Comments on: Straight-Talk Express?

By: exholt

exholt — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:40:43 +0000

@Renee: Who ever said the ruling class was always rational? ;)

By: QLH

QLH — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:21:12 +0000

“I’d like to see reproductive health issues taken out of the political realm and qualified instead simply as health care issues (because that’s what they are). But because of the anti-choice movement, that isn’t the case. Anti-choicers have turned contraception into a politicized issue, just like they’ve done to birth control.”

Exactly the case; exactly the problem.

By: Renee

Renee — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:41:46 +0000

@professor what if…if this is the plan it is a dangerous plan. The proletariat already out number the ruling class. At some point we will come to class consciousness and the more of us there are the more dangerous the situation will be for them.

By: professor what if

professor what if — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:28:58 +0000

Call me cynical, but I say the whole ‘pro-life’ stance is just a front. What it is really all about, I think, is keeping the cycle of poverty going strong. The exploitive corporatist world we live in requires cheap (re:virtual slave) labor. For this, an overpopulated planet is a good thing. The powers that be WANT unwanted pregnancies as, in the big scheme of things, this keeps power and wealth at the tippy top by sustaining poverty on a massive scale. This is why so-called pro-lifers are also out to limit access to contraceptives–and it’s at least part of the impetus behind the global gag rule.

By: exholt

exholt — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:26:29 +0000

This reminds me of several disjointed, incoherent, and contradictory in-class presentations given by classmates who failed to coordinate their information into a well-prepared presentation. Reasons for this included everyone doing their own thing and not talking to each other until the day of, tendency of most students in some groups to slack off and rely completely on the hard work of the one or two serious hardworking students, and/or they all slacked off till the last minute and put up the crappy presentation in a panic.

Wonder if this was what transpired in the McCain campaign……WHOOPS!!!

By: amandaw

amandaw — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:47:05 +0000

In happy, idealistic AmandaLand*, birth control is provided free by the government. That way everyone has no question of access. And when you go to the clinic (or wherever) to get it, there’s education available there as well (in the form of pamphlets, signs, the person at the front desk giving a quick recitation of the key points when they hand it over).

But this isn’t ‘mandaland, it’s the U.S. of A. and here, we put in every barrier we can to obtaining and understanding contraception! Wheee!

*(I have no idea how this would be funded or executed, which is why it’s in my dreamland and not formal policy proposal.)

By: ARX

ARX — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:42:28 +0000

Wouldn’t it be a bit dictatorial for the government to force insurance companies to cover any specific type of drug or medical procedure? Shouldn’t insurance companies (or any company) have the freedom to offer specific products/services for specific prices, leaving the consumer to decide if it is a good deal or not?

And since birth control (like any medicine) costs money, won’t the rates go up anyway (meaning that the people will pay for it one way or another)?

It would make more sense to simply make birth control free (directly paid for by the government) instead of strong-arming the companies.

If insurance companies knew they could get a jackpot of female customers by covering birth control, don’t you think they would have done it voluntarily by now?

The U.S. government should offer free contraception/birth control/etc., knowing that if women succeed in life, they will pay a lot more taxes. It makes economic and financial sense too.

By: Renee

Renee — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:29:36 +0000

My plan is just the opposite, it covers birth control and not viagara. I believe that both should be covered. Sex is a very important factor in our lives. We should be able to freely engage in it without having any restrictions placed on it.

By: Hugo

Hugo — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:00:53 +0000

I got the feeling Carly Fiorina was engaged in a little bit of dog-whistling. Just like when it “came out” in 1988 that Barbara Bush was pro-choice and disagreed with her husband — this particular sort of whistle is very calculated; it’s designed to send a specific signal to upper-middle class white women who are both fiscally conservative and pro-choice. The message: our candidate has to say certain things to appease the fundamentalist riff-raff, but in his heart he’s a reasonable guy who understands women ought to be free to do with their bodies as they choose.

These women are itching to vote for a conservative white dude, and they just want a wee bit of reassurance that he isn’t going to really try too hard to stop Summer from getting the abortion she needs when she gets pregnant the summer before starting freshman year at Sweet Briar.

Meghan McCain is being trotted out to give that same dog whistle to the younger set. Hey, it worked in ’88. Let’s pray it don’t work again, folks.

By: VELMA SABINA!!!

VELMA SABINA!!! — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:44:45 +0000

if he wins, he’s pretty much going to f–k all of us over in ALL fields (birth control, economy, the war in Iraq, military spending, taxes, etc)

ugh.