think on this.
09/07/2009
» Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union » 25 Percent Would If They Could
Twenty-five. That’s the percent of women who say they would’ve obtained a Medicaid-funded abortion if they had the option, but instead carried their pregnancies to term. According to a new Guttmacher report released yesterday, many of these women are forced to forgo an abortion because they lack personal funds to pay for the procedure.
Only 17 states use their own money to pay for all or most medically necessary abortions. That means that only 17 states will help a woman obtain an abortion when her health is in danger. So, that 25 percent includes women with cancer, diabetes, heart conditions, or whose pregnancies otherwise threaten their health who are nonetheless forced to carry their pregnancies to term because they are not deemed likely enough to die from their pregnancies for the government to pay for an abortion.
Guttmacher’s new report, “Restrictions on Medicaid Funding for Abortions: A Literature Review,” also found that Medicaid funding restrictions delay some women’s abortions by two to three weeks, as the women scrounge up the funds necessary for the procedure. Delaying an abortion can both increase the cost of the procedure and the risks. Moreover, when Medicaid will not pay for a low-income woman’s abortion, she is often forced to divert money that would otherwise be used to pay for regular expenses, like rent, utility bills, food, and clothing for herself and her children.
The bottom line is that the government uses abortion funding restrictions to coerce poor women into carrying their pregnancies to term.
Link posted at 17:47
on movements and allies
how the arguments will be perceived by allies or potential allies, and the usefulness of speech in attracting potential allies or converting potential allies to actual allies is not and cannot be the primary focus of every communication. this would prevent any movement from advancing past the 101 level and greatly restrict their ability to grow and develop. placing the (potential) ally at the center of every discussion irrevocably shifts the focus from the needs, issues, and thoughts of the group itself to trying to be appealling to those not in the group. no movement could develop or progress with allies at the center of every discussion. and part of being an ally is recognizing that you cannot and should not be central to every discussion or communication, and doing some learning and listening to communications even if you feel they exclude you or are not aimed precisely at communicating to you. you cannot expect minority groups to seek you out and put forth arguments designed solely to appeal to you - that is the very definition of privilege.Text posted at 15:22
artist zevs in hong kong (kanye)
Photo posted at 15:13
Here is a tiny violin, which I will now play for all the doods who can’t catch a break, seeing as we ladies have not come to a sex-wide consensus on what we like and how we want to be treated on dates. Alas, for now you will have to get to know us on an individual level.Oh, you know that had to be an automatic reblog.
I don’t know about you, but my favorite dates are the ones where I just sit slack and passive and let my partner do all my movement, thought and speech for me. What’s a date if you actually have to put yourself in it, eh?
Photo posted at 14:32
Graphic designer and artist Christelle Bonnet’s Niveaux de ciel (ink&post)
Photo posted at 11:58
what conservatives care about
In the minds of her dectrators, the hue and cry about Sonia Sotomayor’s incessantly distorted comments about how background affects jurisprudence are about Sotomayor’s predilection for “tribal justice.” Yet one empirical study of her rulings after another has shown this isn’t the case. Even in the Ricci case, Sotomayor’s decision to rule in favor of the city was based on established precedent—it’s just that conservatives didn’t like the precedent. That won’t stop Republicans from using the plaintiffs in the Ricci case to try and embarrass Sotomayor during her confirmation hearing, as two of the plaintiffs, Frank Ricci and Ben Vargas, have been called to testify.
Vargas, the only Latino firefighter to be denied promotion along with the other firefighters, will be used to deflect the obvious: Conservatives are concerned about racial discrimination exclusively when they see it happening to those they identify with, which most of the time happens to be white men.
More frustrating is conservatives single-minded focus on discrimination in society—but only as it applies to people they identify with. If only there were as much outrage about say, banks targeting “mud people” for “ghetto loans” as there are for circumstances of so-called “reverse racism.” Instead of outrage though, we get conservatives blaming the government for outlawing discrimination against borrowers based on skin color. (tapped)
Text posted at 11:28
Chris Brown stunned onlookers with a giant pendant that spelled out the word “OOPS!” in diamonds after the Sean Combs “Malaria No More” White Party. We’re told by the folks who work with the jeweler’s company that Chris wanted something unapologetically bold. (ybf)
what a charming and classy young man that chris brown is.
Photo posted at 10:09
» Two Chicago Men Are Free After Wrongfully Imprisoned 20 Years Ago
Two Chicago men are free after spending twenty years in jail for a crime they did not commit. According to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, charges were dropped against 42-year old Ronald Kitchen and 50-year old Marvin Reeves. After a re-investigation of the case it was determined that there was a lack of credible evidence to keep the men in jail. Ronald Kitchen was in disbelief of his freedom.
“It really hasn’t hit me yet. It’s, like, surreal. And I guess when I actually sit down and take a hot bath. It might hit me then.”
Kitchen and Reeves were convicted of killing two women and three children in 1988. Kitchen was sentenced to death and Reeves was sentenced to five life terms. Reeves was tortured into giving a confession by former crooked police detective, John Burge and crew. Burge is notorious for beating more than 200 suspects into forced confessions from 1972 to 1991. The detective beat Reeves in the head with a telephone, punching him in the face and kicking him in the groin. Burge is awaiting trial on lying about torturing suspects; he has more than 20 cases of torture under investigation.
good thing we didn’t kill either of them! oopsies!
Link posted at 09:30
pema: Case in point number two! Burger King’s “Say No To Addiction…But Yes to Shrooms” campaign.
exactly! go ahead with this, burger king, but for god’s sake don’t broadcast anything about taxing pot to help save our state from bankruptcy. encouraging drug use is only ok to promote private businesses!
Photo posted at 09:15
could pot help CA's budget woes?
So could legalized pot keep California from closing parks and cutting school funding in the state’s current budget crunch? Folks at the Marijuana Policy Project say yes — and they’ve launched a statewide ad campaign today to reach Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers in California as they wrestle this week over the yawning $26 billion-plus deficit.
Controversy has followed the ads even before they hit the airwaves: they were rejected by the NBC affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area, and by ABC affiliates in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The fear among some broadcasters: they appear to advocate drug use.
i can’t watch or evaluate the video while at work, but you can see it here. even without seeing it i’m suspect that it does anything more to advocate drug use, violence, or illegal behavior than the actual shows broadcast on those stations.
Text posted at 09:12
