Friday, July 29, 2011

It's for MY HEALTH!

So yesterday was attempt #2 at girding my loins for the current War on Women (aka getting an IUD while I still have medicaid -those things cost between 750 and 1000 bucks- and before this country takes the skids right into Handmaid's Tale territory).

Unfortunately, even a dose of misoprostyl (one of the handy forms of medical abortion) to "open things up down there" didn't work. My innards are shaped like a snail. I knew something was up when the doc asked "how long ago did you give birth?" My response "the Kid's 16 and he was a c-section. I never dilated" did not encourage her. Thankfully, she's not a macho cowboy. She poked around for a few minutes and declared that it was time for a specialist.

Bonus, they gave me the actual IUD to take home with me since they can't give it to another patient. It comes in what looks like and extra long cigarette carton.

We then talked about meds and pain and stuff. She made me dial my Vitamin D way the fuck down. I even told her that if it's a choice between daily pain or killing my liver- the liver should DIE! She didn't find that as funny as I thought she would. I took a quarter of what I normally take last night, and today I can feel the owies setting in. Grrr.

She also prescribed potassium and magnesium. And the regular drinking of tonic water. "So I can tell people when I have my nightly cocktail that it's FOR MY HEALTH!" She said that it didn't have to have the alcohol, just plain tonic works fine. I gave her a look that is halfway between a Whatchoo talkin about Willis? and a Dorothy Parker, she relented "okay okay, have your vodka tonics."

(So of course I came home and had rum and cokes instead, because I am broke and the Boyfriend left a professional alcoholic sized jug of rum here. Someone tell me rum has therapeutic value!!!)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Justin Bieber Creation Myth

Wherein my son explains the origins of Justin Bieber.

This is a story. One day Satan was really bored. All the dead souls were (for once) making him sad. He tried taking a bubbly bath, but that didn't work. He went to see if God was open for a game, but he was playing with fluffy bunnies. Finally, he tried to cheer up by going to Earth and getting a drink. But sadly, it was rush hour, and all the bars were crowded. But at that moment he had an idea. He would possess a human to torture the other humans. He went to Canada and found a little boy named Justin Bieber. He saw he found his perfect target. He went and possessed him, and unleashed the cries of a thousand tortured souls. But Satan was tricked by God. God made Justin Bieber famous somehow. But that was good for Satan, because he could torture more humans. That is why Justin Bieber's singing is terrible and horrifying.

Now you know.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Name names and point fingers

A study by the Pew Center shows the racial wealth gap has been getting wider recently, with black and Hispanic Americans falling far behind white and Asian-Americans. This item popped up several times in my Facebook feed, posted by liberal friends with no comment or context as if it were a deplorable act of God. They somehow neglected to mention that this was occurring on the watch of America's first president of color.

Barack Obama was overwhelmingly supported at the polls by the very people who are being hit hardest by the current depression. Yet he has not lifted a finger in defense of their economic interests. Trillions are poured into Wall Street and wars, but nothing is being done for working people of any color --people who need homes that retain their value, a safe place to live and to do business, sane credit, jobs that pay a living wage, the means to stay healthy, support in their old age and a decent education for their kids. The Obama Administration has telegraphed its hostility to these needs in numerous ways: inaction in the face of the foreclosure crisis, advancing cuts in Social Security, prioritizing reduced spending over economic stimulus.

It is not the abstract concept of 'privilege' that is doing this. It is real, living people in positions of power, including the President of the United States, who are implementing privilege, if not oligarchy, by accelerating the flow of resources upwards. Privilege existed in the 1990s yet working- and middle-class Americans were better off. It is mendacious, insulting to the voters and condescending to the President of the United States to refuse to associate his name with the policies of his Administration and their consequences.

It's time to name some names and point some fingers.

A semi-real post! Now with extra blegging

The boyfriend and I had this interesting little email convo last night about politics and economics and how do you judge something when you don't know all the behind the scenes machinations of 12 dimensional chess players. Here are a few snippets.

"I hate 12 dimensional chess as a metaphor. It means the people who use it think us citizens are to stupid to understand what's going on. Yes, politics is complicated, but it's also very simple. Judge politicians by what they actually do, not what they say. It's easy to (as Chris Matthews said about Obama) get a tingle up your leg when someone makes a passionate speech. It requires not much more work to look at what actually gets done."

Boyfriend wanted to talk about Obama's big compromise, which the Republifuckers rejected, and if that makes Obama either a bad negotiator or a brilliant tactician who just made Reps look like the douchenoodles they are. I think neither.

"Both Dems and Reps are talking austerity with the debt ceiling. Austerity has been proven (over and over again) to be a bad fucking move in the middle of a recession. Even Nancy Pelosi is using the fucking "shared sacrifice" meme.

So, if both parties, even if they differ over how much pain should be delivered upon the bottom 80%, are talking about austerity, then some form of austerity is what we are going to get. There isn't another option being discussed and Obama has flat out said he won't use his constitutionally granted executive power to make the fed continue printing money. That is how I judge them by their actions, because their actions show what the agenda has been set to. "

And just a friendly, but desperate, reminder. I have 10 days till I get a paycheck. I haven't been able to buy more than 50 bucks worth of groceries at a time this month, so the cupboards are stark. And all the bills are past due (internet may be the first thing to go). If you've got something you can throw in the pot, royalty will smile on you and probably offer you a title. Would you like to be the Duchess of Badassery? Lord STFU? Baron von Snarkitude? Seriously, it's pretty grim around here.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Of course the douchebag in Norway hates "sluts"

It is never fucking surprising when some asswipe goes on a mass killing spree to find out that he is a/they are misogynists, through and through.

The patriarchy is real, and it is deadly. And it is global. It happens here, and in Brazil*, and even in nicer than nice Canada. And now in Norway.

It's also no coincidence that most of these scumbags are religious extremists** (of whatever flavor of religion) because it is religion that writes down rules for male dominance and makes them law and makes the killing of the people who break those laws righteous in the eyes of fanatics.

*The BBC article doesn't say it, but 10 of the 12 murder victims were girls (at a co-ed school).

**Of course you can be an atheist and be a misogynist (cough*richard-dawkins*cough) as Marc Lepine in the Ecole Polytechnique killings was.