Celebrities Speak Out for Women's Reproductive Rights

In case you missed it. Celebrities on board for the Bill of Reproductive Rights include Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Martha Plimpton, Sarah Silverman, Tea Leoni, Sandra Bernhard, Olympia Dukakis and more. Sign it yourself here.

Jan Brewer Signs Crazy Anti-Abortion Law

Gahhh. Don't click to embiggen. Image from Jezebel.

Republican Governors and legislatures seem to be in a competition for which one of them can overreach the most. At least two of those Governors are up for recall, less than two years into their tenures. And Jan Brewer, the dragon lady catcher's mitt Governor of Arizona has topped them all. Many states have been enacting draconian anti-abortion laws since the GOP cleaned up in the 2010 elections. But as far as I know, none dared claim that life begins two weeks before conception.

The real reason for that audacious claim is so that the counting starts earlier, and that the 20-week limit becomes 18. So one more time, they're passing laws that chip away at what seemed to be settled law. And they seem to be turned back the clock to the time of back-alley abortions.

[Excerpt]

Uteruses Everywhere Weep As Arizona Governor Signs Insanely Restrictive Abortion Bill Into Law

Arizona made big strides today in its quest to be one of the absolute worst places to be a woman—or to even have a woman in your family. Governor Jan Brewer signed into law the hideous bill that redefines a pregnancy as beginning at two weeks before conception. That's the earliest of any state, so if you want to get a jump start on living, try to be conceived in Arizona. The law effectively bans abortions after 20 weeks gestational age—err, 18 weeks if you're using the old counting system—except in cases of medical emergency. As draconian as it sounds, it shouldn't change much since very few of those abortions are even performed in the state at the moment. . .

Read more at: Jezebel

Daily Show's Samantha Bee on Palin's "Choice"

This clip continues a trend this week on The Daily Show's funniest stuff ever. To watch these conservatives take such pains to avoid using the word "choice" is nothing short of hilarious. Great job, Sam Bee!

What is "Pro Life" Anyway?

This subject occurred to me, totally apropos of nothing, completely separate (as far as I know) from anything in the news this weekend. It's certainly not an original thought, but one I've never seen answered adequately.

Namely, why is it that people who consider themselves "pro life" are only actually pro life as it occurs in very narrow circumstances? As far as I know, the only "life" they seem to be concerned with is 1) fetal life, 2) persistent vegetative-state life, and 3) stem cell blastocyst life.

The pro life group seems to be, in contradiction to their name, 1) pro war, 2) pro death penalty, 3) pro guns, and 4) unconcerned with what happens to babies who were not aborted--they just don't want any tax dollars to go to them. They also tend to be against universal health care, which should surely be covered by the "pro life" banner, if anything should.

To clarify my position, as a gay man, I have no dog in the abortion fight, and never will. So I don't get overly animated about the issue. The people who do, however, on the pro life side, seem to be the very same people who are also against gay rights issues. I guess we aren't "life" either.

The point is, how can we expect honesty and consistency out of our politicians, when we can't even get it out of voters. The pro life crowd is probably only one group of many different constituencies that is all over the map on issues they think they're consistent on. In my opinion, we as citizens need to start thinking of "life" and everything else as more than just bumper-sticker slogans. We need to start thinking, period.

End of rant.