Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 46
March 13, 2011
From Twitter 03-12-2011
07:52:23: RT @jonWturney: RT @moravec Republican assault on democracy - could it get any worse? Yup: http://futr.es/lp <that old eternal vigila ...
07:52:44: RT @TheNewDeal: "America is NOT Broke. A Small Minority Have All the Wealth & Have Taken it Out of Circulation" - @mmflint Rt #Corporati ...
07:53:09: RT @NatureNews: Explosion rocks nuclear plant, Japan struggles to contain crisis http://goo.gl/fb/TpHUW
07:59:30: RT @ShellyRaeClift: Right to life? NH GOP Senator Says Disabled & Mentally Ill Are 'Defective People' That Should Be Shipped Off To Sibe ...
08:04:14: RT @NatureNews: Concerns have been raised in the past about Japanese nuclear reactors and earthquakes: http://j.mp/guo5Uu
19:58:27: RT @valuemom: > 70,000 teabaggers show up in DC & every single network covers it. 200,000 workers now in Madison & nada #WiUnion #p2 ...
19:58:44: RT @tobiasbuckell: Midwest, Killin' It http://t.co/ET7xRH6 via @ziteapp (so many Midwest protests, way more than any tea party numbers)
20:01:13: New table leaf for old table: now we can seat six in comfort. Promptly tried out w/five for birthday party.
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March 12, 2011
From Twitter 03-11-2011
11:36:52: RT @LouAnders: Converting books to ebooks is not easy or quick or simple,and shouldn't be: http://t.co/giDXkON
11:39:16: RT @Richvn: "The first time I truly understood what 'Japan has a rigorous earthquake building code' means" - Tokyo Nature editor: http:/ ...
11:40:34: Made it to Bach rehearsal last night--didn't actually sing, but tried to say words (in German!) in tempo. Today: marking score.
12:09:36: RT @NatureNews: More earthquakes expected in Japan http://goo.gl/fb/2yMfh
13:45:21: RT @shibuya246: There are 5 trains that JR East never heard back from employees. All trains on East coastline. might have been taken by ...
17:45:06: RT @MotherJones: Today: massive #Tsunami devastates Japan and threatens Hawaii. Last month: GOPers vote to gut Tsunami warning funds htt ...
22:32:59: RT @green_knight: Dear GOP members: Look me in the eye and tell me that tsunami warning systems and rigorous building codes are wasteful ...
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March 11, 2011
March 10, 2011
From Twitter 03-09-2011
09:52:45: Watching NASA-TV...Discovery's deorbit burn ongoing.
10:06:12: Hoping for a safe re-entry and landing for Discovery and her crew.
10:26:48: Discovery's in atmosphere again...
10:49:36: Discovery's over Florida--high and fast.
10:58:12: Down safe. Good job, Discovery!
17:17:56: RT @NatGeoSociety: In case you missed it: 3 Surprising Ways Global Warming Could Make You Sick http://on.natgeo.com/gbZIPH #health #envi ...
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March 9, 2011
From Twitter 03-08-2011
09:41:28: RT @NASA: [Today's Pic] The Journey Home: The space shuttle Discovery is seen from the International Space Station as... http://go.nasa. ...
09:59:37: Ton of work piled up while sick...hope to clear the mail stack today.
16:33:41: For anyone sure they'll make the Rapture...what about your pets? http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/
16:34:08: RT @dancinghorse: Why do women just get one day? Aren't they entitled to 182.5? #internationalwomensday
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March 8, 2011
International Women's Day: Not There Yet
Women have a Day. International Women's Day. Today is that Day. It would take far more than a Day to begin to outline how many ways, in how many cultures, in how many places, women are still being mistreated by religious, cultural, national, social "traditions" that are aimed specifically at keeping women in their place and under someone else's control. It's an old story. And it's a new story, a very fresh story.
Because every single day, in every country around the world, women and girls are denied basic freedoms, denied access to resources, and subject to the control of those who do not respect them. Every day, women and girls are raped...and someone in power suggests that it wasn't really rape, it was "her" fault. Every day, women are expected to take less and be grateful for it, allow others to make their decisions and limit their freedoms. And if they complain...they're not being good women.
Yesterday was my birthday (so I never forget International Women's Day, kind of check on the celebration...I get to eat cake, but does any other woman? Do ALL other women? No...so it's not all fun and games. And in yesterday's Nebraska State Paper.com was one of those perfect examples of why there needs to be an International Women's Day. The concept that an adult woman's most fundamental freedom is to determine what happens in her own body isn't popular in Nebraska--at least not in the state legislature, which passed a law outlawing all abortions for more than 20 weeks gestation. So a Nebraska woman had to wait until her doomed fetus--known to be nonviable--emerged on its own, and then watch the fetus die, unable to live, in a fifteen minute struggle. By all means read the story.
You will note that the law's sponsor, Mike Flood, said the law "worked as it was intended" (in other words, the law was intended to give more anguish to pregnant women with nonviable fetuses. Because a law cannot "intend" to make a nonviable fetus viable.) Flood insists it's his point that a nonviable fetus "is still a life." So is a tumor, with just as much chance to live outside the body as a fetus that isn't viable. But that's not my point. My point is that an individual adult human has a fundamental right to his/her own body and the medical decisions made about it. I'm quite sure that Mike Flood would not want me making medical decisions about his body (let alone his procreative organs and their use.) And yet he is comfortable making decisions for women--decisions that increase their anguish.
You will also note that a woman, Julie Schmit-Albin, suggested that it was "more humane" for a nonviable fetus to die "in a loving manner with comfort care and in the arms of her parents than by intentional painful death through abortion." The possibility that the fetus was already suffering, being nonviable, and that the process of birth might itself be painful and stressful, and that struggling unsuccessfully to breathe for fifteen minutes once born ("loving arms" or not) was probably not pain-free...not to mention the physical pain and mental anguish caused to the mother seems never to have occurred to her...because Ms. Schmit-Albin, like Mr. Flood, is so eager to control someone else's life and decisions. Again, I suspect that she would not want me to intervene in her personal medical decisions, including her reproductive ones...and that would suggest that she butt out of making such decisions for others.
It would be interesting to know whether Mr. Flood's interest in "a life" extends to the lives of Nebraska citizens who happen to be already born. Does he, for instance, do anything to improve the quality of life of Nebraska's women and children? Prenatal and obstetric care for poor women? Nutritional support for poor children? Medical care? Quality child-care to assist working mothers? Adequate housing for all families with children? Better schools for those children? Employment assistance?
Or does he only care about "a life" when it's inside someone else and not costing taxpayers any money? Do any of the "right to lifers" support programs that will give all children a decent start in life? They don't in my neck of the woods...they're adamant that they'll happily force someone to bear an unwanted child, but they won't move a finger (or, more accurately, vote to spend money) to give that child a fair shake in life.
Cases like this are only one narrow slice of the ways that women's fundamental rights are violated...but it's a stark reminder that progress towards respect and freedom can be lost and slip backward.
Because every single day, in every country around the world, women and girls are denied basic freedoms, denied access to resources, and subject to the control of those who do not respect them. Every day, women and girls are raped...and someone in power suggests that it wasn't really rape, it was "her" fault. Every day, women are expected to take less and be grateful for it, allow others to make their decisions and limit their freedoms. And if they complain...they're not being good women.
Yesterday was my birthday (so I never forget International Women's Day, kind of check on the celebration...I get to eat cake, but does any other woman? Do ALL other women? No...so it's not all fun and games. And in yesterday's Nebraska State Paper.com was one of those perfect examples of why there needs to be an International Women's Day. The concept that an adult woman's most fundamental freedom is to determine what happens in her own body isn't popular in Nebraska--at least not in the state legislature, which passed a law outlawing all abortions for more than 20 weeks gestation. So a Nebraska woman had to wait until her doomed fetus--known to be nonviable--emerged on its own, and then watch the fetus die, unable to live, in a fifteen minute struggle. By all means read the story.
You will note that the law's sponsor, Mike Flood, said the law "worked as it was intended" (in other words, the law was intended to give more anguish to pregnant women with nonviable fetuses. Because a law cannot "intend" to make a nonviable fetus viable.) Flood insists it's his point that a nonviable fetus "is still a life." So is a tumor, with just as much chance to live outside the body as a fetus that isn't viable. But that's not my point. My point is that an individual adult human has a fundamental right to his/her own body and the medical decisions made about it. I'm quite sure that Mike Flood would not want me making medical decisions about his body (let alone his procreative organs and their use.) And yet he is comfortable making decisions for women--decisions that increase their anguish.
You will also note that a woman, Julie Schmit-Albin, suggested that it was "more humane" for a nonviable fetus to die "in a loving manner with comfort care and in the arms of her parents than by intentional painful death through abortion." The possibility that the fetus was already suffering, being nonviable, and that the process of birth might itself be painful and stressful, and that struggling unsuccessfully to breathe for fifteen minutes once born ("loving arms" or not) was probably not pain-free...not to mention the physical pain and mental anguish caused to the mother seems never to have occurred to her...because Ms. Schmit-Albin, like Mr. Flood, is so eager to control someone else's life and decisions. Again, I suspect that she would not want me to intervene in her personal medical decisions, including her reproductive ones...and that would suggest that she butt out of making such decisions for others.
It would be interesting to know whether Mr. Flood's interest in "a life" extends to the lives of Nebraska citizens who happen to be already born. Does he, for instance, do anything to improve the quality of life of Nebraska's women and children? Prenatal and obstetric care for poor women? Nutritional support for poor children? Medical care? Quality child-care to assist working mothers? Adequate housing for all families with children? Better schools for those children? Employment assistance?
Or does he only care about "a life" when it's inside someone else and not costing taxpayers any money? Do any of the "right to lifers" support programs that will give all children a decent start in life? They don't in my neck of the woods...they're adamant that they'll happily force someone to bear an unwanted child, but they won't move a finger (or, more accurately, vote to spend money) to give that child a fair shake in life.
Cases like this are only one narrow slice of the ways that women's fundamental rights are violated...but it's a stark reminder that progress towards respect and freedom can be lost and slip backward.
From Twitter 03-07-2011
08:16:29: Stayed up late re-reading Lee & Miller's _Plan B_, and overslept the undocking of Discovery from ISS.
08:29:52: Wednesday morning, 11:57 Eastern Time, according to NASA on Twitter.
08:33:18: Blogpost on dragons up at Orbit Books: http://ht.ly/49cTZ (Yes, really, that's what was on the URL line.)
09:42:34: Two new posts up at http://www.paksworld.com/blog/ One on dragons, and one on birthdays.
09:43:50: Who knew my birthday was in Groundwater Awareness Week? USGS, that's who: http://bit.ly/hEduGP
11:33:05: RT @ISS_Research: Thanks @NASA_EO for the great astronaut photo of the Médano Blanco of central Argentina, taken aboard ISS: http://1.us ...
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March 7, 2011
From Twitter 03-06-2011
08:10:14: A full night's sleep is a wonderful thing.
08:36:53: RT @BacklisteBooks: Lillian Stewart Carl's Time Enough to Die is now on Smashwords. It's mostly mystery, with ghosts and romance! http:/ ...
14:36:04: Red-shafted flicker around noon, and now flock of 4 field sparrows outside my window. And a yellow-rumped warbler outside kitchen window.
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March 6, 2011
From Twitter 03-05-2011
07:13:48: RT @vondanmcintyre: Guest blog by an Egyptian correspondent of Ursula K. Le Guin, & Tahrir Square photos - http://ursulakleguin.com/Blog ...
07:16:31: Wakened at crack of dawn by crack of thunder.
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March 5, 2011
From Twitter 03-04-2011
10:53:48: RT @KSmithSF: Guess who got the contract for The House's new environmentally-unfriendly products? http://t.co/8iFHoL4
10:54:56: RT @KSmithSF: It's Not That Complicated http://t.co/TotCgKL
16:53:48: If this miserable crud ruins my birthday AND knocks me out of singing the St. John Passion, I will not be amused, in the Victorian sense.
19:16:37: RT @MarsRovers: Oppy snaps a close-up of 'Ruiz Garcia,' an exposed rock at Santa Maria Crater: http://twitpic.com/466407
21:35:48: RT @WritersDigest: Interview w/ agent Eddie Schneider of JABberwocky Literary who is seeking fiction, kids fiction & nonfiction http://t ...
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