Twitching Fingers

I spent about an hour of my workday shaken up terribly and weeping over an article in Glamour magazine, written by Eve Ensler of "Vagina Monologue" fame.  This article, "Women left for dead -- and the man who's saving them," (http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/08/reallifedrama) is one that I had to finish, even though I had regretted starting it by the second paragraph.    

 
"How do I tell you of girls as young as nine raped by gangs of soldiers, of women whose insides were blown apart by rifle blasts, and whose bodies now leak uncontrollable streams of urine and feces?"

 
What is this world coming to?  Maybe "coming" is a word that shouldn't even be used because it seems like "coming" is just about the only thing the world wants to do anymore -- just keep on coming and coming, with violent brutality and senselessness.  Yes, let's not speak of coming, let's speak of where we're going.   But these women & girls stuck in the Congo as it becomes littered with corpses and innocence ... where are they going?

 

Why do you do this to me...

In the morning, I can tell we're out of half-and-half. How do I know? You nicely set it on the counter where the dirty dishes are; this means the empty quart carton can be rinsed out for recycling. My small brain can recognize this sign as, "We need h&h."

But...

The bag of coffee beans.

If there are only 9 or 10 beans (not nearly enough for a half-pot), by all freaking means, LEAVE it in the freezer. Give me NO visual cue that we're in need of coffee, really. That way, I can buy you the h&h (which I don't even use, being a purist black coffee drinker myself), while completely neglecting to bring back any of the main reason why we need to have h&h in the house.

It's a great system. Thank you. I'll dream about it some more as I drift off at work.

I wish that my TV had a timer on it...

1. Set timer to on
2. Set timer length = 60 minutes
3. Set timer refresh = 24hrs from #1
4. At 60th minute, automatically unpower TV + prevent all manual power on's until #3 occurs

This way, in a 24 hr period, the TV would only be watchable for a total of 60 minutes. Once 60 minutes elapses, no one could watch it again until 24hrs from when the timer was first set...

That would be so great (for me, at least).

Indeed, Spitzer canceled out of his planned talk in Albany in support of RHAPP. Rumors had said that he was sick. I had thought that maybe he had enough time to do his speech in the morning before the bad news ensued, but perhaps it is better that David Paterson was the one to deliver the speech instead.

Spitzer turned down $2.6 million of federal abstinence-only education funding, deciding instead to push genuine, empowering information for young people. There was, however, a matching amount of money at the state level that could fund the Healthy Teens Act. The Democratic-controlled Assembly was scheduled to pass the bill that day. The Republican-controlled Senate was holding it up, so the teens who had traveled to Albany planned on rallying, with signs.( Read more... )

Well it looks like the Catholics & Mafia-stream Media got what they wanted: Spitzer to resign. 

"Sources said Spitzer spent more than $15,000 for several encounters with prostitutes. It was revealed Wednesday by sources familiar with the investigation that Spitzer allegedly began patronizing the prostitution outfit, known as the Emperors Club, eight months ago and had used its services on at least eight occasions." - http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/12/spitzer/index.html

As I wrote before, I find it as no small coincidence that the same day that Spitzer was in Albany, speaking in support of RHAPP, the announcement was made about his link to the prostitution ring.

Will the acting Gov David Paterson step up to the plate?  Time to do our homework and try to see...

Somewhere a month ago, I stumbled across the Zonbu Desktop Mini in PC Magazine.  I think their idea of a subscription PC is kinda neat.   (Subscription prices seem to have adjusted since PC Magazine wrote their review, I'll go along with zonbu.com's price quotes.) 

Lately I've been reading a good deal of scholarship from danah boyd.  Just this Saturday I spent the entire day without the TV on (...trust me, this is a supreme feat nearly unheard of in my house, unless it's the end of a semester) mostly reading online all I can about social software, SNSs, research into youth culture & image management in a "networked public,"...  To help myself along, I started a del.icio.us site and started cranking up the bookmarks.  For other sites that had them, I started pegging down their RSS feeds to one of the various feed readers I nearly always forget to take advantage of...

...and I'm freaking exhausted. 

According to democracynow.org, http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/10/new_york_bill_to_declare_abortion" as accessed 3/10/2008 @ 5:53pm EST, ...

We’re broadcasting from the capital of New York State, Albany. Pro-choice activists have designated today the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. Here in Albany, New York’s Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer is planning to address a thousand people today at the annual meeting of Family Planning Advocates of New York State.Spitzer is at the center of a heated debate over abortion here in New York. Shortly after taking office last year, he introduced a bill that would declare abortion a fundamental right for women. The bill, known as the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act, would also ensure abortion remains legal in New York should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. Governor Spitzer has made passage of the law a top legislative priority for 2008.
But the law has come under fierce criticism from the Catholic Church. Next month, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Edward Egan, plans to personally meet with Spitzer to urge him to drop the legislation. The issue might also be raised when Pope Benedict XVI travels to New York. He is scheduled to speak at the United Nations and then at Yankee Stadium on April 20th.

Wow, mainstream media might need to be renamed mafia-stream media...

I can't tell which is louder -- the snowblower right outside in the driveway or my stomach from hunger.  But alas, I embark on the weekly grocery shopping with an empty stomach.  This is always a no-no...