I strongly condemn the events in Charlottesville, VA this weekend. Not my values. Not my friends.
If you are one of those people - and I am sure there are many - who voted for Mr. Trump but wouldn't run over people or bash in someone's face because they disagree with you, what are you going to do about it?
President Trump did not condemn these actions. His words were weak and pathetic. They were not the words of a leader. They were not words that bring a nation together. They were not even kind words. And then he went on to brag about himself and how good things are under his so-called administration. Basically we have no government at the moment. This man can call everybody else names, but he certainly can't name his supremacist friends what they are - domestic terrorists. This was a planned racist event.
Expect more of them.
"Some members of Trump’s own party called on the President to specifically cite the Charlottesville tragedy as a terror attack, or to call out white nationalists. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that it was “very important” for the country to hear the president “describe events in Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by white supremacists. . . . Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) wrote that “we must call evil by its name.” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) echoed that “we should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home.”' - Variety
"In the naked light I saw 10,000 people, maybe more. People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. . . . No one dare disturb the sound of silence. . . . Silence like a cancer grows."
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Friday, June 16, 2017
Get Off Your Butts, Liberals
This is a mini-rant, I suppose.
I keep hearing whispers about the U.S. Senate's version of the new healthcare plan. Most of what I hear is about how secretive it is. How the Republicans have shut out the Democrats, and thus no one knows what is really in the plan.
Someone fussed about how it is being put together by a bunch of white men who don't know what women need to do to keep their hoo-has in good shape.
Or that certain races of people have genetic disorders unique to them.
That contraception can't be covered but erectile dysfunction can (but that has always been the case).
That pre-existing conditions won't be part of the process.
That old people will pay 75 percent more than young people.
Or whatever.
I hear they will hold no public hearings, that they will toss their plan out on the table and say vote or not, expecting the Republican majority to march in lock-step, arms joined as they sing "No Health Care For You" and vote for the thing.
What I do not hear is that the Democrats are doing anything. Oh, they are asking questions in committees that really don't have anything to do with health care sometimes. They wonder aloud to some higher-up senator if the public will get to know what the health care bill says.
Is there some rule that says a bunch of Democrats can't get together, take the House's piece of crap AHCA, and make up their own version of what they want, and toss it out on the floor at the same time as the Republicans throw theirs out?
Can they do nothing more than rail against a process that they themselves set up?
Can't the Democrats create their version of what we really need, which is a single payer health care plan (Medicare for all), and then take it, now, to the American people? Can't they call their constituents with their little phone bots that work overtime during elections and actually offer up real information?
And while we're at it, can't the Democrats actually be Democrats, instead of Republican lite? Because there isn't a real left in this country, you know. Not a real one. Not one that advocates for everybody. Not one that believes in the power of you and me. Mostly they just believe in the power of "I" and there isn't an "I" in TEAM. But a team requires you and me, and maybe tea, meat, mate, tame and whatever other anagrams one can make from the word. But it doesn't require an "I" and it doesn't require corporate noses stuck in the business of the public or the Republic, for that matter.
Also, please stop with the memes and photos and other stuff about how stupid President Trump looks. When you demean him, you demean the office, and thus you become part of the process that has turned the United States into nothing more than King Kong with a banana in his hand, thrashing about in search of something he will never find again. So stop it already. You don't have to do anything. The man is going to do what he is going to do, and all you are doing is antagonizing "the other side," whatever that is.
Next, find some courtesy and morality. I say this to all sides, because the discourse in this country has reached the pitch of a high screech and absolutely no one is listening because all they hear is "AHHHHHHHHH" at decibels that mean nothing to anyone at all, not even an insect with super powered hearing.
And another thing, all of you, everyone of you, go read the U.S. Constitution. The Republicans or the Tea Party some years ago made a big deal about doing that on the congressional floor - so now, Democrats, you do it. I don't care if you have some junior member read it at the dead of midnight while C-Span films it, just do it. Contemplate it, discuss it, maybe even create a pamphlet that you send out to every single voter in your district that explains how government actually works. Something that says we have executive power, congressional powers, and judicial powers - the three legs of government - and that we are not a dictatorship and neither of the three parts of government is higher than the other.
Because obviously many people in this country have no idea how government works. Since that is the case, explain it to them. Enlighten. Offer free civics courses all over the country.
Be the good you say you want to be and actually do something besides kowtow to a lobbyist.
I am looking for adults to run the country. Should I put out an ad?
I keep hearing whispers about the U.S. Senate's version of the new healthcare plan. Most of what I hear is about how secretive it is. How the Republicans have shut out the Democrats, and thus no one knows what is really in the plan.
Someone fussed about how it is being put together by a bunch of white men who don't know what women need to do to keep their hoo-has in good shape.
Or that certain races of people have genetic disorders unique to them.
That contraception can't be covered but erectile dysfunction can (but that has always been the case).
That pre-existing conditions won't be part of the process.
That old people will pay 75 percent more than young people.
Or whatever.
I hear they will hold no public hearings, that they will toss their plan out on the table and say vote or not, expecting the Republican majority to march in lock-step, arms joined as they sing "No Health Care For You" and vote for the thing.
What I do not hear is that the Democrats are doing anything. Oh, they are asking questions in committees that really don't have anything to do with health care sometimes. They wonder aloud to some higher-up senator if the public will get to know what the health care bill says.
Is there some rule that says a bunch of Democrats can't get together, take the House's piece of crap AHCA, and make up their own version of what they want, and toss it out on the floor at the same time as the Republicans throw theirs out?
Can they do nothing more than rail against a process that they themselves set up?
Can't the Democrats create their version of what we really need, which is a single payer health care plan (Medicare for all), and then take it, now, to the American people? Can't they call their constituents with their little phone bots that work overtime during elections and actually offer up real information?
And while we're at it, can't the Democrats actually be Democrats, instead of Republican lite? Because there isn't a real left in this country, you know. Not a real one. Not one that advocates for everybody. Not one that believes in the power of you and me. Mostly they just believe in the power of "I" and there isn't an "I" in TEAM. But a team requires you and me, and maybe tea, meat, mate, tame and whatever other anagrams one can make from the word. But it doesn't require an "I" and it doesn't require corporate noses stuck in the business of the public or the Republic, for that matter.
Also, please stop with the memes and photos and other stuff about how stupid President Trump looks. When you demean him, you demean the office, and thus you become part of the process that has turned the United States into nothing more than King Kong with a banana in his hand, thrashing about in search of something he will never find again. So stop it already. You don't have to do anything. The man is going to do what he is going to do, and all you are doing is antagonizing "the other side," whatever that is.
Next, find some courtesy and morality. I say this to all sides, because the discourse in this country has reached the pitch of a high screech and absolutely no one is listening because all they hear is "AHHHHHHHHH" at decibels that mean nothing to anyone at all, not even an insect with super powered hearing.
And another thing, all of you, everyone of you, go read the U.S. Constitution. The Republicans or the Tea Party some years ago made a big deal about doing that on the congressional floor - so now, Democrats, you do it. I don't care if you have some junior member read it at the dead of midnight while C-Span films it, just do it. Contemplate it, discuss it, maybe even create a pamphlet that you send out to every single voter in your district that explains how government actually works. Something that says we have executive power, congressional powers, and judicial powers - the three legs of government - and that we are not a dictatorship and neither of the three parts of government is higher than the other.
Because obviously many people in this country have no idea how government works. Since that is the case, explain it to them. Enlighten. Offer free civics courses all over the country.
Be the good you say you want to be and actually do something besides kowtow to a lobbyist.
I am looking for adults to run the country. Should I put out an ad?
Friday, February 03, 2017
Down the Drain
This is a rant. Go away now if you are looking for cute pictures of niceties. You can come back tomorrow for that.
Most people who have been reading my blog for any length of time are probably aware that I am not happy with the current state of the nation.
Give it a year, and I think a lot of people are going to be really unhappy, but they will have to find it out for themselves. Some will never figure it out, and will blame somebody else. It's the nature of being human.
With all of this quick change going on, to me it feels like a chronic beating over the head. Unfortunately, every time Republicans are in charge of the government, I feel like I am being beaten. It is the verbal patronizing, the language, the authoritarianism, I suppose, that makes me feel like I have a boot over my face. Not only that, Republicans in Congress are just mean. And they really dislike women. Honestly, every mean person I know is a Republican. I know nice Republicans, too, but I can't think of a single mean Democrat. I probably know some, but I don't know who they are. I know that I know mean Republicans.
Anyway, since that is how I have been feeling, like a beaten down dog whimpering in a cage, it has been hard to blog. I try not to blog too much about political stuff here because that is not what I want on Blue Country Magic. But when it is all I can think about, and all that is in the news, and all that is eating at me, it is difficult to write about fawns and daylilies.
I am not writing on Facebook, either, even though I sometimes want to scream out responses to the things I see posted. But I am not very good at arguments. I can state my case and you can agree with it or not, but I don't want to argue with anyone about it. So I don't argue. If I do post something, if you don't agree, don't agree. I generally won't waste my time fighting about it. Usually I just hit "delete." It's the best key on the keyboard.
That type of thing, of course, pertains to opinion. Now, if I'm stating a fact, like, say, 4+4=8, or the ground is made of dirt and rocks and compost and dead things, and you don't want to agree with that, well, that just means you're ignorant. I might argue with you over a fact. A real fact, not an alternative fact.
A friend, a moderate Republican who occasionally shows glimpses of a soul when he talks to me, doesn't post a lot of political stuff on Facebook, either. I still have hope for him, but yesterday he posted a video on Facebook but he made little comment about it except that it made him think (about what, I do not know). The video was by some dude who claimed to be in Iraq (no way to know for sure, he might have been in his basement in Mississippi). He said that he had been told that right now, with the [whatever name I decide to call the person leading the country]'s ban on immigration, the Iraqis are fired up. After all, we're supposed to be on their side but their nation was spelled out as being bad and their people couldn't come here, not even the ones that fought with us. This guy said if he went out on the town, the Iraqi people, not ISIL or Al Qaida, would kill him. Torture him, behead him. And is that the kind of people we want in the U.S.?
What I wanted to respond to this video was this:
Matthew Shepherd (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998), beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming on the night of October 6, 1998. Significant media coverage was given to the killing and what role Shepard's sexual orientation might have played as a motive in the perpetration of the crime.
Nine black church congregants were killed by a white shooter June 17, 2015 in Charleston, S.C.
The KKK and black lynchings.
Any newspaper reporting crime in any day in this country.
For further information, here's a report in the Washington Post on Hate Crime.
And there is this graph here at the FBI site:
I just pulled out Virginia because that is where I live. In just those areas, which doesn't even include most of Southwest Virginia, there are over 160 murders. And look at all of those violent crimes.
And then I would have liked to have responded with this:
FBI Hate Crimes Statistics
Because we're such a calm, non-violent society, after all. We worship our mammas and apple pie. We don't gang up on gays, or black people, or Muslims, or people of different faith.
What crap.
My point is, this weird view that Americans have that we're such a peaceful, tolerant and welcoming nation is bullshit, and the world is calling us on it. We are violent. We are mean. We are as bad, if not worse, than any other nation in this word. as far as violence and hatred and just plain vileness goes. Only we do it in the name of "Christianity" instead of some other religion, so somehow or another, because a bunch of people worship a really blatantly fucked-up version of "the Prince of Peace," that makes shooting one another and dropping drone bombs on people all right.
And to make this point even more strongly, here is this, from The American Bar Association:
Or maybe the stabbings, gunshots, fights, and domestic violence runs that my husband's EMS/Fire crews see every single night in Roanoke would convince you, dear reader, that we are not a peaceful people?
We are the ONLY nation to have used an atomic weapon on real, live people. We have lynched people on the say-so of a single person. We are completely capable of ostracizing and being cruel to someone different than us. We do it every single day. Every. Single. Day.
And we're terrified of people who are thousands of miles away from us.
Frankly, I am as frightened of some of the people in my community as I am anybody else in the world.
We can keep fooling ourselves that we are better than others in the world, but we're not. That boat has sailed and is so far gone it is too late to wave bye-bye to it. The only thing we have is greed and a religion that worships money.
Some of us, though, want a better world.
We ain't gettin' it today.
________________________
Most people who have been reading my blog for any length of time are probably aware that I am not happy with the current state of the nation.
Give it a year, and I think a lot of people are going to be really unhappy, but they will have to find it out for themselves. Some will never figure it out, and will blame somebody else. It's the nature of being human.
With all of this quick change going on, to me it feels like a chronic beating over the head. Unfortunately, every time Republicans are in charge of the government, I feel like I am being beaten. It is the verbal patronizing, the language, the authoritarianism, I suppose, that makes me feel like I have a boot over my face. Not only that, Republicans in Congress are just mean. And they really dislike women. Honestly, every mean person I know is a Republican. I know nice Republicans, too, but I can't think of a single mean Democrat. I probably know some, but I don't know who they are. I know that I know mean Republicans.
Anyway, since that is how I have been feeling, like a beaten down dog whimpering in a cage, it has been hard to blog. I try not to blog too much about political stuff here because that is not what I want on Blue Country Magic. But when it is all I can think about, and all that is in the news, and all that is eating at me, it is difficult to write about fawns and daylilies.
I am not writing on Facebook, either, even though I sometimes want to scream out responses to the things I see posted. But I am not very good at arguments. I can state my case and you can agree with it or not, but I don't want to argue with anyone about it. So I don't argue. If I do post something, if you don't agree, don't agree. I generally won't waste my time fighting about it. Usually I just hit "delete." It's the best key on the keyboard.
That type of thing, of course, pertains to opinion. Now, if I'm stating a fact, like, say, 4+4=8, or the ground is made of dirt and rocks and compost and dead things, and you don't want to agree with that, well, that just means you're ignorant. I might argue with you over a fact. A real fact, not an alternative fact.
A friend, a moderate Republican who occasionally shows glimpses of a soul when he talks to me, doesn't post a lot of political stuff on Facebook, either. I still have hope for him, but yesterday he posted a video on Facebook but he made little comment about it except that it made him think (about what, I do not know). The video was by some dude who claimed to be in Iraq (no way to know for sure, he might have been in his basement in Mississippi). He said that he had been told that right now, with the [whatever name I decide to call the person leading the country]'s ban on immigration, the Iraqis are fired up. After all, we're supposed to be on their side but their nation was spelled out as being bad and their people couldn't come here, not even the ones that fought with us. This guy said if he went out on the town, the Iraqi people, not ISIL or Al Qaida, would kill him. Torture him, behead him. And is that the kind of people we want in the U.S.?
What I wanted to respond to this video was this:
Matthew Shepherd (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998), beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming on the night of October 6, 1998. Significant media coverage was given to the killing and what role Shepard's sexual orientation might have played as a motive in the perpetration of the crime.
Nine black church congregants were killed by a white shooter June 17, 2015 in Charleston, S.C.
The KKK and black lynchings.
Any newspaper reporting crime in any day in this country.
For further information, here's a report in the Washington Post on Hate Crime.
And there is this graph here at the FBI site:
I just pulled out Virginia because that is where I live. In just those areas, which doesn't even include most of Southwest Virginia, there are over 160 murders. And look at all of those violent crimes.
And then I would have liked to have responded with this:
FBI Hate Crimes Statistics
Overview
- In 2015, 14,997 law enforcement agencies participated in the Hate Crime Statistics Program. Of these agencies, 1,742 reported 5,850 hate crime incidents involving 6,885 offenses.
- There were 5,818 single-bias incidents that involved 6,837 offenses, 7,121 victims, and 5,475 known offenders.
- The 32 multiple-bias incidents reported in 2015 involved 48 offenses, 52 victims, and 18 known offenders.
Single-bias incidents
Analysis of the 5,818 single-bias incidents reported in 2015 revealed that:- 56.9 percent were motivated by a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias.
- 21.4 percent were prompted by religious bias.
- 18.1 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias.
- 2.0 percent were motivated by gender-identity bias.
- 1.3 percent were prompted by disability bias.
- 0.4 percent (23 incidents) were motivated by a gender bias.
Because we're such a calm, non-violent society, after all. We worship our mammas and apple pie. We don't gang up on gays, or black people, or Muslims, or people of different faith.
What crap.
My point is, this weird view that Americans have that we're such a peaceful, tolerant and welcoming nation is bullshit, and the world is calling us on it. We are violent. We are mean. We are as bad, if not worse, than any other nation in this word. as far as violence and hatred and just plain vileness goes. Only we do it in the name of "Christianity" instead of some other religion, so somehow or another, because a bunch of people worship a really blatantly fucked-up version of "the Prince of Peace," that makes shooting one another and dropping drone bombs on people all right.
And to make this point even more strongly, here is this, from The American Bar Association:
In 2003, there were 30,136 firearm-related deaths in the United States; 16,907 (56%) suicides, 11,920 (40%) homicides (including 347 deaths due to legal intervention/war), and 962 (3%) undetermined/unintentional firearm deaths.
CDC/National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, WISQARS Injury Mortality Reports 1999-2003 http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars
- The rate of death from firearms in the United States is eight times higher than that in its economic counterparts in other parts of the world. Kellermann AL and Waeckerle JF. Preventing Firearm Injuries. Ann Emerg Med July 1998; 32:77-79.
- The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children younger than 15 years of age is nearly 12 times higher than among children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1997;46:101-105.
- The United States has the highest rate of youth homicides and suicides among the 26 wealthiest nations. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rates of homicide, suicide, and firearm-related death among children: 26 industrialized countries.MMWR. 1997;46:101-105. Krug EG, Dahlberg LL, Powell KE. Childhood homicide, suicide, and firearm deaths: an international comparison. World Health Stat Q. 1996;49:230-235.
Or maybe the stabbings, gunshots, fights, and domestic violence runs that my husband's EMS/Fire crews see every single night in Roanoke would convince you, dear reader, that we are not a peaceful people?
We are the ONLY nation to have used an atomic weapon on real, live people. We have lynched people on the say-so of a single person. We are completely capable of ostracizing and being cruel to someone different than us. We do it every single day. Every. Single. Day.
And we're terrified of people who are thousands of miles away from us.
Frankly, I am as frightened of some of the people in my community as I am anybody else in the world.
We can keep fooling ourselves that we are better than others in the world, but we're not. That boat has sailed and is so far gone it is too late to wave bye-bye to it. The only thing we have is greed and a religion that worships money.
Some of us, though, want a better world.
We ain't gettin' it today.
Wednesday, November 02, 2016
The Music Used to Make Me Smile
But that was before everyone became so damn sensitive and apparently everything offends somebody.
For example, the non-existent "war on Christmas" is already occurring in my FB feed, so please note that Bing Crosby was singing "Happy Holidays" over 50 years ago, and the word "holiday" has been around since Chaucer and it means "holy day." It isn't "politically correct" or anything else to say it.
Just say what you want and stop buying into the news-media-manufactured B.S. surrounding Christmas and don't take offense when someone is being nice.
They could tell you to "F&ck off" instead of happy holidays, or just push you down in the store aisle to get that last TV or whatever.
Be kind, and accept the kindness. When did we all become so sensitive? Geez. Get over yourselves.
Today's Roanoke Times lead story on the election started out "Clinton" and when it mentioned Donald Trump it simply said "Trump." No first names, no context, nothing. If space is so short that the story could not read "Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for President" and "Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President," then chop from the bottom or rewrite. I realize 9/10 of the population probably knows who these people are, but there are still some folks out there who seldom read or are just catching up. Bad journalism - bad writing - all the way around.
****************************************************************
Today's Roanoke Times lead story on the election started out "Clinton" and when it mentioned Donald Trump it simply said "Trump." No first names, no context, nothing. If space is so short that the story could not read "Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for President" and "Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President," then chop from the bottom or rewrite. I realize 9/10 of the population probably knows who these people are, but there are still some folks out there who seldom read or are just catching up. Bad journalism - bad writing - all the way around.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Teach Your Children Well
Ignorance is not bliss.
Young people who are 20 years old should know how to dust, vacuum, do the laundry, and take care of themselves.
If they don't, their parents have failed them.
It is not the school's place, the church's place, the government's place, or my place, to teach a child who is now an adult how to put Pledge on a rag and not drown the furniture in polish. If a 20-year-old doesn't know that, then somebody somewhere along the way failed that kid.
Regardless of sex, an adult (that's somebody age 18 and older) should know how to fix food and clean. Those are basic life skills. If they can't do that, and apparently many cannot, then how in the world do parents expect them to accomplish anything at all?
They aren't going to. And maybe parents don't expect them to. I don't know.
I can't know. I have no children. I don't understand how it is to have the little darlings and to hug them and kiss them and keep them infantile until they are 30. You're right, I don't get that. I don't know why parents would not give children chores or include them as part of the household but instead set them apart as some "other" apparently always worthy of techno stuff and trophies, but never worthy of the time and attention needed to actually raise them to be decent, responsible citizens who are respectful of people around them.
My husband has for about a decade now complained about the young people who come in to his line of work and expect to start out at top pay. They don't know how to do anything and they don't want to learn. All they want to do is play video games on X-box and ride around on fire trucks. They don't understand, or care, that the firehouse has to be kept clean, that the trucks need maintenance, that learning to put out a fire safely requires hours upon hours of training.
Mom and Dad never told them they might have to break a sweat once in a while. It's such a surprise to them when they learn they have to work.
My brother, who is a CEO of a medium-sized corporation with multiple branches, has made the same complaint about young people who come to him for a job. They dress shabbily. They spend more time looking at their phones than answering questions in interviews. Their parents bring them to the interview! Why would he hire a person like that?
If a 14-year-old can't babysit, do chores, bake a supper, do the laundry, and clean up a room, if not the whole house, that child is not a successful kid. I don't care how many As or baseball trophies are in that kid's room. That kid can't take care of his or her self and is therefore a failure in basic self care.
My grandmother was giving birth to my mother when she was 14. Her six children were all potty-trained before they were two. I was potty-trained before I was two. Today I see young mothers on my Facebook page talking about whether or not their four-year-old is old enough to be potty trained. Please. I know a woman who had five kids who taught every single one of them to use the toilet before they turned a year old. They weren't damaged, and neither was I. But I predict a kid who is still pooping his pants at the age of four will be in therapy later in life.
Schools and colleges complain about these things - teachers talk about how little children know, how they can't even take care of basic things like washing up for lunch. Colleges complain about helicopters parents who hover over their children and keep them infantile. Why would a parent want to do that?
We were watching a silly show on one of the science channels the other night about homesteading. This family of four was about to die of starvation because a 23-year-old boy and a teenaged girl weren't helping. The parents were doing it all, trying to chop wood and garden and all the other things it takes to live like that. The kids were, well, playing on their cell phones, I guess. They certainly weren't involved. And that, the homesteading expert pointed out, was their biggest challenge, the lack of involvement by all in the group. It wasn't snow or heat or snakes that was going to do them in - it was the fact that these parents had not given their children a work ethic.
When I was 20, I was married and keeping a house. And I kept a neat, clean home and took care of a garden. I worked full time and went to school part time. I failed to have children, but not for lack of trying. I was sick a lot and I still worked hard.
I realize that was nearly 35 years ago. But some things do not change. People need to be able to care for themselves and their surroundings. And apparently, young people today cannot do these things. These are the same people who one day will be taking care of me when I am old and infirmed, and if they can't figure out how to use a damp mop, then I despair of their ability to help me with a bed pan.
It is not child abuse to give children responsibilities. Every member of a tribe for thousands of years has had responsibilities. Little children from very early ages learned to gather firewood and tend to minor chores; they have done that for as long as humans have walked the planet. And now, what? They're too tender, too soft, or too special to be part of the community?
This is, I think, the result of the "me" generation which has not taken the time to properly raise their offspring. Mothers busy working and fathers busy working apparently haven't the time to teach little Darling how to use the washing machine. Although my mother worked full time and sang in a band on the weekends and we lived on a farm and my father worked full time and sang in a band and we lived on a farm, and I learned that stuff. So well, that's an excuse, not a reason. The reason? It is easier for the parent to tell Darling to go sit in front of the TV or the video game, and Darling learns diddly squat.
I have relayed before various incidents with children in recent years, how they scream and cry, run around in restaurants, and generally act like wild heathens while their parents play Candy Crush or whatever they're doing. They ignore the fact that the kids are creating a ruckus. It all goes back to attention and proper parenting. Letting kids run wild is not appropriate or proper parenting. Parents are creating monsters, not citizens.
I did not have an easy childhood. My parents were tough on me and I resented - and still resent - some of that. But they also gave me a work ethic and taught me how to do the things that a person needs to know how to do, like cleaning and laundry, and for that I am grateful. I never fared well at gourmet cooking like my mother, but my husband and I haven't starved and if I have to I can whip up a decent dinner without too much thought or effort. Even now, while I am ill and under specific doctor's orders not to do certain things, I still work to keep my house clean and things under control.
I fear there are parents out there who will want to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. But before these parents respond with emotional anger and bristles up, I hope they ask themselves why what I have written bothers them.
Then I hope they wonder if maybe if it isn't because they know, deep down inside, that I'm right.
And if that is the case, then I hope that tonight somewhere some parent takes a child aside, and shows him or her how to sort out the whites from the colors and use a washing machine.
Young people who are 20 years old should know how to dust, vacuum, do the laundry, and take care of themselves.
If they don't, their parents have failed them.
It is not the school's place, the church's place, the government's place, or my place, to teach a child who is now an adult how to put Pledge on a rag and not drown the furniture in polish. If a 20-year-old doesn't know that, then somebody somewhere along the way failed that kid.
Regardless of sex, an adult (that's somebody age 18 and older) should know how to fix food and clean. Those are basic life skills. If they can't do that, and apparently many cannot, then how in the world do parents expect them to accomplish anything at all?
They aren't going to. And maybe parents don't expect them to. I don't know.
I can't know. I have no children. I don't understand how it is to have the little darlings and to hug them and kiss them and keep them infantile until they are 30. You're right, I don't get that. I don't know why parents would not give children chores or include them as part of the household but instead set them apart as some "other" apparently always worthy of techno stuff and trophies, but never worthy of the time and attention needed to actually raise them to be decent, responsible citizens who are respectful of people around them.
My husband has for about a decade now complained about the young people who come in to his line of work and expect to start out at top pay. They don't know how to do anything and they don't want to learn. All they want to do is play video games on X-box and ride around on fire trucks. They don't understand, or care, that the firehouse has to be kept clean, that the trucks need maintenance, that learning to put out a fire safely requires hours upon hours of training.
Mom and Dad never told them they might have to break a sweat once in a while. It's such a surprise to them when they learn they have to work.
My brother, who is a CEO of a medium-sized corporation with multiple branches, has made the same complaint about young people who come to him for a job. They dress shabbily. They spend more time looking at their phones than answering questions in interviews. Their parents bring them to the interview! Why would he hire a person like that?
If a 14-year-old can't babysit, do chores, bake a supper, do the laundry, and clean up a room, if not the whole house, that child is not a successful kid. I don't care how many As or baseball trophies are in that kid's room. That kid can't take care of his or her self and is therefore a failure in basic self care.
My grandmother was giving birth to my mother when she was 14. Her six children were all potty-trained before they were two. I was potty-trained before I was two. Today I see young mothers on my Facebook page talking about whether or not their four-year-old is old enough to be potty trained. Please. I know a woman who had five kids who taught every single one of them to use the toilet before they turned a year old. They weren't damaged, and neither was I. But I predict a kid who is still pooping his pants at the age of four will be in therapy later in life.
Schools and colleges complain about these things - teachers talk about how little children know, how they can't even take care of basic things like washing up for lunch. Colleges complain about helicopters parents who hover over their children and keep them infantile. Why would a parent want to do that?
We were watching a silly show on one of the science channels the other night about homesteading. This family of four was about to die of starvation because a 23-year-old boy and a teenaged girl weren't helping. The parents were doing it all, trying to chop wood and garden and all the other things it takes to live like that. The kids were, well, playing on their cell phones, I guess. They certainly weren't involved. And that, the homesteading expert pointed out, was their biggest challenge, the lack of involvement by all in the group. It wasn't snow or heat or snakes that was going to do them in - it was the fact that these parents had not given their children a work ethic.
When I was 20, I was married and keeping a house. And I kept a neat, clean home and took care of a garden. I worked full time and went to school part time. I failed to have children, but not for lack of trying. I was sick a lot and I still worked hard.
I realize that was nearly 35 years ago. But some things do not change. People need to be able to care for themselves and their surroundings. And apparently, young people today cannot do these things. These are the same people who one day will be taking care of me when I am old and infirmed, and if they can't figure out how to use a damp mop, then I despair of their ability to help me with a bed pan.
It is not child abuse to give children responsibilities. Every member of a tribe for thousands of years has had responsibilities. Little children from very early ages learned to gather firewood and tend to minor chores; they have done that for as long as humans have walked the planet. And now, what? They're too tender, too soft, or too special to be part of the community?
This is, I think, the result of the "me" generation which has not taken the time to properly raise their offspring. Mothers busy working and fathers busy working apparently haven't the time to teach little Darling how to use the washing machine. Although my mother worked full time and sang in a band on the weekends and we lived on a farm and my father worked full time and sang in a band and we lived on a farm, and I learned that stuff. So well, that's an excuse, not a reason. The reason? It is easier for the parent to tell Darling to go sit in front of the TV or the video game, and Darling learns diddly squat.
I have relayed before various incidents with children in recent years, how they scream and cry, run around in restaurants, and generally act like wild heathens while their parents play Candy Crush or whatever they're doing. They ignore the fact that the kids are creating a ruckus. It all goes back to attention and proper parenting. Letting kids run wild is not appropriate or proper parenting. Parents are creating monsters, not citizens.
I did not have an easy childhood. My parents were tough on me and I resented - and still resent - some of that. But they also gave me a work ethic and taught me how to do the things that a person needs to know how to do, like cleaning and laundry, and for that I am grateful. I never fared well at gourmet cooking like my mother, but my husband and I haven't starved and if I have to I can whip up a decent dinner without too much thought or effort. Even now, while I am ill and under specific doctor's orders not to do certain things, I still work to keep my house clean and things under control.
I fear there are parents out there who will want to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. But before these parents respond with emotional anger and bristles up, I hope they ask themselves why what I have written bothers them.
Then I hope they wonder if maybe if it isn't because they know, deep down inside, that I'm right.
And if that is the case, then I hope that tonight somewhere some parent takes a child aside, and shows him or her how to sort out the whites from the colors and use a washing machine.
Friday, July 01, 2016
Is It Safe?
Yesterday my light bill arrived. Our electricity use is always high, and for a long time I have tried to figure out why. I think it's because we run two air purifiers in the house - we are not far from one of the county's largest polluters (a cement company, which has in recent years made significant efforts to clean up its processes but I still watch their smoke stacks churn out dust with great frequency) - and I have asthma. But even so, our bill is double that of some folks who have a much larger house, kids, etc.
We also run a dehumidifier in the garage. We started this many years ago when we ran into a minor mold problem. At that time, we were using a whole-house humidifier system that originated from the garage, and the moisture collected there. The dehumidifier fixed the issue, but it runs a lot. We have since done away with the whole-house humidifier, so I am not sure we need a dehumidifier running in the garage all the time. Maybe we only need one that turns on when I bring the car in wet from a rain.
So after looking at the electric bill, I went to the garage and stared at the dehumidifier for a while. It was running and the filter was dirty. I cleaned the filter. It has electronic stuff that you can program to make the thing run at various levels and times, but I couldn't figure out how to change the humidity level so that it would only turn on when the garage hit 50 percent humidity instead of 35 percent. I wrote down the model number and went to the computer to see if I could find the instruction manual for the dehumidifier on the Internet.
I found, instead, that the dehumidifier had been recalled back in 2013 because of the potential of fire. That was the very first thing that popped up when I typed in the model number.
That was unexpected.
I visited the recall site and submitted the information and was told that yes, my machine should be unplugged immediately. They would send me a "recall kit" and eventually refund some money.
The product was made in China. Most things are these days, I'm afraid.
After I finished filling out my information, I went back to the recall site. I was amazed at the vast amount of items sold in this country that are dangerous, hazardous, and poorly constructed. I grew up in an age when one did not worry if the product purchased was going to burn down the house. You expected it to be wired properly and to work as advertised. Refrigerators were made to last 30 years, not five. Yes, I am old, but I would rather pay more for a refrigerator that would last me 30 years than have to put up with bringing in a new appliance every time I turn around.
If you are interested in seeing if something you own has been recalled, you can go to recall.gov and check it out. You can see if your car has a recall on it, check household products, medications, and food.
It appears that most things made are recalled at some point, from the looks of the list. I imagine most readers have read about the IKEA recall of millions of dressers. But have you heard about certain children's nightgowns that have been recalled? Or that HP has recalled batteries for notebook computers? Or that Nature Valley protein chewy bars have been recalled? Or that some Honey Maid Teddy Grahams have been recalled?
All kinds of tires are listed under their own separate section of recalls. Tires are rather important when driving a vehicle. Yet there is a long list of tires that shouldn't be on your car.
An entire generation has grown up thinking this is the way things have to be. They don't. Manufacturers used to make products they were proud of. The workers were proud they were making it, too. You were proud to own it.
Now all we do is fill up landfills with this useless junk. This is what will continue to happen so long as the unwary consumer continues to purchase these poorly manufactured items.
We should demand quality, and expect to pay for it. It is a pain to have to replace my washing machine every couple of years because the machines they make now are made to break the day after the warranty expires. If I knew my washing machine was going to last beyond its (very limited) warranty, I would be willing to pay more for it.
I am, apparently, in the minority.
When I buy my new dehumidifier, I will do my homework and buy the "best one" as described online on some website that I may or may not trust. Right now, the "best one" in my price range, according to a couple of websites, is a Frigidaire. It's made in China.
So far, I have found only one that is made in the USA. It is large enough to take in my entire house, which I don't need, and costs $1,000 more than the "best one," the Frigidaire, I listed above. I can't find an American made dehumidifier in the size I need.
What are we as consumers supposed to do? Take time every day to visit the recall.gov site and see if everything in our house is safe? I bet I have other items in my home that have been recalled, things I will use every day, never knowing they have been deemed unsafe.
Why are we letting consumerism and our love and worship of money rule (and ruin) the world?
We also run a dehumidifier in the garage. We started this many years ago when we ran into a minor mold problem. At that time, we were using a whole-house humidifier system that originated from the garage, and the moisture collected there. The dehumidifier fixed the issue, but it runs a lot. We have since done away with the whole-house humidifier, so I am not sure we need a dehumidifier running in the garage all the time. Maybe we only need one that turns on when I bring the car in wet from a rain.
So after looking at the electric bill, I went to the garage and stared at the dehumidifier for a while. It was running and the filter was dirty. I cleaned the filter. It has electronic stuff that you can program to make the thing run at various levels and times, but I couldn't figure out how to change the humidity level so that it would only turn on when the garage hit 50 percent humidity instead of 35 percent. I wrote down the model number and went to the computer to see if I could find the instruction manual for the dehumidifier on the Internet.
I found, instead, that the dehumidifier had been recalled back in 2013 because of the potential of fire. That was the very first thing that popped up when I typed in the model number.
That was unexpected.
I visited the recall site and submitted the information and was told that yes, my machine should be unplugged immediately. They would send me a "recall kit" and eventually refund some money.
The product was made in China. Most things are these days, I'm afraid.
After I finished filling out my information, I went back to the recall site. I was amazed at the vast amount of items sold in this country that are dangerous, hazardous, and poorly constructed. I grew up in an age when one did not worry if the product purchased was going to burn down the house. You expected it to be wired properly and to work as advertised. Refrigerators were made to last 30 years, not five. Yes, I am old, but I would rather pay more for a refrigerator that would last me 30 years than have to put up with bringing in a new appliance every time I turn around.
If you are interested in seeing if something you own has been recalled, you can go to recall.gov and check it out. You can see if your car has a recall on it, check household products, medications, and food.
It appears that most things made are recalled at some point, from the looks of the list. I imagine most readers have read about the IKEA recall of millions of dressers. But have you heard about certain children's nightgowns that have been recalled? Or that HP has recalled batteries for notebook computers? Or that Nature Valley protein chewy bars have been recalled? Or that some Honey Maid Teddy Grahams have been recalled?
All kinds of tires are listed under their own separate section of recalls. Tires are rather important when driving a vehicle. Yet there is a long list of tires that shouldn't be on your car.
An entire generation has grown up thinking this is the way things have to be. They don't. Manufacturers used to make products they were proud of. The workers were proud they were making it, too. You were proud to own it.
Now all we do is fill up landfills with this useless junk. This is what will continue to happen so long as the unwary consumer continues to purchase these poorly manufactured items.
We should demand quality, and expect to pay for it. It is a pain to have to replace my washing machine every couple of years because the machines they make now are made to break the day after the warranty expires. If I knew my washing machine was going to last beyond its (very limited) warranty, I would be willing to pay more for it.
I am, apparently, in the minority.
When I buy my new dehumidifier, I will do my homework and buy the "best one" as described online on some website that I may or may not trust. Right now, the "best one" in my price range, according to a couple of websites, is a Frigidaire. It's made in China.
So far, I have found only one that is made in the USA. It is large enough to take in my entire house, which I don't need, and costs $1,000 more than the "best one," the Frigidaire, I listed above. I can't find an American made dehumidifier in the size I need.
What are we as consumers supposed to do? Take time every day to visit the recall.gov site and see if everything in our house is safe? I bet I have other items in my home that have been recalled, things I will use every day, never knowing they have been deemed unsafe.
Why are we letting consumerism and our love and worship of money rule (and ruin) the world?
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
What Bathroom Do I Use?
Every year, about 1/2 million women in the United States have a hysterectomy.
That means they have their lady parts removed, usually because of something like endometriosis, fibroids, cancer, or some other issue.
It is not a decision most women make lightly.
My hysterectomy occurred when I was 29 years old. That is young to have such a surgery. It was the only option left, in the end, and the only way I would live and not die of extreme pain and intense bleeding.
I was born female but now I have no lady parts. I don't have a male organ, either, but technically speaking, I am, well, a heterosexual androgynous sort of person who identifies as female. Or something like that. If you want to be detailed about it. I've always just thought of myself as a woman, and until the Republican parties in southern states started making all of these weird bathroom rules, I never gave it any thought.
But now I must ask - what bathroom do I use?
I look and sound female, and if anyone forced me to take off my pants they would assume I am female. But my reproductive value is nonexistent. So what does that make me? Besides, you know, useless in the eyes of some evangelicals who believe if you can't reproduce then you must have sinned big time. (And yes, I have been told that.)
It is hard enough in this country to have fertility problems, to have to endure physical trauma to your body, not to mention the emotional toil it takes to deal with the fact that you can't have children, without having a bunch of dumbasses start bringing up weird crap about who goes to what bathroom.
As if transgendered people or people like myself or other people who do whatever they do haven't been going to the bathroom for years and years without stupid laws.
And then they bring up the "pharmacists, doctors, therapists can say no" to whatever they disagree with, as if they know the whole story. I mean, I took birth control pills to control endometriosis so we could attempt to have children. They were part of my fertility process, a hope that by slowing down the growth of the endometriosis, we might have a chance to produce a child.
This stuff is nobody's business. If more people would mind their own business and keep their fantasies to themselves, and leave other people alone to live their lives as they need to, we wouldn't be having such stupid public conversations. I wouldn't be writing this admittedly stupid and sarcastic blog entry. I know where to go pee, and I know I'm a woman. I'm just not sure that the idiots in charge now would agree with me.
You do know the rest of the world laughs at us, right? The only thing that keeps them from actually laughing in our faces is the fact that we have the largest military machine ever and they don't want to piss off anybody who has the codes to the nuclear bombs.
What happens in my body is not your business. Where I go pee is not your business. Who I sleep with is not your business. Why do you think it is your business? I don't poke my nose into your business. Why must you stick yours in mine?
I think it is a lack of empathy, I really do. That means a person can understand and share the feelings of other people. Ultimately there is a certain and admittedly large group of people who cannot think of other people without judgment or any ability to feel or think about what the "others" might be thinking or feeling. I don't know where this comes from, if it is genetic or upbringing or religious indoctrination or what, but it is there. Maybe it's the result of the 1970s "me" generation, the bunch of us brought up on 7-Up who believe we're the only ones who matter and to hell with everybody else.
If you have empathy, generally speaking, you don't have "others" in your life. You have people who think differently, who seem to be thinking with their emotions and not their heads, or you have people of other races who see things in a different way, but they are still human beings to you and they still function like you do, peeing and putting on their pants one leg at a time. Sleeping and eating, drinking, trying to do the best they can with whatever their lot in life has turned out to be. And if you have empathy, you can see that lot, and see perhaps how a person ended up there, living in a box or living alone, or living with a house full of 19 children. You can see how they are doctors or plumbers or farmers or writers. Maybe you disagree with the decisions that got them to that place, but you can feel for them and understand that maybe they need some help, or maybe not, or maybe they are happy, or maybe not, and that all of them need to go potty somewhere or another and holding it in the shopping mall isn't always possible.
Much of the stuff in the media today - the war against women (yes, I believe there is one), the backlash against the same-sex marriage ruling by the Supreme Court, immigration - all of the issues that make headlines because they sell news, exists simply to divert our attention away from the really important matters. The really important matters are things like appointing another justice to the Supreme Court because we are one short. Or how companies do not pay taxes. Or the lack of jobs and the loss of the middle class. Banks that are too big to fail. Big money that pays for politicians. More people in prison than any other nation per capita. Cutting welfare and trying to end Social Security and undermining all of the social safety nets that a truly modern and progressive and yes, the very best country in the world, would have in place, not destroy.
We would be focusing on making unions strong again, bringing power back to the people and taking it from the hands of the few and giving it back to the arms of the many, but instead the media - big corporate power - plays to our emotions and gives us stories about who goes to what bathroom.
It's a farce. It's a ploy. It's a game created to divert our attention, to divide and conquer, to destroy the things that keep people hopeful and happy. A game played by people who don't have to worry about their next meal. They don't care if you have one, you know. They would just as soon take your pennies as give you a free lunch.
When will we wake up? It's a bad dream, the world we live in now. Wake up America. Because of the things that we've dismantled, we are no longer great. We're just a third world has-been of a nation now, with a growing population of poor. All of those hot-button issues aren't going to make us a great country again.
Where you pee doesn't make you a great country. Great statesmen who have empathy for their fellow human beings make great countries.
Find those leaders, men and women. Vote out the assholes in the Congress and Senate. Find the empathy, and you will find your country.
And then we'll all know where to go pee.
That means they have their lady parts removed, usually because of something like endometriosis, fibroids, cancer, or some other issue.
It is not a decision most women make lightly.
My hysterectomy occurred when I was 29 years old. That is young to have such a surgery. It was the only option left, in the end, and the only way I would live and not die of extreme pain and intense bleeding.
I was born female but now I have no lady parts. I don't have a male organ, either, but technically speaking, I am, well, a heterosexual androgynous sort of person who identifies as female. Or something like that. If you want to be detailed about it. I've always just thought of myself as a woman, and until the Republican parties in southern states started making all of these weird bathroom rules, I never gave it any thought.
But now I must ask - what bathroom do I use?
I look and sound female, and if anyone forced me to take off my pants they would assume I am female. But my reproductive value is nonexistent. So what does that make me? Besides, you know, useless in the eyes of some evangelicals who believe if you can't reproduce then you must have sinned big time. (And yes, I have been told that.)
It is hard enough in this country to have fertility problems, to have to endure physical trauma to your body, not to mention the emotional toil it takes to deal with the fact that you can't have children, without having a bunch of dumbasses start bringing up weird crap about who goes to what bathroom.
As if transgendered people or people like myself or other people who do whatever they do haven't been going to the bathroom for years and years without stupid laws.
And then they bring up the "pharmacists, doctors, therapists can say no" to whatever they disagree with, as if they know the whole story. I mean, I took birth control pills to control endometriosis so we could attempt to have children. They were part of my fertility process, a hope that by slowing down the growth of the endometriosis, we might have a chance to produce a child.
This stuff is nobody's business. If more people would mind their own business and keep their fantasies to themselves, and leave other people alone to live their lives as they need to, we wouldn't be having such stupid public conversations. I wouldn't be writing this admittedly stupid and sarcastic blog entry. I know where to go pee, and I know I'm a woman. I'm just not sure that the idiots in charge now would agree with me.
You do know the rest of the world laughs at us, right? The only thing that keeps them from actually laughing in our faces is the fact that we have the largest military machine ever and they don't want to piss off anybody who has the codes to the nuclear bombs.
What happens in my body is not your business. Where I go pee is not your business. Who I sleep with is not your business. Why do you think it is your business? I don't poke my nose into your business. Why must you stick yours in mine?
I think it is a lack of empathy, I really do. That means a person can understand and share the feelings of other people. Ultimately there is a certain and admittedly large group of people who cannot think of other people without judgment or any ability to feel or think about what the "others" might be thinking or feeling. I don't know where this comes from, if it is genetic or upbringing or religious indoctrination or what, but it is there. Maybe it's the result of the 1970s "me" generation, the bunch of us brought up on 7-Up who believe we're the only ones who matter and to hell with everybody else.
If you have empathy, generally speaking, you don't have "others" in your life. You have people who think differently, who seem to be thinking with their emotions and not their heads, or you have people of other races who see things in a different way, but they are still human beings to you and they still function like you do, peeing and putting on their pants one leg at a time. Sleeping and eating, drinking, trying to do the best they can with whatever their lot in life has turned out to be. And if you have empathy, you can see that lot, and see perhaps how a person ended up there, living in a box or living alone, or living with a house full of 19 children. You can see how they are doctors or plumbers or farmers or writers. Maybe you disagree with the decisions that got them to that place, but you can feel for them and understand that maybe they need some help, or maybe not, or maybe they are happy, or maybe not, and that all of them need to go potty somewhere or another and holding it in the shopping mall isn't always possible.
Much of the stuff in the media today - the war against women (yes, I believe there is one), the backlash against the same-sex marriage ruling by the Supreme Court, immigration - all of the issues that make headlines because they sell news, exists simply to divert our attention away from the really important matters. The really important matters are things like appointing another justice to the Supreme Court because we are one short. Or how companies do not pay taxes. Or the lack of jobs and the loss of the middle class. Banks that are too big to fail. Big money that pays for politicians. More people in prison than any other nation per capita. Cutting welfare and trying to end Social Security and undermining all of the social safety nets that a truly modern and progressive and yes, the very best country in the world, would have in place, not destroy.
We would be focusing on making unions strong again, bringing power back to the people and taking it from the hands of the few and giving it back to the arms of the many, but instead the media - big corporate power - plays to our emotions and gives us stories about who goes to what bathroom.
It's a farce. It's a ploy. It's a game created to divert our attention, to divide and conquer, to destroy the things that keep people hopeful and happy. A game played by people who don't have to worry about their next meal. They don't care if you have one, you know. They would just as soon take your pennies as give you a free lunch.
When will we wake up? It's a bad dream, the world we live in now. Wake up America. Because of the things that we've dismantled, we are no longer great. We're just a third world has-been of a nation now, with a growing population of poor. All of those hot-button issues aren't going to make us a great country again.
Where you pee doesn't make you a great country. Great statesmen who have empathy for their fellow human beings make great countries.
Find those leaders, men and women. Vote out the assholes in the Congress and Senate. Find the empathy, and you will find your country.
And then we'll all know where to go pee.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Small Minds
--------------------------------------------------R A N T --------------------------------------------------------
It's a little early to start worrying about a non-existent war on Christmas, isn't it? Already I'm seeing those posts on Facebook that say " It's Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays. If you don't agree, leave the USA."
Happy Holidays means "Happy Holy Days" and if Christmas is a holy day to Christians, then I don't see the problem. I haven't heard of anyone being shot or arrested for saying Merry Christmas so of course you are free to say it. Nobody's told you that you can't buy a Christmas tree, either.
This is much ado about nothing, a lot of bluster and air over something that exists only in the minds of small-thinking people who want to think they are persecuted but have no clue what persecution truly is. When Christians in the US are being shot or beaten by the dozens for being baptized, get back to me. There are more important things to worry about than some store clerk saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."
If your skin is that thin, stay home in the dark with the TV and the lights off, and your hands on that Bible that you probably never read.
END RANT
Monday, July 13, 2015
The One Where I Weigh in on Marriage
In my local paper today, a "pastor" wrote about his opposition to same-sex marriage.
No big surprise there.
But one paragraph caught my eye:
Note that this fellow is saying that ANY marriage that doesn't produce children is counterfeit. Unworthy. Not holy, even if that initial ceremony was performed in a church by a minister, with both parties avowing their love before their God.
As a happily married woman of 32 years, one who lives in a union that produced no children because of medical reasons, I say this:
This idiot has denigrated me, my husband, and my marriage. He has spat upon the marriage of every childless couple in this country. He has negated the marriage of every older person to another - because I assure you, there aren't many 60-year-olds having children.
He has insulted my father's second marriage, one that is bringing him much comfort in his later years.
This imbecile is talking about same-sex marriage, but he doesn't stop there. His paragraph goes on to include all marriages that do not produce children, so he's including me in his rant.
So I am ranting back. What makes this pea-brain think he is the authority on anything, much less my marriage? I don't even know this person and he has insulted my integrity. He reads from a different Bible than I, for mine advocates love and forgiveness, not mass judgments.
It also doesn't define marriage like we do today. What we have today is a human interpretation of the words, but the words themselves aren't actually in the Bible.
So there, fool.
Incidentally, I have no problem with same-sex marriage. I don't have a problem with old folks having nuptials. I don't have a problem with two people marrying and not having children.
I do have a problem with people whose intelligence is lower than a snake belly being in places of leadership, such as a pulpit (or Congress).
What is wrong with these religious zealots that they can't live their own lives, and leave the rest of us alone?
No big surprise there.
But one paragraph caught my eye:
To call a same-sex union marriage is an affront to a holy God. God considers marriage, ethnicity and life as sacred. Marriage is far more than male and female becoming one physically, but the result is a child. Marriage that cannot produce children naturally is a counterfeit, a secular impostor claiming sacred status. (emphasis mine)
Note that this fellow is saying that ANY marriage that doesn't produce children is counterfeit. Unworthy. Not holy, even if that initial ceremony was performed in a church by a minister, with both parties avowing their love before their God.
As a happily married woman of 32 years, one who lives in a union that produced no children because of medical reasons, I say this:
Go fornicate with yourself, you venomous toad.
This idiot has denigrated me, my husband, and my marriage. He has spat upon the marriage of every childless couple in this country. He has negated the marriage of every older person to another - because I assure you, there aren't many 60-year-olds having children.
He has insulted my father's second marriage, one that is bringing him much comfort in his later years.
This imbecile is talking about same-sex marriage, but he doesn't stop there. His paragraph goes on to include all marriages that do not produce children, so he's including me in his rant.
So I am ranting back. What makes this pea-brain think he is the authority on anything, much less my marriage? I don't even know this person and he has insulted my integrity. He reads from a different Bible than I, for mine advocates love and forgiveness, not mass judgments.
It also doesn't define marriage like we do today. What we have today is a human interpretation of the words, but the words themselves aren't actually in the Bible.
So there, fool.
Incidentally, I have no problem with same-sex marriage. I don't have a problem with old folks having nuptials. I don't have a problem with two people marrying and not having children.
I do have a problem with people whose intelligence is lower than a snake belly being in places of leadership, such as a pulpit (or Congress).
What is wrong with these religious zealots that they can't live their own lives, and leave the rest of us alone?
Friday, June 19, 2015
Another Shooting, But Move Along. Nothing to See Here
I was saddened yesterday to read about yet another mass shooting in my native country.
How many more people must be gunned down by before somebody stands up and says, "Enough?" How many more young people of all colors and ages must die on our streets before somebody says, "Enough?"
Must we swim in blood before our elected officials get their heads out of their collective asses?
Why is it okay to be the nation that leads the world in violence?
Even the U.S. President, exasperated and frustrated, said yesterday that he didn't know how to stop this endless parade of stupid and irresponsible deaths. Wrong political climate. Too much power in the wrong places.
"At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries," Barack Obama said in response to the killings in Charleston - his 14th such address to the nation in the last six year. "It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency."
And of course people dismissed this fact; I saw it happen several times on Facebook yesterday, but it is true. Among wealthy, first-world nations, we have three times as many homicides as other nationalities. We have more than Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Italy - more than 30 other countries that are considered wealthy and civilized.
Does that make us the least civilized of the 30? I think so. In fact, I think we have become a nation of lunatics, apparently bred from wrong-thinking stock sent over long ago, with the fruitcakiness now oozing its way out of our brains and becoming mainstream, mistaken for some semblance of sanity.
I mean, why is your right to kill me greater than my right to live? Because basically that is what gun advocates think. They think their right to carry a piece outweighs my right to live a peaceful, tranquil life. They think it outweighs my right to breath and continue living.
Well let me tell you, buddy, it doesn't. You can take your gun and shove it where the sun don't shine, up there with the heads of those idiotic politicians. We need gun regulations and we need them now.
And guess what? If you already believe that mentally ill people and convicted felons should not have guns, you believe in gun control, too.
So what do we do, us citizens who "want to take our country back" but not in the way that the people who usually say that mean? Those of us who still have some sanity left and want to see a land of the free that is peaceful, with well-maintained infrastructure, and happiness for most instead of just a measly one percent? What do we do?
Here are a few ideas:
And guess what, I've disabled comments so you can't fuss at me, because unless you agree with me, I don't care what you think. And guess what again, I own guns. I can shoot guns and have shot guns. I live on a farm and I think guns are necessary at various times and places.
But I also think you should have to pass a stringent background check before you own one.
Let me repeat this one point so that it goes deep inside your brain:
If you already believe that mentally ill people and convicted felons should not have guns, you believe in gun control, too.
For a similar point of view, and interesting comments about how much guns are actually used in self-defense, check out Dan's Smith's commentary here.
How many more people must be gunned down by before somebody stands up and says, "Enough?" How many more young people of all colors and ages must die on our streets before somebody says, "Enough?"
Must we swim in blood before our elected officials get their heads out of their collective asses?
Why is it okay to be the nation that leads the world in violence?
Even the U.S. President, exasperated and frustrated, said yesterday that he didn't know how to stop this endless parade of stupid and irresponsible deaths. Wrong political climate. Too much power in the wrong places.
"At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries," Barack Obama said in response to the killings in Charleston - his 14th such address to the nation in the last six year. "It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency."
And of course people dismissed this fact; I saw it happen several times on Facebook yesterday, but it is true. Among wealthy, first-world nations, we have three times as many homicides as other nationalities. We have more than Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Italy - more than 30 other countries that are considered wealthy and civilized.
Does that make us the least civilized of the 30? I think so. In fact, I think we have become a nation of lunatics, apparently bred from wrong-thinking stock sent over long ago, with the fruitcakiness now oozing its way out of our brains and becoming mainstream, mistaken for some semblance of sanity.
I mean, why is your right to kill me greater than my right to live? Because basically that is what gun advocates think. They think their right to carry a piece outweighs my right to live a peaceful, tranquil life. They think it outweighs my right to breath and continue living.
Well let me tell you, buddy, it doesn't. You can take your gun and shove it where the sun don't shine, up there with the heads of those idiotic politicians. We need gun regulations and we need them now.
And guess what? If you already believe that mentally ill people and convicted felons should not have guns, you believe in gun control, too.
So what do we do, us citizens who "want to take our country back" but not in the way that the people who usually say that mean? Those of us who still have some sanity left and want to see a land of the free that is peaceful, with well-maintained infrastructure, and happiness for most instead of just a measly one percent? What do we do?
Here are a few ideas:
- Get money out of politics (bye bye Citizens United)
- Make voting mandatory
- Reinstate the draft
- Elect people with common sense instead of idiots
- Do away with the electoral college
- Dismantle corporate monopolies
- Stop watching Faux News & listening to hate-talk radio
- Bring back the space program so that people have something in which to have national pride
- Change the educational system so that it is focused on individuals and not lemmings. Add back art, music, philosophy, and civics courses.
- Institute a jobs program to upgrade the public infrastructure
- Tax the churches since they have become political
- Write letters to your elected representatives
- Write letters to media suggesting that hate-filled TV shows be replaced with things that teach morality (think Andy Griffith)
- Write letters to sponsors of TV shows that advocate for violence and extremism
- Don't watch that kind of stuff on TV
- Stop advocating foreign policies that do more harm than good (i.e., military intervention)
- Upgrade and improve our mental health system and stop using the penitentiary to warehouse people who are mentally ill.
And guess what, I've disabled comments so you can't fuss at me, because unless you agree with me, I don't care what you think. And guess what again, I own guns. I can shoot guns and have shot guns. I live on a farm and I think guns are necessary at various times and places.
But I also think you should have to pass a stringent background check before you own one.
Let me repeat this one point so that it goes deep inside your brain:
If you already believe that mentally ill people and convicted felons should not have guns, you believe in gun control, too.
For a similar point of view, and interesting comments about how much guns are actually used in self-defense, check out Dan's Smith's commentary here.
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
They Don't Really Want to be Healers
Over the last 20 years, my area's "alternative medicine" community has been growing. First came the chiropractors, then massage therapists, then an acupuncturist or two. They all were followed by more of their various professions.
I believe alternative medicine has its place in healing. I have had good results from acupuncture. I see a chiropractor regularly for a slipping rib, which she routinely puts back into place so I can breathe again. For a long time I saw a massage therapist and that, too, was helpful.
However, I recently reached a conclusion that a number of these practitioners don't really want to be healers. Or, perhaps I should say, they only want to serve a particular clientele.
I don't fall into the category of people they want to help.
I say this because if these folks really wanted to heal sick people, they wouldn't set up their offices in inaccessible places, like the second floors of buildings where people who can't climb stairs for whatever reason can't reach them.
They wouldn't set up offices in old, musty moldy buildings where people with asthma or allergies can't go.
They wouldn't bring their dogs and cats to their offices. They wouldn't burn stinky candles. They wouldn't smell like kitty litter or cigarette smoke.
They wouldn't wear perfumes.
All of these things bother someone who is environmentally sensitive. And if you're having any problems with your legs, you certainly can't get up a flight of stairs.
If you are providing a service to the public, you should not greatly inconvenience someone who is paying you $120.
Your place should be easily accessible and clean. Your clients or patients or whatever you call them should feel secure in the knowledge that you change the sheets between visitors and you don't use the same blanket without washing it.
If you own an animal and can't bear to leave it alone long enough for you to go work, then I suggest you put it in puppy preschool or kitty college, or hire a sitter. Or stay home and take care of it. If the animal is more important to you than the people who are paying you for help, then to be honest, you're not somebody I want to be seeing anyway.
If you profess to be healing and helping people, then the people you say you want to help are supposed to come first. Period. I'm paying good money and I am there because you claim you can help me. It is not about your ego, your value system, or your "special abilities." It's about my health.
I am not asking for a sterile environment, just an accessible facility and clean and breathable air. I do not think that it is unreasonable for me to expect that from someone who claims to care about my health.
I know it can be done because some of the people I've seen have managed it. These people understand and truly are healers who want to serve. However, they certainly seem to be in a minority, and very difficult to find.
I believe alternative medicine has its place in healing. I have had good results from acupuncture. I see a chiropractor regularly for a slipping rib, which she routinely puts back into place so I can breathe again. For a long time I saw a massage therapist and that, too, was helpful.
However, I recently reached a conclusion that a number of these practitioners don't really want to be healers. Or, perhaps I should say, they only want to serve a particular clientele.
I don't fall into the category of people they want to help.
I say this because if these folks really wanted to heal sick people, they wouldn't set up their offices in inaccessible places, like the second floors of buildings where people who can't climb stairs for whatever reason can't reach them.
They wouldn't set up offices in old, musty moldy buildings where people with asthma or allergies can't go.
They wouldn't bring their dogs and cats to their offices. They wouldn't burn stinky candles. They wouldn't smell like kitty litter or cigarette smoke.
They wouldn't wear perfumes.
All of these things bother someone who is environmentally sensitive. And if you're having any problems with your legs, you certainly can't get up a flight of stairs.
If you are providing a service to the public, you should not greatly inconvenience someone who is paying you $120.
Your place should be easily accessible and clean. Your clients or patients or whatever you call them should feel secure in the knowledge that you change the sheets between visitors and you don't use the same blanket without washing it.
If you own an animal and can't bear to leave it alone long enough for you to go work, then I suggest you put it in puppy preschool or kitty college, or hire a sitter. Or stay home and take care of it. If the animal is more important to you than the people who are paying you for help, then to be honest, you're not somebody I want to be seeing anyway.
If you profess to be healing and helping people, then the people you say you want to help are supposed to come first. Period. I'm paying good money and I am there because you claim you can help me. It is not about your ego, your value system, or your "special abilities." It's about my health.
I am not asking for a sterile environment, just an accessible facility and clean and breathable air. I do not think that it is unreasonable for me to expect that from someone who claims to care about my health.
I know it can be done because some of the people I've seen have managed it. These people understand and truly are healers who want to serve. However, they certainly seem to be in a minority, and very difficult to find.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Emails Not Sent and FB Messages Not Posted
This is an email I started to send to my least favorite local hospital (biggest employer, located in downtown, you know the one):
Hello Nurse ____,
Thank you for follow-up email to my visit today to see about my ankle pain. It is very kind of you to write.
My take-away from my visit with Dr. _______ was that I have flat feet, I can try a change in orthotics and hope that stops the bones in my ankle rubbing together, and if that doesn't work, well, too bad. I was not given any options if that doesn't help. If I need to have custom orthotics, it would have been nice to have had some information about that. For example, does that require a prescription?
After my appointment I went to the shoe store as instructed and spent $200 on new shoes and orthotics, which may or may not help. In the meantime, I guess I am to tolerate the pain and keep limping along as I have for the last six months because I'm a 51-year-old overweight woman and therefore completely unimportant.
Dr. ____ probably did not spend 10 minutes with me, and he certainly did not seem to comprehend or understand that I am in a great deal of pain not only from my foot but that I also have other health care issues that affect my foot issue. I realize whole body medicine is a thing of the past, but honestly I am not just a body part. I'm a whole person.
I also realize it is not your fault that [hospital] cares so little for its patients. I was giving [hospital] a second chance but will not give it a third. Thus, I will not be back to see Dr. ______. I will try another doctor not affiliated with [hospital] if I decide to pursue this.
Happy new year to you. I hope 2015 is a good year for you, and that it is the year that [hospital] finds a heart. Goodness knows it needs one.
****
And then I started to post this on FB but didn't:
Not that anyone cares, but I still think [hospital] gives awful service and if I have my way, I will never again see another [hospital] doctor. I'm grateful they saved my husband's hand, but in my experience the doctors there treat women poorly and I do not get decent care at any of their facilities. I am treated as if I'm just in the way and certainly not like a human being. Even my husband has noticed that he is treated better than I am, and we both think it is gender-bias. You'd think a company with a female CEO would remember that half the population is not male.
****
This is just me ranting now here on my blog:
The health care in this valley is terrible. I have been lucky to find a good primary care doctor (not affiliated with any hospital, I might note) and a physical therapist (also not affiliated with any hospital or large health care provider), (and both are female), but otherwise health care here is more about popping pills and taking people's money than saving lives. I am so disgusted with the system that I expect I will die young just because I'm ornery enough to tell them all to go to hell and take their damn pills and leave me alone.
Some things do not work well as businesses. Government is not a business. Health care should not be treated as a business, either. They are entities unto themselves that have separate rules and they should not be lumped under the idiotic capitalistic money-hungry asinine society that we have created to keep people as slaves and servants to the monkeys with the money. For God's sake, will somebody realize that money is the problem and put the human equation back into the mix.
Hello Nurse ____,
Thank you for follow-up email to my visit today to see about my ankle pain. It is very kind of you to write.
My take-away from my visit with Dr. _______ was that I have flat feet, I can try a change in orthotics and hope that stops the bones in my ankle rubbing together, and if that doesn't work, well, too bad. I was not given any options if that doesn't help. If I need to have custom orthotics, it would have been nice to have had some information about that. For example, does that require a prescription?
After my appointment I went to the shoe store as instructed and spent $200 on new shoes and orthotics, which may or may not help. In the meantime, I guess I am to tolerate the pain and keep limping along as I have for the last six months because I'm a 51-year-old overweight woman and therefore completely unimportant.
Dr. ____ probably did not spend 10 minutes with me, and he certainly did not seem to comprehend or understand that I am in a great deal of pain not only from my foot but that I also have other health care issues that affect my foot issue. I realize whole body medicine is a thing of the past, but honestly I am not just a body part. I'm a whole person.
I also realize it is not your fault that [hospital] cares so little for its patients. I was giving [hospital] a second chance but will not give it a third. Thus, I will not be back to see Dr. ______. I will try another doctor not affiliated with [hospital] if I decide to pursue this.
Happy new year to you. I hope 2015 is a good year for you, and that it is the year that [hospital] finds a heart. Goodness knows it needs one.
****
And then I started to post this on FB but didn't:
Not that anyone cares, but I still think [hospital] gives awful service and if I have my way, I will never again see another [hospital] doctor. I'm grateful they saved my husband's hand, but in my experience the doctors there treat women poorly and I do not get decent care at any of their facilities. I am treated as if I'm just in the way and certainly not like a human being. Even my husband has noticed that he is treated better than I am, and we both think it is gender-bias. You'd think a company with a female CEO would remember that half the population is not male.
****
This is just me ranting now here on my blog:
The health care in this valley is terrible. I have been lucky to find a good primary care doctor (not affiliated with any hospital, I might note) and a physical therapist (also not affiliated with any hospital or large health care provider), (and both are female), but otherwise health care here is more about popping pills and taking people's money than saving lives. I am so disgusted with the system that I expect I will die young just because I'm ornery enough to tell them all to go to hell and take their damn pills and leave me alone.
Some things do not work well as businesses. Government is not a business. Health care should not be treated as a business, either. They are entities unto themselves that have separate rules and they should not be lumped under the idiotic capitalistic money-hungry asinine society that we have created to keep people as slaves and servants to the monkeys with the money. For God's sake, will somebody realize that money is the problem and put the human equation back into the mix.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Losing Our Identity
Recently I started receiving notices from "The Berglund Center" in my inbox. The Roanoke Civic Center, the place where I saw Linda Ronstadt, Styx, the Commodores, Neil Diamond, and a great number of ice skating shows, is now called "The Berglund Center" because the city sold naming rights.
Never again will I make another purchase from Berglund Automotive. I haven't in many years anyway, but I guarantee you I won't ever again.
I understand they're also considering doing similar things with parts of Elmwood Park. Maybe they will sell the right to name the newly remodeled downtown library. Maybe Microsoft will buy that and call it the Microsoft Reader (that's me being snarky), since Microsoft doesn't have an e-reader that I am aware of.
Earlier, Roanoke changed the name of the Roanoke Regional Airport to the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, even though the airport is in Roanoke City. Blacksburg is 40 minutes away, and I really don't care if Virginia Tech calls it home. They can build their own airport.
I don't live in the city, but I live in the Roanoke Valley, and as such, in the environs of Roanoke City. Botetourt County is part of that - in fact, the mother of that. Botetourt County ultimately spawned Roanoke City, formerly called Big Lick.
Botetourt has for years had an image problem - it doesn't know if it's rural or suburban, an industrial designation, a tourism designation, or just a bedroom community of neighboring jurisdictions.
Apparently that image problem extends to the entire valley and encompasses a number of counties, several towns, and the city proper. And now it's been made even more complex by the lack of financial support from the state and poor political choices on the part of local representatives.
As a citizen of the Roanoke Valley, I take pride in Roanoke and its environs. I love the area's history, I enjoy the viewshed, and I find the whole region to be delightful. It offers something for everyone if one wants to take advantage of the many activities available. We have educational facilities, museums, festivals, movie theaters, shopping, and other attractions. The whole valley is just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and while we may be a little on the Appalachian side of things, on the whole we're a happy community. It may not be for everyone, but it's been my family's home for at least seven generations.
I resent the corporate takeover of things that citizens hold dear and take pride in - and paid for with taxpayer dollars and donations. I don't want to attend The Berglund Center. I want to take pride in ROANOKE CITY. I don't want to fly out of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport. I want to fly out of the Roanoke Regional Airport.
Soon we will all be sporting advertising on our forehead. It's already on the backs of ball fields, splattered over hats and T-shirts, and forcing name changes of things that make my head spin. I stopped watching NASCAR when the Winston Cup became something else. To me, it will always be the Winston Cup.
So for heavens sake, don't make me go pay my taxes at the Altec Courthouse, or watch kids play ball at the Titan Cement All-America Field. Don't make me check out books from the HomeTrust Bank Library. And I absolutely will not under any circumstances attend the Fralin-Waldron YMCA. I don't care how much money they donated to the project. I don't want to be owned.
We need to keep our image as a unique and congruous community, not drive wedges down the middle with oligarchical and political stupidity.
If I had the money, I'd have paid for those naming rights to the Roanoke Civic Center - and then left the name alone. Good corporate citizens should pony up money to support things the citizenry wants, and they should do it not to advertise and make more money for themselves. They should do it because, guess what? They live here, too, and they should have some civic pride in their community.
Never again will I make another purchase from Berglund Automotive. I haven't in many years anyway, but I guarantee you I won't ever again.
I understand they're also considering doing similar things with parts of Elmwood Park. Maybe they will sell the right to name the newly remodeled downtown library. Maybe Microsoft will buy that and call it the Microsoft Reader (that's me being snarky), since Microsoft doesn't have an e-reader that I am aware of.
Earlier, Roanoke changed the name of the Roanoke Regional Airport to the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, even though the airport is in Roanoke City. Blacksburg is 40 minutes away, and I really don't care if Virginia Tech calls it home. They can build their own airport.
I don't live in the city, but I live in the Roanoke Valley, and as such, in the environs of Roanoke City. Botetourt County is part of that - in fact, the mother of that. Botetourt County ultimately spawned Roanoke City, formerly called Big Lick.
Botetourt has for years had an image problem - it doesn't know if it's rural or suburban, an industrial designation, a tourism designation, or just a bedroom community of neighboring jurisdictions.
Apparently that image problem extends to the entire valley and encompasses a number of counties, several towns, and the city proper. And now it's been made even more complex by the lack of financial support from the state and poor political choices on the part of local representatives.
As a citizen of the Roanoke Valley, I take pride in Roanoke and its environs. I love the area's history, I enjoy the viewshed, and I find the whole region to be delightful. It offers something for everyone if one wants to take advantage of the many activities available. We have educational facilities, museums, festivals, movie theaters, shopping, and other attractions. The whole valley is just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and while we may be a little on the Appalachian side of things, on the whole we're a happy community. It may not be for everyone, but it's been my family's home for at least seven generations.
I resent the corporate takeover of things that citizens hold dear and take pride in - and paid for with taxpayer dollars and donations. I don't want to attend The Berglund Center. I want to take pride in ROANOKE CITY. I don't want to fly out of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport. I want to fly out of the Roanoke Regional Airport.
Soon we will all be sporting advertising on our forehead. It's already on the backs of ball fields, splattered over hats and T-shirts, and forcing name changes of things that make my head spin. I stopped watching NASCAR when the Winston Cup became something else. To me, it will always be the Winston Cup.
So for heavens sake, don't make me go pay my taxes at the Altec Courthouse, or watch kids play ball at the Titan Cement All-America Field. Don't make me check out books from the HomeTrust Bank Library. And I absolutely will not under any circumstances attend the Fralin-Waldron YMCA. I don't care how much money they donated to the project. I don't want to be owned.
We need to keep our image as a unique and congruous community, not drive wedges down the middle with oligarchical and political stupidity.
If I had the money, I'd have paid for those naming rights to the Roanoke Civic Center - and then left the name alone. Good corporate citizens should pony up money to support things the citizenry wants, and they should do it not to advertise and make more money for themselves. They should do it because, guess what? They live here, too, and they should have some civic pride in their community.
Friday, July 04, 2014
Is It A Happy July 4th For Everyone?
Today is the day we celebrate the creation of the United States. On July 4, 1776, the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. This document declared the nation free from the rule of Great Britain, and thus independent. And then the people of this country went to war with Great Britain. If we had lost, we would not be celebrating.
The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence is well known. It says: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Apparently, though, given a Supreme Court ruling made earlier this week, that all-encompassing definition of "men" as being all of humanity is still not accepted. The female part of the species once again was given short shrift by the ol' white guys who continue to maintain their hold on the nation.
I'm talking, of course, about the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision of the Supreme Court. (You may read it at the link; it's 95 pages long, and yes, I read it.)
The issue is broad and complicated, and for me to try to sort it out not only for myself but for my readers would be ludicrous. It is the sort of thing that will have lawyers salivating for years.
However, I do have an opinion on it, and that I will share.
In my opinion, this is not about abortion or religious freedom. It is about control. Specifically, it is about control of women. I see this as nothing more than another in a long line of efforts to continue to make women "less than" those who believe the ones with things that dangle between their legs are more important and legitimate than those of us who bring forth the entire species. It is the fight that began in 1776, when the ol' white guys chose to write "all men are created equal" instead "all of humanity are created equal."
Apparently across the waters and in the US in the more left-wing corners, the issue is being regarded by some as "men can screw around, so women should be able to do so, too" issue. I have never seen this as that kind of issue, something that is pushing promiscuity.
As far as I'm concerned, birth control is medication, and to deny it for any reason is a crime. It's as vital to some women as chemotherapy is to some cancer patients. I don't care what your religion thinks of it. Taking it should be my choice, and an issue between me and my doctor. To add in a third party is the same as making me chattel to the third party, whether that's my boss, my insurance company, my father, or the government.
Basically, what it boils down to is this: If my religion doesn't allow me to do XYZ, then that's fine. I live with that. This isn't fine: My religion doesn't allow YOU to do XYZ. That's not okay, fair, or moral. You don't have a say over my life. That's not your call.
Keep your religion to yourself and we'll get along fine.
The can of worms opened by this opinion from the Supreme Court is huge. First, there is the "corporations are people" concern. Corporations have no morals and no religion, nor, in my opinion, can they hold any kind of religious ideals. The stockholders may, but they are not corporations.
In the SCOTUS opinion, there is this:
"HHS [United States Department of Health and Human Services] would put these merchants to a difficult choice: either give up the right to seek judicial protection of their religious liberty or forgo the benefits, available to their competitors, of operating as corporations."
And that, quite frankly, is what they should do. Why shouldn't they have to make a difficult choice? They certainly don't mind foisting difficult choices upon others. These companies should give up their corporate status and become sole proprietors. They would lose tons of tax breaks and benefits, and they should not be allowed those benefits if they intend to make chattel of the female portion of their workforce by forcing their religious views down their throats.
No one has the right to interfere with how you or I use our bodies. Your right to do what you want with your body ends only when whatever you doing interferes with my right to do what I want with mine. Smoking is a good example. You can do that all you want so long as you're not polluting my air. If you want to do it in your own home or car and give yourself cancer, that is not my business. But if you want to smoke in a public place and set off my asthma, then it damn well is my business.
But what goes on in a woman's womb is nobody's business but hers. You can't get more personal and private than that. Why is a woman's vagina better regulated than gun ownership? Can somebody give me a good answer for that one?
Frankly, it would make more sense for society to be proactive with birth control because otherwise we end up with children we need to care for. It would be one thing if these pro-birthers were actually pro-life and would ensure that unwanted children are provided for through tax dollars, but they are the first ones to howl if they think their money is going to pay for somebody else's kid.
The other thing that aggravates me about this is I am a pacifist. I do not believe in war, yet I have no recourse but to pay my tax dollars even though I know that some of my money is going to kill other human beings. Why do these religious zealots who worry about their magical beliefs on abortion get an out but my reasoned and logical faith that tells me killing is amoral does not get me one?
Here's the answer to that: in a similar ruling on a related matter late this week, Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote: “But thinking one’s religious beliefs are substantially burdened — no matter how sincere or genuine that belief may be — does not make it so.”
And I think that this is the case about many of the so-called persecutions many religious zealots (mostly Christians) claim to be subjected to really are: a belief, but not a reality. There was no burden on Hobby Lobby's owners. It only existed in their little minds. (For a great essay on what the Bible has to say about when a fetus becomes a person, check out this link. It's not at conception, biblically speaking. It's at first breath.)
However, religious extremists are working hard to inflict their belief system upon a vast portion of the population - and women are bearing the brunt of it. This ruling has erased the choices of thousands of women. If their boss thinks they should not have a certain drug because of religious conviction, then so be it. The "closely held" corporate definition is silly: Mars Candy employs 70,000 people and it is a "closely held" corporation. The Supreme Court just gave them the right to tell all of their female employees they will not provide certain medications in their insurance coverage because of their religion.
If the Jehovah's Witnesses had objected because they don't believe in blood transfusions, what would the ruling have been? Other religions don't believe in antidepressants or immunizations. What about those beliefs? Why is the abortion argument the one that is given the most credit? You know why? Because those other kinds of religious convictions would affect males. That is where it stops: when it affects men.
And if this had come from a Muslim-controlled corporation, would the ruling have been the same? I think not. Just look at the religion of the SCOTUS majority and you'll have your answer to that one.
Birth control has many uses. It is not only used by unmarried young women who want to sleep around. Married women use birth control pills for any number of reasons - because of finances, space, housing, health. The pills and the devices have legitimate medicinal uses. They help with migraines. They keep women from being anemic. Are you going to tell a diabetic woman who would die if she were to become accidentally pregnant that she must take that risk? What if an IUD is the only thing she can use because the pills cause side effects or hormone imbalances? Why is it okay to cause her pain or death?
I was on birth control while I was trying to conceive. My doctors would put me on the pill to try to control my endometriosis, then take me off it so we could try to have a child. It didn't work. But it was medicinal. So why shouldn't it be covered medical care?
This is about personal choice, and whether the big white boss's opinion means more than yours. The Supreme Court
just said oh yes, little lady, the big white daddy gets to make the call for you.
If these kinds of rules had been in place 25 years ago, I would be dead.
Fortunately then, and I hope still now, men do not have rule over women and do not have the right to tell us how we can live. Women should have the same right to health care as men. If men can get Viagra so that they can feel manly - and as far as I know that's the only use for that drug - then I certainly don't understand what the issue is with birth control, regardless of form.
Here's another reason to be upset about this ruling. In an article at Medscape.com, the writer noted:
Several medical societies also took umbrage at how the Hobby Lobby decision will affect the practice of medicine. The ruling "intrudes on the patient-physician relationship," said AMA President Robert Wah, MD, in a statement. Likewise, the AAFP's Dr. Blackwelder told Medscape Medical News that physicians should have the freedom to prescribe contraceptives and other medications as they deem fit, and "insurance should cover the right choice."
Another medical society critical of the Hobby Lobby ruling is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). "[It] inappropriately allows employers to interfere in women's healthcare decisions," said ACOG President John Jennings in a news release.
There's that word "intrusive" that I alluded to earlier. This ruling is nothing but a throw-back to an earlier time, to the very day we are celebrating.
We are celebrating a time when angry white guys ruled the world. So Happy July 4th? Not if you're a woman. It will only be my Independence Day when I have obtained the exact same rights of every man in this country - when all of humanity is acknowledged as being equal. And that is a long way away from happening, given what just happened this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)