(Link) <snip> RICHMOND, Feb. 5 -- The Virginia House of Delegates gave tentative approval Monday to a bill to make it a felony for a woman to cause her own miscarriage but rejected a proposal to give fertilized eggs and fetuses the "right to enjoyment of life." With the legislative session nearing its midpoint, the House considered a half-dozen bills aimed at restricting abortion or cracking down on people who harm fetuses. In a flurry of votes, the House gave preliminary approved to a...

Poor America, Dumb America: The Mad Infinite Interconnectedness of Everything Until recently, I accounted myself a die-hard liberal--a full tilt leftist ideologue. I was anti-gun, pro-choice, antiwar, anti-big business, pro-government programs, anti-free trade, etc, etc, etc... Now, I am still most of these things, to one degree or another. I am still pro-choice, antiwar, and anti-free trade. I think that to be otherwise would be to advocate harming other human beings by choice, and I can't liv...

honest, open-minded, forthcoming individuals... all of the beauty of the natural world... those moments when I can see the rays of the sun and it looks like god... the feel of grass beneath my feet... the kind of pain that makes me grow and learn... the occasional rare glimpse into another person's soul... feeling the sun beat down upon me on the hottest summer day... the smell of the ocean... people who make me smile... people who I make smile... people who make me unbelievably angry....

I just got really angry watching the 3-person panel on obesity that the show as doing because of a Marie Claire article that asked why Americans hate fat women. Anyway, if you saw it you probably noticed how it played out. Let me say that I am not exactly taking sides here--I think there are definitely negative health effects that result from being obese, but... The heavy woman (sorry I didn't catch any of their names) on the end was advocating a healthy diet and consistent exercise over obse...

This is in honor of the month of March, National Women's History Month, and is the closing piece in a series of articles I wrote this month regarding so-called "women's" issues and "women's" history. If this rubs you the wrong way, please feel free to ignore it, so that the rest of us can have a conversation, an open dialogue, about the issues raised. Peace. The Next Wave: Feminism in the 21st Century, Part IV March Wrap-Up by Katherine Brengle As Women's History Month draws to a close, here...

I am reading this article on AOL News ((Link)?) about parenting. The article touts itself as a "balanced" look, but it is so clearly not balanced, I can't even believe my eyes. I want to know what DUers think of the stay-at-home v. working thing, and also what you all think about mom v. dad staying home with the kids. Personally, I think it is great if a parent can be at home all the time, especially with very young children, but I think it is absolutely ridiculous to assume that that parent ...

Dictionary definition: sexism (n.): (1)Discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women; (2)Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender. Some perspective: "I've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing." (Gloria Steinem) "Feminism directly confronts the idea that one pe...

I know we've all been going back and forth on this stuff for weeks, but tonight, I had an epiphany: I am So Fucking Angry I am watching If These Walls Could Talk (I've seen it before, but I just bought a copy and am watching it for the first time in a few years), and I am having a very strong reaction to it, unlike I have in the past. When I first saw it, I responded emotionally, but the conclusion that I came to in the end was that we (women) absolutely deserve the RIGHT to an abortion. Ton...

Well, not really, but I do have an interesting tid-bit to share. I was talking to my husband tonight about his homecoming in a couple of weeks and just generally chatting, and as usual, some kind of political discussion arose. Now, in order to explain clearly the next part of the story, I will have to throw out a little background. Long before I joined DU, last summer, my husband found out that he was being deployed to Iraq (he's a Marine Corps reservist). He was going to be leaving three we...

I started reading cunt: a declaration of independence (by Inga Muscio) and I am completely blown away. I ended up lying awake in bed reading until 3 am because I was so engrossed. My favorite bits so far: p. 63: "Men who refuse to use condoms do not deserve to be fucked by anyone but other men who refuse to use condoms." (I laughed so loud when I read this, I was afraid I might wake up my daughter, lol.) p. 81: "Mary Magdalene was a Whore and Jesus dug her because she taught him the most sa...

... and other great System of a Down song lyrics : Everybody, everybody, everybody livin' now. Everybody, everybody, everybody fucks. Everybody, everybody, everybody livin' now. Everybody, everybody, everybody sucks. Everybody, everybody, everybody livin' now. Everybody, everybody, everybody cries Everybody, everybody, everybody livin' now. Everybody, everybody, everybody dies. It's a non-stop disco Bet you it's Nabisco, Bet you didn't know. It's a non-stop disco Bet you it's Nabisco, Bet yo...

I just had this passed along to me thanks to the Key Volunteers for my husband's unit. Thought y'all might like to see it: Secretary of Defense Message, 3rd Anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom American Forces Press Service March 19, 2006 – Outside of my office in Washington, D. C. , sits a small American flag, one of many distributed by a local Boy Scout troop to many of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who serve our country. The flag is accompanied by a note that reads: "Here...

I went to a 24-hr WalMart Supercenter with one of my friends a couple of weeks ago, and she bought a few clothing items. The clothes are on plastic/metal hangers like in every other retail store, and when we went to the self-checkout aisle, we didn't know what to do with the hangers, because there wasn't a rack or a basket or anything like that. So, I went to one of the cashiers and asked her, "What should we do with these hangers? We didn't want to just leave them sitting there for someone t...

"Tommy Franks and the coalition forces have demonstrated the old axiom that boldness on the battlefield produces swift and relatively bloodless victory. The three-week swing through Iraq has utterly shattered skeptics' complaints." (Fox News Channel's Tony Snow, 4/27/03) "The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside liberals, and a few people here in Washington." (Charles Krauthammer, Inside Washington, WUSA-TV, 4/19/03) "We're all neo-cons now." (MSNBC's Chris Matthews,...

The Next Wave: Feminism in the 21st Century, Part II Rape and What We Can Do About It Due to the egregious abortion ban recently signed into law in South Dakota, which does not allow for legal abortions in cases of rape and incest, discussions of rape and its prevalence in our society, as well as its effects, have increased almost exponentially with each day that passes. (For the record, I agree that this lack of exception is wrong, but also believe that any law restricting a woman’s access to...

This is the initial piece in what is going to be a series of articles on "women's" issues over the course of the rest of the month. I know it's a little dry, but I am hoping that for readers who regularly read my stuff, it will provide a useful backdrop for the more interesting stuff to come... Celebrating Women's History Month: An Overview of the Fight for Equal Rights In July of 1848, a group of American women and men gathered at Seneca Falls, N.Y., to discuss the legal limitations imposed ...

(Of course, ladies and others are welcome as well, just thought it might get more attention this way ;).) Okay, I have been reading all of the "sexism" threads the past few days right along with everyone else, and thought I had had enough and didn't have enough energy to keep saying the same things over and over and over again, but then I decided to do a little reading before bed, and I came across something significant. We've been going back and forth and back and forth, men v. women, for day...

Okay, someone else posted an ad they were working on the other day, and I thought it was an interesting idea--since I questioned the potential effectiveness (though not the message, which I myself identified strongly with) of that original ad, I thought I would try my hand at creating something that I thought would speak to the majority of Americans and tell them who Democrats are and what we are about. I'd like to add a kudos to the DUer who posted that ad--regardless of my personal feelings a...

The idea for this article came out of a discussion I participated in in another DU thread. Whaddaya think? The right-wing says that there is a Liberal Agenda. This agenda is chock full of evil. Liberals want to make Christianity illegal, kill babies, abolish the military, and advance the other agenda--the oft-cited "homosexual agenda"--onto our nation's innocent and impressionable children. The left usually responds by saying, "There is no liberal agenda," and calling it quits. But guess w...

I couldn't help myself, I just had to post this. Enjoy: We are the Meteor A bit of truth in a moment of humor. by Katherine Brengle I was chatting with a group consisting of both liberals and conservatives today when one Republican supporter made the comment that the Republican Party was showing its strength by “going after terrorists” in Iraq. In response, one liberal answered back coyly that Republicans were like dinosaurs—big and strong with itty-bitty brains. I laughed, but it got me to...

Drinking the Sand (or How to Sell It Without Selling Out) We already know that the left needs to work on its marketing skills—but how do we sell our ideas without selling out? “People don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.” -The American President There’s been a lot of discussion on the left in the past couple of years about the way we market ourselves to the American people. The DLC actually speaks of it in exactly those t...