The Last Abortion Doctor in Esquire

“It’s important that people have a choice.  At the end of the day, when things go bad, you know?  I mean, God forbid something happens to Dr. Hern, where are we going to go next?  Australia?  China?  It’s important that people know that choice is very important when it comes to things like this.”

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/abortion-doctor-warren-hern-0909

This article in an incredibly powerful piece about what it is to practice abortions in America.   Did you know that in spite of the fact that it is legal to perform abortions after 22 weeks for severely endangered women and severely disformed fetuses, there is now only ONE doctor in all of America who performs late-term abortions?  I had no idea.  This article is a true eye-opener on what it is like to be in a profession where you are under attack from all sides and are many women’s only and last hope.
Please read, and think of Dr. George Tiller, who was murdered while at church for offering women hope.  Then think about the rabid, violent dialogue that anti-abortionist spew.  Hate speech should be stopped.

Death of Macho

I recently re-discovered Foreign Policy magazine online. Lots of good articles and ideas, some worth passing on. This is one. I love the article, but think it’s missing one thing: as traditional “male” careers (think finance, construction) disappear, men will start doing the growing “female” careers (nursing, education, government). Patriarchy is incredibly adaptable!

clipped from www.foreignpolicy.com The Death of Macho Manly men have been running the world forever. But the Great Recession is changing all that, and it will alter the course of history. The era of male dominance is coming to an end. For years, the world has been witnessing a quiet but monumental shift of power from men to women. Today, the Great Recession has turned what was an evolutionary shift into a revolutionary one. The consequence will be not only a mortal blow to the macho men’s club called finance capitalism that got the world into the current economic catastrophe; it will be a collective crisis for millions and millions of working men around the globe. BY REIHAN SALAM JUNE 22, 2009

Review–Ladies of Liberty

Just finished Ladies of Liberty.  Glad to get to something lighter though it was very interesting.

Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation by Cokie Roberts

rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dense and a bit dry, but thorough history. I had no idea how much women were a part of politics and public life–women used to crowd in Congress to listen to debates! I would like to read Cokie’s earlier tome, Founding Mothers.

I am thoroughly disappointed in the editing. First of all, the basic copy-editing is appalling. There are dozens of silly errors, like sentence fragments, misplaced prepositions, unclear pronouns, etc. Second, the content and organization could use a lot of work! Roberts is trying to organize very disparate pieces of information and it’s hard to do so in a coherent narrative. The editor should have improved the transitions between subjects, detailed relationships more clearly, and clarified the flow of the tale.

The subject matter and writing deserves 3 stars, but the editing is a 1.5 at best.

Inspirational–The Girl Effect

Wow, meaningful, relevant, beautiful, and forceful.  This is as inspirational as they come.

Go ahead, change the world one girl at a time.

Feminists for Obama

I keep trying to explain to my friends why as a feminist I have to vote against the only woman in the national race…

This site is making the same arguments.

These videos make it even more obvious where the candidates stand on women’s issues, like breast cancer, domestic violence, rape, and reproductive choice.