There’s been a lot of self-congratulatory back-patting around the House’s passing of the Health Reform Bill this past Saturday — but it’s come at a huge price. The Democratic Congress pretty much abandoned women’s reproductive rights by including the last-minute Stupak-Pitts Amendment to appease some religio-conservative members of Congress, including several male conservative Dems. Don’t be fooled: it’s not just simply ensuring that there will be no federal funding for abortion care (which was already in the bill) — it goes much further. According to Reproductive Health Reality Check:
It effectively bans coverage for most abortions from all public and private health plans in the Exchange (i.e. the reformed health insurance market).
It includes only extremely narrow exceptions (rape, incest) and excludes cases where the health but not the life of the woman is threatened by the pregnancy, where there are severe fetal abnormalities, etc.
It allows for a ridiculous and useless abortion rider, which means women would have to buy stand-alone coverage for a completely unexpected event (who plans to have an abortion?!).
It allows for discrimination against abortion providers.
Abortion is a safe and legal medical procedure that’s currently covered by 87 percent of employer plans and that one in three women will go through in their lifetime. This bill, passed with pressure from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (hello, separation of church and state?), will unfairly take away this necessary coverage and financially penalize women. We should be able to get health reform with a public option without throwing women under the bus — and we can do this if we speak up. Please call on Senate Leader Harry Reid to stop this abortion-care ban.
For a lot more important information on how dangerous and destructive this amendment is, check out these resources:
Barack Obama’s campaign, which led to his election last year, was groundbreaking for many of the obvious reasons. One element that is sometimes overlooked is the visual imagery crafted by the campaign. Obama created a movement among many designers and artists inspired by his message of hope. His Design Director, Scott Thomas, harvested that power and theme. Everything, from the Obama logo to his website to his consistent typeface, reinforced the candidate’s message.
Designing Obama, a new book, will showcase both official and unofficial designs and images from across the country. It also promises to examine how design was used in campaign. The video above has me excited for the release.
The cover story in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine is about the First Marriage. It’s both inspiring and a little chastening — let’s see you be President or First Lady and still rock hot monogamy like that. And also a little terrifying — how would we ever recover from an Obama divorce? We’d lose faith in the very institution of marriage! So please, Mr. and Mrs. Obama, hang in there, for us. Here are top 10 reasons why we think they will:
We sure do wish Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show” would address reproductive rights more…ever. Oh, well, nobody’s perfect. At least there’s one sexual issue they tackle well…and often: Gay rights. Over the past week, they’ve presented a few great bits on the topic, including “Queer & Loathing in D.C.” (above) and “The Radical Gay Agenda” (which covered last Sunday’s gay rights march in Washington). Before Obama spoke at a dinner for the Human Rights Campaign (an LGBT organization) this past Saturday, Stewart even made a plea to the president to end the unfair Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy (”The Gay After Tomorrow“).
Obama delivered a great speech at the HRC dinner, promising (albeit yet again) to be the one to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. But he went the extra mile with the line “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”
So what’s the hold-up? Why are qualified people still being fired from the military for being out? Perhaps we the people haven’t been loud and proud enough about supporting equal rights for everyone. Fortunately, NY’s junior senator Kirsten Gillibrand has made this one of her big issues and she’s just given us an easy way to help end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. According to her website, she “has secured an agreement from Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to hold the first Senate hearing on repealing DADT this Fall.” So in order to prepare for the hearing, Gillibrand is launching a nationwide petition — take a second and sign it now!
At the Governors’ Global Climate Summit today, 30 governors, premiers, mayors and senior officials from around the world and the United Nations declared that workable solutions to global warming exist and they want a strong climate deal to emerge from negotiations in Copenhagen this December.
As someone who is both politically outspoken and tattooed, you’d think I’d be more accepting of political tattoos. Oh, no, dear. As Huffington Post has found out, by collecting many of these images, ink and politics just don’t seem to mix.
Sarah Palin and Jimmy Carter may belong in many a joke. The ones on late-night TV. But these jokes are on the poor fools who shelled money over to make a statement. Fascinating stupidity on display.
The writer, Philip Weiss, described the signs at a recent Scranton rally as “frightening. Obama with a Hitler mustache. Obama morphed to Heath Ledger’s Joker. Obama, Parasite in Chief. Obama the Muslim, Obama the Marxist. Even Obama the Antichrist: Jesus is the Messiah, not Obama.”
And while these images are frightening they’re not nearly as scary as some of the quotes attributed to protestors in the article. Ignorantly one of them claimed “I do not want a president that bows to the king of Saudi Arabia.” Obama may need to start addressing these nuts, even if conventional wisdom is to stay above the fray. By remaining silent Obama could be fueling the fire. And I don’t want a president that bows to Glenn Beck.
How novel is this? A politician sends out an email to his supporters and doesn’t ask for money…he doesn’t ask you to write letters about policy…or to volunteer your time to some campaign. He simply asks you to “remember a funny story about someone you love, smile, and be thankful.”
We heart Al Franken. Thank goodness he’s one of the Minnesota senators now.
This past Saturday, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the night he met Franni, his wife, he emailed all of his supporters basically an open love letter to her, acknowledging that he wouldn’t be where he is today — the United States Congress — without her. Those with a block of ice for a heart might find this a little too precious, or perhaps even inappropriate for a man in public office, but we think it’s comforting to know that at least one politician in Washington is actually a human being. Even better, a human being with a romantic streak. Here’s the letter:
I was blown away by this video of Senator Al Franken freehand drawing from memory a relatively detailed map of the United States and all 50 states recently at the Minnesota State Fair. Gawker poured its predictably snarky haterade over this party trick by calling it a “two-decade old joke” because Al Franken has done this before. However, if the reactionoftheInternet to this video is any indication, clearly it’s still new and enthralling to many.
The discourse around the legalization of marijuana has moved from away from the fringe lately. The public is increasingly in favor of legalizing pot, and even veteran police officers bluntly argue in The Washington Post that a smarter drug policy would actually help protect cops as well, as it “would quickly eliminate the greatest threat of violence: street-corner drug dealing.” Financially struggling cities such as Oakland, California, that are looking to bridge budget gaps are taxing medical marijuana as one creative solution. Thus looking ahead to a country where weed is a regulated and legal product, Print Magazineasks four design firms to come up with a solution to the question, “What would a legal pack of marijuana cigarettes look like?”
A friend of mine recently posted this sharp and witty poem on his blog in between his busy days working on his MD/PhD in biomolecular chemistry. Like him, I was surprised by my unfamiliarity with what Slate called “one of the one of the finest, funniest protests ever recorded.”
