Abstinence-Only Funding Not Dead if Congress Plays “Hide-the-Salami” Again

Norris then proceeds to shower her analysis with a slew of sex puns. Count ‘em (emphasis mine):

ONE. “the real test of wills comes in the Congressional conference committee on the federal budget where one Democratic member has a penchant for playing “hide the salami” with funding for the controversial chaste-until-marriage program.”

TWO. “As we’ve reported previously, the labyrinthine budgeting process Congress has been giving it away big time — to the tune of now more than $1.3 billion for abstinence-only programs in the past 10 years.”

THREE. “We’ve long-documented the fancy footsteps of Rep. David Obey (D-WI), chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, who slipped additional funding into a 2007 report prepared by the conference committee.”

AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE: “Obey, a fierce proponent of “just say no to sex education,” repeatedly crossed sword with reproductive health advocates in 2007 when he first attempted to boost funding for the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program to $141 million, a 25 percent increase over last year.”

Sarah Seltzer for Reproductive Health Reality Check wonders if Levi is a “victim” in the Palin spotlight. “The Internet is buzzing over Levi Johnston’s appearance on Tyra yesterday to ‘break his silence,’ and providing us all with a reminder that patriarchal policies like abstinence-only education hurt young men, too,” writes Seltzer.

I couldn’t agree more: We’re all victims here: Levi, Bristol, Tripp, and Palin herself all suffered at the hands of her ridiculous abstinence (with a teenage pregnancy backup) method. Everyone, that is, except Tyra, who pulls a fierce Katie Couric to get the daytime interview of the post-pregnancy season.

* Great, women claim even more power over Children. The New York Times reports on scientists who have discovered “a surprising new mechanism by which women train their fetuses’ budding immune systems: the mother’s cells slip across the placenta, enter the fetus’s body and teach it to treat these cells as its own.”

* Strapped for cash? Birth 14 babies through science [via The Frisky].

* When you open up your Reproductive Health Reality Check essay on body image with this:

I was saddened to read Hannah Whittaker’s article on The F Word about her eating disorder a while back. I did, however, want to share the experiences of someone from the other side of the fence. I have what, for many women, is an extremely enviable figure. If I open a copy of FHM, the models don’t look like unattainable visions of tiny-waisted pneumatic perfection. They look like me . . .

I may not read the remainder of your Reproductive Health Reality Check essay on body image.

* Tiger Beatdown does not defend the Guardian’s defense of “political lesbianism.”

Because “political lesbianism” reinforces the stereotype that women are not sexual; because it encourages straight women to appropriate lesbian experience; because it reinforces the stereotype that lesbians are all “going through a phase” that they can be fucked out of by men; because it encourages straight women to deny themselves a necessary, liberating, and life-affirming form of pleasure; because it inevitably leads to one-sided and sexually catastrophic lesbian relationships . . .

etc.

Photo by bugeaters.

* Reproductive Health Reality Check details the Democratic response to Bush’s “conscience rule” for medical providers. Party leaders have said they want to reverse it. What they haven’t said is how.

* Wonkette discovers the FOX News Twitter feed hacked by a hillllaaaarious 12-year-old. The tweet? “Breaking: Bill O Riley is gay”

* Gender Goggles collects blogs from male feminist allies.

* According to W, life as aGossip Girl extra is . . . vaguely depressing:

I was inspecting the buffet options when I noticed someone wave at me. I quickly realized the guy summoning me was sitting next to none other than Nate and Chuck! Immediately all the blood in my body rushed to my face and my hands started trembling uncontrollably. The man introduced himself and said they had just been discussing how “rad” my headphones were. To be honest, Nate and Chuck didn’t seem particularly impressed, not even making eye contact with me. Nonetheless, it took me an hour to recover from just standing that close to them.

* This Sunday, BeBar will host an 18-and-over benefit for gay marriage in D.C.

Photo via trialsanderrors

Access the extensive report here [PDF].