Part 1 – Dodging a Bullet – News, to do list, is this Daylight Savings Time thingy working for us or against us, Councilman Mike Jameson calls a meeting about Riverfront development, and Councilman Jason Holleman’s storm water amendment. [37.3 MB 23:13 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part1.mp3)

Independence Day – Martina McBride
Cannonball – The Breeders
See a Little Light – Bob Mould

Part 2 – Interview with Hal Cato – Joining us is Hal cato, president and CEO of Oasis Center, to tell us about their new digs at the Youth Opportunity Center – where Oasis and their partner organizations have banded together to serve young Middle-Tenneseans facing real challenges. Health care, job assistance, counseling, education support, emergency residential services, college counseling, youth leadership opportunities, and even a youth-run business are just some of what they offer all under one roof. [20 MB 12:30 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part2halcato.mp3)

Philadelphia Freedom – Elton John

Part 3 – The More You Know The more you know the more you are able to make informed decisions based on your values. So it’s surprising that Rep. Stacey Campfield, “Rep. Daddy,” for the sake of this segment, introduced his “Don’t Say Gay” bill which would “prohibit the teaching of or furnishing of materials on human sexuality other than heterosexuality in public school grades K-8.” With this legislation, Rep. Daddy once again introduces an unnecessary bill and makes it clear that if he had kids and they went to public school, all further discussion of important issues would stop once they got home. [14.7 MB 09:10 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part3.mp3)

People Get Ready – Curtis Mayfield

Part 4 – Interview with Peter Canellos – Peter Canellos is Washington bureau chief of The Boston Globe and editor of Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy, the newly published biography of Ted Kennedy by the team at the Globe. It’s all in there – his brothers and the Kennedy mystique, Chappaquiddick, universal health care, his political legacy, and the relationship between Kennedy and President Obama. Plus, we get his thoughts on the state of journalism in the digital era and a down economy. [26.4MB 16:29 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part4petercanellos.mp3)

We’re in Yr Corner – Cornershop (album: When I Was Born For The 7th Time)
The Step and the Walk – The Duke Spirit (album: Neptune)

Part 5 – Our Ears are Marked by a Conservative Caller – Who tries to spread the lie that President Obama promised during his campaign to stop earmark spending and is breaking that promise by signing the spending bill currently being considered in the Senate. We miss Elbert but we don’t need him for a smackdown. [8.8MB 5:31 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part5.mp3)

Part 6 – Making the Sausage is Hard – So some legislators take the easy way out by making complex issues appear in stark black and white so they can present them cynically to their constituents. Congressman Zach Wamp (R-TN) went on national TV and did it with the issue of Universal healthcare (we replay the audio), and Rep. Debra Maggart did it with an abortion bill (which is why we’re once again having a difficult conversation about abortion). [25:13MB 40:04 download MP3]Download audio file (liberadio20090309part6.mp3)

This past summer, our second daughter, Jenna, was diagnosed in utero with Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder doctors deem as incompatible with life. An ultrasound showed she also had a cystic hygroma (a fluid filled pocket on the back of her neck), a clubbed foot, very little brain matter, kidney malformations and other problems. My husband and I decided after a lot of soul searching to end the pregnancy. This was the hardest decision we had ever made. Jenna was very much wanted and very much loved. My strongest desire was to keep her from pain.

While we were waiting for our amniocentesis results, I did a lot of research on Trisomy 18 and the options available to us if she did have it. We wanted to end the pregnancy through a labor and delivery abortion at our hospital with our doctor. I wanted to be able to hold her and take pictures of her and make memories that would have to last us a lifetime. I thought I would be able to do this since abortion is legal in this country. Imagine my surprise when my doctor informed me that because I was almost 20 weeks pregnant, we would have to travel out of state to an abortion clinic to do so.

As I am sure you know, all second trimester abortions have to be performed in a hospital, and all doctors and hospitals have the right of refusal, meaning they can refuse to perform certain procedures if it goes against their moral beliefs. There are no exceptions for life of the mother, poor prenatal diagnosis or rape or incest. Because of these laws and the political climate in this state, many hospitals will no longer perform the procedure. Read the rest…

(Hat tip: Dru Fuller)

Viewers can call 737-PLUS (7587) from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm and ask questions.

Isis: You wanna make it right? Then when you go to Nationals…bring it. Don’t slack off because you feel sorry for us. That way, when we beat you, we’ll know it’s because we’re better.

Torrance Shipman: Oh, I’ll bring it. Don’t worry.

Isis: I never do.

Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to a vasectomy. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding how and when a vasectomy may be obtained, especially related to situations involving the knowledge and consent of a spouse when the person requesting the vasectomy is married.

A heated discussion is going on this morning at a Kleinheider joint, and Aunt B., as usual, brings it.

What this bill does is shed some much needed light on who in the state of Tennessee is trusted to make decisions about their own reproductive health (men) and who is not (women).

Keeping that Pesky Stork at Bay

Freddie and I had a conversation on this morning’s show called, “Don’t they have anything better to do?,” in which we tried to figure out why Republicans, who are in complete control of both the Tennessee House and Senate for the first time since Reconstruction, have nothing better to do than introduce legislation that infringes on the reproductive health of women. Is that what Tennesseans voted them in to do, we asked? Or did we want something to be done about our bottom-of-the-barrel health, safety, and public service statistics?

Download audio file (liberadio20090223part3.mp3)

You know what we mean. Every time a study is released that statistically ranks the states, Tennessee is always in the bottom half and most likely in the bottom third. For instance, Tennessee is 37th in Child Abuse Fatalities, 39th in Children in Poverty, 40th in High School Graduation, 48th in infant mortality, and 49th in violent crime

Well, we didn’t have to wait too long or look too far for answers. Colby Sledge gave us the skinny in today’s Tennessean – Rep. Mumpower and his wobbly majority have a culture war agenda and they’re not afraid to use it.

And so, tomorrow it begins. Resolutions HJR61 and HJR66 – proposed amendments that would constitutionally take away the right to abortion in Tennessee – will be heard at 4:00 p.m. in the House Public Health and Family Assistance Subcommittee.

So why are there two resolutions? Well, even though both begin with “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion,” HJR61 by Rep. Henry Fincher (D-Cookeville), calls for exceptions for rape, incest, and the heath of the mother and HJR66 by Rep. Debra Maggart (R-Hendersonville), does not. The Democrats call their bill “compromise legislation that they hope brings hot-button topics closer to the political center.” The Republicans say theirs is “not to lay the groundwork to ban abortion altogether, but rather to begin efforts to restore regulations rendered null and void” by a 2000 ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court affirming a woman’s right to private health care decisions.

Since 2001, this kind of resolution, which has passed 4 times in the Senate, has failed in the House subcommittee. But Democrats no longer control the committee – it’s now split 4-4 – and newly-crowned Speaker of the House and legislative committee tie-breaker Kent Williams (R-Elizabethton) has said he would swing his mighty gavel and vote to pass the anti-abortion resolution – without the exceptions.

A pox on you Speaker Williams.

And a double-pox on you Rep. Maggart. “No exceptions?” How did you even conceive of “no exceptions?” I must request verification that you are, indeed, a woman because sponsoring legislation like this as a woman can get you kicked out of “the club.” And while we’re at it, I’d like to see your birth certificate, too.

More disturbing still is that both the Democrats and Republicans know that a Constitutional amendment – with or without exceptions – will do nothing to reduce the number of abortions performed in Tennessee. Which begs the question, are they really looking to do that?

Did you know that although Tennessee is ranked 20th in providing family planning public funding (publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies), we’re ranked 42nd in family planning laws and policies (whether laws and policies are likely to facilitate access to contraceptive services and information), 30th in family planning service availability (how well states meet existing need for subsidized contraceptive services and supplies), and 40th in births to teen mothers ages 15-19.

Disconnect, much? If the members of the Tennessee legislature wanted real solutions, they would do two things. First, they’d be honest and admit that there are already a number of Tennessee laws which regulate abortion – including parental consent, a ban on late-term abortions and patient informed consent. Then, they would focus on researching and providing the most effective education and resources that would actually, you know, reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.

Between now and 4:00 PM tomorrow, please members of the House Public Health and Family Assistance Subcommittee as well as your state representatives, and ask them to put their valuable time and energy into real solutions for Tennessee’s problems.

Tell’em the newly enlightened Sarah Palin and her daughter, Bristol, sent you.

UPDATE: Today’s meeting of the subcommittee has been postponed. They will reschedule to hear all bills pertaining to reproductive health rights at one time. I will keep you posted.