Pregnancy is not a Medical Condition

I just got done reading a post on my friend Jill's blog about the bizarre complexities of the insurance industry. In it she mentions that pregnancy is not considered a medical condition, but in her opinion, it should be. Well, Jill, wish granted: The Irish newspaper, The Independent, has an article by one Caitriona Palmer, a foreign journalist living in the US, who has been denied insurance coverage due to her "pre-existing condition" -- being 5 months pregnant. More on this later.

I would posit that pregnancy is not a "medical condition" -- a condition, perhaps, but there is nothing intrinsically medical about it. No more than my monthly period is a medical condition. Pregnancy is treated like a medical condition here in the US, but in much of the rest of the world women see a midwife throughout their pregnancy and give birth at home, with a midwife, not nurses or doctors, and only see a hospital or doctor in the event of the need for an actual medical intervention -- which, in much of the rest of the world, happens a lot less.

(Huh. I wonder if there's a connection?)

The follow-up comment to this bit of information is always, "In other countries mothers and babies die more often -- without all of our medical advancements, right?" Wrong. The US is 44th on the list of infant mortality -- worse off than Cuba and Czech Republic, to name two. And a woman in the US has a greater chance of dying while pregnant or giving birth than those in Malta, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, etc. etc. etc. We are 43rd on that list. Just even with Belarus. Something tells me we are not doing this right. No offense to Belarus -- I'm sure it's lovely there.

I believe that the maternal and infant mortality rates are higher in the US because we treat mothers and fetuses as though something is wrong with them that must be fixed. For an overwhelming number of pregnancies, this is simply not the case.

My personal case-and-point: I reluctantly went to the hospital to give birth to Tilia (due to the actual medical condition of hypertension) and was told repeatedly through 36 hours of unmedicated labor that we should do a c-section because the goal was to "get the baby out." It wasn't until I read this article, and the timely partnering with Jill's thoughts, that I realized how the doctor's attempts to medicalize my labor were meant to make me a patient instead of a mother going through a natural, biological event. One they have control over and one they don't. I wonder which they prefer?

To get back to the article by Palmer, I will say this: To be denied health care because you are pregnant is one more example of the backwards way that pregnancy and childbirth are viewed in the US. It's also another example of how the industry of insurance has become "The Decider" now: Who will go bankrupt due to an illness? Who lives, who dies, who get care, who gets worse? They get to tell us and we have no choice but to listen and, like Palmer, make our medical decisions with the threat of financial ruin hanging over our heads. This is the first thing we need to worry about fixing -- then we can work on solving that medical condition all the pregnant women have.

...and disappointment sets in

When it comes to politicians, I should learn to never get my hopes up. See previous post about the promise of a feminist president and his amazing words about helping to create a healthy America (and world) for women...but it turns out, they are just words and he is still a politician first and a feminist...oh, say tenth or eleventh.

Family planning is not a dirty word! Family planning is something that people of privilege (read: politicians) take completely for granted, but could mean the difference between literally life and death for some. Or the difference between a young woman continuing college instead of embarking into motherhood in her early 20s. It could mean the difference between a high school girl getting a safe abortion instead of giving birth to an unwanted baby at home, alone. It could mean the difference between a family of four ending up on the street because they don't have health care and can't afford their medical bills. Or teens learning the truth about their bodies and their choices for contraception.

It means all these things and so much more, but a chunk of change called, "The Medicaid Family Planning State Option" was cut from the economic stimulus package by Obama's request. The Republicans were calling the money for women's health care and family planning "pork." Nice. And so he caved. And the Democrats caved. So it was cut from the bill and not one Republican voted for it anyway. Great commentary by Ruth Rosen over at Religion Dispatches:

So, poor women who want reproductive health care and contraception are both “pork” and a “distraction.” Is this the change we have dreamed about?

Oh for fuck's sake...

This makes me want to tear out my eyes with dull sticks..

"This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America. We see America as the greatest force for good in this world....Our opponent though, is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

-- Sarah Palin criticizing Barack Obama in the New York Times political blog, "The Caucus."

Do people really believe this shit? Who are we fucking kidding? I want to move to France...

Matt Lauer is a Fucking Asshole Part II

This morning on the Today Show, Matt called Hillary Clinton a "tease." I didn't catch the whole exchange -- They showed Hillary Clinton and then Meredith commented that Hillary "didn't want to say something something" (the part I missed) -- cut back to Matt who looks incredulous. "Oooookay. What a tease." He says in the glib way only he can. I almost didn't post about it because I didn't hear the context, but then I thought, "What the fuck context could make that OK?" Nothing can make that OK. Oh she's a vixen alright. A cock-teasing, power pantsuit wearing, Democratic hopeful. Rrrrrowr!

It's not that she's a woman, it's that she's an idiot!

Rebecca Traister writes over at Salon.com about Katie Couric's interview in New York Magazine.

I could go on and on about the interview with Katie, but instead I want to comment on Traister's reaction to it. She writes that Katie's public candor about the fears she has and questions she's asking herself with regard to her career move aren't helping to bolster her ratings. According to Traister, she needs to buck up and "grow a pair" and lie publicly that she loves her new career and it couldn't be going better. This is grossly Stepford Wivien and I couldn't disagree more. It will no more help Katie's ratings than putting her in a man's suit and calling her Olbermann. I will say, though, that Katie has made a career being falsely sincere and the people who enjoy Today are apparently stupid enough to fall for it. Traister's point might be that the time for bringing back the false sincerity might be now and it could reconnect her with the folks she left behind.

I would put forth that the reason that people aren't interested in watching Katie as CBS Newswoman is the same reason that no one calls Today a news program. It's not news. She is not a newswoman. We lost (if we ever had) respect for her because of the ridiculous sincerity she asked the hard questions such as, "Who CAN wear white before labor day?"over and over on Today. She did stories like, "Is your purse making you look fat?" and "Which is better, girls night in, or girls night out???!" These are not news. She interviewed grief stricken families involved in the tragedy-of-the-week -- from dead children to missing pets to a boat overturned that ruined our picnic on the water (wah!). All treated with the same false sense of urgency and importance and the implication that as Americans we should all care deeply about their loss/pet/picnic/whatever. These are not news stories.

The idea that a person like Katie could bring her spunky can-do attitude and "ball buster with a heart of gold" personality to change the evening news into something that more people want to watch -- that was the mistake. Katie can ask smart questions, be serious, stoic and real, but her popularity was based on the bubbly, giggling lady wearing the captain's hat while honking the ferry horn on the Today Show. I'm not sure people like Serious Katie. If the evening news was a popularity contest, she might be able to flash her million dollar smile and softball questions and win, but thankfully, apparently it's not.

Sicko

Cross posted from my movie blog:

Jon and I left this movie feeling really angry. As per his usual, Moore tries to make it funny, and entertaining, but we are in a dire situation in this country and it is already so out of hand that it will never be fixed.

Several people in the film are asked if we have any chance of catching up to the rest of the "westernized" world and providing free health care to all -- to take care of our citizens -- to have free house calls and free nannies for newborns and mandatory paid maternity leave -- but they all agree it is not possible. If we are sick and poor or out of work due to illness and beaten down then we won't worry that the government is wire-tapping, torturing and lying to us. That is how the US government wants us.

Even Barack, folks.

He too wants us scared and quiet.

Corporations own our health care system (which isn't a system at all!) and their employees get bonuses for denying coverage to sick people. Citizens of other countries can't believe that we would turn away people who cannot pay. Are we heartless? Cruel?

Yes and yes.

Less scary than the "Backpack Bandit"

The smiling idiots on King 5 this morning described a female bank robber who wears a pony tail as "Fashion conscious, armed and dangerous."

OMG! o.b.s r kewl!

I bought some o.b. tampons yesterday. When I got them home, I noticed something weird on the box:
There she (?) was, a little cartoon dog on the side of the box with flowers and in crayon-y writing it says, "visit hiobie.com" So I did.

This is what greeted me:


Holy shit. It appears that my tampon of choice has been officially co-opted by tweens. On the home page we can mouse over the various "rooms" and with each one, a little animated Obie (the dog) peeks out to join in the menstrual fun. We can go to school, the movies and my favorite place when I am on the rag: the mall!

What bothers me first: All the writing is dumbed down online-speak.

...and I was like, ttly, like, OMG! Did U, like, take the period test? U can learn that like, it's ttly norm if U get ur boobs before ur "little visitor"...if U have yours and U tell me, I swear I won't tell any1. Having ur period is so ttly embarrassing. OMG!

What bothers me next: obviously girls are starting their periods younger and younger. Several factors contribute this: better nutrition (as compared, say, to the 1800s) all the way around the circle back to poor nutrition and an excess of fat; and something that freaks me out completely -- an "excess of estrogen in the environment". The average age is like 11 or 12 now and falling toward 9 or 10 by 2015 according to several articles posted at the Museum of Menstruation (who knew there even was one?!)

I totally get that if younger and younger girls are starting their periods that pads and tampon companies are going to market to them. It seems like they are making a (somewhat pathetic ) attempt to make it fun and cool and all peppermint candies and downloadable (period themed?) ringtones for girls only, but they miss that mark completely and the overall feeling is that you should treat your period like a dirty little secret and they encourage an underlying hatred of this function by "swearing not to tell anyone!" and having a place to post "period horror stories". Just to be clear, I am realistic about the drag of having a period and I am not suggesting that we build bonfires and eat Luna bars and dance naked under the full moon in a sisterhood menstrual frenzy, but I do know that the way society looks at the biological functions of women has a lot to do with how we are treated and valued and how we treat and value ourselves.

What bothers me most is that starting the self-hatred training so young is a tragedy and SUCH a missed opportunity for this company to be on the right side of bringing girls up to be strong, smart and confident and comfortable with their bodies. Personal Products Inc. (the makers of o.b. the tampon "made by a woman gynecologist",) is the one who should be ashamed, not the little dog who has her period.

Go here to tell o.b. what you think of "obie."

When you question the president, Tinkerbell dies

Bill Maher wrote the following funny editorial. I hate it when he's right because he's such a prick, but I almost always agree with him.

Setbacks

Ladies, if you thought your uterus and ova were yours to make decisions about, think again. The Supreme Court decision today has reiterated several stances taken by this administration:

1) Women are not citizens in the way that men are. Our bodies are not our own, but belong to some greater "good" that may or may not have our best interest in mind. Should we get pregnant, we are no longer in charge of what happens to us.

2) The court system is now a mouthpiece for the president. It terrifies me to watch the gradual retreat of the (well-thought out, meticulously planned, long-recognized as an integral part of our democracy) checks and balances that help to regulate our country. They were put in place to assure us that when the majority of the people hold an opinion contrary to the opinion of an administration, the majority will eventually have its way. It's not that other administrations haven't been at odds with the people, it's that now we don't have separate branches of government to make sure that the country, the justice system and, apparently, women's bodies don't end up belonging to George Bush.

3) It is the government, not OB/GYNs, who should recommend reproductive health care choices for women. The term "partial birth abortion" refers to a practice that doesn't even exist. There is a medical term for the kind of abortion that is performed in the 2nd or 3rd trimester, but "partial birth abortion" is a made up name and not a medical procedure. The Supreme Court of the United States has decided to politicize for the very first time the choices that doctors and women make about women's health. I also am appalled that Kennedy in his statement calls OB/GYNs "abortion doctors." Another fake term.

This isn't just about the access to affordable, safe abortions. This is about the fabric of our democracy and the rights of women as equal citizens.

Words overused by food review writers

1. Cloying

Part of the Problem

Hubby pointed out this War Room post from Salon. The main story is that a Bush administration employee leaked classified documents to a "friend" -- never mind that she works for the Department of Parks and Fish and Wildlife (or whatever) and the documents included information about endangered species and the friend's email address ended in "chevrontexaco.com" -- Bad? Yes. But you know what's worse? This employee met this friend while "playing online role playing games." What? Like D&D? Are you kidding me? First, is she 15?? Second, la-la land prevails in the minds of the whole Bush world. Lets roll a 20-sided die and pretend to be half-elf mage warriors. It all makes horrible, greasy, pimply sense. They don't face reality when they are NOT at work either.

New shit has come to light...

From Peek -- Horrific and sad....and completely related to my post from this morning. The fact that a principal of a high school in New York thinks that the word vagina is offensive is of the exact same stuff as the fact that men in Iraq in the army think it's not important to protect or defend women from rape. Get it?

Shin, Armpit, Little Toe, Vagina, Forehead...

Let's get one thing fucking straight: My girly body parts are not dirty, shameful or inappropriate for children. I'm not talking about pictures of vaginas (which aren't necessarily any of the above), any sort of sexual context or making anyone discuss vaginas against their will. I am talking about the WORD vagina, which names a part of the human body.

I am not surprised by this story at all. Sadly, I'm not even disappointed because I would absolutely expect nothing less. Three high school students in NY are possibly facing suspension for saying the word "vagina" in the context of a reading of "The Vagina Monologues." Their principal is a man. Big surprise. His name is Dick. I am not kidding.

The three students are on the Today Show this morning with Eve Ensler. Meredith handled herself with the usual airheaded idiocy. "But children were going to be present." I love that the president of the school board (also on the show) said that he has no problem with the word vagina and has heard it more in the last few days than ever before.

The point here is not if they get suspended or not, although, it would be an injustice. The point here is that there was even a question that the word in the context of an empowering phrase in a monologue that includes the word vagina may be offensive to hear. Ridiculous.

I think this point is well explained in the words, of Maude Lebowski. Let's consult the text:

MAUDE
My art has been commended as being
strongly vaginal. Which bothers
some men. The word itself makes
some men uncomfortable. Vagina.




DUDE
Oh yeah?


MAUDE
Yes, they don't like hearing it and
find it difficult to say. Whereas
without batting an eye a man will
refer to his "dick" or his "rod" or
his "Johnson".

As an aside, my godson Elijah, who was about five at the time and who says his r's with a little difficulty, overheard me quoting the above passage. He responded matter-of-factly: "I don't have any twouble saying vagina, but I do have a little twouble with my r's."

Amen, Elijah. You're the product of feminist parents. Should all children be so lucky. Obviously Principal Dick's parents weren't.

It's a new day....

I haven't even watched Meredith on the Today Show yet. I am somewhat loyal to hating Katie, but I feel the familiar tingle of resentment and ire bubbling inside. And I have to face facts: Katie is gone. She's now on the evening news and for some reason, I have no interest in hating her there. So! Onward: I hate Meredith! She's a game show host for god's sake.

The good ship fucking idiot

Is she fucking drunk? See Katie in her nautical themed outfit. See Katie push the button to "honk the horn" of the ship. She her giggle and say, "Hello Coast Guard?" into a radio that the idiot fucking captain of the ship handed her. I hate you, Katie Couric.

Today's (Fucked Up) Woman

OK, so I am still watching the fucking Today Show...and today's target: Katie Fucking Couric.

A NEW SERIES called "Sun, Sand & Surgery!" HOly shit, I am not shitting you....this is a new series they are doing on getting plastic surgery while you are on vacation...Fuck me -- they have more to say about it than they can cover in one show? While introducing the series, Katie says, "Isn't that a little scary, though? To trust someone from another country? They must have different regulations, right?" Fuck you, Katie you xenophobic twit.

Right before the vacation boob camp segment, Katie did a "Today's Woman" segment. She interviewed a woman who wrote a book called To Hell with All That about the 'struggle' women today have today with living in modern times and trying not to feel guilty about not being good housewives like our moms were in the 50s. The author had some gal pals over to her house to dish about being wives and have careers and homes and still try to get your family all sitting down to dinner that doesn't come in a Styrofoam container. One of the women said that she and her husband have very different ideas about what "tidy" is and it's a struggle in their house and the author asked how she deals with that and she says, "Oh I have a really good therapist" They all giggle...Heeehee oh! How cute!

Holy crap, did he underestimate you!

Dear white, Christian, wives of soldiers, dwellers of America’s heartland, dear patriotic stock brokers who worked in Tower 2, dear wealthy, dear working poor who believe him despite their lack of healthcare that things are getting better, dear born-agains, dear soldiers and soon-to-be soldiers, and ditto-heads, dear women who don’t need control of their reproductive systems, dear Republicans and firemen and everyone else who thought he was a “straight shooter”; a President who “means what he says.”

I am writing to tell you that you have been had. This president thought that he could look you in the eye over and over and over and over and tell you lies. Blatant, huge misrepresentations of the truth to your faces, on TV, in public, in writing, in speeches he didn’t even write. About the war, about WMDs, about security leaks and about Saddam, about bin Laden, about the axis of Evil, about the United Nations and the Downing Street memo, about Swift Boats, about “Kenny-boy who?” about wire-tapping, about the anthrax, about Katrina and the levies, and about Brownie, about the election and the about privatized retirement accounts, about Medicare and leaving no child behind.

This guy automatically lies when his mouth is open. His default setting is Lie. And Smirk. Because he knows as long as you are forced with the choice of believing him or being unpatriotic, you will choose to believe him.

Every. Single. Time.

No matter how obvious and easy to disprove his lies are. He knows you would rather wave a flag and smile and cheer him on than rock the boat. The loveable idiot. (You or him?) Even if he’s wrong, he didn’t mean to be, so that means he wasn’t. He knows you will happily swallow it and chide those who don’t.

This was their plan all along. They knew this choice was too hard for you. They accounted for your sheep mentality and made decisions accordingly. Decisions to make you believe that we are in more danger now than we ever have been, to make you buy duct tape for your windows, to make you watch your friends and neighbors for any signs of being Arab (pronounced a-RAB with a long ‘A’).

And you fell for it. You stuck yellow magnets on your cars and attached cheap flags to your car’s windows and drove with PRIDE. These Colors Don’t Run. And you booed Cindy Sheehan and you watched Fox News and believed. Every. Single. Word.

All the while…
· The war is a mess
· There were no weapons of mass destruction
· The levies were predicted to break and all he saw was dollar signs for the companies of his friends and another chance to bankrupt our economy (which sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it’s coming fucking true!!!)
· He is friends with the a-holes who ran Enron
· Brownie wasn’t doing a heck of a job
· Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11
· etc.

Everything he touches turns to shit. Every company he’s run, every project he’s taken on, every disaster he’s ‘managed,’ every soldier who believed in the reasons for being over there…it all comes up shit and it will continue to come up shit until you prove him wrong about you.

How many times will he break the law, tell lies to promote his friends, make bad decisions with bad timing with disastrous consequences and you all look the other way. He’s a War President. He was just working on the information he had. He’s just stubborn…forgive him!

Stop it! Prove him wrong! Show him that there are consequences for breaking the law, for violating your trust. Look around you! Are you richer, safer, smarter, healthier and freer than you were in 2000? Fuck no! Dear American people, you’ve been had. You are now faced with the task of standing up and demanding respect. Don’t let him treat you like you are dumb. Don’t let them continue to ruin things for future generations and smile and smirk and “heh-heh-heh so I’m not your favorite person – go on.” You have failed so far, and you’ve lived up to their meager expectations, but now is your chance.

The President broke the law, not once or twice or even three times, but more times than we can count and he LIED to you about it. He wire tapped you illegally; he leaked classified information before it was declassified and stood up in front of America and told us all that we are too dumb, too docile and too scared to do anything about it.

To everyone who trusted him and thought he was right but now wonders, to everyone who is just now getting that they are the butt of Karl Rove’s cosmic joke, to everyone who wouldn’t vote that son of a bitch back into office a third time even if they could (he did talk about changing the law to make that possible, you know), please, I ask you if it is all you do today for your country, stand up and ask for the truth. Stand up and call your representatives. Stand up and refuse to be part of his master plan for making rich, white people even richer. Stand up and say we won’t let you get away with this anymore.

Please make the title of this entry correct. Please show me that it is true that you were UNDERESTIMATED and have hit your breaking point and will no longer sit back and be disrespected, devalued, deprived or disillusioned.

Dear fathers of soldiers, dear soccer moms, nurses and factory workers, dear lawyers and family farmers and bus drivers, dear compassionate conservatives and ranchers and and POLITICIANS. The time is now.

Matt Lauer is a fucking asshole

Jeesus fucking christ I HATE him! Why do I watch the Today show in the morning? I don't fucking know! He and Katie "I Heart My Colon" Couric can both go to fucking hell. Gawd!

Here's the thing: every fucking day there is something on that stupid fucking show that pisses me off. I have it on every morning and every morning I get mad, without fail! It's like I have to keep watching it to see if they will ever not piss me the fuck off!

Here's what happened today.

Matt has an interview with 5 members of the Compact which is a group dedicated to spending a year without buying anything new. Matt has them on the couch and he is treating them like they are from fucking Mars or something. He can't fuck believe that they are all wearing "second hand" clothing? "Can I assume that everything you are wearing is not NEW???" He asks, incredulous. He doesn't tell them that his suits are hand-made by baby monkeys in Indonesia and only worn for a matter of three hours before they are incinerated and the ashes dumped in a fresh-water stream.

"And what is the hardest part?" As if they have all been struggling with this mind-boggling decision, every minute. "Some of you must have kids who want a....Nintendo?" They tell him they aren't buying their kids a Nintendo for one year. He can't believe it. He hasn't gone a year without a new Nintendo since the early 90s.

His big fucking joke is right after one of the Compact members says that part of the agreement is trying to resist the media's pressure to buy things to make you feel better. "Hold on, while we go to a commercial break," laughs Matt. No one on the couch realizes he is joking. He has to say, "I'm just kidding." They they all laugh falsely.

His last hard-hitting question goes like this: "So when this is all over, are you guys going to, like, go on a major binge?" I wish I was kidding. Completely missing the fuck point that this is about learning to do without consumerism and buying is a drug that we need to wean ourselves from and these people are HAPPY about not buying things, you fucking idiot! Jeesus... Fuck! You fucking asshole. I hate you Matt Lauer.