What's up with all the spiders lately? Is it the warm weather that's driving them into my house? That doesn't make sense to me because I would think the spiders would want to be outside living it up in the sunshine like the rest of us. But no... they have to invade my living room...
Spider Story #1:
So the other day, I came home from work exhausted. I was really tired. One of the things I love about wearing glasses is that you can just take them off, set them on the table, and throw your head down on the pillow. No contact case and solution necessary. So I was zonked out on the couch for about half an hour, then I started to wake up. I hadn't even opened my eyes yet, but I could feel someone watching me. I wondered if my landlord had walked in, because she's around here sometimes fixing things. No... 5 more minutes... I want to sleep for 5 more minutes. But wait. There's somebody watching me. Open eyes. Look around. See dark fuzzy spot on carpet that I didn't think was there before. Uh-huh, it was a spider! And the bad thing about wearing glasses is that if they are not nearby when you need them (immediately!) you can't see anything but fuzz. This little guy was fuzzy enough, he didn't need my near-sightedness to help him out. I won't give you the gory details, but he went away, and not on vacation.
Spider Story #2:
This evening after I got home from work, I was trying to clean up my apartment a little bit. It's kind of hard since I'm rolling around with one knee propped on a wheeled office chair that happens to react to linoleum like high heels on ice. So I usually go flying from one side of the kitchen to another and stop myself by reaching out for the counter or the wall. I gathered up the trash and was speeding towards the front door when I saw something run out from under the rug. Aha! Little scoundrel! Slam on the brakes! I went at him with the garbage bag and prayed it wouldn't break open and spill coffee grounds and moldy mozzarella everywhere. Bam! Bam! Bam! Sorry man... no mercy for arachnids.
Showing posts with label can you feel the love?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label can you feel the love?. Show all posts
18 April 2008
28 February 2008
Outrage and a roll of the eyes
**UPDATED 3/1/08: See comments at the bottom of this post**
As someone who used to work for a nonprofit foundation, I am familiar with the rules of donations, and this not only shocked me, but also made me say "This is classic Planned Parenthood". It's a lengthy post, but I wanted to copy the entire article from http://www.idahostatesman.com/ in case it ever becomes unavailable. See the original here. As of this posting, there were 257 online comments on this article.
Response to caller 'a serious mistake,' says Planned Parenthood of Idaho
They also criticized The Advocate for trying to discredit employees with recorded phone calls
**************************************
WHAT WAS SAID
Autumn Kersey of Planned Parenthood in Boise: Good afternoon, this is Autumn.
Donor: Hello, Autumn, I'm interested in making a donation today.
Kersey: Fantastic!
Donor: What about abortions for the underprivileged minority groups?
Kersey: Oh, absolutely. We have, um, in fact, uh wonderful, fantastic news. We just received a very generous donation to our women in need fund.
Donor: Wonderful. I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group - would that be possible?
Kersey: Absolutely.
Donor: Like the black community for example?
Kersey: Certainly.
Donor: OK, so the abortionI can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose.
Kersey: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that you wanted your gift to be used to help (an) African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that that gift was earmarked specifically for that purpose.
Donor: Great. Because I really face trouble with affirmative action, and I don't want my kids being disadvantaged, you know, against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name, you know.
Kersey: Mmhmm, absolutely.
Donor: So that's definitely possible.
Kersey: Oh, always, always.
Donor: So I just wanna - can I put this in the name of my son?
Kersey: Absolutely.
Donor: Yeah, he's trying to get into colleges, and he's going to be applying, you know, he's justwe're just really bighe's really faced troubles with affirmative action.
Kersey: Mmhmm.
Donor: And we don't, you know, we just think, you know, the less black kids out there the better.
Kersey: (Laughs) Understandable, understandable. ... Um David, let me, if I may, just get some sort of specific general information so we can set this up the right way. You said you wanted to put it in your son's name, and you would like this designated specifically to assist (an) African-American woman who's looking to terminate a pregnancy.
Donor: Exactly, and yeah, I wanna protect my son, so he can get into college.
Kersey: All right. Excuse my hesitation, um, um, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited, and I wanna make sure I don't leave anything out.
Transcript released by The Advocate
********************************************
BY SANDRA FORESTER - sforester@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 02/28/08
Planned Parenthood of Idaho officials apologized Wednesday for what they called an employee's "serious mistake" in encouraging a donation aimed at aborting black babies.
They also criticized The Advocate, a right-to-life student magazine at the University of California-Los Angeles, for trying to discredit Planned Parenthood employees in seven states in a series of tape-recorded phone calls last summer.
The call to Idaho came in July to Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho.
On the recording provided by The Advocate, an actor portraying a donor said he wanted his money used to eliminate black unborn children because "the less black kids out there the better."
Kersey laughed nervously and said: "Understandable, understandable. ... Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited and want to make sure I don't leave anything out."
On Tuesday, The Advocate released transcripts and audio recordings of this phone call and another to fundraising representatives in Ohio.
The student editor-in-chief of The Advocate said she's not surprised by Planned Parenthood's response and that the unedited recordings speak for themselves. The activist students think Planned Parenthood targets minorities and minority neighborhoods.
On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood of Idaho "firmly and unequivocally" denounced racial bias, admitted making a mistake and said the group had taken corrective action.
"A fundraising employee violated the organization's principles and practices when she appeared to be willing to accept a racially motivated donation," said CEO Rebecca Poedy in a written statement. "We apologize for the manner in which this offensive call was handled. We take full responsibility for the actions of the fundraising staff member who created the impression that racism of any form would be tolerated at Planned Parenthood. We took swift action to ensure that each of our employees understands their responsibility to communicate clearly with donors about the fact that we believe in helping all individuals, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, make informed decisions about their reproductive health care."
A spokeswoman for the organization would not say whether further disciplinary action was taken against Kersey, saying that was a personnel matter.
A longtime anti-abortion activist and conservative lobbyist - Idaho Values Alliance Executive Director Bryan Fischer - called Kersey's response in July reprehensible and said she should have been fired.
"It turns out that blatant racism is alive and well in Idaho, but it's not coming from the Aryan Nation types - it's coming from way-left organizations like Idaho's own Planned Parenthood," Fischer said. "They should have stridently rebuked that donor for being a racist and a bigot and refused to take that money."
The national Planned Parenthood office did not return phone calls Wednesday, but local officials denounced the editor of The Advocate as "a known anti-choice extremist."
"While the actions of our staff member were unacceptable, it's also unacceptable for opponents of abortion to use racist, deceptive tactics to smear Planned Parenthood," Poedy said. "The race-baiting tactics on display in this case are not news 'exposes,' but rather the product of the most cynical form of politicking."
Lila Rose, the UCLA student who led the Planned Parenthood investigation as The Advocate's editor-in-chief, said it is sad that the organization would focus on what the students did.
"They do not change their ways," Rose said. "They attack the whistleblower."
Nationwide, Planned Parenthood received about $902 million in revenue in 2005-06, according to its annual report. Private donations made up about 24 percent, or $212 million.
"It is unacceptable for a nonprofit to accept donations that target specific races," Rose said.
The Advocate is waiting for responses from Idaho and Ohio before releasing recordings from Planned Parenthood organizations in several other states, she said. In the meantime, the magazine is calling for UCLA to cut its ties with Planned Parenthood.
It is legal in Idaho for someone who makes a phone call to secretly tape it.
*UPDATE:
I think you all can probably guess my main opposition to Planned Parenthood, but I should clarify what is so disturbing about PP's actions in this specific instance. Not only is it ludicrous that they would accept donations specified for the abortion of a baby of a certain race, but does it strike anyone else as odd that they would even have a fund specifically for African American women? We're so used to seeing things like this that we don't notice the irony. We don't notice how "racial inequality" is being perpetuated by the very act of pointing it out. Think about all the scholarship funds, tv shows, magazines, etc. specifically created for black people. Could we replace the word "black" in their titles with "white" or "indian" or "asian" and not create an uproar? I do *not* advocate ignoring racial differences, but rather recognizing that God made every man in his image, "red, yellow, black or white" and therefore every person is worthy of respect, equally.
As someone who used to work for a nonprofit foundation, I am familiar with the rules of donations, and this not only shocked me, but also made me say "This is classic Planned Parenthood". It's a lengthy post, but I wanted to copy the entire article from http://www.idahostatesman.com/ in case it ever becomes unavailable. See the original here. As of this posting, there were 257 online comments on this article.
Response to caller 'a serious mistake,' says Planned Parenthood of Idaho
They also criticized The Advocate for trying to discredit employees with recorded phone calls
**************************************
WHAT WAS SAID
Autumn Kersey of Planned Parenthood in Boise: Good afternoon, this is Autumn.
Donor: Hello, Autumn, I'm interested in making a donation today.
Kersey: Fantastic!
Donor: What about abortions for the underprivileged minority groups?
Kersey: Oh, absolutely. We have, um, in fact, uh wonderful, fantastic news. We just received a very generous donation to our women in need fund.
Donor: Wonderful. I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group - would that be possible?
Kersey: Absolutely.
Donor: Like the black community for example?
Kersey: Certainly.
Donor: OK, so the abortionI can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose.
Kersey: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that you wanted your gift to be used to help (an) African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that that gift was earmarked specifically for that purpose.
Donor: Great. Because I really face trouble with affirmative action, and I don't want my kids being disadvantaged, you know, against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name, you know.
Kersey: Mmhmm, absolutely.
Donor: So that's definitely possible.
Kersey: Oh, always, always.
Donor: So I just wanna - can I put this in the name of my son?
Kersey: Absolutely.
Donor: Yeah, he's trying to get into colleges, and he's going to be applying, you know, he's justwe're just really bighe's really faced troubles with affirmative action.
Kersey: Mmhmm.
Donor: And we don't, you know, we just think, you know, the less black kids out there the better.
Kersey: (Laughs) Understandable, understandable. ... Um David, let me, if I may, just get some sort of specific general information so we can set this up the right way. You said you wanted to put it in your son's name, and you would like this designated specifically to assist (an) African-American woman who's looking to terminate a pregnancy.
Donor: Exactly, and yeah, I wanna protect my son, so he can get into college.
Kersey: All right. Excuse my hesitation, um, um, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited, and I wanna make sure I don't leave anything out.
Transcript released by The Advocate
********************************************
BY SANDRA FORESTER - sforester@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 02/28/08
Planned Parenthood of Idaho officials apologized Wednesday for what they called an employee's "serious mistake" in encouraging a donation aimed at aborting black babies.
They also criticized The Advocate, a right-to-life student magazine at the University of California-Los Angeles, for trying to discredit Planned Parenthood employees in seven states in a series of tape-recorded phone calls last summer.
The call to Idaho came in July to Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho.
On the recording provided by The Advocate, an actor portraying a donor said he wanted his money used to eliminate black unborn children because "the less black kids out there the better."
Kersey laughed nervously and said: "Understandable, understandable. ... Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited and want to make sure I don't leave anything out."
On Tuesday, The Advocate released transcripts and audio recordings of this phone call and another to fundraising representatives in Ohio.
The student editor-in-chief of The Advocate said she's not surprised by Planned Parenthood's response and that the unedited recordings speak for themselves. The activist students think Planned Parenthood targets minorities and minority neighborhoods.
On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood of Idaho "firmly and unequivocally" denounced racial bias, admitted making a mistake and said the group had taken corrective action.
"A fundraising employee violated the organization's principles and practices when she appeared to be willing to accept a racially motivated donation," said CEO Rebecca Poedy in a written statement. "We apologize for the manner in which this offensive call was handled. We take full responsibility for the actions of the fundraising staff member who created the impression that racism of any form would be tolerated at Planned Parenthood. We took swift action to ensure that each of our employees understands their responsibility to communicate clearly with donors about the fact that we believe in helping all individuals, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, make informed decisions about their reproductive health care."
A spokeswoman for the organization would not say whether further disciplinary action was taken against Kersey, saying that was a personnel matter.
A longtime anti-abortion activist and conservative lobbyist - Idaho Values Alliance Executive Director Bryan Fischer - called Kersey's response in July reprehensible and said she should have been fired.
"It turns out that blatant racism is alive and well in Idaho, but it's not coming from the Aryan Nation types - it's coming from way-left organizations like Idaho's own Planned Parenthood," Fischer said. "They should have stridently rebuked that donor for being a racist and a bigot and refused to take that money."
The national Planned Parenthood office did not return phone calls Wednesday, but local officials denounced the editor of The Advocate as "a known anti-choice extremist."
"While the actions of our staff member were unacceptable, it's also unacceptable for opponents of abortion to use racist, deceptive tactics to smear Planned Parenthood," Poedy said. "The race-baiting tactics on display in this case are not news 'exposes,' but rather the product of the most cynical form of politicking."
Lila Rose, the UCLA student who led the Planned Parenthood investigation as The Advocate's editor-in-chief, said it is sad that the organization would focus on what the students did.
"They do not change their ways," Rose said. "They attack the whistleblower."
Nationwide, Planned Parenthood received about $902 million in revenue in 2005-06, according to its annual report. Private donations made up about 24 percent, or $212 million.
"It is unacceptable for a nonprofit to accept donations that target specific races," Rose said.
The Advocate is waiting for responses from Idaho and Ohio before releasing recordings from Planned Parenthood organizations in several other states, she said. In the meantime, the magazine is calling for UCLA to cut its ties with Planned Parenthood.
It is legal in Idaho for someone who makes a phone call to secretly tape it.
*UPDATE:
I think you all can probably guess my main opposition to Planned Parenthood, but I should clarify what is so disturbing about PP's actions in this specific instance. Not only is it ludicrous that they would accept donations specified for the abortion of a baby of a certain race, but does it strike anyone else as odd that they would even have a fund specifically for African American women? We're so used to seeing things like this that we don't notice the irony. We don't notice how "racial inequality" is being perpetuated by the very act of pointing it out. Think about all the scholarship funds, tv shows, magazines, etc. specifically created for black people. Could we replace the word "black" in their titles with "white" or "indian" or "asian" and not create an uproar? I do *not* advocate ignoring racial differences, but rather recognizing that God made every man in his image, "red, yellow, black or white" and therefore every person is worthy of respect, equally.
25 February 2008
Do You Like God?
"We don't always like what we love. And though we can act lovingly without heartfelt affection, we are fooling ourselves to think that a begrudging love is what we should settle for, or that it is, in fact, some kind of admirable 'martyr-love'. It may be the best we can do at times but it is not the best we can do.
So, given this love-like dilemma, I'm asking, do you like God? Odd question, eh? Perhaps that's part of what makes it worthwhile.
Asking 'Do you like God?' may help us see how restricted our view of God's love really is. 'Of course, I like God,' you say. 'How could I not? I love God.' Although this answer may very well represent a depth of commitment and affection that needs no challenge, it just might reveal a view of 'love' that looks a lot like 'duty'."
~Gregory Spencer, via Boundless, 2007
See the rest here.
So, given this love-like dilemma, I'm asking, do you like God? Odd question, eh? Perhaps that's part of what makes it worthwhile.
Asking 'Do you like God?' may help us see how restricted our view of God's love really is. 'Of course, I like God,' you say. 'How could I not? I love God.' Although this answer may very well represent a depth of commitment and affection that needs no challenge, it just might reveal a view of 'love' that looks a lot like 'duty'."
~Gregory Spencer, via Boundless, 2007
See the rest here.
17 February 2008
I love my job
I know tomorrow is President's Day. Which means we should spend the day recognizing the service of previous and current US Presidents.
But it means something else to me, in addition to the President-recognition thing.
To all of my dear friends and family who have to work tomorrow, BOO-YAH!
But it means something else to me, in addition to the President-recognition thing.
To all of my dear friends and family who have to work tomorrow, BOO-YAH!
14 February 2008
Valentine's Day
A hectic week at work made me extra thankful for these things...
An uber-sweet valentine from my Mom! She is pretty much the most creative person I know. The square card on the left is actually a large circle of cardstock-weight scrapbooking paper, folded so all the edges meet in the middle. The box on the right has a very cute Valentine's paperclip. I will be using it just as soon as I can get it unstuck from the box. What kind of glue did you use on there Mom? Maybe I'm not supposed to take it off...
Look at this cute pincushion! This will come in very handy when I start sewing. Which I know I've been saying I would do for the past year, but people you know what my apartment looks like. I'll set up the sewing machine once I move upstairs, ok? :-) I love little personalized things like this.
An uber-sweet valentine from my Mom! She is pretty much the most creative person I know. The square card on the left is actually a large circle of cardstock-weight scrapbooking paper, folded so all the edges meet in the middle. The box on the right has a very cute Valentine's paperclip. I will be using it just as soon as I can get it unstuck from the box. What kind of glue did you use on there Mom? Maybe I'm not supposed to take it off...
Look at this cute pincushion! This will come in very handy when I start sewing. Which I know I've been saying I would do for the past year, but people you know what my apartment looks like. I'll set up the sewing machine once I move upstairs, ok? :-) I love little personalized things like this.
Tonight for dinner I made a teriyaki stir fry, which is apparently not the traditional way of doing teriyaki. I used Quon Yick noodles, famous in LA, and Soy Vay brand teriyaki sauce... I think the story behind Soy Vay is funny--a Jewish guy and a Chinese lady met as co-workers at Humboldt State University and started producing sauces together because everybody at their company potlucks liked her recipes so much. I've never tried Quon Yick before, but the noodles were really good; a bit firmer than a typical skinny noodle, which held up well to the stir fry.
Birthday Presents
My family and friends know me well...
Meredith got me a Starbucks gift card... oh yeah. :-) It has been put to good use this week, considering all the overtime at work.
Rich and Susan gave me a fondue cookbook and an ample supply of dipping chocolate for my next party. I'm already planning the menu.
Casey and Lisa got me this collection of 88 hymns. Susan Beisner recorded these on piano to provide accompaniment for those who do not have access to instruments, or simply want to listen to the instrumental version of the Trinity Hymnal. Since my piano will soon be going into storage (*sniff!*), this will be great to have. Casey and Lisa also got me a Starbucks gift card.
Jerry and Bernice sent two things I have always wanted and needed, but never bought. A sturdy wooden cutting board, and a sharp chef's knife. Finally I can cut things in less than half an hour. Ok, not quite that long, but... almost.
Meredith got me a Starbucks gift card... oh yeah. :-) It has been put to good use this week, considering all the overtime at work.
Rich and Susan gave me a fondue cookbook and an ample supply of dipping chocolate for my next party. I'm already planning the menu.
Casey and Lisa got me this collection of 88 hymns. Susan Beisner recorded these on piano to provide accompaniment for those who do not have access to instruments, or simply want to listen to the instrumental version of the Trinity Hymnal. Since my piano will soon be going into storage (*sniff!*), this will be great to have. Casey and Lisa also got me a Starbucks gift card.
Jerry and Bernice sent two things I have always wanted and needed, but never bought. A sturdy wooden cutting board, and a sharp chef's knife. Finally I can cut things in less than half an hour. Ok, not quite that long, but... almost.
Mom and Dad sent 3 of my favorite things in the mail: vanilla, vanilla, and vanilla! A baker can never have enough good quality vanilla. On the left is a Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract. Madagascar is the world's largest producer of vanilla planifolia, the "vanilla orchid". Each flower on the plant produces one fruit (i.e. vanilla bean) and the flowers bloom just one day a year. The glass tube in front contains 5 beans from Papua New Guinea, and the jar to the right contains one Tahitian vanilla bean and 2 Madagascar beans. If you look closely at the label you will see that it is a vanilla infusion "kit"--you split the beans, add vodka, shake once a day for 2 months, and you have your own vanilla. I can't wait to get started. Look for homemade vanilla ice cream and cream puffs with vanilla bean pastry cream in about two months... 
10 February 2008
Birthday Weekend, Day 3 *continued*
Kudos to Lisa for all the great shots. Y'all know what I mean.
Starting out at my house...
Then on to Pair for dinner....
Starting out at my house...
Lisa, me, Anya, Meredith
Getting crazy and we haven't even left the house!
Then on to Pair for dinner....
Pair gave us white chocolate shots for our birthdays... mmm. And yes I will have everyone know that despite the rouge tint to my face, I only had 2 drinks the whole night. See the comments on Lisa's blog. :-)
Our waiter was hilarious, if not totally there. Maybe because he wasn't totally there...
The finishing touch at Melting Pot...
Balloons and a box of fondue chocolate were waiting for me at Melting Pot. There was also a little candle in the cheesecake on the dipping platter. They make sure you have an awesome birthday! 
Yes, that is a bar we are sitting on. And yes, I am completely utterly embarrassed. Fun times! :-)
Birthday Weekend, Day 2
Day 2: Friday, February 1 *my 27th birthday!*
Anya and I headed up to McCall, with the requisite pb&j sandwiches that she eats every day...
Anya and I headed up to McCall, with the requisite pb&j sandwiches that she eats every day...
The Rainbow Bridge
A storm was coming in just as we got there, but the light made for great pictures.
Anya looking cute. When does she not look cute? The girl wears a beret for crying out loud.
The view from downtown McCall across the lake, just incredible.
See Tamarack slopes in the distance?
We spent more time driving than walking, but it was all fun. I love McCall.
Anya made me dinner when we got back to my apartment: spaghetti, garlic bread, and caprese salad. And leftover Mai Thai chocolate cake for dessert. Oh yes, and my favorite white--Ste. Chapelle Winemaker's Series Riesling.
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