'
I am listening to an interview with Sharron Angle (Republican Senator) on the Rachel Maddow Show right now. One question keeps smacking me across the brain: Where are all the good women in politics? Alright, the guy interviewing her (John Ralston) played tape of her saying she wanted to get rid of Medicare and Social Security. On a Republican talk show, however, she said we have to protect these programs. When asked about this apparent contradiction, she dodged the question, pretty much just saying that she didn't think it was a contradiction. Yeah... I don't get it either.
Apparently this lady loves to blame things on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. She blames him for not creating jobs, yet in a different statement, said it was not the job of a Senator to create jobs. When asked about this, she said it was his job to create an atmosphere conducive to job creation. What?
Plus, she made a statement recently that she didn't believe it was right to get an abortion in any circumstance. Not even if raped or in the case of incest or if the life of the mother or baby is at risk. The reason she gave is that she's a Christian and she believes god has a plan for everyone and uses all kinds of circumstances for good. I don't have a problem with people being religious, I've made that clear in the past. I do have a problem with using religious ideals for reasons to back (or oppose) political issues. We have separation of church and state for a reason. This is a question of morals, but it's a national issue and not all Americans are Christians. Therefore, it is not fair to use Christian ideals to create policy! I think most Christians are trying to do a lot of good in the world. I respect that. But I do not respect pushing ideals onto others - especially if they are unwilling and have made that position known. No politician or policymaker or lawmaker or judge or President or anyone in government has the right to push their ideals on the American people. I suppose that goes either way. But the bottom line here is that this is not a theocracy, there are other religions (or lack of religion) represented in great numbers in this country, and our Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state!
I'm tired of hearing of all of these Republican women in politics. I'm sure not all of them are the dunder-headed bimbos I'm ranting against here. But it seems like there are just too many of those blonde idiots out there trying to run the country and making fools out of themselves. Palin trying to be President (or even VP for that matter), Mrs. Angle, Ann Coulter... I could go on. Some of these women say the most ridiculous and stupid things. And they're a shame to all women. I'm disgusted.
Women in politics should not be trying to push their beauty as some kind of qualifying characteristic for office. Being attractive does not make you more able to run a country or make good policy or anything else, really, besides win beauty pageants. Maybe if our culture respected intelligence, drive, and strength in women, we wouldn't have so many jokes in our public offices. I think people didn't like Hillary Clinton because she wasn't what people would call beautiful. Well, men, keep yourself in your pants and maybe try voting intelligent women into office. And women, try keeping your prejudices out of it, too, because we all know we like pretty girls as friends better than plain ones. Well, women in power are not going to be your best friend or your hot date. They are going to run the country, make important and sometimes life-altering decisions for 300 million people.
Maybe all the good women are too smart to get into politics. Makes sense to me!
(And yeah, that picture really says all there is to say.)
'
Alright, I just got an e-mail from the editor of the paper, talking about Training Week! I feel so nervous right now. It's one of those moments when I start to think maybe this wasn't my best idea ever. Ah! And we have to come early, probably 3 days for me, being a columnist, so I have to get info. to him soon so I can move in early! Man I feel like a fish out of water - I've never done this before. But, trying not to feel alarmed. Oh yeah, and I have to do something online if it's a paid position, but I don't know if it is! How awkward is it going to be to shoot him an e-mail like, "hey, yeah, I was just wondering, are you paying me for this?" Well, I guess change is always scary. It never seems as scary when you're hoping for it or planning for it or whatever. It's scary when it gets down to it and you actually have responsibilities! But I will be strong and I will look to the bright side of this. I'm so excited to be a columnist! And it won't look bad on my resume. ; )
'
Oh, so much to talk about, but where to start? We finally painted at our apartment yesterday, and the color looks great. We recently lost our kitty - I had planned to write about it, but felt it was somehow inappropriate to post on here. I'm still writing, but I haven't been making a lot of progress lately. I did add a new beginning. I've read several books since my last post (some very good ones, too) such as The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, which I would recommend to anyone and everyone.
I also recently watched the controversial movie "Milk" which I thought was excellent. It stirred up a lot inside me, too. I suppose I'm one of those people who is only happy when they have a cause. I just don't like seeing people hated on or oppressed. All about the equality.
I was concerned with the lack of women in the movie, however. I feel like when we talk about gay rights, we just forget about women. One theory might be that lesbians are better accepted in our society, or another might be that there are less of them, or maybe men loving other men strikes people as much more of a problem. Maybe our society is just too male-centered. And I do believe that's true. It makes me angry. I will now commence my rant.
The problem here is that no matter how far our society or our culture has come, women are still not equal to men. Tons of people would scoff at that comment. Tons of people would also call me names for saying I'm a feminist. I don't care; bring it on! Women are paid 15% less than men, STILL! How is that even excusable in this day and age? It's ludicrous! I know women are part of the problem. Don't mistake me for a woman who hates all men, though sometimes it seems easier to just blame all the problems on them. I don't. Women are underachievers, as a sex. I know tons of hardworking women who have big dreams. But how many women do you know that settle for lesser jobs? Why a nurse and not a doctor? Why a kindergarten teacher and not a professor? Why a social worker and not a psychologist? Why not a firefighter, police officer, astronaut, scientist? So many women choose to sidestep these jobs for ones of lesser prestige. Is it because we're drawn to children in fields like teacher or pediatrician (as opposed to brain surgeon)? Do we put off these greater careers in order to get married and start families?
I for one will not put my dreams on the back burner. I may have been born a woman, but that does not mean I will settle for less than I am capable of. That is what makes me so angry. I know so many women who are capable of so much, but they still settle for less.
I had a lot of interesting ideas about why so many people are prejudiced against gay men. And why men are so obsessed with things like war and sports. It may be that men are being held back in this society even more than women. Our society casts men as strong providers, unemotional, logical and problem-solvers. They get things done, and they are manly doing it. Men don't cry. They don't feel weakness. They are tough and they protect their women (please! I say, dripping with sarcasm). Well, it's not as if men are born without feelings or fears. They aren't perfect. They make mistakes, they have needs. But society doesn't want them to get too close to each other. If a man has a close friend, people talk about them. They might be made fun of or called gay just for having a close friendship and caring for another man. Women do that all the time - it's expected. But the only real relationship in which it is okay for a man to be vulnerable is with a woman. That's all fine and good, but it sounds awfully lonely.
About sports, and war. I've heard that they both give you a great high, something some people crave. But the most important thing about these two, and it's not just my own musings here, is that they provide brotherhood. This is one other situation in which it is okay for a man to depend on another man. To love another man and have a close connection to him without being seen as acting outside of his role. (Because somehow we've gotten so homophobic that a man can't show his feelings or admiration of other guys outside of certain restrictive boundaries.) No wonder guys crave these things. Everyone wants to feel wanted, to have close relationships with others. Sure, the whole brotherhood thing isn't the only reason men participate in war or sports. Maybe not even the main reason. I don't know. But I do think it is a reason. Men are stifled and weighed down in this culture. They are constantly being told they aren't good enough. Not good enough at their jobs, not good enough in bed, not good enough at being fathers.
And while we're talking about fathers, let me just touch on the epidemic of crappy fathers. I hear about them left and right. Men leaving their kids, cheating on their wives, abusing their families, just plain not caring. Maybe this is because men don't have very good role models of what a good father looks like. We need a movement toward more caring and loving fathers. And part of that process, which has already started, is that women need to let men take care of their children. We have a tendency to want things done a certain way and when the man doesn't do it perfectly, we just do it ourselves. Not only does this put more pressure on ourselves, but it leads to that apathetic quality seen in so many fathers today. They can't care about something they aren't allowed to participate in. And how much richer would their lives be if they could have more responsibility in the care of their children? How much more time would women have with some of that burden off their shoulders - time enough to fulfill those big dreams she maybe didn't think she would ever achieve. Maybe if we had more equitable roles, people would be more tolerant of those who choose alternative lifestyles to the traditional.
We all need to learn to be more tolerant of others. If you believe in god, good for you. Don't shove it down other people's throats. If you think being gay is wrong, fine. But don't hurt another person or discriminate against them because of it. Keep it to yourself. Respect others. Understand them and the fact that they did not up and choose a lifestyle they somehow "knew" was "wrong," but they are simply being who they are. And they deserve that right. Thousands of young LGBT kids contemplate suicide, lots of them do kill themselves - all because we can't be more accepting of them. We are all human. We all get afraid, we all care what others think, we all need encouragement and support. If your intolerance is leading to loss of life, maybe you should rethink what you believe, or at least how you deal with others who you deem 'in the wrong.' All the stupid jokes you made as a kid, every time you say 'that's gay' or call someone a name, just think about how different things would be if their struggles were your own.
I wish I could solve all the world's problems. I want to be active, but this is a time of inactivity. I know I just need to have the courage to start what needs to be started: a new way of thinking about the world and the people around us. Tolerance. Love. Acceptance. Respect. I hope when I leave this world, I'll have left it just a little bit better than when I arrived. And I really mean that.
'
Yay for new posts! Now let's get down to business. I'm sure everyone has heard about the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Big news! Well, I was watching Rachel Maddow recently when I heard an interesting bit of information.
Apparently, a spill by the same company as the one going on right now, happened in the same place - the Gulf of Mexico - back in 1979 AND - here's the kicker! - they used all the same techniques to try to get rid of it and guess what! Yeah, they didn't work then, either.
Alright, first of all, I'm pretty upset about this whole thing. It seems obvious to me that we are simply not ready to handle drilling offshore in such deep waters. (Sorry, a little pun there, unintentional if you believe it.) The oil spill going on right now is about 5,000 feet below sea level. If you look back, the similar one I mentioned from 1979 was about 200 feet below sea level. That spill lasted an amazing NINE MONTHS. I kid you not. So, why in the world would we believe we can handle a spill in 5,000 feet if it took us nine-friggin-months to clean up a spill 30 years ago in only 200 feet?
Well, perhaps you think, well we have better technology now. Perhaps we do, but if I recall correctly, the same sort of back-up system in place in the Deepwater Horizon was used in the 1979 spill. And, yeah, it didn't prevent a spill then, either. Perhaps if we had better methods for cleaning up the spill, then it would be okay to delve so far beneath the ocean waves to pump up oil. But, yeah, we don't. The same methods are being used to clean up this one as 30 years ago. The same chemicals are being sprayed into our oceans (endangering sea life) now. And it's been proven these chemicals are unsafe to the animals whose habitats our greedy oil tycoons have invaded in the first place. But, we keep on using them.
Apparently, these chemicals are not only unsafe for the animals (and also, not biodegradable, big shocker there) but they are also not actually supposed to be used for getting rid of the oil, only dispersing it into a larger area. Seriously. As if killing more wildlife will make the situation any better. Their cap didn't work either. What about relief wells? They're expected by August. Yeah, two months away - and that's just the best case scenario. (Side note: have you seen all the ways people are thinking up to soak up the oil? Human hair, goat hair, etc. - but no one is taking them seriously. What if these things could work? It's better than shoving golf balls down there, like some doofus at BP suggested.)
Let's talk about how BP has lied about the output of this gushing well from the beginning, shall we? At first they were saying less, then they were saying 5,000 gallons a day (which happens to be the number they said they were cleaning out of the well, too - strange, huh?), now we know it's closer to 40 to 50,000 BARRELS a day - each barrel containing 50 gallons. I cannot even comment on this, it's just too shocking.
On top of all this, the oil spill is also threatening the marshes lining our coasts. Big deal, right? Well, these marshes, besides being home to countless species of animals and plants that deserve better treatment, are really important for slowing down the progress of hurricanes that come on shore. The marshes literally save lives every year. And they are currently being destroyed by this completely out of hand leak. (And I hesitate to even use the word 'leak' as it's a ridiculous understatement - as if it were a leaky faucet, dripping out oil every now and then.)
I'm sure you can tell I'm pretty ticked off by this issue. And I will go a step further. I do not believe we should be drilling offshore. Not only can we get dangerous leaks such as the one still gushing 2,500,000 gallons of oil every day (I hadn't actually written out the number until now; can you even fathom that much oil? It's an absolute travesty!), but the simple truth is that we just do not have enough oil on this earth for it to be a sustainable energy source.
However, looking at the website for the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it seems coal could become a bigger problem (see the link below, there's an interesting graph on page 66, on the right (don't worry, the link is only 5 pages long) showing that coal is projected to have the largest share in our energy sources by 2035.
Still, what about all those great renewable sources like wind and solar? According to the EIA (mentioned above), in 2007 we used a total of (maybe you should sit down?) 101.545 QUADRILLION Btu (Side note: "The British thermal unit (BTU or Btu) is a traditional unit of energy equal to about 1.06 kilojoules. It is approximately the amount of energy needed to heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit." - direct quote from Wikipedia.) I wasn't even sure that kind of number existed! It's like a thousand trillion (which is a thousand billion, which is a thousand million, etc.) It's like a thousand times our national debt - Times another hundred! It's ridiculous. Out of that, 86.212 Quadrillion Btu came from fossil fuels (total). Petroleum was accountable for 39.773 Quadrillion Btu. Coal was close behind with 22.776. But the renewables? - total, about 6.813 Quadrillion Btu, with wind at 0.341 and solar at 0.081.
We're really in a pickle here, folks. That oil isn't going to last forever, and as we can see from this oil spill, which I forgot to mention before is way way worse than the Exxon Valdez spill up near Alaska, drilling offshore is dangerous. Our economy can't handle importing so much fossil fuel from the Middle East and other countries. I don't know much about Natural Gas (23.637 - usage in 2007), but coal pumps harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. I generally think Obama is doing pretty well, but where's all that renewable energy he was talking about? I wish it were more of a priority for him (though I understand what kind of mess he has to clean up after the last ding-a-ling in office).
Everyone should take a look at the report on electricity, here: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/trend_3.pdf as well as the energy usage report I quoted, which can be found here: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/trends/table1.html
I am truly sorry for any inaccuracies, and don't forget to post your comments! This should be a good one for discussion.
Progress on the book: somewhere around 15 pages so far, and major plot developments worked out, at least in theory. It's looking pretty good. When I don't have any ideas for the scene I'm doing, I go back and do some editing. Overall, it's going well. I'm currently reading another Danielle Steel book called Toxic Bachelors. I think I'll start making a little note of what I'm reading, from now on.
'
Well, as everyone knows, today is Memorial Day. I actually did not think up this post because of the (then) upcoming holiday, but because of a book I read recently. Just fyi, it was called Message From Nam by Danielle Steel and it was very good. I can overlook the overly romantic bits (but not in the tawdry sense, mind you, it wasn't a trashy romance novel, but there was some unrealistic falling in love going on) because it was a great story about growing up and realizing that life is not how we always hope to believe when we're young. The book made me realize two big things. One is that no one gives enough respect to servicemen and women, especially those from Viet Nam. Second, I think I understand better why so many Americans believe in some kind of god.
First, I know I really have no concept of what Viet Nam was like or what those men went through fighting that war. It was one of, if not the worst wars we have ever been involved in, especially if you look at the casualties. I think this book helped me understand war a little better. I know part of the reasoning behind her view of the war is still idealistic, but I'd like to think a lot of the boys over there were fighting for the people they'd lost and those that they loved. Maybe not all of them had that motivation for fighting. And I'm sure not all wars had the same motivations for their soldiers to fight. I don't know. I will not pretend like I know much about war or others' motivations for anything at all. And I am a huge idealist, and still pretty young, so there are a lot of things I have yet to understand. But I try.
I wish people would stop hating the soldiers and start hating the wars. Most soldiers are there because they believe in something good and worthy - freedom, for many - and they want to protect that. I'll be upfront with the fact that I am a complete pacifist and don't support war as a concept. But I'm not quite naive enough to believe that war isn't sometimes necessary. Whatever the reason is - be it misled notions, religious fervor, greed, failed communications with other nations, or something else - war is sometimes unavoidable. I guess I like to think that we just aren't quite there yet - the place where all of us can live peacefully together and use communication to get what we want and need, instead of force or fear. But the truth is that there are people in the world that do bad things. I can't let myself believe that there are bad people out there. There are sick people, who have psychological problems, there are hurt people, angry people, wronged people, people who have let greed or vengeance overtake them. But we don't start out bad. I can't believe that about humanity. All I know for sure is that I am not a bad person. I don't want to take anything from anyone. I don't want to wrong, or hurt, or kill. I have to believe that it is circumstances that make us do desperate or bad things. And who knows where I'd be if something terrible had happened to me - like if someone had murdered someone I loved or something. Who am I to say I wouldn't be changed by that and perhaps do something I would not do, as I am now? But I'm getting off track here.
Whether you believe we are fighting the current wars for a good reason or not, whether you believe the soldiers fighting are brave or stupid, noble or crazy, courageous or irresponsible, it does not matter. They are still our boys and girls fighting and dying for what they believe in. Fighting and dying for us. So it really doesn't matter what any of us think about the war - good or bad - we still need to support our soldiers out there, who place themselves in danger every day for us.
Secondly, I recently lost my great-grandmother, but I have not lost someone very close to me. I wish I had known her more and been closer to her, but the fact is that I didn't see her much and she hardly recognized anyone at the end. I don't know what that kind of grief feels like. But I do know now that it is very hard for many people to think that someone they love dearly and have put so much energy and time into, was just gone. It makes the pain a little less to think that maybe there is a god out there and the person you love is out there, somewhere, in a better place than this. Especially if you lost someone like the character in the book, in an ugly war, for no reason, so young and hopeful and scared. To think that the person you love is just gone is really hard to bear. I don't blame anyone for hoping there is something better out there and that maybe, one day, they can see that loved one again. I wish there wasn't so much animosity between people that believe in god and those that don't. I'm guilty of fighting about the issue, too. And I wish we could all just give each other peace and respect. We all have opinions and struggles. We come to our conclusions and decisions by different means and for different reasons, but we should respect that in each person we meet. Some people who disagree with us seem irrational, defensive. But everyone is scared, underneath it all. The truth is just that we do not know what is out there. We do not know what is after death, if anything. And we can all at least recognize that none of us have the answer, none of us know for sure.
In the end, each one of us dies. In the end, we each face that unknown and have to meet it. What lies on the other side, none of us can know. But we will all meet the same end. And that is that, my friends, nothing more.
In other news, I am busily writing a book. My goal: 100 pages by the end of the summer. I want to finish by the time that I graduate with my B.A. I want to publish and I just get excited thinking about it. Well, I'm about a tenth away from the summer goal, which sounds ridiculously small, but if I keep at it, I know I can finish. And besides, with my track record for writing books, I'm doing pretty dang good.
Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, and I apologize for not having the opportunity to write a lot. We hope to get dial-up at the apartment soon, because no one has service in our podunk little town.
I'm tired of hearing of all of these Republican women in politics. I'm sure not all of them are the dunder-headed bimbos I'm ranting against here. But it seems like there are just too many of those blonde idiots out there trying to run the country and making fools out of themselves. Palin trying to be President (or even VP for that matter), Mrs. Angle, Ann Coulter... I could go on. Some of these women say the most ridiculous and stupid things. And they're a shame to all women. I'm disgusted. 
