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The feeling here among the Big Apple's grassroots is that winning Congress is going to be far more powerful for the Democratic Party than taking over the Senate. That said, I am very excited that Whitehouse has smacked Chafee out of the Senate.

Had Lincoln Chafee been a true pro-choice candidate as he had led NARAL to believe he was, he would have voted against both John Roberts and Samuel Alito. He did not. And for that matter, his ass needed to be thrown out of the Senate.

Tomorrow, of all days, the Roberts court starts deliberating on the late-term abortion ban. Thank Lincoln Chafee for voting the two most anti-abortion justices this country has ever had the misfortune to have seated in the Supreme Court.

In a released statement by Planned Parenthood congratulated Sen. Hillary Clinton in her efforts to get Plan B approved for over-the-counter use. NARAL, PFAW and the ACLU have been swift to point out that it's a half-win : underage women and fertile children have no free access to emergency contraception. Which is why at culturekitchen Lorraine Berry is taking the pledge to start a PlanB Underground and buy the damn thing to anybody under 18 who needs it.

There is no need to force underage women and fertile little girls down the path of an abortion or unwanted pregnancy for unrational health reasons having all to do with religious extremists obsession over parental rights. Hoorah for New York State Senator Liz Krueger to tackling the issue head on:

KRUEGER CALLS FDA "MORNING AFTER" MOVE A "HALF-VICTORY"; CALLS UPON STATE SENATE TO PASS S.6686 WHICH WOULD MAKE EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION AVAILABLE FOR ALL AGES AT NEW YORK PHARMACIES

New York—Describing today's Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) move to make emergency contraception available over-the-counter to women over 18 as "a half-victory", New York State Senator Liz Krueger called upon the state Senate to review S.6686.
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Yesterday a friend called to check how I was doing. During the course of the conversation she said something to the effect that people's reactions to the death of a child are greater because we project something or other on them. I was stunned at the unintentional callousness of the comment.

First, this was my niece we're talking about; the closest thing to a sister my kids had. Second, I love my sister-in-law. She's an astounding human being. As someone who has been a witness to her greatness through the years; it breaks my heart to know she will carry this sorrow for the rest of her life. It really truly is not fair.

Why doesn't a tree fall on fucking Dick Cheney or George Bush? Why Lydia? Why my SILs baby?

I politely ended the conversation one way or other with my friend. I know her for too many years to know she did not mean any harm with the comment. Yet it confirmed what I have felt for some years now : the love that comes with parenting is many times greater in order of magnitude than romantic love because it is not just a blood or family relationship between two people. It's the kind of love that builds worlds and universes.
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Yup. I was researching fake pro-abortion websites when I found that Abortion Freedom sometimes gives you The New Civil War : South Dakota bans abortion | culturekitchen as the #1 choice. Over Planned Parenthood, NARAL and Feminist Women's Health Center ... that is, as long as you don't have the Google censorware turned on. And not all the time, mind you.

Still...

From the standpoint of a blogger, Google is the most important ideological battleground. Folksonomies and taxonomies are some of our most important political tools.

So pat yourselves on the back. because when a lucky kid is using the largest library in the world, using it's most popular liberian as her guide, you know who's gonna be up there.
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I just wanted to give y'all a heads up about the Matt Brown campaign. I just got off the phone from a PR call announcing their internal polling results. Their numbers are looking good.

[via Matt Brown - Brown Gaining Momentum; Leads Whitehouse in New Poll]:

Brown is leading Whitehouse, even though Whitehouse has a 16 point advantage in name identification (Whitehouse 81%, Brown 65%).

"Matt has run an aggressive grassroots campaign since day one and people are responding - but we aren't taking anything for granted until the final poll on Election Day," said Pete Brodnitz, campaign pollster. "Whitehouse has the backing of the political machine, the endorsements and money. But Matt Brown has the people. This poll shows Matt has room to grow and the more voters know about him, the more they like him."

As I said before, Matt Brown looks like a good pro-choice candidate to support. I am keeping my eye on this race because I am hearing good things that I have not heard from other campaigns here in New York :
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