The bigger story, plus picking nits

It feels like a cop-out to simply post a link to someone else's article without adding much in the way of your own thoughts on the subject, but sometimes there's really not much to add. Sometimes the article just sums up my feelings so well that all I need to do is point at it and say, "Yeah, that's it."

"Economic Disaster Longtime Coming" via Firedoglake

Meanwhile, stateside, the Assembly just passed the emergency contraception bill, with 16 Republicans bravely splitting ranks to vote yes. Save a somewhat predictable dick move by Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) that will keep the bill from going to the governor's desk (where it will likely be signed) until the full Assembly reconvenes in February, final passage seems likely. This is great news.

As a side note, there was one quote in the article that grabbed my attention:

The director of legislation for a group that opposes abortion and birth control, however, said in a statement that those who voted for the bill "flouted both their moral duty to protect pre-born children and their legal duty to protect conscience rights." Matt Sande of Pro-Life Wisconsin said the vote "is cause for great frustration and anger in the pro-life community. This is a day that will be long remembered."

Pre-born? That's right up there with pre-pregnant, which is how our wonderful CDC now categorizes every woman, regardless of whether or not she ever intends to actually have a child. The term is so loaded, so presumptuous, that it becomes nearly impossible to speak out against it for fear of immediately being called a baby hating whack-job. Look, health guidelines for women should simply encourage all of us to be, y'know, healthy, for our own sake. If we then choose to become pregnant (or just do so by accident), it stands to reason that we'll already be living a lifestyle conducive to a healthy pregnancy. But to call all women "pre-pregnant" is to essentially call us nothing more than baby machines, whose main duty to the country is to produce future citizens (whether the message is intended or not).

Screw that noise. And screw this "pre-born" nonsense, too. If you want to debate the issue of abortion, please do, but don't couch it in such ludicrously loaded terms so that you can launch substance-free attacks against anyone who disagrees with you.

P.S. Besides, terms like "pre-born" and "pre-pregnant" sound way too much like "pre-clear," which is what those wacky Scientologists call everyone who hasn't paid them lots of money yet. Do you really want that association on your back?