Martha Thomases: The Horror! The Horror!

Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases brought more comics to the attention of more people than anyone else in the industry. Her work promoting The Death of Superman made an entire nation share in the tragedy of one of our most iconic American heroes. As a freelance journalist, she has been published in the Village Voice, High Times, Spy, the National Lampoon, Metropolitan Home, and more. For Marvel comics she created the series Dakota North. Martha worked as a researcher and assistant for the author Norman Mailer on several of his books, including the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Executioner's Song, On Women and Their Elegance, Ancient Evenings, and Harlot's Ghost.

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11 Responses

  1. Mindy Newell says:

    I have a dentist phobia, too! :-)

  2. George Haberberger says:

    Comparing the Alien Chestburster which is a parasite that kills its host, with normal mammalian reproduction is the most egregious example of a false equivalency I have ever read.

    And again, Planned Parenthood provides 0.97% of the nation’s PAP tests and 1.8% of the nation’s breast exams. These stats are from the Guttmacher Institute, a semiautonomous division of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. It was renamed in memory of Alan Frank Guttmacher, an obstetrician-gynecologist and former president of Planned Parenthood.

    • mike weber says:

      Comparing the Alien Chestburster which is a parasite that kills its host, with normal mammalian reproduction is the most egregious example of a false equivalency I have ever read.

      Except that that was at least a large part of the intent of the film.

      • George Haberberger says:

        “Except that that was at least a large part of the intent of the film.”

        Exactly! That’s why it was a science-fiction/horror movie and not a feel-good rom-com.

        I think it is interesting that your comment addresses my Alien movie reference but not Planned Parenthood’s lies about their health care stats.

        • mike weber says:

          You’re quoting percentages rather than actual numbers.

          How many PAP tests and mammograms are administered annually in the US?

          Hmmm – slightly north of 18 million mammograms {i can’t find a number of “breast exams”, but i’d say we could conservatively place the total number somewhere around twice that of mammograms} and about 21 million PAP smears.

          So, going by the figures you quote, Planned Parenthood provides a minimum of somewhere around 280,000 breast exams (a “minimum” since there are large numbers of breast exams that don’t include mammograms), and a bit north of 200,000 PAP smears.

          That’s a lot of exams and smears.

          Taking the further fact that many – if not most – of those were provided to people who either couldn’t afford the out-of-pocket expense and/or had no insurance, we see that PP does a lot of good.

          But, of course, since you tend to be wrong on most social issues, i didn’t actually originally feel it was necessary to point out that you quoted the statistics in the manner that looked worst?

          • George Haberberger says:

            “So, going by the figures you quote, Planned Parenthood provides a minimum of somewhere around 280,000 breast exams (a “minimum” since there are large numbers of breast exams that don’t include mammograms), and a bit north of 200,000 PAP smears.”

            Well they’re Planned Parenthood’s Guttmacher Institute’s figures, but yes, I did quote them.

            “You’re quoting percentages rather than actual numbers.”

            Okay, actual numbers. That means that Planned Parenthood, which promotes itself, not as the abortion corporation it is, but as a health-care provider, does NOT provide 17,720,000 breast exams and does NOT provide 20,800,000 PAP tests.

            Planned Parenthood likes to use percentages too when they claim only 3% of their services are abortion, something even Slate and the Washington Post acknowledge is a misrepresentation. The calculations they use to claim that 3% is explained here:
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgqxvaV-8U

            “But, of course, since you tend to be wrong on most social issues, i didn’t actually originally feel it was necessary to point out that you quoted the statistics in the manner that looked worst?”

            Uh… that’s a bit presumptuous. What other social issues do you feel I am “wrong” about? I don’t comment about social issues other than abortion.

          • mike weber says:

            What other social issues do you feel I am “wrong” about? I don’t comment about social issues other than abortion.

            Perhaps i have you confused with someone else, and if i do, sorry.

            Also, if you are the person i recall from numerous posts at Peter David’s blog, reliably coming down on the right-wing side of arguments,perhaps “social” was the wrong term – “political” more properly.

            Again, if not, i apologise for assuming you’re as wrong on other political/social issues as you are on abortion.

            However, if you would kindly provide figures {from a reputable source; Guttmacher would do} that “prove” that PP is primarily – or even significantly – engaged in abortion services rather than any other services it provides, i’d be interested.

            Planned Parenthood, which promotes itself, not as the abortion corporation it is, but as a health-care provider, does NOT provide 17,720,000 breast exams and does NOT provide 20,800,000 PAP tests.

            Well, gosh. Shame on PP for not providing services to people who pay for their own or have insurance coverage to pay for them.

            Do you throw shade at fire departments because they only get .002% {or whatever the actual percentage would be} of cats out of trees?

            To be relevant to your argument, those percentages would have to be approached from the other side – how many of the women who need those services would not have been able to obtain them if PP hadn’t provided?

          • George Haberberger says:

            I do not post regularly anywhere except ComicMix and usually not about abortion. (Only the I have to.) That said, you probably do recognize my name from Peter David’s blog. Coincidentally I posted there last week when Peter tied the bad reception of the TV show “Young Sheldon” on Facebook with “Trump’s America.” There are a lot of things Trump says that he can and should be called out on but people not liking “Young Sheldon” seemed to be to be a bit of an outrageous leap. I said that instant and unreasonable criticism was around before Trump. A number of other posters echoed those sentiments.

            The previous time I posted on Peter David’s blog was about year ago during the Vice-Presidential Debate and that was concerning abortion. More specifically, Tim Kaine claiming to be an observant Catholic and also being Pro-Choice. You, but mostly Jerry Chandler, argued that Kaine could be both and I quoted Canon Law that is quite concrete:
            “Those Catholics who promote abortion are automatically excommunicated for two reasons. First, they have fallen into the sin of heresy by believing that abortion is not always gravely immoral (canons 751 and 1364). Second, these Catholics are providing substantial assistance for women to obtain abortions by influencing public policy to make abortions legal, and to keep abortions legal, and to broaden access to abortion. Those who provide such substantial assistance commit a mortal sin and incur a sentence of automatic excommunication (canon 1398).”

            I ended with, “Finally, if you think there there exists some loophole in Catholic dogma that excuses abortion, you are simply wrong, as is Kaine, Kerry, Pelosi and Biden.”

            So anyway, that remains the only social issue I feel strongly enough to bother posting about. The whole thing is on Peter David’s blog. It you want to check go to his archives, October 4, 2016.

            Now back to the subject at hand.
            However, if you would kindly provide figures {from a reputable source; Guttmacher would do} that “prove” that PP is primarily – or even significantly – engaged in abortion services rather than any other services it provides, i’d be interested.

            PP alone as a single corporation is responsible of 34.9% of all abortions in the country. The video I linked to above on Sept. 30 explains the veracity of that figure. They claim abortion is only 3% of their business by giving every service: pregnancy test, consultation, STD test, etc, the same weight as the abortion itself. That is a gross misrepresentation of their business. They preform an abortion every 97 seconds.

            Do you throw shade at fire departments because they only get .002% {or whatever the actual percentage would be} of cats out of trees?

            Getting cats out of trees is just something fire department occasionally do. It is not their primary job. Putting out fires is. Similarly, breast exams are just something PP very rarely does. Their primary job is abortion.

            Planned Parenthood’s annual report lists their assets at 1.8 billion dollars and their profits at 1.3 billion dollars.

            https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/18/40/1840b04b-55d3-4c00-959d-11817023ffc8/20170526_annualreport_p02_singles.pdf

            Why should a company with money like that be getting a 500 million dollars from the government?

            To be relevant to your argument, those percentages would have to be approached from the other side – how many of the women who need those services would not have been able to obtain them if PP hadn’t provided?

            There are 665 Planned Parenthood locations. There 13,540 comprehensive health care clinics, 20 for every 1 PP.

            http://dailysignal.com/2015/08/17/planned-parenthood-loses-government-funding-heres-map-health-clinics-take-place/

            Check out the map at that link.

          • George Haberberger says:

            Mike, I have responded to your post but it is “awaiting moderation”. It has a couple of links in it.

          • George Haberberger says:

            Don’t know why my post is being delayed so long. There are only two links and one of them is to Planned Parenthood’s annual report.