Bird's Eye View

According to the American Journal of Public Health, a new study indicates that  condoms cut the risk of bacterial--not just viral--STDs.
Earlier this year, I watched a Bush Administration official (I believe it was Wade Horn, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, but I'm not positive) on C-SPAN's Washington Journal defend abstinence-only sex education programs (if you can call half-information education--but then again, this is the Bush Administration we're talking about) by fear mongering about the spread of HPV, the most common STD, saying that condoms offered no protection. (HPV causes genital warts and is linked to cervical cancer.)
I was floored, and quickly searched online, and--surprise!--discovered that he was not telling the whole truth, as I found many health sites that said condoms did offer some protection, just not as much as they do against HIV and other STDs.  His false assertions and support of the idea that you should only give kids half the information they need about sex and STDs is just another example of the wrong-headed, ideology-driven, unscientific policies promoted by the Bush Administration. America--especially our youth--needs to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, on every issue. Secrecy and half-truths won't help us reach a new enlightenment. (Have they never read Plato? Only through the light of knowledge and reason can we fulfill our promise and potential.)
Today's Reuters article on condoms doesn't talk about HPV, but any news on preventing STD transmission is good news. It also supports the idea that we should be telling teens--who, let's face it do have sex, whether or not we like it or would rather not know about it--that if you are going to have sex, you need to protect yourselves the best way you can--by using condoms.
One more thing: I'd like to repeat what Al Franken says in Lies, and the Lying Liars who Tell Them, to Ashcroft, Bush, Horn, and other officials who push abstinence-only programs, were you virgins when you got married?

Here's the transcript of Rev. Alston's speech I mentioned in yesterday's post. Some powerful quotes are:

Machine-gun fire, rocket-propelled grenades, it all came fast and furious, and Lieutenant Kerry had to make quick, life-or-death decisions for the entire boat.

Once, he even directed the helmsman to beach the boat, right into the teeth of an ambush, and pursued our attackers on foot, into the jungle. In the toughest of situations, Lieutenant Kerry showed judgment, loyalty and courage. Even wounded, or confronting sights no man should ever have to see, he never lost his cool.

I am a man of faith, and I did not come here tonight to glorify what we did. I came here to share my personal knowledge of a young naval officer who rose to the challenges and responsibilities of leadership, and who has always shown the courage to speak truth to power.

I believe we need to elect a man of faith, experience, and wisdom. A man who knows that defending America means defending our most fundamental rights. A man who knows that leadership is not just about telling others what to do, but inspiring them to do it. A man who knows the true meaning of freedom, equality, and democracy.

Last night, I was at the edge of my seat during Barak Obama's speech. Finally, the Democratic Party has phrased language to convey their long-held (but often mis-represented and re-cast by opposing voices) values of shared responsibility and opportunity, delivered by the embodiment of all that America has to offer each individual who wants to work hard to achieve a dream. Even more encouraging, though, is the message of American unity in his speech--that "...alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga. A belief that we are all connected as one people."

For more transcripts, or to see more inspiring speeches, you can go here and here.

Yesterday, my beloved Uncle (that's not sarcasm, I really do love and respect him) sent me an email containing quotes from members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who signed a letter stating their concerns about John Kerry's leadership qualities. I don't want to defend another person's  (Kerry's) words or actions, especially to veterans who served our country and are emotionally tied to the issue, but I think the dissemination and context of the allegations need to be closely scrutinized.  It took me a while to research the email (the text of which was taken from this page), but I found a lot, and here's my response:

A) The subject line of the email is misleading. It says, "JOHN KERRY'S SHIPMATES SPEAK OUT!!," when none of them say they were actually on John Kerry's swift boat. The Rev. David Alston was really Kerry's crewmate; he said about Kerry, "...almighty God saw our boat safely through those rivers of death and destruction by giving us a brave, wise, and decisive leader named John Kerry." (I'm trying to find a full transcript of his Monday night DNC Convention speech highlighting Kerry's heroism and strength in time of war. . .You might be able to see the speech here. )

B) The organization responsible for the text is not non-partisan, as is implied by the statement, "This is not a political issue." They were given financial and leadership assistance by big-time Republicans in Texas and Missouri. See this.

C) Throughout the text, the vets refer to Kerry only spending four months or so in Vietnam before requesting leave due to multiple injuries. They fail to state that this was during his voluntary second tour of duty and that he requested the swift boat assignment.  His first tour of duty in the Vietnam War--which he also volunteered for--was "on the USS Gridley, a guided-missile frigate in the waters adjacent to Vietnam." (Source)

D) Let's talk about character. The judgment of John Kerry as having good or bad character based on the whole war experience and his reaction to it is a fuzzy one at best since the debate over what happened in Vietnam is so contentious. He has both supporters and detractors, and they're pretty evenly split, much like our nation. But, if you do consider character an important issue, shouldn't you take a look at both candidates' lifetimes of service, or lack there-of? If you compare Kerry and Bush's pre-30s (hell, let's go all the way to their pre-40s) years, I think the character issue becomes moot. (See this for a start on Bush's pros and cons list. And see Kerry's bio and this for your pros list for him.) What's more character-building, a life of responsibility and service to your fellow citizens or a life devoted to having fun and accumulating wealth?

E) There are so many concrete, non-fuzzy reasons relating to policy issues for me not to vote for Bush. Among them are:
Women's Health Issues
Purity of Science
Environmental Protections
Education

These are just a few. Read my prior posts below for more, and keep checking back for issues yet to be discussed.

By the way, thank you, readers for taking the time to peruse my blog! I've checked my stats, and I'm getting okay traffic. Please give me feedback by clicking on my email link to the left.

Just go here, please.

For anyone living in North-Central Florida, I must recommend blue daze if you need a low-growing, constantly-blooming plant to compliment your landscape. I've had one in front of my antique rose for a couple of years now, and it has never needed any special attention and always offers the prettiest little blue flowers--during any season. It has dusty-green foliage and seems to love the sun.
We bought five more yesterday to line the front path. We also got an oregano plant to finish our front herb garden, which now includes basil, sweet basil, green onions (from Indy--thanks, Moma and Dad!), rosemary, and oregano. We also have a lovely aloe, which hasn't minded being ripped out of Nana's garden in Daytona and transplanted to G'ville.
I'm so happy to finally have the front garden done. I'll never have to plant anything out there again! (I hope.)

Last night we saw a pharmaceutical commercial that urged people to take a self-test to see if they had the symptoms of Adult ADD. It proclaimed, "You may find the answer you've been looking for all your life."
It struck me that I've heard ads for churches that say the same thing, "Find the answer you've been looking for in Jesus Christ." I've also been told by a young college student debating religion, "Christianity isn't a religion; it's a way of life." (Well, if it's not a religion, maybe your church should pay taxes. But, I digress.)
Have diseases--mental or physical--become a new religion? Many of us live our lives according to our diagnoses. We adjust to conform to treatment, not just with clock-driven schedules of vital medication or nutrient intake, but we also try to avoid situations that might make us prone to the weaknesses of our conditions. We often credit our actions to our diseases as well, explaining why we are how we are and why we do what we do. I'm guilty of it: I've often blamed my own bumbling on hypoglycemia or the generalized anxiety disorder. Not that I think it's never a valid reason--sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. In any event, coping with a condition has become a way of life.
Fellowship can be found in support groups all across America. Will the conference rooms of today become the chapels of tomorrow?

I've written about too many serious things lately. Here are some links to some amusing images sent to me by Bill. (Titles are by me.)
Enjoy!
"Priceless"
"Puppet"
"Gold Mine!"
"Size Matters"

I received the text of this op-ed article by Charley Reese, a "true conservative" in his own words from a friend. (Thanks, Chris!)
Before posting it to my blog, I wanted to check its authenticity. (You never know about emails--there's so many urban legends going around.) Among other credentials, I found Mr. Reese listed along with other conservatives, such as Ann Coulter, David Limbaugh, and Pat Buchanan, as a contributing columnist for The Conservative Chronicle out of Hampton, Iowa, which is smack-dab in the middle of my beloved childhood home state.
My favorite paragraph in his piece is this:

People who think of themselves as conservatives will really display their stupidity, as I did in the last election, by voting for Bush. Bush is as far from being a conservative as you can get. Well, he fooled me once, but he won't fool me twice.

The last sentence is quite amusing to those of us who have seen Fahrenheit 9/11, which ends with President Bush trying, but failing, to verbalize an old adage (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.), mangling it in his usual display of linguistic ineptitude.
Bless you, Mr. Reese, for not towing the party line and offering honest criticism of the Bush Administration from a true conservative's viewpoint.
By the way, reader, if you currently call yourself a conservative (or liberal), you might want to check out this political self-quiz.

My friends know that I have been saying for the past year or so that someone should take legal action against FOX News for consumer fraud, as they mislead news consumers into thinking they are getting the full, un-spun picture. This article in The Washington Post explains that Common Cause and MoveOn.org are doing just that!
I also think news networks should be forced to air corrections to their stories during the same hour of day the errors were reported, which would prevent outright lies and distortions. Honorable news stations should have no problem complying--NPR and PBS air corrections every week.
Check out this great timeline on how the media has been deregulated over the years, leading to the current state of biased broadcasting.

CNN has an article today about an Amnesty International report detailing systematic torture, murder, and rape in Sudan.
What kind of mass madness makes these men think their rape and/or murder of "girls as young as eight and women as old as 80" is honorable?
Maybe this quote from the article will shed some light:

One woman was five months pregnant when the Janjaweed abducted her and eight others during an attack in July.

"After six days some of the girls were released. But the others, as young as eight years old, were kept there," she said.

"Five to six men would rape us in rounds, one after the other for hours during six days every night. My husband could not forgive me after this, he disowned me."

In a society where men blame women for being victims of rape, how far does one's mind have to stretch to think these acts are not atrocious crimes against humanity.
To help in the campaign to end the raping and torture of women in Darfur, please click here and fill out the form letter to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir c/o Ambassador H.E. Khidir Haroun Ahmed.
Another way to help the victims of rape and torture is to donate to Refugees International.

Bill and I finally got a babysitter Friday night so that we could go out on a date. (Thanks Sandy--and Tom!) We were really looking forward to catching a flick and sharing dessert afterwards. Only, we forgot that the movie you pick sets the tone for the date--and let me tell you, Fahrenheit 9/11 is not a date movie. When we left the theater I said, "I don't think I can eat dessert now." Bill agreed.
F9/11 (as I've seen it referenced by other lazy bloggers) is full of images that no one on the planet should ever have to see. I still can't clear my head of the picture of the dead Iraqi toddler--only a few months younger than our lil' Joe--being lifted up out of a cart full of corpses by a man asking why she and other civilians had to die. There are just too many striking images to relate here. All I can tell you is that if you are easily depressed, you might not want to see this picture. Read House of Bush, House of Saud instead. Although, now that I think about it, the tale of money and power in that book is also a bit depressing.

On the ride home (we did skip dessert) I told Bill about our neighbor's bumper stickers. One reads, "Bush/Cheney 2004." The other reads, "Let's Nuke their Ass and Take their Gas." Enlightened, eh? Well, at least it rhymes--that takes some intelligence. I'm sure it's supposed to elicit a chuckle. I've been around the Daytona stylee long enough to appreciate (and even come up with) crass, fucked-up humor, but I just don't find the mass killing of mostly innocent people laughable. Dead babies just aren't very funny--at all.

In this month's Direct TV guide, a blurb on Paris Hilton says that she spends more on her dog in one month than some people spend on rent. I was going to go into a rant about excess, but then I found this: She is going to donate the proceeds from her sex tape lawsuit to "worthy charities."
Wow! What a nice girl; she must really be a good pet owner too.
Really, America: why do we exalt people just because they are rich? Why don't we do more to celebrate ordinary people who give money to the needy, volunteer in homeless shelters, or sacrifice higher salaries in order to educate our kids? And what happened to noblesse oblige? When did the rabble stop caring about what the upper classes did for them? Do we want to be like them (rich) so badly that we blindly confuse greed and gluttony with style and sophistication? Ugh.

On to another topic: diversity in advertising. I've noticed that commercials seem to be pretty colorful nowadays, which is great. During any sitcom, you can see multiple spots featuring couples of Asian, African, Latino, or European descent. But, have you noticed any ads with biracial couples? I haven't, and I don't understand why. Don't biracial couples need life insurance too? Maybe the demographic isn't large enough? Seems to me you'd get two demographics for the price of one. Hmm...

I wrote the majority of this Saturday night. Beware of drunken rambling; I've left most of it intact.

Who complain liberals use emotional appeals to sway public opinion? Conservatives do! But risking hypocrisy has never stopped the right before. Why am I so outraged now? Why do I even bother? (It's the GAD, I suppose -- maybe the cocoanut rum.)
In the latest GWB commercial, he attacks Kerry for missing 2/3 of the votes in Congress while running for president. They list votes he missed, like military funding, etc. (And believe me, I wish I had more time to look into those claims, because they've distorted Kerry's voting record before.)
What vote did Bush cite that Kerry did cast? His vote against the Laci Peterson law that treats fetuses as full persons if a someone attacks the mother. How did they characterize the law? By saying that it was a law that would "protect pregnant women from violence."
A) When the hell did a law stop crazed people from committing a crime? Laws allow for punishment when they're broken. The laws in and of themselves do not protect people. And phrasing it that way is an emotional appeal.
B) If the President truly wants to protect women from violence, he should try fully funding his education initiatives. And if he wants to protect pregnant women in general, maybe he should support subsidized prenatal care for more underprivileged mothers.
President Bush doesn't really care about women. He just wants us to think he does.

I gave the speech below a little over a month ago at our UU Fellowship during our "Rise Up and Call Her Name" service, which was dedicated to the many emanations of feminine power.

On to Asia to experience feminine power, or Shakti. Many female deities in the Far East continue to be honored today. The women explored three of these Eastern Goddesses -- The Great mother Goddess of India, Kali, who shows that love is fierce and anger is necessary; Kuan Yin, or Kwan Zei-on, the Goddess of Compassion and Healing of China and Japan,. We turn to her when we are in pain, when we need a Mother's soft touch. And also the Green or White Tara, the Savior and Liberator Goddesses of Southern Asia -- she who guides us when we feel oppressed or frustrated.

The Green Tara, Goddess of Compassionate Activism, has a special place in my life.

After helping a great many sentient beings, The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara wept upon seeing that there were still so many suffering. From the tears streaming down his face, a pool formed, and form the pool arose a lotus, and from the lotus arose Tara, who said to Avalokiteshvara "Don't worry -- I will help you."

The Tara Tantra, recounts another story of her creation, that as a spiritual and compassionate princess, she regularly gave offerings and prayers to monks and nuns. She thus developed great merit, and the monks told her that, because of her spiritual attainments, they would pray that she would be reborn as a man and spread Buddhist teachings. She responded that there was no male and no female, that nothing existed in reality, and that she wished to remain in female form to serve other beings until everyone reached enlightenment. Thus, some consider Tara to be one of the earliest feminists.

In a historical sense, Tara is associated with the two pious and virtuous wives of Tibet's first great religious king, Songsten Gambo. White Tara being the wife from imperial China, Wen Cheng, while Green Tara, Bhrkuti, was from Nepal.

Tara is referred to as the "Mother of All Buddhas" and has many peaceful and wrathful emanations. Meditating on the Green Tara is said to bring quick thinking and grant wisdom-reaction, generosity, magical perfection, fearlessness, and spontaneity to reach a quick karmic completion.

Tara entered my life during my personal studies in Eastern Religions.

I appreciate the power of thought, and although I don't necessarily believe Tara exists, in the moments that I feel the need to be a stronger woman or a better human being, she exists in my mind, and this is enough. To me, the ideas she embodies are more important than her existence.

But while ideas of compassion are terrific, compassion without action is pointless -- and powerless. Green Tara reminds us to act on our thoughts of compassion.

She is also said to protect us from 8 internal fears (attachment, anger, ignorance, jealousy, pride, miserliness, wrong views, and doubt) as well as 8 external fears (floods, fires, elephants, snakes, lions, imprisonment/chains, thieves, and ghosts).

Now, I have not yet needed her for protection from elephants or lions, but I have often invoked her when I needed to rise above a situation, such as times of great stress, social anxiety, or doubt in my own strength of will -- most notably while laboring to bring my son into the world. Throughout that beautifully excruciating day, I often chanted to myself:

OM TARE TUTARE TURE SVAHA

You can learn more about Tara here, here, and here.

If someone told my kid her name meant "stupid dirty girl," I might just punch him in the mouth. How does Richard Riordan keep any job after his series of public displays of inappropriate behavior?
Thank goodness the little girl he "teased" had tough skin. I'd probably have been in a puddle, especially since it happened in front of a group of people. I still reel at memories of adolescent taunts.
What was he thinking? Was he thinking?

CNN has this story today about video-equipped grave markers, which allow you to leave messages for your loved (or not-so-loved) ones. How very cool! I am now reconsidering my wish to be cremated and scattered to the winds on my family's farm. I suppose, though, this technology could be used for small memorial sculptures, as well. What would I say, though? Hmm...

The Washington Post reported today that the President is criticizing John Edwards for his opposition to some of Bush's judicial nominations. Republicans have been complaining about Democratic maneuvers in judicial politics for a while now, even though they did the same stuff during Clinton's era--and more often, I might add.
Please note the final paragraph of the article:

Democrats say Edwards -- after eight years in which Helms, the former Republican senator, blocked every North Carolina nominee to the federal appeals court -- broke the logjam and worked with Bush last year to win confirmation for Allyson Duncan, a Republican and the first black woman on the 4th Circuit.

Mr. President, when are you going to realize that telling half-truths only makes you look more like an ass? Do you think that people are too stupid or lazy to actually find out more about the conjectures you make?
And by the way, if you're so against "activist judges," why do you try to appoint so many?

I'm so glad John Kerry has (well, is reported to have) chosen John Edwards, a man with grace and dignity, as his Veep. If you've read my earlier posts, you know that I wanted to vote for Edwards in the primary, but since he dropped out before the FL vote, I chose to back Kucinich. Most people I have talked to--from Ben Hellmann to my Dad (who's not particularly a political fanatic, and probably won't vote for Kerry anyway)--thought Edwards would be a good choice.
I urge you to visit John Edwards' Website to learn more about his personal story, which I found interesting as well as inspiring.

I just returned from the bookstore with Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. I've been eying this book for weeks now, and finally broke down and bought it. I am so looking forward to reading it, as it sounds as if it is in the same vein as Mother Tongue, a humorous look at the history of the English language. For the future English teacher in me, who is driven crazy by emails that contain little or no punctuation, I yearn for the rant this book promises.
Punctuation matters as much as vocabulary, people! Learning how to control your reader's eye (and inner ear) is just as important as the words you choose so carefully. Good writing is a craft, after all.
I will offer a review of this book in a future post. Come back and read it--please!

Marlon Brando died today. He was the first actor I ever critiqued. We watched A Streetcar Named Desire in Mr. Paige's sophomore Drama class (mostly with Eric Nolte's feet propped on my knees). I had high praise for Brando. If I remember correctly, I wrote something like, "I can't imagine Stanley being played by any other actor."
Mr. Paige retorted, "Try."

I'm turning 30 in eight months. A few years ago I had said, "I can't wait to be 30. It's a great age to be." My song has now changed.
I've come to dread it--not so much the number, but the inevitable self-examination that comes with the marking of yet another decade gone by. The inner psychological dialogue has, in fact, already begun. Thankfully, though, the voice of emotional me is usually trumped by the voice of logical me. The constant questioning of the life decisions I've made is draining, and its coinciding with our current family dilemma makes it all the more potent.
The self-absorbsion bothers me the most. There are so many more important things I should be concerned with happening outside my own skin.
Time marches on and there's nothing we can do about it.
Suck it up, Robin.

One of this morning's top news stories is about NASA's Cassini meeting up with Saturn, which reminded me of the little scripture study I did last night. Bill and I were curious as to what "the Rapture" really was all about (a video on MTV got us started). Using my Concordia Self-Study Bible, which my Grandmother gave me years ago--a good source if you need to find out something Biblical, by the way (although it does have a Lutheran slant)--we discovered that the Rapture will occur after the last horn is blown, signaling the end of the world as we know it. Then, all the righteous will be taken up to the highest Heaven, above all others and be united with God before returning with Him to rule on Earth.
The most curious thing to us was the description of Heaven being in outer space, beyond the Earth's atmosphere, the Moon's orbit, etc. Far be it from me to make light of someone's religious beliefs, but Whaaaaa?! Do Christians really believe that God lives way out in outer space, beyond the stars? And, if so, why is Bush, who's supposed to be such a believer, pushing for more space exploration? Wouldn't trespassing in God's backyard offend Him?
Maybe we can send Cassini to take photos of God. That might be the one thing that could convert me.