Rachel’s Musings

I should do something today. I am just being lazy. The sun is shining and I should go outside for a long hike. Walking around the block wouldn’t be long enough. Just sitting in front of the computer is lazy. Never mind that I went on a hike yesterday. I am getting fat if I am not hyper-active every day. Okay, I am gaining weight. But that’s probably more because of those delicious desserts I’ve been eating than because of lack of activity.

Don’t get me wrong: Being active is important. But there’s no evidence that we have to work out hard every single day for 3 hours. In fact, the more and harder we work out, the higher our risk of injury. Or our risk of overtraining. I have done that without realizing it (”I am no Olympic athlete therefore I cannot overtrain,” is what I thought not acknowledging that it’s all relative…). I know that I sleep better and feel better when I work out some. But I still have the notion that I just cannot be lazy for a day. Plus, somehow writing and reading is not doing something (tell that to any author!). It is amazing what surfaces when I watch my thoughts: Unless I’ve worked out so hard that I almost faint at the end, I haven’t been active. How absurd! And how unhealthy!

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…you might just get it. Just not when you wanted it. Just ask Rev. James Dobson. Or Michael Moore.

In his Open Letter to God, Moore points out:

The other night, the Rev. James Dobson’s ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled.

I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson’s prayers — except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.

I have to admit that the same thoughts have crossed my mind (despite being an Atheist). I still hope, though, that Gustav will not destroy New Orleans again… I think they’ve gotten plenty of that from Katrina… So, I also agree with Moore’s plea:

Don’t do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven’t sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time — they are already patrolling the city streets.

It sounds like just in case there is not god, people are preparing for the worst. Let’s hope that this time, we won’t let people down again!

Update: I think a lot of us just can’t resist writing about this whole irony of a right-winger praying for rain during the Democrats’ convention only to get a hurricane during the Republicans’… Here’s more from the Regressive Antidote…

USAmericans are notorious for not taking vacations. But a recent survey from the Take Back Your Time points to another issue: no paid vacation is available. It seems like there are (at least) three classes of USAmericans when it comes to vacations:

• Those who are too important to take the paid vacation they get.
• Those who don’t get paid vacation and can’t afford to take time off without pay.
• And us weirdos who get paid vacation and take it!

Based on these classes, it is not surprising to see skews in the survey results: younger, non-Whites, with lower income but kids are more supportive of legislating vacation. Probably because they work in jobs that don’t offer any vacation time! Those better paid White folks get paid vacation already; they just don’t take it… Of course, I am really generalizing here!

And, of course, the lack of vacation comes on top of longer hours and long commutes. Not to mention all those gadgets that keep us tied to the office 24/7. As if the world would end if a phone call isn’t returned within an hour…

Let’s do a little international comparison, shall we? According to the World Bank, the United States ranks 9th on 2007 per capita gross national income ranked by purchasing power parity (to make the GNI numbers comparable). According to the Expedia Vacation Deprivation Survey, US employees get 14 days of vacation, on average (we know from the TBYT survey that many don’t get any). In France, they average 37 days of paid vacation. France ranks 24th on the GNI scale (I adjusted the PPP scale to remove the skips). The French earn 27% less than Americans but Americans get 62% less vacation time. Is that worth it? In the Netherlands, they get twice as much vacation (28 days) but they only make 14% less. Unfortunately, the vacation survey compares only a limited number of countries and I don’t seem to find data on, say, Luxembourg, which ranks first in GNI (40% higher than the US!). Although it’s clear that there is no linear relationship between income and vacation time - we earn more but not enough to compensate for the lower amount of vacation. This also completely ignores quality of life issues. Slowing down has many advantages… Personally, I am working on figuring out ways to do that without shooting myself in the foot by giving up health care. But that’s another story.

John McCain and Barack Obama decided to participate in a religious test: An interview by Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor. He wanted to know how they define evil and what relationship they have with Jesus Christ. As Kathleen Parker points out in the Washington Post, apparently, they did not feel a need to decline this invitation to blur the separation between religion and state, nor to avoid a religious test for office, which is unconstitutional. Instead of focusing on who won the debate, Parker argues, we should realize who lost: all of us. Such debates have no business in a pluralistic society that is built on the separation of religion and state because the Founding Fathers wanted to avoid the preferential treatment of one religion over another. It’s no wonder, then, that we atheists feel ignored by those politicians pandering to the religious as if they had a right to equate faith with electability.

(Hat tip to Butterflies and Wheels for the link to the WP article.)

The recent California Supreme Court decision in the Benitez case, shows who will be missing out with the focus on the right to marriage in the GLBT movement: Unmarried and single people.

The doctors for Lupita Benitez refused to provide fertility treatment to her because she was a lesbian, oh, and because she was not married. The doctor claimed that her religious views would prevent her from doing her job.      Continue reading this post » » »

A study published in the September edition of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior is in the news. The researchers, Debra Umberson and Hui Liu, looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey from 1972-2003 to investigate the health of married and non-married people. Michigan State University summarized their findings:      Continue reading this post » » »