News and Politics

Why? Why NOT?

4 Comments / Health and Wellness, News and Politics, Religion /

So there’s a theme for this year’s Blog For Choice Day.  The theme is "why are you pro-choice"?  I think the simple answer to that would be another question – "why would I be anti-choice"?

I wouldn’t be.  I couldn’t be.  It’s wrong for me to decide what’s right for YOUR body, what’s right for YOU.  I get to choose what’s right for me, you get to choose what’s right for you.  That’s it, end of story.  No shades of grey.  Not one.

A few months ago, I was laying in bed with the laptop – probably reading blogs or writing a blog post – when I heard a knock at the door and a voice saying "Can I talk to you?"  I hate it when the big kids do that.  It’s never good news they want to share.  It always means something’s gone wrong, or there’s some drama they need to talk out.  I sighed.  I grumbled about hating it when they do that.  I got an apology but when I opened the door I saw the 1/2 child standing there looking like he’d lost his best friend.

Someone he cares a lot about was pregnant.  He was sad and angry and confused and he wanted to make everything right.  He wanted to know if she could have an abortion – she’s under age and we live in the horrid "parental consent state" (I hate parentel consent laws.).  We discussed this young woman’s options and before I knew it – he was planning what she was going to do. 

Hoooooooooold on a minute dude.  This is not your choice.  This is not your body.  This is not your life.  You did not even impregnate this girl and you’re thinking you have the right to make these decisions for her?  I am glad you want to HELP her.  I am glad you’ll do whatever it takes to make these things happen for her.  But dude, do you even know what she wants to do?  Because she has three options.  And SHE is the one who gets to choose.  Until you know what she chooses, you can’t be sitting here making plans. 

It’s easy for even the most well-meaning, kind-hearted of people to take control – to take choice away – to think they know what’s best.  It’s far too easy.

Yes, I’m pro-choice.  How could I be anything else?

Blog for Choice Day - January 22, 2007

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Why Lie?

News and Politics, Sights & Sounds /

So Lynne Cheney wanted to talk about her children’s book and only her children’s book. I get that but when you meet with the press, you answer what they ask you – TRUTHFULLY, particularly if you are the wife of the VP. What really bugs me though is what is wrong with Sisters or Body Politic that she has to talk around it or out and out LIE about what she wrote? Nothing. Not a single thing, whether you are liberal or conservative. She wrote fiction. Some of it sexy. Some of it not so much. Some of it straight and some of it queer. So what? You can still be a conservative “family values” republican and write fiction. You just can’t LIE and say it isn’t what it obviously IS. Well I guess you can, since Lynne Cheney did it.


The Cheney’s have never said they are for a ban of gay marriage. They have said out loud that they disagree with the amendment to “protect marriage”. So “Sisters” isn’t telling anyone anything that they should not already know. The left making a big deal of it isn’t really helpful either, except of course that it causes Mrs Cheney to lie, that part – that’s helpful, I suppose. The left trying to point out the Mrs Cheney has written steamy fiction isn’t all that helpful either. I somehow doubt any conservative is going to change his/her mind and vote liberal simply because the VPs wife wrote some steamy passages in Body Politic.


Politics, sheesh.

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Daily Dose of Breast Cancer BS

6 Comments / Health and Wellness, Money Talks, News and Politics, Pet Peeves /

No I don’t like Pink Ribbons or the Pink Ribbon Campaign.

Yes I think big business and the  medical community (and the doggone patriarchy, for that matter) are doing a great job of causing women to be afraid of a cancer that probably isn’t going to kill them.  And, they’re doing an excellent job of using breast cancer to continue the attack on women through negative body image messaging.

No I don’t think all breast cancer research is worthless. 

Yes I bought a pink roomba which did "sort of" support breast cancer research.  But I bought it because it represented Hazel (the TV show you culturally illiterate people) and not because it supported breast cancer. 

No I would never buy THESE and I cannot see why anyone WOULD buy these. THIS is an example of how we are being USED.  If you buy these, you are allowing yourself to be USED.

Yes I would donate money to breast cancer research or breast cancer support groups.  I have done so in the past and I am sure I will do so in the future.

No I don’t love the Red Dress campaign either. But as sassymonkey has recently pointed out, marketing seems to be the only way to reach women (why is that – I have my theories, do you have yours).  At least the Red Dress campaign is helping to make women aware of a health condition that probably WILL kill them. 

 

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Daily Dose of Voting in Florida

News and Politics, Pet Peeves /

Voted Today we voted.  Primaries you know.  Now that I have voted, I’m going to rant just a little bit.  Oh wait, I need to remind Christopher to go and vote – hang on, I’ll be right back.  OK he’s heading off to vote.

My first Florida primary voting issue is with the Republicans and the conservative special interest groups.  They call here too darn often.  By the end of last week I was no longer willing to answer the phone if the caller ID did not indicate someone I knew was calling. I didn’t get any calls from Democrats or liberal special interest groups. Or maybe they just called after I got fed up with the conservatives and stopped answering the phone. Whatever.   

The other problem with these groups is that they don’t always make it clear who it is they want you to vote for or don’t want you to vote for.  Here’s an example…

The phone rings and the nice woman’s voice tells me that candidate ____ says he is a Jeb Bush style Republican but he isn’t really.  (I immediately wonder if this is good or bad, from my point of view or theirs.  Do they like Jeb? Or do tney not like Jeb?  Not all Republicans like him, you know.)  She begins to explain why he isn’t like Jeb and it becomes clear that she does like Jeb after all so this guy maybe is not who they want me to vote for (Or TW actually since she is the Republican in the house).  But then, one of their reasons is because a very large gay and lesbian family group is supporting character ____.  (Hmmm, maybe they do want TW to vote for him after all since TW is a lesbian parent and a Republican.)  Oh wait, she says "Florida deserves better"… (Better than what? Jeb Bush? Candidate ____?)  At no time did they suggest another candidate.  This seemed to be a just don’t vote for ______ phone call. 

To make matters worse, TW investigates Candidate ____ and sees no reason why a gay/lesbian parenting group might support him.  She’s not always aligned with gay/lesbian parenting groups but there’s nothing there that indicates he is even remotely supportive of gay folks.  Weird.  The phone call indicated otherwise.

If that wasn’t annoying enough, there’s the woman running for governor and her only agenda seems to be to ditch the FCAT.  Umm hello, I’m anti-FCAT but you do realize as governor you might have to address other issues, right?  What might your position on those issues be?  What a waste of my time to even bother to research the woman. 

OK enough of that, I was all ready to cast my vote when I discovered my polling spot had been moved!  It hadn’t moved to a completely different place, thank goodness.  I was still to vote at the church around the corner but now I had to vote in a different BUILDING and of course I pulled into the parking lot on the wrong side.  The side where all of the campaign signs were and where the campaign sign holding woman was standing.  Geez.  Could you have moved the signs to the proper entrance? 

At least I got an "I Voted" sticker.  They sometimes run out of them and that really annoys me.  I want my sticker.

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Daily Dose of Political Videos

Kid Talk, News and Politics /

I’ve been trying to get the big kids to do something interesting and useful with the video cameras they HAD to have.  So far, I haven’t had much luck.  I’m wondering if they would be interested in doing something like this: TAKE BACK THE CAPITOL.  It seems to be right up their alley, ya know?  They have strong ideas and feelings, maybe this is a good way for them to put them to use.

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Daily Dose of Queer Republicans

GLBT, News and Politics /

Well, I listened to the Dr Helen/Instapundit podcast with Mary Cheney.  I wasn’t impressed.  I’m very glad I didn’t break down and order Cheney’s book when I discovered it wasn’t available at my library.  I’m not anti-gay-marriage republican, I live with one of those ya know.  I’m not pro-gay marriage, either, so I thought I might actually agree with something Mary Cheney had to say.  Or I might even appreciate her point of view.  I did agree that "there are many, many points of views regarding gay marriage".  I didn’t agree with anything else she said and I felt like she was still just giving the party line – like there was no real passion behind what she said – except maybe at the end, when she talked about her mother.  Maybe.

She and Dr Helen think it’s a shame democrats spend so much time talking about whether you’re gay or you aren’t gay.  She and Dr Helen think it isn’t important to talk about such things or acknowledge such things.  They think it just doesn’t matter if you’re gay.  They would be right – except the extreme right cares.  The extreme right cares so much that they don’t want to acknowlege gay people at all.   It’s don’t ask/don’t tell to the extreme.

Mary Cheney talked about how great her parents were when she came out.  I think that’s terrific.  Unfortunately neither of her parents have been very forthcoming with that information which leads a great many conservatives to believe they should not behave the way Mary says her parents behaved.  People learn from example Ms Cheney.  People learn acceptance by seeing it modeled.  They don’t learn it by having it swept aside, by pretending it isn’t necessary or the need doesn’t exist.   Your father hugged you and told you he loved you when you came out.  Good for you.  Wouldn’t it be nice if he felt comfortable saying that out loud, to everyone in the world?  Wouldn’t it be nice if your father, that great role model in your life, and your mother the even greater role model in your life, stepped up to the plate and became role models for an entire country?  Wouldn’t it have been terrific if you’d said that 8 years ago?  It would have been.  But now, it just feels hollow.  Maybe even untrue. Maybe just a little bit like politics.

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Daily Dose of Queer – News

1 Comment / GLBT, News and Politics /

The HRC has an interesting videocast called Equally Speaking – Your Morning Dose of GLBT News.  Sounds ok, and it is, but it also seems a little silly to me.  I’ve watched four of the videocasts and there weren’t any stories I hadn’t already heard.  I must be missing something.  Aren’t these stories on all of the majore broadcast stations, in virtually the same presentation?  Maybe I’m just missing the anti-gay spin that major networks put on GLBT news?

I’m not suggesting the HRC shouldn’t have an audiocast or a videocast, I’m just saying it’s probably not something I’m going to listen to/watch.  I read a variety of news blogs, gay and straight – conservative and liberal – a 3 minute videocast every morning feeding me stories I’ve already read just isn’t very useful to me.

Go peek, will you be tuning into Equally Speaking?

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