Long day today - but good day today

[silveradept]

Saw feetball x 2 today - the Wolverines were The Victors, the Eagles fell short in the overtime period. I also watched East Lansing's team implode on television and let South Bend win. It was a very interesting day. Tomorrow, likely, there is shopping on the docket, and the compilation of homework. I'll have to wait until Monday to go pay the parking ticket I picked up on Wednesday (and only noticed today)... was not happy about that, mostly because I figured I was actually, y'know, not blocking the driveway... but anyway, it'll get paid, and that'll be it. I can now say that I've been caught by parking tickets in Ann Arbor, too. IHTFP sometimes.

A commentary on the Pope's recent remarks that paints the Pope as believing Muslims are irrational, only apologizing that people didn't see it his way, rather than apologizing for the remarks.

From someone who has experienced torture, the reasons why torture doesn't work and shouldn't be condoned - it tends to rip a nation apart without too much effort.

Information for women, from your local pro-life coalition. (Okay, it's really a political cartoon, but honestly, doesn't it sum up those kinds of positions well?) It's at least going into practice somewhere, as the trials and tribulations of trying to find EC of a woman demonstrate. Apparently, even though it's been approved, it's not available, and she can't get a prescription for it unless she can prove she's been raped, basically. The doctors aren't quite progressive, and the Planned Parenthood was closed. Oh, brother. Dragging feet on this sort of thing isn't particuarly cool - but I suppose it could be chalked up to not having the supplies handy. Either way, it sounds like the doctors around her have no interest in being progressive.

Last marks for today - if you ever wanted your own "BMF"-marked hilt, then check out randomsabers.com. They may not make exact replicas, but they'll probabyl make something that you can call your own.

Comments

[blacktigr.livejournal.com]

You should be able to pay your ticket online like I did.

[silveradept]

Yeah, I can. I've already scrbble the cheque, though, and so I'll just drop it off at some point. I'm just flatly annoyed that it happened to me, that's all.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I rather like the cartoon. Perhaps that's my cynical side showing. I did check the woman's blog, and she did finally manage to get the EC from a clinic 20 miles away on the Monday after, so she was still within the window. I thikn it's horrible that the hospital wouldn't give it to her...And for it to be the "doctor's discretion"? Ridiculous! Why does the doctor get to play god and say "nope ,sorry. wait til you skip your period to find out if you're pregnant"? There's a reason EC was made OTC, and that was to make it more avaliable. I was under the impression that it had to be made available immeidatly after it was approved. I really think she could have a potential lawsuit on her hands if she wanted to.

[starkruzr.livejournal.com]

That game was absolutely incredible.

[silveradept]

Just proves that Michigan State can be counted on to choke in the clutch. Good job on saving face for yourselves rather than spiraling down further, but you might want to send John L. a thank-you basket.

[silveradept]

I liked the cartoon, too, and mostly because I see a significant part of the pro-life segment espousing positions much like those lampooned, in all seriousness.

Regarding the EC - well, remember that pharmacists can choose not to fill that prescription, so long as there is someone on the staff who will. Regarding the doctors, well, there may be some doctors who think that writing prescriptions for EC is giving girls free license to have lots and lots of unprotected sex, so they wawnt to have a good reason to prescribe EC. (There may also be a small fear of being targeted by a pro-life group for protests that the doctor approves of abortions and sexual promiscuity and all the other nonsense that some people spout in the name of being pro-life.)

Regarding the rule, I went chasing it, and it's a rule proposal that's about marketing Prescription and OTC drugs at the same time. There absolutely squat in the regulation about it being specifically about EC. So I wonder who came up with the gyrations that made it possible to be interpreted in this manner...

(Docket No. 2005N-0345 from the FDA, for those curious.)

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

so it's NOT available OTC immediately?

My doctor won't prescribe it, but I do get my birth control from him. He can't prescribe it because the health group he works under doesn't allow it. However, his office was more than willing to refer me to planned parenthood.

It's NOT giving girls free range to have nprotected sex. in the case of that woman, she wanted it because hte condom broke, which meant she was practicing safe sex, something just went wrong. I would think it's better/easier...hell, CHEAPER to just give out the EC.

[silveradept]

I'm not entirely sure - if the rule was approved, then those things that are not designated prescription drugs could be available immediately, as best I can tell, but I'd have to find the final adopted rule to know, or if there was a rule specifically involving EC that I missed.

Well, if there's a health group that forbids it, then there are obviously doctors who will refuse to prescribe it, as well. And who won't be so helpfully referral-happy.

Right, in her case, we know that it's because precautions didn't quite work. Some schools of thought say, though, that if you give EC freely, then the emphasis on having safe, protected sex will diminish - and EC does zip in terms of stopping the spread of diseases. They're worried that girls will confuse EC with taking precautions in the first place.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I was fairly certain that the article I first read when it was made OTC stated it was going to be made available immediately. It was right before my birthday, because I remember stopping at a drug store after I pciked up the brandy and being told that they had no idea what I was talking about.

I understand the worry, but there already are girls who are on BC who think they're invincible to diseases...I think it's a universal thought that a lot of people have where if they are protected from getting pregnany, they're automatically protected from the diseases too. Or vice versa. Some condoms don't even have spermacide on them, and then you'd be SOL if it broke before the advent of EC.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082400377.html


http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/planB/planBQandA20060824.htm


http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/nda/2006/021045s11_planb.htm

[silveradept]

Well, yeah, that was the impression that I got from the articles as well - the adopted regulation made OTC EC immediately available. What I think it means is that the legal hurdles are cleared, so that if a drugstore wished, they could make it available immediately. Unless there are further regulations that require it to appear immediately, it's probably up to the discretion of the drugstore.

Well, because of that, people are trying, I'm sure, to come up with methods of BC that will fight off diseases, too. If they could get one that would stop HIV transmission, that would be fantastic. Then we'd finally have a way of dismantling the stigmas around sex systematically.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I think they are working on a vaccine for at least HIV, if not other STDs as well, but some STDs are so hard to *not* spread, I'm not sure how a vaccine would even help with some of them at this point.

People need to stop treating sex like it's this horribly bad thing!

[starkruzr.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was a coaching failure. I think the fight turned us into murderous werebeasts out for blood.