(Warning: NSFW language)

Lately, with the recent primary campaigns, there has been a lot of focus upon women, the right to contraception coverage, and the right to have an abortion.

These are all very sensitive topics, and the recent swell of diatribe towards women has had me wondering what has brought this particular tropic to the surface at this time?

Issues are being brought up and vilified that had been settled for longer than I’ve been alive (42 years, for those of you who are counting). The right of women to safe, effective contraception has been enshrined since the 1960’s. There are many reasons why a woman would choose to use contraception, first and foremost to prevent an unwanted or unintended pregnancy. This is not just for single women. Many married women also choose to use contraception to space out children or when they decide not to have children. Women also use the pill (also known as estrogen therapy) to alleviate other health issues. To regulate painful menstrual cycles, to clear up severe acne, to alleviate menopause symptoms, to help with ovarian cysts and even to prevent breast cancer.

http://www.webmd.com/search/search_results/default.aspx?sourceType=undefined&query=birth+control+health+benfits&navState=6208

Now, I’m not saying that every woman must be put on birth control, but there are clear health benfits to women who choose to use this. But you have people like Conservative Radio host Rush Limbaugh calling women who use birth control as “Sluts” and that they should film their sexual partner(s) for his own titillation. That’s disgusting and demeaning to women everywhere. Just because a woman is using birth control does not automatically make her a whore that will have indiscriminate sex with anything that moves.

There is also the issue of why should companies have to pay for contraception if they find it  “morally objectionable” See above for the many reasons a woman would want contraception other than to prevent pregnancy.

Next, Many people do not have any conception of the cost of Birth control. It can range from $9 a month to $90 a month for the pill, if you’re lucky enough to have insurance. Other non-hormonal forms of birth control, (IUD’s, implants,Tubal ligation, hysterectomies) can cost upwards of $600. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-03-09/news/31141621_1_iuds-guttmacher-institute-pregnancies

Do the math: $90 x12=$1080.00

 And before, you cry,” Well, they could use the cheaper option!”, the woman and her doctor may have decided that the generic option is not the best for her because of other health conditions.

the ironic thing is that ALL health care companies cover Viagra as a matter of course, nope, no problem with a drug, whose sole purpose is to help older men get an erection. The cost of Viagra, (Which is a pill a man must take once per erection desired) is $14-$15 per pill.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-42842870/price-of-viagra-has-risen-108-since-launch-100-pills-now-cost-1400/

Do the math. $ 14 x 365=$ 5110.

And men have the audacity to complain about the cost of contraception!!!!!!

Another figure for you.

The cost of raising a child to age 18 (before college) ranges from $206,180 for a family making less than $57,000 a year to a whopping $477,100 if your income is over $100,000 a year.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/06/10/cost-raising-child-goes-up/

Cost of contraception for 18 years: $1080 x 18 +$19,440.

Now, What would you, as the American taxpayer, rather spend your money on? Paying for welfare children to be raised to age 18, or contraception for their mothers? I’d rather pay less than $20,000 in taxes to support other familes than over $200,000.

Do.The.Math.

My next post will cover the anti-choice rhetoric currently floating around today.

My last Rant was about one of my sisters. This rant is about one of my other sisters (I have 4 of them.)

My middle sister is currently trying to give me an ulcer.

She is on her high horse because “The family doesn’t invite her to anything.”

To set this up, I’ll have to give you a little background.

Every year around Christmas, we have a family get-together at my aunt’s place in Auburn. It’s my Dad and his family and his 3 sisters that live in the area and theie families. We all get together, visit and nosh on finger foods.

One of my aunts came over on Thanksgiving to let us know when the gathering would be happening. She told us the day (this coming Sunday) and left. My oldest sister and her family had come up for thnksgiving so Aunt Martha told them at that time. My midlle sister and her family were doing something on their own, so we told them the next day.

Last Week my oldest sister asked me if I knew what time the familoy shindig was happening, I didn’t know, so I emailed one of my cousins through Facebook and asked him. He sent me and my oldest sister a text telling us what time, got that and thought,”Well, I’ll forward this to my middle sister so she knows what time it’ll be happening”.

She flipped her lid.

She start going off about how that the family doesn’t have enough respect for her to talk to her directly, they never invite her to anything, they hate her , etc.

It’s a flipping Christmas party, not the Royal wedding for Pete’s sake!

She has an inferiority complex the size of Louisville. She expects everyone to contact her, not the other way around. For example, we have a few mutal friends that she needed address for, so I gave them to her. She was going off about how she doesn’t have any friends, because they all keep in touch with me, not her. I told her it’s bcause I make an effort to keep in touch with them and I don’t expect them to do all the work of maintaining the friendship.

She didn’t like that.

But that’s my point. You can’t expect someone to maintain a friendship with you, if you don’t make an effort on your end to do the same. I see it like a marriage, almost. It takes give and take for both parties to work it all out.

And sometimes you’ve got to let the anger and frustration go.

Well, I have survived another holiday, with my well-meaning (but annoying!) family. My sisters have been getting on my nerves, to the point, where I just had to get some quiet time before I went postal on them.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do love them, but two of them are so self-centered that they will ignore everything else including their children, to maintain the family focus on them. I’m just tired of the drama.

One of my sisters has been continually hacking my status updates on Facebook. I know this doesn’t sound like much, but the really annoying part is that she’s a guest in my house, using my computer, to mess with and offend my friends. I asked her to stop, she did it again. I changed my password, she did it again. She thinks because she finds it funny, I should think it’s funny.

I don’t.

To me, it feels like an invasion of my privacy. I feel like it’s a blatant abuse of my hospitality. When I go to her place, I always ask if I can use the computer. If her Facebook page is up, I log her off before I go on. I don’t mess with her stuff. I also try to be a good houseguest when I’m over at her place. I don’t assume that it’s ok to leave my crap all over her house,. I clean up after myself. If I had kids, I wouldn’t assume that someone else is watching them, while I veg out. I’d ask if someone could keep an eye on them, but I wouldn’t assume that going to my 80 year old father means I can take a vacation from being a parent. Especially of an active 4 and 5 year old!

All I ask from her is the basic courtesy that I give her. Is that too much to ask?

Well, I just got done with my first trick-or-treat in the old neighborhood. I wasn’t sure how many kids we would have, because I’ve been away for the past 16 years. Even though we live 2 doors from T.C. Cherry elementary, my impression from my parents was that there weren’t a lot of familes with children in the neighborhood.

Boy was I wrong!

I started out with 8 bags of candy and we went through that in the first hour! We had even taken the precaution of putting the mini candy bars 2 per snack size ziploc bags, to make sure that the candy lasted longer. I ended up making an emergency candy run to Walgreen’s and buying 6 more bags. After portioning them out in the last of the ziploc for Dad to take to Church (which does “Trunk or Treat for the kids) I still went through another couple of bags. We ended up with 2 1/2 bags left of candy, but no kid went away empty handed , which was my goal.

Some of the fun costumes I saw were Darth Vader, X-wing pilot, tons of Vampires (curse you, Twilight!), Zombies,Scooby-Doo, 2 different Michael Myers (Ironic BG Shout-out!) a policeman, football players, various animals, and a hamburger. But my favorite was a kid in a Frog costume about 2 years old. He was riding in a stroller, but when he got to our house, he got out, hopped through the dry leaves and went “Ribbit”! Just adorable!

Now that I know what kind of foot traffic we get every year, I can plan better for next year!