Thanks to the “little” announcement at work this morning, I’ve been pretty out of sorts all day. There’s not enough details available to me to weigh any options yet - but of course I’m damn near freaking out and re-evaluating pretty much everything. While I don’t necessarily feel “at home” in Burbank, even now, I did feel like things were gradually starting to go in that direction.
The gist of the issue is that my boss is leaving the hospital at the end of March, 2009. Where he is going next is unknown. I have my guesses - according to him they’re “large non-profit research institutions nearby” - so that really narrows it down to just a couple places. But they’re still in negotiations, so thats in the air. Fine. So me? Read the rest of this entry »
Been quiet on here, I know. Just haven’t had blogging motivation of late. Some notes:
Playoffs are here. Kickball, that is. My team has it’s first round playoff game Monday. We have the ability to win, so we’d better do so.
Playoffs are here. Cubs are down 0-2. Everything else I might say you should be able to figure out on your own.
Obama is pulling away from McCain in the polls. But it’s not over yet. Still a month to go.
I found out this morning that, one way or another, I won’t be working at my current job in 6 months. I need to make some decisions. It’s obviously more complicated than just those 2 sentences, but I don’t really feel like going into it right now. Maybe in a few weeks when I know more about what my options are. But it’s unsettling in many ways.
Earlier, I talked about the LPGA policy to suspend players that could not pass an English proficiency exam. Well, it took them about a week, but the LPGA has decided to rethink the policy. I should hope so. They buckled under both criticism from media and players, but it seems that what finally did them in was criticism from sponsors. Not a big surprise that they go where the sponsors say, but at least they took the right stand. For example:
One of the tour’s title sponsors, State Farm, already weighed in this week by saying it was “dumbfounded.”
“We don’t understand this and we don’t know why they have done it,” State Farm spokesman Kip Diggs told Advertising Age on its Web site. “And we have strongly encouraged them to take another look at this.”
It also helped that California state legislators were thinking of banning discriminatory practices such as this one, or using contacts with sponsors to increase pressure on the LPGA.
What the LPGA was thinking, I have no idea. They haven’t quite backed off completely - they’re leaving open the option of fines - but no suspensions. I’m not sure that’s fair still, but at least they won’t prevent players from playing golf - which is what they’re there for.
So. The 17 year old, unwed daughter of GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant. And she’s keeping the baby. And wants to marry the father. Clearly this means the end of support for her from the evangelical republicans. They can’t possibly support a woman who was unable to teach her daughter right from wrong. They can’t imagine supporting someone who couldn’t control her child. How immoral! Their house is full of sin! Let’s get the story straight from some evangelicals:
“We have always encouraged the parents to love and support their children and always advised the girls to see their pregnancies through, even though there will of course be challenges along the way. That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances.
“Being a Christian does not mean you’re perfect. Nor does it mean your children are perfect. But it does mean there is forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord. I’ve been the beneficiary of that forgiveness and restoration in my own life countless times, as I’m sure the Palins have,” Dobson said.
Uh, what? Really? Let’s try someone else….
“Before, they were excited about her, with the Down syndrome baby,” conservative, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist said. “But now with this, they are over the moon. It reinforces the fact that this family lives its pro-life values.”
Holy crap. Excited about Down syndrome babies? Over the moon about teen pregnancies? What the hell is going on here? Let’s try this one last time.
“The media are already trying to spin this as evidence Gov. Palin is a ‘hypocrite,’ but all it really means is that she and her family are human,” Dobson said.
Well jumpin’ jehosephat - they’re human! OOHHHH well that explains it all! No, wait - it doesn’t. I agree this doesn’t make Palin a hypocrite. But it just means that the evangelicals who support her are. I can understand why they would respect Palin’s choice to keep her mentally challenged child. I can see why they’d support the daughter keeping hers. They’re against abortion, we get it. But to like a candidate MORE because she has failed to instill their values to her child? Like a candidate MORE because she chose to accept the nomination to VP even though she has an infant child AND a pregnant teenage daughter? Where’s the family values there? Family obviously isn’t coming first. This has brought a world of scrutiny down on a family currently going through some challenges. Even the evangelicals agree than having a child as a teenager stresses a family.
And don’t tell me this is logical. If Joe Biden had a pregnant, unwed teenage daughter, the evangelicals would be frothing at the mouth at the sinfulness and moral failings of the Democrat VP candidate! There’s no way they’d say, “We believe children are a blessing, and commend Biden and his family for keeping the child.” No way in hell. They’d be assaulting Biden’s fitness as a parent and, by extension, fitness to be VP of the USA. The hypocrisy isn’t Palin’s - it’s that of the “values voters” who support her.
But this is one of the biggest problems Democrats have in pointing out the moral failings of those on the right. They point and say, “See! They’re not perfect! They talk a big game but none of them are any better than anyone else! They’re as morally corrupt as they say we are!” And it’s true - both Democrats and Republicans are humans and have human failings. Dobson says that it means Palin and her family are human - but did anyone think otherwise? Really? Of course not. So those on the right hear the criticism and respond with, “True, we are human. But at least we say we’re better than you.” And “better” is to their definition. The Democrats should not be assaulting the Republicans for their moral failings. They should simply say, “As you can see, they are as human as we are. We simply expect humans to make mistakes - whereas the Republicans pretend no one does until they do.” The Democrats call the Republicans hypocrites for acting in opposition to their stated values. Republicans call Democrats immoral becuase they don’t claim to be perfect in the first place.
If God forgives, as the evangelicals claim, then why would he forgive Republicans more than Democrats? That’s never spoken of. Democrats don’t deserve to lead because they have moral failings. Republicans deserve to lead because God has forgiven their moral failings. This makes no sense to me. But apparently it makes sense to a great many people. The face of the evangelical right has severe tunnel vision.
Conservative commentators have so far focused exclusively on Bristol’s decision not to have an abortion. Nothing has been said about the subject of unwed teenage mothers, personal morality, and parents’ responsibilities, although many of these people have clear opinions when talking about unwed teenage mothers living in urban ghettos.
Well said, electoral-vote.com. I personally don’t really care that Palin’s daughter is pregnant. I do wonder what her sex education was though. Was it the proven-fail method of Abstinence Only, which we know Palin endorses? Was she aware of the myriad of contraception choices? Ultimately I don’t believe this disqualifies Palin from being able to hold the VP position. I think there are plenty of other reasons to be concerned. This is the least of them, if a reason at all. I don’t expect her to have watched her 17 year old daughter 24/7, nor do I think she should have. I only question whether the daughter had enough information to make an intelligent choice.
But the evangelical right isn’t concerned with intelligent choices. They’re forgiven for the mistakes, so why bother thinking in the first place?
Let’s look at it this way. Who is this quote from?
“The age issue, I think, was more significant in my career than the [MINORITY] issue; your resume isn’t as fat as your opponent’s, that kind of thing,” [CANDIDATE X] told TIME last month. “I don’t have 30 years of political experience under my belt but that’s a good thing. I’ve never been part of a good-ol’-boys club.”
Sarah Palin? Or Barack Obama?
The fact you have to think about it, even for a second, shows how quickly McCain just jettisoned one of his favorite talking points.
Apparently Jesus, that ol’ trickster, has been seen on the back of a moth in Texas. Pareidolia aside, some people say it re-affirms their faith when something miraculous and rare like this happens.
Personally, my faith is re-affirmed when I see moths without the face of Jesus on it. I guess we all draw comfort from different things. I just draw it more often.
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