Tax breaks for breastfeeding...?

So as everyone knows, I get a lot of time to think about random things when I am at work. I was thinking about taxes and universal health care today, and realized that if the US does institute any kind of universal health care system, we should give incentives for new mothers who choose to breastfeed their infants. Statistically speaking, infants who are breastfed require less medical care, as well as the mothers who nurse them. A plan like this has the potential to improve the health of America's future, which will mean less money spent on health care, and more money for things like public schools and alternative energy sources. If we just combine tax breaks with a public health campaign to promote the benefits of breastfeeding as well as better laws to protect mothers from indecency accusations, that will be a step in the right direction.

Thoughts?

Fucking Garage....

...and its fucking customers.

Seriously.

As much as you would think it would be a time of peace and good will, Christmas shoppers are ASSHOLES!

I don't fucking care how special you think you are, please don't piss on my day. I didn't do anything to you. I didn't do anything to make your day shitty.

Please don't throw stuff at me.
Please don't rip my face off.
Please don't treat me like I've somehow pissed in your coffee.
Please don't allow your misbehaved mongrel little children to fuck with my work station.
Please don't snap your gum at me. Eww.

Ugh.

Only a few shopping days left until people pull the stick out.

Cheraya: Punk Rock All-Star

Its been a minute since I posted any sweet pics of Cheraya, so here she is....

Just...I don't know....

I get home and Cheraya is running around like a mad woman with her little friend Lexi. My neighbor called me earlier and made up some bull about what the kids were (not actually) doing and that they didn't seem to be supervised (they were). The busybody neighbor is irritating anyway, but to then call and say something that's not even happening when I'm at work and there's not a damn thing I can do about it is just too much.

Anyway, she's running around like crazy. They've been running in and out of my apartment all afternoon, and it was messy before, but its totally fucked up, so now I get to go spend the next few hours cleaning up a giant fucking mess. So that's perfect.

I am trying not to be totally annoyed, because both of these things, as well as the rest of the irritating things earlier in the day, are just stupid little things that are now all adding up to be really just too much after a day already filled with asinine rich people.

And we all know how Amanda feels about asinine rich people.

Zen, or not really?

So I try to be zen. About everything. Like a duck in water.

So I watch Pulp Fiction last night, which seems a weird thing to make me philosophical, but regardless, it did. So the movie gets over, I tuck Rob into the couch where he's passed out, and I go upstairs.

I get in the shower and I start to think about life. Mostly about my quest for what I call "The Zen". I have mostly found it I think. Mostly found a way to be happy and satisfied with what I have. Happy with my current situations, the good and the bad.

But last night I start to wonder if being Zen is really a good thing. Is it that I am a Zen Master, or have I become complacent? So jaded by the seemingly insurmountable bullshit that I gave up caring about it. Is it something to work for, or is it as sad as it seems when I think about it that way?

I don't know.

I know I feel happier when I just don't care about shit like I used to anymore. My only problem is that now I wonder if I'm copping out. If I'm accepting what is simply because that's what it is.

Have I lost my interest in trying to change things for the better?

Have I lost my idealism?

Is there a way to be a Zen idealist?

To still give a fuck for what should be, while accepting what is?

Thoughts?

Talk about a shitty fucking day....

I wake up late.

Get the girl to school late.

Work is stupid.

Now I'm having daycare issues.

I get home and feel just rotten so I lie down for 20 minutes.

Mom calls and rouses me back to the world of the living, only to get in a heated discussion with me about what she wants me to do as opposed to what I'm doing.

She tells me I am selfish for sharing my problems. Not asking for help, just telling.

She tells me I'm lazy and selling out because I'm not doing professionally what she thinks I should do.

She tells me she worries what people will think about the kind of mother she is because of me.

She tells me my laziness makes her ill.

She tells me I need to just suck it up and jump in the rat race or I'll always be a failure.....

That I have a daughter to raise and can't do that properly if I'm a failure....

I tell her there's nothing more to say.

She tells me she loves me and doesn't want me to be mad at her.

I tell her I'm not.

I tell her I need to go, I have dinner plans and need to go to the store.

She tells me she loves me again.

I don't know if I believe her.

I think she killed a little part of me today.

And you know....

That's never good.

So I think I might have made a fairly sizeable mistake

So I go to technical school last fall. I think I'm all done being some one's hired bitch (which, as an administrative assistant, I was). I think this idea is genius. GENIUS!

I pay a fuck load of money to go to said technical school. I graduate with academic high honors for the whole time I was a student. I have excellent references from the clinicians I worked with on my clinical extern. I have high hopes of finding a job I'll like and get paid well for.

Yeah, didn't really happen.

Still working at the "temporary" position I had while I was in school, and I'm just kind of floating along.

I'm thinking this wasn't quite the GENIUS idea it seemed like a year ago. Which is a problem.

Hmm.

I think it might be time for a national discussion on manners...

...and the general LACK of them!

You can't call me old fashioned, because I am far from it. I'm also not Ms. Manners, and expect crazy shit like knowing which is supposed to be the salad fork...but damn.

Please, thank you, and you're welcome are ALWAYS appreciated when you mean them.
Do not smack you gum, it is icky. Just don't.
Do not tell people trying to help you to hold on for your cell phone conversation. You stood in my line, now complete our transaction or move the fuck out of the way.
Do not let your children run around like evil little bulldozers.
Do not toss things at me. It's rude, don't do it. If my hand is out, you can hand it to me.
Do not hold up a busy line of people counting out $7 in dimes. It is totally inconsiderate.

Yeesh.

It amuses me that the average American doesn't get why people in other countries think of us as rude.

Its because we have no manners.

I REALLY don't think that is asking to much. Just common courtesy.

Come on. You can do it.

Say it with me.... Responsibility....

Sometimes, I just get riled up.

Today, it's irresponsible, juvenile, selfish, immature, lazy-assed single parents.

The single parents that give single parents like me the bad fucking name. The dumb asses that deserve the judgements I fight everyday because I'm NOT generally a dumb ass.

NO, it is NOT okay to just leave your kid(s) with your parents every fucking weekend so you can party.

NO, it is NOT okay to leave your kid with your parents and move out.

NO, it is NOT okay to bring every Tom, Dick, and Harry over to your house around your kid(s).

NO, it is NOT okay to not try and scratch your way up the ladder of life because "the state can always pay for me."

NO, it is NOT okay to be irresponsible because you're "still young".

Guess what?!

You layed down.
You spread your legs.
You got knocked up.
You didn't take Plan B.
You didn't get a pharmacological abortion.
You didn't then change your mind and have a surgical abortion.
You didn't give your baby up for adoption.
You decided to keep it.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN!

Quit trying just 'some' because tax payers will cover your ass. Stay home on a Saturday night with your kids. They're fun people if you're doing your job right. And for God's sake quit pawning them off on other people so you can "do your thing".

You chose Friday nights with Disney movies and popcorn at home.

Fucking OWN IT and quit flaking and acting like your children are a fucking burden.

Damn.....

So close I can taste it!

Two weeks, people. That's it.

Two more weeks, one class, and I head to my internship.

No more homework, no more Pharmacology tests, no more Terminology tests....

Best of all...?

No more stupid ass drama shit like it's junior high! YAY!!

Take it from me....

...Always get your fucking flu shot.

When you think about the flu, you think about the fever, and the chills, maybe nausea.

OH NO!

Not REAL Influenza...the shit you see on the news!

REAL FLU is the worst pain in your back and joints you've probably ever felt. A 103.5 degree fever that will NOT go away. Viral pneumonia. Your head hurts like you have a migraine and all of a sudden weighs about 30,000 lbs. So horribly stuffy you can barely breathe.

It's no longer watching the 5:00 news wondering what kind of old grannies actually die from something as simple as the flu....

Because you know.

You know how it feels to hold on to the wall praying you won't fall over on the 15' walk to the bathroom. You know how it feels to be so weak you have to ask you 5 year old to open your bottle of water for you. You know how it feels to not even give a shit about the bill, being uninsured and all, to go to the ER, and let them poke you with whatever they want, as long as they do something to make you feel better.

Yeah, so take it from me....

Get the flu shot. A thousand pokes is worth avoiding this nightmare....

Stupid people are everywhere....

Yes, even in college.

Unfortunately, in MY college.

There's this girl, I won't name her. She is seriously one of the most idiotic people I have ever had the bad fortune to meet and get stuck in a room with for 15 hours a week with. Unfortunately, in addition, she had a dip shit friend with her too!!

I am one of the most peace-loving, tree-hugging, non-violent people you have ever come into contact with, but sometimes it becomes painfully obvious why people kick other people's asses.

Is Homeland Insecurity stalking me?

So this is super odd.

I go to log into Myspace, and it tells me the sign-on is disabled for maintenance. Okay, whatever. So I go to Jeff's page, and I can see him. I do to Serena's page, hers is fine. I go to my URL, and nope. I am down for "Routine Technical Maintenance".

Huh?

I thought it was weird when Walmart (I know it's evil, but I'm poor!) asked for my ID when I bought "Shut Up and Sing" today. Then I talk to a friend, and he says they asked for his ID too when he bought it yesterday....

So he calls his wife and tells her to go to Myspace. She can log in. Her page is up. All of their friend's pages are up. Him? Nope. More of that "Technical Maintenance".

Seems odd.

I'm not a paranoid crazy (I promise), but that's weird, and it kind of freaks me out.

Yes, I give money to the ACLU...and Planned Parenthood...and the Democratic Party...and I shop at EvolveFish...and I make regular calls to Islamic countries (because my DAD lives overseas!)...and I make fun of the POTUS, regularly.....

I am a peace-loving hippy for fucks sake. I do earth day. I try to recycle. I reuse. I only wash laundry on cold. I take public transportation!

I am the LEAST dangerous person I know.

Has the Bush regime progressed to thinking that subversive ideas are tantamount to terrorism?

What the fuck?!

Lets talk about conspicuous over consumption

It makes me ill.

There is nothing wrong with working hard and having some nice things, but some shit just irritates the hell out of me.

Especially in this season.

What the HELL are people doing spending $600 on a new PlayStation when there are families that can't afford to feed their children Top Ramen, let alone a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal?

When there is a "Tree of Sharing" and "Toys for Tots" at almost every store you walk in and out of, but people feel like corroding their child's brain with violent video games is somehow more important?

What has happened to us?

A list...of other things to spend $600 on....

1. Food for a family of four for 3-4 months
2. Livestock for families in 3rd world countries
3. Sponsor a child affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa for almost a year and a half
4. Bring relief to refugees in Darfur
5. A Leap Pad plus Writing educational toy....for 15 underprivileged children
6. A warm winter coat....for 20 underprivileged children
7. 600 wrist bands from The ONE Campaign
8. 200 loaves of whole wheat bread
9. 240 gallons of gas
10. 300 gallons of milk

There will be more, but I'm out of time for now.

Excellent

My friend Koz sent me this. I truly is a perfect commentary on Bush.

Tonight we got another one of Keith's special comments and this one was another top-notch job. Olbermann left no stone unturned while going through the exhaustive list of how the Republicans love to manipulate words and turn them into something they are not.

Transcripts below the fold:

And finally tonight, a Special Comment.

On the 22nd of May, 1856, as the deteriorating American political system veered towards the edge of the cliff, Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina, shuffled into the Senate of this nation, his leg stiff from an old dueling injury, supported by a cane. And he looked for the familiar figure of the prominent Senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner.

Brooks found Sumner at his desk, mailing out copies of a speech he had delivered three days earlier — a speech against slavery.

The Congressman matter-of-factly raised his walking stick in mid-air, and smashed its metal point, across the Senator's head.

Congressman Brooks hit his victim repeatedly. Senator Sumner somehow got to his feet and tried to flee. Brooks chased him, and delivered untold blows to Sumner's head. Even though Sumner lay unconscious and bleeding, on the Senate floor, Brooks finally stopped beating him, only because his cane finally broke.

Others will cite John Brown's attack on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry as the exact point after which the Civil War became inevitable.

In point of fact, it might have been the moment — not when Brooks broke his cane over the prostrate body of Senator Sumner - but when voters in Brooks's district started sending him new canes.

Tonight, we almost wonder to whom President Bush will send the next new cane.
There is tonight no political division in this country that he and his party will not exploit, nor have not exploited; no anxiety that he and his party will not inflame.

There is no line this President has not crossed — nor will not cross — to keep one political party, in power.

He has spread any and every fear among us, in a desperate effort to avoid that which he most fears — some check, some balance against what has become not an imperial, but a unilateral presidency.

And now it is evident that it no longer matters to him, whether that effort to avoid the judgment of the people, is subtle and nuanced — or laughably transparent.
Senator John Kerry called him out Monday.

He did it two years too late.

He had been too cordial — just as Vice President Gore had been too cordial in 2000 — just as millions of us, have been too cordial ever since.

Senator Kerry, as you well know, spoke at a college in Southern California. With bitter humor, he told the students that he had been in Texas the day before, that President Bush used to live in that state, but that now he lives in the state of denial.

He said the trip had reminded him about the value of education — that quote "if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you can get stuck in Iraq."

The Senator, in essence, called Mr. Bush stupid.

The context was unmistakable: Texas;the state of denial;stuck in Iraq. No interpretation required.

And Mr. Bush and his minions responded, by appearing to be too stupid to realize that they had been called stupid.

They demanded Kerry apologize — to the troops in Iraq.

And so he now has.

That phrase "appearing to be too stupid" is used deliberately, Mr. Bush.

Because there are only three possibilities here:

One, sir, is that you are far more stupid than the worst of your critics have suggested; that you could not follow the construction of a simple sentence; that you could not recognize your own life story when it was deftly summarized; that you could not perceive it was the sad ledger of your presidency that was being recounted.

This, of course, compliments you, Mr. Bush, because even those who do not "make the most of it," who do not "study hard," who do not "do their homework," and who do not "make an effort to be smart" might still just be stupid — but honest.

No; the first option, sir, is, at best, improbable. You are not honest.

The second option is that you and those who work for you deliberately twisted what Senator Kerry said to fit your political template. That you decided to take advantage of it, to once again pretend that the attacks, solely about your own incompetence, were in fact attacks on the troops — or even on the nation itself.

The third possibility is, obviously, the nightmare scenario; that the first two options are in some way conflated.

That it is both politically convenient for you, and personally satisfying to you, to confuse yourself with the country for which, sir, you work.

A brief reminder, Mr. Bush: You are not the United States of America.

You are merely a politician whose entire legacy will have been a willingness to make anything political — to have, in this case, refused to acknowledge that the insult wasn't about the troops, and that the insult was not even truly about you either — that the insult, in fact, is you.
So now John Kerry has apologized to the troops; apologized for the Republicans' deliberate distortions.

Thus the President will now begin the apologies he owes our troops, right?

This President must apologize to the troops — for having suggested, six weeks ago, that the chaos in Iraq, the death and the carnage, the slaughtered Iraqi civilians and the dead American service personnel, will, to history, quote "look like just a comma."

This President must apologize to the troops — because the intelligence he claims led us into Iraq proved to be undeniably and irredeemably wrong.

This President must apologize to the troops — for having laughed about the failure of that intelligence, at a banquet, while our troops were in harm's way.

This President must apologize to the troops — because the streets of Iraq were not strewn with flowers and its residents did not greet them as liberators.

This President must apologize to the troops — because his administration ran out of "plan" after barely two months.

This President must apologize to the troops — for getting 2,815 of them killed.

This President must apologize to the troops — for getting this country into a war without a clue.

And Mr. Bush owes us an apology… for this destructive and omnivorous presidency.
—
We will not receive them, of course.

This President never apologizes.

Not to the troops.

Not to the people.

Nor will those henchmen who have echoed him.

In calling him a "stuffed suit," Senator Kerry was wrong about the Press Secretary.

Mr. Snow's words and conduct — falsely earnest and earnestly false — suggest he is not "stuffed" - he is inflated.

And in leaving him out of the equation, Senator Kerry gave an unwarranted pass to his old friend Senator McCain, who should be ashamed of himself tonight.

He rolled over and pretended Kerry had said what he obviously had not.

Only, the symbolic stick he broke over Kerry's head came in a context, even more disturbing: Mr. McCain demanded the apology, while electioneering for a Republican congressional candidate in Illinois.

He was speaking of how often he had been to Walter Reed Hospital to see the wounded Iraq veterans, of how, quote "many of the have lost limbs." He said all this while demanding that the voters of Illinois reject a candidate who is not only a wounded Iraq veteran, but who lost two limbs there: Tammy Duckworth.

Support some of the wounded veterans. But bad-mouth the Democratic one.

And exploit all the veterans, and all the still-serving personnel, in a cheap and tawdry political trick, to try to bury the truth: that John Kerry said the President had been stupid.

And to continue this slander as late as this morning — as biased, or gullible, or lazy newscasters, nodded in sleep-walking assent.

Senator McCain became a front man in a collective lie to break sticks over the heads of Democrats — one of them his friend; another his fellow veteran, leg-less, for whom he should weep and applaud, or at minimum about whom, he should stay quiet.

That was beneath the Senator from Arizona.

And it was all because of an imaginary insult to the troops that his party cynically manufactured — out of a desperation, and a futility, as deep as that of Congressman Brooks, when he went hunting for Senator Sumner.

This, is our beloved country now, as you have re-defined it, Mr. Bush.

Get a tortured Vietnam veteran to attack a decorated Vietnam veteran, in defense of military personnel, whom that decorated veteran did not insult.

Or, get your henchmen to take advantage of the evil lingering dregs of the fear of miscegenation in Tennessee, in your party's advertisements against Harold Ford.

Or, get the satellites who orbit around you, like Rush Limbaugh, to exploit the illness — and the bi-partisanship — of Michael J. Fox — yes, get someone to make fun of the cripple.

Oh, and sir, don't forget to drag your own wife into it.

"It's always easy," she said of Mr. Fox's commercials — and she used this phrase twice — "to manipulate people's feelings."

Where on earth might the First Lady have gotten that idea, Mr. President?

From your endless manipulation of people's feelings about terrorism?

"How ever they put it," you said Monday of the Democrats, on the subject of Iraq , "their approach comes down to this: the terrorists win and America loses."

No manipulation of feelings there.

No manipulation of the charlatans of your administration into the only truth-tellers.

No shocked outrage at the Kerry insult that wasn't; no subtle smile as the First Lady silently sticks the knife in Michael J. Fox's back; no attempt on the campaign trail to bury the reality that you have already assured that the terrorists are winning.

Winning in Iraq, sir.

Winning in America, sir.

There, we have chaos: joint U.S./Iraqi checkpoints at Sadr City, the base of the radical Shiite militias — and the Americans have been ordered out by the Prime Minister of Iraq… and our Secretary of Defense doesn't even know about it!
>
And here — we have deliberate, systematic, institutionalized lying and smearing and terrorizing — a code of deceit, that somehow permits a President to say, quote, "If you listen carefully for a Democrat plan for success, they don't have one."

Permits him to say this while his plan in Iraq has amounted to a twisted version of the advice once offered to Lyndon Johnson about his Iraq, called Vietnam.

Instead of "declare victory — and get out"… we now have "declare victory — and stay, indefinitely."

And also here, we have institutionalized the terrorizing of the opposition. True domestic terror:

– Critics of your administration in the media receive letters filled with fake anthrax.

– Braying newspapers applaud, or laugh, or reveal details the FBI wished kept quiet, and thus impede or ruin the investigation.

– A series of reactionary columnists encourages treason charges against a newspaper that published "national security information" — that was openly available on the internet.

– One radio critic receives a letter, threatening the revelation of as much personal information about her as can be obtained — and expressing the hope that someone will then shoot her with an AK-47 machine gun.

– And finally, a critic of an incumbent Republican Senator, a critic armed with nothing but words, is attacked by the Senator's supporters, and thrown to the floor, in full view of television cameras, as if someone really did want to re-enact the intent and the rage of the day Preston Brooks found Senator Charles Sumner.

Of course, Mr. President, you did none of these things.

You instructed no one to mail the fake anthrax. Nor undermine the FBI's case. Nor call for the execution of the editors of the New York Times. Nor threaten to assassinate Stephanie Miller. Nor beat up a man yelling at Senator Allen. Nor have the first lady knife Michael J. Fox. Nor tell John McCain to lie about John Kerry.

No, you did not.

And the genius of the thing, is the same, as in King Henry's rhetorical question about Archbishop Thomas Becket: "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

All you have to do, sir… is hand out enough new canes.

Original Site

So I totally suck....

...and I understand that most of my regular readers have flown my extremely boring, having not posted for a long time, coop.

I don't have Internet at home right now, so I get on when I can, and try to catch everyone up.

Once again, I suck. Sorry.

School

Obviously I haven't had a huge amount of time to blog. I started school on Tuesday, took my first test Wednesday (99%) and my second Thursday (94%).

I wrote a 3.75 page paper this weekend, and now need to go study for my module final.

I'm cruising though. It's all under control......

Please note....

I have added a new banner regarding saving Darfur. Please go there and do something.

Be an activist.

Tell your friends.

Donate whatever you can.

And if you pray, do that too.

Umm....WOW

Airline passenger told to conceal Arabic T-shirt
Human rights activist was briefly barred from JetBlue flight in Oakland

NEW YORK - An Arab human rights activist was prevented from boarding a plane at Kennedy Airport while wearing a T-shirt that read, “We will not be silent,” in English and Arabic.

Raed Jarrar was at the gate to board a JetBlue Airways flight to Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 12 when four officials from the airline or a government agency stopped him and told him he could not board with the shirt on, he said Wednesday.

One official told him, “Going to an airport with a T-shirt in Arabic script is like going to a bank and wearing a T-shirt that says, ‘I’m a robber,”’ he said.

Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokeswoman, acknowledged the dispute and said the airline was investigating. She noted the incident came two days after British authorities announced they had foiled a plot to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic.

Though rules banning liquids and gels in carry-on baggage went into effect at U.S. airports, Dervin said there are no specific rules governing clothing.

Jarrar, who directs the Iraq project for Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights organization, said he refused a suggestion from the officials that he turn his shirt inside out. In the end, officials gave Jarrar another shirt to wear over his, and he put it on rather than miss his flight.

Jarrar said he was forced to give up his seat near the front of the plane and was issued a new boarding pass for a seat in the rear.

It was unclear whether it was officials from JetBlue, the federal Transportation Security Administration or the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, who told Jarrar to remove his shirt, Dervin said.

Officials for the TSA and Port Authority said the agencies were investigating.

Jarrar, 28, is half-Iraqi and half-Palestinian and moved to the United States last year from Jordan, where he was studying. The slogan “We Will Not Be Silent” has been adopted by opponents of the war in Iraq.

Ummmm, I guess I don't know what to say.

That is SO FUCKED UP.

Gather.com

This is a way cool networking site. I got tipped off because I'm a BzzAgent. It's kind of like Myspace for grown ups. Check it out.

http://www.gather.com/register.jsp?ref=bza_78522