March 1, 2012

• Still shaking my head…..

  Lots of things have me shaking my head these days.

  Tornadoes.  I will never get used to seeing the photographs of the raw power of a tornado and the seemingly random manner in which they devastate communities.

  

  The above photo is from Branson, MO.  It’s just hard to imagine the damage and the sudden loss of life.  We have to get better at predicting these things….

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  Chardon, Ohio school violence.

  

  The biggest annoyances students should have to face in school is that the rooms are too warm/cold, the subjects are dull or the lunch is yucky.  Going to school should not involve looking over your shoulder to see if anyone is having the kind of bad day that will result in gunfire.

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  By the same token, I cannot believe this man chased the gunman….

  

  Fight or flight are the two most common responses to stimuli or danger.  This man responded with fight.  I’m pretty sure I would have responded with flight.

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  Government.  Sigh.

  Why is it that the same folks who are always proposing that government should be smaller are the same ones who want government to be intrusive and more present in women’s lives?  Three things currently moving in the legislatures of our states are giving me great pause.

  First, there is the legislation demanding intrusive sonograms (think of sticking something the size of a rock star’s microphone up one of your orifices).  How on earth can legislators believe for one moment that this is less intrusive government?  And, since they seem to be against health care insurers from paying for these tests, they seem to want to put a financial burden on women and their families.  Less government?  Where?

  

  Second, there is the debate over paying for contraception by heath insurers.  Groups with religious convictions against contraception (and they aren’t always who you think they are….) are up in arms that this is a freedom of religion issue.  It looks to become a freedom from religion issue.  Could we please tell the truth about contraception?  In many cases, the pill is used to treat hormone and women’s organ related health problems.  This makes it health care.  I’ve been annoyed by this ever since some pharmacists began bleating that offering morning after pills and birth control pills should not be mandated as part of the services they provide because it was against their personal beliefs. If you are a pharmacist, it’s none of your business why I need that prescription.  And I’m willing to bet that you don’t ask those 70 year old geezers why they need that Viagra.  And you shouldn’t.  That’s none of your business either.  Since women still die in childbirth, contraception is preventative care.  Period. 

  

  Third, there is the monstrous “personhood” legislation which is making its way through various state legislatures.  In this charming piece of work, two cells that join become a person, with rights.  If you lean pro-life it sounds wonderful.  But pay attention here.  That fetus?  If you bump it in the movement of a crowd?  It could conceivably sue you, much like lawsuits are brought for minor children.  Chew on that one for a while.  And while you are mulling that, I will say that I was astonished to read that over one hundred women have been arrested and some jailed for having a miscarriage.  I about gave myself whiplash shaking my head over that criminal manner of that one.  And I didn’t mean the women who suffered a loss.

  

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  Rick Santorum.

  What. A. Freaking. Nitwit. 

  

  Obviously this is a photoshopped item above.  However, it does represent what a lot of people think about Rick.

  College education?  It’s left leaning indoctrination!   Contraception?  It leads to bad things!  Global warming?  Giant Hoax!  I’m surprised he hasn’t declared that the world is flat.  Dying with dignity?  The government must interfere (I refer here to the late Terri Shiavo).

  Pennsylvania (where I live) threw his narcissism, and his attachment to the mentality of a caveman arse out.  The Republican Party, if they want to remain viable as a party of real people, must also.

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  The incredible stupidity of people.

  A magnificent cypress tree in Florida was burned and destroyed when a woman decided to build a small fire next to it.

  

  3500 years and one dumb, bottle blonde bikini model with a drug problem.  It always amazes me how quickly stupid can undo magnificence.

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  In California, an artist is having a 340 ton boulder moved to an exhibit where people can walk beneath it and it will appear to be floating above them.  The boulder is moving at about 5 miles per hour at night on a special carrier.  The move will take about 11 days.

  

  I’m all for art.  Even really big, unusual art.  But I have to ponder the wisdom of moving such a huge item, placing it in what will most likely be a vulnerable position and do all of this in a city with a major earthquake fault.

  Just seems to be asking for trouble.

  Ok, time to go get a heating pad for my neck, all this swinging has given me a spasm. 

  • 8:41 pm
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