GOP REP Kevin Yonder Naked With His Family Values Floating Late at Sea of Galilee

• Rep Kevin Yoder was one of six Republican Congressmen to jump in the holy lake after late-night drinks at a posh hotel
• Republican House leaders were furious with the aides and chastised them for their behavior
• Rep Yoder previously was cited for refusing to submit to a DUI breath test during a traffic stop.

Kansas Rep Kevin Yoder, 36, who was voted one of 'Hottest Freshmen in Congress,' admitted to skinny dipping in the holy water in August 2011. He was one of just Republican six Congressmen who jumped in the lake after a drunken night out at a high-price hotel, it was reported on Sunday. 

Politico reports that the The hard-partying in the Holy Land was so outrageous that it led the FBI to open an investigation and prompted embarrassed Republican party leaders to dress down the freshman lawmakers

Embarrassed: Rep Kevin Yoder, who is from a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas, apologized for skinny dipping during the trip to the Holy Land

Rep Yoder reportedly disrobed in front of one Congressman's daughter and the wife of another member. 

In 2009, Rep Yoder was cited for refusing to take a DUI breathalyzer test after being pulled over by a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper. His campaign maintains he hadn't been drinking. 

Thirty freshman lawmakers went to Israel in August 2011 for an all-expense-paid trip, along with their families and aides, that cost a reported $10,000 per person. 

  

The American Israel Educational Foundation paid for the trip, which is a rite of passage for new members of Congress. The group, closely tied to the powerful AIPAC, says it uses the visits to Israel to educate each new class of lawmakers about the importance of the the Jewish nation's relationship with the United States. 

Republican leaders Reps Eric Candor and Kevin McCarthy -- the no. 2 and no. 3 ranking members of the House -- who escorted the first-year Congressmen, were reportedly furious and told the members that they were trivializing the mission of the junket to the Holy Land. 

Rep Yoder admitted to the incident and said he was sorry in a statement to Politico, saying: 'It is my greatest honor to represent the people of Kansas in Congress and (for) any embarrassment I have caused for my colleagues and constituents, I apologize.'

Sacred: The Sea of Galilee is where the Bible says Jesus Christ walked on water. It remains holy to Christians

According to the news site, the Congressional delegation was staying at the Scots Hotel in Tiberias along the Sea of Gallilee. 

After dinner at the $1,000-a-night resort, several members and Congressional staffers stuck around and continued drinking.

At some point in the night, the group decided to take a swim in the nearby lake. Some of the participants waded in in their clothes -- others partially disrobed. Only Rep Yoder took all his clothes off, Politico says. 

The other participants in the after-dark swim were: Rep Steve Southerland, of Florida, and his daughter; Rep Tom Reed, of New York, and his wife; Reps Ben Quayle, of Arizona, Jeff Denham, of California, and Michael Grimm, of New York.

Several aides also jumped in, Politico reports: Steve Stombres, Rep Cantor’s chief of staff; Tim Berry, Rep McCarthy’s chief of staff; Laena Fallon, Rep Cantor’s former communications director and Emily Murray, Rep McCarthy’s top health care aide.

During the trip, the Congressman met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Shimon Peres and the ambassadors between the two nations

 By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

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Sherifs in S.Carolina would Entrap Gays and would Arrest Regardless Wether they Went for it or NOT

Undercover South Carolina sheriffs used a series of sting operations to entrap gay men and suspected prostitutes into having sex in public or for money, but then arrested them anyway when this failed

Let me ad that this a method used in NYC and in many states, so this is not just part of South Carolina. weather. The amazing part like in a city like New York still happens and it was happening with a specialized squad of pretty cops, some of them either gay or homophobic doing the same things. Up to the point in which some closeted gays decided to come out and sue. The answer to homophobia and not out gays being abused by cops, government and the church is been gays in the closet. Once you take away that curtain, everything changes and the light comes in.    Adam

Yousef Abdul-Husain

South Carolina’s Greenville Country Sheriff’s Office has been criticized for entrapping and then arresting gay men and others for behaviors which are not illegal.

The American Civil Liberties Union found multiple cases where undercover sheriffs had sought to entrap people into engaging in illegal sexual activity including sex in public and prostitution, but then arrested then anyway when this failed.

Undercover Greenville county officers approached people parked in their cars, sitting on their own porches or simply walking down the street and asked them to engage in illegal sexual activities, but then arrested them when they either declined or suggested engaging in legal private sexual acts instead.

The arrests were part of a series of sting operations targeting sex workers and men who have sex with men.

Officers arrested people for simply being in places known to be frequented by sex workers, for being ‘known prostitutes’ or for merely saying they’d ‘think about it’ when asked to have sex for money or in public.

One officer arrested a gay man for touching him after the officer had asked him for oral sex.

Another woman was charged with assault and battery after she touched the thigh of an officer who had picked her up in his car and then offered to pay her for sex despite indicating her she would rather have sex for free in a private location.

‘The people who have been arrested in these stings are being humiliated and harassed for no lawful reason,’ said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project.

‘Innocent people should not be trapped for engaging in their legal right to ask to have sex in private with another adult. These sorts of decoy operations are an expensive and wasteful use of taxpayer dollars, and they are far less effective than other law enforcement tools in stopping actual illegal activities from occurring.’

‘Consenting adults should not be arrested for acts that don’t break any laws,’ said Victoria Middleton, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina.

‘These sting operations enable officers to make as many arrests as possible, while they do nothing to stop actual criminal activity from occurring.’

The ACLU have written to both the Greenville Country Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina state solicitor’s office to deplore the tactics.

 BY ANDREW POTTS
gaystarnews.com

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'Bill Clinton' Never A good Believer in Gay Rights } Who Brought The Horse To the Water?

It looks like the progeny of our girl, Hillz, may have played a key role in changing President Bill Clinton's views on same-sex marriage.

Check out what Chelsea Clinton had to say on the topic in an exclusive interview (could it really be her first?!) with Vogue after the jump!

Vogue writes:

“One night, over dinner at Cheddar's, Chelsea mentions that a lot of her male friends are gay.  'It was something that I wasn't even aware of until [husband] Marc pointed it out,' she says.  Observing the strength of those friendships – many of Chelsea's friends spend every Thanksgiving with the Clintons at Chappaqua – was one of the key factors in changing Bill Clinton's position on gay marriage.  'Those conversations often start in families and then billow out into the community. Change is hard. And I was really proud of my dad.'”

To know us is to love us. And Chelsea, we'll happily be your next gay friends that you invite to Thanksgiving dinner! We hear Chappaqua's lovely in November!

President Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law, famously changed his position on same-sex marriage, publicly, back in 2009 telling Anderson Cooper, “I think [gay marriage is] a good thing not a bad thing.  And I just realized that, I was, probably for, maybe just because of my age and the way I've grown up, I was wrong about that.”

“I just had too may gay friends. I saw their relationships. I just decided I couldn't, I had an untenable position."

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Ten Suggestions on Being Gay

 Ten Ways (reasons to become gay). I am sure that here are straight guys out there dying to become gay and on the other hand gays that want to be better gays.

Here are the suggestions:

1. Have a diva

Everyone needs a Kylie, even if you think Time Bomb is kind of a crappy song. Having a strong female icon is somehow central to the gay identity (for more on that, pick up Halperin's book) and harkens back to the darkest days of gay identity when these troubled broads were the closest thing you could find to a representation of gay life. The diva of choice doesn't need to be one of the familiar one-named ladies of song (Madonna, Cher, Judy, Liza, Barbra, Mariah, Gaga, and both Bettes), it can be anyone from Joni Mitchell to Courtney Love, Diana Vreeland to Patsy Stone, Hilary Clinton to Michelle Obama. Just pick one, and never ever ever ever leave her.

2. Dress in drag

Even if it's just once for Halloween, go out in the world wearing the clothing of the opposite gender. It will it unleash a personality you didn't even know you had in you and it will make you OK with femininity. So many gay men are afraid of even the slightest bit of swish being detected. "No fems," has been branded into all of our mentality. But one night when the femme is in total control will never make you fear it again. And it will put you in touch with the brave bottle throwers who started the Stonewall Riots back in the day.

3. Cruise

Everyone used to know to glance over your shoulder after three steps if you were interested in that sexy stranger on the sidewalk. There was a complex network of looks and signals that men used to use to attract each other, something that made gay men much more attuned to body language and perceptive than our straight counterparts. Learn how to do that. Not only will it improve your gay experience, but the way you interact with everyone. Street cruising is mostly dead – no, it can't be done on Grindr – but a trip to a bath house will teach you all you ever need to know.

4. Know about poppers

If only so people will get your jokes about Rush and Jungle Juice, know what poppers are. You don't have to use them, but it's one secret we've kept from most of the gay community for decades so we have to keep it going. It's our version of Colonel Sanders' secret recipe.

5. Protest

Get out there with a picket sign and some anger and fight for your rights. Even before Stonewall we have a long history of fighting the man, and that should never die. You can collect signatures for marriage equality or you can join an Occupy protest and fight income inequality, but never stop fighting. And if PDA (public displays of agitation) aren't your thing, there are plenty of causes that need fundraising, which can easily be done over brunch (a gay art that somehow is not on this list).

6. Go to Pride

Standing out in the hot June sun can sure be a drag (all puns intended) but everyone should experience the depth and breadth of the community at this event at least once. See the people outside of your social circle, the tourists from a far, and those people who wouldn't mix with in a million gay years. And where else are you going to see Dykes on Bikes anyway?

7. Develop a gaydar

This sense of being able to find other homosexuals in the given area isn't inborn like a sense of direction or ESP. No, it must be acquired through years of hard work and figuring out just which clues are going to give guys away. (Even then it's still not infallible whenever European tourists are around.) But it's essential. Not only will it help you determine when you're in a safe space with others of your kind, it will also direct you to which clerk to flirt with for a discount and which flight attendant to wink at for a free tiny bottle of vodka.

8. Appreciate camp

It's everything from Showgirls and Mommie Dearest to John Waters and your aunt Nancy who loves to show up at family events with lipstick on her teeth and do her Charo impersonation. Yes, before "hipsters" ironically co-opted things that were awful, gay men invented camp and it has pervaded our aesthetic. In some respects it's about loving an outsider and wanting to embrace it even while disparaging the things that make it amazing. Much like the supreme court's definition of pornography, it's hard to define camp but we all know it when we see it. And if you don't know it, then you're just another sincere mark for all the camp connoisseurs out there.

9. Visit the Aids quilt

Aids nearly wiped out a generation of gay men. Many gay men coming of age now know this intellectually, but they have no clue about the emotional cost of losing all of their friends slowly but surely to a disease or being forced to live with the diagnosis as a death sentence. While the quilt is now a shrine to everyone who has died of the disease, and not just gay men, it is the closest thing we have to a museum and the best way to document all the lives that have past. We owe it to them not to be forgotten.

10. Come out

In our age of Gay Straight Alliances in schools and celebrities who live in a perpetual glass closet without ever making a final announcement, coming out seems it's going out of style. "Why should gay people have to come when straight people don't?" While in some distant gaytopia that might come to pass but until then it's probably the only unifying experience every gay person has.

We all have a coming out story, whether it was when your mom says she knew already, your father stopped talking to you, or your boss just didn't care and told you to go back to your desk. No matter what else you may or may not have in common with another gay person, you can always fall back on this. It's like talking about the weather, but far more interesting, and often with more tears

guardian.co.uk

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Last Will to Gay Man } You Most Marry a Woman or You Wont Get As Promised

Adam on The Property he Worked Lost

The Dad Left a final request to his son: Get a woman. Get married. I know about requests like that. When I left my house to move in with my ex, I had asked him if his house was his.  He had Diabetes and other health issues. I though about a day in which he died and then I found myself on the streets. This was Florida.  We were en-circled by his family.  He promised such a thing was not going to happen.  The property was given to him  by his grand parents and the house he bought. I thought I was covering all points, particularly with stories coming out of Miami about a news helicopter pilot who crashed died and his long term partner, even though they had a will, he was not even able to be at the funeral. All the furnishings of the house and the house were assumed  belong to the guy making the most money. The parents of the dead lover finally were going to have a chance to make their  displeasure statement about their son’s relationship with a man. They had to swallow him, but no more.

I am hearing this and Im disconcerted. I share all this with my partner he said not to worry. I told him I left everything for you. He said he loved and we will go to a lawyer. What discovered and what he knew, what that the same request had been mad of him by his grandparents. The property had a lien. It was clear to him if he married a woman.

In my case even though I got his grandparents to change their minds, not for me but because they loved him. But now our relationship suffered a wound that would not healed.  I did end up in the streets for the first time in my life. After making my accomplishments that made me proud of my life, now I had to live in a motel.

In the news ( NYPost ) now is Manhattan businessman Frank Mandelbaum, who specified that none of his money should go to any offspring his son Robert might have if he “not be married to the child’s mother within six months of the child’s birth.”

In this case in the news now we find 

 Father Died

Frank Mandelbaum, 73, died in 2007, and his will prompted Robert Mandelbaum, a Manhattan Criminal Court Judge, to argue in a court battle over the estate that his longtime partner Jonathan O’Donnell is the only “mother” their 16-month-old son, Cooper, knows.

The couple married shortly after Cooper’s birth via a surrogate, entitling the child to a share in a $180,000 trust set aside for Frank Mandelbaum’s three grandkids, Robert declared.

The Manhattan Surrogate’s Court has yet to approve a settlement to ignore Frank Mandelbaum’s demand as discriminatory and against New York law.

The settlement is the only way to solve the dispute over Cooper, Robert Mandelbaum claims in court papers, because the will “imposes a general restraint on marriage by compelling Robert Mandelbaum . . . to enter into a sham marriage” — which he says violates state law supporting marriage equality.

 Son Gets F*by father

A law guardian appointed to look out for Cooper’s interests agreed that there are “significant public policy reasons” for ignoring the dead dad’s dictate.

“Requiring a gay man to marry a woman . . . to ensure his child’s bequest is tantamount to expecting him either to live in celibacy, or to engage in extramarital activity with another man, and is therefore contrary to public policy,” Anne Bederka wrote in court papers. “There is no doubt that what [Frank Mandelbaum] has sought to do is induce Robert to marry a woman.”

The child’s birth complicated an already sour dispute over the handling of Frank Mandelbaum’s estate, prompting Mandelbaum’s wife, Ann Freeman, to say in court papers that Robert “alleged that he had a son from a homosexual relationship which he believed should be a beneficiary . . . My husband’s will specifically prohibited such a child from becoming a beneficiary.” Frank Mandelbaum, the founder of ID verification company Intellicheck, was well aware that his son was gay, Robert claimed in court papers, noting that his partner was included in family dinners and vacations.

 .

 

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Traumatic Copulation {Sex} on Bed Bugs

The reason I decided to write about a non human bug today, has to do with new research which suggests that out brains might be controlled by parasites.  I wont make you more sick by going into that subject until I know a lot more about it. Human beings are capable to nurture and to love like no other mammal or for that matter animal 0n the planet. However humans are ‘humans' worse enemies. If we were an outside creature looking in at the way some humans treat humans, they would certainly run away unless they saw us as food or slaves.

Another reason that I am introducing you to the world of parasites is because the popularity of the bed bug. “Don’t let the bed bug bites” has acquired a new meaning now with the on going epidemic that no ones dares speaks its name. ( Some people have lost families and friends over this pesky bud)  Back before the late 70’s they use DDT, which was banned in the 70’s to kill roaches and insects. DDT causes cancer among it’s known side effects.  The problem is that it seemed to have kept this crawlers and we have nothing like it with out awful side effects which will keep the bugs under control. What exterminators use now, not sure I can name here is a solution that does not kill the bed bugs right off like DDT used to. 

It’s been explain to me that what it does is that it works on the bugs tiny nervous system.  It drives them mad or crazy. Loosing control of their faculties they stop eating, no more blood…nothing! thus loosing interest in having sex and they die off. Of coarse not every bug will be hit and then there is the big problem, that since the bugs are not killed they become immune to this mixture. The don’t use a chemical killer because of the effect it will have on the humans.

If you are allergic to the compound the exterminator uses I have been told that there is something natural that will kill them naturally. It’s called “Diatomaceous-Earth” “ORGANIC” Don’t let the name scare you.  It is really silica, which is a natural chemical in our bodies. It’s a fine off-white dust that comes from the bones of a prehistoric bug.  It has become rock through time.  They grind it and ‘voila’

 Traumatic Copulation

The Bugs don’t eat it, is not a poison, but they act like sharp razor blades on the bugs feet and coats. It hsd microscopic edges that will tear the bugs to kingdom come. The only thing is if you are going to use it inside your home you need to get the organic natural one. It will say Garden and ‘inside'.  It cost about $8-$9 dollars for about 25 lbs, which is a lot. I am not on expert on this, I am just passing on information.  You need to do your research and see if it’s good for you. I understand about allergies to chemicals and also the cost factor of exterminating a house or apartment. If you don’t have the money you need to get something you can afford. Again….this blog is just passing information and not acting like a licensed  professional on bugs. If anybody uses it and leaves a message on this blog I am sure that readers would be appreciative.

Below is a video of how this parasites bugs have sex…s&m is nothing for them…..if you have a thing about bugs..don’t watch it. 

This 4 minutes video will teach you how they reproduce. My opinion is that when you have an enemy that likes to invade you anytime it wishes, you need to know about it. It will take out the fear replace it by common sense and a clear mind of what to do. If you go on the web in the western countries you will have instructions. Those countries that are poor and don’t use insecticides, you already might be using this Silica or will find out it might be for you.

Gee I was going to write about brain parasites and how it affects human and connected it to politics…it will be another time.

Adam Gonzalez for adamfoxie*

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HUsbands }The First Gay Marriage is Here Series{ in Season Two

Gayweb series Husbands has officially premiered the long awaited season two.

The series, headed up by Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Jane Espenson and actor Brad Bell, describes itself as the world’s first marriage equality comedy.

Set in a fictional America where every state has legalized gay marriage, two celebrities accidentally do a ‘Britney’ and get drunkenly hitched in Las Vegas.

One is an out-and-proud actor, and the other is a baseball player who has just come out as gay, and they have only been dating six weeks.

The hilarious series, which first aired on YouTube in September 2011, has famous fans like gay singer Adam Lambert and Avengers director Joss Whedon. Whedon, who also created Buffy and Angel, has said: ‘Husbands is full of the kind of whip-smart remarks you wish you'd written yourself.’

Husbands has a highly loyal fanbase that helped raise over $60,000 (£38,297, €48,848) for the show’s second season, which premiered online yesterday (15 August).

Gay Star News chatted to Bell and Espenson to find out more about the much loved series.

What can we expect for season two, and what themes and stories do you cover?

Espenson: 'You can expect everything to be bigger and better. We've found the voice, the groove, the identity of the show. Season two covers a single story, half hour sitcom length. Each act is an episode, so there are three episodes running about eight to 10 minutes each.

'The theme has to do with how a couple presents themselves in public, and how they negotiate that decision. It's complicated by the fact that this is a very public same-sex married couple.

'And of course, it's a romantic comedy, so these concepts are explored in very funny ways.'

When you began to write Husbands, did you or Brad Bell dream Obama would be the first sitting president in US history to back marriage equality?

Espenson: 'Yep. I actually expected it sooner. But yay! That turning point, and the new public realization that this is part of the larger history of civil rights in this country is actually something that we anticipated in the writing of season two. So that felt very good – felt that we were tuned into the national conversation.

Bell: 'It did feel gratifying, to make that comparison in our script and see Obama echoing the sentiment just a week or so later. And yeah, it's great that we have a president who is supportive of marriage equality.

'I guess it's better than the alternative, but at the risk of being a downer, I'd be more moved by the whole thing if there were actions to accompany Obama's words.

'Instead, the Obama administration is putting more energy into appealing [National Defense Authorization Act] which robs all Americans of the right to a trial and legalizes indefinite detainment. I can't help but wonder if the battle for equality is a distraction.'

When you’re writing the web series, do you try to think about the statement you’re making about marriage?

Espenson: 'Yes. I think being truthful is the first thought, and being funny is the second. If you do those, then the idea of making a positive statement almost happens on its own. But, yeah, we are constantly checking in with each other – what does this say, is that what we want to say?'

Bell: 'Instead of commenting on the ideology of marriage -- like what it should be, how it works, its function in a societal context -- I think more about the statement we're making overall. What can we infer as a moral by the way conflict is resolved? If the character takes this action, what philosophy is he embracing?

'There's an opportunity to comment on civil rights here, what will we say about it?

'We start with our point of view on a social issue, but we make sure to keep the focus on the couple: what they want from life, what they love about each other, what gets in the way, and how they are going to adapt to one another.

'Their goal is achieving real intimacy - fearlessly, completely, forever.'

Buffy fan favorites Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson and Felicia Day are appearing in the second season. What was it like working with them again, and what did they think of the material?

Espenson: 'It was so thrilling to see the people we contacted respond to the material with such excitement. These are some powerful and accomplished people, they aren't going to lend their talents to something that is unfunny or negative.

'Even Joss wanted in on it! Having their support meant a great deal to us – it really is a stamp of approval!'

How have you found the extremely positive reaction to Husbands? Do you know of any famous people who say they like the show?

Espenson: 'YES! The reaction has been very positive. In fact, so far, we've had very little in the way of negative flailing – I think humor disarms people.

'Famous people – yes, Adam Lambert, Eliza Dushku, Rick Fox, Andy Richter, Russell Davies, who created Queer As Folk. Joss Whedon told us the script was to be envied – and that was before we approached him about appearing in the show.

'Plus, we've earned praise from some very hard to impress critics.'

What would you like to say to the fans after their amazing generosity after season one?

Espenson: 'Here is season two. You made this happen. We hope you love it!'

You can catch up with the first season at husbandstheseries.com, and watch the first episode of the second season on lovehusbands.com.

 BY JOE MORGAN
GayStarNews.com

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Ryan’s Bill Would Make Romney’s Kids Criminals

Tagg Romney and son. Tagg Romney/Twitter

Now that Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, Ryan's long history as a culture warrior is getting a fresh look. Women's groups have already honed in on his extreme anti-abortion record, which consistently has earned him a 100 percent voting approval rating from the National Right to Life Committee.

What isn't so well known about Ryan's record, though, is that one piece of legislation he supported is so extreme that it would have turned Romney's children into criminals.

 

The Sanctity of Human Life Act, which Ryan co-sponsored, would have enshrined the notion that life begins at fertilization in federal law, thus criminalizing in vitro fertilization—the process of creating an embryo outside of a woman's womb. In IVF, doctors typically create multiple embryos and then only implant the healthiest ones in the woman. Some of them stick and become babies, and some don't. The embryos that don't make it to the womb are either frozen for later use or destroyed. The Sanctity of Human Life Act, if passed, would make all those embryos "people" in the legal sense, so if they aren't used or don't become babies after being implanted, they would essentially become murder victims under the law.

In the more than 30 years since the world's first "test-tube baby," IVF has become a fairly common procedure and a lifeline to many infertile couples, Democrat and Republican, despite some of the thorny moral issues involved in the process. Some 60,000 babies every year are born thanks to IVF. Infertility is thought to affect some 10 to 15 percent of all couples in the US—especially those upper-class professionals who delay childbearing until their late 30s and early 40s. Infertility, in fact, is such a bipartisan problem that no fewer than three of Mitt Romney's own children have relied on the procedure to produce some of his 18 grandchildren.

In May, Romney's son Tagg became father of twin boys thanks to help from IVF and a surrogate mother. Tagg's son Jonathan was also produced this way. Two of Tagg's brothers reportedly have struggled with infertility issues and resorted to IVF as well. It's hard to imagine that Romney will score any points with voters by tapping a running mate whose anti-abortion views are so extreme that Romney's own kids can't live with them.

Ryan's position on IVF might give President Obama an opening for attack: While Romney's running mate has advocated criminalizing a procedure that has brought untold joy to about 3 million families over the past three decades, Democrats might be able to claim credit for making advanced infertility treatments available to the vast majority of Americans who can't afford them. Currently, most health insurance plans don't cover infertility treatment, so IVF and other advanced baby-making technology is mostly available to rich people—like the Romney boys.

One estimate puts the cost of Tagg Romney's new twins at more than $60,000, a price tag that puts IVF (and surrogate moms) totally out of reach for the average infertile couple. But Obamacare could change all that. The Department of Health and Human Services is currently drafting what's known as the Essential Health Benefits Plan, a collection of conditions and other medical care that many insurance companies will be required to cover. There's currently a push to have infertility treatments included as an essential benefit. Down the road, it's possible that Obamacare will not only help thousands of people take care of their children, but also help them conceive them in the first place. As campaign issues go, this one couldn't present a starker contrast. The supposedly pro-life GOP candidates want to turn infertile couples into criminals for trying to have a baby. The Democrats want to help them pay for it.

  Stephanie Mencimer is a staff reporter in Mother Jones' Washington bureau.  

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"If I had Fake Cancer I’d Use Fake Cures, But I have Real Cancer"

 By Xeni Jardin  

 

I loved Science Blogs contributor Orac before I was diagnosed with cancer. I love him a whole lot more now. I'll get to why in a moment, but I want to share something personal first (cracks knuckles).

Well-meaning friends have suggested I try coffee enemas and Burzynskian"antineoplastons" and oxygen therapy to cure my breast cancer; others have told me the reason some of my cells went mutinous is because I offended the Great Invisible Beardy Man in the Sky.

Dude, I've heard it all.

I am active on Twitter in talking about cancer, sharing the experience of my treatment (which fucking sucks), and connecting with fellow persons with cancer.

One of those fellow travelers yesterday tweeted this link, which praises the work of "ND" Judy Seeger. In alternative healing parlance, ND stands for naturopathic doctor. I like Orac's definition better: "not a doctor."

Let me be blunt: I think people who sell fake cancer cures are murderers.

I spoke about the content of that blog post with my radiation oncologist yesterday, after I lay down under the linear accelerator for another daily (yep, daily) blast of rays to kill any remaining lurking cells that might want to off me a few years down the road.

I hate radiation treatment, by the way. HATE IT. But I hate cancer more.

The tl;dr of the conversation I had in the exam room with my rad-onc: medicine isn't perfect, and people who work in the health care system, like my doc, know many aspects of it are broken. Many of them will tell you they are frustrated at how brutal the effects of radiation, chemo, and surgery are on those of us who must endure. But this is the best we have, for now.

Green smoothies are great, but they alone cannot cure cancer. Oncology isn't guaranteed to cure us, but quackery is guaranteed to kill us. What doctors like my rad-onc practice is constantly under scrutiny, and has endured the test of peer-reviewed science and empirical logic. It is the best we have. Rattlesnake powder, laetrile, and squirting espresso up your ass (real things that real people have told me I should do instead of sciencey-medicine) is not.

There are no dark Big Pharma cabals hiding a secret cure for cancer (aka "THE TRUTH," in all caps, as natural cure proponents are wont to type in blog comments). The FDA isn't "hiding" the cure for cancer, either. Believe me, the medical industry would find a way to popularize and profit from that cure, if it did exist. And I'd be first in line, if it worked.

Anyway, about Orac. He tears down naturopathic cancer cures in this post. And in this one, today, he explores the idea of "alternative medicine" as a faith-based religion.

"What we are doing (or trying to do)," writes Orac, is to rely on science rather than faith."

The longer I study alternative medicine and alternative medical systems, the more it becomes clear to me that they show far more similarity to religion than they do to science. It’s true that alt-med apologists dress up their beliefs in language that sounds scientific, but when you scratch the patina of scientific language off, it doesn’t take long to find the religious imagery, often facilitated by the more conventional religious beliefs (i.e, Christianity) of the believer. We see the same thing with respect to evolution denial. So why not with denial of scientific medicine? A nonscientific world view that is based on faith in things that can’t be seen is often not confined to church.

If you haven't spent a ton of time thinking about cancer like I have—and I didn't think about it much before I was diagnosed—you might not know that some idiots actually believe that people like me get cancer because they think bad thoughts. Or conversely, because they don't think enough good thoughts. I'm not kidding. Read the Orac posts. And pass them on to anyone who has cancer, and is frightened and desperate and thinking about ditching science for faith.

I believe cancer patients have every right to choose whatever course of treatment we want, including no treatment at all. But lies and false hope have no place in our lives, least of all when our lives are threatened by a disease that wants to kill us.

If I had fake cancer, I'd totally use fake cancer cures. But I have real cancer.

Xeni Jardin

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@xeni

Friends don't let friends believe in bullshit science.

This post appeared on  boingboing.net. I had a need to repost with minor editing for the sake of space.adamfoxie*
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