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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Reading about a serial killer.

I'm reading a relatively new book called "28: Stories of AIDS in Africa." That's one story for every 1 million Africans currently living with AIDS. Truck drivers and soldiers who unwittingly spread the disease cross-country and cross-continent ... and fail to change their behaviors even after they understand how HIV is transmitted. Elderly women left to care for dozens of grandchildren when their own children die, one after the other. Children, so many children, born HIV positive and then orphaned. Wives abandoned by the husbands who infected them, then shuned by their families and communities. Activists who dare to publicly challenge dictatorial governments. The extent of the ostracism is baffling, considering the simultaneous, astronomical infection rates -- in many cases, those who shut out/shout down the HIV+ are infected themselves.

The author sounds an optimistic note, and perhaps attitudes and statistics are beginning to change. Antiretrovirals have been proven to keep patients healthy, and the sheer numbers mean one can be public about HIV status without being beaten to death.

But from what little I've been reading, there's plenty ofwork to be done. Condoms are still routinely laughed at and unavailable. Medications are more affordable, but clinics remain woefully underfunded, understaffed and understocked -- how can they offer drug therapy to everyone who needs it when they can't even keep latex gloves in stock? Presidents disparage the medications that can keep HIV+ Africans healthy ... or continue to publicly claim that AIDS isn't spread by sex.

Currently a movement is afoot to focus world aid resources not on HIV/AIDS but on Africa's other pandemics -- malnutrition, malaria, parasites, etc. Certainly these are mass killers as well, but AIDS has virtually wiped out an entire generation of an entire continent. If it isn't brought under control, the spiral will continue. Isn't there enough aid to go around?

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I hope my fellow Nebraskans got out and enjoyed this amazing day. Fifty-two degrees, last time I checked; when I spoke to Miz K down Tucson-way, she said it was about 60 there. We're catching up! Think sunshine, everyone ...