The state of Virginia has decided it will take a shot at succeeding where Kansas did not. These are not routine regulations: they are emergency regulations. Perhaps I missed it--are women dying from abortion clinics not having large enough storage closets in Virgina? Is that why emergency regulations have been drafted? No, no. It's because they have to be written up due to passage--thanks to the Governor's tie-breaking vote--of Senate Bill 924.
Anti-abortion advocates at the time hailed it as a victory for women's health, while abortion-rights advocates said the law — which compels the board to regulate the clinics like hospitals — is really a move to close the clinics, considering it would compel them to undergo retrofitting of their facilities that most could not afford.
Currently the clinics, which handle only first-trimester abortions, are subject to the same regulations as physician practices that perform any number of invasive procedures, such as cataract surgery; colonoscopies; ear, nose and throat procedures; spinal taps; and dental and plastic surgery.
Abortion-rights advocates say the new regulations would threaten the closure of 15 or more of the clinics because of the costs involved in retro-fitting their facilities to meet the new requirements.
The state also has more than 40 independent obstetrics and gynecology clinics that would be subject to the regulations if they perform five or more abortions a month.
[...]
The 15-member Board of Health has an 8-6 majority of appointees of Gov. Bob McDonnell, an anti-abortion Republican. The remaining six members were appointed by then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat who did not push for regulating abortion clinics like hospitals. One seat is vacant.
[...]
If a majority of the board approves the regulations, the regulations will be subject to "executive review" by the attorney general, the secretary of Health and Human Services, the Department of Planning and Budget, and the governor. Board members also have the option of approving the regulations conditioned upon making certain changes.
[...]
The standard process for implementing health regulations can take two years or more. There is an extended public comment period, and provisions in the process can delay implementation of regulations if substantial objections are raised.
But Hilbert said the accelerated timetable for the abortion clinic regulations is being mandated by language in the legislation, which requires the board to produce regulations within 280 days.
As a result, the board must treat the clinic regulations as "emergency regulations" that are not subject to the same process or public comment period.
There you go, that's why it's an "emergency": so it can be pushed through as soon as possible with as little public input as possible.
Virginians! There WILL be a public comment period. For three weeks up until the September 15th vote, the public can review the regulations (btw, according to the Public Participation Policy (.pdf) on their site, announcements are put in the Virginia Register regarding public comment periods). Once it's been passed and then onto "executive review", there's no more public commenting allowed.
The Board schedules a public comment period at the beginning of each regular meeting to provide an opportunity for citizens to address the Board. Anyone wishing to speak to the Board during this time should, at the beginning of the Board meeting, indicate his or her desire on the sign-in sheet. Presentations during the Public Forum shall not exceed two minutes per person. The public comment period shall be no more than twenty minutes.
According to their site, the September 15th meeting will begin at 9 am and will be held in Richmond (directions on their site). I strongly encourage you, if you can, to be involved with the comment process. Even if a person cannot make it to the meeting, the Board members are compelled to record any commentary they recieve outside of meetings:
...If the subject of a verbal or written comment received by a Board member pertains to specific proposed regulatory action that will be subject to Board approval, the member should immediately forward it to the Commissioner for inclusion in the agency record with other public comment in accordance with the Administrative Process Act. If the comment is a verbal communication, the Board member should immediately report the substance of the comment to the Commissioner who will place a summary of it in the agency record.
So there is still a way to make your voice heard (addresses).
"I don't think you can look at homosexuality and what is taking place without examining the spiritual dynamics here. This is essentially man shaking his fist in the face of God and saying I don't need you, that we will do it our way."—Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
*snerk*
With all the fisting and the kneeling, Conservative Christianity is getting HOT!
A group of anti-abortion people have filed suit in Massachusetts because they cannot harass people enough to their taste. They claim that the buffer zones--enacted after an anti-abortion zealot went on a shooting spree in 1994--makes it to too hard for them to adequately tell a woman she's a murderer.
A team of abortion opponents asked a federal judge yesterday to strike down a state law that creates a protest-free zone around the entrances, exits, and driveways of abortion clinics, saying the zones unconstitutionally infringe on their right to free speech.
The group argued that a review of the zones at Planned Parenthood facilities in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield shows that the zones restrict protesters from properly conveying their message against abortion and their offers to help expectant mothers. They called the issue serious, given that life and death are involved.
“There needs to be a means of true communication,’’ said Michael J. DePrimo, a civil rights lawyer based in Connecticut who represents several of the protesters in the case.[...]
But Kenneth W. Salinger, an assistant state attorney general, argued yesterday that the buffer zones provide adequate opportunity to conduct lawful protests or to try to send a message to people seeking services from abortion clinics.
He said the lawsuit was based on protesters’ frustration that a majority of people do not want to listen to their message.
“They can, and do, share their messages outside the buffer zones,’’ said Salinger, adding that those who seek clinic services then make clear that they are not interested.
US District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro told the lawyers to submit more documents and said he will then take the matter under advisement.
[...]
[DePrimo] said protesters, who he argued have been successful before in helping women decide against abortion, should be able to speak personally and compassionately with patients, and distribute brochures by hand, rather than have to yell and wave signs.
No. No. NO. They should not, in fact, be able to get in someone's face and try to inundate that person with "information" or be that physically close to someone trying to get into a medical care facility (hello, "inadvertent" blocking the way).
DePrimo argued that courts have upheld a person’s right not only to send a message to someone, but to have the means to try to persuade them. He also argued that state law must provide for an alternative means for protesters to spread their messages as personally as they have in the past.
Oh, you mean like shooting people? You know, the whole reason the buffer zone went into effect?
No. Just no. It is disgusting (and sadly not new) that it is being seriously argued in court that people should be able to accost and harass ("personally talk to") anyone in order to "talk them out of" (scare, fear tactics) a medcial procedure (which, may I add, that the protestor has no way of knowing if that is why a person is visiting a clinic).
Speaking of beer... Molson Coors has realized that, apparently, not enough women drink beer. So they're aggressively attacking the problem by changing up their marketing, treating consumers that identify as women as individual human beings with variations in taste and interest, and starting a dialogue about the nuances of human experience and differing relationships with brewed beverages.
Whoops! Just kidding! They're actually making a pink, low-alcohol content, sweet beverage to attract all of us with ladee-brainzTM! Animée also comes in a pale yellow and clear variety and is designed to allay women's fears of bloating, weight gain, and appearing too masculine.
I first ran across this (barf-tastic) news over in today's Skepchick Quickies and read more about it here.
My only quibble with the discussion at the second link is that it lacks some nuance: There is nothing wrong with liking pink, with liking sweet things, or with being feminine; the problem for me is propagating the idea that all women (and only women) like these things, regardless of what the subject/product is.
Via Copyranter, a charming advertisement from Lighthouse Brewing Company, which, according to its YouTube channel, was produced by a company called Politically Incorrect Entertainment Inc.
Two white dudes sit on a beach in slatted chairs, with a table between them on which sit two beer bottles, a la the ubiquitous Corona commercials. They are ogling a thin white woman in a bikini who stands at the water's edge with her back to them.
Guy 1 leans over to Guy 2 and says: "So what would you rather have—ice cold Lighthouse Beer, or her?"
Guy 2 says: "Are you kidding? It's great beer." They high-five each other. "Sheesh," says Guy 2. "She's hot, though. I'll give ya that."
"Yeah," says Guy 1.
Voiceover, as the camera lingers on the woman's ass in close-up as she bends over: "Lighthouse Brewing: Celebrating women in bikinis since 1998."
I think this is supposed to be a parody of beer commercials, but, the thing is, beer commercials are beyond parody. This just looks like rank misogyny, of the sort that necessarily implies all men are horrible human beings.
President Barack Obama is finalizing a jobs package that could include a program to refurbish school buildings nationwide and tax breaks to encourage firms to hire workers.
The package, to be unveiled in early September, is Obama's chance to convince skeptical voters he can bring down the 9.1 percent unemployment rate and steer the United States away from another recession -- ahead of next year's election.
...The president is widely expected to repeat his calls for an extension of a payroll tax cut, push for patent reform and bilateral free trade deals, and suggest an infrastructure bank to upgrade the country's roads, airports and other facilities.
Retrofitting schools with energy efficient technology would allow the government to directly hire for labor-intensive work and also give a boost to the clean energy sector that Obama has said could be an important U.S. economic motor.
Other measures being considered, according to economists who have advised the White House, include tax credits for firms hiring more workers, funds for local governments to hire teachers, and retraining help for the long-term unemployed. Steps to boost the ailing housing market are also under review.
I mean, yeah. These are mostly not terrible ideas. But they're also not dynamic ideas, or big ideas, or bold ideas, or brave ideas. They have neither the capacity to inspire, nor to be particularly effective in reversing an economic crisis the profundity of which has not appeared to penetrate the bubble-wrapped heads of the Beltway elite.
These are center-right ideas suitable for the domestic policy of a milquetoast administration during a sluggish economy. They are not pieces of a grand vision necessary for the domestic policy of a proactive administration during a time of grave need.
For someone who billed himself as a visionary agent of change, President Obama is depressingly uncreative.
"What's going to be included in this plan are some reasonable ideas that could have a tangible impact on improving our economy and creating jobs ... the kinds of things that Republicans should be able to support," [White House spokesman Josh Earnest] said. "These are bipartisan ideas that the president is going to offer up."
Oh for Maude's sake.
Apparently, the president still hasn't noticed that the Republicans don't do reasonable. Maybe he should try something unreasonable by Beltway standards for a change. Like being a progressive.
Could be big news out of Libya today: Reuters is reporting that Qaddafi is thought to be holed up in an apartment complex near his compound, and that rebels have him surrounded.
Following up on yesterday's question... What activity do you only enjoy in the company of others?
Leisure walking. (As opposed to walking to a specific destination.) I've never much enjoyed going out on a walk by myself; I'd much rather go for a bike ride on my own. The one exception is exploring a new city.
But give me someone to walk with, even just my dogs, and suddenly walking is exponentially more enjoyable.
"He needs to get out of politics and make room for an American."—Tea Partier Darrel Clark of Farmington, New Mexico, protesting outside an appearance by Democratic US Representative Ben Ray Luján, who was "born in Santa Fe, has lived in the US all his life, and is the son of a public school administrator and the speaker of New Mexico's state House of Representatives."
Clark later clarified that he meant an "American patriot."
Mm-hmm.
Why people continue to think that the Tea Party is comprised of ignorant racist scuzzballs is the greatest mystery of our generation, I'm sure.
This is just a very good picture of Joe the Plumber, Steven Seagal the Lawman, and an American flag. Two red-blooded patriots, who were probably taking time out of an important business meeting about a new film called Patriot Action! to pose for this photograph, and you're not even grateful. These men are heroes, dammit.
This is Matilda sitting next to me on the couch one night while I was watching TV. I don't know about what she was so wide-eyed, but it could have been something on Billy the Exterminator.
I like to pretend this is actually a picture of Tilsy and me on a roller coaster, going up that first hill...
DuPree, 57, a three-term [Democratic] mayor of Hattiesburg, advances to the Nov. 8 general election to face Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, 56, of Brandon.
...Republican Gov. Haley Barbour could not seek a third term this year.
At press time, DuPree had captured 55 percent of the votes in his runoff against Clarksdale businessman Bill Luckett. ... He told supporters his first phone call after the announcement was to Luckett, whom he thanked for running a "great campaign."
"Hopefully we showed people how to campaign," DuPree said. "You don't have to be nasty and mean. You can talk about the issues and then let (voters) decide."
DuPree said he'll most likely meet with his campaign officials today or Thursday to work out his strategy as his campaign presses forward.
"The strategy probably won't change much from what we've already done," he said. "Right now, I'm just relishing the moment and looking at people who are jubilant and happy. I pray that at the end of the road they'll be jubilant again."
...With a population that's 37 percent black, Mississippi now has more black elected officials than any state in the nation, but it hasn't had a black statewide official since Reconstruction.
Hopefully, some Mississippian Shakers can tell us more about Mr. DuPree and his policies, as I've no idea how progressive (or not) he is.
Irrespective of his platform, though, it is a big damn deal that he won his party's nomination. Congratulations, Mr. DuPree—and good luck blazing that trail!
[Trigger warning for fat hatred; disordered eating; diet talk; body policing.]
You know, I read a lot of terrible articles about obesity, but this epic garbage disaster really takes the cake (the WHOLE cake in one sitting, get it? cuz FAT!): Study links obesity to brain disorder.
There is so much wrong in that article, I hardly know where to begin. Let's just start with the Top Five Things Wrong With This Epic Garbage Disaster:
1. "Obesity" is not shorthand for "disordered eating." Not every fat person has an eating disorder.
2. Fat people can be anorexic.
3. Treating disordered eating with counseling is not, in fact, an "odd idea." It's a pretty well-established treatment for disordered eating of all sorts.
4. Not all disordered eating is caused by an executive function disorder. That there is a "link," meaning that some people have disordered eating attributable to an executive function disorder, does not make it fair or accurate to say "obese people and anorexics...have executive function disorders (EFD), which means they have problems organising their daily lives."
5. Did I mention that "obesity" is not a shorthand for "disordered eating" already? BECAUSE IT REALLY, REALLY ISN'T.
I love, by the way, that over here fat people's fuckbrainz render them "too flexible and [unable] to solve problems and achieve goals," while over there fat women are making the big bucks because of their mad "unobservable job skills," owing to never getting laid or whatever. WELL WHICH IS IT? Is the fat making us inept nincompoops, or competent workmachines?! Don't keep us in suspense, Science!
Also: Bonus failpoints for reportage on "obese people" using the Othering tone of a 17th century ethnographer.
The people of Obesia have brains unlike civilized man.
Pope Benedict tried to deliver an anti-gay speech this weekend at a World Youth Day appearance in Spain but had to stop when God told him to shut the fuck up.
Oh, you know how God is these days. He's forgone the burning bush of old and now speaks through weather, stains, and other phenomena. (He even emotes through earthquakes according to one rabbi.)
So, anyway, Benedict started giving his speech, when suddenly: "powerful winds and sheets of rain struck, whipping off his skullcap, shaking the stage and knocking over at least one tent." Uh oh and whoops!
The pope fled God's wrath, leaving the stage. The remainder of the speech remained undelivered, but the Vatican assures us it is still valid, whatever that means. No word on whatever became of the pope's skullcap. I'm hoping a goupie got it, like some of Elvis' lint in the '68 Comeback Special.
When reached for comment, God responded with this.
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