Pregnant? Work for Catholics?
best to have an abortion
From THE POST-BULLETIN:
A 23-year-old unmarried teacher claims she was recently asked to resign from her job at a Catholic school after revealing that she is pregnant. Emily Prigge was in her first year of teaching fifth grade at St. Felix School in Wabasha when she found out she's expecting a baby. Prigge, now 15 weeks into her pregnancy, said she told the school principal about it last month.
"She said that I made the right decision in not having an abortion because that is what the Catholic church wants," Prigge said.
On Feb. 6, Prigge said, the principal and priest called a meeting with her where they asked for her resignation effective immediately.
Minnesota is an employment "at will" employment state, meaning an employer can fire any employee as long as that reason is not illegal. In Prigge's case, it's not possible to speculate whether she was wrongfully terminated, in part because "the case law is all over the place," said Elaine Hanson, enforcement supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
COMMENT: I correspond with Americans everyday. They seem an intelligent people, at least up to the level of the French or the Germans, if not quite the English. So, it's very difficult for me to get my head round the fact that they live in such a primitive society. No universal welfare, no employment protection to speak of and it's being run, at every level, by superstitious flat-earthers.
53 comments:
Good suggestions, MP!!
And I suggest that you, and all your gay and gay-inclusive, priest friends get up at the next synod and bring the Church of England into the 21st century.
What a wonderful world it will be...
I cast my absentee ballot for the primary last week, along with my daughter. I voted for an intelligent candidate. I think she did, as well (she's a very smart young woman, after all). If everyone else would just listen to us...
No universal welfare, no employment protection to speak of and it's being run, at every level, by superstitious flat-earthers.
Well, basically...yeah. But don't forget "no health care, except for those who can afford it on their own."
(The is message has been brought to you by the Republican Party - official motto: "We got ours, screw you.")
In this state, not among the most enlightened, if you quit employment voluntarily you are not eligible for benefits. If you're fired, even for good cause, you are eligible for six months of benefits. Minnesota law may well run on similar lines, in which case making them fire you is an option to consider. There again, bear in mind the lasting professional damage that being fired from a teaching position, regardless of reason, could cause.
ah, Maddie, Maddie, Maddie... what we call the 'genius' of the founding fathers is a political system that drives itself to the mediocre middle. Thus, forcing compromise, things take a long, long time to change. The real crisis (in my view) in American politics is our 'free speech' laws - something I would nonetheless defend to the death. These make politics the victim of media (which make literally billions off of elections!) - more to the point, political advertising and polls. Peoples' opinions tend to be shaped by this endless drumbeat of mostly negative 'sh..' and it becomes divisive and ugly. This has - I confess - been true nearly from the beginning of the country. In my lifetime (I'm 56) I've seen the majority of people simply give up, because voting seems to be a waste of time - nothing ever changes. It is a conundrum I cannot figure out how to fix. My favorite fantasy is a parliament where Bush would have to come to defend his policies! THAT WOULD BE FUNNY!
There is also, of course, the endless reverberation of the 'puritan work ethic' - vis, get off your lazy ass and get a job - that we seem to thrive on.
BUT!! Read a wonderful article the other day pointing out that about every 80 years or so, (FDR being the last time) Americans rise up and work to make government actually responsive to the people. The author saw in the massive number of young people supporting Obama this phenomenon revisited. I pray this is true. I said when Bush was elected (after Gingrich, Rove, Limabaugh and their pathetic ilk), Americans really just aren't that mean!! And I still believe it. But, things take time...
Love my country - in spite of ourselves!
Blessings all
we are trying, MP. A lot of us have a lot of hope that a certain Senator from Illinois will bring in a lot of change. He seems to have shaken up the power base in the Democratic party and should hopefully kick the butt of the weird old crank that the Republicans have decided to nominate.
I have no idea where the election will go. I voted in the Illinois primary some days ago. The individual I voted for has about as much chance of election as I do, maybe a bit less.
The USA was founded in large part on a tax revolt. Parliament enacted a rather moderate, and completely reasonable tax intended to pay for services the colonists were receiving including Army units to fight of some angry natives. The founding revolutionaries responded with a declaration of independence, an alliance with France (of all people) and a bunch of nastiness. The pattern was set.
Many Americans want a more accessible health care system, they don't want to pay for it. The Illinois governor who dragged us into a modest (2.75%) State income tax never won another election. We want a lot of stuff, but we do not want to pay for it. We are who we are.
I think much of the rest of the world, and many Americans over estimate how much the president matters. The Constitution set up a weak executive system. Congress, not the president runs the show and Congress is, at the moment, in intractable stalemate. I don't think that will change anytime soon.
We need that revolution.
FWIW
jimB
Just voting for Obama won't help much if all the other clowns are just voted back in. The House and Senate need a cleaning too. Nobody pays much attention to them yet they hold the keys.
We are trying....getting rid of the war-starting party would help a bit.
oh, we are going to see some energy over the Senate and the House soon. We have a primary to settle first.
(And MP: you know you could do more than just correspond with Americans. If you got over that dislike of airplanes thing and came for a tour I'm sure that your fans on this side would talk good care of you and the Mrs MP and make sure that you both saw the sights in good form.)
The trouble is Doxy, the likes of me, don't get a vote. Of course, we do in government elections which is why, even with the SOS we have to choose from, we still manage to get at least some basic rights in return for voting for these egomaniacs.
It's all very interesting. I was commenting to Grandmere that I have never really shown that much interest in the US elections previously, but there seems to be some real competition going on here, where things seem to matter for a change.
I just wish the Obama campaign would drop the 'Yes We Can' line. First, when he gets into office he will find out very quickly that 'no he can't' and it is very difficult for Brits to take seriously when it is the catchphrase of a hugely popular childrens TV character. Bob
I'm really serious about this. I've never understood why, if 10% of the people own 90% of the money and have all the power, why don't the 90% just go and take it off them. We need to set free the greed.
Dennis
If it wasn't for the fact that my medical insurance would be prohibitively expensive and that the US won't issue green card to people with mental health problems, I would be over there looking for work next week (I could always smoke something before getting on the plane).
At the end of the day I would give up my welfare state to work for a church that, overall, lives out the gospel better than any other I know of.
Yes, three cheers for the American Episcopal Church!
I should add, may it retrun in all its glory to the Diocese of San Joaquin!
"At the end of the day I would give up my welfare state to work for a church that, overall, lives out the gospel better than any other I know of."
I am very blessed to be Episcopalian. Now if I could get my partner over his churchphobia. Church gives him a rash.
As close as I get to politics -- Place all your hope in a party or individual, and you will be SCREWED. Of course we should be involved and do what we can, but when one begins with the understanding that the political world is as flawed and fracked up as anything else on earth, or maybe more, one will not be disappointed. (Does it show that I'm nearly 50?)
Back to the topic of this thread. Obviously, if this woman were in my employment, I would make a very different choice in terms of maintaining her as an employee. If a friend or relative, I would provide any support she needed and celebrate the new life with her. But when crying about her job situation, I would pat her hand and say, "Precious, please get a clue."
In my profession (speech-language pathology) I have various choices I can make regarding where to work, including private practice (I am currently self-employed.), medical center, public schools, private schools.
With the exception of "liberal" Christian schools (A significant minority in the US.), most parochial schools would not want me, and I would not want to be in the employment of an organization that, in part, existed in order to promote an exclusionary "gospel," though I would support their right to espouse such nonsense and would not want a law that MADE them hire me. In fact, if I wished to recloset myself, I have a local opportunity in which I could provide services for a private, conservative Christian school, and it would make very good financial sense to do so, but why would I want to work in a setting that was so out of sync with my faith walk. Even if it were the only site in which I could practice my profession, I still wouldn't sign on, as I'd rather maintain my dignity in a job of perceived lesser prestige, though I'm qualified for little else, than prostitute myself for a any given job.
I can understand the disappointment and anger this woman is experiencing in this situation; I do not understand the surprise. A Catholic school letting an unmarried mother go? Tell me it isn't so! She signed a statement in which she said she would behave like a chaste, Catholic girl. Would Frank sign that, or get on the highway and find a position in the public schools in the Twin Cities? (Of course, a background check would likely preclude that in Frank's case, but you get my point.).
MP, the problem in this country is the ridiculously long election season. The cost of campaigning for major national office is so prohibitive you have to be either filthy rich or get in bed with the lobbyists and filthy rich "friends."
One thing I wish we would learn from you all across the pond is "Keep it short."
And I suggest that you, and all your gay and gay-inclusive, priest friends get up at the next synod and bring the Church of England into the 21st century.
Absolutely. Although I'd rather stick with having a homophobic and politically powerless church yet a state that gives me equal rights if i had to chose......(holds his gay state-blessed wedding ring affectionately on this Valentine's Day) ;-)
re: Americans dumber than rocks
book review in NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/books/14dumb.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin
Susan Jacoby, The Age of American Unreason.
She got the idea to write the book 9/11/01, when she stopped, on her walk home, in an Upper East Side bar (= expensive). One guy in suit said "This is like Pearl Harbor". Next guy in suit said "What's Pearl Harbor?" First suit says "when Vietnamese dropped bombs in a harbor and started the Vietnam war".
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
NancyP
Although I'd rather stick with having a homophobic and politically powerless church yet a state that gives me equal rights if i had to chose
Am I the only one who is sick and tired of having to make choices like this?
You know, MP, priests in the American Episcopal Church have really good insurance provided for them and are paid a lot better than those in the C of E.
AND the Green card rules don't apply for religious workers. I think it even gets one past MH history. As long as you aren't advocating jihad and a congregation can certify that you will be gainfully employed I believe that you are in with no problems.
Am I the only reader here that noticed MP might be interested in exploring a parish in the Episcopal Church? At the very least he is finally willing to come for at least a visit I am willing to bet.
Jonathan, come over and visit for two or three weeks on your next vacation. Get someone to watch your dogs. We would pass you from home to home so you would be in guest rooms I can guarantee. You'll see much of the country.
get a long acting benzo from your GP for the plane ride and get on that flight. There would be a line of people wanting to host you and the Mrs. And you would finally see the crazy world of all of these Americans you have talked to for two years now.
Whether or not you come for two weeks or two decades I can guarantee that you would have a great experience.
say the word, give us a time frame, and I'll have a blog up to coordinate your schedule, how we are passing you off from host/ess to host/ess, and even to plan another OCICBW gathering.
I'm serious. give it some thought.
I have a better idea, MP---you can get a direct flight to where I live on the East Coast, so very little time on the plane. Bring your dogs with you---I have a huge yard, and Jasper would love the company.
Once you have BBQ, you'll never bother with the rest of the country.
(Did I mention that I live in the heart of tobacco country? Not that I would tempt you with that nasty stuff, of course...)
Wormwood, I didn't know that they served BBQ in your part of the country. Lots of delicious meats cooked in mustard and vinegar based sauces, of course.
But it would be less than honest to get MPs hopes up on trying BBQ anywhere in the carolinas, wouldn't it?
Of course, if he agrees to the visit you are down as one of the hosts now (I guess I'm putting a list together now). Just don't try and trick him into thinking that stuff is BBQ, now, you hear?
;)
Now Dennis---I am from Memphis. I know what REAL BBQ tastes like. You can actually get Memphis BBQ here, thank God.
But yes, I'm down for hosting. ;-)
MP: "And if that doesn't work, you could always have yourself a revolution."
Yah, we did, and this is what we ended up with.
Keep it short and cap the candidates spending by law. We also only allow each party so much air time and any advertising has to come out of their incredibly small budget. That may be the one thing in our political system that should be exported to every country in the world. It really does work as is demonstrated by the fact that independent candidates get elected to our parliament for an investment of $2000.
Oh, gay men can be so lovey-dovey and soppy. Mind you, Freedom Bound is from the south and they're all limp-wristed down there!!
Could be the biggest thing down here since Sherman's March, Doxy. He could visit the pair of us, stopping off in between for a couple of peaceful days with Sarah Hey. I suppose I could try and hunt down all those dust bunnies and dog turds lurking in darker corners and attempt to confine assorted winos to quarters in honour of the event.
Let's not let Dennis get the barbecue business fired up again. When I first moved to SC a then colleague (half Brit, half Cajun - there's a mixture!) warned me that SC barbecue "looks and smells like dog vomit".
You could also sample some serious chile sauces here in New Mexico, though I would wait for the dust to settle in this fractured and bishopless diocese (thanks to years of abuse from a former bishop). Still, a beautiful state to visit.
I would advocate for revolution but then the NSA would take note and haul my sorry ass to Gitmo. You don't get any legal rights there, much less a chance to blog.
Work? Screw work. I'm retired. Now, as to whether or not the woman should have had a abortion, that's entirely up to her. "She said that I made the right decision in not having an abortion because that is what the Catholic church wants," Honk honk, gong, wrong answer!
Still, if she could get a good lawyer to take the case on a contingency basis... I'd hate to see the church get off without feeling some pain.
This is one of those really sucky righteous (not!) things that I can't believe people get away with.
Reminds me a bit of time we had politicos coming into our church to get signatures on an anti abortion petition. The managed to get over 300 signatures in one weekend. The very NEXT weekend we asked for donations for a problem pregnancy center and got less than a dozen.
It's just so wrong. It's all about punishment--no compassion--no assistance.
And men get off scott free. If they choose to, anyway. I mean, I'm sure the Daddy didn't lose his job over all this.
God is most definitely NOT a woman.
TheMe, just for you.
Yes, we can!
It makes us feel good. Don't be harsh.
MadPriest, come on down to the bayou country. You and Mrs. MP can have your own room at my house.
You and Mrs. MP can even have separate rooms. We have an empty nest.
Unfortunately, the place that calls to me from across the mighty ocean is the most dangerous city in the USA. So perhaps I better stay in boring , but safe, Newcastle, England.
I'm not sleeping in a nest. At least, not if the alligator is still in it.
I walk around in that dangerous city often, and I'm still alive.
We'll put the pet alligator outside for the length of your stay. I promise.
Make yer 'gator stay outside? Yer a hard woman, Mimi.
MP, where else ya gonna git an offer like that, hah? You could be Bishop of New Orleans and drive around in a big black SUV with bodyguards and lotsa bling; it's so you!
"the most dangerous city in the USA"--wait, I thought you were talking about NOLA, not Detroit?
"Unfortunately, the place that calls to me from across the mighty ocean is the most dangerous city in the USA."
Spokane?
Sign me up for the revolution!
Thing is that things are working extremely well for some people.
As long as the rich have health care and job protections (including our mainly useless clergy) nothing will change.
A Revolution?
Long overdue, IMRVHO.
I'm soooo staying out of this. Too tired. However...
TheMe, we have Bob The Builder here too. Yes we do.
Problem 1: Electronic voting machines have been rigged in the past. They might be even now. Go to Youtube and watch all 9 parts of "Hacking Democracy" and you'll see what I mean. With that kind of "firewall" in place to ensure that voting is completley ineffective...it looks like revolution might be inevitable.
Problem 2: The neocons have us right where they want us...at each other's throats, bickering over things like prayer in public schools or teaching creationism vs. evolution, yada yada. So it's become almost impossible to get enough people in this country on the same page, agreeing that revolution is necessary and good and how it can be carried out, etc.
Problem 3: That damned, thrice-accursed Patriot Act that John Edwards authored and NO ONE but Dennis Kucinich voted against, in the month following the 9-11 attacks. You do even the smallest revolutionary thing and all of a sudden the FBI is at your door and you don't see the light of day again until THEY say you can. And no, your family won't know squat about where you are or when you'll get out or what you were charged with. Habeus corpus is, at the moment, nonexistent here.
And that is the most frightening thing of it all.
MP, come to Kirksville and see what a smaller parish in the Diocese of Missouri is like. We're full up, but there are others...
But I'm thinking you may not be able to take the dogs on a US trip...don't they have that stupidly long quarantine for dogs coming into the UK?
Oh dear, as a Catholic and a woman and a leftist and a devotee of the one known as MP, I have failed by not reading this yesterday.
Now with so many comments what can I say that has not already been said?
It sucks. The situation that is.
I think I may become a Buddhist and move to Bhutan or something. I am just finished...
As Trace the Red said: "It's the electronic voting machines" -- Bush didn't win in 2000 (Florida) or in 2004 (Ohio).
Oh, never mind. With the coming financial collapse, we won't have a democracy any longer anyway.
well this certainly is hilarious
Maddy: "I'm really serious about this. I've never understood why, if 10% of the people own 90% of the money and have all the power, why don't the 90% just go and take it off them. We need to set free the greed."
First of all - pot, this is kettle. You are SO black.
Come on, Maddy. Your country has an aristocracy based on names and inheritances. We have ours based on cash and who's got it and where it goes. What's REALLY the difference?
Second - the 10% of the folk who have 90% of the wealth drop that wealth into things like, oh, FoxNews and other things that do either of these things:
1: serve as the equivalent of "bread and circuses" - iPods and SUVs and cell phones and fashion and whatnot...
2: divide the citizens of the country into factions that fight amongst each other all the time, over things like the war, gay marriage, immigration, etc
See?
Haven't you watched the movie "Zeitgeist" yet?
It's some scary ass shit.
Sorry, Trace, I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't getting at your country in particular but every country in the world. I wouldn't mind some of that 90% myself.
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