One of the latest, greatest skirmishes in the ongoing battle over providing Americans access to affordable health care is birth control. The religious right has taken up arms over their "right" to deny health coverage that includes anything that contradicts their moral beliefs, based on religion. Specifically, they are asserting their right to refuse to provide health insurance that includes birth control. Not surprisingly, some courts are finding their stance constitutional. Terrifyingly, the Supreme Court may back them up.
While I am not a proponent of western medicine in general or of birth control pills in particular, I am a huge believer in fairness. Men's health needs are covered. Women's health needs should be covered. Furthermore, using religion as a means to fight against providing everyone access to affordable health care is just, well, sinful.
Ok, then, how can we address this issue?
If the reason the religious right is refusing to provide health care coverage is because it includes access to birth control, why don't we just take 'birth control' out of the equation? Since women take birth control pills for a myriad of reasons*, including lowering the risk of certain cancers, clearing up skin problems, PMS and painful period relief, treating endometriosis, and unwanted hair growth and other problems caused by poycystic ovarian syndrome, drug companies simply need to come out with "new" drugs aimed at treating these symptoms.
Ah, but what about the 86% of birth control pill users who, regardless of other reasons, also take birth control pills for - well, birth control?** Simple! Just look at the above list of symptoms they can seek relief for through the "new" wonder drugs to come. What woman does not experience painful periods, eh?
Isn't this approach fraudulent, you might ask? Also, if the drug causes a woman to be infertile, can the religious right not deny access, regardless of the stated purpose of the drug?
First of all, drug companies have been "reinventing" the same old drugs for "new, breakthrough" purposes for decades.*** Whenever sales dwindle or if a drug proves useless for its intended purpose, they simply come up with a new miraculous use for it, often inventing the "disease" itself, (then give doctors kickbacks and "gifts" for promoting it by handing out generous free samples and prescribing it in place of more tried and true approaches. I believe this is one thing the affordable care act addresses - reducing this sort of medical prescription by ulterior motive routine).
Secondly, whilst drug companies will not be promoting these "new miracle" drugs for birth control, per se, the possibility of a woman's reduced (by about 90%) fertility will be listed where it belongs for this particular drug: in the side effects disclaimer. As such, "birth control" can join the other dreaded possibilities that surely the religious right does not condone, but does not refuse to provide coverage because of, including heart attacks, kidney failure, nervous system disorders, all of which can lead to - yes - death.**** While the religious right is focused on birth control, wouldn't "death control" be a factor in all this? After all, dead people do not reproduce.
Ah, you may be thinking, but the religious right can still argue that since reduced fertility is a possible side effect of these drugs, they can deny access to them. Really? Ok, then the religious right needs to also deny access to the following: anabolic steroids, iodine, thyroid medication, aspirin, ibuprofin, chemotherapy, and certain anti-psychotic drugs. Not only that, coverage for abdominal surgery must be discontinued and alcohol, tobacco, and excessive exercise need to be banned. Also, underwear fit needs to be "tightly" regulated. After all, one possible side effect of all these things is severely reduced fertility. *****
Sounds crazy right? That's because it is. Until the religious right is ready to stand against all of the above causes of "birth control", how can they stand against any? Come on, drug companies, do that thing you do so well: spin us a new treatment!
* http://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/features/other-reasons-to-take-the-pill?page=2
** http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html
*** http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1369125/
**** http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/10/fda-warns-of-deadly-side-_n_711895.html
***** http://www.stanford.edu/class/siw198q/websites/reprotech/New%20Ways%20of%20Making%20Babies/causemal.htm
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Infertility/pages/causes.aspx
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Telling the Emperor He Has No Clothes ~ or ~ No wonder I am lonely
Today I was out digging in my flowerbed when my neighbor came along. Determined to finish my project but remain friendly, I chatted with her whilst continuing to turn over the sod and pull out roots.
Our talk lasted quite a while, as they usually do, and we covered a lot of topics - birthdays, aging, walking, fitness - oh, I forget what all - and eventually, politics reared its head.
She started talking about the shutdown and how it is really Obama's fault.
"You have been watching too much Fox News if that is what you believe" I assured her.
"I don't watch Fox News" she said. Perhaps not, but her gardener, who also comes around blaming Obama for the clouds, the wind, his wife's bad mood, his poverty... who stands around for an hour after work, 'splainin stuff to her... her gardener is a huge Fox News advocate. He is certain that we must not, heaven forbid, tax the rich - after all, they create the jobs! Uh, yeah, in Asia.
"Actually", she sez, "I really blame all of them for this mess we are in."
"For the shutdown?" I asked. "It just does not work like that. If a guy comes to your house and holds a gun to your head and says 'give me all your money or I will burn your house down' and I say that I blame both of you, does that make any sense?"
"Huh?" sez she.
"The Republicans, led by a small group of Tea Partyers who where elected through a backlash of hatred and retaliation, by people still fighting the civil war, are holding a gun to our heads, saying that if we do not give them their way, when they could not get that through elections, or through congressional votes, now, if we do not give them their way, despite all that, they will shut down our government. Saying you blame all of them just does not make sense. There are the people trying to actually run our government, and then there are the crazies who do not believe in government, who should never have been elected."
Before I knew it, she was bragging that she had passed a group at an overpass today with signs saying to honk if you wanted to Impeach Obama. I shook my head and started to say "Yeah, that is such BS", but she cut me off, saying "I honked twice".
"Ok", I said, "disagreeing with him is one thing, but impeachment? That is for serious, treasonous offenses. What exactly has Obama done that you want to impeach him?"
"He is a liar", she said.
"A liar, eh?" sez I, "And just what did he lie about?"
"About those things he promised to do during his campaign."
What? She doesn't like him, she didn't support him, she didn't like the things he said he would do, didn't, in fact, want him to do them.... so... should she not be ecstatic if he, in fact, did not follow through? Shouldn't she be giving him a medal?
But I said: "Your party has done nothing but try to stop his every move and now you want to impeach him for not doing the things your party is not allowing to be done? Impeachment? Really? You know what this is? Racism."
"I am not a racist" sez she.
"We are all racists, I replied. I am a racist. I fight every day for equal rights for everyone but in my dark little heart, I am a racist. I don't want to be - I don't mean to be - but you would be amazed at the ugly thoughts that run through my head. I have to consciously let them go. But we are all, to some extent, racists."
"I have never felt that way", she assured me. "When I was a young girl, my closest friends were a family of colored people."
"Yeah," sez I? "Let me ask you this? How many presidents have you ever wanted to see impeached in your lifetime (she is 82) ?
"None of them."
"So... you think it is just a co-incidence that you want to impeach our first Black president - and the reason is because he did not fulfill all of his campaign promises?"
"I don't argue politics" sez she. (yeah, cause most liberals and moderates, and some conservatives tend to just shut up and take it, whilst the haters go about proudly proclaiming their stance, fairly certain they will go unchallenged. And if they are old, or young, the liberals are even more inclined to overlook their behavior - no, come to think of it, those are not even required for a pass)
"You know what?" sez I, "I don't start the argument, but when I am minding my own business in my own yard and someone comes along and tells me that they want to impeach my president, I have something to say about that. You know what you say to me when you say that? That you don't care if I drop dead - because he is the one bringing health care coverage to people like me."
"Now you are just parroting my son"
"What? Your son does not have health coverage and you want to impeach the guy bringing him that? You don't care if your son drops dead?"
"You know what, Rita", sez she, "I like you, and I enjoy talking with you, but you think what you think and I think what I think...."
K then.
Come to think of it, I was on a tear now. Off she went, but I kept talking: "You want to impeach a president for lying, how about Bush? He killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people based on lies. He started the war. Obama ended it." Now she was beyond talking distance...... so I yelled: "You like dead children? Vote Republican!"
Our talk lasted quite a while, as they usually do, and we covered a lot of topics - birthdays, aging, walking, fitness - oh, I forget what all - and eventually, politics reared its head.
She started talking about the shutdown and how it is really Obama's fault.
"You have been watching too much Fox News if that is what you believe" I assured her.
"I don't watch Fox News" she said. Perhaps not, but her gardener, who also comes around blaming Obama for the clouds, the wind, his wife's bad mood, his poverty... who stands around for an hour after work, 'splainin stuff to her... her gardener is a huge Fox News advocate. He is certain that we must not, heaven forbid, tax the rich - after all, they create the jobs! Uh, yeah, in Asia.
"Actually", she sez, "I really blame all of them for this mess we are in."
"For the shutdown?" I asked. "It just does not work like that. If a guy comes to your house and holds a gun to your head and says 'give me all your money or I will burn your house down' and I say that I blame both of you, does that make any sense?"
"Huh?" sez she.
"The Republicans, led by a small group of Tea Partyers who where elected through a backlash of hatred and retaliation, by people still fighting the civil war, are holding a gun to our heads, saying that if we do not give them their way, when they could not get that through elections, or through congressional votes, now, if we do not give them their way, despite all that, they will shut down our government. Saying you blame all of them just does not make sense. There are the people trying to actually run our government, and then there are the crazies who do not believe in government, who should never have been elected."
Before I knew it, she was bragging that she had passed a group at an overpass today with signs saying to honk if you wanted to Impeach Obama. I shook my head and started to say "Yeah, that is such BS", but she cut me off, saying "I honked twice".
"Ok", I said, "disagreeing with him is one thing, but impeachment? That is for serious, treasonous offenses. What exactly has Obama done that you want to impeach him?"
"He is a liar", she said.
"A liar, eh?" sez I, "And just what did he lie about?"
"About those things he promised to do during his campaign."
What? She doesn't like him, she didn't support him, she didn't like the things he said he would do, didn't, in fact, want him to do them.... so... should she not be ecstatic if he, in fact, did not follow through? Shouldn't she be giving him a medal?
But I said: "Your party has done nothing but try to stop his every move and now you want to impeach him for not doing the things your party is not allowing to be done? Impeachment? Really? You know what this is? Racism."
"I am not a racist" sez she.
"We are all racists, I replied. I am a racist. I fight every day for equal rights for everyone but in my dark little heart, I am a racist. I don't want to be - I don't mean to be - but you would be amazed at the ugly thoughts that run through my head. I have to consciously let them go. But we are all, to some extent, racists."
"I have never felt that way", she assured me. "When I was a young girl, my closest friends were a family of colored people."
"Yeah," sez I? "Let me ask you this? How many presidents have you ever wanted to see impeached in your lifetime (she is 82) ?
"None of them."
"So... you think it is just a co-incidence that you want to impeach our first Black president - and the reason is because he did not fulfill all of his campaign promises?"
"I don't argue politics" sez she. (yeah, cause most liberals and moderates, and some conservatives tend to just shut up and take it, whilst the haters go about proudly proclaiming their stance, fairly certain they will go unchallenged. And if they are old, or young, the liberals are even more inclined to overlook their behavior - no, come to think of it, those are not even required for a pass)
"You know what?" sez I, "I don't start the argument, but when I am minding my own business in my own yard and someone comes along and tells me that they want to impeach my president, I have something to say about that. You know what you say to me when you say that? That you don't care if I drop dead - because he is the one bringing health care coverage to people like me."
"Now you are just parroting my son"
"What? Your son does not have health coverage and you want to impeach the guy bringing him that? You don't care if your son drops dead?"
"You know what, Rita", sez she, "I like you, and I enjoy talking with you, but you think what you think and I think what I think...."
K then.
Come to think of it, I was on a tear now. Off she went, but I kept talking: "You want to impeach a president for lying, how about Bush? He killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people based on lies. He started the war. Obama ended it." Now she was beyond talking distance...... so I yelled: "You like dead children? Vote Republican!"
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Waking Up From a Nightmare
I feel like I am living in a science fiction movie - one where the world I live in is being destroyed by evil people and I have been running around crying out "we must stop them" for decades but my fellow beings have all been dogmatized and are hypnotically marching to to a rally cry in their heads: "progress... progress... progress...." as they carry more fuel to the inferno of Earth's demise.
Seriously. There is a facebook group called "The dirty fucking hippies were right" - and guess what? We were.
Only a couple of years ago I had a brief discussion with a seemingly nice man, a musician who my husband greatly admires. He lives in an upbeat, groovy city - one that ranks at or near the top of the heap for folks who ride their bikes to work and other such green phenomena. This man is a nuclear engineer. Our short-lived exchange was regarding the Fukushima disaster, nuke plants and their danger. He proclaimed in a matter-of-fact, end-of-chat sort of way that we could not have all the progress we have without them. I replied that we could in fact have a wonderful existence and that if an adjustment to our debauch level of consumption was required, so be it, a small price to pay for the safety and health of our children. At that point, he walked away in disgust.
Forty years ago, people were walking away in disgust when I told them the whole nuclear power plant push was a mistake. I was the long haired, no make-up, hairy legged vegetarian (what could she know, right?) who lived off the grid, refused to use herbicides and so spent seven years hand pulling star thistle from her yard, who bought her clothes used so that she would not be directly supporting third world slavery, who picketed a major lumber/paper company for aerial spraying of herbicides over massive areas, causing birth defects and illness, who rallied against an asphalt batch plant being installed adjacent to the local high school's football field. I have spent my entire adult life having people shake their heads and walk away in disgust. I have been videotaped menacingly, bullied, threatened...
But I was right.
Today, as I sit here bleary eyed from another troubled night, envisioning the hundreds of thousands of gallons of radioactive water being pumped into the Pacific Ocean each day in Japan because of one of hundreds of nuclear power plants, any of which could 'blow' at any moment, I wonder why I did not do more to stop the madness. At some point I merely checked out - went and hid on the backside of a mountain. But what if I had spoken more loudly, more often? Would anyone listen? Would they, in this mad, mad world where women are automatically less respected, less acknowledged, have less rights, less credence? Where, yes, it does matter what a woman looks like - WAY more than what a man looks like? Where women themselves will attack another woman for standing up - for speaking the truth? (no, not all women - of course - thank goodness)
And what now? Now that we are warned not to eat fish from the Pacific Ocean - the largest ocean in the world. Now that we are warned against dairy products from the Pacific Northwest of America - against dark green leafy vegetables - against allowing the rain to touch us - against drinking the water? I find myself living in what would be a veritable Eden, but questioning every meal, every sip of water, beginning to shun all food from my own area just as I shunned food from Europe after Chernobyl. I have long felt that people should live in an area that is largely self-sustainable. And here I am, in one of the most verdant areas of the world, being warned that I should import my food.
What is being done to stop the nuclear holocaust that is wiping out safe water, safe food? Is there still a chance to stop the madness? Who is making all these decisions? Who is backing them? Why did no one listen when many, many of us cried out against the madness of installing giant, deadly, monstrous contraptions with ridiculously lacking plans for maintenance, repair - for disposal of contaminants, for emergency measures? Who ok'd building them on faults? In Tsunami zones?
Yes, this is like a science fiction movie. I am watching the plume spread from our latest greatest disaster and wondering if enough people will wake up, soon enough to stop the madness.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent I live on, the other major Ocean is bubbling with oil spills. Ah, the mad irony, that the greatest source of healing, of health is the ocean, and yet, America has become a place where access to the very essence that our own bodies evolved to emulate is being cut off at a frightening pace. And in the middle of this continent, huge monster pipelines, bursting willy nilly... spewing the earth's bile across the land - into the fresh water.
The laws that allow fracking to be carried on with immunity to water safety regulations, pipelines to be built - and built shoddily, that offered massive tax rebates for buying a gas hog vehicle weighing over three tons.... where does all this come from?
There is a meme on the internet of a fork in the road with nirvana one way and 99 cent burgers the other. Everyone is heading off to the burger "deal". Yeah, funny. Except it is absolutely true.
We are so easily controlled. Racism, prejudice, perhaps most of all, selfish greed. I know that I have many, many times betrayed my values for a pretty bauble, a yummy meal, some - oh, yeah! - MONEY. All out of greed - and apathy.
Americans - make that humans - tend to scramble over each other, desperately clambering for "the top". We all "need more than most people". And whatever each of us is doing to further choke off the very life sustaining properties of this planet, it just does not matter, does it, because look at what all the rest of them are doing, eh? And so we carry on, driving 5 blocks in our diesel trucks, soaking in our outdoor hot tubs (guilty), buying products that are shipped from around the world - such as, uh, water (big wtf here), getting more and more of our meals as take-out, neatly packaged in materials that require all of that energy we are so hooked on. Yeah, energy. We love that stuff. Cannot get enough. And it does not matter how, amiright?
Ah, the madness.... hello? Is anyone awake around here?
So, uh, yeah... I hope we all wake up soon... maybe someone should sound the alarm.
Seriously. There is a facebook group called "The dirty fucking hippies were right" - and guess what? We were.
Only a couple of years ago I had a brief discussion with a seemingly nice man, a musician who my husband greatly admires. He lives in an upbeat, groovy city - one that ranks at or near the top of the heap for folks who ride their bikes to work and other such green phenomena. This man is a nuclear engineer. Our short-lived exchange was regarding the Fukushima disaster, nuke plants and their danger. He proclaimed in a matter-of-fact, end-of-chat sort of way that we could not have all the progress we have without them. I replied that we could in fact have a wonderful existence and that if an adjustment to our debauch level of consumption was required, so be it, a small price to pay for the safety and health of our children. At that point, he walked away in disgust.
Forty years ago, people were walking away in disgust when I told them the whole nuclear power plant push was a mistake. I was the long haired, no make-up, hairy legged vegetarian (what could she know, right?) who lived off the grid, refused to use herbicides and so spent seven years hand pulling star thistle from her yard, who bought her clothes used so that she would not be directly supporting third world slavery, who picketed a major lumber/paper company for aerial spraying of herbicides over massive areas, causing birth defects and illness, who rallied against an asphalt batch plant being installed adjacent to the local high school's football field. I have spent my entire adult life having people shake their heads and walk away in disgust. I have been videotaped menacingly, bullied, threatened...
But I was right.
Today, as I sit here bleary eyed from another troubled night, envisioning the hundreds of thousands of gallons of radioactive water being pumped into the Pacific Ocean each day in Japan because of one of hundreds of nuclear power plants, any of which could 'blow' at any moment, I wonder why I did not do more to stop the madness. At some point I merely checked out - went and hid on the backside of a mountain. But what if I had spoken more loudly, more often? Would anyone listen? Would they, in this mad, mad world where women are automatically less respected, less acknowledged, have less rights, less credence? Where, yes, it does matter what a woman looks like - WAY more than what a man looks like? Where women themselves will attack another woman for standing up - for speaking the truth? (no, not all women - of course - thank goodness)
And what now? Now that we are warned not to eat fish from the Pacific Ocean - the largest ocean in the world. Now that we are warned against dairy products from the Pacific Northwest of America - against dark green leafy vegetables - against allowing the rain to touch us - against drinking the water? I find myself living in what would be a veritable Eden, but questioning every meal, every sip of water, beginning to shun all food from my own area just as I shunned food from Europe after Chernobyl. I have long felt that people should live in an area that is largely self-sustainable. And here I am, in one of the most verdant areas of the world, being warned that I should import my food.
What is being done to stop the nuclear holocaust that is wiping out safe water, safe food? Is there still a chance to stop the madness? Who is making all these decisions? Who is backing them? Why did no one listen when many, many of us cried out against the madness of installing giant, deadly, monstrous contraptions with ridiculously lacking plans for maintenance, repair - for disposal of contaminants, for emergency measures? Who ok'd building them on faults? In Tsunami zones?
Yes, this is like a science fiction movie. I am watching the plume spread from our latest greatest disaster and wondering if enough people will wake up, soon enough to stop the madness.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent I live on, the other major Ocean is bubbling with oil spills. Ah, the mad irony, that the greatest source of healing, of health is the ocean, and yet, America has become a place where access to the very essence that our own bodies evolved to emulate is being cut off at a frightening pace. And in the middle of this continent, huge monster pipelines, bursting willy nilly... spewing the earth's bile across the land - into the fresh water.
The laws that allow fracking to be carried on with immunity to water safety regulations, pipelines to be built - and built shoddily, that offered massive tax rebates for buying a gas hog vehicle weighing over three tons.... where does all this come from?
There is a meme on the internet of a fork in the road with nirvana one way and 99 cent burgers the other. Everyone is heading off to the burger "deal". Yeah, funny. Except it is absolutely true.
We are so easily controlled. Racism, prejudice, perhaps most of all, selfish greed. I know that I have many, many times betrayed my values for a pretty bauble, a yummy meal, some - oh, yeah! - MONEY. All out of greed - and apathy.
Americans - make that humans - tend to scramble over each other, desperately clambering for "the top". We all "need more than most people". And whatever each of us is doing to further choke off the very life sustaining properties of this planet, it just does not matter, does it, because look at what all the rest of them are doing, eh? And so we carry on, driving 5 blocks in our diesel trucks, soaking in our outdoor hot tubs (guilty), buying products that are shipped from around the world - such as, uh, water (big wtf here), getting more and more of our meals as take-out, neatly packaged in materials that require all of that energy we are so hooked on. Yeah, energy. We love that stuff. Cannot get enough. And it does not matter how, amiright?
Ah, the madness.... hello? Is anyone awake around here?
So, uh, yeah... I hope we all wake up soon... maybe someone should sound the alarm.
Friday, April 26, 2013
OH, SHOOT, I GUESS I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT GUNS
Finish this sentence: " I am going to go get a ___ and kill myself." What word did you use? If you used the three letter word that is the topic of protest on both sides of late, why did you use that word? I think it was because:
1) This is the word most commonly used in this (unfortunate) saying.
2) A (___) is the suicide method most commonly used. (Yeah, you know what it is)
In fact, guns are used way more for suicide than for protection. The statistics are so sad:
USA 2011 Figures:
Gun suicides: 19,766 (Approximately half of all suicides were by gun)
Accidental gun deaths: 851
Gun deaths (cause undetermined) 222
Gun homicides 11,101 (over 2/3 of all homicides were by gun)
I keep hearing "I need a gun for protection." And yet, people with a gun in the home are at greater risk of dying of a violent crime than people without a gun in the home.**
People say that gun control does not work. Look at Australia. Gun control works.***
People say "Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
Please. Get off it. See the first sentence? Did you insert "person" in the blank? Uh, yeah, no. Then you do know what I am talking about here. Stop the BS.
I have more to say about the gun issue. Later. Tune in again.
* http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
** http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full
*** http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/02/did-gun-control-work-in-australia/
1) This is the word most commonly used in this (unfortunate) saying.
2) A (___) is the suicide method most commonly used. (Yeah, you know what it is)
In fact, guns are used way more for suicide than for protection. The statistics are so sad:
USA 2011 Figures:
Gun suicides: 19,766 (Approximately half of all suicides were by gun)
Accidental gun deaths: 851
Gun deaths (cause undetermined) 222
Gun homicides 11,101 (over 2/3 of all homicides were by gun)
I keep hearing "I need a gun for protection." And yet, people with a gun in the home are at greater risk of dying of a violent crime than people without a gun in the home.**
People say that gun control does not work. Look at Australia. Gun control works.***
People say "Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
Please. Get off it. See the first sentence? Did you insert "person" in the blank? Uh, yeah, no. Then you do know what I am talking about here. Stop the BS.
I have more to say about the gun issue. Later. Tune in again.
* http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
** http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full
*** http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/02/did-gun-control-work-in-australia/
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