The only other time I remember a DJ breaking in mid-song was on 9/11 to report that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center.

I find it hard to believe that peace in the Middle East can come soon. Both sides have hurt each other so much that I don’t see how they can sit at the same table. I can’t help but see the election of Hamas as a “no-vote” on a diplomatic peace process. I also can’t help but view recent words from Netanyahu the same way.

I wonder if Ghandi or Dr. King could have made peace in this situation by now. I wonder if the idea of non-violent resistance will ever take hold in the region. I would like to see ordinary Israelis and Palestinians come together in protest of their leaders’ ways of violence and heated rhetoric. I just don’t know if the people are there yet. I can still hope though...

Okay. I feel a little better after getting that out. I realize I’m not the most knowledgeable person about Middle Eastern affairs, but I needed to say “something.”

It was bad enough that the Schiavo case has shown up on "Entertainment Tonight." It's bad enough that everyone involved in the case has been hounded by a press corps that is more interested in selling advertising than facilitating actual debate or informing the public. They've turned this issue into a freak show and that destroys any hope for Terri Schiavo to have any dignity in life or death.

But it gets worse. Last night a friend sent me a link that caused a cold shiver to run down my spine. The direct marketing firm that raised money for the Schindlers is going to sell the names of people who gave to this cause to other organizations. I find this sickening. It's one thing for non-profits to share names but selling them should only be allowed if the donors give permission. I'm willing to bet that the people making these contributions felt that they were making a donation to a family--much like when you make a donation for someone in your neighborhood that needs an expensive operation. I'm willing to bet that they didn't expect their name to be attached to a political cause for years to come. I cannot believe that they are doing this to Terri Schiavo. Her soul must be hurting now.

"List of Schiavo Donors Will Be Sold by Direct-Marketing Firm" from The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29donate.html?ex=1269752400&en=f1312f1b5ae170ad&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

I like many people in the country have been following the legal battle involving Terri Schiavo. A few things about this case really bother me. The first one that enters my mind is what I would do in that situation. I would like to think that I could be rational if one of my loved ones was incapacitated in such a way. But I also know that complete rationality is impossible (*).

The second thing is that the media is making this into a spectacle. Can you imagine being faced with a situation like this in this political environment? Can you imagine being protested by hundreds for your decision (that you believe is best for your loved one even if other loved ones disagree)? I know the media only cares about selling advertising.

I also hate the way the anti-abortion lobby is trying to make this a pro-life issue. I guess it worries me that they are backing away from their own belief that life is a right. A right is something that can be given up, but in this case they are treating it like it is an obligation (**). (I have the right to free speech, but I can censor myself). I guess it just shatters my view that the pro-life movement is, for the most part, a rational one that just happens to differ from my personal view on morality, ethics and theology.

Another thing that scares me is that I see this case and Congress' involvement in it as a threat to marriage--and I mean to my own marriage. When I got married I chose to have my husband be my next-of-kin (***). I chose to trust him with such decisions on my behalf when I entered into that contract. That is what I believed when I married him. I don't like the fact that the government can change this out from under me. It just doesn't seem like something the Founding Fathers would approve of. I see this as a much more serious threat to marriage than same-sex marriage could ever be (****).

(*) Several times life-support issues and invasive life-extending issues came up within my family. I still don't know if I was rational, selfish or cowardly. It was too much of a shock. I only remember the pain.

(**) Yes, I am "borrowing" terminology from the story of Ramon Sampedro as seen in the film Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside).

(***)I do believe, for the record, that my blood relatives would honor my wishes just as my husband would.

(****) Yes, my views on gay marriage probably have a lot to do with the way my hippie-like parents raised me to appreciate people loving one another. I mean if you pick two people randomly in the world and they chose to love one another rather than hate one another I see it as a good thing.

Investigators obtained suspect's DNA through daughter, sources say by Tim Potter

From the Kansas City Star (Registration Required)

Investigators - trying to hide from Dennis Rader that they were zeroing in on him as a BTK suspect - obtained DNA before his arrest through a tissue sample linked to his daughter's medical records, sources say.

That sample, they say, was taken without her knowledge.

...

What kind of tissue tied to a woman's medical records could be kept on file at a lab?

Bruce Bammel, a Wichita doctor in the field of obstetrics and gynecology, said that could include various tissue samples - everything from a skin biopsy to a pap smear - that can be preserved indefinitely and provide DNA.

All I can say is... I'M SCARED AND I WANT MY MOMMY! Now does anyone still ask why "Orwell still matters?"

How can I be sure that tissues from my medical tests are destroyed after they are used? Can my tissues collected from medical testing really be seized for a criminal investigation WHEN I'M NOT THE ONE BEING INVESTIGATED? DON'T MY TISSUES BELONG TO ME?

WAAAAH!

Hopefully consumer advocates will make a huge stink about this. Maybe Howard Dean should have something to say. Not only is he now Chairman of the DNC, but he's a medical doctor and can probably make good use of this example to show how pharmaceutical companies run amok with our money and our health. They do it with the blessing of our federal government too.

Pfizer Plan for Bundling Heart Drugs Stirs Concern (Berenson, Alex The New York Times March 07, 2005 www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07/business/07pfizer.html?ex=1267938000&en=7e58a5932
138fe58&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland).

Then we also had a gander at the farm named Lester. Lester was I guess an alpha male or something. He was big and mean. In his younger days he would chase the kids on their bikes and bite the tires. Then he started biting at some of the dogs (the ones that wouldn't fight back). Eventually he worked his way up to chasing cars. It was weird. Lester bit me a few times.

Whenever I go to a park and there are geese they come after me. It even happened in Sweden. They were the King's geese. It's not like I could just drop kick them or something. It would have caused an international incident. Besides the King's geese didn't seem to stink as much as American Geese. I took some pity on them. (Oddly "HSZSSZZSHZSSZ" is pronounced exactly the same way in Sweden as it is in the US and Canada--that's right even the Francophone geese).

I've even had some run ins with Canada Geese (Most folks call them Canadian Geese but they're really Canada Geese). Don't get the idea that all Canadians are nice, polite and have good senses of humor. The goose and the gander are not to be messed with.

Tonight I went to the farm of my childhood. My aunt and uncle own it and it's usually fun to go back there. Except I had to deal with Henry (I think that was his name). As I drove up in my minivan this avian asshole started chasing after the side of my vehicle. He pecked at the door and tires (while the van was moving). When I got out of the van he looked right at me with his beady little black eye and stretched his neck out. He started barreling toward me. Of course I was laughing but then I realized he wasn't really bluffing. I took a couple steps backward and tried to scare him off by making a bunch of noise and jumping around. Of course he didn't care. He just kept honking and hissing at me. When he got close enough he decided that my shoes needed to die ([info]mistergrumpy would probably agree). He eventually realized he couldn't really hurt me and got bored and wandered off. I walked up to the house and said to my cousin Tom "What's with the goose?" He said "Ahh, he's just being a pecker" (get it? PECKER?) HA HA HA!

When I left the house, I didn't see the goose anywhere. I started strolling back to my van. Then out from behind a parked car comes this gray blur and a honking sound as if to say "A-Ha! You've come back for more!" He almost scared the crap out of me. It's a good thing I went potty before I left.

The Democratic Party has been soul-searching about abortion issue. It is a difficult issue and one that makes me think all of the time. I don't like abortion. I don't think anyone does. But I don't think it should be illegal and I believe this for many reasons. I know my reasoning is influenced by the fact that I have worked with troubled youth for some time. I have a unique view into their world.

The first reason that I am pro-choice is that I worry about the health of so many mothers and soon-to-be mothers in this country. Although people argue that abortion has always been allowed where the mother's life was threatened (and sometimes even her long-term health but not always), there are many instances where women were left to die and not given a choice. Especially if they went to certain Catholic Hospitals where the doctors were placed under gag orders and were not allowed to transfer patients (So much for Hippocrates and the idea that religion and medicine have no business with one another). Not only do these mothers end up dead without being able to have more children who could be healthy and great benefits to society, any family she already has will lose their mother too.

Another reason I am pro-choice is the fact that for all the talk about, "How hard it is to adopt..." babies are un-adopted all of the time. I know of several people who have recently said things to me like, "If you have the means, adopt..." or "We would adopt but it's so hard because my spouse is getting older and we'd need to go overseas and we can't afford it..." Some of these people are friends that I've worked with and some are close friends and family members that I've known for much of my life. I don't know how to tell them how wrong they are! I've worked with troubled youth. I've seen teenage girls who were raped by their mother's (or guardian's) boyfriends. They didn't want to have an abortion be faced with that decision. Many of these girls suffer from their own mothers' drug and alcohol abuse from while they were in the womb. They also know that non-white and non-Asian babies often get bounced from foster home to foster home (many have experienced it themselves). I've seen prospective adoptive parents walk out without saying a word when they see that the girl is black, especially if the girl shows telltale signs of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome herself. Now, no biological parent has any guarantee that their child won't have physical or mental disabilities when they are born (or develop them later on). Why are they so prying into the medical histories of prospective adoptive parents? These girls don't care how much money the parents will have or what religion the parents are, they just want the child to have a good home. But they're black so their wish cannot be granted. Many of these girls end up feeling that abortion is the most humane option for their children. That is a frightening prospect because THAT IS NOT A CHOICE. (The folks at Planned Parenthood and NOW would agree with me).

There is a more selfish reason that I am pro-choice. I am absolutely certain that if men got pregnant abortion rights would be guaranteed in the constitution. It would be a right "ordained by our creator." It would have been mentioned in the Declaration of Independence itself. I just don't like the fact that women are still dumped on in this society.
The final reason I think that abortion should remain legal in this country is that we were founded on the principle that no religious or moral dogma would decide our laws (even though many of our early leaders had deep religious beliefs). Our Founding Fathers like Jefferson and Franklin wanted our laws to be based on society's need. The only things that should be illegal are things that "harm society." I don't believe that there is any evidence that abortion "harms society." Murder harms society because when someone is murdered and there is no justice people look for revenge. This often results in vigilantism and leads to long-standing feuds and in extreme cases civil war. Has abortion ever done this? Not that I am aware. Theft has similar consequences to murder though they are rarely as extreme.

I have a few ideas and examples about how non-medical abortions could be reduced to extremely rare status. First Christian Right needs to stop running TV programs begging Americans to adopt children from China and other East Asian countries without also pointing out that there are children right here in the US that need homes. Next, I would like to see a Families' Bill of Rights like the Patient's Bill of Rights. I would like to live in a country where children born would have a right to food, shelter, healthcare and education. More affordable childcare for working mothers would be a huge help too. I would like to point out that countries such as Sweden have these things (along with very lax regulations on abortion). Non-medical abortion is very rare there. They've solved the social problems leading to abortion rather than making it illegal. I like that. It keeps abortion legal and safe for those who absolutely need it, but makes it a "final resort" option. To me that is a goal that I think the US, "The Best Country on Earth" (IMHO), can meet. I'd much rather pay taxes for helping children get a good start in life than killing them (war).

So here is my open response:

Dear Senator Kerry,

You dummy. I wanted to stand with Howard Dean in November. But you persuaded the Democrats in the early primaries and caucuses that you were more electable than he. You were probably also involved in blowing the Dean concession speech way out of proportion. The Democrats didn't have a clear message for the average American to get ahold of and say, "I want to vote for John Kerry because..." The best you could do was tell us why we shouldn't vote for Bush. Frankly, I blame you.

So, I will support Howard Dean. I have supported Howard Dean for some time. I would support Howard Dean's PAC even if he didn't become DNC chairman. So go sit on a pitchfork or something.

Thank you for your time Mr. Senator,
Alycia Brashear

[disclaimer: I don't really think that Sen. Kerry should sit on a pitchfork. That would be very, very painful. It would probably be comparable to organ failure or a near-death experience. That would make it torture. I unlike the US government do not condone torture.]

Dear Supporter,

John Kerry

The Iraqi people showed a great deal of bravery. They ignored threats of attacks to go out and vote. Was the election perfect? Probably not. Will there be problems? Probably. But let's get this straight. It's a start. If the U.S. manages to leave Iraq a stable democracy that represents its people (all of them) I can at least say that something good came from the whole mess.

It is upsetting that so many Arab Sunnis didn't vote. Whether they stayed home because they feared retribution or just because they are resigned to tyranny of the majority is unknown to me. Their absence in this process is going to hurt this new nation. Although the former government was primarily made up of Sunni Arabs, I don't think most Sunni Arabs supported Saddam's actions. I also don't think that the average Iraqi blames them either.

Here is my hope. I would like to see these newly elected leaders tread lightly. I would like to see a constitution written that guarantees local autonomy so that all ethnicities, cultures and creeds can be represented and respected. Since the international community is insistent that this hodgepodge of people remains a single nation, I think that this is the only way to prevent tyranny of the majority and civil war.

Then maybe there will be more elections in Iraq. Maybe everyone will participate willingly. Maybe the cradle of civilization can again set the standard for the rule of law in the world.

There has been a bit of talk lately about Dick Cheney's attire at the Auschwitz ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the deat camp's rescue (if you can call it that). Robin Givhan wrote an article about the "wardrobe malfunction" in the Washington Post. Givhan points out that Cheney was dressed as if he were about to "operate a snow blower." Well, first of all. Maybe he did! For all we know he decided to help out with the grunt work beforehand. If things took a little longer than expected he may not have had time to change clothes.

But seriously here's my theory. Cheney went ahead with inauguration ceremonies on January 20th as planned and wore standard formal attire. He caught a bit of a sniffle afterwards and the doctors that make sure he's still breathing everyday gave him a dressing down.

"Mr. Vice President I don't ever want to see you out in weather like that in formal wear again. It could kill you! In fact, I'm not sure you're really alive now!"

"But, doctor. I have to attend a memorial to the Holocaust in Poland in a few days. I can't dress like an Eskimo. Next thing you'll be telling me I can't kiss my wife. We'll have to rub noses."

"Oh no, no kissing or rubbing noses for you! Your heart just can't take it. Either dress warmly or I'll have to tell the President that you are not fit to travel."

"Well. It's not like I'm the head of state. They're not going to put me right up front or anything..."

So that's how I think it happened. I really don't think Cheney was being disrespectful of the loss of life and other suffering that occurred at Auschwitz.

I'm beginning to think this sort of content filtering is nothing short of censorship. One site I'm sure is wrongfully blocked is www.penisland.net. Though that one is totally understandable. (I got that link from The Dave Barry Blog).

I think the heart of the problem is that most people who buy music actually hate music. What they like are pretty sounds. But music is much more than pretty sounds. Yet, I have rarely heard of "ugly" sounding songs becoming top 40 hits (excepting when the ugly sounds resolve to something pretty or at least consonant. Ex: Nirvana). Am I wrong here? I don't necessarily think that pop music is going to get any worse because of this system, but I don't think it's going to get any better either.

When I listen to the music that the kids I teach seem to be listening to, it all sounds the same to me. Now, I do not dislike hip-hop or r&b. In fact, I like them both quite a lot. However, I don't like most of the hip-hop or r&b they listen to. Their music seems simplistic and calculated whereas the music I listen to (and have for the most part always been drawn to) seems more meaningful, more risky and more complex. If I hadn't been exposed to some of that music through radio and MTV I probably never would have developed broader musical tastes. I fear this hit-picking software is going to filter out every bit of eccentricity in the music world. (Much like focus groups have stripped much of the art out of the cinema).

But then again, I guess true music lovers will seek out interesting and new music from other sources than the record industry. In theory the internet should allow the music makers (and other artists) of the world to self-publish their work cheaply. But the entertainment industry is trying very hard to squash the free trade of self-published work on the internet. But that's probably best left for another blog entry.

Raleigh O'Williams: "That's right Diana. It appears that many rural whites have been disenfranchised in Ohio. In addition to long lines, it appears that there was much confusion about where people were supposed to vote. On top of that, one polling place in a housing project in Cleveland reported over 5,500 votes for Kerry when there were only 3,566 voters registered there."

Caller #1: "Mr. O'Williams I know you are a political independent so let me run this by you. If these voting anomalies were truly accidental, wouldn't they have occurred more evenly across the state? Why were the anomalies most likely to disenfranchise people who live in Evangelical Christian communities?"

Raleigh O'Williams: "Because, caller, they are not accidents or anomalies. These are direct attempts to fool the American people and destroy their democracy. The democrats have no shame, they are willing to stop true Americans from having their political voice."

Caller #1: "Why aren't the other news shows carrying this story?"

Raleigh O'Williams: "Because of the left-wing bias. The liberals are in favor of affirmative action in the elections. They want to make each white male vote only worth 3/5 of a whole person. Read the constitution, you'll see that there is a historic precedence for this!"

Caller #1: "You're right. I think I do remember something about that from my high-school civics classes. Thanks Mr. O'Williams. You always look out for us poor defenseless white guys."

Caller #2: "Mr. O'Williams since it has already been shown that the election was not close enough for the anomalies to affect the outcome of the election, why should we bother with investigations and recounts?"

Raleigh O'Williams: "That's simple. If the democrats can get away with disenfranchising the affluent white vote today, they'll have no deterrent to prevent this from happening in the future. We have to be willing to examine ourselves and fix our electoral problems. It's the only way we can set a good example for Iraq and their upcoming elections."

Caller #3: "Mr. O'Williams, I'm a Democrat and I'd just like to say that I want every vote in Ohio to be counted. I don't care what color your skin is, where you're from, or what place of worship you go to. I believe in our democracy and I think that most Democrats would agree with me. Why are you using this inflammatory rhetoric against all democrats? It's obvious that something was corrupt here. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again. Can't all Americans unite on this issue?"

Raleigh O'Williams: You've got to be kidding! You democrats don't care about democracy. All you care about is keeping hold on your power. All you want to do is tax and spend! Fiscal responsibility you say! [caller tries to explain himself more clearly]! Hey! Cut off the call! I don't want this caller trying to confuse my viewers!"

"Jackal News has an update coming from Columbus, OH. Apparently white men are taking to the streets, marching up to the state capital to demand that the votes be counted. It's a beautiful and unprecidented sight. Some people say that this event is even more awe inspiring than MLK's "I have a Dream" speech..."

Please note: The names are barely made up so that the guilty are not protected. The problems are real but reversed. I'm sure you didn't need me to tell you that.