The other day on Slate's Political Gabfest, I heard an interesting story about a new law in New Hampshire. Effective November 1st, all doctors must do an ultrasound before performing an abortion.

Most clinics already perform ultrasounds to determine gestation. No, the part that gets me is the new law states that the doctor doing the ultrasound, must "provide a simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting," and also "display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them."

The law goes so far as to specify the doctor's script: The physician must describe the heartbeat and the presence of internal organs, fingers, and toes. The patient then has to certify in writing that the doctor or technician duly did all of this before the abortion. The law also requires that after this ultrasound is performed, the doctor must wait at least one hour before performing the abortion. Probably, so the woman can stew in her own slutty guilt.

I could go on and on...and on about how this smacks of pro-lifers trying to guilt women into not getting in an abortion. I could also say there is something very condescending and paternalistic about the government thinking a woman can't decide what to do with her own body without the government's "protection".....but I won't.

Slate does a much better job of getting my point across and with bigger words. No, I want to hear what you think.

Comment below. Your opinion is important to me...mostly.

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(SPOILER ALERT:Go forth at your own risk...)

Previously on Heroes...the writers decided to kill Adam after bringing him back for two scenes, Peter continued to be a whiny douche and Parkman became BFFs with a turtle.

NBC's Heroes has been back for a couple of weeks now with a very uneven season so far. In a review I read on an earlier episode, the author compared Heroes to a soap opera and it gave me pause.

Let's think about this for a minute. What are typical elements of a soap opera? We have a family central to the show's hierarchy that have a large number of statistically impossible beautiful people. There's a long lost daughter, a wayward black sheep who is the real heart of the family. There is a central matriarch whose calculated machinations have effectively done more damage to her grand plans than helped and a tyrannical patriarch back from the grave.

For our supporting cast we have a trailer trash baby mama, a silent ethnic employee willing to do the dirty work to cover up the families mistakes...you know I'm just going to stop right here.

Yes, Heroes is very much a soap opera. Catty, melodramatic and serialized to the point of incoherency.

But is being a soap a bad thing?

While I am not one to extol the virtues of soap opera quality, I have on occasion been caught up in a truly compelling storyline. (I am only slightly ashamed that I was completely caught up in whether the lesbian would ever get her rape baby back from her best friend who stole it because she thought her own baby was dead.).

And while on paper stealing your ex's embryos to impregnate yourself with them to ransom his kid back for your son sounds a little silly on paper, my college roommate would beg to differ with you.

So if we disregard our elitist tendencies to societies definition of "quality television" and acknowledge a show for its "watchability", where does that leave Peter, Claire, Gabriel (aka Sylar for the less informed) and the rest of the Petrelli Family?

As long as they keep us wanting to watch, I'll go with...we'll see.

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Are current events moving us forward as a nation...or just showing how little we've changed over the years?

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Editor's Note: I posted this a few years back on a previous blog, but (Good or Bad) it still rings true....

For anyone between the ages of 20 and 40 there is an important milestone that I feel the need to discuss. It defined my idea of black college life and made a damn sexy accessory of the flip up glasses well into the mid-90's. If you don't already know where I'm going with this, I pity you. Let me give you a hint.

"I know my parents love me..."
"Stand behind me come what may."
"I know now that I'm ready, yeah"
" 'Cause I finally heard them say..."
IT'S DIFFERENT WORLD! WHOO! FROM WHERE YOU COME FROM! YES, IT IS NOW, YEAH!

I'm sorry ya'll I had to go back for minute. Anyway, the Oxygen channel has been showing reruns of this hallowed institution and it has brought back many a cherished memory and not a few embarassing fashion choices. I will be the first to admit I had a few neon green outfits in the closet, no shame.
Looking at the show again in the naughts made me realize how important it was to the shaping of who I am today (After Denise left, of course. I don't care what certain people say, the show was not worth a damn till Lisa Bonet left).
Here you had a handful of young African Americans from all walks of life going to college. There were no drugs, no gangs, justed educated men and women trying to make a difference in not only their lives, but the lives of others. It dealt with social issues, i.e. AIDS, Domestic Abuse, Date Rape, etc. And it also addressed relatively realistic campus life on an HBCU (that's Historically Black College or University for the uneducated).
Sure, Mom always stressed the importance of a good education, but it was Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert that made me believe I could learn something. I'm sad to say I've already lost some of those important lessons.
Does anybody remember the "Mamie" episode? During one of the earlier scenes Ron tries to cheer up a depressed Dwayne by playing "The Dozens", a pseudonym for "Ya Mama" jokes. They are informed by, I can't remember who, that "The Dozens" were away of slave traders degrading and devalueing those slaves on the block that they deemed not fit for sale. I wonder if Wilmer Valderrama would be so proud of his little MTV show if somebody supplied him with that bit of info. (He should already be embarassed just because Ya Mamma jokes were old in the 90's)
Getting back to my point, A Different World, and The Cosby Show as well, were a positive for many in my generation. It told young African Americans that you could go to college, that you could be the doctor. What African American shows do the youth of today have to learn from? Heck, what shows do they have period? \

......(Crickets)......

Yeah, sad, isn't?

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I hide in the shadows...waiting...wondering. Do I venture out or do I wait for the prey to come to me? There is some security to hanging back, but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Screw it...I'm going out there.

I stick close to the walls, keeping my backed protected, weapon at the ready. I see her...a young female. She hasn't noticed me yet. I aim...and fire.


"AAAAAAGGGHHHH, DAMN IT!"

She barrels after me in a rage and I race for high ground, my blood pumping in my ears. So intent am I in getting away from the her that I don't look where I'm going and run headlong into my own kinsmen....my young nephew. For a moment we stare at each other. Any other time it would be different, but today?

Kill or Be Killed....Every man for himself. I aim straight for his heart.

As he screams and shakes his temporarily disarmed laser gun, I run away laughing and shouting, "Happy Birthday, Sweetie!"

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Been dying to hear the dulcet tones of yours truly? Tune in to Saphronia and her pals Peaches and Aquababie on the SlamEvil podcast.

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Just sitting here listening to the beginning of the debate, I've come to one conclusion...I am so tired of this election.   Regardless of who people think won the debate (and don't get me started how either one of them could win) all we got was over an hour of two men attacking each other with half-truths and platitudes.  I would say more, but I'm so tired and disgusted, a longer rant will have to wait to later.

Joe the Plumber approved this message.

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