Laura Bush supports gay marriage and abortion rights

If only she were more assertive with her husband.... I had heard the rumor they were effectively separated, Laura in Dallas, GW - on the ranch. Their apparent dysfunctional marriage shows why conservatives get divorced so much. Conservative Christian husbands often subjugate their wives, ignore their opinions, and worse.

Laura Bush on Larry King 5/11 --

Gay marriage:

On gay marriage, she told CNN show host Larry King: "When couples are committed to each other and love each other, then they ought to have, I think, the same sort of rights that everyone has."

"I think we could" accept gay marriage, she continued. "I also think it's a generational thing.... That will come."

"I understand totally what George thinks and what other people think about marriage being between a man and a woman," she said. "I guess that would be an area that we disagree" on.

Abortion:

"I think it's important that it remain legal," she said about abortion. "Because I think it's important for people -- for medical reasons and for other reasons."

Palin: Ayres is a terrorist, but not abortion clinic bombers that kill

From the Brian Williams interview. Sarah Palin was asked about abortion clinic bombers, would they qualify as terrorists? First she sidestepped the question, went to Bill Ayres, then came this response to the question:

Brian Williams: Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist under this definition?

Sarah Palin: ... I don’t know if you’re gonna use the word "terrorist" there.

Watch it

Palin's New Yorker cover and latest gaffe

The New Yorker Magazine cover mocks Palin's foreign policy experience.

The New Yorker is published weekly, has a circulation of over 1 million, and an 88 year history.

Palin's latest gaffe as reported Politico, involves yet to be released parts of the Couric interview: when asked to discuss a Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade ... she could not name a single one.



Washington Post's Howard Kurts reports:

And the worst may be yet to come for Palin; sources say CBS has two more responses on tape that will likely prove embarrassing.

While some journalists say privately they are censoring their comments about Palin to avoid looking like they're piling on, pundits on the right are jumping ship. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough says Palin "just seems out of her league." National Review Editor Rich Lowry called her performance "dreadful." Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher described the interview as a "train wreck." Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker urged Palin to quit the race, saying: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself."

Cindy McCain and Laura Bush oppose Republican platform of overturning Roe v. Wade

What do you expect? They are women. John McCain thinks Roe v. Wade was " a bad decision." John McCain was booed on the women's program "The View" after making that statement. This information came directly from the McCain campaign as Katie Couric reports at the end of this video segment:

Huge anti-Palin rally in Anchorage

In one of the largest rallies in Alaska history, about 1400 turned out to protest Sarah Palin in Anchorage. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin’s rally that got all the national media coverage.

Video: Alaskan women rally against Palin!

Story

USA Today story


Check out some of the signs:

"I vote with my brain, not my gender"

"How's that abstinence only education working for you Sarah?"

"Keep your church outta my state"

"Palin is GW Bush with lipstick"

Smearing Alaska's good name - one scandal at a time"

"Pro-choice / anti Palin"

"Palin candidate to nowhere"

"voted for her once - Never Again!"

"Born again but not for Palin"

"Alaskan mommas for Obama"

"Bush in a skirt"

Sarah Palin sides with rapists whom impregnate women

Sarah Palin wants to force women who have been raped and become pregnant to have their rapist's child. She said she'd approve this for her own daughter.

If YOU support the Republican ticket - YOU support this policy

What can you say about a person who has such extremist views? Sarah Palin sides with rapists and against women.

She truly is a pig with lipstick.

Dangerous for America.



At least one woman is raped in America every 6 minutes.

Quinnipiac University Poll. July 8-13, 2008. N=1,783 registered voters nationwide.

"In general, do you agree or disagree with the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to an abortion?"

Agree - 63%
Disagree - 33%

Americans OVERWHELMING support women's reproductive rights - and this view has not changed.

McCain receives only half as much support from women as Obama

No wonder so few women support McSame.

Obama's has campaign contributions from women are double those of McCain. Obama has received over $70 million from women to McCain's $34 million.

Maybe we should call it the white male christian party?



A vote for McCain equals more War.

A vote for McCain equals No universal health care.

A vote for McCain equals a continued collapsing economy.

A vote for McCain equals higher gas prices.

A vote for McCain equals no help for the housing market.

A vote for McCain equals a further erosion of woman’s rights.

A vote for McCain equals ideologue judges being placed throughout the country.

Palin opposes most every issue women support

Palin: wrong woman, wrong message - She opposes just about every issue that women support

Palin is a Bush Republican. Palin is a Bush Republican. Say it loud and often.

LA Times:

This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need.

I regret that people say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.

Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." [But she's convinced that the US is on a mission from god in Iraq].

She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax.

She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.

--Gloria Steinem is an author, co-founder of the Women's Media Center.

Thanks McSame. Women aren't as stupid as you think.

GAME OVER

The Christian fetus fetish

The abortion issue takes on considerable weight when you have people basing their political preferences and votes on this single issue. Can you imagine a few more judges like Scalia? Can you imagine womens' abortion rights restricted to just a dozen or so 'blue states'? Can't they look past their Christian fetus fetish long enough to care about what overturning Roe v. Wade would do to American society? America would become the largest nation in the world where abortion was not universally safe and legal. These Christian fetus fetishists ignore and refuse to promote sex ed and contraceptives that would reduce abortion. Instead they promote 'abstinence ed' which has not only been proven a failure, but has been shown to promote anal and oral sex. The fetus fetishists refuse to acknowledge studies that show that instances of abortion declined the most where abortion was safe and legal. They also ignore studies that show outlawing abortion does not prevent it or lessen it's instance. Abortion rates are similar in countries where it is legal and those where it is not, suggesting that outlawing the procedure does little to deter women seeking it. But, because of their Christian fetus fetish, they consider it unimportant that studies showed that the result of outlawing abortion endangers women's lives. The study indicated that about 20 million abortions that would be considered unsafe are performed each year and that 70,000 women die as a result of complications from those abortions, most in countries where abortion is illegal. Pro-life my ass. Pro-life is anti-women. Pro-life is an irrational contradiction, born most often out of religious conviction.

By all polls ever taken, America supports abortion rights and Roe v. Wade. Have you noticed? The vast majority of anti abortion rights commenters here are Christian conservative parents. You'll find a much broader demographic on the pro choice side. These are the American Taliban, those that want to force their religious views on society. They are not just happy upholding their own moral compass, they want to force it on all others.

No, a fetus is not a person. Human life, yes, but not a human being, not a person. Big difference. It is a developing person. The science that determines human life from a legal perspective is that of brain waves, the standard by which we can remove a person that is 'brain dead' from life support.

Like 'global warming deniers' ... much anti-abortion psuedo science has spouted fallacies like "At only 40 days after fertilization electrical waves as measured by the EEG can be recorded from the baby's brain" as proof of life. Yes, it is proof of life but it is not a human being because it's brain is not fully formed.

For a thorough discussion on this subject see this link.

From the article:

An EEG involves measuring varying electrical potentials across a dipole, or separated positive and negative charges. Any living cell has an electrical potential across its membrane, and any living structure is a dipole, which explains why people have been able to put electrodes on plants, hook them up to EEG machines, and get "evidence" that plants have feelings. But this has nothing to do with "brain waves," which are a nontechnical term for a particular kind of varying potentials produced by certain brain structures that don't even exist in an embryo and associated with consciousness and dreaming as well as the regulation of bodily functions.

To get scalp or surface potentials from the cortex requires three things: neurons, dendrites, and axons, with synapses between them. Since these requirements are not present in the human cortex before 20-24 weeks of gestation, it is not possible to record "brain waves" prior to 20-24 weeks. Period. End of story.

98% of all abortions are performed before the 20th week, before the fetal brain is fully functional. If you want to restrict abortions in the last trimester, I have no problem with that, but abortion should an option in cases of severe fetal abnormalities or a risk to the life of the mother.

A tribute to the great George Carlin

George Carlin cuts to the chase. One of the greatest comic geniuses of our time. Carlin died last week at age 71.

The thing about Carlin is that he often made total sense in his own outrageous and comic way. He wasn't afraid to touch on sensitive moral and political issues. Tell us what ya really think George!! Truth is power.

Here are a few of my favorite clips, incredibly funny, highly recommended!!

Pro-Life is anti-women

Sanctity of life


Religion

Blogger "Doc" at The Autopsy - identity revealed

UPDATE 8/29/10:

Seems that Mikey is lying to the ankle-biters at Protein Wisdom.

The fact is that I never threatened to call his University to discredit him. I have better things to do. I would never stoop to the level of manbaby Jeff Goldstein who threatened me as such for merely commenting on his blog, saying, "I have nothing to lose." But I did say that I wondered what Mikey's colleagues would think of having a proponent of Intelligent Design and a climate science denier as a science educator/colleague. Particularly true in retrospect, now that his pet Climate-gate scandal has been thoroughly debunked.

In our lengthy debates, I had thought I had identified "Doc" at the Autopsy, the rabid conservative, devoted Bushie, anti-abortion rights, global warming denialist blogger. Based on tracking data, I had deduced that "Doc" was "Tony" at U of Wisconsin, Barron County. I was wrong. Tony emailed me the other day and notified me of my error. My apologizes to Tony!!

"Doc" at The Autopsy is:

Michael
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin- Platteville

After numerous debates with "Doc" in which I called him "Tony" and even made a joke of Tony's lack of hair, "Doc" never corrected my misidentification and acknowledged my apologies for poking fun of his lack of hair to which he responded:

Willy apologized for the baldness comment. All the hair remaining on my head thanks you.

In doing so, even after a photo of Tony was cited, Michael perpetuated the misconception that he was "Tony." (Michael is not balding). I find this disingenuous and cowardly.

Looking at his bio, he is the product of Catholic schooling which explains his anti-abortion stance. An entry on his blog also suggests he supports Intelligent Design. The identifying clincher is the photo on his personal website of an actor is the same actor in the photo on his blog icon. Gotcha.

It's time Michael, to take responsibility for the opinions you deliver instead of trying to hide. The normal conservative tact: deny everything, admit nothing, blame someone else... it's time to come out Michael, we found you.

As I said to Tony, at the risk of stereotyping, "he sure looks like a conservative."

UPDATE:
Mikey edited my comment on his blog, eliminating his last name and link to this post. Still a coward.
UPDATE II:
Since Mikey linked my photo on his blog with a nasty caption, touche....
Heeerrre's Mikey, (no dumb caption required). Does he "look like a Republican" or what?

Proof that the anti-choice campaign is pointless, irrational and most of all - ineffective

Here's why:

1) A study by scientists from the World Health Organization, and the Guttmacher Institute in New York have shown that instances of abortion declined the most where abortion was safe and legal.

2) This global study of abortion also concluded that abortion rates are similar in countries where it is legal and those where it is not, suggesting that outlawing the procedure does little to deter women seeking it.

The study showed that the result of outlawing abortion has been to endanger women's lives. The study indicated that about 20 million abortions that would be considered unsafe are performed each year and that 67,000 women die as a result of complications from those abortions, most in countries where abortion is illegal.

The continued preoccupation with denying women reproductive rights is dangerous, irrational, and counterproductive. It is an example of pushing a religious agenda where it doesn't belong - into our laws.

Abortion declines most where it is safe and legal

Want to increase the incidence of abortion? Make it illegal.

This is according to: “Induced Abortion: Rates and Trends Worldwide,” a new report by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization (WHO) published in the 13 October 2007 issue of The Lancet.

On the whole, the abortion rate decreased more in developed countries, where abortion is generally safe and legal on broad grounds (from 39 to 26), than in developing countries, where the procedure is largely illegal and unsafe (from 34 to 29).

So, anti-choice people - this is what you're campaigning for:

"Each year, about 70,000 women die due to unsafe abortion and an additional five million suffer permanent or temporary disability," notes Dr. Paul F.A. Van Look, director of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research.

(H/T: SoBeale)