Because there was a time in my life when I really needed help with a woman's health issue & Planned Parenthood was there for me. Because when I served on Prudential's Community Outreach Program, I made the one & only successful presentation recommending a contribution to Planned Parenthood's Philadelphia Chapter, tagged for a specific program tailored to mammograms. Because I'm possibly the only person within my home, friend circle, community who has ever actually sat down with a Planned Parenthood official, has actually discussed all the programs that Planned Parenthood provides, has seen the truth behind the claim that 95+ % of their activities have nothing to do with abortions.
Because Mitch McConnell really pissed me off when he referred to protecting women's health five (5) times in announcing he was seeking to defund Planned Parenthood. How? How does it protect women's health?
I recommend that Leader McConnell have a heart-to-heart with a Texas politician. No, not Ted Cruz. No, not Jon Kyl. He needs to have a long talk with Rick Perry about what can happen to existing women's health care service providers when you gut Plannned Parenthood.
Why do I write about Planned Parenthood? Because the organization was there for me when I needed it, because I've seen what it does, because I've seen what happens when it is defunded. Because what's done time after time in the name of women's health ain't pretty.
Friday, July 31, 2015
understanding Planned Parenthood - thanks, Glenn
An article on Glenn Beck's website is a peek into the passion of the man behind the Planned Parenthood videos - and a special appreciation of the the strategy aimed at FINALLY bringing down the organization, a goal that has been galvanizing anti-abortion foes from Day One.
As the man behind the videos, David Daleiden, explains, “There’s no accountability. So that’s why it’s very good that just today, now the grand total of states that have opened up investigations into Planned Parenthood’s baby part sales within their jurisdictions, that number is now up to ten.”
Even if Congress doesn't succeed in defunding the organization, it will be facing countless investigations by federal & state legislatures. If they can't defund 'em, they'll bankrupt 'em.
Personally, I was most interested in the comment by David Daleiden that, "
“We don’t have a good way of knowing because Planned Parenthood’s baby part sales are buried so deep down within their organization that some of the national leadership of Planned Parenthood doesn’t even fully know the scope of it. The national office has for many years now chosen to have a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy about the fetal tissue sales of the affiliates in order to … keep themselves insulated it from it legally, even though they’re still aware of it.”
Perhaps he's right, perhaps he's wrong - but I am, personally, all to familiar with the mind-set that says "we don't know, but we know we're right." It's IMPOSSIBLE to defend yourself against that sort of thinking. The more they don't find anything, the more that's taken as proof that something exists, but it's buried so deep" that it can't be found. Sadly, that argument, as faulty as it is, is also shockingly persuasive with receptive minds. And as the Planned Parenthood videos - and Glenn's article - show, some very canny forces are preparing minds to be VERY receptive.
As the man behind the videos, David Daleiden, explains, “There’s no accountability. So that’s why it’s very good that just today, now the grand total of states that have opened up investigations into Planned Parenthood’s baby part sales within their jurisdictions, that number is now up to ten.”
Even if Congress doesn't succeed in defunding the organization, it will be facing countless investigations by federal & state legislatures. If they can't defund 'em, they'll bankrupt 'em.
Personally, I was most interested in the comment by David Daleiden that, "
“We don’t have a good way of knowing because Planned Parenthood’s baby part sales are buried so deep down within their organization that some of the national leadership of Planned Parenthood doesn’t even fully know the scope of it. The national office has for many years now chosen to have a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy about the fetal tissue sales of the affiliates in order to … keep themselves insulated it from it legally, even though they’re still aware of it.”
Perhaps he's right, perhaps he's wrong - but I am, personally, all to familiar with the mind-set that says "we don't know, but we know we're right." It's IMPOSSIBLE to defend yourself against that sort of thinking. The more they don't find anything, the more that's taken as proof that something exists, but it's buried so deep" that it can't be found. Sadly, that argument, as faulty as it is, is also shockingly persuasive with receptive minds. And as the Planned Parenthood videos - and Glenn's article - show, some very canny forces are preparing minds to be VERY receptive.
understanding Planned Parenthood - thanks, Bee
Three cheers for the Editorial Board at the Sacramento Bee for nailing what's actually happening with the hoopla over Planned Parenthood's "abuses"!! Way to go!
Shortly before the latest crusade to wreck Planned Parenthood in this country, a Gallup Poll found that half of Americans – and a majority of U.S. women – now view themselves as pro-choice.
Though the vast majority in the May poll rightly regarded abortion with mixed feelings, pro-lifers were in the minority, representing just 44 percent of adults; only about one American in five supported an absolute ban in all cases.
As abortion rates have dropped to a 30-year low, entrenched opinions are gradually settling around a middle that’s more compassionate and complex. But no evolution comes without backlash. Maybe that’s why anti-abortion hard-liners and the Republican-controlled Congress are coming after Planned Parenthood, a longtime lightning rod on abortion, with everything but the kitchen sink.
The current hidden-camera campaign – the third video in a series (a 4th has since been released - deev) was posted Tuesday – is upsetting. It dwells with sick, sad fascination on fetal remains legally donated by abortion patients for scientific research.
The unwitting Planned Parenthood executives onscreen sound at times cavalier as they discuss procedures and terms. So far, though, they don't appear to be doing anything illegal.
Though it is a felony to profit from the sale of human fetal tissue, donations are within bounds, and the law explicitly allows unspecified compensation to cover the costs of preserving and processing fetal tissues for research. That’s what Planned Parenthood executives are shown discussing, over lunch in two of the videos, and in a lab in the third over a dissected fetal cadaver.
Planned Parenthood does important work, but, boy, were its executives stupid. The 26-year-old spokesman for the campaign, David Daleiden, is an alumnus of Live Action, a radical anti-abortion youth group whose specialty is playing gotcha with Planned Parenthood on hidden camera. Its founder, Lila Rose, famously made her bones posing as a 15-year-old girl who wanted an abortion but didn’t want the counselor to report that her fictional boyfriend was an adult, and thus a statutory rape suspect.
As a student, Daleiden was temporarily from the Pomona College campus for trying to stage a hidden-camera confrontation with a Planned Parenthood speaker. He has told interviewers that he was radicalized as a teen by Rose, whom he met at a Junior State meeting, and that he was the product of a “crisis pregnancy” when his mom was a college student.
Now a Fox News celebrity – he was reportedly mobbed last week at a conference of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – Daleiden has demonstrated that if it serves his cause, he’ll put his parents’ privacy on the table. His mother, Gina Daleiden, isn’t some anonymous figure; she’s a former Davis school trustee and a deputy to Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza, a Democrat.
The politicians in this mess aren’t much nobler. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, leaving no wingnut in his caucus behind, has proposed defunding Planned Parenthood even before an investigation. Meanwhile, U.S. Senate candidate and Attorney General Kamala Harris has bowed to pressure from Democrats to “review” Daleiden’s actions.
Like handling costs for fetal research tissue, sting videos generally fall into a gray area of the law, so this is less about criminals than true believers and the politicians who need them. This will just punish the women who rely on Planned Parenthood for contraception and hurt the scientists who rely on fetal tissue to research diseases such as muscular dystrophy and diabetes.
Oh, and disappoint those of us who hoped the culture wars might eventually end.
Shortly before the latest crusade to wreck Planned Parenthood in this country, a Gallup Poll found that half of Americans – and a majority of U.S. women – now view themselves as pro-choice.
Though the vast majority in the May poll rightly regarded abortion with mixed feelings, pro-lifers were in the minority, representing just 44 percent of adults; only about one American in five supported an absolute ban in all cases.
As abortion rates have dropped to a 30-year low, entrenched opinions are gradually settling around a middle that’s more compassionate and complex. But no evolution comes without backlash. Maybe that’s why anti-abortion hard-liners and the Republican-controlled Congress are coming after Planned Parenthood, a longtime lightning rod on abortion, with everything but the kitchen sink.
The current hidden-camera campaign – the third video in a series (a 4th has since been released - deev) was posted Tuesday – is upsetting. It dwells with sick, sad fascination on fetal remains legally donated by abortion patients for scientific research.
The unwitting Planned Parenthood executives onscreen sound at times cavalier as they discuss procedures and terms. So far, though, they don't appear to be doing anything illegal.
Though it is a felony to profit from the sale of human fetal tissue, donations are within bounds, and the law explicitly allows unspecified compensation to cover the costs of preserving and processing fetal tissues for research. That’s what Planned Parenthood executives are shown discussing, over lunch in two of the videos, and in a lab in the third over a dissected fetal cadaver.
Planned Parenthood does important work, but, boy, were its executives stupid. The 26-year-old spokesman for the campaign, David Daleiden, is an alumnus of Live Action, a radical anti-abortion youth group whose specialty is playing gotcha with Planned Parenthood on hidden camera. Its founder, Lila Rose, famously made her bones posing as a 15-year-old girl who wanted an abortion but didn’t want the counselor to report that her fictional boyfriend was an adult, and thus a statutory rape suspect.
As a student, Daleiden was temporarily from the Pomona College campus for trying to stage a hidden-camera confrontation with a Planned Parenthood speaker. He has told interviewers that he was radicalized as a teen by Rose, whom he met at a Junior State meeting, and that he was the product of a “crisis pregnancy” when his mom was a college student.
Now a Fox News celebrity – he was reportedly mobbed last week at a conference of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – Daleiden has demonstrated that if it serves his cause, he’ll put his parents’ privacy on the table. His mother, Gina Daleiden, isn’t some anonymous figure; she’s a former Davis school trustee and a deputy to Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza, a Democrat.
The politicians in this mess aren’t much nobler. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, leaving no wingnut in his caucus behind, has proposed defunding Planned Parenthood even before an investigation. Meanwhile, U.S. Senate candidate and Attorney General Kamala Harris has bowed to pressure from Democrats to “review” Daleiden’s actions.
Like handling costs for fetal research tissue, sting videos generally fall into a gray area of the law, so this is less about criminals than true believers and the politicians who need them. This will just punish the women who rely on Planned Parenthood for contraception and hurt the scientists who rely on fetal tissue to research diseases such as muscular dystrophy and diabetes.
Oh, and disappoint those of us who hoped the culture wars might eventually end.
understanding Planned Parenthood - thanks, Rebecca
Yeah, Rebecca Watson's language is raw, but my guess is her emotions are, too. Like other informed humans, she knows that, yes - Planned Parenthood does provide abortion services, which account for 3% of all the organization's abortion efforts.
She knows that 90% of those are in the first trimester.
She knows - perhaps most important of all - that abortions are legal in the USA.
She knows that Planned Parenthood doesn't just throw out the heartbreaking remnants, but donates them to scientific research into Alzheimer's & Parkinson's & other diseases.
She knows - perhaps most important of all - that it's been legal since 1993. And she knows that 97% of Planned Parenthood's services focus on a range of women's health issues, cutting across every age race financial demographic.
And it INFURIATES her when the Religious Right & politicians & true believers who have worked diligently to overturn Roe v. Wade since the moment it passed use raw emotion to utterly override the brain - yes, what they did was legal; yes, it's legal to donate the tragic remains to scientific research; yes, over 90% of their health care services promote women's health & helps reduce medical costs across the board. To hell with all those facts - the public is up in arms over misleading videos, so let's gut the program, set Planned Parenthood out on the street!! Facts be damned!
BACKGROUND: It's weird, having my personal belief be in such disagreement with what I was taught in my birth faith. I've come to believe that something worth our protection comes into being at the instant of conception. But the ministers of my youth & young adulthood taught that life begins with the first breath, not before. Which leaves me, even now, in the position of wondering how it can be murder to kill something if it doesn't have life? To me, it would be devastating, but how can you believe that AND that life doesn't begin until the first breath? Never got it, still don't.
Excerpts from Rebecca's rather blue (as in language) video:
HOW DARE THEY! How dare Planned Parenthood allow women to aid in the research and treatment of conditions like H.I.V. and Parkinson’s disease, when instead those women could just be throwing that tissue in the garbage!
So yeah, there’s the fact that Planned Parenthood obviously isn’t “selling baby parts.” And then there’s the fact that the group releasing this video are some of the same people who worked for the group Live Action, which is best known for…editing together misleading videos attacking Planned Parenthood.
So despite the fact that this is an obviously made up and ridiculous accusation, actual politicians are taking it seriously. If you live in the US, your tax dollars are now going toward Congressional Republicans calling for a formal investigation, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee has announced they’ll launch a probe. A probe for baby parts! Good luck, guys!
This all reminds me of a course I took in college on heresy. I remember learning about how multiple times throughout human history, various groups of people have been accused of the very specific act of gathering together and hosting orgies, and then taking the resulting babies from any past orgies and burning them into ashes, which are then formed into cakes, which are then eaten. Usually it’s supposed to be the Jews doing this but plenty of other marginalized groups have been accused as well. And it always baffled me to think that people could really, truly believe that their fellow humans were doing something so obviously stupid and made up.
Well, now it’s 2015 and an organization that is mostly responsible for making sure poor women have access to basic medical care including cancer screenings, checkups, and birth control, are accused of convincing women to abort their babies and then tearing them into parts and selling them on the black market.
And I realize, that if it helps you achieve your goals — whether they be persecuting people of a different faith or cutting funding for poor women’s health care — it becomes surprisingly easy to believe something unbelievable.
understanding Planned Parenthood - thanks, alessandra!
Before reading, remember - I believe that life begins at conception. I am pro-choice when it comes to incest or the mother's life is in danger. Those are my beliefs. My religion taught me from my earliest years that life begins with the first breath, not before.
My thanks to Alessandra for expanding my take on the most recent, most stunning assault on Planned Parenthood, how closely it mirrors the taking down of ACORN through videos which were - ooops - later revealed as wildly deceptive. The ones being used against Planned Parenthood are as well thought out & produced as the ones against ACORN were slipshod & amateur. But they are devastating, going straight to the heart, completely bypassing the brain. They embody the ultimate GOP meme - damn the facts, go with your gut.
excerpts from After ACORN, Planned Parenthood?
A campaign of lies and deceit led to the defunding of ACORN and its disappearance from the scene. Falsified and selectively edited videos gave its enemies ammunition. How was funding cut off when Democrats were in the majority?
For all the noise coming from the minority Democrats in both Houses and even the White House, I am less than assured for the future of Planned Parenthood.
One again lies and deceit are being used, once again the Republicans are united in hatred of an organization they have always reviled.
Hurting the poor is easy game, defending them seems to matter little to those we have elected. Don't worry, if Planned Parenthood goes the way of ACORN no rich people will be hurt, hence the campaign war-chests will not be emptied.
Reduce their ability to vote, reduce the ability of women to have access to health care and some people still tell me there is not a war on. Well we better fight as if there is one, because 2016 may be too late to stop the losses.
I am just wondering what bipartisan bill must pass so that the defunding of Planned Parenthood can be attached to it and if the Democratic Party this time will fight it to the bitter end. I wonder what the excuses will be.
My thanks to Alessandra for expanding my take on the most recent, most stunning assault on Planned Parenthood, how closely it mirrors the taking down of ACORN through videos which were - ooops - later revealed as wildly deceptive. The ones being used against Planned Parenthood are as well thought out & produced as the ones against ACORN were slipshod & amateur. But they are devastating, going straight to the heart, completely bypassing the brain. They embody the ultimate GOP meme - damn the facts, go with your gut.
excerpts from After ACORN, Planned Parenthood?
A campaign of lies and deceit led to the defunding of ACORN and its disappearance from the scene. Falsified and selectively edited videos gave its enemies ammunition. How was funding cut off when Democrats were in the majority?
Fast-forward to Monday, Sept. 14, 2009. A Housing Department appropriations bill was moving through the Senate, and Republican Sen. Mike Johanns offered an amendment that was nearly word-for-word identical to the one Vitter introduced back in February, barring all federal housing funds for ACORN. This time, the ACORN-defunding amendment passed, 83-7. The winning total included 50 -- yes, 50 -- Democrats. Liberals like Chris Dodd, Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin, Charles Schumer and others who supported ACORN back in February all changed their votes to approve the cutoff of funds.And it was.....
It was an absolutely mind-blowing turn of events, a total collapse of longtime Democratic support for ACORN. Republicans had worked for years to reduce ACORN's influence, with little success. Now, in the span of a few days, the GOP scored major victories.
For all the noise coming from the minority Democrats in both Houses and even the White House, I am less than assured for the future of Planned Parenthood.
One again lies and deceit are being used, once again the Republicans are united in hatred of an organization they have always reviled.
Many of the calls to defund have come from Republican politicians, including some of the party’s 17 presidential hopefuls now crowding the field. Planned Parenthood currently receives more than $500m in federal funding. No federal funding currently goes toward abortion care, as it is expressly forbidden by federal law.The truth has never mattered when Republicans want to throw millions under the bus, the question has always been, do the Democrats have the will and backbone to stop them? Personally, I would not bet on it.
Hurting the poor is easy game, defending them seems to matter little to those we have elected. Don't worry, if Planned Parenthood goes the way of ACORN no rich people will be hurt, hence the campaign war-chests will not be emptied.
Reduce their ability to vote, reduce the ability of women to have access to health care and some people still tell me there is not a war on. Well we better fight as if there is one, because 2016 may be too late to stop the losses.
I am just wondering what bipartisan bill must pass so that the defunding of Planned Parenthood can be attached to it and if the Democratic Party this time will fight it to the bitter end. I wonder what the excuses will be.
Miss Nancy - Nancy Stroh Dawson
"Miss Nancy" Stroh was one of the quietly epic women in my life. She was quiet, funny, family & friends loving. An excellent teacher & great role model.
Like me, she married late in life - she was even older than I when she married her delightful husband - and moved to England. I had the pleasure of getting in one long & several short visits with her in the mid-late 1970s, which I have always treasured, doubly now that she has left us.
Nancy Stroh Dawson - forever in my heart....
Like me, she married late in life - she was even older than I when she married her delightful husband - and moved to England. I had the pleasure of getting in one long & several short visits with her in the mid-late 1970s, which I have always treasured, doubly now that she has left us.
Nancy Stroh Dawson - forever in my heart....
Looking for fur-ever homes
By sharing this HuffPo article about a very real Susie the Cat (oh, how dear that name is to a Lockhart!) whose human wrote a beautiful letter about her beloved companion. Read all the way to the end, which includes a heart-touching collection of animals seeking fur-ever homes.
Putting out to out to the Universe with my sweetest hopes that all are soon in the heart of homes that love & appreciate them.
.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Shad & Screamin' Sicilian Pizza - great combo!
It's always a surprise when something out of the blue connects with my here & now. Tonight, it was snuggling on the couch with John, enjoying our first sampling of Screamin' Scillian Bessie's Revenge Cheese Pizza (cheese, milk, Bessie - get it?), listening to q on NPR.
Shad closed the evening with a reflection about soul-searching & the cost of change. So much of what he said connected with our earlier get together with Kim, came up throughout the rest of the day as bubbles of hmmmm... floated out of my heart & brain.
There are a few nuggets from Shad's ponder...
When society (for me, life - deev) changes, and the ground seems to me to be shifting right now, it doesn't only alter the future — it also changes the past.
And that might be one of more painful parts of social change: it's easy to look ahead, towards a brighter tomorrow. It's harder to look back — with new understandings — that threaten to re-cast our collective and individual histories in darker shades.
But this is the cost of change.
I know I often find it hard to accept the times that I've hurt people, or ran away, or been victimized, and to hold those moments in my story along with the good; to embrace the full truth of who I am.
But again, this is the cost of change...whether on a personal or much larger scale.
afterthought 07/30/15
It's always a surprise to me when a counseling session goes on long after saying good bye to the therapist. This afternoon, John & I had a session with Kim Vargas, someone I think the entire world should see on a regular basis - to get & stay grounded, even when there are big issue matters to consider. So glad we started seeing her when that's where we were - our relationship needing a little fine tuning, essential but not critical.
Right now, I am at a critical place, all within a couple months - since March. So many things happening, most of them requiring a different response than I would have, could have given less than a year ago. And ancient issues are appearing that I never expected a year ago. It helps that when I'm in the midst of their moment, that I can reach back to our hour with Kim & remember something she said, a comment John made, an insight triggered within me that seemingly had nothing to do with what was being discussed & had everything. Can reach back & respond differently than I would have, could have a year ago. With more balance, more self-compassion, more awareness than.
One of my great crusades is for more of anyone who wants a more grounded life - whatever that means for them - to have regular sessions with a gifted listener/responder like Kim. It's not just the insights you get when you're with her, but the afterthoughts that come up long after.
Right now, I am at a critical place, all within a couple months - since March. So many things happening, most of them requiring a different response than I would have, could have given less than a year ago. And ancient issues are appearing that I never expected a year ago. It helps that when I'm in the midst of their moment, that I can reach back to our hour with Kim & remember something she said, a comment John made, an insight triggered within me that seemingly had nothing to do with what was being discussed & had everything. Can reach back & respond differently than I would have, could have a year ago. With more balance, more self-compassion, more awareness than.
One of my great crusades is for more of anyone who wants a more grounded life - whatever that means for them - to have regular sessions with a gifted listener/responder like Kim. It's not just the insights you get when you're with her, but the afterthoughts that come up long after.
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