'Tis the season to reflect on the past year. If I think back on all of our Liberty Lowdowns, I remember chasing people dressed as a voting booth, driving around Denver delivering Yes We Can cans, and forcing my co-workers to sing. Ah, what great times.

So in the spirit of the new year, I've decided to make a top five list of my fave and most fun Liberty Lowdowns:

1. Mamma Mia, here Bush Goes Again! (perfect now that Bush has dropped the HHS rule)

2. Lady Liberty on the Move

3. Get your vote on...or get chased

4. Get out the Vote: Obama for Pro-Choice America (the one with Jack Black!)

5. Keep McCain out of the White House? Priceless.

For this week's Liberty Lowdown, I'd like to ask ya'll to watch and forward one of our amazing free.will.power videos - POWER. "Choice is power - have it with no pickles or power steering."

I hope everyone's new year is filled with power, choice, and, if you want them, pickles. Mine will be filled with all three.

We are right in the thick of holiday-season madness and there are no signs of it slowing down... just the way I like it. People are celebrating all over the place, and as pro-choice Americans, we know we have much to celebrate this holiday season.

Today, in addition to our holiday break being just around the corner (!), NARAL Pro-Choice America is celebrating the winning designer from the free.will.power T-shirt contest... Katherine from Charlotte, North Carolina! Behold:

WOOT WOOT!

I love, love, love it, and hope you do to. Before Katherine found out she was the winner, here's what she had to say about the design on Facebook:

I'm the proud designer of the black fist design, and thank you to everyone who voted for my design! i put all of myself into that thing and really racked my brain thinking up the idea! glad some of you can appreciate it, even if it doesn't win :) 

Katherine will receive a $1,000 prize, and you can order the T-shirt through Zazzle.com.

Katherine won the contest, but you're totally a part of this too - because you are participating in this ongoing effort.  So we're taking it a step further, and offering you a chance to own one more piece of free.will.power.

Download the winning design and send us a photo of yourself displaying it proudly. Two people will earn a free.will.power hoodie just for participating.

Show us where you see free.will.power. Take a look at our flickr set to get some ideas... Does your home town have free.will.power? Does your school, campus, book club, or band have it? Here's one of my personal favorites:

So... submit your photo and we'll add it to our web site... and maybe you'll win!

Excellent.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to pro-choice America. Be safe, be healthy, and we'll be back on the grid on January 5, 2009!    

Countdown to Obama's Inauguration day: 28 days!

I'm one of the millions of people that adores the heck out of Rachel Maddow. It's true. Her weeknight show on MSNBC is a must watch.

So after a long, long day using Bush's dangerous rule as my motivation (though a holiday vacation is just days way), I was thrilled to pieces to see this segment on the Rachel Maddow show:

I love that the Rachel Maddow show gave this dangerous, divisive rule over seven minutes of airtime, and had pro-choice Rep. Diane DeGette (CO-01) as their guest for the segment. I think they did a great job of explaining the rule and showing just how broad and far-reaching this horrifying rule really is.

In today's Washington Post, Rob Stein has a great article about the rule which really demonstrated the focus of the opposing sides:

Donna Crane, policy director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, noted that Congress has a limited window to act. "Right now our efforts are focused on the executive branch."

The regulation's supporters, including some members of Congress, vowed to defend it.

"We will marshal a nonpartisan, grass-roots coalition to prevent any weakening of current conscience protections," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a socially conservative group that opposes abortion.

David Stevens of the Christian Medical Association said: "We will do all in our power to ensure that health-care professionals have the same civil rights enjoyed by all Americans. These regulations are needed, do not change the law but simply stop religious discrimination 

In other words, the anti-choice groups are going to give all they've got to make sure the rule stays in place.

Let's make sure we stay vigilant, shall we?

Extreme disappointment doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about Bush's latest desperate move to appease his far-right base.

What did he do now? Ugh.

Today the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the final Bush administration rule that could undermine women's access to essential health-care services, including birth control. I know I should be used to the Bush administration's shennanigans like this, but I'm not. Exactly how many more days until the Obama Inauguration?

Anyway, here's a bit of Nancy Keenan's, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, statement:

President Bush's campaign promise was to unite Americans and he certainly did, as Americans are united in their opposition to this dangerous last-minute rule. This last-ditch effort to undermine women's health and privacy is a transparent payoff to the right-wing pressure groups. In the 2008 election, voters clearly rejected the use of government authority to advance divisive policies. We look forward to working with the incoming Obama administration to reverse this divisive rule and change the tone of the debate over reproductive rights by protecting women's access to contraception, which actually helps prevent unintended pregnancies.

Back in September our fantastic members and activists sprang into action, sending 2,500 birth-control packs to HHS. The packs, which are replicas of the pill pack, represent the thousands of activists who signed a petition to protest the Bush administration's proposal that could undermine women's access to essential health-care services, including birth control.

Now, with the election of pro-choice President-elect Obama, we can all look forward to working with the incoming Obama administration to reverse this divisive rule and change the tone of the debate over reproductive rights by protecting women's access to contraception, which actually helps prevent unintended pregnancies.

Countdown to a pro-choice administration: 33 days (I think). 

Ahh the end of the calendar year. Twinkle lights. Faux snow. The availability to Starbuck's Christmas Blend. A Charlie Brown Christmas. The Nutcracker. Danielle's holiday treat bags. All of these things make me excited for the holiday season and the impending new year. But if I'm going to be truly honest, and I want to be truly honest, one of my favorite things about end-of-the-year festivities is... the Top Ten List.

Jen Nedeau, over at the Women's Rights blog on Change.org, got a head start with her Top Ten Moments of Feminism in 2008. Here's one of my favorite parts:

3. Gov. Sarah Palin: Firing Up Feminists

The nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as Sen. John McCain's running mate during the 2008 election certainly got everyone to sit up and pay attention - especially the feminists. With her "five children, successful political career, $1.2 million net worth and beauty pageant looks" - she seemed to be the candidate that every woman and man in Republican Party was looking for. However, her nomination also fired up the women's rights movement and brought it front and center within the street fight for the Presidency. While some perceived Palin as part of a post-feminist world, her candidacy turned out to be nothing more than a shallow attempt by the GOP to partake in identity politics. In a historical essay written by Gloria Steinem she helped women understand the severe Catch-22 about Palin:

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

Indeed.

So, if you're like me and you love Top Ten lists, or even if you don't particularly love them but do love feminism, then check it out and be sure to leave your favorite moment in feminism in 2008 in the comments. 

Everyone has that one t-shirt (or several) that they hold close to their heart for one reason or another. For me, it's a tough call between my </patriarchy> (end patriarchy) shirt and my comfy Ithaca College tee.

T-shirt taste seems to be very personal - so for this week's Liberty Lowdown, I investigated what makes a shirt someone's favorite.

Though I also have a deep love for my Bon Jovi shirt, I think a new contender could provide fierce competition for the old faves - and that would be, of course, my future free.will.power t-shirt.

A ton of people sent in creative and amazing designs - but we had to narrow it down to six. So make sure to go vote on your fave free.will.power t-shirt design today!

Voting closes tomorrow and we'll announce the winner on the 19th, so stay tuned! Which will be your new fave?

Quick reminder that today is the deadline to enter our free.will.power t-shirt design contest. With a $1000 prize going to the winner, you don't want to miss out! So finish up your entries and send them in.

We look forward to seeing your awesome, creative work!

Kirsten Suhr is the Associate Director of Communications for Online Strategies at NARAL Pro-Choice America.

If you're reading this blog you probably know more than the average Joe/Jill about reproductive rights. Are you sure you know as much as you think you do? Take our quiz; some of the answers might surprise you.

We also had Lady Liberty take to the streets to find out how much others know, and how they feel about the state of their rights. Check out the video:

Watch it on YouTube.

This is all part of our new free.will.power campaign. If you haven't checked out MyFreeWillPower.com, go take a look! We've got some sweet videos, a t-shirt design contest (submission deadline: TOMORROW), free ringtones, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Kirsten Suhr is the Associate Director of Communications for Online Strategies at NARAL Pro-Choice America.

I was disappointed to see the results of the Georgia senate race. But thanks to everyone who campaigned and voted for Jim Martin. Let's not forget we still made some terrific gains this year!

A whole slew of interesting choice-related articles and blog posts have come up in the past few days. Here are some of my favorites.

• Washington Post: The Checkup: Does Abortion Traumatize Women? - A new examination of previous studies found the most scientifically accurate ones didn't find a correlation between abortion and depression.
• Bangor Daily News: Battle Looms on Access to Birth Control - Maine may soon face a battle over teens' access to contraception.
• CBS News: Why Won't South Dakota Ban Abortion? - Interesting examination into why the SD abortion ban ballot measure failed. NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota and other pro-choice groups in the state did a lot of voter education work on this issue.
• Reuters: FDA rule change boosts access to morning-after pill - Report finds it's easier for women to get Plan B now that it's available without a prescription. But...
• The Consumerist: Walgreens Jerks You Around When You Try To Buy Plan B - Author reports on his girlfriend's experience getting Plan B at a Walgreens in Mississippi.
• Kirsten Moore at RHRealityCheck: Principled Choices - "I believe President-elect Obama can teach us all a thing or two about respecting the choices that other people make in their lives and carrying that respect through into our public policies."
• Nancy Keenan in The Huffington Post: The Pro-Choice Future Caught on Video: What is free.will.power? - NARAL Pro-Choice America's president talks about our new campaign.

Have you seen any good ones I missed? Feel free to leave a link in the comments. Enjoy!

Kirsten Suhr is the Associate Director of Communications for Online Strategies at NARAL Pro-Choice America

Just a quick reminder that Georgia's senate runoff election between pro-choice Jim Martin and anti-choice Sen. Saxby Chambliss is tomorrow. Tomorrow!

Voter turnout is going to be essential in this race. So if you live in Georgia, PLEASE go vote for Jim Martin tomorrow (find your polling place). For all the rest of you, if you have friends or family in Georgia, remind them to vote for Martin tomorrow.