A great editorial by a soldier in Afghanistan:

Posted by: Sarah at 01:52 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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When I visited CaliValleyGirl, we discovered that we both love peas.  Neither of us knew this about the other before.  So when I found this pattern, I just had to make them for her.



She said her son loves playing with them.  I think they turned out really cute.

(And learning this new blog system is gonna be the death of me.  It took me forever to figure out how to upload this pic.)

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I want to murder my doctor and everyone who works for him.

(Despite that intro, this will be a boring post about playing telephone tag.  But I have to bang it out or I will go crazy.)

Last Tuesday when the doctor hit me with the bad news, he told me to call Tricare Referrals the next day.  (As per the discussion at the conference of making your blog non-military friendly, that is our health care system.  To be seen off-post by a civilian doctor, I need a referral through the insurance before I can make an appointment.  I have never had to do this before.)

I called Tricare Wednesday: no referral in their system.  Same Thursday and Friday.  The prerecorded message said it could take 72 hours, but on Friday I found a customer service rep to talk to.  She informed me that, despite the fact that my home is most definitely not located in that region, that I was calling the wrong number and should be calling the North division.  Hung up, called them, they didn't have the referral either.

Called back Monday morning: still no referral.  Got grumpy.  Left a cranky message with my doctor's secretary to check again and make sure the referral was made because we've already wasted a week of precious time.

The secretary calls me back hours later to say that, whoopsie, I wasn't supposed to be calling Tricare after all.  Who told you to do that?  Us?  Our bad.  You just need to confirm your referral in our own hospital.  Here, let me just transfer the call...yep, disconnected.

I wrote during the second miscarriage about how it's impossible to reach an actual human being in our medical system.  So she had disconnected me, and all I could do was call her back, leave another pissy message on her machine, and wait several more hours for her to call me back.

I finally get the right number to get connected where I'm supposed to be, and that is also an answering machine.  I leave a message, she calls me back an hour later, confirms my referral, and then tells me that it will take seven days from today until the referral shows up in Tricare.

At this point, I don't know whether to scream or cry.

We don't have time for this.  My husband deploys in less than three months, we've been told it will take us at least a month to get an appointment with this geneticist, and we just wasted a week playing phone tag?

What in the holy fricking shizz is wrong with my doctor?  Why did he quite clearly tell me to call the wrong place?  And I told him flat out that I have never had a referral before, so he knew I needed instruction.  They dropped the you're-a-mutant bomb and then shoved me out the door without even bothering to tell me which phone number to call for follow-up, so I wasted a week that we simply do not have time to waste.

At this rate, my husband will be gone before we can even get this process started.  And, ahem, we kinda need him around for the process.

I swear, these people are gonna scream so loud when I set them on fire.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:48 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Pixy doesn't live in the same time zone as I do, plus he has a crazy sleep schedule, so I am not entirely sure when the switch will be made.

In the meantime, because I have a rant that needs bangin' out, I will begin putting new posts up at my new blog, and eventually you will be automatically directed there.

For now, you must follow the link.

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Dear Readers,

Fluffy the Spamhound and I are announcing our irreconcilable differences. I know you will all miss having your comments eaten, sending me screaming emails about how your perfect comment disappeared, and whatnot.

I am leaving for the Milblogs Conference today and will not be taking the computer with me. When I return on Monday, my blog will be new and improved. Not the content, mind you; you get the same drivel as usual, only with a flashier interface.

And no Fluffy.

See you Monday. Hopefully however you normally get here will still get you here. Pixy is handling the details, because he is teh awesome. (And Code Monkey is my back-up brain.)

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1 Oh, Kip! This having you gone is "ruining my life!" Did you eat all the steak!? I will miss you this weekend. Man. What will I do? Hurumph! Well, at least when you come back I can break the habit of copying every comment in case Fluffy is hungry. LOL

Posted by: Guard Wife at April 24, 2009 03:51 AM (Bfea2)

2 C-ya Fluffy! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Posted by: wifeunit at April 24, 2009 04:19 AM (t5K2U)

3 "sending me screaming emails about how your perfect comment disappeared" That doesn't sound like me at all...;-)

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at April 24, 2009 10:05 AM (irIko)

4 hey this is a very interesting article!

Posted by: KeHoeff at May 28, 2009 02:45 PM (wgfT5)

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Unliberaled Woman posted again on Miss California. You know, this story has really been bugging me. Unliberaled Woman is right that it's a huge double standard for Perez Hilton to say that she should've "left her politics out" when he asked her such a question. What did he expect? A majority of Californians recently voted to ban gay marriage, but he somehow assumed that she was not one of those people. And then got mad at her for not being what he wanted her to be. Unliberaled Woman said:

It’s unfortunate that liberals continue to play from the standard persuasive tactic of “your viewpoint must cater to mine despite your individualism because your perspective might be offensive to me despite the fact my perspective could be offensive to you.”

I think that is a great way of phrasing this type of behavior. Don't ask a controversial question if you're not ready for a controversial answer. (And remind me again what's so controversial about the majority position in this country! Again, see The Occult Meaning of "Controversial" at Powerline.)

And honestly, when I heard Hilton's question for the first time, I thought of a way more radical answer. Let's see how well I play Miss America:

Perez Hilton: Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit, why or why not?"

[Big vaseline smile] "Well, I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage." [Oy, that was a bit stumbly, Miss California. But I'm right with you up to here. Now here's where I'd diverge.]

I, however, am a firm believer in states' rights. As Connie du Toit said:

California can be whatever the people in the state want it to be. They can have universal health care, high taxes and wealth redistribution, environmentally restrictive building codes, labor laws that favor the laborer over the employer, and cliques and factions that support this or that version of political correctness. They can do that, and (as IÂ’ve said before) I would fight to the death their right to make those decisions.

I support the right of any state to legalize gay marriage by a statewide vote. If it passes, it is the law of the land. But I also support the right of states to ban the practice. And I firmly support the right of every American to "vote with his feet" and move to the state which best represents his principles and values.

So, no, I don't think that every state should follow Vermont's example of legalizing same-sex marriage...only the states which put the issue to a vote and decide through the ballot box to legalize it. And I would respect the vote of the American people no matter which option they chose in their states. That's what our country is all about.

Thank you.

(Yeah, I don't think I'd end up Miss America either.)

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One of my cherished new readers pointed out last night that there is a blogger who wrote about her family's ordeal with balanced translocation. I am reading the archives of Here Be Hippogriffs now. One post I think might be educational for my readers, especially the chromosomes made out of play-doh: Balanced Translocations 101.

I don't know if this story will type as well as it's told in person, but I was doing some research on my chromosomes yesterday. I told my mother over the phone that chromosome 7 was related to things like schizophrenia, cystic fibrosis, and deafness. "What?" she asked. "DEAFNESS." "Huh?" she asked right at the same time I was repeating myself. "Being DEAF," I practically screamed. Then we both cracked up.

Thank you for your kind words and your wows and your tempered optimism for the future. Everyone has responded beautifully. I am doing OK and letting everything slowly sink in. I am still on the high of having an answer, but actually, this is a crappy path to be on. I don't want to do IVF. I really don't want to do IVF by myself while my husband is in Afghanistan. How am I gonna give myself shots in the butt alone? I dread that, truly. Thinking about it already makes me panic.

But, distractions abound. I am happily attending the 2009 Milblogs Conference this weekend. And...my husband will be going with me! I am excited to see my imaginary and real worlds collide. We will be staying with AirForceFamily, which is always fun, and Charlie gets to torment pit bulls again. Plus I am excited to see AirForceWife's knitting. She has been at it for a while, but I've never gotten to see her stuff. She's all nonchalant about it; conversely, I am all "everyone should see how jacked and tan I am" about my knitting. So yay.

And I think I get to see someone I haven't seen since 1995. So that's fun.

So yeah, check out those play-doh chromosomes...

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Powerline: The Occult Meaning of "Controversial"

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Remember when I said my husband and I should play the lottery? That we had managed to hit 1% and 5% probability for our pregnancies?

I just hit 0.16%.

Yesterday, due to yet another snafu with The Fertility Clinic Of The Absurd, I got a preview of today's appointment: something did indeed come back on our genetic testing. I spent all night and all morning freaking out. I could barely concentrate on anything, barely breathe even. And when I got to the clinic and shared a bustling waiting room with jovial nurses and at least six very pregnant ladies, I broke down crying. Not my finest moment. (I absolutely hate that fertility patients meet in the regular old ob-gyn clinic. Talk about having it rubbed in your face constantly.)

We finally got into our own room, and the doctor handed me the results of the chromosome analysis.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am an X-man.

I am the 1 out of every 625 people who has a balanced translocation between two chromosomes. Luckily, google was invented so I could figure out what in the heck that means.

A translocation is a change in chromosome structure in which chromosomes are attached to each other or pieces of different chromosomes have been interchanged. An individual with a translocation is unaffected if there is no extra or missing chromosome material and if the break in the chromosome did not disrupt gene function. If there is no additional or missing chromosome material, the translocation is considered to be "balanced." A translocation is "unbalanced" if there is extra or missing material.

Individuals with balanced translocations typically have no medical issues though some do have fertility concerns, such as reduced fertility. The concern regarding having a balanced translocation is that, though the individual is healthy, the egg or sperm of that individual can have an unbalanced chromosome make-up that leads to the resultant embryo or pregnancy being unbalanced. The presence of an unbalanced translocation can lead to an embryo not implanting, a pregnancy being lost or a child being born with mental and physical problems. Individuals with a translocation may, therefore, experience multiple pregnancy losses or have a child affected with physical and mental problems that may be lethal.

Translation: no natural babies for us. We have been referred to geneticist at a Big Name Hospital in the nearby metropolis, so I will be calling tomorrow to try to get an appointment there. They will be able to tell me if the particular translocation I have means that I can even procreate at all, and if so...it won't be in our bedroom.

See, I told you it wasn't stress! (wink)

If we are to have any chance at all, it will have to be with IVF using Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. Google again, how did I live before you?:

Preimplantation genetic testing is a technique used to identify genetic defects in embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) before pregnancy. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) refers specifically to when one or both genetic parents has a known genetic abnormality and testing is performed on an embryo to see if it also carries a genetic abnormality.

I know we discussed this a little when I wrote that post on designer babies, and I debated whether to even mention that this is the route we'd have to take. But I decided that I have no ethical qualms about investigating this line of action, so I truly don't want any commentary if you think this is "playing God" or something. Please. I respect your position, but I'd prefer if you not advocate for it here.

Once we meet with the geneticist, we will have to decide if creating a Baby Grok will be worth the extraordinary complicated and fretful process. Nothing guarantees that PGD will even work: in this clinic in New Jersey, "in approximately 22% of cycles, all the embryos were chromosomally abnormal." But, if we could get some embryos who aren't mutants like their mother, the end results look promising...or at least better than the crap sandwich we've recently been eating:

Reduction in the Chance of Having a Child with the Translocation
Our personnel have performed PGD of translocations in over 100 cycles. Normal or balanced embryos were available to be transferred to the patient in the majority of cycles. Pregnancy occured in approximately 40% of the cycles with transfer. None of the delivered babies has been found to have and unbalanced translocation.

Reduction in Pregnancy Losses
The PGD procedure significantly reduces the chance of pregnancy loss. The patients who achieved pregnancy after PGD had experienced miscarriage in the majority (~85%) of their previous pregnancies. When these same patients underwent PGD, just fewer than 10% of pregnancies were miscarried. This is a significant reduction in pregnancy losses.

So that's where we're at.

On the plus side, we have an answer. We finally know the reason this has been happening to us. It is concrete and there is a potential workaround. I also have found some peace about the previous miscarriages: those poor babies had severe defects. It was not my immune system attacking them, as I had feared. I now know they died because they weren't growing properly, which comforts me somewhat.

I also am overwhelmed with relief that the problem is on my end instead of my husband's. I have puzzled people with that statement before, but I love my husband so much that I would rather bear the burden of being the "cause" of our problems than to watch him have to live with the guilt I am certain he would feel. I know I would not love him one tiny bit less if he had been the mutant, but he is the type of person would've been disappointed in himself, and I am glad to spare him that feeling. I also know, because he told me, that he wouldn't trade me for a non-mutant wife, and I believe him.

Plus he gets to tease me about being an X-man; he begged me not to take side with Magneto against normal humans like him. Heh.

So I'm afraid my experience is no longer very applicable to others who are struggling to have a baby or losing the ones they do have. Unless you too fit the 0.16% like I do -- and why do I keep giggling, imagining onlookers muttering "Freak!" like on Deuce Bigalow? -- your journey won't end up like mine, being forced to cherry-pick embryos from amongst the FAIL ones to create a frankenbaby. But hopefully my experiences and writing will still bring people some bit of knowledge or empathy.

So that's my story. Snickety snickety.

For further reading, see:
Balanced Translocation and Recurrent Miscarriages
Handbook of Genetic Counseling/Balanced Translocation
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for Translocations

I also have decided that I need a blog category for infertility. No one sets out on this journey to need that kind of label, but that's where I'm at, and for a while now I have felt that filing these posts under 'personal' just isn't cutting it anymore. I plan to comb through 2+ years of posts and re-categorize them.

P.S. I feel pretty OK today, and I am going to get loads of mileage out of calling myself a mutant. I am happy to have an answer and ready to see what we might learn in the next phase. So no need to worry.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:04 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Darla and I are currently going through much of the same -- a break from babymaking, upcoming deployments, etc -- and she wrote a great post about it.

I'd be lying if I said it hasn't been a little calmer around here since we took a hiatus from the baby making.

This past month has been very relaxing for us. No thinking about babies, no trying for babies, nothing. I had honestly been afraid that we might never be able to go back to "normal," that two years of forced coupling and repeated heartbreak might be hard to undo. But we have spent the past month happy with each other, as happy as we were before this whole mess began. So that was a relief.

I'd be lying to say I wasn't enjoying last weekend. [...] As slightly inebriated baby sister and I stumbled down the streets of Portland in the wee hours of the night behind our spouses, it was a bit of a relief to not be neglecting any children or having to place their care in someone else's hands while being completely stupidly unresponsible for myself. Sometimes it's joyous being an adult, and yes I know they have these things called 'sitters' but those barren like myself have to see silver linings everywhere.

I am quite good at the silver linings game by now. This weekend I ran to the grocery store to buy carrots for Charlie's birthday cake. I wandered around the store for a while, checking everything out. $30 in groceries later, I checked out and went home...to find that I'd left the carrots at the store. Back in the car, run back in the store, back home.

That was annoying, but imagine the ordeal toting a kid. I try to remind myself of stuff like that all the time.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't melancholy on occasion.

Snort. Sitting here doing nothing and then bursting into tears for no reason is just a way of life for me anymore.

Yet, as is the case in life, some evenings are crazier than others and sometimes the littlest stupidest thing, like someone's FB profile photo, can remind you of the exact spot you are at in life. For instance barren, at 29, here, now.

Replace that last sentence with "habitual aborter at 31" and that's me. I can't stand Facebook updates about other people's ultrasounds, and their healthy babies, and their profile pics of their bellies. Sometimes I have to stop myself from making mean comments.

Tomorrow we head to the doctor to find out the results of the tests on our genes and my immune system. I have completely freaked myself out by reading the book Is Your Body Baby Friendly? and now I am imagining the worst.

But truly the worst would be to hear that there's no cause for the repeated miscarriages. Then what?

And Darla, for Easter we had pork wrapped in pork. Mmmm.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:40 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Here's a nice, simple post about the Tea Parties and why they oughtn't be ridiculed.
Funny, I don't remember the media talking heads ridiculing the anti-war protests.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:37 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I have been thinking for a while about John McCain.

My blog is about five and a half years old at this point. That's how long he was a prisoner in Hoa Lo.

Every thought I've had since I started blogging, every friend I've made, every article I've read, every lesson I've grokked...

I have been free. I have had the freedom to do all those things.

From Professor Cockroach to Charlie's birthday...

3571 blog posts.

I have lived for five and a half years.

Lived and learned and grokked and loved.

I was not beaten, not locked away, not tortured, not forced to listen to propaganda. The worst I've had to deal with is some name-calling and sleepless nights.

I have never had my spirit broken.

Five and a half years.

Imagine if every blog post were wiped away and replaced by a day in captivity. Everything I have read and learned in this half decade gone, replaced by solitude and madness.

My husband came home from SERE with a newfound respect for John McCain and the men like him. My blog has taught me respect too, respect for the freedom I have had to live and share my life with you for so long.

I cannot imagine not having been here...

Posted by: Sarah at 09:54 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Today our Charles Pup turns four.

He's being spoiled rotten today, with walks and wet dog food, and he'll even get a birthday cake.

It's hard to believe the little sweet potato we picked out...

is now our favorite creature in the whole wide world...

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Posted by: Sarah at 10:19 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Oh My Gosh. I might have to take that back about this year's picture being the cutest one yet. I hadn't seen the pup one. There is no way he was eight or twelve weeks there was he?! So cute!

Posted by: wifeunit at April 18, 2009 11:43 AM (t5K2U)

2 WU -- That's Charlie at 12 days old We got first look at the litter and then chose ol' Charles.

Posted by: Sarah at April 18, 2009 03:37 PM (TWet1)

3 I think that is so cute that you guys went and chose him, and then would go visit him on the weekends until he was old enough to take home, I believe that the first day we met in person you had gone to visit him earlier that day (June)...happy birthday Charlie!

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at April 18, 2009 04:12 PM (irIko)

4 Ah! Happy Birthday Charlie!

Posted by: Darla at April 19, 2009 07:58 AM (LP4DK)

5 We did that with Annie (visiting the litter after deciding) although we did not have the pick of the litter as Hubs took some convincing that we needed a puppy in the first place. I can't believe how tiny he was (and so unfuzzy!) and how he is kind of reddish. Soooo cute! Happy Birthday, Birthday Boy!!

Posted by: Guard Wife at April 19, 2009 08:46 AM (Bfea2)

6 Please give Charlie a chin scratch and a tummy rub from me! Those pics are adorable! Happy Birthday Charlie!

Posted by: Mary at April 19, 2009 06:55 PM (/hR4y)

7 Incredible site!

Posted by: tramadol showed online at July 23, 2009 07:27 PM (1m6Sn)

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Yummy new Krauthammer: "Obama has the magic to make words mean almost anything. Numbers are more resistant to his charms."

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A cool quote via an article by Instapundit:

When Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele asked to speak at the Chicago tea party, his request was politely refused by the organizers: "With regards to stage time, we respectfully must inform Chairman Steele that RNC officials are welcome to participate in the rally itself, but we prefer to limit stage time to those who are not elected officials, both in Government as well as political parties. This is an opportunity for Americans to speak, and elected officials to listen, not the other way around."

Posted by: Sarah at 01:45 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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[UPDATE: I tried to find a spectrum that I was looking for, but all I could find were circles and 3D representations. And so I settled for a graphic I wasn't entirely happy with because I was too wrapped up in what I was writing to stop and make one myself. So I changed the graphic. The original graphic to which Amritas' comment refers can be found here.]

Wife Unit writes about the role of government too: And My Answer.

I sent the following message to Mare via email the other day:

I also think that there are many issues where things are not black and white for me. I flop back and forth on abortion, for example. I am always willing to have a good debate with people who believe forcefully one way or the other because I am really still not sure what I think. I try to remember WWLD, what would libertarians do? So I unsettledly accept that the government oughtn't tell us what to do with our bodies. And for me, that extends to prostitution and drugs as well. But then, on the flip side, I think people should be able to smoke in public and also eat trans-fats

So yeah, I can debate. But on certain issues -- gun rights and taxes come readily to mind -- I feel pretty strongly about my opinions. But in other realms, I am up for discussion. Like education...I can find common ground with you and CaliValleyGirl, and we could debate the nuts and bolts.

Like Wife Unit, I have views that align me with donkeys and elephants. But that's because I don't define my views on the social scale; I define them on the responsibility scale. Social issues shake out far differently when you judge them based on personal responsibility (vs what is or isn't in the Bible, or what is or isn't traditional).

Part of the answer to Sis B's original question as to why there's a chasm between what her conservative friends believe and the government we've had is because I think the whole system is creeping leftward. However, that doesn't mean what it sounds like: I don't think the complete picture has Republicans and Democrats as the poles, where you have to fall as one or the other, or somewhere in between. Instead, the system is more like this:

And the system keeps incrementally shifting leftward while we sit fixed and wonder how in the hell we've gotten to the point where we are budgeting $3.2 billion towards "New Orleans storm protection" and $15 billion for Pell grants.

What I think it really boils down to is Whittle's Theory of Political Reduction:

I contend that there is a single litmus that does indeed separate the nation and the world into two opposing camps, and that when you examine where people will fall on the countless issues that affect our society, this alone is the indicator that will tell you how they will respond.

The indicator is Responsibility.

To the right of the spectrum is less government involvement / more individual responsibility; to the left is more government involvement / more shared responsibility. That's the It Takes a Village mentality. That's Obama's "be your brother's keeper" idea. That's the side of the spectrum I want to stop creeping towards.

To come full circle, I completely respect people who are pro-life because they believe the baby is already a human being endowed with the inalienable right to life. I also completely respect people who believe that the government has no business telling people what they should do medically or with their own bodies (a point I can also understand when debating euthanasia). I have a hard time figuring out which right I find more valid, to be honest. I struggle to not be a hypocrite and to be consistent in my viewpoints. So what I cannot stand are, say, Democrats who think the government has no right to tell them they can't have an abortion with their own body, but every right to stop other people from smoking because the second-hand smoke might hurt their bodies. I find that remarkably inconsistent and frustrating. I also, personally, find it inconsistent to say that government should decree that only men and women should marry, but that government should butt out of everything else. And I really don't understand when some Democrats claim that they want less government meddling than I do, or that they are in fact the party of "government butting out."

But we are all inconsistent beings. I try very hard to be mindful of when my opinions are conflicting and be honest about the fact that I am still working things out. Trying to grok, if you will. And I self-pigeonhole as a Republican because, as I said before, I am trying to "take the word back." Plus, it's how I vote, because, while they are far from perfect, I believe they are closer to me on the responsibility / government meddling scale than Democrats are.

But like Wife Unit, I don't caricature easily, I don't think.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:19 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 I am puzzled by the graphic. It seems to indicate that anarchism is the bridge between socialism and Communism on the one hand and libertarianism and fascism (which is paired with ... monarchy!?) on the other. Perhaps fascism and monarchy are paired because they appeal to tradition unlike Communist revolutionaries, but that doesn't explain why libertarianism is on the same side as them. Does a super-libertarian become an anarchist before becoming ... a Nazi or a royalist? Does a super-socialist become an anarchist before becoming a Communist? I see political positions in terms of a circle with anarchism joining both ends. Super-libertarians reject government and become anarchists. In an anarchic society, the vacuum of power is quickly filled by thugs ... not unlike Communists and fascists who are variants on a totalitarian theme. More here: Can’t you see past the guff and recognize the essence? One country is dedicated to the proposition that man has no rights, that the collective is all. The individual held as evil, the mass—as God. No motive and no virtue permitted—except that of service to the proletariat. That’s one version [communism]. Here’s another. A country dedicated to the proposition that man has no rights, that the State is all. The individual held as evil, the race—as God. No motive and no virtue permitted—except that of service to the race [fascism]. Am I raving or is this the cold reality of two continents already? Watch the pincer movement. If you’re sick of one version, we push you into the other. We get you coming and going. We’ve closed the doors. We’ve fixed the coin. Heads—collectivism, and tails—collectivism. Fight the doctrine which slaughters the individual with a doctrine which slaughters the individual. Give up your soul to a council—or give it up to a leader. But give it up, give it up, give it up. My technique . . . . Offer poison as food and poison as antidote.

Posted by: Amritas at April 17, 2009 12:46 PM (+nV09)

2 second attempt, darn comments! I think, rather than a scale that goes from left to right (and presumably circles around), the scale more resembles a grid with four quadrants. The truth is that in practice, fascism isn't very different from socialism/communism (I have to pair them, because there's never been true communism, just very strict socialism). The difference lies only in the ideologies that lead there. The Nazis had death camps, work camps, and penalized people who did not follow their ideal. They also had a large amount of social programs and government intrusion into life. And then we have the USSR, with its gulags and government ordered famines - its social programs (that didn't work) and so on. Where's the difference in practice? There really isn't much of one. I'm with you Sarah - I don't understand it when people try to pigeonhole me into something I'm not. I don't even self-identify Republican. I'm ready for DADT to be dropped responsibly. I am very pro-life because I see a baby as a person from the moment it is conceived, but I also think that someone's rights to harm themselves stop when they affect my body - thus my anti-cigarette in enclosed public spaces stance and my legalize some drugs stance. I also, as a practicing Catholic, don't think the government should be dictating the facts of marriage to anyone. I don't think the government's role should go beyond giving a civil union a tax break. If I want to be married, I'll go to church and get married. But that's an entirely separate issue than the government dictating marriage. I think responsibility is the best way to put it. I try not to be a hypocrite, I really do. But I expect the same of others. I actually do think that it takes a village - as much as some people might stone me for that. But the village it takes is a WILLING one, not one that is forced into something by government decree. AFG and I give a larger percentage of our income every year to charity than the Obamas do (although granted it works out to be much less in dollar amounts, still it also makes a bigger dent in our standard of living) because when I see someone that truly needs help I want to help them. That's the thing, though. It needs to be MY CHOICE. There are people I don't want to help, and I resent being forced to. Ditto with my children - I'm all for community responsibility. In fact, one of the notes I most treasure is one from you, Sarah, about how you appreciated that we "co-parent" when we're together. And I was reminded of it two weekends ago when we had the hotel trouble and wifeunit stepped up to help with one of my kids. I love my village. I need my village. But they are my village BY CHOICE. And it is that choice that I think we need to guard so much.

Posted by: airforcewife at April 17, 2009 03:22 PM (Fb2PC)

3 AFW -- I agree with you and I didn't mean to sound like I don't want a WILLING village. I surely do. That's the gulch idea for me. Imagine if we all lived in a neighborhood together and we CHOOSE to entrust each other with our kids and lives. I think that'd be great. What I object to is feeling like I am constantly being told that I have to do things For The Greater Good: I have to pay taxes to make sure that no child is left behind and everyone has health care and "a living wage." I want to use my money to help people I think are worthy of it, who deserve a small leg up when life gets rough...instead of being forced to send money to Washington to get distributed to any old person. But it's a well-established fact that I'm a big meanie

Posted by: Sarah at April 17, 2009 03:52 PM (TWet1)

4 Great work, webmaster, nice design!

Posted by: adipex generic drug at August 01, 2009 08:45 AM (Pq2OR)

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For the readers who went to my high school: How many Deadheads did we have at our school? I swear, most days it looked like students were cutting class to follow Phish. I can think of at least three cars that had Grateful Dead-themed license plates, and many more that had dancing bears on them.

And when I wrote my graduation speech and made the joke about Deadheads, our principal read it and said, "Whaaat? The Grateful Dead is popular?" I remember immediately thinking that she was far too out of touch to be a good principal. One walk through our hallways or parking lot would've knocked her over with tie-dye and patchouli, but she was oblivious to a huge trend among her students.

I was reminded of this today when I heard ABC's statement that "The White House says the president is unaware of the tea parties and will hold his own event today."

Wow, seriously? He didn't even know that thousands of citizens were protesting yesterday? Not he didn't care or he didn't think it was significant (guh, neither OK in my book), but he didn't know?

Out of touch, dude. Out of touch.

Posted by: Sarah at 01:13 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Oh I'm sure he knows all about it. Just the same spin as when they tried to convnce us that Bush wasn't concerned about his approval rating. To be fair, the Bush administration didn't seem to care too much about statements of dissent. Granted, I thought Obama was going to be the type of guy to address this type of thing head-on. So that's pretty dissappointing. And for the record, I do remember the dead being way popular in our school. Granted, that's also when pot-smoking got way popular too...if only I could draw a connection between the 2...

Posted by: Sarah's Pinko Commie Friend at April 16, 2009 01:59 PM (aKpbG)

2 I'm still marveling at how a handful (or even one or two) pink-shirted screamers garnered a spot on every evening news program on regular and cable TV--and these people were taken seriously & treated with deference, but thousands of people turning out in droves, peaceably assembling for a specific purpose were 1) not covered or, if they were, 2) they were treated with disdain and oral sex references. Bravo to those who, had I not been paying better attention, would have had me doing a song and dance for my 10-year-old rather than explaining to her what teabagging is. SUPER thoughtful and mature.

Posted by: Guard Wife at April 16, 2009 02:05 PM (Bfea2)

3 Excerpted from Alinsky's rules for radicals. Sound familiar? RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.) RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.) RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.) But no, the 4th estate/5th column isn't biased. What we should do as a movement is close ranks. No media interviews, no punditry, no debates. Make grassroots just that, and go old-school. Door to door, word of mouth, etc. As you DH will attest, the movement has to control the message, and therefore the media. Then, we protest the media in ways that will force them to respond (like swarming their offices and shutting them down) and still control the message, ensuring all protesters refuse comment, deferring only to the pointed spokespersons, who must be out most well educated, normal-looking, no-skeletons-in-the-closet, and charismatic people. (I nominate you, Sarah.) Even more fun, go after the advertisers. Protest their support of an elitist, biased media that invents news and produces piss-yellow journalism. Force them to pull ads from news programs, news papers, and even the news networks. How about an Oprah's book club burning? That'd make the news right? Yes, but in a very bad way. Any journalist who uses "teabaggers" is immediately banned from interviews. Even if that interview has NOTHING to do with the tea party movement. They should receive a standardized answer that you refuse to speak with them, personally, because of their bias on other issues. Cite examples, if you like, but don't enter into discussions with them about it. And to make it even more intriguing, use tactics practiced by the Falun Gong. Those people scare the crap out of the Chinese gummint. Most important, we have to figure out how to identify and discourage the crazies. --Chuck

Posted by: Chuck at April 17, 2009 04:34 AM (bQVIy)

4 Hah! Dead Heads at RHS. Uh, what a great story and accurate recap. Yeah, I remember the stink eye I would give all the dead heads. And then I end up marrying one! Isn't that freakin' karma. This summer - 1 Dead concert and 1 Phish concerts. I think God is LHFAO at my expense. But at least I'm a good sport about it.

Posted by: BigD78 at April 20, 2009 05:15 PM (g3z97)

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CaliValleyGirl also wrote a post about taxes, which is well worth reading.

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Found at Villainous Company...heh. BigD's gonna love this.

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I've said before that Carl Sagan's Cosmic Timeline has always helped me find perspective and peace. I am but a blip in time and my problems are too. Yesterday, Amritas sent me a Hudnall link on the same lines: You're Less Than a Speck.

I find such comfort in my cosmic insignificance.

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