Politics

[ellenmillion]

I don't generally follow party politics, and I usually lean slightly more democratic than republican (when forced to choose), but McCain TOTALLY won me with his VP nomination. I have nothing but respect and admiration for our governor Palin. I think I may have cheered out loud when I read that. Go Sarah!

PS: Don't worry, that's probably all the politics you'll get out of me for the whole rest of the election.



ETA: WHY I like Sarah Palin. Disclaimer: I don't generally follow politics, and I base this fondness on not much more than my own personal experiences... you want a fair, in-depth and researched opinion, that's not here. This is the stuff that affects me directly.

Point 1. She's tough and charismatic. She usually has a smile on her face and is upbeat and cheerful. I really like her get-it-done attitude. It's something I respect in anyone.

Point 2. She repealed the fee hikes for business licenses that her awful predecessor levied.

Point 3. She thinks ahead and gets it done. Alaska is going to get a natural gas pipeline someday soon. Not only is she working towards that, she's not considering 'oh, we've negotiated it' as the end of the deal. She's already allotted the money to improve our roads to the point where they will handle the construction equipment needed to make it happen. She's looked at things that slowed the 70's gas pipeline and thinking YEARS ahead.

Point 4. At the same time, she's managed to get an oil relief bill through the red tape so that every Alaskan is getting an extra $1200 with their PFD next month. I dunno that it's the best possible solution to the problem, but it Got Done, and I gotta give kudos to her for that.

Point 5. She doesn't say stupid things. There are so many people in politics that I otherwise like that just up and say Stupid Things periodically and make me cringe to support them. She hasn't done that (that I've noticed).

Point 6. Some folks are saying her 'husband is in oil' like this is a bad thing, but he is an oil operator, which is a far, far, FAR cry from being an oil CEO or an oil executive. An operator is a blue-collar, dirt-under-the-nails job. I like that, too. If we smear everyone who ever works in oil ever with the paintbrush of Slimy Big Oil Execubots, that would include a LOT of good, hardworking technicians I know and would be brutally unfair. I like politicians who come from families that work for a living.

Someone mentioned that she ran on a creationism in school campaign, too, but I honestly don't remember ever seeing that. Like I said, I don't pay much attention to politics.

As with all politics, I do suggest you do your own research and go with your own gut. But I feel GOOD about Palin being our VP.

Comments

[steppinrazor.livejournal.com]

Let me be clear on something.

There are many MANY medical fields out there. Nobody, NOBODY has to take on a field of expertise that "Forces" them to perform any procedure they have moral objections to. If you don't want to be in a position to perform an abortion, pick a different medical field. It's that easy.

If you don't want to distribute birth control, which will help REDUCE the numbers of abortions being performed in the first place, don't be a pharmacist.

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

'birth control' is one thing, the 'pill of the day after' is an abortive, and by the way women *have died* during clinical text for it. We have something potentially deadly that was experimented on women, I haven't heard anyone from the pro-choice field (at least over here) protesting against THAT hazard against women's health.

And so if I were in the USA I wouldn't have the right to choose to be a gynechologist if I did want to be able to not perform abortions? Well that's great for allowing one freedom of choice...
Frankly, with all the problems we have over hereI'm happy to live were I live.
And don't kid yourself, were abortion is legal it *is* used as birth control, I see it happen all the time with my Chinese immigrant women at the preliminary talk:
" I don't want the child"
" OK have you had previous abortions ?"
"Yes"
" How many?"
"...I don't recall...was it 4 or 5?"
Even the doctor cringed at this, and she isn't an objector.
By the way it isn't *that* easy, a woman has to have blood tests before and an ecography, so one would need to stay clear of radiology and lab too, why has one to be frightened of leaving doctors their freedom of choice? Fear that too many would opt out? That would tell me something...

[steppinrazor.livejournal.com]

From what I know of China, it's not an equable situation. And even IN China (and all around the world), we wouldn't SEE abortion used as "Birth control" if people were properly educated and given access to contraceptives - but sex education is taboo to the religious right (we must'n't let children know they have penises and vaginas), and contraceptives are met with superstition and fear in many parts of the world, often due to religious underpinnings that frown upon masturbation, condoms, and premarital sex, but don't give people the tools to deal. In Africa, people still believe they can cure their AIDS by raping children, and because of the very strong Catholic influence, combined with a lack of funding and lack of outreach, there's nothing much to counteract this behavior and rampant spread of a preventable disease... but I digress.

If you find it morally repugnant to perform an abortion, as a gynecologist, then yes, you should choose another field. Even if abortion were -outlawed-, it would still come up as a medical procedure that's occasionally necessary to save the life of the mother. It's like any other job, really. If you don't want to wash dishes, don't be a waitress.

The problem, however, with this pending regulation, is that it affects primarily people in lower-income areas who don't HAVE access to many doctors, and it gravely affects preventative methods (as much, if not moreso than abortion - most people will go to specific abortion clinics, not general doctors). The doctor refusing the procedure doesn't even have to provide a referral (and it's not limited to abortion - a doctor could refuse treatment to a Muslim individual based on morality, a doctor could decide not to treat a kid who's a recognized gang member, and theoretically be within his rights). This violates the very oath taken when one becomes a doctor.

I must note I have also seen no statistics, for that matter (at least from an unbiased source) that shows abortion being used as birth control. Only anecdote.

But you know, none of that matters. What matters is that abortions will continue to happen whether legal or not - the difference is the level of care and guidance that can be offered, and the level of danger the mother is potentially in. I, as a woman, have absolute domain over MY body. It is MY choice, not the government's, and the government has no right to place directives on my body, whether by writ of majority or not. Of course I dearly wish to see abortion rates drop and dwindle. I would love if it weren't needed at all, and were a rare medical procedure. But until people step up and begin actually educating people on proper prevention methods (aside from abstinence), I would rather see women able to get it in a safe environment.


(Ellen, I'm sorry for polluting your journal with all this rhetoric, and I'll bow out now.)

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

All the previous abotrions had happened in Italy, not China.

And since the poor have a problem just let them kill their children?
Education is the answer, not abortion.

Just for the record: doctors have a right to declare themselves as objectors for matter of conscience here and yet abortion is legal and one has no trouble having an abortion if she wants.

BTW the 'strong catholic influence' is pure bull, contagion of AIDS in Uganda went *down* because of cooperation of the government and the church in providing *education*, and that's on official and proven records.

Just as the fact that in many countries abortion *is* a birth control method, over here it's a big problem with many immigrant women and we are working in educating towards use of preventive methodes: Nigeria, Eastern Europe (Albania, Romania and former SSSR) and China are the main examples and there *are* studies on the fact.
And that's all I've to say on the matter

[pseudopagan.livejournal.com]

Just for the record: doctors have a right to declare themselves as objectors for matter of conscience here and yet abortion is legal and one has no trouble having an abortion if she wants.

And here we have 'objectors' keeping rape victims in a hospital for 'observation', while not providing the morning after pill because of their objections, and the victims not finding out until it's too late that they've been kept past the period where it may be used in smaller (-safer-) dosages as an emergency contraceptive.

[steppinrazor.livejournal.com]

I suppose the bottom line is, simply, your country and my country are very different. Just as individual states have vastly different needs, so, too, do different countries and cultures.

I'm not going to argue about this in Ellen's journal anymore.