Asses => Assess

Too bad when Salon went and did a fancy redesign for their whole site, they couldn't include even a rudimentary system for editing comments after posting.

The Broadsheet writers have demonstrated time and and again that they are utterly unprepared to intelligently asses matters related to science, statistics, or data analysis.

Most of the time, they don't even read the original study, or hell, even an article in the scientific press targeted at the mainstream (for example, Popular Science magazine). Instead, they will invariably jump to their conclusions based on a 2nd- or 3rd-hand blog post, and justify their conclusions with a touching personal analogy that 'really makes you think'.

This is bad journalism, and it contributes to bad public policy. Seriously, Broadsheet, hire a biostatistician, or for god's sake at least get an undergraduate math major as an intern. Until then, shut up about anything dealing with the quantitative realities of science or medicine.

"Women's access to healthcare is not a political football. Anyone who thinks it is should pay a political price for that"

Apparently abortion is the only "healthcare" that matters. You're correct that this will primarily affect poor women. They will have greatly expanded access to all types of medical care, except for abortion. Which they will have to pay for out of pocket. Just like they would have do now.

Explain again how this is a horrible, new injustice?

http://www.slate.com/id/2235016/

I would quote the whole thing here, but that seems unfair to Saletan and Slate, who surely deserve the pageviews far, far more than the Salon crew.

An excerpt:

'Abortion rights have been sold out for health care reform.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi couldn't round up enough votes for her party's health care bill without pro-life Democrats. So on Friday night, she agreed to let the House vote on an amendment to restrict abortion coverage under subsidized insurance plans. Everybody knew the amendment would pass. To get the bill through, Pelosi traded away abortion.

Naral Pro-Choice America is furious. It points out that more than 85 percent of private health insurance plans cover abortion. By forbidding such plans from competing in the new, lucrative federally supervised insurance exchanges, the bill would force them to drop abortion coverage. This would eliminate such coverage even for policyholders who pay their own way—"a radical departure from the status quo," the group complains.

Nancy Pelosi. Nancy PelosiThe Planned Parenthood Federation of America seems even angrier. On Saturday, it announced its opposition to the House bill. According to PPFA President Cecile Richards, the bill strips women of abortion coverage even "in the private health insurance market" and leaves them "worse off after health care reform than they are today, violating President Obama's promise to the American people that no one would be forced to lose her or his present coverage under health reform."

Welcome to socialism.

I don't mean to exaggerate the House and Senate bills. They don't nationalize medicine or set up a single-payer system. As socialism goes, they're modest. But they do mandate, standardize, and subsidize health insurance. They mix public with private. And when you do that, you invite public-sector problems into matters that used to be nobody's business.

One of these problems is that people don't like their tax money being used for procedures that offend them. You may think that's stupid. You may point out that your tax money is used for wars you don't like. But you don't have two or three dozen swing votes in the House. Pro-life Democrats do. They don't have the clout to ban abortion, but they have the clout to keep tax money from paying for it.'

...by saddling it with mandatory coverage for abortion, I will never never forgive the pro-choice movement. I'm not kidding. I'm pro-choice, but this country desperately needs healthcare reform to cut costs and save lives. It's going to be hard as hell to get these reforms passed WITHOUT abortion coverage, and if you simply must have that, then you might as well just admit that you're against universal healthcare.

None of the proposed healthcare reforms are trying to take away your reproductive rights, just saying that you might have to pay for your own abortions.

But if you kill healthcare reform, I vow to become a single-issue anti-abortion voter. I will vote for whoever the strongest anti-choice candidate is on whatever ballots I vote on. Hell, I might even campaign for them.

Go ahead, screw over all the insured people in this country.

Hahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Wow, thanks for that.

So, I'm used to arguing strenuously against anyone who suggests that women/feminists aren't funny, or don't have a sense of humor. There are many hilarious women out there: Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Samathan Bee (from the Daily Show).

But after reading this column, I may have to rethink that position.

"Dress normally. Since STDs often can’t be distinguished with the naked eye, it'll be up to you to tell people what you are."

Fucking seriously?

Does broadsheet understand how Halloween costumes work? Do you understand how JOKES work?