more on jim adkisson

this is an interesting current event to me because i am unitarian. anyhoo.

"Investigators described Adkisson as a former member of an Army airborne unit who trained as a mechanical engineer, but had been out of work since 2006. In a four-page letter found in his SUV, Adkisson expressed his belief that the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was a haven for liberalism in the typically socially conservative area of Eastern Tennessee."

Another news article described how he was frustrated at being unemployed and that he had found out his government aid and food stamps were being reduced, causing him to reach a breaking point. If I have time today I'll link back to it.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but in the grand scheme of political ideologies, which party is more traditionally responsible for reducing government aid to the needy and social programs in favor of funnelling trillions of dollars overseas to, for example, protect private international oil interests? The liberals, is it? Riiiiight.

Obviously this guy's capacity to reason was staggeringly impaired, but it's just another example of the flawed and unsupported logic that people on both sides embrace in the liberals vs. conservatives battle. People: rise up and get informed. Please. I'm sick of the mudslinging-for-the-sake-of-mudslinging.

is killing liberals a hate crime?

Only in a few states.
By Chris Wilson, Slate.com
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Direct Link

Tennessee church shooting suspect Jim David Adkisson, who confessed to opening fire in a Knoxville church last weekend, told police that he was motivated by a hatred for gays and liberals and, in particular, that "liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country." Authorities are now investigating the shooting as a hate crime. Do liberals get special protections under the law?

Not in Tennessee. The Volunteer State has two laws dealing with crimes motivated by hatred toward a particular group of people, but neither one specifies "political affiliation" or anything similar as a protected characteristic. The first law, Section 40-35-114 of the Tennessee code, allows a court to enhance the sentence for a crime committed because of the victim's "race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or gender." That could still apply to Adkisson, since he was targeting homosexuals as well as liberals, but any enhancement to his sentence might be superfluous: If convicted, he would likely face multiple life sentences or the death penalty. The second state law makes it a felony to intimidate someone for exercising his or her civil rights, and specifically mentions "race, color, ancestry, religion or national origin," leaving out both political and sexual orientation.

Just a handful of states designate political violence as a "hate crime." West Virginia makes it a felony to target a person because of "race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation or sex." Oregon includes labor unions as well, protecting "race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation or beliefs, membership or activity in or on behalf of a labor organization or against a labor organization, physical or mental disability, age, economic or social status or citizenship of the victim." The District of Columbia defines "bias-related crime" according to "race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibility, physical disability, matriculation, or political affiliation." Iowa also protects political affiliation, and the Louisiana code mentions "creed."(The federal government, like most states, does not include political affiliation in its definition of hate crimes.)

Actual prosecutions of hate crimes based on the victim's political affiliation are rare in the United States, according to legal experts. Annual crime compendiums from the individual states mentioned above occasionally categorize hate crimes as politically motivated, though such cases often involve another protected trait like race or religion. The Anti-Defamation League does not include "political affiliation" in its model legislation for anti-hate laws.

so...

...i took it pretty easy all weekend, but i've been wiped out.  i can tell that my blood pressure is elevated - it's a weird sensation.  my blood pressure is usually pretty low - think 110/60 or lower.  last wednesday it was 130/90.  monday it was 140/90.  i go back on thursday morning.  if it keeps going up, the doctor will put me on official bed rest - which he hasn't done yet, much to my annoyance.  

right now what i'm having can be described as "gestational hypertension," or high blood pressure during pregnancy.  it's not actual preeclampsia yet.  preeclampsia is diagnosed with a trifecta of factors: (1) water retention, especially in the hands and face (mine is pretty much restricted to my lower legs); (2) elevated blood pressure (which is measured not objectively, but subjectively based upon what's normal for that woman.  my blood pressure won't be in the "danger" zone until it gets closer to 150, although 140 is certainly high); and (3) protein in the urine (so far i've only had trace amounts).

so i'm still in that grey zone.  i'm okay to work easy days as long as i stay down all evening, but frankly i feel like crap and my mental acumen is fogged by fatigue so frankly it's best i'm not working full-time anyway.  even when i'm there i'm not billing much because i'm thinking so slowly and trying so hard not to make mistakes that would normally not even be an issue.  

i told my boss that i'm supposed to be working half-days.  she asked for a doctor's note.  and then she gave me fifteen projects to do.  i can't tell you how annoyed i am by that.  do they think i'm injecting saline into my ankles before work every morning?  i had already told her that if they wanted to consider this a hybrid maternity leave that was fine, and that i wasn't expecting them to give me additional paid time off, but that there is no way i'm making my hours this month.  so now i have to ask my doctor to write me a note when i go in on thursday, just like i'm in middle school.  *highly, highly annoyed*

J is in dallas for a conference yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  he'll be back tomorrow evening, and i'm glad.  normally i don't mind being home alone at all - after all, i lived alone a lot after high school, and i liked it, so him being gone for a few days here and there is a nice respite, and distance lends enchantment to the view, and et cetera, et cetera.  but today my head is really hurting (another hallmark of preeclampsia) (and i just used a passive verb phrase, good grief) and i really am just ready for him to be back, and i just said "really" twice in one sentence - see how much i'm slipping???  ug!  i feel so mentally DULL and it is completely maddening, i can't even tell you how frustrated i am.

i'm 34 weeks now, and i'll be full-term at the end of 36 weeks, as i've mentioned oh approximately fifty trillion times in the last two months.  i want her to have the full benefit of being in utero as long as she needs, but an induction is pretty darn appealing right now.  which makes me sad, since i was SO anti-induction just a few weeks ago.  

but man.  i'm beat.  oh, and it's 9:30 p.m. and my boss just called and asked me to do a hearing for her tomorrow.  WHY.

rest

yesterday when i got to work, the women in my office insisted that i call my doctor because my ankles were *so* swollen.  so i went to see the nurse at 2:30 and lo and behold, my blood pressure is elevated.  i'm not in the preeclampsia range yet (thank god), but the blood pressure, combined with my water retention, was enough for the nurse to tell me to take it easy the next couple of days, lay down all weekend, and come in first thing monday morning to have my blood pressure re-checked.  

so, i'm working from home!  oh frabjous day! callooh! callay!  i'm going into the office here in a little while to get some more work to bring home with me.

the only problem this poses is that my ten-year high school reunion is this weekend and J's sister is in town from the SLC, so it's going to be very hard to rest.

but i already feel so much better.

tired, i am

i'm so tired, i haven't slept a wink
i'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
i wonder should i get up and fix myself a drink
no, no, no.
-the beatles

i went to bed at 10:00 p.m. last night (lights out at 10:30 because i'm reading a new book), and i overslept until 8:00 a.m., and i've been exhausted all day. shaky, too: after eating a too-early lunch at 11:00 a.m., i had to run to panera bread at 2:30 to get a sandwich and a smoothie because i was feeling so awful (at $12, to boot - "no recession" my arse. they raised the prices on their bagels, too.).

i really just want to go home and lie down before i commit malpractice, because i am totally not with it today. problem is, i was totally not with it yesterday, either. i have a list of about six projects that i need to start on, but i can't bring myself to do it. not because they're not interesting projects - in fact, i'm excited about a couple of them. but when i sit down and look at the logistics of beginning them, my mind gets overrun and i want to go take a nap.

beale thinks i'm getting too much sleep. i think it's the opposite. the bed seems smaller and smaller and smaller every night, and the room seems warmer and warmer and warmer. i'm sure it's not the outside elements so much as it is my expanded insulation and the multitude of pillowy accountrement that i now require to get comfortable. i have this gigantic bolster pillow that is pretty much my new best friend, but rearranging Mr. Bolster and myself throughout the night is no small feat.

i'm whiny today. i'm whiny a lot these days. thirty-three weeks down, how many more to go? *shaking fist at sky*

"water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink." -samuel taylor coleridge, "the rime of the ancient mariner"

mom'll be proud of me for that quote.

me:  "so, how much of my weight gain in the last few weeks do you think is attributable to water retention?"

doc:  "well, by the looks of your ankles, ALL of it."

me:  "does this mean i have to go on bed rest?  and quit working?  yes yes?  can i can i?"

doc:  "you're perfectly healthy.  in fact, your blood pressure is still VERY low."

*!$&%#*@(??!!!!!!!

i told him that right before my next appointment i'm going to pick a big fight with J and then run in and make them take my blood pressure really quick.

baby poll

oh, and i guess we need to start a baby poll. it's over there on the right-hand column under "guess." so start picking dates. first come, first serve, one person per diurnal arc (that's "24-hour-time-period" to the rest of you. or "day" to the rest of the rest of you.). post your guesses in the comments section or email me.

reminder: my due date (or, rather, Kitten's due date) is september 7.

winner gets something cool, because you all know i have great taste.