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Babblemur got Blog
Wisconsin Assembly passes
"Conscience Clause" bill
Permits Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists to refuse to provide
health care that conflicts with their "Religious Beliefs"
by babblemur
In a shocking display of utter insanity, the Wisconsin Assembly voted 60 to 33 to pass a
bill that will allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions, doctors and
nurses to refuse to honor 'living wills' by not removing feeding tubes, and generally allow
their personal religious beliefs to trump their patients' rights. The bill also protects health
care workers who refuse to refer their patients elsewhere.
The bill is focused on all of the "Culture of Life" hot button issues: stem cells, embryo
destruction, abortion, terminally ill patients (i.e. Schiavo factor), and others. Essentially it
protects health care workers from job termination or censure for refusing to provide
health care if it is based on 'religious convictions'.
"This is a life-threatening bill," Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, D-Milwaukee, a practicing
obstetrician said. "It's total abandonment."
As Democrats rallied for hours against the bill, Republican supporters sat silently, refusing
to answer any questions about it. (Republicans have a 60-39 majority in the state
assembly.)
The bill now moves to the State Senate.
Said Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, "This bill is an immoral attack on the
women of this state."
Democracy in
Oshkosh
Coverage on June 12, 2005
Page here
welcome, I feel no concern
from it; but I should suffer the
misery of devils, were I to
make a whore of my soul..."
-Thomas Paine
University of
Wisconsin Dean
departs due to
Partner Benefits
Debacle
by babblemur
UW-Madison Dean of Students
Luoluo Hong has taken a job in
Arizona, citing the lack of action
on domestic partner benefits as
the primary reason. Hong is
straight and married, but cites
experience with loosing potential
employees and current co-
workers due primarily to the fact
the University of Wisconsin is the
only Big Ten University that
denies same-sex partner
benefits.
- "When I came here three
years ago, Wisconsin was
on the cutting edge of
civil rights for lesbians,
bisexuals and trans-
genders...That legacy has
not been my experience."
"I've had job candidates
interested in domestic
partner benefits, but when
they find out they're not
available they say no,"
Hong told the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel. "I have
colleagues who have
started looking for new
jobs. It's very
demoralizing for them."
Not only has the
Republican controlled
legislature stripped
domestic partner benefits
from Democratic
Governor Jim Doyle's
proposed budget, the
Democratic administration
in Madison is fighting a
lawsuit brought by the
ACLU on behalf of six
State Employees whose
domestic partners (why
does that sound like a 'pet'
to me?) are denied
benefits and consequently
uninsured.
Under ordinary
circumstances, this would
be the 'proof in the
puddin' that the State of
Wisconsin needs to drag
itself into the 21st century
and begin to offer DPB's,
however I am willing to
bet that the Conservatives
in the state Legislature will
collectively say "good
riddance". This is only
going to encourage the
Cons to pursue their anti-
intellectual attacks harder
as they now have
immediate proof of
success.
daughter. (Let me mention at this point, I like that Dean is a mouthy Liberal who says
things that annoy people. We need more people like that on the left. I don't like that Dean
is trying to 'work over' the Vermont Progressives to take seats for the Democrats that have
been historically "Progressive Party" seats.
Babblemur
Got Blog!
by babblemur
I may regret this, but...
Babblemur.com has gone
bloggy! Babblemur, finally
recognizing that uni-directional
communication is as satisfying
as talking into a mirror (which
babblemur enjoys doing, mind
you) has decided after one
month of existence to go
bloggin'. The blog,
babblemur.blogspot.com, is
fully interactive with
comments enabled. To post
new 'posts' on babblemur one
must 'register', whatever that
means.
Babblemur confesses that this
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unknown. Babblemur speaks
in third person when he fears
his ignorance will be exposed.
Send babblemur an email if
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frightens Babblemur, he will
destroy it, along with
everything else that dies with
the all-powerful F13 Key on
the Keyboard of all-powerful
DEATH.
GREENS: STATES AND CITIES SHOULD MAINTAIN
ACCESS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA, DESPITE
SUPREME COURT RULING
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders urged state and municipal
governments to maintain access to medical marijuana, in accord with
democratically enacted local laws, despite the Supreme Court's ruling on
June 6 in favor of federal prosecution.
"Numerous cities have passed resolutions condemning the USA Patriot Act for
violating basic constitutional rights and condemning the invasion of Iraq" said Maya
O'Connor, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, who noted that
many of these resolutions were passed through the efforts of Green elected
officials and lobbying efforts led by Greens. "We urge city and state
legislatures to adopt similar resolutions defending locally enacted laws
allowing medical marijuana."
A list of cities and city councils that have passed resolutions against the
Iraq invasion can be found at <http://www.ips-dc.org/citiesforpeace/resolutions.htm>.
For states and cities that have passed statements criticizing the USA Patriot Act and
upholding the Constitution, visit <http://www.bordc.org/list.php?sortAlpha=1>.
Greens defended the right of state and local governments to act in the best
interests of their constituents and for the right to life and health of
people suffering AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other ailments for which
marijuana has provided quick and effective relief.
"The Supreme Court, in upholding federal power to override state laws
allowing medical marijuana, endorsed the growing attacks on civil liberties,
federal usurpation of state and local law enforcement power, and
concentration of power in the executive branch, especially in the Justice
Department," said Nan Garrett, Georgia Green and Spokesperson for the
National Women's Caucus. "The War on Drugs has all along been an effort to
target and criminalize African Americans, young people, and other
populations that have been disproportionally prosecuted and incarcerated.
The Drug War's emphasis on marijuana, which does vastly less damage to
health than alcohol and has a near-zero fatality rate, proves that marijuana
prosecution has nothing to do with law and order or public health."
The Green Party supports decriminalization of drugs, especially marijuana,
calling drug abuse a medical problem requiring treatment instead of a crime,
and urges Congress to change national drug laws.
Greens have supported and worked for passage of medical marijuana ballot
measures. In Washington, D.C., members of the Green and Statehood Parties
(before their merger into the D.C. Statehood Green Party in 1999) collected thousands of
signatures for Initiative 59 in 1998, which passed with a 69% before Congress exercised
its veto power over D.C. laws and overrode the vote.
"The fact that the Supreme Court's liberal justices all voted for federal
power to prosecute, while three of the most conservative justices [William Rehnquist,
Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O'Connor] dissented on the basis of states'
rights, suggests that the Court ignored considerations of public health,"
said Jake Schneider, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States.
"During the past generation, Democrats like President Clinton and Sen. Joe
Biden [Del.] have joined Republicans in their zeal for harsher drug laws,
despite the ruined lives, broken families, and wrecked communities resulting
from the War on Drugs. Greens challenge states and cities to 'just say no'
and stand up for sane public health policy, for civil liberties, and for
their own citizens' democratically expressed endorsement of access to
medical marijuana."
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Green Party Statement on Medical Marijuana, April, 1998
http://www.gpus.org/position/marijuana.html
"The War on Marijuana: The Transformation of the War on Drugs in the 1990s"
Report by Ryan S. King and Marc Mauer, Research Associate and Assistant
Director, respectively, of The Sentencing Project, May, 2005
http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/waronmarijuana.pdf
http://www.sentencingproject.org
"Pot: The sine qua non of a drug war" By Sam Smith, The Progressive Review,
May 4, 2005
http://prorev.com/2005/05/pot-sina-qua-non-of-drug-war.htm