McCain on Choice: Anti-Choice US Supreme Court Nominees
The Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in the United States is the highest form of office in the United States (besides the president) when it comes to putting legislatures into effect that the US people must live their lives by. When nominating people into the US Supreme Court, it is crucial to put people in office who are going to treat their jobs with respect and on a basis of what is good for the people.
Senator John McCain voted in favor of four anti-choice US Supreme Court nominees. Women’s right to choose is under attack. In 2007, Roe experienced a very hard year with 11 different bans on abortion being introduced to states legislatures and anti-choice initiatives being fought to appear on state ballots. With anti-choice people in the Supreme Court, we are only looking at harder times for Roe. We are looking at the agenda of anti-choice as a whole and the looming threat of women’s rights as we know them.
The people sworn into the US Supreme Court hold their position for life, so what we are looking at is swearing pro-life people into our Supreme Court who will base their control over our laws on personal opinions, religious beliefs and their anti-choice agenda before all else.
On May 3, 2007 during the Republican debate, John McCain said:
“I’m proud that we have Justice Alito and Roberts on the United States Supreme Court. I’m very proud to have played a very small role in making that happen.”
We must stand up for our rights as humans, the right that women were given to choose and have control over their own bodies and reproductive systems and tell John McCain that while his strict anti-choice agenda is apparent, we will not go back to the time before 1973. We will not go back to unsafe, back alley abortions and clothes hangers. We will not go back to the time when women had no rights over their own bodies and we refuse to let him, a man who is considered a senior citizen at his 71 years of age and has and will never be pregnant or have to make the personal and very difficult decision of whether to have an abortion, push his anti-choice agenda on the people of the United States.
McCain on Choice: Unborn Victims of Violence Act
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act was signed by President Bush on April 1, 2004. The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is a law that grants separate legal status to unborn fetuses and embryos and defines them as being a legal victim if injured or killed “at any stage of development in the womb.”
Anti-choice leader, Samuel Casey had this to say about the law:
“In as many areas as we can, we want to put on the books that the embryo is a person…That sets the stage for a jurist to acknowledge that human beings at any stage of development deserve protection – even protection that would trump a woman’s interest in terminating a pregnancy.”
What the Unborn Victims of Violence Act does is protects a fetus under any circumstances whatsoever and places that fetus’ rights above the pregnant woman’s rights. According to the Bush administration as well as anti-choice groups, a woman has no rights if she is pregnant, she is then regarded as an incubator and baby machine, reverting back to the years before women had the right to choose, which is unacceptable in a society where we are still under the impression that we have a come a long way. The rights that she had now support her unborn baby over her and the law sadly recognizes an embryo as a person rather than the actual person. (For state laws on this act, click here.)
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Kate Michelman in response to the Unborn Victims of Violence Act ruling said:
“The anti-choice movement, from President Bush on down, has insisted on using the issue of punishing violence that harms or ends a pregnancy as cover for its campaign to undermine a woman’s right to choose.
There’s no disagreement on the horrific nature of violent crimes against a pregnant woman that harm or end her pregnancy, and the need for harsh penalties against those who commit such terrible acts. The pro-choice movement is committed to the fundamental right of every woman to act on her choice to have a child and bring new life into this world when she chooses to – and we oppose any attempt to deny them of that right, whether by anti-choice judges or violent criminals.
In other words, anti-choice leaders have turned consensus into contention because of a provision that does nothing to punish any criminal or protect any pregnant woman, but is part of a long-term effort to erode Roe v. Wade.“
Senator John McCain supports and voted in favor of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and has also voted in support of “almost every important pro-life law proposed in the last decade.”
Just Another Day to Insult the Intelligence of Women
Note: Men, please do not think that the price of your gift to your significant other this Valentine’s Day is going to wow her. This is not your get out of jail free card and should not be treated as such–by either sex. Think of it like Christmas–How were you on the other 364 days of the year?
Another Note: JC Penney, I do not appreciate your ad to sell over-priced jewelry to men and make them believe that all women are just looking for jewelry and diamonds. Also, stop insulting the intelligence of women; if we are in a relationship with a man then there must be a reason. I don’t think we need to be hypnotized by shiny objects to be happy with the men in our lives. Thanks.
Without further ado, click here for JC Penney’s absurd ad for Valentine’s Day.
McCain on Choice: Federal Abortion Ban
Feministing has a great post up on John McCain and his long-standing anti-choice record. McCain, as most have already realized, will be the Republican candidate in the upcoming election; McCain is also the biggest threat to reproductive rights, if elected into office. For the next few weeks I will be taking his past pro-life record and looking at it a little more in depth.
While John McCain speaks about his pro-life record any chance he gets, according to NARAL, he “has never cosponsored or supported legislation that would prevent unintended pregnancy or reduce the need for abortion.” So while he believes that under no circumstances whatsoever should a woman be permitted to have a safe and legal abortion, he also does not support in adequate safe-sex education or any other educational or otherwise legislature that would protect women from getting pregnant in the first place.
Today we are going to take a look at the Federal Abortion Ban.
On April 18, 2007 the Supreme Court upheld the Federal Abortion Ban case (or Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003) saying that it “does not violate a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.”
This ban paves the way for states to say to their women “This state has banned abortion, looks like you have to go through with 9 months of pregnancy and a lifetime with a child and we don’t give a damn if you can’t afford it, don’t want a child, or even if it is medically necessary and your own health is in danger because of this pregnancy, but your fetus has more rights than you do.”
This ban no longer leaves the decisions involving pregnancy to a woman and her doctor, but to politicians; most of which will never experience pregnancy. It bans safe and effective abortions and limits the time a woman has to seek an abortion even more–in this case, before viability. This ban does not make any exception for women whose health is at stake, violating the protection that was placed more than 30 years ago. Like most legislature trying to pull a fast one on the American people, the ban uses colorful and misleading wording and broad language subject to many different interpretations making it impossible for doctors who perform abortions to know what is and what isn’t prohibited when dealing with an abortion case.
Senator McCain’s presidential campaign released the following statement in response to the Federal Abortion Ban on April 18, 2007:
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary. The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children. It also clearly speaks to the importance of nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges who interpret the law as it is written, and do not usurp the authority of Congress and state legislatures. As we move forward, it is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life.”
With such a staunch position on giving fetuses and embryos more rights than already living and breathing human, do we really want McCain, the Republican candidate in the upcoming election who opposes abortion and does not support women (even more so than Bush) to claim the presidency and move our rights backward over 30 years? I know I don’t.
Warning: It’s Only Sexual Assault if He Succeeds in Getting a Blowjob
Jackson County Commissioner Mike Brown was acquitted in a court in Michigan after being found not guilty of committing fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a misdemeanor, and attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct, which is a felony.
Mike Brown, a 61 year old man had admitted to exposing himself to a 24 year old woman whom he was giving a ride home to, as well as trying to push her head into his lap in hopes of her performing oral sex. However, he was found not guilty because he had not exerted the force needed to actually succeed in receiving said oral sex. Michigan’s law states that a person will be found guilty of criminal sexual conduct if “force or coercion is used to accomplish the sexual conduct.”
Are you kidding me? So a person can try to force someone into a sexual act without consent, however, if they aren’t successful then it doesn’t really count? That’s pretty much on the same lines of saying “Well sure, I ripped all of her clothes off and inserted myself into her, but I didn’t cum so I don’t think I should be found guilty of rape.”
Juror Rudy Nowles stated that both the woman as well as Brown had “both made big mistakes” and “[were] both stupid”, however, I also cannot see his side of those statements. As far as I’m concerned, a woman needed a ride home and had accepted a ride from a Jackson County Commissioner, who you would think would be a safe and logical decision and also taking into consideration that she had known this man, therefore making her not so stupid. The juror is correct, however, in saying that Brown was stupid, for lack of much more harsh and demeaning words, but not the woman. This juror is basically taking the blame from Brown and once again, as we have seen in many cases, pushing the blame for Brown’s acts on the woman making it her fault that she was not only sexually assaulted, but did not even receive the justice that she was deserved in this case.
I’m willing to bet that we’ll most likely see more of Mike Brown in the future. This woman had the support system and the ability to speak up about what had happened to her and Brown, at 61 years old, has probably done this to more women in the past. Perhaps with this woman’s bravery will provoke other women who have been assaulted by Brown to speak up and come forward.
Eight Points of Randomness
Carol of Can’t Holder Tongue has tagged me for the ‘Eight Random Things About Me’ meme. I would firstly like to thank her for tagging me, out of everyone in the whole blog-wide-world that she reads, I was one of her two picks and I’m quite happy about that. Second of all, I would also like to apologize for it taking me a few days to get this up.
Eight Random Things About Me
- I have been blogging and doing web design for eight years.
- I have had more domain and sub-domain names than I can recall.
- I live with (and refuse to say suffer from) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, social anxiety and clinical depression.
- I am a survivor of childhood sexual assault and child abuse that lasted six years–by my mother.
- At the age of 20 I began working from home as a Virtual Assistant and professional web designer which led to my current launching of Holly Ord Media.
- I am a major caffeine addict. I easily drink 5-8 cups of coffee daily.
- My poetry has been published in a nationally-distributed book put out by my high school creative writing class–I still count it as being published. I still need to get my writing back up on this site.
- I am not patriotic.
And there we have it. Most people may have already known these points about me, but if not, now you do!
To stay true to the meme I am now going to tag Karol and my good friend Milo who is still getting his blog off the ground, so this should help!
Pro-Lifers Waving the Free Speech Card Again
Anti-abortion activists, as we know all too well by now, will stop at nothing to get their way and make sure they have the opportunity to brainwash and force their religion-driven opinions on as many people as they can. This is yet another demonstration of pure absurdity!
A South Dakota anti-abortion group, Citizens for Life led by Allen Carlson, filed a law suit against Rapid City School District because they refused to let Citizens for Life use their auditorium to host an anti-abortion event with guest speaker Joe Scheidler, director of the Pro-Life Action League. Carlson and Citizens for Life are claiming that they have been repeatedly refused the space because of their “message” and is suing under discrimination and violation of free speech.
Suing for violation of free speech is laughable since that is the first card all anti-abortion protesters, groups and activists pull out and wave in the faces of those who may disagree with their harsh tactics of protesting and shoving pictures of aborted fetuses in the faces of people walking anywhere near them. Whenever someone says something to them about what they are doing, they reach into their coat pockets and start waving the first amendment around while screaming “No, I’m practicing free speech, I can say whatever I want and there’s no law that says I can’t hold my five foot poster of aborted fetuses and the words ‘Abortion is Murder’ strewn all over it while your young child is walking with you.” To claim that they are being discriminated against when most of South Dakota, as we had seen with the abortion ban and flocks of pro-life protesters, is surely not the state in which you can easily get away with pulling the discrimination card.
The real reason why Citizens for Life were repeatedly denied the middle school auditorium space for their events and speakers is because the school district does not allow their facilities to be used for any sort of event with a political message. That, in my opinion, is admirable of the school district, since the two hottest topics and what we kill each other the most over are indeed politics and religion.
Another thing that bothers me each and every single time I read a news story like this one are the names of the people who run these groups; in this case, Allen Carlson and Joe Scheidler. I wonder how many times the two of them have been pregnant.
What the Religious Right Wants, the Religious Right Gets
There’s a little surprise waiting for all of the coin collectors come 2009.
According to AlterNet, The 2009 new coin series, which will honor past US presidents, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor, will not have “In God We Trust” just along the edge of the coin. Instead of just around the edge, which I thought was bad enough to have on any coin in a country where the first amendment physically states “freedom of religion”, but “In God We Trust will be moved to the direct front or back of the coin instead of more dramatic portraits and better art elements, which the cleared space provided the room for.
This change is due to the fact that many religious fanatics with way too much time on their hands complained profusely about how the words on the coin were hard to read and that over time, the words would wear off. And here I thought that the main point of money was to exchange them for goods or services, not to parade what religion a country is trying to shove down the throats of its citizens or what religion a country has fought every war in history over; but perhaps I’m just a little more logical than “Oh no, over time the word ‘God’ is going to wear off, it must be on the direct front or back of the coin–Screw the art!”
Religious Right activists also insisted that a conspiracy was untangling (as they usually do) and began to voice their concerns that because of the motto being moved to the edge of the coin, they immediately assumed that the words would eventually be taken off of the coin–But of course we know that wouldn’t be too much of a possibility, since the word God has been placed on or in everything that symbolizes this country. However, in case there was actual speculation of the motto being removed, we can now all be secure in knowing that the Religious Right will not let that happen–and they always seem to get their way.
“I certainly can’t imagine growing up in a country and under a government that is atheistic and denies the existence and dependence upon God,” said Dave Stotts, who hosts a program for Focus on the Family called “Drive Thru History.”
I have a bit of a problem that can actually co-exist with Stotts concern. I also certainly can’t imagine growing up in a country and government where it is written in black and white that all people who live in the United States are promised freedom of religion yet in the same respect, the country and government does absolutely nothing to back that amendment up. I also find it hypocritical that while we live in a country with this amendment, the national motto, which was declared in 1956 being “In God We Trust”, suggests otherwise.
I wonder what would happen if Muslims, Pagans, Wiccans or even atheists came together and demanded that we and our religions (or lack thereof) be represented as well in this country as Christianity is. Stotts’ statement, as well as others that have been made several times by several people suggest that the people in this country who do not believe in the accepted “God” are something to be ashamed of; whose religious views are something that this country must lock away in the closet and pretend does not exist.
I don’t know how comfortable I am being an atheist living in a country that says while I have the freedom to choose a religion (while not all in out rejecting it, but society as a whole is also going to tell me I’m a bad person because of it. After all, most people have been polled in saying that they would not vote for an atheist president.
Moving Tip: Avoid Moving in an Ice Storm
Menstrual Poetry Headquarters has officially been moved!
The boyfriend and I moved on February first, and it was definitely an exciting time for me. I have a great love of moving and new surroundings and the fact that being in the same place for two years was getting to me, not to mention he had been in our old apartment for nine years prior to my moving in with him, we probably shouldn’t have made the move in February. Our move was quite spontaneous; our old apartment’s roof was leaking in several spots and looked as if it were about to cave in at the next rain or snow fall and our landlord was completely disinterested in the entire fact that not only was our roof in horrible shape, but other things around the house that he had “fixed” were not indeed as fixed as he may have been under the impression they were. Within just a day of my incessant bitching about the state of the building that I believe needs to be condemned, we found a new place with a kick ass landlord and moved in as soon as possible.
February is by far the worst month weather-wise in Pennsylvania. February is when the extremely large snow falls happen, which I’ve been used to, living in the same area all my life, but little did we know, freak ice storms also happen to occur in February!
While moving the majority of our belongings from our old apartment and into the uHaul sitting outside, it looked as if it were raining. The steps were wet, but as I was carrying a heavy box down the two flights of very rickety steps outside to get to the front of our apartment building, I slid down one and then another and then, at 5am, all that could be heard was “Holy shit! Not rain, not rain.”
After a few hours, we finally had all of our stuff in the uHaul outside and we drove from our old, should be condemned apartment and an hour north of where we were, where the weather only got worse and the streets only got icier along with the porch of our new apartment completely covered in several sheets of ice.
12 hours later, we were completely moved in but the ice still wasn’t letting up. 6 days later, most of the boxes are unpacked, the apartment is looking great, and our office is gorgeous and much roomier than our last. Good choice to move, absolutely wonderful new apartment, never moving in February again.
Menstrual Poetry Headquarters is Moving!
The lack of updates, along with the missing week of Feminism at its Finest is due to packing up the last 2 years of material possessions I have accumulated along with the boyfriend’s past 9 years of accumulated junk into boxes and moving!
Moving is, of course, a very exciting (especially if you’re leaving Scranton, Pennsylvania, which I cannot even begin to stress how happy it makes me to say that I am) but also a very hectic time with very little else left in the day to do but eat and sleep. However, within a few days we shall be completely moved into our new place, internet will hopefully be set up soon after, and Menstrual Poetry will be back not only in full swing, but better (and more frequent) than before!
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Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
