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An historic election is only 19 days away. No matter which candidate you support, it is more important than ever to get involved and assist in electing our next president. Students and young people across the country are taking their role in this election and the political process very seriously. From volunteering for the party of their choice to registering voters, and everything in between, our generation is getting involved like never before.

And some are going even further.

David Modigliani, a Harvard grad with an MFA from University of Texas, is an ordinary 20-something who went to extraordinary lengths to involve himself in the political process. Modigliani saw an issue in the Bush administration and politics in general and wanted to get the real story. Read More »

In one final attempt to piss off Democrats everywhere, the Bush administration “is quietly cutting off birth control supplies” to poor women in Africa.  According to an Op Ed piece in the New York Times, Bush and his pals threw a bone to Pro-Lifers under the guise of disapproving China’s family-planning program (a program that enforces a sometimes ruthless one-child-per-household law)

“U.S. Agency for International Development ordered six African countries to ensure that no U.S.-financed condoms, birth control pills, I.U.D.’s or other contraceptives are furnished to Marie Stopes International, a British-based aid group that operates clinics in poor countries.

The Bush administration says it took this action because Marie Stopes International works with the U.N. Population Fund in China. President Bush has cut all financing for the population fund on the — false — basis that it supports China’s family-planning program.”

Because of this birth control supply ban, Marie Stopes International estimates that “the result will be at least 157,000 additional unwanted pregnancies per year [in Africa], leading to 62,000 additional abortions and 660 women dying in childbirth.”

Whether MSI’s estimates are overestimated or not, the real issue is how the Bush administration, and many pro-life activists, believe that taking away a woman’s right to choose birth control and abortion somehow benefits her.

You take away sex education and a woman’s right to choose when and how to have a baby, you take away her basic freedom as a human being.  Period.

[photo from www.doctorswithoutborders.org]

Perhaps I’m glad that I’ll maybe, just maybe, have the last say about 30 Rock, and politely disagree with Robert Bianco’s recent review of the show. OK, that’s ridiculous. I won’t have the last say, but at least I can respond to Bianco’s false USA Today-y opinion that 30 Rock is woefully on the decline. First, as a T.V. viewer and fan of 30 Rock, I think it’s a shame that the show is ending early, and I look forward to its return next season. So, with that said, I’ll begin my letter.

Dear Mr. Bianco:

What is wrong with you?

1) Demographics:

You are terribly presumptuous in thinking that the show only appeals to a younger audience (20s and 30s age range). The demographic is wider than you would think — haven’t you noticed the subtle ways they’ve advertised baby diapers, baby toys, etc.? Obviously appealing to the baby demographic, which you failed to consider when writing your critique.

My ol’ granny lives in a nasty retirement home. It smells like urine, but that’s not the point. My ol’ granny watches 30 Rock all the time. Perhaps that’s anecdotal, but I’ve been over there many times, and enjoyed an episode out in the main area with a bunch of other old peeps. They all laughed, just like my infant cousins laugh at the show. We all know (that means you), that when my granny and my infant cousins laugh at something, it’s universally funny. Read More »

As if you needed any more convincing that the War in Iraq isn’t going as well as they’ve been trying to tell us, a new article in the New York Times highlights the growing stress on soldiers as they endure longer and more repeated tours.

It’s not a new discovery that combat induces anxiety, trauma, and even depression in soldiers, but the new decision by the Bush Administration to lengthen many tours from the traditional one year to 15 months causes concern among many, especially when it comes to the misplaced combat anger directed at civilians.

According to the article, the Pentagon’s new survey suggests that “extended tours and multiple deployments, among other policy decisions, could escalate anger and increase the likelihood that soldiers or marines lash out at civilians, or defy military ethics.” Another sad fact, as recorded by the Pentagon, shows “suicide rates for soldiers in Iraq from 2003 to 2006 were 16.1 per 100,000, compared with the average Army rate of 11.1.” Read More »