15 Year Old Girl Disowned for Having a Brain Tumor Removed
“Christian Scientists” are (you saw this coming) bat shit crazy. To truly believe that modern medicine and conventional forms of health care hold no weight compared to heavy duty praying is ludicrous, but that is how Christian Scientists live their lives. And that is what they breed their children to believe–even if their children have a brain tumor and are given six months to live. The answer? Fuck that surgery that could help that child live a full life, you better get in your room and pray really hard for god to take that tumor away.
And that is exactly what has happened in the-girl-known-as-Jessica’s case. (Not her real name, by the way.)
Jessica’s was born and raised by a family of devout, fundamentalist Christian Scientists–an oxymoron in itself–and when she was playing at her friend’s house, she fell down with a seizure–most likely something that had also happened at her own, in front of her family. Of course her friend’s family took her to the hospital, where it was discovered that Jessica had an operable brain tumor. Without the operation, Jessica was given a prognosis of about six months to live, but the good news was that they could get her in surgery within the week.
Yay, right!?
No, not quite. Jessica’s family went to visit her in the hospital once they found out about what had happened and before even asking her if she was okay or trying to comfort the child, they began chastising her for going to a hospital to begin with. In fact, they did not ask what had happened, nor did they ask if she was okay because her family believed that faith and prayer are all that is needed to cure ailments–including brain tumors. Her family expressly forbade her from getting the surgery that would save her life and tried to get her to leave the hospital and go to their pastor for extensive prayer. Although her family forbade her to go through with the surgery, she did have the surgery and it was a great success; but even though Jessica had taken her life into her own hands and had made the right decision to have her brain tumor removed, she lost her family because of their inability to see reality through that dark cloud of religious propaganda.
Obviously the only logical explanation here is that Jessica just didn’t believe in god hard enough and maybe if she had, she wouldn’t have gotten a brain tumor. but regardless of her illness, there is never an excuse to have a life-saving procedure done. If god wants you to get better then you just will, miraculously; you’ll wake up one morning and poof, you’ll be all better and will suddenly possess the ability to one-handed cartwheels and juggle while riding a unicycle down the highway. How’s that for god’s mysterious plan for you?
Jessica has been completely disowned by her family merely because she wanted to live and made the logical decision to seek medical care in order to stay alive. Law enforcement officials should be taking a deep look into this case and determine whether or not Jessica was having seizures while in the care of her parents and if she was, they should be arrested and charged with attempted murder. If parents were fully aware that their child was having symptoms that turned out to be caused by something life-threatening, they would undoubtedly be facing charges, but because this family is hiding behind their religious beliefs, people are not immediately calling them out on the consequences that they should have to face for putting their child in great danger.
When Not Even Ann Coulter is with You, It’s Time to Give it Up
I have been doing more blog reading lately, rather than blog writing and for some reason, I find myself continuously drawn into conservative blogs. It’s like how you just have to watch a horrific car accident on the side of the street. You simply cannot help yourself. But while there are political topics that conservative bloggers could very well be blogging about, they are either not watching the news or not using their computers to stay up to date with politics because a great deal of them are still claiming that Obama isn’t an American citizen.
“Birthers” are a small, but unrelenting and vocal crowd of right-wing activists that truly believe that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore cannot be our president. Even though the question of Obama’s citizenship has repeatedly been put to rest by Hawaii state officials, where Obama’s birth certificate and all other credible evidence show that he was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961.
The whole birthers “movement,” if you even want to call it that, comes down to the right still being pissed off that John McCain didn’t win the presidency. Couple the fact that we have a Democratic president with the fact that the right-wing media has non-stop spouted fear-mongering hate speech and racism from the onset of the 2008 presidential election and it has yet to stop.
Fact and reason are undoubtedly lost on “birthers” and instead of slowly burrowing themselves back into a hole in the ground and admitting that they had made a huge deal out of something so absurd, they are continuing their “fight.” But it has come to the point where right-wing trainwrecks we make fun of and wonder how the hell it is that they are still looked at as being a prominent political commentator are telling the birthers that it’s time to move on.
Prime example: Ann Coulter.
Watch the All New Searching for Angela Shelton for FREE!
This is really exciting! The official version of Searching for Angela Shelton, complete with never-before-seen footage, is available to watch completely free of charge! This is so great because the documentary tells the story of not only a part of Angela Shelton’s life, but also the lives of countless women around the world. For those who aren’t already familiar with Searching for Angela Shelton, it is a multiple award-winning documentary that follows filmmaker Angela Shelton around the country as she surveys other Angela Sheltons. While her journey was simply to take a survey of women in America and to see how we’re all doing as a gender and what we’re doing with our lives and in the lives of others, she found that 24 out of the 40 Angela Sheltons that she spoke to are survivors of rape, childhood sexual abuse and/or domestic violence.
Searching for Angela Shelton is uplifting above all else. Angela Shelton single-handedly gave me the courage and the motivation that I needed to truly make my healing from my own childhood sexual assault and date rape possible. It is a movie that is changing lives and now everyone can watch it for free! Click on the image below to be directed to the movie on SnagFilms or click here.
Help Cara Stay Awake for 24 Hours for SAFER
Today is a Blogathon, a day where bloggers from across the wide, wide spectrum of the blogosphere blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight (9AM-9AM EST) in order to raise money for an organization or charity of their choice.
Cara over at The Curvature is blogging for SAFER (Students Active for Ending Rape) and because I obviously feel very passionately about ending rape everywhere, I really wanted to single Cara out for the amazing work she will be putting in for the next 24 hours straight in order to raise money for SAFER. They are in dire need of donations and every little bit helps, so if you have $5, $10, $20, $300 or whatever you have, please consider checking out Cara’s blogathon subblog and making a pledge!
Also be sure to check out SAFER’s website and blog if you haven’t already.
Cara will be dedicating 12 hours to discussing sexual violence in all of its forms, so there will definitely be a need for some conversation! She will then wind down her last 12 hours with fun posts on The Beatles. Help her stay awake for the full 24 hours and go post comments and engage in conversations!
Sex Education is Being Reformed! New Evidence-Based Sex Education Amendment Passes in House Committee
Earlier this week the US House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation in a 33-23 vote to support comprehensive sex education. The Healthy Teen Initiative amendment has been added to the proposed health care reform bill, known as the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The Healthy Teen Initiative allocates $50 million dollars in state grant funding for evidence-based sex education programs and will work to reduce teen pregnancy, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and comprehensively address a range of teen sexuality issues. It will also work to build life-long skills to promote good sexual and reproductive health throughout a person’s life.
Personally, I find it a little sad completely and utterly pathetic that I am sitting here writing a post about how awesome it is that we’re finally going to have evidence-based sex education programs taught in schools and organizations. Seriously people–What the fuck are we doing where we need the US House Energy and Commerce Committee to approve legislation to support comprehensive sex education? This is common sense. There is no such thing as telling a teen not to have sex and then thinking that they are actually going to listen to you. When it comes to sex education, you need to have the mindset that whoever you are educating is going to go out and have sex because whether you like it or not. Whether you believe they should or not, they are going to make that decision on their own and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it but feel confident that you have given them all of the information they need to effectively protect themselves against an unwanted pregnancy as well as against sexually transmitted infections. But that isn’t how you wanted your kid to turn out? Too bad, since they are equipped with that pesky free will thing.
But some still aren’t complacent with this common sense approach to sex education and are still fighting to give abstinence-only sex education a voice in the system. Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE) proposed that the failed amendment that funded abstinence-only sex education programs be extended to 2012 since their funding expires this year. Thankfully this proposal failed by 3 votes, but the scary thing here is that it could have very well passed and we could have still been funding an amendment that lies to teens if just three people had changed their votes. That is not enough support for comprehensive, fact and evidence-based sex education. Sex education is not an issue where “both sides” can get along. Abstinence-only sex education robs people of way too much for it to have any place at all in the curriculum taught to teens. They need facts, not a sermon that is better reserved for church.
Mexican City Government Launches Free HPV Vaccination Campaign
The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is one of the major causes of cervical cancer. It infects 20% of men and women in Latin America and as explained by Nubia Muñoz Calero, Columbian pathologist and physician, a member of the committee of scientists in charge of supervising the HPV vaccine Gardasil’s clinic trials, and nominee of the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine 2008, there is an 80% change of getting infected with HPV over one’s lifespan.
Because of the tremendous risk of being infected with HPV and going on to fighting a battle with cervical cancer, the Mexican City government has launched a free Human Papilloma Virus vaccination campaign to reduce cervical cancer rates. The announcement came after Panama launched a national free HPV vaccination campaign last October. The Mexican government then launched the Programa de Acción Específico de Cáncer Cérvico Uternino 2007-2012 (Specific Action Program on Cervical Cancer 2007-2012), a comprehensive plan aimed “to reduce the mortality and morbidity rates through the provision of excellent services for the promotion, prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and suffering control, as well as the responsible participation of the population on health care.” Last December, thousands of girls received the first dose of the vaccine, as well as a short information session including topics on sexuality and documentation related to gender violence.
The vaccination will cover the capital city and will be provided to about 35,000 girls between 11 and 13 years old, in all health care centers of Mexico City. The reason why this vaccine is being given to girls, rather than already sexually active women, is because in order for the vaccine to have the most effect and to have better results, it should be administered to someone before they are sexually active, as HPV is a sexually transmitted infection.
The HPV vaccine has been sold in Mexico since 2006; however, it was only provided by the private health centers at a very high cost of $600 USD. The HPV vaccine is one of the most costly vaccines worldwide and for the implementation of the Mexican campaign, the government has allocated about $10 million.
It’s great to see that Mexico is making the HPV vaccine readily available to girls at no cost; this is especially beneficial to low income girls who could have never received the vaccine otherwise. Cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer among Mexican women and according to a report [PDF] from the HPV Information Center, approximately 5,775 Mexican women die every year from cervical cancer and has the highest mortality rate of any cancer affecting women in Mexico. It’s fantastic to see that the Mexican government is using their money to ensure a happy and fulfilling future for the girls of Mexico who could have very well become cervical cancer statistics.
Where’s a Convicted Sex Offender to Go?
Last Thursday the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit to strike down laws in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that restrict convicted sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of where children gather. The problem with the law? Well, in the eyes of the American Civil Liberties Union, convicted sex offenders are living with too much restriction when it comes to where they can habitat and because these sex offenders are not able to find housing far enough away from where children gather, more and more have been living under a bridge.
The Julia Tuttle Causeway, which connects Miami to Miami Beach, has become home to at least 70 convicted sex offenders over the last three years. Law enforcement officials have said that ‘Tuttle’ is a public-safety hazard and while the 2,500-foot-law is intended to keep the public safe, some are contesting that the public includes these convicted sex offenders and that the law should be more relaxed, giving these people more leeway to be able to find a suitable home.
State and county officials have been pushing for changing one or more laws in order for these people to move into more permanent homes, but have seen politicians in the state shirking responsibility. Gov. Charlie Crist has placed responsibility for this case on local governments, saying that they have “the right to do what they feel is appropriate for the citizens that they serve.” The county commissioner, Jose Diaz, defended the county law by saying, “If I can save some kids from going through this agony, I’ve done my job.”
The fact that there is a lawsuit aiming to change “one or more laws” in order for convicted sex offenders to move into areas that they were otherwise not be permitted under any circumstances is horrifying. This entire case shows a level of laziness among state officials that is incomprehensible. On a humanist level it is not okay for people to be forced to live under a bridge, regardless of the record they hold. I firmly believe that every single human should have a roof over their head, a bed to sleep in, and food to sustain them; however, the safety of the people in which certain laws were created to protect should never, not for a second, be jeopardized and relaxing laws to allow convicted sex offenders to move closer to areas where children gather would most definitely be jeopardizing that security and safety.
This is a tragic case of laziness within the public service sector of Florida. Homelessness is a huge problem in the United States and given the fact that we are in the midst of a global recession, the number of people left homeless in this country will only logically rise. We need states to step up and either sustain the homeless shelters, spaces, and services already readily available or create these spaces in their communities so the people of their areas are not being forced to live under a bridge or in recently widely-known tent cities that are continuing to sprout up around the country. This mindset is also very much needed for convicted felons. As a survivor of childhood trauma and abuse, including sexual assault, I will be one of the first people to speak up for harsher prison sentences for those found guilty of these types of crimes and I will also be one of the first people to tell you that I don’t believe rehabilitation for convicted sex offenders is possible, which is precisely why states must ensure that they are equipped with the necessary resources and facilities in which these people can reside without infringing upon the safety of the people in the areas in which they live.
When Will the Sarah Palin Obsession Stop?
Ever since Sarah Palin appeared on the scene as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election, the media has been absolutely obsessed with her; although not quite in that “the media is after me and all those reporters and bloggers are the worst people in the entire world, sitting in front of their computers in their parents basements, eating Ramen noodles, still in their pajamas, out to destroy every facet of my life” kind of way that Palin herself believes the media to be. The media has been in a frenzy over Sarah Palin; reporting on her politics, career, and family, reporting on her spur of the moment press conferences to retort back to the media when she doesn’t like what a certain publication or network had to say about her politics, career, and family, reporting on what other people are saying about her, and on and on.
Most recently, however, the Sarah Palin media explosion has become too much; even to the point of unneeded and ridiculous.
Sarah Palin quit her job. Regardless of the political spin you would like to put on it to make it sound better, that is what happened; and since she took the podium that beginning-of-4th-of-July-weekend and gave that half-speech trying to sneak under the radar of the big, mean press, we have not been able to stop talking about it.
Why did she do it?
What was she thinking?
What lead up to this?
What is she going to do now?
Is this some sort of scheme? Because we all know how fond Republicans are of schemes!
And on and on and on we went.
And on and on and on we continue to go; even now, a full two weeks later. The press is now even going as far as to writing entire articles on her very short, so-called career, although whether they are genuine supporters, critics, or merely associate the very being of Palin with the same feelings of watching a car wreck and feel the need to report on this fact (which is very much what spurred this article in particular), are varied.
While I have no problem with the press reporting on actual news or something that at least some people would find interesting to read, even if it happens to revolve around a person who I personally believe is more of a one-person circus act than anything else, but re-reporting on someone’s career to the point of irrelevancy and redundancy just makes you, as well as your publication, look as if it was low on actual news that day and had to fill up space with something, so why not yet another article on a woman whose candle had been blown out months ago. The woman has quit her job; she has taken herself out of the limelight and it’s about time that we follow suite and stop trying to force news out of her name. Don’t worry, you can start writing about her again once she comes out with that unwarranted book everyone’s whispering about.
Fox and Friends Trainwreck Kilmeade: “We Marry Other Species & Other Ethnics…”
Fox News’ morning show Fox and Friends co-host, Brian Kilmeade is notorious (as far as I’ve seen, anyway) for actively driving his own career into the ground by showing his complete and utter lack of understanding of humanity. Luckily for him, Fox News likes that about him, which is why he still has a job.
Kilmeade is what I like to think of as a Bill O’Reilly-in-training; he has all of the characteristics to become the next big poster child for close-mindedness and bigotry and some day, the powers that be in the Fox News studios will get rid of the other two mindless drones they keep on Fox and Friends purely to talk Kilmeade up into some tangent where we see him digging that very deep hole in the ground to lay in after the show is over.
Yet another testimony to these thoughts and predictions occurred earlier this month when the show was discussing a recent study that, based on research done in Finland and Sweden, showed people that who stay married are less likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s. Kilmeade’s reasoning for why this is? Well, “we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other…” Yes, we are marrying other species. It isn’t just a Republibot’s reaction to why same-sex marriage cannot be legalized; we really are marrying other species now!
Kilmeade’s co-host tries to let him know that he has started digging that hole he cannot possibly get out of, but he didn’t quite get the message because he went right on to say “See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes…Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society.”
A pure society, huh? Isn’t it the Republicans who are the first to compare anything in government that they don’t agree with as being “Hitlerian?” And who was it that was trying to create that pure society? Oh yeah…
So according to Kilmeade, societies who are comprised of different ethnicities (not ethnics, by the way Brian… But we knew what “ethnics” you were referring to when that came flying out of your mouth) have the punishment of Alzheimer’s coming! It’s just one of those hidden little punishments that you deserve for screwing up our pure society!
Watch out Bill O’Reilly, I think you have some competition!
Pharmacists in Washington Being Forced to Do Their Jobs
Since the pharmacists in Washington cannot be trusted to do their jobs themselves, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday to force them to carry out their duties.
Two Washington pharmacists had filed a lawsuit saying that their religious beliefs should exempt them from carrying and providing emergency contraception to their customers; that the requirement to do so would make them choose between keeping their jobs or supporting a medication that they regard as a form of abortion. However, the federal appeals court ruled that their personal convictions do not outweigh a person’s right to timely medication. When it comes to the fundamental right to freely exercise one’s religion, the 9th Circuit panel made up of two conservatives named to the court by President George W. Bush and a liberal named by President Clinton, wrote that it “does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability… Any refusal to dispense — regardless of whether it is motivated by religion, morals, conscious, ethics, discriminatory prejudices, or personal distaste for a patient — violated the rules.”
Damn straight! I’ve said this so many times before, but for the record, if you are unable to perform the tasks in which your career depends, you should have pursued a different career. I honestly don’t see what the problem is. It isn’t like a woman who walks into a pharmacy to purchase emergency contraception is going to make the pharmacist who gives it to her take the first dose or something. It has nothing to do with the pharmacist; they are merely the supplier of a medication and if pharmacists are going to start preaching when they hold a job that heavily relies on science and taking the lives of these people into their own hands, they should have never been allowed to hold that job in the first place; however, if we instituted that pharmacy could only be seen as a viable career option for non-judgmental people who are going to do their jobs, there would be even more law suits filed for discrimination. Religion is not being seen and treated as it is supposed to; to be religious is to have a belief in a higher power, not to use it as an excuse for why you’re so much better than everyone else.
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Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
