In his first days in office, President George W. Bush has surprised many observers by moving aggressively to cut back on abortion rights.

His first major policy move was to reinstate the so-called gag rule that cuts off American funding to international groups that even discuss abortion.

Bush sent a message of support to activists at the March for Life rally in Washington. And his new attorney general, John Ashcroft, is a devout Christian who is one of the staunchest foes of abortion in Congress.

Salon’s Stephan Cox speaks about President Bush’s reproductive rights policies with Erica Pelletreau, legislative director of NARAL/NY, the New York affiliate of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

NARAL is the self-proclaimed “political arm of the pro-choice movement,” with the main focus of protecting and preserving “the right to choose while promoting policies and programs that improve women’s health and make abortion less necessary.”

With institutionalized rolling blackouts becoming a reality for California businesses and residences, many have started to point the finger at the thousands of dot-coms that have sprung up in the past few years. One might imagine that so many more computers running, lights burning and copiers copying would cause a massive strain on the state’s power supply.

Jonathan Koomey says this just isn’t the case. He is the staff scientist with the E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and leader of the End-Use Forecasting Group, which studies and reports on power usage and efficiency, and whose clients include the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy. Here he speaks with Stephan Cox about this common misconception.