Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) in New York City may soon have to level with the public about their real agenda. At the Ms. Blog, Michelle Chen has an update on proposed legislation which would force CPCs in New York to disclose that they aren't reproductive health centers.
CPCs are anti-choice ministries that masquerade as full-service reproductive health clinics. They typically set up shop near real clinics to trick unwary clients. Real clinics dispense medical advice from doctors, nurses, and other licensed health care professionals. They are required to tell clients about the risks and benefits of all their treatment options. They don't push clients towards abortion or adoption. CPCs are typically staffed by volunteers. Instead of medical advice, they hand out over-the-counter pregnancy tests and medically inaccurate information about the risks of abortion. They use pseudoscience and high pressure sales tactics to derail as many women seeking abortions as they can.
Chen reports that if the bill becomes law, New York CPCs will have to post signs disclosing that "they do not provide abortion services or contraceptive devices, or make referrals to organizations that do." If the facility lacks licensed on-site medical professionals, the center would have to inform prospective clients of this fact. This is an excellent piece of consumer protection legislation. If CPCs are honest about who they are and what they do, they should have no problem with the law.
Christine O'Donnell: not (just) a joke
In an essay for the Women's Media Center, organizer Shelby Knox explains why Delaware's Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell represents more than an anti-masturbation punchline:
Not ironically, O'Donnell is a loyal disciple to the religious agenda that equates sexuality, especially female sexuality, with evil and the decline of humanity. [...] To most mainstream Americans, O'Donnell's concerted battle against solo sexual pleasure in particular is so fringe, so bizarre, it's laughable. Yet, those of us deeply familiar with the ideology of the extremist right wing have long understood the condemnation of sex and sexual pleasure for anything other than the purpose of conception within marriage to be the underpinning of public policies that invite (Christian) God and (big, big) government into our bedrooms.
Knox notes that the same underlying suspicion of human sexuality finds expression in more mainstream areas of American politics, like federally-funded abstinence-only education, which substitutes religious homilies and gender stereotypes for science-based sex ed. (I would add federal funding for some of the nation's aforementioned "crisis pregnancy centers" to Knox's list of examples of anti-sex religious ideology replacing science-based health services.)
This week, O'Donnell drew audible gasps from a crowd when she claimed that the separation of church and state isn't part of the U.S. Constitution, as Monica Potts reports for TAPPED.
O'Donnell may seem bizarre to the average voter, but Knox reminds us that she's pretty typical of a rising tide of anti-sex, anti-science conservatism that we ignore at our peril:
But more accurately she's the poster girl for more than 78 candidates running this election season who share her anti-sex, anti-woman views. These candidates believe abortion should be illegal in all cases, without exception for rape and incest. Some have promised a GOP majority would signal a return to funding failed abstinence-only policies. Ken Buck, the GOP Senate candidate in Colorado, even went so far as to refuse to prosecute a rape because the accuser had "buyer's remorse" over an abortion he alleged she'd had a year before the assault.
Condoms and porn
A porn actor in California became the latest performer to test positive for HIV last week. His diagnosis sent shockwaves through the San Fernando Valley's porn industry because the actor was reportedly a star who worked with a lot of big names in an industry where condoms are the exception rather than the rule.
The case has reignited controversy over the fact that straight porn companies aggressively flout California law that mandates condoms on porn sets. The industry maintains that it doesn't need condoms because it has a rigorous testing program for talent. As I report in Working In These Times the industry is being allowed to investigate the HIV outbreak on its own, which is a little like asking BP to monitor oil spills. The same industry-allied non-profit that administers the tests, and does PR about how great the testing program is, also investigates cases of HIV in the industry. Does anyone else see a potential problem?
Concussions in the NFL
Football season is in full swing, but for Dave Zirin of The Nation and many other football fans, it's getting harder and harder to reconcile their love of the game with our growing awareness of the toll that it takes on players:
In August, to much fanfare, NFL owners finally acknowledged that football-related concussions cause depression, dementia, memory loss and the early onset of Alzheimer's disease. Now that they've opened the door, this concussion discussion is starting to shape how we understand what were previously seen as the NFL's typical helping of off-field controversy and tragedy.
Zirin appends a list of over 30 players who have sustained concussions since the pre-season. Peter King of Sports Illustrated is calling for the NFL to start kicking excessively violent players out of the game, but Zirin says that's not enough to stem the tide of concussions. Devastating brain injuries can come from routine, legal hits. A lot of the cumulative brain trauma leaves players demented in their fifties is actually sustained during practice.
The carnage is built into the game. Concussions are unavoidable given anatomy of the human brain and the physics of huge guys crashing into each other. Helmets only help so much because they can't prevent the brain from smashing against the cranium. Zirin thinks football fans need to do a lot of soul searching. He argues that every fan should think hard about whether it's really that much fun to watch guys get their brains pulped in the name of sport. Zirin's not ready to give up football yet, but he thinks the gnawing guilt may eventually outweigh his love of the game.
Cephalon spokesdoc: "Maybe I am a pervert, I honestly don't know"
Mother Jones and Propublica have a blockbuster exposé of crooked doctors on pharmaceutical company payrolls. They found that a shocking number of "white coat sales reps" (doctors paid by pharmaceutical companies to sell drugs to other doctors) have checkered pasts and dodgy credentials.
For examples, in 2004, a court upheld a Georgia hospital's decision to fire Dr. Donald Ray Taylor, an anesthesiologist who had a habit of giving vaginal and anal exams to young female patients without documenting why. According to court records, Dr. Taylor explained himself to a hospital official as follows, "Maybe I am a pervert, I honestly don't know."
For reasons that are themselves murky, Dr. Taylor went on to become the highest paid speaker for the pharmaceutical giant Cephalon, earning $142,050 in 2009 and an an additional $52,400 through June. It turns out that Dr. Taylor is far from the only shady doc to make big bucks as a shill for big pharma. The investigators found 250 pharma docs with serious blemishes on their records for such offenses as inappropriately prescribing drugs, providing poor care, or having sex with patients. Some were just playing doctor on the pharma circuit, having lost their licenses.
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Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack.
In the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, there is no silver bullet.
And as we travel throughout sub-Saharan Africa we are seeing dozens of innovative ways that organizations, governments, and individuals are working to fight the disease.
One of the organizations that stands out, thanks to their variety of innovative strategies and approaches to combating the spread of the disease, is the Solidarity Center , an AFL-CIO affiliated non-profit organization that assists workers around the world who are struggling to build democratic and independent trade unions.
We want to share with you three different ways they are making an impact on the ground as we visit projects across the continent.
1) Changing Behavior with Worksite Education and Testing
Johnson Matthey in Germiston , South Africa , just outside of Johannesburg , sees 600 workers pass through its doors every day, heading to work on an assembly lines to make catalytic converters that are inserted in cars to reduce pollution, complying with South Africa 's auto environmental emissions standards.
As we arrived there last January, Percy Nhlapo, a trainer with the Solidarity Center , was leading a discussion with a group of workers, correcting misconceptions about contracting HIV and urging participants to get tested. The Solidarity Center is working in partnership with the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA), an industrial affiliate of the country's largest union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), to provide free HIV/AIDS education and HIV counseling and testing to several thousand manufacturing workers a year (literally going from plant to plant providing trainings).
Following the HIV/AIDS education session, more than 200 workers voluntarily agreed to be tested. At the testing area, we spoke with registered nurse Dorothy Majola, who said that before workers are tested they are given private counseling, and then she administers two separate tests - both with 99.99 percent accuracy - to ensure correct results.
Within ten minutes of being tested, workers receive their results. The companies work in coordination with NUMSA and the Solidarity Center , agreeing to host the HIV/AIDS outreach, allowing workers to attend and get tested at the beginning and end of their work shifts. Before each outreach, shop stewards mobilize their co-workers to participate in the HIV/AIDS activities at their workplace.
Chris beat me to the Friday tab dump, but that's OK, because mine's an LGBT one anyway. Here's what I'm reading around the tubes:
Courage Campaign and GetEqual has a petition from Cleve Jones, a longtime friend of Speaker Pelosi, asking her to move ENDA after recess. You can read and sign here. They're going to deliver it to her offices during recess.
Meanwhile, Barney Frank says "it's our turn" and Tammy Baldwin says she's counted and the votes are there in the House. OpenLeft will also be partnering in an action on ENDA in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
Up in Maine, the Catholic Diocese- one of the most vicious opponents of marriage equality last fall- announced it was withdrawing funding from Preble Street, a non-profit serving disadvantaged women, teens, and other people with food, shelter and support, because Preble Street joined a coalition in favor of a No vote on question 1. In response, the Diocese demanded its $15K back and rescinded a 2nd $15K award, while Catholic Charities Maine demanded its $2,400 back. There has been an outpouring of outrage and support for charity for charity's sake. I know a lot of Maine Catholics who have given this week, including the awesome mom of Joe Sudbay over at AMERICABlog. Check out Bill Nemitz's column here, and Catholics for Marriage Equality, a new group run by Anne Underwood (a very smart organizer I interviewed in Maine) has a donate page here.
HRC President Joe Solmonese has a very measured response to Dan Choi's criticism here. My earlier piece is here if you'd like some background.
Asked about the new DADT regulations and the White House commitment on the issue, Barney Frank says, "They're ducking. Basically, yeah, they're not being supportive, and they're letting Gates be the spokesman, which is a great mistake."
HRC is launching a new nationwide tour of veterans discharged under DADT and their allies. Those featured are here. I have an unconfirmed list of dates and tour stops, and I'll get a full list up as soon as it's finalized. Target states are WV, NE, VA, IN, FL.
Would sure be nice to see our Commander in Chief, or Admiral Mullen, step up and smack this guy down.
These new numbers on HIV rate of infection in DC are really, really scary- and according to the piece, may even be off-target because they may have not sampled enough in establishments frequented by African-American men. A friend of mine has generated a lot of good activism on this through FUK!T, a DC non-profit which sets up tables I see at nightclubs and bars so guys can take a free package with condoms, lube and safe-sex information cards when they go home for the night. It's a very smart, prevention-oriented campaign whose budget was just cut. A $10/month (tax-deductible!) donation pays for 2400 kits, and I just signed up to contribute exactly that. You can donate here. If that's not enough to entice you, check out these hot videos and pics featuring world-famous porn stars (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Freedom to Marry, a smart pro-marriage equality organization, is expanding their staff in NYC. Several jobs here.
Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack.
When we arrived by bus at the HIV/AIDS Resource Center in Katuna, Uganda (the border between Rwanda and Uganda), twenty men were intently watching a match between Manchester United and Chelsea on a small television. Along with the pool table, board games, and additional television downstairs, soccer games provide a much needed distraction for the long-distance truckers who have to wait for their vehicles to be cleared by customs before entering Rwanda.
But just eight months ago, instead of television and camaraderie among workers, the easiest diversion for truckers was sex. Katuna is one of many towns along what is known as the Northern Transport Corridor-a span of highway that stretches from Mombasa, Kenya through Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and all the way to Djibouti.
In the past, the truckers were often delayed for days on the border, giving them little to do. Boredom-and drinking-often led to unsafe sex with prostitutes at the truck stops along the highway. As a result, truck drivers have one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Africa. Unfortunately, the virus doesn't stop with them, and is often spread to their spouses.
Now, thanks to the work of the Solidarity Center, a non-profit launched by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organziations (AFL-CIO) to empower workers around the world by helping them form unions, and Uganda's Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU), which has about 3,500 members in
Uganda, the amount of time truckers spend on the border has been reduced from days to just hours. The union has worked through bargaining with the government to reduce the amount of time it takes their paper to go through which reduced the amount of free time they have on the border. When they don't have as much free time, they're not as likely to engage in unsafe sex.
The Katuna resource center, like many others dotted along the transport corridor, offers training and education to truckers and sex workers, and provides reading materials like pocket guides explaining sexually transmitted infections and the dangers of letting them go untreated. More than 150,000 truck drivers and community members have received prevention services, care and support information through one-on-one or community group outreach. The Center also provides free testing for truck drivers, already more than 5,000 of them to date.
As we continued along into Kampala, you can't help but immediately feel the pulse and energy of the bustling city. In fact, we love this country so much we have no doubt we'll be back sometime in the future.
People here are also very laid back -- We've even gone three days without a cup of coffee here and didn't seem to mind.
You hear the words "Hakuna Matata" everywhere. Literally.
Internet services down nationwide all day? Hakuna Matata...
Flights cancelled? Hakuna Matata...
Two hours in wall-to-wall rush hours in Kampala? Hakuna Matata...
We spent a lot of time letting go and reversing any stereotypical American traveler latte-induced behavior...
Right after arriving, we visited the Mukono District, about an hour outside of Kampala, Uganda, where we met up with Edward Mukiibi and Roger Serunjogi, coordinators of the Developing Innovations in School Cultivation (DISC) project. Edward, 23, and Roger, 22 started the project in 2006 as a way to improve nutrition, environmental awareness, and food traditions and culture in Mukono by establishing school gardens at 15 preschool, day and boarding schools. And over the last year, DISC has received global attention for its work-DISC is now partly funded by Slow Food International.
They started with Sunrise School, a preschool taking care of children between the ages of 3 and 6. By teaching these kids early about growing, preparing, and eating food they hope to cultivate the next generation of farmers and eaters who can preserve Uganda's culinary traditions. In addition to teaching the children about planting indigenous and traditional vegetables and fruit trees, DISC puts a big emphasis on food preparation and processing. "If a person doesn't know how to cook or prepare food, they don't know how to eat," says Edward. The kids at Sunrise-and the other schools working with DISC-know how to grow, how to prepare, and how to eat food, as well as its nutritional content.
As a result, these students grow up with more respect-and excitement-about farming. At Sirapollo Kaggwass Secondary School, we met 19 year-old Mary Naku, who is learning farming skills from DISC. This was her school's first year with the project and Mary has gained leadership and farming skills. "As youth we have learned to grow fruits and vegetables," she says, "to support our lives."
Thanks to DISC, students no longer see agriculture as an option of last resort, but rather as a way to make money, help their communities, and preserve biodiversity.
We were so impressed with project DISC and urge you to check out this opinion-editorial we wrote about them for the Des Moines Register.
With 1,000 words nearly coming to an end...
We would be remiss if we didn't mention that Uganda, like most of the countries in Africa, is full of contradictions.
While everyone we met in Uganda was friendly and helpful, going out of their way to assist us when we needed directions, a Wifi hotspot, or a place to find vegetarian food, the country also has some of the most restrictive laws against human rights on the continent. While we were there, the "Bahati Bill" was introduced in parliament. The Bahati called for life in prison -- and in some case the death penalty -- for people found "guilty" of homosexual activity.
As gay marriage laws are passed around the world, including most recently in Mexico City, it's hard to believe that lawmakers would punish people for being gay or having HIV/AIDS. The Bahati bill also punishes anyone who fails to report a homosexual act committed by others with up to three years in jail, and a prison sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of gays and lesbians.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, due to mounting pressure from governments such as the United States, across Europe, and in Canada, said that he opposes the measure, and would attempt to try and soften the bill. Yet, even the possibility that a watered-down version of the proposed law could be passed, is an alarming sign of a dangerous trend of prejudice all over Africa. In Blantyre, Malawi, for example, a gay couple was arrested a few months ago after having a traditional engagement ceremony. Homosexuality is punishable by 14 years in jail in Malawi.
Other things we want to quickly note
Where we stayed: overall, the Aponye Hotel in Kampala, Uganda is a very good budget option in the heart of the bustling city center. It is in walking distance from restaurants, markets, ATMs, the bus station and more. Approximately $35/night, the room was very simple, clean, with air-conditioning and hot showers, and Wifi in the lobby.
The veg options were great: We ate fresh avocado, a local staple called posho (or maize flower), matooke (or banana), rice, and cassava. Served with the meal was a dipping sauce made of ground nuts and tomatoes cooked in a covered box sauce pan. Most of the vegetarian food is served in Uganda is steamed -- usually using banana leaves on the bottom.
A must do: Go whitewater rafting at the base of the Nile (just a short ride from Kampala). Don't worry it's safe and you will have a lot of fun.
Another must do: Go swimming in Lake Victoria -- no need for a fancy hotel, most will let you on the property to swim and use their facilities for a nominal fee.
The overland bus company we recommend: Starways (and trust us -- because we traveled on all of them)
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I'm not alone in my displeasure over Obama's appointment of Alexia Kelley, an abortion opponent, to director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Kumbaya.
But that's not the worst of it. Kelley is apparently opposed even to contraception. Which is crazy with a side of guano.
Stemming HIV/AIDS in Africa is an urgent necessity. The activist community is divided over male circumcision, with one end of the spectrum arguing for mass child and adult circumcisions, and the other end skeptical of such advocacy and the claims which support it, troubled by the ethical implications, and concerned that such colonial-style interventions may backfire.
STATE BLOGS
In the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, there is no silver bullet.
Johnson Matthey in Germiston , South Africa , just outside of Johannesburg , sees 600 workers pass through its doors every day, heading to work on an assembly lines to make catalytic converters that are inserted in cars to reduce pollution, complying with South Africa 's auto environmental emissions standards.
When we arrived by bus at the 
Now, thanks to the work of the Solidarity Center, a non-profit launched by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organziations (AFL-CIO) to empower workers around the world by helping them form unions, and Uganda's Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU), which has about 3,500 members in
Right after arriving, we visited the Mukono District, about an hour outside of Kampala, Uganda, where we met up with 
Other things we want to quickly note