Badger's Den

Commentary on the News
2:38 p.m. - 2008-05-09

Some tidbits I reacted to in the news lately with my coments in italics...

From the Puritans...

In 1960, the FDA approved the pill as a birth control method. But it wasn't until Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965, however, that the pill became available in all states to married women. With Eisenstadt v. Baird in 1972, the pill became available as well to unmarried women in all states. In 2000, more than 16 million American women were taking the pill.

Two gay U.S. men were arrested and later released without charges after kissing in a Cayman Islands nightclub. A police spokesperson told the Compass that two Cayman laws - the Penal Code and the Towns and Communities Law - could have been used to lay changes on the grounds that same-sex kissing in public caused distress or a disturbance to another member of the public.

What if I'm distressed by hetero kissing??? Or distressed by someone hassling me for legal behavior?

From a poetry blog...

Williams is able to create so much meaning out of what is left unsaid. It reminds me of the "short story" by Hemingway: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Something else from the news...

Yesterday, when I heard about the DC Madam’s suicide, I kept thinking this whole thing could have been ripped right out of an Edith Wharton novel. It's so 19th century. Women are still paying the ultimate price for prostitution – death, humiliation and destitution – while men continue to thrive in positions such as a U.S. Senator or a well-paid attorney. Makes me wonder how much our country has progressed since the 19th Century.

When I was in grade school, we would sing the Happy Wanderer. I found it on Youtube recently. Here are some of the lyrics. The second verse made me want to cry when I was a kid.

I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.

Chorus:
Val-deri,Val-dera,
Val-deri,
Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Val-deri,Val-dera.
My knapsack on my back.

Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh, may I always laugh and sing,
Beneath God's clear blue sky!

Maybe I was just obsessed with the dying part.

It was insteresting that the president is planning to veto an assistance bill for homeowners in over their heads after recently bailing out the financial institutions that caused the mess. Do both or neither, but be consistent. America the land of the wealthy.

When I listen to Republicans talking about people needing to toughen up and quit relying on the system, well, what about Mozilo? How is it possible in this day and age to screw up so badly yet walk away so wealthy? It's easy, because this is the system that the GOP created where only the middle class and poor lose. Risk has been minimized at the top and it's everyone else who is stuck with the bill.

And finally...

When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.

And carrying a fistload of money.

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