Good Music

...and I'm so tied into the story that I'm fighting desperately to write (just fan fiction kruft, but good practice) that I'm trying hard not to slip in an homage to it....)

And If Congress and the President do not Extend EUC-

Not my words.  They're from a letter I just got from the Washington State Employment Security Department.  (Keep in mind, I haven't had a full time job since the Navy, and the last paid work I did was the weekend before I found out that I was pregnant with Kit.  Who is 1.1 years old.)

It's informing me that I'm eligible for for this amount, that I have that balance in my "tier" of Emergency Unemployment Compensation.

It then tells me that if I'm out of EUC, I may be eligible for another 20 weeks.

It then says:

If you are in tier 1, 2 or 3, and if Congress and the President do not extend EUC:

We cannot advance you to the next tier of EUC benefits; and

We cannot pay any EUC benefits after April 30, 2011.

Again, I have not been really employed since the Navy, several years ago.


Leaving aside the whole "I have $5568 in eligible benefits for this tier" (20 weeks, followed by 14, 13 and 6 week tiers) thing.
...

Isn't this a little illegal?  Or at least of questionable morality?  I mean, I know Washington is blue, especially Olympia, but dang.  Openly fear-stumping for legislation before congress, which will just happen to make conservatives look bad?

Dirty pool, folks, dirty pool.  The postage alone is $00.335; add in paper, ink, stuffing costs, manhours in production.... no wonder Olympia is worried enough that they are actually talking about cutting the college kid birth control bribes.

Modesty-

Is more than not wearing short skirts and low necklines.

2521
Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.

2522
Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages patience and moderation in loving relationships; it requires that the conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled. Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.

2523
There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.

2524
The forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to another. Everywhere, however, modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual dignity proper to man. It is born with the awakening consciousness of being a subject. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them respect for the human person.

It's nice to do some research and find something in your own church that strikes you as so correct.

Another Proposal

"All drivers on public streets or highways must be licensed."

You know how bicycles are supposed to obey the rules of the road, and be treated as vehicles?  You know how they almost never do?

Know how a lot of froofroo cities have amazing, expensive bike paths...paid for out of road funds?

Two for one fix.

You're on the road, you're supposedly following the laws of the road, you should be licensed.

Kids (and unlicensed drivers) would be pedestrians, rather than vehicles-- stay out of the car part of the road or be ticketed.

Maybe some sort of bike license plate would be useful, or something that goes on a helmet, or just make it so cops can pull over folks riding bikes on the road who are being idiots and ticket them.

I've had several cops tell me there's just nothing they can do when bicyclists break the law.

There is precedent.

A Way To Save Money (gov't level)

stop paying folks to sue you.  When I got out, I was given a list of Vet support services.  They tried to get me to sign up for all sorts of things, none of which I needed.  It was like the subsidized lunches at school-- their interest is to get you signed up and keep you there, not the stated goal.

Secondary: stop paying groups to make money off of lawsuits.

I'm not sure how it should be done, but we REALLY need reform.  Maybe a conflict of interest clause?  Harassment by lawfare laws?

SOMETHING.  This is ridiculous.

UPDATE:
This would be the gov't angle of it.

If you (gov't agency) can't manage it by the law and you can't properly make a law, you shouldn't do it.  If you try, you should be fired and face relevant legal charges.

In My DADT Post-

I mentioned that if there was data on those who had said negative things, it would be taken and used against them.

Apparently, that data does exist, according to a commenter over at The Volokh Conspiracy.

Basically the same points I made, too.  And a day earlier!  (I only found it via LMA just now, so it's just a military-familiar-minds-think-alike thing....)

(on a side note: I love blog names.  Caffeinated Thoughts, Dr. Sanity, Little Miss Attila, Pursing Holiness... they've got that something you just don't get with "Jordan179's journal" type names)

I'm Amazed The Results Were So High

Not the "it won't hurt" (19%) or "it will help" (11%) responses-- I'm talking about the DADT survey-- I mean that 20% of those never in combat would risk their careers like that.  Even the "both good and bad" (26%) is a pretty big risk.

We all know it will be shoved down our throats.

We all know that the activists will go after the names of those who responded negatively.

We know they will be attacked.

I'm shocked that as many as "nearly 30%" responded to the survey at all, come to that, but double-shocked that more folks responded "it will be bad" than "it will be good."