Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

Doctor loses license in live birth abortion case – CNN.com.

WTH? Note to doctors’ staff: If a six month old fetus is completely severed from the mother’s body and is still breathing, you take it to an INCUBATOR, not a fucking trash can. Seriously, people! (That said, what the hell, how do you not know that you’re 6 months pregnant?! Talk about irresponsibility!)

Medical marijuana supporters fuming over Westside dispensary raids – Los Angeles Times.

Fuming? You’re damned right. Fuck them. Fuck them to FUCKING hell. This is the kind of fascist bullshit that should have STOPPED with the new administration. So President Obama, what are you going to do about the fact that people all over the country are suffering from addiction, dying, and being murdered over TRULY dangerous drugs, kids are popping their parents’ Vicodin and Xanax like Tic-Tacs, and the DEA’s henchmen are sticking to the cushy job of robbing legitimate tax-paying businesses and stealing medicine from the disabled?

I am truly disgusted, and you would be too if you knew how these raids are conducted. They are little more than armed robberies; a team of agents bust into the place with huge guns. Nobody is arrested, but all of the medication, money, and valuables are stolen while the employees and patients watch helplessly. The employees, who are patients themselves, are frequently placed in handcuffs so they can watch while everything is torn apart, and then are released once there’s nothing left for the agents to steal.

It’s nothing more than government-sanctioned piracy.

The DEA ought to be out there stopping criminals and breaking up drug cartels instead of playing the cowards and attacking innocent, LAWFUL tax-paying businesses that provide crucial services to people with disabilities and terminal illnesses.

This NEEDS to stop.

Commentary: Ridiculous items in stimulus plan – CNN.com.

Quote of the day:

There is nothing more private — that is, none of the government's business — than the personal decision that a family makes about how many children to have.

Whoa ho ho! That’s a hefty statement coming from a conservative… should I take this hissy fit about the sanctity of familial privacy to imply that Republicans are now going to back out of couples’ private childbearing decisions?

Eh?

Yeah. I didn’t think so.

I take it back. THIS is the best comment on that post…

I wish I knew about "provider conscience rules" when I was a teller.

"You want to withdraw how much? And what are you going to be buying? TruckNutz? Billy The Singing Bass? Sorry, pal. But I can't give you the three hundred you asked for, my conscience won't allow it. Here's twenty. That should cover your needs for today."

Pharyngula: They have a conscientious need to control your ovaries.

Great argument from the comments:

The most important reason to keep government out of the abortion business is that, if government has the power to ban abortions, it also has the power to compel them.

Oops, I accidentally pulled out your IUD! – Broadsheet – Salon.com.

Great. Next, wingnut pharmacists will start filling people’s birth control prescriptions with sugar pills… damn, people? Do you want to reduce the occurrence of abortions or not?!

That was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Thank god it finally did.

Autopsy to be performed on Travolta’s son – CNN.com.

Kawasaki disease? Really?

I guarantee you we’ll find out more about this kid’s medical condition, and it won’t be pretty. Scientologists ignore a LOT of developmental disabilities, including autism, which according to the buzz was the young Travolta’s true developmental disability. If this is true, then Travolta and Preston are essentially responsible for their son’s death, since they failed to provide him with the treatment, care and supervision that he needed.

Noisy farts, bathroom doors — couples’ boundaries – CNN.com.

The comments on this are hilarious. The article, whatever, but the comments… people are so freaking uptight. I mean, nobody says you have to go do these things in public, or think it’s cute or funny to burp your spouse’s name or blow your nose at the dinner table or something – but I think this is definitely a debate where the term “anal retentive” comes in really handy…

Commentary: Why we need an obesity tax – CNN.com.

I opened this article expecting to be infuriated and ready to launch into a rant about how wrong it is to tax people for their physical condition, which many people can’t actually control… but actually, CNN really should have given the article a better title. Paterson isn’t proposing an obesity tax – he’s proposing a tax on particular products which lead to high rates of obesity, particularly among children: Non-diet sodas, and high-sugar juices that are less than 70% real juice. My only concern is that it will encourage people to buy diet sodas, which are really not the best substitute. Honestly, I’d just as soon see diet sodas taxed too, because the chemicals in those come with their own host of medical problems like cancer and digestive issues. Either way, it’s not an unreasonable tax.

Now raising taxes on iTunes downloads, on the other hand… wtf?

When a Job Disappears, So Does the Health Care – NYTimes.com.

In short… we are fucked. Universal healthcare, anybody?

Op-Ed Columnist – A Killer Without Borders – NYTimes.com.

Americans don’t think much about TB, just as we didn’t think much of AIDS in the 1980s. But drug-resistant TB is spreading — half a million cases a year already — and in a world connected by jet planes and constant flows of migrants and tourists, the risk is that our myopia will catch up with us.

Thought you were safe this holiday season? Guess again. A new study suggests good cheer may spread itself. Apparently it threatens to become a rampant epidemic. Be careful out there!

OH NO! You’ve been exposed!!!!

Facebook | Cheryl Hussein Jones’s Notes | If you could save a man from going to federal prison, would you?.

It should be noted that the judge in this case refused to allow evidence relating to medicinal marijuana, including the simple fact that Lynch was operating within state laws. As a result, the jury never knew that he was operating legally or that his 2,000 “customers” were in fact ill patients with legal prescriptions – including a 17-year old cancer patient whose parents brought him to Lynch when nothing else would help him with pain and nausea. There were countless sick patients who were willing to testify to their experience with Lynch, and the judge barred them from the courtroom.

This is an absolute travesty.

‘Pregnant man’ and wife: We’re a normal couple – CNN.com.

I have been reading people’s comments on the various blogs discussing this story. I will *never* understand how people can be so ignorant that they do not understand the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. So let’s try to spell it out in an easy way.

Some people who are born as women identify as men. Some people who were born as men identify as women. Some people identify with neither gender, and some people identify with both. People who don’t identify with one particular gender sometimes call themselves “genderqueer.” People who identify with an opposite gender sometimes call themselves “transgender.”

Sometimes this dissonance is because their brains are hard-wired to identify with one gender, while their bodies reflect another gender. Many trans people will tell you that they always felt that their bodies were not right, that their bodies did not belong to them. This is called gender dysphoric disorder, and has led many a trans kid to suicide out of sheer confusion and helplessness. *Many* trans people know that they are transgender even from childhood – in fact there are many transgender children even now who are living their lives as a gender different from the one they were born with. You think this is a sexual deviancy thing, but if you could see these children who are *so much* happier being able to live as they *are*, you would understand.

You cannot “fix” a person’s gender identity. You identify with the gender you are, regardless of what your body says. We have known for years that there are really more than two genders – some societies have known it for generations. We are a society that loves its dichotomies, though, so we try to force people into boxes. This doesn’t always work. Most of us are born with a physical body that reflects our genetic and spiritual gender. Some people are not.

Now, sometimes people identify with an opposite gender because genetically and chromosomally, they ARE that opposite gender, but physically, something went wrong. In more cases than most of us actually realize, babies are born with ambiguous genitalia, and the doctors decide it will be easier to just do reconstructive surgery and make the baby a girl or boy and hope they made the right guess. Sometimes they are right – and sometimes they are not. This is called “intersex,” and is an absolute abomination on the part of the doctors, who make a life-changing decision for a child based on what is most convenient for themselves.

None of this has ANYTHING to do with sexual orientation. Gender identity is about the gender you *are*. Sexual orientation is about the gender you *love.* Many trans people are heterosexual. They share their lives with their partners in a heterosexual relationship. Some trans people are gay. Some trans people are bi. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same thing so quit trying to tell this man that he is a gay woman. Believe me – if you knew trans people, you would know that this approach is ridiculous and unnatural. A straight man is not a gay woman just because he happened to be born with the wrong genital parts. So he chose not to have a full hysterectomy – that is a dangerous procedure that not all trans people choose to have. And if he has the opportunity to have biological children when his wife is infertile, why shouldn’t he take it? Wouldn’t it be nice if more women with difficulty conceiving could pass that particular duty on to their husbands?

Frankly I just wish people could get the hell over themselves and realize that just because they can’t relate to something, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong or morally corrupt.

FOXNews.com – Idaho Mother Gets 10-Year Sentence After Boyfriend Impregnates 9-Year-Old Daughter – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News.

Read the last sentence. No, seriously. Did anybody expect that? I sure as hell didn’t. On what planet is it reasonable for a 9-year-old child to have a baby?

I LOVE it. So funny.

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret:

Sometimes I send messages I shouldn’t send. Like the time I told that girl I had a crush on her over text message. Or the time I sent that late night email to my ex-girlfriend that we should get back together. Gmail can’t always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but today we’re launching a new Labs feature I wrote called Mail Goggles which may help.

Bailout Provides More Mental Health Coverage – NYTimes.com:

WASHINGTON — More than one-third of all Americans will soon receive better insurance coverage for mental health treatments because of a new law that, for the first time, requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses. (Read more)

This pretty much speaks for itself:

Safety food inspectors in Connecticut recently found melamine in White Rabbit candy – you know, those yummy vanilla chewy candies with the edible rice-paper wrapping? If you purchased some recently… yeah. Throw it away.

Rock Me Sexy Jesus | Slog | The Stranger | Seattle’s Only Newspaper:
A columnist whose work I’ve never read before, Gwen Daniels, at a student newspaper I’ve never heard of, The Maneater, at a university I’ve never visited, the University of Missouri, introduced me to a trend with which I wasn’t familiar: Saving your first kiss for your wedding night. Basically it’s like saving your virginity for your wedding night only, um, a whole hell of a lot crazier. (Read more)

Oh… that’ll DEFINITELY help the climbing divorce rate. Oh yeah.

A graduate of Wasilla High School comments on lack of sex education:

Abstinence-only education is great in theory, but it is not practical. For every emergency drill I went through to protect myself from an intruder or bomb threat, I think of the condom wrapped in foil and how unprotected I could have been. (Read more)

Oh. My. Gawd. No, but seriously. OHMYGAWD. PETA Urges Ben & Jerry’s To Use Human Milk.

Ew. Not only that, but EW.

In all seriousness, though, if PETA discourages the abuse of cows in the dairy industry, what makes it think an increase in the use of / demand for breast milk won’t similarly result in the abuse of women? I mean, honestly – if that kind of treatment isn’t good enough for cattle, certainly it isn’t good enough for lactating women. Sure, they’d be paid in the beginning, but how long would it take before the world would be shocked and horrified to learn of impoverished women being held captive on a human dairy farm?

Don’t we know better than to open this can of worms?

Great article on CNN.com right now about “gifted” children vs. gifted children: Is your kid really gifted? Probably not. As one who was “diagnosed” as intellectually highly gifted when I was about six, I can tell you that if you’re hoping for a kid who will excel in school, follow directions, and never challenge you or cause any problems, you do NOT want a gifted kid. Trust me. I think the people over at tagfam.org put it best when they posted this chart comparing “bright” children to “gifted” children:

Comparison of Bright vs. Gifted
Bright Child	Gifted Child
Knows the answers.	Asks the questions.
Interested.	Extremely curious.
Pays attention.	Gets involved physically and mentally.
Works hard.	Plays around, still gets good test scores.
Answers questions.	Questions the answers.
Enjoys same-age peers.	Prefers adults or older children.
Good at memorization.	Good at guessing.
Learns easily.	Bored. Already knew the answers.
Listens well.	Shows strong feelings and opinions.
Self-satisfied.	Highly critical of self (perfectionistic).

Yep. Sounds about right.

As Norm MacDonald would say on SNL’s Weekend Update, “From the Medical Journal DUH“: Pharmaceuticals found in drinking water supply.

Yet another reason why Big Pharma needs to be cut down to size. This has been public knowledge for ages; anybody in any kind of environmental work could have told you this a long time ago. So why is it only being publicized in the mainstream media NOW?

As if the recent raid on a Culver City medicinal marijuana cooperative by DEA agents wasn’t enough, it’s now become apparent that this raid was conducted not only by DEA agents, but also by Blackwater employees. Yes, that would be the same Blackwater that has government contracts for private security in Iraq, and the same Blackwater whose trigger-happy thugs killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians for no particular reason. What’s next – will Blackwater agents start shooting medicinal marijuana patients too?

As I browsed pages while reading about this story, I came across this article about Blackwater’s broader functions in the present and in the future. Then I came across this chilling paragraph:

What could prove to be one of Blackwater’s most profitable and enduring enterprises is one of the company’s most secretive initiatives–a move into the world of privatized intelligence services. In April 2006, Prince quietly began building Total Intelligence Solutions, which boasts that it “brings CIA-style” services to the open market for Fortune 500 companies. Among its offerings are “surveillance and countersurveillance, deployed intelligence collection, and rapid safeguarding of employees or other key assets.”

Now, if you read the LA Times article you’ll find that while the DEA agents and Blackwater people ransacked people’s bedrooms and stole all of the marijuana and live plants on the premises (and uprooted their vegetable garden too), they did NOT arrest anybody. They did, however, crack open the ATM and help themselves to its contents. More importantly, they also seized medical records, which basically would include the names of all of the co-op’s customers. Why does this matter? Well, those patients are not breaking any California laws, but until the CA legislature passes a new employment protection bill, employers can still fire patients who test positive for marijuana use, even if they have a valid prescription, are not medicated while at work, and there has been no negative impact on job performance (although apparently it’s perfectly fine to come to work hopped up on Vicodin or Xanax or suffering a hangover from a massive drinking binge the night before). There are also other non-criminal ramifications of being a known cannabis user.

So what I’m thinking is that we’re seeing Blackwater doing its “CIA-style” intelligence gathering, with the generous and convenient help of the DEA. If you’re a patient who goes to Organica Collective, you can bet both dollars AND donuts that Blackwater has your information now, and will be keeping it on file for those Fortune 500 companies and selling it on the open market.

I think Organica employee Brian V. Birbiglia, a disabled former Marine who was handcuffed for more than four hours during the “raid,” said it best: “We follow the law,” he yelled, his face red and his eyes teary. “We might as well have just got robbed by a bunch of thugs downtown.”

Brian, I think you were closer to the truth than you imagined.