Quote by Raine:

Quote by wickedpam:
Virginia has gone from being "for Lovers" to hating women. I never thought this state would get this crazy right wing. NoVA needs to succeed from the state.

I should have impressed more that it's not just Virginia -- but many state level governments that are being taken over by tea baggers and fringe politicians.

We have some really amazing democrats in office here -- but they have been essentially told to shut up in the state house. I follow Ms. Herring on twitter, and am friends with her on FaceBook --she is amazing.

Quote by Raine:
From Tarina Keene, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia:

"This bill is physically invasive for women as well as an intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship. This is the epitome of government invasion into a woman’s right to privacy. Let’s be clear, politicians have just voted to mandate that a woman undergo a transvaginal ultrasound despite her wishes. Legislators with a dogged determination to practice medicine through the law have circumvented a doctor’s medical advice and denied a woman’s wishes to dictate a highly invasive medical procedure. This bill is undemocratic and demonstrates politics at its worst.”

Quote by Mondobubba:
I concede. Viriginia's Republicans are far crazier and more dangerous that Florida's.

As a guy I am appalled by this and apologize for my gender.

Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) had asked Issa to include a female witness at the hearing, but the Chairman refused, arguing that “As the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness.”

Quote by trojanrabbit:

Quote by Raine:
About the Payroll Tax cut extension

I want to note that the UI benefits going from 99 to 73 weeks will not go into effect until the end of the year. I think that this is a very important distiction to make. Already I am hearing that "Obama" and the Dems caved. I'm not really seeing a cave. I do understand the concerns about the UI benefits being reduced to 73 weeks, but I also think that the economy is improving and that the 99 weeks was always an extension. Republicans wanted it reduced to 59 weeks.

This has a good explanation on UI benefits and the Extended benefits.

It appears that it will be paid for -- and I know the devil is in the details. I am not sure what radio spectrum has to do with this, but Government employees will be required to pay more into their pensions.

Well, just as a wild-assed guess, since at this point the FCC is nothing more than a spectrum auction house and a place where the highest bidder can get their technically inferior broadcast systems approved so the "inventors" get to charge license fees on every receiver (HDTV, "HD" Radio) in addition to being the morals police, there are some radio frequencies that are not well utilized that the FCC will sell to the highest bidder. As an amateur radio operator (though not very active), I'd worry about losing spectrum space.

It's not uncommon for a spectrum auction to bring in a few billion.

I'm going to be on the s*it list of half the people here tomorrow. In order to finish preparing the area for my chamber, the water needs to be turned off in the break room Friday. That means no coffee or clean dishes. I'm dead........

In 2003, in Lawrence v Texas, the Supreme Court, overruling an earlier decision, found that Texas violated the liberty clause of two gay men when it enforced against them a state law prohibiting homosexual sodomy. Writing for the Court in Lawrence, Justice Kennedy reaffirmed in broad terms the Constitution's protection for privacy:

"These matters, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life....The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government. 'It is a promise of the Constitution that there is a realm of personal liberty which the government may not enter.'”

The Court declined to adopt the district court's Ninth Amendment rationale, and instead asserted that the "right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the district court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." Douglas in his concurring opinion in the companion case Doe v. Bolton, stated more emphatically that, "The Ninth Amendment obviously does not create federally enforceable rights."

The Court asserted that that the government had two competing interests – protecting the mother's health and protecting the "potentiality of human life". Following its earlier logic, the Court stated that during the first trimester, when the procedure is more safe than childbirth, the decision to abort must be left to the mother and her physician. The State has the right to intervene prior to fetal viability only to protect the health of the mother, and may regulate the procedure after viability so long as there is always an exception for preserving maternal health. The Court additionally added that the primary right being preserved in the Roe decision was that of the physician's right to practice medicine freely absent a compelling state interest – not women's rights in general. The Court explicitly rejected a fetal "right to life" argument.

Ultrasonic fetal scanning, from a medical standpoint, generally is considered safe if properly used when information is needed about a pregnancy. Still, ultrasound is a form of energy, and even at low levels, laboratory studies have shown it can produce physical effects in tissue, such as jarring vibrations and a rise in temperature. Although there is no evidence that these physical effects can harm a fetus, the FDA says the fact that these effects exist means that prenatal ultrasounds can't be considered completely innocuous.

As more advanced ultrasound technologies (usually using higher ultrasound intensities) become available, greater numbers of expectant mothers and their families are requesting fetal keepsake videos and portraits for souvenirs. Sometimes these images may be made by people not well trained, or for longer exposure times and at higher levels than are usually used in medical situations. At the same time, the medical community is discouraging the use of ultrasound unless it is medically necessary.

"If there's a medical reason to have an ultrasound, have it, but if its purely for curiosity, don't," she said.

Old studies showing that ultrasound was safe were no longer relevant because today's equipment had far greater exposure intensity than earlier scans, Ms Pollard said.

"What we do know about intensities at that level is if you were to ultrasound a cyst, you may see acoustic streaming, that is, the fluid in the cyst starts to move around," she said.
"If it can do that to the fluid inside a cyst at relatively short exposure times, what is it doing to a 12-week foetus which is at a stage of development where cell division is happening and the organs are forming? "I have some concerns."

Ultrasound scans used to be performed at about 18 to 20 weeks through the mother's abdomen, she said. But these days it has become routine to have an ultrasound through the vagina at 12 weeks, "so the ultrasound probe is right up against the cervix, right next to the foetus.

Quote by Raine:

Quote by trojanrabbit:

Quote by Raine:
About the Payroll Tax cut extension

I want to note that the UI benefits going from 99 to 73 weeks will not go into effect until the end of the year. I think that this is a very important distiction to make. Already I am hearing that "Obama" and the Dems caved. I'm not really seeing a cave. I do understand the concerns about the UI benefits being reduced to 73 weeks, but I also think that the economy is improving and that the 99 weeks was always an extension. Republicans wanted it reduced to 59 weeks.

This has a good explanation on UI benefits and the Extended benefits.

It appears that it will be paid for -- and I know the devil is in the details. I am not sure what radio spectrum has to do with this, but Government employees will be required to pay more into their pensions.

Well, just as a wild-assed guess, since at this point the FCC is nothing more than a spectrum auction house and a place where the highest bidder can get their technically inferior broadcast systems approved so the "inventors" get to charge license fees on every receiver (HDTV, "HD" Radio) in addition to being the morals police, there are some radio frequencies that are not well utilized that the FCC will sell to the highest bidder. As an amateur radio operator (though not very active), I'd worry about losing spectrum space.

It's not uncommon for a spectrum auction to bring in a few billion.

I'm going to be on the s*it list of half the people here tomorrow. In order to finish preparing the area for my chamber, the water needs to be turned off in the break room Friday. That means no coffee or clean dishes. I'm dead........

Thanks for that explanation Rabbit. It's still a little confusing to me, but that does make a little more sense.

As for tomorrow, I say bring a big box of Dunkin' donuts coffee. that should please people.

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by Raine:
All reports are that he has an unexpected family emergency. I hope everything is ok.

My best thoughts go out the clan Colbert.

Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by Raine:
All reports are that he has an unexpected family emergency. I hope everything is ok.

My best thoughts go out the clan Colbert.

As always positive vibes, prayers and thoughts ~~~

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Mondobubba:

Quote by Raine:
All reports are that he has an unexpected family emergency. I hope everything is ok.

My best thoughts go out the clan Colbert.

As always positive vibes, prayers and thoughts ~~~

Ya never want to go with the negative waves, Moriority.

(Name the movie and character I parapharased for the blog bonus point)