This is a pretty idiotic diary. I don’t know a woman who pays only $9 per month for the pill. That is unless you’re talking about just insurance co-pays, Planned Parenthood subsidy or some other clinical freebie for lower income women. If that’s the case, then you’re making Obama’s case for the ACA.

There is a huge gender gap this year. Obama is just clobbering Romney among single women (the second fastest growing voting group in America after Hispanics).

I don’t know if the problem is birth control–but whatever message the GOP is sending female voters just isn’t selling well.

You have a point. The facts in this diary are no match for your anecdotes.

Since that communist rag Mother Jones says 99% of all women engaged in sexual activity use birth control, who are these mass of women who are being denied their birth control bills?

no problem. I agree with your point and I may write on it but the rule in blogging is that your reader’s aren’t, by and large, going to read a 10,000 word essay. This was just meant to be quick and fun (TWSS).

ren…here’s the problem. Younger women have not learned personal responsibility nor have they savored personal success. They are still believing in someone “taking care” of them. Time for them to put on their big girl panties.

Now…the female yuppie types..They are all for equality…only they don’t want to work for it. They want respect…but they don’t want to earn it.

So…any trolls out there that see themselves “equal” to men…then do what men do. You are not the weaker sex…although that is a common rant.

Birth control is a personal responsibility. If they cannot afford it because they do not have a job…then get one. How did I ever survive without the government’s help in the bedroom for all these years.

You don’t see the government paying for free testosterone. So…ladies…why are we paying for your estrogen? Fair is fair…unless you are truly the weaker sex…and in that case…you are not “entitled” to the same treatment and respect as men.

Another sidenote Gretchen…which president GAVE big PHARMA mega money. Where to birth control pills comes from…BIG PHARMA. So…with all that money they got…how come the cost of medicine is going up. Could it be graft and corruption. You might want to speak with other women that are using other methods that cost far less and are just as effective.

Well, I’m already on board for Mitt. Now, I didn’t say anything about either candidate having a plan to stop paying for SS or MC. I was simply pointing out that as much as you don’t want to pay for “someone’s sex,” maybe you should realize that there are others that don’t want to pay for your SS and MC.

And you paid for SS? Maybe so, but it’s a minority of people that actually paid into SS more than what they take out. And why no mention of your Medicare? Interesting that you leave that out. If you do actually receive it, then I certainly hope that you don’t actually try to argue that you actually “paid for that.” My FIL tried the same thing after he had a $150K Medicare-funded heart bypass. Fail.

At the end of the day, I was only guessing that you were a SS recipient. But wow, you are predictable. Nicely done.

Finally, don’t lecture me about personal responsibility. I make well north of 6 figures/year and pay an enormous amount in taxes. In fact, I’m personally responsible for paying taxes to support your entitlement-receiving self. AND, I will continue to pay more and more taxes as time goes on and your generation gets older and sucks more out of the system because for the last few decades, you voted into power Republicans and Democrats that spent like drunken sailors. Then curiously, you got “fiscally responsible” around the time you started collecting entitlements. Maybe that’s your story and maybe not, but it certainly represents most in your demographic.

At the end of the day, you typing away on a blog does nothing for the problems my generation is going to have to clean up when you are gone. But I promise you this: We Gen Xers, Yers and Millennials will blame you first when we’re paying 60-70% in taxes to support your SS and Medicare. Count on it.

Indeed. Agree with everything you said. How do other conservatives not see that you indeed can’t put the genie back into the bottle? Geez.

Wow. If I didn’t know better, I would suspect you were a lazy troll, RL1111. Seriously? “Younger women haven’t learned personal responsibility”? Really? Your rhetoric sounds like Kos-kid attempting a ham-handed impersonation of an old white male Republican. Bravo to you, sir! Good Lord…

When will conservatives realize that the party is completely split at the moment. It’s time to throw in the towel on social issues and realize that this country overwhelmingly supports same-sex couples (not including marriage), supports a women’s right to choose, and supports many democratic social issues. However, the country also heavily supports conservative fiscal policy. A unified shift towards a libertarian mindset will have republicans in office for the foreseeable future. Without the shift, democrats will continue to wreck the country with wasteful spending.

I cannot believe that U.S. women can actually be bought for the cost of a 50 cent condom.
Please, women out there, tell me that this is NOT true.
Because if this were true, perhaps our founding fathers were right in not allow women to have the right to vote.

A. You’re wrong. The country doesn’t “overwhelmingly” support any of those things. But nice try.
B. Social issues are the ONE THING the GOP wins on consistently.
C. Social/Christian conservatives are the most reliable constituency for the GOP.
D. This ain’t LibertarianState. You’re welcome to vote for Gary Johnson if you like.

The original post wasn’t about abstinence. I doubt streiff wants government-enforced abstinence. I certainly don’t.

The post was about birth control, which has nothing to do with trying to “put the genie back in the bottle” (which is a strange choice of words). It is about whether a taxpayer should be forced to pay for the lifestyle choice of another.

I like beer. The good, expensive kind. A lot. The genie is not going back in that bottle (ha), either. Still, I don’t expect to get a good beer stipend from the government to allow me to do things that I like. It is my choice.

You are kidding yourself if you think any senior at this point has actually paid for all of the medicare they are receiving or are set to receive.
Gretchen’s point is that puritanical moralizing is hurting the GOP brand, with both women and young people. It is one thing to take a stand for the church’s right to follow its conscience, but far too often these days, the republican party allows its mouthpieces to say things that simply come across as hostile to women. The scuffle over contraception wouldn’t cost the GOP votes if we could keep people like Rush from throwing around words like “slut”, and if we could euthanize idiots like Todd Akin.
If the republican party actually wants young conservatives to vote for it and not stay home, it needs to start moving into the 21st century.

Stop with your facts, stantertius. Honestly discussing Medicare Part D gets the old folks like rightlane too wound up. I sure don’t want him to have a medical issue over this that I’ll have to pay for.

And that’s all for you. Good bye and good riddance.

That’s enough from you, too. This diary is drawing idiots like flies.

Goldfinger meets Dirk Diggler

That is ridiculous. I’m a fairly young conservative, have younger conservative siblings, and a bunch of young conservative friends. All of us understand (even if not everyone is always perfect) that personal responsibility is an enormous part of conservatism. If you (generic you, since I obviously don’t know you personally) can’t keep pants zipped/skirt down, then you really have a problem with the philosophy of conservatism, not with us who stil believe that abstinence is the right way and that maybe we shouldn’t be paying for birth control for other people.
As far as abstinence and birth control causing a gender gap, are you really saying that women as a whole lack self control so much that they must have sexual relations at will and can’t handle their own feelings, while men (apparently) can? Wow, if I said that, you’d be pillorying me, but that is exactly what you said. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a gender gap, because men would be right there with you (and, believe me, there are a bunch of men cheering on those sneering views on abstinence you gave – they are happy to take whatever you give).

OK…Gretchen…We are all adults…supposedly on this board..so we will start with SS. I have been paying into it since I have been 16. I have not outlived it…and I could not live on it alone. However, I did manage to save (new concept) and have money put aside. Otherwise known as “personal responsibility”. If you make well north of six figures…why are you complaining about contraception, which I might point out includes OTHER METHODS than pills…which are really unhealthy for you, as a woman. NOW FOR THE BIG MEGA SURPRISE…because you apparently did not catch it from the avatar…I am a woman, married with children living outside the home (meaning they are grownups). I might want to point one little thing out to you concerning birth control, now that you know I am not some “old white guy”…which sounds very sexist to me…but I digress. If you want something that is cheap and has the same rate of protection, you might want to learn about diaphragms..and yes they still make them..and yes they work. So…is that too hard…or too much trouble? Easier softer way work better…and that goes for personal responsibility.

I pay for my Medicare. I have collected on it once. I have to buy my prescription drugs outside the USA because I cannot use a generic….I still pay for the drug portion and they are making money on me. Good thing I am in excellent health.

Concerning my generation. My generation were capitalists, job creators. My generation flew a man to the moon and were proud of their country. My generation was ashamed to be on Welfare and would rather work. My generation ENDURED Jimmy Carter. You don’t even know what interest rates were at 21% do you? You never had to wait on gas lines for two/three hours do you? My generation was not one that assumed too much DEBT.

Suck the life out of you. Why don’t you look at the Sallie Mae College Program…which has burst its bubble once and tell me, who is paying for that. Our taxes. ALL those that have money…pay taxes. So, if you are so incensed about people who “suck” the life out of your generation…look to those people who are here illegally and claim SS and deplete the fund. Look to all those people who have to have their Obamaphone “’cause Romney sucks”. That’s your takers…not me. I pay income tax, I paid into SS for more years than I care to…and no I am not ahead of it. I pay for Medicare and believe it or not I pay for Obamacare and Medicaid..OTHERWISE KNOWN AS TAXES. Know how…I PAY TAXES.

There is one candidate that has a plan for SS and Medicare AND IT IS NOT OBAMA/BIDEN. So that should make it simple. If you are into income redistribution (which is the point of all of this)..then vote Obama and look to previous dictatorships and their success rate. HINT…success = 0

It’s not good for the credibility of the current conservative movement that nobody will really own Plan D, though. I’m glad to hear you say that you consider it a mistake. I was beginning to think this place is allergic to genuine debate.
The New Deal was obviously pushed through by Roosevelt, but it does seem cheap to complain about that at this point. How seriously would we take it if the libs complained about the republican party being responsible for the great depression because of Hoover? I just don’t think we do ourselves any favors by dwelling on these thing.

He’d need a harbrace as well. Normally I’d say punctuation and grammar aren’t important on the internet; exchange of ideas are more important. However, 3rd grade knowledge of paragraphs is nice. @redstate-b70aa3a0fda627aae0b921c0d48147d1:disqus’s post is indicative of a disorganized mind. Of course, his structure is indicative of the nature of his ideas.

Hey, rusty–this place is allergic to genuine debate. Don’t fool yourself. It’s an echo chamber of a few dozen angry folks, the majority of whom have been “taught” American History by Glenn Beck and who think they are at the cusp of a “conservative revolution.” It’s ridiculous. Even more ridiculous are Neil’s whinings on “Tech at Night.” Check out the comment count on his entries. Hint: they hover around zero. This is (one of the many reasons) why outsiders snicker at RS.

I agree with you, tcgeol, I think personal responsibility is a big part of conservatism. Though I label myself as an independent, I’m definitely on the fiscally conservative side of the aisle, and I don’t kid myself: I’m either paying for my wife’s birth control at the counter or with my taxes, but no one is going to give them to me for free.

My example, however, points out a political error in the socially conservative argument against these kinds of issues. When ‘The College Conservative’ portrays all, or even most, women on birth control as harlots, they run the risk of turning the millions of married, and single abstinent women on the same birth control off to a message they might otherwise be on board with.

With 35 days to go until the election, and Romney behind with women, I think that argument loses more votes than it gains.

I ran the numbers. There is a low cost birth control out there that is $25 for 28 pills. $18,000 works out ot be 720 packs of pills per year. So this means that said Lady is taking those pills at is taking 55 pills a day. That is over 2 pills a hour. This side effects for toxic over load of the pills would stop the need for the pills. Are these people that stupid?

I’m sure that it’s due to the inflammatory rhetoric in this thread, but there *is* an obvious point that the original postcard from the Obama/Biden camp seems to hint at that none here have mentioned. It’s not contraception through use of the pill, it’s the form of *birth control* used when a young lass wakes up.3.months.later. and only then decides that she has better things to do than raise a child. A phone call to Planned Parenthood for an appointment to remove ‘some tissue’ and she’s good to go… Include that in the cost calculations and the $18,000 does not seem out of line including therapy and other health issues. I don’t agree with it at all, but sad to say, this is a common form of birth control in society today.

An aside on the issue of the b/c pill… some doctors regularly prescribe estrogen therapy as a matter of course for a variety of aliments and conditions. Both the wife and the daughter have had to get scripts filled and not for use as birth control. Before we all go putting the cart before the horse, we need to understand that just because it’s called a b/c pill, it may not be prescribed for that purpose (or I would have had a *serious* talk with both my wife and my (then 15 year) old daughter!)

You sound like my Grandmother saying that our Fed government would never so stupid as to bankrupt the country.

Oh…a mobile phone? I’ve heard of those. Aren’t those what you get for agreeing to vote for Obama?

Well, let’s see… I distinctly remember that there was a call for government to STAY out of our bedrooms, that we were free to do what we wanted. Now, government IS in our bedrooms, through providing birth control, and we are opening Pandora’s box by allowing it. Once we open the door to that, then the government has a right to say what we can and cannot do. Anyone think of George Orwell’s “1984″, where John Hurt’s Winston Smith has sex with Susanna Hamilton’s Julia, and the police come barreling in, helicopters flying outside the window, spying on them?

Also, Gretchen, that’s a lame comeback. rightlane1111 pays for his OWN Medicare and SS… through separate taxes of FICA and SS… it’s the FEDERAL INCOME TAX that will be paying for YOUR birth control, not Medicare and SS.

Personal responsibility is the issue.

Why should I, you, anyone or everyone pay for someone else’s personal behavior, proclivity, preference, addiction, compulsion, pleasure, emotional crutches or professional appliances?

I know a few young females whose self worth seems to be closely attached to their availability to frequent and random males. I don’t know how the sperm donors keep score but I do know that they are rarely around to support their prodigy. We taxpayers and sometimes the girl’s family, pick up most of the tab even as the behavior continues. We recently witnessed a young single mother cause 8 men to submit to paternity testing before she found the “baby daddy” for her cute little girl. Her goal was money, which I haven’t heard she has received. Something about this behavior seems damaging to all individuals involved and our primitive culture as well.

Some of these instinct driven young people, which my wife and I know and work with, go to public health doctors monthly for STD testing and frequently are taking meds for the pleasure gifts they have received. Now that sounds really healthy doesn’t it?

The picture we see is ugly not pretty. The minor cost is dollars.

It’s not that we think you care at all. We just want to say thank you for the endless hilarity that comes from reading your comments. And by “your” I mean most of the people on RS. But certainly you, WCP, are one of the best. Just think, every time you type a delusional, angry comment, there are those out here who will read it with delight and revel in your ridiculousness. Keep those comments coming, please! And thank you again for your contribution to comedy.

“Is who sticks what where how many times really the biggest issue facing the nation this year?” Considering the Obama, Reid, and Pelosi have been sticking it to the American people for the past SIX years (counting the two Obama served as a Senator), YES, that WOULD be the ‘biggest issue’!

I agree with everything you said, rightlane1111. As a conservative, a woman and a boomer. I started working when I was in high school and have worked and paid taxes since. Same for my husband. We didn’t choose to pay SS and Medicare taxes. It’s a forced plan, and the government confiscated those from our paychecks. We’ve planned our retirement with the expectation that we won’t receive any SS. Further, we’d prefer to continue on private insurance and not to be forced to participate in Medicare.

I would rather pay for birth control than abortion don’t you think

Here is the missing ‘dot’ that you have to connect. Leftists are either complete aliens to our dominant society (i.e., non-NW Europeans), or they are people who cannot fit in because they are abnormal. Sure, not that many humans are born with any particular abnormality, either physical or mental, but we now find out that when you add up all the freaks, psychos, atheists, criminals, sexual deviates, and just plain a**holes, they are close to half the electorate. Nothing more plain than that women who do not marry, and moreso women who have kids but don’t marry, are abnormal. Now, in any healthy society (animal or human) abnormal individuals don’t live happy lives. Animals either kill them outright or throw them out to die unprotected. Many human societies have been as tough (ancient Greeks) but mostly societies today simply ignore the square-peg/round-holes folks, who can survive quite well because humans dominate nature pretty thoroughly. Notice that one of the early PC campaigns was to de-stigmatize abnormality. It isn’t quite the “A-word” yet, but it doesn’t miss by much. As always, although the mechanism isn’t understood, it is always a mistake to beleive that human behavior, the same in every place and at every time in human history, is useless or counterproductive. Abnormal people cannot be trusted by normal members of society, because no one can know just how far their abnormality extends. Know this: stereotypes are almost always true in general. If you make a practice of ignoring them, ultimately you will always loose, just as the house always wins in the long run, because the odds are on their side.

Your bcp would be much lower in any other state with reasonable health care regulations. My wife can get them for $5/month at Wal-Mart. If it is that important to you, move to another state or switch to condoms. If you were to move to, say, NC, for example, you would recognize a property tax decrease of 90% for a much larger house on a much larger piece of land. With the money you’d save, you could buy your own pharmacy and get free bcp the rest of your life. In either case, I should not be required to subsidize your sex life, or any other part of your life. No one owes you a living nor do they owe you or your wife bcp.

I don’t think the article makes the argument that women want birth control to support their promiscuity. The title is accurate that the Obama-care policy does promote promsicuity. This is a fact, even if some, a very few women, use bcp for true medicinal needs. Any drug that is prescribed for HEALTH REASONS is covered by ANY insurance policy the same as any other drug. That was the case long before health care. If a Dr. prescribes bcp for health purposes, he codes that differently than someone a pph would for a teen interested in not getting pregnant. In the former case, insurance plans will cover that the exact same as they would a thyroind medicine or blood pressure medicine. So let’s put that tired old canard to bed.
I don’t know what is wrong with the view that everyone, women included, should be responsible for their own decisions. That isn’t new or novel and it certainly predates the 50′s and extends forward into the future forever.
The point of the article is to point out the lunacy of a hypothetical young woman (who we have to assume is a healthy young lady with no pre-condtions, since none were implied or stated explicitly) asking her parents to foot a $18k bill for birth control that you could only get to that amount by living in CA and over a 25 year period. Are we to assume mom and dad are going to have to pay for her bcp up until she’s in her 40′s and married? If I were the parent of the youg lady, I’d offer to have her tubes ligated and when she wanted to procreate, should could pay to have her tubes untied. That would cost much less and would be covered by insurance making my cost reasonable.
To paint a picture that streiff is somehow wishing to return to victorian age mores is a ridiculous claim on its face and has no place here, especially being proffered by someone who purports to be conservative. If you have a medical condition that requires medicine, I am truly sorry. That in no way compells me to subsidize it under any circumstance. If you want birth control, I am under no obligation to pay for it. Pay for it yourself.

renl57,
That is the most well stated take on income taxes the IRS could dream of.
It is diametrically at odds with the facts and the law.
You have been grossly misled as to the liability for and the use of the taxes.
Income taxes pay interest, period.

Yes they were. What was not intended was all the extended benefits and beneficiaries. It was set up to help widows and orphans. Everything else is a distortion.

@ GretchieBaby: Mostly flies, you’re stinking the discussion up.

most insurance policies already cover the pill for medical needs – in either case it can be purchased relatively inexpensively. (One of the reasons insurance is so expensive is that it is no longer insurance, but more of a pre-paid yearly medical plan that assumes you will need everything.) The cost of an abortion is less than $1,000, even less if you are poor and go to Planned Parenthood. Still doesn’t add up to $18,000.

Not quite. Medicare and SS are separate taxes (don’t you read your paystub?) – the people who receive those benefits paid into them. You don’t get SS payments if you didn’t pay the requisite number of quarters in SS taxes to qualify.

Nowhere in my post did I suggest anyone but myself should pay for my wife’s bcp. To suggest otherwise is to show very poor reading comprehension.

However, I agree with your ancillary point. Yes, property taxes are great in states where nobody wants to live.