Tag Archives: news

Rush Thinks We’re All Sluts

After Rush Limbaugh’s recent explosion over birth control it is clear that Rush Limbaugh thinks we’re all sluts. The controversy that caused the explosion: law student, Sarah Fluke’s testimony on behalf of women. Yes, women. She argued that birth control should be covered by insurance even if you are working or attending some sort of religious institution. The vast majority of Republicans are going after birth control coverage in the same way they bullied some insurance companies into removing abortion coverage. Rush responded to Sarah Fluke’s testimony with the following statement.

“So Miss Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here’s the deal: If we are going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

It is interesting to note that Fluke’s argument was not based on the birth control’s contraceptive properties- but the health issues the pill is used to treat.

This is war: war on women. This last move, an attempt to remove birth control coverage from major insurance plans, proves it. They want us to be barefoot and pregnant or just plain poor from having to buy birth control without insurance coverage. Men can walk into a gas station to buy condoms. Condoms are $1 each. Women have to first make an appointment with an OBGYN (which without insurance is $250 before tests are added to the bill) and then they must get a prescription, bring it to a pharmacy and get it filled. Even with insurance, the copay for birth control is often $20 or even $40 for a one month supply!

I just called my local Rite Aid Pharmacy to get some prices. One of the safest birth control pills to take (safe because it has less hormones in it than the other ones) is $114.99 per month! That is without insurance. With insurance it is probably still expensive, as we know each year copays go up not down.

There are other options like Planned Parenthood, which will provide you with affordable birth control for $35, however, their selection of pills are limited and they do not carry the low hormone brands. Ladies, you better get your affordable birth control at Planned Parenthood quick, because the Republicans in power are trying to defund them too.

 

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Filed under News, Sex

Beating the Devil Around the Stump

Beat the devil around the stump- to evade responsibility or a difficult task. Old Western terminology.

What’s wrong with this country. Well a lot, but let’s start with healthcare. The United States is the only country of it’s caliber (“civilized,” modern, industrialized, etc) to not have universal heath care. For years people have considered Americans to be disconnected and ignorant of our European neighbors across the pond. It certainly seems we are removed from what’s going on over there, it’s scary over here; a real frontier. Those without healthcare are subject to death both mortal and financial. Disease and accidents are yesteryears outlaws. Will you dodge them? And if they get you, are you one of the lucky ones who have health care? Or will you collapse in the streets from illness or financial ruin; a sight reminiscent of the gunfight at the OK corral, where only a few unlucky ones got hit. Are you okay with our nation’s health care being as chaotic as Old Western vigilantism crossed with Russian Roulette?

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If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say….

Since becoming a serious member of the Blogosphere through participating in my own site, writing for Gender Across Borders and The Huffington Post, I’ve adopted one simple etiquette policy: if you don’t have anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Although it is evident through some of the nasty comments I’ve gotten (though few and far between) and through reading the comments on other popular websites, many people don’t fly by this rule, and prefer to spew vile and hide behind the anonymity that the World Wide Web often provides.

Although I apply this rule to my internet comings and goings, there is no doubt in my mind that most of us first heard the phrase, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all from our mothers or some other parental figure during a time where the phrase was to be applied to everyday life before the internet existed. There are many reasons why this is a good policy. Many of those reasons includes common courtesy, being a nice person, and otherwise overlooking another’s indiscretions and personal failures in favor of letting karma work it all out for you. Another reason is because when you say something mean or nasty with intent to harm, it sometimes comes back and bites you in the butt, or as Donald Trump recently demonstrated, it sometimes comes back and bites you in the butt before you can even formulate the words, “Your Fired.”

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Rory’s Story Cubes and Other News

Our Fiction Friday Rory’s Story Cubes Open Call was a success. Not only did we get a variety of great stories, but we also got some recognition from Rory’s Story Cubes!

Rory’s Story Cubes left me a tweet complimenting your stories, “nice variety of stories inspired by a roll of the cubes.” Below is a screenshot of the tweet:

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Filed under Fun, News

Victim Blaming

Photograph by Hayley Rose, Copyright 2005

As I am writing, I can hear a story blaring from the TV about an 11-year-old girl who has been raped by 19 young men. The story gets worse as this little girl, who has just been gang-raped becomes the target of victim blaming. The TV anchor quotes one of the rapists, who defends himself by saying, “She looked older than 11.”

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Filed under Healing, Sexual Assault