Shut it Down

The deadline for a likely federal government shutdown in the U.S. is rapidly approaching. 5.5 hours remain, and counting...

It's late for me, so all I will say is this. If it's an issue of disagreement on spending as Republicans claim, then our politicians really need to get their acts together (but we knew this already), and they should start acting on the proposition that's floating around on some social media sites that all elected officials take a 20% cut to their own salaries for each day that they can't reach a compromise. Wishful thinking, but still.

But if it's like Democrats claim and the impasse is the question of Planned Parenthood... well, I'm at a loss. I believe in women's equality and women's rights, but I'm against abortion. That being said, I support Planned Parenthood. How many times does it have to be said that federal money is not and CANNOT be used to fund abortions?! Instead, the money to Planned Parenthood is used to fund basic rights of women for health, including screenings for breast and cervical cancer, HIV testing, treatment of STDs and more. And yet, according to the Washington Post, Republicans are claiming that "federal funding for those services frees up more private funds for abortions". You have got to be kidding me. Federal funding for those services also frees up women's ability to, you know, pay for food and bills and care for the children that they do have.

I do not support everything that Planned Parenthood does, especially if the stories are true that some employees coerce women going through a difficult time to have an abortion. But at the same time, I do not support the so-called "emergency pregnancy centers" started by anti-abortion groups that provide only limited information to pregnant women, and, in the end, provide no help to her to give a healthy life to her child.

The abortion debate in the U.S. has reached an impasse, much like the budget debate in Congress. The situation has been polarized to for and against, with no middle ground. And yet, how are pro-lifers protesting outside of abortion clinics (or worse, bombing them) helping life? If pro-life activists and politicians are truly pro-life, where are the programs to actually support women and their children after they are born? Pro-life does not stop after the child leaves the womb, but indeed, this is perhaps the time when the life needs even more attention and support. Similarly, pro-choice advocates and politicians must reconcile with the facts of science that there is indeed a separate creature in the womb from the early days of pregnancy with all the early features of a full-grown human being. This is a separate life, not simply an extension of the woman's body. Is it really simply her right to decide what happens to this separate creature? But if it is not solely her right, then society must provide the support necessary for her to care for it and be able to continue her life fully while providing for another. Unfortunately, I can't see this happening any time soon.

In the end, I must conclude that a proposal to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood is decidedly anti- pro-life. The services that are funded are those very services (limited though they are) that enable women to have a healthy life and care for the children that they bring into the world. Isn't that what pro-life means?

EDIT: Also, mind you, this whole debate is only $80 million in the federal budget. In terms of the federal deficit and other federal spending, that is mere pennies! Yes, a penny saved is a penny earned, but have you looked at our defense budget recently?


*And I haven't even touched on the correlation between birth control and dramatic increases in women's equality in developing (and developed!) countries.

Life Lessons

The water in Poznań is not exactly clean. Even the locals don't drink it. It doesn't contain pathogens or other deadly substances (as far as I know), but everyone buys bottled water. Maybe it's because the pipes are old, maybe it's because Poznań is far from any mountains, or maybe it's because it just doesn't taste good. My green sentiments were revolted by the idea of buying so much bottled water, but when in Rome, sometimes it's best to do as the Romans do.

The sanitary situation of the water was most evidenced by my electric tea kettle. After only a month of boiling the local tap water, I was repulsed by metallic pieces that started to chip away from the interior bottom of the kettle and float in the hot water. First the flat shiny metal bottom became dull, then brown, then green, then brown again with a greenish hue. I almost bought a new kettle until some friends assured me that this would happen to any hot pot boiling Poznań water and that the unknown substances that flaked off the bottom were harmless. Good thing the spout has a filter to keep them out of my tea cup when pouring. Still, I thought I might be slowly killing myself with carcinogens of some sort.

Today, that changed at last. After making a few volcanoes of baking soda and vinegar that did nothing to clean the inside, a friend suggested simply boiling the vinegar and letting it sit. And WOW. What a difference! I wish I had before and after pictures. For the first time in six months, I can see shiny metal again, and I don't feel like I'm dying by drinking tea!

So maybe the moral of this story is to always have vinegar on hand to clean things. Or to not wait six months to ask for help. Or to not drink the tap water in Poznań.

The only downside is that now my room reeks of vinegar.


As a side note, the tap water in Gdańsk is delicious, so it might only be the more central parts of the country (no mountains) that have a tap water problem.

Technology

I'm ready for DVDs to be outdated technology.

I was kind of sad to see VHSes go back in the day (all of my favorite movies as a kid were on a VHS), but I quickly adjusted to the convenience of a DVD. Multiple DVDs can easily be transported (i.e. in a CD case rather than in their boxes). DVDs can be played by a personal computer, so a DVD player or TV screen was unnecessary.

DVDs have been mainstream for about the past 10 years. However, DVDs are even more fragile that VHSes were. I'm tired of renting a movie only to find that it skips because of a smudge or scratch, and thus I miss some crucial scenes of the film. Or, I hate looking forward to watching a movie that I own, only to take it out of its case and discover that it has a hairline crack and is now completely unreadable. There goes another $15. I guess that's one way to stimulate the economy--just keep making things breakable so that people keep buying.

I'm ready for the next big technological advancement, replacing DVDs with something else. Looks like it might be digitized or iPod movies, such as those sold on iTunes?

Rest in peace, Newsies DVD that I never got to watch.

The Cost of Education

American college tuition is expensive enough. Every student is overwhelmed with applications for loans, scholarships, grants, and financial aid, trying to make it a little less painful. Some of the richest universities have finally started to do their part to ameliorate this crisis, but many schools do not have the excessive endowment of Harvard or the Ivies to offer students such breaks.

And beyond the cost of tuition, housing, and meals, what else?

What about textbooks? After a semester of being abroad and not having textbooks, I had almost forgotten how expensive they can be.

I always do my textbook shopping on Amazon marketplace. It's important to shop around (be aware of your university bookstore's prices, check for discount reseller stores in your area, and check other websites), but Marketplace has consistently proven to be the most reliable and affordable option for me. You must often compromise dust jackets, clean pages, or wear and tear for a lower price, but I don't mind as long as I can still read it.

However, despite all that savvy shopping and saving, the costs can still be ridiculous. This year especially.

I just spent over $200. On ONE class. To top it off, I just did the math with the university bookstore's prices for new books. Had I bought all my books (five classes) from the school bookstore, it would have cost me $955. NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!!! For books.

This is obscene and absolutely ridiculous. We're only poor college students. We're just trying to learn. We don't have this kind of money!

Marketplace and other discounted resellers have saved me a pretty penny many times in the past. They're helping me out again this year, but sometimes it's just too much.