Browsing PBH By Articles

Why Are We Arguing About Birth Control In 2014?

The Article: In 2014, why are we still arguing about birth control? by Dr. Jeanne Conroy in CNN Online.

The Text: The headlines seem like something from the past: Congressional hearings are held to debate women’s access to contraceptives. A talk show host uses a derogatory and misogynist term to describe a graduate student seeking access to contraception on her campus. And for-profit employers are suing the government to avoid providing coverage for contraception within their employees’ insurance plans on the basis of their personal beliefs.

But this is no flashback: These conversations about contraception are happening now, in the present day, with outdated views and inaccurate information playing a leading role.

As physicians dedicated to improving the health of women, we ask: Why is contraception still seen as controversial in the face of overwhelming evidence about its benefits? Why is birth control questioned, in this day and age, despite its widespread acceptance and use?

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Obama, More Fiscally Conservative Than Reagan

The Article: Obama Is More Fiscally Conservative Than Reagan by Joe Weisenthal in Business Insider.

The Text: Why isn’t the economy surging?

Because we’re still running a policy of government austerity.

This chart, via our friend Matt Busigin, shows that at this point in his Presidency, Reagan was running a deficit as a % of GDP that’s higher than what Obama is today.

Why “Ban Bossy” Is A Misguided (At Best) Campaign

The Article: “Lean In” Guru Sheryl Sandberg Wants to Ban the Word Bossy… As If there Weren’t Larger Problems to Address by Tiny Dupuy in AlterNet.

The Text: “Lean In” Author and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s campaign to cheer young girls to participate launched last week. Sandberg claims little boys get called leaders and for the same behavior little girls are branded as bossy. “Together we can encourage girls to lead. Pledge to Ban Bossy,” reads the site.

It’s only a word that’s keeping women from leadership?

What happens the first time these imagined little girls get called something truly awful? “You know, some people think of you as an inspiring female attorney and mother. Other people think of you as the overbearing yuppie wife from hell. How would you describe yourself?” That’s what a reporter asked Hillary Clinton—when she wasn’t actually running for office—on the campaign trail in 1992. Bossy is one of the nicer things Hillary gets called.

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Why Obama Is Losing Millennials

The Article: Why Obama Is Losing Millennials by Julian Zelizer in CNN Online.

The Text: President Obama attracted a lot of attention when he went on “Between Two Ferns,” going mano-a-mano with comedian Zach Galifianakis. The President handled Galifianakis’ barbs well, throwing some back at the comedian (ridiculing his film “Hangover 3,” for example) and successfully stoking interest in his health care program, based on the uptick in traffic that followed.

The show was condemned by some who saw it as disrespectful of the office of the presidency; others said the president performed brilliantly, doing what presidents need to do in this day and age, by appearing on a hip and edgy popular culture outlet.

Reaching young people any way he can is particularly urgent with the March 31 deadline for health coverage enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. The administration has not made its sign-up targets, and evidence suggests balance between young and healthy versus old and infirm is not what the President wanted.

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Why The Climate Change Deniers Have Won

The Article: The climate change deniers have won by Nick Cohen in The Guardian.

The Text: The American Association for the Advancement of Science came as close as such a respectable institution can to screaming an alarm last week. “As scientists, it is not our role to tell people what they should do,” it said as it began one of those sentences that you know will build to a “but”. “But human-caused climate risks abrupt, unpredictable and potentially irreversible changes.”

In other words, the most distinguished scientists from the country with the world’s pre-eminent educational institutions were trying to shake humanity out of its complacency. Why weren’t their warnings leading the news?

In one sense, the association’s appeal was not new. The Royal Society, the Royal Institution, Nasa, the US National Academy of Sciences, the US Geological Survey, the IPCC and the national science bodies of 30 or so other countries have said that man-made climate change is on the march. A survey of 2,000 peer-reviewed papers on global warming published in the last 20 years found that 97% said that humans were causing it.

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