31 January 2010

The world should know what a disaster this is

It pleases me greatly that it's not just me and a few other BCers who can see that the 2010 Olimpdicks are going to be a giant castrophuck.

I've been saying since Vancouver "won" the fucking bid, that this was going to lose a crappile of money, most of it the taxpayers'. I was not wrong, not even close. Here's the bit I wasn't expecting: cancelling 24,000 surgeries, laying off 233 government employees, 800 teachers and recommending the closure of 14 schools. ASSHOLES.

I think it's the surgeries that make me the maddest, though the 233 employees are pretty infuriating too. I know a lot of people waiting for surgeries - I work with old people - and they are suffering. Hard. The husband of one of my friends is dying in pain because his surgery was cancelled so many times he's now not able to get the surgery because he's too far gone. It's unconscionable.

I really don't give a rat's ass who is best in the world at shooting while skiing, or who can slide down a chute faster than anyone else. Why in hell would we want to spend $9 on this, never mind $9,000,000,000? I hope Gordon Campbell suffers for this, somehow, somewhere, I hope he suffers. Not very Christian of me, is it? I'm just so angry, I'm having a hard time letting go of my fury and doing something constructive with it.

27 January 2010

This is the title of a post pointing to another post

This is a post containing only a link and a message to GO READ: http://faultline.org/index.php/site/item/incendiary/

26 January 2010

Focus on your own damn family

Ack! Superbowl ad! ACK! Yes, yes, there's lots of feminist fury about the Focus on the Family ad that may or may not get air time during the Stupidbowl. There are also lots of anti-feminists calling us shrews, oversensitive, ridiculous, etc. Screaming censorship! So, the way I see it there are a number of issues here.

The gist for those of you who've been living outside of the femosphere - The ad - paid for by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family - is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987 with a theme of "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life." After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim, who went on to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy while helping his Florida team to two BCS championships.

Censorship: Some people are screaming that feminists are trying to censor anti-abortion messages. Well, yes. But in the name of fair play. As Ms Zerbisias points out, "In recent years, there's been one Super Bowl ad controversy after another -- and all of them are ''resolved'' by CBS kowtowing to the (religious) right.
In 2004, the network did not see fit to air an ad by Move.on advocating against George W. Bush.
In 2006, it rejected a United Church of Jesus ad promoting its open arms policy towards gays and lesbians". So, if we're trying to censor these anti-choice jerks, it's tit for tat.

Myself, I'd rather that anyone be able to buy the air time, but that would still only work out to "anyone with the money" which would, in turn, mean, "anyone with considerable amounts of power".

Dangerous messages: Pam Tebow got lucky. She was given medical advice to abort, and she chose to ignore that advice, putting herself AND her baby at risk. That she lived and the baby lived is damn lucky. And maybe a miracle. It is remarkably dangerous and irresponsible for her to recommend other people do the same. But these people simply do not care about women. They have proven this time and time again.

Missed messages: How did Pam Tebow do it? How did she have four kids, and spend the last part of her pregnancy in hospital? Did she have AWESOME health insurance? No... she was in the Philippines where her medical needs were taken care of. Focus on the Family is AGAINST the health care bill. Again, they are proving that they don't have a second thought for women, or even for the babies, once they are born.

And who looked after her other kids? Obviously, she had a support system. What would I do in her situation? I have two kids at home who need constant care. I don't have family in town. The women at my church, while awesome, are not capable of looking after Crackle, his meltdowns and his extremely restricted diet. If I'm incapacitated, we're screwed. The Tebow's had more than just luck and God's blessing. They had resources. It's amazing how that sort of thing is just brushed under the rug. How we're all lumped into the same category. FoF likes to forget that women are people with stories, with lives, with responsibilities. They cannot fathom that in some cases, it's much more responsible to abort than it would be to carry the baby to term. If I got pregnant today, I don't know what I'd do. I've had my tubes tied, so it's pretty unlikely, but if the doctors botched it and I found myself pregnant? I dunno...

Good God, the utter lack of compassion that these people exhibit is utterly appalling. It horrifies me that they use the name of the man and God I follow to commit such sins against humanity. Because that's what women are, human. That fetuses are also human is not the point. If they want to reduce the number of abortions, they need to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies - through comprehensive birth control education and funding. And they need to provide support to women for whom pregnancy is more than inconvenient, with health care, with child care, with psychological care. But this will not happen, because Focus on the Family's focus is on controlling women's bodies, and nothing more. It's infuriating.

25 January 2010

Language Matters, part Harry Reid

I know I'm late to the post with this, but I've been thinking about it, and sometimes it takes a while for something to percolate its way through my brain.

Harry Reid has been quoted as saying that Barack Obama was electable because he is "light-skinned" and has "no Negro dialect unless he wants one". And the shit hit the fan.

Here's the thing: Pointing out racism isn't racist. The United States is a remarkably racist country. A dark-skinned African-American would have a harder time being elected than a light-skinned one. Similarly, a Black person with a Black English accent/dialect would not be electable. Harry Reid was absolutely correct. His mistake was using the term "negro". Now c'mon, I know the man is old, but he should know better. On the other hand, in his day, "negro" was the polite term. My Mom uses it, and I know she means no disrespect.

Harry Reid has never shown any indication that he is a racist; this doesn't change my mind.

He should have only apologised for using the wrong term. And Obama should have stepped up and said there was no apology necessary.

My $0.02.

20 January 2010

un-ABEND

Took a bit of a break, didn't I? Mom was in town, the kids were... well, they were the kids, and it came down to I had no time. Absolutely none. I swear, I need an iPod so I can do some of this from the van when I'm waiting for various kids at various places.


I don't have much to say. Too fried. However, on the disaster in Haiti:
3 - and possibly -- 5 shipping containers will be going to Haiti from the Compassionate Resource Warehouse here in Victoria. They're especially hoping that Vancouver Island folks will donate the heavier items, like hammers, shovels, rakes, soaps, etc. Items can be dropped off at Lumberworld at 3955 Quadra, at the Warehouse Wed and Fri 10-4 at #2 831 Devenshire Rd, or at Gordon United Church at 935 Goldstream Avenue in Langford.

Donations to the United Church's Mission and Service Fund for relief in Haiti can be made at the United Church of Canada's website. If you donate to the Emergency relief fund, and specify Haiti, 85% of your donation goes to Haiti, and 15% gets put in the fund for the next emergency, so that help can get underway quickly. No strings are attached to help.

05 January 2010

The little things that make my day

I've said before, and I'll say again, it's the little things that make up life. So while yesterday I was bitching and moaning and feeling all sorry for myself, today I have some little happy things to talk about.

For example, I am adopted. I have great parents. Mom is a bit too much of a clean-freak for me, and her reluctance to scream "Bullshit" at doctors drives me nuts, but other than that, she's pretty awesome. Dad, who died in 2007, was pretty cool too. He had a very dry wit, and took no (or very little) shit from anyone. There was an Saskatchewan MLA who used to come into his workplace all the time, and strut around like she owned the place. Dad always pretended not to know who she was, and would ask her name Every Time. Hahahaha. Then after doing this a few times, he made a pun on the name of the other MLA she was rumoured to be sleeping with, making it damn good and clear he knew exactly who she was. God, I loved that old man.

I took that little trick and played it on Grant Devine (former premier of Saskatchewan) when I worked at a garage where he got his car fixed. He'd come in to pick his car up, and I'd ask who he was so I could get his bill. LOL. He looked *so* offended. And he's just about DIE when I'd ask him to repeat it. Now I do it to Keith Martin and his ASSistant (I don't love Martin, but his assistant? Gah. He's an idiot and a half.) Hah! Makes my day.

And I swear, there is nothing better than speaking Cree or Nakota to an old native guy who is clearly being an asshole. Especially because I'm whiter than snow. Dad loved this story. I was at a hockey game at Ochapowace (a reserve in Saskatchewan), and there was a dude speaking Nakota to another one. I know a smattering of it, and the guy had earlier proven himself to be an Epic Prick. So, I thought it would be fun to fuck with him a bit, and went over to him and introduced myself. In Nakota. The guy wasn't looking at me, and just replied back to me. So then I asked him if I could buy him a coffee. Again, in Nakota. He turned and looked at me and was just dumbfounded, and his friend was highly amused. The jerk said, in English, "Uh, okay. Sure." I replied, asking if he wanted cream and sugar. Again, in Nakota. Finally, dude narrows his eyes and says, "How do you know my language, white girl?" I said, "I was listening from over there, and I picked it up. It's not that hard." Dude stared at me and then stomped away. His buddy laughed so hard he nearly peed. When he stopped, he said he'd by me that coffee, because no one had EVER rendered that guy speechless before. I told him where I'd learned it, and he swore never to share it with the grump. :)

04 January 2010

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Just like the old year.
I am *so* not doing a year in review. Way too much shit to shovel through. And frankly, I'm a bit depressed these days. Maybe it's the lack of sunlight. Maybe it's politics and the crap I hear in the news. But I'm just not in the mood.

Stephen Harper is made of evil, proroguing parliament so he could avoid scrutiny in allegations of torture, and virtually no one cared. The abuse of women here and around the world makes me so sick I have trouble sleeping. Obama is just another politico - i.e. opportunistic, power-hungry prick (which I knew, but I don't like to be reminded). Assholes like Brit Hume keep shooting their mouth off in such remarkably ignorant ways.

Wii Fit insists on shaming me for being fat every time I play. Which I know - I have three kids, one is under 1 year old. No kidding I have some extra weight. But I'm a gluten-free vegan (save for eggs in baking and granulated sugar). I make ALL of my own food. I run after kids all day. But it insists on measuring my BMI, which is bullshit anyway. In fact, before I could make an avatar for my 3 year old, *he* had to be weighed and measured and then it assumed he had some weight goal. He's THREE YEARS OLD. And he falls square in their idea of normal, but he still had to choose a weight loss or gain goal. I made it say "no change" and I still had to choose a timeline. It's ridiculous. At least it didn't call me obese.

And of course, there are personal issues. I have two kids with autism - that makes things harder than normal, and parenting isn't easy at the best of times. The baby is teething. I have a mother who is in end stage kidney failure, but doesn't qualify for a transplant because the doctors don't know what caused the problem that caused the failure. That is, she has cryoglobulinemia that caused kidney failure. But they don't know what caused the cryoglobulinemia. And near as I can tell, they have given up on trying. Which PISSES ME OFF. I fucking hate doctors with a passion bordering on homicidal. When a friend of mine hooked up with a doctor, I was so put off... Turned out I was right... Unfortunately. I prefer lawyers, if that gives you a clue. Anyway, I digress.

Well, the baby is crying AGAIN. More later.