Fucking brilliant:
Susan Wood, director of FDA’s Office of Women’s Health, announced her resignation in an e-mail to colleagues at the agency…
The FDA last Friday postponed indefinitely its decision on whether to allow the morning-after pill, called Plan B, to be sold without a prescription. The agency said it was safe for adults to use without a doctor’s guidance but was unable to decide how to keep it out of the hands of young teenagers without a prescription — a decision contrary to the advice of its own scientific advisers.
“I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled,” wrote Wood, who also was assistant commissioner for women’s health. “The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency contraception, which continues to limit women’s access to a product that would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions, is contrary to my core commitment to improving and advancing women’s health.”
NY Times
The FDA Commissioner, Lester Crawford, promised Congress that he would make a final decision on over-the-counter Plan B by September 1st. Instead, he has postponed it again. I am so sick of the Republicans pretending that they want to limit abortion. They have no desire to do anything about abortion other than using it as a wedge issue. God forbid a ‘young teenager’ should get a hold of emergency contraception.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate a government official who actually quit her job as an act of protest against Bush policies.
Sigh. Remember the marvelous diplomats who quit prior to the Iraq invasion? Lot a good that did …
I admire her but also wish she’d stuck around just to be a huge thorn in their side. You know, one of those pains in the ass at meetings?
As for the FDA’s decision. Susan bangs head on table.
If only banging head on table was a contraceptive. On the other hand, if it was, no liberal Democrat would ever get pregnant.
and pharmacist, not a physician. How in hell is he qualified to make a decision like this? I can see that a vet might be OK to oversee meat-safety issues, but to have him dictating socio-medical policy is grotesque. But as long as he’s a Christian, nothing else matters, right? Can the US get any more fucked up?
everytime someone asks that question, Bush and his criminal enterprise find another way to fuck up our country.
Let us all say, it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon. it will get better very soon.
Let this become our mantra and just maybe it will in fact get better soon. The mid terms are coming, the mid terms are coming.
Even as sad as it is, you made me laugh, GW.
p.s. Your sig line is proving sadly true down on the Gulf Coast this week, isn’t it?
apparent that G W Bush and his criminal administration care very little for anyone who does not possess at least a 7 figure bank account. I can guess that the casino’s will be the first to be resurrected on the Gulf Coast and then the McMansions will replace the regular folks homes along the coast. The regular folks will be told, that the tax base will improve because the rich will pay more in taxes, like that ever happens, so be good little sheeple and move along and fend for yourselves so we can rape pillage and plunder the rest of America.
Ah, but you see, women in the US are rapidly progressing to a point where they are nothing more than just breeding animals…just like the Religious Reich wants it.
The credit for that one really belongs to Ghostdancer’s Way… 🙂
I did not generate it, I saw somewhere and used it myself, but will gladly take the acknowledgement of its introduction here.
Religious Reich = a fundamentalist mindset that encompasses the rigidly held belief that their interpretation of religion is without fault and that the state must institute it into the lives of all the citizens of the nation.
Religious Reich = Fascism at its worst.
They don’t want teenagers to have Plan B because they’re afraid the girls might wrap the pills up in some cheese and feed them to the family dog.
Can the US get any more fucked up?
Please don’t ask questions like this — we have good reason to believe that The Fates consider it a doubledare.
U.S. Constitution [Annotated] @ FindLaw.
it’s “brilliant” at all that she quit. I think this country desperately needs people who oppose the administration’s positions to STAY IN OFFICE and fight from within–for whatever it’s worth.
I’m not really criticizing Wood for getting so enormously fed-up that she couldn’t take it anymore; hell, leaving is probably her last effort to salvage her professional integrity and personal sanity. I’m just saying that we (women) can’t afford to see her FDA commissioner spot filled by some reactionary religious freak with no medical credentials to speak of–and you can bet your bippy they’re already lining up to be interviewed for the vacancy.
Shit. Another good one gone.
as long as she could, for many of the reasons you mention. But what good is it for a person with some intelligence or integrity to let herself carry out the orders of whores and idiots? This administration is not going to be reformed, and she can’t destroy it from within. The only hope for America’s future is the destruction of this administration from top to bottom. Her public departure is a very small blow toward that goal, but better than nothing.
that her leaving has dealt any sort of destructive blow to the administration. I think having her gone means one less person who speaks up, complains, and dissents, which is precisely what’s needed in a system that’s broken.
This is also, perhaps misguidedly, the reason I didn’t up and leave this country after Bush “won” another term in November. If everyone who abhors him and his policies simply went away, we’d leave everything to the people whose actions and opinions we despise. And I care too much about this country to do that.
Then again, very few days go by that I don’t consider fleeing to Canada. Ah well.