Abortion attacked in Mississippi

Anti-abortion extremists are rallying against the last abortion clinic in Mississippi in order to get it shut down in . Ironically, one of the people among them is "Roe" (Norma McCorvey) from the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade "who since 1995 has been an evangelical antiabortion activist."

"A decade ago, there were six clinics in Mississippi, but the combination of constant harassment and onerous state regulations led one after another to shut down; since 2004, Jackson Women's Health Organization has been alone."

This trend in Mississippi, "the state leads the nation in antiabortion legislation," is unfortunately a trend that is growing on a national level since "the number of abortion providers dropped 11 percent between 1996 and 2000, and almost 90 percent of U.S. counties lack abortion services. At the national level, Republicans are working to strengthen these restrictions; last week, the Senate passed a bill making it a crime to take a minor across state lines to evade parental consent laws."

These state policies of lacking adequate abortion clinics, easy access to birth control, and proper sex education in schools has led to some scary statistics in Mississippi: "Mississippi has the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country and the highest teenage birth rate. It is tied with Louisiana for America's worst infant morality rate. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, more than half of the state's children under 6 years old live in destitution."

Thus these blind social conservative state policies in terms of women's reproductive rights and sex educations have created some horrible outcomes. This should be an example of what we need to avoid on the federal level or face dire consequences.

We need to work this abortion issue out through legislation on a federal level. There certainly is enough support for it. " Polls find that two-thirds of Americans say abortion should be legal during the first trimester." Furthermore, a report written by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an organization whose "reports are considered accurate across the political spectrum" stated that "almost 90 percent of abortions are performed in the first trimester -- during the first 12 weeks after the first day of the woman's last menstrual period -- with most performed before nine weeks." If we don't work it out eventually on a federal level and continue this path towards less availability of abortions, impoverished people will suffer the most: "low-income women are overrepresented among those having the [abortion] procedure. Sixty percent of women who had abortions in 2000 had incomes of less than twice the poverty level" since they "have lower access to family planning services" such as contraception and counseling provided by health departments, independent clinics or Planned Parenthood."

Though abortion is always suppose to be a last option, we need to make sure that it becomes less needed. One option is a bill called the Putting Prevention First Act of 2004 bill which would "would expand 'access to preventive health care services and education programs that help reduce unintended pregnancy, reduce infection with sexually transmitted disease, and reduce the number of abortions' " has lingered in Congress. We need bills like these to pass which is why I really hope Democrats win back the House!

Environmental Disaster in Lebanon

The damage Israel continues to wreak on Lebanon through airstrikes has led to an environmental crisis . Israel bombed the Jiyyeh power station between July 13th and the 15th creating an oil slick that covers 50 miles of coast:

"Almost as much oil may have entered the water as during the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker incident in Alaska...Initial reports indicated that 10,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil had escaped from damaged tanks, but the eventual total could be 35,000 tonnes...spillage from the Exxon Valdez accident totalled just under 40,000 tonnes of crude oil."

"The slick could compromise livelihoods when the current conflict ends" due to the effects on fishing.

How is bombing a power plant that Lebanese civilians use even remotely related to Hezbollah if thats what Israel is suppose to be targeting there? This is truly a travesty that Israel needs to end NOW!