I think I prefer the rabid raccoons

Today is shaping up to be The Day of Ridiculous Things Happening.

First, there's the Anonymous comments left on this post that I discovered first thing after waking up this morning.  Those were good for a laugh.

Second, there are reports of rabid skunks and raccoons in our neighborhood.  That's right.  There are RABID SKUNKS and RABID RACCOONS in downtown Sacramento.

As if all that's not enough, I then came across this little gem of an NPR story, about conservatives in congress trying to eliminate any coverage of birth control in health care plans.  The quotes are priceless, so I'll share a few here:

"They've called it preventative medicine. Preventative medicine," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, on the House floor last month, shortly after the Obama administration adopted the recommendations of an expert panel and agreed to add contraceptives to a list of services insurance plans will be required to provide without a deductible or copayment. "Well, if you apply that preventative medicine universally, what you end up with is you've prevented a generation. Preventing babies from being born is not medicine."

Some opponents, like conservative commentator Sandy Rios, say subsidizing birth control is simply too expensive in an era of tight budgets. "We have $14 trillion in debt, and now we're going to cover birth control?" she said on Fox News, adding, "Are we going to do pedicures and manicures as well? I think that would be a good idea."

Pardon me, I think my head just exploded...

Ok, I'm back.  Seriously? I mean, I'm not sure I can even get mad at this, it's too ridiculous.  Except for the fact that these are people who are running our country.  If they really believe this BS they are spewing, then God help us all.

I will be serious for a moment.  I have been pregnant twice in my life.  Both were planned, wanted pregnancies.  Both were also achieved easily, within the first 1-2 months of trying.  This gives me reason to believe that were it not for birth control, I'd be one of those women who ended up having 15 kids in my lifetime.  The past 9 months of parenthood have also taught me that I really think I would break, emotionally/mentally, if I had to parent more than two kids.  Most of the time I can barely manage to handle these two.

Needless to say, I am EXTREMELY thankful for birth control.

I currently have an IUD.  I am lucky in that my insurance paid for it in full.  I am also lucky in that, had they not covered it, I could afford to pay the $500 myself.  Many others are not so lucky.  And if you can't afford birth control, you sure as heck cannot afford a baby.

Access to birth control is one of the easiest, most effective ways to help improve women's health, education, career, and overall quality of life.  Allowing women the ability to choose and plan for children is a crucial step in any advanced/developed society.  Even if you don't care about helping women, you have to acknowledge that, even publicly, providing birth control is cheap compared to the expense of providing prenatal and pediatric care for those women and children.  Also, birth control = fewer unintended pregnancies = fewer abortions.

I should not have to point any of this out.  It is pretty bleepin' obvious, if you ask me.

So please, world.  Stop being so effin' ridiculous.