In terms of their respective organizations’ longevity and overall importance to women, there is no comparison. The organization that became Planned Parenthood has been helping generations women with reproductive and autonomy issues since before Susan G. Komen was born. Margaret Sanger’s first birth control clinic opened in 1916. She continued opening birth control clinics, and in 1939, her organization, Birth Control Council of America, combined with the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau to form the Birth Control Federation of America. In 1942 that organization was renamed Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Planned Parenthood has worked not only for sexual and reproductive rights for women but also for the rights and health of pregnant teens, for community reproductive health education for both sexes and for many related issues.

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1982.

The above and much more historical information can be found in the Wikipedia article “Birth control movement in the United States.”

To me the whole practice of American Football as played by young people under the supervision of adults is inherently abusive. In my individual, biased opinion, the whole activity is a waste of kids’ time and health that takes place for the gratification of adults.

I am sure football has redeeming characteristics related to camaraderie and leadership among the kids who play it. It encourages competition among kids, which can work out very well in some people’s lives.

But I don’t like it.

The fact that Bachmann believes the Pope is the Antichrist somehow makes me feel better. If these people really hate Catholicism so much, it’s not quite so surprising that they also hate blacks, jews, gays, immigrants, the government, and so on.

What a story. Everything is rotten, it seems, in the state of ‘Merca.

The Executive Branch no longer pays attention to any laws that might restrict its actions.

Just take what you want. Just make sure you do it in the next two … or maybe three … or who knows? years

Marcy, don’t trouble yourself about their limited time left to act before things are finally sewn up tight. By then numerous countries and groups — some working alone, others collaborating — will have installed so many trojan-horse information-dispersal software robots (and maybe some hardware ones as well) that the existing DOD computers will never be secure again.

I see your points, especially about leveling the playing field with other countries. I hope you’re right.

Bradley Manning was not a private at the time he is alleged to have downloaded information onto a CD. At that time he was a Specialist. His rank was subsequently reduced to Private First Class.

Jane, thank you for all your great work on this.

Unfortunately this post is being misunderstood on at least one blog. Where you write

Everyone who said that Manning was being stripped naked, held in solitary confinement and shackled in chains “for his own good” was evidently lying.

“Extreme Liberal” seems to think you mean Manning’s lawyer “was evidently lying” about the whole mistreatment story:

http://extremeliberal.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/did-bradley-manning-almost-blow-the-operation-to-capturekill-osama-bin-laden/#comment-3759

The problem is that your sentence is ambiguous. I was confused too. To avoid giving that impression, maybe you could add an update of some kind to clarify that you mean the “for his own good” was a lie by the Quantico people, which seemed obvious from the very beginning.

Whether Extreme Liberal’s story about a relevant wikileak appearing on April 24 is true and/or relevant, I don’t know. I wanted to get word to you about the ambiguity in your post before looking further into that.

Dersuuzala, that is a great idea! Nobel Peace Prize for Manning, and also for Wikileaks, if the Swedes can grant the prize to an organization. Whether Assange deserves to share it personally, I don’t know. I won’t hold his personality against him, but sexual assault is another matter entirely. Personally, I am guessing the rape charge is trumped up, so I conditionally support Assange until there is a way to learn more of his story.

Absolutely. I would like to send him a card myself. Just a “we support you” kind of message. I’d like to say, “Many of us think of you as a hero, not a criminal,” but I’d be worried that the censorship would get that one thrown out.

Meanwhile, I think “trust and verify” is a good attitude about Manning’s actual conditions of imprisonment. Or, in case we can’t reasonably trust, then just verify.

I never would have believed someone who could make it all the way to the presidency could turn out to be so pliable. What a disappointment. And of course the Republicans attacked him as a rabid socialist anyway. From that point of view, he might as well have been the radical they portrayed. Limbaugh couldn’t have displayed any more outrage if Obama had appointed Raul Castro as his chief of staff.

Speak for yourselves, Fundies. Maybe YOU never evolved, but the rest of us have actually entered the 21st Century.