…she screwed up.

Idaho Representative Shirley Ringo, that is.

I just fired off this email:

Rep. Ringo,

I was just reviewing the recently-passed Idaho midwifery licensing bill,
and am distressed to see you voted in favor of it.

I realize it’s too late to do anything about it now, but wanted to point
out a key factor that I hope you failed to consider, and didn’t
actually actively impose upon your constituents:

There are no doctors in Moscow that will attend a vaginal breech
birth. The only alternative for women seeking to deliver a breech baby
naturally, with a professional in attendance, was midwifery care. You
have now helped take that choice from us, and ensured the birth
experience for many Moscow women will be reduced to Cesarean section – a
procedure that often causes neonatal respiratory distress, difficult
recoveries for both baby and mother, damaged breastfeeding
relationships, difficult future pregnancies and births, and so on.

I delivered a healthy baby girl at home on January 10th of this year.
For several weeks in late pregnancy, she was breech. I would have chosen
to proceed with my homebirth had she remained breech. You have now taken
that choice from me when I have my next child. Since I do not believe in
submitting to major surgery when breech births with skilled
professionals have positive outcome rates comparable to vertex births, I
will be left with the option of fighting hospital staff while in labor,
birthing unassisted, or trying to find an illegally practicing midwife.

Which option would you choose, Rep. Ringo? What happened to my body, my
choice?

I fail to understand how a representative who believes I should be able
to terminate a pregnancy with an abortion does not believe I should have
equal control over my birth process. Safe, accessible abortions… but
not safe, accessible birth?

For the record, my midwife opposed the bill – so don’t bother telling me
it was the consensus of Idaho midwives. This bill was junk, pushed
through before the medical lobby could get the chance to outlaw
midwifery and homebirth completely. The midwives who worked on this bill
shot themselves in the foot, so as to avoid letting doctors pull the
trigger.

Rep. Ringo, you and I probably see eye-to-eye on very little
politically. That said, I thought I could trust you to stand up for
women’s choice. By voting to pass mandatory midwifery licensing, you
have proven I can’t trust you at all.

Laurel [Mylastname]
Moscow

Here’s the bill. It is a colossal bunch of crap and passed overwhelmingly. Midwives are now subject to an up-to-$1,000 yearly licensing fee. Considering the going rate for midwifery care around here is about $1,700, a $1,000 license is a big chunk o’ change. This bill will almost certainly put some smaller practices out of business.

In addition to the aforementioned outlawing of midwife-attended breech births, the bill also outlaws midwife-attended postdates (42+ weeks) births, multiple births, births with maternal BMI of 40+, vaginal birth after more than one c-section, and several other criteria. It also requires dual-care with a doctor for several conditions.

I also like the part where midwives are required to provide, as part of their initial informed consent materials, information about the procedures, risks, and benefits of homebirth. (Hey, at least they acknowledged there are benefits!) When I pre-registered at the hospital in case of an emergency transfer, I was not presented with any information about the procedures, risks, and benefits of hospital birth. Go fig.

Man oh man, very few things get me in such a tizzy as the government claiming ownership of my body. RAWR!

HA! I win.

I took the hard drive apart. Turns out three out of four of the bracket screws that keep the circuit board tight against the drive itself had worked themselves loose. (Fine Chinese craftsmanship, right there!) Thus, the connection between the board and the drive was loose, and the drive wasn’t getting power.

I replaced the screws, and she spun right on up. I rock.

I’m also running Ubuntu now. I tried Kubuntu briefly, but didn’t really like it. I’m going to OS X-ify my Ubuntu, anyway, and I know more about customising Gnome than I do KDE.

A couple of days ago, I decided to empty out my external hard drive so I could reformat it. I had three partitions (three different varieties) and I only wanted one HFS+. I carefully arranged everything on our computers, nearly running out of hard disk space on both, and did the reformat.

Then, I put everything back onto the external and deleted most of it off my computer to free up space. Music and SOME pre-2009 photos were backed up to The Inconvenience’s computer. ALL of my documents, and a good chunk of other pre-2009 photos were on the external – and only on the external.

The hard disk in the external doesn’t want to spin up now. I plug it in, the power light comes on, but no sign of spinny life. I am hoping this has something to do with a bracket screw coming lose in there – it’s been that way for a while, but it was running fine so I didn’t want to crack it open and fix it. Plus, I knew if I broke the seals on the drive it would void the warranty.

Well, turns out since I don’t have the receipt (and it might have been too long ago in the first place), I don’t have a warranty anyway. I’m going to go ahead and open the bitch up and hope it’s just a lose power connection. Hopey hope hope.

I’m also going back to Ubuntu, I think. Maybe Kubuntu. I can’t afford to upgrade to OS X 10.5 and I want a newer OS than 10.4, so back to free software I go. The big reason I gave up on it in favor of OS X was World of Warcraft; now that I’m not playing, the only things I’ll miss are one-click networking with the other Macs in my life (something I admittedly haven’t even explored for Ubuntu) and… I forget the other thing. Must not have been that great.

I’ve been trying 8.10 off a live CD, and it appears wireless is working out-of-the-box. Woot. That was another big reason I left Ubuntu last time.

OH MY GOD I need to turn off touchpad clicking. How do people stand it!? I keep hitting the damn thing as I type.

Pray for my hard drive.

Idaho Sovereignty: Passed the House 51-17-2. Not sure when the Senate will hear it just yet. (Rep. Trail voted for it, Rep. Ringo against. Not surprising.)
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2009/HJM004.htm

Also, Montana has a bill in committee to allow:

“…THE STATE OF MONTANA AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS TO CONDUCT VARIOUS FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS IN GOLD, GOLD AND SILVER COIN, ELECTRONIC GOLD CURRENCY, OR LEGAL TENDER OF THE UNITED STATES; ALLOWING CERTAIN PERSONS CONDUCTING VARIOUS FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS WITH THE STATE OR POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS TO CONDUCT THE TRANSACTIONS IN GOLD, GOLD AND SILVER COIN, ELECTRONIC GOLD CURRENCY, OR LEGAL TENDER OF THE UNITED STATES; REQUIRING THAT CERTAIN FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN THE STATE AND OTHER PERSONS INVOLVING CERTAIN TAXES, FEES, AND CHARGES ON CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS BE CONDUCTED IN ELECTRONIC GOLD CURRENCY; REQUIRING THE DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION TO ADOPT RULES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF PAYMENT BY AND RECEIPT BY THE STATE AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS IN GOLD, GOLD AND SILVER COIN, OR ELECTRONIC GOLD CURRENCY; PROVIDING AN APPROPRIATION; AMENDING SECTIONS 7-6-201, 7-6-2111, 7-6-2603, 7-6-4302, 17-1-111, 17-8-301, 17-8-304, AND 30-2-511, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY DATES.”

http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billhtml/HB0639.htm

Okay, I confess some of the math nerdery goes over my head sometimes, but I definitely get (and appreciate) this one:

RickR just emailed me a pointer to the following article – normally I’d only quote part, but this is so full of WTF!? that I’m going to republish the whole thing:

Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Army has launched an inquiry into how and why active duty troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., came to be placed on the streets of Samson, Ala., during last week’s murder spree in that tiny South Alabama community. The use of the troops was a possible violation of federal law.

“On March 10, after a report of an apparent mass murder in Samson, Ala., 22 military police soldiers from Fort Rucker, Ala., along with the provost marshal, were sent to the city of Samson,” Harvey Perritt, spokesman for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) at Fort Monroe, Va., told CNSNews.com on Monday.

“The purpose for sending the military police, the authority for doing so, and what duties they performed is the subject of an ongoing commander’s inquiry–directed by the commanding general of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. Martin Dempsey.”

TRADOC is the headquarters command for Ft. Rucker.

“In addition to determining the facts, this inquiry will also determine whether law, regulation and policy were followed,” Perritt added. “Until those facts are determined, it would be inappropriate to speculate or comment further.”

Jim Stromenger, a dispatcher at the Samson Police Department, confirmed the MP’s presence in the town, telling CNSNews.com that the troops “came in to help with traffic control and to secure the crime scene”–and the department was glad for the help.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls,” Stromenger said. “They weren’t here to police, let me make that clear. They were here to help with traffic and to control the crime scene–so people wouldn’t trample all over (it).”

Stromenger said the town needed help–calls had gone out to all police departments in the area.

“We only have a five-man police department,” he told CNSNews.com. “We had officers from all surrounding areas helping out. There were a lot of streets to be blocked off and there had to be someone physically there to block them off. That’s what these MPs were doing. I don’t think they were even armed. The troops helped keep nosy people away.”

But Stromenger said it wasn’t the Samson Police Department that called for the troops.

“I don’t know who called Fort Rucker. But someone did. They wouldn’t have been able to come if someone hadn’t,” he added.

Under Whose Authority?

The troops were apparently not deployed by the request of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley — or by the request of President Obama, as required by law.

When contacted by CNSNews.com, the governor’s office could not confirm that the governor had requested help from the Army, and Gov. Riley’s spokesman, Todd Stacy, expressed surprise when he was told that troops had been sent to the town.

No request from President Obama, meanwhile, was issued by the White House–or the Defense Department.

Wrongful use of federal troops inside U.S. borders is a violation of several federal laws, including one known as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Title 18, Section 1385 of the U.S. Code.

“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both,” the law states.

David Rittgers, legal policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said there are other laws barring use of federal troops outside of federal property, as well.

“Title 18, Section 375 of the U.S. Code is a direct restriction on military personnel, and it basically precludes any member of the army in participating in a ‘search, seizure, arrest or other similar activity, unless participation is otherwise authorized by law,’ “ Rittgers told CNSNews.com.

“The security of a crime scene is something I think that would roll up in the category of a ‘search, seizure or other activity,’” Rittgers added.

In addition, there is the Insurrection Act of 1808, as amended in 2007, (Title 10, Section 331 of the U.S. Code) under which the president can authorize troops “to restore order and enforce the laws of the United States” in an insurrection.

“Whenever there is an insurrection in any State against its government, the President may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into federal service such of the militia of the other States, in the number requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection,” the law states.

In 2007, Congress expanded the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition” as situations for which the president can authorize troops, provided that “domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the state or possession are incapable of maintaining public order.”

Congress has been clear that the use of U.S. troops for civilian police purposes is forbidden.

“One of the statutes explicitly says that military brigs can’t even be used to detain domestic criminals,” Rittgers said. “It really is supposed to be a black and white line.”

The U.S. Department of Justice, meanwhile, would have prosecuting authority, if any violation is deemed to have occurred. The Justice Department did not comment for this story.

Ft. Rucker, located in Southern Alabama, is the home of Army Aviation.

This is why I believe in pitching a fit. If we didn’t call attention to and grouse about this kind of thing, I believe the Army would be more than happy to look the other way. The only way we will get accountability is to demand it. I, personally, expect prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. A frowny-face on someone’s fitrep is not sufficient.

I’m going to let the folks at TRADOC know that – care to join me? You can email their Public Affairs Officer at monr-tradocpao@conus.army.mil.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.
– SOURCE

I have absolutely no thoughtful commentary for that.

I mean… WTF? Were they playing “Hey, let’s try to dream up the most unpopular legislation ever!” or what?

(Hat-tip JP.)

U.S. Army soldiers from Ft. Rucker patrol the downtown area of Samson, Alabama after a shooting spree March 10, 2009.
REUTERS/Mark Wallheiser

Around here, we consider this to be a rather large problem.

§ 1385. Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus

Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

That picture is potentially one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen as a citizen of the United States. What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, are uniformed members of the United States Army patrolling your streets in vests marked POLICE.

Let that sink in for a minute. And then get used to it, because I think it’s only the beginning.

Everyone – from the officer who issued this blatantly illegal order on down to the guys you see above – should be run up on charges. They all took an oath, and “just following orders” is unacceptable.

Grocery store PA announcement: “And be sure to check out our delicious California navel oranges, full of nutritious vitamin C!”
The Sister: “More like full of SOCIALISM.”