Quickies: 2/17/2012
By Sorry for the slightly long quickies folks – too much has happened!
As most of you probably know, US politicians have been handwringing about the ongoing issue of how to ensure that women who work for religious organizations have access to birth control through their insurers. Last week, Obama came out with a compromise where insurers would offer women BC free of charge, not paid for by the insurance provided by their religious employers.
However, yesterday, a total debacle went down in the House of Representatives. Congressman Darrell Issa held a hearing on birth control and “religious freedom,” and refused to include a single female witness. House Democrats walked out.
Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke was in the room, but not allowed to testify about how Georgetown’s insurance policy (which does not cover birth control) caused her friend to develop a massive ovarian cyst. Read her story here.
And finally, one of Rick Santorum’s richest backers went on TV to suggest that women should use aspirin as birth control, they could just “put it between their legs.”
On a more upbeat and traditional quickie note, The Arkansas Times has a great profile of trans woman and early video game designer Dani Burton.
Image of Sandra Fluke from Think Progress.
I knew Dani made M.U.L.E., but I didn’t know she was behind Modem Wars. That was one of the first ‘online’ games I every played. It normally ran at 150 baud, but if you had a really good modem you could up it to 300!
Good memories.