Fluff Update

In case you were wondering, Sen. Jarrett Barrios dropped the proposed legislation after it became a topic of debate on the radio. Here’s the article.


Ah, democracy at work!

Out of Town

I will be leaving tomorrow morning for Guadalajara, Mexico for an academic conference. This conference is for the National Association of Chicana, Chicano Studies (NACCS). While I am neither a Chicana/o studies student or teacher yet, it is interesting to see what people are working on. Plus, since will be returning July 4th, I will have a couple days to sight see and will be traveling with the ‘rents. Dad is fluent, so we are in good shape. The national elections will be taking place the Sunday we will be there as well. So it should be an amazing experience. I probably will not post until I get back.

I just finished packing and while I know I packed too much stuff, I feel really unprepared for this trip.

At any rate, to my two regular readers, have a safe and fun July 4th and I will write for your entertainment in about a week’s time.

Hungry?

Just when I thought that our government couldn’t be more wasteful with our time. How Naïve I was. I ran across this article today in which two senators from Massachusetts are going head to head over how often Fluffernutter sandwiches can be served at local schools. Having grown up and lived all my life in California, my first response when reading the headline was, "Fluffer-what?"

A Fluffernutter sandwich is apparently a combination of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter, preferably on white bread. Doesn’t really appeal to me but I hear that it is a staple in New England cuisine.

Sen. Jarrett Barrios “plans to file legislation that would ban schools from offering the local delicacy more than once a week as the main meal of the day.” Upon hearing about this proposed limitation as to how often Fluffernutters can be served, Representitive Kathi-Anne Reinstein responded with a proposal to designate the Fluffernutter as the “official sandwich of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

“An aide to Barrios insisted the senator is not anti-Fluff and even plans to co-sponsor Reinstein’s bill, although he still believes schools should cut back on Fluffernutters.”

I wish I were making this up but this is all true. Wow, way to go legislators!



I wanna work for the government.

Yuck

Let me apologize to any of you who actually had to suffer through yesterday's post. I don't know what was wrong with me. Well, actually I do know what was wrong. Not enough sleep. I was not really coherent. Read the next post instead.

Party Girl Presents, Part I

As it gets closer and closer to August, I turn my attention once again to putting together an album to give to my friends that reflects how I have spent the past year of my life. It may seem like it is early to already be considering a CD for August but my master audio tech (my brother) needs time to make sense out of the random list I hand him. And he always does an absolutely amazing job making a coherent album with beautiful art work for me. I have been having a hard time putting together this year’s CD since so much has happened along the way. I took a look over the last two year’s CDs, hoping to get some inspiration for this year. And to make sure that I don’t repeat myself. Here is last year’s:

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
Official 2005 Collection
Intro: H-H-HE-LLO!
Tilt Ya Head Back Nelly feat Christina Aguilera
Girltalk [Album Version] TLC
History Repeating The Propellerheads feat Miss Shirley Bassey
Flawless [Go to the City] [Album Version] George Michael
Absolutely Not [Chanel Club Edit] Deborah Cox
The Sunrise [Jason Nevins Mix] Duran Duran
Ray of Sunshine [Album Version] Wham!
One Day in Your Life [Video Version] Anastacia
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps [Album Version] Lila Downs
Sweet the Sting [Album Version] Tori Amos
I Don’t Wanna Be [Album Version] Gavin DeGraw
I Just Want to Live [Album Version] Good Charlotte
Heaven Help [Album Version] Lenny Kravitz
Outro: Perhaps…

Boy, typing that up brings back memories for me. Overall, it was a pretty good year for me. Most importantly, I had good friends around me. I’ll cover 2004 in another post…

Tell A Woman

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the leading causes of Cervical cancer. Cervical cancer kills3,700 women a year in the United States alone. Currently, regular pap exams are the first line of defense to catch HPV.

Merck, makers of Vioxx, has created a vaccine that has proven successful in preventing Cervical cancer by protecting women from catching 2 different strains of HPV. It has recently been approved by the FDA. The shot works best when given before a woman has caught HPV but this is a huge step forward. Another manufacturer is working on a second vaccine as well.

The vaccine is a series of three shots that are administered over six months. This may be a barrier to women who cannot get into the doctor’s office for regular medical check ups. In addition, the vaccine comes with a hefty $360.00 price tag for the full treatment. This may be a barrier to low income women and those who might fall into the highest risk categories.

The national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will decide June 29 whether to endorse routine vaccination. There have been proposals to make this immunization required to attend school, as Mumps shots currently are. After the June 29 vote, the decision will probably fall to the individual states to decide if it is required for attending school.

Good news for women, or at least a step forward. Please share with all the women you know. Cervical cancer should not be killing this many women.

For the full story, click here.

Hold It

In the news this week, school districts in Washington State are now offering an incentive for students who don’t use their bathroom passes during the school year. If the students don’t use the passes, they can be redeemed for extra credit points towards a better grade. I am not making this up, check it our here.

Part of me understands why schools might want to keep students in class to keep things orderly but the rest of me thinks that it is ridiculous that schools are going to such lengths to keep the students in class. I think that this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Some parent will claim that their child was traumatized by having to choose between answering natures call and earning extra credit points. The parent will no doubt say that their child is being unfairly penalized (re: not given the same perks) for taking care of their health. It’s coming, you know it is.

He Gets What He Deserves

I had read about this case earlier but it was either during a time when I wasn’t writing anything or when I was writing about other stuff. The basic story is this, in 1998, a man in Ohio, John Goff, used a syringe of his own semen to impregnate his daughter after his wife was no longer able to carry children.

His daughter was 19 when this occurred and both parents claim that she consented to being impregnated. She gave birth in 1999 and raised the child for a year before giving the child up for adoption.

This was John Goff’s second trial for this crime. The jury convicted Goff of sexual battery and child endangering. He received 20 years for rape and five years for those charges, to be served at the same time.

Okay, while you are still shaking your head in disbelief, this story gets better. John Goff plans on appealing the verdict. He admits that he used poor judgement but does not believe that what he did constitutes a crime.

Ironically, he was convicted under a tougher Ohio law that John campaigned for after his daughter was molested and the first molester was acquitted since rape charges at that time required intercourse took place.

Parents are suppose to protect and cherish their children, not use them as vessels for their own pursuits. Yet barely a week goes by when you don’t hear about a mother who took money and allowed a pedophile to molest her young son again or a kidnapping case in which the accused kidnapper swears the mother gave up the child for money but the mother swears the child was kidnapped. Those are just two more cases that spring to mind right now. I am sure I could come up with more examples of poor, no make that criminal parenting if asked.

I have to wonder about human nature. Is the human race becoming this vile and corrupt or are we just hearing about more of these cases now that we are a globally connected community because of the development of the internet? I don’t believe in the idea of a ‘Golden era” of American Culture as the 1950’s is most commonly referred to. If you want to read a fascinating book about how media developed in the 150’s and how it affected women in particular, check out ‘Where the Girls are” by Susan J. Douglas. She is a great writer and she presents her ideas in a way that you don’t feel she is dumbing down the topic but you also don’t get lost in the jargon associated with media or communication studies. But I have wandered off my subject.

Is our society going to hell in a hand basket or are we just exposed to more tales of abuse? Are we, as a society, figuring a way to end such abuse or are we becoming immune to the psychological and emotional trauma these children are being subjected to?

Article, Article

I’ve been reading the news a lot these days, so be prepared for my rant on all that I have found to comment on. And believe me, there has been plenty. I’ll drop a few personal things in along the way too.

Leave the ratons* alone!

*

(sigh)

I was scanning the news and two stories caught my eye. In the first story, a man in Michigan has just been sentenced to 16 – 30 months in prison for attempted extortion. The man purchased a frozen mouse, like you would purchase to feed a snake, and stuffed the poor little rodent in his Taco Bell burrito. He then proceeded to say that his taco tasted funny and then threatened to go to the media.

In Illinois, a man has made the claim that he found a rodents tooth in his bag of peanuts. He refuses to let parent company Frito-Lay test the tooth to see where it comes from, stating he is reluctant to part with evidence.

Wasn’t it just last year when that woman in central California claimed to find a part of a human finger in her chili at Wendy’s? She was sentenced to 9 years in prison and her cohort/husband was sentenced to 12 years in prison this past January for this stunt.

Don’t you think that people would learn? Or is it simply that too many people want to make a quick buck without working for it? I’m no fan of corporate America but even I think that such frivolous lawsuits are ridiculous. Yes, they get our money but that doesn’t mean people should resort to crime to get it back!

I don’t know, it just caught my eye that both lawsuits involved small rodents. Poor little creatures!

HA! Forgot to add the links to the stories the first time I posted!

Take this Poll!

Here is something fun and lighthearted for a Monday morning. This is a really quick, one question poll. As many of you know, the source of my inane trivia knowledge is often the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. Their website features all the books available through their company as well as some fun polls and random blogged subjects. You don’t have to sign-in or sign-up to take the poll.

While you are there, don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page for a fun fact - called “Running Feet” by the BRI (Bathroom Readers Institute).

Oh and if you have any questions for them, they respond right away. I sent them an email asking if they were going to write a follow up story to an article in the 12th book and I got a response, well written and not a form answer, in under 20 minutes!

Friday Afternoon

Is being intellectually stimulated by your job such a hard thing to ask?

I’m back to doing that stupid special project I mentioned earlier. (See link below) I am doing a little bit of catch up work since I have been slacking on the project. It’s only four weeks worth, nothing wrong with that…

And the project got a little bigger too. I am now reading ten papers instead of four. They are each thinner but still a higher count. And there is not enough soap and Lysol wipes in the world to help me feel clean

Related post
Job hazards

These Sickos…

I do not consider myself a violent person but when I read this story, it made me want to get out a set of carving knives and drive out to Florida and visit this family.

“Grandparents allegedly ordered hit on kin.”


This couple in Florida attempted to hire a hit man to have their daughter-in-law and their three grandchildren killed. Oh, and the family dog. Why you ask?

So that the daughter-in-law and the children would not testify against the couple’s son during his rape trial. The son is accused of sexual battery on a child, lewd and lascivious molestation and showing obscene material to a minor. The man molested his daughter and step-daughter.

There is an age old argument among psychologists of how personality is formed, nature vs. nurture. Some monsters are born, others are bred. In this case, I’m not sure which is the stronger of the two influences. Obviously the parents have the same lack of morality and sense of right from wrong that their son has. He was probably taught this behavior from the crib.

And don’t they look crazy?

No Creo*

*I don’t believe it.

I cannot believe that June is here already. Part of me is glad June is here because it means that I am closer to going back to school and I have several fun events planned this month. The rest of me is amazed that the year is entering the half way mark and I wonder what I have been doing for the past 5 months.

The funny thing is I know I have been working but I have no idea what I was doing specifically at work. I perform the same duties every week, once a week, with a few variations here and there. Meh, I think work takes up too much of my time. I have windows in my cubicle, thank goodness, but they don’t open so I can’t tell what the day is like outside until I leave the building to go home for the day.

I have also started Christmas shopping this month. It may seem a little weird that I start this early but I don’t know if and how many hours I will be working this fall and I figure I should spend the money now while I have a steady income. I am also shopping for Birthday gifts that range from June to February. Some of my friends have seen my Excel spreadsheet that has all my gifts budgeted out and keeps a running total of how much I have spent and how much I have left to spend for each person and overall. I have some items marked down as ideas and am waiting for the right time to buy them. For example, there is a gift I want to buy from work but I have to wait until I am sent downtown to get it.

I prefer being called detail-oriented to anal retentive, thank you very much.

The downside of this is that I am so excited about the couple of gifts I have already had mailed to me that I want to hand them out. But that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?

Alrighty, It’s almost time for me to head home, so this will just be a short and random entry.

TTFN.