Monday, April 23, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Contraceptives -
I don't like responding to the likes of Rush Limbaugh or to his emulators in the current Republican primaries nor do I want to involve myself in the reaction based on gender politics that characterizess Limbaugh's views and those of his party as an attack on women and women's health by men. In fact the vast majority of men support the use of contraceptives and measures that would make them more freely available.A substantial portion of contraceptives used in America are purchased by men for use by men to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases as well as to prevent unwanted pregnancies which condemn many women and their children to poverty. And I certainly don't support those who condemn Limbaugh's extreme statements and name-calling while hypocritically agreeing with his views on financing contraceptives.
The United States and its religious denominations have always considered sex as a tool of the devil rather than a normal mammalian function. Until the 1960's, it was virtually illegal to educate people about the human sexuality. Distributing contraceptive devices or educating people about their use was a criminal offence.(The exception was the armed forces where soldiers received free condoms and instructions for their use - funny, isn't it - when the military gets free contraceptives no one complains about the cost.The reason: because soldier's lives are considered important and so it doesn't matter when the pope says life begins, or how much the program costs soldiers get their sex subsidized by taxpayers). In the century before the 1960's, Comstock Laws were passed throughout North America banning any activity that focused on human sexuality. Like Prohibition, sex was forced into the dark recesses of society often controlled by a criminal subculture. Ignorance and guilt promoted the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and sex crimes. At one point there was a section in the Criminal Code that described the offence of "having carnal knowledge of a woman having deceived her as to the nature and quality of the act." The Limbaughs of their day assumed that women were so ignorant of sex that they could be exploited by sexually sophisticated men. Before the "sexual revolution" of the 1960's churches were able to build an industry based on the fear, guilt and ignorance that they propagated around the sexual function. Girls who became pregnant were taken out of school and placed in "homes for unwed mothers" generally run by churches - teenage girls who were sexually active could be declared "incorrigible" by their parents and placed in reform school -Willingdon School for Girls was the one in British Columbia. It was finally closed in the 70's. In some jurisdictions, women could be committed to mental hospitals if they were diagnosed as "hysterical" a word from the same root as hysterectomy and referring to mental health problems of uterine origin.
The sexual revolution was produced by the birth control pill. It opened opportunities for women to schedule pregnancies so that they could pursue education and career objectives that weren't open to them before. It allowed men and women to enjoy normal sexual lives free of the fear that an "accident" would result in a career destroying pregnancy and an unplanned, unwanted child.The last step in the sexual revolution was to make contraceptives available to all regardless of income but unfortunately the sexual counter-revolution has set in. Its leaders in the christian extreme right, the republican party and the pharmaceutical industry have set themselves up as moral bean-counters. "we can't afford to provide free contraceptives, they say, it will bankrupt the health care industry" Of course pharmaceuticals are among the most over-priced agents in health care insulated from competition by patent protection and by laws against price negotiations passed by politicians paid off by industry lobbyists. The assertion that we can't afford to finance contraceptives as part of our health care program is false, hypocritical and immoral. Any industry that can afford to buy the US Congress can afford to subsidize the distribution of contraceptives
The United States and its religious denominations have always considered sex as a tool of the devil rather than a normal mammalian function. Until the 1960's, it was virtually illegal to educate people about the human sexuality. Distributing contraceptive devices or educating people about their use was a criminal offence.(The exception was the armed forces where soldiers received free condoms and instructions for their use - funny, isn't it - when the military gets free contraceptives no one complains about the cost.The reason: because soldier's lives are considered important and so it doesn't matter when the pope says life begins, or how much the program costs soldiers get their sex subsidized by taxpayers). In the century before the 1960's, Comstock Laws were passed throughout North America banning any activity that focused on human sexuality. Like Prohibition, sex was forced into the dark recesses of society often controlled by a criminal subculture. Ignorance and guilt promoted the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and sex crimes. At one point there was a section in the Criminal Code that described the offence of "having carnal knowledge of a woman having deceived her as to the nature and quality of the act." The Limbaughs of their day assumed that women were so ignorant of sex that they could be exploited by sexually sophisticated men. Before the "sexual revolution" of the 1960's churches were able to build an industry based on the fear, guilt and ignorance that they propagated around the sexual function. Girls who became pregnant were taken out of school and placed in "homes for unwed mothers" generally run by churches - teenage girls who were sexually active could be declared "incorrigible" by their parents and placed in reform school -Willingdon School for Girls was the one in British Columbia. It was finally closed in the 70's. In some jurisdictions, women could be committed to mental hospitals if they were diagnosed as "hysterical" a word from the same root as hysterectomy and referring to mental health problems of uterine origin.
The sexual revolution was produced by the birth control pill. It opened opportunities for women to schedule pregnancies so that they could pursue education and career objectives that weren't open to them before. It allowed men and women to enjoy normal sexual lives free of the fear that an "accident" would result in a career destroying pregnancy and an unplanned, unwanted child.The last step in the sexual revolution was to make contraceptives available to all regardless of income but unfortunately the sexual counter-revolution has set in. Its leaders in the christian extreme right, the republican party and the pharmaceutical industry have set themselves up as moral bean-counters. "we can't afford to provide free contraceptives, they say, it will bankrupt the health care industry" Of course pharmaceuticals are among the most over-priced agents in health care insulated from competition by patent protection and by laws against price negotiations passed by politicians paid off by industry lobbyists. The assertion that we can't afford to finance contraceptives as part of our health care program is false, hypocritical and immoral. Any industry that can afford to buy the US Congress can afford to subsidize the distribution of contraceptives
Saturday, December 3, 2011
The Golf Links by Sarah N. Cleghorn
The Golf Links
The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The laboring children can look out
And see the men at play
Newt’s War on Poor Children
New York Times Op-Ed Columnist
Newt’s War on Poor Children
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Published: December 2, 2011
Newt Gingrich has reached a new low, and that is hard for him to do.
Nearly two weeks after claiming that child labor laws are “truly stupid” and implying that poor children should be put to work as janitors in their schools, he now claims that poor children don’t understand work unless they’re doing something illegal.
On Thursday, at a campaign stop in Iowa, the former House speaker said, “Start with the following two facts: Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.” (His second “fact” was that every first generational person he knew started work early.)
This statement isn’t only cruel and, broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his attitude toward America’s most vulnerable — our poor children. This is the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows how dark it is.
Gingrich wants to start with the facts? O.K.
First, as I’ve pointed out before, three out of four poor working-aged adults — ages 18 to 64 — work. Half of them have full-time jobs and a quarter work part time.
Furthermore, according to an analysis of census data by Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College, most poor children live in a household where at least one parent is employed. And even among children who live in extreme poverty — defined here as a household with income less than 50 percent of the poverty level — a third have at least one working parent. And even among extremely poor children who live in extremely poor areas — those in which 30 percent or more of the population is poor — nearly a third live with at least one working parent.
For this analysis, the most granular national data available — census areas with 100,000 or more people — were compared. For reference, New York City has 55 of these areas. You’d have to slice the definition of neighborhoods rather thinly to find a few areas that support Gingrich’s position.
Lastly, Gingrich vastly overreaches by suggesting that a lack of money universally correlates to a lack of morals. Yes, poverty presents increased risk factors for crime. But, encouragingly, data show that even as more Americans have fallen into poverty in recent years, the crime rate over all — and, specifically, among juveniles — has dropped.
“Facts” are not Gingrich’s forte. Yet he is now the Republican front-runner. It just goes to show how bankrupt of compassion and allergic to accuracy that party is becoming. •
Newt’s War on Poor Children
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Published: December 2, 2011
Newt Gingrich has reached a new low, and that is hard for him to do.
Nearly two weeks after claiming that child labor laws are “truly stupid” and implying that poor children should be put to work as janitors in their schools, he now claims that poor children don’t understand work unless they’re doing something illegal.
On Thursday, at a campaign stop in Iowa, the former House speaker said, “Start with the following two facts: Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.” (His second “fact” was that every first generational person he knew started work early.)
This statement isn’t only cruel and, broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his attitude toward America’s most vulnerable — our poor children. This is the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows how dark it is.
Gingrich wants to start with the facts? O.K.
First, as I’ve pointed out before, three out of four poor working-aged adults — ages 18 to 64 — work. Half of them have full-time jobs and a quarter work part time.
Furthermore, according to an analysis of census data by Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College, most poor children live in a household where at least one parent is employed. And even among children who live in extreme poverty — defined here as a household with income less than 50 percent of the poverty level — a third have at least one working parent. And even among extremely poor children who live in extremely poor areas — those in which 30 percent or more of the population is poor — nearly a third live with at least one working parent.
For this analysis, the most granular national data available — census areas with 100,000 or more people — were compared. For reference, New York City has 55 of these areas. You’d have to slice the definition of neighborhoods rather thinly to find a few areas that support Gingrich’s position.
Lastly, Gingrich vastly overreaches by suggesting that a lack of money universally correlates to a lack of morals. Yes, poverty presents increased risk factors for crime. But, encouragingly, data show that even as more Americans have fallen into poverty in recent years, the crime rate over all — and, specifically, among juveniles — has dropped.
“Facts” are not Gingrich’s forte. Yet he is now the Republican front-runner. It just goes to show how bankrupt of compassion and allergic to accuracy that party is becoming. •
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
ALEC Exposed: A Nationwide Blueprint for the Rightwing Takeover
Published on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 by The Nation
ALEC Exposed: A Nationwide Blueprint for the Rightwing Takeover
by John Nichols
“Never has the time been so right,” Louisiana State Representative Noble Ellington told conservative legislators gathered in Washington to plan the radical remaking of policies in the states. It was one month after the 2010 midterm elections. Republicans had grabbed 680 legislative seats and secured a power trifecta—control of both legislative chambers and the governorship—in twenty-one states. Ellington was speaking for hundreds of attendees at a “States and Nation Policy Summit,” featuring GOP stars like Texas Governor Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Convened by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—“the nation’s largest, non-partisan, individual public-private membership association of state legislators,” as the spin-savvy group describes itself—the meeting did not intend to draw up an agenda for the upcoming legislative session. That had already been done by ALEC’s elite task forces of lawmakers and corporate representatives. The new legislators were there to grab their weapons: carefully crafted model bills seeking to impose a one-size-fits-all agenda on the states.
Founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and other conservative activists frustrated by recent electoral setbacks, ALEC is a critical arm of the right-wing network of policy shops that, with infusions of corporate cash, has evolved to shape American politics. Inspired by Milton Friedman’s call for conservatives to “develop alternatives to existing policies [and] keep them alive and available,” ALEC’s model legislation reflects long-term goals: downsizing government, removing regulations on corporations and making it harder to hold the economically and politically powerful to account. Corporate donors retain veto power over the language, which is developed by the secretive task forces. The task forces cover issues from education to health policy. ALEC’s priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, pass voter ID laws and more. In states across the country they succeeded, with stacks of new laws signed by GOP governors like Ohio’s John Kasich and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, both ALEC alums.
The details of ALEC’s model bills have been available only to the group’s 2,000 legislative and 300 corporate members. But thanks to a leak to Aliya Rahman, an Ohio-based activist who helped organize protests at ALEC’s Spring Task Force meeting in Cincinnati, The Nation has obtained more than 800 documents representing decades of model legislation. Teaming up with the Center for Media and Democracy, The Nation asked policy experts to analyze this never-before-seen archive.
The articles included below are the first products of that examination. They provide an inside view of the priorities of ALEC’s corporate board and billionaire benefactors (including Tea Party funders Charles and David Koch). “Dozens of corporations are investing millions of dollars a year to write business-friendly legislation that is being made into law in statehouses coast to coast, with no regard for the public interest,” says Bob Edgar of Common Cause. “This is proof positive of the depth and scope of the corporate reach into our democratic processes.” The full archive of ALEC documents is available at a new website, alecexposed.org, thanks to the Center for Media and Democracy, which has provided powerful tools for progressives to turn this knowledge into power. The data tell us that the time has come to refocus on the battle to loosen the grip of corporate America and renew democracy in the states.
In coordination with the Center for Media and Democracy and The Nation, Common Dreams will be re-posting many of the articles examining the leaked ALEC files. To see what's already available go here and here. Updates to Common Dreams will be added here.
© 2011 The Nation
ALEC Exposed: A Nationwide Blueprint for the Rightwing Takeover
by John Nichols
“Never has the time been so right,” Louisiana State Representative Noble Ellington told conservative legislators gathered in Washington to plan the radical remaking of policies in the states. It was one month after the 2010 midterm elections. Republicans had grabbed 680 legislative seats and secured a power trifecta—control of both legislative chambers and the governorship—in twenty-one states. Ellington was speaking for hundreds of attendees at a “States and Nation Policy Summit,” featuring GOP stars like Texas Governor Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Convened by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—“the nation’s largest, non-partisan, individual public-private membership association of state legislators,” as the spin-savvy group describes itself—the meeting did not intend to draw up an agenda for the upcoming legislative session. That had already been done by ALEC’s elite task forces of lawmakers and corporate representatives. The new legislators were there to grab their weapons: carefully crafted model bills seeking to impose a one-size-fits-all agenda on the states.
Founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and other conservative activists frustrated by recent electoral setbacks, ALEC is a critical arm of the right-wing network of policy shops that, with infusions of corporate cash, has evolved to shape American politics. Inspired by Milton Friedman’s call for conservatives to “develop alternatives to existing policies [and] keep them alive and available,” ALEC’s model legislation reflects long-term goals: downsizing government, removing regulations on corporations and making it harder to hold the economically and politically powerful to account. Corporate donors retain veto power over the language, which is developed by the secretive task forces. The task forces cover issues from education to health policy. ALEC’s priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, pass voter ID laws and more. In states across the country they succeeded, with stacks of new laws signed by GOP governors like Ohio’s John Kasich and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, both ALEC alums.
The details of ALEC’s model bills have been available only to the group’s 2,000 legislative and 300 corporate members. But thanks to a leak to Aliya Rahman, an Ohio-based activist who helped organize protests at ALEC’s Spring Task Force meeting in Cincinnati, The Nation has obtained more than 800 documents representing decades of model legislation. Teaming up with the Center for Media and Democracy, The Nation asked policy experts to analyze this never-before-seen archive.
The articles included below are the first products of that examination. They provide an inside view of the priorities of ALEC’s corporate board and billionaire benefactors (including Tea Party funders Charles and David Koch). “Dozens of corporations are investing millions of dollars a year to write business-friendly legislation that is being made into law in statehouses coast to coast, with no regard for the public interest,” says Bob Edgar of Common Cause. “This is proof positive of the depth and scope of the corporate reach into our democratic processes.” The full archive of ALEC documents is available at a new website, alecexposed.org, thanks to the Center for Media and Democracy, which has provided powerful tools for progressives to turn this knowledge into power. The data tell us that the time has come to refocus on the battle to loosen the grip of corporate America and renew democracy in the states.
In coordination with the Center for Media and Democracy and The Nation, Common Dreams will be re-posting many of the articles examining the leaked ALEC files. To see what's already available go here and here. Updates to Common Dreams will be added here.
© 2011 The Nation
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