Maximum Frustration

I can barely think about the politics of my state right now.  I am beyond frustrated and wish I could move far away from here.

I am frustrated that the Asshole Governor of my state knew he could not pass the abortion ban in a regular legislative session (where a 2/3 majority is required) so he called a special legislative session (where a simple majority is enough to pass).

I am frustrated at my Asshole Governor for calling a second special session when the first session was unable to get the abortion ban passed.

I am frustrated that my Asshole Lt Governor tried to CHEAT by changing the time stamp on the vote taken as time ran out at the end of the first special session.

I am frustrated that the representatives vote how they want to, instead of how their constituents want them to (which is what they are supposed to do).

I am frustrated that time and time again state redistricting happens to benefit asshole republicans.

I am frustrated that any MAN has the right to vote about what a woman can do with her body.

I am frustrated that my state is hell bent on stopping abortion altogether instead of working harder at educating and preventing pregnancy in the first place.

I am frustrated that family planning funds keep being cut, when family planning is the solution to the problem.

I am frustrated that white men rule in this state.

I am frustrated in the entire system of government in our state and country.

I am frustrated that this bill will pass today and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

I stand with Wendy

I know abortion is a subject that many avoid discussing. It's not my favorite topic either. But after what happened in Texas last week, I feel like I need to discuss it.

I am going to start by saying I have never had an abortion nor considered having one.  But I have been lucky to have all my pregnancies be planned and uneventful.  I know many women who have terminated pregnancies and they are all incredible women and mothers.

This bill that the idiots that represent my state are trying to pass would effectively close all but 5 abortion clinics in this state that encompasses over 260,000 square miles of land and is home to over 26 million people.  That is not okay with me and it shouldn't be okay with anyone. 

This bill also ends all abortions beyond 20 weeks.  None of us like to think about late abortions, I know I don't.  But in the scenarios that I have come up with where I would personally have an abortion I think it is very possible that it would be at or beyond 20 weeks.  Let me share my thoughts on this.  I have come up with two scenarios where I would consider an abortion. The first is when my life is in danger.  I will not put the life of an unborn fetus above the lives of my alive and well children having a mother.  I think it is more important for G, B and D to grow up with both of their parents than for them to have another sibling and a dead mother. The second scenario is if there was something seriously wrong with the baby and it would not live or would live in a lot of pain or would live only a short time.  In that case, I think I would consider terminating the pregnancy.  I have carried three babies in my womb and I know how attached I got to the babies by the time they were born and I wouldn't want that attachment to continue only to end in heartbreak at birth. I know some women choose to carry a pregnancy in that situation and that is fine for those who choose it. But it should not be a state mandate that all women have to carry a baby to term in this kind of situation, it should be a decision made between a woman (couple) and her doctor. Because both of these scenarios could possibly be discovered at "the big ultrasound" (which my doctor schedules between 18-20 weeks), I could see that if termination was needed it could be beyond the 20 week mark.

3000+ abortions occur every day in the US, or so I have read recently.  I agree that the number is too high.  But the state of Texas is crossing the line here.  The way to bring the number of abortions down is to educate the young people about safe sex and preventing pregnancy.  In Texas "abstinence only" is often the route schools take with "sex education" and they are doing an injustice to the young people of the state for using this flawed theory. Women should not be forced to carry a baby to term (which some women will effectively be if this law passes and they are unable to make it to one of the five locations in the state for an abortion).  A woman's body is her own and the state should not tell her what she can and can't do with it.

I have never been prouder to be a Texan than last week... watching Wendy Davis filibuster with all those citizens in the chamber supporting her.  When the people stood up and helped block the bill, that was one of the greatest triumphs in Texas history, in my opinion. The high I was on lasted until I heard Governor Rick Perry had announced a second special session, to start today, July 1st.  And I have to tell you I became almost depressed.  Because once again, the conservative blowhards in this state are going to win. And I'm beyond frustrated.  But I'm also fired up and I am going to do everything in my power to defeat Perry and Dewhurst and all the other conservative assholes that represent this state.  There has been a lot of talk about Texas becoming a swing state and this may be just what needed to happen to get people fired up and involved to make it happen.

Clarification and apology

Last night, for the second consecutive presidential election, I watched election results while watching my Facebook news feed.  And for the second time I saw genuine shock from many of my conservative friends.  And in both elections the outcome was correctly predicted beforehand.  This prompted me to post about how biased Fox News is.  My intention was to make my conservative friends aware that they are not getting the whole story if they are getting their news only from Fox.  I was not trying to make people feel stupid.  I was hoping that I might open their eyes to the fact that they would have known what was coming if they listened to a variety of objective news sources.

The way I stated it clearly did not convey the message I was aiming for.  I deleted it when I realized how many people were upset by it.  I apologize to any of you who were upset.  That was not my intention.  If I could go back in time and not post it I would.

Happy Heart

Last month Bradley and I went on a date and at the end of it he wanted to go to Wendy's for a frosty.  So we went to Wendy's and it was deserted.  As we were waiting on our frosties a woman walked in and asked if my car was the one with the Obama sticker on it.  I said yes.  To my delighted surprise, she was an Obama supporter too.  She told me it made her "heart happy" to see it.  She has a yard sign but so rarely sees other signs of support for Obama that she was ecstatic to see my sticker.

I get it.  I often feel like the lone blue person surrounded by a big red dot on the map.

(Probably because there are very few blue people in my very conservative neighborhood.)

But today, while I was driving to the grocery store after dropping Danielle at preschool, I saw an Obama-Biden sticker on a car.  I was so excited!  I sang along to the radio a little louder and had a big smile on my face.  Went in and did my shopping at HEB and when I came out, the truck parked next to me had an Obama 2012 sticker!!!  I am not exagerrating when I say I almost got teary.  I have never seen two Obama stickers in the same week, much less the same day. 

I have a happy heart today.  It's so nice not to feel alone.

What a joke!

Romney is going after Obama on foreign policy???

When every time Romney has opened his mouth he has stuck his foot in it?

That's the best laugh I've had in a while.

No boy scouts for my son

I cannot believe the boy scouts have a policy that doesn't allow homosexual members.  What a load of crap.  How can they get away with blatant discrimination like this?  Shame on them. 

Eerily quiet

My kids are all at school.

My house is way too quiet.