Rape Victim’s Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance?

A 38-year-old woman in Ithaca, N.Y., said she was raped last year and then penalized by insurers because in giving her medical history she mentioned an assault she suffered in college 17 years earlier. The woman, Kimberly Fallon, told a nurse about the previous attack and months later, her doctor’s office sent her a bill for treatment. She said she was informed by a nurse and, later, the hospital’s billing department that her health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, not only had declined payment for the rape exam, but also would not pay for therapy or medication for trauma because she “had been raped before.”

via Rape Victim’s Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance?.

Saturday morning, a Palestinian doctor who reports for Israel’s channel 10 television witnessed three of his daughters killed by Israeli bombs, even as his first moments of insane panic and grief were broadcast live.

Israeli officials said shells were dropped in response to sniper fire in the area.

Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Ashi is an uncommon man. A Palestinian who works for an Israeli hospital, Dr. Ashi has been giving Israelis daily reports on the military campaign in Gaza.

“No one can get to us,” he screamed in Arabic on a live phone call with a channel 10 anchor. “My God … My God …”

via The Raw Story | Palestinian doctor’s daughters killed during live Israeli TV report.

Protests Over a Rule to Protect Health Providers – NYTimes.com
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: November 17, 2008

WASHINGTON — A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job discrimination laws.

The proposed rule would prohibit recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance of abortions or sterilization procedures because of their “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

It would also prevent hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and drugstores from requiring employees with religious or moral objections to “assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity” financed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

…

But the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, 28 senators, more than 110 representatives and the attorneys general of 13 states have urged the Bush administration to withdraw the proposed rule.

Pharmacies said the rule would allow their employees to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraceptives and could “lead to Medicaid patients being turned away.” State officials said the rule could void state laws that require insurance plans to cover contraceptives and require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

The Ohio Health Department said the rule “could force family planning providers to hire employees who may refuse to do their jobs” — a concern echoed by Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Huddle 24/7 – Politico.com
SCOOP: Politico’s John Bresnahan says HARRY REID is quietly planning to ease ROBERT BYRD out of the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“Reid has not yet discussed his plans with Byrd. But in a recent closed-door meeting with his advisers in Las Vegas and a private conversation with Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Reid has laid out a scenario that would have Inouye — the committee’s second-ranking Democrat — taking over Byrd’s chairmanship by the time the 111th Congress convenes in January.

Later in the same piece, the author discussed Ted Stevens, just convicted on seven felony counts of violating federal ethics laws. That’s where he’s done things wrong ‘n stuff. And lied about it. You know, unethically. Some of it to do with money, and how he let people give him lots of free shit and then made legislation that favored them. That’s bad. So then I read this:

Democrat DANIEL INOUYE — a Stevens friend who testified at his trial — said he hopes “the people of Alaska continue to believe in Ted Stevens, to remember his contributions and to look upon him as friend.”

So… we want a “friend” of Ted Stevens, someone who still thinks well of him and testified for him at his trial… (even though Steven’s is well know to be both the king of earmarks and a corrupt Intertube-ignorant-bastard) to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee? Where they… hand out the money? A position presumably ripe for corruption? Surely there must be some other/better choice here?

What happens when I mix art and politics. Larger size at Rendo, should you want to see that.

Kristol Rips McCain Camp, RNC For Handling Of Palin
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Kristol said Palin had been “ill served by some of the staff,” particularly in light of anonymous aides ripping her as a diva and/or rogue agent in recent news articles.

He chided the RNC for not taking the hit for the clothing that was purchased on Palin’s behalf.

“Why wasn’t a staffer out there saying, ‘you know what, I made the mistake’?” he asked. “Since when do the staffers go into hiding and let Governor Palin be the one who has to explain it? It’s a total disgrace the staff has ducked responsibility for this mistake, which was not her mistake. Whatever people’s criticisms of Governor Palin, no one thinks she lives high on the hog in Alaska, shopping at Neiman Marcus… I think the staff has ill-served her.”

So here’s the flaw in this typical right-wing thought process. The one where underlings have to take the heat for the mistakes of their superiors, while those superiors swan around claiming how much of a “decider” they are. One of two things is true in regard to this situation, both of them being equally damning of Sarah Palin and her ability to lead so much as a parade, much less the free world. Either:

1. Sarah Palin knew full well that this clothing expenditure was inappropriate, out of keeping with the hockey-mom character she’s been pitching, and possibly illegal. In this scenario she was well aware that this was not an OK thing to do, she just hoped it wouldn’t come out. If this scenario is true, then Bill Kristol seems to think that her staff should be falling on their swords, lying and covering up what Sarah Palin knew and didn’t know. Very typical of Republican (and corporate) thinking – save the boss’s face at all costs, no matter which disposable underling gets thrown under the bus. Why this scenario is damning for Sarah Palin: Do we really need one more cunning, ruthless leader who does whatever they want and then denies knowledge/responsibility for it when it comes to light, sacrificing those under them whenever it’s politically expedient?

2. Sarah Palin had no idea that this clothing expenditure was inappropriate, out of keeping with the hockey-mom character she’s been pitching, and possibly illegal. In this scenario Sarah Palin was the helpless puppet of a ruthless McCain campaign staff (the same staff who are currently running Alaska, by the sound of it.) She didn’t have any choice about what clothing was purchased for her and what was worn. She did not question from where the money came or how much was spent. She didn’t question the legality or the ethics of spending more money than most people see in 3-4 years on 2 months of clothing and hairstyling for herself and her family. Helpless against this overwhelming tide of powerful McCain staffers, she meekly donned whatever boxy jackets they held up, and never made a peep. She had NO IDEA they spent that much, but if she’d known she’d have said “Thanks but no thanks,” by golly! Why this scenario is damning for Sarah Palin: If this person can’t question or stand up to people who are trying to dress her, then what chance is there that she can stand up to her advisers once she’s in office? What chance that she can stand up to foreign leaders? If she didn’t question where these magical clothes came from, what else will she not question, not think about? If she was out of touch on campaign finance law and didn’t have the knowledge to identify this as inappropriate, what else doesn’t she know?

No matter which way Kristol tries to spin it, she looks bad. His saying that the staffers need to step up and take responsibility for this either confirms that Sarah Palin is another ruthless politician who will lie whenever necessary to protect herself, or that she’s a helpless puppet, buffeted along in an overwhelming tide of political machination over which she has no control.

Just what we don’t need in a leader, no matter how you spin it.

The abridged version, for those who don’t have this kind of time, is that the Repugs have tried to make this election about character rather than issues. Ominous “Who is Barack Obama?” BS everywhere. But when you look at Sarah Palin’s character, as evinced by her past actions, you rapidly get a picture of someone who will bend the rules for herself, her friends and family. She espouses convictions that she doesn’t seem to hold (or at least live by) and is not interested in the world outside her narrow view of it. She holds other women in contempt, she lies and distorts facts that can be easily disproven, and it seems like she might also be a greedy, aspirational, lying tax cheat too. So… if this race is about character – that makes it way easier, right?

Unabashed Hypocrisy & Lying: This week it was revealed that the RNC has paid for a $150,000 image upgrade for the backwoods Palins.

So, she’s one of the people, part of the “Real America” and her-n-Todd are struggling like everyone else. She only feels at home in a sea of Carharts and steel-toed boots. While she’s wearing $2,000 boots from Saks? Riiiiight. She now has the nerve to categorically deny the expenditure to the Chicago Tribune (after McCain already confirmed it with a terse “she needed clothes“). In the meantime, even her kids have gotten in on the action, as HuffPo has this slideshow of 2nd-grader Piper Palin wearing some pretty sassy outfits. In this one she’s even seen carrying a Louis Vuitton bag. Please baby Jesus, let that be her Mom’s bag? Please don’t say that ANYONE is boneheaded enough to buy a $1,000 purse for a 2nd grader? Although why SPalin or anyone in her down-home, one-of-the-people retinue would need a $1,000 bag I can also not explain. Are world leaders now judging their peers by their taste in handbags? Was she planning on carrying this in her next Katie Couric interview? In addition her makeup artist apparently charged the RNC $22k in the first two weeks of October, making her the highest-paid campaign staffer for that period. Because Sarah is so natural, and one of the folks, and just like us. I mean, I only paid my own makeup artist $2k in that time frame so that I could look my best at hockey games and dog sled races and whatnot, but still… oh wait, no I don’t have a makeup artist. Nevermind.

Question for Sarah: “Just how much lipstick does that pitbull need, anyhow?”

Lying & Entitlement: The Palin family has done quite a bit of traveling on Alaska’s dime. Sarah has lugged her daughters along to events they were not invited to attend, she’s had them staying with her at $700+ luxury suites, she’s used Alaska money to cart them to some kind of dog sled race their dad was in, then went back to edit the expense reports to claim they were on “official state business.” The people throwing these events say the girls had no official role, and they were shocked in some cases to see them show up. This is BEFORE SPalin was tapped for the VP. This gaming of the system, this abuse of taxpayer monies, this sickening attitude of entitlement for herself and her family, this all has been her standard operating procedure for years, apparently.

She also charged the state “per diem” fees for staying at her own house, when she had an official residence as Governor. Now, maybe my counting skills are off, but that seems to me that in a time when many Americans are facing foreclosure and struggling to maintain roofs over their heads, she had not one but TWO houses available to her, and she chose to stay at the one which would allow her to charge taxpayers for its upkeep. You know, I don’t think most Americans have housing provided to them by their employer, and if they do I don’t think they have the option of rejecting that housing and then charging their employer to stay in their own home. I mean, I may just be some kind of elite thinking person, but I don’t recall many of my own friends in similar situations.

So basically Sarah Palin thinks that her position entitles her and her family to a shedload of freebies and perks on our dime.

Question for Sarah: “Do you think the American taxpayers should continue to pay for your kids’ travel costs if you and McCain are ‘so privileged as to serve’? If so, don’t you think it would be more fiscally conservative of us to choose a candidate who has fewer kids that we the taxpayers are apparently going to have to support?”

Idiocy: Sarah Palin is not an intellectually curious person. In a world somewhat inured to idiotic statements from US leaders (after 12 total years of Bushisms) she still manages to come across as uneducated, and proud of it. This arrogant, prideful ignorance is such a Bushie hallmark that I can hardly believe they think it will play well, but she still has the attitude that people who know stuff are “elite” and think they’re better than other people. (In her Brian Williams interview this week that’s how she defines the elite – as people who think they’re better than other people. A nice follow-up question to that would have been “Do you think you’re better than Senator Obama?” Force that a-hole to say something nice about the man, or else look as douchebaggy as she really is.) She’s ignorant of “small” things, like thinking that New Hampshire is in the northwest of the country, not being able to name any news source she actually follows, not being able to name a single Supreme Court case, not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is, not knowing that most VP candidates in recent history have had extensive foreign policy experience, and she’s ignorant of major things too, like what the role of the vice president actually is, and how a bill becomes a law. There’s a cartoon for that, for Christ’s sake. Note that the VP does not feature in the cartoon. She’s also incapable of forming coherent sentences on almost any topic, and has a strange word-salad manner of interrupting herself so often as she speaks.

Question for Sarah: “What is it about Obama’s 12 years as a professor of constitutional law plus his time in state and federal government that makes him less knowledgeable and less prepared to lead the country than you?”

More Hypocrisy and Abuse of Power: Seriously, what’s going on with her and the tax situation? There’s some shadiness there. (Latest = the $150k of clothing you just know she’s not going to pay taxes on. Probably she left the tags on and will be returning it, after. You know, Wasilla-style.) And what’s with her husband Todd being in that Alaska secessionist party? Isn’t that kinda treason-esque? And even if it isn’t (my belief is that people can espouse whatever beliefs they want as long as they keep their mitts off my rights) it still should prevent her from throwing stones at Obama’s supposed “imperfect” view of America. Hey, your husband apparently doesn’t think America’s all that great either, Sarah. Maybe you and he should have a chat? And as a reformer who takes on special interests, and fiscal conservative who slashes budgets, why do you hire nothing but unqualified cronies for plum jobs, and why did you leave the city of Wasilla in $20 million of long-term debt?

Ethics scandals: She let her husband and her staff use undue pressure on state employees to try to get them to fire someone for personal reasons. When he wouldn’t, she fired him. Technically that’s legal, she can hire and fire who she wants. But letting her husband and staff exert influence in her name to get someone fired over a personal grudge was unethical, it was found to be unethical, and she’s now lying about it.

Question for Sarah: “Will you please read aloud the section of the report that I have highlighted?

Hypocrisy, again (noticing a theme?): She supports abstinence-only sex education, and is on a big high horse about the moral superiority of her small-town values, but has a pregnant teenage daughter, and was also apparently pregnant when she married, herself. (Track was born 8 months after she and Todd eloped.) Irrespective of her own experience, she slashed the budget for a teen pregnancy center in Alaska. Gee thanks. You have to have the kid, but no resources for you!

She would love abortion to be illegal in all cases, ostensibly even in cases like  those described by Bill Napoli, conservative religious South Dakota fucktard:

BILL NAPOLI: A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.

She tried to dodge questions about her views on abortion by saying that she wouldn’t have any influence on policy decision in that area, then turned around to claim that the VP runs the Senate and gets in there and makes good legislation.

She says she will be a champion of families with special-needs children. She claims to be an expert on special-needs families, but has had a Down Syndrome child for only 5 months. Seriously, WTF does she know?

Bashing those who don’t agree with her as anti-American or unpatriotic: Over and over she’s talked about how her followers are the real Americans, the real patriots. Apparently real part of America is only the small towns, and anyone who doesn’t feel like her does not count as an American. Seriously. That’s the rhetoric she’s spouting. These NYC folks who just don’t get it, they’re not real America. Well, as Jon Stewart said the other night  – Osama Bin Laden is going to be PISSED that he bombed the wrong America!

Seriously though, The Daily Show showed just a seconds-long clip of NYC firefighters in the aftermath of 9/11 and I cried for half an hour. The idea that this hateful, horrible woman could stand on a dais and claim that some people in this country are less American than others – it’s sickening. How dare she say such a thing? How dare she imply that her views are the only views, and the rest of us don’t count? Our sacrifices, our struggles, the things we go through every day do not count, because we’re not like her, and don’t like her? Bullshit. How dare she question the way I feel about this country? Apparently she can’t seem to grasp that America is a country of people with vastly divergent views, beliefs and ways of being. We were founded in a way which would incorporate all those views. There’s no “right” way to be an American, there’s no correct way to be patriotic. She needs to change her thinking and realize that America is made up of a lot of people who share none of her values. It’s her and her party’s inability to grasp that concept that makes them such epic failures. I would never accuse her of being un-American for her views, but she would say that I am the “wrong” kind of American for mine.

Question for Sarah: “Which of your opponent’s views do you think Jesus would share?” And BTW, can someone please fill me in on the longstanding question “How many preemptive wars would Jesus start?”

So – is she criminally stupid, or criminally greedy and corrupt? Or all three? I don’t know, and I don’t care. I just want her to go away already.

Biden Palin Vice Presidential Debate 2008 Transcript « After cancer, now what
IFILL: …Governor, you said in July that someone would have to explain to you exactly what it is the vice president does every day. You, senator, said you would not be vice president under any circumstances. Now maybe this was just what was going on at the time. But tell us now, looking forward, what it is you think the vice presidency is worth now.

PALIN: In my comment there, it was a lame attempt at a joke and yours was a lame attempt at a joke, too, I guess, because nobody got it. Of course we know what a vice president does.

BIDEN: They didn’t get yours or mine? Which one didn’t they get?

PALIN: No, no. Of course, we know what a vice president does. And that’s not only to preside over the Senate and will take that position very seriously also. I’m thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president’s policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are. John McCain and I have had good conversations about where I would lead with his agenda. That is energy independence in America and reform of government over all, and then working with families of children with special needs. That’s near and dear to my heart also. In those arenas, John McCain has already tapped me and said, that’s where I want you, I want you to lead. I said, I can’t wait to get and there go to work with you.

IFILL: Senator?

BIDEN: Gwen, I hope we’ll get back to education because I don’t know any government program that John is supporting, not early education, more money for it. The reason No Child Left Behind was left behind, the money was left behind, we didn’t fund it. We can get back to that I assume.

With regard to the role of vice president, I had a long talk, as I’m sure the governor did with her principal, in my case with Barack. Let me tell you what Barack asked me to do. I have a history of getting things done in the United States Senate. John McCain would acknowledge that. My record shows that on controversial issues.

I would be the point person for the legislative initiatives in the United States Congress for our administration. I would also, when asked if I wanted a portfolio, my response was, no. But Barack Obama indicated to me he wanted me with him to help him govern. So every major decision he’ll be making, I’ll be sitting in the room to give my best advice. He’s president, not me, I’ll give my best advice.

And one of the things he said early on when he was choosing, he said he picked someone who had an independent judgment and wouldn’t be afraid to tell him if he disagreed. That is sort of my reputation, as you know. I look forward to working with Barack and playing a very constructive role in his presidency, bringing about the kind of change this country needs.

IFILL: Governor, you mentioned a moment ago the constitution might give the vice president more power than it has in the past. Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that the Executive Branch does not hold complete sway over the office of the vice presidency, that it it is also a member of the Legislative Branch?

PALIN: Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president’s agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we’ll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation. And it is my executive experience that is partly to be attributed to my pick as V.P. with McCain, not only as a governor, but earlier on as a mayor, as an oil and gas regulator, as a business owner. It is those years of experience on an executive level that will be put to good use in the White House also.

IFILL: Vice President Cheney’s interpretation of the vice presidency?

BIDEN: Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

While the media focuses on the antics of McCain’s chosen VP battleground states are purging their voter rolls.

In Colorado, one fifth of all voter registrations were dropped.

Florida is refusing to accept 85,000 new registrants — overwhelmingly blacks.

Ohio & Nevada are scrubbing tens of 1000s of voters who lost their homes.

read more | digg story

The point he tries to make with Jon is that there’s a difference between Palin’s “policy” and her child. There’s a difference between “policy debates” and what goes on in families. And what I don’t get how THEY don’t get, is that the policy they make AFFECTS REAL FAMILIES. JUST AS REAL AS YOUR FAMILY. Duh.

You can’t separate your policy and the laws you’d enact from what you want for your own family. This world is made up of other people’s families. You can’t say “This is my public viewpoint, but at my kitchen table it’s all different.”

Well, I guess you CAN say that, but that’s what makes you a dipshitted conservative “nothing applies to me” asshat. Isn’t that really the conservative’s disease? That mindset that rules don’t apply to them? So they can cheat and lie and steal and fuck and drink and do drugs and fuck some more and start wars and talk bad about people and create havoc and Jeebus forgives them and it’s all OK once they go to rehab but there oughta be a law, by golly, to keep anyone else from doing those things?

*head shake*

*sigh*

This isn’t perfectly transcribed, there’s a reason I am not a transcriptionist by trade, I suppose. But the video is below (this convo starts around the 4:30 mark)

Jon: So what she’s in essence saying is “Respect my family’s ability to make this decision, and elect me so that I can keep your family from having the same opportunity.”
Newt: No. That’s not true
John: That strikes me as hypocrisy.
Newt: No. What she’s saying is… you and she can have a policy debate about whether or not Obama’s position defending infanticide by abortion doctors was appropriate in the Illinois legislature…
Jon: No this isn’t about Obama – I’m going by her words, no abortion even in the case of rape
Newt:… That’s right. You can say Obama’s position was one extreme, and her position may be the other extreme. That’s a policy debate. But the minute you mention her child…
Jon: But when it down to her family she says “respect her decision”
Newt: No she says respect the privacy of the family
Jon: “It was Bristol’s decision.” That was their press release.
Newt: She said respect the privacy of her daughter which is very different than…
Jon: She says respect Bristol’s decision. That’s another word for choice.
Newt: And she could make the choice, because I assume they have choice there.