Flasher Diaries

The result: Arts4Choice.

This seemed weird at first glance, but wait, why not get all anti-abortion legislators to change their names!  And then mandate that all anti-abortion legislation change names to add "anti-abortion," or heck, even "pro-life." Now that would be informed consent!

This is the second time in as many years the doctor has been thusly investigated as he is a top target of such anti-choice organizations like Kansans for Life (like the rest of Kansans are for death?), and Operation Rescue (they aren't interested in rescuing `born' children from anything).

I've been playing Christmas music lately, while reading or sewing or  wrapping packages (for financial reasons, we're lean and mean this year;  I scrounged through my  "I bought this and never gave it to someone" drawer" for many of them). One of my favorite CDs features Bing Crosby in a concert for the troop during WW IIs, and I always tear up when I hear "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and it resonates strongly with me.  The final line is "...If only in my dreams."  The song was written in 1943, at the height of World War II. It summed up the feelings of lonely G.I.s in Europe and the Pacific, dreaming of home and family while a war raged and hoping that next year they would indeed be home for Christmas.  

The song has special meaning for me. As most of you Kossacks know, I was a Navy wife for 15 out of the 21 years I've been with my husband as wife and lover.  

What the stories and the headlines don't tell you is that is approximately the same rate as 2004 and lower than it was in 2003. They also don't highlight that the birth rate was up for every age cohort of women.

This just in from the AP:

BALTIMORE - Roman Catholics voting in the 2008 elections must heed church teaching when deciding which candidates and policies to support, U.S. bishops said Wednesday.

Here's some news from our friends at SIECUS:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-richards29oct29,0,5202785.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

The editorial, written by my long term colleage Cory Richards from the Guttmacher Institute, examines what he calls the "adoption vs abortion myth." We often hear from politicians as well as evangelical leaders that efforts to increase adoptions is part of the common ground strategy to reduce the numbers of abortions in the U.S.

Dr. Susan Orr, like other recent Bush appointees to the position, actually opposes federal support for contraception. She is a former official with the anti-choice Family Research Council. According to news reports, she has fought against federal employees health insurance including contraception, has taught abstinence-only-until-marriage education, and cheered the Mexico City Gag Rule. I haven't found anything about whether she has actually worked against the Title X family planning program, which provides access to services for low income women, but I'm guessing she's not going to be a big supporter of services to adolescents.