alexist

I just had to endure a bunch (I don't think there were THAT many altogether, but they strung themselves out along a pretty long stretch of road) of anti-abortion protesters by Walt Whitman Mall. Typically witty and intelligent posters ("abortion kills children"). How annoying. A few people had set up an impromptu pro-choice protest across the street.

And a waste of time, since New York has the most liberal abortion law in the country (passed in 1970, and even the Republicans haven't tried messing with it--it's made NYS the abortion capital of the US as people come here from other states). Abortion on demand to 24 weeks, no delays, no parental consent, no mandatory "counseling", Medicaid pays. (Unless you're on Fidelis, which is owned by Catholic Health Services. I strongly object to the fact that Fidelis can refuse to cover contraceptive services and feel that Medicaid should not include it as one of the managed care options. I think the law is that for FP, you can see any Medicaid doctor and not just your plan, but it's still an unfair stumbling block to access.) All Planned Parenthood offices in this area provide chemical abortion and several do surgical.

It's not that I'm happy about so many abortions; I read that the Margaret Sanger PP clinic does 11,000 abortions a year, and I can't say I don't wince a little. But the law is a poor way of dealing with the issue. I am happy that if a woman does need an abortion, she can get one easily and safely.

The "Viva Viagra" commercials. And let me tell you, there are a LOT of them during sporting events!

Neil and I (especially Neil--I started doing all the work, but we switched) have replaced the display on my laptop. It was quite a job! Dissassembling the main case was actually the easy part--it's undoing the display that's a major pain.

Impressively, it is all working perfectly INCLUDING the iSight (the cable for that is titchy and we were afraid we wouldn't get it back in). My laptop looks very slightly ghetto as the bezel was bent a tiny bit, but overall, success. Though I have invalidated the remainder of my AppleCare unless maybe the hard drive explodes or something.