“An growing roster of Republican candidates across the country are embracing Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposal to make birth control pills available for adult women over-the-counter, without a prescription. This trend is tossing a wrench into the Left’s paint-by-numbers attack strategy of painting the GOP as obsessed with “restricting access” to birth control — which nobody was advocating anyway.* The idea is to bombard young women with multimillion-dollar ad campaigns in order to scare them with this fiction, thus shoring up Democrats’ wide advantage within the key demographic. But now that Republicans are backing plans that do precisely the opposite of limiting women’s access to contraception, Democrats and their allies are…actively opposing that idea, too. Surreal:”
“That’s a Planned Parenthood ad currently running in Colorado. The group is furiously denouncing Rep. Cory Gardner’s proposal to expand women’s access to birth control, casting his idea as a blow to women’s pocketbooks, to the tune of “$600 per year.” (Er, generic brand birth control pills are available for $9.00 per month … without insurance, and drugs tend to get cheaper when made available OTC). Here we have the self-professed champions of birth control access working to defeat a plan to extend birth control access. Why? Follow the money. First off, abortion is big business for Planned Parenthood, so they’re willing to do whatever it takes to elect politicians who share their extreme, unlimited abortion-on-demand agenda. And as Ben Domenech notes at The Federalist, the organization’s financial self-interest doesn’t end there:”
It’s also certainly a total coincidence that birth control is a major lead generator for Planned Parenthood, to the degree that they can’t afford to lose their existing purpose as a source of prescribed contraception without it hurting their status as an institution. Pages 16 and 17 of this report break out what percentage of Planned Parenthood’s “services” are related to contraception – it’s over a third of their activity, and the breakdown on page 16 shows that it’s overwhelmingly oral contraception (and less than 5 percent of their business is IUDs)…Now you can understand why they wouldn’t want potential customers to be free to go to CVS or Walgreens or Rite Aid instead of heading to Planned Parenthood – providing those and other services is worth a lot of taxpayer money, $540 million in FY 2012 alone. And if you don’t provide those services, you can’t bill the taxpayers for them. Planned Parenthood’s hypocrisy here is borne out of their interest in survival as an institution, an impetus for rent-seeking over access. The existing and arbitrary government barrier to over-the-counter oral contraception is a major path to how they get customers in the door, and they know it. That’s why they want to keep the government’s ban on over-the-counter birth control intact.”
And now both families of the 2 American journalists beheaded by ISIS claim the govt threatened them with prosecution for working to free the men on their own.
“The parents of murdered journalist Steven Sotloff were told by a White House counterterrorism official at a meeting last May that they could face criminal prosecution if they paid ransom to try to free their son, a spokesman for the family told Yahoo News Friday night.
The family felt completely and utterly helpless when they heard this,” said Barak Barfi, a friend of Sotloff who is serving as a spokesman for his family. “The Sotloffs felt there was nothing they could do to get Steve out.”
The journalist’s father, Art, was “shaking” after the meeting with the official, who works for the National Security Council, Barfi said. The families of three other hostages being held by the militant group Islamic State were also at the White House meeting, sources told Yahoo News.
The Sotloff family issued their statement after Diane Foley, the mother of murdered journalist James Foley, told ABC News that her family took statements by the White House counterterrorism official about legal bars to paying ransom as a “threat, and it was appalling. … We were horrified he would say that. He just told us we would be prosecuted.””
“Body odor is among 52 criteria that officials at San Diego International Airport use to judge taxi drivers. Cabbies say that smacks of prejudice and discrimination.
For years, inspectors with the San Diego Regional Airport Authority run down their checklist for each cabbie — proof of insurance, functioning windshield wipers, adequate tire treads, good brakes. Drivers are graded pass, fail or needs fixing.
Anyone who flunks the smell test is told to change before picking up another customer.
Leaders of the United Taxi Workers of San Diego union say the litmus perpetuates a stereotype that predominantly foreign-born taxi drivers smell bad. A 2013 survey of 331 drivers by San Diego State University and Center on Policy Initiatives found 94 percent were immigrants and 65 percent were from East Africa.”
Its always been US and the rest of the English speaking worlds policy not to pay ransoms to terrorist a d criminal groups. Europeans and Asian countries pay almost time. So frequently in fact that kidnapping tourists and journalists has become a major source of income. But the English speaking world rarely pays (Iran contra might be the last time) and most English speaking countries actively discourage individuals, corporations and insurance companies as it only encourages more kidnapping.
I’m sympathetic to the families involved but let’s not pretend this is a new policy. Its standard US policy and journalist know this going in.
Although I am a History major, (Long Beach State, 1972) I don’t know if this guy is correct. I suppose I would have been on the other side. My mother was a Michigander and my father was born in “The Land of Lincoln.” Me? Downey, CA.
Why did it take so long for Republicans to counter Planned Parenthood?
I belong to the Stupid Party, Planned Parenthood to the Evil Party.
Many Stupid People vote for Democrats. They should vote for the Stupid Party, but they are too stupid to realize (or admit) that they don’t really agree with the Evil Party. (XL Pipeline, open borders, anthropomorphic climate change, ObamaCare, EPA regulations on navigable waters, Fast and Furious, IRS scandal)
Finally, do you realize how ignorant Democrats truly are? Their signature animal is a mule yet they call themselves donkeys.
“The Mule
The mule he is the funniest sight
He’s made of ears and dynamite
The mule he is the funniest sight
He’s made of ears and dynamite
Some folks don’t treat mules with respect
They say he has no intellect
The mule attends to his own biz,
He don’t look bright boys, but he is.”
Thanks for posting the article on the Confederacy, Bob. I have read the books written by writers cited in the article and generally agree with the article’s conclusions. However, as I noted a couple of weeks ago, we are not dead yet:
I support and agree with the League of the South. Alternatively, if (as the NJ article suggests) Vermont, Oregon, Washington and a few other like-minded places would secede, the US might not be so bad.
My young liberal friend’s opposition to letting birth control pills be OTC is that then women would have to pay for it themselves. Birth control must be absolutely free. Apparently, consequence-free sex is guaranteed in the Constitution. 😉
Plan B is only supposed be taken in emergency situations, not daily for years.
We tell girls that once they begin having sex, they need to make sure they get a pap smear every year–to watch for potential problems like HPV, and other STDs. By having to go in yearly to redo your birth control prescription, women get the needed physical check up as well. (Which is part of why the cost is so “high” in some plans or if you don’t have insurance).
In addition, you need to be fully informed before you start taking the pill because of the side effects. BCP are NOT one size fits all. If you have a history of blood clots, for example or you smoke, you should not be taking BCP.
How many of these common birth control side effects are you familiar with?
Nausea, vomiting, constipation, or bloating
Irregular menstruation and spotting
Breast swelling or tenderness
Decreased libido
Weight gain or loss of appetite
Mood swings, anxiety, nervousness or depression
Changes in vaginal discharge and vaginal infections
Headaches, dizziness and fatigue
High blood pressure and cholesterol
Acne or permanent discoloration of the face
Fluid retention
Bone density loss
Hair loss or changes in hair growth
Enlarged ovarian follicles
And how about these potential long-term complications of hormonal birth control?
Eye problems or vision impairment
Gallbladder disease and gallstones
Embolism
Resistance to Insulin
Immune system suppression
Heart attack
Stroke
Breast tumors and liver tumors
Ectopic Pregnancies
Links with certain cancers such as cervical cancer
Blood clots in legs, lungs, heart and brain
Jaundice
How many teenagers do you know are seriously thinking about these things when they decide, if they decide, to use birth control before having sex?
I understand the libertarian argument, but as someone concerned about women’s overall health, I think making BCPs OTC is a really bad idea.
And if I think so, a lot of other people will tear Gov. Jindal apart for being “heartless” to women.
Oh Canada is truly an outstanding national anthem: easy to sing, a good tune and stirring lyrics. The Russian anthem has a superb tune, but the words are marginal (perhaps something was lost in translation).
Just what is a national anthem doing in a hymnal?
I’ve never actually read the other three verses before. Normally we just play the first verse in English or French or both. The anthem was originally written in French
The Russians still uses the Soviet Union tune to the Internationale but they’ve changed the lyrics.
Michelle – I wasn’t necessarily agreeing that it should be OTC, but I find it interesting that my friend’s opposition to that idea is based on the woman having to pay rather than the health effects you mentioned.
Also, I guess my comment about Plan B wasn’t clear. I know that Plan B is only for an emergency, but I would guess that there are going to be teen girls who use it in the wrong way, which could be more problematic than using run-of-the-mill b.c. pills (if they were OTC).
A good question, HRW. The hymnal had only the first and last verses. It also had several patriotic American songs which had a religious theme.
One Sunday (at our church in another town) our music minister led us in the singing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. A number of our church members (perhaps outraged) turned to see if I would start a protest or a riot. I did not sing the Yankee song, but knew better than to oppose God’s representative in the church.
Wandering Views 
As the man at HotAir says, it’s come to this….
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/09/12/its-come-to-this-planned-parenthood-now-attacking-gop-plans-to-expand-access-to-birth-control/
“An growing roster of Republican candidates across the country are embracing Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposal to make birth control pills available for adult women over-the-counter, without a prescription. This trend is tossing a wrench into the Left’s paint-by-numbers attack strategy of painting the GOP as obsessed with “restricting access” to birth control — which nobody was advocating anyway.* The idea is to bombard young women with multimillion-dollar ad campaigns in order to scare them with this fiction, thus shoring up Democrats’ wide advantage within the key demographic. But now that Republicans are backing plans that do precisely the opposite of limiting women’s access to contraception, Democrats and their allies are…actively opposing that idea, too. Surreal:”
“That’s a Planned Parenthood ad currently running in Colorado. The group is furiously denouncing Rep. Cory Gardner’s proposal to expand women’s access to birth control, casting his idea as a blow to women’s pocketbooks, to the tune of “$600 per year.” (Er, generic brand birth control pills are available for $9.00 per month … without insurance, and drugs tend to get cheaper when made available OTC). Here we have the self-professed champions of birth control access working to defeat a plan to extend birth control access. Why? Follow the money. First off, abortion is big business for Planned Parenthood, so they’re willing to do whatever it takes to elect politicians who share their extreme, unlimited abortion-on-demand agenda. And as Ben Domenech notes at The Federalist, the organization’s financial self-interest doesn’t end there:”
It’s also certainly a total coincidence that birth control is a major lead generator for Planned Parenthood, to the degree that they can’t afford to lose their existing purpose as a source of prescribed contraception without it hurting their status as an institution. Pages 16 and 17 of this report break out what percentage of Planned Parenthood’s “services” are related to contraception – it’s over a third of their activity, and the breakdown on page 16 shows that it’s overwhelmingly oral contraception (and less than 5 percent of their business is IUDs)…Now you can understand why they wouldn’t want potential customers to be free to go to CVS or Walgreens or Rite Aid instead of heading to Planned Parenthood – providing those and other services is worth a lot of taxpayer money, $540 million in FY 2012 alone. And if you don’t provide those services, you can’t bill the taxpayers for them. Planned Parenthood’s hypocrisy here is borne out of their interest in survival as an institution, an impetus for rent-seeking over access. The existing and arbitrary government barrier to over-the-counter oral contraception is a major path to how they get customers in the door, and they know it. That’s why they want to keep the government’s ban on over-the-counter birth control intact.”
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And now both families of the 2 American journalists beheaded by ISIS claim the govt threatened them with prosecution for working to free the men on their own.
http://news.yahoo.com/sotloff-s-parents-were-told-they-could-be-prosecuted-for-paying-ransom-to-is-234329991.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory
“The parents of murdered journalist Steven Sotloff were told by a White House counterterrorism official at a meeting last May that they could face criminal prosecution if they paid ransom to try to free their son, a spokesman for the family told Yahoo News Friday night.
The family felt completely and utterly helpless when they heard this,” said Barak Barfi, a friend of Sotloff who is serving as a spokesman for his family. “The Sotloffs felt there was nothing they could do to get Steve out.”
The journalist’s father, Art, was “shaking” after the meeting with the official, who works for the National Security Council, Barfi said. The families of three other hostages being held by the militant group Islamic State were also at the White House meeting, sources told Yahoo News.
The Sotloff family issued their statement after Diane Foley, the mother of murdered journalist James Foley, told ABC News that her family took statements by the White House counterterrorism official about legal bars to paying ransom as a “threat, and it was appalling. … We were horrified he would say that. He just told us we would be prosecuted.””
Disgraceful.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Once again California, this is why we make fun of you….. 🙂
http://news.msn.com/offbeat/san-diego-cabbies-cry-foul-over-body-odor-test
“Body odor is among 52 criteria that officials at San Diego International Airport use to judge taxi drivers. Cabbies say that smacks of prejudice and discrimination.
For years, inspectors with the San Diego Regional Airport Authority run down their checklist for each cabbie — proof of insurance, functioning windshield wipers, adequate tire treads, good brakes. Drivers are graded pass, fail or needs fixing.
Anyone who flunks the smell test is told to change before picking up another customer.
Leaders of the United Taxi Workers of San Diego union say the litmus perpetuates a stereotype that predominantly foreign-born taxi drivers smell bad. A 2013 survey of 331 drivers by San Diego State University and Center on Policy Initiatives found 94 percent were immigrants and 65 percent were from East Africa.”
🙂
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Roger Goodell should have used some of his $44 million/year salary to hire Lois Lerner. Those Ray Rice tapes would have disappeared a long time ago…
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Good insight there Tychicus. Proves that every problem has a solution if you have imagination.
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“Civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy if the Republicans win the Senate.” — Nancy Pelosi
🙂
http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/12/nancy-pelosi-civilization-in-jeopardy-if-gop-takes-senate-video/
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Its always been US and the rest of the English speaking worlds policy not to pay ransoms to terrorist a d criminal groups. Europeans and Asian countries pay almost time. So frequently in fact that kidnapping tourists and journalists has become a major source of income. But the English speaking world rarely pays (Iran contra might be the last time) and most English speaking countries actively discourage individuals, corporations and insurance companies as it only encourages more kidnapping.
I’m sympathetic to the families involved but let’s not pretend this is a new policy. Its standard US policy and journalist know this going in.
LikeLike
Aj, it just occurred to me: Let the market work.
Some guy should shower and put a sign on the side of his taxi.
“I smell good
😆
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We’re big on smells out here in California.
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rickyweaver,
This should interest a Son of the Confederacy.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/387546/why-confederacy-lost-mackubin-thomas-owens
Although I am a History major, (Long Beach State, 1972) I don’t know if this guy is correct. I suppose I would have been on the other side. My mother was a Michigander and my father was born in “The Land of Lincoln.” Me? Downey, CA.
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donna j,
Yes, it does smell out here. Sacramento stinks from half a state away.
LikeLiked by 1 person
AJ
Why did it take so long for Republicans to counter Planned Parenthood?
I belong to the Stupid Party, Planned Parenthood to the Evil Party.
Many Stupid People vote for Democrats. They should vote for the Stupid Party, but they are too stupid to realize (or admit) that they don’t really agree with the Evil Party. (XL Pipeline, open borders, anthropomorphic climate change, ObamaCare, EPA regulations on navigable waters, Fast and Furious, IRS scandal)
Finally, do you realize how ignorant Democrats truly are? Their signature animal is a mule yet they call themselves donkeys.
“The Mule
The mule he is the funniest sight
He’s made of ears and dynamite
The mule he is the funniest sight
He’s made of ears and dynamite
Some folks don’t treat mules with respect
They say he has no intellect
The mule attends to his own biz,
He don’t look bright boys, but he is.”
—————————————————————–
Sung to the tune of Tannenbaum
DC
http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/song-midis/Mule.htm
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Bob, we must have just missed each other at college, I got to state in the spring of ’72.
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And there’s been another beheading video released.
The depths. 😦
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Thanks for posting the article on the Confederacy, Bob. I have read the books written by writers cited in the article and generally agree with the article’s conclusions. However, as I noted a couple of weeks ago, we are not dead yet:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/what-three-u-s-secessionist-groups-think-about-the-scottish-independence-movement-20140911
I support and agree with the League of the South. Alternatively, if (as the NJ article suggests) Vermont, Oregon, Washington and a few other like-minded places would secede, the US might not be so bad.
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Uh, folks, birth control pill usage needs to be monitored; too many potential side affects.
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Bernie Sanders on meet the press.
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Anonymous – And yet Plan B (I think that’s the one) is available without a prescription.
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My young liberal friend’s opposition to letting birth control pills be OTC is that then women would have to pay for it themselves. Birth control must be absolutely free. Apparently, consequence-free sex is guaranteed in the Constitution. 😉
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Don’t these liberal feminists realize that their insistence on that kind of thing is infantalizing women?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Birth control is cheap. And it’s also likely still available (probably for free) via groups like PP and university medical centers.
But that aside, the Democrats were all for OTC b/c.
That was before conservatives suggested it as a way to settle the insurance wars, though. Now they’re against it.
So they were for it before they were against it.
As usual.
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Plan B is only supposed be taken in emergency situations, not daily for years.
We tell girls that once they begin having sex, they need to make sure they get a pap smear every year–to watch for potential problems like HPV, and other STDs. By having to go in yearly to redo your birth control prescription, women get the needed physical check up as well. (Which is part of why the cost is so “high” in some plans or if you don’t have insurance).
In addition, you need to be fully informed before you start taking the pill because of the side effects. BCP are NOT one size fits all. If you have a history of blood clots, for example or you smoke, you should not be taking BCP.
From a website just listing them, http://www.floliving.com/birth-control-side-effects/
How many of these common birth control side effects are you familiar with?
Nausea, vomiting, constipation, or bloating
Irregular menstruation and spotting
Breast swelling or tenderness
Decreased libido
Weight gain or loss of appetite
Mood swings, anxiety, nervousness or depression
Changes in vaginal discharge and vaginal infections
Headaches, dizziness and fatigue
High blood pressure and cholesterol
Acne or permanent discoloration of the face
Fluid retention
Bone density loss
Hair loss or changes in hair growth
Enlarged ovarian follicles
And how about these potential long-term complications of hormonal birth control?
Eye problems or vision impairment
Gallbladder disease and gallstones
Embolism
Resistance to Insulin
Immune system suppression
Heart attack
Stroke
Breast tumors and liver tumors
Ectopic Pregnancies
Links with certain cancers such as cervical cancer
Blood clots in legs, lungs, heart and brain
Jaundice
How many teenagers do you know are seriously thinking about these things when they decide, if they decide, to use birth control before having sex?
I understand the libertarian argument, but as someone concerned about women’s overall health, I think making BCPs OTC is a really bad idea.
And if I think so, a lot of other people will tear Gov. Jindal apart for being “heartless” to women.
LikeLike
HRW, I thought of you in church today. Our hymnal contains the words and music to Oh Canada.
http://ohcanadaanthem.com
Oh Canada is truly an outstanding national anthem: easy to sing, a good tune and stirring lyrics. The Russian anthem has a superb tune, but the words are marginal (perhaps something was lost in translation).
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Here is another outstanding national anthem which is played before each Texas A&M football game:
http://youtu.be/r99ZVid9P5E
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And then there is this particularly elegant use of an unofficial national anthem that still stirs the hearts of all true Southerners:
http://youtu.be/Iuwc3QjIN7o
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I must try a different version:
http://youtu.be/SBIB9cbKmXE
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Just what is a national anthem doing in a hymnal?
I’ve never actually read the other three verses before. Normally we just play the first verse in English or French or both. The anthem was originally written in French
The Russians still uses the Soviet Union tune to the Internationale but they’ve changed the lyrics.
LikeLike
Michelle – I wasn’t necessarily agreeing that it should be OTC, but I find it interesting that my friend’s opposition to that idea is based on the woman having to pay rather than the health effects you mentioned.
Also, I guess my comment about Plan B wasn’t clear. I know that Plan B is only for an emergency, but I would guess that there are going to be teen girls who use it in the wrong way, which could be more problematic than using run-of-the-mill b.c. pills (if they were OTC).
LikeLike
A good question, HRW. The hymnal had only the first and last verses. It also had several patriotic American songs which had a religious theme.
One Sunday (at our church in another town) our music minister led us in the singing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. A number of our church members (perhaps outraged) turned to see if I would start a protest or a riot. I did not sing the Yankee song, but knew better than to oppose God’s representative in the church.
LikeLike