Sure, Why Not?

Emergency contraception is available over-the-counter. No prescription needed! That is, unless you’re under 17.

But the FDA came in and said “why stop those under 17? this is safe for all young women capable of pregnancy!”

But then HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the FDA, the people who actually know WTF they’re talking about, “nah, the idea of this being available to YOUNG GIRLS OMG sounds scary! so I’m going to say no to this and keep the current age restriction LOL”. And Obama supports her decision.

*sigh*

Really? I mean, I’m not surprised in a way. Typical pandering bullshit, trying not to make the Republicans too uncomfortable. And politics doesn’t like women or youth and therefore especially doesn’t like young women! So the Obama administration wants to make its policies less squeamish to the average anti-youth misogynistic Joe Six-Pack by not – gasp! – letting 12-year-olds access emergency contraception!

Sebelius claimed that she wasn’t so sure it was actually safe for those under 17. Because she knows better than FDA, the people who have to comb through mountains and mountains of research that’s been conducted before they come to such a conclusion. Right. Hey, Sebelius, you know what’s actually not so great for young girls? PREGNANCY!

Again, though, shouldn’t be surprised. Politicians reach astounding levels of cluelessness when it comes to just about anything about young people, especially their reproductive issues. They ignore any statistics and sense and just cover their ears and go “la la la la la!” and just pass more laws to hurt young people for their political gain. Hey, it’s not like those young people can VOTE!

Anyway, here’s a Change.org petition about it. And here’s a lovely piece by Scarleteen! And here’s a lovely paragraph from that piece:

It’s so tremendously important that your requests for rights like these be heard. And that the incredibly sound, sage things you say like this from reader Arai, “These politicians really need to get on the same CENTURY as the one young people live. All the questioning for contraceptives, abortion rights, gay marriage are real in today’s society,” or this from reader Katrina, “Politicians on both sides of the aisle reach unheard of levels of cluelessness when it comes to youth reproductive rights and needs,” are heard and seen. It is, of course just as important that they are also very thoughtfully and with great intention considered in choices like this, but we can’t help much with that part, save continuing to say things like that and continuing to be ardent supporters of youth rights, including reproductive rights.

Yes, that Katrina is me!

It’s the “if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide” bullcrap run amok.

DC police think that a hemp shop selling Flex Your Rights’s “10 Rules for Dealing with Police” is indicative of them encouraging people to break the law.

Oh noes!

Wait… do they know that NYRA’s 2010 Annual Meeting played “10 Rules”? And we were in DC? And one of our organization’s positions is – gasp! – lowering the drinking age?! OMG that must mean we’re encouraging underage drinking and therefore law breaking! Someone arrest us! Arrest us for… I don’t know… something…

With the blatant police abuse we’ve seen lately at the Occupy events and else, something like this is hardly surprising.

From the search warrant affidavit:

Your Affiant notes that while this DVD is informative for any citizen, when introduced into a store that promotes the use of a controlled substance this DVD becomes a tool for deceiving law enforcement to keep from being arrested. The typical citizen would not need to know detailed information as to US Supreme Court case law regarding search and seizure because they are not transporting illegal substances in fear of being caught.

Oh, my good God… Hey, you know who else might have detailed info as to such Supreme Court case laws? The Supreme Court. And they’re – gasp! – also right there in DC! Oh, think of the children! Goodness, they’d better start raiding law schools because the students there might be – gasp! – learning about laws and rights and how to – gasp! – defend people who have broken those laws!

Oh, but they point out the problem is that it’s a hemp shop and thus “promotes use of a controlled substance” and that along with informing people of how to defend their rights is their red flag. That’s interesting, since as seen here, you especially would need to know your rights since simple possession and use of said controlled substance (ridiculousness of its illegality aside) is unneeded to have the police raiding you. Having a DVD containing information about simply knowing the laws of the land is enough for them to accuse you of misdeeds. So, yeah, if anything, they are proving their own statement wrong, and making it even moreso that, yeah, people not partaking in said disliked activity still need this information!

I also wonder where these raids are for other suspected illegal activity. Raiding any Tea Party assholes for likely breaking gun control laws? Raiding any churches or individuals who actively promote child abuse and even advise people on how to hide from Child Protective Services on it?

No, just peaceful protesters. If I’m not mistaken, this shop was in particular targeted because of involvement with Occupy DC. Which, again, if merely peacefully protesting and selling a DVD informing people of laws and rights is seen as constituting unsavory activity deserving of police raid, then the protests and rights DVDs are just being made all the more necessary!

Speaking of Occupy, stay tuned for tomorrow…

So unless you’ve been living under a rock on some distant unknown planet, or maybe even then, you’ll recall yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The day contained the usual memories, mild patriotism, moments of silence, etc.

I’ve also seen lots of references to the day that it is “the day everything changed”. And with that, some have said it was the day America “lost its innocence”.

Um… what?

Statements like this, as well as weirdly similar statements about so-called childhood innocence make me seriously think that, well, they keep using that word, and I don’t think it means what they think it means.
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So… age or intelligence? What should be the basis of who gets the right to vote?

I’m going to say neither of those!

As a youth rights activist and founder of #16tovote on the 16th, I often hear that the voting age should be replaced with some sort of test one must pass to get the right to vote at any age. This way, at least only those smart enough or informed enough will decide the government and it’s not ageist.

Eh… not so much.

Proponents of test-instead-of-voting-age rarely seem to have a clear idea of what this test would be and are dismissive of how extremely easy it would be to abuse it, to end up disenfranchising people based on ideology, location, education level, or just plain test-taking ability.
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And by final boss, I mean the Supreme Court has rendered its verdict in Brown v EMA, formerly known as Schwarzenegger v EMA. This was the case where California has been defending its ban of selling M-rated video games to people under 18. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. On November 2, 2010, day of the oral arguments, we NYRAnians rallied in front of the Court in defense of youth rights and free speech. And Usiel gave this amazing speech, of which I totally shot the video! And after that it was just a matter of waiting and seeing…

And today came the verdict at last…

7-2, in favor of EMA. Two dissenters were Stephen Breyer and (surprising absolutely no one) Clarence Thomas.

WE WON!!!!

Check out the official document here!

I’ve been retweeting a lot of remarks and articles today in response to this ruling, so here’s a nice roundup.
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I watched it.

Yup. Woke up just before 6am this morning and turned on the TV to BBC America, just in time for the service. I watched the royal wedding. I watched Prince William and Catherine Middleton get married, just like the whole rest of the world.

At Westminster Abbey, which I visited when I was in London a year and a half ago, so that was kind of cool on its own!

In spite of the annoying obsessions over it, positive and negative, I still watched it.

Then again, why not? It was cute. It was neat. The people on the ground there watching the event and decked out in union jack-themed costumes were hilariously cheesy. It was seeing the continuance of old tradition. It made lots of people happy.
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Now for an environmental, temperate edition of…

SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!

You know what I’m really getting fucking sick of? Or, at least, that I’m choosing to mention at the moment? Every time the temperature dips a little higher or a little lower than is normal for a given season, you get wingnut assholes deciding this is some definite information about global warming.

You see it from both sides…

“OMG, it’s a 70 degree day in January! Global warming has killed winter!”

“OMG, it’s a 50 degree day in July! Global warming doesn’t exist!”

Uh, hi, I’d like to introduce you both to the Hasty Generalization logical fallacy.

I mean, it’s of course not about expressing any actual scientific knowledge, as those with actual scientific knowledge on this get drowned in partisan propaganda, and many scientific studies even then get performed often by or at least funded by those who want a particular result. No, the entire point is to be a pompous ass to the other side, all like “see? I was right about global warming and you were wrong!” Who cares if the “info” you’re basing this on is even remotely sound when it can be made to fit your gloating needs at a given moment, right?

So, really, STFU both of you. If you think one unseasonably warm or cool day or week or even season totally validates your insistance that global warming is a real threat or just something Al Gore made up, then you don’t have any damn clue what you’re talking about on this issue.

And, just saying… regardless of the truth of global warming… it’s hardly the only reason to be worrying about air pollution.

At least not when it has any degree of intelligence.

For example, every time Obama does something most of his supporters don’t like (which is all the time, but more on that in a sec), you get the conservatives and libertarians acting all like “see, see, and you all thought he was so great!” Or, a few years ago, liberals showing the conservatives the atrocities of the Iraq War and other shit George W. Bush did, saying they cannot possibly support him now.

Yeah, it doesn’t quite work that way. Being a fan, whether of a politician, a musician, sports team, or whatever else, does NOT mean blind agreement with each and every single thing they do, say, or believe. It does not mean finding out they said or did something you strongly disagree with means disavowing any and all support (though it might, depending on severity).

Yes, Obama has done things I do not agree with. And I knew this when I voted for him, when I was glad he won, when I watched his inauguration hopefully. Despite the campaigns making him seem like a second Jesus, nobody (well, again, who has any degree of intelligence [in b4 "LOL that rules out all his supporters!"]) actually thought this about him. He’s still a damn politician, and therefore still going to break promises. Anyone who actually expects to only vote for a politician who is line with their own views and values 200% will then never vote for anyone and is an idiot.
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And now for a partisan, torturous edition of…

YOU SUCK!!!!

I realize the Republican Party seems to exist for no other reason than to stop the Democrats from doing whatever it is they’re doing, no matter what it is. To be fair, Democrats do the reverse as well, but not quite as much, considering almost no Republicans in Congress or Senate seem to ever vote the “Democrat” side of an issue, while Democratic Congressmen and Senators do so quite a bit. And it’s pisses ordinary Democrats the hell off! But I digress.

So, as part of the Republicans’ agenda of don’t-fucking-let-anything-pass, now they’ve effectively stalled legislation to get teen behavior modification facilities some much needed regulations. HR 911 passed the House and then it’s been in a Senate committee to see if it’ll get put to a full vote before the Senate. We NYRAnians met with the chair of that committee, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), to help move it through the committee. The senator agrees with our position on it. The trouble was some pesky Republican Senators on that committee who seemed to have some qualms about some of what this anti-torture school legislation is asking. Seriously, go to the above link to read Alex’s piece about it in Huffington Post. These Republican Senators have a problem with things like forcing school to do things like, oh, NOT withholding food or vital medical treatment from students as therapy.
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So yesterday was the primary election day here in Maryland. So I’m at work yesterday with my little electoral packet, looking at the candidates, including of course the governor and congressman and senator up for reelection, and local election candidates whose names I’ve seen absolutely nowhere except on the campaign signs all over the place and in the same packet 2 and 4 years ago. But, since it’s silly to vote for people I know nothing whatsoever about, I went to Google News. Figured I’d search news articles for their names, see if any of them did anything to piss me off that might make me not vote for them.

Eh, didn’t find much. Washington Post and the Gazette had little profile articles on some of them, with experience, credentials, and affiliations, and other stuff. Some had quotes, most of them I was indifferent, very few I either liked or disliked. Some I couldn’t find any information on whatsoever! So, whatever, I got at least a vague idea of who to vote for, so after work I wandered to the usual elementary school and cast my ballot.

So let’s review. In doing my citizen’s duty of voting, this involved… spending some time Googling candidates to get a cursory look at any information about them, and then going to my polling place, telling them my name, putting a stupid little card into the machine, touching the screen to select the candidates I decided probably wouldn’t enslave us all, finished, put the stupid little card into a box, got my “I Voted” sticker, and walked out.

And this, using a search engine and pressing buttons and getting a sticker, apparently, is something people under 18 are somehow too immature to do.

So on September 8, President Barack Obama will being giving a speech aimed at students that schools are encouraged to show live in their classrooms. And, of course, conservatives are throwing a fit. Why? Because as responsible parents, they don’t think this is appropriate for their children to be viewing, that Obama is just trying to indoctrinate their children without their consent.

In fact, there’s even a poll on Facebook about it: “Should the United States President be allowed to do a nationwide address to our children at school, without prior parental consent?”

*facepalm*
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Now for a monolingual, patriotic edition of…

SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!

What in the hell is with these people who always scream and cry that, oh noes, somebody who is currently in the United States is speaking in a language (gasp!) that is not English? How dare they! This is an English speaking country and must stay that way. And the very good reason for this is… we say so. Yee haw!

Sigh. Here we go again. A bunch of so-called proud Americans have sewn an infallible fabric based entirely on how they were raised by their ignorant families and have decided that and only that is the proper way for all Americans to live and think. The basis for this belief, of course, is just simply that’s how they specifically were raised, and it must have been important because their parents beat the shit out of them if they so much as uttered a word contrary to these beliefs, so all others must obey these rules as well because, shit, their parents couldn’t possibly be wrong, could they? (Another example of how youth rights is always somehow present in just about any situation.)

Of course, I’m speculating, but that’s all I have to go by since I just really don’t understand how anyone can feel so threatened by the presence of non-English speaking people. Perhaps just general fear of anything different from oneself or at least what one is used to, just like the people who fight tooth and nail to maintain Christianity’s dominance, in that it makes no sense in the grand scheme of things but they do it because it is what is familiar and comfortable to them and thus must be enforced. Or perhaps it’s also the irrational fear that if English is not the only acceptable language, then it will be phased out completely and they’ll be forced to speak something else. Which, of course, is pure paranoid bullshit.
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Prejudice is alive and well. It survives nicely through plenty of usually well-meaning people whose prejudicial biases fly under their own radar. Perhaps the most prevalent way that racism, sexism, homophobia, and other bigotries still exist is the extra scrutiny the marginalized group often gets, scrutiny that is forgotten for the same issue if someone of a privileged or majority demographic is involved.

We’ve all seen it. If a teen commits a horrible crime, then the question is not about that individual teen but a question and often assumption that this horrible behavior is common in teens. If the perpetrator were 35, that would not be an issue. The 35-year-old would rightly be treated as an individual, and other 35-year-olds would be spared having to carry that person’s guilt just because they were born the same year. Why? Because middle-aged adults are the standard and thus privileged age demographic while youth (and senior citizens for that matter) are marginalized and considered the “non-standard” group, the “other” group.
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Okay, so I was driving home from work today, and I’m behind some pickup truck, and even by pickup truck standards it looked rather rednecky, with pipes and shit in the back. After a bit I notice a printed sign is taped to the back window and when stopped at a stoplight I finally noticed what it said.

Don’t blame me. I voted for the AMERICAN.

Go ahead. Let that sink in for a moment.

I mean, for a minute I wasn’t even sure which candidate it was referring to, until the obvious factors of Obama having been the one who won and that this was, after all, a pickup truck, which I think is only sold to people who would fellate Ronald Reagan if given the opportunity. And it is probably asking too much of any conservative to recognize that Hawaii is part of the United States while Panama is not.

This has been Day 47 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 9.

Now for a presidential, executive edition of…

Here’s to You!!!!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, President Barack Obama!”

I have two songs floating around in my head. One of them is “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions. The other one is “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by the Who. I’m somewhere in between.

So today at work most of us were on CNN.com streaming the inauguration, not getting much work done but no one really cared.
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You see them all over the internet and plenty of places in person as well. They are avid fans of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who, as we all know, ran in the Republican presidential primary this past year. He’s only sort of a Republican. More a libertarian. Very much free people, free market, and telling the government to GTFO.

A lot of his ideas are good. Some of them scare the hell out of me. Some of them I would need to look more into since I’m far from having a set opinion on every or even most political issues. But there is one thing about him that is consistently irritating. That thing, of course, are his die-hard supporters: the Paultards.
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So I was reading the Economist today when I came across an article about how Obama’s campaign is kicking the living ass out of, well, everything, setting us up for anything from a landslide to another Dewey Defeats Truman. But that’s not what I mean to talk about here today. In the article, it begins describing the lopsided attention being given to the Republican and Democratic booths at some North Carolina fair. And then I saw this little gem.

[Some redneck]’s backing John McCain because the Arizona senator “thinks murdering little babies is not a good idea”.

Ah, we saw this four years ago. And eight years ago. And so on. Many Republicans’ persistent belief that if an anti-abortion president takes office, abortion will become illegal and never be done again. You know, I wonder what life is like to live in such a strong delusion, for these people seem to completely ignore that even though we’ve had anti-abortion president George W. Bush in office for the past eight years, abortion is still legal. I’ve got news for you. John McCain is not going to make abortion illegal. He and Sarah Palin may talk all the time about how bad it is, but the fact is, it won’t be made illegal even if they are elected. So you Republicans thinking the McCain-Palin team is going to be the saving grace of embryos and fetuses from women making an excruciatingly difficult decision, and you Democrats thinking the McCain-Palin team will take away a woman’s inalienable right to kill her unborn child, you’re living in a serious fantasy world.
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Ugh, here I am talking about current political stuff. What is this, a blog?

Anyway, so we all know Hillary Clinton just won the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. Kind of expected. In any case, Barack Obama, as some suggest, pretty much screwed himself in a comment he made about small town Pennsylvanians. Here’s a quote from the Lexington column in the Economist:

He told a group of fat cats in San Francisco that the reason why he is finding it hard to appeal to blue-collar voters in Pennsylvania is because they are “bitter”. They have suffered from so many broken promises that they prefer to “cling” to God, guns and xenophobia rather than reaching out for a helping hand from the government.

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I hereby decree…

Don’t vote for Mitt Romney!

So what’s my problem with him? He’s a Republican? Don’t care about that. He’s a Mormon? REALLY don’t care about that. He’s against medical marijuana? Pfft, not a priority for me. So what’s so wrong with him?

The man who has been his biggest fundraiser until recently? Robert Lichfield. Do you know who that is? Go to a search engine and look up the name, and see what you find. If you don’t feel like doing that, then he’s the man in charge of an organization called WWASPS, which is a collection of many “schools” and “camps” around the country where “troubled” teens are sent to be straightened out.
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So I was looking at one of the little political polls they have on Facebook these days, asking various questions about what people’s stances are on issues. One of them I saw was “Can a woman President be as effective as a man?”

While significantly lower than those who said Yes, there were quite a lot who said no! Perhaps one out of every seven respondents said no.

You mean people like that actually still exist? I mean, I can understand people saying no specifically because they don’t like Clinton, but that wasn’t the question. It was just in general, if there were anything inherent about all women that made them unfit for presidency, some way that isn’t an issue for men.

President must have a penis? Something about that determines how the commander in chief handles foreign policy and other important matters? Something about having a vagina hinders this?

I don’t get the logic. Feminism has come a long ass way, but there is so much more that must be changed still. Can’t people just learn already? It is exhausting giving the human race any credit and being so continually disappointed.