Whew

So after a fairly miserable Christmas break with the Puppy, last week started out good. I thought we had worked some stuff out and i could now resume my normal life and deal with some huge issues that have been put on the back burner while we “worked on our relationship”.

And just when I was feeling ok and getting shit done, the Puppy had another bout of stewing over something stupid (I think he was hurt cause i made fun of him for being a 27 year old who has his mommy do his laundry). Anyways, I ended things. It turns out I was exhausted and boring and bored because he’s a giant time sucking hole of neediness. Every time I spent my time and attention on something that wasn’t him (like my Kid) he felt hurt by me in some new way.

So Friday night I ended things. And I just had the most restful weekend in months.

Besides, he hates that I am sarcastic. That’s a fundamental part of my personality and one that ain’t ever gonna change. One ex boyfriend said I’m Dorothy Parker and i like it that way.

How are they a threat to you?

The pictures below are triggering. But we must see the damage we do. This is a post about Israel, but as Americans we are complicit in the damage. Just like in Rwanda, where the Chinese and British supplied the machetes that led to mass murder, we have supplied Israel with the weapons they use to kill children.

January 7, 2009: 40 Palestinians sheltering at a UN school are killed by an Israeli bomb. What threat was this little girl to Israel?

February 28, 2008: Four Palestinian boys playing soccer are killed by Israeli bombs. How are they a threat to Israel?

What about her? Is she a threat? Israel has cut off Palestinians from the ability to work, then cut off food aid. The children are starving. But are they threat? Would they be more of a threat if they were well fed and safe from war, or less of a threat? I wonder if we have to push our minds very hard to think of another time when one race of people was kept at starvation levels in camps to make them less of a threat.

Israel is becoming the thing they are most afraid of. And we help them do it. It is in our best interest that Arabs have Israel to focus on as an enemy and that we have a testing ground for weapons without getting any actual blood on our hands.

And how can any country that bombs schools and starves enemy children really want peace? How does an eye for an eye (or eyelash) ever lead to anything but mass blindness?

The moment where i join the lunatic fringe

I have pretty much decided that I am going to home school (well mostly unschool except for math) the kid for the next two years. His middle school experience has turned a kid with an IQ that makes school boards salivate into a depressed little monkey who hates school with a fiery passion. Once he’s a high school junior he can start taking classes for free at community colleges here that apply towards graduation credit.

The Kid has some motor skills issues (hypotonicity- it’s like his nerve endings don’t get the same amount of electrical current that they should so he gets worn out physically pretty fast) and surprise! He has my families tendency towards depression. So I have had an Individual Education Plan (IEP) with his school since he was in 2nd grade to try and address these issues. It’s like a legal contract saying that the school will provide specific services to help the kid achieve as much as he’s capable of.

This worked very well in elementary school. But it has bombed in middle school because they spend more time trying to get out of doing anything helpful and blaming me for it.

So our next little IEP meeting is set for early February. And since I no longer feel the need to be even the tiniest little bit diplomatic because the Kid can’t get hurt by a school system he’s no longer a part of, I am going to bring the smackdown. I think this meeting is going to turn out to be a long bitch fest about the school’s classist and racist tendencies. I think i am finally going to get the chance to confront them about their institutional problems. It won’t do a damn bit of good for the kid, but I think it might help some of the kids behind him.

Job Seekers!

If you have ever been to the lovely welfare reform, American version of a job center known as Work First (cough snicker snicker) then you will recognize Pauline and the uselessness that is “Worker training”.

In more news that sucks

My crappy governor (who I only voted to re-elect because Dino Rossi is sooooooo egregious) has decided that poor women need to get punched in the face so she can balance the budget. Ok, punched in the face is hyperbole. It’s more like punched in the uterus, since most of the cuts she is proposing cover prenatal care and birth control.

Sanjay Gupta is more Hope and Change that we just don’t need

Let’s see how Gupta as Surgeon General is playing out, shall we?

Melissa at Shakes thinks he’s a fat hater with a thing for misogyny.

I think anyone trying to be Surgeon General should have enough knowledge understand that fat people already know they are fat. Trust me. Everyday those of us with ample bodies are confronted with clothes that don’t fit right or stupid comments from “helpful” friends and associates or massive media campaigns to get us off our fat asses and into the gym. I think that a dude with a medical degree should have enough brain space to figure that out on his own. Really. And if all fat people needed was a good shaming session with their doctors to get them to be skinny for life then there would be no need for Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers.

Gupta also has a stick up his ass about universal healthcare
.

I think that any Surgeon General in this time and place is a raging idiot if he can’t see that lack of universal healthcare is one of the most damaging things in our country right now. Not only does it sink families and large companies alike, but I am pretty sure that we could do away with a fuckload of depression and heart attack causing stress if everyone knew they could take their kids to the doctor for their annual checkups or ear infections.

Dear gawd I miss Jocelyn Elders. I would soooooo much rather be debating talking to kids about masturbation than trying to get another Village Idiot to shut the fuck up and pull his head out of his ass (and off the TV news bunny screens).