Oklahoma Bed Time Stories "How Personhood Bill Increased Prison Numbers"

Bob and Mary went to the doctor to discuss the fact that they had not been able to conceive. Their doctor helped them decide to try invitro, a process where a woman's eggs are fertilized and then implanted back into her body. They successfully had two children and decided, for their family, this was enough. Then they had to decide what to do with their left over eggs. Both decided that donating them was not something they wanted to do, and they certainly did not want more children. So they chose to let the eggs be disposed of. Two weeks later, Bob and Mary were in jail, their children in states custody, and their doctor, whom had cared for them, was on trial for murder.

Kris and Michelle were at college and decided one day that they wanted to take their relationship further than holding hands and kissing. They wanted to have sex. So Kris and Michelle went to their doctor to get birth control. They did not know a new law had made birth control a form of murder because it prevents eggs from implanting. Kris and Michelle names were turned over to the police for collusion to commit murder. Kris and Michelle don't look good in orange.

Jeff and Shirley went to the doctor after Shirley had what she thought was a miscarriage. Her doctor informed her she would need to go to the hospital. After arriving and explaining why she was there, she was taken in a room. Shortly after, a policeman came in and informed her she would be investigated to see if she and her husband had intentionally caused this miscarriage. Shirley cried as the doctor explained, opening her legs, that he was sorry but the law demanded an investigation. Jeff shook his head trying to remove the scene of his wife crying, a policeman waiting, and a doctor soothing..."there there, this will only take a minute".


Matt and Tara went to their insurance agent after learning of one of their children's pregnancy's. Overjoyed, they wanted to take out a life insurance policy for the fetus, now declared a person. Their insurance agent, surprised that a fetus was now a person, scrambled to see if there was a policy to be bought. But apparently, insurance cannot be bought until a child is born because insurance does not recognize a fetus as a person. So Matt voted for a change which forced insurance companies to provide coverage for a fetus.

Kristi went to the doctor to find out her options after discovering she was pregnant. She had college to attend, a job to secure, and her boyfriend had made it clear he was not interested in having a child either. While waiting for her information about clinics who offered abortion, she heard a knock on the door. A policeman entered and stated "you are being arrested for an attempt to murder a child". Kristi now wear's inmate number DOC 3000. You can visit her Saturdays, 1-5.

Thoughts over Coffee

In two hours I need to be in the office, navigating through peoples' lives, hoping the few moments or hours of help result in their world getting better, understanding but not always accepting this may not be the case. I have spent the last two hours watering my yard and wondering whether or not updating and expanding this blog is a good idea. I miss the days of scratching furiously on paper, words streaming so fast the letters blur as I try to get them down. Reality of that though is that my handwriting sucks, and often I would not read what i had written.

So much brilliance lost.

But the act of typing makes your thoughts instantly readable, easily detected with a few clicks, and ultimately...permanent in this crazy world of global connection.

Thought for today...reality tv, the onslaught of "Wives of..." is it not eerily similar to Jerry Springer Live?

Enjoy, live, breathe.

Sex Sells, Lesson 101 for our Children.

I attended a dance recital last night, one for ages preschool upwards of college. Watching parents settle in, my mind flashed back to my own childhood of pageantry. But my, how things have changed. Instead of the somewhat mind numbing waltzes of Swan Lake tempo, Swan Lake has gone hip hop. Interpretive dance has pushed aside the slap stick sound of taps. Justin Timberlake's soft shoe score performed by a young woman in Liza Minnelli's tux attire. Overall, astounding in their talent. A young man, reportedly barely out of middle school, fell to the floor without sound, flew into the air and hovered, his body arched up in bowed bends as if being pulled by his core. His grace and emotion stilled one's breath.

And then there were the boobs.

I am not sure when or what triggered this "kids shouldn't see this" mode I have, but it's been switched. Two high school girls danced to "Bring on the Men", doing well placed splits to lines spouting "so many men...why do some think I'm easy...so many to please" while wearing garter stockings and red lace. But the creme Ala creme was one girl standing behind the other, sliding her hands through the girl in fronts arms and then ...bounce bounce. She man-handled the girl's breasts for the audience, much like a bra fitting in which one feels slightly molested as the fitter tests how much movement a bra is allowing.

I squirmed a bit from that moment till the song finished. No longer watching the stage, my eyes scanned the dimly lit darkness trying to scout out the audiences' characteristics. In front of me, sat three girls, roughly age eight, who giggled and ducked their heads. Across the room I saw mothers, grandparents, brothers and sisters of all ages, and fathers. Men just attending to support a buddy's kid. Women who came to see a friend's daughter shine.

And I shifted again, thinking about these men, fathers, neighbors, teen boys watching these two high school girls dancing in garters and red lace. Their red lipped mouths singing the words about women entertaining men, a song about sex, lust, prostitution. Laughing uncomfortably or voraciously at the questionable boob feel. I wondered if we had sent our message clear enough.

Regardless of talent ladies, sex and sexuality sells.

Forget that these two women were very talented, performed in numerous acts that night with grace, spunk, and eye catching attitude. Forget their MTV, "So You Think You Can Dance" potential. Forget their ability to transfix without the cheap gratuitous sex.

I surveyed my parent-friends, because I do not have children and my impression could be a bit off course. Most seemed a bit off put, some down played it as them being in high school so it was somehow to be expected. Some indicated it did not seem appropriate.

But none seemed outraged.

Reportedly the girls' own parents found it funny, in that cheeky Chevy Chase sort of way.

I think our message has been sent, loud and clear.

Vodka...and life

So, we work, we come home, we prune our plants, drive around the lake with friends, order pizza, which ultimately is made in a pizza place in the wrong town. We write checks to companies who feel its unreliable, asking for cash, or for debit cards, credit cards, maybe blood is the new commodity. We watch movies about genocide, Rowanda wars...fought on the side of some idea of vindication of the down trodden, , some idea of creating a better or holier world. Some simply for power, for money, for resources. The result a bloody bath of ignorant hate.

The news reports the Chinese are taking up the world's blood, smiling as they buy another project, invest, moving their people into the Africa, setting up towns of lightened skin amongst darkened poverty. Isolating money flowing from its grounds, sending their affluence home, empowering only themselves. History has a trend. Men laugh at their conquests, laughing as they kill. Women hide their faces from the facts. The color of the skin does not matter, Americans have done it for years. We have killed in our history, whether native or our own. but eventually, it all becomes our own. The Chinese, become Chinese American, the Iraqi, becomes Iriaqi American, I have become a combination of the Heinze 57 of my bloodline, some french, some cajun, some turkish, german, and even ethiopian, and I am blonde. I wonder of the countries that do not allow this type of evolvement, realizing their people are no longer purely anything, but rather a beautiful blend of diversity.

Some countries kill that.

I came home today, annoyed with a society that seems to sleep while others starve, throwing out food rather than risking a lawsuit of food poisining, of suing rather than being thankful, of being confused about how to talk out an issue without a judge and jury.

Frustrated that parents have children they cannot raise, that children have beds they share with whomever they are being bartered to for the night, their bodies the price of a mother's fix. Their father's an absent commodity at child support court, taking jobs paid under the table so they don't have to lose a dime.

As we build our McMansions, pretending like we are civicly and green minded...do we ever ask..what happens if we are wrong?

Vodka is kicking in...

State of Affairs....

Last night I spent an evening with some dear friends, both are years older than I, and yet, our spirits are connected by a similar zest for self actualization and experiences. Our love for food and wine are rivaled by no one. We passiontely explore religion and the effects of its' oppressive nature when applied by human intent. Exploring doctorines' whose commands often involved the denial of self and the adherance to morals that are sometimes questionannable at best. I appreciate that these women exist, their journey in life and the questions they have give me hope that our minds don't have to become more closed and traditional as we age, but rather that a fresher, wiser, and more open outlook can be what I have to look forward to.

I wonder where intelligence is in our daily world.

The news ripples with parents defending their children's out of control behavior, all the whole looking for a side door to sneak out through. Schools are being tied down from encouraging thought and critical thinking, the new focus being trained puppets of rhetorical regurgitation. Creationism is now a science. Evolution is a myth. And while I actually understand a parent's desire to make sure their children adhere to a faith--whatever faith they are following, I don't understand their fear of allowing their children to learn and decipher information. But history has shown that all one has to say to explain their reasoning is "the devil is in knowledge, so limit the knowledge you seek to only that which complies with our belief". No wonder the apple was so dangerous...knowledge gives choice.

A friend asked what I thought of Jeff Warrens, that self proclaimed prophet of monetary bliss and sexual dominance. Oh, I mean prophet of faith. He asked about the state of polygamy being against US law. Well, after thinking about this, I came up with this...if the US is using the definition of marriage from a religious definition as defined by a particular faith, than that violates the seperation of church and state. So since it can't endorse a particualr relgion, the question becomes one of recognizing a religion's right to establish it's own beliefs and how marriage is defined would be one of them. Now, as to children being married to old men (or young, or females, or whatever) the state has a legal obligation to protect children from abuse, so the state needs to interecede, since child abuse is not a religiously protected right. What makes this more difficult though is that there is a tradition in some countries where young girls, age 12 are put into arranged marriages by their parents, it is part of their culture. The US, if the child is living here, cannot apparently overstep what is the norm in a culture for that child's peers, even if our law does not agree. So I am not sure why we have contradicting considerations. (SVU epsiode covered this scenario-I was suprised that this was the outcome and the reasoning it was based on)

I find it interesting that we consider raising a child in a belief as brainwashing if it is one way, but consider it bringing our children up with morals if it's in another. I know alot of people that were raised without the right to explore ideas different than what their parent's thought or believed.

So what is really the difference in brainwashing other than activities and media attention?

Rambled thoughts...The Patrioic Hippie

Fox News and other such jokes....

"Open border 101 types" her comments about a teacher's assignment, to create a political sign, activism encouraged. Since when has asking a student to promote a thought of their own considered taboo? If the child had written "Go God, Pray Hard" the mouthpiece of Fox would have applauded, called in the lawyers for the student's right to be an activist for prayer in school. This mouthpiece's ethnic heritage evident, more so than mine and yet she labels progressive thought and a desire to give each person a chance for freedom and life as the eptiomy of why our country is falling apart. Closed borders and closed minds exist in the same brains.

Unfortunately, Fox News hasn't adopted the tag line of "comedy". Even worse, they take themselves pretty seriously.

At least they finally let Ann go.

Life is interesting...

The Patriotic Hippie

"Blogging...to reveal one's thoughts in an open forum, without regard for the outcome or response."

I am new to this. But the current of anger and frustration, confusion, and overall wonder at the way the world seems to be playing itself out has prompted a much quicker response to providing one more thought to an overwhelmed society.

Daily, I sit in a room, piecing together the unpieced life. A quilting of people's experiences, trying to help them create some beauty out of destruction. Some decimate me in their resourcefulness, and ability to survive. Others' inspire questions as to why procreation requires no thought, no preperation, no skill, our desire to protect civil liberties leaving child rearing and planning out in the cold.

I wonder if the road to hell is simply that...a road. Possibly paved, maybe asphalt, might even have traffic lights, since the flow of seekers seems to increase in every second.

Religion has influenced a world with varying regard for its' inhabitants. Gods, goddesses, Deities, Buddha, Allah, Confucius, Jesus...sitting drinking tea, watching the ramblings of a people who disregard the main tenant. A crap shoot of saviors...who's on first? Who makes it in? Who does a drive by at the pearly gates?

My first blog...at midnight, long past my bedtime.

PMS contributes to negative thoughts...

Maybe next week it will be sunnier.

The Patriotic Hippie