Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from my family to you and yours!

Let Us Be Thoughtful & Thankful This Thanksgiving

As I'm sitting down for breakfast this Thanksgiving morning, I'm taking a moment to reflect on what I'm thankful for:
1)Freedom: to practice the religion of my choosing or not practice at all, the right to work, and the right to have a voice and vote
2)My Family and Friends: You know who you are. Thank you for being there through the hard times and by my side to laugh through the good times.
3)My Best Friend and the Love of My Life, "B": I just want to let you know that I love you very much. We've been through some hard times together, but we've made it though. Thank you for being there through the hard times and by my side to laugh through the good times.
4)Finding and becoming employed with not only one, but two jobs after 6 months of unemployment.
5)My supervisors, who took a chance and gave me the opportunity to gain experience, as well as work in a field I enjoy
6)The individuals who've helped us out during difficult financial times.
7)A roof over our head, which is safe and protects us from the weather.
8)Food on the Table
9)Clothing and Shoes to Wear
10)Experiences Which Let me Walk in Others Shoes and Keeps Me Humble
11)Chocolate
12)Our Two Cats: They've brought us companionship, comfort, and laughter, they're practically members of our family
13)Indoor Plumbing/Electricity
14)Hot Chocolate and Warm, Soft, Chocolate Chip Cookies
15)Books Which Comfort, Inspire, Make Me Think, and Entertain
16)Our Firefighters, Police Officers, and the Men and Women Serving Our Country...Thank you
17)Nurses, doctors, and nursing assistants, you heal and comfort, and are underappreciated for all that you do...Thank you
18)Minimal Traffic on the Interstate Highway
19)...and Safe Arrivals For Myself, My Friends, and My Family at Their Destinations
20)Two Words: Star...Wars

I hope everyone has a safe and fun holidays.

On This Day Nine Years Ago

September 11th, 2001 at 8:46am, the first United Airlines plane crashed into the North Twin Tower and many lives were changed forever. Today, please take a moment of silence and bow your heads to remember the individuals and service men/women who lost their lives in this tragedy nine years today and to hold in your thoughts and prayers (whatever your spiritual beliefs may be) for our men and women serving over seas. Thank you. Peace and spiritual blessings to you on this day.

Frustrated

I am frustrated and tired of the bickering and homophobia within the pro-life movement. Sexual identity doesn't have anything to do with protecting the unborn, and not only diverts away from the issue, but also causes division within the pro-life movement. You know, you're free to disagree with other pro-lifers about gay marriage, but do you really want to risk losing allies by telling self-professed pro-lifers that they can't be pro-life? Do you think people saved from abortion really care what the person or people who saved them thought about gay marriage? Do you think this is a movement that can afford to alienate people?

We are essentially shooting ourselves in the foot, unintentionally furthering the misconception that we pro-lifers are only about moralizing and policing sexual practices or punishing those who participate in non-traditional sexual practices and that we oppose potential life-saving practices such as using condoms

I'm also getting really sick of, "hey, you know about this over-the-top, highly publicized gay event that focuses on promiscuity? Do you agree with that, too?" That's like claiming that people who support heterosexual marriage approve of Girls Gone Wild. People acting like sex-crazed hedonists in public is not the same thing as two people wanting a loving, committed relationship.
Pro-life should mean equal rights for all, born and unborn, whether they are GLBT or straight.

My Experience at a Planned Parenthood

I went to Planned Parenthood last year and saw a nurse practitioner for my annual exam. You may be wondering, because I identify as pro-life, why I'd find myself in a Planned Parenthood. Well, although I had health insurance, it was a high deductible plan and we were tight on money, plus I wanted to see what the organization was like for my self..According to the National Planned Parenthood website, they list female infertility as one of their services, in addition to routine preventive care. I signed in and During the course of the exam, I explained that I have been diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), one of the most common female endocrine disorders. I explained my concerns regarding the negative health implications associated with this condition and requested a medication to treat the symptoms. She replied that all she could offer was the regular birth control pill.. I tried to explain that I didn't want the Pill, I'd experienced too many side effects and my husband and I were open to pregnancy. Even so, she continued to encourage to me to re-consider taking the Pill and I felt like I didn't have much of a choice, between treating the symptoms of my condition or keeping my fertility. At no time during our discussion were any other options given. She continued to encourage me to take a script for the pill, although I was not interested. Getting no where and frustrated, I ended my appointment and took the script for a birth control pill of l which I had no intention of filling, so I could get out of there. I remained polite however and signed out at the desk and left. I later did some research and learned there are several other medications which can be prescribed to treat the symptoms of and address the underlying cause of PCOS without preventing fertility. Apparently this PP wasn't equipped to provide infertility services or treat abnormal female reproductive conditions, nor did their staff seem interested in providing services to help me become pregnant.

Helping Women Fight Back Against Rape

At the South African World Cup soccer games this week, in a country with alarmingly high rape rates and low conviction rates, 30k condoms of a different type are being distributed: female condoms with teeth.

South African doctor invents female condoms with 'teeth' to fight rape

(CNN) -- South African Dr. Sonnet Ehlers was on call one night four decades ago when a devastated rape victim walked in. Her eyes were lifeless; she was like a breathing corpse.

"She looked at me and said, 'If only I had teeth down there,'" recalled Ehlers, who was a 20-year-old medical researcher at the time. "I promised her I'd do something to help people like her one day."

Forty years later, Rape-aXe was born.

Ehlers is distributing the female condoms in the various South African cities where the World Cup soccer games are taking place.

The woman inserts the latex condom like a tampon. Jagged rows of teeth-like hooks line its inside and attach on a man's penis during penetration, Ehlers said.

Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it -- a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make an arrest.

"It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it's on," she said. "If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter... however, it doesn't break the skin, and there's no danger of fluid exposure."

Ehlers said she sold her house and car to launch the project, and she planned to distribute 30,000 free devices under supervision during the World Cup period.

"I consulted engineers, gynecologists and psychologists to help in the design and make sure it was safe," she said.

After the trial period, they'll be available for about $2 a piece. She hopes the women will report back to her.

"The ideal situation would be for a woman to wear this when she's going out on some kind of blind date ... or to an area she's not comfortable with," she said.

The mother of two daughters said she visited prisons and talked to convicted rapists to find out whether such a device would have made them rethink their actions.

Some said it would have, Ehlers said.

Critics say the female condom is not a long-term solution and makes women vulnerable to more violence from men trapped by the device.

It's also a form of "enslavement," said Victoria Kajja, a fellow for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the east African country of Uganda. "The fears surrounding the victim, the act of wearing the condom in anticipation of being assaulted all represent enslavement that no woman should be subjected to."

Kajja said the device constantly reminds women of their vulnerability.

"It not only presents the victim with a false sense of security, but psychological trauma," she added. "It also does not help with the psychological problems that manifest after assaults."

However, its one advantage is it allows justice to be served, she said.

Various rights organizations that work in South Africa declined to comment, including Human Rights Watch and Care International.

South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world, Human Rights Watch says on its website. A 2009 report by the nation's Medical Research Council found that 28 percent of men surveyed had raped a woman or girl, with one in 20 saying they had raped in the past year, according to Human Rights Watch.

In most African countries, rape convictions are not common. Affected women don't get immediate access to medical care, and DNA tests to provide evidence are unaffordable.

"Women and girls who experience these violations are denied justice, factors that contribute to the normalization of rape and violence in South African society," Human Rights Watch says.

Women take drastic measures to prevent rape in South Africa, Ehlers said, with some wearing extra tight biker shorts and others inserting razor blades wrapped in sponges in their private parts.

Critics have accused her of developing a medieval device to fight rape.

"Yes, my device may be a medieval, but it's for a medieval deed that has been around for decades," she said. "I believe something's got to be done ... and this will make some men rethink before they assault a woman."

H/T Jill Stanek

I honestly think this is a great project. On the positive side, in countries where women do not often enough receive protection from rape and justice against rapists, it will provide a new form of self-defense and empowerment for women. And in developed countries such as the U.S.  it will hopefully lead to more arrests of and deter date rape. However, while this condom is intended to deter potential rapists, one of my concerns is that it doesn't prevent the act of rape from occuring, but rather is made to very quickly put an end to a rapist's attack. And with that said, while it does provide protection against seminal fluids, because it is designed as a defense once penetration has occured, it's faults lie with that it doesn't protect the woman from the physical and pyschological devastation of being forcibly penetrated against her will. Also, my concern lies with protential violent retaliation against the victim by the would-be-rapist. There are benefits, but also disadvantages to this. The Rape-Axe is a start, but we've got a longs ways to go.

While we're talking about this issue, it's worth noting that a while back, feminist and progressive blogger, Bitting Beaver wrote a contraversial, but informational article, entitled, "The Rapist Checklist" which defined and clearly defined rape so that men and women can know boundaries.

Blogger's Home Vandalized for Expressing Pro-Life Views

This is just sad. In the United States, he has the same right to free speech and to express his political views and opinions as anyone else, whether others agree with his views or not. All too often pro-choice individuals are defenders and advocates of "tolerance" and "free speech," that is until a differing view from their own is expressed. As the old saying goes, "Free speech for me, but not for thee!"

Update 6/25/10: Apparently this has made the news: Telegraph Harold: Man believes vandalism tied to his opposition to abortion

More About Me

Some interesting questions have been raised, as well as implied, in the course of discussions with others on political blogs and I would like to take the time to answer these questions as well as provide an opportunity for you, my readers, to get to know me better.

Question: You've mentioned that you have been a peer counselor for 10 years. Did you have any sort of training? When and where does your experience come from?

In the spring of 1999, I began peer ministry through a local church's highschool youth group, which ended the following summer. In peer ministry, we trained to be peer counselors through role-playing, a work book, discussions, and peer evaluation. Some vital key points we learned were: reflective and active listening, how to provide non-judgemental responses and advice, guidance through basic problem solving, with an emphasis on confidentiality unless the person was in danger of harm or death & refer to a professional if issue is severe. Issues we learned about included: unplanned pregnancy, illegal drug use, underage drinking, and depression/suicide.

From 2002 until January 2004, I maintained a now defunct website (seen here), with a section of information on unplanned pregnancy and provided an e-mail where men and women could contact me for advice and support. Basically I would guide and support them through the decision-making process using active and reflective listening and basic problem solving skills and connected them with resources in their communities to further meet their needs. I received and answered up to 5 e-mails a week.

May 17, 2003, I completed and received a certificate for 6 contact hours of Infant Adoption Awareness Adoption Liason training  (Provided by the National Council for Adoption, through a grant from the state of Indiana. Training personnel provided by Bethany Christian Services)

In 2003, I created a Yahoo! Group Pregnant_Teen_Support, a peer support group for teens (12-20yrs) who are facing an unplanned, unexpected, or unwanted pregnancy, with an emphasis on politically neutrality and non-judgementalism. Today, the group has over 400 members and I have stepped down to co-moderator due to pressing issues in my personal life.

Also, I have become an accepted member at the following online unplanned pregnancy/abortion recovery support communities starting in 2004: Yahoo! Groups: I Might Be Pregnant, IVIllage Abortion Support Board, and the PASS Support Boards.

Question: What are your spiritual/philosophical beliefs?

Answer: I consider myself an agnostic theist. I was born and raised a Catholic, but in my college years I choose to leave the Catholic Church and started attending my husband's church, a small congregation (less than 100 members) which at the time was afffiliated with the United Methodist church. My parents jokingly call me a "Matholic" a combination of Catholic and Methodist :P At that time that I felt very much at home in a United Methodist church because of their scripturally based beliefs (sola scriptura), emphasis on mission work, traditional services, very similiar to the Catholic mass, traditional music, and more conservative stance on political issues. However as time went on, a series of life events led me to start doubting my faith and the existance of a Christian god or higher power(s). I no longer found comfort in or the answers I was seeking in the Christian faith, nor did I idenify with any of the world religions, which led me to identify myself as agnostic two years ago in 2008. I do not believe in multiple gods/godesses, but I am undecided about whether or not one omnipresent, benevolent god/godess exists. My spouse is a practicing Christian and does not agree with my decision and so I do attend church from time to time with my husband to maintain relationship harmony.

Question: What are your political beliefs?

Answer: I would consider myself a moderate, voting democratically on some issues and republican on others. My politically beliefs on the various issues are described here.

Question: But don't you oppose abortion and contraception based on moralistic, bible-based thinking? Didn't we even see a blog entry where you clearly made biblical references in oppositon to abortion?

From when I began to write this blog in 2004 until about mid 2008, I did indeed write a couple of spirituality based entries, at a time when I still believed in the Christian god, but was starting to doubt my faith. These entries can be found under my Religion and Spirituality post tag. There is one entry, written in late 2004, entitled Political Corruption in the Church, in which I took the United Methodist Church and other Christian denominations to task for taking a pro-choice stance based on false and loose interpretations of the Christian faith. You will find this is the only entry on my blog where I make biblical references in oppositon to abortion, which at the time 5 years ago, was made when I still believed in the Christian Faith. However  my beliefs have changed over the years and these days my primary reasons for opposing abortion are based on social, ethical, and medical reasons, and thus these are the basis of my writings on abortion from mid 2005 on. I do not believe in making abortion illegal. Rather I believe we would benefit from: more medical regulation of abortion practices, changing hearts and minds with education and knowledge, reducing the need for abortion through a focus on preventing unplanned pregnancy with availability of contraception and sex education, a better support system for pregnant and parenting women who are working or continuing their education, and addressing the societal pressures which lead women to abortion.

Happy Birthday to Meeee!!

Just wanted to share that today is my 27th birthday :)

Plans? We celebrated my birthday this past Sunday with a dinner at home with a couple of close family friends attending. Although I do have to say it was interesting because we heard the local tornado warning sirens go off around 7pm, just as we were getting ready to sit down and eat. A small cold air funnel touched down on the south west side of town, with no serious damage in that area. The cell which produced our funnel cloud was part of a cold front with severe thunderstorms which produced 6 tornadoes in Indiana over Saturday and Sunday, causing moderate damage to homes, outbuildings, trees, and utility poles.
Tornado: National Weather Service tracks path of tornadoes in Indiana - WXIN

Expressions of the Mind: Living with Clinical Depression

Art can be a creative and healing outlet for many. I've created the following Wordle to express what living with clinical depression feels like, so that others may have a better understanding, awareness, and more compassion towards those living with clinical depression and other mental illnesses—