Pansy and Peony

Why would this child's mother let her out of the house like this?.

Now the headlines claim "arrested for prom dress", which is not exactly true. The police were called over the commotion caused when she was asked to leave because her dress was inappropriate.

That being the case, I really don't see how this is as newsworthy as the original headlines make it out to be.

However, I am just so frustrated. Why do girls no longer see beauty in something beautiful? Why do they only see beauty in skimpy? How skimpy does a dress have to be these days to be the nicest dress, because Oh Girl's doesn't leave any room for hers to be topped. I keep thinking about when I was a very small girl, and how I would love to play dress-up with my patent-leather Mary Janes, little white gloves and anything frilly and pink. How sad for someone so young to have already lost that childhood simplicity.

I often feel like The Modesty Police and oddly, it is not a subject I am that obsessed with. I am just tired of women being objectified. God gifted us when he made us the more visually beautiful of the two sexes. But this isn't beauty. I don't know what this is.This is taking God's delicate art and saying "it needs more color" and spray painting it fluorescent pink.

What I also don't understand is where are her parents? Why isn't her father barring the door with a shot gun "Hell no you ain't going out the house looking like that!" Isn't that what fathers do? Why isn't her mother telling her "I know you think this is pretty, but this is not appropriate, let's find a compromise." Isn't that the point of mothers?

Posted by Pansy at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

but it is too funny to ignore. Previously, I blogged about Miley Cyrus and how tired I am of not only hearing about them, but how tired I am of Hollywood telling me how backwards I am for thinking the images inappropriate. If the Tila Tequila quote was not enough, how about this quote from Hugh Hefner:

Says Hef: "Sure, she’d be welcomed in the magazine. Very pretty lady. And I think to make such a big to-do over something as innocent as those [Vanity Fair] photos, I think is a reflection on how schizophrenic America is about sexuality."

Young Ladies, this is why modesty is important. You do NOT want the attention of dirty old, old (did I mention old?) men calling you pretty...If Miley Cyus has any sense, now she is getting the creepy crawlies and thinking "Ohmygosh, no more suggestive pictures again!"

Ugh...shivers.

Posted by Pansy at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

is a very, very strange place. I, um, er, um, you know...wow. I don't know what to say.

Posted by Pansy at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This link was passed on on a home schooling email list. It is a real time map with current school incident reports.

On the one hand it freaks me out. I had no idea there was so much happening at once surrounding schools. It sort of gives me that usual "good thing I home school" vibe. On the other hand, what is the point of this? I hate reacting to scare tactics, or dwelling on all the evil going on the world. Where is the line to simply being informed and living in fear? Is it that times have become so dreadful that this is a new phenomenon or are we just more informed about what is happening as soon as it happens?

What do we do with this information? Most of us would not dream of taking guns to school, so it is not as if the average citizen contributes to the violence.Or is there something we are doing to contribute? Are we supposed to stay inside forever?

Perhaps we are just called to pray more and work harder to spread peace in our everyday actions. I am just not sure how to do that, and if someone has some tangible advice, I am open. It is just a wonder I get supper on the table every night.

Posted by Pansy at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So alas, I did not get tickets to attend the Papal Mass in Washington. I didn't even watch the whole thing on TV.* I did catch part of the homily, and I'm looking forward to downloading Tom's pdf and reading all of the Holy Father's speeches and homilies.

On the music I have nothing to say but "of course." A few years ago, I attended a Eucharistic Congress in the Archdiocese of Washington, and the choices for the Mass were just the same: "Look how diverse we are!"**

But at the same time, wasn't it great that the Archdiocese was putting on a Eucharistic Congress at all? With an Adoration chapel right there in the Convention Center?

And as for the Papal Mass, the Archdiocese had 100 priests available to hear confessions -- and still had to ask more priests to come and help, so that everyone waiting in line could go to confession before the Mass started. (I did attend the Papal Mass in Baltimore in 1995, and if there were confessors available, I completely missed that memo.)

What a blessing.

* am I the only one who feels weird watching Masses on TV? I never have TV on unless I'm doing something -- housework or some kind of craft -- but it doesn't feel right to be folding socks during the Consecration.

** okay, I just have to mention that the Latin Masses I attended at St Matthew's and the Shrine (Ordinary Use) had impressively diverse-looking congregations.

Posted by Peony at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Alicia Keyes in an effort to keep up a reputation as someone who is intelligent, in touch with the world and not prone to crazy conspiracy theories was quoted by Blender Magazine stating:

"a ploy to convince black people to kill each other ... by the government," etc.

She later retracted the statement:

"I wasn't saying that I'm a conspiracy theorist, and I wasn't saying that I'm anti-anyone because anybody who knows my character knows that I'm a very positive person. ... My only aim is to uplift people and spread love ... overall it was a great article. It was merely a line or two that has provoked all of this madness. I regret (the) negative spin."

Someone must have told Ms. Keyes that conspiracy theories such as the government making up Gangsta Rap, as opposed to things like anthrax, make her sound not only out of touch with the daily struggles of the everyday American, but just plain whacky.

But them I read this quote today from 50 Cent:

"I don't like Alicia Keys no more though … the same reason why I said that I don't like Oprah Winfrey," 50 Cent toldThe Showbuzz. "I'm prejudice(d). I don't like people who don't like me. If you don't like the content that I write because of my experiences; I am being who I am when I am writing it. I fall into that 'label' as far as you considering artists creating 'Gangsta music,' we fall into that.

"If she don't like that, (then) I don't like that classical music s--- she be doing. At some point she's playing some s--- that don't relate to me. … We listen to it and try to figure out why people actually enjoy it. I am trying to enjoy it. That statement changes my perception of Alicia Keys totally. But the magazine is standing behind it, which means they probably have a tape of her in conversation saying it. It's just not really a bright comment anyway...

...I think hip-hop is so competitive, that the competitive nature, the art form makes it a competition," 50 Cent said. "

Wow, that's some deep sh*t.

Truth be told, I am actually starting to think Gangsta Rap was created not by the American government, but like by the Russians, or the Chinese or Osama bin Laden so that no American will be able to effectively communicate with each other in English again! Who's with me? Think hard about, you know, stuff. Or be thinkin' hard on stuff that, you know, be happenin' which I don't cuz 50 be speakin' the truth for me and, um...oh I lost my train of thought...see what I mean?

Posted by Pansy at 4:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

TSO has this cool post up in which he "plays the curmudgeon so [I] don't have to." He watched a bit of a recent Republican debate (a task I am more than happy to delegate) and came away with some quotes to make curmudgeonly remarks about (note that he only had to catch "a bit" of the debate to come away with enough material for a good-sized post.)

A sample of the curmudgeonly stuff:

[Governor Huckabee] said he feels the answer to our health care problems is (drumroll) - greater emphasis on wellness rather than sickness.

[which] completely ignores the root causes of the health care crisis by ignoring lack of insureds, the incredible expansion of what health care now entails, and the fact that it is a human-labor intensive industry. The wellness philosophy is great but it merely postpones the inevitable. Wellness programs don't elminate sickness and death but merely delay them. Second, it sounds suspiciously like a call for government to go into micro-managing our exercise routines or lack thereof as well as every thing we eat (fast food - no way!).

So now that TSO's got that curmudgeon stuff out of the way, all I have to do is highlight a section I particularly agree with

the incredible expansion of what health care now entails, and the fact that it is a human-labor intensive industry

and state my agreement:

I think TSO is correct in his diagnosis of the causes of the health care crisis. There's simply more health care to be had than there was in the past, and that health care still needs to be delivered by human beings, who have to be paid.

Then I add my own commentary:

And the costs of paying those human beings are proportionately higher. Once, most bedside care was given by nuns (who weren't paid much) and nursing students (who weren't paid at all.) And there was no need to pay MRI technologists and other allied-health specialists because there were no MRIs, interventional radiology suites, and so on.

But now very few nuns are giving direct nursing care (the few left in health care are in administration) Nursing students are in short supply, and will no longer work for free. Patient care is hard work -- it's physically hard work and requires 24-hour staffing. And thanks to Griswold and Roe, the labor pool is smaller. So wages have be high enough to make it worth it for qualified candidates to pass up other career paths, get the education, enter the health professions, and show up for work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

Throw in a pop-culture reference:

Even advanced societies such as the late Republic in Star Wars would pay real people -- even highly educated Jedis -- to fly spacecraft, but could only afford to have androids at the bedside to give medical and nursing care.

And I'm done! All the drudgery of watching the debate and coming up with curmudgeon stuff has been taken care of for me. (Even though I still don't understand what a "poncer" is.) Thanks, TSO!

Posted by Peony at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

OK to invade and remove Mugabe, Ncube tells Brits

Saying that he is prepared to lead the overthrow of President Robert Mugabe but that the people are not ready, Bulawayo Archbishop Pius Ncube has told reporters that Britain would be justified in invading Zimbabwe.

The Courier-Mail reports that Archbishop Ncube told London's Sunday Times the deepening destitution in his country, including millions going hungry and the world's highest inflation rate, meant Britain would be right to act.

"I think it is justified for Britain to raid Zimbabwe and remove Mugabe," he said.

"We should do it ourselves but there's too much fear. I'm ready to lead the people, guns blazing, but the people are not ready."

Archbishop Ncube said the president was squandering money while the people starved and had just spent $US2 million ($A2.37 million) on surveillance equipment while most people struggled along on $US2 ($A2.37) a week.

"How can you expect people to rise up when even our church services are attended by state intelligence people?" the archbishop said.

Posted by Peony at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, I guess I would lose my already endangered blogger cred if I didn't say something about Don Imus. So here it is: Good riddance.

Now, what about his enablers -- the guests, sponsors, and networks that kept him and his foul mouth on the air all these years? Really, they're like a bunch of kids who egg on the class clown but play dumb when he gets caught and leave him to take the punishment alone.

Imus wasn't born yesterday (unless by "yesterday" you mean "sometime during the Holocene Epoch") . He wouldn't have been filling up airtime with that kind of trash if he thought he'd get in trouble for it. The networks were paying him to be coarse and vulgar. So he did coarse and vulgar, and was paid big bucks to push people's buttons, and he happen to push the wrong button during a slow news week and now he's been hung out to dry.

"We are shocked -- shocked! -- that he would say such a thing!" If anyone should be apologizing to the Rutgers team, it should be CBS and MSNBC, for putting Imus on the air and giving him the idea that it would be remotely okay to say such a thing. (Followed by the record execs who are getting rich off the filthy rap music that puts slurs like that out there.)

People who don't use words like that don't have to apologize for them. Our society had boundaries and rules for a reason. But when you're always trying to "push boundaries" and "be edgy" it's only a matter of time before you fall over the cliff.

Posted by Peony at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I actually feel bad for the guy. My husband thinks he was probably always a closet racist. My poor husband is super jaded and thinks that about most people. Hemight be right, but I think Imus suffers more form stupidity than racism. The man has been on the air stating his thoughts about everything under the sun for like 40 years now. He was bound to say something really stupid. After all that time clocked in as an established radio personality, he probably mistakenly thought he was "down" enough to use more ebonically-centric language to speak his mind. He forgot for a second that only people of certain skin colors are permitted to use that type of vernacular. You see, had he been black, no one would notice if he used the term "nappy-headed hos".

So what is the result? The Al Sharptons (most especially Al) see an opportunity to cash in and make a mountain of a mole hill and set us all back another 20 years in race relations.

I am not saying Imus should not have been reprimanded, his language was wrong and offensive. He most certainly should have been. Racially charged or not, offensive language should not be acceptable. But his comments are not an example of everyday racism that injures the average American. And the circus that ensues contributes more to the average, everyday racism. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that when white people see so much attention being drawn to the remark "nappy headed" they are baffled and think minorities love to make mountains out of mole hills. I have heard white people say that black people use these situations as an opportunity to get something for nothing. I think that is true for Jesse and Al. Not for me, or my family.

Recently my husband was up for a promotion at his job. He was passed up before he was even offered the position for a white person with much less seniority and a number of write-ups (where my husband has none) by a manager that has no compunction by freely calling people "Buckwheat" and using the 'n' word. I doubt that Imus using the term "nappy headed" has any influence on this manager's ignorance, and Al Sharpton has done nothing to improve race relations for the everyday average minority.

Posted by Pansy at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

That letter a couple of posts down? I really sent it. And this evening, I got a reply:

Dear Peony,

President Bush's disastrous plan to escalate the war is no longer just a plan: it's a reality.

While the Senate was tied up in knots....

No response to what I actually wrote the guy about. Good PR work there, pal.

Hang on here -- now, which party was the one flogging this non-binding resolution that had the Senate "tied up in knots"?....

Posted by Peony at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I was reading Fox News this morning the John Edwards/Blogger thing and read this:

Another Catholic group, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, issued a statement saying it was satisfied with Edwards' actions following the "religiously intolerant remarks."

"We accept Senator Edwards' assurances that he too was offended by comments made by recently hired staffers and that religious intolerance has no place in his campaign," said the group's executive director, Alexia Kelley, who added that since roughly one-fourth of the U.S. population is Catholic, Edwards can't take the religion's members for granted.

"We hope this unfortunate incident will initiate a deeper conversation on the part of all presidential candidates regarding the broad range of issues and values of primary importance to the Catholic community, including the Iraq War, a concern for the poor, human life and dignity, the availability of health care, and a commitment to the common good," Kelley said.

Mark Shea had something to say about Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good:

My reply:

Anything less than an immediate firing of these skirted Klansmen is a clear indication the Edwards is utterly unfit for the White House. Don't be whores for this dirtbag. Stop making excuses and demand that he get rid of these clownettes.

If you'd like to tell Mr. Jones what you think of Edward lame excuse-making for these bigettes, click here.

If you need the Spin vs. Substance Ammo to pound Mr. Jones in to facing reality, here it is.

Meanwhile, memorize the name: Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good is the first organization of Catholics to prostitute their faith completely in this election cycle for the sake of blow-dried ambulance chaser. It profits a man nothing to gain the whole *world* and lose his own soul. But for *Edwards*?

Posted by Pansy at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

My husband is flying out of town this afternoon to attend a funeral. I'm packing his suitcase, and, since it's the first time either of us has flown since 2004, I'm checking out the carry-on baggage rules at the airline and the TSA website.

So let me make sure I'm understanding this correctly: If my husband wants to carry a tube of toothpaste in his carry-on luggage, it has to be a mini-tube. Can't be a regular tube that's half full; has to be a mini-tube . And the shampoo has to be a minibar size as well. (Good thing I'm sending the electric razor so I don't have to figure out how to pack the can of shaving cream.)

And this micro-toiletries have to be packed in a quart-size ziplock bag. Not gallon. Not pint. Quart.

And he will have to remove the quart-size bag, and place it in the tray with his shoes and keys.

And if he does not follow these instructions, he might be exhibiting suspicious behavior.

But if he refuses to take his assigned seat, and instead demands that he and his friends be given seats that aren't all together but just happen to be in strategic positions throughout the cabin, and requests safety equipment that he doesn't need but that could potentially be used as a weapon, then he is a victim, and those thuggish, bigoted pilots and airline crew need to get over their lyin' bigoted eyes and go to sensitivity school.

Yeah, I so believe the government takes my safety seriously.

Posted by Peony at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

via commenter CV at Mark Shea's:

Celling Out: Bioethics and the Culture of Cool

Excerpt (emphasis added)

A buddy of mine from college, one of the few with whom I still maintain regular contact, is convinced that I misplaced my brain somewhere over the course of the last eleven years... I'm religious—a Christian, to be more precise—which automatically makes my perspectives questionable as far as my agnostic friend is concerned. Exacerbating matters is the extent to which my views place me squarely within a "conservative" political framework and thus, in my friend's estimation, a position of ignorance, bigotry, and superstition.... Fortunately for my ego, I eventually came to realize that such intransigence really has very little to do with me personally; rather, it's part of a much larger phenomenon with which those of us attempting to safeguard human life must learn to deal. To state the matter as simply as possible, what I have discovered about my friend is that when it comes to bioethical issues, he's much more concerned with the associations of particular beliefs than the beliefs themselves. For him, embryonic stem-cell research is justifiable—even perhaps praiseworthy—not because logic has led him to this conclusion but in order to align himself with one particular cultural community over and against another. In short, my friend—a devotee of The Daily Show and NPR, a subscriber to The New Yorker, Adbusters, and The Financial Times, and a pretty big fan of both Al Franken and Michael Moore—wants to be thought of as an urbane and intelligent person and so has chosen for himself the political opinions that he believes further this reputation.

YES. For too many people, logic has nothing to do with it. They live in Maureen Dowd's world, a world where grown-up people still live by the rules of the middle-school cafeteria: I think this way because the cool kids think this way.

Posted by Peony at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

It seems almost none of us were out voting yesterday.

Posted by Pansy at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

OK, maybe that is not a fair statement. But when I read articles like this I kind of roll my eyes.

God help me, I should be more patient and understanding.

In between psychic readings and running a shop that sells everything a witch needs to get started, Cabot is mailing letters to civic leaders across Massachusetts warning them of the legal perils of portraying witches as grisly old hags.

Posters hung on government property of witches as haggard women on broomsticks or as green-faced outcasts with an evil glint in their eye could lead to defamation lawsuits by witches protesting what they see as violations of their civil rights.

When I think of civil rights, I think of segregated schools, rest rooms, and forcing people to sit on the back of the bus. In current times, I think of forcing people to go against their religion by supplying birth control in Catholic owned businesses.

But Halloween images of witches? In all honesty, I would be somewhat appalled by stereotypical images of a certain ethnicity plastered everywhere. On the other hand, as a Catholic, heck, I'm used to it. All I have to do is turn on Law and Order. We're all used to it.

Seriously, it never occured to me to stereotype real live Wiccans. My day is just way to busy.

Posted by Pansy at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Every day I find another reason to be happy that we've moved (back) to Virginia, and now that it's fall I find bonus reasons. The colors, the apple cider, the pumpkins.... yes, we had fall colors, cider, and pumpkins in Maryland, but not like this. And twice a day, as I go over the overpass, I can take a quick look out the side window and see a magnificent view that extends all the way to the mountains.

There's one unlovely thing about Virginia this fall, however, and that's the Senate race. Why can't Allen and Webb just go out and fight a duel or something instead of this insane mudslinging? And why are they treating me like I'm stupid? Guys (for gentlemen you are not), would you quit with the hicker-than-thou pose?

Webb's particularly annoying, since he carefully wipes the rouge off his neck as soon as the Rappahannock's in the rear-view mirror. Up here in the D.C. burbs, he attacks Allen as being some kind of throwback, but in the southern counties he paints himself as a Real "Born Fightin'" Virginian (never mind that Allen's an ex-governor -- he was born in California!) And of course the major newspapers don't call him on it. It's disgusting.

I'll never vote for Webb; his party's made it clear they don't want my vote, seeing as I'm one of those pro-life theocrat faithbot extremist types. But Allen's campaign isn't doing much for me either.

The only compelling reason I can think of to vote for Allen is the issue of judges. Is that a good enough reason to pull the lever for the guy?

Posted by Peony at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honor, and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord!

Tie in a living tether
the prince and priest and thrall,
bind all our lives together,
smite us and save us all;
in ire and exultation
aflame with faith, and free,
lift up a living nation,
a single sword to thee.

-- G. K. Chesterton

usually sung to "King's Lynn"

Posted by Peony at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

But I just got wind of Amish School shooting. I am so upset. Up and down our road there were one room Amish school houses. Every morning the children would walk to school hand in hand. If you drove by, the Amish children would automatically wave "hello" at you.

Amish children are some of the most precious I have ever seen. Our neighbor, Norman and his wife Sarah were a couple of years younger then us, and had the same amount of children. When we moved there, Sarah was pregnant with number 4, then we had number 5, then she had number 5...Norman would come over in his buggy on a daily basis to use the phone with a kid, or two, or three in tow. He would tell the kids to sit in the buggy, and they would stay. They would pick dandelions, and giggle and wave at us.

One day he brought them over and they were happy because they brought our children a tiny cat from their recent litter.

My husband was always repeatedly impressed by the children. They worked hard taking care of each other as well as the farm. The small children could entertain themselves with the smallest things, such as a bag of laundry clips.

This upsets me so much because the children are so wonderfully untouched by some of the evils that have polluted our own environment, for example a sense that someone who is uinknown might be someone who is harmful to you as opposed to a neighbor. I hope this does not change all that.

Posted by Pansy at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This is what I get from the last messages. People are often stronger than they know, bigger, more gallant than they'd guess. And this: We're all lucky to be here today and able to say what deserves saying, and if you say it a lot, it won't make it common and so unheard, but known and absorbed.

HT:Curt Jester

Posted by Pansy at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ohmygosh! Suri Cruise is so cute!

Posted by Pansy at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin Killed:

Australian naturalist and television personality Steve Irwin has been killed by a stingray during a diving expedition off the Australian coast.

Mr Irwin, 44, died after being struck in the chest by the stingray's barb while he was filming a documentary in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

"Stingrays only sting in defence, they're not aggressive animals so the animal must have felt threatened. It didn't sting out of aggression, it stung out of fear," Dr Bryan Fry, Deputy Director of the Australian Venom Research Unit at the University of Melbourne said....

Experts say that while painful, stingray venom is rarely lethal and it would have been the wound caused by the barb itself, which could measure up to 20cm long, which proved fatal.

"What happened to Steve Irwin is like being stabbed in the heart. It has little to do with the venom and all to do with the trauma caused by the barb of the stingray," Dr Geoff Isbister, a clinical toxicologist at the Mater Hospital in Newcastle, Australia, said.

This cries out for some kind of wry joke, probably a pun of some kind, but you'll have to read some other blog for that. I got nuthin.'

From the WaPo:

Stainton said Irwin's American-born wife Terri, from Eugene, Ore., had been informed of his death, and had told their daughter Bindi Sue, 8, and son Bob, who will turn 3 in December.

Posted by Peony at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

A few months ago, I posted about about a horrific child abuse story involving a mother, the child of course and paramour. No I am not some kind of strange child-abuse junkie (totally swore off late night Discovery Channel), but whenever I sit down at breakfast, open the front page of the paper, here are these stories.Years ago it seemed you would hear about one of these stories every ten years, now it is every ten weeks. Whenever I read them, I feel like someone hits me in the chest with a sledgehammer, and I walk around with that "ummph" feeling for a couple of days. Then I wonder if there is something I can do...

In our local paper on Saturday, we were graced with another front-page story about a 16-year old and her boyfriend abusing their (or her? they do not specify, but simply refer to him as "boyfriend") child. Again, to summarize without having to read the gory details, the boyfriend is in custody, the baby is recovering in the hospital, and they are looking at prosecuting the mother as well.

The reason why I wanted to blog this is because I found the end of the aricle interesting:

The case is one in a rash of child abuse around the Capital Region by inexperienced, young parents and their companions.

"We have to break this cycle earlier," said Albany Police Chief James Tuffey, who blames parents for ignoring their teenage children.

"There's a serious problem," Tuffey said. "We as a society have gone soft and we have to return the envelope, in particular, to parents and say 'postage due.' My parents knew where I was at 9 p.m."

Without my usual "family values" tirade, I am sure you can guess what I am thinking.

Posted by Pansy at 5:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Lindsey Lohan wants to go to Iraq to perform for the troops.

There is nothing wrong with her wanting to go to Iraq to boost morale. That's kind of cool.

Here is where it gets weird. She goes on to say:

"I've been trying to go to Iraq with Hillary Clinton for so long," Lohan, 20, tells Elle magazine in its September issue, after she was asked if she had any big plans for next year. "Hillary was trying to work it out, but it seemed too dangerous." She continues, "I wanted to do what Marilyn Monroe did (during the Korean War), when she went and just set up a stage and did a concert for the troops all by herself. It's so amazing seeing that one woman just going somewhere, this beautiful sex kitten, who's basically a pinup, which is what I've always aspired to be."

Her aspiration in life was to be a "beautiful sex kitten" and a "pinup". That's it?

And weirder yet:

Even without Sen. Clinton, Lohan is confident she can handle an Iraq trip on her own. "I'm not afraid of going," she says. "My security guard is going to take me to a gun range when I get back to L.A., and I'm going to start taking shooting lessons."

Does she realize there is a stark difference between carrying a gun for self-defense in The South Bronx at night, and being in the middle of a war zone? Although I think I would worry about her in the South Bronx...

Posted by Pansy at 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

This is an AOL site, so it may not come up for everyone.

The Chicks elicited more laughter as lead singer Natalie Maines dedicated the humorous 'White Trash Wedding' to Mel Gibson, sarcastically praising the actor for checking into rehab.

"You know how it is when you're drunk," she said, in reference to Gibson's anti-Semitic rant during his DUI arrest last week. "All of our controversy would have been over if I had checked myself into rehab and said I was drunk and didn't know what I was saying."

Um, wow! I can't wrap my head around this one. I love how The Dixie Chicks have anointed themselves the voice of America. Mostly though, I think people who proudly refer to themselves as "Dixie Chicks" really should tone down their speeches on "tolerance" (oh how I hate that stupid buzzword).

Posted by Pansy at 4:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

From today's WaPo (registration)

When I [Gene Weingargen] heard that the new poet laureate of the United States was to be Donald Hall, the New Hampshire literary eminence, I was elated. The media accounts rightfully praised the beauty and sophistication of Hall's verse. But that's not why I was happy. I was happy because I knew something most in the media didn't.

The respectable Donald Hall at times has been a joyful practitioner of some of the lowest, least dignified, raunchiest forms of poetry. In short, he's my kind of guy! He's done limericks, and he is a fan of the infinitely silly but challenging "Higgledy piggledies," also known as double dactyls.

So Weingarten faxes him his own double-dactyl tribute:

Higgledy piggledy Donald Hall, Laureate! News of it rains in an Imperfect storm, Tragicomedically Failing to mention his Seminal work in this Sorry-ass form.

Posted by Peony at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I feel bad for the guy. I think if he were not the great producer of the controversial and non-politically correct Passion of the Christ, this would be a blurb instead of big news. Were it Eminem, no one would care less.

Why do I think that? Well for one, the article I linked to stated:

In a column Monday on the HuffingtonPost.com, Emanuel wrote that he wished Gibson well in battling alcoholism. "But alcoholism does not excuse racism and anti-Semitism," he wrote.

Emanuel, whose clients have included Larry David and Mark Wahlberg, went onto urge his Hollywood brethren not to work with the A-lister.

I not going to even touch on Larry David because there is very little he says or does that is not offensive, but Mark Wahlberg? I seem to remember back in the day when Mr. Wahlberg was known as "Markie Mark" he was not the role model for tolerance either.

Posted by Pansy at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Peony, your post below had me wondering what besides the obvious bothered me so much.
In the comments below, Patty said:

I agree with all of you, although I admit that I was involved in a discussion elsewhere on this topic and it made me wonder about something. Is this child's cancer really highly treatable and curable as the other side paints it to be? And is one round of chemo usually enough to combat it?

In the articles I have read on this case, there was no mention of this, which I think would be the biggest deciding factor if I were a judge. But the decision seems to be based on a growing assumption we are starting to take as a given in our culture: Parents are idiots.

It takes no intelligence to get pregnant, so people who become parents aren't really qualified to do so.

Why? I don't know. Democrats claim the job of parenting is too big for two people and we need mandatory preschool. "It takes a village to raise a child" or something like that. In the Terri Schaivo case, any testimony of Terri's parents was dismissed because her cheating ex-husband knew how pro-death Terri was over her own family who raised her with their values. When I was in health class in high school, we were told repeatedly by teachers (who used to sleep with the students at a much greater proportion then any priests I know-seen it with my own eyes-scary, huh?) that if we ever needed anything, and were afraid of our parents, we could always talk to them. Our health books even said that if our parents thought masturbation was bad, they were superstitious and old fashioned and masturbation was healthy. (Ah, the beauty of Planned Parenthood-I had no idea what masturbation was until that point. Never heard the word, never grasped the concept). I remember my father having a fit when he read this in my health book and wrote the school, and got no reply of course. (They should have taken me the heck outta there).

One of the biggest disputes I see a lot among APers is the vaccination debate. We know many vaccinations, do, or used to contain mercury. We know that a few are derived from Human diploid cells (aborted fetal tissue). We know in countries that wait to vaccinate until a year old or two have virtually no cases of SIDS. We have seen outbreaks of Pertussis in almost fully vaccinated populations. We know there is a National Injury Compensation Program. Why is it necessary to vax a newborn baby against Hep B? I am not trying to make a case against vaccinating (although after rereading what I wrote, it certainly seems that way). I am not totally anti-vaccinating-we vaccinate.I am just a parent who wanted as many facts as I could obtain about what I am doing with my children. I don't understand why parents are not allowed to have any say in the drugs they expose their children to. When your children get shots, you get these little sheets that tell you some nasty side effects might be possible, but overall, by not vaccinating you are practically creating some sort of epidemic. But to me, if any of the previous questions I asked were true, parents should be able to have the option to strongly discern with all the facts available what they would like to be done with their children. Again, I did not mean to go on an "anti-vaxing" tirade. I just think that is one of the first places where our doctors or whoever the other people in our lives that have influence on what we do with our children sort of step in and take over for us.

Now we have pending legislation whether or not it should be illegal to take minors over state lines to obtain abortions for them without parental consent. Why is this even a question? Can't that be construed as kidnapping if abortion were not involved?

Note this page from the Allegheny Reproductive Health Center:

If you are under the age of 18, the law in Pennsylvania says that to have an abortion you need to either bring a parent with you to sign your consent forms of go through a process called Judicial Bypass. If you cannot or do not want to involve either parent, we can help you. A judicial bypass allows you to ask a judge to declare you mature enough to decide for yourself whether or not to have an abortion. Although that may would complicated or frightening, it is a fairly simple process and our staff will walk you through each step.

And when something happens to your daughter, it was your fault for not being a brave parent to walk past the protesting "anti-choicers" and slot your grandchild for termination yourself.

I am so tired. Raising kids is hard enough. Trying to raise them decently in this culture is like swimming upstream. In essence, everything that you truly feel is right because you love and care for your children is subject to scrutiny if it is not part of common opinion. I keep thinking of poor Mr. and Mrs. Schindler in this regard. God help us.

I didn't even touch on homeschooling.

Posted by Pansy at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Judge lifts order requiring treatment for teen cancer patient

ACCOMAC, Va. A judge ruled today that a 16-year-old Eastern Shore cancer patient who has refused conventional medical treatment does not have to report to a hospital.

The judge also set a trial for August 16th to settle the dispute....

Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen Taylor agreed to a stay, which means Abraham won't be forced to undergo more chemotherapy for now. He has undergone alternative treatments, including herbal treatments.

A juvenile court judge on Friday ordered Abraham to report to a hospital for treatment of his cancer. The judge refused to lift his order yesterday and Abraham's parents sought a stay.

Taylor also ended joint custody of Abraham between his parents and social services officials, which was also ordered by the juvenile court judge.

This is really scary: your doctors don't like your choice of treatment, so they go through the juvenile court system to compel you to undergo the treatment they recommend -- and possibly to take you away from your parents, if it's deemed "in your best interests"?

If Abraham were a Sarah who wanted to undergo an abortion, nobody -- not the judge, not the doctor, not the parents -- would have anything to say about it. It would be between Sarah and her doctor. And if Sarah wanted to decline the abortion, supposedly it would be her choice.

So why doesn't Abraham have a choice about his own body -- one that he's made with the approval of his parents?

And what's up with these doctors? I thought the medical profession was trying to do away with "paternalism", the "we know best" idea -- that patients' autonomy was to be respected.

What happened to informed consent? When I was in nursing school, I was taught that performing a procedure on a patient against his will could potentially be prosecuted as assault and battery. If Abraham had been forced to report to the hospital, could he have brought charges against the nurses who started his IVs? (Would there have been nurses willing to go against his wishes?)

An attorney for the social services department, told the judge the agency would go along with the ruling if a new trial takes place quickly.

Oh, well, that's big of them. Nice to know that social services will obey a judge's order if they approve of it.

Nate Nelson blogged on this earlier this week.

Posted by Peony at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Warning: Expletive language follows...

A microphone picked up an unaware President Bush saying on Monday Syria should press Hezbollah to "stop doing this shit" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon.

Damn straight! He should use it in a speech.

Posted by Pansy at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I amazed that people admire this so much that they write articles that pat themselves on the back for their selfishness.

Until Madison was born, I saw parenting from a distance. I thought of babies as adorable and sweet. They smelled good and looked clean and perfect. Sure, I knew about dirty diapers and occasional fussiness. (And the screaming kids in stores and restaurants.) But, really, they were a minority, I thought.

Then I learned the truth. Kids overwhelm your life and alter it forever.

I have a newfound respect for Shannon, and for mothers in general. Sleep deprivation seems the norm. Forget about impromptu dinners, weekends away or nights out with friends.

Right now, my schedule is mine. I do what I want, when I want.

I don't know if I'm willing to give that up. For the past year, not a week goes by that I don't tell Shannon that I just don't think I could be in her place.

Posted by Pansy at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Pansy at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Saturday, September 30 at the National Mall!

I just saw the author list and I am so juiced! I'm even excited that Alexander McCall Smith is going to be there and I haven't even read any of his books! I so hope that Dana Gioia's going to be speaking and that I'll get a chance to listen....

Posted by Peony at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

HT: The World IMHO via The Curt Jester

As you can see from the article, the war on contraception is more a war for common sense:

The New York Times joined the fray with a May 7 article titled "The War on Contraception.� Feminists point to several elements of the so-called war:

# The Food and Drug Administration has refused to approve the open sale of the morning-after pill in pharmacies.

# The administration has promoted abstinence as the chief way of avoiding pregnancy.

# Health insurers are reportedly under mounting pressure not to cover the morning-after pill.

# Four states – Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Dakota – have approved laws allowing pharmacists to refuse to sell birth control pills.

Sometimes I wonder, what are they really fighting for?

Posted by Pansy at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Just who the hell do you think you are?

You can start yapping to me about your High Holy Professional Obligation to Blab Classified Information Just Because You Think It Will Sell Ad Space when you tell me...

-- why you think you're a professional. If you're a real professional, you are subject to a governing board with rules and the authority to enforce them. Lawyers have the bar, doctors have their medical associations and boards. Where's your board? For that matter, where's your commission or license?

-- and who, precisely, gave you this task. This is a democracy. So who elected you? Who gave you this oversight power? To whom are you accountable?

Selfish jerks.

Posted by Peony at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I hated that movie. My hating that movie has very little to do with my feelings towards the war. It was just such annoying, blatant, one-sided propaganda that was touted as a documentary, and was no such thing. I watched this movie because someone said that everyone should "educate themselves" and watch it regardless of your political affiliation. I couldn't finish it because it was such baloney. It's like when you see movies like this, if you were on the fence whether you like Bush, or are a fence sitter on the war, it makes you want to become a hard line republican just despite Michael Moore!

Sgt. Peter Damon, 33, a supporter of President George W. Bush and the Iraq war, claims Moore misused the footage to portray him "in a false light" and as "disagreeing with the president about the war effort and as disagreeing with the war effort itself."

"It was kind of almost like the enemy was using me for propaganda. What soldier wants to be involved in that?" Damon told CBS's local television news affiliate. "I didn't lose my arms over there to come back and be used as ammunition against my commander-in-chief."

I wonder how much money Michael Moore made from his "educational documentary", to misuse this man's quotes for his own agenda.

Posted by Pansy at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

O beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for patriot dream
that sees beyond the years
thine alabaster cities gleam,
undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

Posted by Peony at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)