I am buying this book

"...blind allegiance to the Republican Party has distorted the faith of politically active evangelicals, leading them to misguided positions on issues such as abortion and homosexuality.

"They have taken something that is lovely and redemptive and turned it into something that is ugly and retributive," Balmer says."

I believe I could sit down over a cuppa and have good conversation with this man about political issues and religion.

This comes as no surprise...

A strong-willed herald of causes against injustice, you passionately strive to right the wrongs around you.

Somebody has to save our skins!

I must be a bad blogger

Because I post so rarely. Sorry to the two of you who read this.

I think the problem with my blogging is that I want to have something witty or meaningful to say each time I post. I don't always have anything meaningful or witty to say. Lots of times it's just wonder at why life is the way it is. Maybe that's meaningful enough, I don't know.

My stepdaugher has been diagnosed with schizo-effective disorder. This is her fifth hospitalization in eight months. I think, there's nothing quite like mental illness to tear through the heart of a family.

I remember her as a 13 year-old girl, eating peanutbutter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches with me, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How we both thought Spike was delicious, and how we both couldn't believe he was older than her dad.

I remember her at 14, all dressed up for her first highschool dance. She asked me to do her hair and makeup. I was honored and so proud of her.

At 15, came her first suicide attempt. I remember how we were wracked with guilt and anguish; how could we have not seen this coming? I remembered my first suicide attempt at 13 and tried to open up to her about depression, about her changing family, about how much we supported her.

I remember her picking fights with me and her dad, at 17. I remember her telling me she hated me and that I wasn't part of her family. I was hurt, but I weathered it.

I remember at 18, doing her hair and nails for her graduation. I remember telling her how proud I was of her; I remember secretly hoping that she would make it through her Freshman year.

And now the schizophrenia component has blossomed in her mind.

My heart grieves for her.

I know that her life is not over, I know that she is intelligent. But she is not in school and has no health insurance. Getting medicaid isn't easy if you're not pregnant. I fear that she won't be able to get the right medications. She already wants to leave the hospital; there is going to be a hearing tomorrow regarding her status. Hopefully the judge will move to commit her. What will I tell her brother if she becomes one of those people, talking to themselves, hitting themselves, on the street? Why does our medical system fail us, so?