Best of "Ranting About Politics" - My Views on Initiative 26

Today, I made the decision to delete my old political ranting blog. It's been over a year since I last posted on it, so I just felt like it was time for it to be retired. But, I did want to preserve a few of my best posts from that blog and post them onto this blog. So, in the coming weeks, I'll be posting these posts here.

The first post in this series is the ever so controversial post I wrote almost a year ago, My Feelings on Initiative 26. I had a lot of comments, both supportive and not so supportive, but it's one of my favorites from all of my blogs. I liked it so much, I even used it as a writing sample for my application to Grad School!

Tuesday, November 8th, Mississippians will be going to the polls to elect a new Governor, Lieutenant Governor, a new Cabinet and a new Legislature. We will also be voting on three amendments to the state constitution. All three of these initiatives are controversial, however one has generated a lot of national news coverage. Ballot Initiative Number 26, also known as the Personhood Amendment, is an amendment to the state constitution that would grant "personhood" to a fetus at the moment of fertilization, effectively ending abortion in the State of Mississippi. This is the first time any state has drafted such an amendment and it has raised many questions here and around the nation.

My greatest concern with the amendment is the way in which it is written, which according to the Secretary of State's website, reads:

"Should the term "person" be defined to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the equivalent there of?"

Legally, the amendment would not outlaw anything. It is simply granting basic human rights to a fetus at the moment of conception, an idea that I support. However, most do not realize what could actually come from all of this, if the amendment becomes law.

In my opinion, there are far too many grey areas in the language of this initiative. When writing it, the authors of the amendment went too far without going far enough. What I mean by that is that the authors could have simply used conception rather than fertilization and left it at that. Or, they could have gone farther and listed all of the exceptions to the amendment, providing protection of in vitro fertilization, giving an exception for rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, protecting contraceptives, protecting mothers who suffer a miscarriage, and any other exceptions that need addressing. Take a look at the other two initiatives, Initiative 27

(Voter I. D.) and Initiative 31 (Imminent Domain). Both amendments are full of definitive language that clearly states the intent of the amendment and lists exceptions to it. But the writers chose not to do this with Personhood and so we are left with an initiative that is full of ambiguity, and because of this ambiguous language, it will be left to the Legislature to pass legislation to govern the new law. What that legislation will be, who knows? We will have to pass it in order to see what is in it. Sound familiar?

I understand what the proponents of the Personhood Amendment are trying to do. Their goal is to get a purposefully ambiguous initiative passed and enacted so that its opponents will challenge the law in Federal court. Through appeal, the case would ultimately lead to the Supreme Court, forcing the Court to re-debate precedent that would hopefully lead to the demise of Roe v. Wade. This is something that I would love to see as well. However, I just don't feel comfortable giving a government... ANY government... such broad powers over a critical aspect of a person's life. It is for this reason that I am against this amendment and will be voting No on Initiative 26.

Movie Night with "J. Edgar"

Spoiler Alert!

As soon as this movie came out, I knew that I wanted to see it. I'm a huge history buff, so I knew that this film would be right up my alley. So, the other night, I finally rented and watched it. I have a few thoughts on it and there will be spoilers involved, so keep that in mind before you read this review.

First off, I'm going to go ahed and address the elephant in the room. I have a problem when directors and writers take artistic liberties with historical figures. It has always been a pet peeve of mine. This film sort of irritated me in that regard. They took rumor and ran with it as if it were fact. Truth is, we do not know if J. Edgar Hoover was gay. We have no idea of knowing. History can assume based on what we do know, but we have no way of confirming these rumors. Yes, Hoover was a cross dresser. Yes, he lived with his mother until her death. Yes, he didn't have a family or a wife or a girlfriend. Yes, he was really close to his assistant at the Bureau. But none of these facts can confirm Hoover's sexuality. It's just as likely that the man was asexual or was just very private. I'm not upset that Hollywood is trying to create more movies with gay leading roles. Far from it! I think that is great. I'm just a little miffed that they created a story based solely on rumor. Rumors that will now be seen as fact for future generations. I'm just a little touchy when it comes to messing with historical fact just to "spice up" a storyline.

Now, having said that, this movie was excellent! There was a great storyline, beautiful cinematography, great acting and, despite turning rumors into facts, the film was historically accurate. It was a little slow at first, but there is just enough drama, historical facts, and bits of dry, sarcastic humor to make this a wonderful film.

This is definitely a "Must See".

Movie Night with "The Ides of March"

Warning! Spoiler Alert!

I went into this movie without much to go on. I really hadn't heard anything about it. None of my friends had seen it, so I had no preconceived opinions of it. And that didn't help.

First off, this film was basically a propaganda piece for the Democratic Party. I figured that was going to be the case, as it starred and was directed by George Clooney. Most political thrillers that come out of Hollywood are the same way, so I usually I can over look the liberal bias if there is a good story at the root of the film. That was certainly NOT the case here.

There was a very clichéd storyline with nothing great going on. Basically, it's about a guy who works for a Presidential campaign during the Ohio Primary. He gets involved with an inter, she tells him that the candidate more or less raped her and got her pregnant. She has an abortion, he gets fired, she commits suicide, and he blackmails the candidate. Basically the synopsis of every political thriller ever made.

But what pissed me off the most about this film was the way it ended. After Ryan Gosling's character blackmails "the Governor", played by George Clooney, and is successful in becoming the campaign manager, he is brought into a room to be interviewed. The news people get him situated, the camera lights come on, you hear the interviewer ask a question, then Gosling looks into the camera and then.... NOTHING. The end. They didn't even finish the damn movie. Did they win? Did they loose? What the hell happened? It was like they ran out of money and they had to cut off in the middle of filming or something. It was very much like the Soprano's finale. Just pissed me off.

I was very disappointed in this film. As the political junkie I am, I could see the potential for a great political drama here. What a let down.

This film is definitely rated as a "Save Your Money"!

Just Some Random Shots

This weekend, I was going through my photos and found several that really didn't fit anywhere else. So, I decided to bunch them up into a random file and post them on here. Enjoy!

The "M" Key

Old Glory

A Musical Fruit

Glowing Beads

Zoom at 20,000 Feet

Balloons

I'm working on a few different photo projects right now, so be looking for them in the coming weeks!

Movie Night with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

Ever since the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo came out, I had heard nothing but good things. It won several awards and everyone said that it was just wonderful. Somebody either was lying or they were on drugs.

This movie was just so slow. It took forever for both the main characters to come together, the cinematography was so drab and boring, and the story was just boring. To be honest, the best part of the movie was when I turned it off. There were a few times when I felt like the story was beginning to pick up, but it would just fall off again.

To be fair, I did turn the movie off before the end. I'm not sure how much was left. I just couldn't take it anymore. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood or I was tired or something, but I just couldn't get into this film.

I am thinking about borrowing the book and reading it first then retrying the movie afterward. Maybe that will give me a bit of a guideline to follow while watching the movie.

But for now, I would rate this film as "Save Your Money".

P.F. Chang's

For a while now, I've been wanting to begin offering restaurant reviews on this blog, but I just have not had the time to really go anywhere that warranted a review. But, the other day, my friends MarySue and Scott came in from Atlanta, and we decided to go to P.F. Chang's in Ridgeland, which is one of our favorite places to go when they are in town.

P.F. Chang's is a national chain of restaurants, not something that I would normally review, but this is the only one that I am aware of in this area. So it is fairly unique for us here. I have always had a love for Asian style cuisine, but finding decent places around here that are not buffets is difficult. So, P.F. Chang's is one of my favorites.

When you first sit down, they bring you this sauce tray. Honestly, I've never quite understood the point of it, as I never use the stuff. They will usually mix the sauces together, which is a little much for me, but some folks like it.

MarySue and Scott always like to order the Lettuce Wraps for their appetizers. It's a chicken stir-fry dish that you wrap in lettuce. It's pretty good, although I am not a fan of water chestnuts or iceberg lettuce.

When I come here, I always look over the menu, trying to find something different to try. But I always end up ordering the Double Pan Fried Noodles. It's a noodle stir-fry dish that is double fired, giving the noodles a very chewy texture. Add a little soy sauce to the mix and it is absolutely wonderful. This is one of my absolute favorite Asian dishes and I've figured out how to make a fairly similar version of this dish at home. But it's nothing compared to the original.

P. F. Chang's is one of my favorite places for Fine Asian cuisine. The food is a little pricey, but the food is always good, the service is great and the restaurant is always very clean.

A New Hobby

Winter Oak at Sunset

For a while now, I've been really interested in photography. Up until now, I've been kind of playing around with my iPhone camera and my sister's little point and shoot camera. But for Christmas, my parents gave me a really nice camera so that I can expand on this new hobby.

So, I've decided to start posting my top favorite pictures from the week up on the blog. All of this weeks pictures were taken around in my back yard and all I did was enhance them just a little bit using iPhoto on my computer. That's it. Enjoy!

Barb

Colorful Nails

Mossy Post

Rustic Post Top

I've also started a Flickr page where all of my pictures are at. There are several there, but they didn't make the cut this week. Go check it out and let me know what you think!