Sen. Sam Brownback expressed more moderate views until after he had safely cinched his party's nomination in 1993. Last week, the Kansas City Star reprinted a 1996 story as evidence of Sam Brownback's flip-flop on abortion rights. Even the executive director of Kansans for Life said, "He changed his position." Brownback's explanation was that "his stand on abortion has often been misunderstood, partly because his thoughts weren't fully formed" earlier -- but now God's senator is definitely 100% right-to-life for everyone but women, and everybody knows it.Having repented of his criticism of Jerry Falwell, and having hired a former Falwell staffer for his campaign, John McCain is bent on appeasing any lingering doubters in the conservative Christian camp. McCain's flip-flops on abortion have been blatant enough to become the stuff of political legend.
"I'd love to see a point where Roe v. Wade is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." Now McCain is all in favor of those "illegal and dangerous operations," the ones that women in the United States used to die from. As Lemieux points out, "while McCain made some egregious panders about abortion when running in a primary in which his major opponent already had the social conservative vote locked up, McCain is in fact a consistent supporter of criminalized abortion." He said so again last weekend, in the following AP story, which disappeared from most news outlets within hours. The original link now opens a different story, one focusing on McCain's much more socially acceptable excoriation of Donald Rumsfeld. Thank goodness for people who save such things before they're flushed down the tubes of the Internet.
A rebuke from Dobson must carry more weight than the lives of women who would be sacrificed to the ubiquitous abortion bans springing up in statehouses around the country like a crop of poisonous mushrooms. The usual exceptions -- rape, incest, and "life of the mother" -- are tacked on to soothe the unease of "family values voters" gullible enough to believe that those words actually mean something. Rape and incest provisions in this year's bans routinely force a woman to submit to interrogation and the intrusive collection of DNA by law enforcement within a narrow time frame -- an even further violation of her person and her privacy. "Life of the mother" means even less. Managua, South Dakota, a comparison of the 2006 South Dakota ban with the ban enacted in Nicaragua last fall, examined that deceptive exception in depth.
[T]he Nicaraguan Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics unequivocally stated that the new law would "endanger women and make doctors reluctant to perform life-saving procedures." In Nicaragua the ban quickly and predictably took its toll, the first victim dying within weeks. A Managua hospital allowed 19 year-old Yasmina Bojorge to die of internal bleeding, forced by law to delay life-saving treatment because her 300-gram fetus was still alive. [The following excerpts are translated from original press reports in Spanish]
After three days doctors at Bertha Calderón Hospital confirmed the death of the fetus and tried to induce a natural delivery, which proved impossible. The young woman developed an internal hemorrhage and died this morning in the operating room. Last month a second young woman died to preserve the "sanctity of life." After five days of fighting a raging infection that could not be properly treated while her fetus lived, and then enduring two D&Cs and a hysterectomy that all came too late to save her life, Francis Zamora expired of endotoxic shock. Text and photo from Nicaragua's El Nuevo Diario
And what do Nicaragua's "sanctity of life" leaders have to say? Not surprisingly, they sound remarkably like James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Jerry Falwell or the CWA.
One of Nicaragua's top pro-life leaders and the president of the Nicaraguan Association for Life, Dr. Rafael Cabrera, spoke up this week about the harassment and pressure the people and government are receiving from various international organizations and authorities to reverse its decision to outlaw abortion. As in the US, Catholics for a Free Choice (Católicas con derecho a decidir) object that "the Catholic hierarchy has stripped them of the right to make decisions about their own lives. 'It worries us that the Church concerns itself about the unborn and doesn't defend the children left as orphans, or the thousands of children who die of hunger.'" Before Roe v. Wade ensured safe abortion care, and while John McCain was staying true to his religious values in North Vietnam, the same endotoxic shock that killed Francis Zamora was a too-frequent cause of death for women right here at home. The Christian right wants us to forget, but physicians such as Dr. Eugene Glick never will.
I remember getting introduced to something called septic abortion. It is a condition that is caused by the breakdown of bacteria in an infected site. I remember a woman losing the tips of her fingers because of the endotoxic shock causing the blood vessels to shrink down. It was just terrible. That's exactly what McCain, Brownback, Romney and the rest of the GOP field are campaigning for when they pander for the approval of James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Jerry Falwell and their fellow pseudo-religious mouthers of "moral values." The push of the Christian right and GOP contenders to criminalize abortion represents not a return to godliness, but a return to needless suffering and death. Politicians pandering to such a base desire for supremacy over women, regardless of its toll in blood and grief, deserve to be called out for what they are -- death pimps.
The Death Pimps | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
The Death Pimps | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
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Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series
on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game have been viewed by up to 1/2 million people. See our site section featuring Over 35 original articles covering the controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game that has provoked a boycott by a coalition of religious groups and a letter writing campaign urging Walmart to stop selling the game. Media inquiries click here(image: detail from Francoise Dubois' rendition of the Bartholomew's Day Massacre reveals the actual nature of religious warfare)
Short Takes
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Draft Democratic Platform Rejects Anti-Abortion "Reduction" Plank
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Short Takes
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Rick Warren Appears on Glenn Beck's Program
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Short Takes
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Short Takes
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Jews and Christians Unite against the Empire of Neo-cons and 'Christian' Zionists
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Hope Never Dies for Extremists
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Prosyletization in Iraq: A threat to national security
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Proselytization in Iraq: A minor history
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Source of "Bible coins" distributed by USMC in Iraq discovered
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What Does the Religious Right Fear the Most?
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UK Abortion Limit Stays at 24 Weeks Despite Washington Think Tank's Tactics
IN GOD'S NAME is a revealing documentary about how the Alliance Defense Fund is using its tactics to try to restrict abortion in Europe as well as in America. Watch this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeTfW8-dCNE ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
'Christians United For Israel' Joyfully Sing of Israel's Invasion and Destruction
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The Petrification of John McCain
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More Biblical Precedent for Allowing Abortion
This is a follow up to my most recent diary entry. ...... By TMurray (3 comments)
John Hagee Says God Made AIDS and Bird Flu But Lord will Protect Him Personally
John Hagee claims 1) that he knows with absolute certainty the will of God (as he told a BBC interviewer in 2003), is 2) sure that he, John Hagee, has a place in heaven...... By Bruce Wilson (0 comments)
Biblical support for abortion, who knew?
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2001 John Hagee Film Shows Gangsterish Rabbi, Foppish Catholic Priest In League With anti-Christ
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PBS "Carrier": A Mixed Blessing
Watching the PBS miniseries "Carrier" was a revelation, but not always a pleasant one... ...... By bughouse square (0 comments)
Will We Ever Learn?
Ever looked at something or did something which at the time seemed good and beneficial only to learn that it was not what you thought? If we could all have the opportunity to live...... By truthngrace (0 comments)
McCain-Endorser's Church Casts Out "Demon of Anal Fissures", Teaches Vomiting Evil Spirits
[NOTE: for a related story, see Mai Tai Dogs: Pics Show Bush Administration, McCain-Endorser Hagee Schmoozing at Chinese Restaurant] I have to admit, on one level it sounds more entertaining than a church full...... By Bruce Wilson (3 comments)
Bush 41 salutes Sun Myung Moon's effort to subdue the planet.
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Advancing The Kingdom
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Newspaper Profiles Army of God Spokeman
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Judicial Council Chief James Holsinger and $20 million of UMC Money
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No Constitution Party home for Keyes
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Florida Christian License Plate
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The Alleged 'Atheist Delusion'
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A Real GI Bill of Rights
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Mikey's War
There comes a time when ordinary citizens need to step up and openly challenge the perverse Christianization of our national instutions, particularly the military. What follows is an introduction to someone who is doing...... By bughouse square (1 comment) More Diaries... |
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