Something that Won't Happen often

This is going to be a bit (ok, potentially a lot) political. It's not something I'll do here frequently. I'll never hide my political views if I am asked but I do usually hold to the tenant that it's not a discussion for exceptionally public places. Usually my small rants will stay on Facebook or Live Journal. Maybe, if I'm feeling particularly feisty, they'll make it to deviantArt. Very rarely will you see them here. This is one of those rare times, though. The news of the last few weeks is just adding up too much for me to not say something; writing, especially when it needs to be well thought out and ordered, can be quite cathartic.  And now onto the rant. 

For how much certain political forces like to claim that they want "small government" they do seem awfully happy to shove their government all over my body. Especially my reproductive system.

Several states have passed/are considering laws that would require a woman seeking an abortion to first have a sonogram. One state would be too many. The fact that's not just one... Perhaps worst of all, there's no exceptions. Carrying a rapist's child? Listen to the heartbeat. Carrying a child you know will be stillborn or dead soon after birth? Listen to the heart beat.

And now there's a bill in the House (that naturally has the support of my congress creature) that will limit tax dollars that go towards abortions. Currently, medicaid can pay for them in cases of rape. Even if we go with the idea that that is the only time it's acceptable to have one, this bill wants to change that to only cover it in times of forcible and violent rape. That's it. Date rape drugs involved? Alcohol? You weren't raped enough to deserve that abortion. Further, it's limiting all tax money spent, and they're saying that because an HSA is tax free that money can't be spent on abortions, regardless of reason. And those tax deductions that you can get for insurance payments if you itemize your taxes? Kiss those goodbye if your plan even offers abortion coverage, regardless of if you ever use it.^

There's fear mongering in this country that it's going to turn into some socialist nightmare. We'll ignore the fact that most of the people screaming about this cannot actually tell you what socialism or communism is, just that Joe McCarthy told them it was a Bad Thing. Problem is, it's not one of Orwell's novels that I'm worried is going to come about; it's Atwood's*. That's not socialism. It's fascism, and it is far far scarier.

It is becoming quite clear to me that there is a group of politicians who do not view women as fully functioning adults capable of making their own decisions and running their own lives. Most shocking is the fact that there are women *in* this group. I've never really used "feminist" to describe myself. I never thought I had to; surely we had reached a point where there was no need to point out that I considered myself equal citizen despite having a uterus. Apparently that was naive of me. Regardless of my past naivety, this needs to be paid attention too. Every thinking woman, and every man who views women as more than chattel, needs to pay attention to this very slippery slope. Now it's proposed to not be rape from the view point of medical treatment. How long before it's not rape from the view of the law?

*The Handmaid's Tale is particularly creepy right now.
^H.R. 3 of 2011

edited for a couple of small typos

Not really resolutions

I decided a long time ago not to do New Year's resolutions. They're rarely ever kept with, and it seems to me that if one is going to make a change in one's life then one needs to do it right away, rather than just waiting for an arbitrary date.* That said, there are a couple of changes that I need to make, namely that I need to exercise more and stress less. Hopefully the two will easily go hand in hand. If it's not below 10F or knee deep in snow, there's no reason the dog and I can't go for a long walk daily. As for the stressing less, well, we'll see.

Dustin and I took advantage of the warm weather over the holiday weekend to take the dogs down to a nearby park for some hiking.  It was nice to get out of the house and do something outside without having to be bundled into multiple layers. I enjoy winter, but not that part of it.

Chaos had fun poking around in the bush, and Scamper does love digging for rodents, though I'm not sure what she'd do if she ever actually *found* anything.

I've gotten ready to start the first of my quarterly goals for my knit/crochet group. Everyday Crochet finally came in from the library, and I have the yarn to start my sweater. It's Berroco Vintage in a beautiful shade of green. I've also already finished the first sock for the group goal of making 12 pairs of socks this year, so that's looking much more achievable than it was two weeks ago.

Aside from that, life goes on much the same as normal. School starts again next week, and Dustin is looking for a new job. He loves the one that he's got now, but it appears that the crappy economy has finally hit it; he hasn't worked since before Christmas. We're eeking by for now, but that's not going to last. Technically, they have a corporate contract (redoing the lines in Taco Bell) but since they appear to be just sitting on it and not actually doing anything, having the contract doesn't do much good. We've talked about it, and if nothing better comes first, he'll be going (it is, sadly, a traveling thing) but if he gets something that looks to be a permanent full time thing with benefits, he's not going anywhere. The money's not worth it if there's the opportunity to actually have health insurance.

*I'll apologize right now for the writing style; I fell asleep watching Pride and Prejudice last night (the good one with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) and it does effect my inner monologue quite a bit.