Should the Democrats Campaign on Pro Choice Issues?

On a recent Rachel Maddow show she presented the very extreme positions on abortion held by the current Republican candidates. She wonders why the Democratic Party doesn’t make an election issue of this extremism.

Several Republican candidates have declared their intent to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape or incest, including Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Rand Paul, and Ken Buck.

These freedom lovers think they should get to decide what a rape victim does with her body

This is a position that is more extreme even in fringe anti-abortion politics not very many years ago

 Christine O’Donnell’s feelings about how Americans should conduct their private lives are well known by every tv pundit and comic. She has said many times that she opposes abortion in cases of incest and rape

Rand Paul, says on his Web site that he supports a ‘Human Life Amendment” and a” Life at Conception Act” as “federal solutions to the abortion issue.

According to Paul, the federal government should not only have the power to tell women what to do with their bodies, but the duty to intrude on women’s reproductive choices: “I believe life begins at conception and it is the duty of our government to protect this life.”

This all seems very contradictory when you listen to their right wing message of keeping government out of our lives. What really is their underlying message?

They seem to be a bit off kilter, get rid of Medicare, Medicade, Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance etc.

The message of smaller government, fewer regulations obviously does not extend to our bedrooms and our bodies.

I wonder if any of them have thought this idea through and would their decision be the same if something so terrible as rape should happen to a member of their own family.

Now as we all know, Sarah Palin’s daughter was not raped. Palin brags about her daughter’s choice to give birth and keep the baby.  CHOICE, (she chose.)

Should a 13 year old girl be forced to carry her rapist’s baby to full term?

Carrying a baby to full term then giving birth is known to be 10 times more dangerous to a woman than abortion. How about a 13 year old, 90 lb girl?

The emotional toll this would present is far more than we could expect a girl to endure for the rest of her life. The psychological torment of the rape itself will be with her forever, should we force her to live with that result for the rest of her life?

Then there is the legal aspect . I don’t really hear people talking about this point.

In most states the biological father of the child can demand parental rights.

He may well be denied those rights but she will be forced to go to court to prevent him from it and there have been numerous cases of his prevailing.

The rapist may gain parental rights depending on his relationship with the victim.

Most rapes are perpetrated by someone the victim knows. Just because the victim knew her attacker does not mean she had a relationship or that she wanted one.

Another complication is the well-known judicial bias against rape victims and the difficulty of "proving" a rape charge.

 A rapist may be more likely to be awarded parental rights by the courts if he denies the rape and insists the sex was consensual.

And if a rapist secures parental rights, generally, parental rights guarantee a lifetime of ongoing contact between the mother and the rapist - including visitation rights, child support, and even ongoing legal disputes over custody.

<In one case a 14-year-old girl, decided to give up her baby for adoption. She was required by law to give notice of the adoption to the rapist, an adult man.

While she was permitted by a court to give up her rights to the child, the rapist retained his and then sought child support payments from her.>

By Sara Ainsworth, Northwest Women's Law Center

Oh, if life were just so “black and white” instead of so many shades of grey!

How the “Christian Right” is trying to dumb down our education system.

The so called “Christian Right” is invading our everyday lives and trying to force beliefs on all of us through our education system. Consider recent statements from Glen Beck, Palin and Christine O’Donnell.

Politicians already elected and others trying to get elected are trying to force our schools to teach only creationism to our children.

Denying scientific fact is a huge detriment to the education of our children.

We need scientists, not just to argue the other side of how we got here but in all facets of life. We need new scientists to carry on studies of germ warfare,global warming, bioweapons, stem cells, cloning, pollution ,agricultural, genetics and National defense.

Just as an indication of how badly America is in need of a science image makeover, consider that the US was ranked 29th in Science and Math education behind countries like the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Liechtenstein.

A recent study found, for example, that one in five American adults think that the Sun revolves around the Earth.

Proven undisputed fact: Sarah Palin believes that man walked beside dinosaurs on Earth just after it was created a mere 6,000 years ago, and that priests who speak in tongues can put a shield against witchcraft around you. 

 Scientific literacy also means voters who can make better informed decisions on subjects ranging from stem cell research to transportation to natural resource management.

Contemporary advocates of creationism attempt to force their views through lawsuits and campaigns of misinformation, seeking to bypass the scientific community altogether and directly indoctrinate the next generation of students with fraudulent objections to science.

Although creationist legal maneuvers have so far resulted in failure the creationist PR effort has been successful.

The only hope for those who care about science is to match misinformation with information: to invest as much time and money into educating the public as creationists do into misleading it. The Internet contains many good resources for those who wish to defend science.

Barack Hussein Obama

The first time I ever saw or heard of Barack Obama was when he gave the speech at the Democratic Convention for John Kerry.

Senator Barack Obama gave a jaw dropping intelligent speech that left many people saying “Wow, we have someone that smart in the senate” and why haven’t we heard more from him?

Soon after that I heard rumors that he was being urged to run for President in the 2008 election 

The following is a transcipt of a speech by Barack Obama at the
Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, July 27, 2004:
http://www.librarian.net/dnc/speeches/obama.txt

When he announced his intention to run for President, I was not really supporting him as I thought he did not have a chance to win. He was the only African American in the Senate and had only been there for 2 years. America has not fully recovered from racism, though we talk a good game, it is still there.

 I really wanted Hillary to win and still believe she would make a great President. That vote in favor of Bush’s war did her in, no matter how many times she explained how they were lied to by the” Lying Liars” in charge, it just didn’t wash with the voters.

I loved Joe Biden but knew he could not win the nomination because he is too outspoken and truthful.

My 2 sons, who are both very political kept saying to me “Obama is the one, He is what we need” I really liked what he had to say and believed he would be good for our country but I was still very skeptical that he could win the Presidency. I really liked Hillary  (still do) and was not fond of some of the comments Michelle was making in her rallies, but again my brilliant sons told me “give her a chance, she has been thrown into this arena without political experience, she will find her way”

When Obama won the nomination I was very surprised and still not sure he could win the general. When he chose Joe Biden for VP, I began to fall in love and they had my strong support. When he chose Hillary for Secretary of State my love was complete.

We need this man as our President for 6 more years, not just 2. He is the best!

Welcome to my World

I love politics, I have a very strong liberal bias. I love our country and have very strong views about what's right and what's wrong with our country. Did you notice I did not say "My Country" as so many people do. It is not my country, I don't own it and neither do they. It is our country. It belongs to the millions of us and we need to learn to get along and share this wonderful land of ours and all it has to offer.
Our country is made up of wonderful people of every race and religion, many different skin colors and many different beliefs about religion. Many languages have been brought to our shores and gradually developed into English with old country traditions being kept into certain neighborhoods and families.
It has brought us so many cultures that have enriched us over the years from Mexican food, Italian restaurants, Chinese food and on and on. You all know what I mean.
A very large group of our people have different opinions about politics and are quite vocal about their ideas. That is actually a good thing when they offer common sense ideas and are willing to have rational discussions about why they feel the way they do. However, so many of them do not know why they feel the way they do, they just do!
This is where the problem comes in, if you can't support your argument with facts then you don't have one.
We also have quite a few people who disagree about religion and insist that anyone who does not believe they way they do is not only wrong but somehow akin to the devil.
When their feelings about our first black President can't be translated into facts and reason they resort to lies, name calling and comparing him to Hitler. It makes absolutely no sense.
I was born in the South, I know about racism, I grew up with it. I was one of the lucky ones, it just didn't stick! Not trying to be perfect here, I've had my moments.

More tomorrow.....

Just getting started with my thoughts!

Great quote from Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page concerning politics and our educational system.
"When all is said and done, more is said than done"