OF COURSE giving up a child for adoption is traumatic - but it's a choice, isn't it? I'm sure that every year thousands of women in the US are forced into/out of pregnancy/motherhood - but then again, tens of thousands are able to make the choice for themselves. Something as big as an unplanned pregancy (no matter how frequent) is obviously going to have it's hardships no matter what road is taken.

Right-to-life proponents have used the post-abortion trauma argument for YEARS. This one extra study isn't going to change anything about that. And let's not forget that this IS a traumatic thing for millions of women - why not concentrate on that rather than brushing the study aside because of it's possible use by the pro-life movement?

Rather than freaking out every time we learn that abortion isn't a great big party, how about wondering if there's anything that can be done to lessen the emotional damage of that guilt - such as making sure that women can get access to counseling after abortions? If we all care so much about women and their rights, let's try to make abortion safe, from the operation to the mental recovery. Viewing studies that we feel might threaten our stance with sarcasm and suspicion doesn't help anything.

And with you haughty people who don't want to reproduce - get over yourselves, OK? I mean, I don't want kids either, but I don't loathe people who defend parenthood as less-than-hell. A woman took the time to explain her position as a mother who went to term with an unplanned pregnancy, and these venomous responses are uncalled for.

You beat me to it, Moondoggy.

God, you people are giving feminism a bad name. To quote Bill O'Reilly, shut up, just shut up! A guy masturbating on stage? When was that ever acceptable in mainstream society? What the hell is wrong with you?

Leave him now. Find someone worthy of you and the person that you are. Not only is he a ravinghypocrit, but he's an asshole to boot. NEVER, EVER let anyone treat you like that. I did, and I've regretted it ever since. You do not have to apologize for things in your life that happened before you met him. If you feel any regret over it, that should be of your own accord.

I too was rather surprised to read Tamara's piece in Slate (the other liberal white meat), and was almost bored to tears by any observations she had to offer. I have a feeling that there is no dearth of female reporters to cover the Middle East, just not many with connections. And let's face it - in a place like the Middle East, connections matter more than almost anything else.

You can't wipe out extremism in one fell swoop, especially in a country that is so prone to cultural extremism to begin with. However, we should remember things like this every time the Bush administration tries to make sweeping statements about the liberation of Afghan women. It may not even be possible for women to be liberated in Afghanistan for decades to come - all we have so far are baby steps, and while these are to be applauded, we have to make sure they're not lauded as a complete vicotry of fanaticism.

Oh, look, poking fun at orthodoxy! What fun!

If this was something that was designed to make you think, I might be in favor. But it's just designed to make you snigger. And I've frankly grown tired of sniggering.

Sure, but when was the last time that a girl looked to the government to find out what an orgasm was? The government always has to walk a fine line between way too little and too much (according to some folks) information. I'm sure they goof it up, but rwally, would you, when given a plethora of online Google hits to the words "condom" "AIDS" or "orgasm" want to click on a site that ended in .gov?

It was just because Kwanzaa is not an overtly religious holiday. It's meant to be an Afrocentric celebration of African American contributions, and although many celebrants are religious and may incorporate faith into their Kwanzaa celebrations, it is not a particularly "Godly" holiday, but rather is is more secular. Not that anyone in the White House would really know the difference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa

Actually, the thing that bugs me about Garrison's columns is that it NEVER ushers in any thoughts of my past or my family. His thoughts and memories seem so specific, so classified, that I simply cannot relate. And I'm always reading, trying to pull something out of his paragraphs that might be close to something that I've experienced, but all I sense is this grating feeling, as though, HE'S TRYING TOO HARD. Always.

A quick shout out from a Mount Holyoke alum to Professor Pyle: always good to hear from you!

Now, about this whole impeachment business: does anyone else get the impression that impeachment fatigue means that there's no way Bush will be impeached? Hell, I've wanted to impeach the bugger from Day 1, but can you imagine what the Re'Pubs are gonna say? "We can't drag the country through another embarrassing travesty". Nevermind that they caused the last embarrassing travesty. They'll invoke everything from national security to worries about the President's emotional health. Especially with these drinking rumors flying around everywhere and all.

If I was the cynical type, I'd almost think that the Clinton hearings were drawn out as long as they were so as to shield the next president (since the race was a planned steal to begin with) from that kind of scrutiny. Fortunately, I'm not the cynical type. But I can't imagine that a man who has such disdain for the Constitution, the free press, and the American people has made it this far on arrogance, intimadation, and money without having to answer for his actions.

It's time.