Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!
We’ve got the plot points for all of next week’s Doonesbury. I’ve got the summaries below the fold; don’t read them if you don’t want to ruin the surprise. Although…you may find you’re going to have to read them to see them at all, since many newspapers aren’t running them. Including our own St Paul Pioneer press, which says:
Re: Doonesbury strips. We are subbing in print at the Pioneer Press and directing readers to online if they want to read them. Not appropriate for Comics pages with its mix of Garfield and The Duplex and not a great solution to move them to the Opinion pages for a week.
Oh, yeah. We mustn’t taint Garfield!
The reason for this terror revealed below.
Monday: Young woman arrives for her pre-termination sonogram, is told to take a seat in the shaming room, a middle-aged male state legislator will be right with her.
Tuesday: He asks her if this is her first visit to the center, she replies no, that she’s been using the contraceptive services for some time. He says, “I see. Do your parents know you’re a slut?”
Wednesday: A different male is reading to her about the transvaginal exam process.
Thursday: In the stirrups, she is telling a nurse that she doesn’t want a transvaginal exam. Doctor says “Sorry miss, you’re first trimester. The male Republicans who run Texas require that all abortion seekers be examined with a 10″ shaming wand.” She asks “Will it hurt?” Nurse says, “Well, it’s not comfortable, honey. But Texas feels you should have thought of that.” Doctor says, “By the authority invested in me by the GOP base, I thee rape.”
Friday: Doctor is explaining that the Texas GOP requires her to have an intimate encounter with her fetus. He begins describing it to her. Last panel, he says, “Shall I describe it’s hopes and dreams?” She replies, “If it wants to be the next Rick Perry, I’ve made up my mind.”
Saturday: Back in the reception area, she asks where she goes now for the actual abortion. Receptionist tells her there’s a 24-hour waiting period: “The Republican Party is hoping you get caught in a shame spiral and change your mind.” Last panel: She says, “A final indignity.” Receptionist replies, “Not quite. Here’s your bill.”
I read my comics online. Hopefully the company won’t decide to censor them.
Hah! Nice. Spot on, spot on.
Incisive, well written social commentary – I wonder how long it will last before the fundie-appeasing powers-that-be pull it entirely for being too ‘shrill’ or ‘offensive’?
Afterall, the
dirty little slutwoman in the story has actual opinions and dares to challenge the wisdom ofher ownersmen when it comes to issues where she should be utterly subservient like, you know, her own reproductive capacity and bodily autonomy…They’ll be demanding the vote next!
*gasp, genuflect to graven image of
the Evil OneRush Limbaugh, clutch pearls, collapse on tactically placed fainting couch, etc*My local newspaper pulled Doonesbury years ago due to a (pardon the expression) Pharyngulated poll of readers as to which were the most- and least-liked strips. Local church groups (way too active in local politics) spearheaded the move.
(But then I live in Bakersfield, which exists solely to give Fresno something to look down on.)
Occasionally they call me up to subscribe–something I haven’t done since the strip was pulled. I tell them “bring back Doonesbury, and we’ll talk.”
Yeah, critiquing the oppression of women is totally inappropriate in the newspaper comics section. Bring on more Hagar the Horrible, Andy Capp, and B.C., with their comfortable “battle of the sexes” “humor.” And Momma, with its misogynist portrayal of old women (and young unmarried daughters). I mean, those memes aren’t political at all.
Comments on Jim Romenesko’s piece include one from Gerard Van der Leun:
I don’t have a FB account. Would anyone like to ask VdL if he’s still aware of all internet traditions?
Well, I know that I won’t have to be subjected to these filthy diatribes against Jesus, America, and the flag. Here in the South, females in comic serials (we don’t call them “strips”, it makes the men-folk all tingly,) are only allowed to communicate with large punctuation marks in their speech-balloons.
Sadly, I anticipate letters to the editor of the local paper that echo the above without any sarcasm or snark.
You gotta love Doonesbury!
I consider myself lucky to have been alive at the same time as Garry Trudeau, a national conscience and treasure for 4 decades.
(He’s been relentless on Gingrich lately too.)
Virginia (where I live) just passed one of those awful bills. I can’t wait to see if our local paper carries the strip next week.
Doons-related question. Is the Red Rascal real or a product of the kid’s overactive imagination?
The Virginia law (it was signed by the governor, so it’s no longer just a bill) requires an ultrasound, but not a trans-vaginal one. I know what you’re thinking – how thoughtful of them.
.
I thought Republicans were supposed to oppose unfunded mandates.
@Randomfactor: You local poll may have been pharyngulated, but it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. I’ve worked for a half-dozen papers and they all do surveys (usually random) of which comics are most popular. The good ones, like Doonesbury, always come in last. First? Invariably it’s “The Family Circus.” I think the surveys probably reveal the age of your typical newspaper reader.
Lasagna good – Abortion bad
They’re right. It doesn’t belong in the comics section. It should be on the front page.
Santorum’s new campaign slogan for Illinois. “We need to ban comics from newspapers. They seek to erode the values of this country and are nothing more than “indoctrination mill” for our childrens. Comics like Doonsbury is in league the the liberal elites and institutions of higher education!”—*sigh*
If Republican policies aren’t fit for the funny pages then maybe they aren’t fit in RL either.
My local paper always runs Doonesbury on the editorial page, right next to Mallard Fillmore. It provides an interesting contrast in style. I don’t remember the guy’s name, but it looks like mad scribbling next to Trudeau’s clean lines and sometimes subtle wit.
It’s not the first time Doonesbury has been censored over abortion. Remember the week of strips (in the 1980s, I think) where a woman who had an abortion was labelled a “murderess”?
Trudeau was obviously being facetious, but he was also accurate in portraying the rightwingnuts’ attitudes.
This is exactly the social commentary we need right now.
littlejohn #12
There’s always The Disfunctional Family Circus.
Go for it GBT – we’ve been waiting for someone with his social reach to focus on this…
Can’t wait for the Blowback comments.
here is my experience with TVU… i was having issues with my fallopian tubes as well as my uterus. you know, private female problems that could not be clearly seen via the abdominal ultrasound version.
i was told to undress completely & put a regular hospital gown on. no one had prepared me for what came next. in a darkly lit room, the tech handed me an electronic wand the size of bar-b-q tools & told me that i will be inserting the wand into my vagina. i looked at her a lil confused & she assured me i would be able to do it.
legs in stirrups, bottom scooted all the way to the edge of the table and i am told to insert the wand … sudden flashes of medical fetishes started running through my mind interspersed with my own adult intimate sexual experiences.
i was told how to turn it, how far to put it in & on & on & on all the while she is taking pictures and i felt like i was sexually performing for this woman by the end of it & great shame & sorrow followed.
the pictures were helpful, but they still had to open me up to find my uterus was being strangled by my intestines.
i do not want to scare off women that are in need of this specific test, but i need to tell everyone that the procedure is not easy to go through.
in fact, it is currently causing me to have flashbacks.
The slut joke misses for me. Yeah, its bang-on topical and a social point worth making, its just not funny to me. These, however, are spectacular:
.
“Shall I describe it’s hopes and dreams?” She replies, “If it wants to be the next Rick Perry, I’ve made up my mind.”
And
Last panel: She says, “A final indignity.” Receptionist replies, “Not quite. Here’s your bill.”
They’ve never heard of facebook, apparently. I’ll share that will all my friends.
Don’t forget the bit where they suggest she contributes to the ACLU. I just gave them another $100 to take the taste of puke out of my mouth. It works better than vodka.
What’s interesting is how pro-lifers have no problem showing people pictures of dead fetuses, but a comic that they disgagree with.. oh no!
@Alverant
Yes and no. He did some CIA work in the guise of the Red Rascal, and totally screwed up (eg. giving the multi-million dollar bribe to the wrong person). No real freedom fighting, etc. However he wrote a book on his imaginary exploits as Red Rascal, which has turned out to be quite popular, particularly among the comic-collecting, still-living-in-parents-basement crowd.
Someone, quick, set up a “here’s a subscription page that will give you the original doonesbury strip” + donate to ALCU page!!! Then we can carpetbomb face book with it!!
I don’t subscribe to either of the local newsprint rags, except for the Sunday edition of the Buffalo News.
My salute to Garretson Beekman “Garry” Trudeau for hanging this issue out to hang and, hopefully, die. I am literally sick at what some of my fellow males seem to be doing with the women of our country. We are little better than the Islamic fundies.
Can we just pack up and move to a new planet? Or, ala Rick Perry, secede and create a new country? Sigh….
I did give the Oregonian a call (being from Portland and all), and after being shuffled around a bit, was able to speak with one of the editors who repeated the statement that “we felt it was over the line”. I mentioned that I disagreed and she told me that they would have a place for readers to make their opinions known online on Monday. I did ask if perhaps they could consult readers’ opinions in time to change their decision and was told that *they* were the editors.
So – I guess my decision to not purchase their paper will have no bearing either…
http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/
Any mention of Garfield should have elicited this link by now.
Seems this commentators section is the long lost “Free Speech Zone”(FSZ) created by the GWBush gang. Well, at least you guys have some place to blow off steam as your freedom is sucked out of existence.
Seems the only solution is to open safe but not legal clinics.
What a shitty deal for women.
What a shitty country.
What a bunch of shitty white men.
Here’s a secret,
Sacrifice and Hardship coupled with Economic Boycott are the necessary ingredients to create real change for the better.
There is a PBS film, A Force More Powerful,
http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/films/index.php
Shows how Justice and Equality can be created from shitty countries with a shitty elite.
I know Pharyngula is not a political site but you guys seem to enjoy blowing off steam like that’s all you can do. When actually there is plenty more you can do, but that requires the aforementioned Sacrifice, Hardship and Economic Boycott.
Thank you
I thought papers moved “Doonesbury” to the editorial page in the Nixon era. “Guilty, Guilty, Guilty!”
joed @ 32;
First off, Pharyngula os not solely a political site, but it has plenty of threads dedicated to political and social issues.
I also think that you should be less eager to generalise about the Pharyngula commentariat – your assumption that all anyone here does is ‘blow off steam’ on the internet is erroneous. There are several regulars here who are also activists in a broader sense, and in any case these types of online discussions are an important part of the social discourse. They are a venue for dissenting opinion, and they help demonstrate that those who oppose the toxic, religious patriarchy afflicting global society are not simply lone voices in the wilderness. The first step to mobilising those of like mind in order to affect social change is realsing that there are others who think as you do.
By all means advocate for your cause, but a judgemental, condescending attitude in clear ignorance of the actual level of engagement of the commenters on this site on the issues under discusssion is unlikely to be well received.
This got me thinking, Trudeau is right and Texas could be info a serious spat of lawsuits.
I mean, isn’t rape any act of unwanted penetration (with or without coercion)?
Isn’t this law by making an unwanted (and unnecessary) transvaginal exam mandatory to get a legal procedure an act of coercion and by extension rape?
Can the State enact a law that could legalize rape?
Could a woman who is forced into this procedure sue the State for rape?
I’m no lawyer but I’m pretty sure if someone forced you to have a 10″ object up your vagina without your permission thats rape.
Any legal minds out there have an answer?
You mean like his creationist one stopped creationism? You have a much rosier view of what is likely to happen than I do.
Trying to concentrate on Doonesbury and all I can see in my mind’s eye is the furry orange taint of Garfield. There goes my romantic evening. Thanks, PZ!
dragonessfredriksson @ #22: Yeah, I’ve had to have those too. In my case for severe pelvic pain, worsening with any penetration. And I’m a rape survivor, with photography-related PTSD triggers on top of it. At least they ruled out some possible causes for what was wrong with both of us? (I still don’t know what’s wrong with me.) I can’t imagine it being pleasant under any circumstances, though.
GregfromCanada @ #35: Well, it does fit the FBI’s definition of rape, and it’s also medically unnecessary.
Foolish-Rain @ 37
Now there’s an image I didn’t need. It looks a lot like the Republican Party.
It’s being noticed that their War on Women and attacks on reproductive rights is hurting Republican party candidates standing with…ta dah!…women. Imagine that. But also men…doh! Men care about women’s rights, too! Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-suffer-among-female-voters/2012/03/08/gIQANzfM1R_story.html?hpid=z2
“Shall I describe it’s hopes and dreams?”
I hope not; I hope the character uses the apostrophe correctly.
I have had a group of sanctimonious x-tians camped out in front of our local Planned Parenthood office for over a week (3 driveways from where I live) with their fetus dolls & baby posters.
While I have personally been giving them a hard time every time I walk by, (The leader/man reads & chants from his bible while pacing: he looks exactly like a madrassa trained fundamentalist so I suggested he chant Exodus 21:22,23 repeatedly, but he wouldn’t even dare to look it up.) they have begun just ignoring me. . .
So, I would like suggestions for a handheld sign for the occasional counter-protest.
Something that would be easily readable from a 2×3′ (or so) sign.
Therefore concise but not too wordy.
Something that would show support for Planned Parenthood & female health care access.
Something that would show disdain/disapproval for the sanctimonious scumbags.
“Honk If . . . ” signs would be appropriate; so the scumbags can feel like they’re being martyred while finding out the strength of their opposition.
Thanks.
… People still use newspapers to read comics?? o_O
The Oregon writes that Trudeau “went over the line of good taste and humor in penning a series on abortion using graphic language and images inappropriate for a comics page.”
Then why not move it to the editorial page?
@43. vexorian says:
Yes. I do among many others. There are still people in this world who don’t even have the internet.
@41. tonykehoe :
Hang on, that seems right to me. Possessive form – the hopes and dreams of the fetus = it’s, right? It’s also an apostrophe for the contraction ‘it is’ -> ‘it’s’ and only NOT an apostrophe when used inthe polural so if she was aborting twins or multiples then maybe but no, coz then it’d be *their* grammatically anyhow. Or so I’d think. Am I wrong?
Because then they would be hosting a pro-abortion comic in their editorial page, of course.
this. also, I’ll fucking print them out and keep them for future use and reference.
possessive:
his
hers
its
contraction:
he is = he’s
she is = she’s
it is = it’s
Easy, neh?
you are wrong. “it’s” is only the contraction of “it is”. or do you also write hi’s? (meaning, “its” is just the neutral version of the words “her” and “his”)
@ jaycubed 42:
Just off the top of my head:
“Honk if you think women are people” on one side, “and fetuses are not” on the other.
“Honk if you hate the Coathanger Lobby.”
If you’re feeling particularly feisty, put the infamous picture of Geraldine Santoro [CONTENT WARNING: extremely graphic, extremely disturbing, NSFW] on one side and “This is what anti-choicers want” on the other. (Because it is exactly what they want.)
I appreciate your willingness to do something — anything — to challenge those monsters.
Wait…
“That is his book.”
“That is her book.”
“That book is his.”
“That book is hers.”
(fuckin’ stoopid langwij)
ayup
Make that :
only NOT an apostrophe when used in the plural
I swear it looked right when I clicked submit. Sigh.
@42. jaycubed :
What if / If only they’d aborted Hitler / Stalin / Mao Tse Tung / Kong /Bashar Alassad (spelling?) / Cheney / Kony etc ..
Keep your rosaries off our ovaries (A T-shirt with this was worn as a protest by former Aussie politician & Australian Democrats party leader Natasha Scott-Despoya against our Tea party equivalent politician – & current opposition leader – Tony Abbott.)
You’re NOT pro-life, just pro-coathanger abortions!
Religious scumbags : favouring rapists over women since the stone age!
Abortion : If men could get preggas there’d be no questions asked.
Women’s Rights, Religion’s Wrongs.
A giant sign of the all male Republican group laying down their law /policy for women perhaps with the word “Really?” somewhere on it.
A graphic photo of the shaming wand going where it goes and the word rape or something as acounter to their graphic fetus / murder signs?
Bible says – Love thy neighbour and judge not. Now FUCK OFF and repent yourselves!
Okay that last one could be a little too wordy.
Hope some of these are useful for you.
@chigau (dodged a bullet) & Jadehawk, cascadeuse féministe :
Oh. Okay. Thanks. Guess that’s something new I’ve learnt for today.
joed, you have no idea how many people on this site might do political activism when they’re not commenting here, so why don’t you shove your assumptions up your ass and chase them with a suppurating porcupine.
What the fuck do YOU do in your non-FTB time, I’d like to know?
@petermountain :
I don’t think Trudeau went over the line in stating the truth – but if he did the Republican ‘medically-rape-abortion-seekers” proposals sure got there first.
Why is writing about that, putting it in comic form unacceptable whereas the republican proposed laws themselves are fine?
When you think about it doesn’t this say something about how shockingly terrible the Republican anti-women coathanger lobby is actually being here that mere mention of it is so offensive?
@32. joed :
Pharnygula, non- political? Hah! [Chuckles then breaks out into raucous laughter.] Well that is funny. [Wipes eyes, holds sides.] You must be really, ,*really* new here!
This has to be one of the more political sites around. They also write about science but politics is about half the mix here at least.
Fuck you. You have no idea what people here do outside of commenting on this blog. Plenty of them have probably already done a fuck of a lot more activism than you have. Talk about false unsupported assertions!
BTW. we usually have a three post rule for new commentators ie. the first three comments get a pass and explanations before people pile on – but I think you’ve thrown away that priviledge with the above quote.
@42. jaycubed :
Exodus 21:22,23? Okay, I had to look that up & got this :
http://atheistineden.com/eden/tag/women-get-the-shaft/
&
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+21%3A22-23%3A13%2CMatthew+24%3A1-28%2CPsalm+29%3A1-11%2CProverbs+7%3A6-23&version=NIV
They didn’t seem to have it on the brick testament.
This one from the second link :
28 “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible.”
Creates a specially bizarre mental image. Stoning a bull to death? WTF!? Add that to the long list of Bible verses never taught at Church! ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e09Zleoee6Y )
That’s the second surprising new thing I’ve learnt today. Cheers!
Next visit with forgo the gown, and ask you if you also want to get birth control, and if so, they have a regular camera they are required to bring in, and publish on the internet…
Seriously though, I had to have a “checkup” on a possible problem with my testes a bit back, and I wasn’t, personally, sure if I should laugh, or be offended, by how hard the nurse tried to avoid looking at what practically “had to be” uncovered to do the test. But, I suppose, in my case, its a good thing it didn’t involve internal probes, or manipulation of other things, so I found the whole situation bloody stupid, instead of having sexual connotations.
But if some moron got in into their head that, in the process of checking for other things, I **had to** have them also examine me for signs of abrasions, or the like, from some idiots definition of “perverse sex”, it would be about the same thing. Its probably a good thing they haven’t tried linking women’s health care to proof of an intact hymen, or some similarly stupid shit, because its pretty much par for the course they are on.
And just what exactly is wrong with showing the public what our creepy Republican legislatures are voting into law? Reminds me of how most of them can’t even say “vaginal” in public, like they’re afraid one will jump out and bite them or something. Fuck them and fuck their spineless media lackeys.
Dear StevoR:
In legalistic terms, it clearly states that killing a fetus is not murder, but is a property crime against the “seed” provider.
@ ^ Jaycubed : Cheers.
@ Kagehi :
Shhh! Don’t give them any (more) bad ideas.
@61. jayvubed : Mind you, women and children were also considered property back then too. Biblically speaking. Seems that if the Republicans – and Jihadists – have their way women and children will be property again tomorrow (or in a decade or so’s time) too.
Reading the linked article, I see that the newspaper where I work, The Oregonian, is one of the first to announce they will not run next week’s Doonesbury strip.
Their cowardice is inexplicable, considering that Portland is one of most liberal cities in America!
My husband read me the plot points – and although I know he was only relaying what Gary Trudeau has written, I wanted to throw things at him.
Which is, to my mind, a sign of excellent writing.
*sigh* And the GOP won’t get it, and the papers are idiots.
I remember “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” but the first time I remember a fuss at my own newspaper about not carrying Doonesbury was in 1976 when the gay character was introduced.
Reginald Selkirk,
Just a nitpick, the language of the law says “an ultrasound” rather than “a trans-vaginal ultrasound” now, that’s true, but the ‘informed consent’ principle in play (according to Republicans) requires the ultrasound to be effective at imaging the fetus. So, in effect, it still requires the vaginal probe because the fetus is too small to see otherwise during the period women normally get abortions. So, the changes to the bill were just cosmetic, since the Repubs in the VA legislature said they would rather pass no bill than one that didn’t mandate the ultrasound. (Again, the law doesn’t require the ultrasound to be vaginal, but to meet the requirements of the bill a TVU must still be done in most cases.)
But yeah, the joke is this isn’t really an unfunded mandate: ladies get to pay for it!
For a long time, I used to really feel concerned about the future of my hometown newspaper, and worry about the loss of a basic resource for maintaining an informed citizenry. In recent years, its given up on journalism and its civic role the any Edwin R. Murrow sense, and become a weird mishmash of a coupon clipper/highschool newspaper with a few tacit stringer articles thrown in (for larfs I guess), but with a distinctly staunch right-wing agenda. I can’t wait for them to go out of business.
Weird huh? We used to consider an intelligent and informed populace as necessary to a free and democratic state. You know, 4th Estate and all that. (E.g., see some state constitutions.)
Now look at us. What happened to us? [Rhetorical.]
grumpypathdoc:
The sad part is, not all of these bills have been introduced by men– they’re supported by men, but there have been one or two that have been sponsored by women*.
Those women are shooting the rest of us in the foot and they don’t care.
*Dammit, I don’t remember which states and fuck if teh Goog is helping me right now. *sigh*
Ah ha! Finally found one! Pennsylvania’s crazy ass restrictive abortion bill* (which has passed the lower house) was sponsored by Rep. Kathy Rapp.
*Not only does it require an ultrasound, but the technician must give a print-out of “personalized results” to the patient. She must also watch a state approved video about fetal gestation, amongst other things. *shudder!*
Hey, you know who else made abortion illegal**?
**Yes, I just Godwinned this thread.
dragonessfredriksson,
Re TVU: I usually get one as well as a digital exam and a kolposkopy with PAP smear when I have the gyn do my yearly check up. I have a retroflexed uterus and it’s easier for the gyn to get a clear view by TVU. But I do not get fully undressed (just pants off) and I most certainly don’t handle the thing myself. What a weird way to perform an TVU.
I’m so sorry this was so uncomfortable for you. Going in for a TVU should be in a safe environment and with least hassle possible.
TVU can only ever be comfortable with careful consideration for the patient and her needs and when a trustful relationship is established beforehand. I wish I could add something worthwhile, but I instantly descend into incoherent rage when I think about legally mandated mistreatment of patients totally at odds with medical ethics and the most basic priciple of “First, do not harm”, for fucks sake.
How did the medical community react to this, by the way?
keenacat,
I imagine the ethical medical community is incensed as the rest of us, the other fraction of the community is probably cool with the increased fees (if they’re in that camp, “it’s the law so it must be right” it’s no skin off their backs and an extra pay day).
Was there, like, official condemnation of those shitty laws or something? Since not every doc is a Total Fucking Asshole(tm), I can’t imagine them silently taking it when the gubmint forces them do, essentially, inflict bodily harm on patients.
(Since a TVU is invasive, it is usually seen as bodily harm that is only ok with informed consent.)
I saw comments around the internets by MDs, but I’ve yet to come across like an AMA press release or anything. I did some weak googling, but I didn’t make much effort.
Still, I imagine there are totally doctors out there saying, “Hey! The law says I get an extra 500 bucks per abortion referal! Score!”
Oh yes, there will be. There also will be docs who are totally down with it because baby-killing whores deserve every ounce of shit thrown their way, and who will make sure to be as slut-shaming as possible during the whole process. This is known as the Total Fucking Asshole subset of every group of people everywhere, ever.
But usually, official organisations take at least halfway reasonable stances (not including “MDs for Christ” or similar, of course). I admit, my experience is european in nature, but the larger orgs don’t take kindly to massive infringements on patients rights and, of course, docs rights.
Because as a doc, I am supposed to be able to not do medically unnecessary or unethical shit and the law is supposed to protect me while I exert that right.
Drolfe @ 75 et al. –
The American Congress of Ob-Gyn (the primary org of ob-gyns) has this among its legislative priorities:
http://www.acog.org/Advocacy/ACOG_Legislative_Priorities
Here is a list of their policy statements on reproductive health and access:
http://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/ACOG_Departments/State_Legislative_Activities/Reproductive_Health_and_Access
A scan of their news releases shows support for choice and access, and for “women’s basic rights to privacy and bodily integrity” (nicely phrases)
http://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases
Quodlibet,
Thanks for the the broad outline, what I was referring to (when I was doing my weak googling) was specific PR regarding the mandatory ultrasound laws. (That’s why I was talking about what I imagined initially, because this is what I would expect from ethical organizations like ACOG, but hadn’t seen these particular bills/laws addressed.) So yeah, ethical docs have to condemn this crap (by definition, I guess :)
But let’s face it, what with the assassinations and all, there’s a chilly climate to come out and oppose the assholes and say in blunt terms “I’m a pro-abortion doctor”.
Republicans believe in small government — small enough to fit in a woman’s genitals.
The GOP needs to be dealt a catastrophic election defeat. They need to see that this uber right wing overreach is way too much. While publicly chanting “jobs jobs jobs”, they’re actually:
1) Doing whatever they can do to cause an economic meltdown they hope to pin on Obama
2) Doing whatever they can do to enforce a narrow religious morality on everybody
They need to be dealt a catastrophic election defeat. Not just a few percent. More like 25%-30% or more. Only then might they get the hint and come back in 2016 with a little sanity. That is, if the defeat doesn’t kill the GOP altogether.
The GOP used to be conservatives. Now it’s just a clown car disgorging religious whacko after religious whacko. Even they know they don’t have a viable candidate. The electorate needs to send them a message in November.
rogerfirth,
The bulk of sane conservatives have fled to the Democratic party as a result of purity purging by the Republicans. You might remember there was a time when a conservative Republican could be, amazing I know, pro-choice and generally pro-woman. (And pro-environment, and pro-science, and pro-equality, and on and on.)
The status quo is lose-lose though, as it drags the center rightward (the conservative dems exert more pressure on votes than the progressive caucus; while the insane howling of the religious right shifts the Overton window.)
The good news is, demographics sort of assure their defeat over the medium term as long as the conservative shift in the Democratic party can be stemmed.
roger:
That’s because they know that their “ideas” for fixing the economy are what got us in this mess in the first place. Not only that, but I’m sure that when they think about what’s happening in Wisconsin (for example), they get hella scared.
What they’re doing is pushing their fucking right-wing Christian agenda in order to distract us from our continuing economic problems. It’s killing two birds with one stone, really.
“Let’s talk about the economy and jo– Hey look over there! A wild slut, eating birth control pills by the handful! Get her!”
This sentence is a thing of beauty. I will steal it and distribute the fuck out of it if you don’t mind.
Dear rogerfirth & Keenacat,
I also plan to steal it for my sign (#42 above), but will have to change “Republicans believe” to “GOD Believes . . . ”
Thank you.
Making government small enough to drown in a bathtub, so it won’t bother you anymore. Unless you’re a woman, or gay, or anything but an evangelical christian.
When they put up the sign *Welcome to Beulah-land* is when I’m getting the fuck out. Canada sounds good, but Mexico is closer.
Everyone should read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s tale, and Robert Heinlein’s If this goes on —
Cautionary tales, both.
These theocrats do not know the can of worms they’re opening.
Then there’s always the ever-succinct, “Keep your laws off my body” to which we can add “Keep your paws off my womb.”
“Just say NO to Sharia Law”?
Now imagine living in a country where abortions are legal, inexpensive (one example I found indicated $75), and both confidential and free of charge for teens. There are such places in the world.
Just
Just finished reading The Family by Jeff Sharlet. Says it all. I was particularly struck by the attitude of Doug Coe the current pope and others in the organization.
They believe that they have no will of their own, they have completely given themselves over to god’s will which, of course, comes to them by direct revelation. What this means in practice, of course is that anything that he feels is what He feels and must be obeyed.
Doug Coe wants women in the kitchen? That’s what god wants. Doug Coe hates fags? So does god. Doug Coe feels Africans should die of terrible diseases rather than wear condoms? Hey, it’s not my will but Thy Will be done on earth wherever American power can reach.