Moralistic Stance

One of my few moralistic stances relates to cheating.  I have no issue with couples who want to be in an open relationship or poly (and no interest in that myself), but if only one person is in an open relationship while the other doesn't know anything about it, that's cheating. (Obviously). 

While watching The Piano for class tonight I realized it is the selfishness I have a horrible time with.  I know, somehow, we were supposed to feel for Holly Hunter's character.  In fact, the reason I was watching had to do with the Blackbeard Folk story and the husband represents Blackbeard, but the whole time I was watching the movie I thought about how awful she was to him.  I'm not saying she deserved to have her finger cut off by an axe, that was horrific. But seriously, he didn't seem like a bad guy.  The husband didn't do anything wrong (well, you know until he snaps and cuts her finger off with an axe, but PRIOR to that).  I couldn't feel any empathy for her.  I couldn't feel any empathy for Diane Lane in Unfaithful.  I could never feel any empathy for Carrie when she cheated on Aiden.  I couldn't feel any empathy for the gay cowboys even.    This is also the reason I've never read (nor watched) bridges of Madison County or the Horse Whisperer.  I started the Horse Whisperer thinking it was a story about rebuilding the horse and child's life and got annoyed... skipped to the end and put the book down never to read it again.

Validation

One of the things I've frequently said about illegal immigration is that as a lunatic flaming liberal the way I am, amnesty is not the right answer for illegal immigrants. It still supports the corrupt system that brings the people here illegally and puts their lives in danger. I believe we have to support Mexico (and other Latin American countries) in improving their infrastructure and their education so that the people aren't forced to leave out of desperation.  I don't believe that for the most part the illegals who come into this country do so lightly. They abandon their homes and everything they know and pay coyotes lots of money to usually work slave wages and live in fear that they will be sent back to Mexico.  If there were options for them in Mexico they wouldn't come.  Today I saw a New York Times article that agrees with me! The "waves" of illegal immigrants is actually on the decline and Mexico (and the citizens quoted in the article) credit this partially to the improvement of their lives and opportunities in Mexico.  Usually I don't link to articles because the link will eventually die and I hate dead links but here's the article.  Two quotes from the article:

Antonio said the risks hit home when his nephew Alejandro disappeared in the Sonoran Desert around 2002. A father of one and with a pregnant wife, Alejandro had been promised work by a friend. It took years for the authorities to find his body in the arid brush south of Tucson. Even now, no one knows how he died.

“They’re identifying more with Mexico,” said Agustín Martínez González, a teacher. “With more education, they’re more likely to accept reality here and try to make it better.” 

Trying Out New Things

I bought new deodorant this weekend - a whole new brand.  I've used Degree for like 10+ years, but somehow it seems like it is leaving a film that is really hard to wash off when I shower. I'm trying to find one that doesn't leave that film. (I only use antiperspirant/deodorant which I know is different than deodorant only, but I don't like the wet feeling if I don't use antiperspirant).  I bought Dove and Lady Speed Stick. I'm hoping one of these two works out.   Otherwise I don't know what else to get. I have a weird aversion to Secret. And I don't buy Suave anything.
The other thing I bought this weekend is something that I LOVE, which means It is either discontinued or about to be discontinued. I found ziploc freezer bags that have a little way for me to suck the air out of them so they are totally sealed (looking at Ziploc's website I see that they are called vacuum bags).  I do not know why I have such a terrible time with freezer burn (Ok.  It is because I buy meat on sale and in large quantities and as a single person I just don't eat that much and I tend to not be so good about getting all the air out of the bag apparently), but I get a lot of freezer burn and I hate it.  So far these seem to work awesomely. I'm tempted to remove from the freezer all the other meat that is in regular bags and re seal them in these vacuum bags.