Photos Of The Day

Today, I couldn't settle on just on photo.  There were three, all taken at the same location, that quickly captured my attention.

The above photos were all taken Saturday, March 3, 2012, at the Virginia state Capitol building.  In Richmond, Virginia.  In the United States.

Approximately 20 State Police officers were called in to break up a group of roughly 1,000 people, mostly women.  They were protesting new legislation that requires women to receive an ultrasound before an abortion.  The bill passed both the state senate and house last week.  It is expected to be signed by governor Bob McDonnell at any time.

31 protesters were arrested after locking arms and refusing to vacate the area.  State Police came in, dressed in riot gear, and warned the crowd to leave or face arrest.  Most officers carried semi-automatic weapons and tear gas.  

THIS IS HAPPENING IN AMERICA, PEOPLE.  What the fuck has happened to our country?

You can view many more photos from the protest at Style Weekly's Facebook page.  They also have a well written article on their website.  

Protest Sign Of The Day - Republicans Want To Create Jobs (For Your Fetuses)

This sign is from a Walk For Choice protest held in Gainesville, Florida, back in February.  Though it's eight months old, I thought it's message was especially poignant.

Last month, President Obama released The American Jobs Act, a bill that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor publicly called "dead" before it even reached Congress.  Last Thursday, the political party that has been shouting from the rooftops that job creation is their number one priority, spent the entire day debating a new bill.  Was it an alternative to President Obama's job's bill?  Was it an economic stimulus plan?

No.  It was an abortion bill.

The House of Representatives debated and passed the Protect Life Act.  Many critics call it the "Let Women Die Act".  The act essentially does two things.

One, it mandates that no tax payer funds go to fund abortions.  Essentially, they're making a law to back up an existing law.  It would be like Congress holding a special session to write up legislation making murder illegal.  It's already illegal.  Taxpayer money hasn't funded abortions since the early nineties.  They may as well have called this portion of the bill the "Act of Redundancy Act".

The bill also makes it illegal for women to buy health insurance plans for themselves that cover abortions under the Affordable Care Act, also known as the Obama Administration's Health Care Reform Act.

The most controversial and disturbing part of the legislation is in the freedoms it grants to health care providers.  Current law requires hospitals give patients in life threatening situations the care they need, regardless of financial situation or their moral stance.  The Protect Life Act would give an emergency room in, say a Catholic hospital, the right to refuse to perform an abortion on a patient, even if it meant that she would die as a result.

It's likely that the bill will not make it through the Democratic controlled Senate.  If, somehow it does, there is a strong chance that President Obama will veto this monstrosity if it ever reaches his desk.

As I was writing this article, something hit me.  Every single Republican presidential candidate says that their priority is "job creation".  In fact, there was a period of about three months where, regardless of what question you asked Michele Bachmann, she refused to answer it.  During every interview she said that 1.) She was running for the presidency of the United States, and 2.) she was "there to talk about job creation".  It was as if she was a prisoner of war, and she was giving her name, rank and serial number.



Interesting fact: Since announcing her run for the White House, Bachmann has missed 46% of the votes in Congress.  She hasn't cast a single vote, in fact, since the first of August.  Yet, on October 6th, she introduced a piece of legislation called The Heartbeat Informed Consent Act.  It requires abortion providers to show the fetus on an ultrasound to the mother, and play it's heartbeat before the abortion is performed.  Under the law, if the health care provider refuses to show the images or play the audio, they would be subject to a $100,000 fine.

According to Republicans, this is "job creation", folks.  And you wonder why there are thousands of people camped out in New York City.  What bullshit.

Video: GOP Implementing "The Vagina Rules" At Upcoming Debates (Satire)

Sounds accurate to me...

Cartoon: Impeach President God

Via The Uniblog

Fox News Does The Impossible - Double Headdesk In 12 Hours

There are times when, as a network, Fox News creates more newsworthy stories themselves than the politicians they cover.  A study came out in December of 2010, showing that, out of all cable news networks, their viewers were the most "misinformed".  And by the looks of things, the network is doing nothing but encouraging it.  Between the hours of 8pm EST Monday and 8am EST Tuesday, they completed the unheard of Double Headdesk.  For those of you that don't know what a headdesk is, let me give you a visual example:

On Monday night, Fox News gathered a focus group of Republican voters in Iowa to discuss their thoughts on Bill O'Reilly's interview with the President the day before.  At one point in the discussion, a woman in the focus group says that she believes that the President's "religious beliefs govern his foreign policy".  When asked on what she feels his religious beliefs are, she says "Muslim".  Watch how the commentator responds:

The Fox News representative never stepped in and said, "He's Christian".  He never tried to correct them.  He aided in spreading what has amounted to a conspiracy theory on national television.  Headdesk.

Then this morning, Fox News put an online poll on their website concerning abortion.  The poll has since been taken off the site, but I was able to get a copy of it from another blog:

What's wrong with this poll?  If I select not sure, I'm pro-life.  If I select yes, I'm pro-life.  And, if I select no, I am still pro-life.  There are absolutely no pro-choice options on a poll about banning abortion.    You might as well just have one question on the poll.  Headdesk.

I wanted to add this additional video.  It's not a headdesk moment, because it should have been expected.  During O'Reilly's interview with Mr. Obama, he interrupted the President 48 times.  48 times!  Sure, you come to expect this when you are watching his show on Fox News and he has an invited guest, but this is the President of the United States.  How disrespectful.  Talk about an asshole.

Looks like Fox News is having one hell of a February.

The Day I Became Pro-Choice

All of my life, because of my religious upbringing, I was vehemently Pro Life. I believed that life started at conception and that abortion was murder. I would be one of those people protesting in front of Planned Parenthood if not for what happened on a random Winter morning in Boulder, Colorado, almost ten years ago.

I commuted North, from Denver, at the time. When you come into town, the main vein coming off the freeway is 28th Street. At 7:30 in the morning, everyone in town is on 28th Street, either coming in from Boulder to go to work, or taking their kids to school. The city's main high school, and a number of the city's elementary and middle schools were off of 28th as well.

I'm coming into town, and it is bumper to bumper as usual, but something was different that day. Horns were honking like crazy. I could see kids crying in the cars ahead of me. I was trying to look around to see if there was an accident or a dead puppy in the road.

And that's when I saw them.

The Pro-Lifers. Sixteen of them. Four on the median on each side of the street. Walking up and down during the red lights. Two of the four were carrying signs that were eight feet tall, showing a high resolution photo of the aftermath of an abortion. It was a trash can in a clinic, with fetal "parts" and blood. That was why the children were crying. The other two protesters were carrying signs.

I was disgusted. Not only by the signs, but by the tactics of these people on the corner. 7:30am on a Monday morning, knowing full well that their message would be seen by little kids on their way to school, and worse, daycare. I started getting angry. I caught eyes with one of they guys holding the eight foot signs. I flipped him off. He smiled back and gave me a thumbs up, thinking that was the digit I had used originally. I smiled, shook my head no while giving him a thumbs up, then flipped him off again and shook my head yes. He quickly got the message and went back to hiding behind his sign.

That thirty second interaction at the beginning of my morning ruined my day. Those pictures were all I could think about. I felt violated. I felt as though I had just been through some sort of terrorist attack. I then realized that was it. They were terrorists. They decided the only way they could effectively get their point across was to be so blatantly vulgar about it, so in your face, that you had no choice but to listen. They shoved their message down your throat whether you were paying attention or not, like a suicide bomber. You can't ignore a car bomb exploding across the street, and you can't ignore an eight foot by four foot high resolution print of fetal limbs when it's 18 inches from your windshield.

And these are "God's people".....terrorizing children on their way to school, upsetting innocent people on their way to work. They do this in the name of love? That's where I started to lean Pro-Choice that day. That's where I started to call "bullshit" on the whole situation. Harassing pregnant teenagers outside Planned Parenthood, killing abortion doctors....all part of God's will? So, it's not OK to terminate a pregnancy, but hunting down abortion doctors like deer is all well and good? Um...Shenanigans!!!!

And then I started thinking about our Constitution and about how great the Fourth Amendment was, our protection to privacy. You see, it's really none of my business, and frankly not my place, to say what a woman should or shouldn't do with her body. What gives me the right to tell someone in Pensacola, FL, that she can or can't do something to her body. Or, who am I to tell a woman in Seattle, WA, that, even though she was raped, she has to carry the baby of the man that raped her. Too bad. That's the law. How ridiculous. The only person that I even have the ability to have that DISCUSSION with is my wife, and it is still ultimately HER DECISION, because it is her body.

Everyone's circumstance is different. Going full term, and giving your baby up for adoption, is a very noble and selfless thing to do. It's not an option for a lot of people. Women become pregnant everyday as a result of rape, incest, and sexual abuse. Women become pregnant everyday that cannot afford the care necessary to bring a baby full term. Women become pregnant everyday that do not have the ability to maintain themselves or a child through a pregnancy. Take a look at my posts. There is no way I would be able to handle a pregnancy in the condition both mentally and physically that I am today. If I were to become pregnant, I would be faced with a very tough choice. Thank god I'm male.

Today, I am a very strong supporter of women's rights, of choice friendly and teen friendly places like Planned Parenthood, and of choice. I am also a strong supporter of contraception and abstinence. I am not a supporter of abstinence only education. Kids are going to have sex when they want to have sex. But I believe that you shouldn't "just because everyone else is", and when you do, be safe.

My point is, if it wasn't for those grotesque signs on 28th Street that morning, I may not have started thinking for myself that day. I ended up seeing a lot more than what was on that sign, and it turned me in a direction that the Pro-Life terrorists hadn't intended on that morning. So in a way...Thank You