http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/...

Eric Zorn has compiled a serious blog post detailing all you need to know about this recent flap on BAIPA and Obama's position on the legislative wrangling.  Must read.

The National Right to Life Committee and a bunch of other groups are trying to use the typical "Republican wedge issue" approach to peel off women's votes from Obama and to mobilize the Republican social conservative base.

Will it work?

I have heard rumors that Christians are not necessarily far right delusional puritans, that there are actually liberal Christians out there who believe that life on earth evolved over billions of years, aren't waiting for the rapture, marry gay people and think that the question of when human life begins is essentially imponderable and support women's right to control their own bodies and reproduction.

Okay, folks, if you're out there, how about sticking your heads out of the foxhole long enough for us to hear a peep out of you? If there's dialogue or debate within Christendom, we sure aren't hearing it. Where are your radio and TV shows, your books, your press conferences, your candidate forums? Why is there only one definition of Christian belief known to political discourse?

I know many of you have been glued to the television watching the Olympics these past two weeks. I've watched women's gymnastics and a little bit of swimming, but as a political junkie, the next two weeks of the conventions will be much more "must see TV" for me.

Last week, the Religious Institute sent a letter to both presumptive candidates and campaigns, urging them to affirm sexual justice issues. I thought some of you might be interested in the letters, which were basically identical in our requests.

I can't wait to see how all of this plays out! Stay tuned

There are a bunch of lunatic right-wingers who are calling for McCain to pick a pro-life running mate.  The CNN story "Conservatives upset over abortion rights VP contenders", are typical in nature.  Lots of quotes from angry folks like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Gerson, with John McCain saying something amorphous like:

When a voter in Las Cruces, New Mexico, asked whether he would pick a running mate "conservatives can actually rally around," McCain said, "I will nominate a person to be vice president, my running mate, who shares my principles, my values and my priorities, and that's the best that I can tell you."

and then, AND THEN CNN refuses to actually mention, hey, did you know John McCain is anti-choice?  Kind of extremely so?  Like, it might actually shock you how anti-choice he was?

I remember Obama's insightful answer at Saddleback Forum regarding when life begins. I was so proud. He is a humble and wise person. To me, there are some things that we simply do not know and may never know. The moment of life is one of them. If we believe the bible account of human life, and this diary is based on that, then no one knows absolutely when life actually enters the body of a fetus.

This is significant, and certainly underscores why more Americans are turning toward pro-choice values as they see just how far outside the mainstream social conservatives really are.

Originally written by Scott Swenson at RH Reality Check - News, Commentary and Information on Reproductive Health.

We need to stop calling the republican right-wing the Matrix-friendly name "neo-cons".  The reality is that they are "retro-cons".  They want the world that existed 100 years ago, in 1908.

Sometimes there are moments when you realize things, sort of an awakening and then that leads to other thoughts and other realizations.  Today I had one of those moments, one that clarified and defined for me the core reason I am strongly pro-choice.  But, before we get to the moment, a few words on the journey to this moment.

I was born and raised Catholic, and yes, I am still a Catholic, actually part of the "Catholic Democrat" organization.  My religious upbringing included 12 years of catholic schools.  While things may be different today, at the time I went to these schools I was taught how to think, how to reason, there was no memorization of bible passages, just lessons about what it meant to be a Catholic.

More...

You'd think from the national press coverage, Jill Stanek is just your typical Pro-Life Activist.  Not so much.  I've been covering Jill for going on six years now and she never fails to disappoint about bringing the crazy.  

She’s been making the rounds and is even being treated seriously by the New York Times–something local Illinois reporters have largely stopped doing because they learned.

Here are my archives of Stanek’s craziness followed by some of my favorites

One more round on the Church thing--but perhaps from another angle.  Pardon me if this thought has been posted before, but I haven't seen it.

As far as the Saddleback thing goes, couldn't Obama have pulled a Stephen Colbert/Press Club thing that night?

By that I mean, while McCain was speaking to the audience in front of him and ignoring the fact that the nation was watching, Obama was speaking to all of us.

John McNicotine is now for the tobacco lobby after years of working against it.  He not only opposes the cigarette taxes he used to support but also opposes FDA regulation of the tobacco industry after years of supporting it.  McNicotine is an ex-smoker and should understand just how addictive nicotine is, and he even acknowledged the exceptionally high death rate for tobacco users when he joked that cigarette exports to Iran were part of his plot to kill Iranian citizens.  For McNicotine to cave in to the tobacco cartel is the ultimate flip-flop:
http://www.boston.com/...

Why has McNicotine caved in to the interests of the tobacco drug cartel?  It couldn't possibly have anything to do with hiring tobacco lobbyist Charlie Black as his senior adviser.  Move along folks.  There's nothing to see here:
http://firedoglake.com/...

Now let's use the traditional Rethug "moral values" and "sanctity of life" frames against McNicotine!  There's more in the flip.

Guys, I’m getting hammered by Right Wing friends about Obama’s supposed cover-up regarding the Illinois and Federal BAIPA laws.


I hate to post a diary just to call on folks to do some fact checking, but I need answers to the following:

Here are three questions for John McCain.  They will  not be asked.

And brought to you by the New York Times (click on Glen McCoy), the sickest editorial cartoon I think I've ever seen.  

Now, I know they don't check these on-line comics.  They come automated from UClick through a contract or something.  But this cartoon is really about as close to the edge of totally unacceptable as I have ever seen.

It also points to the vicious nature of the right wing mind, and their inability to see other sides of issues.  If Obama thinks that he can work with these people he is nuts.  Even Rick Warren stabbed Obama in the back, saying after the "interview" that no evangelical should ever vote fro a pro-choice candidate.

Saturday Night’s Political Forum hosted by Pastor Rick Warren was one of the most interesting campaign events this year.    It was nice to hear someone from the right argue that it is essential that Americans (both conservative & liberal) learn to argue their viewpoints WITHOUT demonizing the other side.    In coming to terms with the idea that we are all Americans (even when we disagree) we build upon the idea that we are greater as a nation together than we are as the sum of our separate ideologies.

John McCain and Barack Obama testified before a large audience of Southern Baptists at the Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. They also used up a large chunk of prime time television.

It's not the debate that irks me a little; it's the idea that somebody's religious views are pertinent to the kind of leadership the country needs to get over the unholy mess created by our born-again President.

How about settling first on what's important in making a person "religious?" In the same way wearing a flag pin doesn't make someone patriotic, believing abortion is a sin doesn't make somebody Christian. After all, the views of fundamental Muslims and fundamental Christians regarding drinking are identical, as are the prohibitions on pork by Muslims and Jews.

I propose leaving religious debates to religious leaders and their followers and allowing the TV producers and their anchors to concentrate on the truly important rapes, murders and sporting events by which they uplift and enlighten our lives.

I used to teach college-level Composition. It wasn't something I was entirely fond of and I'm glad to be done with it (for now anyway), but one of the things I enjoyed most each Semester was teaching critical thinking skills. I asked my students to write papers on the question - "Who owns the body?" - they could choose from among several topics under that subject. Obviously reproductive choice was one of those options, but there was also the question of military drafts, personal drug use, stem cell research, in-vitro fertilization, organ donorship, etc. The topics weren't easy - the question wasn't easy. They had to argue towards the middle ground regardless of their personal opinion.

One requirement in writing the essay was to first define each extreme side. I referred to this as - following the consequences. In other words, how would our reality change if we actually enacted this particular change. What would the specific changes be? Who would be affected and how? Some students found this difficult, some had a great time and really worked out their imagination, but everyone eventually got to the point where they understood the point -- that most of the time, we tend to come to conclusions about our opinion before we ever really think about where we stand.

I see that McCain is rightfully strutfully about the fact that he 'knows' the answer to abortion and Obama doesn't.

I heard this again on Rush today. And my local right-wing radio jock.

It is so simple. Life begins at conception.

Ask the Pope. And while you are at it, ask the Pope how easy this 'simple' statement translates in social mores.

Italy is Catholic. The Pope is against abortion.

In 1978, a law was passed in Italy which set forth the regulations governing the procedures for obtaining an induced abortion.  According to this law, all women are eligible to request an abortion during the first 90 days of gestation for health, economic, social, or familial reasons.  To obtain an abortion, the woman must have a certificate attesting to the state of the pregnancy from her general practitioner, or a private physician or a public maternal-child health clinic. The abortion is performed free-of-charge at either at a health care structure in the National Health Care System or in a private structure contracted and authorized by regional health authorities.

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