Mourning in America

[shereads]

We've all lost. Some of us just don't know it yet.

Yesterday, an army of evangelical Christians and "moral Moms" voted in record numbers. Exit interviews reveal that the election didn't hinge on Iraq and the economy after all. Newly registered Republicans said they were motivated by two factors: Bush's promise to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe vs. Wade, and his support of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Even the record number of new voters couldn't have done this alone. They had the help of people who were smart enough to know better, but chose to ignore the implications of awarding all three branches of government to a single party.

For some of them, it will sink in when Literotica is made illegal. In case you've forgotten, internet pornography is a major concern of the Christian right and those "moral moms," as the White House calls them. Your vote for George W. Bush guaranteed a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court. All that's needed now is a test case. You can be sure that somebody's working on it.

Congratulations.

 

[Pure]

You imply, but don't highlight the Rove-ian master stroke.

In OHIO, key state, there was, on the ballot, a measure to ban STATE recognition for gay marriage. {The equivalent on the state level of what's attempted federally.}

This is a fairly strong position, and the voter who's (been) motivated to come out and vote for that STATE ban, is then going to cast his/her ballot for .... guess who?

Macchiavelli Award, for sure.
Engraved: "Whatever it takes..."

PS. I'm not so worried about the 'net as about reproductive freedom. Unless one uses the very thorough Chinese methods (which aren't perfect), it's damn hard to control the 'net.

 

[rgraham666]

PS. I'm not so worried about the 'net as about reproductive freedom. Unless one uses the very thorough Chinese methods (which aren't perfect), it's damn hard to control the 'net.

Ssssh! Don't give 'em any ideas!

 

[shereads]

J, I read a news item yesterday that surprised me a little, although it shouldn't have: abortion is up since Bush took office.

Cuts in social spending, joblessness, lower average wage. More abortions.

Now we'll take away that as an option, and be guaranteed more babies born into poverty.

 

[McKenna]

I'm laying flowers at the altar of what once was my personal freedom. I'm mourning for my future over the next four years.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . . I'm not so worried about the 'net . . . it's damn hard to control the 'net.

Anyone who looks toward an optimistic future for the internet in this country based upon the sensible action of this administration and its supporters, must have rose-colored glasses denser than the windows on the official White House Limousine, and an ability to ignore the obvious more highly-developed than that of a pole-position lemming.

 

[Edward Teach]

J, I read a news item yesterday that surprised me a little, although it shouldn't have: abortion is up since Bush took office.

Cuts in social spending, joblessness, lower average wage. More abortions.

Now we'll take away that as an option, and be guaranteed more babies born into poverty.

One of the hushed up theories of the neocons is that we need more population. More population is one of the ways they plan on getting out of the deficit mess. And that little ditty of info came straight from whisperings going on within the GOP platform committee.

More population equals more workers equals more tax revenue.

Ed

 

[Pure]

J, I read a news item yesterday that surprised me a little, although it shouldn't have: abortion is up since Bush took office.

Cuts in social spending, joblessness, lower average wage. More abortions.

What's worth noting, is that funding for other bc methods is being cut. Including for promoting condom use-- which the RCs are not keen on, even in AIDS-ridden Africa. Something about fornication.

My paranoid theory of the abortion ban and bc [prevention-of-pregnancy] ban has the purpose described in The Handmaid's Tale.

The upper middle class white folk, as they used to have without going to China, want a supply of adoptable babies. Pregnant moms, facing welfare cuts, lack of daycare, etc.--are between a rock and a hard place. Church funded counselling WILL be available. This will help ensure that, upon giving birth, they are more likely to consider adopting out the kid, there being serious obstacles to abortion.

----
Note to Virtual:

I did not 'look to an optimistic future' regarding the 'net. Hence your vivid imagery is not applicable to me.

 

[rgraham666]

But if those people are too poor (or too rich) to pay taxes, how is that going to help?

 

[McKenna]

In a race this close, don't you think it best to appoint one the president, and the other the vice-president? Checks and balances and all that...

Can you imagine the influence such an arrangement would have on political campaigns? I wonder if there'd be less mud-slinging if the two candidates in question eventually had to work with one another.

 

[shereads]

I'm laying flowers at the altar of what once was my personal freedom. I'm mourning for my future over the next four years.

Four years is nothing compared to the lifetime of a Supreme Court justice.

At least poor Justice Rehnquist can step down now, if he chooses. I believe he was holding out in the hope that someone other than GWB would appoint his successor.

 

[McKenna]

Four years is nothing compared to the lifetime of a Supreme Court justice.

You're not helping, Sher. I'm scared. Hold me?

 

[shereads]

J, I read a news item yesterday that surprised me a little, although it shouldn't have: abortion is up since Bush took office.

Cuts in social spending, joblessness, lower average wage. More abortions.

What's worth noting, is that funding for other bc methods is being cut. Including for promoting condom use-- which the RCs are not keen on, even in AIDS-ridden Africa. Something about fornication.

My paranoid theory of the abortion ban and bc [prevention-of-pregnancy] ban has the purpose described in The Handmaid's Tale.

The upper middle class white folk, as they used to have without going to China, want a supply of adoptable babies. Pregnant moms, facing welfare cuts, lack of daycare, etc.--are between a rock and a hard place. Church funded counselling WILL be available. This will help ensure that, upon giving birth, they are more likely to consider adopting out the kid, there being serious obstacles to abortion.

----
Note to Virtual:

I did not 'look to an optimistic future' regarding the 'net. Hence your vivid imagery is not applicable to me.

Pure, the number of unwanted children who grow up in foster care far exceeds the number who are adopted. There is a demand for heathy white infants. Babies born to HIV-positive moms, babies born drug-addicted or with fetal alcohol syndrome nearly always end up in the foster system or living with relatives under state supervision. It makes the right-to-life movement feel better to promote the myth that there's a loving adoptive home for every unwanted child.

I read the Handmaid's Tale. At the time, it seemed implausible.

 

[TheEarl]

We've all lost. Some of us just don't know it yet.

Yesterday, an army of evangelical Christians and "moral Moms" voted in record numbers. Exit interviews reveal that the election didn't hinge on Iraq and the economy after all. Newly registered Republicans said they were motivated by two factors: Bush's promise to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe vs. Wade, and his support of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Even the record number of new voters couldn't have done this alone. They had the help of people who were smart enough to know better, but chose to ignore the implications of awarding all three branches of government to a single party.

For some of them, it will sink in when Literotica is made illegal. In case you've forgotten, internet pornography is a major concern of the Christian right and those "moral moms," as the White House calls them. Your vote for George W. Bush guaranteed a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court. All that's needed now is a test case. You can be sure that somebody's working on it.

Congratulations.

If it happens, then Laurel and Manu are more than welcome in Britain. The country where the word 'liberal' is not an insult.

The Earl

 

[MLyons]

I know.. it's only vaguely related, but...

Does anyone realize how much adoption costs in the United States these days?

It's absolutely insane. Even if you're adopting children who are "in the system" as it were.

Basically, it's come down to the fact that you're buying a child--and it isn't cheap. Most insurance does not cover adoption expenses, which can include everything from legal fees, to agency fees, to home study fees, to the healthcare costs for the birth mother if you're trying to adopt a baby.

Adopting a child in the US can cost anywhere from $6000 if your REALLY lucky, all the way up to $30,000 and more.

This is not a matter of being picky... or limiting yourself to a healthy, white baby, this is a matter of a couple simply wanting a child to love--and on top of it all, usually having to do no less than audition, and prove yourself "worthy" of the privelidge.

This is what adoption in the United States is like these days.

I'm infertile. I've done the research. It just blows me away that the pro-creation of the species has become this incredibly complicated and political.

 

[minsue]

I read the Handmaid's Tale. At the time, it seemed implausible.

*shudder*

It never did to me.

 

[Vidar]

250,000 + provisional ballots out in Ohio. 1.6 million provisional & absentee ballots uncounted in Florida. Nationwide 120 million votes cast but only 113 million accounted for. Diebold voting machines used in six states-company heeded by a GOP fundraiser who promised Ohio to Dubya. We haven't given up yet.

 

[Jagged]

Seems today I don't seem so alone in my beliefs. So how I doubt many of you won't be suffering as much as you think you will at the Iron fist of G.W.


Being a conservate my thought is basically the government should be hands off when it comes to most things. Safety and helping those in need is where government needs to step into the fray.

Abortion should remain but we need to have some family values. Stop people from getting addicted to drugs. Prevent the spread of AIDS while still researching a cure. We must start taking personal responsiblity. I work at a major urban hospital. Many people come in with problems that they brought on themselves and I feel for ever one of them and what their life has become.

We are not the same people we once were....We need to take responsiblity for ourselves. That is what I think this elect is about. As I write Bush has 29 states and Kerry 19 making Bush the winner.

I hope some of the fighting can end and we can start working together. With this election the debate has helped me see many sides of the issues. With this debate hopefully law and thought can can be formed that is fair.

 

[minsue]

250,000 + provisional ballots out in Ohio. 1.6 million provisional & absentee ballots uncounted in Florida. Nationwide 120 million votes cast but only 113 million accounted for. Diebold voting machines used in six states-company heeded by a GOP fundraiser who promised Ohio to Dubya. We haven't given up yet.

Kerry has conceded, V. We have given up.

 

[Pure]

Sher said,

Pure, the number of unwanted children who grow up in foster care far exceeds the number who are adopted. There is a demand for heathy white infants. Babies born to HIV-positive moms, babies born drug-addicted or with fetal alcohol syndrome nearly always end up in the foster system or living with relatives under state supervision. It makes the right-to-life movement feel better to promote the myth that there's a loving adoptive home for every unwanted child.

I don't disagree with the above description of the present state of things. But arguably it's because of the availability of abortion, among other things. The 'pool' of healthy infants has nearly dried up, as a number of people have experienced. Hence my bro. went to China, paid the 30 grand etc.

I don't think 'there's a loving adoptive home' for every unwanted child, but it's not that far from the truth if the child is healthy.
If the child is white and healthy it's almost *guaranteed* a home, absent such things as incest, hereditary mental illness, etc. Indeed the mother of a healthy white child can often interview and choose the parents and lay down her conditions through retaining legal counsel.

My argument, though, is that tightening the rules on abortion and lessening availability of birth control will likely increase the number (and perhaps the proportion) of healthy babies available for adoption. (The number of unhealthy babies may likewise increase, of course, in line with a total increase.) Many will be of poor moms, but these are less likely to get legal help and go the private (as opposed to church or public social services) route. And if that's not in fact true, it's *believed* true by the 'right to life' folks (so they'll incline to adopt the measures in question.)

Please note I'm attempting to describe a situation and figure out intentions. I'm not endorsing a 'pro life,' so-called, approach.

--------

Here's a little nugget about a Kerry "nuance." I believe it's little known. And yes, K may be a lesser of evils.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/155/story_15523_1.html#cont

Beyond Belief

Steven Waldman

John Kerry's Abortion Ban

The campaign confirms that Kerry supports a measure that could ban thousands of abortions



Sen. John Kerry supports banning most abortions of fetuses post-"viability," the campaign confirmed Thursday.

Roughly 10,000 abortions occur each year in the third trimester, after fetuses are commonly thought to be viable, so this approach could curtail a greater number of late term abortions than the "partial birth abortion" ban often discussed by President Bush.

In 1997, when Congress was first considering whether to prohibit partial birth abortion, Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota offered a compromise amendment that banned abortion for any fetuses that could be considered viable. [Text here]. Kerry voted for the amendment, which was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and liberal Democrats. [Click here for roll call.]

Kerry has never mentioned his support of such a ban in any major speeches, debates or campaign documents and usually emphasizes a woman's "right to choose." However, in response to questions from Beliefnet concerning the 1997 vote, campaign spokesman Jim Chon, emailed Thursday, "John Kerry stands by his vote."

 

[shereads]

I know.. it's only vaguely related, but...

Does anyone realize how much adoption costs in the United States these days?

It's absolutely insane. Even if you're adopting children who are "in the system" as it were.

Basically, it's come down to the fact that you're buying a child--and it isn't cheap. Most insurance does not cover adoption expenses, which can include everything from legal fees, to agency fees, to home study fees, to the healthcare costs for the birth mother if you're trying to adopt a baby.

Adopting a child in the US can cost anywhere from $6000 if your REALLY lucky, all the way up to $30,000 and more.

This is not a matter of being picky... or limiting yourself to a healthy, white baby, this is a matter of a couple simply wanting a child to love--and on top of it all, usually having to do no less than audition, and prove yourself "worthy" of the privelidge.

This is what adoption in the United States is like these days.

I'm infertile. I've done the research. It just blows me away that the pro-creation of the species has become this incredibly complicated and political.

Another barrier to adopting in the U.S. is also, ironically, caused by the "family values" contingent who successfully overturned adoptions in several highly publicized, deeply tragic cases during the 80's and 90's. Remember little Jessica, who at age 2 was taken screaming from the only home she had ever known, to live with her "real" mother and father? The mother had told the father that their baby was born dead. The adoption was finalized. Then she changed her mind because she wanted her lover back. He had a child from another marriage that he never visited, but he was determined to have the child his new wife had given up for adoption. The little girl had an older brother, a golden retriever, the perfect life. Conservatives made the long custody battle possible by providing a legal fund because "children belong with their families." The same people who woud have condemned Jessica's biological mother if she had chosen abortion instead of adoption, condemend her adoptive parents for refusing to give her up.

Conservatives live in an alternate universe where all babies are wanted and all children are fed and sheltered and loved. There's no need for abortion because of adoption. Adoption can't compete with the ideal, which is a child's biological parents. And whatever you do, don't raise my taxes to pay welfare moms to stay at home with their children.

 

[hunting_tiger]

The future is already here.

Ssssh! Don't give 'em any ideas!

In case you don't know what happened last week.

All of a sudden it was impossible to go to Bush reelection site from abroad since all International IP-numbers where rejected.

It was one of our right wing newspapers that told us about it and also told us how to surf anonymous.

I got curious and tested it, something i assume at least 50 000 others did too. All of a sudden I could get all the information I was looking for.

So don't worry there will always be a way to find the goodies even if Lit is forced to move their server to an other country.


A big warm hug to all that needs one.
Tiger

 

[dreampilot79]

In a race this close, don't you think it best to appoint one the president, and the other the vice-president? Checks and balances and all that...

Can you imagine the influence such an arrangement would have on political campaigns? I wonder if there'd be less mud-slinging if the two candidates in question eventually had to work with one another.

Been tried. That was how our earliest elections worked. It didn't work in 1783, I doubt it would work in 2004.

I do wish however that one party did not control both houses of congress and hold the presidency too. Oh well.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Well, there's a bright side to this tragedy.

With the shrubbian dictator running US for another 4 years, Hubby should have no problem getting political asyl in Sweden.

 

[CharleyH]

We've all lost. Some of us just don't know it yet.

Unfortunatley honey, all the world knows it, but for most of the U.S. who will eventually, so far as our news is concerned, never admit it! Strange familiar here.

I have heard there will be a civil war now, but I am wondering how possible those of California and New York are going to to do it without getting their manicures crushed against dirty missionary, midwest housewives. Unless . . . .

Californians and New Yorkers know how to really use a frying pan?

WELCOME TO THE 18th CENTURY SHER!