What caught my attention this week

I saw some comments made by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. Now, granted, my views tend to lean towards the liberal side, but even so, it's still hard for me to wrap my brain around her logic. She is opposed to paying men and women equally for doing the same job. Her reasoning? According to her, if a woman makes as much money as a man, it will greatly decrease her chances of finding a husband, since men "prefer to be the higher earning partner in a relationship". (As if the only thing that all women dream of is finding a husband!) She also stated that women do not deserve equal pay because they "work fewer hours per day, per week, per year” and “place a much higher value on pleasant working conditions: a clean, comfortable, air-conditioned office with congenial co-workers.” Schlafly concluded that the best way to empower women "is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap." Please excuse me if I don't want that type of empowerment! I would hope that whoever I did choose to marry would want the best for me, including being paid fairly for the work that I do. Another story that had me shaking my hear happened in Pakistan. I have not been able to find out exactly what happened, but from what I have been able to read is that in a town in Pakistan, there was some sort of confrontation between police officers and people in a neighborhood. The confrontation was over the electricity to the neighborhood being shut off. Not just to one house, but to the whole neighborhood. So at some point during this confrontation, the police officers felt threatened enough that they decided to actually arrest (as in take to the station and fingerprint) a 9 month (yes, 9 MONTH) old child. The charge was attempted murder. But wait, it gets better (or worse maybe). Not only was the toddler arrested and fingerprinted. Apparently they also booked the baby into some sort of holding facility, and bail was set. Really? Like the baby was a flight risk?? Hang on! Let me jump on my Big Wheel and flee the country! The baby even had to appear before a judge. The judge appears to be the only public official with any common sense, since the judge threw the case out of court, dismissed the charges and recommended an investigation and discipline for the police officers involved. Closer to home, I had to actually go into the office last week, for a mandatory meeting. When I got home, the first thing I did was go in and use the bathroom. Normally my Bug follows me in and asks (ok, demands!) attention. But she didn't do that. So I finished, and came out of the bathroom. Who do I see up on the kitchen counter, staring right at me to make sure I saw her? Some cutie patootie orange kitty! That's like only the third time I've ever seen her up there. And she jumped down as soon as she knew that I had seen her, like she had made her point. She then spent the rest of the evening snuggled in on my lap. I think she missed me while I was gone.