Hey and howdie to anyone reading this! This isn't my main blogging site, I actually prefer to blog on Myspace. And lately I've been forgetting to copy/paste my blogs from my Myspace to Xanga. But I've just decided that I'm not going to do that anymore. So, I'll keep my Xanga account, but I'll probably just use it to see what's up with my friends who don't use Myspace or Facebook.
Tina Fey Does the Sarah Palin/Katie Couric Interview
I mentioned the recent Sarah Palin/Katie Couric interview in my last blog. If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, that's ok. Tina Fey just reenacted it on Saturday Night Live and it's sadly accurate. But I think even Sarah Palin's fans have to laugh at it because of how well Tina Fey captures Sarah's look, speech and her manner in general. I heard that Sarah Palin saw the first sketch (portraying her and Hillary Clinton) and thought it was hilarious.
I know this is just a funny parody of the interview, but honestly, the decision to make Sarah Palin his running mate and the potential Vice President of the United States was John McCain's very FIRST important decisions in this campaign. And I believe it was an unwise decision. He did not make this decision based on what would be the best for ME or the rest of the general population. His decision did not take into account whether or not she balanced him, brought strength to areas of his weakness, or enhanced his strengths at all. He did not add Sarah Palin to his ticket to strengthen anything but his voter base. He decided to play politics instead of putting "Country First". That is sad and ironic, but mostly sad.
Today, a man in a suit knocked on my front door.I noticed that he was on one of my neighbor's porches (a few houses down) when I was welcoming Cohen home from pre-school.So, I wasn't terribly surprised when he ended up on my front porch 10 minutes later.I was in the middle of getting Cohen's lunch ready, and in no mood to deal with a salesman.So I huffed and puffed as I marched through the kitchen and the dining room and the living room all the way to the front door, practicing my "Sorry…I'm not interested" speech the whole way.See, I'm not good at saying "No" to salespeople, believe it or not.But kicking a few large drunk men out of your coffee shop is a "ball-enhancing" activity, as it turns out.;)I wish the man in the business suit wanted to sell me something.
Oh, how I wish.
But, no.The man in the suit turned out to be my city's Chief of Police.He stated that plainly right from the beginning.A lot of people might have immediately been seized with fear, "Oh shit, what did I do?"But I'm not one of those people.I'm an upstanding citizen who is trying to make my city a better place.So my first gut reaction was, "Who murdered who?What now?!?"I think my mind went there first because there has been an increase in violent crime on the edge of my neighborhood recently, but, thankfully, nothing has hit too close to my house.
He went on to tell me that he was on my front porch in accordance with stipulations in "Megan's Law".For those of you who may not be familiar with this law, I'll summarize it for you.Basically, every state has enacted some version of "Megan's Law."It was named for a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994 by a paroled sex offender who had moved into her neighborhood. The laws in each state generally provide for some type of public notification of the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders after their release from prison.So, I was being notified that a convicted sex offender had moved into "my neighborhood".Ok.That's not super alarming to me because I'm a subscriber to "Family Watch Dog", so I'm emailed whenever a registered sex offender moves within 10 miles or something like that.But to have the police chief on my front porch was, call me crazy, a signal that this was somehow much more serious.
He handed me a flyer that read:
MEGAN'S LAW
***SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR***
COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION FLIER
This is to inform you that the below-listed individual has been designated by the court as a Sexually Violent Predator, as defined in Title 42, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Chapter 97, Subchapter H, Registration of Sexual Offenders:
***COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION IS REQUIRED FOR THIS DESIGNATION***
(Here, it lists his name and address.)
The subject was convicted of the following Pennsylvania Crime Codes Section or appropriate out-of-state offense: 3123- INVOLUNTARY DEVIATE SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
Then the flier had police contact info, a recent picture of the offender and information about the PA Megan's Law websit (www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us).
The man in the suit on my doorstep told me that I should report any suspicious activity by calling 911 and thanked me for my time.This was a few hours ago, but I still have that "pit in your stomach" feeling that won't seem to go away.We were already thinking about moving, but had just decided that we could wait another year or two.And now this?
And further research on my part has only made me feel worse.It turns out that only about 2% of sex offenders are classified as "Sexually Violent Predators".Pennsylvania has 10,081 people registered as sex offenders.Of those, only 270 people are registered as Sexually Violent Predators.My county, Lancaster County, only has 3 of those "Sexually Violent Predators" registered in the whole county.And my city now has 1 of them living in it.And he's my new neighbor.
Say that phrase out loud, "SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR".Now, if you have children, look into their eyes, and repeat that phrase in your mind, "SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR".Predator.That word has only entered this house in reference to the dinosaurs in Cohen's books.But that whole phrase, "Sexually Violent Predator," conjures all sorts of images in my head….images that I actually wish were reality.Because it would be a hell of a lot easier to talk to my 4 year old son about "strangers" and warn him if all I had to say was, "Cohen, be on the lookout for giant dinosaurs that have razor sharp teeth, bulging private parts and probably some type of weapon, ok?If you see one of them, you come inside and tell us."But instead, this time, the predator is a weak-looking middle-aged man.One of our neighbors.
So knew I needed to have a talk with Cohen over lunch.Cohen is always thinking and asking questions, so it was no surprise that when we had originally talked to him about "strangers" he wanted immediate clarification.Our neighbors (to the left and right) are always sitting out on their porches talking to everybody, and Cohen plays with one of their granddaughters.So I had to explain to him that our neighbors aren't the "strangers" that I was talking about and that it was fine for him to talk to them because Mommy and Daddy know them too.And because he's now comfortable with the idea of "neighbors", I knew I needed to reassign some boundaries to the whole "stranger" issue, and I wasn't sure how to do it.
"Cohen," I said, "Do you remember what Mommy and Daddy told you about strangers and about not taking things from them or talking to them or anything?"
"Yeah, Mommy…we don't talk to strangers…but…(nonchalantly chomping on lunch) my neighbors aren't strangers."
Oh, how I wish you were right about that, son.
(Side Note:I just spoke to one of my neighbors about this whole thing, and they said someone is organizing a petition to try and get this man kicked out of the neighborhood.I'm not sure if petitions like this work or not, so we'll see what happens.Maybe I don't need to move right away.But I think it's also worth noting that there's a part of me that feels sorry for the guy.I know.I can't believe it either.I used to be such a "black and white" person…no middle ground and very unskilled when it came to looking at things from an opposing perspective.But lately I can hardly make my mind up on things because I can see pretty clearly from many angles.However, it's pretty well-documented that sex offenders are extremely likely to repeat their crimes because of the addictive nature of human sexuality, so remembering that helps me to stop feeling sorry for him and resume trying to figure out what I can do to make my children safe.)
As I was researching some of the issues in our country to further inform my decision on who to vote for I came across a pretty cool website. Now, of course, you can't believe everything you read on the internet (except, of course, if I've written it). The writers of the information usually have a bias because it's really hard not to inject that into your writing when you're passionate about an issue. So, as I read the content I try to determine which side the author is on, then sometimes I even read it again knowing that I'm reading someone's biased opinion on the topic. Then I make it my goal to find information on the same topic from the opposite perspective. Overall, I try to read as many factual pieces as possible and fewer opinions...but even the factual sounding articles put out by the major networks and newspapers are written by people with opinions and biases. The website I just came across probably isn't perfect, but it did present both sides of many different issues (although it didn't present ALL of the issues). It has a "Find Your Candidate Calculator". The issue is listed, you choose whether you support it or not and you can rate the issue's importance to you on the far right. But the coolest thing about it is that you can click on the issue itself and get a brief description of it along with what someone who is supportive would say about it and what someone who's against it would say. So go try it out! And, try not to mark "unsure" unless you really know the issue and still just can't decide (after all, you just click on the issue to get a brief summary...so you can learn a bit too!). Once again, I'm sure it's not a perfect website with 100% perfect info...it's actually an army/veteran run site, but I read through the content of the "Calculator" and didn't find a ton of stuff that I felt was unfair to either side. Try it out and let me know what you think! Oh...and this is not the way that I think everyone should decide who they're voting for. It's just fun, interesting and a bit informative.
...then you should read this. It's easy for us simple folk to understand even though it was written by a purdy smart lawyer guy (who's married to a friend of mine).
* * * * * * *
(Written by Matt Joseph)
First, my personal position: I identify myself as an anti-choice extremist. I prefer this term to pro-life because too many people who identify themselves as pro-life are fine and dandy with all sorts of government-sanctioned death (capital punishment, wars of choice, offering money, arms and political support to murderous regimes, etc.) and other forms of degradation of the sanctity of human life (torture, environmental degradation, indifference to those suffering the effects of natural disasters [see Katrina, Hurricane]). They are at least as complicit in fostering what Pope John Paul so rightly and cogently termed our "culture of death" as the average pro-choice person. But I digress. I believe that early induced abortion (the medical term my dad taught me) performed with the primary goal of ending a pregnancy is always wrong. Even in cases of rape and incest. It may sound harsh to some, but I really do believe that the evils of rape and incest cannot and should not be answered with the evil of early induced abortion. Or to put it more colloquially, 2 wrongs don't make a right. I think the case is different when the life of the mother is threatened. In that case, the termination of the pregnancy is not the primary goal of an early induced abortion, but rather, the saving of a life. Anyway, all of this is orthodox Roman Catholic teaching, so this is just a rather long-winded and bloviatory manner of saying that I fully accept the teachings of the Church on the abortion issue and that one of my political goals is to end early induced abortion in this country.
Now, onto the politics of it. Roe v. Wade. First, it bears pointing out that 7/9 current justices on the Supreme Court were appointed by Republican presidents after Roe was decided in 1973. We've just been through 8 years of a president committed to overturning Roe, who has appointed 2 justices, and had 4/8 years of a Republican-controlled legislature behind him. And what has happened on the abortion issue on the federal level? Nothing, nada, zero, zilch.
Second, as a lawyer who has studied Roe inside and outside of my constitutional law class in law school, I have to say that it is a pretty pitiful example of legal reasoning. Even my most rabidly pro-choice friend from law school admits that.
Third, what Roe v. Wade says is that a) abortion is a fundamental right protected by the constitution and b)the STATES may not prohibit abortion in the first trimester, may put reasonable restrictions (mostly public health-type regulations) on it in the 2nd trimester, and may ban it all together in the 3rd trimester. The currently applicable Supreme Court jurisprudence ..ion comes from Planned Parenthood v. Casey (authored by Reagan appointee Justice Sandra Day O'Connor), which goes even further: Casey says that the STATES may not place an "undue burden" (a term borrowed from Commerce Clause jurisprudence!) on a woman's right to an abortion.
Now - Notice in talking about Roe and Casey I emphasize that while the Court has placed restrictions on their ability to do so, it is still the states that regulate abortion. Therefore, if Roe and Casey were overturned tomorrow, abortion in the USA would not change one iota until the states changed their laws. Since most Americans (and I believe a majority in all but 1 or 2 states), sadly, believe that abortion should be legally protected to at least some degree, even if a President McCain appointed even more "consertative" justices who would presumably overturn Roe and Casey (though the case for this possiblity is rather dubious, as I pointed out earlier), as a practical matter, such an outcome would have very little, if any, impact on the number of abortions taking place in the United States. If we want to ban abortion, the real work is to be done on the state level. This is true whether or not Roe is ever overturned by the Supreme Court. Let's say it is overturned. Then we have to convince a majority of people in all 50 states that abortion should be ended. Let's say it isn't overturned. We still have have to convince a majority of people in at least 2/3 of the states that abortion should be ended, because that's what it would take to pass a constitutional amendment, which is the only way to overrule the Supreme Court.
Therefore, I think it is ludicrous to vote on the abortion issue in a presidential election. In the meantime, while McCain and the GOP are still peddling the "let's overturn Roe" line and nothing more, Obama, with whom I strongly disagree about abortion, is offering some alternative policies that will at least reduce the number of abortions in this country (comprehensive science-based sex ed., instead of abstinence-only, which doesn't work; greater access to contraceptives; more accessible and affordable health care generally; letting gay couples adopt children). We can certainly debate the merits of enacting such policies on a federal level, but a least they have a reasonable chance of coming to pass and would do more than overturning Roe to reduce the number of abortions that take place in the USA.
* * * * * * *
I don't know about you, but lately I've been praying and brainstorming about ways that I can help to lower the number of abortions in my city. Local churches may have programs and/or counseling services for pregnant women considering abortion, but I don't think they are positioned to reach them all because of the sour taste that many people have in their mouths from "church" and "Christians". So maybe I'll try to see what the local Planned Parenthood (only a few blocks from my house) offers in the way of counseling etc...and if I could be a part of that on a volunteer basis. If I can't partner with them, then maybe I should start something on my own. It's just one city, but it's a start, right? I mean, I think I should probably do more to lessen the number of abortions in this world than type blogs about the issue, talk about the issue, and not have abortions myself.
