Arlington Office Vacancies Up — Arlington and Alexandria were the only two D.C. area markets that saw a significant increase in office vacancies in 2011, according to recently-released data. Arlington, which had the lowest office vacancy rate at the end of 2010, ended 2011 with the same vacancy rate as the District of Columbia. The loss of government office tenants as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Act is said to be to blame for the rise in vacancies. [Washington Post]
Howell Tries to Insert Viagra Provision Into Abortion Bill — State Sen. Janet Howell (D), who represents part of Arlington, tried to insert a bit of “gender equity” into a bill being considered by the Virginia Senate. The bill, SB484, would require that a woman seeking an abortion be offered the opportunity to view an ultrasound image of her fetus. Howell’s amendment, which was narrowly defeated along party lines yesterdsay, would have required men to receive a “digital rectal exam and cardiac stress test” before receiving a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. [Blue Virginia]
Eleventh Street Lounge Closes — Eleventh Street Lounge in Clarendon closed up shop over the weekend to make way for a new office development. The restaurant’s management is reportedly hoping to relocate to a new space, at least temporarily. [Clarendon Nights]
Marine Beaten in Crystal City — Updated at 9:00 a.m. — NBC4 is revealing new details about a malicious wounding incident reported in last week’s Arlington County crime report. A Marine who lost a leg in Afghanistan and who’s up for a Silver Star medal was severely beaten with a club outside the 7-Eleven on 23rd Street in Crystal City. The attack, which was caught on surveillance video, may have been precipitated by a racial comment. [NBC Washington]
Photo courtesy Dan Gifford
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One cool bird.
Love it.
Ditto!
I believe I might have run into this Eagle when he was much more immature, still had a brown cap.
There are some that nest down by the LBJ Memorial Grove.
“Digital rectal exam.” Hehe.
how am i supposed to sit here and work now?
Talk about “pucker power”!
Howell’s an idiot. Offering a woman who is going to have an abortion the opportunity to have an ultrasound hardly sounds like a mandate. Nor is it medical. It is an opportunity. However, inserting her language essentially dictates a medical procedure/test to the physician. The fact that is was only narrowly defeated just goes to show you how ridiculously polarized politicians are.
No Howell is not an idiot. There is absolutely no medical reason to require a woman seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound at all.
Read it. It says “the opportunity to view an ultrasound”. Isn’t that an option, and not a requirement? What is wrong with having that option available? Nothing, unless you are a polarized politician apparently.
It gives her the opportunity to view the ultrasound, but requires her to take the ultrasound.
There is absolutely no medical reason to require that a woman seeking abortion have an ultrasound at all.
No medical reason. Just a moral one.
Please explain.
Thanks Mr. Gingrich.
The only way to see an early pregnancy on ultrasound is to perform a “transvaginal” ultrasound, in which a probe about 8 inches long and an inch in diameter is inserted up into the vagina. These are rarely done unless necessary because, for many women, it is akin to being raped with an object.
Not only is it unnecessary, it is inhumane, which is the point.
I thought that an ultrasound is necessary to confirm that the woman is, indeed, pregnant. If not, how is the pregnancy confirmed?
I had a sonogram to confirm the pregnancy. I do not know if it was required. They did not ask if I wanted to see and I did not ask to see it.
Same experience, in Maryland. I don’t remember if I was asked if I wanted to see but do remember that I did not see it. I’ve seen ultrasounds before; I know what a 7 week fetus looks like. Frankly, to the layperson’s eye, you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
No, ultrasounds aren’t usually done until after a few (4-5) months, unless there are specific concerns. By then, the uterus and baby have grown considerably so a normal ultrasound can be used to examine the baby.
Gynecologists will usually confirm a pregnancy with a blood test (which gives very precise information which is useful for dating the pg) and by viewing the cervix to look for pregnancy-related changes.
Fertility doctors do these when their patients get pregnant because they want to know early if they are dealing with supermultiples. I found it pretty disturbing, but I understand why it was necessary.
It’s not offering the opportunity to have an ultrasound; it’s requiring that an ultrasound be performed. The woman can then decide whether she wants to view it.
Actually, the amendments to SB484 state that a pregnant woman would be required to have an ultrasound before she is allowed to have an abortion. The opportunity is whether she wants to look at the image and hear the heartbeat of the fetus.
Mandating ultrasounds would be just another unnessary requirement to obtain an abortion in Va. I don’t see any problem offering ultrasounds, but most, if not all, women who go to a clinic or hospital for an abortion have already made their decision. It will be another box that needs to be checked and will lengthen an already painful day for women.
According to the link, the bill does mandate the ultrasound. It only offers that the woman view it, I guess because they didn’t want to go so far as holding her down and forcing her eyes open with toothpicks.
What if the girl or woman is blind and/or deaf?
Psychological torture is so ineffective in these cases.
Interesting…
They could just have her jamb her hand into a bowl of mashed up grapes.
Digital rectal exam.
If I had gall stones, and were going to have a medical procedure to have my gallbladder removed, an ultrasound would be performed. Having an unwanted fetus removed, many for abortion would argue, is similar to having an unnecessary gallbladder removed. What’s the problem? In either case you don’t have to look at it. In either case, it isn’t necessary to actually remove the item in the procedure.
I will say this: On either side of the political fence politicians need to STOP interfering in medicine.
So politicians should stop interfering in medicine by interfering with abortion?
They should stop interfering with needless digit rectal exams so that I can get my V on more quickly and impregnate some of these women who get abortions as a means of birth control.
So politicians should only stop interfering in medicine in ways that are acceptable to you?
Nice try, but there is no medical reason to have an ultrasound before an abortion, unlike with gallstones. It there were, it would be happening already.
So drax, are you saying that women never get ultrasounds before abortions? Never? Is that what you are saying?
I don’t know, actually.
I do know that if they do, it’s because a doctor recommended it, not because the state mandated it.
A person can function perfectly fine without a gallbladder, just as without a living fetus in their womb.
if a woman is to have an ultrasound early in her pregnancy it is vaginal.
laws being considered mandate the ultrasound before an abortion. this is an un-necessary procedure and is designed to persuade women NOT to have an abortion. so, i liked her bill, it showed the absurdity of the proposal.
any news on the marine who was beaten by the crystal city 711 near the strip joint?
Wow…first I’ve heard of this. *sigh*
apparently he’s a vet who lost a limb in iraq or afghanistan.
We have a strip joint in Arlington? Where have I been?
Yeah, CCR . duh
technically, yes.
realistically, no.
you can see better stuff on TV.
there used to be one in the rays the steaks stripper mall but they closed a while back….
of course, there used to be brothels in rosslyn …..
Arlington Grill.
I was waiting for news as I passed by there that night and it was covered in cops and evidence tags.
I would like to propose that all of the members of the Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates be required to get a digital rectal exam.
LOL!
You go Janet !
++++
good job Janet – trivialize the fact that women can kill their children in the womb. Just what the world needs. Another reminder why I stopped voting for democrats.
I think the word you’re looking for is “fetus.”
Actually, embryo.
Do I hear “zygote?”
Blastula!
It’s ZEF these days, guys. Get with the hip lingo.
Depends. Typically “embryo” for the first couple months, and then “fetus.” The primary distinction being the formation of internal organs.
But in either case, the notion that there are happy little “children” running around inside somebody’s uterus is just laughably incorrect.
Nonsense. I saw a fetus Tebowing on the internet. He’s clearly getting ESPN in there somehow.
Wow, millions of dying babies all around you and all you do about it is stop voting for Democrats. You really live up to your beliefs.
Of course, you can’t vote for Republicans, since they hate children outside the womb with heartless social polices. So do you just not vote?
i dont think that is how she sees it. forcing a woman to undergo a vaginal ultrasound is a form of rape. forcing a woman to any medical procedure us a form of imprisonment and slavery.
Lauren, what’s great about America is that I can’t tell you what to eat for breakfast today. I can’t tell you what your favorite color has to be. I can’t tell you how you have to dress, what you have to do to earn a living, who you can date, when you can have sex, whether you should have a Papanicolaou test, how many kids you should have, whether you should have radical double mastectomy to save your own life, or what other choices you should make related to your body. You get to decide what is right for you and don’t have to worry about others imposing their views on you. And for all this freedom, you only have to do one small thing in exchange – let others have the same freedom.
Yes everyone is free to just go around murdering anyone that is an inconvenience to them.
Actually, you can tell her all these things. What would stop you from telling her?
Hey, if Janet was the one giving me that kind of exam, I might not need the Viagra after all.
What took you so long? Was waiting for that one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DPStwD1C8-c
oh. Amazing photo!!
Any of you that have religious objections to abortion are free to not have one. Please realize that not everyone (including the law) agrees with your views on when a fetus becomes a person, or your religious views.
It’s a waste of energy addressing simpletons, Jennifer.
Yes, because insulting people who have a different viewpoint than you by calling them “simpletons” is very productive debate on issues. Those who have religious beliefs are allowed to do so and speak freely about them in this country. And even as a devout agnostic, I don’t think all aspects of religion are bad and I respect others beliefs. And even as someone who is pro-choice to a certain extent (I think late term where a fetus is completely viable on it’s own is a bit too late in the game to abort), I respect that others have a different viewpoint than I…and to be clear, I disagree with the original bill of requiring ultrasounds, but I think wasting taxpayer money on a complete show by Janet Howell is even more ridiculous. Did we elect these people to play partisan games on our dime?? It is partisan thoughts/comments such as yours that anyone who disagrees with you or has a different perspective are just “simpletons” that nothing gets accomplished in this country. It seems quite obvious that you have a liberal or should I use the nicer, softer term “progressive” viewpoint. I thought part of what is preached by “progressives” is tolerance, but I guess that tolerance for others opinions stops when those opinions differ from yours.
Amen!
+1
“It seems quite obvious that you have a liberal or should I use the nicer, softer term “progressive” viewpoint.”
Cut it out.
I think we can all agree the Choices for women to prevent the pregnancy ( birth control, abstinence , etc) are much more desirable. We still can’t seem to incorporate the Prevention Choice.
Why are pro-abortionists so adamantly opposed to a woman have AUTHENTIC freedom of choice?
A choice, to be truly free, must be an INFORMED choice, she must have information and knowledge of all the surrounding factors. Performing an abortion on a woman who is in ignorance of all of the facts is NOT freedom of choice, it is a gross violation of any right to freedom of choice, it is anti-choice.
They need to live in their fantasy world where a fetus is “just a clump of cells” so they can live in denial of reality of what that “choice” really is.
and how would you know anything about that reality steve? how many times have you been pregnant?
No, to be truly free, she should make her choice however she wants, with as many or as few facts as she chooses and thinks are relevant, and not be forced to have a medical procedure she doesn’t choose to have.
Great “choice”for the child that dies. Nice due process too. oh noez the ultrasound is so horrible! oh noez!
So you don’t buy that “true freedom” crap either. Just say so.
Just say you oppose abortion. Don’t pretend the ultrasound isn’t what everyone knows it is – an attempt to stop abortion. Why pretend it’s not when you oppose abortion?
So Bender, does this mean you support the digital rectal exam requirement? You can’t have a choice if you don’t have all the facts. Bend over, Bender.
+5 on both of your comments.
Without debating over the morality of abortion itself, I’m genuinely curious about exactly what other facts/factors you think an ultrasound will provide a woman who has already found out she is pregnant and made the choice (for whatever reasons, agree or disagree) to terminate the pregnancy.
Women can exercise their right to choose just fine without government mandated ultrasound viewing
bender said: “A choice, to be truly free, must be an INFORMED choice, she must have information and knowledge of all the surrounding factors.”
Since you value complete information, is it safe to assume you support Planned Parenthood’s educating women on the option of abortion?
Ouch. Bender must be feeling like he just got a digital rectal exam.
Did you know that 60 percent of abortions are provided to women who already have at least one child? What information and knowledge is it that you think these women don’t have?
And she still hasn’t learned how to prevent pregnancy?? Maybe it’s a good thing she isn’t procreating her genetics.
You do understand that no birth control method is 100% effective, right? (besides abstinence, yes yes)
Fact: About half of pregnancies in the US are unintended. It’s quite likely you yourself were an unintended pregnancy. (I know I was, LOL.) Are all these women just stupid?
Maybe preventing pregnancy isn’t as easy as the pro-life crowd likes to think.
Virginia requires you to listen to a recording and have counseling within 24 hours of the procedure. For me, they weren’t providing any information that I did not know as I made an informed choice. If a woman feels she does not have enough information, there are plenty of resources and she can always ask questions. Providers of abortions do not force anyone to get abortions.
Just a question. What does the digital rectal exam accomplish? Does it have medical relevency in the case of a viagra prescription? The heart test does, so I can say go for that. The ultrasound also has medical relevency to allow the doctor to be fully informed.
Wouldn’t the equivilant be a bill giving a woman the right to view it if she wants, which I thought she’d already have since it is her medical record and the man the right to view his heart/rectal exam if he wants, which again I thought he already would have?
How about a bill saying doctors should do all tests deemed medically necessary before any procedure or prescription and should inform the patient that they can see their own medical records if they want?
The reason behind the rectal exam was to make men have to undergo an uncomfortable procedure that would rival the discomfort a vaginal ultrasound would be for women. In other words, if a bill is to pass that would be uncomfortable for women, then there should be something that would be uncomfortable for men, too. In one word: politics.
True, nothing but politics.
So the law that mandates HPV vaccination for girls, because needles hurt, they should do something to boys that hurts too?
I’m curious if they could give women as painful as the selective service requirement is, and the penalties for not doing it, or the pain all the men who were drafted and sent to their deaths felt. Boo hoo, women are so oppressed!
“The ultrasound also has medical relevency to allow the doctor to be fully informed.”
That should be up to the doctor.
Actually, the ultrasound in this case has no medical relevance. The doctors have other diagnostic tests that are completely adequate to determine any factors that must be considered, such as dating the pregnancy. The only purpose of the ultrasound is to threaten frightened woman with being raped using an object if they seek a legal abortion.
SamsontheCat, the digital rectal exam accomplishes exactly what the ultrasound accomplishes. It punishes a person who wants to have sex. That was the point of the amendment. There is no justification for either procedure, but it was a way to bring home the hypocrisy and misogyny of the original ultrasound provision.
How about a bill where the woman is required to name their Fetus so that it can get a proper burial?
Smoking tied to miscarriage risk
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/12/31/us-smoking-miscarriage-sb-idUSTRE6BT3VP20101231
Why is it that a 12 year old can’t even get a broken bone set in an ER without parental APPROVAL, yet a 12 year old girl can get an abortion not only without parental approval but also parental notification?
Where?
Yes, where indeed, novasteve?
Fact: Less than 1 percent of the abortions provided in the US are provided to teens under 15.
Just like I said. The pro-abortionists would keep women ignorant and uninformed and, instead, have the abortionist treat women like little children.
Uninformed about WHAT? You still haven’t told us what you think an ultrasound is going to tell a woman that she doesn’t already know.
Well in that case, I guess you have to wonder why so many pregnant women look at them at all.
The ultrasounds performed at 4-5 months can be cool, because you can see the baby’s features. Those also are done with the more typical “jelly on the belly” exterior ultrasound machines. Abortions are most frequently done at about 6 weeks, long before the exterior ultrasounds can be used. I had a transvaginal ultrasound right around that time in pregnancy once, because I thought I’d had a miscarriage. The sight of the little bean with the flashing dot of a heartbeat was a very welcome one, since it was a much longed-for pregnancy, but I can’t see it making any difference to a woman who has already made a very difficult decision and at that point is probably desperate to get it over with.
That’s an absolutely ridiculous comparison, and you know it.
That a “clump of cells” looks like a baby?
Every woman knows what she is doing when she chooses to abort, no matter what it looks like. However, I have to give you credit for at least being genuine about what this is… a way to try to keep women from having abortions at all.
Every woman knows that she is killing an innocent human life?
How can that be, “Maria”, with people like you selling women on the lie that it is just a clump of cells?
That’s my name, no need for quotation marks. I will also point out that I have never used the term “clump of cells.” I’m pretty sure few other people on here besides novasteve have. And if we want to be technical, we’re all just clumps of cells; it just so happens that as we are far from the earliest stages of our development, our clumps have taken on shapes and functions that embryonic cells have not.
However, that’s all beside the point. Every woman who has chosen to have an abortion, for whatever reason, knows what is growing inside her and what it would become if allowed to grow to full term. There is NO medical reason for women to have ultrasounds before abortions, and it would be nice if you would just acknowledge the fact that the only reason this requirement was proposed was to try to guilt women into not having abortions. Period.
I’m not even arguing over the morality of abortion, so no need for the snarky (and false) accusations.
And you want men to remain uninformed and treated like children by refusing to force doctors to give them digital rectal exams.
So, vacancies in Arlington are up…yet, Commercial RE tax assessments are up. I think something might a little wrong in that thinking.
But, hey, Arlington let’s keep spending like is no tomorrow because surely there is always a new Govt. Contractor coming through the door.
Men have no idea what a pregnancy feels like; are often the ones voting to close planned parenthoods that provide low cost contraceptives-and much more- to women of limited means-when women bear the most responsibility for preventing pregnancy, now, mostly men again are voting to insist that women have an ultra sound probe inserted in their vagina when it is not medically indicated! Misogyny and practicing medicine without a license and directly interfering with the patient/ doctor relationship. This is the very thing that they are criticizing the affordable heath care act for.
These politicians are ideologues who place more importance on their sense of self righteousness and moral superiority rather than the the emotional well being of women.
These same politicians seem to see the primitive and involved treatment of women when it is across the world by the taliban but are totally blind when they display the same uncivilized and subjugation of women in America.
Yes, because there are no pro life women out there :rolleyes:
Looks like the ultrasound bill got heavily watered down before being passed by the virginia senate. There is no requirement to have the ultrasound, the doctor simply has to offer one to the woman…
“before the performance of an abortion a qualified medical professional trained in sonography and working under the direct supervision of a physician licensed in the Commonwealth shall offer to perform fetal ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services on the patient undergoing the abortion for the purpose of determining gestational age.”
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?121+ful+SB484S2
No, not watered down at all. The bill that was passed quite specifically requires the ultrasounds, as well as many hoops to jump through if the woman chooses not to look at the images:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/virginia-senate-passes-bill-requiring-women-to-undergo-ultrasound-before-abortion/2012/01/30/gIQAW3MviQ_story.html?hpid=z3
John, sadly, you are referring to an amendment that was not passed. The ultrasound law was indeed passed in the senate. The law also says that anyone who declines to view the ultrasound must have the ultrasound printed out and placed in her chart.