wow

I had no idea I hadn't posted since Wednesday. I've been lookin for stuff to blog, too, but I've been overwhelmed with the confirmation hearings, the Katrina efforts which will make it the first time (that I can recall anyway) Bush has taken responsibility for anything that has gone wrong, my friend going into the ER Thursday and Friday night due to massive dehydration in connection with a flare-up (she has Crohn's), Non-Friend S doing some weird "trying to be friends again" crap and of course, my classes.

Thursday morning, after fighting with Peanut for the hundreth to comb his hair, as it was a tad knotty, we decided to get it cut. So that afternoon, that's exactly what we did.



While the woman was cutting his hair, Peanut grew ever more excited. First he asked if I thought he was still cute, then he told me he was still cute, which led to him finally stating that everyone else was gonna think he was still cute.

Then, after it was finished, he looked at me and said, "No one's gonna recognize me tomorrow!"

We went into Target afterwards (it was only 2 doors down). Almost the entire time he swung his head from side-to-side announcing to me repeatedly how much he loved his new haircut.

He's also very happy that he won't have to brush his hair hardly ever again.

Just a little while ago, he proves he indeed knows what a Samurai looks like, how they hold their swords and so forth. It's the Samurai Jack version and whatever else shows up on the Cartoon Network that his dad lets him watch, but damn if he ain't close. And he put this together himself. I wasn't involved at all.



For a few reading ideas though:

Did you know women's softball will not be included in the Olympic games after 2008?

The movie North Country with Charlize Theron showcases a fictionalized version of the famous case Jenson v. Eveleth Mines, a 10 year battle against the sexual harassment that was prevelent amongst the mostly male co-workers.

I am very excited about Memoirs of a Geisha coming out soon, too. If they put sex anywhere in there though, I'm going to be disappointed.

Betchav always wondered what a car would be like if women designed one, eh?

Why can't we be more like Nigeria with the way we handle our sex scandals? Instead, we shove all those women (i.e. female cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO) to the side and tell them they're lying.

I found this article to be very intriguing indeed: Maverick Muslim women rip veil off religion's traditional gender values.

For a while now I've been getting a newsletter from Peace X Peace that send out links to important news headlines from around the world. Well, importantly headlines that deal with women's rights for the most part. You should all sign up, too, because it's good stuff. It comes once a week so there is nothing to clog your inbox too much and I promise you will not be disappointed.

And hey, who knew that women would eventually be ordained as Catholic priests? Granted it was done in Canada and the presiding Bishops had been secretly ordained in Germany, but it was done nonetheless. Amazingly, seven women were ordained as priests in June 2002 as part of the "Danube women priests' movement" but were soon thereafter publicly excommunicated by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The irony? They have yet to excommunicate a single pedophile or complicit bishop. Yes, women are far more dangerous to a congregation than celebate men who prey on alter boys and the bishops that keep their secrets. The women who participated in the ceremony in July are hoping this will have the same effect as it did on the Episcopal Church in 1976: 11 women were ordained as Episcopal priests in 1974, much like what Catholic women are attempting to achieve now.

This article, The Moral Hazard Myth: the bad idea behind our failed health care system was passed around my job a few weeks ago. It's really good and something I hadn't thought about before even though I haven't been to the dentist in over 2 years and desperately need a crown so that I may finally chew on the right side of my mouth. Not-to-mention the pleading I do so I won't get hit or hurt while walking around downtown because I have no health insurance nor money enough to pay the bills that would come after the visit.

I found out my Sociology prof has a speciality in poverty issues and research so she sent this article to the class on Monday. Let me just say that I thought there could be nothing else to make me dislike Bush anymore than I already do. I was wrong.

But after a decade of improvement in the 1990s, poverty in America is actually getting worse. A rising tide of economic growth is no longer lifting all boats. For the first time in half a century, the third year of a recovery (2004) also saw an increase in poverty. In a nation of nearly 300 million people, the number living below the poverty line ($14,680 for a family of three) recently hit 37 million, up more than a million in a year.

The article states the reason for the rise in poverty is that many of the initiatives started by Clinton were not increased nor followed through. Many were cut altogether, such as the "scatter-site" housing programs: "Bush and the GOP Congress killed the idea, as well as the Youth Opportunity Grant program, which had shown success in partnering with the private sector to help prepare disadvantaged teens for work and life."

Egh. I really dislike that man right now. Even more so than usual.

*sigh* Now it's back to reading one of the four chapters in "Social Problems" I have to read by October 3rd.