From My Own Little Corner For decades now, a large part of the Republican party platform has been it's stance on overturning Roe v. Wade. Of course, there are other issues, but a large part of it's basic platform is it's pro-life stance. I am a pro-life, pro-choice Democrat, and before anyone says that I can't possibly be both, please understand this, abortion is not something I would choose for myself, however I don't feel that I have the Constitutional right to force my personal decision on another woman, with no understanding of the circumstances they may find themselves in. My views on this were altered radically when I was faced with a situation that could have required the termination of my last pregnancy, at 5 1/2 months, in 1987. I had a difficult pregnancy, and there was a real concern that my youngest had no bladder or kidneys and so could never have survived outside the womb. Dealing at the time with my daughter's illness and impending death, the thought of having to watch another of my children die, knowing there was no hope, changed my views. I had a long week of waiting, crying, and praying while traveling to Cardinal Glennon every day to be with my severely damaged daughter. Thank God, I wasn't forced to make that decision, but it changed the way I viewed the legality of Roe v. Wade.
Knowing how I feel, and having been confronted recently with the opinion from others that if I am pro choice, I cannot possibly also be a Christian (which by the way I am...I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, and have been baptized as an outward symbol of that decision), I decided to do some real research on Roe v. Wade. I found a lot of interesting information about the original ruling and subsequent revisits by the Supreme Court of the United States. I would like to share this with you, and then share MY thoughts on why after all these years, with all the drama, hand wringing, bombings, disagreements, political posturing, and promises to overturn it, it is still the law of the land, other than the constitutionality of it. Please understand I am in no way attempting to change anyone's mind, nor am I telling you that your belief on this subject is the wrong one. I am simply presenting what I have found and my hypothesis as to why it will never be overturned.
First, a little history on Roe v. Wade.
Although opponents to Roe V. Wade would like to believe that this ruling was the first time that abortion was legal in this country, that is simply not true. In the 1700's and early 1800's the term abortion only applied to termination of pregnancies after "quickening", or the first feelings of movement. There were pills readily available to women, called "Female Monthly Pills", that were taken when women wanted to end unwanted pregnancies.
In 1827, Illinois passed a law that taking these pills was illegal and punishable by up to 3 years in prison. Many states soon followed suit, but the pills were still widely available until the middle of the 19th century. Abortion did not become a serious offense until between 1860 and 1880, and contrary to popular belief it was not based on any moral outrage, but rather pursued by doctors that felt that the practitioners of abortion were competition and were taking business away from them. Until that point in time, even the Catholic church had accepted the ending of unwanted pregnancies up until the time of quickening, but soon joined forces with the doctors.
By the turn of the century all states had laws that banned abortion, but these were rarely enforced, and if the woman had enough money, abortion was still available to her. By the late 1930's the laws were being strictly enforced. Soon the crackdown led to a reform movement whereby abortion bans were lifted in California and New York, even before the supreme court ruled on Roe v. Wade. (1)
On January 22, 1973, the SCOTUS issued it's ruling on Roe v. Wade. This suit had been brought by Jane Roe, an alias for Norma McCorvey. It was originally brought on her behalf against the state of Texas, alleging that the abortion law there violated her constitutional rights and the rights of other women. The defendant was the District Attorney of Dallas County, Texas, Henry B. Wade. Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee were counsel for the plaintiffs and John Tolle, Jay Flowers, and Jay Floyd argued for the defense. A lower court's decision striking down the abortion law was based on the 9th Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, which states "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." and protected a person's right to privacy. The Supreme Court of the United States, chose to base it's ruling on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, and was decided primarily on the due process clause. A criminal statue that did not take into account the stage of the pregnancy or other issues, such as the life of the mother, was a ruled to be a violation of due process. As a result the courts upheld the lower courts decision and issued these guidelines.
1. In the first trimester, the state(that is, ANY government), could treat abortion only as a medical decision, leaving medical judgement to the woman's physician.
2. In the second trimester (before viability), the state's interest was seen as legitimate when it was protecting life of the mother.
3. After viability of the fetus (the ability of the fetus to survive outside and separated from the uterus), the potential of human life could be considered as a legitimate state interest, and the state could "choose to regulate, or even proscribe abortion" as long as the life and health of the mother was protected.
All state laws prohibiting the access to abortion during the first trimester were invalidated by Roe v. Wade. State laws restricting access during the second trimester were upheld only when the restrictions were for the purpose of protecting the health of the pregnant woman. (2)
In other words, Roe v. Wade held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in the earlier months of pregnancy without restriction, and with certain restrictions in later months, based on the Constitutional right to privacy.
Sitting on this court were the following:
Harry Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Chief Justice Warren Burger, William O. Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, Lewis Powell, Potter Stewart, the majority, and William Rehnquist and Byron White, the dissenters. The majority opinion was written by Harry Blackmun, with concurring opinions by Potter Stewart, Warren Burger, and William O. Douglas. Both Justice Rehnquist and Justice White wrote dissenting opinions. The interesting thing is the make up of the political appointments of these judges. People often think the justices were all liberal judges appointed by Democratic presidents, when in actuality the opposite is true. Blackmun, Powell, and Burgher, as well as Rehnquist, were all appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, Brennan and Stewart by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Douglas was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Marshall by President Lyndon B. Johnson, with White being appointed by President John F. Kennedy. So, of the 7 judges who upheld Roe v. Wade, 5 were appointed by Republican presidents, 2 by Democratic presidents, and of the 2 dissenting judges, one was appointed by a Republican and one by a Democratic president. (3)
This ruling has been revisited through the years, and in 1992 in Casey v Planned Parenthood, the decision was upheld again. In releasing the much anticipated decision, the SCOTUS first declared that "a woman's decision to get an abortion implicates important "liberty interests" and "privacy issues" that the Constitution's Due Process clause protects against state interference. Together these interests form a "substantive right to privacy" that is protected from state interference "in marriage, procreation, contraception, family relation ships, child rearing, and education." This right also protects the abortion decision, the court again argued, because it implicates equally intimate questions of a woman's personal autonomy, personal sacrifices, emotional and mental health, and fundamental right to define her life." (4) Roe v Wade was upheld by a slim 5-4 margin, although there were high hopes that since the make up of the court had changed, it would be overturned. The court now consisted of Harry Blackmun, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter, John Paul Stevens (Justices for the court) and William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Byron White (dissenting Justices). Of these Justices, 8 were appointed by Republican presidents, 5 of those by President Reagan and President Bush, both well known for their opposition to Roe v. Wade. (5)
Now, with this history in mind, I have to wonder why so many continue to believe that the SCOTUS will overturn Roe v. Wade if it is brought before the court in the future. In upholding it, the justices have stated that it is unconstitutional to limit a woman's access to abortion services on more than one occasion.
I have thought about this a lot, especially recently when my Christianity has been called into question, and this is what I think. In my opinion, no matter how vociferously the republican candidates declare otherwise, Roe v. Wade will never be overturned. It is a rallying cry for the base of the Republican party. When all else is going wrong, when the candidate that they have is weak and the support of the base is lackluster, the candidate will always go back to the pro-life stance and the promise of overturning Roe v. Wade to shore up support. If they were to overturn Roe v. Wade and outlaw abortion (which, as history has shown us, will never happen, even when the majority of the Supreme Court justices are republican appointees) they lose a very powerful way to motivate their base. If the republican party was truly serious about outlawing abortion and overturning Roe v. Wade, they had the perfect opportunity, between January 2001 and January 2007, when the Republican president, George W. Bush, had a super majority.
So, when a Republican candidate says he will strike down Roe v. Wade, I have serious reservations about his intention to truly do so, and those who are voting for him with this hope in mind, are very likely to be disappointed.
1. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roe-v-wade
2. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortionuslegal/p/roe_v_wade.htm
3. http://vox-nova.com/2008/05/21/are-liberal-judges-to-blame-for-roe-v-wade/
4. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_casey.html
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood_v._Casey
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
IGNORANCE IS...BLISS???
From My Own Little Corner On Sunday morning, as I was preparing to leave for church, I was watching the Jaco report on FOX 2, something I do every Sunday. Charles Jaco's guest was Todd Akin, the republican nominee and contender, for the Senate seat that is now held by Claire McCaskill. As I was listening to this interview, I learned a lot about Mr. Akin's personal and political views and much has been made (rightly so) of his views on abortion and "legitimate rape". I will get to that in a bit, but first, let me see if I can try to understand some of his "less controversial" ideas.
He is against student loans, they are the "3rd stage cancer of socialism". Really? I have many relatives and friends that have college degrees because these loans were available to them, including a sister that works for a large company. She has worked for this company her whole career (one that spans over 20 years), and her success would not have been possible if not for the student loans that helped her pay for her degree in mechanical engineering, and then let her pay it back after she got her job. From what I gleaned from Mr. Akin he thinks that the student loan program should be run by private lenders and they should be the ones that control this program. Oh, I see, then privately run, money making entities, the ones that are so upstanding, and "whose assets now exceed half the size of the US economy" (1), would be the ones that decide who gets the funds to go to college and who doesn't. Oh yes, that is so much better than the federal government ensuring that ALL people have access to college funds. Lets ask the general public and middle class, just how well that has worked for them in other lending arenas, especially the minorities that wanted the funds to build a home. I suspect that they might have a different opinion about how effectively private banking entities would run the student loan program.
Mr. Akin is also not a fan of the federal school lunch program. Here again, he thinks that the states should run this program, because the states are so much better at "sorts of things" than the federal government is. My question would be where exactly the funds for this program would come from? Would they come from federal grants or would there be a need to raise state taxes? Or perhaps your real estate taxes will go up to cover these costs? Would it be like the idea of "privatizing" social security or vouchers for medicare for those who are over 65 or are disabled? Let me see...these vouchers could be used to buy insurance from any vendor (read private insurance company) you would like. Wow...what a great idea, then the government wouldn't be in the insurance business, there would be be an open market, which would drive down insurance rates, which in turn would reduce the federal deficit...or you could just stay in the medicare program. What? How exactly do they figure that would change anything? The government would be giving the recipient of Social Security a voucher to pay for health insurance through private entities, and if the voucher amount wasn't enough for the insurance coverage you wanted, you would pay out of pocket. If the voucher is for more than the insurance costs, you get the keep the extra. Wonder how many times the latter would happen? We have an open market system now, and we are experiencing just how well that works at keeping premiums down! I suspect that if this proposal gains ground and is the future of medicare, you are going to see a lot of seniors that will have even less money in their pockets to pay for those annoying extras like groceries, utilities, and medicine.
As for his idea about how to fix the economy...well, duh! Cut taxes for those businesses that are paying so much. If we do that, then the companies can hire more people, and those people that are hired will pay more taxes. Huh? Let's examine some of these companies that are paying so much in taxes that they have no money left over to hire more workers.
Poverty is rampant. Hunger is widespread. But don't worry about America's largest corporations -- they're doing just fine.
Fortune released its annual list of the country's 500 biggest companies this week, and it turns out to have been a good year for corporate America. In 2011, the Fortune 500 generated a combined $824.5 billion in earnings -- an all-time record, and a 16 percent jump from the previous year.
The report echos others indicating corporate America is experiencing boom times.U.S. corporate profits returned to pre-recession levels, according to the International Institute for Labour Studies released Friday, hitting 15 percent of gross domestic product.
The larger economic picture hasn't been so rosy of course. Twelve and a half million people are still out of work. Many of the new jobs that have been created lately arelow-paying food service gigs. A record 46 million Americans are in poverty, and millions more are only just clinging onto financial stability -- one emergency is all it would take to tip them into disaster.
But much like the too-big-to-fail banks -- whose assets now exceed half the size of the U.S. economy, and which have made more profits since the financial crisis than they did in the eight years prior -- corporations don't seem bothered by the bleak weather on Main Street. They just keep growing.
In fact, many have benefitted on the backs of workers that in some cases are underpaid or at risk of losing their jobs. Among the largest companies on Fortune's list is Walmart, at number two, which was recently hit with a $4.8 million fine from the government for allegedly failing to pay its workers overtime; General Electric, at number six, which may have paid an average federal tax rate of just 2.3 percent over the past decade, according to the group Citizens for Tax Justice; and General Motors, at number five, which amassed $9.1 billion in profits last year and recently froze pay for its work staff of 26,000.
Further down the list are Lockheed Martin, which recorded $2.6 billion in profits last year and offered buyout plans to more than 6,000 employees; and Pfizer, which took in $10 billion in profits and announced plans to lay off more than 16,000 workers.(1)
Let me get this straight...these companies need more tax breaks, so they can make more profits, so they can lay off more people??? GE paid a tax rate of just 2.3% over the last 10 years and they need bigger tax breaks, because their exorbitant tax rates are keeping them from hiring more workers. The CEO's of the insurance industry (you know, the industry that Paul Ryan and Todd Akin want us to use vouchers to buy health care coverage from, because it would be more fiscally sound) make an average of $4 million dollars a year, with the highest paid being Aetna's CEO, Ronald A Williams, at $38.125 million a year.(2) Interesting that there are those that think the middle class would get a fair shake from these guys.
Charles Jaco:
“On abortion, you’ve been pro-life your entire career.”
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.):
“Yeah.”
Charles Jaco:
“You’ve been very staunchly pro-life. Are there any circumstances in your mind in which abortion should be legal?”
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.):
“Well, I think that sometimes people talk about life of the mother as a situation, Charles. And in my sense, one of the foundational things America is built on is a respect for life. So I would say you optimize life.
“So, for instance, a woman has a tubal pregnancy or something. Well, technically by my understanding life begins at conception, so you technically had conception. But the child doesn’t have a chance and will soon kill a mother, okay? So I would say in those kinds of situations, you try to optimize life.
“But, you know, my case in this, Charles, has been even if you sort of separate a little the whole abortion question out, one of the things I love about this country is the fact that Americans do consider life really important.
“And it’s not because of some theoretical thing – you’re on a talk show and somebody asks you about it – but you have Sept. 11 and you’ve got these guys that are running into a building that’s about to collapse. They find somebody in a wheelchair. They never checked their ID or anything like that or whether they’re important. They grab them and get them to safety, and they run back and get another one.
“Same kind of thing that we saw – Ollie North has some footage. You know, he’s been right there in the front with cameras taking footage. This is over in Iraq. And there’s a Marine – a big guy, and he’s got this guy who’s wounded over his shoulder and he’s running. The bullets are flying around. And there is a cameraman in a safe position saying, ‘Hey, that guy’ – and the guy’s fatigues are just up and you can see that this is an Iraqi citizen. This isn’t the U.S. soldier. Says, ‘Hey, that’s an Iraqi citizen. Why are you risking your life there?’ This Marine turns around and he looks straight into that guy’s camera and he said, ‘Because that’s what we do.’
“And that spirit of America, I think, is so important for us to protect that idea of the importance of all of us.”
Charles Jaco:
“Okay, so if an abortion can be considered in the case of, say, tubal pregnancy or something like that, what about in the case of rape? Should it be legal or not?”
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.):
“Well, you know, uh, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, ‘Well, how do you – how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question.’
“It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
“But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know, I think there should be some punishment but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” (3)
So, he thought that it might be okay to "optimize life" by allowing the mother to have a tubal pregnancy terminated. Well, it is my understanding (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Akin) that kind of pregnancy is going to terminate, whether it's okay by him or not, and in most cases will result in the loss of the fallopian tube where the embryo has embedded itself, which is outside the uterus. If the tube ruptures before the pregnancy is discovered, there is a real chance that the mother's life could be in jeopardy. But the most shocking part of this interview was his assertion that if a woman is a victim of "legitimate rape" she won't get pregnant, because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Wow...so if the woman gets pregnant, then it wasn't really rape, she must have consented in some way. Maybe she didn't fight hard enough or she had on lipstick that was too red? Perhaps she forgot to lock her bedroom window or front door? Or maybe that 13 year old girl looked like she was 21 and was dressed inappropriately? Who knows? The truth is that 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. Medical estimates of a 5% pregnancy rate are for one time, unprotected sexual intercourse (4) is the same percentage of pregnancy that occur each year through this despicable act.
In my opinion, Mr. Akin is an ill-informed misogynist and there is no way he should ever have any kind of power to make decisions for the female population of this country, let alone sit on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. His views on rape and pregnancy are right in line with 13th century England, which held the legal position that pregnancy disproved a claim of rape, according to medical historian Vanessa Heggie. Hmmmm, that couldn't possibly have been because if a woman accused a man of rape, he could deny it, except when a pregnancy resulted from that forcible act of violence. Pregnancy was proof, so if you take away the ability to get pregnant when raped, then there couldn't possibly have been a rape. This is, of course, tied to the age old fable that you can't get pregnant unless you have an orgasm, and if that happens then you must have enjoyed it, hence, pregnant...NO RAPE! Brilliant! With advocates like Todd Akin, women don't need enemies.
I am sure that there are those who would disagree, and that is your right. This is what makes this country so great...we have rights, and that includes the right to choose who represents us. But more importantly, it gives us the right to choose what we do with our bodies. No one else has the right to tell us what to do with our bodies, but us and that goes for both women and men! That doesn't mean I am pro-abortion, it means that I don't feel I have the right to tell anyone else, male or female, that they have to agree with me, and live by my code of conduct.
May God bless each and every one of you!
1.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/fortune-500-company-earnings_n_1497593.html
2.http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/16/health-care-america-now/health-care-advocacy-group-blasts-insurers-ceo-pay/
3.http://www.whatthefolly.com/2012/08/20/transcript-missouri-gop-senate-candidate-todd-akin-on-whether-abortion-should-be-allowed-in-cases-of-legitimate-rape/
4.http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims
He is against student loans, they are the "3rd stage cancer of socialism". Really? I have many relatives and friends that have college degrees because these loans were available to them, including a sister that works for a large company. She has worked for this company her whole career (one that spans over 20 years), and her success would not have been possible if not for the student loans that helped her pay for her degree in mechanical engineering, and then let her pay it back after she got her job. From what I gleaned from Mr. Akin he thinks that the student loan program should be run by private lenders and they should be the ones that control this program. Oh, I see, then privately run, money making entities, the ones that are so upstanding, and "whose assets now exceed half the size of the US economy" (1), would be the ones that decide who gets the funds to go to college and who doesn't. Oh yes, that is so much better than the federal government ensuring that ALL people have access to college funds. Lets ask the general public and middle class, just how well that has worked for them in other lending arenas, especially the minorities that wanted the funds to build a home. I suspect that they might have a different opinion about how effectively private banking entities would run the student loan program.
Mr. Akin is also not a fan of the federal school lunch program. Here again, he thinks that the states should run this program, because the states are so much better at "sorts of things" than the federal government is. My question would be where exactly the funds for this program would come from? Would they come from federal grants or would there be a need to raise state taxes? Or perhaps your real estate taxes will go up to cover these costs? Would it be like the idea of "privatizing" social security or vouchers for medicare for those who are over 65 or are disabled? Let me see...these vouchers could be used to buy insurance from any vendor (read private insurance company) you would like. Wow...what a great idea, then the government wouldn't be in the insurance business, there would be be an open market, which would drive down insurance rates, which in turn would reduce the federal deficit...or you could just stay in the medicare program. What? How exactly do they figure that would change anything? The government would be giving the recipient of Social Security a voucher to pay for health insurance through private entities, and if the voucher amount wasn't enough for the insurance coverage you wanted, you would pay out of pocket. If the voucher is for more than the insurance costs, you get the keep the extra. Wonder how many times the latter would happen? We have an open market system now, and we are experiencing just how well that works at keeping premiums down! I suspect that if this proposal gains ground and is the future of medicare, you are going to see a lot of seniors that will have even less money in their pockets to pay for those annoying extras like groceries, utilities, and medicine.
As for his idea about how to fix the economy...well, duh! Cut taxes for those businesses that are paying so much. If we do that, then the companies can hire more people, and those people that are hired will pay more taxes. Huh? Let's examine some of these companies that are paying so much in taxes that they have no money left over to hire more workers.
Poverty is rampant. Hunger is widespread. But don't worry about America's largest corporations -- they're doing just fine.
Fortune released its annual list of the country's 500 biggest companies this week, and it turns out to have been a good year for corporate America. In 2011, the Fortune 500 generated a combined $824.5 billion in earnings -- an all-time record, and a 16 percent jump from the previous year.
The report echos others indicating corporate America is experiencing boom times.U.S. corporate profits returned to pre-recession levels, according to the International Institute for Labour Studies released Friday, hitting 15 percent of gross domestic product.
The larger economic picture hasn't been so rosy of course. Twelve and a half million people are still out of work. Many of the new jobs that have been created lately arelow-paying food service gigs. A record 46 million Americans are in poverty, and millions more are only just clinging onto financial stability -- one emergency is all it would take to tip them into disaster.
But much like the too-big-to-fail banks -- whose assets now exceed half the size of the U.S. economy, and which have made more profits since the financial crisis than they did in the eight years prior -- corporations don't seem bothered by the bleak weather on Main Street. They just keep growing.
In fact, many have benefitted on the backs of workers that in some cases are underpaid or at risk of losing their jobs. Among the largest companies on Fortune's list is Walmart, at number two, which was recently hit with a $4.8 million fine from the government for allegedly failing to pay its workers overtime; General Electric, at number six, which may have paid an average federal tax rate of just 2.3 percent over the past decade, according to the group Citizens for Tax Justice; and General Motors, at number five, which amassed $9.1 billion in profits last year and recently froze pay for its work staff of 26,000.
Further down the list are Lockheed Martin, which recorded $2.6 billion in profits last year and offered buyout plans to more than 6,000 employees; and Pfizer, which took in $10 billion in profits and announced plans to lay off more than 16,000 workers.(1)
Let me get this straight...these companies need more tax breaks, so they can make more profits, so they can lay off more people??? GE paid a tax rate of just 2.3% over the last 10 years and they need bigger tax breaks, because their exorbitant tax rates are keeping them from hiring more workers. The CEO's of the insurance industry (you know, the industry that Paul Ryan and Todd Akin want us to use vouchers to buy health care coverage from, because it would be more fiscally sound) make an average of $4 million dollars a year, with the highest paid being Aetna's CEO, Ronald A Williams, at $38.125 million a year.(2) Interesting that there are those that think the middle class would get a fair shake from these guys.
Now, let's get to the part of the interview that really grabbed the nation's attention...the "legitimate rape" comments.
Charles Jaco:
“On abortion, you’ve been pro-life your entire career.”
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.):
“Yeah.”
Charles Jaco:
“You’ve been very staunchly pro-life. Are there any circumstances in your mind in which abortion should be legal?”
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.):
“Well, I think that sometimes people talk about life of the mother as a situation, Charles. And in my sense, one of the foundational things America is built on is a respect for life. So I would say you optimize life.
“So, for instance, a woman has a tubal pregnancy or something. Well, technically by my understanding life begins at conception, so you technically had conception. But the child doesn’t have a chance and will soon kill a mother, okay? So I would say in those kinds of situations, you try to optimize life.
“But, you know, my case in this, Charles, has been even if you sort of separate a little the whole abortion question out, one of the things I love about this country is the fact that Americans do consider life really important.
“And it’s not because of some theoretical thing – you’re on a talk show and somebody asks you about it – but you have Sept. 11 and you’ve got these guys that are running into a building that’s about to collapse. They find somebody in a wheelchair. They never checked their ID or anything like that or whether they’re important. They grab them and get them to safety, and they run back and get another one.
“Same kind of thing that we saw – Ollie North has some footage. You know, he’s been right there in the front with cameras taking footage. This is over in Iraq. And there’s a Marine – a big guy, and he’s got this guy who’s wounded over his shoulder and he’s running. The bullets are flying around. And there is a cameraman in a safe position saying, ‘Hey, that guy’ – and the guy’s fatigues are just up and you can see that this is an Iraqi citizen. This isn’t the U.S. soldier. Says, ‘Hey, that’s an Iraqi citizen. Why are you risking your life there?’ This Marine turns around and he looks straight into that guy’s camera and he said, ‘Because that’s what we do.’
“And that spirit of America, I think, is so important for us to protect that idea of the importance of all of us.”
Charles Jaco:
“Okay, so if an abortion can be considered in the case of, say, tubal pregnancy or something like that, what about in the case of rape? Should it be legal or not?”
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.):
“Well, you know, uh, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, ‘Well, how do you – how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question.’
“It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
“But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know, I think there should be some punishment but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” (3)
So, he thought that it might be okay to "optimize life" by allowing the mother to have a tubal pregnancy terminated. Well, it is my understanding (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Akin) that kind of pregnancy is going to terminate, whether it's okay by him or not, and in most cases will result in the loss of the fallopian tube where the embryo has embedded itself, which is outside the uterus. If the tube ruptures before the pregnancy is discovered, there is a real chance that the mother's life could be in jeopardy. But the most shocking part of this interview was his assertion that if a woman is a victim of "legitimate rape" she won't get pregnant, because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Wow...so if the woman gets pregnant, then it wasn't really rape, she must have consented in some way. Maybe she didn't fight hard enough or she had on lipstick that was too red? Perhaps she forgot to lock her bedroom window or front door? Or maybe that 13 year old girl looked like she was 21 and was dressed inappropriately? Who knows? The truth is that 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. Medical estimates of a 5% pregnancy rate are for one time, unprotected sexual intercourse (4) is the same percentage of pregnancy that occur each year through this despicable act.
In my opinion, Mr. Akin is an ill-informed misogynist and there is no way he should ever have any kind of power to make decisions for the female population of this country, let alone sit on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. His views on rape and pregnancy are right in line with 13th century England, which held the legal position that pregnancy disproved a claim of rape, according to medical historian Vanessa Heggie. Hmmmm, that couldn't possibly have been because if a woman accused a man of rape, he could deny it, except when a pregnancy resulted from that forcible act of violence. Pregnancy was proof, so if you take away the ability to get pregnant when raped, then there couldn't possibly have been a rape. This is, of course, tied to the age old fable that you can't get pregnant unless you have an orgasm, and if that happens then you must have enjoyed it, hence, pregnant...NO RAPE! Brilliant! With advocates like Todd Akin, women don't need enemies.
I am sure that there are those who would disagree, and that is your right. This is what makes this country so great...we have rights, and that includes the right to choose who represents us. But more importantly, it gives us the right to choose what we do with our bodies. No one else has the right to tell us what to do with our bodies, but us and that goes for both women and men! That doesn't mean I am pro-abortion, it means that I don't feel I have the right to tell anyone else, male or female, that they have to agree with me, and live by my code of conduct.
May God bless each and every one of you!
1.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/fortune-500-company-earnings_n_1497593.html
2.http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/16/health-care-america-now/health-care-advocacy-group-blasts-insurers-ceo-pay/
3.http://www.whatthefolly.com/2012/08/20/transcript-missouri-gop-senate-candidate-todd-akin-on-whether-abortion-should-be-allowed-in-cases-of-legitimate-rape/
4.http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims
Saturday, August 11, 2012
ONCE AGAIN IT SNEAKED UP ON ME...
From My Own Little Corner
August 11 always sneaks up on me. I try desperately not to think about it, but I suppose it is ingrained into my psyche, and so makes itself known even when I attempt to ignore it's coming. Today is the anniversary of the day that I gave birth to my first child, my only daughter, my sweet Jessica. It is the day that my life changed forever, the day that I lost a large part of my innocence. She was so beautiful. Dark hair, violet eyes, a tiny little thing at 5 pounds 7 ounces. Her birth was the most anticipated event of our lives. My brother used to come over and practice being an uncle, wheeling stuffed animals around and around, through the hall, into the living room, through the bedroom and back again, in the stroller. From there the little stuffed animal would go into the swing, to be swung until it wound down. We were so ready for this little child. All the hope, joy, and planning...months of it! We went to the hospital on August 10th, full of excitement and anticipation. It was finally time!!! After hours of labor, my water broke and it was dark green and thick. Not good. Then the baby's heart rate started falling and then stopping. After 5 hours of watching that monitor, the doctors finally decided that a C-section was necessary. I got an epidural, and after another delay of about an hour and a half, we were off to the delivery room. I can remember all of it with such clarity. The doctors, the nurses, my dear hubby standing at my head on the right side, then the sound of horror in the doctor's voice at the amount of meconium, them handing our daughter to the pediatrician, asking "How long?" with the response "5". The OB yelling at the nurses to hold me shut, and going to the warming tray, telling the pediatrician she had her own patient to deal with she couldn't be doing his job too, and them finally getting Jessica intubated. I remember them telling the nurse to get Dan out of there, he looked like he might pass out. I can still recall the smell of the cauterization as the doctor closed my incision. But, what I remember the most about that day is the love I felt for that tiny little girl. The fierce feeling that I was going to do everything I could to take care of her, no matter what, and that is exactly what we all did. Her birth severely damaged her fragile brain...she would never grow up, she would never do any of the things that we dreamed of while I was carrying her. She was a fighter, and she stayed with us for 4 1//2 years and while she was here, the lives she touched were changed forever . Being her mother is one of my greatest joys! Thank you God for sharing such an amazing gift with us!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA...mom and dad love you!
~Stef~
August 11 always sneaks up on me. I try desperately not to think about it, but I suppose it is ingrained into my psyche, and so makes itself known even when I attempt to ignore it's coming. Today is the anniversary of the day that I gave birth to my first child, my only daughter, my sweet Jessica. It is the day that my life changed forever, the day that I lost a large part of my innocence. She was so beautiful. Dark hair, violet eyes, a tiny little thing at 5 pounds 7 ounces. Her birth was the most anticipated event of our lives. My brother used to come over and practice being an uncle, wheeling stuffed animals around and around, through the hall, into the living room, through the bedroom and back again, in the stroller. From there the little stuffed animal would go into the swing, to be swung until it wound down. We were so ready for this little child. All the hope, joy, and planning...months of it! We went to the hospital on August 10th, full of excitement and anticipation. It was finally time!!! After hours of labor, my water broke and it was dark green and thick. Not good. Then the baby's heart rate started falling and then stopping. After 5 hours of watching that monitor, the doctors finally decided that a C-section was necessary. I got an epidural, and after another delay of about an hour and a half, we were off to the delivery room. I can remember all of it with such clarity. The doctors, the nurses, my dear hubby standing at my head on the right side, then the sound of horror in the doctor's voice at the amount of meconium, them handing our daughter to the pediatrician, asking "How long?" with the response "5". The OB yelling at the nurses to hold me shut, and going to the warming tray, telling the pediatrician she had her own patient to deal with she couldn't be doing his job too, and them finally getting Jessica intubated. I remember them telling the nurse to get Dan out of there, he looked like he might pass out. I can still recall the smell of the cauterization as the doctor closed my incision. But, what I remember the most about that day is the love I felt for that tiny little girl. The fierce feeling that I was going to do everything I could to take care of her, no matter what, and that is exactly what we all did. Her birth severely damaged her fragile brain...she would never grow up, she would never do any of the things that we dreamed of while I was carrying her. She was a fighter, and she stayed with us for 4 1//2 years and while she was here, the lives she touched were changed forever . Being her mother is one of my greatest joys! Thank you God for sharing such an amazing gift with us!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA...mom and dad love you!
~Stef~
Thursday, August 09, 2012
CAR SEATS AND CRITTERS DO NOT MIX
From My Own Little Corner
Well, yesterday started out with a bang! I got up with a migraine, took some medicine and had my coffee while watching the news. There was a great story on Channel 2 about the black bears that are making a comeback in this area, and the cameras that they are using to see what they do. One of the bears lost his camera, walked about 100 feet, stopped, thought about it, turned around, went back to the camera, and attacked it. I got dressed and, at about 8:30, headed out to take mom to the doctor. As I walked up to open my car door, this is what greeted me:
This WAS the rear seat of "Baby", my 1994 Cutlass Supreme. It would appear that a critter, and a pretty strong one at that, decided to climb through the window and completely decimate the seating area of the bucket seat on the driver's side. We have been leaving the windows down, since it has been so blazing hot, and the heat isn't good for the leather. Obviously, neither are the wild things that live in the country!
I am not sure what exactly did this, but it was strong and it was ticked off. The metal frame on the seat was twisted into an "U" shape and the leather ripped to shreds. There was stuffing strewn about the rear floorboards, but oddly enough there were no claw marks or teeth marks on any of the rest of the car.
At least it was the back seat and I was still able to drive to mom's, but I was terribly upset that Baby had been so severely ravaged!
After I got back home yesterday, I started checking for replacements and the cost was unbelievable. For new cloth ones, it was $375. I signed up for a service that will help track down parts for my car, since they no longer make Oldsmobile and my car IS nearly 20 years old (although she only has 90,000 original miles on her), so parts are hard to come by, even used. Seems that most salvage yards don't keep cars that are this old when they come in, they go immediately to the crusher! How sad is that??? Anyway, this service, http://www.SeekAutoParts.com, cost me a mere $6.99, they do all the leg work, and send me emails so that I can follow up and find what I need. I had notifications in my inbox within minutes. Unfortunately, some were too costly ($500) and others did not have the seat that I needed. However, this morning, I had more and was able to find a replacement seat for my car for $40 plus S&H, and the salvage yard is a mere 2 hours from here. The seat is maroon, and will need a cover or re-upholstering, but hey, at least I have a seat back there, it didn't cost me an arm and a leg, and it should be here by the beginning of next week! How about that???
Now to catch whatever critter did this to my poor baby, and as one of my FB friends said, dig a pit and roast the sucker!
Remember, keep those windows rolled up, especially if you live in the country...you never know what might decide to climb in and have a little fun!
God bless!
~Stef~
Well, yesterday started out with a bang! I got up with a migraine, took some medicine and had my coffee while watching the news. There was a great story on Channel 2 about the black bears that are making a comeback in this area, and the cameras that they are using to see what they do. One of the bears lost his camera, walked about 100 feet, stopped, thought about it, turned around, went back to the camera, and attacked it. I got dressed and, at about 8:30, headed out to take mom to the doctor. As I walked up to open my car door, this is what greeted me:
This WAS the rear seat of "Baby", my 1994 Cutlass Supreme. It would appear that a critter, and a pretty strong one at that, decided to climb through the window and completely decimate the seating area of the bucket seat on the driver's side. We have been leaving the windows down, since it has been so blazing hot, and the heat isn't good for the leather. Obviously, neither are the wild things that live in the country!
I am not sure what exactly did this, but it was strong and it was ticked off. The metal frame on the seat was twisted into an "U" shape and the leather ripped to shreds. There was stuffing strewn about the rear floorboards, but oddly enough there were no claw marks or teeth marks on any of the rest of the car.
At least it was the back seat and I was still able to drive to mom's, but I was terribly upset that Baby had been so severely ravaged!
After I got back home yesterday, I started checking for replacements and the cost was unbelievable. For new cloth ones, it was $375. I signed up for a service that will help track down parts for my car, since they no longer make Oldsmobile and my car IS nearly 20 years old (although she only has 90,000 original miles on her), so parts are hard to come by, even used. Seems that most salvage yards don't keep cars that are this old when they come in, they go immediately to the crusher! How sad is that??? Anyway, this service, http://www.SeekAutoParts.com, cost me a mere $6.99, they do all the leg work, and send me emails so that I can follow up and find what I need. I had notifications in my inbox within minutes. Unfortunately, some were too costly ($500) and others did not have the seat that I needed. However, this morning, I had more and was able to find a replacement seat for my car for $40 plus S&H, and the salvage yard is a mere 2 hours from here. The seat is maroon, and will need a cover or re-upholstering, but hey, at least I have a seat back there, it didn't cost me an arm and a leg, and it should be here by the beginning of next week! How about that???
Now to catch whatever critter did this to my poor baby, and as one of my FB friends said, dig a pit and roast the sucker!
Remember, keep those windows rolled up, especially if you live in the country...you never know what might decide to climb in and have a little fun!
God bless!
~Stef~
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
ENOUGH...I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!
From My Own Little Corner
Well, here goes. I am sure that some reading this will have differing opinions, but I simply can't remain silent any longer, scared of the reaction of others.
I have been watching the coverage of the the shootings at the Gurdwara in Wisconsin and I am just devastated. I cannot believe that in this day and age, there are still people that think it is okay to go into a place of worship and open fire on a group of unarmed people. Why would that ever be acceptable? When did it become acceptable to just kill those that we disagree with about religion, or anything else for that matter? When did it become acceptable to go to a political event and start shooting the people there? Who decided that it is okay to burn down another's place of worship because it isn't the same as our Christian religion, as happened to a Mosque in Joplin yesterday. I know that there are people out there that are mentally ill, but I have to wonder why no one ever stands up and says, "Hey, wait a minute. Your hate, the hate that you speak, the hate that you tattoo all over your body, the hate that you sing about, simply isn't right!"? Obviously, we all have the freedom of speech in this country, and it is a right that I have always fiercely defended and that I cherish. But when it gets to the point that the words we are speaking are so filled with vitriol, hate, nastiness, lies, and hurt, that they infringe on the rights of others to pursue their God given rights of life, liberty, freedom, and happiness, isn't it our responsibility as citizens of this country, and of the world, to speak up? We simply cannot continue to hide behind that age old excuse that we all have the right to speak our mind, when there are people that are abusing that right and using it as an excuse to spout evil and hate!!! We have churches that are spreading messages of hate and intolerance, burning the holy books of other religions, picketing the funerals of soldier that are coming home in caskets, holding up signs that are filled with nasty, hurtful words. I doubt very seriously that when our bill of rights was written, our forefathers had hate speech in mind. They could never have foreseen how nasty a segment of this great country would someday become.
The same can be said for gun rights. Our preamble states, and I quote, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence (sic), promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Notice that phrase, "common defence" (sic)? I think they are referring to protecting our country from those that would invade, not those who live here and have a different opinion, religion, or political leaning! I am all for people having guns for hunting and even for protecting your family should the REAL NEED arise. But semi-automatic assault rifles which can be made fully automatic with a minimal amount of effort? Seriously? Yes, I know that making those semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic rifles is against the law, but so is going into a theater or Gurdwara or public political event and opening fire on a group of unsuspecting people. When the second amendment ("A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.") was written, the most dangerous gun that anyone had was a musket! This amendment was meant to ensure that IF the time came when it was necessary to protect our country on it's own soil against foreign invaders, we would be able to do so. It's kind of hard to go on a killing spree when you have to stop and manually open a powder horn, pour gunpowder down the barrel of a rifle, place a ball with wadding around it in the same barrel, and then tamp it down with a ramrod, then aim, then shoot, the stop to reload. By the time that was done, any person who was bent on killing a large group of people would have been tackled, taken down, and hog-tied! The easy availability of guns and the advancement from single shot tools, for hunting and defending this country, into the instruments of mass destruction that we now have, is surely not the right that our forefathers were speaking of when they wrote that second amendment.
I have guns. I have a husband that is blind after being shot in the face, while with a group of teenagers that were not careful with their guns. I understand that accidents happen with guns, it is inevitable. However, the mass killings that are happening in today's world are not accidents. They are not due to lack of care. They are the result of a society that is growing less and less tolerant of those who are different, those who have different opinions, different lifestyle choices, different political leanings. A society that thinks that civility is a word best relegated to our not so distant past. A society that is afraid to stand up to those that are abusing their "God given rights" and in not standing up, are helping to breed a level of hate and intolerance that is rapidly approaching that of third world countries. You know the ones I mean...where they stone women for daring to show their face in public or for leaving the "safety" of their prisons...er, homes, without the accompaniment of a male...a male that must be a relative. Oh, and when that same male "protector" rapes that woman and she reports it, she is the one that is punished. Those countries where they poison the female children because they want to go to school. The places where those with differing religious and political ideologies are punished, most often by death. The places where civil rights are NOT given to the citizens and where anyone who dares to speak up against the atrocities they witness are most likely signing their own death warrant. Yes, those third world countries. If the intolerance and hate mongering in this country continues unabated, we WILL become one of those countries, the ones that we all sit around and shake our heads at, while clucking our tongues and asking "How could those people allow that to happen?". The question then becomes, how could we allow this to happen...here? In this great country, where we have a constitution that ensures the freedoms of all it's citizens? How can we allow the civil rights of some our citizens to be trampled upon? How can we sit by and say nothing? Isn't it our responsibility to say "enough" when things start getting out of hand? The discourse in this country is reaching a boiling point. Soon the violence and hate will begin to take over, and much like an aggressive cancer, the time to excise it will have passed, and it will become lethal. It is time for common sense to come back into style, rather than all the extremism that we are seeing in our public officials and our private sector. It is time for those that want a country where people are nice, where there can be civil discourse and we can disagree without being nasty, where we can have our opinions and not be afraid that voicing them will lead to someone walking up and screaming, hitting, or shooting us!
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand,
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightening, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand
Glows world wide welcome; her mild eyes command
the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus
These are the words emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty...notice that word LIBERTY. What happened? We live in a country of diverse peoples. There are people from all countries, all religions, all economic classes, all heritages...we are all different, and the diversity of our populace is what helped make this country great! It's time to stand up and say "This hate that has become the new normal, is no longer acceptable." Thomas Jefferson said it best..." We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I can only imagine how appalled he would be to see how so many have twisted the constitution and used it as an excuse to hate. So, I say, "ENOUGH! I have had enough!"
Well, that's my rant...if I have offended anyone, I am truly sorry. No offence and no finger pointing are meant here. The words that I write come from the heart and are not written in anger, but in sadness. My heart hurts with the pain of seeing so many angry, intolerant, and hate filled people. I pray that God will bring them peace. May God bless each and every one of you.
Well, here goes. I am sure that some reading this will have differing opinions, but I simply can't remain silent any longer, scared of the reaction of others.
I have been watching the coverage of the the shootings at the Gurdwara in Wisconsin and I am just devastated. I cannot believe that in this day and age, there are still people that think it is okay to go into a place of worship and open fire on a group of unarmed people. Why would that ever be acceptable? When did it become acceptable to just kill those that we disagree with about religion, or anything else for that matter? When did it become acceptable to go to a political event and start shooting the people there? Who decided that it is okay to burn down another's place of worship because it isn't the same as our Christian religion, as happened to a Mosque in Joplin yesterday. I know that there are people out there that are mentally ill, but I have to wonder why no one ever stands up and says, "Hey, wait a minute. Your hate, the hate that you speak, the hate that you tattoo all over your body, the hate that you sing about, simply isn't right!"? Obviously, we all have the freedom of speech in this country, and it is a right that I have always fiercely defended and that I cherish. But when it gets to the point that the words we are speaking are so filled with vitriol, hate, nastiness, lies, and hurt, that they infringe on the rights of others to pursue their God given rights of life, liberty, freedom, and happiness, isn't it our responsibility as citizens of this country, and of the world, to speak up? We simply cannot continue to hide behind that age old excuse that we all have the right to speak our mind, when there are people that are abusing that right and using it as an excuse to spout evil and hate!!! We have churches that are spreading messages of hate and intolerance, burning the holy books of other religions, picketing the funerals of soldier that are coming home in caskets, holding up signs that are filled with nasty, hurtful words. I doubt very seriously that when our bill of rights was written, our forefathers had hate speech in mind. They could never have foreseen how nasty a segment of this great country would someday become.
The same can be said for gun rights. Our preamble states, and I quote, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence (sic), promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Notice that phrase, "common defence" (sic)? I think they are referring to protecting our country from those that would invade, not those who live here and have a different opinion, religion, or political leaning! I am all for people having guns for hunting and even for protecting your family should the REAL NEED arise. But semi-automatic assault rifles which can be made fully automatic with a minimal amount of effort? Seriously? Yes, I know that making those semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic rifles is against the law, but so is going into a theater or Gurdwara or public political event and opening fire on a group of unsuspecting people. When the second amendment ("A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.") was written, the most dangerous gun that anyone had was a musket! This amendment was meant to ensure that IF the time came when it was necessary to protect our country on it's own soil against foreign invaders, we would be able to do so. It's kind of hard to go on a killing spree when you have to stop and manually open a powder horn, pour gunpowder down the barrel of a rifle, place a ball with wadding around it in the same barrel, and then tamp it down with a ramrod, then aim, then shoot, the stop to reload. By the time that was done, any person who was bent on killing a large group of people would have been tackled, taken down, and hog-tied! The easy availability of guns and the advancement from single shot tools, for hunting and defending this country, into the instruments of mass destruction that we now have, is surely not the right that our forefathers were speaking of when they wrote that second amendment.
I have guns. I have a husband that is blind after being shot in the face, while with a group of teenagers that were not careful with their guns. I understand that accidents happen with guns, it is inevitable. However, the mass killings that are happening in today's world are not accidents. They are not due to lack of care. They are the result of a society that is growing less and less tolerant of those who are different, those who have different opinions, different lifestyle choices, different political leanings. A society that thinks that civility is a word best relegated to our not so distant past. A society that is afraid to stand up to those that are abusing their "God given rights" and in not standing up, are helping to breed a level of hate and intolerance that is rapidly approaching that of third world countries. You know the ones I mean...where they stone women for daring to show their face in public or for leaving the "safety" of their prisons...er, homes, without the accompaniment of a male...a male that must be a relative. Oh, and when that same male "protector" rapes that woman and she reports it, she is the one that is punished. Those countries where they poison the female children because they want to go to school. The places where those with differing religious and political ideologies are punished, most often by death. The places where civil rights are NOT given to the citizens and where anyone who dares to speak up against the atrocities they witness are most likely signing their own death warrant. Yes, those third world countries. If the intolerance and hate mongering in this country continues unabated, we WILL become one of those countries, the ones that we all sit around and shake our heads at, while clucking our tongues and asking "How could those people allow that to happen?". The question then becomes, how could we allow this to happen...here? In this great country, where we have a constitution that ensures the freedoms of all it's citizens? How can we allow the civil rights of some our citizens to be trampled upon? How can we sit by and say nothing? Isn't it our responsibility to say "enough" when things start getting out of hand? The discourse in this country is reaching a boiling point. Soon the violence and hate will begin to take over, and much like an aggressive cancer, the time to excise it will have passed, and it will become lethal. It is time for common sense to come back into style, rather than all the extremism that we are seeing in our public officials and our private sector. It is time for those that want a country where people are nice, where there can be civil discourse and we can disagree without being nasty, where we can have our opinions and not be afraid that voicing them will lead to someone walking up and screaming, hitting, or shooting us!
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand,
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightening, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand
Glows world wide welcome; her mild eyes command
the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus
These are the words emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty...notice that word LIBERTY. What happened? We live in a country of diverse peoples. There are people from all countries, all religions, all economic classes, all heritages...we are all different, and the diversity of our populace is what helped make this country great! It's time to stand up and say "This hate that has become the new normal, is no longer acceptable." Thomas Jefferson said it best..." We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I can only imagine how appalled he would be to see how so many have twisted the constitution and used it as an excuse to hate. So, I say, "ENOUGH! I have had enough!"
Well, that's my rant...if I have offended anyone, I am truly sorry. No offence and no finger pointing are meant here. The words that I write come from the heart and are not written in anger, but in sadness. My heart hurts with the pain of seeing so many angry, intolerant, and hate filled people. I pray that God will bring them peace. May God bless each and every one of you.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
REFURBISHING THOSE GRISWOLDS!!
From My Own Little Corner
Last fall I rejuvenated some nasty cast iron skillets that needed to be redone. I didn't get any pictures before I started, but I did get some after I got done incinerating the gunk, after scouring, and after the first seasoning. They are beautiful!!! This is something that I have long wanted to do, but never really knew how. I have had these skillets languishing in the back room for several years now, after picking them up at a garage sale. So I googled it! LOL Oh, how I love Google!!! Here is what I did to get my skillets back to where they were when they were used by their original owners! I found that the first thing I needed to do was put them in the oven, with the shelf on the lowest position, and then turn the oven to self clean. That done, I went about my merry way, taking care of Kerwin, my little bunny. While doing this, hubby came to the door and asked me "Uh, how long is this going to take? It is getting a bit smokey in here.". Thank goodness I had opened the windows, turned on the hood fan, and the attic fan, before I went outside, because when I came back in the house, smoke was roiling out of the back of the oven, Baby Kitty was caterwauling, the smoke detectors were beeping, and the house looked like a scene right out of the movie THE FOG!! Oh, my word! Talk about smoke....whew, and stink!!! So I walked outside and called my mom...she told me Grammy used to build a big fire in the yard and put her's in the fire to burn them off. I said, "now you tell me!" She thought it was hilarious!!! lol In about 40 minutes the smoke died down, the house cleared out, and shortly thereafter, we were able to shut off the attic fan. Did I mention it was only 50 degrees outside??? After 3 hours in the self clean cycle, then another hour cooling down, this is what they looked like:
Now most of this is just dust, and easily wiped off, but then you need to scour them with steel wool. After a thorough cleaning, this is how they looked:
The next step is to thoroughly dry by placing on the stove top on medium heat until they are heated through. Let the skillet cool, then coat with a very thin layer of Crisco, oil, or lard. Lard works best, and is what was traditionally used. Part of my errand run yesterday was to restock my lard supply:
Then wipe them down until they look dry...they will have plenty of lard left on them and return them to the oven at 450* for an hour for the first cycle of seasoning. This is how they turned out:
They then went into the oven for their second seasoning. After they cooled, I did it one more time, and now have a wonderful set of cast iron to cook in...all natural, no coatings, and non-stick! These skillets will last several generations, and the more they are used, the more seasoned they will become. The large skillet with the hammered finish is anywhere from 80-100 years old, the #8 Griswold is about the same...the small skillet I have no idea and may have been made more recently. I also did a new covered stew pot with bail. It only took one treatment.
Hope that this will help those that are thinking about going back to old style, non-stick cooking, get started!
Good luck and enjoy those Griswolds!
~Stef~
Lodge Logic 3-Quart Fry Pan - Lodge Logic
Last fall I rejuvenated some nasty cast iron skillets that needed to be redone. I didn't get any pictures before I started, but I did get some after I got done incinerating the gunk, after scouring, and after the first seasoning. They are beautiful!!! This is something that I have long wanted to do, but never really knew how. I have had these skillets languishing in the back room for several years now, after picking them up at a garage sale. So I googled it! LOL Oh, how I love Google!!! Here is what I did to get my skillets back to where they were when they were used by their original owners! I found that the first thing I needed to do was put them in the oven, with the shelf on the lowest position, and then turn the oven to self clean. That done, I went about my merry way, taking care of Kerwin, my little bunny. While doing this, hubby came to the door and asked me "Uh, how long is this going to take? It is getting a bit smokey in here.". Thank goodness I had opened the windows, turned on the hood fan, and the attic fan, before I went outside, because when I came back in the house, smoke was roiling out of the back of the oven, Baby Kitty was caterwauling, the smoke detectors were beeping, and the house looked like a scene right out of the movie THE FOG!! Oh, my word! Talk about smoke....whew, and stink!!! So I walked outside and called my mom...she told me Grammy used to build a big fire in the yard and put her's in the fire to burn them off. I said, "now you tell me!" She thought it was hilarious!!! lol In about 40 minutes the smoke died down, the house cleared out, and shortly thereafter, we were able to shut off the attic fan. Did I mention it was only 50 degrees outside??? After 3 hours in the self clean cycle, then another hour cooling down, this is what they looked like:
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