one (south dakota) down, 49 to go (plus guam and puerto rico of course

Tenn. Senate Backs Anti-Abortion Step
Tennessee Senate Makes First Step Toward Amending Constitution to Eliminate Right to Abortion
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Mar 9, 2006 (AP)— The state Senate on Thursday passed a proposal to amend the Tennessee Constitution so that it doesn't guarantee a woman's right to an abortion.
The 24-9 vote was the first step of many toward officially amending the state constitution. The measure would go before voters if the General Assembly approves it twice over the next two years.
The state Supreme Court has ruled that the Tennessee Constitution grants women a greater right to abortion than the U.S. Constitution.
Abortion rights supporters are attacking the measure as a stepping stone to prohibiting all abortions in Tennessee if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade.
"The resolution is an all-out attack on the women of Tennessee and seeks to rob women of their right to make choices about their own health, safety and personal welfare," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.
Sen. David Fowler, a Republican sponsor of the bill, proposed a similar resolution last year that cleared the Senate but stalled in a House committee.
"I regret this will cast me as being hardhearted, unsympathetic and unkind but that's not who I am," Fowler said.......

yesterday, i read an article in my local paper the hartford courant. it was about GOVERNMENT CUTS in medicare and how those cuts effect our elderly. the cuts aren't allowing them to live the full active PAIN FREE lives they USED to live. so i say to myself, i says, 'a rose is a rose, the government is thinking soooooooooo much about little fertilized eggs they are putting aside the needs of real LIVE PEOPLE who have REAL LIVE LIVES'. i say to myself i says, 'wtf is up wit dat????' how in the WORLD can they justify that if "life" is so effing important to them? is it only CERTAIN LIVES that are important? is there a cut off age (and is that cut off age the actual BIRTH of the little fertilized egg??????). i had to stop talking to myself because i was making myself mad

Cuts In Medicare Painful For Some

One Treatment Out Of Reach For Thousands
March 9, 2006By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- Until a few months ago, Jim Hill led an active life as a retiree involved with his church and family. But lately the 80-year-old has been forced to spend much of the day in a hospital bed. What happened? It's not just the disease attacking his nervous system, he says. It's also Medicare. To remain mobile, the Los Angeles resident depended on regular intravenous infusions of healthy antibodies. But recently, in a budget-cutting move, the government health care program for the elderly has reduced what it will pay for such treatments - to less than what doctors and hospitals say it costs to provide them.As a result, Hill and many others no longer receive their regular treatments. And the medical alternatives are often less effective. Hill's predicament is shared by more than 10,000 Medicare patients nationwide, according to a conservative estimate............