Got a breathless email from Planned Parenthood. (I'm on their list, I like to see what they are up to.) Their new campaign is Get Yourself Tested (for STDs)

Expanding access to preventive care, including contraception and STD testing, will do more than anything else to improve reproductive health for young people.

How is getting tested for an STD preventative health? What condition is it preventing? It is, perhaps, wise depending on one's personal history and behavior to get tested, so early treatment can begin if necessary, but I don't see how it prevents anything.

The email goes on to claim that aside from contraception, getting tested is the biggest way to slow the spread of HIV. I'd say that telling HIV positive people to remain abstinent - and supporting and helping them - would do more.

I can't believe Obama gave the Queen an iPod. It's not even American, it's made in China. How can his people let him remain so utterly clueless? And why hasn't he hired a personal shopper who knows what they are doing?

He should have given her an authentically American gift, like a charity-auction date with George Clooney.

St. Gemma Galgani is one of my patron saints, and her feast day is Apr. 11. A website in her honor is sponsoring a novena, starting Friday, Apr. 3. Go here for details.

In the Senate this week...

These bills failed: Requirement that bills be posted publicly 5 days before a vote (what do the Dems want to keep secret?), funding for a border fence, DeMint amendment to end auto bailouts, Vitter amendment to put an end to TARP, legislation to prevent health care rationing, and CPSIA reform.
Passed? Obama's budget. And also, 2nd amendment rights legislation allowing Amtrak passengers to have a gun in their checked luggage (if they are law abiding, have a permit, etc. of course).

That 90% tax on AIG I railed about has slinked off to die a slow death in committee. Instead, we have Pay for Performance, in which Tim Geithner, who is not an elected official, gets to determine what is fair pay, bonuses, and adequate performance at all levels of any company receiving government bailout money. Yes, even the janitor. Not sure how that's going to play out with the UAW.

Sigh. In the future, you better hope someone you love has enough "quality of life" to be allowed medications and treatments, if Obamacare passes. I wonder if they'll deny prenatal care to women with congenitally disabled children? I'm pretty sure they'll be rationing cancer care for the elderly and disabled.

My baby says "Lovies!" - or, actually, "Yuvvies!" Husband dear deigned to leave the house without kisses and hugs all around and Mr X ran to the window and shouted at him. It's funny, because the /l/ sound is one he makes very well (another quirk, my 3 year old hasn't entirely mastered /l/.) He will say /y/ if the sound is at the beginning of the word.

I bought a new coffee pot. My old one bit the dust very suddenly. Did you know that KitchenAid makes a coffee pot that costs $200?!? I don't know if it grows, harvests, and roasts its own coffee or what, but I ended up with Mr. Coffee. I didn't buy the cheapest, but it wasn't that expensive for an appliance I use every day. Most important feature: automatic shutoff. Really, really important. Second most important feature? Pause 'N Serve. Because having to wait for the whole pot to brew is so burdensome.

I was briefly tempted by the French presses - so simple, no plugs. But friends and the Web of Lies internet told me I'd also have to have a good bean grinder to make uniform, coarse grains. Plus I'd have to boil water everyday, first thing in the morning, and I'm way too lazy for that.

Please keep my friend's family and especially his little girl in your prayers tomorrow. She has a medical test and gets nervous.

Labels: 7 Quick Takes, politics, Prolife, speech, X