Folks, here comes yet another edition of Amazing America.

* 17-year-old girls in the U.S. who screw without contraceptives don’t have to worry anymore about getting a swollen belly because they can get the Plan B morning after birth control pill without a prescription and without permission from their parents.

Yes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agency signaled its approval of Plan B today.

For all ye ignoramuses out there in the backwaters of Kovilpatti, Bhagalpur and Nanded, Plan B is the popular name for the Levonorgestrel birth control pill.

This is what the FDA said on Wednesday:

On March 23, 2009, a federal court issued an order directing the FDA, within 30 days, to permit the Plan B drug sponsor to make Plan B available to women 17 and older without a prescription. The government will not appeal this decision. In accordance with the court’s order, and consistent with the scientific findings since 2005 by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA sent a letter to the manufacturer of Plan B that the company may, upon submission and approval of an appropriate application, market Plan B without a prescription to women 17 years of age and older.

By the way, Plan B is manufactured by Duramed Research Inc. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

Representatives of Christian organizations in the U.S. are already jumping like their tails are on fire. Here’s what the Christian outfit Concerned Women for America had to say:

* This decision is driven by politics, not what is good for patients or minors. Parents should be furious at the FDA’s complete disregard for parental rights and the safety of minors.

* The FDA violated its standards when it made the high dose Plan B available non-prescription to adults. But now the FDA is making the drug available to minors without parental consent. Parents should be furious that the FDA is putting their minor daughters at risk.

* The FDA should have challenged the decision, especially its false premise. A judge’s opinion can’t change the fact that giving women a false impression about a drug’s effectiveness forces the FDA to become snake oil salesmen.

* Women, parents, and children who rely on the FDA to do their job deserve better than this shoddy decision.

We’re feminists and support Plan B and use of other contraceptives as well as complete abortion rights for women. But we also think 17-year-old girls should be spending their time studying, not screwing.

* Things are pretty grim in America now. So grim that some cities like Oakland have no money to pay policemen and are starting to hire private security guards. You know, just like in India where you see the buffoons in uniforms standing outside most buildings these days. Here’s an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:

Facing pressure to crack down on crime amid a record budget deficit, Oakland is joining other U.S. cities that are turning over more law-enforcement duties to private armed guards.

….Hiring private guards is less expensive than hiring new officers. Oakland — facing a record $80 million budget shortfall — spends about 65% of its budget for police and fire services, including about $250,000 annually, including benefits and salary, on each police officer.

In contrast, for about $200,000 a year the city can contract to hire four private guards to patrol the troubled East Oakland district where four on-duty police officers were killed in March. And the company, not the city, is responsible for insurance for the guards.

Are you surprised? No, we’re not.

After all, our government has already been privatized and Congress is now controlled by lobbyists for banks, insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical firms, military equipment suppliers and other businesses.

God Bless America.