Ms. Sandra Fluke goes to Washington

I have been receiving many emails asking me to sign a petition to force the obnoxious Rush to apologize for his heinous behavior and insulting language towards a 3rd year law student, Ms. Sandra Fluke. I’ve been bombarded with article after article in Facebook from friends relating the story or, once more, to sign more petitions demanding that Rush apologizes. I ignore them.

First of all, this individual that does not deserve to be called a man, Rush, and I refuse to dignify him by even calling him by his full name or last name, the bastard doesn’t deserve that distinction and I must apologize to any bastard in the real sense of the word that might be out there, he thrives on this type of revolt. By keeping his name afloat, he is rejoicing by the free publicity we ‘liberals’ are giving him. No. I refuse to give him any reason to inflate his ego more than already is, I actually don’t know what’s greater, his weight or his ego.

What we must be talking about and focusing our efforts on is the courage, integrity and eloquence of this young lady, Ms. Sandra Fluke, who at the young age of 23 stood before Congress and said it like it is. A young woman that spoke softly, clearly and addressed the many issues that concerns million of women in this country, while she kept her calm and demeanor. That’s admirable and more so when facing a group of people that considered her not fit to give her statement when the so-called “experts” gave theirs in front of Congress weeks before. According to Congress, these so-called experts were composed of men, not one single woman exposing her views on the matter. No, every single one of them were men, but that’s not all, there were all representing a religious group. They were: Rev. Matthew Harrison, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Dr. Craig Mitchell, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Roman Catholic Bishop William Lori, Rev. Jonah Paffhausen, Washington archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik. None of these men have any, I repeat, any medical background. Apparently, they were experts in women issues much more than a woman and Ms. Sandra Fluke was denied her participation. I salute the congresswomen that decided to ask where the women were in that panel and walked out on such charade!  

Also, notice should be taken that the Congressmen that have actively tried to block President Obama’s mandate on contraception are all men too. The bills that Senators Fortenberry and Rubio as well as Representative Blunt brought before Congress were not co-sponsored by any woman, which makes me wonder what it is that these men think they know about women that women don’t? How can these men, political and religious men, say that if the need for contraceptive pills was for medical reasons other than preventing a pregnancy they would not be fighting it, when it is a medical fact that these pills are used for many female conditions besides preventing a pregnancy; yet, they want the insurance companies not to provide contraceptives in their plans, even when women will be paying for it. That is absurd! Why is it then that Viagra is covered under the insurance plans offered to the religious clergy? For crying out loud, it is on the Catholic Priests plans! Aren’t they supposed to be celibate? What possible explanation can there be for the inclusion of Viagra other than sexual? Ah! They will claim that Viagra controls hypertension but, if the contraceptive pills that control many illness suffered by women can’t be included because the side effect is preventing a pregnancy, therefore going against their religious believes then, Viagra shouldn’t be included either – there are other medications without the so welcomed side effect of an erection to treat hypertension – and, since the priests are not supposed to fornicate because that too is against their religious beliefs… What the heck is Viagra doing in their plan? What’s good for a dick must be good for a vagina! 

Ms. Sandra Fluke tried desperately to express the importance contraceptives play in treating medical illnesses that many women suffer in our country.  Every woman doesn’t take the infamous pill just for sex; many take it for health reasons. I knew of a little girl that was prescribed contraceptives by her pediatrician because her ovaries were not developing properly, so yes, there are many other uses for contraceptives.  (for a transcript of Ms. Fluke Statement to Congress, click here)

These extreme right-wing Senators and Representatives in an effort to gain the pious vote by siding with the religious institutions have opened a Pandora’s box. It is obvious that they know so much about women that didn’t think they would turn in masses against them. They stupidly decided to secure religious freedom, to side with religious institutions that by the way, contribute zero to the finances of our government since they are tax exempted and are supposed to respect the statute 501c3 by making no contributions to any political candidate or party. These Congressmen decided to go against the rights of millions of women who do vote, pay taxes and unlike a theological ideology, are breathing and living human beings. I am certain these Congressmen didn’t think of the huge favor they were doing to the Democrats, you see… they’ve decided to wage a war against women by trying to control their reproductive system over a decadent and perverted Catholic Church. At the end, we must thank the retrograde Republican Party for waging this war against women; nothing worse than an enraged woman, Catholic women do take contraceptives and they do vote, and their rage will be felt on November 2012!


To read a transcript of Rush and a caller opinion on Ms. Fluke and contraceptives, click here
To read a transcript of Rush ironically called "Pearls of Wisdom" where he once more trashes Ms. Fluke, click here
To read the transcript and listen to Rush questioning why did Ms. Fluke selected to go to Georgetown, click here
To watch The Young Turks commentary and the video of Rush Limbaugh calling Ms. Fluke a slut, click here

The Invasion of Privacy

This is an attempt to clarify, scientifically not religiously, the subject of contraceptives and abortion. 

First we must understand the difference between an embryo, a fetus and a baby. It really bothers me to hear people calling an embryo or a fetus by the term baby, probably that is the reason why we are still debating this subject up to this day.

When a woman’s ovum (egg) drops from the fallopian tubes and, if she is lucky enough to have a man and enjoyed intercourse (or not) at the correct moment without protection or, as in many cases, the protection fails to do its job, that ovum will get fertilized by the man’s spermatozoa if they are not lazy or if the men is not, as commonly known, “shooting blanks”. I hope that up to this point everyone reading this will agree or at least have some concept of this stage of fertilization/conception.

If the ovum gets fertilized, it will drop to the uterus (located inside the woman and as of now that we are debating this issue, an uterus that belongs only to that woman) and attach itself to the walls of the uterus to start developing into an EMBRYO. At this time, basically, is a single cell that has been invaded by another single cell, isn’t it funny how even then, men are invading women? Anyway, not always a fertilized ovum will attach itself to the walls of the uterus or, even if attached will develop into an embryo, resulting in a miscarriage without the woman ever knowing that she was pregnant.

This is how the ovum looks like after the lucky spermatozoan got its way, it is at this moment that it is scientifically called an embryo and it shall remain with that name until the end of the 8th week from fertilization.

It almost looks like a black and white fried egg… doesn’t it? The human embryo differs little from the embryos of almost every other species. At the end of this article I will provide you with a link to various pictures of embryos and early stage fetuses for you to decide to which species the pictures belong to. Kind of a quiz to test your knowledge on the subject, it would be fun to see how many of you that believe that it is a baby since the moment of conception will be able to recognize the human embryo or fetus. 

The ovum, once fertilized, will begin splitting into multiple cells, at the second split we can start to recognize some features. As you can see, even at this early stage we can begin to find a resemblance to the procreator… At this stage, they look just like their "daddy"! Don’t they? So sweet!!! If you can’t see the resemblance, ask your husband to bend and look as his testicles, they look very similar!

During the first 4 weeks, the embryo is the size of a sesame seed (approximately 1/8 of an inch) or smaller, it doesn’t have a heartbeat, it doesn’t have limbs, it doesn't have a brain or even a spinal cord. This is the way the embryo looks towards the end of that stage, can you tell what sex is it, what the color of the hair or eyes will be? Can you tell if it will be a normal child or if it will have some anomalies at this point? I seriously doubt it, because at this stage you couldn’t differentiate between a human embryo and that of a dog, a cat, a horse, an elephant or a rat, among others. At this stage, having no brain or spinal cord, the embryo can’t have sensory nerves, in other words, it can’t feel pain. Alright, it is noticeable that it looks almost like a shrimp but not nearly that size, not even half the size of a small shrimp.

After the end of the 8th week is when the embryo starts developing into a FETUS. It still doesn’t look human, but you can begin to see the limbs, it has a heartbeat, a brain and a spinal cord. Having already a brain we can assume that at this stage the fetus might feel pain. The picture on the right is how it will look, more or less, by the 9th week. Now we can perceive limbs, eyes, and is quickly changing into a recognizable human… but its not there yet, at this point there are other species that still resembles ours, but there is no denying that at this point we can recognize a life.

From the end of the 8th week until the fetus passes through the birth canal, it will assume and retain the name of fetus. It is not a baby, just like an egg is not a chicken or a chick… it is an egg until the shell breaks and the chick breathes and in humans, it is a fetus until the water breaks and that fetus takes its first breath of air, not a millisecond before, it is then and only then it  can be called a baby. So, to all those people that are pro-life and keep saying that an abortion kills babies are not saying the truth, just twisting the words to inflict pity, guilt and rage among people, after all, no one but a sick person would ever want to kill a baby!

This brings me to the subject of abortion and contraceptives. Every woman, absolutely every single one of them is pro-life; no one gets pregnant because they think "so what? if I do get pregnant I’ll simply have an abortion!" – That is not what happens. It is an extremely difficult decision that every woman, God fearing or atheist, doesn’t make lightly and a decision she wishes she would never have to make. There are different reasons, all valid, and which I am not going to enumerate, for a woman to come to that conclusion. After seriously thinking and debating with herself about the choices to make, agonizing about it, when a woman makes the decision to terminate a pregnancy – that by no stretch of the imagination is ‘killing a baby’, especially during the first trimester – that woman has seriously thought about it and felt guilty about it and decided that it was her only choice. There is no need to make her "listen to the heartbeat", see pictures of gorgeous and happy 4 month old babies in the doctor’s office,  no need to make her wait 24 hours and no need to make her feel worse than she already feels! 

This is not a religious matter, it is not a moral matter, it is not a civil matter, it is not a government matter, this is not a men's matter… it is a woman’s personal matter! 

All these fierce religious far right extremists that today are calling for the elimination of abortions and contraceptives for every single woman across in this country, because it goes against their religious beliefs but, that at the same time they also oppose for women to be on welfare; these same religious men and women who do not go and adopt all the children that are loveless in orphanages or going from foster home to foster home until they reach the age of 18 and are on their own or children that will never know what love is because they were born with deformities or HIV and abandoned by their mothers… Unless these people that are blocking every effort to provide women the alternative of not getting pregnant or, in some cases blocking the access to terminate a pregnancy, until these people pick up the tab for the children that are born and were unwanted, from the embryonic stage to the ripe age of 18, unless they’re willing to do that, they have absolutely no right to tell a woman what to do with her uterus or the embryo that she is carrying. It is up to that woman, her conscience and her physician to determine if there is a need to end a pregnancy or, preferably, take the precautions in the form of contraceptives to avoid getting pregnant and therefore, preventing the so hated abortion. 

To all the pro-life women: Get pregnant all you want, do with YOUR uterus whatever you please, but who gave you the right to invade other women’s uterus? Do the other women have the right to force you to take contraceptives or have an abortion? If they don’t have the right to inflict upon you their opinions and religious beliefs, how dare you force yours onto them? If you think you do have the right because of your religious beliefs, you don’t. If you believe in God, then you believe He gave mankind  free-will to make his/her own decisions, whether the decisions are good or bad it doesn’t matter, it is an individual’s decision, not yours... not even God’s.

I might understand (not accept) your opposition to abortion, but give me a break! Opposing contraceptives means that you are protecting a single cell… After all, an ovum that hasn’t been fertilized by a sperm because it was protected by a contraceptive it is not a baby, it is not an embryo, and it is not a fetus… It is a damn cell that will come out in the next menstrual cycle and which will be tossed away, whether in a tampon, a sanitary napkin or in the toilet! 

The Ugly Face of the Conservative Future

I am beginning to notice what is that the extreme right is envisioning. It is a scary thought but the only thing that makes sense. The extreme right and so-called conservatives are proposing changes that will affect everyone living in America and the thing is, most people are not noticing what their true agenda is. We are all fighting on separate issues and not connecting the dots. Today, by mere coincidence, all the dots became clear to me, as if an epiphany had taken place and I am for sure sharing it with the world because it is of extreme importance that we fight their plans with all our might.

The far right is pushing for changes in our society that will only benefit the large corporations they so intensely protect, the ones that they so valiantly gave the title of personhood. Let me begin opening your eyes:

The conservatives in this country are pushing for the abolition not only of abortion, which depending on your personal religious belief they may be right or wrong; but they are also eradicating contraceptives, abortions even if to save the life of the mother, they are trying to make illegal any means that will prevent any woman from getting pregnant, until she reaches the menopause age. That will make a woman a birth machine, with the possibility of giving birth to 10 or more children in her lifetime.

Then, they are trying very hard to make education a luxury by getting rid of public schools and make them private. This will mean that while the poor keeps giving birth, it will be impossible to send not even one of their children to a school to receive an education. Only the wealthiest will be able to afford it and get an upper education at any given University. Only the wealthy will be able to obtain a professional career, only the wealthy will be able to own their own companies or hold executive positions.

Furthermore, there are those conservatives that are already considering lowering the working age, in other words, legalizing child labor, with me so far?

Connect the dots. It is clear that they are looking at a very near future, anywhere from 15 to 20 years from now, and they have a plan, a macabre plan.  At this rate, they will have in less than a quarter of a century an immense workforce, and a cheap labor. Imagine, so many uneducated people seeking work! They will have to work for barely anything and a new form of slavery will have been created with no way to get around being poor, with no means to improve the situation. The poor will be poorer, if that is even possible and the rich will be even richer since they will have an endless workforce that will work for pennies!

It must be our moral, civil and human obligation to stop them and stop them now. The future of this country, the world and our own depend on it.  

My Uterus is my Temple... not theirs

The debate about contraceptives continues in Washington and of course, the religious groups negotiating with congress are, in the vast majority, composed of men, out of those the representatives of the Catholic Church are not even – hypothetically – engaged in a sexual relationship. However, these men think that they have the right to impose their opinions and beliefs on every woman walking on the face of the earth, not only Catholic women. These same "holy" men (and I am using the term "holy" very, very loosely) do not seem to object to vasectomies or to the use of Viagra for men to fornicate for pleasure and not necessarily for procreation… the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church is unbelievable!

The Catholic Church is debating the contraceptive mandate on the grounds that it is against their belief and morals. Can someone ask these Bishops and the Pope why don’t they make such a fuss over the death penalty? Among the capital sins, I believe, there is the “Thou Shall Not Kill” commandment; yet, they do not revolt every time someone is fried in this country or anywhere else. They solemnly give the last rites to the poor soul that is going to be executed, but that’s about it.

Then, we must remember that nowhere among those 10 commandments was a commandment saying “Thou shall not take the pill”, I have really  tried to find it but no, it’s nowhere to be found. Furthermore, these representatives from the Catholic Church are themselves breaking a mandate given to all mankind by the almighty Jesus: “Love and procreate,” what happened to them then? Why they can’t procreate/fornicate/make love? If we are to follow the mandates of the New Testament to the extreme as they want us to, we should demand the same from them.

I still believe that the penis and uterus belongs to whoever owns it and not the church, not the government, not you not me unless, of course, it’s your own organ. If contraceptives means "preventing an egg from being fertilized" good, no "babies" were killed, just prevented from forming; if an abortion during the very first weeks means murder, the judgment for that should be between that woman and her god and not a public or church affair. God, presumably, gave us free will and that includes making a reproductive decision, even if a wrong decision.

There are thousands if not millions of children languishing in orphanages all around the world; thousands more have been abused and even murdered after being born because the mother was not fit for that role and it would have been much better for her to take contraceptives or damn, have an abortion before giving birth to a live baby to kill or abuse it. But of course, the Catholic Church doesn’t see it that way, I think their main concern is running out of children for them to abuse – who will they sexually take advantage of if there is a limited amount of children? I really think that is their main worry, a decreasing number of children to focus their sexual depravation on.

Until the Catholic Church picks up the tab for every child born, for every woman whose future is destroyed by having a child when she is a child herself, for every child that has been sexually abused by the predatory church… when the Catholic Church does this, then and only then it may have the right to interfere with a political mandate that concerns women and express their opinion, but until that happens, they should keep out of women’s uterus… We all know that they don’t care for a woman’s uterus or vulva for that matter, its no wonder why they’re celibate…. Only children matter to them, and not necessarily in a pure and holy way.

When Masturbating is Murder

I couldn’t believe it when I read today that Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson (D), had introduced a bill in Congress, claiming that “Every Sperm is Sacred” as an Amendment to the Personhood bill.

After the shock and laughter that derived from the headings of this article, I had to silently applaud the valiant action, that highhandedly Sen. Johnson had tackled. She had the courage to introduce an absurdity into an already absurd bill to prove a point, a very valid point. If Congress finds absurd the idea that a sperm is a potential life – rendering masturbation illegal since one drop of that wonderful sperm wasted, represents thousands of little babies that ended up on the sheets, towel, tub or floor. Sacrilege! How can men be so careless and kill thousands of babies in one second? Don’t men know that they must not ejaculate under any circumstances, unless it is to procreate life? How come then it is not just as absurd to ask women not to take contraceptives, not to use the morning after pill? But of course, we all know that what the Conservatives demand from women is by no means, what they demand from men… ah, those precious jewels of them are the ‘untouchables’, unless they don't function properly for which they demanded pills, such as Viagra, and other treatments to be covered by insurance companies!

According to the article, Sen. Johnson amended her own bill and added these precious words-“However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.” – a stroke of genius!

Unfortunately, Sen. Johnson decided to table her bill as a gesture to show that her bill was just to prove a point and not a serious bill. I think that was a mistake. That bill should have been included in the already bizarre Personhood bill… perhaps, since it would prohibit masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, wet dreams, pull outs and in essence, fornicating unless procreating I am sure that the bill would have been killed on the Senate floor, now it has a chance to go through.

Regardless, it is good to know that as usual, it is the Democrats in Congress the ones that work for the protection of women’s rights… and the ones with a healthy sense of humor!