In Ga, No Abortion Even For Stilborn Fetuses

All over the country, politicians are deciding that they know more than doctors about women's health. Here in the great state of Georgia, Representative Terry England lends his vast knowledge on the topic to the national debate. His qualifications? He used to work on a farm.

England defended HB 954 which would restrict abortion to the first 20 weeks, even in the event of a stillborn, by citing cases in which a cow or pig deliver a dead baby. "Life gives us many experiences…I’ve had the experience of delivering calves, dead and alive. Delivering pigs, dead or alive. It breaks our hearts to see those animals not make it." Bizarrely, he follows this statement by relating a story in which a man who was running a chicken fighting ring tells him that if abortion was outlawed he would give up all his chickens. I'm not sure what chicken fighting has to do with managing a high-risk pregnancy, but they are apparently linked in England's mind.

Its very frightening to know that the state I live in feels I should have to carry a stillborn fetus and give birth to its corpse because its good enough for cows, pigs and other barnyard animals.

My Suggested Reading/Viewing Materials

I've been almost entirely absent from the internet this week. It's because I've been thinking about issues pertaining to the following articles and the comment sections that follow:

BDSM and Feminism: Stop Telling Me What I'm Supposed To Like, Damn It!

First Time for Everything

Jezebel.com: General Interest

Sex, Consent and Getting Off

Henry Rollins' Advice to Young People

Faces of Addiction

NYPD Surveilling Muslim Citizens

Its not all good news from New York today. The Associated Press released a report that showing the NYPD'S Demographics Unit has been doing everything from recording conversations in Muslim owned business to copying license plates at mosques with absolutely no link to criminal activity. Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner have commented that the lack of terrorist attacks since 2001 is due to the program's success and that they aren't treating the Muslim community any differently than any other group. So I'm guessing there is a huge data base of licence plate numbers from churches and synagogues as well? Wrong. Jews and Christians were excluded from the surveillance. As if all that wasn't bad enough, NYPD has been spying on Newark NJ citizens as well without Newark's Mayor Booker or Governor Christie's knowledge or consent.

Rightfully enough, there has been considerable outrage over this revelation. “It is no longer a question that the NYPD is engaged in widespread racial profiling,” says Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “NYPD documents state that they are spying on Muslims solely because they are Muslims.” I couldn't agree with him more. So does the Attorney General who is launching a review of the report. Here's hoping he brings the hammer down hard.

Female Firefighters on the Rise in NY

Apparently a record number of women have signed up to be firefighters. 3,481 brave ladies signed up for the entrance exam, a significant rise from the 1,4000 in 2007. Currently, there are only 24 female uniformed firefighters out of the 11,000 member department. This rise is likely due to FDNY's recruitment drive targeting women, which appears to be working. The recruitment drive may be due to the fact that if the doesn't raise its minority ranks, they will be facing a $128 million fine. Competition is still a bit stiff, however, as 60,000 people of both genders have signed up for the exam and there are only 300 - 325 spots to fill.

I absolutely support women breaking into traditionally male dominated fields and I absolutely support employers making attempts to diversify their staff. I just hope that these women are chosen because of their ability and passion for the job, not just to fill some quota. Hiring women just to avoid a fine helps no one and gives feminism a bad name.

Santorum: "Single Mothers Breed Criminals"

As if it weren't already clear that Rick Santorum were a bucket of batshit, Mother Jones discovered a gem from his first Senate campaign wherein he declared that single mothers were breeding more criminals.

"Most people agree a continuation of the current [welfare] system will be the ruination of this country," Santorum told a town meeting in Clairton, Pa., in February 1994. "We are seeing it. We are seeing the fabric of this country fall apart, and it's falling apart because of single moms." He even brought a handy-dandy chart that shows a direct correlation between the rise of welfare and the rise of children born out of wedlock. He ended his statement by saying that single mothers need a "kick in the butt." Because raising children by yourself isn't enough of a kick in the butt to begin with.

Santorum also insisted that if the single mother couldn't produce the name of the father, she would not be entitled to welfare. So I guess rape victims and women who were forced to turn to prostitution for whatever hellish reason got them there are just even more shit out of luck than they were before. And if that doesn't get your blood boiling, Santorum says children with disabilities are part of the problem as well. Crackpotsayswhat?

Now that he is in the national spotlight, he has tones down his rhetoric slightly. In October he stated that welfare recipients and single moms were the base of the Democratic party. So, as an incentive for people to get married, he proposed an end to the head of household exemption for single parents while tripling the value for married parents.

So if you are in an abusive or unhappy relationship, widowed, have a child as a result of being raped, or simply don't believe in the institution of marriage, you're not living in Santorum's version of America.

Funny or Die Nails It

Women's Health Experts Speak Out from Judd Nelson

Limbaugh Calls Sarah Fluke "Slut"

In a whack-a-doodle move earlier this week, Rush Limbaugh called Sarah Fluke a "slut" because she supports the contraception coverage. On Thursday, he took yet another step around the bend when he stated that women who advocate the coverage should be made to post sex tapes of themselves online.

"So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch," said Limbaugh. So in his addled mind, if you have sex ever you are a slut and therefore should have to prostitute yourself out to pay for your dirty, dirty birth control. Right.

This is why whenever I see an article with his name attached, I'm always slightly surprised to learn that people find him even remotely relevant. Fluke stayed classy, however, and was quoted as saying "No woman deserves to be disrespected in this manner. This language is an attack on all women, and has been used throughout history to silence our voices.” True that.