As an (over-)analytical, career, married and childless woman progressing in a mostly desirable career path, I feel compelled to dissect some of the legislation coming out of the escalating Republican War on Women.

First, we frame. Is the goal here marginalizing women because God said Men First!, increasing what is believed to be a dwindling birth rate, moving America forward in innovation and jobs, ensuring that Americans become blue-collar workers while intellectual jobs stay abroad, something not mentioned or a combination of the above? What is the desired end result of passing laws that punish miscarriages, abortions, birth control, equal pay, female career choices and being a single, working mother?

So, if an unmarried woman wants to have sex, she cannot have birth control and must be married. If a married woman wants to do the same, she, too, has no access to family planning. Following that, should she get pregnant, she has to bring the fetus to term to avoid jail time and is allotted little to no maternity leave and equal pay when she returns to work. The time she spent giving birth to that beloved fetus and recuperating from the strenuous experience is not then something to be valued by society, but an opportunity to penalize a woman for having successfully used her uterus for what God intended, something men cannot do. We want you to have children, but you had a child, therefore no longer qualified to earn what your husband or other male peers do. Leave alone the primacy of the unborn fetus but not the actual born child itself.

Then comes the disconnect. This is happening at the same time that gender parity is increasingly more important in the workplace because of heightened recognition that women do the same work as men here and there are only so many of all of us. The pool of qualified professionals grows smaller.  Therefore, issues like fair maternity leave as well as equal pay and promotions are being identified and addressed in corporate America (at least in companies like mine) and it is known that the company that makes benefits more attractive to men and women alike gains the competitive advantage.

Of course, we still have a long way to go. Childbirth, for instance, will one day no longer be considered a short-term disability or long-term career kneecap and the dinosaurs of government and industry who don’t come to terms with this will be left behind to die. (Or they’ll buy themselves politicians and get government subsidies to stay afloat, but that’s not truly sustainable as we’ve repeatedly seen.)

As far as the conservatives go, let them see how far this plan to address low birth numbers or uppity women or whatever alongside the dire national need for qualified workers goes. If most of this War On Women legislation sticks, we’re going to end up with unmarried, childless, working women (tapping into a birth control black market) and equally smart and qualified women simply dropping out of promising careers to stay at home and raise children. Either way, we end up doing less with less and we lose.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the increase in stay-at-home dads. Or, gasp, shared responsibility. Those men must not really value their paychecks.

I was mailed this by an oil industry colleague with whom I share many views on how energy is made and its future. spOILed is yet another documentary/film making the rounds following the rise of domestic onshore shale gas drilling, especially in the northeast United States shale trends. Its director, Mark Mathis, outlines his motives for making the film with an attempt at transparency on who funded it and why. I highlight the last paragraph of this statement because it is a philosophy absolutely critical to America’s future energy supplies and one that defies where you stand on this issue politically. However, I agree with Mathis only if energy companies and political stakeholders are serious about a transition. In other words, it’s easy to say this to justify the continuation of drilling for hydrocarbons while there are little to no real and systematic efforts being made in renewables research and development.

… The first time I was asked, Is ˜Big Oil“ funding this film? I had to laugh. We knew that would be the assumption when we started raising money. It’s a given that every film made about oil MUST slam those greedy, evil companies that feed our addiction.

The truth is that companies known as Big Oil wouldn“t come near a film like spOILed for fear of the repercussions they fear would come from the elite press corps and politicians. Truth is a dangerous thing. When people are hurting from high fuel costs there must be a villain, and oil companies are such an easy target.

While spOILed does explain some practical realities of the oil business and examines charges of price gouging and record profits the film isn’t about oil companies. It’s about us”the people who are suffering and who are going to suffer a lot more as the result of being deceived about this critically important commodity affecting every aspect of our lives.

Frustration is what drove me to make spOILed. I began learning about oil/gas and energy in general after I was tapped by a small oil and gas organization to help them with their media needs in 2002. What I learned blew me away. After years of study and analysis I became alarmed at the deception taking place in the US and around the world. Much of the deception was/is intentional and systematic. Varied groups, all pursing their own individual interests, have misled us. The end result is that most people are completely unaware of the biggest problem ever faced by humanity”a problem that will become obvious to all sometime soon. Instead of giving people the truth and paving the way toward real solutions, politicians have actually made the problem worse.

With few people willing to take a realistic, sobering look at our oil use, I knew I had to accept this mission. The idea of spOILed was born. Now I needed some money. I knew no major oil company would touch this project, but just to be sure I asked a few executives from Big Oil if they would consider an investment of this kind. They suppressed their laughter (mostly) and politely declined. I ultimately found the investment I needed from a small group of independent investors. Yes, some of them have oil/gas interests. However, I told these investors they would have no input in the content of the film. Some of the content they would like, some they might not (such as the considerable amount of time devoted to the BP Gulf Oil Spill of 2010 and the Santa Barbara Spill of 1969, and even the issue of Peak Oil).

I know there are those who will attack spOILed because the investment used to make the film did not come from some mythical, disinterested entity. Here“s a shocker”no other documentary filmmaker has managed to find such a benevolent, neutral investor. We welcome criticism from others, so long as they have the integrity to attack our data and analysis, which we believe is sound and true.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the making of spOILed is that I have the same end goal as biggest green energy advocate out there. We must transition AWAY FROM OIL as such a dominant fuel for transportation. The difference between us is that I am facing the REALITY that this transition will take many decades to achieve and while we“re on the way we need a LOT more oil to keep the modern world functioning.

Thanks to my brand spanking new Ultra Pride+ wet grinder and mom’s dosai batter recipe. It’s 4 cups of Ponni parboiled rice to one cup of urad dal; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

The injustice is not that his killer is not black. Nor does justice lie in that George Zimmerman is not white. You don’t have to be white to act from a place of irrationality and strange fears. Justice and injustice lie in the aftermath.

This is why I ask friends and members of my own brown family who tend to indulge in throwaway racist remarks about black people and the president not to do so. First, you are the cause of “the decline of civilized society” about which you complain so loudly, but, more importantly, such talk only makes it easier for Americans to look away from Just Another Black Kid Getting Killed. That’s injustice. Don’t do it. Don’t have any part of that mind rot.

As for justice, here’s an exercise: Compare the reaction of the Sanford police to a) the circumstances as they are and b) if Martin had shot Zimmerman in self-defense, because he felt threatened by a crazy, older dude following him on a poorly-lit street. If you came up with very similar answers, I’d like to move to your world.