I don't want the government in my bedroom...

Today I read that Hugh Hefner is taking issue with the use of birth control and women's sexual behavior as a political platform. Honestly, it's about time. I'm not a prude by any means, but I also believe that people have the right to do what they feel is best for them. Why is it politicians feel they can dictate what a woman does? Is it just easier to bully women around then face the real issues that we as a nation are facing?

Saying that a woman should not have access to birth control because it will make her want to have sex is absurd. I suppose the next step will be to go back to the idea that if a woman is raped it is her fault. We are not living in the dark ages anymore. We are in a technological age of enlightenment, we fight wars to insure the freedoms of third world populations, but women in the United States are supposed to let the government have control over their uterus.

I think it is wonderful that female law makers across the country are introducing bills to restrict men's access to drugs like Viagra. If women are not supposed to have sex, why are we giving men drugs to make them want to perform? Conservatives really need to straighten out what message they are trying to get across.

This is how I see it: women should not get access to birth control because it will make them want to have sex. Apparently women should not have sex for enjoyment, it is a physical obligation in order to continue the species. Men are told they are not masculine if they refrain from intercourse, they are given drugs to insure they can continue to procreate long after their bodies have naturally told them to stop. So men can have sex, women can't. Who are men supposed to be having sex with? Conservatives say homosexuality is wrong, so what are we really supposed to be getting from this?

My belief is that if women can not have birth control or abortions, men should not have Viagra or vasectomies.  Now, I do not believe in abortion as birth control. I have struggled for years to get pregnant so the idea that a girl would abort a child when I can't have one just makes me sick. However, I also understand that every woman has the right to do what she wants with her body. Where is the sexual equality?

I am not conservative, not be any stretch of the imagination, but I do believe in family values. I do believe in the importance and preciousness of marriage and family. I do believe I can make better choices for my body and my life than a politician who does not know me and has no medical education. I think we all need to remind the politicians that they have no place in our bedrooms, so stop trying to use it as a road to office.

A Little Rant About Gas Prices and Presidents

Every so often someone decides to post a meme, picture, quote or what have you about gas prices and how much lower they were when Bush was in office. Yes, gas prices have gone up but that really shouldn't surprise anyone. Everything has gotten more expense. Here's a quick fact for you,  the price of gasoline increased from $1.60 per gallon when (Bush) took office in January 2001 to $4.40 per gallon in July 2008, a jump of 275 percent.*  Bush was ridiculed and blamed for escalating gas prices during his term, and I'm pretty sure they've gone up steadily since the automobile became affordable for everyone. So why are we spending so much time saying it's all Obama's fault. There are a lot of factors that set the price of gas - not one man sitting in an oval office.

And here's something we should all keep in mind: Gas is going to get more expensive! Why? Because oil is not a renewable resource. There is only so much of it in the ground. As it becomes more scarce, which it will as we continue to use it, the cost will continue to go up. It's supply and demand - as the supply runs out, if the demand remains the same, the value goes up and it becomes more expensive. What I don't understand is how huge corporations can understand this fact and not be investing in renewable energy sources so they can continue to make money well after the oil supply is gone.

This is what irritates me: Everyone wants to blame the president for whatever is wrong, regardless of political party or what the issues are. I don't believe there has ever been a president that everyone loved. For every critical or negative thing that can be said about one president, just as many can be said about the previous president. So the next time you want to blame Obama for gas prices, stop to consider if the families of military personnel who died in Iraq looking for weapons that weren't there blame Bush for the loss of their loved one.

Our system is not perfect, but no system is. Our country is led by the men and women of all three branches of government, not just one man. Instead of complaining about how bad everything is, do something about it. Write to your representatives that you want jobs brought back to this country, we want a budget that helps the people who really need it, we want a feeling of peace and that our country really is the best in the world again. We are a nation "of the people, for the people and by the people" - WE are the people and we choose who represents us, if you don't like who is there now, don't vote for them again.

* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-belkin/gop-gas-prices_b_1286787.html

Profitable Oil Companies Are Bad At Business

I recently watched the documentary "GasHole" and I was amazed at some of the ideas it brought it up. For those who haven't seen it, the film starts off with an older gentleman talking about being at a race track in the late 1940s and the man he met that had a modified carburetor that allowed his vehicle to get nearly 100 miles per gallon. He sold the patent for his invention to Shell Oil, became a millionaire and never made another one. Next was a young man in the 1970s who altered the engine of his car and drove 205 miles on two gallons of gas. He was later found dead of a supposed suicide from a drug overdose. When another man tried to imitate his idea, he had his life threatened.


Realistically, I shouldn't be too surprised that big business has always been run like the mafia. They strong arm people to get what they want and if that doesn't work, the problem people just disappear. Why is our government giving this industry subsidies? With record profits being made, why are we handing them money to line their pockets with? I know that collectively we don't have the money to be just handing back to the rich.


The part of the film I found most interesting had to do with the bio-fuels. It baffles me that oil companies are putting a higher priority on making money from a resource that will be exhausted in the foreseeable future. Think of the damage we are doing to the planet by drilling for oil. And before you call me a tree hugging hippy, I'm looking at it from a layman-ishly scientific way. We live on a ball that is made up of layers, and as we systemically tunnel through and remove some of those layers, we are also destroying the layer we live on with the pollution. How long can it go on before the planet, in one way or another, collapses in on itself? 


Okay, maybe the world disintegrating is a bit of an extreme view of what we are doing to this planet. But it cannot be denied that sooner or later the oil reserves will run out. Then what?


If oil companies want to continue to be profitable, they need to start investing in bio-fuels. No matter how you look at, alternative energy sources are the future. Why are oil companies not cornering this market? Why are they dragging their feet like spoiled little children that want to get their way? It seems to me that if we have the technology to put a man on the moon (from forty years ago at that), we should have the technology to get better gas mileage in our vehicles. We should have the technology to create cleaner burning fuels and reverse some of the damage done by older technologies.


I may not run a multi-billion dollar business, but even I can see that discrediting something new just because it will decrease your profits down the road is not smart. Companies remain profitable by innovation. They create the future through inventions that better the lives of the consumers and make the world just a little bit better place to be. My advice to oil companies: quit worrying about taking out the little guy, and focus on what will be necessary in the future. Create and perfect the bio-fuel engines, invest in crops and renewable resources. If you don't, the effects of your actions today will eventually kill the people whose money you are after.

Family Pet

One thing I will never understand is how people can bring a living creature into a home and then abuse and neglect it. Dogs, cats and other furry critters can't speak for themselves. I volunteer at my local animal shelter and have seen dogs come in hurt, scared, hungry and still craving love. A perfect example would be a sweetheart of a pit bull momma with four puppies that were mere hours old. The reason they were brought in? The family was behind on their rent so they moved, leaving the pregnant dog tied up in a shed. 


My opinion has always been that owning a pet is just like having a child. A dog needs rules, boundaries, discipline, positive reinforcement and lots of love. Treat a dog right, train them, give them a sense of love and duty and you will have a friend and companion that will always be there for you.


All of my animals have been rescues and they have all been wonderful pets. I have a Australian Stub-Tailed Cattle dog (a blue heeler) who is quite literally the perfect dog. She is a happy, energetic dog when she's outside, running circles around our older dog. When she's inside, she is calm and quiet, often choosing to hang out quietly in her kennel. She's smart and generally doesn't need a leash. In fact, she is doing her part to train our Norwegian Elkhound puppy. My heeler has done a better job house training the elkhound than I have.


The elkhound herself is a rescue after her and her litter mates were dumped at a house in a rural area. They were only about eight weeks old. And to help do my part prevent over-population, she will be getting spayed in a couple of weeks.


Most people love the idea of having that cute fuzzy face to come home to. But sooner or later, the extent of responsibility sinks in and unfortunately many people just can't handle it. Where I take issue is the people that can not take the necessary responsibility for their decisions. It's ok if you decide you can't handle the animal you took in. It takes a lot to care for a pet and it's not for everyone. What's not ok is neglecting the animal, not feeding it or not giving it the medical attention that it needs. It's not ok to just dump the animal and figure they will be ok.


If you can't care for an animal, surrender it to a rescue group or the Humane Society. Give the animal a chance to find a home that can provide for it. If your local shelter charges to surrender a pet, it would be better to lie and say the animal was a stray to surrender it for free than to dump it to fend for itself. Pets are like toddlers - they depend on us to help them get through this world, to learn their place in it and to love them the way they deserve.

Welcome To My Life

So this is my little corner of the web to rant about and contemplate whatever random thoughts come into my wacky little head. And I will talk about pretty much anything - news, random events from history that strike me as interesting, or the general idiocy I see in the world around me.

I don't promise anything particularly important or informative, but hopefully it will be mildly entertaining. This blog is my personal Op-Ed outlet, but I wouldn't mind hearing what other people think. I completely respect other people's opinions, even those that disagree with mine. I believe that discussion is the best way to learn about the world around us and if all people did was agree with each there really wouldn't be that much to learn.

I may not be consistent on my postings, but I will try to keep the site from being boring. Mostly, these are my thoughts and opinions. I don't claim them to be perfect, right, or, at times, all that logical. But they are mine. I think for myself and encourage others to do the same. Agree with me or not, at least you're exploring a new school of thought.

All that being said, have fun and life will always be interesting...