The "reproductive rights" debate, which is a sort of catch-all phrase for smaller, more complex and awful debates surrounding issues of public health, contraception, religious belief, and abortion, is one that I honestly hoped had been, to some extent, shelved.
Much like the Democrats wisely abandoned the gun control debate in the 00's, it seemed - for a little while, recently - that Republicans had come to the same conclusion: public opinion had more or less gelled around a fairly non-controversial compromise on the issue, and they should just shut up.
Not so! From a bombastic radio host who stuck his fat foot in a big bucket of shit on the issue recently to the resurgence of a Republican primary contender who almost justifies Markos Moulitsas' unforgivable "American Taliban" book - the culture war is alive again!
One of the most instructive, horrible, and anti-woman laws imaginable passed in (where else) Texas recently (from a debate over the issue by the Austin Statesman):
A sonogram is pretty intense. Garry Trudeau, trench fighter from way back, put it pretty much how it is:
Harsh? Yes.
But the way these awful, misogynistic cretins have been treating women is pretty harsh. Law Nerd broke it down earlier in great detail.
As if that weren't enough, this particular scrap of news giblets happened upon my platter this morning: Arizona, the laboratory of wingnuttery that Utah once was, produced some news reports (via a leaked email) that Representative Terri Proud (R - Tucson) had emailed constituents with a bright idea that a woman seeking an abortion in Arizona should have to watch a video of the procedure before she could have one done.
Much like the Democrats wisely abandoned the gun control debate in the 00's, it seemed - for a little while, recently - that Republicans had come to the same conclusion: public opinion had more or less gelled around a fairly non-controversial compromise on the issue, and they should just shut up.
Not so! From a bombastic radio host who stuck his fat foot in a big bucket of shit on the issue recently to the resurgence of a Republican primary contender who almost justifies Markos Moulitsas' unforgivable "American Taliban" book - the culture war is alive again!
One of the most instructive, horrible, and anti-woman laws imaginable passed in (where else) Texas recently (from a debate over the issue by the Austin Statesman):
"The sonogram bill is the first major piece of legislation to be debated by this session of the [Texas} House, where Republicans hold a new supermajority...House Bill 15 requires a woman seeking an abortion to allow a medical professional to perform a sonogram, display live images of the fetus, provide an explanation of the images and play audio of a heartbeat, if there is one. [Ed. - emphasis mine.] All that is supposed to happen 24 hours before the procedure."
A sonogram is pretty intense. Garry Trudeau, trench fighter from way back, put it pretty much how it is:
Harsh? Yes.
But the way these awful, misogynistic cretins have been treating women is pretty harsh. Law Nerd broke it down earlier in great detail.
As if that weren't enough, this particular scrap of news giblets happened upon my platter this morning: Arizona, the laboratory of wingnuttery that Utah once was, produced some news reports (via a leaked email) that Representative Terri Proud (R - Tucson) had emailed constituents with a bright idea that a woman seeking an abortion in Arizona should have to watch a video of the procedure before she could have one done.
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| Terri Proud, R - Tucson/Media |
It strikes me as quite extraordinary that the Republican Party continues to sail into oblivion without realizing exactly how badly they have hurt themselves. Predictably, the Democrats continue to seize failure and humiliation from the jaws of victory. I don't feel inclined tonight to comment on President Obama's decision regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline, for example.
I shall break it down in even greater detail after the SCOTUS hears oral argument on the Health Care bill's constitutionality. Until then, take a look at the NY Times article published on Monday describing the anticipated arguments, which will draw on a famous textbook case we all thought useless if long settled: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/us/politics/at-center-of-health-care-fight-roscoe-filburns-1942-commerce-case.html
ReplyDeleteLN you are a gem, thank you :-)
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