Precious and Fragile Things

Everyone, meet Harry Readshaw, a (supposed) Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (36th District). Mr. Readshaw recently co-sponsored Pennsylvania's HB1077, a bill that would require women seeking abortions to undergo endovaginal ultrasounds (something that's becoming a disturbing trend of late). One of his pro-choice constituents decided to email Mr. Readshaw and let him know in no uncertain terms that not only is he terribly misguided when it comes to women and their reproductive rights, but that he has also lost her vote.

So far this sounds pretty much what probably happens with any piece of legislation to pass through any state house, right? There's a bill or a proposed bill, voters either like it or hate it, and they then decide to let their representatives know how much they like it or hate it. Oh, but that's not enough for Mr. Readshaw. He apparently was so terribly affronted that a voter--a female voter told him women are intelligent competent people capable of making their own medical choices that he personally sent her a hand-written letter. Not only that, he pulled up her name, address, and voting record and made mention of it in the letter.

I know you're thinking, "Jade, that's some real bullshit. You can't possibly be for real." And I'll tell you I wish that it wasn't real, but it happened to Amadi of Amaditalks (a pretty awesome lady I follow on Twitter).

On Tuesday, after liveblogging my read-through of Pennsylvania’s HB1077, the bill which would force unwanted endovaginal ultrasounds on most persons seeking an abortion in the state, I sent a scathing email to my state representative, Harry Readshaw, who is a co-sponsor of the bill. To be entirely fair, I dislike my representative a great deal. He’s nominally a democrat, yet he’s entirely anti-choice, he also introduced a copy of the Arizona “papers please” anti-immigrant bill in this legislative session. I don’t know why he calls himself a democrat, but he does, and I hold him accountable.

[...]

Today, I received an oversized manilla envelope from Rep. Readshaw. Inside was a printout of HB 1077, a printout of some database’s information about me, indicating where I live, that I’m not the head of the household (why/how it knows this I do not know) and a few other things about me, like ethnicity, that no elected official should or needs to know. I’m going to have to get to the bottom of that.

As if that weren't enough in and of itself, Mr. Readshaw also discloses private medical information about his own daughter's reproductive status in a particularly heinous way of saying, "If she can't have babies, why should other women get to kill them?" (I shit you not.)

Seriously, this guy needs to be kicked out of office post-haste, like yesterday. And if you're in PA and are one of his constituents, you too can email him and tell him what a douchebag he is. Or, write to him.

Representative Harry A. Readshaw
1917 Brownsville Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15210

or
Room 122 Irvis Office Building
House Box 202020
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2020

If you’re inclined to call or fax:

Call: 412-881-4208 or 717-783-0411
Fax: 412-886-2077 or 717-705-2007

And if anyone knows who Amadi should contact or where to report this to, please visit her Tumblr and let her know.

Either this is just a troll or a truly dedicated spammer who has decided she's tired of trying to get around the spam filters. Yes, this was a private message received on Dreamwidth.

Hi jadedmusings,

marimich sent you a message on Dreamwidth.

The message is: From: Miss Rita Benson
From: Miss Rita Benson.
Abidjan. Cote D'Ivoire West Africa

Emai; [E-mail Redacted]

Dear One,
My warmest greeting to you and Happy New year 2012.

I am Miss Rita Benson, I inheritances an important sum from my late father who died in recent crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. I wish to request for your assistance in investing this sum in lucrative venture or manufacturing and real estate management in your country. I have Six million, Five hundred thousand United State Dollars. USD($6,500,000) to invest in this transaction and I will require your assistance in receiving the fund in your account in your country. I will gladly give you resonable percent from the total sum for your assistance.

I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance in this regards. Your suggestions and ideas will be highly regarded. Now permit me to ask these few questions:
1. Can you honestly help me from your heart?
2. Can I completely trust you?
3. What percentage of the total amount in question will be good for you after the money is in your account?

Please, consider this and get back to me as soon as possible, always reply me through my private e-mail for more details :

[E-mail Redacted]

([E-mail Redacted] )

Awaiting your immediate response and may God bless you.

With love,
Miss Rita Benson.

I didn't erase the name because it's right there in her profile, and apparently she's looking for someone to date (attention single men, this lady doesn't need a sugar daddy).

ETA: And between getting the message and posting this entry, the account was suspended.

WARNING: The following is NSFW or child friendly. Please do not watch if you are in a place where your employer can see you/your child can be traumatized by an arm turning into a phallic tentacle and sucking the life out of a woman through her vagina.


No, this isn't a product of Japan. The animators are French (or at least have French names). And in spite of how, ah, disturbing and graphic it is, there's no nudity at least, just nothing is really left up to the imagination.

[11:32] <Doman> allegory for the loss of innocence that comes with teenage promiscuity
[11:32] <Doman> it's all a heavyhanded message encouraging abstinence
[11:34] <JadeNSC> lol yeah.
[11:34] <JadeNSC> Like every 1980s horror movie *ever.*
[11:35] <JadeNSC> There's a reason Scream said, "Don't have sex, do drugs, or drink alcohol." Best example is in the original Friday the 13th when Kevin Bacon gets skewered from beneath his bunk after banging one chick.

The music, at least, is pretty neat.

So, uh, a few minutes ago Sam asked me if I felt the house shaking or vibrating. I didn't, but I did notice the reflection of some water from the sink was shimmering on the ceiling and when I sat on the couch I felt it vibrating a little. Then, a friend who's at work near Philadelphia, PA, said they've just felt an earthquake. Turns out, there's been an earthquake in Virginia, which we're not *that* far away from in the grand scheme of things.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was 3.7 miles deep. Shaking was felt at the White House and all over the East Coast, as far south as Chapel Hill, N.C. Parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were evacuated. The quake was in Mineral, Va., in Louisa County.

And

Reports are coming in that an earthquake just hit Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland. The U.S. Geological Survey said an erathquake [sic] of a 5.8 magnitude hit Virginia We’ll have more soon.

Crap, I have to get going to pick the kiddo up. Wonder if they felt it too?

So I'm desperate enough to be checking out Craigslist for possible interesting job listings (there's been a couple that look good, only problem is they're an hour-or-more drive's away). I clicked on one titled "Medical Office Assistant/Front Desk Clerk," and at first glance it looks like an ordinary job listing, but then...well, just look:

Medical Office Assistant/ Front Desk Clerk Needed!!!

we are in search of enthusiastic, eager candidates that are committed to making the process for our clients pursing the industry streamlined and professional!!!

Responsibilities Include:

- Operating a high volume multi-line phone
- Greeting incoming clients
- Performing administrative duties
- Running daily and weekly excel reports

Experienced counter person willing to learn butcher trade. Position available immediately. Must be personable and friendly [Emphasis mine]

*backs away slowly...*

Very late last night/early this morning, I checked out wow_ladies and I swear I saw a post advertising an rp event on some server that started with this whole spiel about how they'd first called it a slave auction and then changed it to date? There was even a link to the WoW forums on battle.net (which I can go through my history to find).

Anyway, the post is no longer on wow_ladies that I can see. I was going to go back to it for pretty obvious reasons, and those reasons being the post was utter bullshit that basically amounted to, "Woe is me, I hath suffered at the hands of the PC crowd!" There were only five comments on the LJ entry, but they were all positive as far as I could see.

Pardon me, I'm still in a fog and feel like shit. I'll be able to rest some more before tonight's rp stuff in my guild, so I should still be able to make it.

Edit: Aha, the link to the forum post! As for the wow_ladies's post, it was called "Down With Hooves" and has apparently been deleted, or so Frank the Goat tells me. Now I'm curious as to what went down.

Y'all, I have tears in my eyes I've been laughing so hard. Best mashup ever?



Also: Screw insomnia. Urgh.

Oh, Chrome, you so silly. Suggesting I do a google search to find google search. No, really. I have proof.

( BIG image under the cut, sorry! )

A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology

Some people have too much time on their hands and get paid for it!

Hat-tip demonicgerbil.

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...wat? Seriously, is there, like, any sort of quality control for these questions?

And what the hell kind of arsonist sets fire to a place and can't get away?