Representative Susan Phillips, of Kansas City, sponsored (and pushed through) a proposal that cut Missouri's funding of contraceptives, as a statement against abortion.

WTF!?!?!?!?

Allow me to quote from the end of the article:
Rep. Rachel Storch, a St. Louis Democrat, pointed to a study that found the teenage birth rate in Missouri dropped 32 percent from 1991 to 2002. The drop was attributed to wider availability of contraceptives.

Now then, you've just cut Medicare and Medicaid funding in the state, to the point of lawsuits, you're cutting abortion access as much as you possibly can, you're cutting social welfare and aid to low-income families right and left, and now those same poor families can't get contraceptives?

Does your election to the Missouri House automatically cancel out your understanding of cause and effect? Or do you really believe the godder's "cross your legs and think of Jeezus" just-say-no program will keep those women from having more babies than they can support?

And the best part (again, quoting the article below): But Phillips said she was comfortable with the change because the group Missouri Right to Life and the Missouri Catholic Conference supported it.

Jesus H Christ on a stick. That makes it all better, doesn't it?






I probably wouldn't be quite this pissed, had I not read The Handmaid's Tale in one sitting Sunday night. That's had my feathers ruffled all week.

( As usual, article archived below )

Otherwise, this article, about a movement in Africa to unify Christian and Muslim faiths wouldn't give me such a case of the shivers. The author makes it sound fairly positive and hopeful, but the first images in my mind were of the frightful government-sponsored "Sanctity" faith from Ms Tepper's novel Grass.


( Full text of article archived below )

President Jonah -- A Dig Led By Gore Vidal, originally posted on truthdig.com.

( Archived below for posterity, very long )