Fetus-American Dolls Handed Out to Virginia Elementary School Kids
Olza/AP
When it comes to the evil of allowing women of reproductive age to make their own medical decisions it's never too early to start the indoctrination and grooming of future totalitarians. Alternatively, Think of the Children!!!:
A Virginia elementary school sparked outrage from parents and board members when one of its staff handed out fetus-shaped dolls to students, a local paper reported.
The 4-inch plastic figures were given to third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Oakwood Elementary School in Norfolk, Va., over the past few weeks or months, according to the Virginian-Pilot, resulting in the principal being placed on leave.
The pro-life staff member, whose name was not released, also was suspended, according to the paper. It's not clear if the principal, Sheila Tillett Holas, was aware that the dolls had been handed out to students.
The teeny figures, in pink and brown, came with a "pro-life" message and information on fetal growth, according to one teacher.
How Pastor Chuck Phelps "Church Disciplined" a 15-Year-Old Pregnant Rape Victim
A 38-year-old man rapes a 15-year-old girl. The girl and her mother tell their pastor what happened and he promptly reports the accusation to police and child welfare authorities. So far, so good, but since this story is about religion and female persons don't get your hopes up.
The pastor then decides the rape victim needs to be "church-disciplined" so church leaders make the girl apologize to the congregation for, you know, getting pregnant out of wedlock. The pastor also counsels the mother to ship her pregnant daughter off to another state which forces authorities to shelve the initial investigation since they don't have a victim to testify:
The pastor then decides the rape victim needs to be "church-disciplined" so church leaders make the girl apologize to the congregation for, you know, getting pregnant out of wedlock. The pastor also counsels the mother to ship her pregnant daughter off to another state which forces authorities to shelve the initial investigation since they don't have a victim to testify:
CONCORD, N.H. – Tina Anderson was a scared 15-year-old when she was summoned by church leaders to stand before her congregation and apologize for getting pregnant out of wedlock.
Just minutes earlier in that evening service in 1997, a longtime church member admitted publicly that he had been unfaithful to his wife.
Now, 13 years later, Ernie Willis is charged with raping Anderson, and police are investigating what church leaders knew about the assault and whether they shipped Anderson out of state to keep the matter quiet.
When the pastor heard Anderson's allegations, he told her that if she had "lived in the Old Testament," she would have been stoned to death for not reporting the attack sooner.
"He also said I had 'allowed myself to be put in a compromising situation,' Anderson said. The pastor decided she needed to be "church-disciplined."
"I was completely humiliated," Anderson said, her voice quavering at the memory. "I hoped it was a nightmare I'd wake up from, and it wouldn't be true anymore
Welcome to the City
Now get out of the way!
Some rabble-rousing artists divided a stretch of sidewalk on Fifth Ave. into two lanes - one for tourists and one for locals.
The anonymous artists painted a white line down the middle of the sidewalk on the east side of Fifth Ave. between 22nd and 23rd Sts.
The words "Tourists" and "New Yorkers" were painted at the both ends of the block to identify who belonged in which lane.
Mr. J's Condoms (Home Made)...20 Years Guarantee
A selection from a NYT gallery of funny signs from around the world:
California, braille
Paris subway
Armenia, toilet
Chinese menu
Dismayed: Abortion Rights Supporters' Perpetual State
In today's installment of the never-ending "Abortion rights supporters get caught with their pantaloons down after being given ample warning that they'll be pantsed" series:
WASHINGTON – Abortion opponents fought passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul to the bitter end, and now that it's the law, they're using it to limit coverage by private insurers.
An obscure part of the law allows states to restrict abortion coverage by private plans operating in new insurance markets. Capitalizing on that language, abortion foes have succeeded in passing bans that, in some cases, go beyond federal statutes.
"We don't consider elective abortion to be health care, so we don't think it's a bad thing for fewer private insurance companies to cover it," said Mary Harned, attorney for Americans United for Life, a national organization that wrote a model law for the states.
Abortion rights supporters are dismayed.
...
In Florida, Mississippi and Missouri, lawmakers have passed bans and sent them to their governors. Most of the states allow exceptions in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. Insurers still could offer separate policies to specifically cover abortion.
Three other states may act this year — Louisiana, Ohio and Oklahoma. Overall, there are 29 states where lawmakers or public policy groups expressed serious interest, Harned said.
"You are going to see more actions like this," said Tom McClusky, a lobbyist for the socially conservative Family Research Council. "This is not something we are just going to let fall by the wayside."
Before the overhaul became law, five states had limits on private insurance coverage of abortion — Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota and Oklahoma. Abortion rights supporters are concerned that the list is growing as a result of the new federal law.
Kagan: Ban "Late-Term" Abortion and Human Cloning
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan advised then-President Bill Clinton to support a ban on "late-term" abortions and human cloning because...wait for it...of political considerations (emphasis mine):
How fitting, no?
Although I never had any illusions about President Obama and his stand on abortion I still manage to be surprised by the reality that, as far as our dear leaders are concerned, patients are irrelevant and political considerations rule.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As a White House adviser in 1997, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan urged then-President Bill Clinton to support a ban on late-term abortions, a political compromise that put the administration at odds with abortion rights groups.
Documents reviewed Monday by The Associated Press show Kagan encouraging Clinton to support a bill that would have banned all abortions of viable fetuses except when the physical health of the mother was at risk. The documents from Clinton's presidential library are among the first to surface in which Kagan weighs in the thorny issue of abortion.
The abortion proposal was a compromise by Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle. Clinton supported it, but the proposal failed and Clinton vetoed a stricter Republican ban.
In a May 13, 1997, memo from the White House domestic policy office, Kagan and her boss, Bruce Reed, told Clinton that abortion rights groups opposed Daschle's compromise. But they urged the president to support it, saying he otherwise risked seeing a Republican-led Congress override his veto on the stricter bill.
...
The memo is more of a political calculation than a legal brief, but Kagan and Reed urged Clinton to support the compromise despite noting that the Justice Department believed the proposal was unconstitutional.
"We recommend that you endorse the Daschle amendment in order to sustain your credibility on HR 1122 and prevent Congress from overriding your veto," they wrote.
...
Kagan also recommended that Clinton support legislation banning human cloning in May 1997. At the time, the scientific and religious communities were abuzz about news that scientists had cloned a sheep, Dolly. The news raised questions about the legal and ethical boundaries of such research.
Kagan and White House science adviser Jack Gibbons urged the president to support a congressional ban on human cloning. Clinton followed that advice but the bill died in Congress.
How fitting, no?
Although I never had any illusions about President Obama and his stand on abortion I still manage to be surprised by the reality that, as far as our dear leaders are concerned, patients are irrelevant and political considerations rule.
FDA Approves Four-Phasic Natazia
Speaking of the Pill's 50th anniversary, the FDA just approved a new combination oral contraceptive pill, Natazia (Qlaira in Europe), the first four-phase oral contraceptive marketed in the United States.
Three things you should know about Natazia:
1. Uses New Estrogen/Progestin combination.
Natazia is the first and only oral contraceptive that contains an estrogen called estradiol valerate and a progestin called dienogest. Estradiol valerate is a synthetic estrogen that is converted to estradiol in a woman’s body....
Until today, all marketed combination oral contraceptives (COCs) contained ethinyl estradiol. With the FDA approval of Natazia, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals becomes the first company to launch estradiol valerate together with the progestin, dienogest.
So, Natazia contains the estrogen estradiol valerate and the progestin dienogest; the other COCs contain the estrogen ethinyl estradiol and various progestins like, for example, levonorgestrel.
2. Dosing Is Four-phasic.
Four-phasic means the doses of estrogen and progestin vary four times throughout each 28-day dosing cycle, like so:
- 2 dark yellow tablets each containing 3 mg estrogen
- 5 medium red tablets each containing 2 mg estrogen and 2 mg progestin
- 17 light yellow tablets each containing 2 mg estrogen and 3 mg progestin
- 2 dark red tablets each containing 1 mg estrogen
- 2 white placebo tablets (inert)
Two things to note. First, the placebo interval is reduced to only 2 days. Second, you have 4 days (2 at the beginning and 2 at the end of the active cycle) when you're only taking estrogen pills.
3. It's New.
So, will Natazia's 4-phasic dosage provide the solution to all your past Pill use woes? Eh, I wish, but most likely no. Natazia is just a different Pill brand, not necessarily better or worst than existing brands. How well you do on it will depend on your personal history. Although I haven't seen any data so far to that effect, my guess on what's behind this new dosage regimen is that Bayer will try to gear this brand to the menstrual disorders demographic.
Happy Birthday to The Pill
Photo by Jenny Lee Silver
Two things to keep in mind when you read the article. First:
There are Yaz, Yasmin, Seasonale, Seasonique and Lybrel — all with slightly different packaging, formulations and selling points. Lybrel is the first pill designed to eliminate menstrual periods entirely, although gynecologists say any generic can do the same thing if you skip the placebo and take the active pill every day.
For the bazillionth time, no matter which Pill brand you use, you don't have a menstrual period while on the Pill for the duration of use. All that brands like Lybrel or Seasonale do is they either eliminate or shift the frequency of the withdrawal bleeding episode.
Photo by sealibra75
Second:
Female doctors use IUDs twice as frequently as the general population of women and many recommend it to their patients.
"The future of birth control is not pills at all," said Dr. Lisa Perriera, 34, of Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland.
"The best birth control is easy to use, highly effective at preventing pregnancy and has few side effects," Perriera said. "The methods that fit those criteria best are IUDs and implants. I think that's where birth control is going."
I couldn't agree more with Dr. Perriera. The Pill is a good method of birth control but other methods, the IUD (ParaGard or Mirena) in particular, are far better. Always keep that in mind when deciding which birth control method to use.
Tennessee Bans All Abortion Coverage In Its State Health Insurance Exchange
Remember one of the main selling points touted by supporters of the recently enacted health insurance legislation, "Sure it's a bad law but, hey, at least it's a first step, one we can build on and improve in the future?"
Well, I'm happy to report these sage supporters were correct. The future is here and so are the, you know, improvements to the health insurance legislation:
Well, I'm happy to report these sage supporters were correct. The future is here and so are the, you know, improvements to the health insurance legislation:
A Tennessee bill (SB 2686) to bar health plans that offer abortion coverage from participating in the state health insurance exchanges to be created under the new federal health reform law (PL 111-148) will become law because Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) declined to take action on the measure, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. As a result, Tennessee becomes the second state after Arizona to bar abortion coverage in its state health insurance exchange. Unlike Arizona's law, the text of the Tennessee measure does not specifically mention exceptions for cases of rape, incest or threat to the woman's life. The General Assembly approved the bill two weeks ago (Bregel, Chattanooga Times Free Press, 5/6). In a letter to legislative leaders explaining his decision, Bredesen cited the lack of exceptions and said he hopes the Legislature will reconsider the issue before the exchanges take effect in 2014, the Knoxville News-Sentinel's "Humphrey on the Hill" reports. Bredesen wrote, "Instead of prudently ensuring that existing prohibitions on the use of public funds for abortions are applied to the operation of health care exchanges, this bill will impose a broad new restriction on the private insurance market and damage our ability to serve our citizens, including many who are opposed to abortion and would have no interest in that specific coverage." He added, "Moreover this new restriction on private companies would not provide longstanding reasonable exceptions for cases of rape, incest and protection of the lives of mothers" (Humphrey, "Humphrey on the Hill," Knoxville News-Sentinel, 5/5).
How to Deal With Pirates, the Russian Way
Hands up all who think President Dmitry Medvedev's statement that "Until [an international court is established], we'll have to do what our forefathers did when they met the pirates" wasn't so much a hint of what the Russians planned to do with the captured pirates as it was an after-the-fact report.
The August UN Stands Firm On Nuclear Weapons and Women's Rights
Photo by jmuhles
Photo by kian1
The CSW, comprising 45 countries, voted in by regional blocks, is the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to the advancement of women. Its mandate is "to evaluate progress, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide."
Good job, everybody!
Skinny Jeans: The New "Get Out of Rape" Card
An Australia woman was acquitted of robbery Friday when a jury ruled there had to be "collaboration" to remove the man's wallet from his tight skinny jeans.
Oh, wait that's not at all what happened:
Oh, wait that's not at all what happened:
An Australia man was acquitted of rape Friday when a jury ruled there had to be "collaboration" to remove the woman's tight size six skinny jeans.
...
The skinny jeans defense has become more common in rape trials all over the world.
In 2008, a Seoul, South Korea jury overturned a rape conviction for the same reason.
An Italian jury upheld a rape conviction in 2008 when lawyers brought a skinny jeans defense, saying "jeans cannot be compared to any type of chastity belt."
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