The Triumph of the Proletariat

(or something)

Politics have endlessly fascinated me since the 1984 presidential elections, when I was <> 10.

My mother was a freelance reporter for our little tiny town weekly, and as part of that, she covered the local government councils, a village and a township. I went, whenever I could talk her into it, and had lots of questions on the way home. Even at 10-11-12, I thought that the township trustees were petty, back-biting, bickering brats, and the village council members were hoity-toity.

But the political process has continued to fascinate me, and the fact that we as citizens can contribute to that process with not just our money and our votes, but with our voices....well, at 34, I still think it is pretty freaking amazing.

A few weeks ago, I posted about Ohio's budget crisis, and the plan that our Democratic Governor, Ted Strickland, proposed to lawmakers, which would result in our state-run libraries operating next fiscal year with 50% of the budget of the previous fiscal year. I urged one and all to visit SaveOhioLibraries.com, where further information is available about how you can tell your Ohio elected official just what you thought of the plan to cut the libraries to such a devastating low.

I am proud, and humbled, by the number of people from Ohio (and beyond, too, impressively) who wrote to their local state reps, and to Gov Strickland, telling them was an abysmal idea the funding cuts were. Strickland spoke out vehemently against this public outcry, claiming he wasn't going to budge an inch on his proposed budget.

The folks elected to the Ohio State House and Ohio State Senate, however, recognized political suicide when they saw it.

In the end, the state cut 84 million dollars from the budget of Ohio's 251 library systems; painful, yes, but not as devastating as Strickland's proposed 227 million dollars. The state-wide protests, held in front of libraries and in Columbus on the steps of the capital, not only made noise, they got attention. National news coverage. I heard, although I have no source for this, that the telephone systems at the state house were so overwhelmed with the number of citizens calling to protest that they crashed a few times during this period.

So yea, I'm feeling pretty damn triumphant, and proud. A little of my faith in our system of government has been restored; they listened. It worked just like it ought to. Our elected officials work for us after all!

Power to the people, y'all!

Libraries are important places

The Governor of the Great State of Ohio has a proposed budget on the table in Columbus.

I like to think of myself as an idealist, and that people who seek and hold public office actually have a desire to serve the public.

Oh, how cute and sheltered, eh?

Ted Strickland was elected as governor on a platform of education, and a whole lot of other things that I like lots. He's pro-choice, which was enough to get my vote.

His proposed budget cuts the funding for libraries in Ohio an additional 30%. This is AFTER the libraries have already had a 20% budget cut. So Ohio libraries, which have always been tax-funded, would operate the next fiscal year at 50% of the budget from last fiscal year.

This is quite the 180 degree turnaround from his election promises. Sad.

I've never made a secret of the fact that I don't like living in Ohio. I'd flee in an instant if I could. I have a bad case of Anywhere But Here, and I think I'd trade living in a shoebox for living in Ohio. (Most days, anyway.) One of the ONLY things I have ever been proud of about the Buckeye State is that we have some of the nation's best libraries.

Free. It does not cost you one red cent to get a library card, anywhere in the state.

Filled with books and DVDs and videos and CDs and books on tape. Want to read a new bestseller? The public library in your small podunk Ohio town will have it. Need a manual for your 2003 Honda Civic? The public library has that too. Textbooks, cookbooks, self-help, biographies, non-fiction books about anything you can imagine. If they don't have it, they can get it for you from an inter-library loan.

Seventy percent of Ohio's libraries are entirely funded by the fund the good ole gov wants to cut. The other thirty percent have local levies or other sources of income in addition to the state funding.

The planned cuts will mean mass closures of branches throughout Ohio's 251 branch system. In the two counties that I live and work in, every branch except the two "mains" will be closed. That means the public library in your small podunk Ohio town won't be there. All bookmobile services, which provide books to shut-ins and places where there are no branches, will disappear. Ohio's libraries have Internet-capable computers, assistance with writing resumes and business plans, and the majority of the genealogy research for the state.

This spending plan is a disaster, and devastating, too.

I know librarians in both counties. But my passion about this cause is NOT because my two friends would likely lose their jobs. (Sorry, guys. Not that I don't love you. I do. I would hate for you to be unemployed.) It is because the library has played such a vital role in my life.

I can afford to buy most of the books I want to purchase. I have high speed internet at home. I know how to write a resume. But there are people in this state who can't or don't. Libraries help to close the digital divide. Libraries serve the entire population, not elitist snobs, and not just those at the bottom of the food chain either. They're equalizers.

If you're reading this in Ohio, please go to Save Ohio Libraries and do what you can to show our elected morons officials that cutting library funding is unacceptable. Use your right to speak up, today especially.

Ciggy

Once upon a time, I smoked.

Cigarettes, silly, not anything else.

Not a whole lot, you understand, but enough. It started as a "look at me, I'm so tough with my beer and cigarette" thing, and grew into a "well, everyone else does it, so why not." I'm not suggesting that intelligence was ever a factor here.

Shortly before I met DH, however, I quit. I was very ill the summer after I graduated high school, and stuck in bed for most of that summer. When I began to feel better, the first time I went out with friends and lit up a cigarette, I started to hack and cough. I put out that cigarette, and have only had a stray puff here and there in the 14 years since.

It isn't a habit that I miss, most of the time. Every now and then, on a stressful day, I'll walk past smokers outside and think, "ah, that would be nice." Middlesis smokes, but I can never talk her in to giving me a hit off of one of her cigarettes if I'm around her when I'm having a day like that. Which, all things considered, I'm grateful for.

I despise the smell of cigarette smoke. With a burning passion. (No pun intended.) Ex-smokers tend to be the most nazi-like enforcers of "no smoking" signs, which is pretty hilarious and hypocritical, but somehow I think ex-smokers are particularly sensitive to the smell.

About a year after I quit, I was diagnosed with asthma; the decision to either breathe or smoke was a pretty simple one. Its tough to do both if you're an asthmatic, although I do know asthmatics who smoke.

When Oh-hia-ia passed the smoking ban a year or so ago, I was ecstatic. Finally, no more smelling like cigarette smoke after an evening at a bar with friends. No need to strip down in the garage after bar-hopping, lest the smell of the cigs be carried in the house with the clothes. Enforcement of the law isn't perfect; there are still a few places where you can light up and no one will say anything. The state does not have near enough folks to enforce the law; it is the local health departments who are responsible for checking up on restaurants and bars. Which is ridiculous, really, because personally, I'd rather that the health department continue to insure the cleanliness of the area kitchens than play cigarette cop. The law isn't without its flaws.

Over the past two days, I've been smelling cigarette smoke IN my house. Ugh. And double ugh. I can not figure where in the living hell it is coming from. DH, the son of a pretty heavy smoker, despises the smell worse that I do; but he says he can't smell it. Now we already know that I'm mostly out of my mind, but phantom smells? Really?

It is strong enough that it woke me this morning; spraying air-freshner (something I hate to do) only covers it for a short while. Lighting the two aromatherapy diffusers I have hasn't helped much either. One is sitting next to me as I type, filled with a combination of lemon, lavender and cedar essential oils. It isn't helping sitting less than a foot away from me, I still smell the cigarette smoke. And we aren't talking about that first inhale from a cigarette, which could still appeal to me; we're talking about the smell of a week-old overflowing ash tray. I say again: ugh.

I can't open the windows...besides being too cold outside to open the house up, we've plasticized the windows, something we do in the winter to help keep our heating costs down. Even the sliding glass doors have been covered over with a shrink-wrap-esque sort of material. Baking more cookies is out, because I only smell it in the bedroom, which is on the second floor. So that wouldn't help either.

As if I needed more proof I was out of my mind......


On something not exactly related, I have sent in the entry form for my first ever 5K race. It is on New Year's Eve. I choose this race because it is at a location that is entirely flat; and I think it is a good place to start to attain my eventual goal of running in a marathon. What was I just saying about being out of my mind? Just nod and smile at the crazy woman in the corner.

Further proof, as if I needed it, of Ohio's Red-Stated-ness.

Many, many, many thanks to Twisty at I Blame the Patriarchy for bringing this horrible bit of news to my attention.

I usually spend a lot of time listening to NPR, reading news websites, checking up on NOW and NARAL, but since I've lost my job and it has been summer and I've been fighting the terrible demons of depression, I haven't been plugged in to the news. So it is with stomach-churning disgust that I tell you about a new Ohio law that is a blow to any woman with a brain, pro-choice or not, this has got to be one of the worst bits of ick I've heard in a while.

Ohio legislators, in their divine wisdom, have decided that "there oughta be a law" that requires, REQUIRES, mind you, a woman to GET WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE POTENTIAL FATHER OF HER UNBORN CHILD BEFORE SHE CAN GET AN ABORTION.

I know what you're thinking. "Oh, no, Lucy, you must have misunderstood. The state of Ohio could not be so stupid to think that a woman does not have the right to do with her own body what she chooses without the permission (permission? are you fucking kidding me?) of her 'owner,' oops, I meant her partner."

And unfortunately, I've got to say that yes, dear reader, that is exactly what the state of Ohio thinks. Read the legislation for yourself. And just in case you think you might slide under the radar and get a male friend to sign something for you, that becomes a misdemeanor under the new law. Do it twice, and it is a felony.

As Twisty rightly points out, this is a part of the 'men's right's' movement. I have a lot to say about that, but it boils down to this.... Ha. And: What-the-fuck-ever. As if men need someone to fight for their rights. Fellas, you run the world and by and large control what goes on over the entire planet. Gimme a break. Mostly, until you can give birth, you don't get a choice or much of a say in the matter. Sorry, but them's the breaks, boyos.

Permission. Wow. We've just taken about 45,000 steps backwards in women's rights. Thanks so much to the legislators who are supporting this bill for making 2007 seem more like 1307. If you are one of my Ohio readers, PLEASE, PLEASE take a second to send your local rep an e-mail urging them to not vote for this piece of crap legislation.

I could go on and on about how it seems more and more like we're living in a totalitarian state, or about how the last time I checked, until someone other than me is paying my bills, they don't have the right to boss me around, or about what incredible bullshit this is, but you've heard it all before.

Until women everywhere stand up and say "NO!" to this type of misguided legislating, it is going to continue. Make your voice heard.

Unexpected but pleasant surprise.

I spend quite a bit of time cruising my local chain bookstores. We have a Barnes & Noble and a Borders, not far away is a Joseph Beth Bookseller. They're nice and all, but kind of homogeneous.

Used to be there was a great independent bookseller located not far from where I live now, in a rambling old house. Books could be found shelved on every available surface, including on shelves over the toilet in the bathroom. Sci-Fi/Fantasy was in the basement, cookbooks near the back door, horror lined both staircases. It closed not long after Barnes & Noble came to town. I miss it; they introduced me to some of my favorite authors, it was there that I first found Anne McCaffrey. They even introduced me to lots of other things I'd never have picked up, published by alternative presses, things written by folks that I'd have never been exposed to otherwise.

I was in Barnes & Noble over the weekend, looking for presents for a birthday party. Going into ANY bookstore is dangerous for me. I love to read, and while my interests focus on the universes created by authors who write about dragons and spaceships, I'll read just about anything. Biographies, non-fiction, cookbooks...I think I've written about this before, so I'll stop walking that same path. The point is: I like to read. I will "lose" time in a bookstore, wandering the stacks, picking up random things, reading them 'for just a second' and suddenly I'll look at my watch and three hours has gone by. Ooops. The same thing happens to me in libraries.


At a display table near the children's section, a powder-blue paperback cover caught my eye. While the expression says that you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, we all do. Interesting artwork on a book's cover will always catch my eye. This one has three of those Valentine's candy hearts, with the words, "Boy Meets Boy" in the center of each heart, on that powder blue field. Nothing else. A wee bit jarring in its simplicity, surrounded by books for teens about cliques and whatever other tosh is popular that show girls dressed in the latest styles, mice with swords, elaborate and eye-catching designs.

I read about three chapters before I remembered that I had somewhere specific to be at a scheduled time, so I reluctantly put it down and found birthday presents. But the memory of those three chapters has stayed with me, and I almost need to go back and either read the rest of it or just buy it.

I'm surprised about the book's subject matter being so openly, prominently, displayed in my very conservative community. It is a high school love story, yes, but the principal characters are gay. I'm thrilled that it wasn't on a low shelf somewhere, wrapped in plain brown paper, because that's the way things would normally be handled around here.

The world inhabited by the central characters is devoid of homophobia, in fact the principal character talks about setting up a Gay-Straight Alliance in junior high school. Progressive, to say the least. Surprising, and refreshing.

It isn't like this kind of thing is difficult to find in the information age. The internet can lead you to anything you'd like, as long as you know how to search. Back when I was in high school, though, there weren't romance novels for gay kids, or any kind of resources for them. Not a single one of my contemporaries was openly gay in high school. In the several years its been since I graduated, though, several of them have come out. It goes without saying that most of them have chosen to move on, to bigger cities, where people aren't so incredibly intolerant. Ohio's "Defense of Marriage" constitutional amendment, passed recently, would have been enough for me to leave the state, were I gay. As it is, it just makes me embarrassed to be from Ohio.

As I walked out, wondering if B&N had been infected with the spirits of those independent booksellers I miss so much, I spotted someone who I know used to work in that rambling old house. He smiled and waved, recognizing me. Aha! Influence only for the good.

Legal? Or...no?

So Ohio has passed a law that requires voters to bring ID to the polls. Seems to me that I remember a constitutional law class in high school that said that asking for ID at the polls is illegal, but a quick scan of the amendments of the constitution courtesy of Cornell Law School turns up nothing of the sort. There's the amendment against the poll tax, and the women's right to vote, but no amendment about ID. Can it be that my memory is faulty? Noooooo.....

I wrote to NPR and asked them if they would do a story about it, because I think it is illegal to ask for ID at the polls. Guess I will have to wait and see how it plays out in the courts.

Please remember to vote on November 7th. Here in Ohio, I'll be voting for pro-choice Ted Strickland and YES on Issues 1, 2, 3, and 5 and NO on Issue 4.

Another side of the abortion debate

Something I read has me thinking about the abortion debate again. There’s so much I want to say about this, but I’m struggling to find the right words. Also, I don’t want to mention the specific details of the case, because I think the woman is having a tough enough time without the anti-choice league trolls harassing her. She wants to terminate a pregnancy, and she is having a very tough time obtaining an abortion. The fetus that she is carrying has a fatal genetic flaw, and will not survive the pregnancy, nor would it be able to survive outside of the womb in the extremely unlikely event that the pregnancy lasted full term. Let’s leave it at that and see if I can say what I want to say without being any more detailed.

While I firmly believe that you should be able to obtain an abortion with the snap of your fingers, I also firmly believe that this is a decision to not be undertaken lightly. For this woman, I’m sure that the decision she came to involved much soul-searching and an agonizing internal debate. Ultimately, however, the only “right” choice is whatever choice she makes. There is no right or wrong answer here.

What I most emphatically don’t want is for legislators or religious leaders to be able to make that decision for any woman. I’m angry that she’s getting the runaround from her medical professionals, but I know that their hands are most likely tied by laws in her state that make an abortion harder to obtain. Ohio, for example, has laws on the books that require counseling and a mandatory 24-hour waiting period, and we’re not the only one. My source for this information is NARAL, of course. When I first found out that Ohio gets an F in women’s reproductive rights, I had to look at other states to see where they stood, and the states around Ohio also mostly have failing grades as well. Thirty one states have laws on the books that require abortion providers to give women biased counseling, and mandatory waiting periods, so we’re in a majority there. And then there’s the ban on abortions that Ohio passed, we’re the only state in the nation with an enforceable law on the books to prevent D & X abortions. We can thank our anti-choice legislators for that one.

I can understand the anti-choice folks opposing people using abortion as a method of birth control. I don’t agree with that any more than I agree with someone having six babies born addicted to crack. You might maybe wanna get your tubes tied if that’s what you’re doing. If you’re going to have sex, use some protection. For heaven’s sake, you can get AIDS or any number of sexually transmitted diseases besides getting pregnant. But should you find yourself in the position of wanting to terminate a pregnancy, you should not have to jump through innumerable hoops to satisfy the letter of your state’s law.

In my ever so humble opinion, this is yet another reason that abortion needs to remain legal, whether or not you think personally it is ethical or not. How could you ever think that it would be better for someone to carry a baby to term, knowing it couldn’t survive outside of the womb, knowing that a genetic flaw would prevent the pregnancy from coming to a full term? She should just wait for a miscarriage? Give me a break. That’s a serious miscarriage of justice, if you ask me.

I went to school with someone who thought that there was never a case where abortion was justified. I remember talking calmly to her about cases of rape or incest; she thought that it was perfectly acceptable for a 15 year old who was raped by her stepfather to have to carry the baby to term, give birth to the baby, and then give it up for adoption. That’s a wrong answer.

I remember a case that I followed in the news (this was a few years ago) about a couple that forced their teenage daughter to be a surrogate mother for them. They knew that she wouldn’t be able to obtain an abortion under Ohio law without parental consent, so they knew she would have to give birth to the baby. And they thought they’d get off scot-free. They did end up being prosecuted for what they did to her, but by the time they were on trial, she was in her 20s, married and with a family of her own. The news in the case was all about the failings of the child protective services agency in that county being unable to protect her, but I was thinking about her inability to make decisions about her own body, (thanks to the state of Ohio) the whole time the trial was going on.

I can’t help but wonder if our society was different, if men had the babies, if we would even be having this debate. I also can’t help but wonder if I was a man where I would stand on the issue. I like to think that men don’t get an opinion, but that’s because the most strident anti-choice folks I’ve met are men, and assholes to boot, who want to tell me that I’m a baby-killing whore who is going to hell for not sharing their ultra-conservative beliefs. My usual response to that is that when men can have the babies, then they can make a choice. The reality is that men do often have a stake in the process; what if your girlfriend gets pregnant and you want a kid and she doesn’t? Or the other way around, she wants it and you don’t. Mostly, I don’t feel bad for guys caught up in a situation like that, I’m much more worried about protecting the woman’s rights. Which isn't fair, but that's how I feel.

I’m angry that it has to be so tough. I’m angry that we still have to fight about it 30 years after Roe v. Wade. I’m also angry that I don’t see younger women organizing and working to make sure their own rights are protected. I’m 31; where are the 18-24 year olds? If you are interested in doing work for the cause, please check out Save Roe, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL.

Have a nice weekend...it is supposed to rain rain rain rain in Ohio.

Soundtrack: Fight The Power, by Public Enemy, from Fear of a Black Planet