My daughter just called and was really upset

[Skidmore]

about the vetinarian being appointed to head the FDA's unit on women's issues. She and I have been arguing for some time about how malevolent the intentions of the Rs are. I think we have a new activist now. I've never heard her react to a political issue spontaneously before because she's usually preoccupied with her babies and doesn't pay attention to much going outside her home. I listened to her concerns and encouraged her to act and to talk to the other mothers at the play group she takes the kids too. She said she will do this but first she needs to talk to some reps and senators.

One person at a time.

[jasmeel]

1. Good for her! There's such a buffet of things for people to get

pissed about-something's gotta sink in!

[Arugula Latte]

2. Yeah, it's funny what sets people off.

Sometimes there's a landslide of outrages they ignore, and then one (relatively minor) thing, or a big thing, or something that really affects them personally just GETS to them. It's hard to predict.

[rzemanfl]

3. This apparently is NOT TRUE. This keeps coming up here. n/t

[Skidmore]

5. Tell me why it is not true. I believe I saw a reference to

an article on it this past week.

[rzemanfl]

7. See post 6. Apparently BushCo did not want to piss off more

than half the voters in the country...

[Rose Siding]

8. Both Planned Parenthood and MS reported it, but

Friday's FDA release names another appointee, noting "This is a revision of this statement posted earlier on September 16."

He was *possibly* named and then switched out accidentally (his name DOES appear in cached FDA documents) or they quickly saw the error of their ways.

I've written to Erin Carmany, and editor at MS asking for a clarification. She wrote back...

Thanks for the information -----. That is very confusing. We’ll look into it.

Erin

Maybe he was acting in the position as director in between appointments- just don't know for sure yet.

[Lars39]

11. I can think of 2 reasons:

To discredit Planned Parenthood and MS, or they were going to make the appointment but decided it didn't look good right now and they wanted to save the fight for another day.

Either way, it demoralized and energized a hell of a lot of us.

[seabeyond]

4. hey skidmore talking to hubby about the racism we are in today

i said and btw, women are being taken decades back. and fda head only claim to fame a book, pms, open your bible. (your daughter should really be outraged by that. original sin. women are suppose to feel the pain to remember the sinner we are) and then this doctor a vet. hubby laughed and said, ya well a fema director that did horse shows and an homeland security dude that is just a lawyer trying to become a justice.

no one appointed to anything has anything to do with the job requiement in this govt.,

as much as he agrees with my point on the outrage women should feel, he sees it across the spectrum. adn he is right

[rzemanfl]

6. Read this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4799787

Then call your daughter.

[HockeyMom]

9. Incompetence (Bush) Awards

Incompetence (Everybody Bush appoints).

You can bet that if he appointed a Vet Surgeon General there would be far more outrage. But then, I guess that to the Bush supporters women's sole purpose in this world is to breed, just like animals. Surprised? Not me.

On another note, we also need to show them that MOTHERS ARE PRO CHOICE too. That concept is totally alien to them and that is our greatest strength.

[rzemanfl]

10. All I know is what I reads on them internets:

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2005/toigoOWH.html

"This is a revision of this statement posted earlier on September 16.

Theresa A. Toigo Is Appointed Acting Director of FDA's Office of Women's Health
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester M. Crawford today announced the appointment of Theresa A. Toigo as the Acting Director of FDA's Office of Women’s Health. Ms. Toigo also serves as the Director of FDA’s Office of Special Health Issues (OSHI)."

[daninthemoon]

12. OK, I'm still confuesd. Did he want to appt the vet then changeup?

If so, how does the timeline compare to the "outing" of Brown? If he did want it a vetrenarean, I wonder if it was as a purposeful insult/joke. Nothing is too callous for these guys

[I Have A Dream]

13. This was in Salon.

<snip>

Remember how George W. Bush selected as his FEMA director a man whose last job involved judging horse shows for the International Arabian Horse Association? Well, the president's Food and Drug Administration commissioner has appointed an acting director for the Office of Women's Health, and he's a man -- a man! -- who has spent much of his career working in the field of veterinary medicine.

The FDA had an opening to fill in the Office of Women's Health because its last director, Susan Wood, quit in protest over the agency's dithering and delays on the morning-after pill. Wood's acting replacement is Norris Alderson. Alderson has a bachelor's degree in animal husbandry from the University of Tennessee and graduate degrees from the University of Kentucky. He has worked at the FDA for more than 30 years, more than 20 of which he spent in the agency's Bureau of Veterinary Medicine.

Karen Pearl, the interim president of Planned Parenthood, said that Alderson's appointment "speaks volumes about the priority the Bush administration places on women's health and safety."

It does, all right, and not just in the language that Doctor Doolittle understands.

Update: Shortly after we posted this item, which was based on a press release from Planned Parenthood, a reader alerted us to a press release that was posted today on the FDA's Web site. In that release, the FDA said that Theresa A. Toigo has been appointed as the acting director of the Office of Women's Health. The FDA press release also says, rather cryptically, "This is a revision of this statement posted earlier on September 16." That earlier statement is no longer available on the FDA's site, but, as another reader pointed out, a cached version is still available through Google. Under the heading, "Dr. Norris Alderson -- Acting Director of FDA's Office of Women's Health," Alderson's bio says, "The majority of his FDA career has been in the Center for Veterinary Medicine, holding a number of management positions, culminating in the position of Director, Office of Research." Did the FDA scramble to change acting directors once it realized that Alderson's appointment might invite unhappy comparisons to Michael Brown's tenure at FEMA? Inquiring minds want to know, and are still waiting for calls back to find out.

Link: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html?blog=/politics/war_room/2005/09/16/animals/index.html

(You may need a Salon day pass to read it at Salon.)

I guess even they realized that this was beyond the pale even for them.