oh, north dakota

so, it's almost time for a ten-year flood anniversary blog entry, which will carefully avoid mentioning how it might have been less catastrophic if the, um, wealthier than average folks in the lincoln drive area hadn't been so keen on leaving their houses in that near-oxbow. instead i will talk about all the great things that people did for one another, and how the experience sucked but reinforced our sense of community. i may even write something about keep the faith. (i will certainly write about being evacuated from reeves drive on an army corps truck, watching the smoke rise from buxton, mucking out, red cross meals and learning to hang drywall.)

in the meantime, though, i thought i'd point to yet another example of why i can't go back. in short, i expect to be raising children, possibly girl children, at some point in time, and the flickertail state is busy proving itself entirely unsafe for girl children. of course, the idea that we would deny medical care to someone who responsibly seeks it because she doesn't have a relationship with her parents is absurd and dangerous on its face. but add to that the ridiculous cacophony of illogics about why this medical care should be denied, and the only possible conclusion to reach is that these (male) lawmakers just plain dislike and distrust women. especially young women. really especially young women who have sex. (i bet they really like old white racist men who blackmail state-funded institutions into maintaining racist symbols, though.)

lee kaldor, D-mayville: "Unfortunately, all we need is one problem pregnancy, and we risk the life of an unborn child." a couple of sentences later he mentions something about "the mother," but, you know, she's pretty much an afterthought. well, at least we know what "democrat" means in north dakota these days. looks like it's "republican."

jim kasper, R-fargo: according to the article, kasper "said the argument that the bill would help girls in abusive situations was not strong enough to allow any pregnant girl to seek prenatal care in confidence. 'In the vast, vast, vast majority of cases, that family cares for and loves that daughter, and they need to be involved,' Kasper said."

but totally my favorite, hands down no question is the might(measured in dollars)-makes-rights position of dan ruby, R-minot: "Vast generations have been born without the type of medical care and prenatal care that we have today. It's great that people get the treatment early, but we don't need to do something that is going to take away the authority of the parents, who are responsible for paying the bills."

dear beloved home state: this sort of thing is why your best and brightest UP AND LEAVE ALL THE TIME. i used to have dreams about going back and doing something awesome, but...not any more.