Freudian Ickiness

Still around, still pregnant, blah blah blah. Nearing the end of my seventh month and I feel like I am going to be pregnant for the rest of my life.

Then the baby moves, which kind of feels like I've swallowed an eel but in a wholesome way, and I feel okay about it.

Have I mentioned it's a girl? It's a girl! I feel good about the opportunity to unleash a confident hellcat woman on the world.

Then I read stuff like this and fear for her future.

You then explain to the child that you will hold the key to her precious heart until the day of her wedding. On that day, you will give her away like at all weddings, BUT in doing so you will also “give away” the key to her heart to her now husband. The key and lock are actually functional and your son-in-law will place the key in the heart to open it.

The "key" to her "heart?" Not only is this a teensy smidgeon away from being a chastity belt, it's chock-full of creepy Freudian symbolism.

Seriously, the girl has a lock, which can only be opened with a special key? Ew.

Not to mention the whole ownership of the girl's sexuality. It's as if the father is saying to the future son-in-law, "Here's your prize for being a man in our society...a virgin girl!" Notice the girl doesn't get to keep the key. It's her father's, then her husband's. As one of the commenters at the Pandagon post made me realize, if they really wanted to encourage girls to have the self-confidence to wait to have sex until they're ready, they would give the girls the stupid key to keep.

This is the religious fundamentalism I see creeping in to take over our society. What will it be like for my daughter when she's my age?

I hope this is somewhat cogent. I've been highly sleepy lately.

**ADDED, upon remembering. See also pertinent discussions at Pharyngula and Feministe.

28 and still alive!!

Happy Birthday to me.

Buy me presents.

Just kidding.

We're a neglected state seeking negative attention...

You know you've lived in New Mexico too long when you see this headline:

Screaming Intruder Jumps White House Fence

And the first thought that pops into your head is, "Please don't be from New Mexico..."

Unfortunately,

Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren identified the man as 40-year-old Brian Lee Patterson, whose last known address was in Albuquerque, N.M.

Sigh.

I swear, other things happen here besides the plague, crotch-burning grannies, and crazy people who try to break into the White House.

For instance, the Democratic Party of New Mexico has called for the impeachment of the president. That's pretty cool.

But apparently people still don't know where or what New Mexico is. As part of my job I talk to people from all different parts of the country, and I can tell you this type of shit happens all the time.

Poor Fundies...

Recently, all the religious right has been singing "It's Hard out there for a Pimp," and I think skippy and PZ have figured out why. Two things, not including that study showing prayer probably has no effect on health, happened recently that would put a cramp in any decently fundamentalist world view.

First, at Pharyngula, paleontologists have discovered a new fossil that provides another link in the chain between fishes and land vertebrates.

This creature is called Tiktaalik roseae, and it was discovered in a project that was specifically launched to find a predicted intermediate form between a distinctly fish-like organism, Panderichthys, and the distinctly tetrapod-like organisms, Acanthostega and Ichthyostega.

...The analysis of the fossil clearly positions it as an intermediate: it has a more mobile skull/neck than a fish, and although its limbs are clearly fin-like, they also have features that presage the digits of tetrapods.

The really interesting thing, I think, is that this creature fills in a gap, but then creates more. One of the cooler things about science (vs. religion) is that you can't really ever answer all the questions.

A good scientist will never say, "This is how it is. The end." Science is a process that develops a picture of how things are most likely to be given current evidence. Religious dogma, however, makes grand declarations that close lines of inquiry. Often with threat of torture. (Ask Galileo.)

In other news that Jerry Falwell will likely overlook, skippy points out the recent discovery of a Gnostic text that appears to be a copy of the Gospel of Judas.

the account goes on to relate that Jesus refers to the other disciples, telling Judas "you will exceed all of them. for you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." by that, scholars familiar with Gnostic thinking said, Jesus meant that by helping him get rid of his physical flesh, Judas will act to liberate the true spiritual self or divine being within Jesus.

unlike the accounts in the new testament gospels of Matthew, mark, Luke and john, the anonymous author of the gospel of Judas believed that Judas Iscariot alone among the 12 disciples understood the meaning of Jesus teachings and acceded to his will.

I find early Christianity fascinating because there were so many different variations, including the vaguely Buddhist-seeming Gnostics. It's interesting to think what geopolitics would be like if these sects had each flourished, or if a different branch of Christianity had become 'mainstream.'

Also, it gives a huge slap in the face to Bible literalism. I've always wondered how people could take the bible word for word when its contents had been translated a million times over, and the books included had been picked and choosen from many, many texts.

I don't want to sound like I'm begrudging anyone their religious beliefs here. But, apparently we atheists are considered the scum of the earth by the rest of America, so I feel justified.

Beads!

Via First Draft (via Body and Soul), here's a great idea for leftover Mardi Gras beads (I know I have a huge boxful).

OK this is your chance to take action. Yesterday I posted that the Army Corps of Engineers informed officials that they need an additional $6 billion to rebuild the levees for the New Orleans area. Bush is making no promises he will ask Congress for the funds. In fact his point man in NOLA indicated there will not be full funding. Levee funding is presently being decided in Congress. This appropriations bill will be debated after Congress's spring recess.

In that time let's be heard. Let's deliver a message that George Can SEE.

Let's go Wild with Levee Beads.
Send George Bush your beads with the message to fully fund the levees.

Check it out, there's the address, and even a video to help illustrate.

I'm even willing to send out some beads in your name, that's how many I have.

(Not the cool ones though. Lol.)

**UPDATE** Scout at First Draft asks that you send pictures. There's some already, go see. I'm sending mine tomorrow.

Welcome, skiptonians!

Thanks for the link, skippy! And for coining that term (you know the one we mean...)!

Don Imus is an Asshole.

I'm relieved that journalist Jill Carroll, recently held hostage by a group of serious cowards in Iraq who clearly need to re-read their Quran and Hadith, has just been released (physically) unharmed.

As a condition of her release, Carroll was forced to make a propaganda video in which she said she had no issues with her captors and was treated well.

In a video, recorded before she was freed and posted by her captors on an Islamist Web site, Carroll spoke out against the U.S. military presence. But in a statement Saturday, she said the recording was made under threat. Her editor has said three men were pointing guns at her at the time.

Emphasis mine.

It took literally two seconds, as many other blogs have already noted, for the jack-offs of our society who dare to think themselves the more patriotic amongst us to start up with the misogyny and the racism.

It's easy to excuse this sort of thing coming from the knuckle draggers like the commenters at a certain certain blog I will not link to or name (rhymes with 'little green no-balls'). But mainstream shows like Imus In The Morning should hold themselves to a higher standard.

MCGUIRK: She strikes me as the kind of woman who would wear one of those suicide vests. You know, walk into the, try and sneak into the Green Zone.

IMUS: Oh, no. No, no, no, no.

MCCORD: Just because she always appears in traditional Arab garb and wearing a burka.

MCGUIRK: Yeah, what’s with the head gear? Take it off. Let’s see.

IMUS: No, no. This is not –

MCCORD: That’s why the Arab world called for her to be released, because, you know, she defended Iraqis. She was against the war in Iraq and, I wouldn’t be surprised if —

IMUS: Well, so are we. So am I!

MCCORD: Exactly. She cooked with them, lived with them.

IMUS: This is not helping.

MCGUIRK: She may be carrying Habib’s baby at this point.

[laughter]

Emphasis mine.

I can't imagine what it would be like to go through an ordeal like this, held at gunpoint, begging for your life, a crime victim for fuck's sake, only to be released into the snake pit of American insta-celebrity, where people feel free to say flat out that you were literally in bed with the men who psychologically abused you for weeks.

How dare they? That video could just as easily have ended with Carroll's decapitation. Urgh, this makes me so furious! If I were Jill Carroll I would sue that rich white motherfucker Don Imus for all he's worth.

Everybody should send him hate mail.

imus@msnbc.com

It would be nice if he at least apologized for the conduct of his producer and sidekick, and for his own seriously weak 'golly gee, don't say such things' statements.

Gah, sometimes people really piss me off.

Story originally found via Majikthise.

Cures for Hyperemesis-induced depression

So here I am, hunched over the keyboard, feeling both nauseous and starving at the same time. I'm pretty miserable. I can't sleep as the bed is currently taken up by two cats and a snoring husband. I can't watch TV because, well, it's mind-numbingly boring. And besides, lying on the couch gives me heartburn.

So the internet must entertain me.

There are plenty of things to lift me out of my doldrums. Is it wrong of me to take such joy in the movie trailers for Happy Feet? Seriously, it's like March of the Penguins but without the parts where some of them die. And with tapdancing. And penguins twirling around going "Woo!" If this baby I'm having doesn't come out grooving to old Stevie Wonder songs, I think I might be disappointed.

Then there's this. CBS newswoman Laura Logan kicked some serious ass on CNN the other day. When asked as to why more good news isn't being reported on from Iraq,she basically responded, "Because I don't work for the Ministry of Truth, motherfucker!" Seriously, you go. Not since Anderson Cooper went off on Bill Maher's show after Hurricane Katrina have I seen such awesomeness on the part of a journalist.

Of course the most fun thing to do online is buy stuff. (Ugh, did I just type that?) Or rather, not buy stuff but look at stuff you would never buy yourself. So I have spent hours creating a baby registry at Target.

Okay. Here's the link. But you don't have to buy me stuff, really. I don't know if I'd actually need any of this crap. Pretty much the only people I know who've had children are my parents, and I feel weird asking them.

On a less consumerist whore note, can I say that I find the protests in LA over the new immigration policy totally inspiring? 500,000 people, holy cow. Kind of restores one's faith in Americans.

hey

Anybody in the Albuquerque area looking to unload an old beat up sofa? I'm looking for a new porch couch.

I need to reinstate the laid back morocco porch (nesting), and need a slouchy sofa I can cover and toss some cushions on.

Stressed...

So here is the crazy notion running through my pregnancy-hormone addled brain, keeping me from tolerating work, fun, or anything.

Is it selfish of me to quit my job and go back to school with a baby on the way? Am I depriving my child of financial resources by not wanting to work full time for a big whorish corporation?

At a meeting this week, it was actually suggested that we strive to make ourselves the Starbucks of _______(insert industry here that I will not name so I don't get fired.) So you see my problem. But I make enough money to support a child with plenty of amenities.

Or, would that be setting a horrible example? I can't imagine looking a kid in the eyes, telling them school is important and they should work hard and follow their dreams if I didn't...for more money. Besides, does the world really need another infant yuppie in a 700 dollar stroller wearing designer clothes?

(Not that I'd refuse a Bugaboo Frog if someone gave it to me...)

As a offspring of two people with masters degrees, I can't help but be ashamed that I never finished college. And I don't want my child to feel that way either.

But how selfish is it of me to deprive a baby of resources just because I don't want to be a corporate whore anymore? Sigh. I need the punk mommy version of Tyler Durden to come along and set my priorities in order.

It is spectacularly hard to wrap my brain around this problem. It's similar to the whole stupid 'opt-out' issue that's been all over the feminist and mother blogs since Betty Freidan died, but on a completely different level. I'm not wanting to be a stay-at-home mom, but I still want to combine personal fulfillment (finishing my degree and getting a job in my actual chosen field) and providing for a family.

Should this even be considered a feminist issue? To me, this has nothing to do with being a mother as opposed to just being a parent (gendered vs non-gendered). Or am I just being naive? My husband does not seem to be struck by this dilemma. No one is asking him questions about what he's going to do after the baby comes.

I don't know. Any other mothers out there who had a similar freak-out with their first child? Any other fellow corporate whores feeling the need to break free? Surely I'm not the only one.

What's going on here?

So, what was weirder:

The Italian all-clown marching band playing an off-key version of The Village People's YMCA while 100 women wearing wedding dresses form a giant dove during the Olympic closing ceremonies?

Or fake Mary J. Blige not quite hitting the high note on "PEEEEEEMMMMP!!!" while women in hot pants and afro wigs did the interpretive ho dance in the background during the Oscars last night?

All I know is, the profession of pimping poses difficulty for many.

I don't know what this means...

You are "Noscitur a socii"!
You look to neighboring words to shed light on the meaning of ambiguous words. You're a sociable canon, and always look at everything in context. However, you're useless by yourself.

Which Canon of Statutory Construction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I'll have to ask my lawyer. Via Feministe.

Regurgiblogging

Yeah, not dead or anything. Just deep in the grips of pregnancy. I have fallen into a sleep-go to work-eat-sleep cycle with bouts of nesting instinct and Olympic Figure Skating-watching (Can you believe Johnny Wier lost? But you gotta love that Sasha Cohen!) inbetween, and haven't really felt the urge to blog.

Most people officially put their blogs on hiatus in times like these, but since I only have like 5 readers anyway I'll post when I please, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway, for those poor 5 readers, here's some stuff.

Jeanne at Body and Soul has a post about what it means now that the Al-Askariya shrine in Iraq has been destroyed, along with some heartbreaking before and after pictures of the beautiful golden dome.

This is a huge symbol of all that's wrong in Iraq. Not only does it seem to indicate the country is poised on the brink of civil war, it is yet another piece of the Iraqi cultural heritage that's been damaged. From the Spiral Minaret at Samarra to antiquities looted from the National Museum that are still missing, what will be left?

Maybe I'm just a cold-hearted woman, but this is almost more upsetting to me that loss of life. These buildings and these artifacts have managed to survive just fine until now. Like the destruction of the Parthenon, the burning of the Library of Alexandria, or the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban these are act that will be looked upon with shame by posterity.

Next: Who sucks more, the United States or Europe? Honestly, I can't decide.

I honestly believe those Danish Muhammed cartoons would never be published in America (although maybe I am naive...) and if they were, American Muslims are not as apparently marginalized by society as they are in Europe. (Okay, so maybe I'm taking most of my opinion from the film Dirty Pretty Things.)

But so far, the United States has not had home-grown Islamic terrorism the likes of which has plagued London and Madrid, or riots the likes of which were seen last fall in France. To ask an honest question, why not? Are American Muslims allowed a bigger stake in society than European Muslims? Honestly I don't know, but that's the conclusion I'm drawing. Feel free to criticize.

Then there's this. South Dakota is working to pass a law that would ban all abortion, with no exception for the health of the woman included. That is so barbaric it's unbelievable. Can you imagine being a doctor and having to look a woman in the eye and say, "You're probably going to die/be rendered infertile/give birth to a doomed baby with no brain, and I could save your life/uterus/heartbreak, but by law I can't!" I don't care what your position on abortion is, when you think life starts, but you can't possibly tell me you could do that.

This is yet another example of conservatives not thinking about the consequences of the stupid laws they seek to pass. Or, worse yet, maybe they are. Maybe they really do hate women that much. Is it worse, though, than this recent ruling by the Italian Supreme Court?

The court ruled in favor of a man in his forties, identified only as Marco T., who forced his 14-year old stepdaughter to have oral sex with him after she refused intercourse.

The man, who has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail, lodged an appeal arguing that the fact that his stepdaughter had had sex with men before should have been taken into consideration during his trial as a mitigating factor.

The supreme court agreed, saying that because of her previous sexual experiences, the victim's "personality, from a sexual point of view, is much more developed than what would be normally expected of a girl of her age".

"It is therefore fair to argue that (the damage for the victim) would be lower" if the abused girl was not a virgin, Italian news agencies quoted the court as saying.

Ugh. Truly disgusting. Again maybe I am naive, but I really don't think this would ever happen in the US. (Although it does seem to be somewhat of an unwritten rule here...see the Kobe Bryant case.)

So who sucks more? It's a wash.

Finally: Am I the only one who thinks Willie Nelson's gay cowboy song is a little too cutesy? "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out.."? I don't know, this seems to be coming from the stereotype that all gay men are effeminate. Although it's great that he went there with (apparently) serious intentions, that lyric in particular seems to have missed the mark and sound a little too 'jokey.'

Well that's all for now. I'll post again when I feel like it.

Bush bravely takes anti-Humanimal stand!

My new favorite blogger PZ Myers over at Pharyngula has drawn attention to a particularly hilarious segment of the State-of-the-Union speech.

I didn't listen to the State of the Union Address last night, preferring to maintain my equanimity by attending a talk on quantum physics, but I knew I could trust my readers to email me with choice weird science bits. I'm getting a lot of "WTF?" email about this statement from Bush:

Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research, human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling or patenting human embryos.

It's pure political calculus. He throws away the mad scientist and pig-man vote, and wins the religious ignoramus voteÃ?‚…and we know which one has the majority here.

No one is honestly arguing that there shouldn't be some sort of ethics involved on experiments with genetics, the vague, alarmist wording of the president ignores the practical scientific uses of this kind of work.

PZ goes on, explaining better than I could possibly:

We would love to have an animal model of Down syndrome, so that, for example, we could figure out exactly what gene overdose is causing the immune system problems or the heart defects, and develop better treatments for them.

So what scientists have been doing is inserting human genes into mice, to produce similar genetic overdoses in their development.

...These mice are a tool to help us understand a debilitating human problem.

George W. Bush would like to make them illegal.

This seems to be another example of crazy religious conservatives not thinking about the practical, real-world effects of the policies they want to enact.

The classic example, of course is the question of how women who have abortions should be punished if abortion is made illegal. (ADDED***I finally found the video I was thinking of when mentioning this, here.)

Preventing research using human-animal hybrids not only potential medicines undiscovered but would actually prevent the usage of medicines already in use against things like Crohn's Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

It's easy to say you're against the creation of Dr. Moreau-style manimals. Of course you are. No one is for that. But equating *that* with the use of some strands of a molecule inside a cell with some slightly different molecules is stupid, reactionary, and callous towards those who could be helped by it.

Still Alive

Still alive, pregnant, etc. I haven't been posting this much as my house has been turned into the Viking craft sweatshop in preparation for the 2006 Taos Aelthing. Which is this weekend...woo!

I will post some pictures so everyone can see how cool my husband and our friends are.