moar tv? MOAR TV!

[slammerkinbabe]

I am at my parents' house. They have the latest issue of the Massachusetts Citizens for Life News ("A Strong Voice for the Most Fundamental Human Right"). I thought I would see if I could learn anything.

So far I have learned the following important facts:

• The term "abortion mills" seems to be passe. "Abortuary" is the new slang all the cool kids are using.
  
• The newest member of Massachusetts Citizens for Life is -28 weeks old, and her name is Angelica Maria. She is pictured in "4-D Ultrasound". 4-D? In the paper?
  
• If you know the definitions of the words "egg", "sperm", and "embryo", you are smarter than 5 of the 9 Supreme Court justices on the 1973 court.
  
• "The stem cell wars are over," and this is "a victory for President Bush." Because President Bush made the scientific discoveries that - according to the fine folk at MCFL, anyway - eliminated the need to use embryos to get stem cells. Or so we are left to assume.
  
• Although President Bush is a pitiful lame duck who is hated by over seventy percent of the country and the Iraq war is an unmitigated disaster, Democrats should be very worried about their party's fate at the presidential elections. This is due to the fact that recently Jim Ogonowski, the Republican candidate in the fifth congressional district election here in Massachusetts, lost the election with 45 percent to the Democratic candidate's 51 percent. The Democrats expected to win by more than that in that district, and got overconfident and came close to almost losing, sort of. So Clinton and Obama and them should think long and hard about Jim Ogonowski before they start assuming they can walk off with the election.
  
• Specifically, they should be afraid of Fred Thompson, who is the candidate that MCFL has chosen to back in the presidential race.
  
• There are 350 cemetery white wood crosses in a tote in a warehouse in Southbridge, and anyone who has a good idea for how to use them can contact MCFL for more information.
  
• Bella is the best movie ever in the world.

In one way I sort of feel like I shouldn't snark. My family takes their beliefs seriously and it's just easy snark and I'm not Thinking Hard about Hard Issues and blah blah blah. But on the other hand, I believe in nuanced discussion of abortion and the related issues, and that sure ain't it. And the Jim Ogonowski bit... and "abortuaries"? I'm sorry, that's hilarious.

IN OTHER NEWS.

Oh, dude, there's an episode of Golden Girls on whose episode description read "A lesbian falls for Rose." λ is a fan of the show and we had a MUST SEE moment, so we flipped over just in time to hear Estelle Getty saying:

"She likes girls. Big deal. Some people like girls instead of guys. Some people like dogs instead of cats. Personally, I'd rather live with a lesbian than a cat."

I've never watched a full episode of Golden Girls. I think I should start. Now.

Away I go.

Comments

Re: Random, lengthy soapbox, because I was charitable and left it out of the initial post

[eyelid.livejournal.com]

You know, they have a huge long "expose" on how Planned Parenthood knew about a statutory rape case and didn't report it to the authorities.

Like their crisis pregnancy centers would have? shyeah. right. Not if they thought the girl would carry to term, they wouldn't.

This is one of those things where pro-life orgs deliberately don't want to look at the consequences of their policies for women's health. Obviously, if girls know (and they WILL) that PP is going to report them to the authorities, they won't seek medical care for PP. They won't seek medical care at all, in fact, if their privacy isn't protected.

Same story for kids who check into rehab or go for therapy or birth control. If their privacy is not protected they won't seek help.

It is funny, because while pro-life orgs may make some hay with their contributors by spreading the word that PP protects the privacy of its minor patients - PP's only going to become more popular thereby.


he idea that a girl who's fifteen and change is completely incapable of knowing her own mind and consenting to sex is a tricky one

To me, the issue is more one of power disparity. A minor is capable of consenting to sex play with age peers in most circumstances, and that's totally normal. The qualms, for me, come in when a minor is engaging in sex with a person who is significantly older - e.g. an adult. That adult, just by being an adult, has more capacity than a minor, and is capable of manipulating and pressuring and misleading the minor. There is a huge power disparity. In such a situation the child is incapable of giving a meaningful consent.


And, you know, even if a situation IS abusive, there are frequently more empowering ways of helping a girl to handle it and get out of it than filing a formal report and then forgetting about it.

Certainly there are much better ways of handling it than betraying the trust of the minor who came to you for medical help. Just proving once again to her that adults can't be trusted. I have seriously heard from minors on abortioninfo who are terrified of going to the doctor or talking to doctors because they think the doctor might tell their parents that they were pregnant/had an abortion. Countless girls have asked whether their parents will be able to find out. I have absolutely no doubt that if they were not assured that their privacy would be protected these girls would resort to dangerous illegal abortion.

As a parent I hope my children will always feel comfortable and able to turn to me when they need help. But if they don't, I would certainly choose for them to be able to seek care without my knowledge instead of for them to not seek care at all.


It reminded me of that politician, I don't even remember who it was, who said not too long ago that any woman who has an abortion must be crazy

I guess one out of every 3 women in the US is crazy. Myself included. I'll go get some underwear and put them on my head.

Re: Random, lengthy soapbox, because I was charitable and left it out of the initial post

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to clarify: I do by and large agree with what you say on the statutory rape issue, though I do have some friends who at sixteen or so were involved with people considerably older (say, 35) and count those as good, healthy experiences. It *really* depends on the sixteen-year-old though, and from all I know that's damn rare. In this particular case that PP didn't report, though, the guy was 17. I do not see this as a major problem in terms of capacity to consent.

It sort of reminds me though of this fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl, I forget her exact age, who got married (in some state where young marriage was legal) to a man who was ten years older than she, but who was not-quite-mildly-retarded and who clearly presented, to everyone who knew him, as being significantly younger than he was. I suppose articles paint people the way they want to, but from the quotes from him and stuff, he did sound younger than his age, and he sounded genuinely sweet and genuinely confused about all this fuss, because he didn't see the age thing as an issue. Nor did his wife. The funny part is that I don't really see a sexual relationship in those circumstances to be particularly problematic, but I do see marriage between two people who both essentially have a mental age of fifteen as a possible mistake! But I think about that a lot in thinking about statutory rape laws. My brain is always niggling "by and large, yeah, the power disparity goes along with the age disparity, but then there's those cases that don't fit the mold..."

Re: Random, lengthy soapbox, because I was charitable and left it out of the initial post

[amyura.livejournal.com]

As a parent I hope my children will always feel comfortable and able to turn to me when they need help. But if they don't, I would certainly choose for them to be able to seek care without my knowledge instead of for them to not seek care at all.

A-fucking-men! That's really my only goal with my kids. That, and that they'll grow up to be nice people.

Right now my biggest concern is how I'll react if they turn out to be crazy right-wingers. Will they still feel comfortable coming to me and telling me that they joined MCFL?