Chewymom

Thanks to alert reader, commenter, and friend Tulipgirl, I have become aware of another news item that is related to this one, only in the sense that it can get you arrested.

It seems to me that if you were planning to attack or just plain annoy a police officer, it would be much more acceptable to do it with a hug than with a fart. However, it appears from this article that either one would get you placed in handcuffs at the least.

I wonder if the hugger was charged with battery?

Regardless, you can never accuse me of not being helpful. Now you, dear readers, have been made aware that if you are ever stopped by an officer, you should 1-make sure to control your bodily functions and do NOT pass gas, and 2-control your urge to show affection to said police officer. Otherwise you, too, could be the subject of a battery charge. And a really embarrassing newspaper article. Not to mention the subject of ridicule on certain blogs….

I’m just sayin.’

I found an important news item in today’s paper, and I wanted to make my three faithful readers aware of it.

Now, let me say at first I was certain this was local news, because it just kinda sounds like something that would appear in our paper. But no, this comes all the way from West Virginia!

A man was apparently arrested and charged with battery on a police officer. No light crime, there.

So how did he attack this officer?

He farted at him. And then fanned the odor in the officer’s direction.

My college friends are rolling their eyes, because they know that even now at the age of forty-two, I find farting to be funny. Maybe it is the presence of four boys in my home, I don’t know.

But I will say that this has given me a whole new line of conversation with my kids, and the lesson bears repeating on here. None of my faithful readers can claim that they weren’t warned.

Whatever you do, never fart at a police officer.

In numerous places recently I have seen two quotes lumped together. The first is one by Obama:

Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.

And the second is one by Palin:

We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. . . .Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.

The implication, and often the argument, is that this shows definitively the difference between Obama’s and Palin’s stance on life. Or going further, it illustrates that the Democrats do not value life, but the Republicans do.

Obama’s quote was taken from a campaign rally in April where he was talking about sex education and STDs. It is only a small piece of the entire quote. If you have heard the talk, you know that Obama was already fumbling a bit for words. He was speaking off the top of his head. Now, some argue it shows what he is really like. Have you ever put your foot in your mouth? Have you ever laid in bed, rehashing a conversation you had and wishing you had worded things differently, because you just didn’t get your point across well? Although I do not know, I would imagine this was one of those moments for Obama. It seems to me he was trying to say that if his children become sexually active as teens, he hopes they are protected from the many life-altering consequences that can come about as a result. Consequences that we as parents would not wish on any of our teenage children, even if we do view children as always being a blessing!

Palin’s comments were a thought-out press release. She had to disclose her teenage daughter’s pregnancy amid rumors that Trig is not her son, but in fact her daughter’s son. No mom wants to be forced to disclose private information about her child for the whole nation to hear (although Palin surely knew this would come out when she accepted McCain’s offer to be his running mate). And Palin’s public response to Bristol’s pregnancy is eloquently and beautifully crafted. She avoids any indication that she is not fully supportive of her daughter, as she should.

Folks, these just are not the same two situations! There is plenty that can be compared between the candidates, including their stance on the abortion issue. But using this quote to try to paint Obama as a child-hater comes across, frankly, as not well-informed. Or inflammatory. Or skirting the real issues.

I used to be in the ultra-conservative-right-wing-Rush-Limbaugh crowd. I listened to this kind of stuff all the time, and I was wowed by the way conservative spokespeople could make my head spin with it. I took it all as evidence of underlying attitudes, and I was certain I was right. And now, I just think it all sounds really silly and not uninformed. I am not saying that people in right-wing conservative camps are uneducated or uninformed–certainly not! VERY intelligent people come to all sorts of political conclusions, and I truly respect them. My point is not to say that smart people cannot be appalled at Obama’s stance on abortion. My point is that if you are going to articulate your position, do it intelligently, not by misusing pieces of quotes to your advantage.

I have more thoughts about the whole pro-life issue between the two parties, and some about Palin’s son Trig–both issues I have been asked about many times in the last week. Hopefully I will find the time and brain-power to tackle both of these soon, so stay tuned.

Both of you loyal readers.

If you are a friend who knows me in real life, you are probably sick of me about now. Especially if you are on my personal email list and have Facebook. So to you, I apologize in advance.

For the rest of you, I’m getting madder by the minute about this movie, “Tropic Thunder.” Thankfully although those who made the movie have appeared to turn a deaf ear, the voices within the disability community are being heard. As Dave Hingsburger writes, “The Simple Jack website was pulled. The trailors were changed. The ‘Don’t Go Full Retard’ clip was removed from You Tube. The tee shirt was taken off the market. Our protests were heard all over the media. Ben Stiller had to address the controversy and found himself explaining his ‘humour’. Our voices were heard, in unison, around the world.”

During this time when all eyes are glued to NBC and the Olympics, does anybody else find it ironic and also disturbing to watch a Coke commercial, paying tribute to Special Olympic athletes one minute, and to watch a trailer for “Tropic Thunder” and hear that Newsweek and others laud it as the best comedy of the year the next minute? Let’s just say Coke will be getting a whole lot more of my business than Newsweek (which I have dropped) in the near future.

Timothy Shriver, chairman for Special Olympics gets to the heart of my concern when he says, “It wasn’t funny when Hollywood humiliated African Americans for a generation. It’s never funny when good and decent human beings are humiliated. In fact, it is dangerous and disgusting.” And that’s the point. Anyone who knows Brig knows that he is completely undeserving of this kind of hate speech being directed at him and others like him.

Brig is the kid who talks to everyone in the hall at school. Literally, everyone. He doesn’t care if your hair is greasy, if you have zits, if you are overweight, if you screwed up a big play in football, if you have food caught in your braces, or if your Walmart special clothes don’t match. He just doesn’t care. He cares about people because they are people. Sure, he may not have his math facts down. He may not read classic literature and understand it, and sometimes he is hard to understand. And he can annoy the fool out of his brothers with his Coke obsession and his embarrassing comments at youth group. But why do those characteristics make him a target for ridicule and hate speech? They should not any more than black skin or an alternate sexual preference should make someone a target.

And the really appalling thing is that it’s not the kids in Brig’s high school who are making fun of him and others like him. It’s adults! People who should know better! People who are influential in society - movie directors and stars. Would this be tolerated against any other group?? Of course not! I really can’t figure out what makes it acceptable to pick on the intellectually disabled, unless it is the fact that there probably will not be any retaliation. The one group who really can’t stand up for themselves, and probably wouldn’t want to even if they could. Folks, when someone targets a weaker person and picks on them, it’s called bullying. Not tolerated in most school systems around the country. But acceptable in Hollywood.

Click here to see what Special Olympics is doing in reaction to this movie. And click to sign the petition!

And then, out of respect for Brig and others with an intellectual disability, do not see the movie “Tropic Thunder.” Don’t see it in theaters, don’t rent it, don’t download it, don’t buy it, don’t order it from Netflix, and definitely don’t buy the merchandise that is sure to come out with catch phrases like, “Never go full retard.” Help me give a voice to the voiceless with our pocketbooks, and let’s make this movie the biggest flop of the season.

I had wanted to write a blog post about this upcoming movie, but a friend of mine wrote a letter to her editor that was so well-written, I asked permission to repost her letter. Click here to read up on the issue surrounding this movie. And click here to read another blog post that is very well-written as well. And then read this letter from my friend Amy.

Wednesday, August 13 is the release date of the movie “Tropic Thunder.” The film is expected to be a summer blockbuster, and features Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., and Jack Black as self-absorbed actors filming a big budget war movie on location. Through a series of freak occurrences, they are forced to become the soldiers they are playing. Stiller’s character is a fading action star who failed in his bid for an Oscar as “Simple Jack,” a man with an intellectual disability. “Simple Jack” is featured as a film-within-a-film, with Stiller sporting a classic institutional bowl cut and bad teeth.

This film is meant to be a satire about actors and the entertainment industry, but the result is far more sobering. The damage the film will do to people with intellectual disabilities and their families is immeasurable. The word “retard,” considered hate speech by disability rights advocates, is used frequently in the film. “Simple Jack” is described as a “retard,” and until recent objections, marketing materials and a website featured the tagline, “Once upon a time…There was a retard.” Scenes include Robert Downey Jr.’s character advising Stiller’s character to “never go full retard.” This phrase is already available on a t-shirt on the Internet.

A coalition of advocacy organizations has met with DreamWorks and Paramount executives in an effort to educate them about how extremely offensive this word is. Although the companies removed offensive marketing materials, they fail to understand the impact of their decisions. Advocates have been told they are overreacting, that the intention is not to make fun of people with intellectual disabilities, that other groups are made fun of as well. As usual, they’ve been told that it’s just a word, and words have no power.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The words we say define who we are, and define how others see us. Words that denigrate and dehumanize an entire segment of the population have far-reaching effects. People with intellectual disabilities are routinely targeted for ridicule, abuse and violence, all because of how a word defines them. What starts with hateful words ends with hateful violence, and that should not be accepted in our society.

Films like “Tropic Thunder” not only foster a negative stereotype, they tell young people that it’s okay to belittle others, especially those who can’t defend themselves. I have a child with an intellectual disability, and in a few weeks, I will be sending her back to school, along with millions of other parents of children with disabilities. The hallways have never been exactly welcoming of those with differences, and many of us are already cringing at the thought of our kids enduring “full retard” remarks.

I call on parents, schools and teachers to make sure this doesn’t happen. Avoid “Tropic Thunder”. Banish the word “retard” as hate speech in your homes and schools. Educate people about why this word is so offensive. Don’t allow my charming, funny, and yes – smart – child, and others like her, to be targeted.

Here’s a thought I was mulling over this morning. Is it possible that because abortion is legal in our country, it allows for a greater testimony of God’s goodness and grace when a person chooses life?

I know a young girl who has learned that she is pregnant. I was thinking about the agony of discovering her pregnancy. And then the fear she must have felt in telling her parents. I know of the distress they felt, wondering even if her father might lose his job, because he is in Christian ministry. (He didn’t.) At so many turns, it must have been tempting to let her mind turn to the “what if” of abortion. Or maybe even the “if only.” What would her life be like if she just quietly aborted the baby and never told anyone?

In so many ways this girl’s life has changed. She gave up life in a college town to move home and go to a community college. Not only that, but she will continue her classes this year, and then she will take a break for at least a semester, and maybe for an entire year. Eventually she plans to go back to school locally and get her degree while her parents help her raise her child. She is not planning to marry the father right away–she is a believer, he is not. She will be a single mom at least for the short-term, and possibly forever. Gone are her dreams of being a collegiate girl, of getting the degree she planned in four years, of finding a mate, enjoying time getting to know him before kids, and then settling down and starting a family. Her life is turned upside-down. Dreams are dashed. If she aborted, life could go on as planned. But she has chosen life.

As her life progresses, she has a testimony. She will be able to tell women who follow after her that even though she could have aborted and had an easier life for herself, she made a choice. She kept a baby who rocked her world and turned things upside down. She chose a hard path. And even if that path proves difficult over and over and over again, there is a little soul who can live and love and learn of Jesus. She will have a story to tell others.

If this girl lived in a country where abortion was illegal, she would never have made a choice. There would have been no choice to make. Her story would simply be, “I had the baby because I had no choice. I had to.” Granted she could choose adoption, but still. The testimony of her journey, of her making the difficult decision would be gone.

There is beauty in having a choice. There is risk, yes. Think of what God risked by allowing Eve to make a choice. Why did he allow there to be tempting fruit in the first place? Without that fruit, without that decision on the part of Eve, we would never know badness and sin and evil. And yet, without knowing sin, would we really know God, completely and fully? Could we get the goodness of God without knowing our own badness?

And in the same way, could we know the goodness of choosing life if we never knew the badness of choosing abortion? Would the sacrifice have meaning if there was no other option?

Last night, we had more fun than we really should be allowed to have. We have the great fortune to live in the great state of Alabama, right in “tornado alley.” And because we are close to the Tennessee River, there are no basements here. And because the builders are STILL not safety-conscious, we have no inner rooms without windows.

So, at 3:00 am, the sirens started sounding. Chewydad ran downstairs to turn on the tv and be sure they really meant that WE needed to seek shelter, and yep, we saw on the radar that there was a tornado bearing down on our city. We roused all five of the kids who were just thrilled, I tell ya, and crouched in a 3-foot by 5-foot area in the hall, under our stairs. Backed up to the closet that houses the litter box for our four cats, and surrounded by open walls on every side.

Max, the burping, farting, and terrified-of-thunder Golden Retriever, joined us. Meaning he stood on top of us. We crouched in the hall for a bit until we were certain that the storm was past. Then we sent five wound-up kids back to bed.

And if you thought THAT was fun, you should have been in our house at 6:30 am when we awakened our kids AGAIN, this time for school. They were thrilled, I tell ya.

**And in spite of my wise-arsed post, I seriously need to say that I am very thankful that our town was spared last night in the bad weather. Our thoughts and prayers here in the House of Chewy are with those who have lost homes, precious possessions, and loved ones in these storms.**

I’ll admit it. I’m annoyed. We have made significant strides to cut our budget, and we have succeeded. When I worked through our new budget plan for 2008, I was pleased to see that even more money will be going toward savings, and we had enough money to support a child through Compassion International. Two huge accomplishments!

Still, it just seems that our budget is tight, and way too much money is disappearing from my checking account. Our housing expenses, which should actually be quite low, are much higher than I am comfortable with. Do you want to know why?

Technology.

We are paying for cell phones. And now, you can’t just pay for a phone and monthly service. Oh no! If you have teens, you have to add a text message plan. Which we did. And can I just say, I LOVE text messages!! Oh, the fun I’ve been missing!

But it doesn’t end there. We also have to pay for data plans. So my kids can get on the internet, you know. And if we don’t pay, well, they can still get on the internet. And then we pay–the equivalent of a mortgage payment. Ask me how I know….

Maybe because our first bill was over $700.

Maybe.

Anyhoo….Not only is there a cell phone bill, but there’s the internet. And of course, we have to have high speed. No slow connection for Chewymom, nosireebob.

And let’s not leave out our Satellite TV. Because college football just ended! And lots of games are on ESPN now, rather than regular networks. Especially if you like teams outside of Alabama. Which we do. (Go Yellow Jackets!) (Go Paladins!)

And Oh. My. how those bills add up.

And I ask you. Was life really so bad when we had one phone–maybe two–attached to the wall? With a long cord to get out of parental earshot, of course–at least stretching to the laundry room. And when you got a busy signal for two straight hours when trying to call anyone with a teenager. Was it really that bad?

Or when you got off your butt to turn the dial on the old black and white tv? With 3 channels, or 8 if you lived in a big city like Atlanta. And were forced to watch HeeHaw, Lawrence Welk, and if you were really lucky or had a babysitter, The Sonny and Cher Show, Was that so bad?

Or when you had to do your research using the World Book Encyclopedia set that was sold to your parents one summer by a poor college student trying to earn a buck?

And was it so bad to type your papers on a clickety-clackety typewriter, to go back with your Liquid Paper or white typing tape to correct errors?

I know, I know, I use technology like the rest of the world, and I love it. Truly I do. But sheesh, when I feel like I’m making a mortgage payment to “technology,” sometimes I just want to go bury my head in 1970’s sand and live there for a while.

The problem (the “elephant in the room” as Craig Schwarze would put it) is that the pro-life movement has failed - completely and spectacularly. Despite 30 years of protests, political action and even violence (albeit from a militant minority), western society has embraced abortion. Despite the efforts of the pro-life movement, support for abortion has increased since the early 1970s. While pro-life people argue and agitate to make abortion illegal, a considerable majority of people wish to keep it legal. Moreover, voting for politicians who support the pro-life camp has resulted in absolutely no change at all in abortion laws. For example, from 1994 until 2006, the US congress was controlled by conservative Republicans who had been voted in by the American people to enact conservative legislation - which included support from pro-life groups. Despite 12 years of congressional control (of which 6 years were spent under a conservative president who would not veto conservative legislation), Roe vs Wade was never repealed, abortions were not reduced and public opinion of abortion did not swing enough towards the pro-life position (if it swung at all).

One Salient Oversight argues (much more eloquently than I have attempted to do on here) that having a pro-life political stance may not be the best way to reduce abortions. He points out an interesting study that shows that countries where abortion is legal actually have lower rates of abortions than those countries where abortion is illegal. If you truly consider yourself to be in the pro-life camp, this is a must read post.

My kids have a holiday from school today in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day. I have a holiday from my community college for Robert E Lee day. Something I had never heard of even though I was born and raised in the south.

Talk about a way to offend some African Americans! Let’s take the focus off of a man who fought for civil rights for black people and turn it around to honor the man who was fighting with the Confederate troops to maintain the rights of people to own slaves! I know, I know, the civil war was about a lot more than that. I get that. But really–don’t ya think it might offend a few people to take the focus off of King and put it on THAT????