Access Does Indeed Equal Life

Or rather, life equals having access to things, in as much as if you're dead, you have no access to anything.

But in this case, we're talking about ready access to complete and unbiased information about HIV and how to avoid it. Young women in developing countries have an especially hard time with that sort of access, even though it's especially important for them, given their rate of HIV infection.

Big surprise: the policies of George W. Bush are making the situation worse, not better.

Please sign this petition. Bush will never see it. He probably won't even hear about it. If he did, the pigheaded bastard wouldn't change his policy. But at least you'll be on record in saying he ought to. And many other people, including those around him, will see it, and be aware of their shame in not doing even as little as you and I did by signing this futile petition.

It might help.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "That's the ticket: look on the bright side."\\

Not Showing At A Theater Near You

Iraq For Sale is a film you ought to see. It won't be showing at any of the usual venues, but it probably will be showing somewhere quite nearby -- maybe even at your place.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Sticky carpet optional."\\

Let's Raise the Minimum Wage

The argument against raising the minimum wage makes perfect sense: employers will eliminate entry-level jobs, prices will go up, and working people will be worse off than before.

It all makes perfect sense, but nobody can cite a state, city or nation, in any decade of history, where it actually happened. Instead, for some reason that nonsensical minimum wage thingy makes life better for everyone. Weird.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Go with what works."\\

Who's In Charge?

I'm copying this from many sources, but I first saw it at Arthur D. Hlavaty's LiveJournal.

The Republicans:
They put an Arabian Horse Judge in charge of disaster management.
They put oil company lobbyists in charge of our energy policy.
They put Dubai in charge of our port security.
And they put a child predator in charge of the Committee for Missing and Exploited Children.
Who will you put in charge in November?

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Inanimate objects aren't eligible to vote. What's your excuse?"\\

He Spits On You, Too

We already knew that Senator George Allen symbolically spits on African Americans in various ways, but it's news to me that he spits on women.

Literally.

Apparently he does this by preference, for his personal enjoyment.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Ewww."\\

Scientists' and Engineers' Bill of Rights

I like the sound of that.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Yes."\\

This is Bad

Habeas corpus, no.

Torture, yes.

Unspeakable, yes.

God's mercy, no.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Outlook very bleak."\\

Back to School

My plan for returning to nursing school is to audit Nursing 102 in the Winter term, and use the grade from that to apply for re-admission to Nursing 103 in the Spring term (103 is the class I flunked out of last year). That leaves only one other class for me to take this term: Writing 227, Technical Writing.

I tried to get into the section of the course that's being taught at LBCC's Benton Center, here in Corvallis, so that I wouldn't have to make the longish commute to the main campus (located between Corvallis and Albany). Alas, anxiety over returning to school induced a nasty case of self-sabotaging procrastination, and I didn't register in time.

So, I'll have to take another section, at the main campus. An annoying commute, but that's life. It also meant that I had to buy a textbook at the main campus's bookstore, and that is an extremely annoying process.

For some reason, LBCC has decided that it needs to operate under security measures that make your shopping experience feel a lot like being processed at the county jail.

Thank FSM that I'm done with the bookstore for the term, though. You can count on it that if I find myself on campus without a pen, I'll drive back to Corvallis rather than buy one there.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Geez, all that driving? At least get a bus pass."\\

"Donut Hole"? Gee, What a Cute Name

Cute enough to bankrupt thousands, if not millions, of retirees. But hey, it's privatized, and that means it's much cheaper and more efficient than any government scheme could possibly be, right?

And if it's not...nobody actually cares, do they?

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "'Gitmo' is a cute name, too."\\

Still Voting No On 43

For some reason, I actually had some comments on my blog. Gee whiz, I never get any comments. Wonder what's up with that?

Anyway,there have been some interesting comments, and the liveliest discussion I've seen here in a long time, so I'm delighted.

As for the substance of the matter (whether the government should force doctors to notify a teenager's parents before she has an abortion), my opinion remains unchanged: any young person who feels she simply can't speak with her parents about something as serious as having an abortion must have her reasons, and I don't think it's the state's business to second-guess her.

The recent colorful incident in which the parents of a 19-year-old adult kidnapped her and tried to force her to have an abortion (allegedly because the father of the fetus was African American) is a perfect example of the kind of parents I am afraid of.

So, one more time, here's my opinion: No woman, under or over 18, should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term, or to have an abortion, or to undergo any other form of medical treatment against her will. And for good measure, though it hasn't come up yet,* no man should be forced to have a vasectomy or to donate sperm.

* In case you were wondering why government control over men's sexual function doesn't seem to be a hot issue, you can start your investigation by asking Twisty.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Yes, where did all those people come from?"\\

No Pardons

Not this time.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Speak out, even if no-one listens."\\

Why God Was Denied Tenure

1. Only one major publication
2. ..in Hebrew
3. ..no references
4. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
5. There are some doubts he wrote it himself.
6. It may be true he created the world, but what has he done since then?
7. The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
8. Never applied to the ethics board for permission to use human subjects.
9. When experiment went awry, tried to cover it by drowning subjects.
10. When subjects didn't behave as predicted, deleted them from sample.
11. Rarely came to class and just told students to read the book.
12. Expelled the first two students for learning too much.
13. Only had ten requirements, but most of his students failed them.
14. Office hours infrequent and usually held on mountain top.

UPDATE: thre's a rumor that he might have gotten his son to teach important lessons.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Did you forward this one to your father?"\\

Burying Ratzilla

Kathe's son Justin had a falling-out with his girlfriend awhile back. Also with his mother. And me. And anyone who speaks to us. And his rats.

Four fat, happy, well-acculturated male rats, left at our house by Justin. They've been on our living room coffee table in their big wire cage ever since.

Rats don't live all that long, although they live a lot longer if you take good care of them. These days they're all looking a bit shopworn, their fur a bit thin. And then today Ratzilla died.

We buried him out front, among the raspberry canes. I tried to avoid any of the other pet graves, but the dirt on one side of the hole collapsed, and by the time I had the dirt cleared, I'd brought up a cat skull, Yorick-fashion. Sorry, kitty. I put the skull back in the hole, alongside Ratzilla.

The others won't be much longer.

And that's about the most interesting thing that's happened around here lately.

On another matter:

The American Jewish World Service thinks UN Peacekeepers should go to Darfur.

Sounds like a good idea to me, too.

They asked me to take action, and I did. Not much action, but probably more than you have done. Want to remedy that situation?

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Couldn't hurt."\\

We Can Make America Safer

And no, it doesn't involve appeasing the enemies of freedom, whether the ones in Pakistan or the ones in Washington.

It involves treating terrorists like criminals, not like enemy nations or unpersons we can torture and kill at will.

It involves treating foreign nations like foreign nations, and not like "Indian Country".

And it wouldn't kill us to start doing it right now.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Yes? And what are you going to do about it?"\\

The Constitution Ain't Broke

So kindly, members of Congress, do not attempt to "fix" it with S. 2453, S. 2455 and H.R. 5825.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "It already seems too much like a fixed game."\\

Paul DeCola, one of 2,996

In memory of Paul DeCola, age 39, of Ridgewood, N.Y., who died five years ago today at the World Trade Center.

On that day, my only comment was, "Innocents have suffered today. As a result, more innocents will suffer."

After five years, I have nothing more to add.

http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/VictimInfo.asp?ID=884

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Me, neither."\\

Mr. Bush, Please Obey this One Law, Anyway

That would be the Airborne Hunting Act, which prohibits the shooting (please, let's not call it "hunting") of wolves from airplanes. It's a Federal law, one of those things you took a solemn oath to see enforced.

Think of it as a form of flag-burning, only there's no factory in China making more of these national symbols.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "There is no small instance of doing the right thing."\\

I Never Liked Goldilocks Either

Papersky wrote a Nordic-verse version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" as an example of the verse form, but everyone seems to have enjoyed the alternate ending.

Me. too.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "You meanies."\\

I Like our Constitution

Some might think it's just "a goddamn piece of paper", but I think it's the vital heart of our nation.

If you think so too, you could click here.

Or not. It's a free country.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Yes."\\

Oregon Ballot Measure 43

I'm voting no, because I believe that if a teenaged girl has been raped by her father and become pregnant, it's not the state's job to notify him that she's planning to get an abortion.

There are other reasons, but isn't that one enough?

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Do the right thing."\\