asshat of the day: the GOP

House Republican Spending Cuts Devastating To Women, Families and the Economy | National Women's Law Center

Take a close look at some key words from critical reductions proposed by the GOP-led House:

contraception
healthcare
family planning
nutrition for pregnant women/children
prenatal care
Headstart
childcare
education
college
job training
social security/elderly women
meals
housing
cancer
food

What do women with families care about?
We care about taking care of our kids; putting food on the table; getting all of us a good education; making sure all of us are healthy and have some slim chance for middle class stability.

The cuts the GOP have proposed gut all of that.
Their proposals are basically a knife to the heart of a woman's middle class dream. In their proposals we can predict an America full of communities and families without access to employment, healthcare or education, badly fed, untrained, at the mercy of biology and accident - a permanently under-educated and under-resourced underclass.

Thanks, GOP, for turning America into a Dickensian nightmare.

for the WIN!

My sister's long ordeal is almost over. Her judgment went her way and it seems she will enjoy full joint custody of her children. Yes, despite MABIL's efforts to reshape the world to fit his 18th century Mexico worldview, it seems the rest of the world has moved on.

But she still needs to rebuild her relationship with her kids (to undo all that has been done - and said, and reassert her maternal authority), and she is now officially a single mom. Things will be tougher; everything will be a negotiation with her ex and there's always the risk that he just won't face reality, turning this into 'Not Without My Daughter, Mexico edition.'  But for now, she is free!

Her strength has been phenomenal and even when tiny wavers shook her spine, she stood through a lot -- threats to her livelihood, her reputation, her family and my long distance, outraged haranguing -- and came through.  Yay, sis!

More importantly, now I don't have to wage a stealth campaign against MABIL.

(maybe when it's not this late, I'll write about what my sister's divorce case has shown me about the inherent sexism of the Nice Guy Who Thinks He's Nice But He's Only Nice As Long as You Do Everything He Says.)

Funny how real life intrudes on what used to be soo important a few years ago. When I first started this blog I was filled with so much outrage, this was the only place I could let it out without breaking down. 9/11, and my mom's passing, made me feel impotent. This blog was something I could control - and something I could share. I'm happy that this space has been one where I can be smart (occasionally), funny (unintentionally) and downright bitchy and scabrous (hey! new word!).

More than a few years later (actually, eight), this blog has slowed down a little but that doesn't mean I'm giving it up. It's just that other things have been happening;but despite all the real-life stuff going on, I still have a finger on the pulse on what's happening in the outside world.

So here's all my political blogging smooshed together:

On the plan to defund Planned Parenthood and the GOP effort to balance the federal budget on a woman's uterus - no; if you were really serious about our deficit, you'd do something about defense and Medicaid.

On the Chicago mayoral race and candidates deliberately ignoring what a structural deficit is and playing word games with the electorate - you suck and you're dishonest.

On the revolution in Egypt - congrats, but democracy is harder than it looks.

On the abortion provider being targeted by anti-abortion activists in Wichita - i think it's time we all learned how to provide abortions; they can't put us all in jail. (That's my official Crazy Thought of the Day.)

On Illinois' frakked budget situation and the continued misunderstanding of what gov't is for: gov't is not our  personal retail location where we are entitled to a product; it is an entity that delivers services that prevents us from living in caves like animals - services that need to be paid for. make the tax increase permanent, for god's sake, and stop fooling around.

Carry on.

snow day!

This is my neighborhood. Yesterday, I scoffed at how bad the weather was but after LSD shut down and all those folks were trapped, and watching how the wind had blown snow to basically block off my street, I take it all back. Blizzaster 2011 is no joke.

However, just one block away, the street is clear, businesses are open and people are going about their way. So my snowbound world is very small. In fact, it's just this one block. Weird.

So I'm at home, 'working' remotely, and catching up on news of Egypt with Charlie Rose. And getting hungry. Dreading going outside for a taco.

How's the Blizzaster treating you?