AH HA Ha ha… oh, wait. Nevermind.

October 27, 2006 8:23 pm
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Ummm. At first I am moved to simply laugh at Bill O’Reilly because everything he says is so clearly based on rhetoric, delusion and a desire to be “controversial.” And then I feel really bad for whoever has agreed to be his Counterpoint, because I know that no matter how truthful, logical and educated their argument against him, he just badgers them. When faced with any facts he argues them away using terms like “…that stuff…” or “…things like that…”

I don’t care what you are debating, “…that stuff…” does not explain your cause. It only shows us that you don’t know what the fuck you are talking about. If you are talking about the laws of California, you should actually know about the laws of California. If you are talking about abortion, then you should know about abortion.

And then I realize something. This guy isn’t funny. If less people believed what he said… then, maybe. There is a huge group of voters who listen to this clown. They take his word as gospel. They VOTE based on his suggestions.

That frightens me.

Go to No on 85 to get the real facts.

YAY!

7:12 pm
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South Dakota Rising

1:36 pm
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This was posted at Feministing yesterday and I thought that it would be great to pass along.

Greetings from South Dakota!

Contributed by Suzanne Grossman
[Ed. note: this post was adapted from an email]

I’m here with the theater production Words of Choice on a tour around the state to help support and spur dialogue regarding the extreme abortion law that is up for a state-wide vote next Tuesday. We have done two shows so far in Sioux Falls that have gone extremely well and are heading to another college today in Brookings, SD.

I wanted to tell you some first-hand accounts of things here because I think that we all can do a lot to show our support. I’ve met a number of activists who are working hard to get out the “vote no on 6″ message but it’s difficult. They face a lot of opposition and are feeling at this point that the vote is completely up in the air and that they are out-numbered. The anti-choice side has signs all over town and the state. The pro-choice side delayed getting the lawn signs and fear that people will be too afraid to put them out. But they are working hard to make calls from their office which we went to visit. They are a diverse group, many young people and all working really hard. They are cleary anxious, though.

The office has a “wall of support” where they paste up letters cheering them on. I asked a few of them what people around the country could do. A contact at the Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls said that, at this late date, donations could go straight to the Campaign for Healthy Families because they are the ones doing the real “get out the vote” grassroots work. Funds will help keep their ads on the air among other efforts. (They even could use actual volunteers flying in from out of state, and welcome this.)

So….if you have a moment, please send a donation or send a letter or postcard cheering them on–it will go on their wall for the volunteers to see that even though it may seem like they are in the minority, in fact, the rest of the country is rooting for them.

Please forward this to your pro-choice friends. For more information, email here.

I wish I was insanely wealthy so I could spend a bunch of my money helping to defeat these terrifying, mysoginistic, right-wing, rich, old men.

I hope that everyone can get involved somehow. These people really need as much help as they can get. They are up against so much! It is frightening really.

Dear Abby: You Rock!

12:58 pm
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I saw this on Feministe and had to pass it on.

This is a letter to Dear Abby from a mother regarding some advice she gave to a friend of her teenage daughter. The letter is after the jump - NOTE: Possible domestic violence trigger.
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Update on No On 85

October 24, 2006 9:18 pm
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The TV ad for No on 85 was released yesterday. Check it out. It is short and sweet and straight to the point.

It is nice to see an ad talking about the reality of the issue.

Looking for more information? Go to No on Prop 85.

UPDATE: Here is the video. I was having trouble getting it to run here but now I figured out (okay, maybe someone else figured it out).

The Three Martini Playdate

October 16, 2006 8:19 pm
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Hot book tip:

I just read The Three Martini Playdate by Christie S. Mellor and I highly recommend it.

Some of my favorite chapters are (in no particular order):

  • Introduction: In Praise of Grown-up Time
  • Saying No to Your Child: It’s a Kick!
  • “Children’s Music”: Why?
  • Your Cost Effective Tomboy
  • Don’t, Like, Waste My Time

And of course…

  • The Three-Martini Playdate

Basically, I love this book because it strips down the notion that parenting means we should stop being individuals, and ADULTS who are in control, but live to be only a mommy or daddy with children who make the rules.

When I had my son, I was seriously opposed to becoming simply That Baby’s Mom. I do have a name and an identity (as does he, but I am not sharing it here). Sure, I am his mother but by being a separate entity I feel I can be a better, more objective mother.

The one thing that I was firmly opposed to was this. I refused to combine my purse and his diaper bag.

My best friend, who had a baby a few months prior to me, came to my baby shower but didn’t bring the baby. And she had the biggest purse I had ever seen her carry. When I asked her what the hell she needed to bring with her that she had taken to carrying around a duffle bag - and she simply replied, with a shrug: “It’s the diaper bag.”

So, no matter how many bags or how much I resembled a pack-horse I never combined the two. I know, I know… it seems silly and petty, but I felt like it was a firm stand at maintaining my identity.

It is the little things.

My Day of Healthy Satisfaction

9:59 am
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After almost a lifetime of being dissatisfied with the state of my body, one day last week I felt comfortable with my shape. This may seem strange, and I am not sure what led me to this day.

As a child I was always chubby (whatever that means). We didn’t eat badly, I just had a tendency to put on weight. And I always felt this was a flaw. I thrived in the shadow of a woman who had always been thin and who remained much smaller than I was as I moved into puberty and grew. When I did eat questionable things she would tell me that I would get fat if I kept it up. I didn’t understand at the time that my mom just didn’t eat. She stopped eating normally as a child in reaction to severe abuse at the hands of her father and that behavior became her way of life. All I saw was a skinny woman and my role model.

I leveled out in high school but I still leaned toward what I believed was an unacceptable size. Let me confide that the size in question was an American size eight. This seemed unacceptable at the time. Everyone I saw seemed so much smaller, cuter. Never mind that most of my friends were my size, but for some reason everyone seemed smaller than me. I felt like a huge mass just lolling around the town. I look back and it seems ludicrous really, and yet I still feel the same today - some 20 years later!

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Foley and His Demons

October 6, 2006 8:21 am
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Allegedly, Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert was notified three years ago of Mark Foley’s “worrisome conduct” and again one year ago. Oddly enough “he does not recall those conversations, but has not disputed they took place.” Well, good for you Dennis.

As soon as Foley REALLY got caught, he resigned. Good move! And then, thinking swiftly, he immediately checked himself into rehab. Which seems to be the first move of the modern public figure who does anything illegal and depraved, or even just really offensive and ugly. Then he did the next thing that these people do. He let us all know that he himself was a victim of a pedophile and sexual pedator. But not just any old pedophile. His priest. And if all of this blathering wasn’t enough, the next day he trotted out the “I’m gay” card. Each of these statements came like they were the top three reasons for being a pedophile, accepted the world over.

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October 1, 2006 7:54 pm
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You might have noticed that I have changed the theme from the usual red hot stamen and pistil. I have gone to a Pretty in Pink theme for the month to help promote breast cancer awareness. Pink for October started this and it is a great way to spread the word to the on-line community.

Be sure to go to the The Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation to get more information and find out how you might be able to help.

UPDATE: You can also go the these sites for information and more ways to support the cause.
Breast Cancer Research Foundation

National Breast Cancer Coalition