trailer park feminist

Throwing stones in our glass house

2009-05-08T15:07:00.006-05:00

Whut?

A group favoring a market-based approach and emphasizing patient choice, Conservatives for Patient Rights, came out Friday with two new ads featuring British and Canadian citizens who have suffered problems, such as a British woman who could not get a pap smear and her later diagnosis with cervical cancer came too late for treatment and a Canadian man who had to travel to the U.S. to get his heart condition treated. "Listen to those who already have government run health care," states the ad. "Tell Congress to listen to."

4,070 women will die of cervical cancer in the US this year, and heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US!

Do they really think we'll fall for this? The GOP and insurance industry are bashing government-run health care by pointing out that it's not perfect, but look at our system! WE already have long waits! WE already have bureaucrats rationing care! And WE already have people dying preventable deaths by the millions IN THIS COUNTRY, RIGHT NOW.

Why is it OK when for-profit insurance companies ration care and let people die to save a few bucks, but not OK that the government might do it? At least the government would cover everyone, and not let 47 million people go without health care altogether!

Common ground on supporting pregnant women

2009-04-29T13:31:00.004-05:00

Thomas J. Reese makes some good points in this post, Authentic Common Ground on Abortion. As a pro-choicer, I do have one little quibble, though. He says that everyone, pro-choice and pro-life, should be able to support the Pregnant Women Support Act, which contains provisions...

Eliminating pregnancy as a "preexisting condition" that can be used to deny health coverage for women; grants to support centers providing alternatives to abortion; assistance encouraging colleges and universities to provide support for pregnant and parenting students; increased support for the WIC program, and for adoption programs; allowing states to cover unborn children and their mothers under the Children's Health Insurance Program, providing prenatal care for especially needy pregnant women who may not otherwise be eligible; and improving services for pregnant women who are at risk from domestic violence.

That all sounds fine to me, except for "grants to support centers providing alternatives to abortion." I don't think the federal government should be funding anti-choice pregnancy centers that exist only to spread lies about birth control and abortion, and berate women in to carrying to term. Women going to legitimate, government-funded establishments should be able to expect scientifically accurate information and non-judgmental counseling and services. Unless they can guarantee that, I can't support taxpayer funding going to these places.

Porkers rail against excessive pork

2009-03-06T16:45:00.005-06:00

So the Republicans in the senate HATE all the pork in the omnibus spending bill, and are holding it up 'til next week over it.

I've got an idea.

The Democrats should just strip the bill of all the Republicans' earmarks. Problem solved!

Duh again

2009-01-13T18:35:00.001-06:00

CNN: STDs still on the rise

Of course. That's what happens when condom use is discouraged.

"Tomnibus" moves forward in the Senate

2009-01-11T16:12:00.001-06:00

Harry Reid and the Senate Dems delivered a big, fat Sunday F-you to Tom "Dr. No" Coburn. More of this, plz.

Duh

2009-01-08T09:34:00.000-06:00

What do you get when you let health insurance companies dump more and more families every year, let drug and health care costs skyrocket, under-fund family planning programs, and spend millions of dollars removing contraceptive education from schools and replacing it with "just don't have sex?"

Answer: Teen birth rates up in 26 states

Abortion bans don't work: Poland

2008-12-14T19:50:00.001-06:00

The Sun:

TEN thousand Polish women came to Britain for NHS abortions last year.

...

The figures were revealed in a study by the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning.

Spokeswoman Aleksandra Jozefowska said yesterday: “On Polish internet sites you can find lots of information on how to obtain an abortion in Britain.

“And every week I have two or three phone calls from women who want to know about abortion in England.”

The abortion pill costs the NHS almost £500 and an op £1,600 £1600, including the cost of aftercare.

Polish citizens have access to the NHS under a reciprocal healthcare agreement by EU countries.

Abortion is illegal in Poland, so Polish women just have their abortions elsewhere.

Antichoice panties atwist over cheeky BPAS advert

2008-11-28T19:29:00.008-06:00

LOL! God, LifeSiteNews.com needs to get a damn sense of humor for Christmas, because this ad from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service is too cute.

The Mail Online calls it crude, tasteless and sleazy, and quotes an anti-choice dude who whines that "stopping implantation of the embryo is an abortion." Got that, ladies? All birth control and even abstinence is murder, since an embryo can't implant if you stop it from existing in the first place.

Last vestiges of Aquarena Springs to be demolished

2008-11-27T13:47:00.002-06:00

I remember when Aquarena Springs was still an amusement park featuring a mermaid show, swimming pig and an aerial tram ride. My dad thought it was hilarious to get us up there and start rocking the tram. D:

I almost wish it was still there, so I could ride it once by myself. At least they've still got the glass bottom boats. Those are pretty neat.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

His empathy, let him show u it.

2008-11-12T13:46:00.001-06:00

"I think any bishop here would consider it a privilege to die tomorrow to bring about the end of abortion," said Bishop Robert J. Hermann, administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

HA! Easy for you to say, Bishop Bob, because you know that you and your elderly, male, celibate colleagues are not the ones at risk of dying if abortion is outlawed, are you? Nope! You would leave the dying to the young girls and poor mothers of this world, as you always have.

What is wrong with these silly men, thinking abortion is any of their goddamn business? This is like if the National Organization for Women were to get together and declare that we'd gladly have our testicles removed for world peace. How many men do you think would be moved by that endorsement? "Well, if women can do without testicles, so can I! Castration, plz!"

Ridiculous. Ri-fucking-dick-ulous.

"Healthy Marriage" Funds Improperly Used to Promote Abstinence

2008-11-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

Hey Obama, Pelosi and Reid! You say you want to clean up government waste? Fantastic! Start here.

John McCain: Crybaby extraordinaire

2008-10-30T11:50:00.003-05:00

John McCain keeps saying "Obama promised to take public financing!" and "Obama wouldn't have eleventy billion town-hall debates with me!" and "Obama has run more negative ads than anyone ever!" and "Obama knows all kinds of professors with funny-sounding names!" but all I'm hearing is...

Daredevil McCain

2008-10-06T08:52:00.002-05:00

Oh, well that's just what we need! Another cocky, reckless jackass who coasted through school and career on his famous name.

John McCain was training in his AD-6 Skyraider on an overcast Texas morning in 1960 when he slammed into Corpus Christi Bay and sheared the skin off his plane's wings.

McCain recounted the accident decades later in his autobiography. "The engine quit while I was practicing landings," he wrote. But an investigation board at the Naval Aviation Safety Center found no evidence of engine failure.

The 23-year-old junior lieutenant wasn't paying attention and erred in using "a power setting too low to maintain level flight in a turn," investigators concluded.

The crash was one of three early in McCain's aviation career in which his flying skills and judgment were faulted or questioned by Navy officials.

In his most serious lapse, McCain was "clowning" around in a Skyraider over southern Spain about December 1961 and flew into electrical wires, causing a blackout, according to McCain's own account as well as those of naval officers and enlistees aboard the carrier Intrepid. In another incident, in 1965, McCain crashed a T-2 trainer jet in Virginia.

And now he wants to try some "clowning" around with our economy, our health care and especially our military. Truly frightening.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

2008-09-25T10:51:00.001-05:00

You know what I love the most about this Letterman bit? Even more than the way he makes John McCain look ridiculous and Sarah Palin look totally incompetent?

It feeds right in to the narrative that JOHN MCCAIN IS A LIAR.

Debate Lite

2008-09-22T17:08:00.001-05:00

Imagine if it had been the Democrats demanding an easier debate format for their unprepared-but-female VP nominee. We couldn't get away with it. Right-wingers would be screaming "affirmative action veep!!" and the anti-feminist sewers would be overflowing.

But apparently it's OK to lower the bar for Republican women.

A pro-choice abortion blog

2008-09-18T13:06:00.003-05:00

I have enjoyed reading this funny little abortion blog for the past couple of weeks:

What to Expect When You're Aborting

McCain/Palin are against equal pay for equal work

2008-09-16T15:54:00.004-05:00

This ad is made of awesomeness. I love how the Obama campaign has been hitting McCain hard every day, and every attack is completely honest. No need to make stuff up -- the truth is bad enough. (h/t)

Born-alive nonsense

2008-09-16T13:10:00.005-05:00

Silly. The fact that Gianna Jessen is alive and well and doing commercials for anti-choicers today disproves the whole point of the ad. If it were true that doctors could just leave viable babies to die, Gianna Jessen wouldn't be here to call the only candidate with a plan to dramatically reduce infant mortality a baby killer.

I <3 Bacon

2008-09-12T20:03:00.001-05:00

Why do Republicans keep trying to make earmarks an issue, anyway? Don't most people want their congresspeople to bring home the bacon? Who doesn't like nice, new, federally-funded bridges, highways, parks, museums and such? If we're going to pay taxes, we might as well get something back for them, right? Who really gives a crap about stopping earmarks? I don't see how this will ever be a winning issue.

Mexico's Roe v. Wade

2008-08-29T11:38:00.001-05:00

Great news: the Mexican Supreme Court has upheld legal abortion in Mexico City!

The ruling is likely to encourage similar legislative drives outside Mexico City, where abortion remains illegal except in certain cases, such as pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Abortion rights activists said the ruling set a precedent for state legislatures to pass measures legalizing abortion. The leftist Democratic Revolution Party, which governs Mexico City, has signaled plans to push for such laws.

Hooray! Now even more lives will be saved!

It's about keeping contraception away from rape victims.

2008-08-22T17:26:00.001-05:00

"'This regulation is not about contraception. It's about abortion,' said Mike Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

But Mr. Leavitt acknowledged that some medical providers may want to 'press the definition' and make the case that some forms of contraception are tantamount to abortion.

Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, said she expects members of her group will do exactly that. 'It would be pretty excellent,' she said, if states lost federal funding over laws requiring pharmacists to fill birth-control prescriptions."

(Emphasis mine.)

Sixteen states currently require hospitals to provide rape victims with information about emergency contraception, but Pharmacists For Life wants to put a stop to that. Normal people see nothing wrong with protecting rape victims from unwanted pregnancy, but Karen Brauer feels we ought to be more worried about protecting rapists' sperm, and the Bush administration agrees.

One year later, legal abortion is saving lives in Mexico

2008-08-12T10:16:00.002-05:00

It's been one year since Mexico City legalized abortion up to 12 weeks and required public hospitals to provide them for free, and so far, at least a dozen women's lives have been saved.

According to the Health Secretariat more than 96.9% of the abortions in the last year have been performed without complications. Only one death occurred due to medical malpractice, in which case the doctor responsible was suspended. Raffaela Schiavon highlights the fact that "overall maternal mortality has significantly decreased (14 deaths less than in 2006), and that there has been a clear decline of mortality due to abortion (only one death compared to an average between 8 and 10 per year in the last decade).

(Emphasis mine.) And contrary to the predictions of anti-choicers, women have not flocked to Mexico City from all over the country for abortions: 78% of the patients lived in Mexico City. There are likely thousands more Mexican women who can not afford to travel to Mexico City for abortions, and must still rely on clandestine/do-it-yourself procedures. Imagine how many more lives could be saved if abortion was legalized throughout Mexico.

Abortion is a life-saving medical procedure

2008-08-09T15:05:00.001-05:00

Memo to Democrats for Life:

If you want to be taken seriously by the Democratic party, it's probably best not to say stupid things like this:

[NARAL Pro-Choice America president Kate] Michelman supports language that pledges to reduce the "need for abortion," implicitly acknowledging the reasonableness of abortion in certain circumstances. [Democrats for Life executive director Kristen] Day, on the other hand, tells me "there is never a need for abortion," and she wants the party to emphatically state that its goal is to reduce the total number of abortions.

(Emphasis mine.) Never a need for abortion? Has Ms. Day never heard of ectopic pregnancy? Placental abruption? Cancer?

The fact is ABORTION SAVES LIVES EVERY DAY. Anyone who could say that there is "never a need for abortion" obviously cares more about slut-shaming than respecting life.

Paris Hilton's campaign ad

2008-08-06T11:13:00.002-05:00

In response to McCain's ridiculous "Celeb" ad, Paris Hilton has made her own "ad," and it is HILARIOUS!

Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Adfunny videosFunnyOrDie.com

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Why not Sebelius?

2008-08-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

THIS. I think it would be great if Obama picked Kathleen Sebelius as his veep. She has a fantastic pro-choice record. She's vetoed so many awful anti-choice bills in her time as governor of Kansas, the local Catholic archbishop asked her to stop taking communion.

I know I'm a pro-choice, feminist Clinton voter who's supposed to be all upset over her not being the VP, but I think picking Sebelius as VP would send a clear message that Obama cares about women's issues and women's advancement.

Hillary's loss should not be a loss for every other well-qualified, ambitious woman in this country.