While Ms. Weisenstein can certainly write with flourish, a soapbox is still a soapbox, and she is using it to hurl insults at the "left" from her little pulpit. Are we really to believe that proponents of the HPV vaccine are "underage intercourse enthusiasts"? As absurd as this assertion is, it was merely laughable until the final sentence accusing the "left" of a "crusade against common sense". I'm not sure what Ms. Weisenstein's definition is, but protecting girls and women from potential forms of cervical cancer seems pretty common sense to me, regardless of how it is contracted. Ms. Weisenstein is not speaking of sense or even truth, for that matter - only judgment, where girls must adhere to her moral doctrines or suffer the consequences. Her argument amounts to "girls who don't listen to their mommies deserve cancer". She needs to reassess her capacity to understand issues within the realm of practicality, and not use them as a forum to exert her moral superiority over those who differ ideologically. Her argument is not only intellectually dishonest, but an absolute perversion of common sense.