Media Girl has an important post up on the needs of the earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan. And in a comment to her post she asks an important question, "Why are the corporate-owned media silent on this tragedy?"

She's crossposted this at boomantribune and also at DailyKos. At the time I'm posting this, it's the number one diary on the recommended list at DailyKos. Hopefully her efforts today will help raise some donations to help out these unfortunate people in Pakistan.

by Diana Philip

No one wants to see a teenager be trapped by poverty, abuse, or neglect. Yet, laws concerning the rights of pregnant minors to access certain medical care do just that.

Since the late 1970s, state legislatures have been passing state "parental involvement" laws, which mandate that a parent or legal guardian be notified of or give consent for a pregnant minor's decision to seek an abortion. Texas has one of the most recent laws, now five years old, and as of June 5, 2005, its law changed from requiring notification to mandating consent. Congress is now in the process of creating a nationwide parental notification law through the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA). CIANA also would make it illegal for anyone to help a teen obtain an abortion in another state without satisfying her home state's law. Supporters of this bill generally think such a law will protect children. However, before the Senate votes on CIANA or similar legislation, lawmakers should carefully consider the damage parental involvement laws have done to pregnant youth in Texas.

By Jennifer Baumgardner

Twenty-three years ago, I helped my teenage sister get an abortion, without telling our parents. Today her story is still proof to me that parental consent laws don't work.

I grew up the second of three daughters in a pro-choice household in Fargo, N.D. Our family talked about politics, read Our Bodies, Ourselves and voted Democrat, but when it came to actually discussing sex, my parents' mantra was "high school is too young."

In 1985, the summer after my freshman year in high school, my 16-year-old sister told me she was pregnant. Andrea, a National Merit Scholar, knew two things: She wanted an abortion and she didn't want to tell mom and dad.

"I'll help you," I said, honored that she'd turned to me.

i have no words. just click the link: Lone Star Shelter

(thanks bayprairie for sending me this)

You should know this about us, the exiles from Katrina: Our brains are not working. The lobes have been disconnected. I can hold a few ideas in my head. Maybe two.

I know that paragraphs are supposed to lead one into another, come to a point. I can't think like that now.

Mr. Bush has now twice insisted that, "we are not satisfied," with the response to the manifold tragedies along the Gulf Coast. I wonder which "we" he thinks he's speaking for on this point. Perhaps it's the administration, although we still don't know where some of them are. Anybody seen the Vice President lately? The man whose message this time last year was, 'I'll Protect You, The Other Guy Will Let You Die'?

I don't know which 'we' Mr. Bush meant.

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