October 30, 2008
Check out NARAL Pro-Choice America’s great new get-out-the-pro-choice-vote ad!
Still undecided? Read more about McCain and Palin’s disregard for women’s health. And John McCain’s extreme anti-choice record.
Read more about Obama on reproductive health issues.
And finally, VOTE!
October 28, 2008
(h/t Rebecca at Skepchick)
There’s a video floating around YouTube featuring young people blathering on about how same-sex marriage in California will destroy civilization, so some enterprising Skeptics’ Guide listeners took it upon themselves to make a point by redubbing the voices.
By replacing “same sex” with “interracial,” the discrimination proposed by Proposition 8 is exposed. There is no argument against same sex marriage that holds water. The fact that the lies the Yes on 8 crowd is using (teachers will have to teach that interracial marriage is just as valid as traditional marriage, churches will have to allow interracial marriage, etc) sound ridiculous when we replace “same sex” with “interracial” demonstrates how their bigotry is a thing of the past. In the future, we will look back on Prop 8 just as we do laws against interracial marriage and wonder, how anyone could think it’s acceptable write their prejudices into law?
Professor What If…has a great post up about how the Yes on 8 argument reflects the de-volution of the US.
October 24, 2008
Perhaps she was following McCain’s lead.
On multiple occasions throughout his career, McCain sought to limit the government’s ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics by:
– Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the Jed Report notes, McCain voted in 1993 and 1994 against making “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses who perform abortions” federal crimes.
– Opposing Colorado’s “Bubble Law.” McCain said he opposed Colorado’s “Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within 8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
– Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain “voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health clinics to avoid paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring bankruptcy.” (ThinkProgress)
I am apalled by McCain and Palin’s ignorance. They have run a disgusting campaign that condones and encourages hateful speech, and now hateful action. Many people have died due to abortion clinic violence and these acts should be recognized and prosecuted for what they are, acts of terrorism. Palin said it herself in this clip, “harming innocent Americans…would be unacceptable.” Yet her unwillingness to call this violence what it is makes me question whether she believes the rule of law should protect all people equally, even those of us who disagree with her extreme anti-choice ideology.
October 22, 2008
With humor and sincerity, as always…
I don’t know if you saw this, but vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin said she’s in favor of a federal ban on gay marriage. Basically, she wants to change the constitution. So if you’re wondering — I’m sure you are — how I feel about this, I don’t like it. I don’t like it. I don’t agree. … And I don’t know what people are scared of. Maybe they think that their children will be influenced, and I got to say — I was raised by two heterosexuals and they did not influence me.
If you live in California, please vote no on proposition 8!
October 20, 2008
October 19, 2008
This morning on Meet the Press, former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama.
While I lost nearly all respect for Powell when he lied to the UN in the push for the Iraq War, I gained some back today for his comments about Muslims.
I’m also troubled by what members of the party say, and is permitted to be said, such things as, “Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.”Well, the correct answer is, ‘He is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian, he’s always been a Christian.’
But the really right answer is, ‘What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?’
The answer is ‘No, that’s not America.’
Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he’s a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
Thank you, Colin Powell, for using your voice to say what is right and what is true. And while conservatives are already spinning your words, that you endorsed Obama because of race or because McCain didn’t select you for VP, you did the right thing by using your access to the press to say something that has been needing to be said (Campbell Brown did her part, too). There truly is no other response to the demonizing of Muslims in this country than to stop doing it. Spin away, Fox News and John McCain, but you know that Powell is right when it comes to Kareem Ushad Sultan Khan and his service to this country you claim to love. So just stop it.
Photograph: Platon
Update: Powell talked to reporters outside his interview on Meet the Press and added some more good points. Steve Benen has video; here’s a highlight:
He went on to express his disgust for Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) neo-McCarthyism. “We have got to stop this kind of nonsense,” Powell said, “pull ourselves together, and remember that our great strength is in our unity and in our diversity.”
October 16, 2008
In last night’s debate I found it interesting how John McCain attempted to attack Barack Obama’s tax plan with his Joe the Plumber (at least it’s not Joe Sixpack, but we’re still not talking about Josephine the Waitress) example.
Check out the following chart put together by Viveka Weiley at Chartjunk.
It’s clear to me where the candidates’ priorities lie. Notice the inverse shapes of these two tax plans. Find yourself on the chart and see whose plan benefits you more.
If John McCain was attempting to invoke Joe the Plumber as a reference to middle class Americans, he’s greatly mistaken. Look at where a person making over $250,000 (as Joe said he would be) falls on the chart. He’ll be in the top 0.9% of wage earners! Coming from a man who doesn’t define people as rich until they make $5 million, what do we expect!
October 15, 2008
Today is “Love Your Body Day!”
Women and girls are continually bombarded with images from entertainment and advertising that help define our culture’s beauty ideal. Fashion magazines, celebrity blogs and TV shows like Make Me a Supermodel continue to push girls and women to try unhealthy fad diets to achieve unrealistic body types. And while girls and women resort to compulsive exercise, starving themselves, and cosmetic surgery to achieve the media image of the “perfect” body and face, they may not realize that their health and lives are at risk. But you can make a difference!
The NOW Foundation’s Love Your Body campaign helps raise awareness about women’s health, body image and self-esteem. Since 1997, Love Your Body has given girls and women the tools and the encouragement to “just say no” to the air-brushed, cookie cutter images that Hollywood and Madison Avenue are trying to sell.
On Oct. 15, NOW chapters and campus and community activists across the country are celebrating Love Your Body Day with actions and events. Activists are holding fashion shows featuring women of all shapes and sizes; talking about embracing healthy lifestyles; and welcoming guest speakers to share information about the risks of silicone breast implants, the dangers of tobacco products, HIV/AIDS and other women’s health issues. Some communities are holding mentoring workshops promoting self-esteem among women and girls, while several campuses are organizing “Girls Night In” events to discuss safety on and off campus. (NOW)
How will you celebrate?
October 10, 2008
From The Wasilla Project, this video is the first of a four-part series.
Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert also discusses how the rape kit controversy has not been de-bunked, contrary to what some in the mainstream media would have you believe.
In fact, Palin had a direct role in charging rape victims for exams.
Stay tuned…
October 9, 2008
Noticing the Gap 