Some judge has to give a speech and his message just said he would like "everything."

@@ times a thousand.

Right up there with maternity leave. Which my employer does not offer.

mine either. And it pisses me off that faculty just get to "take the semester off" with no penalty.

Wasn't a push for some sort of national childcare thingie a part of the liberal agenda of the late '70s?

Head Start and Universal Pre-K, yep. In theory, they still exist (at least UPK does), but they're so underfunded that they're almost impossible to take advantage of. (And even if you do get in, most UPK programs are only half-day, so basically useless for working parents.)

Oh, ugh, Jess. It sucks, doesn't it? And the hunting down/interviewing/talking with references process is somewhere on the fun scale between taxes and preventive dentistry.

The silver lining for us is that he LOVES his new place and we already know we won't find anything cheaper in our neighborhood. (Even with the rate increase coming up in September, it's still $100-200 cheaper than where he was before, and $200-400/month cheaper than the other preschools we considered.) So we're still hemmoraging money, but at least we're out of the searching phase.

Right up there with maternity leave. Which my employer does not offer.

mine either.

Is that legal??

*boggles*

Gronk. Getting ready for the sojourn to Vermont. We leave tonight, drive 3-4 hours, get hotel. Tomorrow, drive probably 6-7 hours, get hotel (preferably with hot tub). Sunday, finish up, driving 4-5 hours.

I need to pack and run to CVS; we're leaving around 6 p.m., so I have plenty of time. Problem is, I think I'm fighting off a cold. Awesome.

VEGAS, BABY!!

MM, you're so money.

but I still think self-identity is primary.

I don't think that'll play in the 100 meter dash. Did RuPaul's Drag Race ever actually have the drag queens racing?

Cincy (of all places!) has a Drag Race every year -- it's down the block (or 2 blocks) where several gay bars are downtown. I am in awe of anyone who can sprint in heels.

One of the interesting biological anomalies they referenced was getting a superabundance of testosterone from the adrenal gland.

Sort of like a built in steroids advantage. But it's naturally occurring, so how is it different from somebody with quick twitch muscles or supernal eye-hand coordination or other inherent physical advantages?

What I find interesting is that the reason they're testing the runner is that she's too good for a relatively unknown, young competitor. They suspect that she's biologically male because she's *too good.*

Part of me wants to be offended, but the other part recognizes that, when it comes to certain physical endeavors (sprinting being one of them), women are not on a par, physically, with men. There's a reason women and men don't compete against each other in many sports. The fastest woman alive still can't beat Usain Bolt.

While I'm all about respecting the gender self-identity a person uses, and find it reprehensible to categorize someone simply by their genitals (for instance, requiring a PHOTO OF A WOMAN'S GENITALS in order for her to continue to be employed, and I wish I were making that up), when it comes down to actual performance-based parameters, like sports, I actually side with the biological/chromosomal argument.

There was a Spanish runner a couple years ago who ended up banned from competing in women's races because of androgen insensitivity syndrome. 'Technically' she was an XY, physically she was female (missing a uterus), and had been young enough that her 'delayed' menarche had been attributed to lean body mass and training regimen. What a horrible way to find out something like that about yourself!

Didn't that also happen with -- I disremember -- Russian or German women? They had no idea that their chromosomes/hormones read as "male," because they had been raised as women and no one ever told them -- possibly no one knew -- that they had that chromosomal/hormonal anomaly.

Is that legal??

unfortunately, yes.

Cincy (of all places!) has a Drag Race every year -- it's down the block (or 2 blocks) where several gay bars are downtown. I am in awe of anyone who can sprint in heels.

we have one of those, too. It's usually held the week of Halloween. Most of the participants just use it as an excuse to show off or do outrageous costumes, but some of those bitches are cutthroat about getting to the finish line.

I just watched yesterday's TDS...if I kill Betsy McCaughey, somebody here will say I was with you, right? I promise I won't take any trophies or anything. Because I am beginning to understand those murders where they rip the tongue out and keep it, and it's not even eight o'clock here.(Of course, Olbermann will have to act horrified she's dead for a day and a half, but since that's about what her family will do also, given what she considers charm, I think he'll manage.) Bitch, you don't give a crap what happens to "seniors"(kinda hate that expression--will probably hate it lots when I am one) once you scare them about national healthcare.So, at the risk of writing the anti-Special Comment, eat shit. Oh, excuse me. Eat shit,*madam*. Much classier, don't you think?

Is that legal??

Seska, I'm a lawyer/librarian and I work for a law school. It's perfectly legal.

And, the whole faculty can just take the semester off thing annoys me to no end, too.

After the announcement went out that I'd given birth, it was interesting to me that almost every one of the female faculty members sent congratulations, even if it was only by email, unlike the male members of the faculty who were silent (but for 2).

some of those bitches are cutthroat about getting to the finish line.

I would never get in the way of a drag queen sprinting. EVER.

when it comes to certain physical endeavors (sprinting being one of them), women are not on a par, physically, with men

This is true of running in particular just because male and female hips are built so differently (since men don't have to, you know, GIVE BIRTH with theirs). Even if you match up everything else (height, weight, leg length, etc), there are basic mechanical differences in how men and women run.

(And obviously this brings up all sorts of messy issues when you consider athletes who don't fall neatly into either binary sex category, but if we as a society ever get to the point where "legal ability to be an Olympic medalist" is the most pressing issue in sex/gender discrimination, I think we'll be doing pretty well.)

There was a Spanish runner a couple years ago who ended up banned from competing in women's races because of androgen insensitivity syndrome. 'Technically' she was an XY, physically she was female (missing a uterus), and had been young enough that her 'delayed' menarche had been attributed to lean body mass and training regimen. What a horrible way to find out something like that about yourself!

Didn't they use that in an episode of House (although I think they changed it to gymnastics)?