Watch this case

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/11/cocaine.sentencing.ap/index.html

This is one of the most glaring racial biases in US law, and SCOTUS
has only just begun to attempt to correct it. The whole article
points up a lot of remaining disparities, including the differential
easing of laws that govern drugs more often used by white people. And
if you're prone to thinking we shouldn't give a damn about the
disposition of drug dealers, tell me who you'd do if caffeine was
suddenly illegal and out of your income range as a result.

Are we still on this?

Teen pregnancies are up for the first time in yonks. This article goes on to say that this revives the "debate" surrounding abstinence-only education. Thing is, in order to have a debate, you generally need two valid sides. Proponents of abstinence-only sex ed are seriously running out of credibility. Study after study has shown that their classes do not decrease teen sexual activity, and have a good chance of increasing rates of risky sexual activity. Know why? Because if adults spend all of their time telling kids not to do it, kids won't know how to do it safely when they decide not to listen to the adults.

But of course, no teenager has ever gone against the expressed wishes of an adult.

This administration has been pretty hardcore about strapping funding to the abstinence-only bomb, and I suspect it's now catching up with them. Here's the deal, though. You either get behind fully legal abortion at any age or you get behind teaching kids to use condoms or the pill*. If you insist on doing neither, you get babies having babies, and then we start this discussion all over as if we've never done the research. And that makes me cranky.


*If you want to make ME happy, you can get behind both. Because if you're old enough to conceive it, you're old enough to make the decision to keep it, and you've got a right to be told how to protect yourself from having to make that decision. And that doesn't even touch how we're failing to keep kids safe from STDs in the name of "innocence."

Oh, Wow, It's Been Over a Month!

I'm still here! The lovely Frog just reminded me that it's been quite some time since I popped in (sorry, frog! It was really sweet of you to come over and poke me, though -- sometimes I wonder if anyone has had the patience to stick around). I've been costuming a show and flying across country to meet The Man's family. Thanks Giving in Los Angeles was beautiful, and watching the denizens of that fair city bundle up in puffy jackets when the temp hit the 60s was priceless. Waking up to -10 degree windchills the morning after we got home? Not so priceless.

Getting this show built is going to run right down to the wire, and is keeping me hopping. The colors and fabrics are gorgeous, and the designs we keep coming up with just get better as we make the transition from 2 to 3 dimensions. Details are here if you'd like to see the final product.

We continue to settle into the house. The Saga of The TV is over, so we now have functional satellite TV (seriously? Don't ask). The cats are still crazy. Tom went to stay with my mother while we were in L.A., and has been whining ever since he came back -- she spoils him like a grandchild. He has finally compromised on the yowling part of the morning, and only starts screeching at us after the alarm goes off. This is an improvement over the 3:30 am wakeup call we got one day last week. The other cat, Fish, is not quite so neurotic. Though she doesn't quite "get" claws, and sometimes makes a velcro sound when walking on carpet. Retract, Fish! Retract!

We're seeing our second plowable snowfall in a week today, and I was lucky enough to get a ride home from my very cool boss. I could have walked it, but with feet that hurt if I'm not in sneakers and sneakers that are far from waterproof the ride was much appreciated.

So. I've covered cats, the weather, my current big timesuck, and my latest wanderings. I'll try not to disappear on you again!