Women finally earned the right to vote 91 years ago today - after 72 years of largely unappreciated, back-breaking, work. It took another 66 years before we elected the first Democratic Senator in her own right - today Barbara Mikulski is the longest serving female Senator. And she shares the chamber with 11 other Democratic women.

I'm proud and lucky to be a part the community of campaign staffers who has worked to get women elected. The work that we have all been able to do is because of the women who paved the way for us and 91 years later, there have been over 100 pro-choice Democratic women elected to the halls of the U.S. Congress, and more than 500 women to state and local office.

And those are the women who are standing up for us fighting everyday - but there aren't enough. We've seen what happens when Republicans are in charge - since day one it's been an all-out war on women and families: they've tried to repeal health care reform, strip funding for family planning, eliminate collective bargaining, gut education, end Medicare, and destroy the economic safety net for many Americans.

If we stand together - just like we've done so many times already this year - we can stop the Republicans and elect people who will fight for us every day. I can tell you right now, 2012 will be game changer if women get to the polls. So on the 91st anniversary of the 19th Amendment, I'm asking women across the country to stand up and pledge to vote in 2012.

The suffragists paved the way for our success - and now, it's up to us to continue their fight. We have the chance to change things in 2012 - by mobilizing our families and friends and getting women to the polls to help elect Democrats up and down the ticket.

With each race we win, each new staffer that is trained, each blog we write, we are working toward that victory, but we need everyone together. There is so much we can do and after 75 years of struggle for suffrage we must be united in standing for those who will always stand for women and families. I want to take this anniversary to thank all of those brave women who came before me, and all of those young women just joining the fight. The suffragists gave us the right to vote in 1920, and in 2012, I'm sure as heck going to use it.

Crossposted from EMILY's List Blog

Scott Walker claims to be a Christian. Yet he is constantly cutting services for the working poor and unemployed. Which raises the question: What would Jesus do? Remember, this was a cat who hung out with prostitutes and assorted people of ill-repute. Wonder how he'd feel about Scott "I loves me some Jesus!" Walker throwing the poor to the wolves to pay for tax cuts for businesses?

Greg Hartman was waiting tables to support himself through college in the fall of 2010 when his hometown of Manitowoc, Wisc., experienced an outbreak of HIV and the hepatitis C virus. After finding out his best friend had been infected with hepatitis, the uninsured 22-year-old decided he needed to get checked out as well -- but the tests were going to cost him more than $300 out of pocket.

"There's no way I could have afforded it on my own," said Hartman, who brings in only $150 to $200 a week from his restaurant job.

Hartman said he went to the University of Wisconsin's campus health care center and applied for BadgerCare -- the state's Medicaid-funded family planning program, which reimburses low-income men and women for sexually transmitted disease testing, birth control services, cancer screenings and other preventative reproductive care. Through BadgerCare, Hartman was able to afford to get tested for both HIV and hepatitis C -- he tested positive for the latter.

"If I didn't qualify for BadgerCare, I would have just said '[screw] it' and not gone into the clinic in the first place," he told HuffPost. "I would never have known I had hepatitis."

Although the BadgerCare family planning program doesn’t cover Hartman's treatment, he was able to afford two different HIV tests, a liver panel and potentially life-saving hepatitis tests through the subsidized program.

But the nearly 7,000 other low-income Wisconsin men who use BadgerCare may soon be out of luck. Scott Walker, the state's Republican governor, has proposed eliminating men entirely from the program in his latest budget bill. That move could cost Wisconsin all of its federal family planning funds, policy experts warn.

[...] Abortion rights advocates in Wisconsin are convinced that Walker and the GOP lawmakers are just looking for underhanded, politically acceptable ways to change the BadgerCare program so significantly that the U.S. government is forced to cut all federal family planning funding to the state.

"Taking men out of the program not only serves to remove critical health care for men, but it puts us out of compliance with our agreement with the federal government and puts the entire BadgerCare program at risk," said Tanya Atkinson, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Wisconsin. "It's a politically palatable way of systematically dismantling Wisconsin's family planning program."

Margaret and Helen: Bart, if you want to reduce abortions, vote to fully fund family planning and comprehensive sex education. Otherwise, shut the hell up.

Scott Horton: The Alternate Reality of Marc Thiesson (h/t Batocchio)

First Draft: The Other N Word: Nullification

Mock, Paper, Scissors: The Crazy is constant

Brilliant at Breakfast: Confederacy of Dunces, continued

The Satirical Political Report: GOP seeks federal mandate: Everyone must buy their bullsh*t

Remember during the stimulus debate, when the Republicans told us birth control funds didn't have a damned thing to do with the economy - and the Democrats, as usual, knuckled under to them?

The Guttmacher Institute has just released a report on the impact of the recession on family planning, and the results are predictable - at least, if you're a normal (i.e. non-wingnut) person. Via Salon:

This summer, researchers surveyed 947 women between the ages of 18 and 34 with household incomes of less than $75,000. They found that women are preoccupied by worry about money, medical costs and childcare. Most of the women hope to get pregnant later on or have decided against having kids because of these tough times -- and that's even more common among women who are less well-off than they were a year ago. A total of 64 percent agreed with the statement, "With the economy the way it is, I can’t afford to have a baby right now."

These findings are all rather intuitive, but what this actually means for pregnancy prevention is less straightforward. A total of 29 percent say they are "more careful" than before about using contraception every time they have sex. There is a flip-side to that, though: Eight percent of women are using birth control less regularly as a means of saving money and, among women in financial decline, that number rises to 12 percent. Things are even sketchier among women on the pill: 18% are popping hormones irregularly to save some cash -- either by missing pills, filling their prescription late, taking at least one month off or picking up fewer packs at a time. That number balloons to 25 percent when it comes to the category of worse-off women.

Overall, 23 percent are having a tougher time than a year ago covering the cost of birth control and -- again, say it with me now -- that number is higher among women whose finances have dwindled. The upshot: Those who are least capable of affording the cost of a child are putting themselves at the greatest risk for an unplanned pregnancy. Women also report avoiding appointments with their gynecologists in the last year -- especially those who have recently lost their health insurance.

Michael from The Reaction here. So much good stuff, let's get right to it:

Mustang Bobby at BBWW: Don't ignore the Malkins and Coulters of the world, make fun of them. (And, I would add, call them out on their bigotry and stupidity.)

Pam with the steamin' House Blend: Oh no! Sexual addition among female fundies! Internet porn! Masturbation! Good times.

Maha of Mahablog: Dalai Lama Derangement Syndrome.

Libby Spencer at The Impolitic (who also blogs at my place and at the very fine Newshoggers): Bush's new "Family Planning czar," yet another anti-sex wingnut. See also Thought Theater.

The Gun Toting Liberal: American Oligarchy -- Verizon, AT&T, and the corporatist police state.

Eric at Total Information Awareness: The insurgency in Somalia, and the brutality of America's allies in the region. (Yes, Bush is destroying America's image everywhere.)

Finally, L-girl at We Move to Canada reacts positively to the Doris Lessing Nobel win.

I'm sorry I can't link to everyone, but keep the e-mails coming: mjwstickings [at] yahoo [dot] ca

Less than a week ago, the World Health Organization released one of the most comprehensive studies to date on reproductive health. Its conclusions were not surprising — the only effective way to reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions is to make contraception widely available.

Five days later, the White House has responded to this reality by naming an opponent of birth control to head the federal government’s family planning office.

The Department of Health and Human Services appointed Susan Orr — who has spoken out against contraception — to a post responsible for U.S. contraception programs.

Orr, who will be acting deputy assistant secretary for population affairs, has been directing child welfare programs in another branch of HHS. Prior to joining the Bush administration, Orr was senior director for marriage and family at the Family Research Council, a conservative group that favors abstinence-only education and opposes federal money for contraception.

Orr will replace Eric Keroack, a doctor who believes the distribution of contraceptives is “demeaning to women,” and who had a history of saying truly nutty things, such as the belief that condoms “offer virtually no protection” against herpes or HPV.

Yes, I know, we’re talking about the Bush administration. When looking for someone to head up family-planning programs, loyal Bushies aren’t going to put Joycelyn Elders’ resume at the top of the list. I get that.

But this is ridiculous. It’s as if the Bush administration is trying to find the most offensive choices possible for public-health posts.

A Tiny Revolution: If you're World Bank president and the Financial Times is calling for your resignation, things can't be good.  Related: Depite Wolfie's denials, the managing director he hired ordered staff to purge any references to family planning from a proposal to fund efforts to combat AIDS and fight poverty in Madagascar

Hullabaloo: Long before the recent Imus convulsion, it was clear that our national conversation has become increasingly coarse, vulgar, violent, and just plain mean

Wise Bread: Gmail can solve White House document retention problems

CorrenteWire: The scandals are rolling in like waves for the most corrupt administration ever. Now it’s the Agriculture Department...

Vagabond Scholar: False equivalency is perhaps the most persistent, pernicious mistake perpetrated by the press

This may be the best freeway blogging ever

HOLY CRAP: Thanks to Blue Gal, Neural Gourmet and everyone who participated in the Blog Against Theocracy ...Did you know Pokemon blatantly promotes evolution?...Belief cannot be legislated...The Religious Right's latest phony martyr...The radical Christian right has no religious legitimacy and is, in fact, a mass political movement....Chapter 14 of The Event is up...A Rev.Moon organization linked to selling whale meat...Intelligent Design leader says 'framing' is for athiests and secular elitists...The Catholic hierarchy becomes ever less distinguishable from the Dobson Empire...More from mr. deity...A behind-the-scenes peek at Pat Robertson's Law School

It's Knuttz: Great images of G-Dub in Brazil showing the orchestrated view...and the real street.

Lawyers, Guns and Money: Treason-in-Defense-of-Slavery Heritage Month

Red State Son: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses to more shocking crimes...

Norbizness: The Left must be stopped...I've gone too far

Opinions You Should Have: Bush pardons Fitgerald!

HOLY CRAP: Looks like Kentucky won't be turning out a lot of scientists...All they want is control of your bodies, your behavior, your thoughts...Muslims and ex-Muslims standing up to radical Islamic violence...OMG! Gospel mimes?...Texas diverted $5 million from sucessful family planning programs to antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers and medical misinformation...Atlantic City Baptist minister succumbs to temptations of the flesh...Students from Jerry Falwell’s Liberty "University" get scuffed up when attempting to match wits with Richard Dawkins...The General writes to Dr.Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist theological Seminary, who obviously didn't get the memo about this...The Family Research Council has hired former Ohio secretary of state, Ken Blackwell

Politics in the Zeros: Thousands will be in Washington, D.C. today to emphasize the unmistakable mandate which American voters gave congress last November: Bring The Troops Home Now!

The Osterley Times: An EU inquiry has concluded that many European governments knew about the hundreds of secret CIA flights across the continent. MEPs lambasted politicians and senior officials for failing to co-operate with an inquiry into secret U.S, renditions.

Britannica Blog: It appears that the number of individuals who no longer file tax returns must be in the millions

BTC News: Latest evidence of the utter abdication of responsibility and integrity in American journalism (h/t CW)

American Prospect Online: Wes Clark just got caught up in the rigged rules for discussing Israel-related issues in America.  Meanwhile, unrepentant bigots like the TNR's Marty Peretz get a pass.

AlterNet Blogs: The Top Ten reasons you should be terrified that "Dr." Eric Keroack runs Bush's Family Planning Program

State of the Day: Happy Surge Day, kill more people, spend more money!...can you say "Wag The Dog"?

Petty Larseny: Signing Statements may define the battle over congressional oversight

Politics in the Zeros: China and India face up to Global Warming

CleanUpWashington: Exposing phony grassroots groups, also know as "astroturf," will soon become easier if an important provision in the Senate's lobbying reform bill remains intact. Take action!

HOLY CRAP: Letterman on Robertson's communication with God...The Christian Right and the War on America."...Poland’s Shame, America’s Future...Here's an outfit which believes that contraception is a form of abortion and that all family planning decisions should be left to Providence

TAPPED: Dinesh D'Souza is a "blame America firster"

QUOTE FOR THE DAY: We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them--Albert Einstein