Odds and Ends.

There's really no other way to title this post, 'cause I am in a pretty random mood and none of these topics have much to do with each other.

* I attended Planned Parenthood's Roe v. Wade Gala last night. We celebrated the opening of the Aurora clinic - the nation's largest reproductive health clinic. The protesters and town council members kept saying, "but there's no need for this center." Oh really? Then explain the nearly 2,000 health center visits since the clinic opened in October of 2007.

* On a related note that necessitated it's own asterisk, one of the Aurora visitors was a woman who traveled by bus across 2 states to seek health care because it was her best option. That is simply disgusting. That any member of this nation has to cross 2 states just to receive safe, legal, non-judgmental healthcare is absolutely shameful. Wondering why I care about reproductive justice? Look no further than this example.

* I promised some unrelated news, so how about this: Paradise Hotel is back! For those of you who are unfamiliar with this show, it is a reality show about a random group of people at an amazing hotel. The rules are really hazy, because the producers basically do whatever they want to ensure that fan favorites win - but there are eliminations and challenges and shack ups. Basically it is a mixture of Big Brother, Survivor, Real World, and Temptation Island (which was the best reality show ever, oh how I miss Temptation Island). So, yeah, I am ridiculously excited for this show to be back.

* Speaking of television - Rob & Big continues to be the funniest show on TV (adventures with mini horses and bull dogs and skateboarding, oh my!) and the newest installment of "The Gauntlet" is absolutely fantastic. Both are on MTV. Yes I am a huge loser for advertising these things, but they are so freaking entertaining. Should I be worried that my brain matter will begin leaking out of my ears soon?

* Finally, if you heard about a shapely hand-held massaging tool marketed towards women, you would think vibrator, right? I mean, it only makes sense. And you would be wrong you pervert. Clearly such a description fits Neutrogena's newest face wash accessory, "the wave." Umm, yes. I think I need one.

On Stupidity.

I try not to be too cynical. I generally fail miserably at that, but I am at least trying. But a discussion yesterday on the jury selection process of my *former* home state (you will see why the *former* becomes important in a moment) helped me revert back to asshole-cynic mode.

So while I was "home" for the holidays (note "home" refers to the place in which I grew up but do not officially reside, okay???), I received a jury duty selection notice. I dutifully checked the "ineligible" box and informed them of my new address and driver's license and voter registration in a whole other state. Then, 3 days after I was to have served, I got a letter declining my excuse and telling me to travel back in time to show up for my previously assigned time.

Huh??? On so many levels this makes NO SENSE. Okay, so my friendly and helpful father calls to clarify as I slave over law school homework (read: play dodgeball and drink Guinness). This is how the conversation goes:

Dad: I am calling about my daughter's missed jury duty (explains story and my very valid excuse for not showing up).
Stupid Jury Duty Worker: Yes well, does she receive mail at your house?
Dad: Well sometimes she has important documents sent here for safekeeping, but she lives in another state.
SJDW: How long has she lived there?
Dad: 4 years. Her car is registered there. Her driver's license is there. She goes to school full time there. She pays tuition to a school there.
SJDW: I see. But she gets mail at your house? Where does she spend vacations?
Dad (getting frustrated): Sometimes she comes here for vacation. But she doesn't live here. Hence the term "vacation".
SJDW: Hmm, I dunno. Where does she pay taxes?
Dad: She is a student. She doesn't have a job. When she used to make money, she paid them in the state where she earned the money, like everyone does.
SJDW: I don't know. I mean, how can I be sure she really lives there? She will have to come in for jury duty. That's what the notice says.
Dad (now angry): So I should spend hundreds of dollars for her to fly here, show up for a jury cattle call, then go back to where she actually lives, drives, pays taxes, and votes, which isn't here???
SJDW: Yep.

Sigh. I mean, really, what else is there to say???

Oh, on another stupid note, my school won't let you walk in and request a transcript. You have to do it online so they can mail it to you. Because it takes "too much time" for them to print it out and hand it to you versus printing it out, putting it in an envelope, addressing the envelope, and putting it in the mail. What if you want it quickly so that you can turn in a job application that needs an official transcript? You should have thought of that earlier, obvs.

*Fumes in her little cold apartment*

Blog for Choice 2008

So today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision allowing women in the United States to increase their reproductive autonomy. A lot has happened in the 35 years since the decision, namely, the judicial de-radicalization of the import of the ruling. Hurdles of every sort have been erected to prevent women from controlling all aspects of their reproductive health - but especially in the arena of abortion rights. In 2005 alone, there were over 50 abortion-specific regulations enacted in the states - and many of these are as inane as widening the hallways in abortion clinics (which many clinics cannot afford . . . you see where this is headed). These last 35 years have illustrated the importance of casting a pro-choice vote when you get the chance. Why? Here are some specific, some of them recent, examples:

* "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban" - a ban based on a medical procedure that doesn't exist. Basically, it is like banning unicorns for the sake of the health of horses. Yes, I am being rather glib. But the bottom line is that our legislators thought it important to enact a ban using anti-choice propaganda that prohibits doctors from choosing the best medical procedure for their patients when their patient's health is at stake. Oh, if her life is at stake, then the doctor can choose the intact D&E procedure. But not if she might simply be rendered infertile, or paralyzed, or lose tremendous amounts of blood due to a clotting disorder, or spend more time under anesthesia than she should for her particular circumstances. Then the doctor must defer to the wishes of the legislature - have you researched how many of them come from medical backgrounds, specifically in the OBGYN field? Exactly. This ban takes medical decision-making out of the hands of physicians and their patients and puts it into the pockets of politicians. How comforting.

* Hyde Amendment - Can you imagine the world where there was no Hyde to enact this amendment that robs legal choice and reproductive freedom from poor women? What if we had elected more pro-choice legislators? Imagine this scenario: A poor woman on welfare with 2 children that she is struggling to care for without the help of their father becomes pregnant (no, we are not going to judge how she became pregnant, because that is not our JOB, but let's just say she couldn't afford birth control and due to abstinence only education her partner doesn't know how to properly use a condom). She wants desperately to provide for the two children she already has. In fact, she has been taking classes to get her GED and wants to pursue a career in social work. Now she is pregnant. She knows she cannot afford another child. She has no way to pay for day care so that she can continue her education if she has this child. She wants to have an abortion. Because of the Hyde Amendment, Medicaid is not required to pay for it. She needs to find a way to scrape together about $400 (if she's lucky and lives in a place with available clinics that are reasonably priced) - and she needs to do it fast because time only makes the procedure more expensive. Where should she get this money? How? If she had that kind of cash, she probably wouldn't be eligible for welfare in the first place. So she has the third child, drops out of her classes, and remains on welfare because she is drowning in the costs of her children, and because the system actually ENCOURAGED her to have that third baby (watch as your myth of the welfare mom evaporates . . .). What could she have accomplished if given other choices? It would be interesting to see, wouldn't it?

*PEPFAR and the Global Gag Rule - this administration has *admirably* sent funds to fight AIDS in needy countries. However, they have also attached requirements such as not giving condoms to prostitutes (those most likely to be able to actually stop the spread of the disease), not allowing agencies receiving aid to even mention the word abortion (thus curbing their freedom of speech in a most abhorrent fashion), and recommending marriage as the best way to prevent HIV infection (marriage is actually the NUMBER ONE risk factor for getting HIV for women in Africa - husbands bring it home from prostitutes who don't have condoms, the wives think they are safe in marriage from disease, or have no say in contraceptive use, and there you go, another tragic story about "one of those poor women in Africa"). So, our aid actually has the effect of rendering women in other countries with fewer options, less education, and a greater risk of disease and unwanted pregnancy. How generous.

* Abstinence-only education - proven again and again to be ineffective. It does not delay the onset of first sexual experience, nor does it prevent the transmission of STIs. What it does is waste taxpayers' money in programs filled with lies and inaccuracies, and worst of all, robs the future of this country of decision-making tools about how to handle the pressures of sexual peer pressure. Comprehensive, age-appropriate sex ed for all!

These are only a few examples of the consequences of blindly electing people who are so beholden to fringe groups and the religious dollar that they cannot see the devastating impact they have on the lives of real women. A pro-choice vote is a vote that puts reproductive autonomy in the hands of women, enabling women to step up to take their rightful place as equals in society, not leaving them the forced baby-carriers for the "real" decision-makers. A pro-choice vote is not a vote for abortion, or against children, it is a vote for education, health care, expanded access to contraception - a pro-choice vote is just that, a vote for CHOICE.

OK, we are *actually* back

I haven't really had much of interest to write. I mean, school started again, so there's that. I had a yucky run-in with someone I never wanted to see again which pretty much ruined my week and turned my head and rumpled heart all topsy turvy, so there's that. Oh, and I have some self-diagnosed virulent strain of mono-pneumonia that Eddie has decided shall be named after me - Anonymous Hottie coccus (since diseases always seem to end in coccus). There's a joke hiding in there somewhere, but I am just kind of tired, so I will let you fish it out.

But I am throwing a ridiculously awesome party this weekend, so I am hoping that will improve my topsy-turviness and provide me with amusing fodder for a non-depressing post. And? When I throw parties and have a keg? I get good beer. Yep, a half-barrel of Fat Tire is on its way to the AH-Murphy abode. Mmmmmm. And since it is like -3 in Chicago, I don't even have to buy ice. What friendly weather!

We're baaack . . .

Well, sort of. I am back until tomorrow. Then I am off to visit Eddie and cause insanity and wreak havoc and have a very fun time. Plans? Tapas, Sweeney Todd, karaoke, dinner, drinks, brunch, etc. Should be awesome. Oh, then school starts. Sigh. I guess a month of vacation was probably enough, right?