Before a Rush to judgment, consider these facts

Context: Days ago on his radio show that boasts 13-20 million listeners, Rush Limbaugh called a law student a slut and prostitute for wanting her insurance carrier to cover oral contraceptives.  So much already has been written.  It would be way too easy to go after Rush.  So instead, consider these facts:

Fact: June 23, 1960 is the date oral contraceptives were approved by the FDA.  My now 84-year-old mother was among that first group of women to first use oral contraceptive.  I know this because she once sent me to the store to get her medications and I brought back this odd circular contraption containing tiny pills.  What are these for, Mom?  She wouldn't tell me.  It took me years to figure out what they were.  My mom was on the Pill!!!!!

Fact: The number of women now using the pill is about the same as the number of Rush Limbaugh listeners: 16 million. 

Fact: It took at least a decade after the discovery of an oral contraceptive to get FDA approval.

Fact:  In 1957, the FDA approved a drug that treated menstrual problems.  Called Enovid, it was in fact the Pill, but not sold as a contraceptive.  Doctors were flooded with women seeking help for "menstrual problems."  By 1959, more than half a million American women were taking Enovid, most presumably for its contraceptive value.  

Fact: In 1959 President Dwight Eisenhower cleared the way for Enovid to be approved as birth control.  He says in a press conference that birth control "is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility."   Even more clearly, he adds, it is "not our business."

Fact: President Dwight Eisenhower was a Republican.

Leap day!!!!!

Today is February 29th.  I am so excited!!  What are some Leap Day traditions?

Women apparently can propose marriage.  Well, that's dumb, cuz really that's every day of every year. 

What else?  Nada? 

No wonder it comes just once every four years.  It's got no bling.  Probably not worth Hallmark's time and energy.

Oh well.  Happy Leap Day. 

Not that long ago or far away...

I watched HBO's documentary last night about Richard and Mildred Loving.  Richard, white, and Mildred, black and Native American, were married in 1958 in Washington, D.C., a stone's throw from their home in Virginia.  Soon after returning home to Virginia, they were arrested and jailed for violating Virginia law forbidding marriage between different races.

The Lovings became the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court ruling that eventually struck down Virginia's outdated law.  The documentary followed the legal battle years, interviewing the ACLU lawyers, the couple's daughter and other relatives and friends.  Both Richard and Mildred are no longer living. 

The footage is in black and white, helping to set the time frame within which this battle was fought.  Early 1960s.  The lawyers, both in their 20s, were a couple of years out of law school when they argued before the Supreme Court.  Mildred was just barely an adult, having married at age 17. 

So I start searching for more about this couple.  Richard died in a car accident in 1975, hit by a drunk driver.  Mildred died in 2008.  I was able to find a couple of contemporary images of Mildred with her children.  What hits you is this is a contemporary family.  1967 wasn't that long ago.

In 2007, on the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling, Mildred released a rare statement.  This is part of that statement:

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Amen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mildred_Jeter_and_Richard_Loving.jpg

Oscar threshold: Moving on

I've just reached my Oscar threshold.  Started watching at 6 p.m. yesterday, just turned off the TV.  Well, slept some in between.  But now I am done.  No more reading about it or watching recaps or interviews.  My interest cup runneth over.

Here are my best and worst for this year's Academy Awards:

Best: Meryl Streep winning.  I haven't seen the movie, but anytime Meryl Streep wins something, it's a good show.

Worst: Pre-recorded bit with actors talking about the movies, their feelings about movies, how the movies teach stuff and how important the movies are to life, yada, yada.  It wasn't horrible, but some of the declarations were a little over the top.  Movies are entertainment.  Maybe if you throw in documentaries, which no one sees, then you can talk about how movies are life changing.

Best:  Billy Crystal.  He was a joy all evening.  I love you Billy!

Worst:  Billy Crystal.  He didn't seem to connect to the younger set. Ironic, because last year they hired Ann Hathaway and James Franco to do just that.  It felt the younger actors got short-changed.  Funny bit with Justin Bieber though.

Best: The acceptance speech for the documentary about restoring the burned faces of Pakistani women.  Also the Iranian who made a wonderful acceptance speech. They were real moments. 

Worst: Angelina Jolie's stance when she took the stage.  What was that?  We get it.  You are freakishly beautiful.

Best:  Cirque du soleil.  That was incredible.  Not sure the connection to the Oscars, but wow.  

Worst: George Clooney didn't win. Clooney brings interesting movies to the big screen and this past year he did two of my favorites: Descendants and Ides of March.  I am not a crazy Clooney fan.  I just think last year he produced good stuff and shoulda won. 

Now, the 84th Academy Awards is officially over in my house.  Let's move on. 

Speaking of which, Paul and I saw Wanderlust this weekend and it was silly and funny.  We are quoting dumb lines.   It's one of those movies that get better after you see it.  Not as funny as Bridesmaids or Hangover.  Way funnier than Hangover II.  Great cast and silly silliness.   

Virginia monologues

I stole that heading from Chris Hayes of The Nation and MSNBC.  It made me laugh.

The heading refers to Virginia's almost passed legislation requiring a woman to get an internal probe called a transvaginal sonogram before getting an abortion.  Ridiculous!  Horrendous!  A violation of privacy times 1,000!!

Thank goodness SNL brought Amy Poehler back to do the Really!? sketch.  It worked, well that and the thousands who either showed up at the Virginia Capitol to protest or called and emailed messages of disgust to their legislators and the governor.  The entire nation erupted with alarm.  Support quickly disappeared for Virginia's vagina probe legislation. 

Thank goodness.  In this day and age, what kind of monster government would put a woman through that? 

Texas government?  We already got that here in Texas?  

Oh crap.

Want to understand why in Texas and not Virginia, read below:
  

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/25/3763085/texas-abortion-measure-flies-under.html

Parting is such sweet ... well it's just sweet

It's Friday.  Yeeha.  Last day of the work week.  Last day on this job. 

Don't know which is more scary: being offered a job at a new agency or never getting a job offer. 

I guess I'm at an age where it's believable that I am in early retirement - in case the rejection thing becomes a reality.

One thing I know for sure.  It's all good. 

British Invasion

There's a new British invasion happening at my house.  In the 60s it was the Beatles, today it's British television.  Downton Abbey, Doc Martin, Kingdom, to name a few.  I love their cop stuff too.  A couple of them especially, but I don't remember their titles. 

PBS has been airing British comedies for years.  Usually Saturday and Sunday nights.  There's a new one Miranda that's on Saturday nights.  Check her out.  She's hysterical.  Of course everyone knows The Office is a Ricky Gervais show first launched in England. 

For my time, the only originally funny show on American TV now is Happy Endings.  I watch Modern Family too. Survivor I watch with Paulie.  And also some of the other contestant shows are solid entertainment to watch with Paul, such as Storage Wars, Ink Masters, Top Chef.   But the rest of my TV watching lately has leaned toward the British kind.  Thank you Netflix!!! 

I was thinking last night as I watched 3 episodes of Kingdom, a series about a small-town lawyer (solicitor) whose clients tend toward eccentrics and the downtrodden, that it's really a pity we don't have programming like this here in America.  The actors are not model beautiful.  They examine racism, cross-dressing, discrimination, etc. in such a manner only the British can and make it look classy.  Flawed characters and their relationships are depicted in non-vulgar ways. Total fiction, but with a heart. You don't feel dirty after watching. Sometimes you might even learn something.

The setting and cinematography for Kingdom is beautiful, soothing even.  Makes you want to live there, same as the setting for Doc Martin. 

I can't really come up with any U.S. shows that are comparable. And the Brit shows appear to cast actors based on talent, not notoriety or something else.

I wonder why our shows here have to be so crappy?  And all the same, really. 

Good thing is I still have 12 episodes of Kingdom to watch and it's only the first series out of three.