Supporting the Separation of Church and State
Posts Tagged ‘Reproductive Rights’
McCain on Roe vs. Wade
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: 2008 Election, Feminism, John McCain, Reproductive Rights, SCOTUS
Of course feminism and women’s rights are about a lot more than just Roe vs. Wade but its still important to remember why winning this election is important to the fundies. Its video like this that makes we wonder how any liberal progressive could ever consider switching to McCain. (h/t Feministing)
Oh yeah, and I’m still alive. Just taking some time to figure out what I’m going to do when I grow up with graduation a month away. Scary.
William Ludwig – WWJV4.com
RSS Roundup 5-21-8
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: 2008 Election, Economy, Good Science, Kansas Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Reproductive Rights, Ted Kennedy, Tolerance, Voter Suppression
Happy hump day everyone. Were half way to a long holiday weekend. After 3 years in corrections when I never had holidays, or even weekends, off I am so looking forward to this summer. Being a month away from finishing up with school I hope to never ever have to do shift work again. Anyhow, lots to cover so lets get to it.
Senator Ted Kennedy Diagnosed with Brain Tumor
Ted KennedyI really wanted to write about this yesterday as the news came out but didn’t have time. As you probably know Kennedy was taken to the hospital after having seizures on Monday. Obviously a malignant brain tumor was not the news the nation was hoping to hear. We are all pulling for him and his family.
Kudos to Kathleen Sebelius!
I feel kind of embarrassed that I haven’t been covering this as well as I should. I have a project in the works for a local Kansas news site so I apologize. As a Kansan I am incredibly proud of our Governor. She has consistently made the right choices even when they were not the most politically expedient. Since I have dropped the ball on her recent acts here are links to others who are picking up the slack.
Kathleen Sebelius Vetoes Voter ID Law. Read Think Progress and Crooks and Liars. Everything I said about the SCOTUS ruling on the Indiana law applies here. Reading local news and blogs it is apparent that most Kansans are unaware of the true effect of these kinds of laws. Either that or their a bunch of assholes. The jury is still out on that distinction.
All the Rest of the News thats Important
- A federal appeals court has ruled Virginia’s late term abortion ban unconstitutional!
- Openly gay Sam Adams has been elected mayor of Portland making him the first openly homosexual mayor of a major American city. It seems like every day I get to write about another accomplishment in LGBTQ equality.
- On the other hand LGBTQ hate crimes rose by 24% in 2007 over the 2006 rates. This just proves that there is still a long way to go. It also shows how needed hate crime protection is.
- A top aid for McCain has stepped down out of respect for Barack Obama. I haven’t followed politics long but can anyone remember this happing before? More at The Carpetbagger Report.
- Tim Haab has a good piece up at Environmental Economics about what we as consumers can do about $4 gas. Read the comments.
- Bush has issued a formal apology after a soldier apparently shot a Koran. Keep telling yourself that its our freedom that they hate.
- I have found out why American schoolchildren compare so poorly to children from other countries. 16% of biology teachers are young earth creationists. The same survey shows that 48% of the general population believes that “God created human beings pretty much in their at one time within the last 10,000 years or so”.
Video of the Day
Henry Waxman Threatens to Have Rep Issa (R-CA) physically removed from hearing. Awesome.
Thats all for today folks. I’ll try to have something up over my lunch break. Also Summer finally had a chance to comment on a story yesterday. If you havn’t been reading long it may surprise you to know that this is a multi-author blog.
In fact we accept story submissions from anyone with a progressive viewpoint. Writing for us couldn’t be easier. Just sign up for an account then when you log in you will have the ability to write a story. We will then post it assuming that its appropriate for our viewers.
Have a wonderful day
William ~ WWJV4.com
RSS Roundup 5-20-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Barack Obama, Feminism, John McCain, Religious Freedom, Reproductive Rights, Wacknuttery
Wow, lots to get to today so I won’t waste your time. I did have this dream about a new design and layout for my blog so don’t be surprised if you see something new very soon. Summer would say that I should make the design and use it for one of the many projects I have waiting to be finished. Sounds rational but the dream was about this website. I don’t know how I’ll use it but I do know that it will be one of the first things I work on this week.
Obama Rally draws 70,000+ in Portland
Alright, I know that there are more important things going on in the world than just another campaign rally. It feels like the primary has been going on for years and the last thing people want to read about is some random rally in Portland. Just kidding! 70,000 PEOPLE! Seriously have we ever had such an amazing and exciting time to be a Democrat. Wow. (h/t Crooks and Liars)
McCain has a Serious Lobbyist Issue
After running on his “record” as being “anti-lobbyist” and promising to “clean up” Washington John McCain is developing a real lobbyist problem. A problem in that his campaign is run, staffed, and financed almost entirely by lobbyists. Worse than that several high ranking lobbyists in his campaign have been linked to horrible causes. For more read this from The Carpetbagger Report.
All the News you Need to Know
- The Legislatures in Tennessee are trying to push through a bill to teach the glories of the Bible in public schools. I think that learning about the history of all religions is a good idea, focusing entirely on “the greatest and most popular book in history” in order to teach students “our culture and our highest and best values” isn’t.
- I hadn’t heard this bit of craziness but apparently there is this thing going around about the world ending in 2012 because thats when the Mayan calender ends. Spoiler alert! The world isn’t going to end and here is a good explanation why.
- Four of the Philadelphia police officers were fired after the videotaped beating of three suspects. Several others were demoted and/or suspended. Only four?
- I don’t watch Fox News so I hadn’t heard this but apparently there is a silly smear campaign that Barack Obama is the most liberal Democratic Senator. Sadly this isn’t true.
- Emergency contraception has been approved for over the counter sale in Canada. While here in America the religious right is trying to ban all birth control. * Sigh *
- The Alliance Defense Fund is looking for pastors to knowingly break the law that prevents churches from engaging directly in partisan politics. The goal being to sue to have the rules removed so that they can make the transition into a full blown theocracy easier.
Video of the Day
h/t Eschaton
Have a wonderful day
William ~ WWJV4.com
RSS Review 5-14-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Atheism, FISA, Fundamentalism, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, National Security, Racism, Religious Freedom, Reproductive Rights, Torture
Sorry this one is getting out late but I am sick today. However I didn’t feel right not publishing anything so here I am. Don’t be mad at me if its shorter and crappier than normal. Thats just about how I feel today. Well, maybe not shorter. crappier though for sure. At least I’m not suffering alone (get feeling better Jessica). Hope your all have a great day and I will try to post more later.
Hillary Clinton Wins BIG in West Virginia
Even though I have decided to support Obama I am still very happy to see that Clinton is not only competitive in blue collar states, but overwhelmingly preferred 67% to 26%. I know that it wont happen but showings like this make my dreams of a unity ticket seem almost possible sometimes.
Hagee Flip Flops on Religious Views
Taking a line from the McCain campaign John Hagee has flip flopped on his outspoken attacks on the Catholic Church. Every time McCain flip flops on a position his supporters can chalk it up to pandering for votes (or Alzheimer’s). What is it called when religious leaders flip flop on their beliefs?
The Rest of The News
- A bar owner in Marietta is selling racist Obama – Curious George T-Shirts. Just more proof that we have a lot of work to do still.
- Republican Congressional candidate Mike Erickson is being accused by an Oregon woman of having paid for her abortion. If true this will mark the one millionth Republican hypocrite outed this year. I think he wins a toaster.
- Conservatives are still trying to get amnesty for their big business telecom buddies. Over at DailyKOS mcjoan has listed the names and numbers for the conservative Democrats the Republicans are targeting. If they are yours give them a call.
- Was Einstein an atheist? Personally I could care less what Einsteins religious beliefs are but some people are making a big deal about it.
- In Ohio a father was jailed after his daughter failed to pass the math portion of her GED. As always there is more to the story, but it doesn’t get better. Read about it here at Newshoggers.
- Charges have been dropped against the “20th hijacker” Mohammed al-Qahtani. During his interrogation Mohammed was subjected to what people in a civilized society would refer to as torture.
In the log, U.S. interrogators describe how they ratcheted up techniques on their captive during 50 days starting in November 2002 to extract a confession – by using sleep deprivation, leaving him strapped to an intravenous drip without bathroom breaks and having him strip naked….A special Guantanamo investigator, Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt, subsequently told Congress that al-Qahtani was also forced to wear a woman’s bra, dance with a male guard, “perform dog tricks” and was smeared with fake menstrual blood to lower his self-esteem – techniques the general described as “degrading and abusive” but not inhumane.
Cageprisoners.com
Daily Video
Todays video is John Stewarts interview with the unapologetic neocon Douglas Feith. If there is one think to admire about neocons like Feith, they never get caught up in the little things like reality or facts. Crooks and Liars has a good write up on the interview.
Part 1
Part 2
Thats all for this morning. I’m going to take some more medicine and go lie down for a while. I know that some of the news is actually from this morning but yesterday was a pretty slow news day. Besides I normally start these the night before and then just check for new stuff in the morning. Of course this is an open thread and I’ll make sure and moderate comments through the day.
William ~ WWJV4.com
RSS Roundup 5-6-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Feminism, Fiscal Responsibility, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, LGBTQ Rights, Pat Tillman, Reproductive Rights, Wacknuttery
Yesterday was a busy day in the blogosphere and as usual I didn’t get a chance to write about most of it. Someday I’ll be independently wealthy and can afford to lie about all day sipping margaritas and blogging. Until then I’ll be posting RSS Roundups of the most important stories of the day before. This way you all get to see what I think is important and I don’t feel bad for missing things. It’s really a win win don’t you think?
McCain still hates farmers. Nothing to say here really. Maybe if they were rich businessmen with hot lobbyists they could get something out of the old man.
Post-War Veteran Suicides May Exceed War Casualties: Because of a lack of mental health care for returning war veterans it is very likely that psychiatric illness may claim more lives than combat. Remember last month when the VA was caught concealing suicide numbers, how likely do you think it is that this administration is going to be honest about this epidemic?
New Jersey has approved paid family leave for same sex couples as well as married couples. This is a big step forward. Now to get the rest of the states to accept that in America everyone is equal.
Eleanor Badger over at RH Reality Check has a good writeup of a practice that the anti-choicers are using to shut down abortion providers known as TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers).
230 top economists have signed a letter condemning Clinton’s idea to offset the cost by adding a windfall tax to the oil companies. Oddly little attention has been paid to McCain’s even worse gas tax plan. See Obama’s response here.
In ultra conservative Florida a substitute teacher lost his job after being accused of wizardry. yeah, wizardry. This boggles my mind and I live in Kansas so I have developed a pretty high tolerance for this fundamentalist crap.
Pat Tillmans mother was on 60 minutes reminding America of the deception that surrounded her sons death. Watch it at Think Progress.
Women in Malaysia may need a letter giving them permission to leave the country. This move to control women is being sold as a measure to protect them from being tricked into carrying drugs. You know, because women are too dumb to take care of themselves apparently.
Apparently in a move to increase the number of abortions anti-choicers are planning to protest against contraception. You know, that stuff that prevents unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions. If you want to see the kind of woman who could promote such craziness here is Pam Stenzel. Pam wants to teach your kids that birth control can kill them and that abortions make girls anorexic, depressed and suicidal. (h/t Feministing)
And finally I wanted to point out this post by Melissa McEwen at Shakesville. Its about a young girl who had the courage to fight back against her assaulter and the horrible consequences that followed. This story deserves a post of its own but I don’t have the time. Besides I doubt I could do it justice after Melissa’s post. This is my response to anyone who has ever wondered why women don’t fight back.
That is pretty much my roundup of the news from yesterday. If you have any comments please feel free to post them. Also if I missed anything please post that as well.
William ~ WWJV4
Posts
