I Know No One Will Read it, But....

I just sent off a letter to John Cornyn. Which will be summarily deleted, I have no doubt.

Why would I do that, you ask?

Because he voted in favor of gang rape, along with 29 other fine U.S. Senators.

Surely not, you say! But unfortunately, it's true. I first read about it at appletreeblog.com, but it's been in both the news and the fake news:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rape-Nuts
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

There's not much that can be done at this point beyond expressing my outrage, because despite the acts of these thirty senators, the legislation did pass. Now, thankfully, federal contractors will be subject to civil lawsuits if they are found negligent in cases of sexual assault and other crimes of the person. Victims will be permitted to sue their employers instead of being subject to arbitration agreements; arbitration is not only expensive, but it is weighed heavily in favor of the employers.

Nonetheless, I felt compelled to shoot off a short note to John Cornyn anyway:

Mr. Cornyn:

I was deeply disappointed to learn of your recent vote in favor of protecting overseas federal contractors whose employees engage in rape and other forms of assault against female employees. I understand the scenario of federal contractors protecting violent employees and furthering an environment that makes sexual assaults likely is not uncommon - to see you and a number of other Republicans vote to uphold the status quo was extremely upsetting to me as a woman.

In fact, I cannot stress how much I was upset upon learning that anyone opposed this legislation. As far as I am concerned, the matter is neither Republican nor Democrat, but rather a basic human issue. I have friends who are rape survivors and the victim never completely recovers from the experience; I cannot imagine affirmatively protecting an entity that harbors a corporate atmosphere that makes such an assault possible or even likely. I cannot imagine protecting an entity that covers up systematic sexual assault.

Your vote tells me that you value corporations over women's safety and it makes me wonder why a corporation is a higher priority to you.

Please think about the real consequences of your vote in the future - it's not always "politics as usual." Sometimes you have the chance to really help and sometimes it's more important to do what's right rather than walk the party line.

Sincerely,

[Name and Address]

So he'll have that to delete first thing in the morning, but it was better than not saying anything.

Amused?

Why, yes.

Amused?

No. Not even a little.

The Glorious Colors of Autumn

Here are some lovely trees in autumn shades of reddy brown near the house:


Except those are evergreens. Pine trees.

Evergreens, of course, don't turn colors in the fall - unless they are dead. The scene is common - large clusters of pine trees dead all over the area. We had a particularly hot summer which was particularly devoid of rain. We had a few days of rain in August, but by then the trees were stressed considerably.

The drought didn't kill them, however - a tiny little pest did. The Southern Pine Bark Beetle has been active in the area. It's a quick and lethal creature - it takes down stressed trees easily, but will destroy healthy ones just the same. We lost three or four massive pines on our property a few years back - the invoice for removing the trees was a whopper and we were pretty upset that the extra cost to purchase the heavily treed lot was wasted in a matter of months. Still mad about that, truth be told.

There are very few signs that your tree is infested with beetles - once you can see the damage, it's really too late to rehabilitate the tree. Once the tree turns noticeably brown, the beetles have left for another host and it's "Sayonara, Pine Tree." There are a few ways to control the pest, but they aren't very effective or practical.

So anyway - this is our Fall color this year. Whee. In case you are wondering, the rest of the trees (both deciduous and evergreen) are still very green. It was in the low nineties this week, so I expect it to be green around here for a while. Our seasonal color goes something like this: green, green, green, green, brownandfalloff, buds in January, green, green, green.....

Oh, we do have one tree variety that does make gorgeous colors in some years, but the Chinese Tallow is considered nastily invasive in Texas (and probably everywhere else) and we've been asked not to plant any - it reproduces quickly and edges out the native varieties. Annoying, that, but what are you going to do?

But hey, we aren't shoveling snow like some states, so I guess I shouldn't complain. For the record, there has been no need to shovel snow in this area since....well....ever. And you will never see me complaining about that.

p.s. Tomorrow, the boys and I are making Autumn Leaves as a craft - it's the best I can do for them this year. If you have any groovy Autumn kiddy crafts, feel free to link me up, ok?

NEWS ALERT: Meghan McCain Has Boobs!

And all the twitterverse has gone mad.

Meghan McCain posted a photo of herself on her twitter account. It showed some boobage (OMG THE HORROR!). And then she apparently got a ton of flack from her followers, who called her nasty names and tweeted unjustified implications, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I would guess that most of her followers are Republicans, but that's beside the point, really. Well, no, maybe that is some of my point, now that I think about it. Hmmm.

This is Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain. She is literate. She is conservative. She's pretty darn cute. Oh, and she has boobs:

Come on, kids - they are just boobs. Owning does not mean that one is a "slut" or imply anything of the sort. Maybe she should have used better judgement in choosing what to post, knowing that her particular audience is significantly more conservative than average, but her photo, which is neither obscene nor in any way offensive, deserves not even one of the rude comments that it drew. And seriously, what sort of good Christian or promoter of family values goes around calling people whores, anyway?

Here is Ms. McCain's own response to the tempest in a twitterpot on The Daily Beast.

For those that don't know anything about McCain, she is a Republican blogger and columnist who is socially surprisingly moderate. She is tolerant, seems to stay away from negative politics, and I think she generally has a good head on her shoulders, particularly given a few more years under her belt.

I'd actually think if more Republicans paid heed to her practices, they would have a bigger (and happier) following, including the much sought after young adult vote. No doubt we will see more of her in the coming years, hopefully as the conservative voters back slowly away from the radical right, horrified of the kind of race-baiting, hateful politics and negativity they have promoted in recent years. That might just be my own personal fantasy, but a girl can dream, no?

And in the long run, while I doubt she will make a habit of posting photos without careful consideration, exposure like this (haha - I made a pun), will only benefit her long term in terms of publicity. Kudos to you, Meghan.

You Can.

The global economic crisis has caused a spike in world hunger that has left more than a billion undernourished, United Nations agencies said in a new report.

The report says the stabilization of financial markets has meant less investment in agriculture, food distribution.

"It is unacceptable in the 21st century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Programme. "At a time when there are more hungry people in the world than ever before, there is less food aid than we have seen in living memory."

Want to help? We can.

In a related note, I now feel ill after reading this, for more reasons than the obvious.