Dear Lin-Manuel, I've been a very good girl,

...and for Christmas (or rather, feast of the ten good omens) I would really appreciate a special gift.  This song from the Mixed-Tape keeps speaking to me.  It so richly expresses the quality of my fury with eloquence I do not aspire to:



If you were feeling up to it, would you possible re-work it so I could send it politicians when they are ignorantly, belligerently, anti-choice?  I get so tired of having to think up things to say when they pass ridiculous laws that do nothing but cause difficulty and heartbreak?

This wonderful post by Dr. Gunter on  what you learn providing 20 week abortions. 

This collection of stories of women who have had later abortions.

Could some body write a screed against the people?  Then in the future I could save my energy and just send this to the John Kaisch's and the Rick Perry's of the world.  And that awful, AWFUL Blackburn woman from Tenessee.  

The Weaver's Plan to provide Universal Coverage:

1. 1)   Add two years of people to Medicare to each year until people are being enrolled at their 50th birthday.  Continue to require 40 quarters of work.  Advertise that fact.
   a)   The evidenced based screenings mostly begin at 50yo.  Colonoscopy, mammogram.
   b)   Enroll 65 and 64 year olds this year, next year 64 and 63.  It will take 15 years to get back to 50 yo, but it will be a gradual and absorbable change.
   i)     As current, people can stay on approved employer plans if they prefer.
   ii)   People under 65 might have additional surcharge based on means to help defray costs.  (Pay for Medicare A until they turn 65?)
   2)   Expand the children’s insurance programs to the age of 26 (Maybe do it year by year like Medicare).  Children or employer insured parents can stay on their parent’s plans until then.  Make Tricare keep all dependents on until 26.
   3)   This will, in 15 years, leave us with only 24 uncovered years of the life span.  This is not the endgame, but it reduces the problem to a more manageable portion.
   
   
   ·         Paul Ryan must not be allowed to privatize Medicare.  Medicare Part D is worst part of Medicare.  The only thing worse than the government spending your money, is the government giving your money to someone else to make a profit on.
   ·         Medicare has got to have a more limited formulary.  The VA gets a lot of crap but it mostly provides very good care.
   ·         HHS needs to be able to negotiate drug prices.  The R&D excuse is just that.
   ·         Maryland-style regulation of costs.  There needs to be a published price for services, no negotiation by insurance companies and cash patients pay the same cost. (Possibly minus a 10% cash up front fee.)
   ·         Consider expanding the VA.  Cover all federal employees?  Returned Peace Corps Volunteers? Give VA benefits in exchange for a certain # of years of civil service (Something like the WPA?). 
   ·         Rather than having Medicare start after 2 years on disability, give Medicare for 2 years before granting disability.  If folks can get well enough to go back to work, let them pay a % of income to stay on Medicare and support themselves through work?
   ·         Folks on dialysis get Medicare, why not cover diabetics so fewer go on dialysis.  Dialysis is ruinously expensive.
   ·         Virginia has a strong Free Clinic system.  Can some version of this be extended nationwide?

I'm in shock.

In a couple of days I may have more to say.  But I am in shock.  I have great privilege and yet...?

I thought I was done talking about rape.

I have two more things. This is the victims statement from the Stanford rape case. It is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. I don't like talking about rape. I don't enjoy caring for the victims, but because of what I do for a living I am sometimes the first person they tell if they don't go to the ER or the police.

I don't think I'm particularly good at it, I do the best i can. I did a bunch of research when I started out in this and realized that it was highly unlikely that any of them were lying. Or that it was a "misunderstanding". So I do them the courtesy of listening and believing.

I can't convey to you how uncomfortable it makes me to be there in that room with these young women, and sometimes young men. I test them for STDs and give them the morning after pills and then I move on.

This victim statement really brought home for me, they don't get to move on.

Lastly, I hope, Vice President Joe Biden's response to the victim is wonderful. I'm going to steal some of his words in the future, I'm posting the full text because Buzzfeed links are not stable.

An Open Letter to a Courageous Young Woman

I do not know your name—but your words are forever seared on my soul. Words that should be required reading for men and women of all ages.

Words that I wish with all of my heart you never had to write.

I am in awe of your courage for speaking out—for so clearly naming the wrongs that were done to you and so passionately asserting your equal claim to human dignity.

And I am filled with furious anger—both that this happened to you and that our culture is still so broken that you were ever put in the position of defending your own worth.

It must have been wrenching—to relive what he did to you all over again. But you did it anyway, in the hope that your strength might prevent this crime from happening to someone else. Your bravery is breathtaking.

You are a warrior—with a solid steel spine.

I do not know your name—but I know that a lot of people failed you that terrible January night and in the months that followed.

Anyone at that party who saw that you were incapacitated yet looked the other way and did not offer assistance. Anyone who dismissed what happened to you as “just another crazy night.” Anyone who asked “what did you expect would happen when you drank that much?” or thought you must have brought it on yourself.

You were failed by a culture on our college campuses where one in five women is sexually assaulted—year after year after year. A culture that promotes passivity. That encourages young men and women on campuses to simply turn a blind eye.

The statistics on college sexual assault haven’t gone down in the past two decades. It’s obscene, and it’s a failure that lies at all our feet.

And you were failed by anyone who dared to question this one clear and simple truth: Sex without consent is rape. Period. It is a crime.

I do not know your name—but thanks to you, I know that heroes ride bicycles.

Those two men who saw what was happening to you—who took it upon themselves to step in—they did what they instinctually knew to be right.

They did not say “It’s none of my business.”

They did not worry about the social or safety implications of intervening, or about what their peers might think.

Those two men epitomize what it means to be a responsible bystander.

To do otherwise—to see an assault about to take place and do nothing to intervene—makes you part of the problem.

Like I tell college students all over this country—it’s on us. All of us.

We all have a responsibility to stop the scourge of violence against women once and for all.

I do not know your name – but I see your unconquerable spirit.

I see the limitless potential of an incredibly talented young woman—full of possibility. I see the shoulders on which our dreams for the future rest.

I see you.

You will never be defined by what the defendant’s father callously termed “20 minutes of action.”

His son will be.

I join your global chorus of supporters, because we can never say enough to survivors: I believe you. It is not your fault.

What you endured is never, never, never, NEVER a woman’s fault.

And while the justice system has spoken in your particular case, the nation is not satisfied.

And that is why we will continue to speak out.

We will speak to change the culture on our college campuses—a culture that continues to ask the wrong questions: What were you wearing?

Why were you there? What did you say? How much did you drink?

Instead of asking: Why did he think he had license to rape?

We will speak out against those who seek to engage in plausible deniability. Those who know that this is happening, but don’t want to get involved. Who believe that this ugly crime is “complicated.”

We will speak of you—you who remain anonymous not only to protect your identity, but because you so eloquently represent “every woman.”

We will make lighthouses of ourselves, as you did—and shine.

Your story has already changed lives.

You have helped change the culture.

You have shaken untold thousands out of the torpor and indifference towards sexual violence that allows this problem to continue.

Your words will help people you have never met and never will.

You have given them the strength they need to fight.

And so, I believe, you will save lives.

I do not know your name—but I will never forget you.

The millions who have been touched by your story will never forget you.
And if everyone who shared your letter on social media, or who had a private conversation in their own homes with their daughters and sons, draws upon the passion, the outrage, and the commitment they feel right now the next time there is a choice between intervening and walking away—then I believe you will have helped to change the world for the better.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth...and touched the face of God.

Everything I have to say about rape, hopefully ever...

Recently  "1 in 4 service women experience rape during their service" was put on Reddit.  Predictably a number of servicemen objected.

This study in 2009 showed that 13% of Navy enlistees reported behaviour that met the legal definition of rape at the time of enlistment, dating back to their early adolescence in some cases; and when studied over time, 71% of those repeated the behavior after joining the service. They frequently used substances to incapacitate their victims and their victims were known to them.

This 2002 study helped me realize that the guy who takes advantage of the drunk girl didn't just "happen" to be there. The average rapist leaves 14 victims in his wake, knows his victim and has groomed them to some extent.

So if 9% are committing multiple rapes using alcohol and picking the targets they think won't talk, and the average rapist has 14 victims....you can get to 1/4 rather quickly.

"Not much can be done about the problem when the victims are uncooperative." this story, which won a Pulitzer,  helps explain why victims might be "uncooperative".  It reminds me of some of my co-workers who tells me "the client didn't want it", when actually my co-worked didn't want to do the work.

This is a wonderful article about a detective who investigates sex crimes.  

Young people, especially boys, need to be taught that consent requires positive, enthusiastic affirmation; and consent is required.  

I'm very hesitant to talk about my sex life in public, but I was, on occasion asked, and I did on occasion say yes, although sometimes I said no.  I'm grateful to the men who were kind in either case.  

Ad hoc ergo propter hoc....

After which therefor because of which....

The West Wing Weekly podcast debuted yesterday.  I loved it.  Next week they are going to review what is possibly my favorite piece of television of all time.  I started watching The West Wing close to the beginning, I rewatched the entire series in the early 2000's.  I did not fully understand the second episode until 2009 when I taught a class to aspiring massage therapists in medical terminology.  I had three sessions for a subject I found to only need two.  The third I dedicated to how to be a properly suspicious bastard.  I made them read How to Lie With Statistics .  In the book there is an excellent description of ad hoc ergo propter hoc, which lead me to rewatch Episode 2 of The West Wing and to FINALLY understand it.  

     I love Josh Malina's behind the scene knowledge.  He is a steadily employed character actor who knows everyone.  

    Not that they need my advice, but here it is:

1. Do not be afraid to go long.
2. In the premiere when you linked Mary Marsh's "New York Humor" to Ted Cruz's "New York values" you affirmed something I thought when I heard Cruz say it.  Many of TWW fans are political cognizanti.  Keep going.  Don't be afraid to do multiple episodes in a week and/or jump around.
3. oi  I will edit tomorrow.

Random

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." --James D. Nicoll  

Me on Reddit:  People choose the option that is least frightening. They may be more afraid of giving up control, then they are of being sick or dying. People will choose the strangest things to be controlling about. The only time I have turned anti-vaxxers around is by knowing them over time. They still don't love vaccines, but they get their kids vaccinated to make me happy. They trust me and I trust vaccines. And I'm so obviously worried about them choosing not to vaccinate. As you continue your education you will discover how often we fly in the data-free zone. In those situations I let the patient pick the option they like best.

Thoughts

1. Bloomberg is TOTALLY to left of Sanders on guns. Sanders represents a rural state with hunting and 3 quadruple homicides in the last 70 years.

2. If Sanders does nothing but protect Clinton’s left flank, dayenu. “Bernie is Clinton’s stalking horse.”

3. New Hampshire is the 3rd whitest state in the union. Vermont #1, Maine #2 Lands of my birth, breeding, and higher education.

4. My sister still lives in Maine, and she points out that electing Trump will resemble having LePage as governor. Google. Be afraid.

5. As a resident of a state with open primaries, I may vote in the Republican this year. I’ll have to wait and see how things are shaping up, but I would rather have Kaisch than anyone else.

6. I don’t think Bill is conflicted about Hillary being president because of his ego, I think he’s tired.

7. Hilary being a woman or Obama being black aren’t the only reasons people dislike them, but it does add to the butt-hurt-bro attitude of some people.

8. New Hampshire unofficial motto = No Taxes, No Services.

9. Sanders isn’t a “backslider” on people of color, but he does have a certain cluelessness. In his favor, he is trying mightily. “Tone Deaf” is a good way to put it.

10. I think if Sanders gets the nom, HRC may be VP. And then POTUS, because Sanders be old.

11. If I had to choose between Cruz and Trump, I would choose Trump. Cruz lies to himself, Trump lies to us. Go figure.

12. @Fabio “I know a President H Clinton could create another Vietnam. That’s a severe downside risk.” You have just hit the nail on the head of why I am going to stay with Sanders until he flames out. Hilary believes in heart, many of the things I believe. But she lacks a weighted bottom. She is not a weeble.

13. @Magda – she would have done it. See above.

Elections coming up. Slowly.

I’m currently a registered Republican. Who knew? (My current state has open primaries but they keep track and when my decidedly right leaning landlady and I went to our last local primary [caucus?] she was the one who had to sign the pledge because the last primary I had voted in was republican. Capish?) That aside, I’m a flaming liberal. I came out as an Obama supporter at work and I swear, they would have prefered it if I were gay.
I pray for Ted Cruz on a regular basis, ’cause he ain’t right. I worry for his immortal soul. Trump I find hard to take seriously. My family has known Bernie Sanders since before i was born, and I will support him as far as he can go. If nothing else, he keeps Hillary from feeling that she must move to the right. I quite like Martin O’Malley and I’m sorry he hasn’t gotten more play. His healthcare reform for cost control in Maryland is truly wonderful with minimal disruption to the current system.
I have no idea what kind of president Hillary will be. I suspect neither worse nor better than she should be. Sanders or Trump would be way too interesting for my blood. Cruz? Well, I’ve always kind of wanted to spend a few years working in new Zealand.