06 June, 2011

Crazy times.

Luna Sea News takes a look at a few of the interesting pieces that have crossed the feed in the last week. This week we look into women's prisons, the stay at home daughter's movement, Male birth control,  Lies we tell ourselves (and our children) and how to thwart terrorists with cupcakes. Wee! But it doesn't stop there, I've also added three surprise reads at the end just to amuse and inspire, if by amuse and inspire you think of laughing uncomfortably and perhaps pumping a fist or two.

Jump into the sea...


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We begin with a look into women's prisons. Apparently, if you are a woman, in prison, you have to stick tampons up your nose to avoid the internal bleeding you are doing getting on the license plates you are making, 'cause you know, you have no rights and internal bleeding isn't really a big deal. And if you do happen to need those tampons for their intended purpose you have to fuck guards to get them if you bleed through more than two a day. I'm not making this up. 

According to a June 4, 2011 article in the Huffington Post "the [California] Department [of corrections] began rationing supplies such as toilet paper, tampons, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste in order to confront its budget crisis, a policy change that led some inmates to turn to prostitution with guards in order to gain access to these basics." Also quoted are pices of an interview with Beverly Henry who, over the course of 12 years "watched hundreds of untreated women die in the Central California Women’s Facility, a sprawling complex in Chowchilla that comprises the largest female prison in the nation." Including the woman (with tampons in her nose to stem the internal bleeding) she helped to the prison clinic who was told to return to work. Within a week, the woman was dead.

Obviously some men up in the big chiars have no idea what it's like to bleed for days, I get that, but basic human dignity is something we are supposed to afford even those we incarcerate. The full story "California Women Prisons: Inmates Face Sexual Abuse, Lack Of Medical Care And Unsanitary Conditions' is worth reading in full, and passing on.
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If you are a young woman and don't want to go to Jail where you may be forced into prostitution in order not to be made to sit in your own menstrual blood for hours. A group of zealous young women have,  it seems, have begun a movement to keep you from such a fate. Instead of the chaotic horror of prison, it's a neatly packaged credo not unlike an embryonic, and internally motivated, version of womanhood that was written about in The Handmaid's Tale over 20 years ago.

Bitch Magazine had this to say in the article "House Proud" written by by Gina McGalliard, "The stay-at-home-daughters movement, which is promoted by Vision Forum, encourages young girls and single women to forgo college and outside employment in favor of training as “keepers at home” until they marry. Young women pursuing their own ambitions and goals are viewed as selfish and antifamily; marriage is not a choice or one piece of a larger life plan, but the ultimate goal. Stay-at-home daughters spend their days learning “advanced homemaking” skills, such as cooking and sewing, and other skills that at one time were a necessity—knitting, crocheting, soap- and candle-making. A father is considered his daughter’s authority until he transfers control to her husband." 


Lovely, well at least I know that a man's passions are more worthy of my consideration than my own.  Welcome to the dystopian future! We have arrived. 

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Speaking of a man's passions, a scientist in India has "developed [an] injection for men with the intention of neutralising the sperm that are released so they are not able to fertilise the female egg. The scientist claims that all of the men who have so far received the injection have had no side effects at all."

No really! Apparently Euroclinix.net got wind of and released the following article last February showing that there is a distinct possibility that some men (In India, at least) may be able to start taking some responsibility for their offspring making potential.  Whether or not their junk will return to it's pre-polymer glory after 10 years seems to be a bit murky in the details and who knows what those future kids might look like after having various parts of their DNA coated in a polymer while it's wearing off, but it's a start... of something. Click here to read more about the new Male Birth-Control.
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Now that we've finally made it down to the bottom of the rabbit hole, lets not forget to grab some cake. This weeks recipe idea comes from the kitchen of TERROR aka an Al-Qeda frequented "... online bomb-making magazine." Which "...has been hacked into by M16 who replaced the deadly instructions with a recipe for making cupcakes." 

This awesome news was in the Daily Telegraph reported via an AOL UK article dated June 3rd. Apparently "When al-Qaeda followers tried to download the 67-page manual they were greeted with garbled computer code inserted by MI6 and GCHQ hackers. When deciphered, the code turned out to be a web page of recipes from U.S. publication "The Best Cupcakes in America." For more on this hilarious story (sadly lacking any actual recipe) visit The June 3rd AOL UK Article.

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We can't all be awesome winners like Mi6. But if we all had fun, we all won...right? Well, No. 

"Nobody wins? Bullshit. Somebody does win. There IS always a winner." 

That profound truth, from Nicole Knepper mastermind behind Chicago Now's blog "Moms who drink and swear"   (known as MWDAS to it's loyal fans and lazy reposters) is a great sample of what you'll find in this weeks blog

"If you had fun, you won.....NOT!"

Filed under "Lies we tell ourselves (and our children)" Nicole has expressed this inherent, yet often overlooked, fact more awesomely and bluntly than anyone I've noted in recent history. The "Queen of cussin'"calls bullshit on the idea that if you participate in a thing, you've won even if you are a big fat loser. I like this. It's honest and it leaves room for all of us who suck at some things, to suck at it and realize that losing doesn't always mean winning. Except when it does.
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Like when you are "laying in pile on the bedroom floor" after life has fed you a series of mind destroying shit sandwiches. 

But do not despair, rejoice that you can win, even while losing. How is this possible? 

Apparently, according to Julie (JC) Peters,..."there is a goddess from Hindu mythology that teaches us that, in this moment, in this pile on the floor, you are more powerful than you’ve ever been".

This goddess "Akhilanda” means essentially “never not broken.”
In other words, The Always Broken Goddess. 
This is what she looks like:
 
"But this isn’t the kind of broken that indicates weakness and terror."
Oh, no...

"It’s the kind of broken that tears apart all the stuff that gets us stuck in toxic routines, repeating the same relationships and habits over and over, rather than diving into the scary process of trying something new and unfathomable." Right on and hell yeah. Hope for us blithering on the floor losers. For sure. For more on this magnificent goddess JC has a word or two to add.



and Natlie Imbruglia  has the soundtrack:

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