Right to Life? Really?

As I listened to news programming tonight, I learned that the bulk of what Republicans are doing amounts to doing everything they can to make the constitutionally protected right to reproductive care will be all but impossible for women to access, from cutting all funding to creating new taxes (I thought Republicans wanted to cut taxes!).  And the good old boys are at it again, talking blithely of medical procedures in their own twisted perceptions, without regard for truth or the feelings of their female counterparts in the chamber.

It's time the Right is forced to face the hateful nature of their attacks on women, and, by related attacks, on the rest of us.  Planned Parenthood is about  trying to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and occasionally helping a woman obtain an abortion.  And all the good studies have said the only truly effective programs to educe teen pregnancies involve teaching our youth to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies - yet, the Right holds out their hope that by saying "Just say no!" works will make it so, even though it wasn't even effective as an anti-drug campaign.  So called promises to wait until marriage for sexual activity are easily made by youth in the heightened emotional moments in which they are sought, but not so easily maintained when the rising emotions are of a sexual nature in an entirely different moment.

And, if we are truly honest with ourselves, not many of us were celibate until we were married.  And down through history, that has been the case.  In some societies, it was, in fact, expected that a couple would actually seek pregnancy to prove the fertility of the couple for the good of the community.  Not only was there no stigma attached to the couple or the children, the community celebrated the new family and welcomed the child!  It's only in relatively modern terms that we have started branding children born outside wedlock ass bastards and shunning they and their mothers - notice I didn't say fathers, but that just didn't happen.  Even now, when we say we believe in an equality of the sexes, if a young man impregnates a young woman, she bears the stigma and the shame, while he simply moves on to another partner.

It has been said, offering a true assessment, that if abortion is banned in America, it will only prevent the poor and middle class women, for the rich will simply go to another country to have their abortion, then return home.  What isn't often said is that the horror stories of pre-Roe-versus-Wade will become reality again - young women turning up dead in dumpsters because of botched back-alley abortions, or from successful ones that had complications when no medical facilities were available to address them.

I still recall overhearing a conversation between a couple of farmers in a very rural setting, in which one told another they needed to support a legislative effort to ban abortions, and the second responded that if it were his daughter who was raped, or who had a severely malformed, he would not want to saddle her with having to keep the child, just because someone thought the procedure wasn't acceptable.  I already felt women should have the right to control their own reproductive abilities, but this really turned my thoughts completely in support of that.  There are those on the Right now that want abortions banned, period.  Even if the woman's life is threatened, no abortion would be allowed!  However, at the same time, the Right wants to cut the very public services that would help that mother care for her child.

It is time for supporters of women's rights, of true supporters of the constitution, to stand shoulder to shoulder against the violence of the radical anti-abortionists.  And let's be honest, so called Right to Lifers are plainly anti-abortionists.

Think about it, and stand up, to protect medical staff and women seeking care and help in desperate times!

Republican Two-Face in Spades

During the last 2 years (and similar periods in the past of my voting life), the Republicans haven't ceased to blame Democrats for all the ills they perceived in government in America.  Now, with Republicans holding the strength they do, they are NOW saying they can't be held responsible for the ills that may come from their extreme stands.  Tonight, as I listened to Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, as a Democrat pointed out that the Republicans had blocked effort after effort to help the ailing economy, the Republican guest responded by saying extreme stands were necessary, and the no one could hold Republicans accountable for the ills that could come from those stands.  So, apparently for the Republicans, what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander.  Hmm!  I wonder how the elections of 2012 might appear if the Republicans get their way over the next 2 years, and even the pundits are raising this concern.

The conversation was about raising the national debt ceiling, and, yes, that is a major concern to us all, especially in these trouble economic times - but perhaps we should look first at the multinational corporations and their percentage of profit, their multimillion dollar salaries for CEOs and directors, their lack of tax dollars paid to the government and their efforts NOT to pay benefits, NOT to care for their workers.  Perhaps we should be looking at the amount paid to congressional leaders who are already millionaires.  Perhaps we should listen to someone like Steve Forbes, and his proposal for a flat tax - no deductions, not exceptions.  Everyone pays 10% of income as federal taxes.  Think about how the corporations would start pumping millions into the national treasury, how the multi-millionaires and billionaires would start pumping dollars into the treasury currently being support and carried on the backs of the most heavily taxed group in America - the working class!

Who has been responsible for more harm to this picture?  Republican benefits for the richest of the rich in America - at the expense of the working stiffs of this country.    Democrats have raised taxes, yes, and through those paid down national debt on more than one occasion,  They have provided services to Americans that Republicans don't want offered to those who pay their salaries. 

Perhaps it's time to adopt my father's attitude late in his voting life - not voting for an incumbent, so the channels of influence and graft in Washington can't become ingrained.  Oh, I realize we have some who go to Washington looking to get in on that system as soon as possible, so they can become part of the rich elite of the nation, but if enough elections went this way, perhaps congressional representatives would start to remember they are there to represent our interests, not to get rich.

Anger is there and expressed on the right, but it is there on the left as well.  We need to stop being the quiet progressives, and start raising our voices to counter the right - understanding when we do that we may encounter those rightists who are willing to use violence to quiet our voices.  There is no reasonable argument against this nation not doing better for its citizens in light of how much many other industrialized nations are doing for their citizens.  We simply are becoming the story line of many science fiction stories of a future where corporations control life. 

Think about it, raise your voice, and be proudly progressive!