Category Archives: women

Un-Charted waters…

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Ball State is no longer supporting the charter schools in Indiana.  (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun for the title)

One of them is the Imagine Schools here in FW.  They’re not holding up under the test of time and students.

Here’s a story on it. (Side note~the Indiana Dunes/Lake Michigan is at the top of the webpage.  It’s so cool that Indiana has this.)

Here’s the local take: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130123/EDIT07/301239992/1147/EDIT07

Related to this, high school graduates are not graduating on time.

I reeeeeallly hate to turn to faux news, but it’s the one with the most info: http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/news/students-not-graduating-on-time-high-school-dropou/nJ8dZ/

Notice how they immediately put the blame on the teachers, and then the parents.  While both could be at fault, I take a longer look at this–

The No Child Left A Mind Act.  It has now been torturing children since 2002, when W. signed it into law. (Note that speaker Boehner was a co-author)

From the site:

NCLB’s main focus is on skills in reading, writing and mathematics, which are areas related to economic success. Combined with the budget crises in the Late-2000s recession, some schools have cut or eliminated classes and resources for many subject areas that are not part of NCLB’s accountability standards.[32] Since 2007, almost 71% of schools have reduced some instruction time in subjects such as history, arts, language and music, in order to give more time and resources to mathematics and English.[33][34]

(italics are mine)

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The children graduating now and in the next year would have been subjected to this mind-numbing, controlling, micro-managing of schools and teachers for all of their education careers.  This system has FAILED miserably, as the inability of these students to graduate on time and with the skills of life (not of business, mind you, but of life–schools are waaaay too influenced by the corporate “needs” instead of the country’s needs of an educated populace that can ask questions and analyze information in a way that is helpful towards sustaining a democracy.)

Another point of the above link was that they were saying the kids didn’t care and were disrespectful.  The kids want out of school.  This should be a red flag that something is terribly wrong when so many children hate school.  We’re born with the natural curiosity in order to learn about our world and how to go about in it.  Most kids love to learn, so if they’re not interested in it, then the fault is on the system, not the kids.  And I believe the kids are disrespectful because they are repeatedly subjected to boring school days that don’t stimulate their creativity, don’t encourage them to think outside the box, subject them to endless tests, reading, math, reading, tests, reading, math, tests…you get the idea….they become angry because they know they’re being screwed.  And they perceive the teachers as being at fault when the teacher is only doing what has been required of her–she cannot teach in a creative way while using her own intuition to conduct the class–she has a guide book that she must follow with little room for any creative expression either by her or her students.

When I was a substitute teacher, on one of the first assignments I got behind in class because we were doing Math and a student was having difficulty understanding the concept.  The class day was so unbelievably structured that it didn’t allow for extra time, and I soon fell far behind and couldn’t get everything done that the teacher had outlined.  She hit the roof when she came back to class later that day, because it meant she had to add everything I did not get done to the next day, which is also as structured with no time for extra.  I never subbed for her again.

 

 

Academy Award

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You know, there is a Canadian program on my public radio station here in FW that airs a part of a segment where a guy has said he had awards for “favorite food, TV program,” etc., and one of the categories is “best performance of impersonating a politician” (or something to that effect) “won by Dan Quayle three years in a row until Dick Cheney came along…”

I think there should just be a category for “best performance by a politician while trying to appear genuine”.

I think Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide….

No, I’m not going to link to any of the political sites that are praising her “performance” today.  It really sickens me how they have annointed her Saint Hillary that can do no wrong and refuse to look at her and Bill’s records with any degree of unemotional critical assessment.   They would be livid at that same stuff if it were done by a repub.

The fake break in her voice was the top of the performance.  Not a tear in the eyes.  Her eyes were not even red.  My voice doesn’t usually break until the tears begin to fall and the emotions have bubbled to the top.

The anger at the question of what exactly happened? “It doesn’t matter!!” Really?

She didn’t read the memo.   Didn’t read the memo….

I recalled that during the Clintons term in office, I always felt manipulated.  It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually, it came to be a frequent feeling whenever a crisis would occur and once again they escaped accountability.

 

Exploring the link between diet and health

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I wanted to explore the health factors that indicate heavy metal poisoning and the African Americans.

I found this link on BET.  Diabetes can be caused by heavy metal poisoning, and high blood pressure is linked to the adrenals and kidneys which can be severely affected by heavy metal toxicity, therefore, affecting blood pressure. And, of course, heavy metal poisoning is closely associated with autistic symptoms.  I say “symptoms” because I’m not sure that the poisoning causes autism, but it most definitely causes autistic symptoms, as has been my experience.

Here’s another site.  I’ve come across a couple of websites geared towards the African American link to autism, but they are exploring the issue of comparison between whites and blacks being diagnosed later.  I’m trying to get away from that because it’s not helpful.  It is not going towards the issue itself of autism and the possible causes behind it.  It’s upsetting to me because the blanket statement that whites get diagnosed sooner than blacks is not my experience, nor others who also diagnosed themselves.   I, a white person, was not diagnosed by any damn doctor, after years of low thyroid, adrenal issues, chronic fatigue, migraines, and the symptoms of autism of wanting to be left alone, wanting to stay in my house and never leave it, diminishing communication skills, memory loss, hyperfocusing, exaggerated startle response, etc.

When I searched for a link with African Americans and heavy metal poisoning, I again came up empty.

I searched “chronic fatigue and African Americans and found this.  As I read the paragraph:

Psychosocial variables may influence the experience of chronic fatigue, especially in individuals of color. Overarching psychosocial realities such as the endemic nature of ethnic/racial discrimination and the complexity of the acculturation process may bear on the experience of fatigue. This study evaluated whether the acculturation process was related to chronic fatigue and racism among African Americans and Latinos. While associations among the predicted variables were not statistically significant, distinct divisions among levels of acculturation appeared between African Americans and Latinos. Membership in a community of color likely increases the complexity of the experience of chronic fatigue in a manner that requires further investigation.

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Okay, what I’m reading from this is that the psychobabble is stating that chronic fatigue is a psychological problem.  Pfft.  Yep, they’ve been telling women that for decades…didn’t even acknowledge that it was a true physical condition until very recently.  These women were just lazy and hypochrondriacs who needed to get a life, when in reality they were the first to suffer the effects of low thyroid and adrenal fatigue from a toxic environment.

Reading this website, the symptom onset after a traumatic event, either physical or emotional, with the compromised immune system is a red flag for an inflamed gut from Celiac or gluten intolerance.  It’s the final straw that breaks the body. I have issues with the link to the psychological, although stress does affect the immune system, I don’t think it’s the cause of it.  It’s too convenient to blame psychological stress than to explore things such as heavy metal toxicity and/or leaky gut. It’s been proven that gluten intolerance can cause psychological symptoms, and this has been known since before WWII.  Therefore, the psychological stuff comes *after* the leaky gut or whatever physical issue is beleaguering the body, not necessarily the other way around.

As a side note, I found this link.  I had forgotten about the Gulf War syndrome being the first serious acknowledgement that chronic fatigue was an actual physical ailment and not psychological.  And the link between Gulf War syndrome and vaccines should not be ignored.

From the website:

“Despite these agreements between FDA and DoD, and DoD’s official subsequent decision to administer the vaccine voluntarily, many PGW veterans claim that they were not told what vaccine they were being given, or what the risks were, either orally or in writing. Many report that they were told not to tell medical personnel that they had received a vaccination, even if the vaccination caused pain or swelling. No record of the vaccine was available in medical records; as a result, physicians who were concerned about any local or systemic reactions were uninformed about the possible causes. Veterans who claim they were harmed by the vaccine or pyridostigmine frequently have no proof that they were vaccinated or took the pills, or that they had an adverse reaction. Moreover, virtually none of the soldiers received more than two of the botulism vaccinations, even though DoD informed FDA they would administer the three shots necessary for protection…

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So, folks…you should run right out and get that flu vaccine.  Run! NOW!

 

And my new favorite Twain quote is…

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“If Christ were here,  there is one thing he would not be…A Christian.”  Brilliantly said.  Trying to act like Christ is a little too much work…as it requires following “Do Unto Others…”

Diane Sweet has a post up on the fundamentalist Pat Robertson, doing what fundamentalists do:  putting women beneath them…

I disagree with one of the commenters who said that this kind of thinking was dying out.  It’s a dangerous assumption, and from what I’m seeing, far from being a thing of the past.  This crap has been going on for thousands of years, in different forms and won’t “die out” until women are seen and treated as equals. Women are a still not thought of as having equal value in whatever they do–if they stay home to raise the children and care for the house, or if they work outside the home.

The issues with rape and the degradation of the young woman in Steubenville are classic examples of treating women as “less than” and making moral judgments against her that are not made against the men.  She’s a slut to be peed on.  He’s just having a good time.

 

 

She’s just a whore…

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…she probably deserved it…we can’t be arresting our star football players…/snark (be sure to click on the Prinniefied.com link–good coverage of the case there.

More here.  

It’s unbelievable that the dude in the video was saying that it should go through the courts…um, yeah, that’s kinda what they’re protesting about–that it wasn’t being forcefully dealt with because of the town’s football worship….

…and attitudes towards women in general and rape specifically…

You know, the arguments are as old as the hills:  the victim brought it on by herself by drinking/partying/wearing skimpy clothes, and on.  What other crime would they ever make that kind of accusation? Rape is the only crime where the victim has to prove they didn’t want the crime to happen.

Case in point (from the NY Times article):

He said that online photographs and posts could ultimately be “a gift” for his client’s case because the girl, before that night in August, had posted provocative comments and photographs on her Twitter page over time. He added that those online posts demonstrated that she was sexually active and showed that she was “clearly engaged in at-risk behavior.”

So….because she was sexually active and wearing skimpy clothes…God, this gets soooo old.…she couldn’t possibly have been raped, because everybody knows that sluts don’t get raped.  They *always* want it and if they don’t put out, well, then one just has to take it. /said with cynicism and dripping sarcasm.

Also telling is the statement “..some people deserve to be peed on…”  In other words, she’s not a human being— she’s an object to be peed on.

The coaching staff’s statement that she “made it up” to cover for her bad behavior is so out of line, but not surprising, given the mindset.  And the coach himself, well, what can one say to “you’ll get yours!” ??

Sadly, the mindset is not just in Steubenville or the U.S. or India, but all over the world. such as this group in Australia.

More blame the victim here.

More here on the politics of rape… note the conservative viewpoint to deny that rapes occur.  As this article illustrates, even women  attack other women about whether they were raped or not.  I seriously wonder if Katie Roiphe wasn’t raped and is in serious denial?

Most Admired?

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Seriously?

Gallup has the “Most Admired” poll out here:  http://www.gallup.com/poll/145394/Barack-Obama-Hillary-Clinton-2010-Admired.aspx

I kept looking for the numbers, but didn’t find them until the very bottom of the story–they only asked 1,000 adults. I think I heard there were 60 million people in the U.S. now–they could only find  a thousand people to ask?

And if you look at the margin of error at 4 + or – percentage points…it’s laughable.  Anything more than 2% plus or minus is a flawed poll–it’s considered biased and invalid.

Judging from the other women chosen, with two exceptions, the poll is definitely skewed with those of the conservative views.

Things not to admire:

Whitewater.

The link to Chinese censorship. 

More stuff on Bill with his support of the war in Iraq. Oh, wait…he didn’t support the war in Iraq? /snark

And Hillary’s support of the war in Iraq…

And the stuff I brought up in my post here.

And then there’s the self-righteous, fundamentalist connection–here and here.

And personally, I know someone who knows Hillary Clinton.  I can’t go into details, but it’s sufficient to say that her behavior in at least one incident was more of that of a teenage girl and her boyfriend than an adult woman in relation to her husband.   I expect maturity and self-respect and dignity out of my leaders…I guess I’m funny that way.

 

 

…and then there’s violence without a gun…

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The human body can be used as a weapon, as well.  How effing vicious does a rape have to be to put a woman into intensive care?  And what about that bus driver?? He had to have known what was going on.

And the way this story is written makes it sound like only in India is rape a stigma…yeah, well, I’ve got news for ya, it’s a stigma *everywhere*…right here in the U.S., we have republicans who say if a woman is raped, she can’t become pregnant...or if she is a Native American woman, a non-native man can rape her without fear of punishment.

Or how about the town I grew up in–where teenage boys tied a mentally challenged woman to a tree and raped her…one of my former friends actually blamed her, saying that she “let them”.  How the hell can you defend yourself if you’re tied to a tree? Or not in command of all your mental faculties?

So we come back to the acceptance of violence in our society.  “Boys will be boys” and all that crap…

No way…

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…that 90% of the Democrats endorse and support Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. (Of all the times to forget my earphones–so I can’t watch this, but I have heard parts of it.)

She actually thinks Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu are upstanding people that speak well of her integrity and leadership skills?

Kissinger quotes that are alarming:

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

“Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power, and is often, in point of fact, useless.”

“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.”

In other words, power turns him on–ego, ego, ego.  Intelligence is not needed when you’re trying to bomb the hell out of another country–you only need bigger bombs than they have.  And lastly, starving people will do wonders at gaining their compliance to do things they would not normally do.  And he who has the gold makes the rules….

Tony Blair and his compliance with invading Iraq.

And, of course, we know of Netanyahu’s connections to Romney and his exaggerating the Iran threat….for twenty years…

Clinton is a war hawk who would love to push that fabled “red button” at the slightest provocation….or none at all.

One of the employees bought a converter for our TV in the main room for the residents, so I get whatever our antenna picks up.  I watched ABC This Week on Sunday morning and was stunned at Carville’s statement that 90% of Dems have already decided that Clinton will be the nominee.

First of all, how dare you make such an assumption of what the voters are thinking??  I am so sick and tired of politicians and pundits using the phrase “the American people believe/want/need…” when they can only speak for themselves.

…and from where this writer sits, I’d vote for Romney before I’d vote for another Clinton in the White House.  I’m sick of Bushes and Clintons in the White House.  We can thank Clinton for NAFTA, and Bush II for No Child Left a Mind, and for getting us into two wars on false claims of weapons of mass destruction…between all of them, they’ve done a bang up job of ruining this country.  And let’s not leave out the Godfather of it all, Ronald Reagan.  I’m ashamed to say that I voted for him the first four years, but thankfully, not the second four…