The danger of the current arguments on contraception

. . . Despite Rush Limbaugh’s campaign against what he possibly fantasized Sandra Fluke’s personal life to be, it is very important to remember that none of her testimony centered around the primarily intended use of hormonal contraception—that is to say, pregnancy prevention. Instead, Ms. Fluke’s testimony mainly centered around a friend who needed hormonal contraception as a method of controlling symptoms related to ovarian cysts. . . .

If the defense of the contraceptive mandate, and of contraception in general, focuses heavily on its use for treatment of other medical conditions, it risks creating a bifurcation between uses that are “legitimate” for the purposes of an employer mandate—such as treatment of cysts or menorrhagia—and the use that is not: namely, allowing a woman to control her own fertility. . . .

Examples of the other uses of contraception are very effective at showing the pathetic shortsightedness and tragic indifference of the right, but they cannot distract from the key prize: fighting for a woman’s right to self-determination.

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Atheist Shoes (VIDEO)

Now, I realise that some of you haven’t the foggiest what an Atheist shoe is. And, admittedly, an atheist shoes sounds like a peculiar idea. But we think a shoe is a lovely, understated way for atheists to out themselves and to be less shy about their godlessness. And we also think our Bauhaus-inspired, 1930s-infatuated shoes will be a welcome antidote to the samey junk pumped out by the big sneaker corporations – not only do we feel our designs are prettier, but we know that the care, craftsmanship and quality of materials going into our shoes are superior to those invested by N**e, *onver*e and Ad***s.

Read more, and watch video here. . . .

Paul Krugman: Ignorance Is Streangth

. . . So why are [Reactionaries] so eager to trash higher education?

It’s not hard to see what’s driving Mr. Santorum’s wing of the party. His specific claim that college attendance undermines faith is, it turns out, false. But he’s right to feel that our higher education system isn’t friendly ground for current [reactionary] ideology. And it’s not just liberal-arts professors: among scientists, self-identified Democrats outnumber self-identified Republicans nine to one.

I guess Mr. Santorum would see this as evidence of a liberal conspiracy. Others might suggest that scientists find it hard to support a party in which denial of climate change has become a political litmus test, and denial of the theory of evolution is well on its way to similar status.

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It’s Not Muslims Who Are Trying To Impose Their Religion On Everyone: It’s The [International Child Raping Organization That Is] The Catholic Church

. . . [R]eligious [reactionaries] in the United States are trying to impose their values and doctrine on the rest of us.  No, they won’t try to achieve such objective by telling us that abortion, marriage equality and contraceptives are sinful and against the will of God; that sanctimonious strategy would backfire on them. They are doing it in a much more sinister and deceptive way: They are suggesting that by not legislating and implementing their beliefs the rest of us are guilty of denying them ‘religious [privilege].’ After all, the best defense is a good offense and the best offense is to claim to be “the victim.”

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Extreme Poverty In The U.S. Has Doubled In The Last 15 Years

According to the latest Census Bureau data, nearly 50 percent of Americans are either low-income or living in poverty in the wake of the Great Recession. . .

The number of U.S. households living on less than $2 per person per day — which the study terms “extreme poverty” — more than doubled between 1996 and 2011, from 636,000 to 1.46 million, the study finds. The number of children in extremely poor households also doubled, from 1.4 million to 2.8 million.

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