Secular Café: Doctors caught up in the politics of abortion

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Doctors caught up in the politics of abortion Jun 8th 2012, 09:57 The past year has seen a number of US states passing bills that are essentially anti-abortion, although often dressed up a bit to look like something different. Now some doctors are fighting back http://www.salon.com/2012/06/07/doct...ars/singleton/ Quote: "Civil disobedience," is what they called for. Two prominent doctors, Marcia Angell and Michael Greene — both professors at Harvard Medical School; Angell the former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine – were saying doctors should disobey some of the most common abortion restrictions. "They should make it clear that they will not perform procedures, such as ultrasound examinations, unless they are medically indicated and desired by their patients," Angell and Greene wrote in an Op-Ed in USA Today on May 15. "And they should refuse to provide inaccurate information about the consequences of abortion, or to follow any other prepared script in counseling their patients, particularly when it involves treating women like children."... ...Angell and Greene also called for professional organizations like the American Medical Association and "particularly, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to take a public position on behalf of the patients they are pledged to serve, and to support their members in doing so." But ACOG's new president, James T. Breeden, did have a letter published in the New York Times this week, saying, "These laws are not grounded in science or evidence-based medicine," and proclaiming, "Our message to politicians is unequivocal: Get out of our exam rooms." In an interview, Breeden said he thought it was time to take a stand because of the political attacks on contraceptive access. "I felt like we needed to get more involved because this has been an unprecedented change [in the political climate]," he said. "We've been fighting things that we thought were totally solved." (My emboldening)

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Secular Café: Politicised sport: Euro 2012

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Politicised sport: Euro 2012 Jun 8th 2012, 07:04 The European Football (soccer for Americans) championships are undergoing many political upheavals. They are due to be held in Poland and Ukraine. Western European teams are multi-racial. After decades of fighting against racism, these teams are now not used to encountering it, but in both Poland and Ukraine crowds are often hostile to black players. So racism is one problem. The other problem is the regime in Ukraine and its treatment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is suffering much abuse in prison. Many western governments have therefore decided to boycott the matches that are held in Ukraine. (Normally ministers would be there en masse, supporting their national teams.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18351326 Quote: UK government ministers will boycott England's group games in the European football championships in Ukraine. The move is in protest at the "selective justice" meted out to jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. Other EU nations including Germany, Holland and Austria have also threatened a boycott of the tournament being jointly hosted with Poland. Ukraine's ambassador to the UK said "sport and politics do not mix" and concerns must be raised in other ways. Ms Tymoshenko played a key role in the Orange Revolution in 2004 and says her imprisonment, for alleged corruption, is an act of political revenge by Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych. The authorities have rejected Ms Tymoshenko's allegations. She was jailed for seven years in October, for abuse of power during her time as prime minister. Last week, she ended a 20-day hunger strike after being moved to a hospital in Kharkiv where she is being treated by a German doctor... ...Asked about the boycott, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Ukraine had "serious problems" and the UK government did not want its backing for the England team to be interpreted as "giving political support to some things which have been happening in Ukraine which we don't agree with" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18363736 Quote: Netherlands' black players were allegedly subjected to racist abuse during their open training session in the Polish city of Krakow. Dutch captain Mark van Bommel branded the monkey chants as "a real disgrace"... ...The abuse comes just a day after they had visited the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, which is nearby. Van Bommel said: "It is a real disgrace, especially after getting back from Auschwitz, that you are confronted with this. "We will take it up with Uefa and if it happens at a match we will talk to the referee and ask him to take us off the field." Martin Lipton, from the Daily Mirror, is in Krakow and suggested there was a large number of Polish fans involved in the abuse... ...Earlier this week Uefa president Michel Platini told BBC Sport that referees have been instructed to call a halt to matches at this summer's tournament if a player is racially taunted... ...Former England centre-back Sol Campbell, meanwhile, was compelled to advise fans to avoid the tournament after seeing the Panorama footage of supporters in Ukraine giving Nazi salutes and taunting black players with monkey noises.

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Secular Café: Nobel-prize-winning scientist attacks pope on condoms

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Nobel-prize-winning scientist attacks pope on condoms Jun 8th 2012, 07:10 She points out that priests and nuns working in Africa are distributing condoms. Cue for another crackdown by the Vatican? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...lk/9726514.stm

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Secular Café: Iran openly attacking Maryam Namazie

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Iran openly attacking Maryam Namazie Jun 8th 2012, 06:21 She's had loads of death threats, as have many of the ex-Muslims. And Maryam is a high-profile campaigner. Now, however, the attacks are of a different nature. http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamna...i-islam-woman/ Quote: A large number of major Islamic Republic of Iran ‘media’ and hundreds of other websites have published an article about me entitled: ‘Get to know this anti-Islam woman’ in what seems like a coordinated effort. Clearly the regime has become so desperate that it is moving away from its usual behind the scenes assassination attempts, threats and intimidations of exiles to more public forms of renunciation (once again) – hence the recent fatwa against rapper Shahin Najafi and this ‘exposé’ on me, amongst others. It lists my various organisational affiliations and says that I am ‘noticeable’ for my ‘enmity’ and ‘widespread activities against Islam and the Islamic Republic and in areas such as the defence of women’s rights and refugee rights’, and that I am ‘in charge’ of those ‘who are effectively apostates’.

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Secular Café: Australians against the Carbon Tax

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Australians against the Carbon Tax Jun 7th 2012, 00:29 http://www.taxpayers.org.au/

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Secular Café: Getting round US visa trouble

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Getting round US visa trouble Jun 5th 2012, 11:16 Anyone non-American who has had to go to the USA since the post-9/11 panic has probably got a nasty story to tell about the difficulties experienced with the immigration authorities and procedures. And it is likely to be having a bad effect on the US economy as key workers and entrepreneurs are badly hampered or even stopped from entering.So here is an attempt to get round some of the difficulties. Reminiscent of the UK's pirate radio stations in the 1960s and Rebecca Gomperts' abortion ship, the Aurora. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18327493 Quote: A Silicon Valley start-up called Blueseed wants to convert a cruise ship into a floating centre for foreign workers who cannot get visas to work in the US. The ship would sit in international waters roughly 12 miles (20 kilometres) off the California coast in order to bring foreign entrepreneurs closer to the technology capital.

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Secular Café: Hey, Brother, Can you spare a Hubble

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Hey, Brother, Can you spare a Hubble Jun 5th 2012, 11:17 NASA gets military discards.....one wonders what the spooks have that is better...hmmm...and just one more indication of how/why we need to change how we spend our tax dollars! Quote: Hey, Brother, Can You Spare a Hubble? DOD: Sure! Have Two By Alexis Madrigal Jun 4 2012, 1:55 PM ET 51 That's right. Our military had two, unflown, better-than-Hubble space telescopes just sitting around. 346719main_image_1353_516-387615.jpg NASA NASA's been wracked by budgetary concerns as it tries to figure out how to do research into the origins of everything *and* loft human beings into orbit with big rockets. In particular, the space agency has been dealing with cost overruns on the next-generation Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, which have been eating up the science budget. Now, we get word from the Washington Post that the Department of Defense has gifted two better-than-Hubble telescopes to NASA. That's right. Our military had two, unflown, better-than-Hubble space telescopes just sitting around. This story is almost unbelievable; it feels like a hoax. But it's not. The U.S. government's secret space program has decided to give NASA two telescopes as big as, and even more powerful than, the Hubble Space Telescope. Designed for surveillance, the telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office were no longer needed for spy missions and can now be used to study the heavens. Three thoughts here. First, hooray! NASA needs all the help it can get, especially around its scientific missions, which get dwarfed by the space-travel components of its work. Plus, Hubble's quality is going to start deteriorating in the coming years, so these are nice to have. Second, if the DOD didn't need these two birds, which are both better than any civilian telescope, what *do* they have? Are drones replacing space telescopes? Are there much better telescopes already up there? Third, how did this happen? Were two satellite scientists out at brunch and the military lady turns to the civilian guy and says, "You know, we have a couple telescopes in the shop, if you guys need .... http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...ve-two/258061/

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