Seems it's for real.

As of this morning I am, indeed, now fully cleared for medical.

Now we just wait for an invitation.

Despite the delay, I still seem to be on track for May. But since I'd gotten it into my head that it wouldn't happen, I'm suddenly freaking out. I have a house to sell! A life to pack up! A job to quit! Friends and family -- here and down south -- to soak up before I take off for two years!

Anyone wanna buy a cute little starter bungalow in an adorable, family-centered neighborhood? Anyone?? Hellooo???

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Meanwhile, I have brainpower freed up to rant again. Here's the scariest thing I've seen all week (scarier even than Eliot Spitzer's eerie alien eyes):

Petroleum feeds patriarchy

If that's not enough to get you to click on the link, I feel compelled to give you the first few paragraphs:

Climate change. Pollution. Financial expense.

Our gas-guzzling ways have long been associated with a variety of problems, but disturbing evidence now points to a new dimension of our love affair with petroleum: Oil consumption and high oil prices hurt the political, social and economic development of millions of women in oil-producing nations.

You read that right. The more gas you pump and the higher oil prices get, the more likely you are to harm women's empowerment.

... Oil wealth, not Islam, is the primary reason that these nations have regressive gender policies ...

Here's the upshot: Oil-rich countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabiacan can buy goods from abroad instead of manufacturing items themselves. That means fewer low-wage jobs, which means fewer entry-level jobs for women, which means no transforming of the traditional patriarchy as has happened elsewhere when women enter the workforce.

The Washington Post article, and the research on which it's based, spell it out quite alarmingly. Go, read! I'll wait. ...

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While we're ranting about energy, here's another article on the evils of corn-based ethanol
(nicked from this cool local blog that seems to focus on energy issues):

Study: Corn ethanol worse than gasoline

And, from aavaz.org, a petition for the summer G8 conference:

Don't burn food: Biofuel standards now!

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Mark your calendars:

Dining Out for Life is Tuesday, April 8. A variety of dining establishments will be giving some of their proceeds that day to Nebraska AIDS Project. You don't have to do anything but eat and/or drink. I'll be handing out info and ribbons at The Mill that morning. Come say hi!

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Currently reading:

Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie

(She's the young American who was killed by a bulldozer while protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip. Amazingly insightful and well written, even from her teen years.)

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

The White Album by Joan Didion

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