Judith Warner has written a great piece.  Read it.  The comments are also excellent. This one, by the husband of one of Dr. Tiller's patients who identifies himself as "Peter," is especially noteworthy:

( Read more... )

Yesterday Dr. George Tiller was murdered outside his church in Wichita, KS.  Dr. Tiller was one of the few doctors in the country who performed late-term abortions.  As a result, his clinic has been bombed;  his home, office, and church were picketed;  he was shot and wounded in 1993;  anti-abortion groups have searched relentlessly for evidence ( Read more... )

The juxtaposition of the endless presidential campaign and the Breast Cancer Industry Awareness Month is killing me.

This morning I stopped in at 7-11.  For coffee, you can get an Obama cup (blue), a McCain cup (red) or an Undecided cup (beige).   As if that weren't bad enough, they had ribbon-shaped doughnuts topped with pink ribbon sprinkles.

Make ( Read more... )

Go read this outstanding speech by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I still despise her behavior during the primaries, but she really has been gracious in defeat.  I like her more now than I have since 1993.

U.S. District Judge James Robinson (D.D.C.) has ruled that discrimination against a trans person is sex discrimination under Title VII.  Finally, someone who's read Price Waterhouse!

The case, Schroer v. Billington, is fascinating.  Diane Schroer applied for a job at the library of congress, as a "Specialist in Terrorism and International Crime."  ( Read more... )

You may have heard of Douglas Kmiec.  He's a conservative, Reagan-era legal scholar.  He has endorsed Obama, and written a book about it -- and his asshole priest denied him communion as a result. Unsurprisingly, Kmiec is big-time opposed to marriage equality.  Apparently he's written an op-ed for the SF Chronicle telling everyone to vote Yes on ( Read more... )

Governor Palin used her line-item veto to slash funds for Covenant House, which runs a residential program for teenage moms.  You heard me.

So let's review.  If Palin had her way,

1. There would be no access to real sex education, so teenagers could learn to avoid unwanted pregnancy.
2. There would be no access to safe, legal abortion, even in cases ( Read more... )

 Beautiful.  That's statespersonship, is what that is.  I was too tired to watch the speech last night, but just reading the transcript made me cry.

She was perfect.  Exactly right on.  And she reminded me why, in spite of my disgust with the party, I remain a registered Democrat.  It was as good as Dennis Kucinich 4 years ago reminding me we are ( Read more... )

The Venus of Willendorf was "discovered," if that's the word, 100 years ago last week.  Vienna is celebrating!  Unfortunately, we have missed the Venusfest, which was held on August 8.

I love that she lives in Vienna.  She looks like she would enjoy a Kaffee mit Schlag, doesn't she? 

1. Getting off the elevator:  An officer (I didn't notice whether he was county police or sheriff's department) with a German Shepherd Dog on a leash.  The dog was carrying a rubber chew toy in his mouth!  It even had a cord attached, so you could pick it up without touching the dog slobber ( Read more... )