This is how Nancy Pelosi works for us? ...

... the single payer advocates, who settled for the promise of a floor vote on the Weiner amendment, only to see that amendment withdrawn in a deal to avoid… the Stupak amendment, only to see that amendment not withdrawn and ultimately given a floor vote and be adopted.

Obama chooses the dark side, again ...

Obama nominated Catholic Alexia Kelley, anti-woman's rights and coat-hanger proponent, to advise him on "faith based issues." Like abortion? Like end-of-life issues?

ABORTION FOE TO LEAD HHS FAITH-BASED OFFICE.

Like, do you really think that I want a Catholic looking for the opportunity to tell me how to live my life and what my responsibility may or may not be. I think that as a country there are a few issues we must come to some understanding about (and notice I do not say agreement) but I do not wish those to be formulated by a Catholic, a Mormon, a Jew, a Moslem or anyone else set on imposing the rules of their own personal belief system on the rest of us. 'My God,' that's what this country was about to begin with.

Let's put an atheist in the office and see what happens. As far as I can tell Atheism appears to be as much of a religion as the rest. Better yet, let's get rid of this ridiculous office. It's just another case of Obama following down Bush's road. Step by step making it less likely we will ever pull out of our decline as a nation.

I guess we're going to find out that the only promises Obama keeps are those aimed at the religious right.

You know, Obama baby, if a woman thinks there is no reason known to man that would justify a woman having an abortion then let that woman forego such a procedure. Other than that let women make their own damn decisions.

Don't you think this country looks just a little ridiculous having this fight about the 'life' of a few cells when we are busily killing people in Afghanistan and have already killed, what, millions in Iraq. Killing like that is certainly not self defense and shows a wanton disregard of the life and well being of the people of those countries. In others words, Americans have shown that they care nothing for 'life.'

But we're are fighting about a few cells. Yea! Get real.

Abortion is not the goal. The goal is our right to make our own choices ...

That right can only be taken from us by force, deception, indoctrination, betrayal.

The right to bear children, for them, against the grain of a society that does not want them or their children to exist at all, may be as important as the right to reject bearing them.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Under the PATRIOT Act, Americans' rights of privacy, including their reading habits, could be scrutinized by the FBI. Protestors—even peaceful ones—can be charged with terrorism. Dissenters are often denied the right to fly on commercial airlines. In Bush's target have been Greenpeace and the Quakers. Like China's leaders, America's leaders say these restrictive measures only exist to protect the nation.

On John McCain's 'Tech Plan': ... This isn’t vision. It’s more like a wistful memoir about times gone by.

... The US has shown that its volunteer military, while valiant, is undermanned and overstretched, its intelligence services are willing servants of political manipulators and its leadership is dishonest, immoral and incompetent. It's understandable that somebody out there would think that now is the time to make a move. That it would be Bush's soul brother Pooty-poot was entirely predictable.”

The bottom line on all of these arguments is that men’s feelings are more important than women’s rights.

Now that's a surprise: ... What shocked her, she says, was Americans' ignorance of foreign affairs, obsession with money, and willingness to make long-haul commutes.

Per the top 'law' enforcement officer in the United States of America, formerly a nation of laws, Attorney General Michael Mukasey: ... But not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.”

I guess I just don't think it's fear mongering or divide-and-conquer to tell the truth, which is that the Republicans have screwed things up royally and that the Democrats have a better idea. ...

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... in Arizona, roughly 2/3 of all women seeking shelter are still turned away ...
So I'm not the only one to see this unpleasant parallel? ... I worry about what kind of people Mr. Charisma is bringing to the party. I mean, they sound exactly like the Bushistas I've seen appearing in Atrios' threads from time to time, full of triumphalism, arrogance, and insult, unwilling to engage respectfully or even read what you actually said or linked to before popping off about how evil you are ...
"Quote from book review of No Way Home
... To complete its annual return journey between northerly breeding latitudes and tropical winter regions, a tiny songbird must keep to seasonal and daily timetables, change its physiological machinery between phases of fuel consumption and fuel deposition, vary flight steps and fuel loads in relation to the crossing of benign or hostile regions, find its way by compass and navigation systems, negotiate weather and winds, and correctly adjust flight speed and altitude. The bird's endowment with all necessary instructions represents a striking manifestation of the accomplishments achieved by biological evolution.

Abortion

It is precisely because having children is so important that abortion is something that can't be legislated away. When it's illegal, desperate women who know the importance of children will still abort pregnancies they know they can't bring to term. Because women will do anything, including risk their own lives, for their kids. Women have had abortions from time immemorial. To call abortion "selfish," as some do, is to completely deny that women are moral agents, to completely deny the importance of motherhood. I have no doubt that there are women who are selfish, who have abortions for idiotic reasons, who do stupid things. Women can be fucked up. But fucked-up women make fucked-up mothers; more importantly, the vast, vast majority of women take this whole question of children incredibly seriously. It is one of the most serious things we have to deal with (whether or not we have them, because having them will, as people say, "change your life"), and there is just no way that it's right to take away from women, to take away from mothers, the right to make decisions for their children. Because no one is better qualified, no one cares more, no one knows better than I do, or than any woman does, what is best for my kid. Period.

Read the entire post at Bitch Ph.D.

Pacific Views: "Vague" Abortion Ban Could Have Broad Reach

Markos at dailyKOS needs to get over himself ...

I agree with Markos' point that a blogger-code-of-conduct has very little to do with the issue of the threats that Kathy Sierra received.

And I would have preferred that she felt she had the kind of support from others on the web with similar problems to stick it out. That was one of the things that the feminist movement provided: support. But a later generation started backing away letting themselves be convinced that 'feminist' was another dirty word like 'liberal.'

But what really galled me about Markos' post is his equating 'a gem' of a email (or comment, I'm not sure which) he received with the explicit and obscene missives that Sierra received.

Markos repeatedly shows his insensitivity to women's issues.

What is feminism?

Sympathy and empathy are wonderful qualities but they will work as well in the harem as in the workplace if comiseration is all that women want.

Why Feminism Is Still Necessary

The above link describes the situation where a woman was attacked on the web with threats of death, rape and mutilation. Under this stress she backed out of a speaking engagement.

The gains in women's rights that started in the 60's and continued through the 80's are definitely under attack. Not that resistance to those rights ever really stopped, but attempts to turn back the clock on women's rights are on the rise.

The women of the new century are not going to keep these rights 'for free.' They will have to insist. And that can be dangerous. Almost as dangerous as being chattel.

In all societies, poverty, discrimination, ignorance and social unrest are common predictors of violence against women. Yet the most enduring enemies of a woman’s dignity and security are cultural forces aimed at preserving male dominance and female subjugation—often defended in the name of venerable tradition.

In industrialized societies like the US, where institutions formally frown on gender violence, behaviour belies official pronouncements: rap music insulting women as ‘whores’; a popular men's magazine that celebrates gang rape and depicts female bodies being fed into meat grinders; sexual harassment of women trying to integrate into the armed forces; and societal pressures that induce young women to starve themselves or use technology to create ‘ideal’ bodies, often destroying their health in the process.

In developing countries, violent practices against women are often recognized and defended as strands of the cultural weave. Wife-beating, for example, is considered part of the natural order in many countries—a masculine prerogative celebrated in songs, proverbs and wedding ceremonies.

Are today's women under the impression that women who fought for women's rights in the 1800's and 1900's were not in physical danger, did not receive threats and that death and rape were not part of those threats?