It’s also an assumption on your part that Coakley acted the way she did out of career concerns rather than a belief she was acting in the public’s best interests. Without a damning statement from Coakley or someone close to her, your speculation is just that.

Whether Brown is a lock-step Republican remains to be seen, but I am keeping my expectations low. Not because of Brown specifically, but because very few people in elected office, Democrat or Republican, have the guts to defy their party poobahs; odds are Brown won’t be any different, and if he is, then fantastic. More power to him, literally.

As for the amendment Brown introduced, he said on the State House floor: “Through our conversations, I’ve heard, ‘what if somebody has a sincerely held religious conviction about dispensing the emergency contraception medication? What about their rights? How do we address those?’ ’’

Hospital workers have a job to do,and if they can’t separate personal feelings from their duties, they have no business in that job. Some faiths don’t believe in organ transplants, blood transfusions, or even medication as simple as aspirin. Those beliefs are as “sincerely held,” so why shouldn’t they also be allowed to deny certain kinds of care? Why should we cater to one specific faith?

All religious beliefs should indeed be respected, but that does not mean letting someone else’s faith-based beliefs intrude on the personal decisions that impact another’s life. I don’t want anyone else telling me I can’t use contraception, proactive or reactive, because they think it’s “wrong” based on a very subjective set of personal beliefs.

And, for the record, the amendment reads: “If it is deemed that said employee, physician or nurse of any facility has a sincerely held religious conflict administering the contraception, then said treating facility shall have in place a validated referral procedure policy for referring patients for administration of the emergency contraception that will administer the emergency contraception, which may include a contract with another facility.”

In short, someone doesn’t want to give a patient the morning-after pill, so the patient could be told, “Sorry, you’ll have to go someplace else.” How is this in any way sensitive to a rape victim? What good is served by making a woman who is already deeply traumatized go elsewhere for care she could as easily receive at whatever facility she winds up at?

Finally: Keep calling me “Mikey” and I’m going to start thinking you’re sweet on me.

You made no comment whatsoever about my reference to Gerald Amirault. Do you know about that one? Coakley kept Gerald in jail for years – just to further her career. That is why I call her an ambitious hack. And there were many other cases she twisted in order to “get ahead.” Ugh!

Brown is not a lock-step Republican. He does not agree with the Republicans on several issues: he believes in a woman’s “right to choose,” for instance. And… your allegation that Brown’s amendment would have allowed hospital personal to “force their own beliefs” etc. etc. is not accurate.

Have you actually read the amendment he proposed?

I can tell you haven’t, because it did not say anything about hospital personnel being able to “force” anything on patients. It said that HOSPITAL PERSONNEL should not BE forced – to go against their own beliefs in treating ER patients, but that OTHER hospital personal WOULD DO THE JOB. And that is perfectly reasonable.

This is the USA, and people’s religious views and beliefs are respected. You should read things before you quote them, Mikey.

T. Taylor, how could you possibly vote for Brown? He’s an ambitious hack that has no principles that aren’t spoon-fed to him by his party. Let us not forget that he introduced an amendment that would have allowed hospital personnel to force their own beliefs on a person seeking emergency contraception, even in the cases of rape, and even members of his own party decried the move, calling the amendment “poison.” His denial of all this in recent interviews is completely dishonest.

Chris, I didn’t feel free under an administration that wanted the authority to tap my phone without a warrant and suspend the writ of habeus corpus if had any reason, no matter how feeble, to believe I might be up to no good. You’re just as enslaved as you were before, you simply have switched masters, and if you have half a brain, you’ll realize that they aren’t looking out for your best interests either. Conservatives are as faulty as liberals.

Basically, people, both candidates suck out loud. Neither one is going to do anything so wonderful that it validates their election to the office, and in two years whoever is in office is going to face a hard re-election campaign.

Martha Coakley wants to help the thugs in Washington.
Martha Coakley has been bought and paid for by the Democrats.

Vote for Scott Brown.

I find it absolutely amazing now how anyone can be a liberal that has even half a brain. Wake up and look at what they do and how they constantly lie!

Please go and read the words of our founding fathers and get a clue. It is time for the people of The United States of America to take back our God given right to FREEDOM!