Too much today about Bush reprimanding Democrats for tacking on useless social programs spending to a bill funding the war. "It's hard to imagine a more cynical political strategy than trying to hold hostage funding for our troops in combat, and our wounded warriors, in order to extract $11 billion in additional social spending." He also said today that he would veto the new version of the bill expanding funding for SCHIP, that has passed the house today and is on to the senate. Yep, let's spend more more more money on the war, and let's attack Iran, but these pesky social programs cost too much. You Democrats are fiscally irresponsible. Anyway, it makes me crazy.
So. There's a neat art exhibition in Istanbul. It's all about war. The curator's introduction's first sentence is: We are living at a time of global wars. I haven't read the entire introduction (i know, sorry), but apparently it dodges the whos and the taking sides. However, the pictures of the art speak for themselves. As Turkey is poised to enter this disaster of a war in the middle east, or I guess, add a new front, it's great that this kind of art is getting a schmancy exhibition.
Thing next. Abortion. I'm just going to paste a chunk of the article here, copyright laws be damned (although, the story is available online for free...). Anyway, it's from The Nation, by Katha Pollitt, posted October 18.
"For years feminists and prochoicers have pointed out that women have abortions whether or not the procedure is legal.
That was true here before Roe v. Wade, and it is true today in countries where abortion is restricted or banned. The difference is that when abortion is legal it is a remarkably safe procedure; when it is illegal, women are injured, women die, children are left motherless. (True, these are already-existing, sinful children, not embryos or fetuses, but still.) This simple public health argument has gotten lost in a thicket of theology, sexual morality, "family values," politics, spin and outright disinformation. The coat hanger has become a political cliché, a relic of the '60s, like the peace sign. Oh, that old thing.
Now comes an article in The Lancet that shows in cold hard data how right we've been all along. "Induced Abortion: Estimated Rates and Trends Worldwide," a study conducted by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute, is the first global analysis of abortion incidence since 1995. It finds that rates of abortion (the number of abortions per 1,000 women) are relatively unaffected by whether it is legal. Thus, in South America, where abortion is largely illegal, the rate is 33; in northern America, where it is legal, the rate is 21. "The legal status of abortion doesn't predict whether abortions occur," study co-author Gilda Sedgh told me by phone. "It predicts whether they are safe. South Africa liberalized its abortion laws in l997, and maternal deaths from unsafe abortion have plummeted by 90 percent." Around the world 48 percent of abortions are unsafe--that's more than 20 million. Some 67,000 women die from unsafe abortions--13 percent of maternal deaths, almost all of them in the developing world, where abortion is mostly restricted or banned. Many times that number are injured or maimed."
My thoughts, in brief: abortions are going to happen in our current society (as a world, not just the US). If you are pro-life, be pro-life. Make it legal, and safe, and offer education that prevents the necessity of abortion. I would LOVE to live in a world where abortion didn't happen, but not because it's illegal, but because women aren't raped, even by their husbands, where all people have access to contraceptives of all kinds, where sex education is part of a health class that's taken like English, where we have found alternatives to the pill/depo/the patch, etc, that don't mess with our bodies so much.
Anyway, if you want to read the rest of the article, here's the link: With Facts On Our Side.
Also, a 6-old got a $300 fine for graffiti. She drew on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk. And, prostitutes in Bolivia are threatening a nude march to protest being beaten, their work places burned, their money stolen, etc. Bad ass.
" The rampage began after citizens demanded that brothels and bars be located at least 3,200 feet away from schools. Within 48 hours, angry mobs had taken matters into their own hands, burning more than 30 establishments. Hundreds of women and transvestites were forced to strip while their belongings were torched; dozens were beaten and mutilated as the police stood by and watched. "It was something we needed to do," says El Alto resident Roberta Quispe Mayta. "Now our husbands will behave better and the prostitutes will leave.""
-sadly, the nude march was only a threat. however, they are on strike....refusing to go to their required std testing (every 20 days). Thusly, raising the risk to public health. I'm not sure this is the right tactic, but it will be noticed.
OK, enough news that you didn't read in your yahoo headlines. Back to work.
P.S. I've been listening to a lot of Billy Bragg and Tom Waits today. Interesting combination. Both quite good.
P.P.S. I got puppy an additional tank heater yesterday. He's much happier. It's a bit colder here than in the animal room in Tempe.
My thoughts, in brief: abortions are going to happen in our current society (as a world, not just the US). If you are pro-life, be pro-life. Make it legal, and safe, and offer education that prevents the necessity of abortion. I would LOVE to live in a world where abortion didn't happen, but not because it's illegal, but because women aren't raped, even by their husbands, where all people have access to contraceptives of all kinds, where sex education is part of a health class that's taken like English, where we have found alternatives to the pill/depo/the patch, etc, that don't mess with our bodies so much.
Anyway, if you want to read the rest of the article, here's the link: With Facts On Our Side.
Also, a 6-old got a $300 fine for graffiti. She drew on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk. And, prostitutes in Bolivia are threatening a nude march to protest being beaten, their work places burned, their money stolen, etc. Bad ass.
" The rampage began after citizens demanded that brothels and bars be located at least 3,200 feet away from schools. Within 48 hours, angry mobs had taken matters into their own hands, burning more than 30 establishments. Hundreds of women and transvestites were forced to strip while their belongings were torched; dozens were beaten and mutilated as the police stood by and watched. "It was something we needed to do," says El Alto resident Roberta Quispe Mayta. "Now our husbands will behave better and the prostitutes will leave.""
-sadly, the nude march was only a threat. however, they are on strike....refusing to go to their required std testing (every 20 days). Thusly, raising the risk to public health. I'm not sure this is the right tactic, but it will be noticed.
OK, enough news that you didn't read in your yahoo headlines. Back to work.
P.S. I've been listening to a lot of Billy Bragg and Tom Waits today. Interesting combination. Both quite good.
P.P.S. I got puppy an additional tank heater yesterday. He's much happier. It's a bit colder here than in the animal room in Tempe.
1 comment:
Has Roberta been to this exhibition?
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