The Soccer Mom Vote

More Mamas!

Please give a warm Soccer Mom Vote welcome to Bobbi Jo and Angie.

Bobbi Jo came to us as a commenter, and her comments were so long, we decided to just let her post!  She's an American ex-pat in Montreal.  While she still votes in Oregon, her international experience will lend some interesting perspective to the group.  Bobbi Jo will take jersy number 1 -- look for her first post tomorrow!

Angie came to us via Mocha Momma and the call for new contributors.  She's a homeschooling mom of five (FIVE!) and a registered Republican who says she was converted by Rush Limbaugh.   Angie will be posting as jersey number 25 -- look for her later this month.  (You liberals, be nice.)

What the Credit Card Companies Don't Tell You*

I just discovered that my Discover Credit Card is increasing my rate due to a delinquency reported on my Credit Report. A single late payment from over a year ago and not to them, might I add.  And after being a card holder for 11 years, most of that in excellent standing.  So how much of a wonder is it that America is in horrible debt when credit card companies can screw you based on what you did a year ago and not to them?

Turns out this trend in credit cards jacking your rate based on your relationships with other vendors is becoming the latest craze in the business. It's called a "Universal Default Clause" and by signing up for a credit card who embeds this little clause in the fine print you agree that even if you're one day late on a $20 phone bill, your credit card rates can skyrocket from the nice reasonable rate you've been enjoying to up to 29.99%.  In many cases, they don't even have to inform you first and there's no getting out of it since you did agree to the term when you signed up for the card.  A little research showed that about one third of all credit card companies are choosing to act on this clause and the phone call I made to one of my other cards informed me that even if they don't currently act on it, all credit card companies embed the clause.

I had no idea.  Clearly it's my own fault for not reading the fine print and assigning my brilliant yet quirky husband the task of paying the bills in the year after our second daughter was born and my head exploded.  Thankfully, I'm paying off my balances this month on both cards and will be striving for an existence where credit cards are only used for emergencies and get paid off every single month.  I'm tempted to cancel both credit cards, sell everything we own, build a tiny house in the woods and hide under the covers until money can stop stressing me out.

I can get a really big blanket if anyone else wants to join me.

See the following links for more info on Universal Default:
Eight Things a Credit Card User Should Know
Universal Default on Wikipedia

 

* OK, so they DO tell you.  Just in really fine print.  And they hope you don't notice.  I wonder what else I've agreed to over the years? 

Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007)

A world leader died this month: Boris Yeltsin (February 1, 1931 - April 23, 2007)

Regardless of your political stance, there's no getting around that Boris Yeltsin made a huge impact on his country and the world. The collapse of the Soviet Union, Communism, Chechnya, Kosovo: Yeltsin figured into all of these conversations and countless more.

Any thoughts on the man? The political figure? His politics? Just wondering what the average soccer mom might have to say...

And the donation goes to...

Thanks to everyone who commented on my post last week about teaching your kids to give back. Your favorite charities were added to the hat and we have a winner. Drum roll, please...

Congratulations to Joanne who in her comment said,

"...I would vote for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for breast cancer research in honor of my best friend Marjorie who lost her battle to breast cancer last year."

Her charity of choice, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, will receive my $100 donation this week.

From the Komen.org web site:

"Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever.

In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, we have invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill our promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world."

Thank you to everyone who commented and participated in the drawing!

A bit of inconvenience for everyone

I finally watched Al Gore's documentary - "An Inconvenient Truth" - a few weeks ago.

In the interest of full disclosure, if you don't already know, I'm a registered Republican.  I also have a B.S. in Environmental Science, which included an internship (and a follow-on part-time position) with an 8(a) minority-owned environmental consulting firm.  My father started the Environmental Management office at one of the US's largest military bases, and then went on to become the site manager at a Superfund site.

My point?  Conservative thinkers are not necessarily anti-environment.

But environmental hysteria does not impress me.  Likewise, callous dismissal of evidence as mere "hysteria" doesn't impress me either.  Objective scientific research, presented in a thoughtful manner - that's what gets my attention.

I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed this documentary - well, apart from being a bit disconcerted by some of the evidence presented.  I've never thought Al Gore was an engaging speaker, but he held my attention throughout the environmental discussions.  I could have done without his personal vignettes, which really added very little to the topic.

But while I took away some new information from the film, I also kept in mind that the environment is Al Gore's passion (sloppy kisses at political conventions aside).  It's in his interest to present evidence that supports his conclusions.  After alll, the man is a lawyer.

I've since done more investigation and found some critical analysis of "An Inconvenient Truth".  The Competitive Enterprise Institute published "A Skeptic's Guide to An Inconvenient Truth".  I haven't yet read the entire document, but the executive summary has piqued my curiosity.

I'm curious NOT because I want to prove Al Gore wrong or discredit his claims.  I'm curious because that's how we LEARN.  If you take the word of one source - be it Al Gore or President Bush or a nightly television news anchor - as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - you will come away no wiser, regardless of your political leanings.

As always, my plea to all people - soccer moms or not - is to take a second look at all issues.  I took a second look when I watched this film, and I'm taking a third look by reading the CEI response.  But I can't stop there; I need to keep reading, keep learning, taking new information into consideration.  We all do.

Play that funky music white boy

Nothing amuses me quite like an uptight old guy trying to be cool.  I'm not sure whether to be impressed or horrified at the antics of Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. You've got to see it to believe it. 

Hattip to Mari for this one.

what I learned in Amsterdam

I have a cousin who lives in Amsterdam (which is in The Netherlands, of which Holland is one, for the geographically challenged among us).  He lives there because his husband is Dutch.  Because the US doesn't recognize same sex marriages, his husband would not become a citizen if they moved to the US, so they are literally prohibited from moving to the US, whether they would like to or not.  So my cousin has become very anti-US and at the same time very active in Democrats Abroad and Love Exiles.

The Netherlands is a country that allows a lot that we prohibit: euthanasia, same sex marriage, marijuana, prostitution, and sex  education and contraceptives for early teens.  You'd think the place would be one big seedy den of stinky, slimy sin.  Dangerous too, with all those oversexed drugged out homos wandering the streets.  In reality, it is a pleasure to visit and truly one of the places abroad I think I would enjoy living.  It feels extremely safe and pleasant.  People are astoundingly nice and helpful, and it is stunningly pastoral while at the same time feeling completely modern and cosmopolitan.   According to this BBC article, it's not that the Dutch are amoral or irreligious (it feels like a very religious country to me).  It a fundamental pragmatism that they have going for them.  They figure that all things being equal, it's better to be able to have some control over things that will happen anyway.  I think we as a country would do well to take a page out of their book.

But instead our president has decided to declare preemptive war against them.  Have you heard of the American Servicemembers' Protection Act?  Me either, though I was made aware of it by my cousin.  The way that he explained it to me (and the way I understand it after doing some research of my own) is basically that if any of our citizens (or those of our allies) were ever brought before the International Criminal Court, we would, in effect, invade the Netherlands (more specifically, The Hague, which is in The Netherlands).  Keep in mind that this court is set up to try people for crimes against humanity.  So this basically gives immunity from prosecution for crimes against humanity to any citizen that the US decides to protect, for whatever reason, or we invade The Netherlands.  This scares me.  Deeply.  No human being should be protected from prosecution for crimes against humanity; this court is set up to deal with people like Slobodan Milosevic.  It's where Nazi atrocities would be prosecuted present day.  I dearly hope that none of our citizens are performing acts heinous enough to be brought before the ICC, but I also believe that if they are, the ICC has every right to prosecute them without fear of war.  I love the US, but sometimes I am scared and ashamed of the decisions our leaders make.

So I wish that my cousin and his wonderful husband could come live here in the US but I don't feel too bad for them, being forced to stay in The Netherlands.  It's a country where I might be able to live and hold my head up a little higher when I tell people where I'm from.

Searching for answers...

In thinking about what I wanted to write about this time around, I had so many different things to choose from that it became hard to decide. Should I “go there” and talk about what is going on in the courts with regards to abortion? Should I even bring up the most horrific incident to happen in our schools in the history of our nation? And, what about Anna Nicole—don’t we need another dousing of ridiculous and unnecessary coverage of her custody and estate battle? What about Alec Baldwin’s disgusting voice mail to his daughter?

In the end, my mind comes back not to the fight in the courts or Baby Danilynn, but Virginia Tech. As a mother, I cannot imagine how the parents of the victims must feel right now. Their loved children, suddenly just gone. There were so many signs, so many indications that this man was not of a right mind, and yet no one stopped him. And, that gives me great pause...especially as I send off one of my children to public school each day and soon will send my second.

When I think about college, I can understand how it might be a hard period for someone who has felt ostracized for their whole life. I remember back to some sorority sisters and dorm acquaintances of mine who began to party it up and almost lost their lives in foolish abandon. College is about searching and finding yourself. Those post-high school years are all about finding that balance between having fun and getting work done in preparation for the real world and a future career.

For me, personally, those were the years that I really decided what type of person I was going to be. Would I follow in the guidance my parents had given me all those years while I was growing up, or would I go my own way? In a lot of ways, I kept with the values I was brought up with, thankfully. But, in some areas, I branched out and learned things about different cultures. Growing up in a very rural Texas town, I was not exposed to many different ideas or cultures. It is easy to become narrow-minded and judgmental when you never meet anyone who believes differently than everyone else who lives in your community.

College, for me, was like jumping into a lake full of different ideas, different backgrounds and new experiences. I could swim around and bath in them and then see which ones stuck with me when I jumped back out of the pool. It was amazing and life-changing and I would not trade my college years for anything.

But, I wonder, will the college experience be different now in the wake of this horrific attack? Will campuses become security-laden and free-thinking be discouraged? Will open expression of ideas that stray from the norm be treated as a threat to safety and happiness on our campuses? Will college boards and administrations let this crime settle into their subconscious and change the whole atmosphere of the learning experience?

And, do we need that? As a parent, I need answers. I want to know what I can do, while raising my children, to ensure safety when they’re at public schools as they grow up. My son is in the first grade. They recently had their first school security lock-down drill, no doubt to practice in the event of an abduction or an armed break-in. I remember tornado drills, fire drills, and safety guidelines as a child. We prepared for natural disasters. Now, incidents such as Columbine and Virginia Tech have taken over in precedence in our nation’s classrooms over emergency preparation. And, what kind of fear are we instilling in our kids when we prepare them for someone to pellet their school with gunfire?

As a mother, I am very torn between wanting to protect my children, and taking away their freedoms and cloaking them in fear. I guard them against the news stories from Virginia Tech, but at the same time wonder if I am putting them at risk by not educating them about how to handle violence if it should happen where they spend their days. I have neighbor friends who scare the hell out of their kids about stranger safety and other things. While I’ve educated my son about what not to do in those situations, how do you prepare a kid for an unexpected gunman who storms your classroom and shoots randomly? And if you can’t prepare or protect yourself from that, then what is the point in scaring the hell out of him about it really?

I am saddened when I think about the fact that my children are not being blessed with an innocence in childhood that I was so lucky to have had. Parents are rushing to home school, move away from the suburbs and inner-cities, and figuring out how they can get away from the violence that has plagued our country. But, is that really going to solve the problem?

What can we, as mothers in this nation, do to best protect both our children's’ safety but also their shield right to explore and learn, as well as try out new ideas and ways of thinking? What actions can we take to make the world a safer place for our kids? I’d love to hear your thoughts…

My Two Cents

I realize that the Imus controversy has become old news, but I still have a few things to say about it.  I'm also curious to hear what you all have to say.  I mean, I've had a couple of discussions with my husband; I've been listened to the NPR discussions and the evening news; I've heard the "experts" and the friends. I also heard about how the Imus Ranch charity will now suffer because of his firing and therefore so will the children with cancer - I think I've heard it all by now.

But what I want to say, at least to Imus, is that no matter what his intention was - it wasn't funny; it wasn't a joke. And it's not because it wasn't politically correct or because the public has become too sensitive and we don't know how to take a joke anymore.

It was racist. It was sexist. He was a public figure on the public airwaves and while he has every right to say what he wants to say, the public also has a right to react to it. Free speech has its consequences. Yet, this isn't really about free speech for me. The greatest impact this whole "controversy" has had on me has been with regard to my disappointment with the society we live in in 2007.

My first disappointment came when I realized that there was even a discussion as to whether what Imus said was "OK" or not; whether since it was said in humor - Just stop right there. Of course it wasn't OK! These women were playing an athletic competition; they were representing Rutgers with pride and dignity; They were respectful and should have received the same respect in return. Yet, Imus did not make a joke - he tried to reduce these women to nothing more than sub-human, sex objects.

Which led to my second disappointment. People were outraged - as they should have been - and some people were defending him saying that it was just a joke and "why can't people take a joke anymore?" It just really took the wind out of me when I had to face the fact that things really haven't gotten all that much better for women and minorities in the U.S. if there was a debate going on as to whether or not such derogatory speech was humorous.

Seriously, why is it that there are still so many people out there who think it's OK to use derogatory terms to describe other people? How is that humorous? Because I really don't see the humor in making fun of people because of their gender or their ethnicity or their sexual preference or even the way they happen to wear their hair for that matter. Why is it funny to make fun of other people at all? Shouldn't we be a little more civilized than that?

I love a good laugh as much as anyone, but not at the expense of hurting someone else. That to me just isn't funny. Whether they're in the public eye and "asking for it" or they're your next door neighbor - I wouldn't like it if someone was making fun of me, so I try not to do it to others.

Making jokes at the expense of others, so that you can feel like you're part of the "in" group or so that you can feel like you're somehow "better" or smarter or whatever - I guess I was just hoping that that sort of thing was on the decline. I mean, why do people have to do it? Whether it's through supposed humor or music lyrics or in conversations they have at the dinner table? Why do they feel compelled to make such negative generalizations and use terms that are only meant to demean and oppress other human beings? Aren't the majority of us just trying to survive this crazy, mixed up world; to take care of ourselves and our families?

And then there are the slew of other issues that come up when talking about discrimination. For example, while women and African Americans have been legally given the right to vote, it's disheartening to know that they're not always given an easy route to exercise that right. While African Americans are no longer enslaved on the cotton fields of the South, they certainly do not experience social or economic equality, equal protection under the law or the same access to opportunity afforded to those of lighter skin tones. African American and Latina women are probably discriminated against most often because they have two strikes against them in their ethnicity and their gender. (Women aren't a minority in the U.S.  by the way, statistically speaking. Yet look at the discrimination and uphill battles we face.)  Gee, look who Imus's comment was aimed at.

I don't believe in coincidences.

We certainly can't fire every person who is racist or sexist, but we can make an example of those who publicly show their hatred. We must declare as a society that we will not tolerate such behavior because it's not a joke.  We need to make that declaration together, beyond gender and culture lines; to say that we will not allow racism, sexism, discrimination of any kind, etc. in our society because it is simply wrong and should not be tolerated.

It isn't an issue of free speech, but of respect for our fellow human beings.

We're All Winners!

(Subtitle: Wednesday is the new Friday)

Two readers, Shannon and Flybunny, left comments on the review of The Woman at the Washington Zoo.  It just so happens that I had two copies of the book, so both win!  Congratulations, gals, and thanks for playing.

Stay tuned for another book giveaway hosted by Jane, and scroll down to Colleen's post below to tell her about your favorite charity.