Good morning!

Gotta love it. News from E:

NEWS/ A Drag Queen Named Mama Tits Schooled a Group of Anti-Gay Protesters on God and the Bible

We subscribe to the “if you don’t like it, don’t click it” approach to life. If you don’t like reading about something, don’t click stories about it on the Internet. If you don’t like a certain TV show, don’t turn to that channel. If you think all gays are going to burn in eternal hellfire and their celebration of pride is revoluting to you, DON’T GO TO A GAY PRIDE PARADE.

Which is why we’re constantly baffled every time we see a group of anti-gay protestors with their “GOD HATES F-GS” signs on the sidelines at a gay pride parade (where, it’s worth pointing out, no one is bothering anyone). But these bigots got more then they bargained for in Seattle: They got the a crash course in Christian love by a drag queen named Mama Tits.

“Before I knew it, I was standing t-ts to nose with the leader guy on the megaphone,” Mama Tits said. “I pushed his sign away from my face and hair, because you DO NOT TOUCH my hair. And, it was all I could do to NOT get violent, but I didn’t because once that happens, we all lose.”

Here is her entire speech, transcribed:

…use the Bible to spew their hate, when actually, if they followed by all the teachings of this book that they use to hate, they themselves are sinners. They are wearing cotton-poly blend. That is an abomination. Did you kill your daughters if they had sex out of wedlock? Do you sleep with your wife if she happens to have that time of the month? You’re not even allowed to share the bed with her. Should we stone you for that? Why don’t you read your own book and actually follow the teachings to the letter of God, and learn to support and love.

You need to drop the hate. You are a sad, sad, excuse for a human being. Once you learn to drop the hate, you too can find happiness, because we will welcome you in open arms if you learn to open your mind. Not today, Satan. Not today.

“I wanted [the crowd] to make so much joyful noise to drown out the hate…and, boy did they ever!” Mama says. “The crowd made the walls rattle down on 4th and Pine!…It is always interesting how religious whack jobs misinterpret EVERYTHING in the Bible and bend it to their will to create HATE, when all they are doing is showing their ignorance.”

What you don’t see in the video is the protestors being escorted away. But you might not have noticed anyway, since Mama Tits was the true star here. We don’t usually do this, but we’re making an exception here: YAAAAAS, MAMA TITS! PREACH!

♥♥♥♥♥

Readers: Mama Tits knows what she’s talking about.  Thoughts? Blog me.

Thank so much for your concern. I appreciate it, however, I am perfectly fine. With respect to the “blond” hair, I won’t comment on that. Just know that I take precautions to protect my anonymity. But if you think you see me, please come up and say hello!

Are you wearing your Sunday best? :) I’m donning mine and out to have a grand time. I HOPE you are too!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

A little over 10 days ago we talked about the big SCOTUS decisions that were going to be made in June. Yesterday the decision over Hobby Lobby was made…and yep, SCOTUS…really STARK...decided to side with the big corps. Are we surprised? Nope.

Remember…corporations are people, and people can go to court. So, if you work for Hobby Lobby, guess what? Because the “company’s” religious beliefs don’t condone birth control, your policy will no longer cover your birth control. Yep, even though it was covered by Obamacare, they don’t care.  Their religious beliefs are now imposed upon yours, whether you have the same belief or not. The corporations have more rights than you.

Oh…but wait, what about men and their needs? Are Viagra and vasectomies still covered? But of course, men must be able to get their erections…it’s all about procreating which is something the Catholic church encourages, don’t ya know.  

From the Huff Po:

“But pills and pumps that help a man stiffen his penis in preparation for sex are perfectly acceptable.” 

Are you gagging on the stiff one yet? No pun intended. Those that oppose say that the law and President Barack Obama are encroaching on Americans’ freedoms. What about the freedoms of the women who want birth control?! Their freedoms aren’t being encroached upon? Once again, men get what they need, women don’t. Men’s health needs are taken seriously, women’s aren’t.

This is a very sad day for women. A very scary precedent has been set. This could not only open the doors for other employers to withhold birth control coverage but it also opens the doors to companies to withhold other procedures that don’t fall in line with their beliefs.

Here’s the write from Politico:

SCOTUS sides with Hobby Lobby on birth control

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby on Monday that for-profit employers with religious objections can opt out of providing contraception coverage under Obamacare.

The ruling deals directly with only a small provision of Obamacare and will not take down the entire law but it amounts to a huge black eye for Obamacare, the administration and its backers. The justices have given Obamacare opponents their most significant political victory against the health care law, reinforcing their argument that the law and President Barack Obama are encroaching on Americans’ freedoms.

“We doubt that the Congress that enacted [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] — or, for that matter, ACA – would have believed it a tolerable result to put family-run businesses to the choice of violating their sincerely held religious beliefs or making all of their employees lose their existing healthcare plans,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy.

(Also on POLITICO: Hobby Lobby ruling full text)

The court’s four liberal justices called it a decision of “startling breadth” and said that it allows companies to “opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

The court’s majority also rejected the Obama administration’s argument that for-profit companies cannot assert religious rights under RFRA. However, only Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined the portion of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent that argues companies do not have such rights.

Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan did not join that section of Gingsburg’s opinion and said in a one-paragraph dissent of their own that they would have left for another day the issue of the rights of for-profit companies and their owners.

(Also on POLITICO: Left on Twitter: ‘War on women’ continues)

The majority decision could open the door to other closely held corporations seeking to withhold coverage for other medical procedures at odds with firm religious beliefs. It marks the first time that the Supreme Court has allowed companies the ability to declare a religious belief — a decision that could reverberate far past the Affordable Care Act to other laws and issues.

In the short term, the ruling appears to allow the owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties to opt out of the health care law’s requirement that they provide all Food and Drug Administration-approved forms of birth control in their health plans.

The court’s latest decision promises to reignite a national debate over women’s health and access to contraception ahead of this fall’s midterm elections. It is likely to force House and Senate candidates to answer for whether they supported the contraception coverage, a provision that’s more politically popular than the law itself. Advocates have promised to make it an election issue.

(Also on POLITICO: Right celebrates ruling on Twitter)

The Obama administration and women’s health groups have warned that if they lost in the Supreme Court, the ruling could have much broader health coverage implications. If a company can skirt the contraception requirement, what’s to prevent another employer from objecting to providing access to vaccines or blood transfusions on religious grounds, they asked.

Justice Ginsburg, in her dissent, warned that the ruling that would have wide repercussions and “untoward effects.”

“Although the court attempts to cabin its language to closely held corporations, its logic extends to corporations of any size, public or private,” she wrote.

The Obama administration argued that the requirement wasn’t a mandate at all because the companies could have dropped coverage.

(Earlier on POLITICO: Takeaways from the Hobby Lobby arguments)

The court’s conservative justices accuse the Obama administration and the dissent of questioning the religious beliefs of the families that own the two closely-held companies, in particular the owners’ position that providing the contraceptive coverage would put a substantial burden on their religious views.

“[Health and Human Services] and the principal dissent in effect tell the plaintiffs that their beliefs are flawed. For good reason, we have repeatedly refused to take such a step,” Alito wrote.

Ginsburg and the dissenters sharply disagreed with the pointed critique.

“The Court levels a criticism that is as wrongheaded as can be. In no way does the dissent ‘tell the plaintiffs that their beliefs are flawed,” she wrote. “Right or wrong in this domain is a judgment no Member of this Court, or any civil court, is authorized or equipped to make. What the Court must decide is not ‘the plausibility of a religious claim…’ but whether accommodating that claim risks depriving others of rights accorded them by the laws of the United States.”

(Earlier on POLITICO: Hobby Lobby aims for Obamacare win, Christian nation)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised to try to restore the contraception coverage.

“If the Supreme Court will not protect women’s access to health care, then Democrats will,” Reid said in a statement. “We will continue to fight to preserve women’s access to contraceptive coverage and keep bosses out of the examination room.”

Hobby Lobby and its supporters, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised the decision.

He said the court made clear that “the Obama administration cannot trample on the religious freedoms that Americans hold dear” by requiring businesses to cover birth control in employee-health plans under the ACA.

McConnell called Obamacare “the single worst piece of legislation to pass in the last 50 years” and praised the court for agreeing that the contraception requirement violates the RFRA.

(Earlier on POLITICO: Poll says most side against Hobby Lobby)

The challenges were brought by the Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., a national craft store chain owned by evangelical Christians with more than 13,000 employees, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a small Pennsylvania cabinet company owned by Mennonites.

The owners of both said they have religious objections to providing access to certain forms of contraception — Plan B, Ella and certain intrauterine devices, which they call abortifacients — in their employee health plans. They had the backing of the Catholic bishops, several Republican lawmakers and at least 50 other for-profit companies that have filed similar legal challenges.

There is a separate string of lawsuits filed against the same policy by religious-affiliated groups, such as Catholic schools.

During a rare 90-minute session of oral arguments before the justices, the companies argued that the Obama administration is forcing them and their owners to set aside deeply held religious beliefs by requiring them to provide contraception in their employee health plans. The owners said they cannot have any role in providing access to certain forms of contraception without having to violate those beliefs. Their attorney, former Republican Solicitor General Paul Clement, said that because the Obama administration has provided some exemptions to the rule — for churches and certain nonprofits — it should be willing to exempt companies, too.

Scalia was not at the court on Monday and a court spokeswoman said he was traveling.

S*C*R*E*W*S*T*A*R*K*

Readers, especially the ladies: THIS IS OUR ONLY CHANCE – We need to exert our power at the polls in the upcoming midterm elections. Because our rights are being taken away from us and the Republican controlled House is not going to stop, nor is STARK with their lifetime appointments. If you care anything about your rights, and the rights of your mothers, daughters, sisters and granddaughters around the country, you had better pay close attention to the political climate, get involved, and vote smart.

BLOG me. Peace OUT.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Although the 44th year of San Francisco Pride officially began yesterday, the festivities started quite some time before. The LGBT community in San Francisco knows how to partē! And the celebration is not just here in our beloved San Francisco. In fact the Gay Pride Rainbow Flag is flying all across the world. Thanks to our awesome president Obama, he has taken the U.S. gay rights revolution global.

Here’s the write from Ctv News.

Obama flying the flag for gay rights worldwide

A U.S. flag is raised alongside a pride flag on the U.S. Embassy a day before the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, June 12, 2014

WARSAW, Poland — U.S. President Barack Obama has taken the U.S. gay rights revolution global, using American embassies across the world to promote a cause that still divides his own country.

Sometimes U.S. advice and encouragement is condemned as unacceptable meddling. And sometimes it can seem to backfire, increasing the pressure on those it is meant to help.

With gay pride parades taking place in many cities across the world this weekend, the U.S. role will be more visible than ever. Diplomats will take part in parades and some embassies will fly the rainbow flag along with the Stars and Stripes.

The United States sent five openly gay ambassadors abroad last year, with a sixth nominee, to Vietnam, now awaiting Senate confirmation. American diplomats are working to support gay rights in countries such as Poland, where prejudice remains deep, and to oppose violence and other abuse in countries like Nigeria and Russia, where gays face life-threatening risks.

“It is incredible. I am amazed by what the U.S. is doing to help us,” said Mariusz Kurc, the editor of a Polish gay advocacy magazine, Replika, which has received some U.S. funding and other help. “We are used to struggling and not finding any support.”

Former President George W. Bush supported AIDS prevention efforts globally, but it was the Obama administration that launched the push to make lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights an international issue. The watershed moment came in December 2011, when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to the United Nations in Geneva and proclaimed LGBT rights “one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.”

Since then, embassies have been opening their doors to gay rights activists, hosting events and supporting local advocacy work. The State Department has since spent $12 million on the efforts in over 50 countries through the Global Equality Fund, an initiative launched to fund the new work.

Just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Defence of Marriage Act last June, consular posts also began issuing immigrant visas to the same-sex spouses of gay Americans.

One beneficiary was Jake Lees, a 27-year-old Englishman who had been forced to spend long periods apart from his American partner, Austin Armacost, since they met six years ago. In May Lees was issued a fiance visa at the U.S. Embassy in London. The couple married two weeks ago and are now starting a new life together in Franklin, Indiana, as they wait for Lees’ green card.

“I felt like the officers at the embassy treated us the way they would treat a heterosexual couple,” said Armacost, a 26-year-old fitness and nutrition instructor. “It’s a mind-boggling change after gay couples were treated like legal strangers for the first three centuries of our country’s history.”

Some conservative American groups are outraged by the policy. Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, calls it “a slap in the face to the majority of Americans,” given that American voters have rejected same-sex marriage in a number of state referendums.

“This is taking a flawed view of what it means to be a human being — male and female — and trying to impose that on countries throughout the world,” Brown said. “The administration would like people to believe that this is simply ‘live and let live.’ No, this is coercion in its worst possible form.”

The American efforts are tailored to local conditions, said Scott Busby, the deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the State Department. Ambassadors can decide individually whether to hoist the rainbow flag, as embassies in Tel Aviv, London and Prague have done, or show support in other ways.

While some gay rights activists say support from the U.S. and other Western countries adds moral legitimacy to their cause, it can also cause a backlash.

Rauda Morcos, a prominent Palestinian lesbian activist, said local communities, particularly in the Middle East, have to find their own ways of asserting themselves. She criticized the U.S. and Western efforts in general to help gay communities elsewhere as patronizing.

“It is a colonial approach,” she said. “In cases where it was tried, it didn’t help local communities and maybe made things even worse.”

An extreme case has been Uganda, which in February passed a law making gay sex punishable by a life sentence. In enacting the bill, President Yoweri Museveni said he wanted to deter the West from “promoting” gay rights in Africa, a continent where homosexuals face severe discrimination and even attacks. In response, the U.S. imposed sanctions and Secretary of State John Kerry compared the policies to the anti-Semitic laws in Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has waged an assault on what he considers the encroachment of decadent Western values and the government last year banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors,” making it a crime to hold gay rights rallies or to openly discuss homosexuality in content accessible to children. Afraid for their security, some Russian gay advocates try to keep their contacts with Western officials quiet.

The official U.S. delegation to the recent Winter Olympics in Russia included three openly gay athletes. Soon after that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow opened its basketball court for the Open Games, an LGBT sporting event which had been denied access to many of the venues it had counted on. The U.S. Embassy also operates a website where Russian gay and lesbians can publish their personal stories.

Jessica Stern, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, praised the U.S. policy but said there have been missteps along the way, citing a 2011 U.S. embassy gathering in Pakistan that prompted a group of religious and political leaders to accuse the U.S. of “cultural terrorism.”

And in Senegal a year ago, President Macky Sall bluntly rebuked the visiting Obama for urging African leaders to end discrimination against gays. Sall said his country was neither homophobic nor ready to legalize homosexuality, and in an apparent jab at the U.S., he noted Senegal abolished capital punishment years ago.

“The response in the local press was voluminous praise of the Senegalese president, maybe not actually for his stance on LGBT rights, but for effectively asserting Senegal’s sovereignty, yet the two became intertwined,” Stern said.

Busby, the State Department official, denied that increased harassment by governments is ever the consequence of U.S. advocacy, instead describing it as “a cynical reaction taken by leaders to advance their own political standing.”

In some countries, like Poland, the U.S. efforts are a catalyst for change.

The embassy there financed a 2012 visit to Warsaw by Dennis and Judy Shepard, the parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student who was tortured and murdered in 1998.

A group of parents who heard their story were so shaken by the Shepards’ tragedy that they founded a parental advocacy group, Akceptacja, which is fighting homophobia. The parents are now reaching out to their lawmakers personally, in what advocates say is the conscious adoption of an American strategy of families of gays and lesbians appealing to the hearts of officials.

“The killing of Matthew Shepard represents the fear I have that my son could be hurt for being gay,” said Tamara Uliasz, 60, one of the group’s founders. “I realized that what happened in Wyoming could happen here.”

♥♥♥♥♥

Readers: I applaud Obama…And as usual there are some who are against this. Thoughts? Blog me.

So hey, back to the celebration…If you’re feeling a little envious that perhaps you’ve missed out on so much fun, no worries it’s not too late to indulge in the celebration –  today is the Pride Parade, and if you haven’t been, it is something to see.

Check out their website for details. If you attend, head out early – 1 million people are expected to join in on the celebration. Now that is a party! It should be a beautiful day around the bay  - Have fun!!

xox

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

From the NY Times:

Burning Woman

Sandra Tsing Loh’s ‘Madwoman in the Volvo’

When Sandra Tsing Loh started her book “The Madwoman in the Volvo,” her aim was to capture the experience of what she calls the “triple-M generation:” the menopausal, middle-aged mother.

If menopause just made you want to kill someone, it wouldn’t be so bad. The problem is, it makes you want to kill someone you love. And then it makes you want to love someone who’s a complete and utter moron. And there you have it: the story of half the divorces in America.

This is the story of Sandra Tsing Loh’s “change,” or, as I think of it, the Year of Bleeding Dangerously. “The Madwoman in the Volvo” is not the first book on the subject. In fact, one of the little-known side effects of menopause appears to be writing books, if the number of titles is any measure (5,115 listed on Amazon, but that was last month). Certainly, though, Loh’s ranks among the most horrifyingly amusing. The title evokes “The Madwoman in the Attic,” Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s classic look at “monstrous” women in 19th-century literature, and well it should: After reading this brave and witty memoir and realizing the extent to which we are at the mercy of estrogen, one can’t help wondering if Bertha Mason could have gotten out of that attic if she’d had a little hormone therapy.

This phase of Loh’s life begins as it does for so many of us, with the niggling suspicion we’re losing our minds. At 47, this performer, radio commentator and author-essayist-memoirist (“Mother on Fire” et al.) thought her midlife crisis was behind her. She had already blown up her life by having an affair and leaving her husband. (And perhaps in a further sign of her unbalance, writing about it in The Atlantic.) Here she is, two years later, in a seemingly all’s-well-that-ends-well relationship with her bashert. Only all is not right, not at all. Now she’s doing things like pulling off the road and sobbing uncontrollably about the death of her kids’ hamster. Hammy did not even live with her. Oh, Life’s cruelty.

This was the tip-off that something was amiss, and the hamster incident catapults Loh into a frenzy of self-improvement familiar to all of us who’ve heard the siren song of Eckhart Tolle. Loh is determined to get her groove back. Joining her similarly estrogen-deprived friends, she attempts “happiness projects” and extreme couponing and cruising the aisles of Crate & Barrel and playing computer solitaire “like some addicted lab rat.” Then there is the fanatical dieting and working out to lose the midlife spare tire. She finds a trainer so overzealous she fantasizes about paying Equinox a second fee to make her go away. She joins Loseit.com, and when she and her friend admit that they, like every other woman on the planet, are failing to note their liquor consumption accurately, they consider forming an online support group for cheaters, drunkfatfriends.com. “It’s all we can do to watch HGTV until noon and not overdose on antidepressants, and that itself is sad. Because are we not still women? Do we not still roar? Do we perhaps need our own female version of a Fight Club?”

Soon Loh’s irritation at her own emotional incontinence turns into something more frightening. She begins to resent Mr. Y, her new love, finding fault with him when he dares to have a life that does not entirely revolve around her. How long, she wonders, before she votes him off the island? She eventually concludes that no one husband can ever really suffice: “Your first husband is the provider; your second husband is the one who talks to you; my third husband will be a cat. If I am lucky.”

Worse still, she sees echoes of her mother’s behavior in her own behavior toward her children. At first she wildly overreacts to any perceived slight: When one tween daughter is teased online, she stations herself outside the culprit’s class, preparing to pounce, an avenging angel in a fanny pack. Eventually, over the course of the year, she finds it hard to listen to her two daughters, just as her loving and dutiful mother, during menopause, could not bear to hear young Loh prattle on. Loh becomes convinced she no longer loves her children, even as they begin to protect and make excuses for their increasingly fragile mother. She is miserable.

And then, she is saved. Not by God or psychotherapy or even the love of her very good man, but by a dab of topical estrogen cream on her wrists. Better living through chemistry.

Throughout the haze of loss and anxiety, Loh sees two larger truths. First, there’s the issue of timing: Women turning 50 right now are doing something a little different, and arguably nuts. Our mothers lost their parents earlier, and had children earlier too. We are living longer, and having children later. This means that at 50, many of us have parents who are still alive and need our care. (Loh is appalled to discover her 89-year-old diapered father is now demanding Viagra, and apparently availing himself of an at-home service that offers “healing hands.” Not the Church of Christ ministry; something else. I know. Ew.) At the same time we waited to have children, and while they’re going through their own bodily upheaval, drowning in a tsunami of hormones, we’re chasing the fumes. So we are living through what is one of the most physically and emotionally trying times just at the moment when everyone around us seems to need us most. No wonder there’s a lot of crying and throwing Thanksgiving dinner down the garbage chute.

And then there’s the issue of what menopause does. Common wisdom says it makes us crazy, and historically treatment for “hysterical” women going through the change ranged from opium to ovary removal. Far from being seen as a natural event, it’s seen as a disease of deficiency. And in some ways of course it is. But just as Oliver Sacks perceived the ability in disability, so Loh describes the gains we make when we are no longer floating on a cotton candy cloud of estrogen, the body chemical that makes women “want to help people and serve people and cut up their sandwiches into ever-tinier squares.” Seeing the world more clearly is not always a good thing; we are, for a time, rawer than we once were, less able to skate on the surface. On the other side of it all, though, is wisdom; we can and do have more freedom, see more clearly, think more clearly, get things done. Hillary Clinton may have had the brains to be president at 35, but somehow I feel more comfortable, indeed delighted, with nuclear capability in the hands of a 70-year-old woman.

The book ends with Loh’s 50th-birthday party, “the one last event in your life, after your wedding . . . where friends, family and acquaintances can be guilted into showing up, and they can be guilted into bringing a gift, even if it’s a joke gift.” Predictably she pingpongs between sheer joy as she concocts her dance-mix playlists (it’s all about “Brick House”) and dread that there will be only a few awkward guests, and crickets. The party is rocking, and one friend toasts Loh with words that deeply move her, if only because she prays they are true: “Instead of running from fear, she moves toward pleasure.”

Wouldn’t we all like that written on our tombstones? The ending may seem a little forced — one can hear an editor pleading with the sardonic Loh, For the love of God, leave ’em with a little hope — but I’m buying it anyway. “The only event like a 50th birthday — the only event that celebrates and commemorates you as a grown-up, with a full, adult life, will be your funeral. So let this celebration of your fully golden self happen when you are alive. And have some cake, for God’s sake.”

Thanks. Make mine chocolate. And while you’re at it, splash on the rum and light it on fire.

*****

Readers, especially the Ladies:  Want to say something here? :) Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Okay, so it’s Monday. And although Father’s Day has come and gone (I HOPE all of you had fun with your father!) – thanks to all those Dads who help in sharing childcare responsibilities – Flashback Friday, is still happening everyday for women.

Here’s the write.

Flashback Friday

Our Workplace Policies Are Stuck In The Mad Men Era. It’s Time For Progress.

Fifty years ago, 25 percent of women were their family’s primary breadwinner or co-breadwinner. Today, that number has more than doubled to nearly two-thirds of women. Yet, our workplace policies — from equal pay for equal work to policies for paid medical and family leave — have failed to keep up.

So for today, we’ve put together some graphics that explain just how stuck in the past we still are. Pick your favorite — or all three — and share them on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #timeforprogress!

Women are consistently paid less than their male counterparts and make up a disproportionate share of low-wage workers. Enacting stronger equal pay protections is a key step — it will hold employers more accountable for their practices, ensure vigorous enforcement, and empower women to uncover discrimination and negotiate for salaries they deserve.

More and more women are entering the workplace as a primary breadwinner or co-breadwinner for their families. Yet there are no laws in place to prevent a parent from getting fired if they need to stay home and take care of a sick child.

Father’s Day is this Sunday. Here’s a reminder that fathers are spending more time than ever before sharing childcare responsbilities. But workplace leave policies are not reacting to the changing roles in our society as women assume a greater role in the workplace and men elevate their familial responsibilities.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s time for progress when it comes to policies that make women, men, and their families more secure. We’ve been stuck in the Mad Men era for too long.

****

Readers: Yep, it’s time for progress. Which one are you going to post today? Ladies, let’s get our sisters in the House (Congress!) so we can make some real changes. Blog me.

Howie: How are you? Anything up to report?

LK: Of course. Please give me a few days. Thank you. Wishing you and yours safety.

Asabi: My pleasure. So happy to hear that from you, and that it has been such a big help for your people.  I thought it was a huge. Sending you and all of the women so much love.

Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"