On Friday, the governor of Texas issued an executive order requiring all girls entering sixth grade recieve the vaccination for the sexual transmitted disease, HPV (Crib Sheet on HPV) beginning in September 2008. 70% of cervical cancer is a result of HPV.
The cost for this vaccine runs about $360 and is covered by most insurance companies. A Texas vaccination program will cover the cost for the uninsured. Sounds perfect, huh?
I had the opportunity to attend the Code Pink rally on Saturday. With a catchy slogan and a well organized dress code, many people gathered for the rally at the Navy Memorial. The area was filled with people (men and women) dressed in pink and shouting their favorite chant "Women Say Pull Out Now".
Several actors-turn-activists were given a chance to speak, including Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, and Rhea Pearlman. Joining the "stars", were some elected officials - Representatives Dennis Kucinich and Lynn Woolsey, among others. The expected speakers represented Hollywood and Washington DC; but they shared the stage with a couple with a unexpected speakers - one that I foun dparticularly interesting was an injured Iraq veteran. The Code Pink MCs allowed this veteran speak about his support for the war. Most of the crowd probably didn't agree with most of what he said, but he was treated with respect and recieved minimal banter from the crowd. As a first-timer to DC protests, I was in awe of the respect the pink crowd had for the speaker.
A quick side note- There was a counter-protest across the street. Seems like the demographics of the small group were quite limited, actually the entire crowd was limited. I would say maximum of 40 people total were protesting against the rally.
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