Abortion vs Economy, War, & Health Coverage

The Associated Press released an article today concerning young evangelicals and their reaction to the Palin nomination. After reading it, I began to wonder could God really be a deciding factor in this election?

Religion and the sub-topics under that umbrella have been a significant part of the voting process. But in an especially weak environment such as that which we are in today, can the faith vote still be at the top of the list? Are the marital rights of homosexuals more important than the deaths of troops and citizens in Iraq and Afghanistan, the dwindling security and hidden corruption of our economy, and the red tape of our current medical system?

Feel free to read the article and let me know what you get out of it. One quote that made me shake my head was:
"Obama has had a lot of appeal for being new, fresh, cool and bringing change," said Alex Harris, an evangelical college freshman who co-founded the online activists' group Huck's Army to support Mike Huckabee. "Palin is fresh and new, but she is also rock solid on issues like abortion. A lot of young evangelicals would have a hard time supporting Obama" for his abortion rights stance.

Although, I must admit, if the current situation had been the result of a Democratic administration, instead of 8 years of a Republican one, I'm not sure if I would vote Republican. For a Republican who is anti-abortion? I might have to say 4 more years if the tables were turned. I’ll have to think about it some more.

Younger evangelicals split over Palin choice as VP

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REL_PALIN_YOUNG_EVANGELICALS?SITE=CACRU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Leather Couch

Eight years old she sat nestled at the feet of the couch. Looking up, her father was a formidable figure, lean but tall and a with a voice that reached farther than the living room, spilling onto the street. It was night, and could have been a weeknight or a weekend. There was no respect to that sort of thing in this house. There her father sat, engaged in the concerto of her parents’ relationship. Just like a classical composition, the discussion would rise to enormous heights, lull to inaudible mumbling, rise up again and again and lasted long periods of time, until the musicians and instruments had worn themselves of sound and energy. Her mother was at the opposite side of the couch. She looked away from her daughter. She was disgusted with her sitting there, watching them was fine, but it was too much to listen to a child’s marital advice. And yet the fight continued, no one removed the child, no one removed themself, no one stopped the events.

The girl’s heart raced and she didn’t notice the sweat she broke. She just watched steadily and interrupted to play therapist. An elementary school student, and still she felt an imprisonment of fear and anger. She worked over in her head her parents' reasonings and re-told them out loud. From below, the child looked and reminded herself to keep him calm and keep her calm. That couch. That couch seemed so monstrous from below. It was the epicenter of her whole world. Amidst a scene of perversion. Coincidence, a Georgia O’Keefe print overlooked from the wall! True that for a child there is little world outside of the family. There’s school and family. For adults we can think on broader scales in broader strokes: we have the past, future, continents thousands of miles away, space and universe orbiting our world. For an eight year old there’s a smaller context: her four best friends, her brother, her parents, her teachers. Not much else. But on the floor of her apartment she was aware of the constant traffic of people walking the sidewalks right below their window. Her voice was kept low as she remembered the neighbors across the hall and next door. She must keep order in the eyes of others out there. Before she could come to a conclusion, her parents were over. They were tired, and pissed, and sad, and done. It was time for bed, to sleep before errands or work tomorrow morning.

"But, wait!" She desperately yelled to them. She wanted her mother to declare a break up. To realize the emotional tornado can’t keep happening. Or she wanted her dad to agree and say, with reason, "Yes, dear. I understand how you feel and I’ll work on not making you feel that way again." Otherwise, the whole night has just been madness. A sick cycle. You can’t just sigh and go to bed. But they did. Even got stern with her, as the tired couple stumbled to bed. After the lights were shut, she crawled back out to the couch. She snuggled where her parents had sat moments earlier and stared at reflections of street lamps on the window shades, and listened to the occasional car drive up the street.

WTF?!

I sat down to write a thrashing reprimand of Metro’s recent column “Ivanovic has the beauty and the game,” a report on French Open champ Ana Ivanovic as a “beautiful brunette” instead of a strong athlete. It disturbed me to read Jason McIntyre’s four sentence commentary on the athlete’s wall-poster qualities, including the following paragraph:

Sure Ivanovic is 6-foot-1 and has a blistering serve that was recently clocked at 124 miles per, but doesn’t her innocent smile, devoid of ego, look like the grin of someone on a cruise ship who might bring you one of those fruity drinks with an umbrella in it?

Yeah, I said the same thing. What the fuck?

I started ranting, until I started researching. I found on her official website a powerful video animating her strategic philosophies and critically applauded potential. Yes! She's proud and professional. Until... the video swung onscreen two photographs of my strong sister topless. (Cue sad sound: Wahh, Waahhh) I threw my head back and cried to the gods, Why?! Why is she topless, using one set of money-makers (her arms) to cover her apparently other set of money-makers?

I had to stop in my heels, delete my scathing argument against McIntyre’s ignorant, archaic and insulting excuse for reporting, and turn my attention to us. That’s right, us, ladies. I Googled images of Eli and Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter. I’m still trying to find shots of them sprawled up beside a bed, nakedly cupping their monkey business, rustling with their wind-blown hair, or modeling formal wear on the beach. And yet, Ana Ivanovic can be seen doing all of the above.

It doesn’t mean that everyone should have free reign to further sexualize her. And she must be a determined sportswoman to have made it so far in the tennis field. But I wonder why so many of our female champions are good-looking? Is it just coincidence that really great strengths in sports are also hot in ads?

McDonald's is "safe" or "sorry"?

In response to the recent salmonella outbreak among certain types of tomatoes, Yahoo! posted an AP article today. I thought the following statement was hilarious.

The salmonella causing the outbreak is a very unusual type called salmonella saintpaul, said FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, who added it was not more virulent than other types of salmonella.

McDonald's, the world's largest hamburger chain, stopped serving sliced tomatoes on its sandwiches as a precaution....

The decision didn't upset Connie Semaitis, a 49-year-old travel agent in downtown Chicago, who bought a cheeseburger and a drink at a McDonald's during lunch hour Monday.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," Semaitis said.

Ummm.... You're eating a McDonald's cheeseburger!! How is that safe? The tomatoes were getting in the way anyhow!

I'm Wearing Betsey Johnson's Bra

My most beloved and most despised have joined forces and, finally, I’m happy. I’ve loved Betsey Johnson since I was.... five. Honestly, 5 years old. And I've hated bras since I realized I was never going to make it to a C-cup. I'm not even close.

I battle everyday with the sad truths
a) I'll never make enough money to wear only Betsey Johnson clothing and accessories
b) I'll never find a bra that’s big enough to fit around my ribs but petite (I’m being nice to myself) enough that I can fill

Then, lo and behold, I’m at Marshall’s this weekend (I thought I already explained I don't make a lot of money) looking for a new batch of bras (I’ve been putting it off and have been wearing the same one for weeks), and I stumble upon a Betsey Johnson bra. It’s wonderful! No underwire, fits like a glove, pretty, and, the icing on the cake, with a Betsey Johnson label. Oh, you have no idea.

I can’t find it online to show a pic. I bought 1 in black and 1 pink; both have a cute little pink rose at each strap. Heavenly.

BBC for Lunch

So I'm on lunch and sitting in front of my work computer. I eat with the exuberant notion that the next 20 minutes are mine, all mine. Yet, I have nothing to do.

Must...not...read...work...emails....Don't...answer...phone....Don't!

I have ZERO hobbies.

My homepage at work is BBC News, but it's sooooo depressing. Today's headlines are:
'Witches' burnt to death in Kenya
South Africa leader orders army to deploy
Colombian gunman 'takes hostages.' More soon.

Yeah, goes splendid with tomato soup!

If I go to Yahoo! - which, honestly, I go to before BBC - I'd have to force myself to read the American Idol review (apparently David Archuletta is now called Archie??) or the Daily News article announcing the (un-)anticipated arrival of Fleet Week.

Am I wrong to assume that most people have go-to sites they read daily? I don't know, Boating Times online or PerezHilton.com or Daily Recipes. I don't really care enough, I guess.

Coming Soon....

My Life To-Do List
I'm a little nervous about writing up a list such as this. Even if I weren't posting the list, if I were to just keep it to myself on a piece of scrap paper tucked away in a drawer, I'd still feel incredibly vulnerable about coming to terms with what will be written. But it's time to bite the bullet.

Don't Know Much about Argentina...Except What I’ve Heard from A Uruguayan

I don’t know much about Argentina. I need to do some research, really. But, I just watched the documentary “The Take,” which tracks the government’s and capitalist’s abandonment of factories in Argentina, the subsequent re-occupation of these factories by workers who were left destitute after job losses, and the prickly ladder climbed by all three players to find common ground and room for their hands in the pot.

Regardless of your politics, the idea was revolutionary to my shielded, urban American perspective on “a job.” What I learned from the film is that Argentina prospered under Government subsidies. Those “good old times” lasted through the 1990’s, until the money was on a whirlwind, dashing out of government budgets into the hands of CEOs and finally settling, mostly, into the pockets of said CEO’s.

When a financial crisis set in, the subsidies stopped. Other financial woes ensued, which I won’t get into, but the bottom line for this purpose is that the factory owners shut down their businesses, firing thousands of workers and abandoning their facilities. But the factory workers couldn’t find work and had no way to feed their families. So they took over the factories. Literally, they formed their own hierarchy, formed deals with suppliers of materials, trucking companies, and buyers, and started up the ghost towns that had become their places of employment.

Of course, only the working class appreciated it. The CEO’s still owned these factories and the machines inside of them. And I’m not sure what the situation is now. But I just thought the stories of these men and women, I repeat regardless of your political beliefs, are worth talking about. Furthermore, what about all of the factory jobs we’re losing in the US? I don’t know what I think about these jobs. Are some of them polluting us more than sustaining us? In any event, the factory workers losing their jobs in the States seem to be looking at politicians to trickle down the change. Why don’t we, as human beings, in all our capacity to speak, write, march, stand, unite, and progress, pave the paths to change ourselves?

Check it out: The Take - www.thetake.org
2004 - Rating: TVPG
In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. The story of the workers' struggle is set against the dramatic backdrop of a crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins, they'll take back the companies that the movement has worked so hard to revive.