You Gotta Pay the Troll Toll ....To Get Over the George Washington Bridge

Amidst the recent uproar over the bridgegate scandal plaguing the Christie administration there is one overwhelming theme and that is the Governor's bombastic, combative style. While the Governor and his administration would like his constituents and presumably the nation (if you believe the Christie 2016 rumors) to believe he is a firm but fair, tell it like it is candidate that is willing to cross the isle. But that simply isn't the case.  Despite Christie's un-charastically apologetic speech (although elements of sorry i'm not sorry were present).

The first of many examples of the Governor using his political power to punish anyone that dare not obey his wishes is the case of the late Alan Rosenthal, a Political Science professor at Rutgers University. Rosenthal was selected to be a member of a committee  to redistrict the state. Christie had pushed hard for Rosenthal to select the plan that would benefit the GOP over the Democrat's proposed plan.  When Rosenthal refused to select the plan the Governor wanted, Christie responded by cutting $169,000 to two programs at Rutgers that Rosenthal had founded.


Further research into the Christie's political past only reveal further examples of revenge and clear steps that Christie took to eliminate any competition.  Even members of Christie's own party are not safe from serious consequences for making the slightest critique of the Governor. When New Jersey Senator Sean Kean (R) claimed that in 2010 the Governor should have declared a state of emergency sooner to keep motorists off the road and safe sooner the Senator quickly found himself in hot water. When Christie returned from his vacation in Disney (conveniently missing the snow) he held a conference in the Senator's district and specifically instructed him not to attend. If that wasn't a clear enough message, Kean's district was redrawn and his seat was eliminated the next year.

What is so damming about this recent event is that it calls into question the true nature of Chris Christie. Even if the Governor truly did not know of his staff's actions they felt as their actions were acceptable due to the example the Governor had set for them in the past.

9 Months of Suspended Rights

While I am admittedly not an expert on constitutional law, however I feel quite certain making this assertion. There is no law that can compel me to donate organs, tissue or blood. Why? Because I have autonomy over my body. This means that if someone I know has a rare blood disorder and needs a transfusion there is absolutely nothing legally that could compel me to donate my blood to that person if I happened to be a match. While I of course would (because I am not a monster) but the principle behind this is an important distinction. It means that my body is my own and no one can force me to make a decision about what happens to me without my consent. That is unless I become pregnant, in which case this autonomy is suspended for 9 months.

One recent case of a woman's rights being superseded by her fetus can be found, not surprisingly in Texas.  Marlise Munoz is a 33 year old woman from Texas who suffered a pulmonary embolism in November and was rendered brain dead. She had discussed with her husband her wishes in an instance such as this and that is to not be kept alive on life support. However, according to the Texas Advance Directives Act "a person may not withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment under this subchapter from a pregnant patient".   If Ms. Munoz was not pregnant there would be nothing stopping her husband and the hospital from fulfilling her final wishes.


This is only the most recent example of the anti-choise laws diminishing rights promised under Roe V. Wade.  A study conducted by the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, found 413 criminal and civil cases where law enforcement intervened in the lives of pregnant women between 1973 (the year Roe V. Wade was upheld) and 2005.

One such case is the story of Alicia Beltran. Ms. Beltran was a 28 year old woman from Wisconsin who admitted to he OB-GYN that she had a history of drug abuse. While Ms. Beltran was not abusing drugs while she was pregnant she was still charged with "fetal endangerment" and forced into rehab. Furthermore, Ms. Beltran attempted to obtain legal counsel, yet her fetus had already been appointed one.  In this case, Ms. Beltran's right to due process was less important than a fetus.


I am not anti-fetuses or babies by any means. However, I have a problem with women's right's taking the back seat to the rights of the unborn.

In Defense Of Introversion

The Leo type is the most dominant, spontaneously creative and extrovert of all the zodiacal characters. In grandeur of manner, splendor of bearing and magnanimity of personality, they are the monarch’s among humans as the lion is king of beasts. They are ambitious, courageous, dominant, strong willed, positive, independent, self-confident there is no such a word as doubt in their vocabularies, and they are self-controlled. Born leaders, either in support of, or in revolt against, the status quo. They are at their most effective when in a position of command, their personal magnetism and innate courtesy of mind bringing out the best of loyalty from subordinates.

While I feel most of those traits apply to me (ambitions, strong willed ) I am the most introverted Leo there is. When I am around people I feel comfortable with who I know love me I have no problem being more brazen and being the center of attention. But when I am with new people or people I am not comfortable with I tend to keep to myself and am very quiet. 

I am always afraid that my shyness comes across the wrong way and people think I am uptight, snobby and a bitch. It is not any of these things, it’s just while I really want to reach out and meet new people I don’t know the right words. One of my favorite songs from the Wonder Years is “sorry I don’t laugh at the right times.” It perfectly contextualizes how I feel all of the time. I am the queen of putting my foot in my own mouth from my strong opinions and lack of a social filter. All of those things about me are fine when I am surrounded by people who understand that about me…not so much when I meet someone new. This is how my overly self-awareness manifests itself. After every conversation I am left thinking “why the fuck did I say that?’ “They probably think I’m such an ass.” “I hope I didn’t sound too self absorbed.”

In my defense though I feel there are far worse ways that my insecurity could rear it’s ugly head. I have found  that there are two types of insecure people. The one type remembering how it was liked to be made to feel uncomfortable in social settings so they try not to make anyone feel that way. The second is the type who will pick on anyone they perceive as weaker to divert attention from themselves  and brag about trivial accomplishments to boost their own ego. I think the latter is far worse.  

The main point to this rambling is shyness isn’t always coy, or pretentiousness.  

It Matters

If I had a dollar for everyone someone has told me “Oh I don’t watch the news” and then offers some reason as to why they don’t (too depressing, politicians are a bunch of liars etc) I would be able to pay off my crippling student loan debt tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong I understand that bringing up politics in certain social settings (meeting the parents for the first time, power lunch meeting with the boss, you get the idea) and I know I drive my friends nuts whenever I bring up the latest bit of nonsense that is going on in Washington. But I can’t help but feel part of the reason we have become so partisan and  have had such staggering lack of progress over the past few years is due to us as a society sticking our heads in the sand. 

  By simply throwing ones hands up in the air at the first hint of a sensitive subject we limit ourselves to another viewpoint and hearing actual legitimate facts. We can’t be too hard on ourselves though, ignorance is bliss has been engraved on many of us at a young age. Thanks to No Child Left Behind things like civic (government) classes have been cut from the curriculum and many schools only feel the need to teach American History. And if there is any mention of any foreign history it is WWI, WWII, and Vietnam (after all we fought in those wars so therefore they are important). I myself am guilty of this level of ignorance. I watched Waltz With Bashir when it first came out and instantly went on google to do some more research about the Lebanese Civil War.

But this policy leads to a dangerous level ignorance that often leads to inaction. Every year there is some news channel, often on a slow news day that will do a story about how many Americans cannot pass the Citizenship Test and name simple things like rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights (because after all the only important one is the 2nd Amendment and over mah cold dead body is anyone taking mah gun!). By breeding a ignorant, apathetic population we are doomed to elect people who have only their own interests at heart while the masses sit blindly complacent to what really goes on. 

Flash forward to the 2012 elections where the Tea Party Candidates took their seats in Congress and were given tremendous power and opportunity to do significant damage to this nation. To fully explain the point I am trying to make I am going to point to Michele Bachmann. This woman was elected and is a  Representative in the United States House. She was a potential Tea Party candidate for the 2012 Presidential elections. What makes her so dangerous? This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAaDVOd2sRQ! Michele Bachmann actually stood on the House Floor and said Carbon Dioxide is a harmless gas and continued to spew bogus science. Now the huddled masses that elected this woman are not the type to do any type of fact checking and will believe almost everything she and Fox News presumably says.

And why shouldn’t they? She is a member of Congress, surely to be elected to high office it is only logical to assume that a certain level of intelligence is required. Wrong. Due to campaign finance laws it really only matters how much money you have to spend on a campaign. In order to get money through Super PACS it is necessary to pander to corporations (they are people after all). I have a sinking suspicion that Koch Industries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Industries had something to do with Ms. Bachmann ignoring all logic and scientific fact and denying Global Warming despite being proven true time and time again. 

This is why paying attention matters. This is why who we elect matters. It can be an uncomfortable conversation at times but I think it is worth it. America used to be a great nation. For those of you playing at home I used the past tense of that word. Right now Congress is playing a very dangerous game with the shutdown and the Debt Ceiling. But we elected these people. We have no one to blame but ourselves. 

It's 1920something All Over Again

" Amid the general self-congratulation, however, amid the smug speeches of the business leaders, and the triumphant clatter of ticker-tape machines, millions of Americans worked all day in mines, factories, and on patches of rented or mortgaged land. In the evening they read the newspaper or listened to the not-yet-paid-for radio and looked forward to Saturday night, when they might hold their mouths under the national faucet for a few drops of the wild revelry that everyone spoke about. For the fact was that a large section of the American population was living sparely and precariously and, through not jobless and impoverished (as many would be a decade later), were shut of the high, wild, and prosperous living that marked the upper half of the population. " 

--- Howard Zinn

This quote was from an essay written by Howard Zinn about the inequality of the classes in the !920s. What struck as I read this, was how much history had repeated itself with this decade's financial meltdown.  The Millenial Generation is the first Generation since the Great Depression that children have a worse outlook than their parents.

It really is truly amazing how much what caused the great depression and what caused the financial crisis parallel each other and if you parallel the lives of Americans during the Great Depression and the lives of young people in this country. I like many young people in America have to work two jobs in order to pay off the massive student loan debt that I acquired and find it nearly impossible to survive on my own. The only thing that gives me solace is my Saturday nights getting white girl wasted.

I feel part of the problem is ourselves. There are very few people who actually care enough to pay attention to what the people we elect to represent our best interests do. But what I think as a society we can do is to ask ourselves what can we learn form this experience and from the past and how to improve.

Row V. Wade In Danger

Shout out to NPR for covering these new laws targeting women. In several states like Texas women must undergo an ultrasound and a lengthy waiting period in a desperate attempt to get them to change their mind.

In so many conservative states like Texas getting an abortion is no easy task, clinics are often in remote locations where women have to travel at great lengths to get an abortion. Now after traveling great lengths she has to endure this attempt to play at her heart strings and shame her into making the "right choice."

All things aside, if someone opposes abortion they are not pro life they are anti choice.  Clinics like this are so dangerous because they sugar coat the reality of the life as a single parent. While the father is legally required to pay child support, actually getting him to pay is difficult.  A woman's right to choose when she is ready to become a mother is the most important right a woman has since that is a choice that will effect so many aspects of her life.