Gay Adoption in Florida, the Squandering of Tax Payer Money, and Making Children Wait for Permanency

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Iceland PM Marries Her Partner!

In the midst of moving, being totally blue over something GAL-related, and too tired to finish off my gay adoption post as timely as I'd like, the magnificent Sally has sent me this Marriage Equality pick me up:

Ms Sigurdardottir, 67, married the day a new law took effect defining marriage 

as a union between two consenting adults regardless of sex. (AFP : Halldor Kolbeins )

Iceland's Gay PM Marries her long time partner... Iceland has just legalized marriage as a union between any two consenting adults.


I wonder if our US Congress will have to be as old as the Alþingi Íslendinga  before we get the same kind of legislation?


© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Seeking Beauty...

To make some of those moments in life more bearable.

PiccoloNamek, Cirrus Cloud Field, 2007

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Palate Cleanser #52

Descending the Torugart Pass in Kyrgyzstan

Image credit: Ellen Mack, © 2010, used with permission

You can follow the photos of El-Len on her Flickr photostream. She's recently back from a monthlong tour of Central Asia. In keeping with her Iran and Cuba photographs, I'm sure we'll see a stunning album of her trip, the land and the people of Central Asia as she uploads more images. 

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Gillard's Ascension!

Aussie PM Julia Gillard (Image Credit: Fairfax Media)

Julia Gillard has just become Australia's first female Prime Minister! Born in Wales in 1961, her family emigrated to Australia in 1966. A 48 year old lawyer, she now leads Australia's Labor Party. By all accounts she is a strong leader and has fared well in ignoring drivel polls such as this one (which came up as one of the highest hits on my Google search) while Deputy PM. CNN quoted her as saying "The government was losing its way..."  so I'm seriously hoping she can have a chat with Australian Senator Steve Fielding (Family First Party) because the man is not just lost but confused and rather objectionably misogynist.

My friend Sally seems hyped and quite proud about Ms. Gillard's ascension to PM. She sent me an article with a list of all the women leaders of the past fifty years. I'm excited for Sally and for all Aussie women. I hope it ushers in a positive change for their leadership and the political ethos Down Under. Mind you, Sally tells me that not only is Ms. Gillard not married to her partner Tim Mathieson, but she's also a declared atheist! I'm loving her more and more and thinking that Australia must be worlds ahead of the US.

Frankly, in recent days, as I contemplate the Obama administration and the BP oil spill, I have to say I wonder if Hillary Clinton would have given that weak speech that Obama did last week from the Oval Office. Somehow, I just have to think she might have had a stronger voice and a stronger response to the whole issue. But maybe that's my naïveté in thinking that Big Oil hasn't bought Washington lock, stock and *cough* barrel.

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

R.I.P.

"Unfortunately, we have also found one dead sperm whale floating 150 miles south of Pensacola...."

Image Credit: Peter G. Allison, M.D. for National Geographic Society

Oh yeah, the perfect end to my Wednesday: Oil gushes into gulf following accident in containment effort


© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Comfort food

Dutch baby pancake with flamed cherry & lily of the valley, originally uploaded by o_lesyk.

Same attribution but really you can't have enough Olesya*.

Me: Lily of the Valley

You: Olesya's pancakes.

Recipe is here. (If you use Google Chrome, you can ask it to translate for you...)


*The degree of fabulousness is epic with this woman. Her photos make me hungry and smell scents that are floral and foodish simultaneously.

Palate Cleanser

Reflections Of Norway, originally uploaded by Nicolai Kjærgaard.

Not oil-spilt, not frac'd, not colony-collapsed and not my new house.

Simply gorgeous.

Whiplash

The Sound of Falling Water, 2009, by Milen Milenovic

New House, soon, maybe soon, someday soon ➔ Paternity leave in Sweden vs. Australian legislator with redundant stupid and offensive commentary genes? ➔ What do you mean it failed the Zoning Inspection? ➔ Hey Baby video game violence ➔ Board Meeting ➔ Horrendous mental health facilities in Jakarta ➔ Oil companies will lie to us about anything (← and we let them!) and can self-regulate about as well as a fox can regulate itself with chickens ➔ Small world grows smaller when Flip's BFF Connor's mom's PhD advisor is one deceased Peter Lutz ➔ I wanted to keep all these books why? ➔ Joe Barton must secretly be trying to help the Democrats look respectable  ➔ Eugenics? You mean Huxley was really onto something there? ➔ Will the work on the house ever be done? ➔ People get so angry when you use their photos without permission but, like, only Julie really even bothers to reply to emails and she's the one photographer you'd think would be too busy to reply, right? (C'est vrai Michel et Natalya, c'est vrai) ➔ I'm sorry, Cornell is allowing this doctor to do what to little girls? ➔  Yes, you really have to pack your things and get all this stuff done, no the movers won't do it for you, really they won't ➔ A female condom that hurts the rapist sounds good in theory but what if the rapist gets angry and kills you? ➔ Poor little Evil Princess of Darkness... ➔ Hydraulic fracture for 'clean' natural gas and *cough* Halliburton? Danger Will Robinson! ➔ House, house, house ➔ Seriously, how brave is Kalima Salik? ➔ Board Meeting ➔ Judge Martin Feldman says that moratorium is all wrong ➔ And then all we have to do is finish the painting, install the new alarm system, call the plumber to look at that drip, get some furniture delivered, get the zoning inspection, stain the wood on the decks again ➔  ➔  ➔  ➔ Looks back at past few days....

Ow! 

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Gasland by Josh Fox

I've been so busy the past two days and have not had a chance to finish a single post. What I did make time for and what EVERYONE in the US needs to make time for is Gasland by Josh Fox. And really if you're in Europe, Australia or Africa you probably should as well. I urge you, if you are fond of drinking water, to watch this film any way that you can. You think that BP and the petroleum industry lies threaten your future? Check out the drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of shale. It's happened across large swaths of this country.

Trailer

Read more about Gasland (be sure to check out the map, folks) and see how to contact your legislators to advocate against hydraulic fracture methods, go to Gasland.


© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Palate Cleanser #50

Well, in spite of the fact that I'm in the midst of researching solitary bees and still mulling over my in-progress but much stalled post on parental leave in various countries and the US, and the really odd, small world connection of a deceased sea turtle expert and the mother of my youngest's best friend, I thought I'd slap up another pretty. 


Apologies to those expecting a James McAvoy  palate cleanser. I really have to see what I can dig up for you. It turns out not just La Comtesse revisée likes JMcA. There are other 'takers' out there.... Oh dear. Hmmmmm.


Until then, we'll have to make due with this lovely Aquilegia. I'm très grateful that Annie's Annuals doesn't have this in production right now because I'd be desperate to try to get my mom to try it in her fuss garden. (The one where she tries to fuss over all the things that have no business growing in So. Florida where the overnight low was 82 F according to my thermometer) Le Sighs...

Aquilegia chrysantha  'Wild Form'

(Annie's Annuals)

So more later. Bees, oil executives sailing in yachts while oil spills all over the Gulf of Mexico (*cough* Hayward again?) and maybe something on video games in which women shoot men who talk to them in ways that are annoying.


Happy Saturday! À bientot...


text only© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Palate Cleanser #49

Cynical Nymph sent this lovely earlier in the week. It's time to share...

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Jon Stewart continues to be our generation's Edward R. Murrow

Really, the only things that keep me watching US political news commentary at all are Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Day 59 - Judgment Day - The Strife Aquatic
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Status Quo Bias vs. Simple Veritas

Day 45: Peter Samson, reporter for the Sun puts his hand in an oil patch on the surface of Barataria Bay. 

(Image, Caption Credit: Julie Dermansky, jsdart.com, used with permission)

Status quo bias: "The status quo bias is a cognitive bias which leads people to prefer that things remain the same, or that things change as little as possible, if they absolutely must be altered. While the status quo bias can provide a certain amount of self-protection by encouraging people to make safer choices, it can also become crippling..." (from WiseGeek.com)

I don't know about you but the thought that President Obama basically told us we should just pray about the Gulf oil spill situation seems rather hollow to me. If I'm going to pray for anything, it's that this administration and our Congress come up with a better plan than prayers. In the midst of this catastrophe, our legislators are pretty much frozen in their status quo biased positions, unable to find consensus on what needs to be done to avoid more of the same in the future. For instance, look at the Energy Bill, which is stalled in the Senate where the Democrats cannot agree even among themselves. The cap-and-trade system of penalizing heavy polluters cannot even find full support among Democrats? Of course, the Republicans think that any legislation should be tied exclusively to the oil spill. On and on they go... How is it different from any other times they've dealt with energy issues? It isn't.

I, for one, am just completely disheartened by this administration and by our Congress. I am tired of large corporations and their equally large lies, and tired of politicians who appear to pander to them and allow them to continue to exploit those lies (preparedness? I give you walruses in the Gulf of Mexico and long dead sea turtle experts...) to extract their private profits and spread their liabilities and debts to all of us and to all our environment, as well. And I am utterly disgusted with politicians who apologize to heads of corporations for Congress and the American people calling corporations on their lies (however late that calling is). A $20B USD slush fund? A shakedown? Rep. Barton's comments so offended his own party (or at least it gave them pause for thought about what their voters might think of their party) that he was forced to apologize for his apology or lose his standing as ranking Republican on the Energy and Commerce subcommittee. What was the man thinking I wonder?

Veritas: Truth, which has been in short supply. (Largely thanks to BP. You're likely to see more of the same- lack of truth- thanks to BP's evidently beholden legislators and judges.)

You've heard from Jen what the Gulf Spill and its cleanup are really like. If you want to see what the real spill cleanup story is (the images Jen couldn't bear to capture) check out photographer Julie Dermansky's multimedia coverage for The Atlantic, "BP's Slippery Cleanup Effort" and her often poignant Flickr gallery. What do you get to see on the evening news and in your morning paper? Not the truth. You see what BP wants you to see, what they wanted Obama to see. Julie Dermansky shows us more truth than probably many of us can bear. Like Jen, she says it's worse than we think. Listen to Chris Hernandez's story of a day on the beach. A beach you or I hope never to set foot on in its then (probably still) state.

Julie lives in New Orleans and drives down to the Buras area to get these photos. Her camera sees the truth and you should watch, especially because it's exactly what BP doesn't want you to see. Maybe show a few people her video and share it on your Facebook page. I sure did.

I really want to believe that change is possible in this country. But the fact that every politician seems so beholden to some special interest or large corporation makes my hope falter. 

Once again, I suggest that if you really want to see change, you tell your legislators that you do, and your president that you do. Because they are not going to change until you let them know the status quo bias business just isn't working for you any more.

To contact your House Representative and your Senator, you can go to:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And write to your President at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Baby tern stuck in an oil patch on Grand Isle beach, rescued by Chris Hernandez 

(Image, Caption Credit: Julie Dermansky, jsdart.com, used with permission)

© original text, Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Tired of Power Outages....

After having countless power failures over the past 24 hours, in lieu of putting up my intended post on parental leave policies in Sweden, Australia and the US, I'm putting up a BP Satire because I'm frustrated and needed a really bitter and dark laugh. 

UCB Comedy: BP Spills Coffee

Current Leader in the BP logo redesign:

LogoMyWay Competition

Text © Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Mourning in my household....

CNN

There was this article published earlier today on US News and World Report about mental health being boosted by the World Cup. Clearly, the authors and researchers are NOT Spanish.

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

You know you're liberal when...

in spite of the fact that you hate the totally ruined Gulf of Mexico, you're massively offended by Rep. Cao (R-LA) saying that in the past BP execs in another place and time would have committed Hara Kiri.


Okay, WHAT? I'm sorry, did I get that straight? Did a US Representative from Louisiana just somehow implicitly suggest that executives from British Petroleum Corporation and Transocean Corporation should commit suicide?


HELL NO.


First, there's this little thing I have about thinking life after birth is rather valuable. Even BP executives represent life. 


Yeah, I know, that whole twelve to sixteen fetal weeks thing is such a kicker for me. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I'm pro-life-that's-already-here. No news there. And so, 


I don't think that BP execs should get the easy out and inappropriate and immoral (in this specific situation) exit of suicide.


No indeedy.


British Petroleum needs to stick around. To make things RIGHT. They need to be a role model for society by sticking their nose to the grindstone and cleaning up the mess they wrought and taking the public criticism while they do so. Because their company, their decisions, their shortcuts (oh man were there shortcuts... Jen and about three other readers emailed me the same article...) are both their responsibility and ours.


Why ours?


We let them make those decisions because of our addiction to SUVs and Big Cars and Driving and OIL. (Unless you use only public transportation all the time, don't even think to argue...)


So they don't get the easy-out and WE don't get the easy-out.


They suck. Really they do. But you know what? All of us, including me, Ms. Hybrid Car driver, probably have some degree of responsibility. Unless we're using entirely solar, geothermal, hydro or some other energy source, we are likely petroleum or in general carbon-based, energy consumers.


It's all our fault and NONE OF US get to commit Hara Kiri in my world view. 


What we get to do is figure out how to fix things. 


Not just leaks, but longterm plans.


Give me solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear, in locations appropriate for each.


Give me, and my children and grandchildren, a FUTURE.

NASA satellite image.

Edited to note: In case it's not clear from the foregoing, which admittedly became rather tangential to Rep. Cao's comments, I think that Rep. Cao is incredibly inappropriate and obnoxious. What he said was 26 ways of wrong and he ought to be made to apologize or face censure.

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010