Random Political Ranting

Okay, I've been practically sitting on my hands every time I visit facebook anymore. It seems every young Republican in the world somehow got on my friends list, (I have friends that are Republicans...who knew?) and are insisting on posting their political psycho-babble all over the site that was before my primary source of gossip and stalking.

As a fervent liberal, I'm pretty sure anyone who has spent more than three minutes talking to me is aware of my political views. Though I don't understand how anyone in their right mind with half a brain and less than a couple million in the bank can possibly be Republican, I must tip my hat to the evil geniuses in the Republican party that somehow trick millions of Americans into voting against their own self-interests. But whatever, its your vote and you can do with it what you wish.

However...please don't clog my computer screen with your political bullshit. Or at least make put some thought into what you are typing before you hit post. Here's a couple of things I can no longer keep quiet about:

1. Pro-life DOES NOT EQUAL pro-abortion. I fully support a woman's right to choose, that said, I'm not suggesting that people get abortions. I don't believe that abortion should be considered a form of birthcontrol. I don't believe abortions should be the answer when one discovers they are carrying a child that will have special needs (I'm going to be a Special Ed teacher, why on earth would I believe this?). I firmly believe that abortion is not a good thing, however in a society where pregnancy is still used as a means of controlling women, and in a society where, pregnant women would turn to suicide or questionable, back alley methods, we need to provide a safe option. And is it right to force a rape or incest victim to carry the child of her attacker? Really?

2. Homosexuality IS NOT out to destroy family values (well, as far as I know). Allowing two homosexuals to marry is not the same as allowing a person to marry a child, or in one very charming comparison, a horse. If two consenting adults are in love and wish to marry, that is entirely acceptable.

And as for family values, if we are not going to allow homosexuals to marry based on that line, then perhaps we should illegalize divorce on the same grounds, and divorced people should definitely not be allowed to remarry. And perhaps you should need the permission of your local congressman (or congress woman) to get married. If we are going to invite government into our marriages and bedrooms, lets get them involved in every area possible.

3. Taxes. No, I'm not excited to see the government take taxes out of my paycheck, add taxes to my bills and purchases, or tax my land. I would rather keep that money. But I fully understand that the government needs taxes to paid for crazy government expenditures like schools, police officers, fire fighters, and feeding starving children. Absolute madness, if those hungry kids wanted to eat, they shouldn't have been born poor, or they can get jobs. Didn't we used to put 5 year olds to work? They can earn their own damn food.

4. Gun control. My dad hunts, my step-father hunts, my husband hunts. The first day of deer gun season is practically a holiday where I'm from. Hunting rifles are great, hell, I don't really care if you want a handgun. What I don't understand if why anyone can't wait 5 days to buy one. Shouldn't the intense desire to get a gun now set off a red flag somewhere? Democrats are not going to sneak into your house and take your guns.

5. Terrorism. I don't like terrorists, however I have liked the Muslims that I have met. But I fully understand that Muslim does not equal terrorist. And I'm not willing, in efforts to stop terrorism to give up my civil rights. (Though, as I understand it, most of those have already been stolen my the patriot act) The government should have to provide evidence to obtain a wiretap, should not be able to detain people indefinitely, and most certainly should not torture people. When we start giving up our rights for perceived safety, (yes perceived, I personally don't feel any safer than I did 7 years ago) we risk falling victim to another, equally dangerous threat, a tyrannical government.

6. Death penalty. I can't possibly understand how there are so many fervent pro-lifers that support the death penalty. What truly makes me sick about this is that I've seen people celebrate executions. Celebrating. I have never once seen anyone do a victory dance outside a planned parenthood after a fetus has been aborted, but people will celebrate a government-sponsored murder. Apparently, killing people is acceptable, just as long as we let our government decide who should be killed.

7. Wanting a politician that is just like you. What the hell? This one I will never understand. I'm a smart person, decently educated, well spoken, and I don't want a leader that is just like me. I want a leader that is smarter than me, better educated than me, speaks in complete sentances, puts the g sound at the end of "ing" words, (okay, those two things I do most of the time, but are still qualities I'd like in a leader) does not get the urge to giggle at words like "duties," "weiner," (though I'm not sure how often world leaders really use the word weiner) is less likely to get distracted by what the pets are doing, shiney things, or what is on tv, is less likely to try to skip out of work early, or come in late to work, that does not waste full or partial weekend days being hungover, that doesn't try to stay in pajamas for as long as humanly possible in the mornings, that does not forget to bring a pen to class, that does not walk into walls and chairs on a regular basis. Really, is that elitist to want a president that differs from me in those ways? Then call me an elitist, I really don't care if my president is someone I'd like to have a beer with, if for no other reason than doesn't the president have better things to do than drink beer with me?

This is just the tip of what my rant really could be, but I need to go sit in a quiet corner for awhile. And hopefully find some other liberal elitists to have a latte with.

A Break from Regularly Scheduled Programing

So that plan not to buy any new yarn...that didn't go so well. Even though I love my current laptop cover, (which I knit for myself not ever six months ago) I found a kit for one on knitpicks that I absolutely had to have. Plus a new kit of costumes for Sheldon the Turtle came out, and I'm planning on making one for my niece, Sophie, for Christmas, and possibly my cousin's daughter Emily, seeing as I will have enough yarn for two Sheldons now. Anyway, so I already have the Sheldon Occupations Costumes, but decided that Sophie also needed the animal costumes for her turtle. And, of course, because I was already buying yarn, I added some sock yarn to the purchase as well.

In addition to buying more yarn, I decided that every year during both Advent and Lent, I would not knit anything for myself. I can work only on gifts for others or charity knitting during those times. (But, to be completely fair, I only have one thing for myself on needles right now, so I'm not always the self-centered knitter that I may sometimes seem to be.

Moving day is Saturday, and I should have spent the morning getting ready to move, (the process can be described as slow at best) however, I instead had to be in Eau Claire at nine this morning to do a 20 minute assessment on two of the students in my placement for Sped 431. I was out of there by 10 am, and don't have class until 1. That's three hours that could be better served by doing something else besides wasting time in the computer lab, blogging, playing on facebook, and updating my google calender. Hopefully, once this move is over, I'll get back to blogging more, as even if nobody is reading it, I find the process quite cathardic.

Busy Busy Busy

I haven't been updating as much as I would like to, but it's been busy around here. Between school, work, random home stuff, and getting ready to move, there has been little time for outside activities.

I started another placement for school, my Sped404 class. This placement is a few weeks on and a few weeks off, so I'm set for a break from the placement after this week. I've been in an elementary school resource room. There have been good days and bad days and I've met some interesting characters there. Everything else aside, I'm looking forward to being able to sleep in some next week.

Placement aside, school's been keeping me pretty busy. I feel like a lot of my free time is devoted to school work. I've found some free time to get into The Monsters of Templeton. It is a pretty good book, I just wish I had more time to read it.


I've been getting very little knitting done. I've still got my banded peasant blouse on the needles, it is quickly becoming the project that won't end. I'm also working on an afghan for Danielle's Christmas present (okay, it was going to be birthday, but there is no way I'll ever get it done in time). It is a circle afghan done in shades of blue, cream, and brown. I'm also working on some striped mittens for the daughters of one of my co-workers. I made the same co-workers some fun Halloween fingerless gloves that turned out pretty cute. I've got a long list of projects that I would like to start, but now I'm waiting for the move to be done before I get started on any of those. However, many of those projects might get put on hold, first for Christmas knitting, and then for a beautiful laptop cover kit that I saw on the knitpicks website. It is multicolored in shades of red and I'd love to make it. The kit will be available to order tomorrow, but I most likely should wait until we move to order it.