Tag: contraception

To Be Clear

Posted on June 27, 2022July 18, 2022 By Mark Tiedemann

In the past, I have attempted to present my arguments, my sentiments, in respectful, intellectual, philosophically relevant languageâ€”not always successfully, I admit; sometimes my dismay and anger get the better of me, and sometimes there are things too unbelievably stupid to warrant much, if any, respectâ€”and to leave some opening for debate.Â

No more.

With the recent Supreme Court rulings, it should be clear to everyone that what is happening is nothing less than an attempt by extralegal and institutional force to change the nature of our country. This is nothing new. What is new (new-ish) is the outright lies and misrepresentation in which these attempts are couched and the complete shameless embrace of those lies.…

3000 Words About Bad Faith

Posted on May 23, 2022July 3, 2022 By Mark Tiedemann

We compartmentalize. All the time. We divide things up so they don’t inhibit our ability to act, to judge, to feel. We don’t even seem to have to learn how, it just develops as life unfolds. The walls, though, are porous, and occasionally they collapse altogether. But they re-establish given opportunity.Â

But sometimes the divide between one part of ourselves and another can become toxically entangled. It can cause a lot of pain, confusion. When challenged, there’s a kind of panic that attends to our desperate attempt to put those walls back up, to find a way back to the comforting areas where one thing did not conflictâ€”violently at timesâ€”with another.…

Money Lunatics

Posted on June 25, 2017June 25, 2017 By Mark Tiedemann

I learned this morning that the insurance industry has had essentially zero input in the new healthcare bill.

Let that sink it for a few moments.

The insurance industry has had zero input into the new GOP healthcare bill.Â Which begs the question—who is this supposed to benefit? Not the medical industrial complex, certainly. By and large most of them have been expressing deep concerns all the way up to dystopic warnings to not do what the GOP is trying to do.

Only a couple of things make sense, one having to do with money, the other to do with power.…

What Grabs You

Posted on October 8, 2016October 8, 2016 By Mark Tiedemann

So The Donald was caught on tape saying something egregious about what he wants to do with women.Â This has caused much ire among those in his party of choice.Â Not most of the other egregious things he has said, alleged, alluded to, implied, or otherwise allowed to exit from his mouth.Â We have witnessed basically a year-long example of escalating reaction not to the content of his pronouncements but to the manner of their expression.

Paul Ryan has weighed in with an egregious bit of condescension of his own which adds to the evidence that he is a “classic” conservative who seems not to Get It.…

The Iconography of the Myopic

Posted on September 6, 2016September 7, 2016 By Mark Tiedemann

I debated whether or not to say anything about Phyllis Schlalfy’s passing. I have never held her in high regard and certainly anyone who has paid the slightest attention to my writings over the past three decades should know where I stand on the issues on which she and I disagreed. Violently disagreed at times.

But as her death follows upon the heels of the canonization of Mother Theresa, I find a certain symmetry which prompts comment.

These two women shared one attribute in common that has come to define them for the ages: an obdurate dedication to a special kind of ignorance.…

Power Hypocrisy

Posted on April 7, 2016April 14, 2024 By Mark Tiedemann

My father worked with a man once who made a big deal out his religious conviction regarding abortion and birth control, roundly condemning both. He based this on his self-professed Catholicism. It evidently got to the point where weekly there would be a virtual sermon at lunch time on the evils of promiscuity and the horror of contraception. Finally, my father had had enough.

“How long have you been married, Bill?” my dad asked.

“Fourteen years,” the man responded proudly.

“How many kids do you have?”

“Three.”

“Three? Where are the other eleven?”

The point was made—publicly, in front of several co-workers—and the sermons ended.…

And Finally

Posted on March 31, 2016March 31, 2016 By Mark Tiedemann

A short bit here.Â Donald Trump came out—finally—and said what must be in the back of the minds of most of the hard-core religious fundie contingent of the GOP, that women who get abortions ought to be punished.

It doesn’t matter that he backpedaled not four hours later and shifted it to doctors, it matters that someone at this level of politics finally said it.Â Out loud.Â For everyone to hear.Â If you criminalize abortion, it just naturally follows that some form of punishment should be involved.Â That’s logical, right?

But very quickly, two of the largest anti-abortion organizations came out in opposition to this, saying “No no no, we don’t wish to entertain any ideas about punishing women who opt for abortions.”Â …