Somaly Mam: True Hero

Human trafficking is one of the the biggest problems in today's world. We can try to contain it within the United States, but it is one of the most lucrative industries in the world. Women are being forced into prostitution at a young age, and are bound for their lives.

Somaly Mam is one of the main people trying to bring down this industry. She runs her own foundation, that helps women in Cambodia. Her foundation has saved countless women from a terrible life. In Cambodia, virgins and young girls are available to anyone willing to ask a few questions. Her foundation raids the brothels and brings in the girls to shelters that are run by the foundation. The shelters provide education and job skills to women that were, often times, raised in the brothels. She is now working on international connections, that could help her apply pressure to the government to put more laws and controls in place.

Somaly has also experienced this life. She grew up as an orphan and was adopted by a man who later sold her to a brothel owner. She ran away from the place, and when she went to the place they gang raped her. The police officers then returned her to the brothel where she was beaten and humiliated for leaving. She was eventually rescued by a French aid worker, who she later married.

Somaly Mam is releasing her memoir titled "The Road to Loss Innocence" in the United States. It reflects on her life while growing up in the brothel, and her fight now to prevent that life for other girls.

When is it too much?

The Bush administration is, once again, trying to undermine women's rights. This time around, he is proposing a new rule from the Department of Human Health and Services that would put restrictions on availability of abortions and even contraceptives. It’s the President’s last chance to put his pro-life foot forward.

The new rule would require that any health care provider that receives federal funding to certify that none of its employees are forced to assist in any way with services that they find objectionable. All employees and volunteers could refuse to aid in any treatment that they object to. The rule does address abortion but bodes not have any definition for the word. With no definition, some providers might see sterilization and birth control as the same as abortion. It also allo9ws provider to refuse to participate in “other medical procedures” that they feel contradict religious or moral beliefs.

The new rule would cost over 44 million dollars to implement and would affect almost 600,000 hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers. Female patients would be affected drastically with this new rule. It would lead to women no longer receiving unbiased medical information from their doctors. They would be deprived of advice about options available and even deny them access to certain care.

With the rule allowing providers to refuse “other medical procedures” physicians could object to help patients based on their sexual orientation. It would allow some patients to be denied testing for sexual diseases, merely because the lab technician doesn’t believe in pre-marital sex. Pharmacists could refuse to fill medications because it is birth control, receptionists could refuse to book H.I.V testing, and doctors could deny abortions to a rape victim. Is this really something that we want in America?

If a person truly disapproves of these procedures, they can find employment with a provider that does not deal with these issues. It is understandable that the government would like to protect the conscious of doctors, but what about the rights of the patient? This rule simply allows too much to fall under the umbrella category of “other medical procedures”.

Is Ms. Palin's confidence enough?

On thursday, the ever popular Sarah Palin had her first unscripted interview with a major news source. All of America waited in anticipation to see what this hockey mom thought without her script running across the teleprompter. While the interview wasn't the smoothest, it was relatively successful for the Republican party. 

During the interview, Sarah Palin was the ultimate politician, jumping around every question, much to the dismay of Charles Gibson. The only questions that she was able to respond to with a straight answer, were those that were pre-scripted. You could visibly tell which were scripted because her confidence suddenly peeked and she would have something other than the stiff smile playing across her face. At one point during the interview Mr. Gibson actually asked "Is that a yes?"

If you can't tell yet, I do not think that this vice-presidential candidate is ready to lead. She can't seem to work on her own, and seems to have skewed views of the world around her. She doesn't want to teach sex education in school, yet she has a seventeen year old daughter pregnant. She wanted to ban books, much like we all read in Fahrenheit  451. 

And what does she have against polar bears anyway?