Get Incensed

Oh heck no! I don’t even think so! This is the kind of crap I’m talking about!

Oh, sorry… I guess I should explain what I’m talking about before I start ranting.

The Bush Administration is actively engaging in providing funding for what they call “faith-based initiatives.” What is that? Well, it means that religious organizations are given money for initiatives that are intended to be for helping the less fortunate. “But they’re helping others,” you say. Well those funds are also used to promote and push their respective religions.

The money is also used to fund luncheons and other religious organization functions related to those initiatives. You know, they have to talk about it and plan it with our tax dollars before they get started. Then, they get to use more tax dollars to carry it out, while preaching about religions that our government is not supposed to endorse.

I don’t know about you, but I see a big stinkin’ problem with this! Our government is supposed to be completely separated from religious practice. They can’t endorse it, nor can they persecute it! So what the heck is this about!?

Good news, there are more that think this way. As it turns out, the Supreme Court is now working to decide if it is legally acceptable for Americans to sue the government in the event that the government uses tax dollars to fund any initiative that is faith-based. There is a good interview clip that can be found the NPR.org, where Dahlia Lithwick discusses the current issue.

There is a big difference between helping people, and helping people while preaching and promoting a religion. If a religious organization wants to help people with government money, I say wonderful! But it has to be done without connecting the religion to the help. If a religious organization wants to help people, and connect it to their religion, then that is where fund-raising comes in. Either way is fine, but I draw the line when my government begins helping religious organizations promote their religion. The sickest thing is that the government is doing this while covering themselves with a blanket of community service, trying to make you feel bad or look bad if you criticize it.

Well, they can shove that where sun don’t shine! The government doesn’t need a religious organization to carry out their community services; there are plenty of other outlets. I’m sure there are plenty of non-religious, non-profit charities and organizations that would more than happy to use that money the right way. “Faith-based” is where this administration screwed up!

Check out the White House link to the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Britain is taking the next step in ensuring that their population of youngsters will grow into healthy adults. Britain’s officials are cracking down on childhood obesity, and even going as far as to ban television commercials for “junk” food that is aimed at children.

I haven’t really taken the time to pick out my thoughts and ideas on childhood obesity, but recently I have had to face the fact that my 11-year old step-son is overweight. It’s quite frustrating knowing that I can’t do much to help him, especially since he doesn’t live with his father and I full-time. My situation is no where near the severity level of the mother of 8-year old Connor McCreaddie though!

The news article can be found at CNN.com.

Connor McCreaddie weighs approximately 196 pounds. Believe it or not, this is 21 pounds lighter than he was before Christmas in 2006! To put that in perspective, my 6′3″ husband doesn’t weigh much more that! My 9-year old son weighs 64 pounds!

Social workers in Britain actually considered taking the young boy away from his single mother on a charge of neglect. She came to her senses though, and consulted a dietician, and is working toward getting her son healthy. So the social workers allowed Connor to stay at home.

Wow! What would we do here in America if obesity was considered neglect? Actually, I wish our government would take some drastic measures in eliminating childhood obesity! My only problem is the cost? We would have to employ professionals to figure out what factors, both genetically and environmentally were contributing in each case, then create a lifestyle plan around that. I imagine that the cost of doctors, dieticians, nutritionists, trainers and whatever else you might need would be completely out of range for many Americans!

We need better nutrition education in schools! Healthy foods shouldn’t be so darn expensive! Gym memberships should be tax-deductible! There should be greater incentives for healthy living! You can’t tell us that the double-cheeseburger that costs $1 has 800 calories and is going clog our arteries, and then charge $9 for the turkey burger! What kind of hellish torture is that!?

Okay, I’ll stop my belly-aching, but I have to say that a lot of it really does come down to cost. The fact that Connor’s mother is single definitely plays a role in the type of food she was able to buy. In turn, he develops a taste for the wrong things, and now here he is. I can’t imagine that it’s much different in Britain. Money makes all the difference.

NPR.org recently ran a story from All Things Considered on Excited Delirium. Yeah, I asked the same thing - what the heck is that?

According to the story, there is a condition that medical examiners are calling Excited Delirium, and it causes some people in police custody to die suddenly.

Okay, I’m wondering if your reaction to that was the same as mine. I had to read that twice because I totally thought I missed something, but I didn’t.

Apparently this “condition” has signs and symptoms too - overweight, overly upset, violent, incoherent, and few other things. So, are you convinced that this is a real condition yet? Me either. I really don’t want to think that the today’s police are more hateful and violent, but using Excited Delirium as a reason for the increase in the number of deaths of people in police custody is a little far-fetched! I’m just not sure I can buy into that! It sounds completely ridiculous!

The article from NPR.org notes a statement from Eric Balaban of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I know of no reputable medical organization — certainly not the AMA [American Medical Association] or the APA [American Psychological Association] — that recognizes excited delirium as a medical or mental-health condition.”

I’m with Balaban on this; I will be extremely surprised if Excited Delirium is ever announced as a real and proven condition.

Just in case you want to read more about Excited Delirium, here are some interesting links.

ZARC INTERNATIONAL INC
CBS News
PoliceOne.com
Kingstonbasehospital.ca

I have tried to ignore the whole Anna Nicole burial-baby’s daddy fiasco. I change the channel, click the next news link, or just walk away from the media boxes I call my TV and PC. It doesn’t work though! Even my husband has been sucked into following this story, and he loves to share all his opinions about it with me.

Despite efforts to ward off opinions of my own, I have developed quite an aggravated stance on the topic! This is completely ridiculous!

I totally believe that Howard K. Stern is partially responsible for the deaths of both Anna Nicole Smith and her son. I do not think Anna’s daughter is biologically connected to Stern, and a DNA test should be done immediately on all of the 3 or 4 potential fathers. Also, I think Anna should be buried in the Bahamas, next to her son!

There, I said it. That was relief.

From what I know about Anna Nicole Smith, from her reality show, interviews and all the news that has been generated from her tragic last days, I think Anna has loved 2 times in her life - first, her son and then her daughter. Her life was a tangle of using hundreds of men, often times simultaneously, to get want she wanted. I don’t hate her for it, but I don’t pity her for it either. Fact of the matter is though; her own ignorance and trusting nature killed her, and drug her son into it too. Now, all that’s left is a baby girl that will have to grow up to hear about everything that transpired over her mother’s death and her custody fight. She will always be haunted by it, and probably compared to her mother too. Her mother’s love cannot protect her, and it is her that we should be concerned about.

All of this should never have been allowed to go on this long! Anna buried her son in the Bahamas, which was clearly a place she wanted to be. This is where she had intentions of living out her life, and raising her daughter. She had gotten as far away from her mother and family as she could, as fast as she could, and for those reasons alone she should be buried in the Bahamas, next to her son, and her mother should not be allowed to appeal it anymore!

I understand that Howard K. Sterm is on the birth certificate, and that the paternity laws in the Bahamas are different from those in the United States, but it should be recognized that this little girl’s life will never be easy, regardless of any money she may inherit as a result of the estate settlement of her mother’s late billionaire husband, and she at least deserves to be with her biological father. Hopefully that man is one that doesn’t care about her possible fortune, but instead only cares about her well-being. Personally, I’m voting for Zsa Zsa’s husband, the Prince. He obviously cared enough to endanger his marriage by coming out about his affair with Anna, and you know he isn’t interested in the money! This little girl should be raised as a Princess, and maybe in that she will pass any inevitable comparisons with her succubus mother.

One thing I have to say about Anna though is that you have to consider the source. Anna’s family taught her to use people for her profit, just like they tried to do to her, and is still doing now. Anna’s mother only wants to be considered the next of kin, and be in control because she hopes that means she’ll get her inheritance, or a piece of it. I haven’t seen her really concerned once. What a *!@#$!

Enough is enough! Bury Anna next to her son, and find out who Dannilynn’s father is. Kick Stern out of that Bahamas house on his rear-end, and give her mother the finger! Then file it all away in the S*!T file. Let this little girl move on.

I have to say that ignorance is bliss. I completely take it for granted that I can come to this blog site and say pretty much whatever I want. I have some restrictions - I can’t be defamatory, or use vulgarity, but come on, that’s not too bad. I’m still left with plenty of room for speaking my mind about our incompetent president, insane religions and the stupidity behind creationism, but that isn’t the case for all bloggers outside the United States.

Abdel Kareem Suleiman, a blogger from Egypt, was given hard jail time (4 years worth) for his blogging habits. No, he didn’t declare himself to be some international safety threat. All he did was bad-mouth Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and verbally slam Islam. Yep! That’s it!

I found an article on English PEN that talks about the kind of imprisonment Abdel Kareem Suleiman is enduring for speaking his opinion.

According to the February 9, 2007 article, Suleiman is in solitary confinement, in harsh conditions. It doesn’t go into detail about what “harsh conditions” is supposed to mean, but regardless of what his “harsh conditions” consist of, it sounds a little excessive for announcing his dislike for Islam and the Egyptian President.

I shudder to imagine a life where I’m not able to speak my mind. Suleiman is living my nightmare. I get upset almost daily about political issues, and the religious extreme. If I couldn’t say it out loud, or have Real Time With Bill Maher to watch, I would go nuts! I’m just really glad that I’m not in Egypt! It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there!

After watching a news story about how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are not on good terms because of David Geffen backing Obama instead of Clinton, I was interested in why. So, I went to their respective web sites to do some issues comparisons. I thought in light of the recent events between the top two candidates, it was a good time to start researching.

Let me first compare their web site menus. See if you can find the difference!

Clinton Menu:
Home
Hillary
Take Action
Newsroom
Blog
Video
Contribute

Obama Menu:
Home
Learn
Issues
Get Involved
Blog
Newsroom
Donate

Okay, did you see it? Well, let me tell you what I saw. Barack Obama has brought out what is most important! Issues! As I sifted through Hillary Clinton’s menu items, I saw nothing that indicated where her list of issues was located. At this point, I became disinterested and moved on to checking out the list of issues that Obama’s site offered. I saw: Plan to End the Iraq War; Cleaning Up Washington; Creating a Healthcare System that Works; and Meeting America’s Energy Needs among several others. I don’t have time to give you summaries of these links, but I can say that it was nice to quickly find them, and they are well worth reading. They still lack the kind of detail that I’m looking for, but it was more than the Clinton site offered.

Now, don’t take this as an endorsement for Obama, at least not yet. After all, I am a woman and I would be more than delighted to see a woman in office. She’s still going to have to win me over though, and making me search for reasons to back her isn’t a good way to start.

Did you hear who was backing Obama? Okay, there haven’t been any formal endorsements yet, but some big names are donating some big bucks to the Obama campaign. Some of those on the list are: George Clooney; Eddie Murphy; Barbara Streisand; Steven Spielberg; Tom Hanks; Denzel Washington; and Ben Stiller.

I am truly excited to see Obama running for the Democratic nomination. I can’t say that I am completely knowledgeable on where he stands with all the issues, and I have not decided on the candidate that I will be backing in the Primary, but he seems refreshing.

Some Republican counterparts are trying to discredit Obama, saying that since he is a “freshman” in politics that he couldn’t possibly make a serious candidate, but I find that to be one of his more attractive qualities. Maybe we need someone who isn’t as corrupted and broken-in. Maybe we need someone who isn’t afraid to say that he inhaled! You can slant it any way you want, but I think he is the only candidate that is being true to himself, and has genuine confidence in his abilities.

Some say that Barack Obama’s goals for health care and the Iraq war are unrealistic, but maybe they’re just unrealistic to those who are afraid of change. I don’t have a hard time at all believing that Barack Obama means exactly what he says. Does believing in oneself always translate to success though? Nope, all you have to do is watch the American Idol auditions to know that, but there is something to be said for a person who can stand up for what they believe and not be intimidated even when the leader of Australia insults you in public, twice!

So, is America really ready for a change? Will we go for the safe and familiar when it comes down to the line? If the Bush Jr. presidency has taught us anything, I certainly hope that it has taught us to think strategically for ourselves. Strategic thinking may or may not lead us to Obama, but I hope it does lead us to real change. The kind of real change that Barack Obama isn’t afraid to talk about.

Let’s talk about the “cop-killer” Steven Bixby. Is he nuts or what? I know he felt he had to defend his family’s property from being reduced by the state, but this guy was flat out crazy! Just check out the weird picture of him from CNN.com

Bixby claimed that his action (murder) was “right and correct in God’s eyes.” he also stated that God “wants all the evil to be exposed.” Bixby supposedly had a “premonition” of the incident approximately one month before, and feels that it was God telling him what to do.

Okay, I know I’m an atheist, and should probably be using this to say “look at what religion can do to a person,” and using it to support my anti-religious views, but I just feel sorry for those religious people who have to put up with this kind of representation. Regardless of whether I agree with any religious teachings, I do recognize that many religious people have a good heart, and it is sad that religion is used to justify horrors like murder. It spans most, if not all religions though. Our encounters with terrorism have painfully shown us the religious extreme.

When I hear about occurrences like murder in the name of religion, and attempts to revoke rights because of religious viewpoints, it’s hard not to believe that our fall will because of an imaginary being with man-made rules. That is the saddest thing of all.

Do you believe that it will be the Steven Bixby’s of the world that will eventually lead us to our end? Are we seeing the beginning of the end now? Is it coming one religious disagreement at a time, one terrorist act at a time, and one murder in the name of God at a time?

Well, if you didn’t already know… Bill Maher is back with the new season of Real Time with Bill Maher! I was pleased to hear Bill speak of most all of the issues that I touched on this week. I am as one with my idol! I encourage you check out the show - he knows what it means to get incensed.

The February 16th show was awesome, as they all are, but I absolutely loved the religion portion of the show. Regardless of my respect for those who choose religion, I still have my opinions and they 100% line-up with Bill Maher’s view. They all sound crazy to me!

I especially liked the information Bill provided on the Mormon religion. I really didn’t know how crazy some of the Mormon teachings were! I had to look some things up after the show. Here’s what I found:

1. Their “books” contradict the Bible. (Not a problem for me, but interesting still.)
2. Prophets override scriptures. (So teachings change with each prophet.)
3. God was a man who “progressed to Godhood” and all Mormons can do it too! (Wow, not sure what to say to that!)
4. God has over one thousand wives, and is still making babies! (What does that say about the purpose of women?)
5. Having dark skin indicates being cursed. (Now, that’s really bad!)
6. One heavenly law says that polygamy is mandatory! (So far, I’m thinking that this is the greatest white-man religion ever!)
7. They have, as Bill Maher called them, “magic underwear.” (Yeah, something went horribly wrong here.)
8. The Mormon church is the only true church. (Now, that’s not playing nice, is it?)

We humans, as a whole are nuts! I can’t take it! All I can say is I am so glad that Bill Maher is back. I was in desperate need of a dose of reality! It is truly refreshing to hear from someone who is in touch!

So what do you think of this anti-gay stir-up that ex-NBA star, Tim Hardaway caused?

I’m all for gay and lesbian rights. I don’t think gay marriage should be an issue, and I definitely don’t think that the government should have any say in it. Sexual orientation should be protected like race, religious affliliation and disability is. Being gay shouldn’t matter.

I think Hardaway’s comments just represent the fear and ignorance that many people have, and I hate it! But if we look at his comments with freedom-of-speech respect then Hardaway was totally entitled to say what he feels, and he should not have to apologize for it! I do support the decision that David Stern made to no longer allow Hardaway to represent the NBA, because Hardaway obviously created a hostile work environment, but that was Hardaway’s decision. He must have felt that expressing his opinion was worth risking his career. Hey, gotta respect his passion!

Honestly though, what is this world coming to? We can be gay or hate gays, but we can’t talk about it! We have stay quiet about everything, unless we are willing to put our lives on the line.

Despite it all, homosexuals have the right to live as they please, and homophobes have the right to live as they please. I think the idea is that it’s all okay, as long you aren’t hurting anyone else. If you don’t want to hear it, don’t listen. If you don’t want to see it, don’t watch it. If you don’t want to be involved in it, don’t put yourself in the situation.

We are never going to eliminate prejudice or hatred. As liberal and open-minded as I am, and try to be, I am fully aware that I have my own prejudices. We all do. It may be against a race, a lifestyle, or even against people who drive Ford cars! The point is, we can’t take the nature out of the human, but we can strive to humanize nature. It’s time to drop PC and just get real.

Hardaway, I completely disagree with you, but I’m proud of you for keeping it real! We should all be so brave.

I recently heard some commentary on Turkana Boy, and I just had to share some thoughts with you.

Until Turkana Boy was found in 1984, creationists would refute the idea of evolution based on claims that the skeletal remains most often used as evidence to show a relationship between Neadertals and homo erectus (leading to homo sapiens), were only fragmented, and therefore inconclusive. Arguments have been made that the occurrence of homo erectus was actually a result of disease and poor living conditions. Wow, that sounds really stupid! Granted disease and living conditions can do a lot to alter a person or being, but the idea that it produced a small number of almost-humans… well that’s almost as unbelievable as Noah’s Ark! (Almost.)

I found a site that no doubt angers the creationists to read, so I’ll quote it here, and they can just pretend that it doesn’t exist. That shouldn’t be too hard for them.

“In the 1988 video Mysteries of Mankind, produced by National Geographic, Richard Leakey talks about this fossil:

‘I think [the Turkana Boy] is remarkable because it’s so complete, but perhaps another aspect that is often overlooked is that many people who don’t like the idea of human evolution have been able to discount much of the work that we’ve done on the basis that it’s built on fragmentary evidence. There have just been bits and pieces, and who knows, those little bits of bone could belong to anything. To confront some of these people with a complete skeleton that is human and is so obviously related to us in a context where it’s definitely one and a half million years or even more is fairly convincing evidence, and I think many of the people who are fence-sitters on this discussion about creationism vs. evolution are going to have to get off the fence in the light of this discovery.’ “

So… Genesis (written by a human in a time of severe ignorance about the world), or physical proof? Gee, that’s a hard one!

I am so tired of people, who do not know what it is like to have or take care of a child with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), look at me and judge me for medicating my ADHD-afflicted son! There is a stigma around this disorder, and I think it stems from the significant increase in U.S. diagnoses of ADHD. I have heard it said so many times that Americans are just in a hurry to medicate their children so they don’t have to deal with unfavorable behavior. Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but in my situation, that is bull poo-poo! (I know that doesn’t have the intesity I’m going for, but I have to be careful.)

Let me take you into the mind of a child with ADHD.

A child sits int he back of a classroom. He is embarrassed that he cannot listen to the teacher long enough to answer questions like the other students, and fears being called on. As he hides from the teacher’s view, he struggles with sitting still and chewing on his pencil. Staring around the class he realizes that once again he has lost touch with what the teacher was saying, and now it is time to do the assignment, but he doesn’t know how. If he asks the teacher what to do, he knows he’ll be in trouble for not paying attention, but if he does the work wrong or not at all, he’ll get in trouble at home. He gets angry at himself, and becomes defiant choosing not to do anything, and gives up his care of getting in trouble. Subsequently, poor behavior leads to a note being sent home, which results in being grounded, and an extended night of homework while he tries desperately to catch up with his assignments.

The situation I just described is real. My son has gone through this several times, and I cry every time I think of the mental pain it put him through. I got over the idea that it is bad and selfish to medicate a child for mental and behavorial problems, because there came a point when it was obvious to me that it was actually neglect to allow my son to endure this mental torture! It was neglect to allow my son to get behind in school because I didn’t want people to know that he had to take a pill everyday! There came a point when it no longer mattered what I thought or felt about it; the only thing that mattered was giving my son a chance at a normal life.

It goes beyond medication though. A 4-prong approach must be taken to treat ADHD, especially if anger or other extreme emotion-control issues are involved. After all of my research, discussions with doctors and therapists, and what I have learned from my son directly, you have to have:

1. Medication
2. Professional Mental Therapy
3. Consistent Discipline (Rewards and Consequences)
4. Education

The fourth requirement noted is probably the most important. I have found that the more I learn, and the more I teach my son about ADHD, the less life-altering the condition is. My son was initally embarrassed about medication and therapy, but now that he understands what ADHD is, and how many others are affected by it, it’s no longer the elephant in the room.

I am drawing the line here. I resolve to no longer let the opinions and looks from those who disapprove of my tactics to help my son, bother me. I will hold my head high, and feel confident that I am doing all I can to make sure that my son lives the best life he can.

Who is Australia’s Prime Minister? Yeah, not a whole lot of people do. Well, his name is John Howard, and he is a huge Bush fan (President Bush that is.)

Howard was in the U.S. news on Monday for commenting that our terrorist enemies should hope for the election of Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. Ouch! Those are fightin’ words! So why did he say it?

Prime Minister Howard has supported the war in Iraq and President Bush’s policies and decisions in regard to the war. In contrast, Sen. Barack Obama has been very open about the fact that he only supports ending the war in Iraq. Howard not only disagrees with Obama on this issue, he also apparently feels so strongly that he has publically declared to have no remorse for his harsh words toward Obama.

Here are a couple of Howard’s statements, taken from an article on CNN.com:

“If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats.”

“What I have done is to criticize Sen. Obama’s views on a particular issue, and I don’t retreat in any way from that criticism,” Howard said. “I think if America is defeated in Iraq that will be catastrophic for the West and it will have tremendously adverse consequences for Australia.”

(Not that this fits, but can I just ask, since when has the war in Iraq been about Americans and Australians? I know we are stakeholders, but what about the Iraqi people? What about the Middle East? Hello!? I’ll have to check out how the Australian people feel about this Bush stunt double!)

Sen. Barack Obama shot back saying that unless the Australian PM was ready to send another 20,000 Australian troops to Iraq, they were just empty words. Good for Obama! He kept his cool and held his ground!

Let me just say that I still really do not know where I stand on Iraq. I have no idea what route we should take now, but I do know that any suggestion President Bush gives is not it! You would have to be living under a rock (a really big, heavy one) to not know that!

Click on the links below to find out more about Howard and Obama.

Prime Minister John Howard
U.S. Senator Barack Obama

So which would you rather have in the Oval Office? A Mormon, evangelical Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, or a Catholic? According to a June 2006 poll (results posted on NPR) 37% of Americans would not vote for a Mormon; 15% would not vote for a Jew; 54% would not vote for a Muslim; 21% would not vote for an evangelical Christian; and 10% would not vote for a Catholic. So what religion should represent the American government? NONE!!! (But I’ll get into my opinion later.)

An article by Howard Berkes posted on NPR last Friday, brings to light the real discussion that is taking place right now regarding the former Massachusetts Govenor Mitt Romney (left, picture by Getty Images.) I encourage you to read the article, but the bottom line is that the evangelical Christians are not ready to allow a Mormon to have the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential election. Well, all I’ve got to say about that is…

Religon has NO place in our government anyway!! The fact that we are even considering religion when it comes to our presidential candidates makes me sick! The separation of religion and government is what this country is about! Every American has the right to have religion or not, and our president should NOT be making decisions for our people based on his or her personal religious beliefs! This makes me want to scream!

I have shared my views and opinions on this subject several times over the years. So, let me share some tidbits of those conversations with you now. (Yeah, I keep track of ‘em.)

“…[this country] while founded by Christians, was founded on the idea that its inhabitants would not be religiously repressed - they would be free to practice any religion or no religion at all. While our governing bodies are, and will continue to be made up of people that have personal religious or non-religious beliefs, and will no doubt bring those beliefs with them to their respective offices, their chosen religion should not govern our country. It doesn’t matter if I agree with them or not, our government has no business dictating to me or any other American what they must believe and what religious or non-religious morals they should have. We have laws that, for the most part, are accepted by Americans, and those laws should never be representative of any religion or anti-religious teachings. This is what is supposed to separate us from the countries that force their people to live in oppression and censorship. In order to keep the government clean, we have to have complete separation of church and state…” - Marissa Sego

(In response to an IWU peer that stated the idea of “separation of church and state” was the idea of Thomas Jefferson, and that the constitution doesn’t support that idea.) “Thomas Jefferson was the first to use the phrase in the Danbury letter in 1802. However, the phrase was a direct interpretation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment. This interpretation was agreed upon and upheld by the US Supreme Court. Therefore, it is in the US Constitution, just worded a little differently.” - Marissa Sego

The discussion around the 2008 presidential election should not be about what religion the candidates practice, but rather what he or she plans to use as a guideline in governing our nation.

Want to find out how much you know on the subject of religion in govenment? Check out this link… Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Hello all! Welcome to the first posting at www.getincensed.com.

When you visit this site, you’re going to find passion, anger, controversy, aggrivation, and strong opinion. (All the things that make the world go ’round!) I formally invite you and everyone you know to join in the discussions.

Let’s get started!

As a Planned Parenthood activist, I must share with you an article that was published last Monday on the Planned Parenthood webiste.
Budget Proposal Ignores Family Needs

The short and not-so-sweet recap goes something like this:

The Bush administration is pushing back on the Prevention First Act, and President Bush’s new budget proposes a severe cut in funding for the Medicaid and Title X programs. So what does that really mean? Oh, I’ll tell you what that means! It means that funding for family planning services, including: birth control, emergency contraception and sex education would be take a huge dip if they get their way!

PPFA’s President, Cecile Richards is taking the floor and getting real. Richards is speaking out about the fact that the Bush administration has already cut away at the two critical programs, and that this budget will only do more harm.

I’ve written to my local representatives, demanding that they give Bush and his people a wake-up call. The importance of the Prevention First Act, and funding for the Medicaid and Title X programs can hardly be expressed in words. When you strip away the facts, what you have left is the humanizing truth that our children’s futures could be compromised by ignoring these family plannng issues. That doesn’t sit well with me.