than the left wing candidates' associates' brothers' dog pissing on the shoe of the other candidate? The dem primary is one small part of the larger political scene, and there are so many other things going on, politically, that should be talked about. I am normally very invested and interested in primary politics, and follow it eagerly up to the end - but now? I am just so sick of hearing about how the candidates are at each others' throats, I just want this season of politics to be over. It's not the candidates and what they are saying or doing that prompts that feeling for me, however - it's the "vast circle jerk of pomposity" that just won't stop.

For the reference made in the last paragraph, and some wise, strong words from Bill Maher on this subject, see this clip of 'new rules' from C&L.

When the primary season is over, and I can be reasonably sure I won't have 10 posts a day hounding after Hillary, or something one of her associates said or did, I'll resume regular reading of AMERICAblog - but until then, I'll be skimming post titles and clicking the handy "Mark all as read" button.

International politics are so much fun to watch

I woke up today thinking that politicians in other countries are so much more interesting than the ones we grow here.

President Sarkozy of France, for example, is on his third marriage. He won this last election while married to his 2nd wife, but they divorced in November (or thereabouts). In less than 5 months, he courted & married Italian supermodel Carla Bruni - a very unpopular move on his part, according to opinion polls of the French people. What politician would be willing to get a high profile divorce while in office here, let alone rapidly remarry someone from another country while still in office?

Then there is Silvio Berlusconi, candidate for Prime Minister in Italy. He is seeking a 3rd term in office, after leaving office in 2006. The man is 71, has a permanent tan, and has had cosmetic surgery around his mouth and eyes. He is Italy's richest man, and has been on trial at least 6 different times for corruption, though never convicted. In reference to himself, Berlusconi has said that he is "The best political leader in Europe and the world."

Last year, after openly flirting with some women at an awards dinner (saying such things as "If I weren't married, I'd marry you right away" and "With you I'd go anywhere"), his wife Veronica - Berlusconi's 2nd marriage - demanded a public apology. He is nothing if not silver-tongued, however. His public apology included such statements as "Forgive me, I beg you. And take this public show of my private pride giving in to your fury as an act of love. One of many." and "I guard your dignity, like a treasure within my heart, even when careless comments slip off my tongue." The latest from Berlusconi is his assertion that the left wing in Italy has "no taste in women" and that the right wing women are much more beautiful.

Now, I wouldn't really want to have to deal with either of these gentleman on a regular basis, but I cannot deny that they are much more interesting to read about than our politicians.

News of the Day

A quick glance at my RSS reader today brought multiple headlines that made me go o_O and tilt my head sideways, in confusion or amusement.

The Catholic Church had a version update. New sins have been added to the list of mortal sins one can commit.

It's in the water! Prescription drugs fond in drinking water across the U.S.

It's for religious reasons. Man arrested for selling cocaine, found with woman's dead body packed in dry ice in his hotel room; cites religious reasons.

Those wacky Virginians - French kissing now a sex offense. New law passed in Virginia makes tongue kissing anyone under the age of 13 a criminal who must register as a sex offender.

Stark County, Ohio - woman forcibly, inappropriately strip searched

Fair warning - these videos are difficult to watch, and are not appropriate for young children or most workplaces.

Stark County, Ohio - woman forcibly, inappropriately strip searched (article and video). | Part 2 (only video).

Background: Hope Steffy, a woman from Stark county, Ohio was assaulted by a cousin, leading to a 911 call for help. When the police arrived, things got confused and the officer began treating Steffy as the troublemaker, not the victim. He requested to see her ID, and she mistakenly handed him the driver's license of her deceased sister- something she keeps as a memento in her wallet. This eventually led to her being cuffed and taken to the station to answer questions.

She was asked a standard battery of mental status questions, such as "do you have any desire to hurt yourself" - to which she said, "Now, or ever?" At that response, she was wrestled to the floor and forcibly stripped. The article includes a video of this part - you can see this small blond woman being pinned to the floor by at least 7 officers, 2 of whom are men. The policy of the Stark county sheriff is that any strip search must be completed only by officers of the same sex as the prisoner, which very obviously did not happen in this case.

You can hear many times in the video, Steffy ask why they are doing this to her, what is going on, etc. When they start removing her bra and underwear, she starts screaming for help. Sheriff's office representatives admit to then leaving Steffy alone in the cell, totally naked without even a blanket, for the next 6 hours, and later giving her only a weighted vest to wear when she is taken to booking. During her 6 hours in the cell, she was denied access to a phone or medical treatment for the broken tooth, bulging disk, and bruises she sustained during the strip.

The news crew investigating this story has received little response to their queries to the sheriff's office for the other side of the story, beyond a simple denial of the allegations. But this video is pretty damning, for what it shows. Even if not all of the allegations prove true, it is painfully obvious that the department policy of only allowing female officers to strip a female prisoner was violated - up to the point that the last 2 people in the room with Steffy were both men. Steffy and her husband are suing the sherrif's office over this incident, and themselves released the information to the news crew - though it seems that the news crew obtained the video on their own.

Ron Paul is a terrifying man

People go on and on about how great Ron Paul is - but I admit I've done little research on him. But I watched a speech by him tonight - you can view it here on the Family Research Council website.

This man is terrifying. in the first 8 minutes of the speech, he talks about how he wants to remove various issues from the jurisdiction of the federal courts (including abortion rights, the definition of marriage, and prayer in schools), how he wants to eliminate income tax, and how he thinks we shouldn't be involved in the UN, WTO, the World Bank, etc. at all.

I can agree with the idea that we should not be involved in 'nation building' and playing world police. And I can agree with him that giving up personal liberties for safety and security is a bad idea. And yeah, parents and not the government should be the primary responsibility for the rearing of children. But I cannot believe that this idea of pulling out of the world society is a good answer to these problems. No, we shouldn't police the world and try to rebuild it in our image, but we shouldn't ignore its existence, either. Giving up personal liberties for safety isn't the answer either, but neither is giving up the social programs that do so much good for so many people. Granted, the welfare and social security systems need reworked, but a lot of people would be in dire straits without them - and I'm one of those people. Without governement medical aid, I would not be able to get treatment for my knees & back - if we were on a complete 'personal liberty' system such as he seems to be suggesting, I would be in vast amounts more pain and be much less functional in my daily life - and I certainly wouldn't be looking forward to the idea of being able to get back to work once I graduate my current school program!

We are interconnected as a society, and we need to realize that. All the talk of full personal liberty, what you earn belongs to you and not the government, and elimination of these social programs and incentives is fine if you are fully able to care for yourself personally and financially - but there are plenty of people who need help, either for a short time or in a longer term, and these ideas leave those people out in the cold to depend on the very limited resources of local charities, if they are able to get assistance even from those places.

If you eliminate income tax, how do you propose to fund government? Eliminating overseas involvement would reduce the money required, but is that really going to balance out? The cursory search I did on that this evening doesn't look like it would - at some point when it is not 3am, I will do some more digging into that part of this equation.

I marvel at the support I have seen for Ron Paul among the alternative communities, given his stance on abortion, same-sex marriage, and the like. This man wants to remove the ability for the courts to have a say in what happens, so that a ban on these things can be pushed through all the faster. How can people for whom these are bedrock issues support Paul? Just because he espouses libertarian views in several issues, that doesn't seem to extend as far a woman's personal liberty when deciding on her reproductive future, or the liberty of a same-sex couple who wants to marry.

This political rant brought to you by the hour 03:00 and the chance viewing of a Ron Paul video, thanks to digg.com.

Cross-posted to my personal journal.

Antiwar Morton West students facing expulsion

Wow. Apparently, students at Morton West, the high school I attended in the Chicago area, are becoming increasingly vocal about protesting the Iraq war, however they are doing so peacefully.

After staging a sit-in at the school cafeteria, and refusing to move, they were asked to take the protest outside so as to not disrupt classes, and were told they would not be in any more trouble than for cutting class without an approved excuse.

Some 25 of those students are now facing expulsion for their protest.

Read the story from the Chicago Sun-Times.
Blog coverage at C&L and Once Upon a Time. Online petition here.

I wrote the following email to the superintendent:

Mr. Nowakowski:

I was shocked today to see mention of Morton West in the news and on the political blogs that I read. I remember Morton West as a place where students were respected, the expression of their beliefs encouraged, and civic-minded students were praised - even when the instructors and administration did not agree with their views. Imagine my surprise to see the story about 25 students who were peacefully protesting, and now face expulsion.

I went to Morton West high school until 1997, and it wasn't like this then - I am very saddened that things have changed so much there. There was a point where this kind of demonstration would not have gotten this response - at worst, their parents would have been called regarding the disrupting of classes, but no expulsions would have occurred or been threatened, and certainly no charges filed with police. When did this change? Indeed, I had a history/government instructor, Dr. Skoda, who would have lauded the students for standing up for their beliefs and rights - though he would most certainly would have disagreed completely with those views. He and I always disagreed on nearly every issue, but he always respected me for peacefully expressing my views.

Please, Mr. Nowakowski, don't expel these students. Don't punish peacefully protesting students beyond the Saturday detention for missing class without an excuse.

Sincerely,
Shayla Maas

If You're Reading This (I'm already home)

On the way to the grocery store today, I flipped radio stations to the other local country radio station (I normally listen to one of the local versions of Froggy), Y108. The song that was playing was unfamiliar to me, but I identified it almost immediately as Tim McGraw. Since I generally like Tim McGraw's music, I sat in the parking lot to hear the end of the song - and was in tears long before the last note.

I've talked before about my lack of close, personal contact with the military as I was growing up. My exposure was limited to knowing that a couple of my uncles had been active war-time military at some point long before I was born. They didn't talk about it, and I didn't ask. It wasn't until I got into online blogging that I first had friends that were either active military service members or were spouses of active service members.

I met an Army wife on Xanga who was stationed in Germany with her 2 young children while her husband was deployed in Iraq. I started talking to an Army specialist who was being deployed to Iraq - and who has since returned home, but is facing another deployment soon. I met D, a good friend in the Air Force who is stationed up in Idaho - and who patiently listens to me babble on about my feelings about the military, and tries to explain the other side of things for me. And I met 2 other very dear friends via FFXI - M., a staff sergeant, and S, his wife. When one of M's officers was killed in the line of duty over a year ago, I drove to St. Louis, MO to be there with S for the funeral. (See To Show My Support)

Since then, a man who is the closest thing I have ever had to a brother has joined the Air Force, and I am so proud of him for making that choice. It was really the best thing for his future and his goals, and he followed it even though it was so very different from any of his previous experience.

With all these connections to various aspects of military service in my life now, songs like the one I heard today hit very close to home for me. "If You're Reading This" by Tim McGraw is a story told from the point of view of a soldier who died while serving overseas, about the things he wishes he could have done, and the things he wishes for the future of his family.

One line talks about how he won't get to see the birth of his daughter, and what he hopes for her. That line is the one that broke the dam for me - M and S are trying to start their family, and I'm terrified that S is going to get pregnant, and then find out that M is being deployed again. These people are very important to me, and the idea of this kind of thing happening to them is just something I have a hard time handling. I knew that this was the risk that military familes took, but it has never felt so real, so close before.

There is a tribute version of this song done by Brien Travis, that is in a different style than Tim McGraw's version - you can hear it on his MySpace page, Brien Travis Music.

If You're Reading This (I'm already home)

If you're reading this
My momma is sitting there
Looks like I only got a one way ticket over here
I sure wish I could give you one more kiss
War was just a game we played when we were kids
Well I'm laying down my gun
I'm hanging up my boots
I'm up here with God
And we're both watching over you

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my momma always prayed where it would go.
If you're reading this I'm already home.

If you're reading this
Half way around the world
I won't be there to see the birth of our little girl
I hope she looks like you
I hope she fights like me
Stand up for the innocent and the weak
I'm laying down my gun
Hanging up my boots
Tell dad I don't regret that id follow in his shoes

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul is where my momma always prayed where it would go
If you're reading this, I'm already home

If you're reading this, there is going to come a day
You move on and find someone else and that?s okay
Just remember this
I'm in a better place
Soldiers live in peace and angels sing amazing grace

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul is where my momma prayed where that it would go
If you're reading this
If you're reading this
I'm already home

Crossposted to my personal journal.

A Quiver Full of Children

I am fairly clucky, in that I have a very strong urge to have children in the very near future. I think about being a mother a lot of the time. At this point, if I got pregnant (even if it were not specifically "planned") I would have the baby. I very much want kids - got it?

That being said, I am still a strong supporter of birth control and abortion rights. So I want kids - so what? That doesn't mean everyone does, or that everyone would be able to care for any children they gave birth to, even if they wanted them (due to any number of factors - illness, injury, economic status, etc.). I was ecstatic to learn of the FDA approval of Plan-B Emergency Contraception for purchase without a prescription for women age 18+. I think that will be an immeasurable help in cutting down the number of unintended, unwanted pregnancies - and by extension the number of abortions required.

I would be very happy if abortions were never needed. That would mean that there were safe, reliable, accessible methods of birth control to prevent pregnancy and that all pregnancies that happened were planned, or at least wanted/accepted if not actively planned. Abortions are very hard on women, physically and psychologically, and if they did not need to have them, so much the better - but if they need them, then I damn sure want them to have access to getting them.

We're clear on my stance on birth control and abortion rights now, correct?

With all of that tumbling around in my head, I'm not quite sure what to think of this Newsweek article: Making Babies the 'Quiverfull' Way

The basic concept, for those that do not want to click the link, is this is a conservative Protestant movement that deems all birth control of any kind - even tracking fertility cycles as the Catholic Church allows - anathema and that every couple should be willing and ready accept as many children as God gives them. The following quotes are the ones I have seen repeated most often in reading about the 'Quiverfull' movement:

"God is the only opener and closer of the womb"

and

"Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the Fruit of the Womb is His reward. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them..." (Psalms 127:3-5)

I am of two minds about this idea, I believe. On one hand, the couples that decide to follow this and that truly want the family with 10+ kids are following their faith and doing what they feel is right. Their family and home life have nothing to do with me, and do not impact me in any way, right? I should not concern myself with what they are doing any more than they should worry about what goes on in my home.

On the other hand, the whole concept just seems wrong to me. An article on the Quiverfull website about reasons to have another child includes reason #9: Have another child to counter global depopulation. It suggests that everyone should have large families of this kind to "offset the coming population implosion." (article here) I read several articles (mostly linked from the Quiverfull website or the Blessed Arrows website) that repeatedly referenced erroneous reports of "the myth of overpopulation" or that birth control pills "cause abortions in 5% of cases." That kind of blatant misinformation scares me in several ways, for several reasons. Not the least of which is how many people are living this kind of life based on these kinds of misinformation?

To me, the scariest part of the original MSNBC article is in the last paragraph:

Though Ken admits life isn’t always easy—last spring, all eight kids came down with chicken pox at once—he says the family became “exponentially happier” after relinquishing control of Devon’s womb to God. He’s counting on his eldest daughter, Peyton, 12, to carry on the tradition. She “will stay under my covering until I turn her over in marriage to a God-honoring young man,” he says. Hopefully, he adds, they too will reap a full quiver.

The reasons that quote is as frightening to me as it is, I think, has to do with other articles I read on the above sites (and others links on them) on parenting, dating/courting/betrothing, and marriage. That is another discussion, however - if you are bored and curious, feel free to peruse the linked sites, and read some of the articles posted. They are an interesting, if somewhat frightening, read.

crossposted to my personal journal.

To Show my Support

I am leaving in about 5 hours, and driving to St. Louis for the funeral of a woman I never met. Her name is Amanda Pinson, she was 21 - killed a few days ago.

Why am I driving 10 hours to her funeral, when I never met her in my life?

She was a U.S. Army soldier, killed in a mortar attack in Tikrit, Iraq on March 16, 2006. Her commanding officer is a dear friend of mine, and is (naturally) still in Iraq with the rest of his soldiers. If you are on my video games filter, on my personal journal, you've seen me talk about a man I know from playing FFXI, M. - how happy I was when he was home on R&R, how much I worry about him. M. was Amanda's commanding officer.

Especially because M. cannot be there, his wife S. (another dear friend of mine) wants to show all the support she can for Amanda's family - as do I. I want to make sure they know that someone cares about the fact their 21-year-old daughter was killed.

She had been recently promoted to E5, gotten engaged, and was due to come home on R&R herself soon. Her fiance was wounded in the same attack that took her life - I saw a photo of him, standing with the aid of a cane due to the shrapnel still in his leg, saluting the military memorial to his "baby girl" and I cried for the next 20 minutes. The look on his face will haunt me for the rest of my life, I think. That is why I am driving 10 hours to attend her funeral - to make sure that her family knows that there is someone out there who cares.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I am not generally pro-military, and that I absolutely don't support this war. But these soldiers - men and women who, many of them, are younger than me - I do support them. And dammit, I want to make sure that they know that.

Since I learned of Amanda's death, I have been bouncing between very sad and very angry about it. Life is sacred to me, and any premature loss of life hurts. Amanda certainly knew what she was signing up for when she joined the Army in 2003 - and she knew the risk to her life was real - but she believed in what she was doing. I may not agree with most military action - but I want to honor the fact that she knew her own convictions and followed them. She knew what she believed in, accepted the risks of that, and did it anyway. That is most worthy of honor.

If you would like to read the article that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the day after Amanda's death, it is available online. Danger Could Not Deter Local Soldier

If I receive permission to repost the photo of her fiance, I may post that at a later time, as well. For now, look at that article, at her picture - and know that she will never come home, never get married, never finish her dreams for her life. But also know that she died following her own convictions. I don't support the reason she had to be there - but I do support her, and all those like her, that truly believe in what they are doing.

A new experiment

I have been online journaling for about 5 years now - but I have decided I want to try something a bit different, and actually write a blog, instead. Something not quite as personal as my journals, but someplace that I can still express my ideas for others to read.

I have several things that I want to blog about - some rants, some analyses, and some random musings - I will subject you to those at a later time, however.