The Cove

Last night I got sucked into the documentary called The Cove. It’s about Japan’s practice of killing off mass amounts of dolphins. I’ve always been confused as to why people are so protective of dolphins. I mean we kill off many other types of fish without an issue, but dolphins are some how different. The only time I could see this being an issue is if they were becoming endangered because of it. I’m not sure about the numbers and maybe someone knows, but I haven’t heard much about dolphins, I know more about the whales. I’ve never understood the need for Japan to kill whales.

I was thinking though about the dolphins just as I believe with any animal, if they’re being killed for food then I don’t see any problem with it. The thing with dolphins is the meat is deadly. You really shouldn’t eat it. Dolphins sit near the top of the chain in the ocean and eat a lot of fish. It’s a trickle up process. The fish eats whatever they eat. The dolphins eat the fish. This means the mercury content in a dolphin is nearly 2000x the recommended amount in the meat. So it’s dangerous and shouldn’t be eaten at all.

So why then are these dolphins killed? The explanation in the film was simple. Japan hates being bossed around by western nations so they’re fighting back in the other way possible. By continuing to kill and eat dolphins and whales they’re giving the rest of the world the finger basically. And then they fund smaller nations, those in need of money, and bribe those nations to not vote for sanctions and so forth. It’s pretty sad.

People really need to get involved and get the word out. Apparently this practice of killing dolphins is not widely known in Japan. Most of the time too the Japanese people don’t even know that dolphin meat is in what they are eating.

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Nothin’ To Die For…

Today a report was released stating that drunk driving is up from last year and that 1 in 5 people admit to driving drunk within the past 12 months. This is concerning to me in general. I think we can attribute the increase to the economy partly but also I’m thinking that there are no real social consequences to drunk driving anymore. People see it as something that just happens and thus there is no social stigma attached to it.

I’ve had a close call with a drunk driver before. We were lucky cause it could have been a lot worse, but the car in front of me got that part, we just got $12 of damage to the car.

I was at the Town Center waiting to turn onto First Street and was searching the radio for the Disney station for Kaylee, who was 5 months old at the time. I felt this shudder and I looked to my right to see a car go zooming by and run into the car in front of me. Both the car in front of me, the drunk driver, and myself pulled over.

I got out of my car and I was okay, there wasn’t any damage to my car so to me it wasn’t a huge deal. I pulled Kaylee out of the car, because I was going to wait to give my account of the accident for the other car, and the drunk finally managed to get the door to her car open and get out, and she looked at me, asked if there was any damage to my car, and I said it wasn’t much (it really wasn’t much), and then she laughed. Now I know some people will smile or laugh when nervous, but that’s one thing you don’t do with a mother when you literally were just inches from ramming into the side of the car my daughter was positioned on.

She went over to the lady who’s car she totalled and talked to her. That lady had her daughter following her, I think she was behind me, so she was there as well. They exchanged information. Then she came over to give me information and I said that I wanted the police there to take a report (I’ve seen too many People’s Courts to know that it’s a bad idea to not call the cops). She said that it wasn’t necessary and that it was minor which made no sense since the other car had to be towed away cause it was not drivable.

I knew then that I needed to call the police but I couldn’t do it with her in front of me. So I called Brian and told him to call the police for me. Then I took my time finding something to write on so that I could get her information. I was going so slow that she wanted to do it herself to get it done faster. I think in the mean time the woman’s daughter had determined that the police were needed as well and placed a call into the station. From what I understand there were 8 calls that night which one officer thought was excessive (I’ll get into that later).

Mall police showed up and that’s when the drunk kicked it into gear to leave. I told the mall cops that the police had been called and that I thought this woman was drunk and that she shouldn’t be allowed to leave. Luckily since her door wasn’t working very well she was having one hell of a time getting into her car and the mall cops managed to convince her to stay or else she’d be fleeing the scene of the accident.

When the police got there they talked to the woman who’s car was destroyed first. I overheard one officer say that he didn’t understand why 8 calls were placed to the police over a minor fender bender. To this day I think that officer was a moron. Cause we did the right thing calling.

I watched them give and the drunk fail each sobriety test. She literally was laughing through everything and couldn’t follow directions. Finally the officers came over to me and took my info and I asked if she was in fact drunk. He said yes, that not only had she had a few glasses of wine but she was on prescription pain killers which she had taken before she left the restaurant. He also said she was being arrested. I told him I knew something was off and he said it was good I called, because it’s better safe than sorry. Tell that to Mr. Officer who was complaining! LOL!

Anyhow I got a free car seat out of the deal. But to this day it still bothers me. The whole thing could have been worse all because some woman decided that she was above biology and could drink and take hardcore pain meds and she’d be just fine to drive.

And this seems to be the common theme with drunk drivers. They say one of two things, that they can handle their alcohol well or they had no idea they were drunk. Those that have no idea they are drunk are in my opinion just people who made stupid decisions. Those who say they can handle their alcohol or that it takes a lot for them to get drunk in my opinion are ignorant assholes who shouldn’t be on the road at all. They’ve somehow made the decision that they know better than what science tells us and they can do whatever they want.  Those are the fools who kill families and survive.

And I think too there is a lack of people who have the balls to prevent people from driving drunk. To be honest I’d rather lose a friend because I offended them, than let them drive drunk. My opinion is that anyone that has a drink shouldn’t be driving. I know it’s extreme but I just feel it’s better safe than sorry. But if you only have one then you’re probably fine. Once you pass the one drink mark, you need to rethink your driving abilities.

I’ll leave this entry with the following song:

Stopped to have a few at five now you’re crossing that center line for the third time
Second time like this this week had a friend ask you for your keys
You said ‘no I’m fine’
You sure do act like you don’t got a thing to lose
But every car you pass might be the one’s you take with you

{Chorus}
You’d give your last breath to your wife
Take a bullet for your kids
Lay your life down for your country for your Jesus for your friends
There’s a whole lot of things you say you’re living for
You’ve got to fight it somehow, stop and turn around
‘Cause this ain’t nothin’ to die for

So what’s the harm in a little fun
‘Cause you’re off to work before the sun everyday
And the inbox outbox locks you in and the money you make ain’t worth the time you spend to make your pay
The doctor says ‘man your numbers they don’t lie’
The graveyard’s full of folks that didn’t have time to die

{Chorus}

Straight through that guardrail up into that white light
You hear a sweet voice saying just this side of the other side
Just this side of the other side

You’d give your last breath to your wife
Take a bullet for your kids
Lay your life down for your country for your me and all your friends
There’s a whole lot of things you say you’re living for
You’ve got to fight it somehow, stop and turn around
‘Cause this ain’t nothin’ to die for

Ain’t nothin’ to die for
Nothin’ to die for
Ain’t nothin’ to die for

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Disorder Happy

I’ve been debating blogging on this for a day or two since I saw this comment and didn’t so much want to because I know the person who the comment was directed at reads my blog and I didn’t want to make her mad if my opinion on the comment didn’t mesh with hers. But then I realized that 1. She knows I don’t agree with everything she believes, and 2. I’m commenting on the comment itself and how it made me feel, so how can that offend her? It’s not a reflection on her or the person who commented, it’s just how it made me feel.

My friend had her child see a doctor for some issues she’s been having. They found out it’s not Autism. And my friend posted that she was thankful that it wasn’t Autism. A friend of her’s (I assume a friend since he was a friend on Facebook) said something to the effect that my friends comment came off as if Autism was bad and that it isn’t bad and it’s a wonderful thing.*

I understand why people think that way, it’s probably one of the only ways to cope with the fact that your child will have a life full of hardships and differences from everyone. I’m sure people think it’s odd that I openly say Kaylee isn’t normal. She just isn’t, like it or not. She has a disorder. A genetic mutation that causes her issues. Thus she’s not normal. It’s not a reflection on how much she’s loved or whether or not people will notice there is an issue. It’s just a fact. She didn’t get the correct genes and thus came out with her disorder.

If someone came up to me and said, “We had our child tested for HI and thankfully it came back as she doesn’t have it.” I’d celebrate that with them because I’d not wish any disorder of any kind on any child and family. Like HI, Autism comes in many forms, some more mild than others. But like it or not, it causes stress within the family. No one goes through having a child hoping their child comes out Autistic or hoping their child has any disorder.

So although you can adapt and do get into the routine of a “normal” life for you now that you have a child with a disorder, I think we still strive to have healthy “normal” children. I mean I know I did. It’s all I worried about with Annabelle. Would she be normal? I think we’re in the clear but you never know so I worry a bit still. But I thank God everyday for making her healthy and not having the disorder. I’m thankful that she’ll grow up and not have to worry about blood sugar levels and so forth.

So yes, I believe any and all sickness or disorders are inherently bad. Of course though since we’ve been saddled with the bad, we learn to deal and live happily in spite of the bad.

*ETA:

So my friend commented on my Facebook about this and said she agrees with me, just to let you know. Also she told me a bit more about the man who posted which does open your eyes a bit to why he said what he did. Apparently he’s Autistic, so yeah he’d think it’s normal and that it’s been a great joy for him, probably because of some great parenting from his parents. And I’m glad he feels it’s benefited his life. But for us as parents, and I’d hazard to guess his parents, we wouldn’t want that disorder for our children. So I can certainly see why he would see who he is as being a good thing. I think though he has failed to see the hardships, stress, and probably nights of crying and asking why it was happening, his parents went through to get him to the point where he is at today.

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Just Totally Random…

Yesterday I looked at my living room and said, “What the hell happened here?” It’s like a tornado blew through, a tornado named Kaylee.

This is Kaylee’s medicine cabinet. All those glass bottles are going to last us until the end of the year, hopefully.

And some pictures of Annabelle just to make you smile!

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Gender Roles

I was reading an article in Parents magazine the other day that talked about Gender Roles and how you can avoid stereotyping a child and locking them into those roles. Frankly I’ve always found this whole concept of wanting boys to not be boys and girls to not be girls to be weird. I mean God forbid your daughter grow up to want to be a Stay at Home Mom and so forth.

It makes suggestions to  do things like let your kid play with mix gendered groups (like who doesn’t do this). Try to not call them princess or cutie. Encourage your child to play with toys meant for the opposite gender or do things like play baseball and so forth.

What I don’t get is if your child doesn’t like playing with trucks or doing baseball and likes doing the girly stuff, what’s wrong with that? Why not?

I mean parents are so obsessed, especially on the girl side, with making their daughters into strong women, that sometimes I think they go way overboard with things. Not allowing them to wear pink or dresses. Doing dance or things of that nature.

I guess in a way I find it offensive when someone freaks out when a child wants to be a Mommy when they grow up (Kaylee has told me this before) and do things like cook, clean, dress up all pretty and stuff because it’s not bad to be a Mommy. It’s not bad to want to nothing more than be a mother and take care of a family.

That’s my social commentary for the day.

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