Blogswarm

March 18, 2003

“Should Saddam Hussein choose confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war."

“These attacks are not inevitable.”

These words were spoken by George W. Bush.


23 July 2002

“C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.

From the Downing Street Memo


March 18, 2003

. "And every measure will be taken to win it.”

23 July 2002

"There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.”

It is now clear that the Bush administration knowingly made a false case for war to the American people.

Please join Congressman John Conyers in asking President Bush to answer for his actions and words in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. Sign the letter.

Do it for the innocent Iraqi civilians who have been caught in the crossfire.

Do it for the soldiers, who have been grossly misused by the Bush administration.

Do it for the victims of the September 11 attacks, who have become merely an excuse for George W. Bush to wage war on a dictator who had nothing to do with the attacks that killed these people.

Do it for America, which deserves the truth.

All right, let's see if this works

Monkey and the haircut she gave herself
Originally uploaded by maurinsky.

If this worked, you are looking at a picture of Monkey from a few years ago. This was the third time she cut her hair, and the most drastic cut she ever gave herself.

As you can tell, she is quite proud of herself.

Balls

I'm joining in with the Big Brass Alliance, started by Shakespeare's Sister, which is going to be taking some action with the other organizations supporting After Downing Street.

I haven't figured out how to add the logo, a pair of Big Brass balls, to my blog.

But I am reminded of an incident from my childhood.

When my brother was born, his testicles didn't descend, which is a fairly common occurance. Because it can affect fertility, if they don't descend on their own by the time the little boy is about 2 or so, they will do surgery to put the testicles where they belong.

I was sitting with my mother in the doctor's office. Dr. Dalton was a serious man, a little intimidating for a pediatrician, but he was the kind of doctor that got a child's attention and respect. He was explaining the situation to my mother (I was probably about 9 or 10 years old) - Little Bro's testicles were nice and toasty inside his body, so they needed to come out if he was ever going to give my mother any grandchildren. He explained the surgery and the care my brother would require while recovering.

At the end of this discussion, my mother asked "What are testicles?"

I was mortified.

Dr. Dalton held out one of his large hands, cupped slightly, and said in his dignified and serious voice, "you know, BALLS".

Memorial Day

My family hasn't been American long enough to lose anyone in an American war - on my mother's side, both of her brothers wanted to go to Vietnam, but the Army only took one of them, and he never saw combat (my other uncle had a hole in his ear drum, so he didn't pass the physical). One of my cousins joined the Air Force but finished serving his time before the first Gulf War; his younger brother joined the Navy at the tail end of the Gulf War but never saw combat (although he did leave the Navy with a big old drug addiction, which he has never recovered from).

On my father's side of the family, those of his siblings who came to the U.S. eventually went back - his older brother used to own a bar in Brooklyn, but headed home because he found the pace of life way too fast. My dad's oldest sister retired to England, in large part because of the election of George W. Bush. Another one of his sisters moved back to Ireland when her son (who was born in Ireland) graduated from high school - her husband, a plumber, was itching to benefit from the resurgent Irish economy.

But I do know some veterans. My FIL was a POW briefly in Korea - he told the story of his escape once, and every hair on my body stood on end - it was riveting and terrifying, and he's lucky he survived. The dad of one of my close high school friends (and he's a dad who is very special to me) served in Vietnam

And about 2 minutes from my house is a small green that houses the war Memorials for the town's citizens who died in combat - when I read those names, of those who gave their lives in war, I recognize some of the names from kids who go to school with Sio & Monkey.

It's not difficult to share the grief of those families who have lost someone in Iraq. And it's not difficult to look at why those men and women were in Iraq and get angry.

I never thought the Oompa Loompas were scary....

...until I saw this.

Politics at the Pulpit

Rev. Heretic gave a Memorial Day sermon to remember this morning.

He once again decried those who use the pulpit for partisan politics, but he noted that religion has had a positive impact on politics before (most notably the Civil Rights movement), and he felt it was appropriate to talk about our foreign policy on Memorial Day weekend, when we have so many men and women who are in harm's way in part because of what he termed our misguided and unbalanced foreign policy in the Holy Land.

I'm going to miss Rev. Heretic when they appoint a permanent minister. He always gives me something to think about.

Blogroll Update

I've added Alternate Brain, which has a shiny new look.

Doubleplusgood

We have always had Upon Further Review on our blogroll.

I'm It

The lovely Shakespeare's Sister has tagged me with this questionnaire, which is making me feel all Sally Field, because I'm a big dork. Anyway, here we go:

Three names you go by (that won't give away your identity): Moe, Mom....I'm woefully bereft of nicknames. My father used to call me Monikey-monikey, though.

Three screen names you've had: sijoma, jomasima, lokison

Three physical things you like about yourself: My feet are very nicely shaped with toes that are the appropriate proportion to their peers; I have great hair - a lovely shade of coppery red with natural curls (but not too curly); and great tits. I can't waffle on that, they are terrific, and tend to be the only thing that most men look at when they talk to me.

Three physical things you don't like about yourself: I wish I had a longer neck, that I was taller (I'm the only shorty in my family), and that I hadn't been born with hip dysplaysia.

Three parts of your heritage: potatoes, Guinness, lamb...i.e., Irish, Irish and Irish.

Three things you are wearing right now: jeans, socks, and my favorite bra.

Three favorite bands / musical artists: Ben Folds, Nellie McKay, Talking Heads.

Three favorite songs: Army by Ben Folds Five, Caterpillar Girl by The Cure, and Take Me To The River by the Talking Heads

Three things you want in a relationship: humor, honesty, consideration.

Three physical things about the preferred sex that appeals to you: I find both genders physically appealing, but I'm more hetero than not, so here goes: big hands, slightly taller than average, slim but not slight.

Three of your favorite hobbies: watching movies/tv shows, reading, theater.

Three things you want to do really badly right now: Take a vacation, eat a cheeseburger, quit my job

Three things that scare you: jumping into the water feet-first, my 16 year old driving, losing my job.

Three of your everyday essentials: water, sunglasses, sunscreen

Three careers you have considered / are considering: Midwife, Music Teacher, Actress

Three places you want to go on vacation: Paris, Barcelona, New Zealand

Three kids' names you like: I love my children's names, plus Declan.

Three things you want to do before you die: learn another language, publish a novel, meet my great-grandchildren

Three ways you are stereotypically a boy: I *never* hear that noise in the middle of the night; I can wake up, take a shower, and be out of the house within 20 minutes, I don't decorate.

Three ways you are stereotypically a girl: I moisturize every day, I like getting dressed up and feeling pretty, I crave chocolate and salt 4 or 5 days a month.

Three celeb crushes: Daniel Day-Lewis, Jason Bateman, Eddie Izzard

I'll have to pass this on to 3 people who actually read this blog, so I'll go with: The Chemist, JRH at Upon Further Review, and Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast.

I don't like tangy apples

Over at Rittenhouse Review, there is a bit of whining going on because a recent study indicated the Red Delicious, a type not favored by Jim Cappozzola, is the most healthful apple.

I'm quite pleased, though, since the Red Delicious is my favorite type of apple. I pass by the MacIntosh, I have disdain for Granny Smith, don't care for Macouns or Romes or Galas or Pink Ladies. I like the perfect sweetness of a Red Delicious.

Although I could write an ode to melons, my favorite of all fruits.

I'm not a scientist, but....

I was just reading this article from the Telegraph which is reporting on a study that ostensibly proves that having an abortion can have a negative impact on any pregnancies that follow the abortion.

I'm just a secretary, but the following paragraph that explains the methodology used sort of raised a flag for me:

Her study compared the medical histories of 2,219 women with babies born at less than 34 weeks with another 618 who had given birth at full term. Overall, women who had had an abortion were 40 per cent more likely to have a very pre-term delivery (less than 33 weeks) than those without such a history. The risk of an extremely premature baby - one born at less than 28 weeks - was raised even more sharply, by 70 per cent. Abortion appeared to increase the risk of most major causes of premature birth, including premature rupture of membranes, incorrect position of the foetus on the placenta and spontaneous early labour. The only common cause of premature birth not linked to abortion was high blood pressure.

I would think that if you wanted to determine whether abortion impacts future pregnancies, the sample you would want would be women who had abortions and then went on to have another pregnancy - then you could determine how many women who had abortions experienced problems with a subsequent pregnancy. And then you would have to have a control group, I guess, of women who did not have abortions but had more than one pregnancy, to determine the differences between the two, and whether any of the problems experienced can be linked to abortion.

This sample seems to be heavily weighed to include women who have not delivered a full-term baby, so it seems natural that a large percentage of them would have problems with subsequent pregnancies, whether or not they've had an abortion. And what percentage of the women who had premature births had them because of high blood pressure, which was not linked to abortion? That statistic is not included.

So help me out, scientifically inclined readers - am I off base in my concerns about this study?

Idle questions

I've just been reading a bunch of abortion and dentists with Freudian syringes related posts around and about the internet, and my mind started wandering (as it often does when I'm bored at work), and I started wondering: Who do my eggs belong to? Does a man own his sperm? If I consent to sex, and I'm using birth control that fails, have I actually consented to allow my sex partners sperm to engage with my egg? If a man uses a condom and there is a hole in it unbeknownst to him, has he really consented to putting his sperm into someone else's body?

Added to blogroll

I've added firedoglake, The Green Knight, and Pam's House Blend. Three fine blogs that I should have added a while ago.

I'll probably be making some more changes to the blogroll soon. I'm still trying to figure out how to break down the list - I may have a short list of favorites at the top, and then the big ones I visit daily (but who hardly need my link) just to stay on top of things. I use my blogroll as a starting point, so I definitely plan on keeping it.

I5BOTD 5/26/05

Today's Indie 500 Blog of the Day is:

Brilliant at Breakfast

which opens with a great Oscar Wilde quote.

A Fox I can get behind

I really enjoyed reading this blog. I like his idea for an atheist flyer.

How do I love thee, Shakespeare's Sister?

Here's one way. I've found some great blogs thanks to Shakes Sis' daily blogwhoring post.

Cool

Some Watery Tart (which, btw, great nom de net) has a post up about Music Nazis she encountered at Borders.

I wouldn't say I'm a Music Nazi (I did marry a man who *loves* Styx), but I do think people's musical tastes can be revealing. There was a girl in my madrigal class who was putting CD's in a portable case once, and I asked her what CDs she owned: "Celine Dion, of course - I have all Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Cher, and Phantom of the Opera" - I don't want this person carted off to music re-education camp or anything, but I can safely say that I might not want to invest too much time in getting to know her, either.

As I'm getting older, I find that I am turning into my mother when it comes to music. I love all my old favorites, but I am still intrigued by new stuff that sounds interesting. My mother is a sucker for a melody, and in my middle school years she was obsessed with Ozzy Osborne, who, bat-eater or not, put out some very melodic metal. Behind the guitars was a catchy tune, and that's what my mom likes. My metalhead friends thought my mom was so cool.

When I was in high school, though, my taste in music did not make me cool. I would say the split of what kind of music people listened to broke down this way:

30% Monsters of Classic Rock/Music To Get High To - Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Stones, Pink Floyd, The Doors
40% Whatever was on America's Top 40 - Bruce Springsteen? Okay! Cyndi Lauper? Why not! Michael Jackson? His videos are so awesome!
15% Prog Rock - Rush Rules!
10% New Wave - The Police, The Cars, Berlin, Talking Heads
5% - other - country, punk, "I only listen to classical", funk, R&B, hip-hop (my town was 99.9% white, but there are always people who are listening to the next big thing)

Although I like Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper, I fell pretty firmly into freak territory. I was a little too hard-edged (what with the mohawk and the surly attitude) to fit in with the New Wavers, but not quite hard-edged enough to fit in with the punks.

Now I'm not as regimented in my musical tastes. I love Ben Folds, who is most often compared to Elton John (who I loved when I was 8 and Crocodile Rock was kind of funny to me, but lost interest in after that); I love Rufus Wainwright with his mush-mouth singing and sincere and personal lyrics; I love Nellie McKay with her smooth jazz voice, her perky Doris Day looks, and her brutal and funny lyrics; I love the spare punk sound on The White Stripes first CD; I like Missy Elliott, OutKast, Queens of the Stone Age (and even though he looks like Craig Kilborn, who is like the anti-sexy to me, Josh Homme is, IMO, unbelieveably sexy), the Foo Fighters, The Shins....

Now Sio hears from her friends "your mom is so cool!"

Political Burnout

Between the nuclear option, the filibuster, the evil bitch Priscilla Owens' manslaughter of a quadriplegic ("he didn't die while in front of my court") the vitriol towards pro-choice voters at Kos, the Newsweek retraction, neocons at PBS, Okrent's fact free criticism of Krugman, and James Dobson all over the fucking TV, I'm feeling very burnt out on any subject related to politics. I'm sure the next outrage is right around the corner, but right now I feel all raged-out.

I5BOTD 5/25/05

Today's Indie 500 Blog of the Day is:

Mad Professah Lectures

and if that pic is the Mad Professah, damn, he's hot.

catching up

Over the weekend, Amanda at Pandagon wrote about a Salon article on friendship break-ups.

One of the incidents that is detailed in the article is Kate Roiphe's story about sleeping with the man her overweight best friend was hot for - even though she didn't really like him.

This happened to me in high school.

I spent my first two years of high school at a private Catholic school. When my older sister was asked to not return for her senior year, my parents pulled me, too. So when my junior year started, it was almost like starting a brand new school - I hadn't kept in touch with any of my friends (something that continues to this day, I'm sorry to say).

At the start of the school year, we had standardized testing, and I was passing the test sheets to the boy behind me when I suddenly felt struck by Cupid's arrow - who was this beautiful boy with the soulful brown eyes?

I started observing him. Some would call it stalking. But I didn't have the nerve to interact with him. I knew we liked the same music. He was a frequent call-in guest to a radio show at UCONN that I listened to. I got my first job working at the same store where he worked, and I worked up the courage to start a few conversations with him. He was polite but distant.

I denied that I was in love to everyone, but finally I told my best friend. She gave me some tips (this was my best friend who slept with many, many people) on how to get his attention. But it just didn't seem to be working.

At the end of my junior year, I got accepted at the Center for Creative Youth for their Creative Writing program. So I left school with nothing but a picture of my love object.

Best Friend came to visit me at CCY one Saturday, and she told me that she and my love object had met at a club a couple of weeks before. And she said they slept together. And that now they were dating.

DATING!!!! Best Friend didn't date, she fucked and moved on. I left the room and locked myself in the bathroom stall. Best Friend came in and sat on the floor and wouldn't leave. She cried and told me how messed up her life was and how great it was to finally have something normal like a boyfriend, and that she didn't think she could bear it if she had to give him up. So I just forgave her. I decided it was more important to me to have her in my life than to have him in my life.

Of course, it was so much more complicated than that. It was a betrayal. I held myself in such low-esteem that I didn't really think I could have a better friend than Best Friend. And her own problems put mine into a perspective that, in a way, helped me cope with my own shitty life.