Civil Liberties
mikethemadbiologist | November 12, 2009Of course, we all 'know' that the only women who get abortions are sluts, but what never ceases to amaze me is how ignorant pro-illegal, unsafe abortion proponents are about biology (let's not even get start on the ridiculous notion that sperm and ova are 'dead'). The recent Stupak-Pitts amendment doesn't appear to allow women who have a dead fetus to get an abortion (italics mine):
By broadly writing in that insurers can chose whether or not to cover "abortion services," pro-life amendments don't just affect their intended victims -- women seeking a way out of an unwanted or medically…
mikethemadbiologist | November 11, 2009So to speak. One of the many loathsome things about the Stupak-Mills amendment is that insurance would not be able to cover abortions for the following reasons (italics mine):
Cases that are excluded: where the health but not the life of the woman is threatened by the pregnancy, severe fetal abnormalities, mental illness or anguish that will lead to suicide or self-harm.
In Jewish religious law, all authorities agree that if the health of the mother--including her ability to have children in the future--is jeopardized, then abortion is the appropriate option. And many authorities (not just…
mikethemadbiologist | November 10, 2009
(from here)
ScienceBlogling Ed Brayton finds this little tidbit from the coverage of the Stupak amendment (italics mine):
I'm bothered by something said in an earlier article on the CNN website about this:
Several Democrats, including Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pennsylvania, said they are in touch with their Catholic bishops back home. Altmire said he must have the approval of his bishop in Pittsburgh before he can vote yes.
Since when do religious leaders have veto power over legislation in this country?
I realize Ed's asking a rhetorical question, but, to answer it anyway, pastors, preachers,…
mikethemadbiologist | November 8, 2009
(from here)
Needless to say, I'm disgusted by the amendment introduced by Democratic Congressvermin Bart Stupak which would effectively make most abortions not covered by health insurance, even though many are now. Given the tremendous numbers of women who have had an abortion, it's not like he's going to put a dent in the 'problem'--women will still become pregnant, still want to become unpregnant, and still have abortions. It's just some will have to go into debt. So I suggest, if you can afford it, hopping on over to Planet Parenthood, and making a donation in honor of Bart Stupak (…
mikethemadbiologist | November 5, 2009Over at BoingBoing, we read about the leaked version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a copyright treaty (so much for the Obama Administration's commitment to transparency. Maybe it's something in the White House water?). Two items caught my eye:
â¢That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement…
How Is the Proposed Oklahoma Law to Publicly Post Details of Abortions Online Not a HIPAA Violation?
mikethemadbiologist | October 14, 2009Because nothing says freedom like government shaming regarding a private healthcare decision:
Move over, Hester Prynne:
On Nov. 1, a law in Oklahoma will go into effect that will collect personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and post them on a public website. Implementing the measure will "cost $281,285 the first year and $256,285 each subsequent year." Here are the first eight questions that women will have to reveal:
Date of abortion
County in which abortion performed
Age of mother
Marital status of mother
Race of mother
Years of education of…
mikethemadbiologist | October 5, 2009By way of Digby, we learn that the anti-abortion movement has decided on a new tactic--declaring that a fertilized egg is a person:
It is one of the enduring questions of religion and science, and lately of American politics: When does a fertilized egg become a person?
Abortion foes, tired of a profusion of laws that limit but do not abolish abortion, are trying to answer the question in a way that they hope could put an end to legalized abortion.
Across the country, they have revived efforts to amend state constitutions to declare that personhood -- and all rights accorded human beings --…
revere | September 23, 2009People complain that ministers in the cabinet Iran's recently selected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government will say things so outlandish no one else would even think of saying them, but Declan Butler over at the Nature blog, The Great Beyond, begs to differ. Take Iran's Science Minister, Kamran Daneshjou. Daneshjou's credentials had been questioned in an LA Times report in August, but Butler has found that a paper co-authored by Daneshjou contains genuine peer-reviewed science. The only fly in the ointment is that it doesn't seem to be Daneshjou's science:
Large chunks of text, figures…
mikethemadbiologist | August 25, 2009If you're wondering who Arthur Frommer is, he's the chief author of Frommer's Travel Guides, which can be found at virtually every U.S. bookstore. So when Frommer argues that people should reconsider visiting Arizona, that's not definitely good for Arizona's tourism sector. But Frommer's reasons are...interesting (italics mine):
I am not yet certain whether I would advocate a travel boycott by others of the state of Arizona... But I am shocked beyond measure by reports that earlier this week, nearly a dozen persons, including one with an assault rifle strapped about his shoulders and others…
mikethemadbiologist | August 11, 2009
Not a pro-health insurance company thug
If you peek over at the sidebar, you'll notice that my photo is a copy of Norman Rockwell's Freedom of Speech. I'll turn the description over to driftglass:
He's nervous. Really nervous.By his tan and his hands and his clothes, you can tell he's a working man. Everyone around him is wearing a tie; his collar is open.Those are his remarks there in his pocket, which he probably spent a long time writing out, tossing out, and then rewriting.He probably told his family that tonight he's gonna go down to the meetin' and give those Big Guys what 'fer.His…
mikethemadbiologist | August 1, 2009Last week, Glenn Greenwald annotated a campaign speech by Obama about civil liberties and the rule of law (boldface mine):
We know it's time to time to restore our Constitution and the rule of law. This is an issue that was at the heart of Senator Dodd's candidacy, and I share his passion for restoring the balance between the security we demand and the civil liberties that we cherish.
The American people must be able to trust that their president values principle over politics, and justice over unchecked power. I've been proud to stand with Senator Dodd in his fight against retroactive…
mikethemadbiologist | July 23, 2009For those who haven't heard, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested by the Cambridge Police (the charges were later dropped). According to Gates' attorney:
Professor Gates was driven to his home by a driver for a local car company. Professor Gates attempted to enter his front door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear door with his key, turned off his alarm, and again attempted to open the front door. With the help of his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the driver carried Professor Gates' luggage into his home.
Professor…
mikethemadbiologist | July 1, 2009Nobody could have predicted this (italics mine):
As the White House readies its plan for finding "common ground" on reproductive health issues and reducing the need for abortion, a major debate has emerged over how to package the plan's two major components: preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion.
Many abortion rights advocates and some Democrats who want to dial down the culture wars want the White House to package the two parts of the plan together, as a single piece of legislation. The plan would seek to reduce unwanted pregnancies by funding comprehensive sex…
mikethemadbiologist | June 17, 2009Sadly, I think it's the latter. As many others have remarked on a variety of issues, one of the most pernicious effects of the right wing has been to mainstream crazy and hateful positions. In terms of gay rights, as has been the case with many other issues, this has reduced the debate to two positions:
Either you believe that gay marriage will lead to man-on-box turtle sex, or you are part of the Coalition of the Sane.
Of course, it is lunacy, not to mention bigotry and hatred, to think that gay marriage would lead to bestiality. But that doesn't mean that everyone in the Coalition of…
mikethemadbiologist | June 15, 2009A few months ago, Dday started to sound the alarm about "burrowing" by Bush administration appointees:
This is about getting civil service protections for hardcore conservative loyalists. In past transitions, this has been done to protect new rules or regulations that the outgoing President would like to see maintained, and that's true here as well. Recent rule changes in the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service will be harder to reverse with a champion inside the agency. But I hardly think it ends there. The same with all those career Justice Department officials whose…
mikethemadbiologist | June 14, 2009I don't have much to add to John Aravosis' take on the recent Obama Administration about its recent defense of the Defense of Marriage Act, except to note one thing:
When the basic theory of the case is nearly identical* to those arguments used to defend the outlawing of interracial marriage, you really suck.
Particularly when the president--and the buck does stop with him--is not only a former professor of constitutional law, but is the child of an interracial marriage.
And for extra shitheaditude, guess who wrote the brief for the Obama administration? A Mormon Bush administration holdover…
revere | April 28, 2009As cases continue to accrue in different places we will hear more talk about quarantine and isolation. These are two terms that are frequently confused, which is too bad, because isolation makes sense for influenza and quarantine doesn't. So what do they mean?
What quarantine and isolation have in common is they are both designed to interrupt the transmission of a disease that spreads from person to person. Quarantine is the legally enforceable segregation of people who people who have been or may have been exposed but who aren't (yet) sick. Some people talk about "voluntary quarantines," but…
mikethemadbiologist | April 10, 2009A recent post about the idiocy in Fairfax County regarding a student who was expelled for two weeks because she took birth control pills during school received some great comments. But as you might expect, with enough comments, one of the 'contraception is abortion' morons showed up (can't you morons leave me alone during my vacation?). Ordinarily, I would have let the commentors administer an ass kicking (which they did very well). But when the commenter wrote:
I just wanted to remind readers that some believe life begins at conception (and that it doesn't get a postmodernist exemption to…
mikethemadbiologist | April 7, 2009Atrios is right: Fairfax County, VA's policy about taking a birth control pill is school is nuts:
When a Fairfax County mother got an urgent call from school last month reporting that her teenage daughter was caught popping a pill at lunchtime, she did not panic. "It was probably her birth-control pill," she thought. She was right.
Her heart dropped that afternoon in the assistant principal's office at Oakton High School when she and her daughter heard the mandatory punishment: A two-week suspension and recommendation for expulsion....
Health advocates say that harsh penalties for students…
mikethemadbiologist | February 18, 2009
This is not the Mad Biologist
Or how the Boston Phoenix proves they missed the point of Shepard Fairey's work (Fairey made the iconic Obama poster). I'll get to that in a moment, but Sunday, I went to the ICA in Boston to see the Shepard Fairey exhibit. For me, it was a blast from the past: I was in Providence when the whole Andre the Giant thing started (I still have a sticker from that time). It was also funny to watch (discretely) a middle-aged--to be generous--docent explain to similarly aged visitors about Andre having a posse. Ironic proto-skaterpunk anarchism wasn't really…