I have the somewhat unfortunate distinction of living in Kansas, the flat rectangular state right in the middle with views wayyyy to the right. This election season finds my state ready to elect a governor. As you might imagine, we are a very RED state; however, we have been governed by a Democrat since 2003. What this has done is to bring some much needed checks and balances against our Republican state congress. This time of some sort of moderation looks as if it will come to an end after the next election. Perhaps the most conservative, fundamental christian man in government today seems poised to take over the helm of Governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback.

Sam Brownback has had a long career in the US Congress which can be summed up in just a few basic beliefs:

• Abortion is murder and shouldn’t be allowed in ANY circumstance
• Brown people of any shade are scary and shouldn’t be allowed in ANY circumstance
• Homosexuality is an abomination and shouldn’t be allowed in ANY circumstance
• Poor people and the disabled are an annoyance and shouldn’t be allowed in ANY circumstance
• Science disagrees that we walked with dinosaurs and shouldn’t be allowed in ANY circumstance

His race baiting, hate mongering, juvenile rants on any of the above subjects are enough to make me nauseous. While Kansas and its politicians are often the subject of mockery, with Brownback as our leader, it will get exponentially worse. There is a strong Democratic candidate running, Tom Holland, who is a state Senator; however, in a red state without a lot of name recognition he is fighting an uphill battle.

I think I may be state shopping soon.

”We are once again vindicated, as we have been any time there is an objective review of these allegations,” said Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. ”The jury investigated all of the allegations that were in the petition that resulted in the grand jury being formed, and they found no evidence of any wrongdoing.”

Of course this isn’t going to be the end of this fight.  Right wing groups tend to fanaticism so while this may be seen as a setback it will most likely just encourage them more.  I expect that there are already news releases out that claim that the findings are wrong and that they will continue to press on.

”Any time a decision is different from the one they want, they will claim it’s because of some nefarious doings,” he said. ”The only people who continue to insist that there’s criminal wrongdoing are people who have a political agenda.” ~Peter Brownlie

Feministe has a great write up here that I highly recommend.  I wish I had time to add more to this, perhaps I will find a chance to update it later.  Anyhow please feel free to leave comments with your thoughts on this ruling.

WIBW.com ran this Reuters story today detailing the tragic death of Olga Reyes 2 weeks after her wedding. Olga was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy and, out of fear of prosecution, there were no doctors willing to perform the medical procedure needed to save her life in time. She suffered for 4 days before sucumbing. International medical professionals agree that with an ectopic pregnancy the fetus is not viable and immediate surgery is the only route to insure the welfare of the mother.

Women’s rights groups, including physicians, have protested Congress and demanded an immediate repeal of the ban which does not make any allowances fof the life of the mother. Evangelicals and the Catholic church support the ban saying that medical advancements make it so that a mother’s life is never at risk. Not only is this an ignorant argument, it is dangerous. Like Reyes’ situation, there are times that no amount of medical assistance can save the mother and the child, a fact that is not disputed by the medical community.

The Catholic church is so much in favor of this deadly ban that they have organized over 300,000 protesters to refute the women’s rights groups. This story scares me on a number of levels, namely that that the Catholic church can deny facts and support something that is causing the loss of innocent women. Anti-choice activists are so set on assuring that women can’t control their own health, that they ignore and even manipulate the facts in order to support their stance.

It sounds so innocuous, wonderful, affirming. Most people want to be on the side of life. In Republican circles where it is very commonplace to find ignorant masses repeating rhetoric and sticking to ideals that they have no clue about, this phrase will get them going everytime. It lends them credence, lets them know that they are doing the “Lord’s” work.

They must then see those that don’t believe as they do and whom they oppose on many issues as being from the opposite culture, thus Liberals, atheists, gays, Democrats, and anyone else who is different are from the Culture of Death. Oooooh this sounds like we’re getting ready for an intergalactic war huh?

Not quite. Unlike our Republican friends we are willing to look beyond overused phrasing and see each side for what it truly is. When you strip away the armor of false advertising you are left with the side that wants us to give up our civil liberties in the name of safety, the side that does not want to see this nation’s children provided with necessary health care, the side that is not willing to spend an extra cent on the people of our country, the side that continuously allows corporations and the elite to feed off the backs of our working class, the side that sees nothing wrong with torturing and killing people as long as it is done in the name of their god or the war on terror, and the side that wants to continue the oppression of people with different colored skin, different sexual orientation or identity, or different religious beliefs.

Then there is the other side. The ones who wants to ensure that our children are insured, use diplomacy instead of weapons to solve international issues, promote education and knowledge to reduce the instances of STDs and unwanted pregnancies(thus abortions), make sure that our justice system is brought out of the Dark Ages and errs on the side of human life, work to bring jobs back to America so that our families can afford to support themselves, and many other life affirming values.

So which side describes themselves as the Culture of Life? The ones that in any other context would be the villains of a fairy tale. What’s worse is that they are extremely convinced that their god gives them the right to behave in this manner, to push their beliefs onto the nation as a whole. It is this mindset that has made the United States and international laughingstock and has other countries viewing us as an enemy of freedom.

The Right is exceptionally good at using language to manipulate their followers and others into believing what they want them to. It’s time that we call them on it and demand that they call themselves what they really are. The Culture of Hatred, Intolerance, Bigotry, Discrimination, Ignorance, and Murder.

As I have written time and again, conservative right wing republicans cannot argue with logic so they bring on the barrage of verbal nastiness. Almost everyone agrees that the holocaust was a horrible thing so equating whatever it is that they don’t agree with with either Nazi’s or the holocaust itself is a surefire way to rile up their followers. The other word that they have managed to manipulate to conjure up images of death, torment, and horror is liberal. Notice that he doesn’t just say abortion it’s “liberalized” abortion.

These semantic games that they are playing have been highly tuned to strike just the right chord in their close minded base. It doesn’t matter that logically the holocaust and legalized abortion have nothing in common or that “liberal” means “favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.”

Huckabee also pulled out another verbal weapon from his arsenal “God”. In the same speech he stated “I’m very tired of hearing people who are unwilling to change the constitution, but seem more than willing to change the holy word of God as it relates to the definition of marriage.”

This statement is, to me, the embodiment of what is wrong with the Religious Right. He makes it clear that he believes political decisions should be guided by religious beliefs, effectively throwing the separation of church and state right out of the window. He said this while speaking to the crowd about the necessity of conservative lawmakers to pressure for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

To sum up Huckabee’s apparent platform: The Christian conservatives’ idea of God and his wishes will decide the laws and anyone who disagrees are liberalized nazi’s. Nice.

I learned today while reading a great piece by Melissa McEwan at Shakespeare’s Sister that making abortions illegal does not reduce their numbers. Stop and think about that for a second. The central argument for taking away a woman’s right to choose is that it will reduce abortions and save lives. Now that we know this is wrong want to guess how many anti-choicers will change their mind? I’m betting 0 as they are not exactly an open minded crowd.

Now, after reading the results of this 8 year study we find that this whole argument is worthless. It bears saying again. MAKING ABORTIONS ILLEGAL DOES NOT REDUCE THEIR NUMBERS. The only thing these fanatical right wingers will ever accomplish by robbing these women of their rights is to make abortions less safe and more degrading. This is backed up by the research which shows that worldwide 70,000 women die each year due to unsafe abortions.

So while it is not possible to prevent abortions by making them illegal there are some things that will help to reduce the need for abortions. This study found that poverty and lack of access to health care were the most common reasons for abortions. Both of these causes can be greatly reduced by our government but the religious right is opposed to them. I find it very hypocritical to say you want to prevent something while at the same time opposing everything that would accomplish that very thing.

Maybe one of you all will be able to clue me in on why the religious right says they want to save lives yet a) opposes all social services that would reduce the financial need for abortion; b) keep pushing the bullshit abstinence only programs which all studies show to be expensive and worthless; c) push for children to be born then promptly oppose any measures to provide them with adequate health care causing infant mortality rates to soar; and d) fail to care about the tens of thousands of women who would die as a result of making abortion illegal.

What will this mean for the GOP? Considering that exit polls on election day in 2004 showed that 22% of voters labeled themselves Evangelical Christian, it would probably secure a Democratic win. That is, if Dobson could muster enough of them to defy their ingrained Republican voting tradition.

I was watching Face the Nation on Sunday and the guest was Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council. He appeared to back peddle a bit on Dobson’s statement by stating, “What we said last week was more of a proclamation of principle rather than a declaration of intent.” He then stated that “If the party chooses to break its commitment to creating a culture of life, we’re not going to go in that direction with the party.” during a conference call on Thursday with reporters. To me this sounds pretty much like an intention.

On Face the Nation, Perkins went on to say that the Conservative movement is comparable to a three legged stool the Fiscal Conservatives, the Foreign Policy Conservatives, and the Social Conservatives. He implored the other 2/3 of the party to throw their support to the Social Conservatives and their anti-choice agenda. Without all three legs they will “impale” themselves. Thursday, Perkins stated that he believed roughly half of the Religious Right would vote for Giuliani anyway but that’s still a lot of votes to lose.

So what will this mean for the Democrats? Probably a bigger win over the Republican nominee. Unless, that is, Mitt Romney starts climbing faster. He appears to be the Evangelicals’ favorite at this time with Perkins stating Thursday, “he’s one of the strongest on our issues. It’s true he has had a change of position on these issues. I do believe they’re genuine. I do not see him going back.”