Time for CRACKtion, voters!

That's it. WIth the chaos in Iraq, our fiscal policy in shambles, our "health care" system non-existent, our liberties eviscerated, our integrity a joke, VOTERS BETTER GET THEIR #$*% TOGETHER!

If we cannot take back some serious seats at every level, we need to pack it up, stick it out, and suck it down. "It" being, in this case, our efforts, our bumholes, and arsenic.

To wit: Hey there, Skippy says it all.

Boo-yah.

Shit! We DO have something in common

John Roberts, in a rare reveailing moment, allowed that his favorite movies were Dr. Zhivago and North by Northwest. Boy, I'm glad to know that the man who may be in charge of my reproductive destiny, my friends' voting rights, my children's environment, and about a million other things for the next 40 years, has great taste in film.

Rumination: does his love of Lara's Theme mean he won't criminalize adultery?

Signs of Life? Yes, from Wisconsin!

Just when I'm about to sink into permanent suicidal despair about the lameness of Democrats, and the unvarnished evil of Republicans, a beautiful happening:

Democrats speak out! In Roberts' opening hearings today, Republicans gave the usual rhetorical blow jobs to John G., while Democrats actually started to realize that they have a Constitutional duty, not to mention a political and moral one, to question and evaluate this guy.

Kudos to Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), who referred several times to the right of privacy, the right to choose, and even to the Violence Against Women Act, in laying out the important issues that must be addressed by Bush's latest "freedom from freedom" hitman.

And divalicious kisses to Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), for offering up some oft-overlooked truths: a pretty demeanor does not a worthy Chief Justice make. Asking questions on important constitutional and judicial issues, from fundamental rights, to ethics, to separation of powers, is not "undignified" nor pugilistic, nor inappropriate. On the contrary -- it is every Senator's Constitutional duty.

Finally, failing to uphold the fundamental rights and liberties cherished by Americans is absolutely grounds for rejecting a nominee to a Supreme Court. As Sen. Feingold said, Roberts is 50 years old. And he looks healthy. So thanks to them for ensuring that the guy who may shape our laws and our nation for the next 3 to 4 decades has to meet some minimal standards of respect for our freedoms.

This Is Why We Lose (or, Why NARAL Was Right)

Rebecca Traister wrote an Interesting article on Salon.com about NARAL Pro-Choice America's leading opposition to John Roberts, and the eagerness of women's groups and progressive men, to sell out abortion rights.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/08/26/womens_groups/

One quote exemplifies why liberals keep losing. Francis Kissling, of Catholics for a Free Choice, was so eager to screw NARAL that she actively sought out press opportunities to condemn them. And what was her brilliant plan for defeating Roberts? Read on, dear divas, it's masterful:

"[Kissling] said that one of the lasting lessons of the summer's rocky ride has been that advocacy groups "are going to have to make a strong, factual, intellectual case and that's how it's going to be decided." She said she thinks "groups now have a better handle on the fact that that's what they have to do, and they have more information available to them to make that case. It's not going to be easy. It's probably not going to be successful." As for her own organization, Kissling said they have not taken a public stand on Roberts. "We probably will at some point," she said, adding that she's not sure that it would matter."

Gee, facts! That's an idea! Because as John Kerry and everyone else knows, when the facts are on your side, you just CAN'T lose. So send your money to CFFC, kids, because they HAVEN'T EVEN TAKEN A STANCE on Roberts. So they're just going to be intellectual (read: ineffective, sighing, withering) about it. Equal pay, voting rights for blacks, and birth control can take a backseat.

Wake up, sheeple! JOHN ROBERTS IS THE VOTE THAT WILL OVERTURN ROE V. WADE. Make no mistake about it. And frankly I'm appalled that NARAL Pro-Choice America is the only group with the courage and the policital muscle to call a spade a spade. They're not going to quietly let him be anointed by a president-oligarch whose every single judicial nomination has been anti-choice. Kudos to NARAL for standing up to Roberts and being the ONLY opposition voice. Shame on those progressives that have basically retreated into the corner, asking only that they be spared the embarrassment of having an opinion, while Bush defacates all over our Constitution.

Let's remember that before NARAL Pro-Choice America's first ad, everyone in Washington considered the Roberts confirmation a done deal. He's handsome, he's Harvard -- why ask questions? Now, slowly, as the records are revealed showing his absolute contempt for women, people of color, non-citizens, privacy rights, et al, groups are coming around to the idea that maybe this guy shouldn't be in charge of our freedoms for the next two generations. This wellspring of opposition would not have happened if NARAL hadn't blazed the trail.

I'm impressed that NARAL's tough, smart new president, Nancy Keenan, has the class to refrain from saying, "I told you so."

Suprise, suprise! Bush's FDA breaks its promise to women

Guess what -- ladies like emergency contraception. The morning after pill. The oh-shit pill. It's easy to use, extremely safe (more so than aspirin), no side effects (15-20% experience nausea). It is highly effective at preventing pregnancy if taken within 5 days (120 hours) of unprotected intercourse or sexual assault. It has tremendous potential to reduce unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion, thus improving women's health.

But the boys at the FDA don't really care about that.

After missing last winter's regulatory deadline for deciding whether to continue withholding the morning-after pill from over the counter status, Bush's Food and Drug Administration brokered a deal with Senator-Divas Boxer and Clinton to make a decision on OTC status by September 1, 2005. In exchange, the good Senators would lift their hold on Lester Crawford's confirmation as FDA head.

Today, the agency blithely announced it would not, after all, be issuing a decision.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/parenting/08/26/morning.after.pill.ap/index.html

Despite the overwhelming recommendation of 2 Bush-appointed panels that EC be made available without a prescription. And the comment of one expert doctor who said EC was the safest drug ever to come before the committee. What's another 60 days, unless you're a rape victim who lives in an area served only by a religiously affiliated hospital. No rush.

Barr Laboratories' (Plan B's manufacturer) CEO Bruce Downey quipped, "It's like being in purgatory." Yeah, sorta, Bruce. Kind of like the purgatory experienced by women who experience a contraceptive failure and need EC.

we've come a long, way baby

but John Roberts seems to want to send us back. so, we know he hates our reproductive rights, but now we find out he opposes equal pay for equal work. Nice job, Bush. "Liberate" the women of Iraq by destroying secular government and replacing it with Islamist theocracy. And overturn two generations of progress for American women with one Supreme Court nominee.

Let's hope our Senators don't lose their cojones with all this estrogen being suppressed.