Happy Roe v. Wade day!

Today is the 24th Anniversary of the decision of Roe v. Wade, perhaps the last time the U.S. government publicly acknowledged that sometimes, abortion happens, and that it ain't nobody's business. (Okay. Not really the last time.) So give a little "mmm-hmm" today to getting the government out of your hoo-ha.

Lots and lots of people are blogging about that today, and they'll do it way better than me, so go read some if you want to.

In other news, Katie Couric wrote a little piece for the CBS News webpage about being the only female at the table when big-shot journalists got together with major white house players before the big "20000 more troops!" press conference last week. That's interesting of itself; she ends by asking, "Don't more women deserve to be at the table, too?"

What's distressing and downheartening is how the comments posters have responded. Apparently, most of America--okay, most of CBS News Weblog-reading America (a statement which does take some of the sting out, I guess--most of them feel that there is no problem with the Senate being 16% female, or with Katie being the lone "skirt" at the media table. There's no bias in it, they insist. If people wanted more women at the table, or if women WANTED to be at the table, they'd be there, and who does Katie think she is, anyway? It's extremely pathetic and make me sad. I'm no great fan of Katie Couric--because I'm no great fan of network news, really--but geez, I just want to go post a message telling her to keep exposing the idiots' bias in their own words, you know?

American Naturalism, in your face!

I've been reading this novel by James T. Farrell, a Chicago writer of the first half of the twentieth century. His stuff is very melodromatic and over-the-top, in some sort of hilarious ways. Props to J.T. for exploring the lives of normal poor and working class families, and for bringing some real issues to the literary spotlight. But damn, sam, did he ever even talk to a woman? All the female characters are harridans, whores, empty-headedly devout, and most of all, absolutely besotted by men. It's very weird it's all "You drunken wop, I'll tear your hair out! And then I'll have a mass said for father. Oh, Tommy, I do love you so!" That's not a real quote. But these are. You think you know how to insult somebody--say, your own progeny? You think you know how to curse?

Says Mother O'Flaherty to her daughter:
"Holy Virgin, Mother of God, may the blackest of curses of the Devil fall upon my sinful chippy of a daughter that came ass-end out of my backside on the day that she was born! May she live in want, die like a pig, and be buried in potter's field! Blessed Jesus, may all your curses and evils be poured on her head like dirty water used to feed the pigs! Blessed Jesus, may her teeth fall out, and may she die blind!"

Says six-year-old Margaret to her baby brother:
"Whore, shit, sonofabitch, whore, sonofabitch, sonofabitch, whore, shit."


Yeah. You won't find that in Harry Potter, chump.

It's a Whole New Year!

On the spam front:
I'm still getting random biblically inspired phrases from myself, but a newer, more fabulous class of blatant copy-stealing spam headers is showing up in my spam report. Some ingenious devil is sending me spam with subject headers ripped from National Weather Service severe weather reports! Why can't THOSE be coming from my email address?


On the New Year's front:
It's a whole new year! A new day! The rent's due! I don't know why I think that changing from 2006 to 2007 means I'm suddenly ready to get my shit together, but I clearly do, because so far today I've fleetingly decided that, from now on, I'll:
* eat more vegetables
* sit up straight
* keep my wrists up while I type
* get up when the alarm first goes off instead of switching it to NPR and dozing back off
* eat breakfast
* answer the phone and check messages religiously
* answer emails right away
* process invoices and applications as soon as I get them
* be more cheerful at work
* be more efficient at work
* cut people some slack more regularly


And yet, because it is NOT magically a bold new day, I'm typing this slouched over at work with my wrists on the table and a friend just invited me to get Mexican food for lunch. I haven't checked the phone messages yet and I've answered the emails except for the ones that are difficult, or that I have to look up information for. Maybe January 4th will be the start of a whole new day! A new year! A new me!