The Personhood Laws: The Defining Issue Of The 2012 Election

February 22, 2012 by 11 Comments

With the anti-abortion movements’ help, everyone else in the country may get a chance to weaken the Christian right’s power for a long, long time.

Oklahoma is about to be the first state where the “personhood amendment” is going to pass, setting the stage for the law to go to the Supreme Court. The right is counting on a Roberts Supreme Court, along with a 5 person Conservative majority, to usher in the overturning of Roe V. Wade. But before that happens, America will get to decide whether we’re going to be governed by the Christian Bible or basic human rights.

This is the leading edge of a slippery slope back to the 1950′s America for which old white men and Rick Santorum are nostalgic. The Oklahoma personhood bill declares life begins at conception and provides embryos and fetuses with “all the rights, privileges, and immunities” of other citizens. Anything anyone does to interfere with that – causing the death of the “person” – would constitute murder. And there are a myriad of other legal ramifications:

The Senate approved the bill which some say is an attempt to outlaw or restrict abortion rights but it also has unintended consequences, according to the mother of 5-year-old Gavin Gayanich.

“We did several years of fertility treatment to get him. I feel like I won the lottery every day. I wake up every morning and this is what I have because of in vitro fertilization and this bill will prevent us from getting another child,” Julie Gayanich said.

Representative Mike Reynolds said Oklahomans are looking for clarity on this issue.

“You couldn’t change the language to say that life begins at conception except in the case of rape. That doesn’t make any sense,” Reynolds said.

via Personhood Amendment Passes In Oklahoma Senate – News9.com – Oklahoma City, OK 

There are two bills in Oklahoma: the one that passed the Senate on a vote of 34-8, and the one that the House has not yet passed. The House bill, in addition to doing everything the Senate bill does, bans birth control choices like Plan B and fertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization that may result in the destruction of fertilized eggs (think of Octomom choosing not to have all 8 fertilized embryos transferred to her uterus). Additionally, it allows NO exception in cases of rape or incest. In Oklahoma, if your father, uncle or brother rapes you, or you are a coed at Oral Roberts University who is the victim of a date rape, the House bill requires that you bear the fruit of that attack for nine months until it is born. That means through morning sickness, prenatal check-ups, the first visible baby bump and the inquiries of friends and neighbors and family members . . . I am so sorry.

And it’s not just Oklahoma. Personhood bills are currently working their way through the legislatures of Iowa, North Dakota, Montana, and Texas.

It’s not about being pro-life. There can be an honest disagreement about defining the moment or event when life begins. These bills are not restricted to defining personhood as beginning at conception instead of at birth. It’s about women’s rights to govern the sanctity of your own bodies – basic human rights. This may be the most hypocritical issue of the Right: one of the main tenets of the GOP is keeping government out of our lives. Yet when it comes to reproductive rights they want to be right in the bedroom. (Now would be a good time to read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.)

If this were about preventing abortion, Rick Santorum, California Rep. Darrell Issa, all the Republican presidential candidates and the nine clerics – all men, one for each month of pregnancy – who testified about how against their principles it is to require them to provide contraception – these people would be the foremost advocates of contraception and sex education, because those two things prevent pregnancy. But they oppose contraception and sex education. These men (and, oddly, some women) are not content to forbid abortion: they also will forbid the best ways for sexually active women to prevent abortion: contraception and sex education. If you do have sex – even if it is against your will – they want you to take your chances and bear the consequences. What?? The hell??

As an aside, there is another common way for sexually active people to avoid unwanted pregnancy and consequent abortions: gay sex. I don’t think I have to explain the right’s position on gay sex. But someone should remind the presidential candidates and clerics that sex between men, and sex between women, is entirely abortion-free (assisted reproductive technologies excepted).

I think we can count on the right not to be able to paint themselves out of this corner. Rick Santorum is currently leading in the polls, and that’s a good thing. Using the Christian Bible to govern our country may resonate with the GOP base, but it’s very likely to turn off everyone else. Even Mitt Romney the Waffle King can’t afford to lose the Christian vote. If GOP leaders come to their senses, they’ll tell the personhood movement to pipe down but be assured that the GOP will take care of them. How many pro-lifers (especially women, who are overwhelmingly saddled with the responsibility of birth control) will think going back to the rhythm method is a great idea? In the privacy of the voting booth, even Mississipi, the state with the highest percentage of Protestant Christians, at 81% (plus 6% Catholics) according to a recent Gallup poll, resoundingly rejected the personhood law. (Mississippi also has the nation’s lowest percentage of Atheists and Agnostics at 5.8%.)

It will take a fight, and if progressives and women’s rights supporters can get the word out, we can finally have the basic human rights argument that this country needs to have: the Christian Bible or the Constitution. With which will the political center of the country stand?

If we let the GOP hang themselves, I’m betting – and hoping – this is the issue they’ll do it with. And that just may break the Christian right’s stranglehold on our country for a long time to come.

Let us pray.

By Jack Jamison and John McAndrew, uncommontary.com.

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Santorum: The Only Candidate In American History To Have A Policy Position On Anal Sex

February 22, 2012 by Leave a comment

www.spreadingsantorum.com

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Passion of the Christ

February 21, 2012 by 5 Comments

In honor of Ash Wednesday, I thought I would publish a review of Mel Gibson’s film.

This is a profoundly disturbing film. It is beautifully set and filmed, and very well acted. The Aramaic dialogue lent authenticity and beauty to the scenes. I, personally, did not find the film to convey a message of anti-Semitism.

But it is not the film it might have been. Why? I’m a stickler for a well-written script, and this film not only didn’t have one, it hardly required one. Also because, though I am not a believer, I have respect for the story, and a desire to see it told well. Gibson’s peculiar obsession with violence overwhelms it. Jaroslav Pelikan’s Jesus Through the Centuries points out that, while we think of Jesus as being a challenge to dominant cultures, the portrayals of him are usually a reflection and an endorsement of the dominant culture. So, in our extravagantly, pornographically violent times, Gibson produces a movie that extracts the most violent day of Jesus’ life and makes it stand in place of the whole story. In an age of religiously-inspired violence, it is a tragic decision for a director to make.

Gibson presumes that everyone knows Jesus and is sympathetic toward him. While that may be mostly true, it also absolves Gibson of the director’s difficult role in a tragedy: make the audience care for the characters, tell them why these people are worthy. Instead, he involves us in an orgy of gore, reveling in the blood spilled, and raising the awkward question: If this is the whole purpose of Jesus’ life, then what are we to think of the “villains”, Judas and Pilate, et al, who simply brought about that which must be done, that made that Friday, ironically, Good?

But Gibson as storyteller/evangelist is not interested in conundrums. He wants to make us feel good about feeling so bad. And he fails, at least in my case. I want to be ennobled by this story, as by stories of other selfless teachers who fell to the authorities of their times. I was appalled by the parents who took their children to see it. It is, hands down, one of the most graphically violent movies you will ever see, and parents should exercise the same caution with this film as they would with any other portrayal of a death by torture.

I knew that it was violent, and graphic, when I went to see it. What I hoped for was that Gibson would try to convey a sense of solidarity between Jesus and others who have been murdered, tortured, and persecuted. That sense was entirely missing. If he had run the quotation – “Whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do unto me” – at the end, all of the violence might have been somewhat redeemed by urging us to treat others with the same compassion Gibson wants to evoke in us for Christ. Instead, he gives the resurrection a bare moment at the end, accompanied by military music, as if Jesus came back to kick some serious butt in retribution. I found the film, and its violence, utterly lacking in redemptive value. There is no grace here. I am not surprised that Gibson followed it up with yet another portrayal of human sacrifice, since that is what he reduced this story to: a mere barbaric bloodletting.

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Santorum Doubles Down Against Prenatal Testing: Severe Birth Defects Might Lead To An Abortion

February 21, 2012 by 1 Comment

On CBS’s Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer asked presidential candidate Rick Santorum to clarify his controversial statement from yesterday, that “free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions.”

But rather than double back, Santorum instead chose to double down, saying that certain types of prenatal testing that are used to detect fetal abnormalities should not be offered for free as they “encourage abortions.”

“We’re talking about specifically prenatal testing and specifically amniocentesis,” Santorum said, “which is a… procedure that creates a risk of miscarriage when you have it and is done for the purposes of identifying maladies of a child in the womb, which in many cases, in fact, most cases, physicians recommend, particularly if there’s a problem, recommend abortion.”

A study conducted in 2006 by researchers at Mouth Sinai found that the risk of miscarriage from amniocentesis — a procedure necessary for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities (such as Down syndrome) and fetal infections — is 0.06%. In fact, there was no difference in “loss rate” between patients who had undergone amniocentesis, and those who had not

Santorum, whose daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Edwards syndrome, took issue with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which guarantees free-of-charge access to prenatal testing.

[cbsnews / politico / mediaite.]

So, lemme see if I understand you, Rick: if you were carrying a baby with, say, anencephaly - missing most of it’s brain, meaning it would be stillborn – we shouldn’t know that? I guess God loves his mistakes, and wants you to go through the horror of delivering them dead.
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Michelle Duggar’s Advice To Wimmin Folk: or, How To Be The Celie To Your Husband’s Mistah

February 20, 2012 by Leave a comment

It just so happens that one of my favorite movies is The Color Purple. So “how to be the Celie to your husband’s Mistah” was just too spot on – I expected “Beat Her” to be on the the list for husbands somewhere. But in so many ways it’s just that bad:

If you’ve got an F next to “sex” on your drivers license, then you’re going to want to read all of this right after you shred that drivers license since you shouldn’t be driving, WOMAN! You should be sitting in the backseat crocheting a crown for your king husband while he drives. You also shouldn’t be reading this unless you’re reading this from your kitchen while making your king husband a meatloaf from scratch. Get in the kitchen, WOMAN!

On the season premiere of Ten Million Kids And We All Stopped Counting, human popcorn machine Michelle Duggar speaks at a conference and shares her tips on how to be a good Christian wife. Michelle handed the wives a worksheet titled “Seven Basic Needs Of A Husband”and it should really be titled “How To Be The Celie To Your Husband’s Mistah.” Michelle writes that a husband needs to feel like the Head Bitch in Charge and you can make him feel that way by depending on him financially and by always keeping your hair sexy and fresh. So far, no complaints from me! If I was a wife, I’d want to spend my morning asking my husband for money for the beauty salon and I’d want to spend my afternoon AT the beauty salon. Faith Goes Pop linked to the full worksheet, but here’s some of the highlights:

1. A husband needs a wife who respects him as a man.

How does a wife destroy her husband’s manliness?

A. By expecting him to know what protection you need
1. Physical
2. Spiritual
3. Mental
4. Emotional
Tell your husband how he can protect you.

B. By being financially independent
1. Love is killed by self-sufficiency
2. Whoever controls the money controls the leadership.
Center your work and your ministry in your home.

C. By giving greater loyalty to outside leadership
1. Pastor and church leaders
2. Men and women Bible teachers
3. Relatives and friends
Ask your husband your spiritual questions.

D. By resisting his decisions in your spirit
1. A wife’s spirit controls her husband’s ambitions
2. Reviewing past failure destroys a husband’s self-worth.
Learn to wisely appeal to your husband

E. By resisting his physical affection
1. This is the unspoken crushing of a man’s spirit.
2. A wife’s Godliness is a powerful guard against her husband’s abuse of … [cuts off]

As The Frisky points out, Michelle links all of her advice to the bible in some way. Michelle also advises that you should ask your husband to define your household responsibilities and you should always be GORGEOUS on the outside for him. Seriously, Michelle gets into the hair thing and quotes someone named I, Corinthians (who I’m guessing looks like this). Michelle writes that God gave women hair for covering and your hairstyle should show that you’re feminine, submissive and soft.

You can call Michelle Duggar a backwards pilgrim bitch all you want, but she’s on to something especially about the hair cape thing. If your hair looks like a majestic fall of golden strands cascading over your forehead, your husband will be so hypnotized by its beauty, as he takes your vagina with his leadership dick, that he won’t even notice when your tortured uterus grabs onto his peen head to makes its escape. Then when he pulls out and your uterus runs for the front door, he’ll still be too mesmerized by your hair to realize that your 300 kids are trying to catch your womb before it gets away. To quote I, Camila Alves: Hair IS important!

via Michelle Duggar’s Advice To Wimmin Folk On How To Keep A Happy Marriage | Dlisted.

And these are the people who overpopulate our country: we’re doomed. It’s too late for the blue pill. Excuse me while I go shoot myself in the head.

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Santorum: “I don’t question the president’s faith. It’s… phony theology”

February 20, 2012 by Leave a comment

Santorum Drops By Iowa State Fair

Santorum Drops By Iowa State Fair (Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service)

Really, Rick? You don’t question it – it’s just “phony”. Maybe you are a good enough politician – that’s some word-class doublespeak there – to be the weasel-in-chief after all.

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum speaks during a Tea Party rally February 18, 2012 in Columbus, Ohio.

A more congenial Rick Santorum doubled down on several controversial, and religiously laden, remarks in an interview Sunday morning on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” where he defended his recent claims that prenatal testing results in abortions, that federally provided education was “anachronistic,” and that President Obama’s policies are not “based on the Bible.”

“I’ve repeatedly said I don’t question the president’s faith,” Santorum told host Bob Schieffer, denying what some have said was a signal that Santorum had challenged the legitimacy of Obama’s Christianity. “I’ve repeatedly said that I believe the president’s Christian — he says he’s Christian. But I am talking about his worldview, the way he addresses problems in this country, and they’re different than most people view it in America.”

In a speech to Tea Party conservatives on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, Santorum had dismissed Obama’s politics as being based in “some phony theology.”

“It’s not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your jobs,” Santorum said. “It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology.”

An incredulous Bob Schieffer began his interview with Santorum Sunday by asking, “What in the world were you talking about?”

“I was talking about the radical environmentalists,” Santorum said, suggesting that they believe man should protect the earth, rather than “steward its resources.” “I think that is a phony ideal. I don’t believe that’s what we’re here to do … We’re not here to serve the earth. That is not the objective, man is the objective.”

Now, see, that right there: that slippery twist to “radical environmentalism” – that is some slick, focus-grouped, right-wing-pandering quality bullshit. And it’s exactly the kind of bullshit that will sell. That’s some good lube for the base.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, Santorum had also said that health insurance plans shouldn’t be required to cover prenatal testing, because that testing results in more abortions, as well as contending that government-run public education was “anachronistic.”

via Santorum Defends ‘Phony Theology’ Remarks, Doubles Down On Religious Critique Of Obama.

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GOP Jobs Plan Nonexistant? It Must Be Hidden In The Contraceptives Or The Vaginas

February 20, 2012 by Leave a comment

Hellooo, jobs? Any jobs in here? (Check the rectum, that's where the GOP's heads are)

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New Virginia Personhood Laws Outlaw Birth Control – and Oh, Yeah – Can Penetrate Women Without Their Consent

February 17, 2012 by 30 Comments

You read that right. Under legislation already passed in the House in Virginia (which the governor has promised to sign) if you seek a legal abortion there, the new law literally requires a forced vaginal invasion — a “transvaginal ultrasound“. The other, the “personhood” law, criminalizes the birth control pill, stem cell research, perhaps even the In Vitro Fertility (IVF) assistance for childless couples. Welcome the Republican plan for America.

From the Huffinton Post: As if stamped out of an anti-woman mold, Republican hopefuls Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul all support the cruel and bizarre policy of “personhood,” the belief that full legal rights instantly accompany the joining of every sperm and egg. Voters wishing to see Republican personhood in the process need look no further than Virginia, where the GOP-controlled House just passed HB1, (Marshall-R). Part of a matched set of two astonishingly cruel legislations, (the other bill literally requires a forced vaginal invasion — a “transvaginal ultrasound” — into any woman considering a legal abortion) of which the personhood bill may actually be more destructive. The transvaginal ultrasound is humiliating, painful, medically unnecessary, and imposed on a woman against her will, like rape with a foreign object –but the personhood law is forever. Do Virginians really want to criminalize the birth control pill, stem cell research, perhaps even the In Vitro Fertility (IVF) assistance for childless couples — as well as a woman’s right to choose?

HuffPo continues:

Having first denied their bill would affect abortion or birth control, Republicans later revealed their true intent. Asked if the bill was intended to “lay groundwork for outlawing abortion,” the bill’s author Marshall responded with the mocking comment: “You’d have to be completely obtuse to not understand that is something I have worked toward for 20 years… ” Democrat Vivian Watts (D-Fairfax) challenged the bill, essentially saying, if the bill truly won’t affect birth control, put that in writing — add an amendment pledging nothing in the bill shall affect birth control. But Republicans immediately voted 64-34 not to add this modest amendment. Even Fox News, normally an apologist for all things Republican, did not buy the “no impact on abortion rights” nonsense, saying:”…Bob Marshall’s House Bill 1 would effectively outlaw all Virginia abortions by declaring that the rights of a person apply from the moment sperm and egg unite.” If personhood laws are put into effect, government would literally have the authority to control the reproductive life of every citizen. Were not Republicans supposed to be in favor of individual liberty? Why then would they want to remove our right to use birth control? With an estimated 99 percent of all women of reproductive years reportedly having engaged in contraception, it hardly seems possible that Republicans would try to ban something as common as air. True, Rick Santorum expressed his sentiment that sex with birth control is “not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” The other Republican Presidential hopefuls also support personhood, with the allegedly moderate Romney going so far as to say he would “absolutely” sign a personhood Constitutional Amendment. What do American voters think? Follow Don C. Reed on Twitter: www.twitter.com/diverdonreed via Don C. Reed: Republicans With Power: Virginia Personhood Laws a Preview of GOP Presidency?.

And the controversial – but also staunch supporter of both women’s reproductive and sexual freedom, not to mention Planned Parenthood – Dan Savage has a great take here, first taking on Ms. magazine’s controlled response:

Bob McDonnell wants to probe your vagina

The Virginia state House of Delegates voted 63 to 36 to pass a bill requiring that women seeking abortions undergo a transvaginal ultrasound, which requires a probe being inserted into the vagina. Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) criticized the bill, saying “We’re talking about inside a woman’s body. This is the first time, if we pass this bill, that we will be dictating a medical procedure to a physician.” The House also voted down by a vote of 64 to 34 an amendment, which requires the women’s consent for the transvaginal ultrasound probe. This means a probe must be inserted into the woman’s vagina with or without her consent if she seeks an abortion. The bill will now go to the state Senate. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell indicated that he will sign the bill.

Why so restrained, Ms. Magazine? Call it what it is: state-sanctioned rape. And that blogger isn’t being hyperbolic: forcing a vaginal probe into a woman’s vagina without her consent meets the legal definition of rape in Virginia. Rachel Maddow did anger/fury/rage-inducing segments on the new law on her February 14th andFebruary 15th broadcasts. Watch both segments. Right now. Watch Rachel go.

Did you watch? Okay…

It seems to me that a large, loud, and highly disruptive protest is in order. Here’s a suggestion: if the Virginia GOP and Virginia’s Republican state legislators and Virginia’s Republican governor want a look inside your vagina—with a vaginal ultrasound—why not let ‘em have a look? Project images of vaginas and vaginal canals onto the state capitol, the buildings that surround it, and the Virginia state GOP party’s HQ; pack the public galleries in the state house and senate chambers with few hundred women and have ‘em throw thousands of flyers with images of vaginas on ‘em down on the heads and desks of Virginia’s legislators. Blanket both chambers with vaginas—give the GOPervs what they want and grind state business to a halt.

One can only hope. I won’t be able to go there, but I certainly hope feminists and human rights advocates in Virginia and neighboring states protest loudly and with pictures.

This will be the defining issue of 2012. Is this what America (or at least 51%) really wants? I want to believe it won’t even be close.

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Santorum’s Theme Song: “Every Sperm Is Sacred” – Flash Mob, Anyone?

February 10, 2012 by 2 Comments

With Rick Santorum surging in the polls, it reminds me of a song that should be his theme song. Just imagine interrupting his next speech with a rousing rendition of this – from Monty Python‘s “The Meaning Of Life”

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THIS IS WHY Catholics Are Still Hypocrites Who Support Child Abuse

February 8, 2012 by Leave a comment

If you are a good Catholic (or just an average Easter / Christmas kind of Catholic who just thinks Jesus is love and the Pope’s a sweet confused old man) this should outrage you at least as much as it does me:

In 2002, at the height of the outcry over the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests, the Archbishop of New York, Edward M. Egan, issued a letter to be read at Mass. In it, he offered an apology about the church’s handling of sex-abuse cases in New York and in Bridgeport, Conn., where he was previously posted.

“It is clear that today we have a much better understanding of this problem,” he wrote. “If in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry.”

Now, 10 years later and in retirement, Cardinal Egan has taken back his apology.

In a interview with Connecticut magazine published on the magazine’s Web site last week, a surprisingly frank Cardinal Egan said of the apology, “I never should have said that,” and added, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

He said many more things in the interview, some of them seemingly at odds with the facts. He repeatedly denied that any sex abuse had occurred on his watch in Bridgeport. He said that even now, the church in Connecticut had no obligation to report sexual abuse accusations to the authorities. (A law on the books since the 1970s says otherwise.) And he described the Bridgeport diocese’s handling of sex-abuse cases as “incredibly good.”

All of which has Cardinal Egan, now 79 and living in Manhattan, drawing fire from advocates who say he has reopened old wounds.

via Cardinal Egan Criticized for Retracting Apology on Sex-Abuse Crisis – NYTimes.com.

If you aren’t all out marching in the street, demanding that your diocese not only refute these remarks, but agree to follow the laws here on earth and report and help prosecute any further abuse, then you are complicit. The hypocrisy of that, and the complacency of the Catholic Church and its flock (they’re apparently called sheep for a reason)  makes one thing crystal clear to those of us not blinded by faith: if and when Jesus The Christ comes back, he’s not setting foot in any of your temples, unless it’s to help burn them down. Even the most pious among you can’t twist His words enough to make it sound like Jesus would support child abuse in the name of “the greater good” the church has supposedly done. Think he’s going to lift you up to heaven? You stood idly by while children were raped, their rapists were protected, and then moved to other areas where they could continue their crimes. Didn’t know about all that? You do now, so you’re guilty of allowing all the people involved to go free. What are you doing about it? Praying’s not enough. I haven’t read the whole bible, but it seems like God can be kind of vengeful about this sort of stuff.

So, until you empty out the coffers, melt down the golden scepters, and sell the Gucci loafers; until you find every last one of the harmed, pay for all the compensation and therapy they deserve for the rest of their horribly affected lives, and then root out, expose and prosecute all the evildoers and their accomplices – including the Pope – then and not until then can you begin to pretend to lead in the footsteps of Christ.

But, hey, that’s hard – it’s a lot easier to attack me and not take responsibility for any of that. Besides, what could a godless atheist like me know about What Jesus Would Do? Would He stand for this hypocrisy? Maybe he was just a man after all.

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