…which John McCain so easily and disdainfully brushes off with his curly fingers:
I’ve got two words for you, McCain, and they rhyme with Puck Foo. Why is it that wrinkled, dried up old men find it so easy to belittle the health concerns of young, fertile women? As Nicole suggests, go talk to these women, you myopic, misogynistic, old coot.
While we’re waiting for John McCain to come out from behind Sarah Palin’s skirt, I’d like to raise a couple of issues.
First, Roe v. Wade. I get the impression the most strident Roe opponents — those who shriek loudest about the decision — have no idea what it actually says, so let’s start by taking a peek at what’s there:
The opinion of the Roe Court, written by Justice Harry Blackmun, declined to adopt the district court’s Ninth Amendment rationale, and instead asserted that the “right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”
Note that the decision rests on a foundation of privacy — something that Sarah Palin demands for her own daughter, but would take away from all the other little girls in the country. She’s maybe never actually even read the decision she’s so adamantly determined to overturn. But then again, ignorance never does stop a fanatic, does it?
Yeah, so anyway, Sarah Palin likes her kids ignorant and knocked up, and she wants to repeal Roe.
This means that Sarah, if presented with a woman who just found out that the child she is carrying has Tay-Sachs disease, wouldn’t have her choose between getting an abortion or carrying the child to term, only to watch helplessly as her beautiful baby goes from healthy to mentally disabled, blind, deaf and unable to swallow, then finally becomes paralyzed, before dying by the age of five. Instead, Sarah would make that decision for her, without regard to the woman’s financial situation; or whether she is equipped to deal with the emotional devastation of such an experience; or her ability to cope with the medical needs of a child who has such profound problems. In fact, she would make this decision on her behalf without knowing a single thing about her circumstances. Sarah would opt for the latter situation, and not even offer her the first option (even if the pregnancy resulted from a rape).
To be clear, I am not advocating for a woman to choose either option over the other. What I am doing is arguing that all women should be able to make that choice for themselves — just like Sarah Palin did when she chose to continue her pregnancy after she found out her youngest child had Down Syndrome.
But back to the woman Palin is forcing into gestation… Would Sarah do anything to address her child’s special needs, as she claimed at the convention? Well, the jury’s still very much out on that question, since Sarah has not been a governor long enough to have much of a record when it comes to action on health care. But since she’s signed onto the McCain/Bush/Republican platform, it’s safe to assume she’ll be supporting the status quo when it comes to American health care (at best).
And then there’s this (more here). Sarah Palin belongs to the spiritual warfare movement (go see the movie Jesus Camp if you haven’t already and you’ll get a peak into Palin’s world) — which more and more, is making Christian fanatics look a lot like Islamic fanatics.
The Third Wave may be kind of spooky, but it’s also really dangerous. These people see the world in very black/white, christian/not christian terms, and it’s that kind of simplistic thinking that got us involved in Bush’s stupid war to begin with — a war, btw, that was supported by Palin, who even subscribes to Bush’s theocratic view that the Iraq war is a “task that is from God.”
Now, John McCain may be with Bush 90% of the time, but Sarah Palin appears to be with him 110% of the time (if you saw any of her interview with Charlie Gibson, you may have noticed that she even mimics George’s word-fog style of speaking which features lots of words, but doesn’t necessarily have a clear point).
I really don’t think we want to go there. Eight years of simplistic, slow-witted leadership has been more than enough. I don’t care how much you’d like to hang out with these people, or how thirsty you are for a beer in their company, that doesn’t mean that they have what it takes to lead this country in the right direction. And if you like the fact that they’re just like you, think about whether or not you’re truly qualified to run this country — really, don’t you want to put someone who’s extra smart in charge? Ideally, someone who is smarter than you and me? There’s nothing elitist about not wanting stupid leaders.
If we need change, then we’re going to have to start with a fresh approach. And that is clearly not what these guys would give us.
Here’s a bit of a news catchup link list:
• Dick Cheney will be visiting the Chattanooga area later this month. Hopefully, he won’t have access to any guns.
• An aide-mémoire for the poor souls who struggle to recall what happened before this week.
• Oh, the confusion! (”In Dick Morris’s defense, he is a lying sack of …” — well, just watch!)
• Sometimes Samantha Bee is funny and sometimes she makes me laugh out loud.
• Hahaha — McCain $$$ being sent to Obama campaign (maybe that will teach them not to steal?)!
• Awesome! McCain gets Rickrolled! (Ha — when are they going to drop that green screen?!?)
• Ugh. That greedy bastard.
Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, is five months pregnant. She’s still in high school and the families plan for the baby’s parents to marry.
Let’s go over this one more time: abstinence-only education does. not. work. Peddling ignorance only makes stupid people.
Now, I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with an unmarried person having a baby. I do think there’s something wrong with a teenager having a baby, but only because it makes getting a good education more complicated. The Republican party, on the other hand, along with christian conservatives, doesn’t have such a live-and-let-live attitude — unless, of course, it’s their children who are having sex outside of marriage (or their candidates who are leaving their wives because they are crippled and then marrying a rich young trollop before the divorce with the first wife is final).
John McCain/Palin: the hypocrite ticket.
I’m eating and arugula and spinach salad with some squash soup (how elitist is that, huh?!?) and tuning into the beginning of the convention coverage. There’s a great lineup for the evening, and while I’m watching, I’ll be tossing out a few links from the weekend:
• Tennessee Liberal Blogosphere Weekly Roundup: Biden Edition!
• Save the dates! The debate schedule has been announced!
• Majority of U.S. Voters Open to Electing Gay President.
• McCain to announce VP pick on Friday.
- Ted Talks: My Year of Living Biblically
- Barack Obama is planning to visit Tennessee!
- And who doesn’t need to get rid of some clutter?
- Why You’re Better Off Avoiding the iPhone (via cmwillis).
- Do you ever read something that is just so incredibly stupid that you have trouble even trying to process the folly? Usually I’m left speechless by extreme cases of idiocy like this one (also see here), whereas Naamah had no such trouble in responding (don’t follow the link if you’re bothered by colorful language).
And finally, there’s this gem. Way back in the day, when Dear Daughter was just a toddler, and she thought that the TV only had one channel, and that that channel had only one hour of programming a day (see, we ruin our kids when we let them go off to school and they find out about all sorts of evil stuff, like Disney and candy and Chuck E. Cheese), she used to get to watch Sesame Street. I probably wouldn’t let her watch it if she was a kid now, but back then, before Elmo, and before Jim Henson died and the Muppets got whored out to anyone wanting to make a sleazy buck, it was a pretty cool show. And it was because of features like Put Down the Ducky.
I can still see her in my mind’s eye, clutching her little plastic saxophone while doing a hoppy little dance and shrieking along with the song, while I enjoyed it for all the cool people who made appearances (John Candy as Yosh Schmenge from SCTV, Andrea Martin as Edith Prickley from SCTV, New York Mets Keith Hernandez & Mookie Wilson, Jane Curtin, Madeline Kahn, Joe Williams, Paul Reubens/Pee Wee Herman, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Wynton Marsalis, Celia Cruz, Ihtzak Perlman, Gordon Jackson & Jean Marsh as Angus Hudson and Rose Buck of Upstairs Downstairs, Paul Simon, Jeremy Irons, Pete Seeger, Rhea Perlman and Danny Devito, and NY Giants Sean Landeta, Mark Ingram, Karl Nelson and Carl Banks). I hope the video doesn’t get yanked off of youtube, but if it does, I’ll try to find a replacement somewhere…
Let’s not even get started on the misogyny of McCain’s position — that insurance companies might be happy to pick up the tab for an old man’s attempt to get an erection, but if that same old man manages to find a receptive fertile woman, she’s on her own when it comes to fending off his sperm — but instead let’s watch while he tries to respond to criticism from his his own campaign surrogate and possible running mate, Carly Fiorina and, as Rachel Maddow puts it, tries to “will himself out of his own body”:
I wonder how often McCain votes in the Senate without thinking much about the issue he voted on? And does Fiorina think that she’s going to impress voters, or McCain, by misrepresenting his positions? Is he really interested in putting a liar (or idiot?) on the ticket? And does McCain really disagree with Gramm? Not likely.
I’ve been reading these internets today and have a random sampling of interesting tidbits found in these here tubes:
- Hello. I’m Billy Blades. And so are you.
- Today the Iraqi government says that they want the US out of Iraq — including our military bases. This flies in the face of all of John McCain’s plans for permanent bases in Iraq and a 100-years war. What will he doooo?!?
- Speaking of John McCain, the old coot thinks that he’s much more highly regarded among vets than he really is. And btw, only people who have served have the right to question McCain’s judgment — oops! Make that: only people who have served AND who also agree with John McCain! And he doesn’t want to talk about being a POW — unless it’s in a freakin’ campaign commercial. Seriously?
- You’ve probably heard that those inbred polygamists who got busted earlier this year for letting old men knock up their daughters while they’re still little girls have their own clothing line. It turns out they let their daughters dress like flashy harlots.
- Remember when there were only 3 channels on TV (well, four if you were lucky enough to live in an area with a PBS station)? Have things changed all that much? Not really.
- Now here are a couple of stories that made me laugh out loud today: 1) That the man who never read a book might pretend to write one. and 2) That there are people out there who would consider it appropriate to put the same clueless moron, who can’t even quote Jefferson properly, in a classroom. With children.
- And speaking of George Bush, his buddy John McCain hates bloggers. Yeah, that whole free-flowing information thing sure does put a real crimp in the old bullshit spewer, don’t it?
- Those wacky internetizens are not done with Jesse Helms yet. They’re questioning his patriotism, calling him irrelevant and defeated, and remembering when his house was condemed! Oh, and Mike Huckabee loved and admired him.
- Charlie “110% Heterosexual” Crist is still in the news and Chris Matthews doesn’t love him.
- Are you a quilter? How about quilting for our nation’s wounded heroes?
- A guy in Cleveland, TN has figured out how to run a car on Chattanooga’s greatest natural resource (more here)!
- A Norwich woman spent the morning with a bat in her bra (via BoingBoing).
- Are you ready to wear a bracelet when you get on a plane? One that zaps you with a shock if you don’t behave?
- Here’s the latest from the awesome Improv Everywhere troupe!
- Worst. President. Ever.
- Jonah Goldberg is still a half-witted wanker.
- When world leaders meet to discuss world hunger, is it appropriate for them to enjoy a six-course lunch and 18-course dinner?!? Sheesh!
- John Hagee Knows Women
- McCain = Bush
- Ten best lightsaber mashups in all of Youtubedom
- Best Advertisement Ever
- McCain: “I do not support Roe v. Wade. It should be overturned.”
- I’m Voting Republican
- john.he.is
- Tenn. Democratic Party Official: Obama ‘May Be Terrorist Connected’
- Green Screen fun with McCain’s awful speech
- Ancient Chinese secret, huh?
- Alex: you can’t have him, Gramps!
- Obama’s new ad
- One of the McCain homes
- John McCain: “I really didn’t love America”
- Where the hell is Matt 2008
- McCain bloopers
- Do you know what McCain called his wife? (He also scolds others for using the same language)
