Musings of a Liberal Texan

Women's Rights, Right To Life, and Any Other Pro-Choice Label You Can Think of.... Ok. So abortion rights is back in the spotlight supposedly because of New Hampshire making a law requiring doctors to notify in person a minor's parents 48 hours before an abortion. This is how I feel about this whole issue. 1. Men should have no say regarding this issue at all. Why? Because, I'm sorry that God didn't give you the absolute power to sustain a life for not only nine + months, but also have the capacity to nourish a baby for over a year after birth but as you have no ability to perform this delicate yet amazing task, you cannot decide who will or will not amongst those of us who can. 2. Those people screeching about girls who use abortions as a form of birth control are literally talking out of their bee-hinds. It is humiliating enough to have a gynecological exam, uncomfortable as well. But you cannot begin to fathom the emotional, psychological and physical pain one experi...

Venezuela From what I gather from a morning report on NPR, Venezuela is in the process of buying arms from various sources, like Spain and the areas of the now defunct Soviet Union. The rumblings have of course begun about Hugo's being buddies with the dreaded Castro (boo hiss) which again, knee jerkedly, causes everyone to scream in unison in the 5 second soundbite which is now the only form of news we show any affinity for "communism threat!" arrrgggh! Hugo has stated that this is purely a defensive move, since, gee, I don't know, he is referred to as bush's "nemesis" and Pat "I'm-the-turn-people-away-from-Christianity-kinda-Christian Robertson's nationally televised call for assassination. And now efforts are being made to block the sales. That's right. Block the sales. I am just coming away from reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and personally, I think fortifying my military would be a good idea if I was Senor Hugo, but I th...

SUTTER STREET 1989 I gazed out the window on a foggy SF day Down from a seedy motel by the Tenderloin way Watching the vultures circling and rolling by As the low did try To live a life of absolute despair No hope no care To have nor to share How can you begin to imagine the life Lived by the one born of strife The burden of every second of being The inside from the outside’s tendency To burn and hurt and pick at the scab Created by the stab Of a needle Into the skin that holds her in Keeps her from falling apart into the incinerator With the other trash Which she has become But how How did she get here I rest my head on my arm as I gaze down And watch the predators’ circling around As the children grabbed by the arm are dragged down From the fun of the stoop To sit in a room coop Waiting for mom to return with some food Please God not another dude My spirit so buoyant and free Feels the weight of sadness, death and disease For empathy can sometimes be a curse Feeling only the worst o...

National Healthcare NOW! There is no obstacle greater to the mental and emotional well being of the average American than his or her health, especially as each of us ages. To someone facing a catastrophic illness, every day is filled with soul-destroying worry and stress. Add children and the concern of childhood illness, compound that with not having insurance and our society is crippled with a cycle of stress related illness brought on by anxiety and helplessness. I have been in that situation. I worked, but I was in the middle of a divorce, from a man that saddled me with an incredible financial burden. I became terribly ill with endometriosis. I had to have a complete hysterectomy at the age of 34. Still working, I had to go through the humiliation of Medicaid, which initially turned me down, but eventually covered a portion of the two operations. My credit was decimated, my financial burden was staggering, and due to my illness, I lost my job. There is no way to describe the tota...

Back Home Sigh. There's always something extraordinarily warming about getting home, regardless of where home might be. I was able to go to San Francisco and absorb some much needed tolerance and liberal energy, not just from the city but from my sister, her partner and their friends. If you are ever there go to the restaurant- Herbivore. It was an amazing thing to be able to choose anything - anything! - from the menu. I had lasagna for the first time in three years. Could have brought a more tender soul to tears. And I had two desserts - carrot cake and german (sniff) chocolate (sob) cake. Amazing. And it didn't feel sacrificial - as most of my meals feel normally. I did make - like in a kichen without a box but with a recipe (a how to with a list of ingredients....for those not big on kitchen lingo) - (drumroll) a spectacular pumpkin soup (not just my words but shocked adulation from Steph and Lisa) and (ahem) a chocolate mousse. Both vegan and yes, both fantastic. I have ne...

Visiting SF I arrived yesterday morning after an uneventful trip from Houston to San Francisco. Maybe it's my extreme sensitivity, but the change is palpable. Although I connected with some great people in my area in regards to animal rights and activism, which is surprisingly huge for me, I still live in a place where the vast majority of people have polar opposite beliefs. Hopping...ok not hopping..the airline managed to dislocate one of my wheels, causing my suitcase to list to one side, and it sincerely felt that I was dragging a dead body through the airport, BART (bay area rapid transit) and the streets o' San Francisco. That aside lugging my dead body onto the train, I felt that inexplicable sense of relief, hard to explain really. When I am at home (not necessarily around my sons and husband) but around or on the phone with anyone, I have a tension that is everpresent. When it starts to ease, when I begin to relax something always comes along to renew the depth and inte...

Toxic Texan I know I am not the only one that distinctly recalls the prez's claims that the evil dictator, Saddam Hussein (boo hiss), had used chemical weapons against his own people (shock horror). This was yet another of the many reasons to go to war with that smidgeon of a country known as Iraq. One could easily make the jump - if he used it on his own people (people much like himself in religious and political persuasion) it would be even easier for him to use it on us, the infidels. That was a good one. I mean, the thought of chemical vapors swirling through our public mass transit system or dropped on some booming metropolis causing hundreds possibly thousands to fall victim to horrible symptoms and effects of a burning agent leaves the imagination to enter into a terrifying arena. Enter Italy's state-run RAI24 news television, who last week broadcast a documentary regarding the use of white phosphorous by the US military in Fallujah. If you click the link to your left (...

Charitable Homepage I have made the animal rescue site www.theanimalrescuesite.com my home page for one easy reason. Every morning, I see it and am able to click the free food button. This simple exercise allows the site's sponsors to give food to an animal in shelter or sanctuary. A daily tally is displayed on the site to give you that added bonus of warm feelings when you do a good thing. There are also other areas that you can click for support - breast cancer, hunger, literacy, child health, and rainforest. Think about it.

The Shame of Puppy Mills As a long time animal rights activist I am staggered by my own ignorance when it comes to animals at a pet store. Sometimes ignorance once the bliss has been shattered, turns into mind numbing guilt. To know what happens in the lives of these animals, dogs and cats alike, is to know the true depths of human cruelty. Anyone who owns a dog knows that the nature of these wonderful companion animals is to be clean, able to stretch its legs, eat, drink and be a companion. How happy is that animal when you get home? To see the horror of a puppy mill is to see what a human will do to make money at the expense of a living creature. I am not talking about all breeders, but to be honest, the whole thing makes my skin crawl. Considering how many companion animals are put down every year - what on earth are we breeding for? Anyway, most of these animals are put into tiny crates (wooden with tall sides) so their entire world is these wood walls or small wire crates. They a...

Another Proud American Moment The "accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands ... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."--James Madison, Federalist Paper No. 47 In blatant defiance of the Constitution's guarantees of Habeas Corpus and separation of powers, the Senate on Thursday approved the Graham Amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 49 to 42. Five Democrats joined all but 4 Republican Senators in giving the President unfettered power to hold prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for the rest of their lives, with no criminal charges, and no right to challenge their confinement by Habeas Corpus. Last year, the Supreme Court held in Rasul v. Bush that the Guantánamo detainees are entitled to file habeas petitions in US courts to contest their detentions. The high court determined that non-US citizens held at Guantánamo, "no less than American citizens, are entitled to invoke t...

Parenting 101 I am just full of ideas today. I guess this is one that has been rolling around for about thirty years now. As a child advocate, over and over I see parents who haven't the vaguest idea how to parent. We've all heard the "no owners manual" cliche in regards to kids but I wonder where society as a whole expects people to learn how to be good parents? I honestly can say that the vast majority of mothers and fathers out there have it wrong. I am not coming from an expert position by any means, I am making mistakes pretty daily, and I know that my name will come up in therapy in fifteen years...a lot. But the bullying, the disregard, the dismissal, the rejection, the spite I see tears my heart out. Yesterday, I saw a woman in a grocery store with two young girls in the cart with one of the girls in tears obviously from the blotchy red patches and the "hicking" breaths that she has been in tears for a while. Mom leans over and snaps "dry it up...

I Know What Boys Want...... There has been a movement for the past few years, maybe, what? Eight or nine years? I don't know, but it seemed to hit its stride, as it was moving at a pretty good pace before, but it came into its own when we had the rash of school shootings, culminating with Columbine. It seemed that everything went just a little bit haywire upon the realization that all of these shootings had one thing in common. Boys. And only boys. Boys were losing it. So what happens? Do we delve into what is making boys so unhappy, frustrated, angry, and inevitably out of control? Do we follow "average" (whatever that is) boys through a year of life or over a period of years to see what is going on? Heck no. Our fab society, especially the schools decide, you know what? Boys just can't be boys anymore. I was actually told this. By a principal. A male principal. Is that the saddest thing you have ever heard? My son's fourth grade class was almost 3/4 boys. The w...

Taking Responsiblity I just received an email from my buddy, John. Gosh, sorry, of course, John Edwards, the guy that should be VP right now? Anyway, I got this email apologizing for the mistake of voting almost three years ago FOR the war in Iraq. I find the apology noble, but misplaced. It's kind of like this for me. The principal at my son's school calls me up and says that he had heard that a child at his school had brought a homemade bomb and was planning on detonating said bomb. Then he asked, should we go in, take him down, and toss him into juvenile detention? I, based on this information, and believing that I am not part of the circle of information that the principal is entitled to, defer to his knowledge and access, I would say, gee, yeah! My kid goes to that school, I don't want him blown up! Then the cops are called in, they blitz into 7th grade science and throw my kid to the ground who just happens to be involved in lab with twenty other students. This action...

I hate Texas So it's official. I live in a mean, spiteful state. I can't imagine anyone thinking it is ok to take rights away from people - indirectly as well as directly - which is exactly what prop. 2 is about. The pathetic "marriage is one man and one woman", and no other union will be recognized. Churches, predominantly, in this state are absolutely wrong in pushing this agenda. We already ban gay marriage. What was the point of this? Why is it so important to people who have all the rights (hetros) to purposefully go out and vote to take away the few rights of the people struggling (gays/lesbians)? Exactly what is it meant to achieve? Will all the gays go away? If we don't allow them to visit each other in the hospital or get insurance coverage for their partners, it will drive them to rethink this "choice" and go straight? I mean, are we really that clueless? Did I miss this part of the New Testament? I mean, we are supposed to love one another, ri...

Animal Matters This weekend was the PETA - Helping Animals 101 conference for Houston and ran 8 - 6 Saturday and Sunday. I kind of knew what to expect, I hoped to meet people in the surrounding areas, with any luck alleviating, even if temporarily, my feelings of being isolated. I expected a lot of information that would help me in my efforts to step up my knowledge and awareness in order to be a better witness to others for the animals. I expected great food - all of which I can eat - a true halleluja moment. But I can't really say that I expected to be shocked. My first exposure to animal rights was in England, where I watched an animal rights movie narrated by Julie Christie. I have always been a very empathetic person, but the quaint image of farmer Brown and his happy farm were dashed forever on the jagged rocks of reality known as factory farms. I became vegetarian immediately. Almost twenty years later, I finally made the connection between dairy and veal and that was the en...

Lessons in Parenthood Recently I have been conversing fairly regularly with a wonderful woman, ultra conservative, but a great person, nonetheless. We have quite a bit in common, two teenage boys, our youngest in the same grade at the same school, with pretty similar personalities. Our older boys are pretty similar too. Anyway, we have reached a place of familiarity and comfort in our relationship where we can speak pretty openly with each other. She questioned why I allowed my son to go out on a date with his girlfriend, alone at a movie theatre. Did I know what was going on in the dark at these theatres? She also asked why I allowed my son to be friends with certain kids that had less than stellar reputations. And did I have "parental controls" on my home computer? The kind that document activity, etc. Hmm. After a while, as a parent, and I think just about anyone else for that matter, with enough effort, can have his/her convictions shaken . You begin to wonder if you ar...

This is who we are? I have been preoccupied with a question all morning. Is this who we are? The kind of people that believe in the the sanctity of life conditionally? Abortion is categorically wrong, but sentencing someone to be put to death by the state is ok? To spread our message of democracy and a government run by and for the people, we invade a country and kill over 150,000 of its citizens? Is this who we are? A society that admonishes a dictator for the treatment of his people, yet embraces torture? A nation that demands respect and pretends to care about human rights, yet by the cover of darkness disrespects others and destroys souls? This is who we are? A country that embraces a government which is run by and for the people - yet does not value the health and well-being of ALL its citizens enough to ensure that the bare minimum of the human existence is covered? Can you imagine? A family where only the wage earners have access to medical care, but the children or other depend...

The Dirty Secret I can't fathom anything more horrifying than the purposeful destruction of an innocent being for pleasure. The fact that child trafficking exists sends shudders up and down my spine. What a soul destroying human affliction! The reasons for its existence are grounded in poverty - for the vast majority of children are sold by impoverished families who deceive themselves into believing that their child will be used for something legitimate. And then there is just pure human averice. What causes a person to seek out a child of five, seven, nine? What has happened to that person to halt their desire in the prepubescence of the human being? But what is going on with someone when they lust for a girl who is thirteen, fourteen, fifteen? Most of these kids are rejected by the very community from which they were snatched because of the shame associated with prostitution, rape, etc. Education. What a huge instrument for change it is! It is not just rampant in East Asia - Cam...

Setting The Example That's what I understand my purpose to be. To set the example for those around me. Isn't it the reason why everyone blames Bill Clinton for the increase in teenage oral sex? Because he did it and he said "it wasn't sex"? So, now, we have a leader who sets the example or precedent in this case, of torture being an ok thing to do. Now, I know I'm not up on my scripture but I believe I missed the part in the Bible where it says that it is ok for Christians to cause physical, mental, emotional or psychological harm to another being. Are we so far removed from reality that we can say "whatever" to this? I mean, as an animal rights activist I have seen some things that would make you physically ill, no lie, in regards to the treatment of animals in factory farms and research labs. You would never ever buy meat or not look for the "not tested on animals" logo again. But, as much as it might affect me, I understand that a lot o...

Defining Recently, while in one of my "try to see the other side" modes, I was listening to "talk" radio - I use italics because I don't believe it to be "talk" radio but hate radio - and listened as the host referred to Cindy Sheehan as a "media whore". Media whore. Well, that's delightful. It's nice to see that the hosts of such upstanding, conservative, Christian leaning stations are maintaining such high standards. Media whore. I thought about this for a while and frankly it has stayed with me. It is one of the ugliest terms I have heard in a long time, I guess primarily because this label is being applied to a mother who lost her son in a war that she believes is illegal and wrong and the person labeling her is a man who supports the war but has not been directly affected by it. He also said that with Mrs. Sheehan's involvement in the candlelight vigils for the 2000 troops killed in this war, that she, in essence, is dancing ...

FLEXING Ooo yes You are the man So defined so strong Stomping on Whomever disagrees With your fancies like the breeze Flittering and flying with jets overseas Threatening with might Will make right Make them bend to your will High pitched and shrill Stomping puffing out bottom lip Hands on hips Wanting your way Right now today We can't wait It's bait Can't you see Can't anybody but me Fulfill the destiny Get them back for kicking sand at me Fleeing The country How dare they take a shot at us Leaving dust And soot Under foot Making us frightened and scared We blinked and they dared We will get them back Middle East Iraq They don't even believe Can you conceive That they have that weird allah thing goin on Not believing in God's Son Idiots and fools Kneeling on the floor every two seconds to drool Over some false god and prophet Don't they get it yet They're doomed They're done They spat upon the chosen one And now they will suffer indeed I will conque...

LATE TRAIN Walking home Alone Along a gray asphalt walk Banked by tall hedges On either side She walks head tall with pride Fear inside Masked by a learned lesson Learned by fire The burn The scar not lessened By time She pulls her coat close In the freezing night The overhead light Is dim The clicking Of her heels Is sticking In her head What am I thinking She strides to a bench And pulls sneakers from her bag Removing the binds Of corporate requirements Freeing her aching soles Instead placing it in a soft Air filled chamber She ties the laces With traces Of feeling a bit better But as she stands She hears the rustling Of dead leaves and branches Within or behind The hedge The tingling adrenaline prickles Tickles The back of her neck She hears it again She starts walking Heart is thumping Jumping Bringing a lump in To her throat Oh no Don't panic She feels it rising Her face grows hot Her body has a surreal Hot cold numb edginess Her strides are quicker She is outside the ring of...