By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I'm upset about the controversial decision by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—an agency appointed by HHS, the federal department at the center of healthcare reform—to recommend that women not begin regular mammograms until age 50, and even then, only every two years.

The breast cancer awareness lobby in the United States has spent years convincing women that we must get checked early and often for breast cancer. It's just what you do: Every year I get my teeth cleaned (twice), I get a Pap smear and a mammogram, and get my cholesterol checked. It's part of being a grownup. It's as if they came out and said that seat belts in cars really aren't necessary anymore, or that it's okay for pregnant women to drink tequila again.

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Earlier this week, Pew Research released some hair-raising stats:

• One in three (34%) texting teens ages 16-17 say they have texted while driving.
• Half (52%) of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 say they have talked on a cell phone while driving.
• 48% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting.
• 40% say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger.

I have a daughter who is 18 months away from getting a driver's license, so I'm very worried. But anyone who is on the same road with a teen who is texting should be scared too. We're all in danger, according to this, and these are just the kids who are admitting what they're doing. I bet many more don't own up to it.

So here's my solution, sort of a Cash For Clunkers idea. How about a tax credit for purchasing manual transmission cars? Anyone who has driven a stick-shift knows it is physically impossible to text while driving. Let's put as many teens as we can in stick-shift cars—we'll get better gas mileage, safer streets and more focused drivers. Plus they're fun to drive no matter what age you are.

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Today Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue, comes out, and she's the talk of the town. Everyone seems to have an opinion: Here's Evan Thomas in Newsweek, Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic, and Geoffrey Dunn in the Huffington Post, to name only a few.

You'll notice that many of the loudest opinions are coming from the men. For me, and for a lot of moderate-to-conservative women, it's been interesting to watch. None of us are saying much. It made me cringe when Maureen Dowd called Sarah Palin "Caribou Barbie"—if a man had said that, people would have said it was too much—and other women on the left have been vocal, especially in that just-released collection of essays called Going Rouge. But I've noticed that center-right women are sort of sitting on their hands. At least so far.

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Saturday, the New York Times reported on its website that in the healthcare reform debate, "Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies."

The outrage on the talk shows began immediately. This morning, MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan kept a running tally of the number of lawmakers caught using the Genentech talking points on a big billboard-type graphic—22 Republicans and 20 Democrats.

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Tom Daschle, the man who was originally supposed to be running the president's healthcare reform fight, told the New York Times Magazine a few months ago that one of his favorite phrases is, "The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror."

President Bill Clinton, who has his own healthcare reform debacle of 15 years ago set squarely in his rearview mirror, met with Senate Democrats this week—essentially urging them to pass healthcare reform in whatever form they can. As McClatchy News paraphrased it, his advice was: "Just pass something."

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I received a call from the Gallup Organization a few nights ago, conducting a poll on various world religions. They asked if I knew the name of the holy book of Islam (the Koran) and the name of the prophet of Islam (Muhammad). But here's the sad part: they asked me if I agreed that Islam is a religion of peace. I thought about it, and said I had to disagree.

The reason I don't think Islam is a religion of peace is that I am not aware of a single Muslim cleric stepping forward to denounce acts of violence committed in the name of Islam. This has happened over and over, and yet the mainstream Muslim leaders—presumably peaceful religious leaders who are not radicals—never step forward to call for an end to murderous rampages and terrorist acts committed in the name of Islam.

Why not?

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without parole for crimes that do not involve the taking of a life. One of my all-time favorite Republicans, former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, made a better argument than any of the lawyers could have—on his spending part of his youth with guns and jail, and facing the possibility of being locked up for good. It's a great read, and very persuasive. In the weeks since he wrote his opinion piece, it's been quoted in newspapers all over the world. You can read it here.