Daughter of No Comment -- November 2006

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How sweet it is and how close we came to disaster. 7000 votes. So as we wind down from dancing Virginia's new dance the macacarena and catch our breath it is time to start planning our next move, select the best way we as individuals can contribute the most to a real thumpin' win in the next election. Some very nasty statistics have been published that indicate the leading cause of death in young women in the United States, age 15 to 18 is self starvation due to eating disorders and the second cause of death in the same age group is homicide (murder) "and that 78% of all the homicide victims in the study had been killed by an acquaintance or intimate partner." The numbers are even more horrendous in many other parts of the world but that does not make our shame any more acceptable. Daughter would like to introduce you to and honor Jane Hodgson, M.D. who recently died at age 91. She was an OB-GYN who looked for a patient who would be a test case and with whom she could challenge the antiabortion laws in her state (MN). She was sentenced to 30 days in jail and put on probation. Her sentence was overturned in 1973 when the Supreme Court invalidated state antiabortion laws with the Roe v. Wade decision. Later she threatened to challenge any consent law and said that "the treatment of venereal disease and AIDS did not have a similar requirement." In 2003 she said "In some ways it is just as bad now as it was in the pre-Roe days, and in some ways even worse. So many of the clinics in Minnesota are having to close because of our lack of providers. There are just about 12 doctors in the state that are providing all the abortions, and soon they will be dying off, including myself. I don't know what will happen then." We all owe this brave and dedicated woman. Feminist writer Sylvia Plath's early works were not known or published until recently when Linda Wagner-Martin wrote "Sylvia Plath: A Literary Life." Plath's husband , British poet Ted Hughes put together a book of her work but ignored her early work saying "Plath's career started when she met me." Hughes and Hubris go together. In a book called "Beauty Junkies", author Alex Kuczynski say that because of the vast numbers of breast implants that "Many under-40 men today think it is perfectly normal for the breast of a reclining woman to stand up like rockets at take off." Now there is an image!! Nicholas D. Kristof writes that Congressman George H. W. Bush was prime sponsor of the 1970 public health program that provides family planning services in the U. S. He was so enthusiastic that his nickname then was Rubbers. His son, our unenlightened leader, is too stupid to understand the connection between the prevention of conception and the reduction in abortions if the pregnancy is avoided. The only way to help him is to work hard to keep his supporters out of the legislative process and out of our bedrooms. Clearly Daughter is not yet in the holiday spirit but if you have any ideas you would like to share, let me know.