Things to keep in mind:

- John McCain has voted anti-choice 123 out of 128 times during his Senate career.

- John McCain voted against mandating that insurance companies cover birth control (by the way, did you know Viagra is covered by insurance, but a good number of birth control pills aren't?  seems counterintuitive, right?).

- John McCain voted against allocating $100 million to preventative health services to prevent teen pregnancy.

Check out this video for what your options would be under "President McCain":

...so, I've been watching the Olympics, and it seems like every day something new emerges to show how underhanded, hell-bent on cheating, and scary the Chinese government is.

First, The New York Times reported back in July before the Olympics that two members of the Chinese Womens' Gymnast Team were under 16 according to official records of Chinese gymnast registries that have now mysterious disappeared from the web(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print); there has been a lot of other press coverage during the Olympics about this issue.  The Chinese Team's only defense to these accusations is showing the media their passports showing all of the girls were 16.  Guess what, I'm not buying a passport issued by the Chinese government...  Then, last night when it seemed the American Womens' Gymnast Team might win in spite of the Chinese team cheating on the age issue, they tried and succeeded to psych out Alicia Sacramone before her turn on her best apparatus, the balance beam (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=afp-oly2008gymnasticswomenteamusa&prov=afp&type=lgns).  LAME.

Further, Joey Cheek, an American speed skater who created Team Darfur, an organization focused on bringing attention to the crisis in Darfur, planned to attend the Olympics in Beijing, but right before he was scheduled to leave, the Chinese government REVOKED HIS VISA.  (http://windowsxp-privacy.net/?id=198760094), Basically, they have an economic stake in continuing the crisis in Darfur and participating in one of the largest mass genocides the world has ever seen.  They did not want anyone at the Beijing Olympics who would bring attention to this fact and make them look bad to the world.  Disgusting.

Finally today, Chinese officials admitted that the little girl who "sang" in the opening ceremony was actually lip synching because the actual little girl who sang the song was not considered by them to be cute enough to appear in the ceremony.  Also, guess what?  All those amazing fireworks we saw on television, those had been enhanced for our viewing pleasure, too.(http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080813/ART18/808130396).

The Chinese are so obsessed with making themselves look good to the world that they are lying, cheating, and making unethical decisions left and right, and frankly, it's pissing me off.  I understand that they are desperately trying to change the world's image of them, but all they are succeeding in doing is proving us right.

...very, very telling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLuqxXwG4nE

So, I am in Baton Rouge. By myself. It is pretty lonely right now. Luke is finishing up a class at SHSU, and he doesn't get here until Friday. Until then, I've got boxes to unpack, work to start, and Bug to snuggle. It's weird being apart, though... The house is starting to be so homey, but it feels incomplete without him.

In other news, I started my new job today. My coworkers seem really motivated and inspired to do a lot of good things on the LSU and Southern U. campuses. Our job is to basically seek out nonprofit and public interest internships and recruit law students for the positions. A lot of law students come out of school with substantial amounts of debt, so comparably few go into jobs that help low-income clients, abused spouses, juvenile criminal defendants, and other jobs who cannot afford to pay lawyers the big bucks (including government jobs like DA's and Attorney General's Offices) to pay off that debt. Our job is to make sure law students know you CAN make it on less salary up front and help people at the same time. So, in sum, I'm feeling pretty good about the job situation so far; it's nice to be able to feel like I'm making a difference.

Anyway, it's getting late, and I should get to bed. I'm a workin' woman fo real these days. :)

...and some sound ideas about how to reduce energy consumption even if you don't like Obama.

Time Magazine
Monday, Aug. 04, 2008
The Tire-Gauge Solution: No Joke
By Michael Grunwald

How out of touch is Barack Obama? He's so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled "Barack Obama's Energy Plan" to Washington reporters.

But who's really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

Politics ain't beanbag, and Obama has defended himself against worse smears. The real problem with the attacks on his tire-gauge plan is that efforts to improve conservation and efficiency happen to be the best approaches to dealing with the energy crisis — the cheapest, cleanest, quickest and easiest ways to ease our addiction to oil, reduce our pain at the pump and address global warming. It's a pretty simple concept: if our use of fossil fuels is increasing our reliance on Middle Eastern dictators while destroying the planet, maybe we ought to use less.

The RNC is trying to make the tire gauge a symbol of unseriousness, as if only the fatuous believed we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil without doing the bidding of Big Oil. But the tire gauge is really a symbol of a very serious piece of good news: we can use significantly less energy without significantly changing our lifestyle. The energy guru Amory Lovins has shown that investment in "nega-watts" — reduced electricity use through efficiency improvements — is much more cost-effective than investment in new megawatts, and the same is clearly true of nega-barrels. It might not fit the worldviews of right-wingers who deny the existence of global warming and insist that reducing emissions would destroy our economy, or of left-wing Earth-firsters who insist that maintaining our creature comforts would destroy the world, but there's a lot of simple things we can do on the demand side before we start rushing to ratchet up supply.

We can use those twisty carbon fluorescent lightbulbs. We can unplug our televisions, computers and phone chargers when we're not using them. We can seal our windows, install more insulation and adjust our thermostats so that we waste less heat and air-conditioning. We can use more-efficient appliances, build more-efficient homes and drive more-efficient cars, preferably with government assistance. And, yes, we can inflate our tires and tune our engines, as Republican governors Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Charlie Crist of Florida have urged, apparently without consulting the RNC. While we're at it, we can cut down on idling, which can improve fuel economy another 5%, and cut down on speeding and unnecessary acceleration, which can increase mileage as much as 20%.

And that's just the low-hanging fruit. There are other ways to reduce demand for oil — more public transportation, more carpooling, more telecommuting, more recycling, less exurban sprawl, fewer unnecessary car trips, buying less stuff and eating less meat — that would require at least some lifestyle changes. But things like tire gauges can reduce gas bills and carbon emissions now, with little pain and at little cost and without the ecological problems and oil-addiction problems associated with offshore drilling. These are the proverbial win-win-win solutions, reducing the pain of $100 trips to the gas station by reducing trips to the gas station. And Americans are already starting to adopt them, ditching SUVs, buying hybrids, reducing overall gas consumption. It's hard to see why anyone who isn't affiliated with the oil industry would object to them.

Of course, in recent years, the Republican Party has been affiliated with the oil industry. It was the oilman Dick Cheney who dismissed conservation as a mere sign of "personal virtue," not a basis for energy policy. It was the oilman George W. Bush who resisted efforts to regulate carbon emissions. And most congressional Republicans have been even more reliable water carriers for the industry's interests.

John McCain has been a notable exception. He is not an oilman; he has pushed to regulate carbon emissions; and he opposed Bush's pork-stuffed energy bill, which Obama supported. He also opposed efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and until recently opposed new offshore drilling. But now that gas prices have spiked, McCain is running for President on a drill-first platform, and polls suggest that most Americans agree with him. It's sad to see his campaign adopting the politics of the tire gauge, promoting the fallacy that Americans are powerless to address their own energy problems. Because the truth is: Yes, we can. We already are.

Wal-Mart mobilizes against Democrats: report

2 hours, 56 minutes ago

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is mobilizing U.S. store managers to lobby against Democrats in November's presidential election, fearing they will make it easier for workers to unionize, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if store workers unionize, the paper said.

About a dozen employees who attended meetings in seven states said executives stressed employees would have to pay hefty union dues and get nothing in return, and might have to go on strike without compensation, and warned that unionization could force the company to cut jobs as labor costs rise, the Journal reported.

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who have run the meetings didn't tell those attending how to vote in the November elections, but made it clear that voting for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, would be tantamount to inviting unions in, the Journals said.

Wal-Mart could not be reached immediately for a comment.

This article made me sick, so if you want to be really angry, read on:

SHENANDOAH, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- By the time help arrived, Luis Ramirez lay convulsing in the middle of the street, foam running from his mouth.

Blows had struck the 25-year-old Mexican immigrant with such force that they left a clotted, bruised impression of Jesus Christ on the skin of his chest from the religious medal he wore.

His attackers were white teenagers, including star students and football players, witnesses told police.

After a night of drinking, the teens taunted the undocumented worker with racial epithets, pummeled him to the ground and then kicked him in the head, court documents charge. He died in a hospital two days later.

It took almost two weeks for arrests to be made. But on July 25, Colin J. Walsh, 17, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation.

Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged as an adult with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation and an unnamed juvenile was also charged with assault. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that its civil rights division has opened a criminal investigation.

Defense attorneys for two of the teens say Ramirez responded to the name-calling with his own insults, which escalated the confrontation into to a fight that got out of hand.

The words allegedly hurled at Ramirez, and the perceived sentiments behind them, led prosecutors to label his death a hate crime.

Without the ethnic intimidation charges, many in Shenandoah believe the case would not be drawing attention to this depressed northeastern Pennsylvania coal town of 5,000. Residents question whether the attack was racially motivated or just an alcohol-fueled confrontation among kids.

Ramirez had spent July 12 with friends Arielle and Victor Garcia in their home. About 11 p.m. he asked them to drive him and a 15-year-old girl home, a probable cause affidavit says.

They got as far as a dusty park on Vine Street when Ramirez asked the couple to drop them off so they could walk. What happened next depends on the narrator, but everyone seems to agree that the first comments were directed toward the girl and Ramirez.

"Isn't it a little late for you guys to be out?" the boys said, according to court documents. "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here."

Racial slurs followed, and Ramirez responded. Punches were thrown, and Ramirez fell to the ground. Then Ramirez used his cell phone to call Arielle and Victor Garcia for help.

The fight seemed to be over by the time the Garcias responded. But in an instant, the taunts resumed.

It is unclear who threw the first insult. Ramirez was knocked to the ground again and kicked in the head. He went into convulsions, said Arielle Garcia, who witnessed the second part of the fight. Garcia, 17, told police she knew some of the assailants from school. VideoWatch Arielle Garcia's eyewitness account »

By this time, Eileen Burke, a retired Philadelphia police officer, had stepped out of her home after hearing Arielle Garcia's pleas to stop the beating.

Burke recalled hearing one final, ominous threat as the teens ran. "They yelled, 'You effin bitch, tell your effin Mexican friends get the eff out of Shenandoah or you're gonna be laying effin next to him,' " she told CNN.

Piekarsky and Donchak are also accused of meeting the next day to plan how to cover up their involvement. Read the court affidavit (pdf)

Ramirez was taken off life support two days after the fight. His body was flown back to his mother in Guanajuato, Mexico, with donations from parishioners from Annunciation Church in Shenandoah.

"There's outrage among Anglos and Latinos over what happened, and I think that's representative of the attitude here," said the Rev. George Winne, who is in charge of Hispanic ministries at Annunciation.

Others in town pull over their cars at the sight of a stranger and recite a litany of attacks allegedly perpetrated by Latinos against Anglos. They refuse to give their names but acknowledge that Ramirez did not deserve to die. They say violence has been brewing between the races for some time.

Attorneys for two of the teens deny Ramirez was targeted because of his race.

"Let's call it what it was it was -- a street fight, a chance encounter with a tragic outcome," said Frederick Fanelli, who represents Piekarsky.

Fanelli told CNN he plans to investigate whether Ramirez has a criminal background. He also questions why the engaged father of three was walking on the street with the girl, and the nature of their relationship. Ramirez' fiancee says he was walking her younger sister home.

A lawyer for Walsh said he is equally skeptical about the ethnic intimidation charge. "They called each other names. The victim was calling them obscenities, vulgar names, and they said things back to him that would hurt him," Roger Laguna said. "It just means it was a foul-mouthed argument, not ethnic intimidation."

Ramirez died just as things were falling into place for him and Crystal Dillman, 24, the woman he planned to marry.

They met in Shenandoah in 2005 through the Garcias, had two children, Kiara and Eduardo, and Ramirez assumed the role of father to Dillman's daughter from a previous relationship, Angelina.

By May, Ramirez had settled permanently in Shenandoah, working two jobs after spending six months picking berries in Georgia.

"He worked hard so his kids would have more than he had growing up," Dillman said. "He talked a lot about how we take so much for granted here."

His diamond-encrusted religious medal, which cost him $300, now hangs over the fireplace in the three-story home on Main Street where Dillman and the children live.

"I just don't understand how you can beat someone so badly when you don't even know them," Dillman said. "People here are just ignorant. They think life begins and ends in Shenandoah." VideoWatch Dillman talk about her fears for the future »

A court affidavit identifies Walsh and Piekarsky as the teens who delivered the fatal blows: Walsh punched Ramirez in the face and knocked him to the ground. Piekarsky then allegedly kicked Ramirez in the head.

Michael Walsh is struggling to comprehend how his boy -- a straight-A student who juggled track, football and school -- could stand accused of killing another person when he should be starting his senior year in high school.

"It's very stressing because you just don't expect it. If you had a child that's constantly in trouble, you'd say, hey, well, this is coming any day," he told CNN.

"Colin was a great kid and fell into a bad situation. He never really gave me any trouble," he added. "I feel sorry for the families and anyone who cares about Mr. Ramirez." VideoWatch Walsh describe his family's 'nightmare' »

"You would be proud to have any of these kids in your classroom, and any of them as your children," said Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer. "To this point in their lives, they have done everything right."

Besides his academic achievement, Piekarsky worked part-time at Sears and made the varsity football team as a sophomore. He is a National Honors student.

His mother postponed her wedding to a Shenandoah police officer because of the incident.

Walsh and Piekarsky are being held in solitary confinement in an adult jail in nearby Pottsville. They are awaiting a preliminary hearing.

Donchak was the team's quarterback last year and graduated in May. He planned to attend Bloomsburg University in the fall. He is out on bail.

The racial spotlight falls on the region nearly a year after a federal court struck down proposed anti-immigration laws in nearby Hazleton. City officials had passed a law to fine landlords and employers who dealt with illegal immigrants. The city is appealing.

While Schuylkill County is 96 percent white, Shenandoah has taken pride in its ethnic diversity. European immigrants came to work anthracite mines in the late 19th century. Pizza joints, German bakeries and Polish grocers on Main Street serve as reminders of that time.

The town hit hard times after World War II and saw its population tumble from 20,000 to about 5,000, leaving about one in three homes vacant.

Latinos began to arrive about 20 years ago, heading to the fields and distribution centers that have become the new economic base.

Jose Calderon, a Puerto Rican who has lived in Shenandoah for two years, says he's not fearful. "These are the problems of the youth," he said.

On Main Street, where people gather on benches in front of the remaining storefronts, some members of the Anglo community are also outraged.

"The young guys around here are racist because they think they're so much better than everyone else," said Jessica Lane, 18, as her 2-year-old son, Damien, squirmed in her lap.

Shenandoah officials now acknowledge a racial element of Ramirez's death, after initial denials.

Regardless of perception of tension, many Latinos and Anglos have formed interracial relationships, like those of Dillman and Ramirez, and their friends the Garcias, who have a son.

Mixed couples and their offspring sat among other Latino couples at Annunciation Church's Sunday Spanish-language mass. As the service began, a white woman approached Dillman and hugged her.

"I have such survivor's guilt," she confessed.

If you get grossed out by bathroom talk, look away now rather than reading on....

So, I have to say a few words about talking to me while you or I are in a bathroom stall.  There are things going on in those stalls that I don't want to think about and that sometimes require more attention than carrying on a casual conversation while doing them allows. 

This morning at my office I found myself having to use the bathroom.  So, I walk into the bathroom, proceed to a stall, and in walks another attorney I do not know very well.  She sees me go into the stall, walks into the stall next to me, and proceeds to ask me about my weekend, how work is going, etc., all while I'm trying to pee and while she herself is peeing.  Now, if you're my close friend and we've been into a bar bathroom on a night out together and both need to break the seal, that's one thing.  But in a public restroom?  In an office?  I mean, I really don't want to share certain things with strangers, and I have no interest in hearing or imagining their tinkle-habits either.  Which leads me to another thought...  What if they or I had to poop?  It's too much!  And, it's not like you can ignore the person in an office setting because office politics are difficult enough to maneuver without someone feelings slighted because you ignored them while peeing (or pooping). 

Anyhoo, that's my wee (wee) rant for this Monday morning.  I hope everyone has a great week! 

About ten minutes ago I finally got the call that I got the job I've been wanting in Baton Rouge!  I'm so stoked!

I'll be officially employed by the Louisiana Bar Foundation, but my office will be in the LSU Law Center.  I'll be hooking up law students with nonprofit and public interest internships and promoting that kind of law in general on both LSU's and Southern Law's campuses.  I also get to pick up any cases I want and handle them, too.  It's a one year fellowship, and I'll get to meet tons of nonprofit lawyers all over the state for potential jobs once I'm done with the fellowship. 

Thanks to everyone for the good luck wishes!