Jump off the Bridge

Contemplating Justice & the MySpace Mom
Thursday, July 2, 2009

One of my first posts ever was about the "MySpace Mom" being indicted. Well, a year later, Lori Drew has been acquitted.

For those not familiar with the case, Lori Drew and her daughter Ashley Grills created a fake MySpace account and used it to bully 13-year-old Megan Meier. Megan ended up committing suicide, and although Drew was convicted of misdemeanor charges, she wasn't held responsible for Megan's suicide.

Drew has always said that she didn't know about the MySpace bullying her daughter was doing, and it's certainly possible that she didn't -- we all keep things from our parents when we're teens. It's just unfortunate that we'll never really know what happened and that there isn't really any justice* in this case. I guess something about the fact that this ended with a teen girl committing suicide is what really makes me wish something more would have come of this. But at least Ashley will be able to have her mother back in her life... Not sure whether or not that's a great thing (if she actually was involved in this), but I think we have to see the silver lining in this and hope for the best.

*I use the word "justice" here simply because I don't know what else to use. But, obviously, there is not really such a thing as justice in cases like these. Somebody is dead, and nothing can bring them back. And, of course, Drew not having to go to jail means Ashley can have a mother present in her life. Justice is a tricky, tricky thing, right?

Posted by frau sally benz 10:23 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Labels: in the news

TAKE ACTION: Women's Health Care & the Reform Bill
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I just got emails from Planned Parenthood and NARAL about the latest attempt at using health care reform to target women's health care. From Planned Parenthood:

Right now, the Republican leadership on the Senate Finance Committee is considering health care reform language that will take away access to women's comprehensive reproductive health services. It is unbelievable that, at a time when our leaders should be focused on expanding health care coverage, they are talking about taking benefits away from women.

The Republican leadership on the Senate Finance Committee is demanding a provision that will result in a drastic change to the benefits that many of us have now; and, of course, the hundreds of thousands of women who are not covered now will still be left out in the cold.

You can take action online through Planned Parenthood or through NARAL. NARAL's email also had these instructions for making calls:

Call your senator. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected with your senator on the Finance Committee. When the Senate staff person answers, simply ask to leave this message: "I urge the senator to oppose any attempts to ban reproductive-health services from being covered in the new health-care system."

And, of course, spread the word and TAKE ACTION.

Posted by frau sally benz 11:19 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Labels: repro rights, Take Action

Blogging at Feministe
Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ummmmm despite the fact that my brain has not sent its magical waves to my fingers as of late, I'll be guest blogging at Feministe this summer! WOOT! Hollerific! *celebratory dance*

I'm in plenty of good company -- check out amandaw and Queen Emily for starters. My guest blogging stint isn't until the end of the summer, so hopefully my writer's block and lack of writing time will get better between now and then. In the meantime, please send any and all suggestions for the kind of things you'd like me to write about on there. Y'all know my style, issues, what makes me tick, so suggest away. Also some (most? no idea...) know what the atmosphere is like over there so you know what's lacking and what is sometimes shut down, so please do let me know what you think I might be able to offer. Leave suggestions in the comments section or email me.

In the meantime, I will blog more. I promise.

Posted by frau sally benz 11:03 PM 2 comments Links to this post

Labels: blogging, FYI

Monday's Friday Funnies: Reality Showology
Monday, June 29, 2009

I don't know about you, but I think Sarah Haskins should go for this career in reality tv. (Unrelated side note: Can I just say that I've seen a few of the Charm School episodes and it has reaffirmed my belief that La La is in the wrong profession. For somebody who makes a living from speaking on camera, she's really quite bad at speaking. On camera at least. Not sure what happened there...) Anyway, time for the funny!

(Click here if you can't see the video.)

Posted by frau sally benz 5:13 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Labels: lol, Sarah Haskins

Blog-Hopping Beats Bar-Hopping On Two Hours of Sleep

I've been busy packing, cleaning, storing, moving for the past week, including a major move that resulted in my getting two hours of sleep last night. Fun!!! I haven't had time for bar-hopping OR blog-hopping, but I did some just for you all so you can see what's been going on out there in bloglandia. So, let's jump right in...

I learned from Renee that the Matthew Shepard Foundation is refusing Perez Hilton's money because of his use of a gay slur. Perez Hilton is a moron and the foundation rocks for doing the right thing.

Renee also has a post up about the incredibly gross Burger King ad. You've got to see that crap... Seriously, BK?! Seriously?! WTF...

BFP's got a great reminder for us all: we need to respect the boundaries of our bodies. I've already read this post twice just to see if that will help it really sink in. I will likely need to read it another 200 times for that to happen though.

Nezua has a post up about the issues of privacy, safety, accountability, authenticity, and more on these here interwebs, particularly in terms of the immigrant voice and story. Um... it rocks. Period.

Monica shared some great news this weekend -- the Jena 6 are finally free! Two years have passed since they were charged with attempted murder, but they've finally gotten justice. (You can see a couple of Monica's previous posts on the Jena 6 here and here.

Oh, and hey! Join me in welcoming Laura to the blogosphere! She was at the feminist blogging workshop that Amy, Veronica and I facilitated at the NOW conference last weekend. Check her out homies, including the post on princesses falling from grace.

What have y'all been reading/writing lately?

ETA: Apparently I kept this tab open but didn't link to it because I'm a dodo brain... or maybe it's because I only slept two hours... Anyhoodles, T.R Xands likes talking about skin bleaching (alright, not exactly), and the latest post is great, in my opinion. This is supposedly the last post but I'll believe it when I see it. (I kid, I kid. Xands and I are friends on twitter, that's my qualifying statement lol)