Bush in Your Bedroom: Top Ten Worst Appointees for Reproductive Rights (So Far…)
“On September 11, we saw clearly that evil exists in this world, and that it does not value life … Now we are engaged in a fight against evil and tyranny to preserve and protect life.” - George W. Bush in 2002, linking abortion rights with terrorism, as he declared the 29th anniversary of Roe v. Wade to be “National Sanctity of Human Life Day.”
Bush has used his Oval Office years to limit reproductive freedom and stack critical posts with rightwingers bent on rolling back the clock.And now it appears yet another reactionary Bush appointee is on track to get a lifetime position as a federal judge…
Bush nominated Wyoming lawyer and former state representative Richard Honaker to the US District Court back in March, but the reproductive rights group NARAL believes he may soon get a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Honacker authored a 1991 bill which would have outlawed most abortions, and has said that abortion is “wrong, and no one should have the right to do what is wrong.”
If the nomination goes through, Honacker will stay on the bench long after Bush is out of office, and he’ll join a growing list of appointees eager to regulate your sexuality.
A Top Ten list, so far…
1. Patricia Funderburk Ware
In 2001, Bush named abstinence-only proponent Patricia Funderburk Ware to be Executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). Ware’s qualifications for the job of promoting “effective prevention of HIV disease” included criticizing condom use and lobbying against HIV/AIDS being in the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Two years later, Ware recommended that a controversial character named Jerry Thacker join the PACHA panel. Thacker has called AIDS a “gay plague” and homosexuality a “deathstyle.” Amid public protest, Thacker soon withdrew his nomination and Ware left her PACHA post.
2. Tom Coburn
Bush nominated then-Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to be PACHA co-chair in 2003. Coburn supports mandatory reporting to public authorities of the names of those testing positive for HIV/AIDS.
He favors “the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life.”
According to Coburn, the gay community “has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power … That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That’s a gay agenda.”
Who else would you want advising the Bush administration on AIDS?
3. David Hager
Hager was one of three religious conservatives that Bush put on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs in 2002 and only public outcry prevented him from becoming its chairperson. Critics argued that in his gynecology practice, Hager had refused to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women and had recommended Scripture readings to alleviate headaches and premenstrual syndrome.
A memo which Hager wrote helped persuade the FDA to overrule its own advisory panel in 2004, thus preventing the emergency contraceptive “Plan B” from being made more easily available. Critics assailed the FDA’s decision as ignoring scientific evidence, but in Hager’s assessment: “Once again, what Satan meant for evil, God turned into good.”
A downright criminal side of Hager emerged when his former wife went public with the fact that he had been emotionally, physically and sexually abusive during their 32-year marriage, forcibly sodomizing her on a regular basis. As Hager’s ex-wife told The Nation magazine in May 2005, “it was the painful, invasive, totally nonconsensual nature of the [anal] sex that was so horrible.”
Hager left the FDA committee soon after The Nation article was published.
4. & 5. Lester Crawford and Norris Alderson
As Acting Commissioner of the FDA, Lester Crawford was notorious for blocking over-the-counter access to emergency contraception (EC).
Democratic senators initially halted Crawford’s confirmation to head the FDA, but gave approval in June 2005 after he promised to take action on EC by September 1, 2005. Once sworn in, however, Crawford stalled yet again, despite the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee’s having voted 23 to 4 in favor of making EC available over-the-counter.
Dr. Susan Wood, the well-respected head of the FDA Women’s Health Office, soon resigned in protest - and that’s when things got really bizarre. Weeks after Wood stepped down, the FDA Women’s Health Office sent out a mass email announcing that she would be replaced by Dr. Norris Alderson, who was duly listed on the FDA site as: “Acting Director, Office of Women’s Health, Associate Commissioner for Science.”
One small problem. Alderson is a veterinarian.
The administration appointed an animal doctor to be in charge of women’s health. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?
After predictable outcry, the FDA tried to pretend that Alderson had never been appointed in the first place. Recipients of the initial mass emailing, of course, knew otherwise.
To make things even weirder, Crawford himself suddenly resigned as head of the FDA in September 2005 (just months after having been confirmed), amid allegations of not having properly disclosed his financial holdings to the Senate.
In August 2006, the FDA finally approved making the EC “Plan B” available over-the counter to consumers 18 years and older.
6. John G. Roberts
Progressives balked in September 2005 when Bush put forward far-right extremist John G. Roberts to head the US Supreme Court. In Robert’s illustrious career, he had fought against minority voting rights, argued against women’s educational rights, and tried to limit the rights of women prisoners. A legal brief Roberts contributed to said that Roe vs. Wade was “wrongly decided and should be overruled.”
Roberts became Chief Justice within weeks of his nomination, and as expected, has dragged the Supreme Court to the right. In the past two years, for example, the Roberts’ court upheld the constitutionality of a federal anti-abortion law (the so-called Partial Birth Abortion Act) and decreased public school students’ rights to free speech.
7. Samuel Alito
In January 2006, the stridently anti-choice Samuel Alito was sworn in to the US Supreme Court. Alito had previously argued that the strip-search of a mother and ten-year old girl without a warrant was constitutional and that women should be required to tell their husbands before getting an abortion.
Alito stated in a 1985 application to be Deputy Assistant Attorney General: “I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to abortion.” For good measure, he added, “I am and always have been a conservative.”
Alito replaced the moderate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the nation’s high court. The obvious shift to the right caused by the addition of Roberts and Alito led Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to observe: “It is not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much.”
8. Paul Bonicelli
In October 2005, Paul Bonicelli was appointed as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the US international development agency’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). Bonicelli’s main prior claim to fame was being Dean of Academic Affairs at the fundamentalist Patrick Henry College, where the Student Honor Code mandates: “I will reserve sexual activity for the sanctity of marriage.” Patrick Henry College also has a 10-part Statement of Faith which says that hell is a place where “all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity.”
Bonicelli’s current office at DCHA is responsible for: “strengthening the rule of law and respect for human rights; promoting more genuine and competitive elections and political processes; increasing development of a politically active civil society; and implementing a more transparent and accountable governance.”
In other words, a guy who thinks that non-believers “shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity” has been put in charge of promoting human rights across the world.
9. Eric Keroak
In 2006, Bush tapped Eric Keroack to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the Health and Human Services Department. Keroack opposes contraception, has described premarital sex as “modern germ warfare,” and espouses the bizarre, unscientific belief that casual sex depletes “bonding” hormones. He was previously medical director of a Christian pregnancy counseling service which described contraception as “demeaning to women.”
And that’s who the Bush administration chose to oversee the distribution of $283 million in family planning funds for the nation.
Keroack resigned in March 2007, after state Medicaid officials began taking action against his private medical practice.
10. Susan Orr
Keroack was replaced by Susan Orr, who had been “Senior Director for Marriage and Families” at the anti-gay, anti-reproductive rights Family Research Council. In her prior career, Orr had opposed the emergency contraception RU-486 and gushed that Bush was “pro-life … in his heart” for withholding funds from international family planning groups which even discussed abortion.
Orr has claimed that contraception is “not a medical necessity.” Yet she now is in charge of facilitating access to both contraception and sex education for low-income families across the nation.
—–
While presidential candidate George W. Bush insisted that he would put “competent judges on the bench, people who will strictly interpret the Constitution and will not use the bench to write social policy,” his judicial and other appointments have proven otherwise. And these appointees will not leave office when Bush does.
Take Action
1. Oppose the nomination of Richard Honaker
NARAL Pro-Choice America has made it easy for you to urge your Senators not to support a lifetime judgeship for Richard Honaker. Check it out here.
2. Learn more about reproductive rights
How does your state stack up when it comes to reproductive rights? NARAL Pro-Choice America has a quick and easy way to find out via its “In Your State” index. For example, if you choose Wyoming, you’ll find that the legislature is considering two anti-choice bills including one requiring women to receive a “state-mandated lecture, which may include medically inaccurate information, prior to obtaining abortion services and prohibits abortion unless women wait an additional 24 hours after receiving lecture.” If you choose Tennessee, you will also find three separate anti-choice bills, including one “proposing a constitutional amendment to restrict low-income women’s access to abortion.” The site also lets you to see your Congress members’ reproductive rights voting records. Definitely worth a visit.
“Bush in the Bedroom” is partially excerpted from The Progressives’ Handbook: Get the Facts and Make a Difference Now, Vol.1, which hit #1 on Amazon’s political activism charts in December 07. Heather can be contacted at www.heatherwokusch.com.
you have under Susan Orr that she opposed the “emergency contraception RU-486″ Which one is it? or both? - they are entirely different drugs - emergency contraception prevents a pregnancy; RU-486 ends a pregnancy; big difference; big confusion issue among the general public.
Where do MEN get off thinking they should have any say in women’s health issues, most significantly women’s reproductive rights? We women need to take back more than the streets - we must take back any department or office or stage where women’s health is discussed and policy set. Let’s remember too that so-called “pro life” groups would also do away with many forms of birth control pills (some do not prevent conception; they prevent implantation of a fertilized egg), and IUDs. I was born a feminist long long ago - and I am passionate on this topic.
Wokusch is right. RU-486 can be used as emergency contraception. Great article! More like it please!
From a Traditional American Indian perspective, abortion deeply disrespects life. Life is a great gift and a core value. To us it is not something that one can select a category from, such as abortion, and still claim to be life respecting. Abortion is not life sustaining but death itself. Indians respect Indian women as the givers of life. That gift has important implications well beyond the birthing of children. There is no blacker act than killing a living fetus for the economic or political convenience of the mother. It is a deeply selfish and morally destructive act. This is why Cecilia Firethunder was dismissed. Her values were non-Indian values. She had become assimilated.
Those who promote abortion are no better than war criminals such as Bush and Cheney. They are the same.
Remember, life is not a linear journey, you cannot walk away from your past. It is a circular journey, and the evil that you do follows and returns to you. Those whose ideology is closed to this understanding are in denial and do extreme harm to both themselves and to humanity. Evil and darkness are cumulative.
Some people often ask, why me? I have been a good person, so why has this happened to me God. The answer lies in our complete interconnectedness, the oneness. When the darkness becomes dominant, evil can and will strike randomly. This collective evil is far more dangerous to both the individual and society.
Today the belief in human dominionism has brought great darkness upon us. Political beliefs in war or abortion both feed the darkness. It is inconsistent with the belief in life that abortion can be separated and seen as a good. It is a dark extremist political rationalization.
I might mention this also, as American Indians we do value life, but we do not judge the individual who choses another path. We will however never suspend our belief system to western ways, for western ways are the ways of death. It is this belief in death that allows the rise of Fascism and of Wars of agression. If you expect to continue life on Earth, you must choose life consistently and firmly.
Men and governments have no right to dictate policy over women’s bodies. Women should be left to their own decisions concerning their bodies, their health and their beliefs. Men and governments should mind their own business. Is there an easier way to explain it? Need it be explained?
Men and government however, will always stick their nose where their nose does not belong as if they have an ‘ordained right.’ This “ordained right” leads back to religion that will in turn run you around the block with man-made edicts of the supernatural or as it is also known, ‘faith.’ And on and on it goes. Where the hell is Monty Python when you need them?
Men and governments have no right to dictate policy over women, period.
Doom & Gloom, politically anti-abortion and violence producing (war, militarism, funding destruction) have gone together very often in my lifetime and prior to it.
When will we honor girls and women? When will we protect, as a society, girls and women from abuse and violence, either overt violence or the violence of the free (of morality) market? When will we allow all people a healthy education of sexuality?
At at time when international sex trade has grown exponentially along with slave and slave-like labor, children laboring double-digit hours 6-7 days a week,
Would you suggest that a woman go to term with a child of a rapist, known or unknown to her? Or in a loveless marriage or relationship? Or women and girls who have not been in control of their lives?
When we respect women, we also respect life.
Artist: Harris Emmylou
Song: Lost Unto This World
Album: Stumble Into Grace Emmylou Harris
(Emmylou Harris/Danniel Lanois)
I was once some mother’s darlin’
Some daddy’s little girl
More precious than the ruby
More cherished than the pearl
My heart was full of mercy
And my forehead full of curl
Now I am nothing and am lost unto this world
I am lost unto this world…
They herded me like cattle
Cut me down like corn
Took me from my babies
Before they could be born
You can blame it on the famine
You can blame it on the war
You can blame it on the devil
It don’t matter anymore
I am lost unto this world…
I was tortured in the desert
I was raped out on the plain
I was murdered by the high way
And my cries went up in vain
My blood is on the mountain
My blood is on the sand
My blood runs in the river
That now washes thru their hands
I am lost unto this world…
Can I get no witness this unholy tale to teil
Was God the only one there watching
And weeping as l feil
O you among the living
Will you remember me at all
Will you write my name out
With a single finger scrawl
Across a broken window
In some long forgotten wall
That goes stretching out forever
Where the tears of heaven fall
I am lost unto this world…
Although I am and will remain pro-choice, I hope that the choice will not be abortion. Sometimes abortion is the only merciful sollution. One question that is never asked of the “pro-life” people is this: Do you want to stop abortions or do you want to make it illegal? The rate of abortion seems to be about the same in places where abortion is illegal as in the places where it is legal. If the purpose is to make abortion illegal, what should the penalty be for performing an abortion or having one? And what would be the penalty for the man who caused the unwanted pregnancy? Shouldn’t he be punished for the harm he caused?
This whole abortion debate has centered on women. I we really want to reduce the number of abortions, we need to educate men to responsible sexual behavior. All pregnancies are caused by men. I would love to see pro-life billboards proclaiming to studly men, Abstinence–Only you Can Prevent Abortion! Or how about Planned Parenthood advertizing that “We Prevent Abortions, One vasectomy at a time!”
Once again the Right to Life ends at birth. Let’s force people to have children they cannot afford, oh but don’t give them any assistance, they should be able to provide for themselves.
I keep waiting for the news story about how Foster Homes are actually US Army recruiting homes. Damn, I may have just given them an idea.
nadar4prez
What you wrote about, foster homes as military recruiting tools actually happened in Romania. Abortion and birth control were outlawed. People were kept poor and had to give up their children to state run orphanages. These were to provide the armies for the state. What they turned out to be were hell holes. I saw some of these places with my own eyes. I will never forget the smell or the look of despair in the eyes of these abandoned kids. Yes, abortion would have been more merciful, and family planning and contraceptives a God send. I think the point of the original article was that government should keep out of people’s bedrooms.
Doom N Gloom: Thank you for articulating a Native American perspective on abortion. Although I am not familiar with Native American culture, I trust your view to be representative of current Native American thinking on the subject. I do however, disagree with you in some respects. For all our defects, our system of government attempts to accommodate a pluralistic variety of peoples and cultures, who may not all share a common belief with regards to social, political or religious issues. With respect to abortion, different religions and different cultures have different beliefs as to when life starts, as well as to the morality of abortion. Cultures and religions that find abortion morally repulsive should encourage their members to avoid getting one. But there needs to be an allowance for people who wish to get an abortion to have one. Otherwise, one person’s religious beliefs or one cultures customs start to infringe on another.
Abortion is an issue that looks at how acceptable or non acceptable violence is in our lives. Each person, and each culture, seems to have a different threshold of what type of violence they can live with. As a vegetarian, I have long learned to avoid being holier-than-thou when it comes to violence. I don not look down my nose upon someone who eats meat, nor do I try to convert them to my lifestyle. I recognize that meat eaters have a higher threshold for violence than I do. I am tolerant of meat eaters, because I know there are people with stricter diets and viewpoints concerning violence than mine, and I hope that they will be tolerant towards me. The best that we can do is to live according to our principles and hope that our good example rubs off on others.
Taking a baby to term also involves potential health risks for the mother. I watched a Frontline special a few months ago on child marriages. There was a segment on child marriages in the African country of Niger. One of the major health problems associated with child marriages is young teenage girls having babies too soon. Because there openings are not very wide, many rupture their bladders. They are then forced to carry a “urine bag” with them at all times. There is a shortage of doctors to perform the necessary surgery to correct the problem. I think if a young girl wants to terminate her pregnancy, especially if it is from rape, then she should have the right to do so. Many of those opposed to abortion are males who do not understand that bringing a new baby into the world can be a terminal decision for the mother.
Finally, I am saddened by your phrase “…for western ways are the ways of death”. Although Western culture has much to answer for, it did not invent evil, nor bring death into the world. All cultures throughout human history have done wondrous things to be proud of, and have simultaneously committed unspeakable barbarism. This goes for Native American culture as well as Western culture. May you find completeness in your circle of life.
givepeaceachance, very nice.
irisheddiohara, i beg to differ. if you think playboy is the cause of the abortion issue, your picnic is short one sandwich. playboy did not teach a “whole” generation of young boys, maybe boys such as yourself. there are those of us who were taught the concept of respect, whether it be toward a man, woman, child, dog, property, whatever. playboy was, and always will be, cheap entertainment; a weak and transparent substitute for the joys and pleasures of being connected with a real woman.
we are not higher than the animals. individuals such as yourself are a big reason why abortion (what a great word) is the hot button issue it is. of course, part of your gang would be the poster from another article hear on cd, the one who suggested “where a rubber”. maybe he meant “wear” a rubber. of course, then we could venture into the arena of feelings and sensitivity (do men who “where” rubbers have feelings and sensitivity?). i digress.
granted, we are all created equal, it’s where we take ourselves and allow ourselves to go that separates us in the equality equation.
men should not be making personal decisions for women. women have earned and have been given and deserve their personal rights. somewhere, somehow, some way, the male animal of the human species may eventually understand.
Thanks to those above who affirm life and point out that both pregnancy and abortion prevention are male responsibilities. Most abortions, unfortunately, are the result of a failure by one of us men.
As for John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court, they may indeed contribute in overturning Roe sometime or other. They are two of the five Catholics already seated there. The greater danger with these two guys, though, may be in the decisions of other issues. They both like government, they both like corporations, and they have both been taught from birth that people are to conform to the infallible pronouncements of The Pope(s). Freedom? Sure, AFTER the Pope, AFTER the government, and AFTER the corporations.
What part do men have in sex, reproduction, abortion etc? In any responsible relationship 50%. The decisions about what to do in all reasonable possible outcomes should be discussed and resolved before sex.
If the man and woman have opposite views on these important issues their relationship is doomed and they better use about 10 forms of birth control at the same time.
My wife and I decided the pill was causing her too much trouble so we switched to contraceptive foam for the last 6 months before we wanted to start a family. One of the first times must have failed, but we had discussed this possibility and we started our family ahead of schedule. No conflict, and a really nice daughter.
It is not like pregnancy is a random surprise.
Givepeaceachance, thank you for your thoughtful comments.
Bill BRG, thank you for your thoughtful comments as well
bush who may have killed 1,000,000 men women and children
declares “National Sanctity of Human Life Day.”
bush 1 killed a few hundred thousand?
reagan killed a few 10,000s
nixon killed a few 1,000,000s
johnson killed a few 1,000,000s
jfk killed a few 100,000s
eisenhour killed a few 1,000,000s in Korea
conservative (almost republican) hitler and his playmates killed a few 20,000,000s
the us government is stealing the country blind, and all the sheep are waiting to be fleeced
poor terminally deluded, failing human race, after a massive die-off from overpopulation etc; we can expect to return to a simple conservative life of Masters and serfs.
a world where starvation and disease replaces abortion as it has done for most of man’s history
poor deluded sheep, if you feel secure in this country, or in the future of this planet, or in your so-called religion
Conservatives in your crotch.
It’s very comforting to know that this zealot in the White House is standing by to guard our morals against the evils of family planning, stem cell research., and the dangers of measures to mitigate global warming & related pollution.
He understands from his divine guidance that the need for environmental preservation is a myth generated by the international scientific community, even though he has now been forced to retract this in a minimal way due to political pressures.
Hey JulliAnn, What you said.
It is a pity that the senior Bushes didn’t practice total birth control throughout their productive years.
Spike - interestingly enough, Preston Bush was a proponent of Planned Parenthood. George H.W. Bush (#41) was prochoice until selected to be VP under Ronald Reagan at which time, for convenience, he became “pro life.” We all know that if either of the GWB daughters became inconveniently pregnant or WORSE pregnant by the wrong man, that safe and clean abortion would be available to them and there probably would not be an issue. I’m fortunate. It never had to be an issue in my life. I will always be prochoice but also glad I never had to make THIS choice. I know many many women who have, however, and the majority have no regrets. My grandmother died in 1949, ovarian cancer. At the funeral, a number of her friends told my mother that they were surprised my grandmother had ovarian cancer because they thought that came from having had abortions, and to their knowledge - my grandmother was the only one in their circle of friends (Hungarian, Roman Catholic) who had NOT had one.
No one else has the right to make the decision for a woman. No one.
Abortion must remain under the control of women, as must birth control and its availability. Birth control, family planning and EDUCATION about these things must be widely available, no questions asked. I also have no problem with abstinence - it worked for me until I found the man I would eventually marry.
Geez it gets tiring talking about something that should be private.
A blessed new years to all.
“And there are, of course, many people who are genuinely repelled by the simplest and most natural stirrings of sexual feeling. But these people are perverts who have fallen into hatred of their fellow man; thwarted, disappointed, unfulfilled people, of whom, alas, our civilization contains so many.”
– D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) British writer
Like Juliann I was spared of having to make a choice of having an abortion. I came to maturity during the time that abortion was illegal and before the time of oral contraception. Luckily my mother educated me with true information about where babies came from. My fear of sex was intense. I knew that an illegal abortion could be a death sentence for me. So when I did become pregnant, I got married to the father and had a beautiful daughter. Many other girls who became pregnant during that time were not so lucky. They were sent out of state to “homes for wayward girls” and forced to carry their babies to term and give them up for adoption. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to give up a child after giving birth.
I guess my point is that every situation is personal. And should remain that way. There is not a “one size fits all” answer. As noted above, abortion rates are not affected by whether it is legal or illegal. That being the case, abortion must be at least safe and accessable for all women. The only way to reduce abortion is through education and contraception. If you truely are pro-life, then your focus should be on reducing the need for abortion. Making it illegal does not lead to that end.
The natural drive and pleasure of sex is an inherent trait of being human. So is the male drive to insure that offspring bear his genes and not the genes of other males. That means that males will always attempt to control and dominate a womens’ right to choose. As far as I can figure out, this issue is not about the right to life. It is about controlling and/or supressing sexual activity. And to my knowledge, no government or law or culture has ever been successful in stopping people from having sex.
A really strange idea: How about we pass a law that all boys, when they become sexually mature, get a reversable vasectomy? Then, when they actually want to become fathers they can have it reversed. Then girls and women would only have to figure out how to protect themselves from STD’s. How does that sound?
It seems to me that Bush’s whole anti-abortion thing is simply a tactic to gather votes. I doubt he has any real intention of overturning Roe vs Wade, for two reasons: doing so will increase the welfare rolls and Bush and Co. don’t want to divert any more money than they have to from the war machine, and because it will also turn over the abortion carrot-on-a-stick voting tactic to the pro-life people, who will be able to use making abortion legal again as a vote-gathering tactic. Why give the best bait to your opponent?
Since making abortion illegal won’t stop abortions (abortion is illegal in Brazil and the abortion rate there is nearly twice what it is in the US), perhaps the best way to deal with this issue is to reduce abortions, and the best way to do this is to reduce poverty and to promote real sex education.
And, as someone else already mentioned, only women can give birth so men really shouldn’t have any say in the matter.
We have never experienced anything like this before. Unless Americans sieze power from this right wing manipulated administration, we can never deflect their horrific policies ranging from evil manipulation of science to thei ill conceived war in Iraq
Despite their outrageous abuses, we cannot place blame on this administration. Instead it lies on:
The morons voters who helped him steal the elections;
The five supreme court justiceds who betrayed our trust by placing politics ahead of principal and planting this unfitzeolot in office;
Our legislators for tolarating these unprecedented abuses to our republic; and
The American populace for standing by while these abuses continue.
Some mind farts that might add to global change, but not the weather:
I doubt that the people are ultimately ignorant of these issues, but likely ‘cocooned’ into layers of denial and the vacant hope for others to make the hard decisions needed (in light of outright criminal actions).
I’ve just finished a 2 hr video of Michael Ruppert, where the choice is illustrated between protecting our children form drugs and violence, or eliminating the drug money basis of our Wall St (cash) economy. When 99 out of every 100 go for ’screw the kids - I want my retirement funding’, but few realize we are now eliminating a promising future for both ourselves and our children (through inaction).
In neither case is their any guarantee of survival, but the human weakness is that hope that the ‘other guy’ gets hit with the bullet, as we ourselves don’t deserve it. I’m sorry to admit it, but I now see that the lack of our collective action is tantamount to saying to ourselves that we really do deserve this current fate.
Or maybe that we’re mentally ill, with a form of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS is a commonly shared set of symptoms), but we’re unlikely to get the officially defined disease of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with this administration.
While we may all be experiencing the symptoms of those with PTSD, the distinction between just Syndrome and pervasive Disorder pivots on whether the symptoms impair our ability to function.
I submit that our collective democratic function is significantly interfered with already (almost eliminated), while our nominal critter functioning (consumption) is hardly yet sufficiently impaired (to cause perceptual awakening).
When will the tipping point (into lock-down fascism) occur?
What can be done to expel the illusion of complacency, and awaken our inner strengths to fight the real beast ?
Anyone who truly wants to reduce the number of abortions - and many people of all political stripes would like to do so - ought to be in favor of real sex education for boys and girls, beginning before the age when it is likely to be of practical use.
When did knowledge become evil? Knowledge is power.
Reducing unwanted pregnancies would reduce abortions. It’s just as simple as that. No woman who is *not* facing an unwanted pregnancy considers getting an abortion. If that struck you as an absurdly obvious statement, you’ve gotten my point.
It does not matter that someone may find sex outside of marriage sinful. If one truly believes that abortion is murder, than that trumps the ‘immorality’ of sex outside marriage.
By trying to control what others do in their bedrooms - which is not the concern of non-participants, (barring rape, incest, etc.) - so-called conservatives unnecessarily help put a lot more women in a situation where they would contemplate abortions.
Again, if one believes that abortion is murder, why would one rig the system in a way that is guaranteed to increase the number of abortions?
It is all so irrational.
Got two words for you: Gender Slavery. 4000 years. Can’t have While Male Supremacy without Gender Slavery. One cannot be “Up” if the other isn’t “Down”. Gender Slavery requires that ‘females’ cannot be allowed to have economic or biologicial self-determination. That means that women must NEVER have the RIGHT to TERMINATE A PREGNANCY on their own say so.
Further: Gender slavery has always been the white boy’s chip in Master’s slave society. Rule: Nothing makes wealth like slave labor. Females pop babies until they die. More free labor. All the children work for Daddy and he is KING. He has the right to fuck, reward, marry off, or kill any of HIS children. That’s Patriarchy in the raw. Like all Slave Systems it is installed and maintained with daily violence that would make you despair of your loving flat-earth tribal deity.
White Aryan Males do not believe in the Bill of Rights, or the Constitution. They believe in White Male Supremacy; Human Slavery; Gender slavery; Massive child abuse; Constant war; & Genocide. By their fruits yea shall know them.
Every midden pile in every European community and virtually anywhere around the globe for thousands of years were covered with dead infants like maggots on a shit pile; still born, weak, females, unwanted. Wolves, bears, and wild pigs would periodically clean up “the mess”.
A fetus is not a “Baby” IrishEddieOHara despite what your flat-earth RC priests will tell you. Get over it or prepare yourselves to restore 4000 years of Gender Slavery. You will have a lot of suporters in the US. Even a lot of women.
Ascott: The imposition of raw brutal POWER is NEVER RATIONAL. They rape you because they can. They kill you because they can. They make you their slave, because they can. No reasons required. No justification required. Just a gun, a gibbet, and the tools of torture. How American can you get?
Peace.
Lucky Lefty: I never thought of it as Gender Slavery, but you are absolutely right. I also think that you need to broaden the definition to include ALL males of all races and most cultures. A KING is a male, the color doesn’t matter. I’d also add that THEY make the LAWS that enable them to operate with impunity, because they can. Your logic makes perfect sense in the context of abortion.
“Can’t have White Male Supremacy without Gender Slavery.” Therefore, Gender Slavery requires that women not have control of their bodies, their wombs, or their livelihoods. So White Male Supremacy REQUIRES that abortions be illegal.
Im so confused, can someone explain to me how a Pro-life administration condones the death penalty; and ruins Iraq and Afganistan and……
and if I missed the point what about this angle:
If we shouldn’t be ‘playing God’ and making His decisions regarding abortion then how can GM seed suppliers be supported so?
Wow, some arguments get staler and staler the more you hear them. I am a guy. I can’t go out and get an abortion. I have two beautiful children and a lovely wife. When my wife first found out she was pregnant, she was so scared that she would not be able to handle another child so soon. They are two years apart. She hinted at the idea of getting an abortion.
That was her right. It’s any womans right! To a degree. The medical community needs to establish the tipping point at which an abortion is not an acceptable choice. Not the government or some religious nut with a “higher moral authority”. It should all be between a woman and her doctor.
On the other hand, it was my right to leave my wife if she had made that choice, abortion as birth control is murder. Its serial murder if you keep doing it. Medically necessary abortion is another thing entirely. I don’t have to agree with your rights to support them. I also shouldn’t have to pay for it. Let private funding support abortion. My taxes shouldn’t be paying for something I don’t support.
We as a country need to take back our personal freedoms. Look at the list of “laws” and methodology that the federal and state governments use to pry into our lives and control us. The current regime in office has truly mastered the Orwellian concepts of doublespeak.
Make birth control accessible to one and all, legalize prostitution, and reform the damn drug laws. I am a corrections officer at a local state prison. It’s screwed up how bad the gap is between a sentence served for a drug offender and the sentence of a rapist or child molester.
On the other hand you can laugh about a male agenda all you want. Power corrupts, if females were on top, would we have a masculist movement? All things being relative, yeah, our culture is one of women on bottom, men on top. It’s also a culture of Christians’ on top, everyone else die in flames. How about the social class war? Rich on top, everyone else struggle to survive on what they piss down. Race wars anyone? White on top, everyone else subjugated and obedient to the white mans whims. Maybe that is why the ultimate asshole is a rich, white, Christian male. The best way to stay for them to stay on top is to brainwash a few other lower class white Christian males that if they commit themselves to the cause, they can be rich and rule the roost to.
Anyone who sexually victimizes a woman or child should be castrated. Repeat violent offenders, of either gender, should be sterilized. If you are on welfare past a certain time frame,with two children, your tubes should be tied until you are off welfare. Men with more than two children out of wedlock, should be snipped. That should be more than enough population control.
Want to equalize and stabilize the economy, abolish the income tax which is an oxymoron (the more you make, the more we take). Gee, why would I want to work my ass off at a real job, when I can make 10k a week running or selling drugs. One oxymoron strengthens another. Capitalism as it stands in the good ole USA is the biggest oxymoron on the planet. Ask yourself what the link between all my ramblings here and the subjugation of females and minorities is, and if you know the answer, then you are able to see the larger picture. To fix one thing, we got to fix a lot of things.
PIZZDORF — You’re not confused at all. Pure and simply the rethuglicans lie ALL the time.
One of my favorites - used as above details - to solidify political voter base of “moral majority (MM)”, is so pathetic.
They created an anti-gambling PAC that many of the MMs gave abundantly to, only to discover that the PAC gave the money and voting influence in DC to eliminate competition for the existing gambling establishments, only making the situation more centralized and more corrupt. So sneaky, that they make being a clever criminal engaging enough to attract some of the smartest con-men (and women) ever.
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
IRISH EDDIE O’HARA — Yes, superficial sex,
Our lives either will become more profound or drastically shorter, from now on.
Come on all,
you really do have it in you!
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
If you do not believe in abortion, don’t have one. Stay out of the personal business of a woman. It’s her body, not yours.
There are 20 thousand children dying everyday, from preventable diseases, and starvation, or are we only talking about those pure white fetuses.
If you are so pro life, stop that carnage, then get back to us about abortion.
Some of you saints are laughable. Lets get real here. And no, i am not a woman, and i am also white.
IrishEddieOhara, It IS her body, and who are you, or anybody else for that matter, to speak for god?
The reasons that many woman choose this path, are wide and varied. Are you suggesting that a rape victim, or someone who is a victim of incest, or failed contraception has no right to deal with these problems on her own terms, and make the decision that she deems fit? This is private and personal.
Also the percentage of black abortions number 35%, not a far greater percentage that you proclaim.
Also i notice you are a male, and a faithful christian. I think the spasms are far more prevalent in you fundamentalists, who insist that everyone follow what you believe to be the one true path. Don’t forget that you, like all of us, are mere mortals, and your truth may not be for everyone. We are all ignorant regarding spiritual truth. Even you!
Eddie, It’s not about you.
Eddie, if you have been banned, i do not agree with that. All opinions should be allowed. By hanging your hat on one issue, is the reason that people like bush get elected. Consequently, war, and over 1,000,000 dead iraqis.
I understand your position, and it is your right to hold it. Nobody is pro abortion, but it is a personal decision of a woman. You might not agree, but it is hers and hers alone. I am sure you would not want anyone interfering with your decision, if you had to make one, about terminating your life, or that of a loved one, that might be on irreversible life support, and suffering. Athough that is a different thing, it is quite similar in the fact, that it would lead to a death. In a perfect world, there would be no abortion, and i’m quite sure that most people feel that way. Unfortunately. things sometimes happen, that are beyond our control, and circumstance.
I won’t go to war with you over this, but i thought i would respond. I really do hope, that someday things will work out in favor of your stance. However i believe that the majority of these decisions are not made lightly, and that those decisions should remain personal. And i for one, do not wish you any harm.
I would like to say to those who control our posts, that IrishEddieOhara is a good man, and his passion should not disqualify him from being heard.
Eddie, I totally understand where you are coming from. I am an atheist, but i appreciate and respect all those good people of faith.
I don’t believe you are insensitive. On the contrary you are passionate and caring. I like to think of myself as the same. I have to side with the individuals freedom, to do as they feel is the right thing in their heart on this issue, as i am passionate for personal rights. So i will half to agree to disagree, on this sensitive issue. Your a good man Eddie. Heres to life, and hopefully in the future all these issues will be resolved, and every child will get a chance. Respectfully. terry
Eddie, correction, Agnostic, with atheist beliefs.