Continuing to wreak havoc on reproductive rights, the Bush administration just announced a proposal that would cut off aid to health programs (like hospitals, clinics, and medical schools) that refuse to hire workers who object to abortion—and even certain methods of birth control. In other words, the proposal allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to
contraception.

Meanwhile, John McCain has a major birth control problem. Carly Fiorina, his campaign advisor, had stated that "There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice." Watch this video and see how the so-called Straight Talk Express totally derails when McCain stumbles and bumbles, eventually pleading ignorance, when asked his position on the issue.

Good news, though: watermelon may be the new Viagra.

The election is just four months away, and as I've been predicting on the lecture circuit (I didn't really have to go out on a limb to get this right), some right-wingers are trying to stir up homosexuality as a wedge issue. Just yesterday, conservative commentator Fred Barnes suggested that John McCain use gay bashing to energize his base.

Part of that base has reintroduced the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution. Ten Republican senators have submitted this piece of legislation to protect the so-called sanctity of marriage, saying that "marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman." As if it's bad enough that the likes of Alex Rodriguez and Madonna make a mockery of such sanctity, let's take a look at a couple of the co-sponsors of the legislation. David Vitter (R-LA) liked to wear diapers and hire prostitutes, while Larry Craig (R-ID) solicited sex from a man in a Minneapolis bathroom. Ah...the family values party in action. I'd love to see them run these ads as part of their pro-marriage campaigns.