Reality in Disguise (AKA The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing)

H/T American Thinker Blog

WTF Is Wrong With You People?

Seriously. Are you incapable of advocating for yourself? Do you have an overwhelming desire to lay your career/financial destiny in the hands of another - where you will have less control than you think you have now?

About 3 years ago, there was a union organization effort at the hospital for which I work. Being unafraid to advocate for myself and what I want out of my job, let alone no desire to pay someone else to do what I can do for free (and needing every single penny of my paycheck anyhow), and the frightful possibility of being bound by generalized "conditions" for the entire unit (which may have been good for the other however-many employees of the unit but not at all for the mere TEN of my specific department), I admit that I voted NO.

Some weeks back I got a letter in the mail from that same union (wondering how the fuck they had my address and wondering if that was a violation of my privacy, soliciting me in such a manner), reminding me that we voted that union down 3 years ago and kind of a taunting "see what you've done" attitude about how conditions have "worsened" in the intervening period.

Well, no shit, Sherlock - the whole fucking state is madly swirling around the center of the toilet bowl, Guvnir Granwhore madly cackling and flushing repeatedly. Of course, though, some people just cannot be satisfied with the fact that they still HAVE a fucking job with a statewide unemployment rate of 12%.... so let's provoke the employer and try to push that union again.

Now I have in my hands ANOTHER letter from that fucking union.... again, addressed to me at my home, and the top of my head is about to explode.

I am not a nurse, and they have their own union. I am "service" staff - lumped in with maintenance, housekeeping, cafeteria staff, (I believe) clerical, and others in our organization. My specific job concerns, duties, and working conditions have NOTHING to do with what some of those other folks' positions have to do with - being a transcriptionist who WORKS FROM HOME.

This is the letter I received, along with my own comments on the issues.

FORMING A UNION MEANS HAVING A VOICE IN HOSPITAL POLICIES

We, the members of AFSCME here in YYYYY County, want you to have what we have: dignity in our work, respect on the job, a voice in our wages, hours and working conditions. {I already have those - I have had them all along, and I needed to pay no one to "appropriate" them for me - I earned them all on my own.}

We have obtained this improved quality in our working lives and careers through AFSCME representation. Our AFSCME contracts provide us better wages, better benefits, and greater security and protection on the job than nonunion workers can expect. {Again, I already have these things, gained on my own merits.}

By forming a union, health care employees gain a voice in hospital policies and procedures. Rather than having decisions made arbitrarily without their input, they negotiate over the policies that affect their jobs, their patients, and their future. {We have regular hospital-wide "Pulse Check" meetings - where policies, procedures, etc. are laid out neatly and questions are answered - again, regularly.}

1. Scheduling systems. Around the country, hospital employees are negotiating scheduling policies and options that guarantee both flexibility and security. {Those in our department already have flexible scheduling policies, and our bosses are extremely receptive to suggestions, ideas, or concerns.}
   
2. Floating guidelines. Hospitals often use floating as a regular way to solve staffing problems, and too many healthcare employees are floated to unfamiliar areas. To protect patient care and professional standards, most healthcare union contracts include specific guidelines for when and how floating is done. {This affects me not at all, and those I know in the hospital who DO float are not located into "unfamiliar areas." Additionally, there are strict policies about an employee performing in certain positions and their qualifications to do so. So, a housekeeper will not be doing unit clerk duties - unless they are trained and qualified to do so.}
   
3. Overtime policies. (XXXXX does not have any overtime policy now.) Many hospitals are responding to the growing shortage of healthcare staff by requiring employees to work excessive amounts of mandatory overtime. Hospital employees are negotiating alternatives that will preserve the quality of patient care and recruit and retain more staff. {Someone obviously did not bother to read the policies and procedures manual, because there IS, in fact, an overtime policy - last revised 11/01/03 - which states "Although overtime is discouraged, there will be occasions when it is necessary." Discouraged. In my 8 years of working at this hospital, ONE time has our department been required to use mandatory overtime. ONE.}
   
4. Career enhancement. (XXXXX lacks career enhancement policies.) By working together as a union, hospital employees have a say in the policies that affect their job satisfaction and opportunities for advancement. {Again, someone did not bother to read the handbook, because there are not one but TWO policies on the books about evaluations of progress and advancement/transfer within the organization.}
   
5. How the hospital works. Through their unions, more and more hospital employees are working in partnership with their employers and participating in decisions about how their hospitals operate. Studies show that shared decision-making in union hospitals increases productivity by up to 16 percent, raises quality standards, lowers turnover rates, and improves efficiency. One study found that union-management cooperation increase staffing levels and hospital revenues. {Again, we have regular meetings where this kind of stuff is discussed - openly and to death, IMO. There is also an entire policy on the books about "Employee Suggestions."}
   
6. Privatization. What happens to you if XXXXX contracts out your job? Have you seen jobs contracted out or privatized? Food Service? Maintenance? Housekeeping? Did you have a chance to vote on privatization of jobs? Did management share equally in the job losses? (A company called ZZZZZ is now running the Housekeeping, Environmental Services, and Food Service. With ZZZZZ employees as your bosses, whose rules apply to you? XXXXX or ZZZZZ? How long before your job is privatized, too?) {Know what? It happens - anywhere and everywhere - and this is something someone in my field has come to expect at any time - since girls in India can transcribe documents for about 2 cents per line versus the 10, 12, 15 or more cents per line we get paid here or equivalent hourly wage. However, considering our hospital just invested in a brand-new dictation system, I don't think the demise of our jobs is imminent anytime soon.}
   

We're still AFSCME. We still care about you and want to help you with your workplace challenges and issues. If you want to form a union, or if you want more information on AFSCME and Unionism, Sign the enclosed green show-of-interest card and mail it back to us.

Having addressed my PERSONAL job concerns above, I will now address the issue I have with the "show-of-interest" card enclosed with this letter.

AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRESENTATION BY THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY & MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES/AFL-CIO

I hereby desire to be represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, and/or its appropriate affiliates as my exclusive bargaining agent in all matters affecting my wages, hours, and conditions of employment.

This card indicates a desire for the employee to turn over representation to another party ONLY - nowhere on the card does it allow you to mark "I just want information." You fill it out and sign it, you have agreed to relinquish your right to self-negotiate in any way on your own behalf should enough of your coworkers wish to do the same.

Lies and subterfuge. How much more blatant can you get? And these unions do NOT guarantee better pay and benefits in any way. My sister works at a union hospital, as "service" staff much like myself, and they lost all their paid holidays and other benefits. Sorry, but I have no desire whatsoever to have someone toying with the benefits I have and making things worse, compromising my position (what is to stop the hospital from outsourcing or privatizing MORE positions if deemed economically necessary?) - and have to PAY someone to screw me over?

NO THANK YOU.

That's That - And All That

First, I will share a bit of advice once given to me by a "friend," something I have tried to keep in mind:

Second, yes, yes, yes and yes. Focus on what matters and the rest will work itself out. I know, trite and cliche but seriously: the things you can change, you will and the rest (specifically other people and their habits) will take care of themselves, for good, better or indifferent.

It is time to focus on what matters, so the rest has a chance to work itself out. I despise talking to walls, even more than banging my head against them. You are just one pissed off person, stuck in a shit-spreader mindset. No amount of digging will get you out, so I set down my shovel. Dig yourself out, should you choose. I still offer my hand in friendship; it is up to you to take it.

* * * * *

Are you even kidding me? So, to make sure I understand, being able to correctly quote 70s sitcoms would somehow make him qualified to be a black president? Right. Right. Got it.

Are YOU even kidding ME? Where did I say quoting sitcoms had ANYTHING to do with being qualified as President - black, white, or polka-dotted? No wonder your "understanding" of what I say is distorted, you wringing shit like on laundry day. To make sure *I* understand, simply being "black" makes him qualified? Then why not Alan Keyes? Or Cynthia McKinney?

I am not even going to touch the rest of that statement because yeah, that theory holds true; the mess that Bush is leaving behind has obviously sullied all other white men from becoming President. Oh, except for McCain, apparently.

You know ALL my innermost thoughts! After all, you combed my entire fucking blog looking for insults to hurl. I suppose it IS possible you missed the choice words I had for EACH politician (a few special ones reserved for the dingleberries in Michigan), and color has not a damned thing to do with it. I do not recall hearing you bitch while I shat on Hillary.... Bush has done a spectacular job fucking up this country, in his own special way (Texas style, where everything is big). John McCain is a doorknob, offered by the party SPECIFICALLY to ensure Barack Obama would be elected; he clearly did NOT want to be there, and I did not particularly want him there, either (there is a reason I vote independent).

So. The actions of one black man speak for all black men, black people actually but white people are judged singularly by their own actions. Got it.

You are telling me that some bunch of asstards will NOT take a fuck-up by a black President (or Hispanic, or Oriental) and jump to asinine frames of reference about ALL black people? I call bullshit. Think Tuskegee and tell me again attitudes and shit bubbling up are no deeper than just below the surface. I will not sit here and say "I don't notice color" or "I'm colorblind." I DO notice a person's color - and I see a rainbow pleasing to the eye and to the imagination. A man (or woman) will be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. I give a shit less about your opinion of me. I am not here to please you, and I do not spend nights awake, crying because you think poorly of me. I take responsibility for my own thoughts and feelings, not yours and not others.

As for the rest, I am truly and honestly sorry you lost your mom and have a chronic disease. Nobody chooses either of those things; I didn't choose to lose my son or have chronic, incurable MRSA.

First, you say I *did* choose my circumstances, now you say I did not, a moment from now you say again that I did. That smacks of talking out both sides of the mouth and more despicable than what you have attributed to me. I never asked for pity, only friendship.

But what you have revealed about yourself is that while you judge other people extremely harshly and talk a good 'line' about you are different, you have always spoke your mind and taken up for yourself, none of that is actually true.

I thought you were spewing shit on me - twice - for saying what was on my mind (and taking up for myself)? If you are referring to my personal choices, AGAIN I say, you know little about me, my choices and circumstances, who I am. Untrue that I take up for myself? By choosing not to be steamrolled by "It's all in your head," (a decision that would have had far more devastating consequences to my family, my health, and my LIFE), I have not taken up for myself? By choosing not to be steamrolled by anger and manipulation of my words, I have not taken up for myself?

Everything you have attributed to your 'husband', years worth of using you, abusing, taking advantage of you, not being a father to any of his children, speaks to someone not lacking just in self esteem but in the ability to care for themselves, much less the lives of others. I have every sympathy, real and true, for women who are stuck in untenable situations, dependent on support from an abusive spouse but the way you tell it is that he provides nothing except infidelity, abuse, baby mama drama and sucks the life directly from you and also contributes gladly to you losing your children. And yet, you stay. And continue to pass judgment on others in situations far less within their own control.

I am criticized for "harshly judging" others, yet knowing part of the story, based upon a handful of blog posts (influenced by your own inner rage), YOU are allowed to harshly judge me? "Right. Right. Got it." I lack self-esteem, incapable of caring for myself and others, because of a stated refusal to be beat by my disease? Anger at needing modifications - yet STILL seeking a way to keep my ass out of a wheelchair? Standing up to the state, proving their abuses and getting my children back? These are hallmark traits of one incapable of caring for oneself and others? "Right. Right. Got it." Yes, I am a harsh critic, of others but also of myself, in no uncertain terms, dismissed because it does not fit your argument. This entire statement is nothing but bullying and little different than a woman who tells a vulnerable girl the world would be better of if she were dead.

Your double standard is showing.
~~You gut me like a fish for staying with a wandering dick when you have done the same, yours proven, mine suspicion; yours the result of selfishness, mine of physical disability; your reasons for staying a multi-post series demanding respect for your choice, mine irrelevant as I am clearly capable of "escaping" my situation yet "choosing" to stay (while ignoring my disability).
~~You tell tales about your crackhead sister (who is "good people") dropping "baby mama drama" into your lap, failing to acknowledge that you allow her to abuse you and your family (especially her own children), and you are a saint. I tell tales of a useless piece of flesh inflicting evil upon all in her life (especially her own children) with the willing help of CPS, and I am incapable of caring for my children.
~~You have "kind" words for your MIL (and others who piss you off) and an "it's all about me" attitude, spewing rage onto a page; I vent, and it becomes painfully obvious that I lack self-esteem. "Right. Right. Got it."

And stop it already with the driving into a tree; suicidal ideation is nothing new to me and it's much easier to daydream about dying than it is to actually do something about your life, your depression (oh, and I know, I know, mental illness doesn't exist according to you/it's over diagnosed/doesn't apply to you).

Maybe I need to speak slowly: My choice was NOT to keep looking at the tree. Your daydreams may revolve around dying, but mine are about running in the yard with my kids. I never said mental illness does not exist or apply to me but in that particular instance (a lazy practitioner with a catch-all excuse as the SOLE reason for my symptoms), it was not; and I was correct. Every human condition, feeling, and action is defined in the DSM-IV. Homosexuality had once been there. Smoking, stuttering, and gender identity are STILL there. Every criminal with a soundbite on TV is suffering mental illness. You REALLY think it is not over-diagnosed and abused? Again, I call bullshit.

Finally, abandoning his 'blackness'? Are you even fucking kidding me? It's not a dress or an accessory.

I wonder: Would Walter Francis White have agreed with that amazing assessment? Or slaves forced by circumstance to do EXACTLY that? This may not seem in the same line of thought, but it actually is.

It's part of who he is and were he not the next potential President of the United States, he would just be another black guy that people of a certain mindset would cross the street to avoid. ''Abandon'' his blackness. I cannot even wrap my head around that thought process.

No, it is NOT part of who he is - at least, not the way it is for many black Americans. He is not the descendant of black slaves but of white slave owners, and he has tenuous ties at best with his black half. Seeing in his speeches how he turns it on and off, I find it plausible that he would, in fact, turn his back on blacks (and anyone else, for that matter) if it served his interests. (With this would be my thoughts on his inability to differentiate between Redd Foxx and Sherman Hemsley and why I think he is a racist, but that might be too intense for you.) Only time will tell, and hopefully I will be wrong. For the record, though, you have just backed up my point with "people of a certain mindset." The ones who will start bullshit, judging an entire race of people on some head-shoved-up-the-ass generalization about those of color.

And no, none of that is okay or excused because your boss is a dick, your husband is abusive, your mother died, you have an illness or because others have said worse. You said the shit, own it and stop playing the blame game.

It is neither asked nor expected to be "excused." You talk out both sides of your mouth. Events affect and shape how we think and feel and act; all of us, not just you. You let nothing go, bitch and moan and blame others, always "me, me, me." Your rage seems to have no end. I needed to vent. This is my blog and, as evident by the URL, my bitchbox. If you do not like what I say, LEAVE. No one is forcing you to read here. I do not come to your blog and crawl up your asshole for what you have said and how you have said it, so you might try having a bit of the same respect for me. I said it, I never denied I said it, my fucking name is on it, so I think it is pretty clear that I am "owning" it.

THE THINGS I CAN CHANGE, I WILL; AND THE REST (SPECIFICALLY, OTHER PEOPLE AND THEIR HABITS) WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES, FOR GOOD, BETTER, OR INDIFFERENT.

Blame it on Bush

(Up-tempo game show-type music plays, camera pans across cheering audience)
Announcer: Democratic or Republican, Republican or Democratic, Elephants and Asses are no help here in your quest to reach... The Winner's Circle! Anyone can play, but only the quickest will win! It's America's hottest new game show....
Audience: BLAME IT ON BUSH!
Announcer: And heeeeeeere's your host.... Mr..... Maaaaaaaaaatt..... DAAAAAAAAAAMON!
(camera pans across flailing audience, foaming at the mouth)
Matt: (waving arm to settle crowd, hand signal to Brutus in the back with suspicious bulge under his jacket, to be on guard) Hello, everyone, welcome, and thank you for joining us. Wow. What a great crowd. It's so great to see you all fired up. Okay. We all know how this works, it's fun to play and easy to win. All you have to do is...
Audience: BLAME IT ON BUSH!
Matt: Please welcome our first contestant, Nancy from San Francisco. Nancy enjoys scrap-booking and cooking....
Nancy: Excuse me, Matt?
Matt: Yes, Nancy?
Nancy: It's actually "cocking," not cooking.
(Audience screaming/flailing/foaming)
Matt: (chuckles) Ohhh...kay. Sorry about that. Nancy enjoys scrap-booking and cocking.... Nancy?
Nancy: Yes Matt?
Matt: You are one naughty girl.
(Audience screaming/flailing/foaming)
Matt: (laughing and shaking head) I can't do it. Really, I can't. I'm sorry, Nancy. (Laughing and wiping fake tears from eyes) Oh. My. No, I just can't. So allow me to introduce our returning champion, finishing out our last round with a grand total of $700,000,000,000 in cash and prizes.... Damien from Chicago.
(Audience screaming/flailing/foaming)
Matt: Wow, Damien. That is, that is just amazing. Wow. Congratulations, man.
Damien: Thanks, Matt. I can't tell you how great it is to be here.
Matt: Okay, folks. Let's get ready to play:
Audience: BLAME IT ON BUSH!
Matt: Now, you both know what to do. I'll read the question, and whoever buzzes it in fastest - and gets the correct answer - wins the points. Speed is what's gonna get your foot in the door, but only the correct answer wins the cash. Are you ready?
Nancy: I'm ready, Matt.
Damien: Let's do it, Matt.
Matt: Okay. Here we go. The first question:

Matt: Who squeezed the toothpaste in the middle of the tube?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who left half a square of toilet paper on the roll?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Then didn't bother to get another roll?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who farted and tried to blame the dog?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who took the remote?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who ordered the attack on the Twin Towers of the WTC?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who ruined the American economy?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who nailed Jesus Christ to the cross?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who got Jamie Lynn Spears pregnant?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who made Ellen gay?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who broke Apollo 13?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who tripped that kid that was running in the hall on the way to the bathroom and made him shit himself?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who barfed/pissed/shit all over the toilet bowl, tank and seat, sink, floor, walls and ceiling at the bar this weekend?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who shot JFK?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who shot JR?
Damien: ~~~BUSH~~~

Matt: Who got a blow job in the Oval Office and made a mess on Monica's dress?
Nancy: ~~~BILL CLINTON!~~~

Matt: (Turns slowly to Nancy, motioning for Brutus to come NOW) What the fuck kind of answer is that, Nancy?

(Screen goes black, then white. High-pitched, ear-piercing tone sounds.)

PLEASE STAND BY FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM. ATTENTION: THIS IS NOT A TEST. REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A TEST.

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening, fellow Americans. Moments ago, two intercontinental ballistic missiles directed out of Iran were detonated here, on American soil, destroying the cities of New York and Detroit...

Back in the Day

I remember back in the day... When primary education actually seemed to involve filling children's heads with knowledge, giving them a solid foundation on which to develop the skills needed to transition into a future beyond the walls of the institution; to enable them to step into society and be productive, willing and able to support themselves and their families; to allow them to grow and function within the community; to make them strong in body and mind and able to survive.

I'm only 35, but times sure have changed.

Four of my six children attend the very same public schools I did as a youth: The same elementary, middle, and high schools. Two of my children have been singled out, unable to walk those same halls of learning; and my husband and I were forced to make a choice:

Michigan School For The Deaf... or
The Hearing Impaired Program within the Saginaw County school district.

I know--and accept--that there are few Deaf families in our area. I know that this "lack of need" limits the choices available to us, but it bothers me how this directly impacts the outcome of my children's education. They are "different" than their siblings and essentially every other child in the community; in the eyes of the world beyond the walls of our home, my children are "broken" and need to be "fixed."

I want to close that gap and bring our worlds together. I want to eliminate the disparity in the "fairness" in dealing with Deaf children and Deaf adults. I know these are lofty goals and will take monumental effort to reach, but the situation my family faces is NOW, an immediate and pressing need. The "right" decision today could bring us one step closer to realizing those goals and ensuring my children's future in society, and I insisted on enrolling them in the local school program. A large part of this was due to their tender ages (our daughter age 4 at the time, now 6; and our son, currently age 3), but I admit that I wanted them "mainstreamed" into a society that has historically willfully and deliberately excluded "their kind." I wanted them to have a fighting chance at a decent education and a decent job. At the same time, I needed them to be able to embrace BOTH cultures (Deaf and Hearing) they are entitled to claim, rather than isolating them into a strictly deaf community at a Deaf school, where they are exposed only to other Deaf. This obviously poses problems with trying to open up another world to them--the Hearing world.

At the time, I felt it was the right decision. Although both children are profoundly Deaf, they (seem to be required to) use hearing aids while in the public school; neither child minds using them, so that was never really an issue. Our daughter had come from an environment where her Deafness was looked upon as only a disability, rather than a feature of her identity, and was not well educated in a language suitable for her abilities--American Sign Language. When she came to us at age 4, her communication level was years behind her chronological age and she had a long way to go to catch up to her Deaf peers, as she had only received language instruction for one year while in foster care prior to coming to us; the first 3 years of her life, she had basically none, biological mother refusing to accept her Deafness because she wanted the girl to be Hearing and not Deaf, and teaching her more than basic signs (food, eat, bed, etc.) would have been surrendering the battle--regardless of her daughter's best interests.

She loved school, loved her teacher, loved her classmates. Throughout pre-K and kindergarten, her day was split between "deaf" and "hearing" classes--exactly what I wanted. This year, however, she appears to be only in a "hearing" classroom. She said they don't always give her her hearing aids, eliminating any possibility of making use of her tiny bit of residual hearing, but she is upset because the teacher does not use ASL--my daughter's primary language--to communicate with her and she has no interpreter, so she is lost. She is upset, as are my husband and I, since this was not the program outlined to us when we enrolled her. Even at the age of 6, she recognizes the inappropriateness of this; and I, as a parent, have realized that not only is she not TRULY being mainstreamed into a hearing society as I desired, she is once again being willfully and deliberately excluded.

My husband has taken her to MSD and she is interested, so we would like to see if she can attend some of the MSD programs while still being a student at the other school and transition her gradually from one environment to the other. I imagine the answer will be "no," with the fucked up way inter-district applications are handled. We needed to get "permission" from our home district to allow her go to other school. Apparently since they live in one district and funding goes there, they have to "release" a student to reassign funding, or some stupid shit like that. I never really understood it, and the red tape is enough to piss any rational person off.

As for my "normal" children: The difference between what I learned in school and what they are learning today within those same walls is like black and white, disturbing on many levels.

In the 2nd grade, I was required to memorize and recite the multiplication tables through 12. My middle son still could not do this by the 5th grade, this exercise in and of itself deemed "unnecessary." In the same middle school he now attends, I was able to choose from many elective classes including band, art, computers, home economics (with actual cooking and sewing), drama class, wood shop, and drafting. Gym class involved actual exercise and sports like basketball, softball, football, and volleyball; we performed aerobics and gymnastics; and we made use of the school's top-notch indoor pool. I was offered advanced placement classes in history, math, social studies, English, science, and more. Now, the drafting room has been replaced by a "tech lab." The swimming pool has been closed for years. The theater and wood shop are only available to high school students. The art and home economics rooms have been divided into smaller classrooms and a teachers' lounge, those classes dropped from the curriculum. Gym class is no more.

Where I learned to cook and sew and paint in classes so many of us loved, now the students have no access and the classes and classrooms have been eliminated. Do children of today have no use for skills like cooking and sewing? No need to creatively express themselves on a canvas, with a mold of clay or fresh piece of lumber? No need to exercise their bodies as well as their minds?

Far more distressing, though is the quality of the CORE education my children are receiving in what is left of the curriculum, although this was already dubious in the latter days of my public school experience. My son, now in the 8th grade, cannot even tell me who President Taft was and identifies Kennedy only as "Ain't that the guy who got his head blown off?" He knows nothing of the rich geological history of our state outside of what I have taught him with jaunts to Keweenaw, Iron Mountain, Sault Ste. Marie, Porcupine Mountains, Fayette, and Pequaming. He has little to no knowledge of our own local history and assumed I was "pulling his leg" when describing the scheme to span Michigan's lower peninsula with a series of canals and the spectacular failure of that venture. So much history yet little more than a curiosity, hardly worthy of even a footnote, buried and forgotten.

I did attempt homeschooling once. I was forced to admit defeat when my son refused to do a lesson, telling me me "We don't have to do that in REGULAR school," after assigning 10 words from the dictionary to define and use in a sentence--an exercise we did weekly while I attended "regular school."

When conveying knowledge to my children, I feel it appropriate to turn every experience, every activity, into a learning experience--like taking them to places rich in history--a way to grow the mind and learn to look to the past while blazing the way into the future, and having a good time doing it. "The institution" only shoves them out in a quest to pass government-mandated standardized tests that teach nothing about preparing for the future and even less about learning from history, not just about it.

Stupid People and Abortion

I can't help myself from going over to the ABC News website and particularly the comments sections of controversial articles, even after the last bout of stupidity shown by some of the members (not to mention the moderator or whoever it is that manipulates.... I mean, MANAGES these posts).

Not long ago I felt guilty, of what I'm not exactly sure, but kind of like I was rubbernecking at a fatal car wreck. Now I realize that I am witnessing not an automobile collision but bona fide train wreck: The United States of America. More on that later.

So, I'm reading this article about a woman who forged a consent form for his son's 16-year-old girlfriend to get an abortion and was sentenced to a year, but what she did in and of itself is not what got me on my soapbox tonight. I could really give a shit less that she did something so ignorant (I do think it took one HUGE set of balls - if there's one lesson we should have learned from so many of our Congressional and Presidential leaders over the past few decades, it would have to be NEVER PUT IT IN WRITING!) or even that she violated the parent-child relationship of another family.

No, what bothers me is this:

• The woman did NOT accompany the girl to the clinic to have the abortion, merely (illegally) signed a statement that she was the girl's mother and knew the girl was having it done. Interestingly, though, she has been accused of "coercing" the girl into having the abortion done against her will. Mysteriously, I find no mention of her forcibly dragging the girl to the clinic and, in fact, was proven by evidence at trial not to have even been present.
  
• The girl is being presented as terribly aggrieved, coerced into doing something she did not want to do. If she didn't want the abortion, why did she go, especially considering the fact that the one "coercing" her was not even there to make sure it was done? If she didn't want the abortion, why did she go so far as to obtain an illegal consent from her boyfriend's mother? If she didn't want the abortion, why didn't she tell her parents she was pregnant and being forced to do something that is just OBVIOUSLY so against her moral fiber BEFORE having it done, when it could have made a difference, instead of waiting to tell them a month after the fact?

Then, of course, we get to my favorite part: The comments board. I think I find it so fascinating because where else in the world will you find such blatant stupidity intermixed with interesting little nuggets of wisdom. Part of me, though, still finds it shocking that this stupidity is so proudly offered up in black and white, for the entire world to see. This one in particular, though, was by far my favorite:

I do not know how the mother of the daughter played a role in this, but there are many daughters who feel they cannot speak to their own parents especially on situations like this. I believe if a girl is old enough to have sex she is old enough to make her own decisions. All teenagers make mistakes so I am 100% pro-choice, and the girl would not have had a great oppurtinity to really explore her life. Teenager mothers are more likely to drop out of high school and not complete college. The settlers came to America for freedom so why should our government oppress women like this. If McCain does pass the law where abortion is illegial women will resort back to using clothes hangers and could more then likely bleed to death. I am proud of this mother for doing this, and she has given the young girl a chance to live her life.

She got knocked up. It happens. It's not like our society's not SATURATED with information about birth control (argued on the message boards because it's not 100% effective, even though they persist in "forgetting" that there is, in fact, one form of birth control that is 100% effective: Abstinence. Don't spread your legs, don't stick your member where it doesn't need to be, and you won't get pregnant - 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME. Just like the premise "ignorance of the law is no excuse," ignorance and/or failing to educate yourself (or your children) about the consequences of their actions is no excuse. Have sex = Get pregnant (or diseased, again, a story for another time). My position: This girl is just plain stupid, and she tried to cover her stupidity (proof she's a politician-in-waiting) with more stupidity and assigning the blame to someone else.

As for not wanting to talk to her parents, if *I* were being forced into doing something like this and I didn't want it, short of hog-tying and gagging me, throwing me in a lake with a cement block attached to my leg, you can bet your ass I'd be crowing from every rooftop, knowing the consequences for my silence would be far worse than those of what got me there in the first place.

How can someone be 100% Pro-Choice just because "all teenagers make mistakes"? What the FUCK does that have to do with not accepting responsibility for your actions and dealing with your guilt in a manner that does little more than punish a third party for your choices? This woman sitting in jail will NOT alleviate the girl's guilt feelings and now, by her own and her parent's actions, she has probably lost the support of her boyfriend - the father of the baby - who will have his own grief issues at the loss of his child, compounded by the betrayal by his girlfriend. Allowing teenagers to have an abortion because they "made a mistake" does not instill in them a sense of responsibility. It only opens the door to a lifelong commitment to lack of personal responsibility. "I fucked up, I want a do-over." Since when does "REAL" life allow do-overs?

"The settlers came to America for freedom so why should our government oppress women like this." Where the hell did that come from? How is the government oppressing women like "this"? Like what? Why should the Nazifems oppress MEN like this, "this" being stripping from the man, without whom that child and hence the woman's "right" to choose would never have existed, any "right" to have a say in what happens to HIS child?

Finally, my favoritest part of all, "If McCain does pass the law where abortion is illegial women will resort back to using clothes hangers and could more then likely bleed to death." First of all, McCain can't "pass" any law without it having first been approved by the Congress and presented to him to pass it. Why are so many people SO FUCKING STUPID when it comes to the workings of the government? Why are so people SO FUCKING STUPID that they need to start looking for a scapegoat before there's anything concrete to hang on the goat's head before sending him off into the wilderness? Why are people SO FUCKING STUPID that they feel they can't accept responsibility for their choices and actions that they will have to "resort" to anything?

If women can't accept responsibility for their actions and decisions and use good judgement, I say LET them "resort back to using clothes hangers." Let them bleed to death. It's just one less stupid, useless person consuming valuable oxygen.

What's Next?

Childhood Spanking Leads to Sexual Problems in Adulthood.

What's next? Hugs and kisses lead to sexual problems? Fatty foods? Carbohydrates? Owning a puppy as a child, or maybe NOT owning a puppy as a child? Not having enough coloring crayons in your box?

I'm so sick of the stupid shit money is wasted on to study. I've got a clue for you: What leads to sexual problems in adulthood? In most cases, a parent with a sexual problem. I know a story of a "woman" with two daughters who exposed them to and left them unattended with not one but TWO registered sexual offenders on different occasions during the children's younger years, had sexual intercourse in front of the children, attempted to coach one child to make accusations of sexual abuse against THREE different males when the mother did not get her way and as a means of revenge, admitted to routinely "examining" the girls' genitalia for "abuse," and was alleged by one of the girls to have been the perpetrator herself of sexual abuse against the child.

What did the authorities do? Nothing of significance - against the mother, anyhow.

I know this is not an isolated case, and knowing this, it's no wonder children grow up dysfunctional, not just sexually but psychologically, socially, and morally.

Gotta Love It

Great post Ms. Count has here, Twas the month before Christmas.

Me, I'm still trying to figure out how the PCs can demand us to be tolerant of their beliefs when they can't be tolerant of others'. Do unto others and all that.

Second Civil War

Oh, this is a good flick. If you've not seen it, I highly recommend it. Besides a stellar cast including James Earl Jones (who is, like, the AWESOMEST actor in the history of the universe), it has a story line that just does not quit - making you think about the future of America and whether we are headed for a Second Civil War. (FYI: If you've never heard of it, this is an HBO original movie.)

I fear that is exactly where we are heading, with a number of political and social avenues merging to a central core and ultimately bringing the citizens of this country to insurrection. While I believe our form of government as envisioned by our Founding Fathers is superior, it has become bastardized and bears no semblance whatsoever to that vision.

I read this article earlier today and it brought me full circle in my thinking. Although this article, on the surface, targets healthcare reform and the FDA, it also takes a deeper poke at the corruption and abuse of power on multiple levels of government: (Emphasis mine)

“FDA reform legislation is not about Democrats vs. Republicans. It’s about the wealthy elite vs. the People. Not surprisingly, the People have once again been screwed by the representatives they foolishly voted into office. If anything, this event proves that U.S. lawmakers have no interest in protecting America’s future. They are only interested in the next election, the next career move or the next power play. In a nation devastated by degenerative disease and intoxicated by the chemicals being pushed to manage those diseases, there is no longer anyone left in power with enough sanity to reason with. The President is clinically insane, the FDA is criminally insane, and the Congress is for sale, cheap! The country has become an absurdity, where lawmakers actually bicker about how much bribery and corruption should be allowed in the FDA drug approval decision process rather than simply agreeing to ban all bribery and conflicts of interest, which is what sane lawmakers would do.

Stand back and watch the bonfire

Over the last few months, I have come to the conclusion that it is no longer worth attempting to stop American’s self-destruction at the hands of Big Pharma, corrupt politicians and greedy fractional reserve bankers. America is destroying itself, and there is no one left who’s willing to stand up and try to stop it (except, perhaps, for a few individuals like Rep. Ron Paul, but he’s effectively censored by the powers that be).

My advice to readers is to start thinking very seriously about getting out of America. What’s coming over the next 5 - 25 years will not be pretty, and I now believe the collapse of America as we know it today is inevitable. The 2008 elections will change nothing, as either party will only deliver a different form of tyranny in the end. America has devolved into a modern mirror image of the Roman Empire in its last dying days — steeped in corruption, abandoning its citizens, arrogant beyond all reason, oblivious to the world around it and wholly committed to destroying itself from within.

Congress has become a circus, and the U.S. government, through agencies like the FDA, has become the leading threat to its own people. The nation is steeped in irreversible debt, diseased, terrified, bankrupt and addicted to oil that’s running out. On top of that, thanks to Bush-contrived military imperialism, it has alienated every other nation in the world and has now become the most-hated nation on the planet. (If you don’t believe me, just travel outside the U.S. and ask practically anybody you meet. Everybody hates the U.S.) It is now only a question of how long the current crippled facade of political power will last.

The passage of this FDA reform law is merely one more sign of how thoroughly committed the U.S. Congress is to creating a future of death, disease and bankruptcy for the American people. You gotta give ‘em kudos on consistency, however. At least the lawmakers are predictable.

Welcome to the United States of Big Pharma.”

To this I would add, United States of Big Pharma, Big Banking, Big Industry, and Big Pork-Barrel Spending Without Accountability. Just imagine our tots learning to spell THAT one in school.

The embers are being stirred and it’s only a matter of time before the fires begin to rage. No matter what term you prefer, whether it be uprising, revolt, insurrection, or revolution, we can see the smoke and we all know that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

This Just Makes My Blood Boil

Whatever happened to compassion? And it isn't even in New York but Wichita, Kansas:
People step over a stabbing victim in a store, and one even stops long enough to take her picture with a cell phone, but no one helps her. Of course, the woman died. What is wrong with people? It's not bad enough that you just walk over top of her and leave her there to die, you need to TAKE A FUCKING PICTURE?

New Drug Deletes Bad Memories:
Get the fuck out of people's heads, already. Our memories are a part of who we ARE, and if you take them away, painful or wonderful, good or bad or traumatic or whatever label you want to use, you are removing a part of US. Psychiatrists are barbaric mother-fuckers, first frying people's brains with electroshock therapy; this is just a more "humane" attempt at achieving the same result. Stop paying these witch doctors to fuck people up more than they already are, for pity's sake!

Leave Fireworks to the Pros:
I have two words for you - EAT ME. You bitch and moan about children being harmed by fireworks but fail to address the fact that this issue is entirely related to personal responsibility. Yes, accidents can happen to even the most careful, responsible adults and it's heartbreaking and traumatic to everyone involved when a child is hurt, but don't feed us some happy horse shit that we need to leave it to the "pros." How many times have people been hurt and even killed at these "professional" shows, and not just a single child but LARGE NUMBERS OF THE CROWD? I know this after watching the news reporting on the horrors of a "professional" fireworks accident in Bay City, Michigan, in 1990.

OK, I'm done being pissed for a little while.