Women's Health in El Salvador

I found this article from the New York Times Magazine while browsing around the internet. It's a interesting article about the current abortion laws in El Salvador, and it disgusted me. In El Salvador abortion is illegal, and both the woman seeking an abortion and the doctor or otherwise performing it face jail time if caught. There is no exception for the health or the life of the mother, nothing for rape or incest. Doctors are even scared to end ectopic pregnancies, where a fertilized egg gets stuck in the fallopian tube. That situation does not result in a baby, but in pain and possible death for the woman. If done early, a simple operation can remove the fetus. If its allowed to grow until the organ ruptures it becomes a medical emergency. In El Salvador, the unlucky women are forced to wait until the fetus dies on its own or their fallopian tube ruptures, before the operation is allowed.

I just don't understand the view that a group of cells is more important than an already living life.

There are people that want these sorts of laws in the United States too. They must truly hate women and want to cause all kinda of needless suffering.

CSPIA: One Year Stay For Testing

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html

Good news for artisans of children's items. The CPSC has granted a one year stay for testing. The Feb 10 deadline was fast approaching, and this give a bit of breathing room. Now they need to figure out some worthwhile exceptions to this crazy law. Where on Earth did they come up with the idea that blue yarn + purple yarn = DEADLY LEAD ??? Last I checked, alchemy doesn't work.

While I agree that some products need testing. They went about this all wrong. They should require testing from the problem toy companies, not the artists and crafters already making safe toys and children's items!

CPSIA Gets a Little Attention

I have read so many great articles/posts and seen videos about this horrible law that explain it better than I could, so I want to highlight a few of them.

This affects way more people than many realize: not just parents, and creators of handmade children's products, but readers, store owners, teachers, librarians, environmentalists, toy collectors, and the American and World economies as a whole. Small business are important!

Read the mess here: http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html

Handmade Toy Alliance
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

Here's an article in Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.html

Some news stories about CPSIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvKFFvw2Nds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjwNu7w2BSQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87UduX5S6E0

Mr. Sun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RT8MFgvyhw

Video Blogger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIOwYFv-QA0

And the Bloggers
http://joeyandaleethea.typepad.com/blog/2008/12/cpsia-of-2008.html
http://magdalenejewelsblogs.blogspot.com/2008/12/carnival-atrocities-of-cpsia.html
http://ellebelleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/did-you-know.html
http://sewitsforyou.blogspot.com/2008/12/cpsia-law-100th-post.html
http://madebymelissa.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-is-cpsia-all-about.html

Thank you Ron Paul for voting against this horrible bill. To everyone who voted for this: shame on you and, and pull your heads out of your asses and fix this law!

Police Violence at the Political Convetions

I am disgusted by the amount of violence that the police are committing against protesters, journalists, and bystanders in Denver and St. Paul. This kind of violence is inexcusable!

We, as citizens of the United States have certain rights guaranteed in the Constitution. They are there for a reason and specifically the First and Fourth Amendments need repeating:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The mainstream media has hardly touched this, focusing on Sarah Palin's parenting abilities. People need to know about this! This is violence going on here, in the United States, by the very people who are supposed to protect us.

In case you haven't heard, here are some examples:
video:
Raids Before the RNC
http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021870654
Police Raid in St. Paul
http://www.shadoweyes.com/content/police-raid-st-paul

Girl is Hit in the Face and Knocked to the Ground by a Police Officer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfISlq1gzK8
Reporter in Denver gets arrested for taking pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYxn56AKnqE
Nicole Salazar is Knocked Down and Dragged by Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jreRSEQ_yg

text:
Reporter talks about his experience of Being Arrested
http://nihilo0.blogspot.com/2008/07/be-prepared-for-police-violence-at-rnc.html
Girls are Arrested for Sidewalk Chalking
http://www.earnedmedia.org/cdc0828.htm
Another Police Raid on Protesters
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/30/rnc.protest/
St. Paul Police use bogus "hostage" claim
http://iwitnessvideo.info/blog/109.html

Congress and Bush Ignore the Constitution

There wasn't much press about this. I heard about it at the last minute.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080709/ap_on_go_co/terrorist_surveillance

Retroactive immunity was given to telecom companies today, ignoring the fourth amendment of the constitution. Congress and the President all take an oath to uphold the constitution. The fact that they are passing laws that blatantly go against it makes me sick!


Here is the 4th Amendment:

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

So, to spy on someone, you need a warrant and probable cause, and you need to describe the person or place you want to search.

The old FISA law gave the FBI a lot of leeway and made those warrants really easy to get. This new law goes way beyond that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/washington/10fisa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Obama voted for this mess! What happened to the plan to filibuster? http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/blogtalk-obamas-fisa-vote/

McCain was out of town and didn't bother to vote.


See the rest of the Bill of Rights here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html

Second Amendment Rights Upheld

In a 5-4 ruling the Supreme Court struck down Washington D.C.'s ban on handguns.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080626/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_guns

This is very interesting stuff! This is the first time that the Supreme Court has touched this issue.



When guns are outlawed, only the outlaws have guns.

What is your opinion?