BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

From FEMISEX: An astute reader sent this to us. From the WSJ: WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A group of anti-abortion Democrats opposed to U.S. House health-care legislation in its current form have emerged as a major obstacle to Democratic leaders' goal of passing the measure by August. A group of 20 House Democrats signed a letter sent Friday to House Democratic leaders stating they "cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan." FemiSex posted on this last week. Read it again.. And remember that THIS moment in time (Blue White House, Senate and House) will be followed by times when Reds will be in control. There is no doubt that a public plan will crowd private insurance out of the picture in the long haul. And then women will be dependent upon the vagaries of Congress to pay for their contraception, hormones, reproductive care. It is no big stretch to im...

IGNORED, MARGINALIZED OR SIMPLY BURIED Dr. Richard Carmona, the former U.S. surgeon general, has accused the Bush administration of political interference, such as censoring his speeches and preventing him from speaking publicly on issues such as contraceptives and abstinence-only sex education. "I was blocked at every turn . . . Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried, " Carmona testified before Congress. "The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science." Carmona's term expired in July 2006. The nominee to replace him, Dr. James Holsinger, has been denounced by the Human Rights Campaign, the HIV Medical Association and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for authoring a 1991 paper that made a medical argument against homosexuality. The American Public Health Association is a...