NARAL Records

Senator Obama's voting and statement record on freedom of choice gets a 100% from NARAL Pro-choice America. Senator McCain? 0%.

Shiny happy highlight from Obama's statements:

"Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, it's never been more important to protect a woman's right to choose... Throughout my career, I've been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America... I believe in and have supported common-sense solutions like increasing access to affordable birth control to help prevent unintended pregnancies... As President, I will improve access to affordable health care and work to ensure that our teens are getting the information and services they need to stay safe and healthy."
[From a statement by Sen. Obama on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, January 22, 2008. Full statement is available here]

Absolutely abysmal lowlight from McCain's musings on sexual health:

When asked about whether he supported supplying condoms to Africa to assist in the fight against HIV/AIDS, McCain had the following exchange with a reporter:
Reporter: "What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?"
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) "Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.
Reporter: "So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?"
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) "You've stumped me."
[Adam Nagourney, McCain Stumbles on H.I.V. Prevention, The New York Times, March 16, 2007.]

I'd Watch "Celebrity Fit Club" if Shrek Were On It

Ever since the Shrek franchise of films hit the big screen in 2001 I’ve been a big fan of the giant green ogre and his pals. The narratives in both the first and second Shrek films have held undeniably positive messages for both youth and adults – and I’m sure that if I were fifteen years younger the series would not be subject to my mother’s Princess Ban. But even in my adoration and enjoyment of DreamWorks’ most popular character, I am deeply disturbed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to appoint him the official spokesperson for the new childhood obesity prevention campaign.

Why, you ask? How could anyone want to oust America’s favorite swamp beast from a campaign aimed at the impressionable minds who adore him so? I’ll give you two great reasons:

1) With current endorsement deals with McDonalds, Sierra Mist, Cheez-Its, Snickers, M&M’s, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, and Keebler cookies, Shrek is hardly a poster-child (or poster-ogre) for healthy dietary choices. As one Harvard Medical School faculty member puts it, “Surely DHHS can find a better spokesperson for healthy living than a character who is [simultaneously!!!!] a walking advertisement for McDonald’s, sugary cereals, cookies, and candy.” It doesn’t take a brilliant critical mind to determine that Shrek’s very public relationships with some of the unhealthiest brands around are ill-matched with the government’s aim of promoting healthy lifestyles to America’s increasingly plump generation of children.

2) Shrek is overweight. And I don’t mean some-unsightly-love-handles- and-a-badonk-a-donk-butt-but-still-in-the-healthy-body-mass-index- range overweight… The creature is decisively large, and his BMI would undoubtedly be sky high if we could indeed calculate such figures for digitally animated beings. I will be the first to reject the DHSS’s official statement that Shrek is being used to promote exercise (not foods), and that “he doesn’t have a perfect physique… We hope children will understand that being physically fit doesn’t require being a great athlete.” Um, excuse me, but last time I checked, exercising and eating right go hand in hand. And while we should certainly steer clear of the often emaciated media images of models/celebrities that some argue are a major catalyst for eating disorders, it is ludicrous to say that Shrek’s blubber is merely the mark of a “non-athlete” with an otherwise healthy lifestyle. If you ask me, this swamp-man needs to cut back on the “Swamp Rat au Jus, Big Green Slugs, and anything with a face, feet, and hands.” (Yeah, that was from the official website.)

The bottom line – Shrek is truly loveable guy, and the television-campaign-in-question is really quite cute. But the ogre’s dirty marketing deals and his distinctly unhealthy lifestyle choices (and physical manifestations) send the wrong message to youth. Instead, let’s get Shrek on Celebrity Fit Club, or have him start a cooking show with “Healthy Swamp Treats of the Week.” At least then we wouldn’t have to deal with this ideological struggle… And I wouldn’t have to rant about my favorite green man!

Christian: [to Gina] "You're like herpes. Every time I feel like I'm getting my life back, I have a Gina outbreak”

Season two of the fabulously salacious Nip/Tuck included a particularly gruesome story line in which former McNamara/Troy classmate Merrill Bobolit

is found to be doing cheap, illegal surgeries in the back of a Korean nail salon. Not only is he performing these surgeries in a non-sterile environment, he's addicted to the anesthetic gas. Christian gets him to go to Narcotics Anonymous, even volunteering to be his sponsor. When Christian can't make it to a meeting, Merrill loses his mind and accidentally kills a woman who Sean and Christian refuse to perform unnecessary liposuction on. The salon owner and Merrill then cut the girl into pieces to dispose of her.

This week, life has imitated art.

Don’t get me wrong – I fully understand the often-crunching social pressure to join the Waifs in Wonderbras brigades. In the age of an image-obsessed media and ample, affordable cosmetic surgery options, a little Botox injection here or a saline implant there (and there) doesn’t really sound all that bad! But the obsession has to stop somewhere, and I think it’s safe to say that the red light is here. As cases like these appear with increasing frequency, I pity those who feel so uncomfortable in their own skin that they would resort to such sordid measures.

No corn oil ass-injections for me, thanks.