Be INFORMED

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Women Legislators Turn The Tables And Introduce Bills Regulating Men's Reproductive Health

Originally posted to Meteor Blades on Mon Mar 12, 2012

Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner (D) isn't happy with bills that seek to control women's access to contraception and abortion. She has joined a trend across the nation by introducing a bill that would require men seeking a prescription for erectile dysfunction drugs to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and "get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency." Sex therapists would be required to present the option of "celibacy as a viable lifestyle choice.”

"The men in our lives, including members of the General Assembly, generously devote time to fundamental female reproductive issues—the least we can do is return the favor," Senator Turner said. "It is crucial that we take the appropriate steps to shelter vulnerable men from the potential side effects of these drugs.

"When a man makes a crucial decision about his health and his body, he should be fully aware of the alternative options and the lifetime repercussions of that decision," Senator Turner said today. Men will be more easily guided through the process of obtaining treatment for impotence so they can better understand and more effectively address their condition.

Sen. Turner isn't the only legislator to introduce a "Viagra bill" or amendments in response to what mostly male legislators have been proposing around the nation.

In Illinois, for instance, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D) introduced an amendment to a bill requiring ultrasounds before a woman can get an abortion that would require men to watch an explicit video about the side-effects of erectile dysfunction drugs. And, Missouri state Rep. Stacey Newman (D) introduced a bill that would allow a man to obtain a vasectomy only when not doing so could cause him serious injury or death.

Some people may take these proposals as jokes. But the problem they spotlight, the war on women's reproductive rights and privacy, isn't funny at all.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Newt Gingrich's Accidental Humblebrag

Originally posted to The Jed Report on Fri Mar 16, 2012

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich keeps on digging (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Newt Gingrich says Ronald Reagan is his only intellectual equal in the Republican Party:

"Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who's been able to talk like this," Mr. Gingrich told a banquet crowd here, referring to his own policy ideas on energy, brain science and other matters. "That's why I'm still running, because the gap is so huge."
I know Newt was boasting, but when you're trying to offer yourself up as an intellectual giant, you might want to avoid comparing yourself to a guy who falsely claimed trees were a major source of pollution, who falsely claimed there was no Russian word for freedom, and who falsely denied funding death squads with illegal arms sales to Iranians.