It just keeps getting better...not!

*Dusts off soapbox* Ahem.

Last year I decided to attempt and be an advocate for a few things that I feel fairly strongly about: people not giving a damn about other people, universal access to clean water, same-sex marriages, etc. Each of these issues is important to me and I would love to take my little soapbox all the way to D.C. to bitch at the people who are being so ignorant about all of it.

But today is a special day. Today I want to rant about legislation that directly affects me. To begin I want to say that I am not as well-educated on this subject as I am on the other issues I've discussed. I don't have a lot of pretty statistics to write down or any fancy and convincing quotations from experts. or anything like that. What I have is a brain and feelings, and I want to have those feelings heard- if only be the internet.

So, let's just get this sort of taken care of right here: I'm going to be ranting about all this extremely terrible legislation involving rape and abortion. And I'm fairly certain this is not going to be pretty.

When I first learned about rape I was told, repeatedly, that it was not about sex. It's about power and control. (Unfortunately for the second part of my ranting, it's still sex, but we'll get to that.) I'm not sure when the psychology of rape was lost on all these politicians, but it seems like they've never heard this concept. I get that some of them may be a little older than this being taught in schools- but why the hell aren't they researching this subject in depth?

Not to mention the biology of it- I know they learned about that. Or at least learned enough to know what sex is and what sex isn't. Unless they're just a bunch of virgins and can't admit it because they have four kids.

Now, what confuses me most about all of this hullabaloo is this idea of "legitimate rape."

Let me say that again: Legitimate. Rape.

As if somehow being raped isn't bad enough, now there's a question about whether or not it was legitimate. "Oh, I'm sorry, it appears your body had an involuntary reaction to this forced act, clearly that was a conscious decision on your part and you liked it.

Or, my favorite, "You were in an area, alone, at night, where you know there would be other people. Why do such a thing when you know something like this could happen?" "Why wear such a short skirt and a tube top unless you wanted some?"

I mean, what? Somehow you are responsible for things your body does, like...oh I don't know, yawning after seeing someone yawn. Sure there's a slight difference because yawning isn't traumatic, nor does it often bring out your fight or flight response. But still- the idea is the same. It's an involuntary response to a stimulus.

And this whole business about "asking for it"? What. The. Hell? Maybe someone, somewhere, has one of those domination kinks where something like this is desirable. But for the majority of us? Uncomfortable, humiliating, and all around demoralizing.

Yes, I'll have a side helping of "my life is shit" tonight. I really needed something truly horrible to happen to me to make everything else in my life look just that much worse.

I love when that happens, don't you? Somehow adding another crappy thing to my life makes everything okay. So of course I would encourage such a thing.

Barf. Just...barf.

And, finally, this whole thing where, if a woman is impregnated during rape it's not actually rape because "the body has natural defenses to stop itself from getting pregnant if it's rape."

Um...what? I think I smell something, and it's not formaldehyde because they clearly skipped biology.

Where do they get this information? Do they live in that world that Katie talks about in Horton Hears a Who where everyone eats rainbows and poops butterflies? Just...no.

Sorry, the body cannot somehow distinguish between forced ejaculate and....happy ejaculate. It's all sent into the body in the same way. A woman has the same chance of getting pregnant during rape that she does any other time sex happens.

There are a lot of things I partially understand. Hell even this new Arizona legislation I'm going to bitch about makes some sense.

What I don't understand, is why this kind of stuff exists in politics. To be so completely ignorant and just plain stupid should not be allowed in the public sphere- and certainly not out there making the laws that govern us. Keep your stupidity to yourself.

Which brings me to my next topic- this new law in Arizona that defines pregnancy as starting at the end of the previous menstrual cycle.

See, this almost makes sense to me. I get that the idea is that the ovum is technically beginning it's maturation. So the potential for life exists. I get it.

But...come on. Really? Unless that egg is fertilized that day, there's no potential for life. Honestly, even if the deal was that it was something ridiculous like "once conception has occurred the pregnancy is considered to have started the first time the female participated in coitus after the termination of the previous menstrual cycle." (Like how fancy that sounded?) See- then at least the potential for conception existed. Still stupid.

And all of this bureaucratic bullshit is focusing on one thing- abortion laws.

I'm not sure if I've said this on here, but I'm pro-choice with a very pro-life mentality. I don't want abortion to exist, I certainly don't want my taxes to go towards it, and I always hope that there's another option for those women to choose.

But God help you if you try to take that right away from women. Because as much as I don't want it to happen- those women are going to make that choice regardless and I want the safest possible environment for them and will defend them


It takes a lot of guts to go through with an abortion. Because every time they go into that clinic, people will insulting them, telling them they are horrible people, and generally making the whole situation even more stressful than it is by default. There's no reason that these protestors should be allowed anywhere near that building.

But this is America. And we're free to do shit like that.

One more time: This is America. Let's try and uphold those values we've been trying to- you know that whole freedom thing?

The most startling thing in all of this is that most of these legislators, the people making laws that affect women and their bodies and mental state, are men.

I honestly cannot think of anything more insulting and horrifying as a bunch of men who don't know basic biology and psychology making laws that affect woman where biology and psychology are important factors. 

So to these men who just want to "protect unborn lives," just...fuck off.  If you're so concerned with the global population go have sex with your wife and your five mistresses and leave the policy-making to someone who understands what they're talking about.

Et tu, MN?

I have lived in Minnesota my entire life. I have driven around to probably 90% of it. And I love it, dearly. In fact, convincing people that Minnesota is a great place to live despite its cold winters is one of the thing I consider myself best at.

But right now, I'm deeply shamed by my association with my beloved home.

For those of you who don't know, the Minnesota legislature just approved a vote on an amendment to the Constitution of the State. This amendment would destroy any hope of gay marriage becoming legal for Minnesota.

Okay, so it wouldn't destroy it, but the logistics of amending a Constitution to repeal this amendment are extremely costly both in time and money.

So here's me getting on my soapbox, once again, to try and convince my loyal readers that this amendment is bullshit.

There are some main arguments against gay marriage that I hope I will be able to counter well enough in this:
That gay marriage will destroy the institution of the family.
That gay marriage will destroy the institution of marriage.
That being gay is wrong.
That being gay is a choice.

So, on the issue of number one- the family. I understand family. No, really, I do. I come from a completely nuclear little family with a mom, dad, myself and my brother and our dog; I have 16 cousins between the two sides and I know their names and the names of all of my aunts and uncles; and there is virtually nothing that we won't all do for each other.

I get it.

What I also get is that most of my friends have parents who have been divorced and remarried, they have half-siblings and sometimes more step-siblings than they can bother to remember. And I'm fairly certain that some of them consider me and my family to be more like family to them than those elusive cousins and extended family.

That whole "you can't choose your family" idea? Strictly genetically, it's true. But genetics does not a family make. Yeah, in my little privileged world it works out that we all happen to share DNA and like each other; but that world is mostly a fantasy nowadays.

The only real argument that comes from this "destroying the family" thing is the fact that homosexuals, until now, have been forced to repress who and what they truly are. And now that they're finding the courage to come out, oftentimes they are separated from their family.

I'm sure it's awkward, I honestly can't even imagine what it must be like to one day have your father tell you that he was never attracted to your mother and had you and your siblings just because "that's what he was supposed to do." It's not that they don't still love their children, hell it's not even that they don't love their wife...it's just not what they were meant to have.

Which leads me into argument number two- that homosexuals destroy the institution of marriage.

Uhm...WHAT? Have you looked at the divorce rates these days? Over half of first marriages end in divorce.

You want marriage to be more sacred and lasting? LET MORE PEOPLE GET MARRIED! The sheer numbers will get that percentage down.

Do you even remember why divorce was originally allowed? To stop men from killing their wives when they got bored of them?

Marriage never has been, nor will it ever be, something truly special in a legal sense.

Marriage as a sacred rite, on the other hand?

Okay, as I said, my parents are still married. Lovely year number 27 this year. I'm also Catholic, which means that I get that marriage is forever unless annulled by the Church.

But really? Let's just focus on this one little fact: NOT EVERYONE IS OF THE SAME BELIEFS AS ME!

(Granted, this kind of goes against my whole argument that everyone should agree with me- but I'm right and they're wrong so I choose to ignore this.)

To impose your religious beliefs on someone is to take away their rights to freedom of thought and religion. (Please see the Constitution of the United States of America.)

To impose your religious beliefs on someone is to take away their right to equality of freedom and dignity. (This is where I happily give you all some info from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...yet again.)

Article 16.
* (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
* (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
* (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Regardless of that happy little note about the family being under protection by society and the State, let's look at that last little italicized bit. To "protect" the idea of family under this is a direct violation of their dignity, of their freedom to have a different system of beliefs and opinions. Above all, it takes away their rights to form a legally recognized family.

Lastly, I'm going to address the final two notes together: being gay is not wrong, and it is not a choice.

And even if it was a choice- they have protected rights to make said choice.

So, for all those hyper-religious people who believe that being gay is sinful or whatever, let me pose this question: Why would homosexuality exist if God didn't want it to be so?

The Bible says we are created in His image. It also tells countless stories of God destroying those things He deemed unworthy. Why, then, would homosexuality be allowed to exist?

Unless, of course, you want to accept that God's hand is no longer present in the world. In which case- why are you fighting so hard for bigoted beliefs?

Why fight for something that seems so wrong when Jesus asked us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? When Christianity itself is based solely on the ideas of love and good will and choice?

And again, I should emphasize that it is not a choice. There is a legitimate difference between homosexuals and their heterosexual counterparts. But really? Who the hell really cares?

Unless you really want to discriminate based on their genes...in which case I will follow Godwin's Law and call you a Nazi sympathizer which is totally inappropriate and yet I think it effectively gets the point across.

From a biological standpoint, yeah, homosexuality doesn't make a lot of sense. It doesn't allow for procreation- which ultimately makes them evolutionary failures. And yet...they persist!

In fact, this is awesome because it works so well with the family argument. Sure, it's not what was once described as the ideal, but how can it be bad that two people who love each other will go to great lengths to adopt children who sorely need loving families?

Inappropriate jokes about population control aside- I think it's awesome.

Now is the part where I get emotional. This is the part where I say that I am tired of people insulting and demoralizing people I care about.

Because despite the beliefs of my Church and despite my completely heteronormative upbringing and lifestyle, most of my friends are affected by this war. (And yes, war is the word I want to use there despite the fact that many people will find it offensive given that we are still at armed war and people are dying for those causes.)

I don't like that my friends- who are like family to me- are being discriminated against because they happen to be different.

I don't like that my friends have had society tell them that it's wrong to be who they are.

I don't like that my friends, at one point, had to struggle with their sexual identity because that came with the realization that they were going to be hated by people who didn't even know them... simply because they're attracted to their own sex.

I don't like that my friends have to plan weddings or ceremonies around these stupid, fucked up laws that will stop it from legally meaning anything anyway.

I love that my friends are all strong enough to deal with this crap and take it, hoping that one day it will all be better.

But there are so many who aren't strong enough. There are so many who give up and go against what they want so they don't have to feel like a social pariah.

So, this is for my friends, certainly. But it's also for all those people who have lived lies to avoid hatred, for those people that will continue to live lies to avoid being "caught."

But honestly, my hope is that this is actually for the future. That kids growing up don't have to be afraid when some discover that they are homosexual. That kids growing up don't have to feel strange when they have two moms or dads.

This is for every look of hatred that I hope will never be seen by those kids.

This is for my hope that the next generation doesn't have to grow up bigoted, scared, and repressed.

This is for my hope that people will prove me wrong and not be colossal jackasses and just accept the differences between each of us.

This is for my belief that the only argument that should ever need to be made is this:

Love is love.

A Price Tag on Life

I guess this is my advocacy week for the Millennium Development Goals, because I wrote a line in my rant from yesterday that struck me as a better title for an entirely separate blog.

It's in the same spirit; but I realized I was trying to urge you all to care about something without really saying anything about what we're caring about.

What I'm hoping you take away from this is that we are putting a price tag on lives. We're saying that they're only worth certain prices and certain treatments. They don't deserve the same salary or healthcare.

They don't deserve clean water to drink or bathe, or enough food to eat, or housing, or clothing.

Not unless they have the money to pay for it.

What the hell kind of thinking is that?

Yeah, it's tough to see those kids on commercials starving halfway across the planet. And it's rough to see homeless people asking you for money or food.

But it's their own fault, right?

I'm pretty sure I can convince you otherwise. It's a pretty standard Catch-22, but I'm hoping you'll realize that when it comes to you paying a little extra for a sweater and someone else getting a real salary, it's worth it.

Today I'm going to tell you about water...

There is almost nothing that will piss off an environmentalist more than bottled water.

Now, it doesn't seem that bad, right? It's just safer than tap water...

WRONG!

First, tap water in the United States- the leader in bottled water consumption- is some of the safest in the world. It's true that there are ridiculous things present in our water: antidepressants, birth control, etc. It's still a better choice than a bottle of that same water coming in a kerosene package.

Water is a natural resource. It may not be renewable, but it's been around this long for a reason- the simple fact that everything and everyone needs water to survive!

And we're charging people for it. Yes, we pay for services here. The treatment and the pumping- and we're fine with that.

But there are places in the world that literally have no water supply to speak of. They get water maybe once a week.

Here are two fantastic documentaries on the water industry:

Flow: For the Love of Water
This is a general study of water company procedures and their effects on local residents and water supplies- both in the U.S. and outside.
Gasland
If you've ever heard of frakking- this is the ideal video to watch for information. Basically they blast tons of water into the ground to release natural gas- ultimately they end up poisoning the local water supplies.

A lot of people think that their aid would be a handout, and thus cause laziness or complacency. It's true, handouts don't really help anything. Some things do need to be earned.

But access to clean, healthy water- the most essential of human necessities- should that really be considered a handout?

No.

Now, there are things we can do, immediately, to affect the water situation. I'm going to tell you about two of my favorite options both because I think they're cool and seriously practical.

1) Donate a LifeStraw (Information!)
These things are awesome. They filter diuretics and a lot of viruses/bacteria. And they don't cost that much. $6.50 buys a kid a year of cleaner water.

2) STOP BUYING BOTTLED WATER
Seriously. Stop. It's really not worth it. Here's what I'd love for you to do: give up drinking bottled water for a month, take the money you would normally spend on that, and donate it to Water Wells for Africa.

A statistic in the first documentary I list, FLOW, says that 9 billion U.S. dollars were spent on bottled water in a calendar year, and it would take 3 billion dollars to give every global citizen permanent water supplies.

Americans spend three times the amount of a global water campaign on bottled water...in one year.

And the packaging...more often than not it gets thrown away instead of recycled.

So...that's a little bit about water. :D

Dear America...get over yourself

I'm currently taking a global issues course, and we're focusing on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). (See the site: UN Millennium Development Goals)

The MDGs were set to try and achieve awesome things:
* End Poverty and Hunger
* Universal Education
* Gender Equality
* Child Health
* Maternal Health
* Combat HIV/AIDS
* Environmental Sustainability
* Global Partnership

Each of these is hugely important and wonderful goals. It's shameful that these things haven't been taken care of.

Granted, there's a lot that would have to go into these. People would have to *gasp* care about another person and give up something of themselves- whether it be time, money, or otherwise.

I know how easy it is to forget that my problems aren't the be all end all of the universe. I too rant about how my professors hate me, and my car AC doesn't work, and damn is it hot/cold in the library!

But this isn't an excuse. Just because I have that excuse doesn't mean I should actually use it.

Most of the issues listed can actually be helped if people would take five minutes to consider the issues. If people would take five hours, five days, five years...imagine what could be done with those combined resources?

Today we were discussing poverty in America.

...wait...what? Poverty doesn't exist in America you crazy liberal wombat. (Side note: how sad is it that Australia is flooding?)

Anyway, yes, poverty exists. Delude yourself as much as you'd like- it's everywhere.

We were discussing Western culture, and it's emphasis on individualism. This concept isn't new. It really goes all the way back to "Bible Days," and there's nothing wrong with it.

Excepting when people take this as an excuse to look out only for themselves.

There were three people in class that I think were really frustrating other students; at least, I hope they were- they were really irritating me.

I try not to stereotype too often, but I couldn't help but hear them, look at their clothes, and automatically single them out as privileged.

They were all white, all wearing brand clothing, all well-groomed.

And they sit there advocating the right of the wealthy to do whatever they want with their money.

I can only assume that they're from privileged households and have never given consideration to anything other than the jeans they're wearing. Which is awful of me, but they should probably consider what they're saying if they don't want people to judge them.

What right do we have to tell them what to do with their money? None, obviously, or we wouldn't have this problem.

They do work just like everybody else, and are entitled to just compensation.

I'm not saying people shouldn't have things, and I'm not saying people don't deserve to have things they've worked for.

All I'm saying is that we need to become a nation of givers. At the risk of sounding cheesy- it doesn't matter if you can give one dollar or a million. All that matters is that you're helping contribute.

The "American Dream" of that nice perfect family? Mom, dad, 2.5 kids, dog, 1.9 cars, house, and a white-picket fence- complete and utter bullshit.

Sure, we all want a nice life. House, maybe a family, space to call our own. But do we realize that these things come at a high cost for others?

Because it's not just about giving. This is about reshaping the mentality of America. It's a country that believes in freedom and possibility and happiness.

It's true, organization is key to these things helping. Making sure that nothing is going to be abused or wasted is crucial to this working. It's true that it will take a lot of work.

But organizations are already in place- they're waiting for people to step up and support them.

It's not enough to make $7.2 million annually and give a thousand dollars to charity when 7.2 million jobs are nonexistent because your corporation decided to go the cheaper route.

But I think what I want to stress most is that it's not enough to just give. It's awesome. It needs to happen. But it doesn't do anything if you don't care enough about the problem to go out and do something about it.

We need to care. If it's supporting a kid, volunteering at a shelter, whatever. Just do something.

I really want to believe in the people around me. I really want to believe that people will care about other people.

...I'm going to go grumble about this to my roommates. Hopefully they don't kill me.

EDIT: I realized I should hedge some more and give you guys some links to places. Maybe I can make a little difference today.

Queensland Flood Relief
Random Acts
UN MDG Donation Information
UNICEF