Space sickness?

Will somebody PLEASE tell me why we're *still* funneling money into somewhat dubious space programs? I mean - don't we have enough domestic (and by domestic I mean "on the globe") issues we need to focus on? Exactly how are these programs benefitting anyone (anyone other than the companies that manufacture the pieces and parts, that is)...

WTF?

Somebody save me

from good ole boy construction talk. When people want to shoot the shit about favors they're owed, plans for buying/building/selling property and other such stuff, can they AT LEAST go to another room?!

Brief comment on Roberts

The more I hear about Roberts, the worse I feel about his nomination and the more scared I am about his almost-certain approval. I have tried to believe that there isn't a "grand plan" to keep oppressing women but I think the reality is that there is something going on. Why else the constant and unrelenting attack on reproductive rights? Why has Roe v Wade seemingly become so fragile when there are so many other, more urgent issues that need to be addressed? Why this ongoing assault on the lives and decisions of women.

And there's no way this can be mistaken as a non-gender issue. This is so obviously directed at women who are able to bear children - directed at gaining control of women's bodies and decisions. I'm surprised there hasn't been more of a public push towards banning birth control also. I know there are some backdoor efforts going on (pharmacists deciding not to dispense bc, drs unable to talk about abortion, etc) but I'd think this administration would be proud to flaunt its attempts to push women back to being pregnant and in the kitchen.

Is it even possible to describe the rage and pain this causes? I don't want to believe that men have such oppressive and patriarchal views towards women. I want to believe that they don't understand what they're doing or that they have some motive that they think is good. I'm not sure I could handle my feelings if the last shreds of the "ignorance" or "misguided motives" belief blow away.

Lest I be called to task for not also calling women on their sorry part in these manueverings, I should say that I realize there are women who support the end of Roe v Wade also. All I can say about them is that they truly are ignorant. Do they think they'll be given a "get out of jail free" card if they need access to reproductive rights?

I would also guess that both the men and women who are supporting the end of my rights to reproduction are mid-upper class white people - people who have the luxury of standing around and talking about why birth control and abortions are so terrible. People who (maybe) have never had to make the decision between feeding one child or another. Women who have never had to face having their 9th child just 10 months after their 8th was born. Women who have never had to make a decision to keep (or not) a child that is a product of violence.

What are they thinking? If you don't want to have an abortion - fine, don't. If you don't want to use birth control, find - don't (men don't anyway although I have no idea why a bc pill for men hasn't been created yet). But what the FUCK gives you the right to say that I can't?

Props to the prof

So I have to give a big, humongous shout out to my teacher and friend, Amanda Byron. She took on Lars Larson today and she was awesome awesome awesome! I'm not linking to Lars' site because I think he's extremely unpleasant but you can google it if you must visit. Anyway, I was incredibly impressed by Amanda's composure, especially in the face of some very inflammatory commentary and responses back from Larson.

I think the reason she was on the show is because she teaches a class called Enmification: The Art and Consequence of Enemy-Making. I sat in on the class last year and it's good. Larson focused in on a sentence in the description that mentions the United States' fascination with enemy-making and badgered Amanda throughout the show about what that statement meant. Sadly enough, everytime she explained he misunderstood or simply didn't listen.

His deliberate attempts to twist her statements and explanations were obvious and, I think, unsuccessful. I thought he came off as embarrassing himself - largely because she remained calm, reasonable, and willing to hear him out while he didn't offer the same courtesy. There were moments when I thought he might actually be ready to have an actual discussion about the issue but then he'd throw back another flaming comment.

I was so proud of her - she absolutely stood her ground in a calm and compassionate way but she refused to allow her point to be lost or covered up by his rhetoric. I think the saddest thing about the entire event was that his reaction to her and what she had to say perfectly exemplified what she was talking about - the fear or doubt or isolation that keeps us from really listening to and trying to understand those who think and behave differently than we do.

Go Amanda!!!

I thought I'd left it all behind

So those of you who know me know that I moved out here from North Carolina. Spent several years in both small towns and in a fairly rural area of the state. I worked in construction for a while (office stuff) and have spent a good bit of time around construction workers & (big generalization here) others of that "type."

I like working in the construction industry (sort of) largely because I know how things work. I know how to talk to the different kinds of people and sort of how to navigate the hierarchy and politics. It's familiar and comfortable, although not terribly fulfilling or meaningful. So why am I writing this post? Because there's one aspect of construction that I still find disgusting. This may come as a surprise because I ws with my ex for *many* years and, except around the last three years, this was his vice the whole time.

He dipped. Yes - tobacco product in the mouth, spitting juice out every so often. Extremely gross but I got used to it because he was fairly circumspect around me. Well, except for all the bottles and cans he'd forget and leave in the truck to "ripen" in the NC sun. Those were NASTY. So why am I rehashing all this?

Because I'm doing temp work with some local construction guys and guess what? You got it, I'm hearing that familiar spitting sound (spwewt) and smelling that wintergreen fresh 'baccy smell.

ew.

Mean people suck

Someone punched a hold in the door of my car. The hole doesn't go all the way through, it's just through the outer skin but it's pretty nasty. It looks like someone beat on the door a couple of time (just under the handle), cut into the metal, and then peeled away a chunk.

I have no idea why they did it or what they wanted. There was nothing in there except my radio. The radio has a removable faceplate and you have to pretty much dismantle the entire dash to get the radio out of it so were they looking for that? If that's what they wanted, why not just bust the window? What really sucks is that the window was just busted about 3 months ago and I have a $250 per indicident deductible.

That means another $250 I have to fork out. For some random, violent, and mean attack on my car. $250 I need to pay my bills. I guess I'm luck in that I can actually come up with it but goddamnit, it's not fair. I know I have a lot compared to many people but I'm not made of cash - I do work for what I have. That money could go towards my credit card bill, could pay for almost two months lease on a horse, a bunch of riding lessons, or who knows what else.

[big, sad sigh]

Nothing much

I thought I'd want to blog more once the term ended but I'm finding that's not quite true. I don't want to do much of anything that involves thinking and I find that blogging often sparks bouts of deeper thought than I'm currently interested in. I have a little list of things to blog about, in addition to my normal musings on the nature of life, peace, and nonviolence.

I find myself listening to all kinds of internal monologues and speechs, I just have no desire to record them. What I'm really interested right now, however, is reading as much fun literature as possible and watching as many episodes of Buffy and Angel as I can cram in over the break. It's true, I do have momentary lapses back into school geekdom but I'm striving valiantly to keep those lapses minimal.

At any rate, I'm sure I'll start feeling the urge to capture all my trailblazing thoughts again soon...