Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Sunday, Feb. 02, 2003 - 4:02 p.m.

I'm a little freaked out by the shuttle thing. Not that I mean I'm breaking down and sobbing every so often or anything like that, it's just a little...bizarre. I mean, the anniversary of the last shuttle explosion was 4 days before this one. And another anniversary for space program disaster was 1 day before *that*. Now, I don't really remember the Apollo 1 thing all that well, frankly, seein' as it was way back in 1967 and all. But I *do* remember Challenger, and quite well. And I'm thinking it would behoove NASA to re-examine the philosophy of launching *anything* during the month of January. In fact, I think they should give some thought to a moratorium on activity not only in the month of January altogether, but for 10 days on either side, just to make sure. You can blow off two occurrences as coincidence, but 3?

I was living in Dallas in '86. I got up, took a shower, turned on the television, and found out what had just happened. And my reaction was pretty much the same as yesterday: no fucking way. Seriously, I thought it was a joke. A bad, sick joke, but I mean, come ON; shuttles do not blow up. And then yesterday it was just surreal, because it was 4 days after the anniversary of Challenger. And at reasonably close to the same time of day, CST. And there were pieces of it all over Dallas and the rest of south central Texas, including places where I grew up. I'll bet the next time my dad goes down to the family ranch, he finds a piece or two of the shuttle. That's just *weird*, people. Plus, when disastrous things happen to other human beings while I am walking around living my life in utter normality and clueless to the trauma, it kind of tweaks me a little, like I should have known the bad thing was happening and been sorry. I mean, it's kinda unsettling that I was brushing my teeth while the shuttle flew over my house, already starting to lose control, and I was turning down the bed while it was breaking up and incinerating. It makes me somehow more sad for those people, stuck there, unable to escape, while I was settling down to sleep. It was the same when Phil Hartman was killed, mere blocks from where I lived, again brushing my teeth. Not that I think I'm responsible, but maybe I should stop brushing my teeth for bed around 5 in the morning...

And I'm also sad, because I watched a few things on television with this crew, and Kalpana Chawla was totally adorable and smiling and so tiny, and she made all those little "home videos" of the astronauts at work, explaining what they were doing and all that, and it sucks she's dead now. That's all. I remember thinking what a neat person she seemed, and just cute as all get out, with her tiny little cheery self.

My advice to NASA - aside from avoiding January activity - and not to trivialize the event, because it sucks, is also to not launch on a date which can be distilled down to the number 4:
Jan. 27 = 1/27; 1+2+7=10; 1+0=1 (Apollo 1)
Jan. 28 = 1/28; 1+2+8=11; 1+1=2 (Challenger)
Feb. 1 = 2/1; 2+1=3 (Columbia)

Hedge some bets, that's all I'm sayin'...

Idiotboy Alert(s) of the Day:
In an effort to make sure everyone knows what's going on in other areas while the Shrub is directing everyone's attention toward war, I have decided to post alerts as I come across them. I will keep them as brief as possible, so a) if you've already heard about it, you don't have to wade thru a long explanation, and b) you won't have to wade thru a lot of vitriol on the subject. To that end, here are the two for today which warrant your attention. Unless, of course, you favor the tax exemption or your tax dollars going toward welfare. In which case, feel free to ignore.

SUV's
I will preface this by saying that while I understand someone's desire to avoid paying taxes on their SUV, this is not a sound environmental decision. The government should try a little harder to reduce dependence on oil and to promote renewable energy resources, but the Shrub is currently proposing tripling the tax deduction (from $25K to $75K) business owners can take on the largest SUV's and pickups, instead of smaller ones. REGARDLESS of whether or not the vehicle is being used for business purposes. Why isn't the Shrub encouraging the purchase of smaller, more fuel-efficient, and/or hybrid vehicles, rather than large, gas-guzzling ones, as it should be doing? Why, because the larger ones benefit oil companies, of course.

If you support the environment and would like something done, you should urge your Senator to exclude Sports Utility Vehicles from any proposal to increase the capital equipment deduction for small businesses. You can do that at Congress.org by entering your zip in box under "Write Elected Officials," front and center at the top of the page. Or at Working Assets' Act for Change, a good activist website. You enter your zip there where it says "Elected Officials" search by zip. The site also provides sample letters on every issue, so that you don't have to figure out how to word your letter; just copy and paste, baby. It's never been easier to let your elected officials know how you feel.

Birth Control for Welfare Recipients and Low Income families
In addition to other changes afoot in the welfare program (boy, do you need to read up on THAT situation), the Shrub has also decided it's a good idea to eliminate birth control for welfare and women of low income. He has cut funding for Planned Parenthood altogether. He does, however, want to *increase* funding for programs that preach abstinence and DO NOT mention condoms or other birth control, other than to insist birth control methods are *ineffective*. The Shrub has even gone so far as to have two online fact sheets regarding birth control altered. What the hell - it's not the man's problem, if a chick gets knocked up, right? And only loose, morally reprehensible losers have pre-marital sex or try to prevent pregnancy. Guess I'd better kick off my shoes, get myself in the family way, and my ass behind the stove, where it clearly belongs.

How is your Representative Voting?
If you'd like to keep track of how your Congressman votes on key issues, and keep abreast of what's before Congress, each week, Congress.org lets you sign up to have that information delivered to you while Congress is in session. Find out how your Senators and Representative voted, what's coming up, and get links to pre-addressed forms so writing your congressmen is easy. It's called MegaVote, and it's free.

That's all for today, folks.

Peace out,
Katie

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Yesterday's News - Next Stop

In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
In which Katie returns after a very long absence - Monday, Jun. 25, 2012
In which Katie pokes her head in and brushes some of the cobwebs away - Thursday, May. 06, 2010
In which Katie asks you to write your congressman again. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008
In which Katie asks you to please click the link and send the message to protect the rights of artists - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008