this is ridiculous:
http://www.startribune.com/nation/39153077.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsl
if it takes you more than 5 months to get into an abortion clinic, you probably do want the kid. get your crap together in the first couple months. abortions after the first trimester are REALLY questionable and should be illegal in my view (unless warranted by health).
(**angie, you probably shouldn’t read that article. in fact, please don’t!)
this country was built on rebellion, yet currently we are the biggest nation of apathetic do-nothings. when was the last you, or i, or anyone for that matter, got off our soap-box and actually went out and did something about what we preach? i know i’m a perpetrator of speaking one thing and not doing anything about it. someone wants to ban books? where’s the outrage?? where’re the protests?? where are the marches?? on some messageboards on the internet, that’s where. strongly worded letters will only get you so far.
i took a global comm class (and i’ve probably said this before), and the prof told us that it takes 80% of a nation to be oppressed before an uprising actually makes a difference. 80%!! but what’s really disturbing is that 100% of americans’ freedoms and rights are being oppressed, yet we still do nothing about it. why?
we’ve become a bunch of apathetic people with the mindset that if it doesn’t affect us directly, then we shouldn’t make a fuss. recently there was a court ruling that evidence t federal ID, with a camera watching our every move, reading the daily newspaper with the official government seal, when it hits us. how did we get this far?
oh yeah, cuz i didn’t care.
so what can you do? what can i do? i don’t know.
keep your nose clean.
on the economy
why is the government bailing out these banks/companies that are going bankrupt? what happened to the "free market"? what happened to "less" government control on the republican watch? (btw, who does the federal reserve get the OK from to approve a bailout of $85 billion? is that the prez?) what happened to less government spending? in the past 30 years, you know which president had lowered spending to a point where we were going to start paying off the national debt? CLINTON. yep, that’s right, the democrat president, supposedly of the party that will increase spending through the roof. Reagan and the two Bushes increased spending. Clinton lowered it. so much for THOSE republican promises. and if mccain wins, i highly doubt spending will decrease, especially since he wants to stay in iraq forever.
regarding GTA IV, some yahoo writes in to the startribune: “…They don’t have the right [to make the game]. We need to get over the rote belief that censorship is always wrong.” http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/18467169.html – full story EXCUSE ME??????????????????? um EXCUSE ME????????????????? where does this guy LIVE? China?? Russia??? someone needs to send this guy a copy of the first amendment. http://www.startribune.com/world/18303649.html?page=1&c=y uuuugggggghhh……. everything is kind of culminating toward….something…..once you get used to one thing being weird, another thing pops up. oil prices, global warming/cooling/something, wheat scarcity, disappearing honeybees, overfishing, useless wars…. sooo…….. what do you think is going to happen in 4 years? (eta: overfishing) gas here is $3.52/gallon. given that, i normally put in 12.5 gallons when i fill up, which puts me at $45 to fill up my car. i probably don’t need to tell you how annoying that is. after the caucus results came in from iowa, i was pleasantly surprised to see obama the winner. i like the guy. from my in-extensive research (meaning blogs and news headlines), i can get behind what he stands for. and from reading messageboards and blogs, i could see a lot of republicans getting behind him. but still, there’s that issue of… race. hmm, well, is this presidential race going to turn into a race issue? if obama wins new hampshire, he’s got candidacy almost in the bag, and we’ll have our first black presidential candidate. but the race issue keeps coming up. is america racist enough that he won’t get elected? is america ready for a black president? then there’s the whole issue of, well, he’s not really that black, he has a white mother and is related to dick cheney for god’s sake. for crying out loud. this guy is probably the racial equivalent to the american dream, don’t you think? the melting pot of america consists of blacks, whites, hispanics, e States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.” maybe this is why more and more people are getting behind him. he is the average american, trying to bring a more balanced country to the people, and we americans are ready for balance. i don’t know if you’ve seen that commercial where the kids are talking to the tv telling their parents to talk to them about sex. and to save sex for marriage. oh, and it’s government endorsed. …in california and the eastern states where pollution laws are strict, you can buy cars that put out tons less emissions than normal gas-burning cars? they run the same, use the same gas, get the same mileage, but there is a $400 part the manufacturers stick in the car to reduce emissions. and, did you know that it is illegal to sell/buy this car in states where the pollution laws are not so strict? even if i go to CA and buy this car, i can’t because i don’t live in CA. this is the dumbest, stupidest thing i’ve ever heard of. WHY ISN’T THIS DONE TO ALL CARS EVERYWHERE??? global warming would be fixed in no time flat!! OMG, this irks me so much. one simple fix that costs $400 and it’s ILLEGAL. WTF is wrong with this country. Yesterday afternoon the governor signed into effect the smoking ban for Minnesota.
rrrggglll/…
no.
he lives in CHASKA.
ehhh
on the price of gas
especially since all i do is drive to work and the grocery store and target around town, and i fill up every two weeks and still spend $90/month on gas, not to mention the equal amount nate puts in his car. i can’t imagine having to commute farther than 30 miles a day with gas the price it is. here’s the thing: it’s hurting me, and i don’t do any unnecessary driving. i don’t go to the cities twice a month like i used to. i don’t drive to fargo every other month like i used to. i haven’t been to new london since easter, and before that was jane’s bday. what do people who need to travel do??
it’s a necessary evil. i have to get gas to go to work to make money so i can buy the gas to go to work and make money. if i worked a normal shift, i would buy a bus pass for $35/month and use that to get to work, but since i finish at 10 p.m.e there’s a need for alternative fuel – not just for keeping the planet healthy, but because we’re going to run out! sadly, many of those who don’t care about the price of gas are most likely republican, and many republicans can’t look beyond their wallet and their god.
a race issue?
eh??
i’m not so sure how i feel about the government telling people how to teach their kids about sex. first they give extra funding to schools that teach abstinence-only sex ed, now they’re hosting a website where parents can go to learn (??) how to tell their kids about sex, with terrifying facts like the fact that men can have different chlamydia symptoms.
you know, humankind has gotten along this far without government interference in teaching kids about sex; what’s the sudden motivation?
abortion rates are down.
teen pregnancy is down.
the only thing i can come up with is two things: the new HPV vaccine takes away some of the “scare factor” of having sex and STDs; and birth control usage rates are up, so the government is lowering funding for universities’ health services (including reduced-cost birth control), forcing some women to go without their preferred choice of bc. forced abstinence. but, given a choice, would the government rather subsidize safe sex or subsidize children born of not safe sex?
given that, time to tout the government-supported abstinence television commercials preying on parents’ greatest fear: their special snowflake might have sex before marriage. OH EM GEE!
if i have a kid, it’s getting gardasil the day she turns 11 (if it’s a girl) and i’m bringing out every contraceptive known to man the day we talk about sex. i ain’t deluded.
did you know…
up in smoke
You know me, normally I have a lot to say about different political issues, but this is one issue where I can see both sides of the fence, and I’m sitting firmly on the fencepost.
Personally, it doesn’t affect me. I don’t smoke, and I’m not going to raise a fuss if I have to go to a restaurant where there’s a smoking section. I sit in smoking sections. I don’t particularly like inhaling smoke along with my food, but if the food is good, I’ll deal with it. I think if all places were required to install high-end ventilation systems, that might have been sufficient.
So, the two sides. First, the pro-ban side.
Second-hand smoke affects people other than smokers. I inhale second-hand smoke and it’s possible I get lung cancer. the issue here is that when I go to a restaurant, bar, bowling alley, etc., my right to breathe clean air is diminished by the smokers.
Sure, I can choose not to go to that establishment,And whose rights trump whose?
But concerning the health of people who work at these establishments, it doesn’t really make sense to have passed the clean air act way back when for most workplaces to be smokefree, and then have a big chunk of the workforce still working in places where smoking is allowed.