Another boost to our sterling reputation...

Courtesy of The Smoking Gun, a little illustration of why some of us weren't too excited about the guns on campus legislation.

"What? This is totally legal!"

SB 134

Here's a piece of proactive prevention legislation to keep your eye on in Pierre - SB134, contraceptive equity legislation. From the bill:

Every policy of health insurance that provides coverage for prescription drugs and devices and that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in this state, except for policies that provide coverage for specified disease or other limited benefit coverage, shall provide coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices approved by the Federal Drug Administration that are subject to the same dollar limits, deductibles, and coinsurance factors as for other prescription drugs or devices. If a health care provider determines that none of the drugs or devices designated by the insurer are medically appropriate for the insured, the insurer shall provide coverage for another approved contraceptive drug or device prescribed by the insured's health care provider.

SB 134 also includes an exclusion for religious organizations. It appears to have support from both traditionally pro-choice and anti-choice legislators, so let's hope this one makes it to Rounds' desk.

John Thune opposes equal pay for equal work

Our Republican Senator is on the wrong side of history yet again, this time voting against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a common-sense piece of legislation that simply directed the courts to consider the 180-day time limit to sue from the last discriminatory paycheck, not the first. This had been the precedent until Lilly Ledbetter's pay discrimination lawsuit came to the Supreme Court in 2007.

Still, of all the Republican senators, only Arlen Spector and the four women in the GOP caucus saw fit to vote for this bill in the Senate (Herseth Sandlin supported it in the House).

The New York Times op-ed linked above outlined some of the other groundbreaking workplace discrimination cases, others of which, like Ledbetter's, were thrown out on technicalities that Congress had to fix.

It's amazing to me that Republicans found some way to object to this legislation. I would love to hear Thune's b.s. excuse for voting against this.

Latest Rounds Budget-gate Victims: Pre-teen girls

Who's the latest group to get screwed by Rounds' budget for next year? 12 year old girls. Rounds thinks it's a great idea to cut the state's HPV vaccine program.


This is the latest in a long line of people being dumped on in the budget process, including (as others have pointed out) Deaf students, disabled toddlers (h/t War College), and pretty much anyone who enjoys the arts.


The thing that's most flooring to me is this quote in the first Argus article linked above, from state health secretary Doneen Hollingsworth:

"It's the most logical one to be cut from a public health perspective. Does that mean I like it? Absolutely not."

It's a pretty solid fact that prevention is MUCH cheaper in the long run than treating diseases after they've happened. It might seem easy now to say these vaccines aren't important. But statistically, as many as 500 of these girls will contract HPV at some point in their lives. I'm no doctor, but I'm almost 100% certain that it's a lot more expensive to pay for CANCER than it is to pay for vaccines.


But hey, times are tough. Every state department is feeling the hit. Oh, wait, what? You mean the Governor's office gave itself a raise? And the Tourism department got an increase as well? (h/t Northern Valley Beacon)


Gee. It's almost like the Governor is balancing his budget on the backs of toddlers, 12 year olds, and Deaf students. Can't wait to see who his budget goes after next!

The Recount That Wouldn't Die

A panel of judges will being hearing Norm Coleman's claim that Franken unfairly won the recount.


Without getting into the minutia of which ballots Coleman claims should or should not have been counted, I'll just point out that there are some ballots he thinks should be counted, and some he doesn't. Is that really the way democracy works?


Coleman is also filing a class-action suit on behalf of the some of the voters whose ballots he says were unfairly rejected. I feel like the more lawsuits a candidate files, the less legitimate his or her "win" would be.


Shorter Coleman 2008 race: If you can't beat 'em, sue 'em!

Blagojevich: My arrest was like Pearl Harbor!

A while back, ThatGirl mentioned that Illinois Governor Blagovejich hired the same attorney who acquitted R. Kelly.


Since then, Blago has routinely told us about how innocent he is. Apparently, he's not familiar with the wonders of magnetic tape.


Today's comments were really over the top. Apparently, his arrest was just like Pearl Harbor:

"It was a complete surprise, completely unexpected. And just like the United States prevailed in that, we'll prevail in this," he said in an interview today in Chicago, outside the office of one of his attorneys.

Wow, dude. Your capacity for denial will be is legendary.

A Couple of Changes for DakotaWomen

I've just made a couple of technical changes to the blog that I thought I'd alert our readers to.

First, you'll notice that the author of each blog post has been moved to the top of the post in a larger font. This isn't a huge change, but hopefully it will help many in the blogosphere with their inability to distinguish between singular and plural. Some might be surprised to discover that our blogs are written by shes, not theys.

Registration for comments has also been turned back on. Hopefully, this will make discussions easier to follow (had the commenters been more creative, this wouldn't have been an issue -- is it so hard to call yourself AnonDouche01 and AnonDouche02 so we can tell you apart??), and it will cut down long threads of one person having a conversation with themselves ("I agree with you 100% anonymous person who is actually me!" "Thanks self!" "You're very welcome self!" etc.).

Registered users are still able to hide their identities and we still don't plan to moderate or censor comments, but hopefully this system will inspire commenters to consolidate their thoughts into one or two comments instead of 10 or 20 consecutive comments.

We now return to our regularly scheduled feminist commentary.

Clinic violence in MN

This has been posted around a bit in the local blogosphere, but I thought I'd point out that an extreme anti-choicer drove an SUV into the front door of the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul.

Fellow extremists like Steve DooHickey think they can incite their followers with language suggesting that pro-choicers are "demonic" and encourage followers to stalk local pro-choice activists, but then wash their hands of the violence that occurs as a result. It doesn't work like that, Steve. You can't oppose clinic violence and then bring Troy Newman and his clinic bomber friends to our state on the weekend before the 2008 election.

President Obama

Obama will sign an executive order today that lifts the global gag rule. This is a truly pro-life decision by President Obama, which will save literally thousands of women's lives annually.

Additionally, Harry Reid predicts that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will be the first piece of legislation that Obama signs as president. All sixteen female Senators, both Republican and Democratic, voted for this legislation. The next step on the equal pay front is the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was the final piece of legislation that Hillary Clinton proposed as a senator. It has already passed the House.

I don't know about you, but I've become a big fan of the new administration.

Voices Crazy continues to live up to its name

Today's inauguration has caused DooHickey to go completely off his rocker - and, lets be honest, the threads holding him to sanity were pretty thin to begin with.

As I read post after post consisting of nastiness, pettiness, and outright lies (there's something in the Ten Commandments about that...), I just keep this in mind - DooHickey and his minions fully subscribe to a religious and social worldview that is quickly losing its relevance among, well...pretty much everyone in the United States. Young evangelicals are losing interest in DooHickey's pet issues, the Republican party is backing away because they can no longer win through ginning up hate, the federal government is preparing to deny funding to DooHickey's BFF Leslee, and so on. If you were in their shoes you'd probably be just as hateful and defensive, honestly. I pray for them, and those of you who pray should do the same. DooHickey and his followers live a pretty sad, paranoid existence, and I can't help but to feel sorry for them these days.

As one of the commenters over there, pointed out -

First, God was going to lead South Dakota to ban abortion, thereby bringing untold riches to the state - didn't happen.
Then, a slightly more lenient ban was the ticket - nope.
THEN - the 'no' side won because of voter fraud - whatever happened to the investigation into fraud that DooHickey was so intent upon just a few weeks ago?
Additionally, God was going to stop Barack Obama from being elected president, or God would cause Obama to become a convert to extreme fundamentalist Christianity - uh, no!
But after that, Obama's birth certificate was forged and he couldn't be the president - oh, wait, not true!

They've had a pretty bad couple of years, really, and it's only going to get worse from here. No wonder they're so cranky.

His recent post about Kate Looby and Maria Bell also leads one to wonder "Who Would Jesus Stalk?" but that's another story entirely.

This is what a President looks like

Goodbye to 8 years of a governmental circus.


We have a new president. And I couldn't be happier.



Happy Inauguration Day!

MLK Day Thoughts

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 2005, I wrote the following reflection:

"Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, "You're too arrogant! And if you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name." –Martin Luther King, Jr.

So I was thinking about Martin Luther King Jr. and the future of the progressive movement in general. I was a little cynical during the presidential election, when everyone was going on about being positive and how optimism was the way to win the election. However, upon further reflection, I see what they're saying. Last night on American Experience: Citizen King (watch more PBS!), someone was pointing out that Dr. King didn't talk about how America was an evil, racist country, but instead focused on what he thought it *could* be (of course, that's not to say he would never criticize America, as evidenced by the quote above). And I think the same could be said for other great progressive leaders of history: instead of shaming and complaining, they gave people hope. This is probably due in large part to the fact that people prefer to feel good than dwell on real problems, but that doesn't make it any less effective.

Secondly (and this seems pretty obvious), I continue to see militancy and civil disobedience for its own sake as counter productive to any progressive movement. Dr. King knew it, Gandhi knew it, Jesus knew it, and a lot of progressive leaders that will, at most, be footnotes in history never seemed to get it. I know too many wanna-be anarchists who are just looking for something to protest, some act that will scare old people and make them feel like latter-day Abbie Hoffmans, instead of actually thinking about the best way to move their agenda forward. This is not to say there isn't a place for civil disobedience -- it just isn't every place. Malcolm X often used the phrase, "by any means necessary" and to a certain extent, I agree. I just think that sometime the means that is necessary is compromise and patience.

Finally, as much as we can learn from the lessons of the past, it is painfully obvious that we need to come up with something new. I can't say that I have any great ideas, but the sad re-hashing of the movements of the 60's and 70's is not working. Part of the problem is that the way we learn history makes us think that the progressive movements of the past had quick success, so people today can't understand why a couple of protests doesn't get them what they want. I don't think we'd feel so pathetic and ineffective if we really thought about the time and effort a great social movement takes. We also live in a different world that requires different strategies. And that's where I get stuck...But I'm working on it!

So today as we honor Dr. King, I try to remind myself that simply remembering him is not enough and the true tribute is to carry on his work, even if I'm not always sure how to do it. As Carl Wendell Hines wrote:

Now that he is safely dead / Let us praise him
build monuments to his glory / sing hosannas to his name.
Dead men make / such convenient heroes: They
cannot rise / to challenge the images
we would fashion from their lives. / And besides,
it is easier to build monuments / than to make a better world.

Four years later, I truly feel that the hope and renewal that I was searching for has, in some form, come to pass. Obviously, things are not going to change over night and those of us who want to make a better world need to fight harder than ever to make sure true progress is realized. But I'm finally optimistic. Though the arc of history is long, more than ever, I believe it bends toward justice.

Apparently, Krispy Kremes = Abortion

I got a tip from a friend just now. Apparently the American Life League is freaking out about Krispy Kremes.


That's right. The Doughnuts.


Krispy Kreme released this statement last week:

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American's sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies -- just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet "free" can be.

Lovely. Go Krispy Kreme.


Apparently, however, the ALL has decided that these free doughnuts cannot stand! They've put the following statement out:

"The next time you stare down a conveyor belt of slow-moving, hot, sugary glazed donuts at your local Krispy Kreme you just might be supporting President-elect Barack Obama's radical support for abortion on demand – including his sweeping promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as soon as he steps in the Oval Office, Jan. 20.

.....really?? Abortion doughnuts? How do they even say this with a straight face?

13 year old strip-searched....for ibuprofen?

The Supreme Court decided Friday to review a case involving a 13-year-old who was strip-searched by school administrators who thought she had ibuprofen without permission.


They strip-searched a teenage girl. Because they thought she had ibuprofen. Ibuprofen. Not pot, not cocaine, not alcohol, not even cigarettes. They didn't think she was trying to get anyone drunk or high....they thought she might have given someone something for a damn headache!


According to CNN, Ms. Redding, who had no prior discipline problems, was removed from class by the school's principal after another student was caught with ibuprofen and claimed Redding gave it to him. So, on the word of one other student and apparently nothing else, three school administrators ordered her to strip to her bra and underwear (and apparently her bra was "pulled out"!).


I get that privacy issues are different in a school setting. I get that schools have the right to search lockers (as the lockers are school property), but this really strikes a chord with me. How the school makes the jump from "we can search lockers" to "we can strip-search students with no evidence" completely escapes me, especially considering how terrified most school officials are of getting sued.


Crossing my fingers that the Supreme Court feels the same way.

Things I'm glad won't be getting funding much longer: Abstinence Clowns!

A friend passed this along to me today...and I think it really hits the nail on the head.





That's right, kids. A giant pile of your tax dollars (the center that thought they should hire an abstinence clown got $800,000 in federal funding) is going to this clown. A FREAKING CLOWN, telling teens not to have sex. As if clowns weren't creepy enough before they started talking about sex.


Really, it seems like abstinence programs (like this one, this one, and this one) are fighting to see who can be the least effective.


It's a close race, but I think Derek The Abstinent Clown wins. In any case, they'll all be broke soon enough. Isn't change fun?

Rev. Al Sharpton on religious hypocrites

I think we all have our issues with something or another that Al Sharpton has said or done in the past, but this is just speaking the truth to a bunch of people in the church who need to be called out on their homophobia:

"There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people's bedrooms and claim that God sent you," Sharpton told a full house on Sunday.

"It amazes me," he said, "when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being [relegated] into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners."

"I am tired," he went on, "of seeing ministers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they're preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade...We know you're not preaching the Bible, because if you were preaching the Bible we would have heard from you. We would have heard from you when people were starving in California--when they deregulated the economy and crashed Wall Street you had nothing to say. When [accused Ponzi scammer] Madoff made off with the money, you had nothing to say. When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren't there you had nothing to say.

"But all of a sudden, when Proposition 8 came out, you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we're going to step in the rain with you."

Leslee sighting!

Last night, as I made my way back from a trip to Washington, DC, I looked around the terminal just before we boarded the late-evening flight from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls. I mean, everyone in South Dakota knows each other...I figured I was bound to recognize someone.

And that I did. I realized I was about to board a flight with the one and only Leslee Unruh.

As we boarded the plane, I began to wonder whether some hilariously cruel irony would have us seated near each other on the plane. But I needn't have worried. Why?

Because Leslee flew first class. Guess she's too good to slum it with the rest of us in coach.

I guess she better take luxuries like that while she can. Not long from now, that cash cow known as the federal abstinence funding will be all dried up. She might even have to resort to flying coach with the little people.

Nice Christian Attitude, Pastor (?) Steve!

Just go to the latest entry on Voices Crazy - which is ostensibly about Gloria Steinem's upcoming lecture in Sioux Falls, but is actually the same type of nasty, unoriginal, sexist screed that he posts about anyone who is pro-choice - and count the number of sins that DW's least-favorite pastor commits in the course of a brief blog post. While he tries to dismiss Steinem by listing her age (some pretty explicit sexism from a guy who claims to be a feminist), the attention he pays to her only illustrates why it's so exciting that she's speaking here in town, and why her commentary on the current political situation remains relevant (if controversial) today.

I'm only surprised that he didn't claim that God sent a blizzard to Eastern South Dakota tomorrow.

Nice Christian attitude, Steve!

Gloria Steinem on reproductive freedom:

Just a quick hit here from the Sunday Argus Leader before church: Gloria Steinem is speaking in Sioux Falls tomorrow night (sorry, folks...it's sold out) and it looks like she'll have some interesting things to say about reproductive freedom in South Dakota and nationwide.

Q: You're probably familiar with the recent abortion ban initiatives in South Dakota, both in November 2008 and in November 2006. People behind the ban vow to keep fighting. Do you see the debate over abortion being resolved, or is it going to be a constant fight?

A: It will be resolved eventually because reproductive freedom is a fundamental right like freedom of speech or freedom of religion. The government should not be able to say whether you can or cannot have a child. It's not the business of the government, and I'm proud of South Dakotans for saying it's not the business of the government. All of our experience around the world tells us that criminalizing abortion doesn't diminish it, it just endangers the lives of women.

Q: Initiated Measure 11 included exceptions for rape, incest and to protect a women's health. Does this make the bill more tolerable?

A: It makes it less draconian, but it doesn't change the fact that it's taking away the fundamental right of reproductive freedom. We wouldn't tolerate those provisions for freedom of speech, and we can't tolerate them for reproductive freedom. It has to be an individual right.

Leslee listens to reason?

The true abortion zealots in the blogosphere (again, no links to hate sites here) are flipping out about the Campaign for Healthy Families press conferences in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. They don't like to be reminded about yet another loss at the polls in 2008, it seems, and they especially don't want to hear about how the anti-abortionists in the state legislature aren't willing to touch a ban with a 10-foot pole.

It sounds, however, as though their leader Leslee might be seeing the light:

Unruh said she has no plans to contact lawmakers about another ban.

"I would have already contacted legislators," she said. "I think legislators have some major budget issues to take care of."

Instead, Unruh is focusing on her duties as founder of the Alpha Center and Abstinence Clearinghouse.

And considering the fact that the VYFL building is due to be vacated at the end of the month, I wonder if Unruh might have finally gotten the message. Prevention - no more bans.