Don’t even get me started

Ugh, so I just read this blog by some guy (of course) about abortion and how women are always “crying” about women’s rights in the name of “legalized murder.” The guy seems like a pretty decent guy normally, but I could not believe how ignorant he was about abortion. He even wrote that women use abortion as a form of birth control, which is probably true for about .000001 percent of women. He also wrote that rape would be the only case in which he would support a woman having an abortion. Anywho, it of course enraged me and inspired the following comment, which is pretty much more like a blog post in itself, so I thought I’d post it, since you all LOVE when I post abortion blogs (come on, admit it, you love the drama). Here’s what I wrote:

This post is obviously from the viewpoint of a man. I don’t feel that I’m “crying” about women’s rights when I say that I believe women should have a right to choose. Personally, I don’t think I could have an abortion, but I also don’t think I have the right to tell someone else they can’t. There are numerous reasons a woman may NEED to have an abortion, not just rape. Not only that, but I would much prefer that women be able to have an abortion if they can’t take care of a child than I would that they have a child and raise it in poverty or add to the overpopulation of the world for no reason.

Furthermore, if you really want to complain about the reason women are having abortions as a “form of birth control,” then what needs to be addressed is the lack of proper sexual education in this country. The number one thing we can do to stop unwanted babies from being born without abortion is to teach men and women how to prevent those pregnancies in the first place. I sincerely doubt that there are millions of women out there though who are running down to the abortion clinic every time they get pregnant though. If they were, there wouldn’t be so many children living in poverty and in foster care programs.

Having an abortion is not a decision I think any woman takes lightly and is highly emotional. Add to that the fact that anti-abortion activists are constantly throwing it in our faces, and you can see that this isn’t a decision any woman (or couple, for that matter) makes without putting some serious thought into it. Although abortion is legal in this country, it is still a highly stigmatized procedure. And, just remember that without it, all of those women who were desperate for an abortion would probably try to perform it in their own home and would likely die from it. This is one of the main reasons abortion was legalized in the first place.

I think it’s far too easy for people to completely discount the benefits of living in a country that allows abortions, especially when they haven’t been faced with that awful decision. Just a little extra thought and critical thinking could show them that being pro-choice is not the same as being pro-legalized murder, no matter how much the anti-abortion people want you to believe that.

 

A Political Rant: You Knew It Was Coming

Jesus, people. While I’ve been sleeping over here in my little cocoon of happiness, California has somehow become one of those ignorant states that tries to pass anti-rights legislation. What the hell is going on here? How did I allow myself to think that we were past all of this in my lovely home state?

Oh, you haven’t been paying attention either? Well, let me tell you what the November ballot is bringing to you, my lovely Californians:

Proposition 4: The Abortion Waiting Period and Parental Notification Initiative.

What it does: Unemancipated minors – girls under age 18 – won’t be allowed to get an abortion until 48 hours after their parents are notified.

Why I’m Angry: First, this is the THIRD time Californians have been asked to vote on this issue (we voted on it in 2005 AND 2006). As with term limits, I think someone should seriously consider writing a law that says if something is voted down by a certain margin, it can’t be reconsidered for some arbitrary amount of years (let’s say 10). I mean, seriously? When we voted on this in 2005 it didn’t pass, and when we voted on it in 2006 it did even WORSE. Why the hell are you wasting money trying to get this law passed, when it could probably be better spent teaching sex ed (in lieu of abstinence ed) to prevent the pregnancy that requires the abortion???

Secondly, why is this necessary? What is the reasoning that says a 17-year-old can’t decide for herself that she needs an abortion, but at age 18 – even if it’s only a matter of weeks before her birthday – she’s suddenly more capable of decision-making abilities? Does some miracle happen at age 18 that causes women to not want to abort an unwanted baby? And what about girls who are pregnant because of abuse by the family who will now be notified of said abortion? Oh, well the wording allows for notification of some other adult family member in cases of abuse. Because, really, that’s exactly what this girl wants: She wants everyone in the family to know she’s been raped by her dad/brother/whoever. So, in addition to the psychological stress of having been abused and getting an abortion she now has to face telling somebody and wonder if this new adult even believes her and whether it will make any difference.  Ugh, I could really go on for years about this so I’m going to stop.

And, for those of you who are interested: Here’s my blog about this issue from two years ago. How convenient.

Proposition 8: Eliminate Rights of Same-sex Couples to Marry

What it does: Just like the title says, it will take away the newly won right of gays and lesbians to marry in California. Side note: Can I just say how much I LOVE that the attorney general reworded this so that people actually know what they’re voting for? For once you can look at it and know what Yes means and what No means. This initiative was originally called the “California Marriage Protection Act.” I love how syntax changes everything.

Why I’m Angry: Seriously, is this really still an issue in California? Why is it so hard for people to be accepting of someone else’s lifestyle? Allowing gays and lesbians to marry will not hurt anyone, least of all the “sanctity of marriage,” considering about 50 percent of man/woman marriages end in divorce anyway I think it’s pretty safe to say the sanctity of marriage died about 50 years ago.

I’d really, REALLY love to hear an argument about same-sex marriage that does not include God. Just once. Because it’s not really about God, is it? It’s about fear. You don’t understand the lifestyle so you’re lashing out against it instead of trying to understand it. And you’re hiding behind God to try to cover up your ignorance and hatred and FEAR. Why does unconditional love and “only God can judge” go out the window when it comes to something that you don’t support? Does God really only have unconditional love for the douchebags who can’t  accept a lifestyle outside of their own rose-colored world? If so, that’s not a God I can accept.

And again, didn’t we already vote on this? (2000). And wasn’t this just turned down as an illegal law by the California Supreme Court? How on earth is it able to go on the ballot again after it’s been found to be an illegal law? Am I missing something here? WTF?

Please, please, register to vote people. I know you, like I, have probably reached election fatigue. I’ve been ignoring the election hype for the past three months and while I was sleeping just look what happened. This has taught me the importance of remaining vigilant. The presidential election may be making headlines, but there are still many other things sneaking onto the ballot that we need to pay attention to, so get out there and start finding out where you’re vote is needed.

 

There are some things that you just don’t notice in winter…

Like the fact that the air conditioner is broken.

It was 103 today in Sacramento. I went for a run. Got home about two hours ago and still haven’t stopped sweating. Super sad for sure.

P.S. Is anyone else totally stoked about the temporary gay marriage rights?! I thought it was U.S. Supreme Court decision the way everyone was talking about it, but when I checked the news I saw that it was just the California Supreme Court. All you conservative “family rights” protesters out there still have one more chance to make it illegal. BOO!

 

Protesting the Olympics?

Photo by R Kent

If you haven’t yet read about the protests going on around the world, following the running of the Olympic torch, you can read about it on just about every news Web site. Today the torch will go through San Francisco, and you can read updates here.

I’ve been talking with Tony’s mom a lot lately about the protests, the Olympics and a possible boycott of China. What we all know is there will be no boycott of China. It would be bad for our already crumbling economy. And what would Americans do without all of their cheap goods? American made? Doesn’t exist anymore. Not on any grand scale anyway. But I love that the U.S. government wants to pretend like they just don’t want to get involved in the political affairs of another country. China has gross human rights violations; the recent flare-ups with Tibet are only a reminder of this.

Personally, I have to say I support the protests going on around the world. If I had a car, I’d have been down in SF today getting my protest on with everyone else. I realize that the protests have nothing really to do with the Olympic Games. Who could hate the Olympic Games? Since I was a kid I’ve been in love with watching the Summer Olympics. But when the Olympic Games committee picked China as this year’s host, they had to know people would start paying attention to China again. In fact, they said part of the reason they picked China was because they wanted China to clean up their act and being on the world stage might force them to do so.

China has been desperately looking for ways to cover up its pollution in the past months because it was worried about a public relations nightmare occuring when people all over the world saw their athletes having to compete in the Olympic Games wearing special masks to keep from getting sick from the polluted air. Now, instead of the environmental public relations nightmare they were expecting, they’ve been faced with something even worse. Most people, it seems, can forgive environmental pollution, but the killing of monks in the street is a little bit more difficult to look past (unless you’re worried about an economic crisis that is already beginning, ahem, George Bush, ahem). And so we have the protests.

Tony’s mom and I differ in opinion about these protests. She thinks it’s horrible that the Olympic Games, something that has always been a unifying event for the world, is being used as a stage for protests against China. While I wish that the Olympic Games hadn’t gotten involved, I feel like there would be no other time to put China on the spot. For the most part it seems like we just let China get away with whatever it wants. I don’t know if it’s because we’re afraid of them (either because they have so many people and could form a larger military presence than us, or because of economic concerns) or if it’s just that our government doesn’t care. All I know, is that the governments of this world aren’t going to do anything, so it’s up to the people of the world to protest. And they may as well do it when they’ll have the biggest audience possible – that being the whole world at the moment.

Am I wrong? What do you think? Maybe I’m thinking about this in weird terms.

Also, R Kent posted an article about the Paris protests on The Nervous Breakdown. Go check it out.

 

My Internet is broken!

I’m at the library right now between torture (aka being at my French family’s house) and picking up one of the kids from school. I hate it because I only have about five minutes of free time during the time when the library is open, but my Internet is broken, thus the no new blogs in the past two days. I’m super sad because my new blog will look untended if I leave it for too many days. I don’t know what happened to the internet, it just disappeared. We were actually stealing it from a neighbor, so maybe they cancelled their service? I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m super excited because I only have 15 more days of work before the French family goes on vacation! Woohoo! Then Tony’s cousin from Germany is visiting with her British fiance. We’re going to be SO international at our apartment. Heh.

Um, and is anyone else freaked out that the presidential campaign may be between Hillary and McCain? I don’t think I’ll be able to stand four more years of republicans, but if these are our options I’m afraid that’s what it’s going to be. By the way, I found this really great blog about why people should vote for Barack. Actually he wrote two. I highly recommend checking them out because he’s way better at expressing himself about the election than I have been lately.

Hope you’re all doing well. I’m so looking forward to hanging out with you all. Maybe we can get some Mexican food together when I get back?

P.S. Why is it always food that people miss most about a place?

 

A couple of things…

First, I hope you all are going to go out and vote today. You can still register here. I’m really bummed I’m not there to take part in the primaries, but I have been following the race closely and you can bet when I get back there will be tons of political blogs to come. I’m so excited about getting W out of the White House. It makes my heart smile in a big way.

Second, the other day I was driving in the car and heard the funniest thing on the radio. As part of a news story about the smoking ban, the announcer said (in French of course) that the smell of cigarettes in Paris night clubs has now been replaced with the smell of B.O. I’m not really sure which is worse, but it seems the B.O. problem should be easily taken care of, yes?

Last, if you haven’t checked out The Nervous Breakdown lately, I highly recommend it. There are some great posts up right now. None from me, but I’ll try to have some soon.

I do, however, have a new review up on The Inside Cover, so feel free to check that out.

 

Goodbye John Edwards

The Inside Cover: Day 2

Can I just say how disappointed I am that John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race. Yes, I know he didn’t win any states in the first primaries, but he could have at least waited until Feb. 5 to drop out. I’m sure he was getting pressure from elsewhere to drop out (Ahem, Hillary, Ahem). The problem was that he was considered “the spoiler” because he would be taking votes away from the only two “real” candidates left. I am SO disappointed in our “democratic” system right now. What is the point of letting anybody run for president if they’re forced out of the running before the real race even starts? Why are Americans only given two options for anything? You only get Democrat or Republican, and then you only get two candidates for the primaries in each party. What happened to all the other parties? What happened to all the other candidates? How is this a nation governed by the people if our vote doesn’t really count?

I’m sorry, but I’m just as jaded now as I was when President Bush was re-elected in 2004. My heart hurts when I think about the American voting system. And the worst part is knowing I can’t really do anything to change it. What would I change it to anyway? At least we’re not in the middle of a civil war over it. I guess that’s at least one good thing.

 

Is anyone else totally unconvinced by the “stimulus package”?

I don’t know, maybe I don’t understand because I’ve been out of the U.S. for a few months. But I’m pretty sure the U.S. economy has been tanking for about a year now, maybe longer. We could well be on our way to another Great Depression, and what’s the answer? A stimulus package! Yes, because it’s worked so well the last two times Bush tried it! “Americans need money in their pockets now,” Bush is quoted as saying to Congress. Um, yeah, but we’ve needed money for quite some time. Maybe you could have given us some of that $81 billion you spent on the war?

I’m totally unconvinced that a “stimulus package” will do anything to stimulate the economy. Giving Americans an extra $300 may help for about, um, maybe a week, but it’s not going to make any long-term difference on the state of the economy. I’m not too smart when it comes to stocks and trade and all that, but I’m pretty sure the amount of consumer debt and the adjusted rate mortgages out there are not helping the American economy, especially as people begin to either try to pay off their debt or file for bankruptcy. I sincerely wish congress and the president would do something more than throw money at us to try to make us look the other way. “Hey, don’t look over there! I’ve got a wad of cash in this hand over here!” Why not maybe fix something in the country instead of just trying to move our attention elsewhere or put a patch on the leak.

Why? Because Bush wants the next president to get stuck with it. When we’re in a recession, it never matters that the last president was the one who fucked everything up, it matters what the new president does to fix it. And the new president is the one who gets blamed and is voted out of office four years down the road. I’m so bummed by this stupid stimulus package. But $300 off my taxes would be fab since I have to pay a ton this year (freelancing does have it’s downside).

 

Change We Can Believe In

I just finished watching the New Hampshire debate on CNN.com and I’m a bit fired up. You know how I get about politics. And you know that you will now be subject to my opinion unless you close this browser. So here we go…

First off, can I just say how upset I am that the other democrats have hijacked Barack Obama’s campaign slogan? During the NH debate, I think I heard the word “change” out of Hilary Clinton and John Edward’s mouths almost as many times as GW used the word “terrorism” during his 2004 campaign. Sorry Hilary, you’re a bit late on this one. Apparently, you weren’t on the pulse of the American people (or at least the democrats). If you were, you’d have known that we want nothing more than for something to change in our nation. John Edwards, I’m not giving you as hard of a time because you were onto the whole change thing before Jan. 3.

What bothered me most in the debate though was Bill Richardson and Hilary still harping on the fact that John Edwards and Barack Obama don’t have enough “experience” to lead the country. To be perfectly honest, I think their lack of “experience” is what makes them so appealing to the American people, especially to the under 35s.

Personally speaking, I like that Edwards and Obama don’t have a long laundry list of people they owe favors to. I like that they haven’t proved they’ll grease palms to get something passed. To me, they might still have integrity. They might actually be willing to listen to the American people and it’s their lack of “experience” that gives them this. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

What I like most about these candidates is that for the first time in 8 years, I have hope again. Hope that America won’t continue to look like a bully to the rest of the world. Hope that the war in Iraq will come to an end. Hope that American politicians will start doing what’s best for all Americans, not what’s best for their pockets or their careers.

I find Obama to be one of the most inspirational politicians I’ve listened to in a long time. If you haven’t listened to his vicotry speech in Iowa, I suggest you do so. It will make you feel like this country can change. And it just may make your heart smile.

Also, for those of you who haven’t been paying attention to the primaries, here are some links to help you find out about the candidates. I suggest you read up, register to vote, and get out there to make some change in this country.

First, you can watch Obama’s speech here.

Second, if you want to find out who matches your beliefs on “the issues” go here.

And if you want to learn about the candidates, read the latest news about them, and watch their speeches, go here.

And please, dear Lord, do not let Mike Huckabee win the election. I will be so sad if the slogan “Faith. Family. Freedom.” wins him the presidency. All this country needs is a little more of the same it’s had for the past eight years.

 

How did Germans turn a blind eye to the Holocaust?

I think it’s impossible to be in Germany and not think about WWII. As Americans, we spend a lot of our childhood history classes learning about Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the concentration camps. We’ve painted Germany as this evil country that allowed all of these terrible things to happen. And somehow in our minds Germany remains the country it was 50 years ago. For the record, this isn’t true in the least. Germany is a modern country with modern people who just want to move on. I almost said they want to forget the past, but I don’t think that is the case. It seems that they are willing to accept the past and recognize it as a way of ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

Today, in Munich, Tony and I passed a Jewish monument and a Jewish museum of some sort. It was getting late so we didn’t go inside, but it really got me thinking.

For so many years I’ve heard people pose questions like, “How could the German public allow something so horrific to go on?” and “Why didn’t they do anything to stop it?”

I think this is silly thinking. Why didn’t they do anything? Well, the No. 1 reason was probably fear. They didn’t want to end up in the concentration camps themselves, nor did they want their families sent there. In a repressive government you don’t speak out lest you end up in a grave.  Secondly, I think many of the German people were probably trying to just live their lives with some degree of normalcy. After all, they’d spent the past 30+ years at war. But lastly, and more to the point, I think they were just apathetic.

As I said they’d been at war for 30+ years. They were probably sick of hearing about the war. Tired of trying to fight or make a change in a government that was fully out of control. After all, the United States has only been at war for five years and the apathy of the American public can be felt worldwide. People ask why Americans re-elected George Bush. Why didn’t Americans do more to stop the war in Iraq? Why? Why? Why?

Well, the truth is Americans just don’t care anymore. And those who do care feel like they can’t do anything to change it anyway. We register to vote. We protest. We write letters and volunteer and what do we get? Nothing. We get the world thinking that all Americans support this war, or at least the 51 percent who re-elected our war president.

Now, I’m not comparing the Iraq War with WWII, nor am I comparing George Bush with Adolf Hitler. What I am comparing is the apathy of the American people with that of the Germans 50 years ago. Not only that, but the general laissez-faire attitude of the rest of the world. It seems no other countries want to get involved because they don’t want to start a WWIII. But I hope if the next president is as gung-ho about starting wars where they shouldn’t be, then some country out there will step up and say no. America needs to be put in its place if Americans aren’t going to stand up and change things themselves.