Friday Night Miscellany

I'm full of "whys" this week; I haven't been sleeping well and I'm depressed. I wonder why? Sarah Palin is in the news. Meet the Alaskan Fifi, the Republican right-wingers' newest and cutest attack dog. She's trainable and has sharp teeth. Why did this 44 year old mother of 4 NOT use birth control when the risks of having a Down Syndrome child are well known for women over 40? Even if she didn't want to use an IUD or a diaphragm or - God forbid - birth control pills for - whatever reasons - there's still self-control (I.E., ABSTINENCE) and the good old fashioned rhythym method. Isn't ABSTINENCE what they preach? Did she not know about the odds of having a Down Syndrome child at her age? Did she know, but not care? Did she think that God wouldn't allow her to HAVE a Down Syndrome child? Did she not think at all, just eat, screw and be merry, for tomorrow al-Qaida may kill us all before we kill them? I have major problems accepting this woman's life-affecting lapse in judgment and her self-indulgent hubris. The same applies to Mr. Fifi's judgment because, after all, it takes two to tango, and as the father of four children and the husband of a middle-aged woman he should have been aware of what the risks were. Do a loving mother and father force a 17 year old girl into a shot-gun wedding because their daughter got knocked up by an 18 year old jock who has nothing going for himself except - well, nothing? Is this the newest and latest morality out of the Republican Party - that bastion of righteousness and family values? Just what family values are being taught here? IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOW SAYING IT IS JUST PEACHY KEEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS TO SCREW AROUND AND GET PREGNANT AND FOR THEIR BOY FRIENDS (OR STATUTORY RAPISTS) TO DO IT? Is their message NOW about forgiveness of sin (for we all know that the flesh is weak no matter how willing the spirit may be) and reconciliation? If Chelsea Clinton was the pregnant, unwed daughter of a Vice-Presidential candidate, would the Republicans THEN be saying "this is a private, family matter"? Ah, Bristol. How does it feel at 17, I wonder, to have the whole rest of your life planned out for you by your parents, depending upon what track your mom's political career takes? Will you try and hold out to not marry the 18 year old dude who got you pregnant until after the election, in the hope that if McCain/Palin loses, you won't have to commit after all? Do you really think you'll be allowed to do this? Well, you know what they say: "If you're old enough to do the crime, you're old enough to do the time."

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Here is another really sad story. And no - I did not hunt it down because it features an elephant, which is the symbol for the Republican Party.

Elephant cured of heroin addiction Four-year-old Asian elephant treated with massive methadone doses Sep 04, 2008 02:04 PM The Associated Press BEIJING – An Asian elephant that became addicted to heroin at the hands of illegal traders will return home after a three-year rehab program, Chinese state media said today. Xiguang, a 4-year-old male Asian elephant, became addicted after he was captured by smugglers along the Chinese-Myanmar border in March 2005. The traders fed the elephant bananas laced with heroin as bait and to pacify the creature, the official Xinhua News Agency said. When Xiguang was found two months later along with six other captured elephants in China's southwest, he was suffering from withdrawal and was sent to a protection center in China's tropical Hainan island. Xiguang received daily methadone injections in doses five times larger than those given to a human and has now fully recovered, Xinhua said. He is expected to return to the Yunnan Wild Animal Park in the capital of Yunnan province, Kunming, on Saturday. The Asian elephant is threatened with extinction, according to the World Wildlife Fund conservation group, with only 25,600 to 32,750 left in the wild of Asia's tropical forests – fewer than a tenth of the number of wild African elephants.