Penis Tax

The need for dick insurance in America...

The United States is in the midst of celebrating a massive achievement for the people. Health care is finally the law of the land after nearly a century of refusing to address the problem. Women, however, once again took a hit. This bill, while a big improvement, is not true health care reform for women.

Men have always been able to use their health insurance to pay for Viagra. Erectile dysfunction is considered a serious ailment for men. Women, however, have to buy birth control out of their own pocket with no help from the insurance companies. Pregnancy and women's health issues are still not covered.

Okay, pregnancy is no longer a pre-existing condition. But the right to choose is still controversial and under attack by those who claim to be pro life.

They are not.

Pregnancy remains the number one killer of women in America and the world.

Rape is still the weapon of choice used to control or to harm women.

Denying education, and birth control is still standard practice in America and the rest of the universe. In this case there is no difference between the practices of organized American religions and those of the Taliban, and other Eastern extremists religions.

What is going on in Africa, for instance, where women are being brutally raped day after day is being covertly approved of and egged on by American evangelicals who have found fertile ground for their virulent brand of Christianity that seeks to contain and destroy not only women but gays and lesbians seeking equality. The term in Africa is “corrective rape,” used to “change” lesbians into straight women. Impregnating women is a god given right and a sport second only to soccer in magnitude.

Corrective rape is gang rape plied for hours and hours at a time regardless of a woman's orientation.

Despite the so called religious stance, there is not one clause, psalm or phrase or teaching in the Bible that speaks to abortion or the right to choose...not one...

This argument has been going on for centuries and looks like it is going to continue for a while. So I have a solution.

It's time to rein in the royal member...Let's tax the penis. The days of free range dickery must come to an end.

If a man wants to have sex, to create a baby or to just have fun..He should have to face consequences, just like women.

Henry or Lucifer or Big Bob...whatever he names it, should be gift wrapped in latex as a sign of active responsibility. If he wants sex, then a condom is mandatory. Big Bob needs wrap it up or pay a fine for any inadvertent emissions that result in life.

Because if life does in fact begin at conception, then men need to really, really recognize exactly what that means. No more paying lip service to pseudo religious, non scientific fantasy.

If one egg can get a woman in trouble...then so too should one little active swimmer sperm for men.

Men should have to carry a Penis bond card, or proof of dick insurance in their wallet right next to the jimmy, amounting to $500,000. If he impregnates somebody, she gets the money for the resulting child.

It takes about half a million dollars to raise one of those little buggers to the age of 18 these days, with 99% of the hassle falling on women. Guys lay down, take their pleasure and then hide behind DNA tests, because they always assume that women are doing it to someone else, too.

Men love to play the victim when it comes to accidental children, denying as long as they can get away with it.

If the man has dick insurance there is no need to chase him down for child support. That becomes a money saver. Think of all the court procedures and police actions and domestic relations happenings that would no longer be necessary.

May even save the lives of some women, because dying during childbirth is not the only thing that pregnancy causes Many men simply kill their sex partners when they get pregnant.

A penis tax might save some lives. It is infinitely more pro life than what is going on now.

The late great feminist, attorney Flo Kennedy said: If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."

She didn't lie.

Open Letter to Steve Driehaus

Dear Congressman,

As the vote on health care reform approaches, I am writing today to ask you to carefully consider your vote and its future repercussions. It has been widely reported by the media that you favor health care reform as long as it does not violate your pro-life principles. In other words, you are backing the demands of Congressman Bart Stupak and the Stupak Pitts Amendment which calls for additional constraints on federal money, to prevent women from obtaining an abortion, should she so choose to have one.

The Stupak maneuver that you so vocally support, bars women from buying health care with their own personal funds, if it contains a clause allowing them to choose an abortion, should it ever become necessary. Your stance goes above and beyond the constraints already imposed upon women by the Hyde Amendment ratified in 1976.

The current health care reform bill has been written to abide by the Hyde Amendment restrictions. Regardless of the vote set to take place in a few days, the Hyde Amendment remains in place. Women cannot use federal or taxpayer funds to get an abortion. It is the law of the land and, right or wrong, has been in place, as I said since 1976.

So, I have to ask you Congressman, what is your problem? Why have you chosen to draw your line in the sand etched on the backs of women?

Refusing to vote for health care reform, continues the practice of relegating women to second class citizenship in the greatest country in the world.

Refusing to support health care reform continues the wrong headed tradition of viewing all pregnancies as a pre-existing condition, regardless of how that pregnancy came about.

Today, women who find themselves pregnant without insurance, cannot get health insurance to help them through a dangerous time in their life, that is a threat to not only their own health, but the health of the very fetus that you say you are protecting.

And, yes, pregnancy, even in these enlightened times, is a health danger, because it still kills more women than any other cause except murder. These deaths come because women cannot get prenatal or post natal health care.

Postpartum depression is barely recognized as an illness, or the treatment for it, paid for by insurance companies. How many more times do we have to sit through trials of obviously sick women who drown their kids in the bathtub, because they can't handle motherhood, or throw them off the Golden Gate Bridge, or strap them into their tiny back seat carriers while releasing the handbrake and watching the car slide under the water.

The current societal answer is to medicate them, lock them away in prison for life, while allowing their husband or lover to shirk any guilt or responsibility in the situation, free to marry the next woman who crosses his path.

Many of these deaths come because men act out and kill their sex partners, either because they don't want the woman, or the children or because they are hiding the fact that they raped and abused a female relative or neighbor.

And the children that you purport to protect by your stance...what about them? The current health care system refuses to help the babies, invitro or after birth, if parents...but let's be real honest. here, their mother can't afford it.

How is this a principled pro life stance?

Just this week, here in Cincinnati, a man was locked up for beating to death, a 17 month old baby girl, who, for some reason was given by her mother to a friend, who left the baby with this man, who was not related to the child.

I guess she must have ticked him off, somehow. 17 month old babies can do that...maybe she cried too much and disturbed his sleep or interrupted him while he watched TV. Maybe this little girl might have lived had her mother put her up for adoption, which has its own built in hazards for unwanted children.

Surely you remember the Marcus Feisel case, here in very conservative Buckeye land. Little Marcus, unwanted by anyone, even by his foster parents, who locked him in a closet while they went on vacation. He died and they went to jail after authorities were led to his burned and disposed of body.

Simply put, Congressman, your so called principled stance is not correct. It is not pro life, pro women, nor is it pro family. Your stance is quasi religious at best. Your narrowly focused pro life principles do not and never have addressed the varied ramifications and repercussions of this very broken corporate run health care system.

One thing that it is, is political.

You seem to think that you are correctly representing the first district. You appear to think that the first district is monolithic-that the thinking of your “identified” majority is the way everybody thinks in the first district.

This identified majority did not vote for you in 2008. If polls are correct, they are not going to vote for you this year either regardless of what you do. If the polls are correct they are going back to the other Steve, Steve Chabot, another long term GOP yes man cut from the same cloth as John Boehner and Rob Portman, all those guys who followed Bush/Cheney to the brink and are still ready willing and able to drive this country over the cliff right now.

The real majority in the First District elected you, Congressman. The real majority desperately needs health care reform not the status quo. If that means an option for choice, then so be it.

The God you claim to listen to, does not even support your stance, and you know this.

You were sent to Congress to help people, period, not vote your personal principles or the principles of some of your District. You were sent to do what is right and what is right is not always what the so called identified majority wants.

Question- were you in Congress in 1964 and 1965...would you have voted for Civil rights legislation? The so called majority of the First District in Cincinnati, was overwhelmingly against the Civil Rights Act. What would you do-stand on principle assuming your principle was different and just..or would you satisfy your so called identified majority constituents, knowing they were wrong and bigoted in their opinions.

Like it or not, Roe v Wade saves many, many more lives, then you and your like minded Congressman are willing to admit. However, the number of deaths resulting from America's inability to adequately address women's health care is staggering and way too high.

Prevention, real talk and action about contraception and sex education for kids are the best way to combat unwanted pregnancies and would go a long way in cutting back on the need to choose.

There is no woman on the face of this earth who makes that decision lightly. It is gut wrenching with the effects of that decision lasting a lifetime.

I have spent way too much time on the right to choose. Health care reform is not really about the right to choose. It is about instilling more equity in an unequal system for women. This reform is not the one I wanted. But it is one that I and others like me desperately need.

It is a first step toward true change, change that you promised to initiate or support, when you came into my First District neighborhood asking me to vote for you.

I am actually glad that you are a man of principle. However, principles should be coupled with what is just, what is moral and what is right.

Any principle that goes against the well being of a single human being, class, color or gender is bigotry pure and simple.

I hope that when the time comes, you will do the right and just thing and help fix a corrupted and biased health care system.

Respectfully yours

Steve Driehaus, You Just Lost My Vote!

Ohio Congressman Steve Driehaus is one of several democrats threatening to torpedo health care reform, unless the measure blocks the rights of women to get an abortion. Specifically, he says he will vote against the house health care bill, which is set for a vote tomorrow, if there are no provisions barring the use of federal funds for a woman to exercise her rights to an abortion.

You can read more here...

Healthcare in this country is not equal when it comes to women. We cannot exercise our rights to choose what happens to our body. We get knocked up legitimately, illegitimately or raped and it is termed a pre-existing condition and not subject to coverage.

It is time to get real...blocking funds for abortions is not going to put an end to them....Jailing women for terminating a pregnancy is not going to stop abortions...killing doctors for doing their job is not going to stop abortions..

What is going to happen is the re emergence of the black market done by hacks and anyone pretending to be a doctor...which killed or maimed women thousands of women on a yearly basis before Roe v Wade became law.

Rich women will still get their pregnancies terminated when they choose. Rich men will still be able to buy their way out of an unwanted kid with their disposable income.

The only ones who will suffer and who suffer now are women in poverty...and the babies they are forced to bring into this world....unloved..unwanted...left to fend for themselves...

while falsely pious and pompous politicians play god with the lives of the helpless and disadvantaged.

Moreover, these same pseudo christian congressman, who make the rules that govern my body and the bodies of all other women...also refuse to support birth control programs, child care programs, contraceptive programs, neonatal programs, day care and flextime programs...denying federal funds to these programs as well

Can't have it both ways Congressman Driehaus....

If you want my support banning abortion...then I need something in return...full and comprehensive contraceptive programs..real sex education in all schools for young people...included in my health care package.

Funding these programs would go a long way in preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Then maybe the right to choose would no longer be needed except in cases of rape or incest...

Women need health care as much as men need their Viagra....You hearing me Mr. Congressman?

So go ahead and exercise your right to vote as you choose Mr. Driehaus, because I guarantee you that I will exercise mine at the next opportunity to reel you back in to Ohio...

Republican Lies About Health Care Reform

The GOP policy of destroying Obama at all costs is in high gear with its big guns blatantly lying to the American people.

Most people seem to know better....Yet the base is crazier than ever...Not surprising when you have statements like the one below being thrown at them by their so called leaders.

This is Sarah Palin's statement...made yesterday on Facebook...I give it to you in total...without edit..since she says we pajama clad bloggers make shit up about what comes out of her mouth...

Yesterday at 4:26pm

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late.

- Sarah Palin

Rep. Bachmann's speech can be viewed here:

Now the real deal on Health Care is this...

No one is mandating that old people go out and kill themselves...or prepare to kill themselves to make way for the young....

This seems to come from the part of the bill that addresses “end of life planning.”....you know what that is...Hospice care...living wills....etc...all the stuff that hospitals already ask you about when you check into the hospital...right now....

Nobody is advocating euthanasia....however...I personally think it is a topic that needs addressing...because some of us don't want to hang around...depending on a machine to breathe and some nurse to wipe our ass when we soil ourselves..

That is not living to me..and I have already made it clear to my sisters...that if they love me..

They will pull the plug..if I haven't already done it myself...

The proposed legislation does mandate that medicare pay for consultations between doctors and patients about end of life decisions...Medicare currently does not do that...

At the other end of the spectrum...the pro-birthers are telling their people that the bill will make them pay for other women's abortions.

The real plan is to get insurance companies to pay for birth control and abortions as part of insurance health plans....

Insurance companies do right now pay for viagra and other male enhancements for men, while refusing to cover birth control or any abortion procedures for women...

Wingnuts are also lying by saying the Obama plans to ban all private health care...Not true...once the plan passes into law....all existing plans will be grandfathered in to larger risk pools...forcing the cost to policy holders down....

Less money coming out of your pocket in other words...These wingnuts are simply buying the BS being shoveled around by the health care industry..

The wingnuts are hyperventilating about government run health care...saying the government can't run health care programs...

Well....what do they think Medicare and Medicaid are....private corporations?

The GOP has maintained that government will begin to ration health care....Hell...the insurance companies do that now....

I mean...they refuse coverage to persons deemed to have pre existing conditions....They refuse coverage for no reason what so ever...even when you've paid all your premiums...

And....no matter what you do...in your work health coverage...it goes up every year..whether you've used it or not....

Screwed no matter what....Given a choice....I like the reform plan..

Another Back Hand Swipe at Women

In the waning days of his administration, President Bush is attempting to push through several policies that will hurt women. One of them, the “right of conscience” proposal allows doctors, nurses and other health care officials to refuse to participate in any procedure they consider morally or religiously objectionable. Administration officials say the rule allows Christians to say “no” to procedures like abortion. You can read the press release here.

This is not a new policy. It has been around in some form since the 70's. What is new is that this new wording in the proposed regulation is drawn broad enough to include artificial insemination and birth control procedures. In other words if a pharmacist does not want to fill a prescription for birth control pills for a married woman, he is not required to do so. Similarly, if a doctor has a problem with lesbianism, he can refuse to artificially inseminate a couple if they come in trying to have a child.

This rule also increases the number of health care workers covered, meaning that a person whose only job is to clean the medical instruments used in a procedure can opt not to do his job if that procedure offends him morally or religiously.

The Bush plan, according to reports, is to get the measure on the books by December 20th. It will apply to any facility or hospital receiving federal funds.

The American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association are already on record as opposing the new language of this proposal stating that the rule could compromise and does politicize women’s health.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology issued a statement calling for limits on the so called “moral objections “ clause..

“Although respect for conscience is important, conscientious refusals should be limited if they constitute an imposition of religious or moral beliefs on patients [or] negatively affect a patient's health," ACOG's Committee on Ethics said. It also said physicians have a "duty to refer patients in a timely manner to other providers if they do not feel that they can in conscience provide the standard reproductive services that patients request.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt says the issue is solely focused on abortion and he will issue the new order before the December 20th deadline.

Enactment of the proposal by the deadline will tie President elect Obama’s hands and will mean that Congress will have to act to rescind the order.

Ten Men Talking

Well, the first GOP “debate” is over and it went well:

If you deny evolution,
if you think Ronny Ray-gun was the best president, ever, and refuse to criticize Bush, or other members of his evil cabal,
think gays and lesbians are abomination,
think stem cell research is murder,
don’t think women have enough brains to make good decisions when it comes to their own bodies,
Think Alito and Roberts will do great things from the Supreme Court bench,
think congress has a right to mess in private lives like what happened with Terri Shiavo,
continue to equate the Iraq quagmire with a war on terror,
are willing to go to war with Iran tomorrow, despite the messes in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and feel this administration is doing a good job..

They all hate Hillary and one of them (sorry, they all look alike) told Joe Scarborough that every man on stage would make a better president than Hillary Clinton. The answer also shows that she is the one they fear the most. They all ranted against Hillary health care, circa early 90's. They all took pot shots at Bill and most of them voted to impeach him. They all accused Democrats of being soft on defense.

If Hillary gets the nomination, I’m willing to bet that it will be a very negative campaign. Men turn into "mean girls" and get bitchy, when challenged by women, we all know that.

Did anyone stand out.....Mitt Romney looked presidential...but it was that idealized, calculated look of what a president should look like. Listening to him....he’s got the Joe Biden slime factor going on.

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy....got buried in the shuffle. He didn’t stand out or have a chance to stand out. He was trying to be everything to everyone. It’s not working. He doesn’t seem really interested in the job. I think he likes campaigning as long as it holds his interest, nothing more.

And if the GOP hands Rudy the nomination it will illustrate just how hypocritical republicans are when it comes to making moral judgements. Rudy’s so tainted, he should be a democrat.

John McCain....tried too hard. I think the parade has passed him by and he can’t catch up.

As for the rest of them, well, we needed some comic relief....I found myself wishing for Newt or Fred or even Arnold to jump on stage..

Still Second Class

One step forward, two steps back....The Supreme Court, driven by its conservative male members, continues to dictate to women what they do with their bodies. The decision to uphold the federal ban on partial birth abortions was 5-4...Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia and Kennedy voting in the majority.

I guess women and their doctors will have to check with their congressman before scheduling a procedure to protect their own health. Guys, you still have carte blanche to do what ever you want with your body. Go ahead, pop another viagra and celebrate.

Cincinnati: Home to Many Fruits and a Whole Lot of Nuts

Cincinnati, The Queen City, is aptly named. It is home to many queens most of whom proudly marched in Sunday's Pride Parade through Clifton and Northside much to the delight of a similarly fruity throng of rainbow clad happy people. I was one of them. It was a fun day.

Despite the sometimes oppressive and downright discriminatory nature of the city, fruits have always thrived here. The city is a veritable orchard when it comes to growing fruits. And with the city now making strides to leave the 19th century and enter the 21st by doing away with outdated draconian laws, it can only get more festive in coming years.

But the climate around here is also great for growing nuts and that's not necessarily a good thing. Some of the more harmless but fun nuts have gone national, like Jerry Springer, or Morganna the kissing bandit. . Some are just locally famous like Fife, rest in peace, lady, or the late Charlie Taft or Marge, no last name needed. There was a vibrancy, an aliveness, if you will in their nuttiness. They provided a spark and twinkle that is missing today from this once great city.

Others, however, are more dangerous in their nuttiness, like The Wilkes, husband and wife, Phil Burress, and lately, one Tom Brinkman. The Wilkes founded "Right to Life." Phil Burress is a reformed porn addict who campaigns for "community values." Tom Brinkman sponsors legislation aimed at women. He is the man behind a proposal in the Ohio State House that would ban all abortions, even for rape victims. There is a hearing today on the issue.

Were I living in a more enlightened State than the Great State of Ohio, I would not be too concerned about this piece of legislation making it into law. After all it completely contradicts federal law on the issue. But this is Ohio, home to a convicted Governor who is nephew of the aforementioned Charlie. It is home to wannabe governor Ken Blackwell, who uses his powers as Secretary of State to steal elections for the GOP among other seemingly questionable actions, and he is also from Cincinnati.

Considering Ohio was the swing state for re-electing Dubya to the White House for four more years of "compassionate conservatism," well you can understand my reticence for assuming that common sense and logic will prevail in knocking down this insidious measure.

Women have a right to choose, period. I get angry just having to feel that I have to justify my rights on any level to anyone other than myself. I, and I know there are other women who refuse to be returned to being second class citizens. I grew up back in the day of back alley abortions where women died after being violated by hacks with coat hangers. I remember that. It's not some history lesson for me. We ain't goin' back there.

This whole anti abortion movement is based on two premises that date all the way back to when men figured out how to write. One, that men need to propagate and live on, preferably thru their sons, and two, that women need to be protected and have decisions made for them by right thinking upstanding individuals, namely their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers. Get the picture ? We haven't been property for a very long time, guys.

I don't know any woman who chooses routinely to have an abortion, or even wants to have one. I certainly don't know any women who enjoy getting raped.

The right to a safe abortion is simply one of many choices available, or would be available if this same movement and the Tom Brinkmans of the world would stop fighting sex education and knowledge about contraception in schools and on the internet.

One of the most horrendous things that this White House has done is to erase sex education information from all government websites. It has also successfully withheld federal funding in the fight to keep women safe.

The Tom Brinkmans of the world are not pro life or they wouldn't be about getting laws passed that kill women.