Bedbugs on teenager in Drug treatment.

...and all of the children are above average…

 

One of the teenagers in our community has been through drug treatment out of state, and his parents’ interactions with the required family therapy have figured frequently in messages out of worship.

 

The family has the resources to go out of state, something they had to do because of WA State law which allows youths whose parents might be impediments to various kinds of needed medical and mental health care to get help but also leaves parents who need to intervene in very difficult situations if youths will not cooperate.

 

We the bedbugs are not quite sure what to make of this level of openness. For one thing the frequency and duration of messages in worship make other people squirm. We are VERY glad the family is getting help and VERY grateful that messages seem to reflect progress with the program and recognition of growing ability to help others.   People crammed close together or living in distress make it easier for us to get a foothold. We believe that of lunch in everyone, we much prefer lunch that is not polluted by drugs, that has decent nutritional status and does not have too many other vermin for us to have to compete with.   There are WAY too many people with substance abuse issues who desperately need treatment and cannot get it, and we HOPE this exercise in worship leads people to think about how to address that problem. If that means cutting back on the people around to munch into, we would have to adapt but we think we could manage. And we kind of understand why RantWoman’s head might be exploding over messages about “respecting the time of people who did the work” about the State of Society while taking up massive amounts of time for this one issue.

 

 

The Bedbugs offer "help" about minutes.

Dear World

It's us, the bedbugs still managing to be part of the UFM community. Do not get us started about the persisting among community bit, at least not right now.

It's a leap year. It's a Presidential year. It's a Leap year. There has been another worldwide Quaker convening, and we are certain the world is again entitled to our point of view about life at our faithful spokesgal RantWoman's Meeting. We still have not found anyone else with quite RantWoman's gift for channeling our communications. We also are a little annoyed that she keeps getting started on our missive and then casting it aside for something or other. RantWoman keeps babbling about stuff we are pretty sure is only tenuously connecting to life at her Meeting and saying "one eruption at a time" so here goes the latest, about draft minutes related to a process for generating a State of Society report for NEXT YEAR.

The clerks of (two committees with whom RantWoman has expressed prepeated concerns) described the process used this year to select people to write the State of the Society report, which in the past has been done late in the year, with volunteers recruited ad hoc. (Said committees) each came up with a list of proposed names. The clerks convened to evaluate this list and make a recommendation to the meeting.

*****

Friends approved (names not particularly objectionable to RantWoman beyond  a general process objection) as authors of this year’s State of the Society report.

*****
NOTE from the Bedbugs who were not paying attention and are annoyed that RantWoman is stuck and will not work on our Bedbug missive until ...: Can anyone remember what concern RantWoman expressed? RantWoman has coughed politely and noted that at least a TINY bit more of the EXTREMELY IMPORTANT points which come out of RantWoman's mouth seem to be making it into minutes.

We the bedbugs think RantWoman would be terribly gratified if SOMEONE ELSE asked to have the minutes corrected to reflect RantWoman's concern!!!! RantWoman does not ... whether  someone else SHARES RantWoman's concern. RantWoman in ask for what you need mode, would really really like to hear that SOMEONE has HEARD it. We the bedbugs wonder where RantWoman gets off about her God as personal butler expectations though.

A Ramadan blessing for tonight

Blessed Ramadan

RantWoman has not exactly been fasting but does honor the ingathering of fasters as the sun sets.

Of particular note:

RantWoman thanks Muhammad Ali for the opportunity to think about a Muslim prayer service.

RantWoman recently found herself another older wiser crone having crone clucking about Muslim youth and the usual realms of sex and drugs and things teenagers wander into. Islamophobia is real. So are teenage struggles. RantWoman offers prayers for wise voices, accurate information, negotiating skills, and protection from thoughtless outsiders who do not realize the significance of concerns as well as from predatory creeps who take advantage of people's difficulties talking about such matters.

But then maybe RantWoman is off-base thinking only about the Rant family and no family from another culture could possibly have any of the same dynamics going on.

Blessed Ramadan all.

Where to stick a certain Border Wall

RantWoman is spectacularly and unapologetically grateful for one TX Congressional representative's choice of words.

5th Generation Mexican American Rep. Filemon Vela tells ... where to stick his Border Wall
RantWoman hopes and prays that our national civic discourse will evolve in a more inclusive, engaged, and respectful direction, but RantWoman most definitely considers the language sufficient to the age.

Muhammad Ali in a Time Warp courtesy of George carlin

RantWoman has good intentions about elaborating at more length about themes of service and refusal but RantWoman may simply launch this for now, with apologies if George Carlin is in any way taking up too much space.

William F Buckley interview from 1968

The Full Firing Line Episode

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-zirin-muhammad-ali-legacy-20160603-snap-story.html

Serial Rapist????

RantWoman is trying not to fall too far into the #brockturner media maelstrom but unfortunately is also going to make readers use their own search engines for the full details of Stanford swimmer Brock Turner, his dad, and the Stanford Alum judge who gave Brock a slap on the wrist for a serious sexual assault.

 A great deal of what RantWoman would say is being said by many others. Furthermore, RantWoman is posting to her blog partly as time marker and partly because she has not sorted out where else in the internet whirlwind it most makes sens to post this. So it gets launched from Planet RantWoman in faith that someone will hear it or it will amplify notes from other directions.

The survivor's statement

One Tweet destroys the statement from Brock Turner's dad




Dad's letter, fixed

Now, here is the point that is going to make rantWoman's head explode if she does not commit it to electrons:

The statement from Brock Turner's dad talks about Brock wanting to educate others about the dangers of alcohol and sexual promiscuity.

Did the probation report even do anything with substance abuse issues? Recommend a substance abuse evaluation and substance abuse treatment?  Or did Brock's pale skin shield him from access to such services? Sounds to RantWoman like BOTH Dad and Son are in major denial and it would be nice if this disgusting public unwinding counts as "hitting bottom" on the way to treatment.

Is Brock talking about himself?

Were there other encounters?

Were any of them as "consensual" as the one in this case? The possibility would definitely occur to RantWoman that the media storm might trigger  memories for other women. RantWoman does not wish that on anyone, but if it occurs, RantWoman ardently hopes women will find the support they need and come forward.

RantWoman does not even want to go research the question was there DNA? If there were though it would definitely occur to RantWoman to run the DNA against unsolved rapes  in the area...

There. Now RantWoman will quit playing amateur detective and go back to...

That is all.


RantWoman has been amplifying the voices of men disgusted by the affair. This is not because RantWoman needs men to speak for her. It is because it matters a lot that there are men who get it. Here is a nice statement that hits many notes RantWoman concurs with.
To Brock Turner's father from Jon Pavlovitz

To many Muslims in my life, Blessed Ramadan

From a previous Ramadan blog effort:

Ramadan Mubarak

Ramadan Kareem

Faith Action Network Offerings for Ramadan



RantWoman offers particular prayers with Ferrener Husband and Muslims in his homeland. This means layers and layers of history and identity too much for a simple generalized Ramadan greeting.

RantWoman, though, humbly notes a particularly badly translated item going around Facebook suggesting that Muslims in Russia or at least the ones who want to live under Sharia should go back where they came from.

(Putin made basically the same suggestion in saltier terms a number of years ago. It passed across Russian language news screens not quite fully bleeped and gave many Russian language specialists lots of exercise in circumlocutions probably best left unexplained during Ramadan)

Never mind, in any case, that Muslims are generally on Russian territory because of Russian and Soviet imperialism / colonialism. RantWoman does not particularly think President Putin is offering to give back previously assimilated territory. Furthermore, rantWoman definitely suggests that there might be better paths to enlightened coexistence, but for the time being perhaps it is sufficient to wish all a Blessed Ramadan.