My email has been bursting with amazing stuff this week. The latest offering is a web ad by WAMP - Women Against McCain-Palin and titled "Rape Victim".

"I was raped. Then I got pregnant. Sarah Palin believes the government should force me to take the pregnancy to term."

And with those words start an incredibly powerful and courageous 35 seconds.

Skepticism about Palin has been growing and for a good reason.

I've watched the segment where Sarah Palin talks about Roe vs. Wade and I have to tell you, I think it is one of the most insightful commentaries to come out of her mouth. I think she did a really good job at sounding level headed.

Yet listen to it very closely and what you can hear is an extremist taking her political views for a little mainstream spin and, fortunately for us, coming short.

So let me back track here a bit and go back to and issue that popped up a few weeks ago : Under then Mayor Palin, Wassilla was one of a handful of cities in Alaska that charged victims for rape kits. And what has been most astounding about this policy is Palin's response to the allegations : She claims to have not know about the practice. This from a woman that was voted into office in Wassilla by less than 7,000 votes.
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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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Sometimes, when I look at the Times in the morning, I wonder if my coffee has been laced with a generous helping of mescaline. Witness this article:

Britney Spears is probably not the likeliest muse for a work of art promoting an anti-abortion message. Yet hard as it may be to imagine her inspiring such meditations, it is no stretch at all to imagine that a gallery show including a politically tinged likeness of Ms. Spears is apt to draw a bit of attention.

That appears to be the strategy, anyway, behind a life-size clay sculpture by a 40-year-old Connecticut artist, Daniel Edwards, that depicts Ms. Spears giving birth.

The sculpture, titled "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston," depicts Ms. Spears on her knees and elbows giving birth atop a bearskin rug. It will be shown publicly at an exhibition that is opening on April 7 at Capla Kesting Fine Art gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

When asked how he chose Ms. Spears as his subject from among the thousands of women who give birth each day, Mr. Edwards said, "She's the highest profile," and added: "She was the best choice. I couldn't come up with anybody that matched her."
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