The political thing I hinted at in my first blog entry is over for now. The signatures have been safely delivered to Bismarck. Anyway, here it is, the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative, at http://ndspi.org. I'm intentionally not putting a direct link. I have to confess I was worried. After all this talk of car bombs and shootings and government roadblocks as possible measures that could be taken to keep this thing from getting on the ballot, I was truly scared that something would happen. My husband and his brother were along for the ride to deliver the signatures, and no, a helicopter did not descend from the sky to block their progress. (Though a helicopter *did* in fact land on the road in front of me on my way to Darrell's family's 4th of July party, for reasons I do not know). I couldn't go on the trip to Bismarck, as I have a regular job. Anyway there are two things I can't really understand about this thing: 1. Why it is considered so controversial, and 2. Why so much of the responsibility for getting it on the ballot has fallen on Darrell and Darrin (and me, if only in a monetary sense). We don't have any children. There are so many men with children who want custody who could have helped more. Oh well. Now we just have to wait and see if it does in fact get on the ballot. There are 17,000 signatures and we only need 13,000, so it should, but you never know.

Men's rights is a pretty touchy subject to a lot of people. Perhaps I'm seen as a traitor to womankind because I don't see the problem with almost anything that people like Warren Farrell are saying. I've never felt oppressed. If anything I'm somewhat embarrassed by the fact that my university felt the need to offer me special summer jobs because I was a "woman or minority" in a scientific field. I could go on, but I've already said more political and controversial things than I really am comfortable with. Sorry to be so scatterbrained.


Two Replies to The Political Thing

Jackie Mason | August 17, 2006
[hidden by author request]

Denise Sawicki | August 17, 2006
No, it would default to joint custody only if 1. Both parents want custody and 2. Both parents are deemed fit


Prayer for the Paranoid

Denise Sawicki posts whatever she feels able to post without serious consequences Read more »

More weather and anime

So the flood is on its way out, but not without bringing a little excitement. It was time yesterday to go 50 miles to the farm for Darrell's grandma's 90th birthday. Foolishly, I chose our usual route instead of the alternate route that was high and dry 2 years ago when the water was 2 feet higher. Go »

A wish

You know, it would be nice to be the kind of person who could sometimes do or say things *without* regretting them. I think that would be on my top three list of wishes :) Just to turn off a part of my brain. It's really freakin cold out. Go »

Giant flakes of cereal

The big news of today is we found a big flake of raisin bran crunch. I don't know if it's quite as big as the one featured in the coming link but it's pretty big. You can get some idea of what my life is like because I then proceeded to google for "largest flake" and "giant flake". Go »

Jesus songs

I wonder what it is with me liking all these songs that mention Jesus. I'm a total atheist :P Actually I think it might be easier for me to like these songs that it would be for anyone who's religious and might have a troubled background with religion. I guess the name has less significance for me. Go »

Ghost of an Unkissed Kiss

As though I don't look bad enough for sharing information on my lame celebrity crushes, here's a real-life one, albeit a really old one. I'd forgotten that his full name was in the movie we watched the other day and maybe hearing his name was what got me started on this nostalgic path. He's got a common name. Go »

Our dog is smart

Our sheltie, Philip, is really smart. Here is his latest Oscar-worthy film, where he shows off his ability to mimic Darrell doing the following actions: turn a circle, stretch, sneeze, lie down, roll over (partway), hop, and speak: link Philip also knows how to read a few words, kind of, though I think he gets bored with it :-). Currently he's in school for agility, which entails learning how to run around a course jumping hurdles and using tunnels and seesaws in a prescribed manner. Go »