Brilliant

I mean that as a compliment to the detainees, and an insult to the officers.
Thank you, New York Times online.

10 Detainees Pull Off Escape as Visitors Take Their Place
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: March 17, 2007

Update: Store owner testifies Pitonyak bought hacksaw and cleaning supplies - Breaking News

Update: Store owner testifies Pitonyak bought hacksaw and cleaning supplies - Breaking News

"Pitonyak's defense team admitted in opening arguments Tuseday that the former UT student shot Jennifer Cave but did not take actions pursuant to the definition of murder."

Hmm... He admits that he shot her and she wound up dead - in pieces - in his bath tub. I haven't heard anything about him trying to take her to an emergency room, or call an ambulance. To me, shooting someone and not trying to secure some sort of life saving aid for them is murder. Especially if you go on a Mexican vacation the next day.

The beginning:
Witnesses paint picture of Cave's last night - Top Stories

What would you do?

I had agreed to ask this question for a friend, quite a while ago, and just found this while avoiding homework and organizing things over here:

My friend got a Christmas gift in the mail the other day, from an ex. Their relationship ended over two years ago, but she is still sent gifts at Christmas and her birthday. I'm not talking a gift certificate to Old Navy, either - the most recent is a rare book from the 50s, signed by the author. We're talking gifts that cost hundreds of dollars - Things that she really does want.

Does she keep them?

Does she tell her current significant other?

What would you do?

Thank you, NewYork Times, for making me cry at work.

Taken by the Tide
By BILLY SOTHERN
Published: January 10, 2007

"Last year’s total of 161 murders probably made New Orleans the deadliest city in the United States by a significant margin. I suppose it was only a matter of time before the violence touched my life directly."

Goodness, me!

I want one of theese with a cameo center!

Uterus Pin

It's the glasses that make me look like James Spader.

If I find a photo without glasses I'll try again. Hmm, where are those photos from my sister's wedding?

And - is anyone else wondering what the hell is going on with Jeneane Garofalo's hair?

This is why all of my pets are rescues. They either find me, or I find them in a shelter - but there is no buying.

Tiny Tim
"He was one of about 30 that were rescued late last week from a local puppy mill by the Brown County Humane Society, Animal Control, and the All Texas Dachshund Rescue out of Austin. There are still about 100 more dogs at that location, but due to the lack of enforceable legislation, they had to be left behind."

To see what a puppy mill can do scroll down. It's an awful image. Worse than anything I've ever seen on Animal Cops.

Corley [kor-li] - proper noun

or,

events and such that define my being 5-10

- When I was very young I had very high fever, and because of it I had a seizure. When treatment was all over I was the youngest person in my family to have had a drug addiction. I don't remember it, but apparently withdrawal from phenobarbital is a bitch.

- Looking back at how the mind develops through childhood, I particularly like the time I had to get stitches in my forehead best of all. I was in the passenger seat of my dad's truck, I was waiting in it, parked in the driveway, while my dad had gone into the house to get something. During this time the balloon I had been playing with, made its way over to the floor boards of the driver's side of the truck. My little 4 year old brain couldn't realize that I could just move to the driver's side, reach down and grab the balloon. I had only ever been on the passenger side, through the passenger door. I had only ever seen my dad on the driver's side, and he got in through the driver's door - follow my logic? I got out and went to run around the back of the truck, only, I didn't realize the tailgate was down and I hit it hard. So hard that I fell over and gashed my head open. One way to learn to just scoot over.

- About six months later my Grandmother, Annie Tannie, died. Her funeral was the on the same day me pre-K class talked about the letter C. Can you see how this was confusing, too? I had been so excited - C! My name starts with C! There is a very nice watercolor sketch of a white cat next the the C! on the wall! I like cats! I was there for A and B, and the - D? Scarred for life. Now we all know why So-so Def (my ex's cat) and I never got along. After a few months, my parents were finally able to convince me Annie Tannie wasn't ever coming back. One weekend we went to the house where she and her husband had lived to visit him, Poppy Tom ( As the first grandchild I got to be the kid calling the shots. I like titles made up of two names.), and I was so confused! There she was - sitting in the living room! She was talking to Poppy Tom, my parents, and me - and she was NEVER coming back! ? The little wheels in my head first peeled out, and then came to a grinding halt. It was way too much for me. And then she leaned over and said in the sweetest way you can possibly tell a small child that you are not the one person that they want to see most in the universe, "Corley Ann, I am not your Annie Tannie." She wasn't. She was Tannie's sister, Sara. This is where I believe I began to cry. And if I didn't then, it is where I begin to cry every time I tell the story (even right now). I really wanted it to be her. I had been wishing on every shooting star, in every night's prayer, I still wish it had been her. That moment is vividly burned in my mind, I can see Aunt Sara's silhouette (it was kind of dark), and I can hear her Southern sing-song voice - that sounded just like Annie Tannie's - saying "Ah" instead of "I."

I have to limit it like this to keep from over burdening myself emotionally. This is not what I originally expected to write! I was think of something much more brief - oops!

Maybe next time I'll do 5-10 years, if I can take it.

Oh My Goodness!

PIcture me

attempting to drag myself across the floor on my elbows - immbobilzed my physical and emotional exhaustion.


That's about how I feel, but I have some muscle pain too.

How I miss that semester I took off of school!!

My last final is on the 15th - I cannot wait.

I am so sad and disturbed by this.

Too Many Things Went Wrong...

... to lay the blame on any one person. Here is the story in print. I suggest seeing the AP Video version as well.


And when searching for that I found these other horrifying things: "Raw Video: Police Chase Ends In Crash"

And another horrifying story: "Teenager tells of her eight years as dungeon sex slave"


I guess that's one way to get you started thinking about what you'll say tomorrow night when you have to tell your family what you're thankful for before chowing down.

Things from The Daily Texan that you should know about:

(photos are links to story)



This fucking disgusts me. Nazis, in Texas.



Media Credit: Megan Shelby

"Charles Wilson, a member of the National Socialist Movement, yells "Sieg Heil," German for "Hail Victory,'" at the crowd of protesters that formed at the Capitol. The Nazi members held the rally to oppose illegal immigration in Texas and the United States."




I share her sentiment in counter-protest.




Media Credit: Megan Shelby

"Tracy Rutherford shows her disgust for the National Socialist Movement, otherwise known as the American Nazi Party, at a rally at the Capitol Saturday afternoon. Rutherford and other activists staged a counter-protest against the Nazi presence in Austin."



I can't believe I forgot this! I am so SAD!

Media Credit: Jason Sweeten
"Models Kiley Blake, Aliana Villarreal, Latasha Currell and Heather Walton walk down the Stitch runway on Saturday night at the Austin City Music Hall. Their clothes were from Jenny Milne's label Machine Ballerina."

Guess I'll go see STITCH next year. Boo!

Human Rights and Women

Maybe the most recent international well known human rights violation is the case of Mukhtaran Bibi, the Pakistani woman who was gang raped for her brother's alleged crime, and went public with her story.

In 2005 she was Glamour Magazine's woman of the year. With the money the government tried to pay her off with she opened a school, and has travelled to tell her story and bring awareness to human rights violations in Pakistan.

While searching for topics today I came across an Amnesty International Page.

The topics I think are best include:

In the name of honour: Domestic Violence in Pakistan

The Promise of Safety: Afghan Women Refugees

UNIFEM is celebrating 30 years and has this to say about women's human rights.

Raise Your Hand if You HAVEN'T Heard of Female Genital Mutilation.

Is there anyone out there raising their hand?

I first learned about female genital mutilation when I was a kid - about 12 - from 60 Minutes.

So since we all know about it, here are some links, starting with Wikipedia:
Different forms of Female Genital Mutilation

In 1998, the BBC wrote about how many untrained people were in charge of performing the operation.

NPR tell us about how an Atlanta Female Circumcision Case Stirs Concern

The BBC, again, reminds us the 'female circumcision' put women at risk for birth related problems, including obstruction and mortality.

And here's the WHO's PoV.

Maternal Mortality is determined as a pregnancy related death when pregnant or within 42 days of termination of the pregnancy.
An estimated 529,000 women die annually from maternal causes. For each woman who dies approximately 20 suffer injury, infection or disibilty.

So that is... 10 million women affected each year?

Most often women die because of post partum hemorrage, but along with that, sepsis, abortion related complications, obstructed labor (the same kind that causes Obstetric Fitsula), and even hypertansive disorders related with pregnancy.

Death could be prevented if obstetric care and equipment were available so that a C-section could be preferomed, or a hemorrage stopped.

Women at a higher risk have stunted height from malnutrition in childhood, are Anemic, or have undergone female genital mutilation. The same factors affect the survival rate of the child, resulting in an estimated 8 million infant deaths each year.


www.safemotherhood.org, "Maternal Mortality"

According to Reproline, Every Minute:

380 women become pregnant
190 women face unplanned or unwanted pregnancy
110 women experience a pregnancy related complication
40 women will have an unsafe abortion
1 woman will die from a pregnancy-related complication.

According to www.UNFPA.org, a woman living in sun-saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in childbirth or pregnancy. A woman in a developed nation's chance of mortality is only 1 in 2,800. Of those previously mentioned 529,000 deaths annually, 95% of those were in Africa and Asia.

UNFPA.org's suggestions for progress in reducing maternal mortality:

Meeting the existing demand for family planning services would reduce maternal deaths and injuries by 20 per cent or more.

According to reproductive health benchmark set by the ICPD+ 5, by 2005, at least 40 per cent of births should be assisted by skilled birth attendants where maternal mortality is very high, and 80 per cent globally.

Targets for the percentage of assisted births have been set at 50 and 85 per cent, respectively, by 2010, and 60 and 90 per cent by 2015.

Evidence shows that maternal mortality can be reduced without first achieving high levels of economic development. In fact, maternal mortality itself constrains economic development, because of its severe impact on the lives of young children, the family and society in general.

NaBloPoMo - With A Cause

Chances are I will be posting more than once each day. Hanging out with my blog so much lately has had me wanting to write more and more. However, just as I previously mentioned, I am planning on posting on a certain topic everyday. One with a little more meaning than the "This Is My Life" theme I normally have.

I am currently enrolled in a course titled, "Issues and Policies in American Government." I know, the name alone give you chills from excitement - yes? The class focuses on social movements in the US versus those abroad. While wrapping up our focus on the modern women's movement in the US, the professor took a moment to focus of the women's issues in developing countries, because our comparison in class is only with the Chilean Women's movement. I've known about female genital mutilation, and oppression in some Islamic states, but her list kept going and going.

I realized right then what I wanted to focus on.

So, forgive me, dear readers, if you cannot hack the factual and emotional pleas I will be making for the next month. I promise to sprinkle it with personal anecdotes, and to keep it fairly short. With lots of links. Pictures, too (remember that I like to make my links to important things photos).

So to begin, this week is women's health week. I am sure some topics will over-lap, and may get kind of muddy. I am doing my best to organize, and that's still not great.

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Ever heard of Obstetric fistula?

I hadn't. It's horrible - and entirely preventable and treatable when not prevented.

Fistula is a childbirth related injury. It occurs when a labor is obstructed and goes on for 3-7 days, even though the fetus normally dies after two or three days of labor. While the fetus is in the birth canal it's head puts pressure on the soft tissues around it against the pelvic bone or the rectum. This extended pressure prevents blood from getting to the tissue, causing it to die and leaving a hole between the vagina and bladder, or rectum, or both.

The result is incontinence. Because of the woman's inability to control her urine or feces she is often shunned by her family, unable to get a job, and left to rely on charity. There can be medical consequences, too. Women with Fistula can suffer from chronic ulcerations and infections. Some women drink as little as possible to prevent embarrassment and only succeed in dehydrating themselves. Others suffer nerve damage and are unable to walk. In most cases the child is still-born.

Fistula can be prevented by an emergency cesarean section, and occurs most often in area where emergency services are unavailable. The surgery to repair it and post-op care costs about $300, and has a 90% success rate in uncomplicated cases. Many women who suffer from fistula cannot afford the $300, or do not know a solution exists.

Please visit www.endfistula.org, RENEW: The Campaign to End Fistula, to find out more, see pictures of the women affect and helped by the campaign, and to learn what you can do to help.

If you, or someone you know, has an idea about how to bring attention to Fistula, please let me know in the comments section.