The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on March 4, 2011 by lisafindley

The Good

Obama has finally removed most of the provisions of the infamous Bush-era “conscience clause,” so now pharmacists can’t say, “nope, sorry, no birth control for you, I don’t believe in it.” They’ll have to do their job instead, which is providing quality care to all their patients.

Some good news for LGBTs in Wyoming: a proposed constitutional amendment to bar the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed out of state was dropped in the House because it was unlikely to pass. (However, the bill to amend the constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman is still pending.)

Read this heartwarming story about how the military is tentatively stepping out into this new post-DADT world and treating same-sex spouses of deceased servicemembers with respect.

Women are an integral part of the revolutions sweeping the Middle East and northern Africa, and it is quite inspiring.

A great piece from the former state treasurer of Michigan on why Walker’s destroying his state by not bargaining with unions.

The Bad

Walker is instituting layoffs, smuggling in ringers to his budget speech, falling prey to crank calls that reveal his dastardly motives quite clearly, hides the even scarier provisions of his budget bill, and just generally is the worst. Kudos to all the Wisconsinites who continue to stick it to him, including the protesters, the few media people reporting honestly on it (ahemnotFoxahem — how is that legal?), and the Democrats who brought their desks outside in the winter weather so they could meet with their constituents after they were locked out of the Capitol.

Gaddafi is doing his damnedest to destroy Libya, and staging an all-out attack on his own people. That’s the bad part. The good part is that Obama has called for him to step down, and the UN is imposing sanctions on him. Vive la revolution! And thoughts for those who have died and those who have lost loved ones in the battle.

Bahrain is also not handling its people’s peaceful protests well.

Military servicemembers have sued the Pentagon for ignoring, downplaying, and otherwise mishandling the thousands of cases of sexual assault reported in military ranks every year (and this doesn’t even take into account the unreported cases). Good luck to them.

In the popular understanding, women trick their men into getting them pregnant so they can keep them and have control over them. But the reality is that it works the opposite way; recent studies show that reproductive coercion is a big problem. One study reported that 1 in 4 women calling a domestic violence hotline said they did not want to be pregnant but their partner removed their access to contraceptives, pressured them to get pregnant, or forced unprotected sex on them. Amanda Marcotte takes a look at this issue and its connection to the shelved (for now) South Dakota law allowing people to murder those who provide abortions to their family members.

Okay let’s look at all the states doing horrific things in the name of “pro-life”:

Virginia is now regulating abortion clinics as hospitals, which means even first-trimester abortions will become almost impossible to perform due to the huge increase in liability insurance costs, building and grounds modifications costs, etc. (oh and cosmetic surgeons don’t have to follow these new rules).
Rep. Franklin in Georgia wants to treat all women as criminals and have them file a police report when they miscarry so that it can be investigated and the miscarriages weren’t actually purposeful abortions (many horrific things here, not the least of which is that miscarriage is often a traumatic experience anyway). Jill Filipovic has a hilarious response to this horrifying suggestion–mail in a photo of your used tampon as proof that you didn’t kill anyone this month.
Americans United for Life is the group behind the expansion of justifiable homicide laws in South Dakota (currently shelved), Nebraska, and Iowa. The lawmakers agreeing to introduce the bills aren’t even always aware of what AUL stands for or how far their reach is, which seems like a troubling lack of research when talking about life and death.

The Silly

Happy National Grammar Day!

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on February 18, 2011 by lisafindley

The Good

Revolution is everywhere! Governor Walker of Wisconsin has said that the Democrat walk-out will only delay the inevitable passage of his bill that strips unions of their right to be unions, but I say it ain’t over til it’s over. Kudos to all the Wisconsin citizens and public employees who are protesting in the hundreds of thousands this week. (And I sure hope radio host Vicki McKenna gets fired for straight-up lying that liberals want to assassinate Walker.) Check out these funny–and biting–protest signs at the state capitol. Courage and success to you, Wisconsin workers!

Of course there are concerns about the military taking charge in Egypt now that Mubarak is out, but their refusal to gun down their fellow citizens despite an order from the then-president is an encouraging sign for how a military can truly be for the protection, rather than the oppression, of the people.

I’m putting this one in “The Good” because action is being taken — over 4,000 rape kits remain untested in Illinois. But we now have a law requiring them all to be tested and not remain languishing in evidence rooms, and the state plans to have them all tested by 2015. This will go far in bringing rape victims justice in Illinois.

The Bad

The assault on women’s bodies and lives continues apace: The Ohio “Heartbeat” Bill (which, by the way, a heartbeat does not indicate viability, if we’re slicing fine lines here) is expected to pass both the state house and senate. I like Melissa McEwan’s response, which boils down to: don’t pretend the anti-choice movement isn’t inherently violent, because it is.

Congress is voting possibly this weekend on defunding all Title X programs, which would render Planned Parenthood bankrupt and take away the only source of health care for millions of American women. (Keep in mind that Title X programs include many non-PP community health centers.) Check out this fantastic resource from the Guttmacher Institute, which allows you to click on individual states and see how Title X funding is spent in those states. It illuminates just how devastating this defunding would be. Note that the restrictions on federal funding for abortions are already so tight that NO Planned Parenthood can use federal funds to provide abortions, so this bill would take away other essential health services just because abortions are sometimes performed in the same building. Incidentally, this NYT article on the bill makes a huge journalistic mistake in reporting that “[Title X funding to PP] opponents say only frees up funds for abortions” and not clarifying just how the money is spent. Saying what opponents argue without backing it up with facts is poor journalism. But the rest of the article does an okay job laying out the fight. TAKE ACTION: Call your representative TODAY at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote NO on the Title X provision of the budget bill.

UPDATE: The House just voted to remove all Title X funding for Planned Parenthood. Sign this letter right now and call your senator to demand that it stop in the Senate.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has declared emergency legislation. Oh it’s pretty serious business, all right — now pre-abortion sonograms are required statewide. So if you want to have an abortion, you have to look at a picture of the embryo or fetus first. Just so you’re sure.

Just because they pulled the proposed legislation doesn’t mean Arizona lawmakers don’t have a lot to answer for, proposing that hospitals be required to check if patients are undocumented immigrants before providing care.

Speaking of shelved legislation, South Dakota isn’t going to bring up the Legalize Murder bill just yet, but you can bet it’s coming back in the next couple years. (Oh my bad, the actual title of the bill is “An Act to expand the definition of justifiable homicide to provide for the protection of certain unborn children.” Same thing.) See McEwan’s post above about how terrifyingly violent the “pro-life” movement is, and why so many health care providers are scared just to go to their jobs.

If you liked the HR 3 Ten mentioned in Tuesday’s post, check out the full list here.

The Silly

Are you an English nerd? Do you also like old-school video games? Check out The Great Gatsby Game. (Thanks to Mlle. O’Leary for the link.)

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on February 11, 2011 by lisafindley

The Good

The big news this week, of course, is that President Hosni Mubarak has finally conceded defeat and stepped down from his thirty-year presidency. While we celebrate the success of the people’s movement for democracy in Egypt and hope that Suleiman and the army won’t pervert the victory for their own ends, read up on the women participating in the revolution. One of the first things I thought when I read the accounts of “thousands of people thronging Tahir Square” was, “does that include women?” I’m so happy to see it most certainly does. Also, here’s a piece on how the Muslim Brotherhood is not a threat to Americans. Finally, I’m disappointed in Obama and his Administration’s response to this international situation. Here was a perfect opportunity to support the people of Egypt in a true democratic movement (rather than an imposed democracy ahemIraqahem), and instead Obama waffled, threatened to end military aid but never did so, and allowed the entire world to see just how committed the United States is to a despot just because he’s been friendly to American interests sometimes.

The Bad

Speaking of poor decisions on Obama’s part, his overwhelming need to be seen as bipartisan seems to have led to a despicable proposal: slashing funding for energy assistance to poor people. In this miserable winter. Look, I know we have a deficit and the budget has to be balanced somehow, but is letting people freeze really the way to do it?

If you have an ounce of intelligence, how do you work at Fox News and not bang your head against a desk all day?

The Silly

Ha, Malcolm Gladwell is such a pompous hack. This website makes perfect fun of him. (Thanks, Mlle. O’Leary!)

A lovely poem on Michigan, and on home.

Okay, so there’s a lot more news from this past week, not least of which is the horrendous HR 3, but this is going out late as it is. I promise a post on HR 3 next week. Have a good weekend!

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on January 28, 2011 by lisafindley

The Good

The Awl has a guy in Egypt who sends in photos and updates on the growing unrest there and the violent reaction of the Egyptian government (I believe 10 people have died so far). And it’s the young people who are leading this, determined to overthrow US-backed Mubarek in revolution. I only hope this turns out better than it has in the past. If you want to take action, there’s this Facebook group supporting a boycott of Vodafone, because they complied with the Egyptian government in shutting down the Internet in Egypt.

A couple of great–and challenging–quotes on Dr. King’s legacy of non-violence and what it means for us today.

Let’s hope Obama and the Democrats stick to not raising the retirement age or reducing Social Security benefits.

The Bad

“Irrespective of one’s feelings about the healthcare legislation itself, that its repeal is being driven not by a grassroots objection but instead by vested corporate interests ‘dedicated to the repeal of the health care reform law’ is chilling,” writes Melissa McEwan. No kidding. Contact your legislators and support the Fair Elections Now Act! Corporations aren’t people, no matter what a wildly misguided Supreme Court decided.

Okay this is a bit longer but SO worth a read. It is a very simple, very scary explanation of where all that money we donated to help rebuild Haiti after the earthquake is going–it’s going to Billy Graham’s son’s organization, it’s going to evangelical groups, and in many cases it’s not going anywhere at all, as many groups are sitting on the money instead of using it to hire local workers, use local supplies, and get local communities rebuilt. The Graham/Palin connection is nauseating, as is the insistence of Graham’s group Samaritan’s Purse on proselytizing and celebrating all the conversions they’ve made–this, despite the fact that 96% of Haitians identify as Christian. Where’s the real need? And why are these groups avoiding it? (The Monsanto section is also disgusting and makes me want to stop consuming all corn products, except corn is in everything now.) I am so disappointed in USAID.

CNN should not be talking to Erick Erickson, whose violent rhetoric makes him a completely inappropriate media pundit. I know the country as a whole studiously avoided having a real discussion about cutting down on eliminationist rhetoric after the shooting in Tucson, but that doesn’t mean the discussion shouldn’t take place or that dangerous pundits should remain on air.

Put down that Chick-fil-A sandwich; they outright work against the rights of gays and lesbians and don’t deserve your dollars.

The Silly

Ha, it’s a guide to getting through so many social situations. (Via.)

Did you Eat a Toad & half for Breakfast? Do you frequently find yourself As Dizzy as a Goose? Our esteemed forefather, Benjamin Franklin, himself known for enjoying a tipple or two, thoughtfully collected over 200 synonyms for being drunk. Enjoy, and as they said in 1784, “E’rybody in the club get Nimptopsical!”