Don Coyote Speaks

Y’all, sometimes Mack will do something that instills in me the urge to put my ovipositor in him*.  Today was one such day.  I invite you to peruse the controversy.  See here, first, and then here.

Best line?

“I’m offended that someone would expect me to ‘go on the record’ as being against drunk driving. It’s demeaning.”

Woo hoo. 

Tee hee.

*If, of course, I had one.  Imagine me, a cute, landlocked, bipedal Syngnathidae Hippocampus, with curly hair.  I could live at the Tennessee Aquarium and, if she had a life vest, Mrs. Wigglebottom could live with me.  Good fun.

More on the Rape Exam Issue

Rachel is all over the folks who seem almost deliberately obtuse about what the problem with shipping rape victims to General is.  Again, General might be a wonderful place.  Doesn’t matter.  We’re a big county and folks should be able to be examined near their homes.

I would just highlight that the letter to the editor that agrees with Rachel is written by a Tiny Cat Pants reader.  Hurray!

Also, just now, the governor is going to sign a bill that would have the state cover the cost of the rape exam.  Yes, America, you heard that right.  Until Thursday, June 21st, 2007, unless you were “lucky” enough to be raped in one of four counties that provide free rape kits here in Tennessee, you had to foot the bill–anywhere from $600-1,000–for the collection of evidence of a crime committed against you.

Lord almighty.  That about does me in.

But check out that first letter to the editor:  “NGH evaluates over 900 sexual assault victims each year with children comprising the largest number of victims.”

If it’s true that less than half of sexual assaults are even reported, that’s about 2,000 sexual assaults a year.  There are only 578,698 people in Davidson county.  Two thousand sexual assaults a year seems like a shit ton.  Hell, there are only 131,000 children in Davidson County.  What the fuck is wrong with people?  There are about six rapes a day in Davidson County?  General is processing three rape victims a day?

People, do you hear what Sue Fort White is telling you?  Three rape victims a day every day and the largest group of those is children.

I’ve got nothing to say to that.  It’s so gross I am speechless.

“Treatment Effects”

I can add nothing more to this hilarious take-down of alli, except to add that the publicity department that is able to gloss over the fact that this drug is going to make you shit your pants should win some kind of prize.  I mean, they tell you that this drug will make you shit yourself and yet people are still buying it like it’s going out of style.  That’s some marketing right there.

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On a completely unrelated note, one thing I hate about living with a hippie is that sometimes you pick up something, not sure what it is, and you look at it, still not sure what it is, and then–still not understanding what it is–you put it down because you feel like you’ve made a terrible mistake by leaving your fingerprints on it.

Future Predicters Predict the Future!

It was just one month ago, almost to the day, that Mack and I swaddled up a baby doll and took it to Kleinheider.  Included was a noteexplaining that the mother was an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, who was returning to that country before she was deported, now that her beloved U.S. soldier husband had been killed in Iraq.

This morning, I read over on Punkass Blog that a woman from the Dominican Republic faces deportation even as she awaits the fate of her U.S. soldier husband missing in Iraq.

It’s not near close enough for Randi, but it’s close enough to ruin the humor of the original thing for me.

I’m an old-school, Midwestern, corrupt Democrat.  If you’re in, you’re in.  Your family needs a turkey at Thanksgiving, someone shows up on your doorstep with a turkey on Thanksgiving.  And the dude who’s short some turkeys from his truck had better not complain or we’ll break his arm.

It’s not a fair system or even one that can sustain itself when governing a whole country.  But there are times when it’s the easiest way to achieve something like justice.

This woman’s husband is giving his life for this country.  The only reason she even came to the attention of Immigration was that he was trying to do the right thing and get her paperwork straightened out.  We shouldn’t punish people for trying to do the right thing.

And if ever there were a time for benevolent corruption, now is it.  We can’t “lose” her paperwork?  We can’t “find” that her paperwork was actually mysteriously filed correctly back when it needed to be?  Congress can meet special to legislate on Terri Shiavo, they can’t pass some quicky legislation that would give this woman and people like her a loophole?

I have a hard time accepting that.