![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Moon tide came in overnight, which means yesterday's 'mental health day' of chatting with people I've missed makes a lot more sense now. Too bad it means I'll have to put off my grocery shopping another day, since I can't really move, let alone leave the house.
I've still crossed a few things off my list, at the very least. Mom fairly demanded something sappy for Mother's Day, so instead of getting her maple syrup, I took a cue from the Chronicle and got her a very cool new children's book by the wonderful cartoonist who created Opus, Berkeley Breathed. Hopefully, she'll also read it to Braydan, who I think will also enjoy it. Now I just need to find a card in my stationery stack to send her, or I'll never hear the end of it. *grin*
Gotta repost this, as it made my morning. Neil gets a Bat visitor.
Been in and out of vague spots of depression, but I have valid reasons for feeling this way, and I still have to get things accomplished every day, so I'm more or less still functional. Day by day. I love living with Henri... I'm just not so happy in California for a variety of reasons. Sort of in a holding pattern for a few years, but I'm going to try to make the best of it and get as much learning done as possible. And get the earthquake putty applied to the bottoms of all the vases and displayed collectibles.
A few bits of outrageous news I wanted to pass on: Hyatt displays homophobic seizure of materials from conference attendee, Vegan couple gets life sentence in baby's death.
The commentary from the public on the baby's death seems ridiculously knee-jerk and ill-informed, on all the sites I've seen active forums going about this. It seems like people are jumping all over the entire vegan community because these people made such a hideously tragic series of bad decisions. Newsflash: Not all Vegans are idiots. Any diet requires research and nutritional balance, and many vegans and vegetarians work hard and supplement to keep their diets balanced and providing all the nutrition they need. It is also certainly possible to raise healthy children without meat, but you can't go about it half-assed.
Given the clues I've pieced together from the various versions of the story, these people may possibly be Rastas, since many adhere to a vegan diet, shun modern medicine and mistrust hospitals. This is just a hypothesis, there could be any other number of things going on here, but it might explain how a 30-something could be dumb enough to not breastfeed a newborn. Regardless, I think the tragedy itself has been punishment enough for this young couple. They don't deserve life in jail, they should get a decent education and have the opportunity to grieve, heal, try again and get on with their lives, not sit in jail far from each other and comfort. Mandatory minimums like these that tie the hands of judges and keep them from meting out punishment that fits the crime are horrible and need to be taken off the books.
It seems to me that the average joe is threatened by vegetarians and vegans because anything that rejects the mainstream, consumptive and destructive American lifestyle is threatening to the system, and thus to them personally. Newsflash number two: The "American lifestyle" is completely unsustainable and must be curbed for the sake of the entire world. There is no "manifest destiny" stating that we have any claim on the oil under foreign sands, and our insatiable desire for energy and resources is a sickness, a symptom of a deeper disease. The rest of the world has as much right to a fulfilling life as we do... and we could easily feed and clothe every human on the earth... but instead we spend it all on a military budget larger than all the nations of the world. Enough is enough, already.
Later.
-Me.
I've still crossed a few things off my list, at the very least. Mom fairly demanded something sappy for Mother's Day, so instead of getting her maple syrup, I took a cue from the Chronicle and got her a very cool new children's book by the wonderful cartoonist who created Opus, Berkeley Breathed. Hopefully, she'll also read it to Braydan, who I think will also enjoy it. Now I just need to find a card in my stationery stack to send her, or I'll never hear the end of it. *grin*
Gotta repost this, as it made my morning. Neil gets a Bat visitor.
Been in and out of vague spots of depression, but I have valid reasons for feeling this way, and I still have to get things accomplished every day, so I'm more or less still functional. Day by day. I love living with Henri... I'm just not so happy in California for a variety of reasons. Sort of in a holding pattern for a few years, but I'm going to try to make the best of it and get as much learning done as possible. And get the earthquake putty applied to the bottoms of all the vases and displayed collectibles.
A few bits of outrageous news I wanted to pass on: Hyatt displays homophobic seizure of materials from conference attendee, Vegan couple gets life sentence in baby's death.
The commentary from the public on the baby's death seems ridiculously knee-jerk and ill-informed, on all the sites I've seen active forums going about this. It seems like people are jumping all over the entire vegan community because these people made such a hideously tragic series of bad decisions. Newsflash: Not all Vegans are idiots. Any diet requires research and nutritional balance, and many vegans and vegetarians work hard and supplement to keep their diets balanced and providing all the nutrition they need. It is also certainly possible to raise healthy children without meat, but you can't go about it half-assed.
Given the clues I've pieced together from the various versions of the story, these people may possibly be Rastas, since many adhere to a vegan diet, shun modern medicine and mistrust hospitals. This is just a hypothesis, there could be any other number of things going on here, but it might explain how a 30-something could be dumb enough to not breastfeed a newborn. Regardless, I think the tragedy itself has been punishment enough for this young couple. They don't deserve life in jail, they should get a decent education and have the opportunity to grieve, heal, try again and get on with their lives, not sit in jail far from each other and comfort. Mandatory minimums like these that tie the hands of judges and keep them from meting out punishment that fits the crime are horrible and need to be taken off the books.
It seems to me that the average joe is threatened by vegetarians and vegans because anything that rejects the mainstream, consumptive and destructive American lifestyle is threatening to the system, and thus to them personally. Newsflash number two: The "American lifestyle" is completely unsustainable and must be curbed for the sake of the entire world. There is no "manifest destiny" stating that we have any claim on the oil under foreign sands, and our insatiable desire for energy and resources is a sickness, a symptom of a deeper disease. The rest of the world has as much right to a fulfilling life as we do... and we could easily feed and clothe every human on the earth... but instead we spend it all on a military budget larger than all the nations of the world. Enough is enough, already.
Later.
-Me.
