Politics... and a reminder

A quick reminder to check in at The Burrow's NCAA March Madness Bracketology site.  Enter your picks and join the fun.  The link is here; the group's name is Denizens of The Burrow, the password is theburrow.

Picks must be made before the start of the first game on Thursday at Noon, Eastern time.
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As the economy recovers  (albeit too slowly for most) and the jobs numbers get better and companies seem ready to spend the dollars on their balance sheets, the Republicans seem to have decided that social issues are the way to win the election in November.  Waging war on women's reproductive rights seems to be a sure-fire way to alienate many independent voters and female voters and enlightened male voters and sends a crippling message to young women who may be fiscally conservative but still interested in retaining control over their bodily functions.
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Turnabout is fair play, it seems.  There have been similar items around the country, but TBG called me in to watch Ohio State Senator Nina Turner talking about the bill she introduced in Columbus last week.

The bill mandates notarized certification

that physicians (have taken) specific actions before prescribing such drugs, including giving a cardiac stress test and making a referral to a sex therapist for confirmation that “the patient’s symptoms are not solely attributable to one or more psychological conditions.”

“We want to make sure that men, vulnerable, fragile men, who are not capable of making decisions for themselves, understand all of the side effects and the implications of these types of drugs,” Turner 

told Bloomberg News .

This comes close, but not close enough.  Personally, I'm looking for legislation circumscribing the situations in which circumcision is allowed,  We have to get them protecting their own before we can hope that they'll protect ours.
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Our highways and by-ways are strewn with political signage in the run-up to the special election to fill Gabby Giffords' vacated House seat.  The largest signs are for Martha McSally, who may be the smartest of the bunch but who's still much too far to the right for my tastes.  Fellow shootee, Ron Barber, is unopposed on the Democrats' side; he doesn't have a single sign at all.

Jesse Kelly, who narrowly lost to Gabby in 2010, chose not to participate in the newspaper's q&a sessions.  He has the most signs of anyone.
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The early poll results from Mississippi and Alabama are showing a 3-way tie, or close to it, anyway.  Mitt started out as someone I wouldn't vote for but wasn't afraid of (sic).  recently, he's come out to abolish Planned Parenthood and stop all funding for contraception. 

Just what the world needs, Mitt:  more unwanted children. 

I'm becoming afraid.... very very afraid... because even this wasn't enough to convince 60% of the voters that he's conservative enough for them.
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Game Change, HBO's telling of Sarah Palin's role in John McCain's campaign was a real eye opener.  I cannot  believe that I am typing this, but I have new-found respect for Governor Palin. 

I know.  I know.  I was appalled and furious with her every utterance during the campaign, especially when she was quoted as being proud of her teenage daughter for carrying her baby to term.  HBO's carefully researched re-enactment has Sarah (I can call her that... it's how she answers her phone..... she's just a soccer mom who wanted to make a difference as John McCain tells her at the very end)... Sarah and Todd revolted at the notion that they would take pride in a teenage pregnancy. 

My favorite part, though, was the one that made me see her as a good parent.  Asking her middle daughter to pray with her for success in the up-coming debate, she has to smile when the 3rd grader cocks her head and reproaches her: "Mom, that would be cheating!"

Her values are not my values, but I'd let that kid babysit for me in a heartbeat.  If Sarah can raise one like that, and another who calls her from Iraq to wish her luck and tell her that he is safe, well then I feel somewhat abashed that I was so hard on her.  A son in Iraq, a pregnant teen, a special needs infant, and no one in the campaign asking her a substantive question before offering her the candidacy.

Officious, know-it-all men who assumed instead of checking, thrust her into a situation where she was bound to fail.  The sorrow I feel is for the paucity of her early education.  She's not stupid, she's uneducated.