During the public meetings leading up to the passage of a city ordinance restricting the use of hand held electronic devices while driving the mayor said repeatedly that he had several people say to him, referring to their habit of using their cell phone while driving, "Please pass this so I will stop doing this.".
I find that the most pathetic statement. Really, you need a law to make you do the right thing? If you believe it wrong why do you do it? This person(s) would be murderers apparently if there wasn't a law against it. They would all drive drunk and be hopeless drug addicts or child molesters. If you need a law to force you to exercise common sense you are an idiot. If you need a law to keep you from doing what you believe or know to be wrong you are absolutely without a conscience.
That is where we are I suppose. A nation full of individuals that have no common sense and who must rely on the ordinances of the authorities to inform them of what is right and moral behavior. How utterly pathetic.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Talk of Secession
Yes. I just wasted about 20 minutes looking through the various petitions on the whitehouse page and typing up how many signers there were for each state's petition. These numbers are going up quickly so I'm sure by now there are a few thousand more at least, but here's the list I made:
Alabama- 30,325
Arizona- 23,458
Arkansas- 23,109
Delaware- 7,667
Florida-34,736
Idaho- 6,340
Illinois- 5,355; 5,272
Kansas- 8,661
Kentucky- 19,025
Mississippi- 18,558
Montana- 13,531
Nebraska- 7,255
Nevada- 10,523
New Hampshire- 5,552
North Carolina- 30,364
North Dakota- 11,571
Oregon- 14,800
Rhode Island- 4,743
South Carolina- 24,320; 15,213
South Dakota- 6,582
Tennessee- 31,031
Texas- 117,214
West Virginia- 7,908
Wisconsin- 7,207
Wyoming- 9,186
No surprise that Texas has the most signatures.
What do I think of this? Well, if it wakes up our legislators to the fact that Americans are very unhappy with the status quo that would be great. However, judging from the comments I've been seeing about this I don't think that will happen. The majority of the comments I have read say that the signers are ignorant. foolish, and other bad things. Is that true of some of them? Sure. It is also true of some of the people who oppose the petitions. There are also two petitions calling for the deportation/exile/expatriation of all who sign the petitions for secession.
It is gonna get ugly folks.
*for states that have more than one petition I linked the name of the state to the petition with the most signatures and the other petitions to the number of signatures. I will try to update these numbers daily. They are going up quickly so likely what you see here is fewer than at present.
*for states that have more than one petition I linked the name of the state to the petition with the most signatures and the other petitions to the number of signatures. I will try to update these numbers daily. They are going up quickly so likely what you see here is fewer than at present.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Childbirth Musings
I am expecting again. Babe #9 will arrive sometime in late March or early April, God willing.
I've been contemplating the birth culture in our country. I've thought about this a lot in the past too. There is so much fear surrounding birth, so much reliance on "science". Instead of embracing birth as a wonderful transition to motherhood and trusting that God created our bodies with the capacity to birth our babies, there is fear and an unwillingness to birth as nature intended.
In most cultures, even in our own before the advent of the male obstetrician, birth is women's domain. Women help each other through this journey to motherhood. When a woman is in labor her mother, her sisters, her cousins, or friends come and stay with her. Perhaps they take care of the older children or cook. They encourage her and comfort her through labor. I wish we had that.
There has been a move toward that. In most places you can hire a doula. This isn't exactly what I would hope for though. Hiring someone to help you seems... wrong somehow. This is something we should do for each other as women. Not because we are getting some financial gain from it but just because we share this thing, this amazing, hard, rewarding, thing called birth. I wish to see women coming together to support each other during pregnancy, birth, and those difficult early weeks. I'm just as guilty as the next woman of neglecting that duty to my fellows. Caught up in my own concerns and unsure of what is the right thing to do.
There are big hurdles in getting to what I think is the right place in birth. Hospitals have policies about how many people can be with the laboring woman during labor and birth. Most women have too much fear surrounding birth to even contemplate a homebirth. Those of us who do homebirth are somewhat isolated. There is also the fact that most women work and can't take off for three days to sit with their friend and comfort her during labor. Or if they do stay home they have kids that must be cared for.
I've had three wonderful homebirths and one pretty awesome hospital birth. I've not had the kind of atmosphere I think is ideal. I like having people around when I am in labor, but it freaks most people out. I have long labors I would hate to be, no I did hate being, isolated during labor. My husband is great and I am so thankful for him being with me for the births of our babies, but even that isn't what my picture of an ideal birth is. With my last two homebirths I had some extra folks around, but they were there mainly to help with the other kids not to be my labor support. I've never had that wonderful feeling of being helped and comforted by those who understand what I'm going through. I want that for myself. I want to be that for someone else.
This isn't the post I set out to write, not exactly. In my mind I was much more eloquent. :) It turned out to be rather jumbled and pointless. Oh well.
I've been contemplating the birth culture in our country. I've thought about this a lot in the past too. There is so much fear surrounding birth, so much reliance on "science". Instead of embracing birth as a wonderful transition to motherhood and trusting that God created our bodies with the capacity to birth our babies, there is fear and an unwillingness to birth as nature intended.
In most cultures, even in our own before the advent of the male obstetrician, birth is women's domain. Women help each other through this journey to motherhood. When a woman is in labor her mother, her sisters, her cousins, or friends come and stay with her. Perhaps they take care of the older children or cook. They encourage her and comfort her through labor. I wish we had that.
There has been a move toward that. In most places you can hire a doula. This isn't exactly what I would hope for though. Hiring someone to help you seems... wrong somehow. This is something we should do for each other as women. Not because we are getting some financial gain from it but just because we share this thing, this amazing, hard, rewarding, thing called birth. I wish to see women coming together to support each other during pregnancy, birth, and those difficult early weeks. I'm just as guilty as the next woman of neglecting that duty to my fellows. Caught up in my own concerns and unsure of what is the right thing to do.
There are big hurdles in getting to what I think is the right place in birth. Hospitals have policies about how many people can be with the laboring woman during labor and birth. Most women have too much fear surrounding birth to even contemplate a homebirth. Those of us who do homebirth are somewhat isolated. There is also the fact that most women work and can't take off for three days to sit with their friend and comfort her during labor. Or if they do stay home they have kids that must be cared for.
I've had three wonderful homebirths and one pretty awesome hospital birth. I've not had the kind of atmosphere I think is ideal. I like having people around when I am in labor, but it freaks most people out. I have long labors I would hate to be, no I did hate being, isolated during labor. My husband is great and I am so thankful for him being with me for the births of our babies, but even that isn't what my picture of an ideal birth is. With my last two homebirths I had some extra folks around, but they were there mainly to help with the other kids not to be my labor support. I've never had that wonderful feeling of being helped and comforted by those who understand what I'm going through. I want that for myself. I want to be that for someone else.
This isn't the post I set out to write, not exactly. In my mind I was much more eloquent. :) It turned out to be rather jumbled and pointless. Oh well.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
My reaction to Obama's reelection
Meh. Realistically, it was him or Romney and they are too much alike for me to lament. I have given up on ever supporting a candidate from the Democratic or Republican parties ever again. I will not play the stupid political game anymore. I will not be duped into thinking there is some discernible difference between the two.
The only issues they really disagree on are abortion and gay marriage. Peripheral issues that should not be a determining factor in anyone's vote. They claim a difference in economic policy while both advocating for the same kind of regulations and stimulus that is killing our economy. Not to mention the unaccountable FED.
What this election shows most of all is how easily people are led. How easily they are brainwashed and dumbed down. So little critical thinking and a shocking amount of cognitive dissonance.
It is a sad day for America, but not because of who sits in the White House...
The only issues they really disagree on are abortion and gay marriage. Peripheral issues that should not be a determining factor in anyone's vote. They claim a difference in economic policy while both advocating for the same kind of regulations and stimulus that is killing our economy. Not to mention the unaccountable FED.
What this election shows most of all is how easily people are led. How easily they are brainwashed and dumbed down. So little critical thinking and a shocking amount of cognitive dissonance.
It is a sad day for America, but not because of who sits in the White House...
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